[1050]. Describing the approach to the temple of Aphrodite, Lucian says: εὐθὺς ἡμῖν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τεμένους Ἀφροδίσιοι προσέπνευσαν αὖραι.—Amor. § 12. These gentle airs should breathe into the style and language of the author who treats of the women of Greece; but, in my own case, research I fear and the effects of fifty-two degrees of north latitude will prevent this consummation so devoutly to be wished.
[1051]. On the beauty of the modern Greek women I can speak from my own observation; but most travellers are of the same opinion, and Mr. Douglas, in particular, gives the following testimony in their favour: “Though the delicacy of her form is not long able to sustain the heat of the climate and the immoderate use of the warm bath, I can scarcely trust myself to describe the beauty of a young Greek when arriving at the age which the ancients have so gracefully personified as the Χρυσοστέφανος Ἥβη. Were we to form our ideas of Grecian women from the wives of Albanian peasants we should be strangely deceived; but the islands of Andro, Tino, and, above all, that of Crete, contain forms upon which the chisel of Praxiteles would not have been misemployed.”—Essay, &c. p. 159.
[1052]. Cf. Winkelmann, iv. 4. 44.
[1053]. Plat. Repub. iv. t. vi. p. 167.—That black eyes were most common among the Greeks may be inferred from this, that, in describing the parts of the eye, they called the iris τὸ μέλαν, which is sometimes of one colour, and sometimes of another.—Arist. Hist. Anim. I. viii. 2. He observes, further on, that some persons had black eyes, others deep blue, others gray, others of the colour of goats.—§4. Other animals have eyes of one colour, except the horse, which has sometimes one blue eye. Eyes moderate in size and neither sunken nor projecting were esteemed the best.—§. 5. Large eyes, likewise, were greatly admired. Hence Hera is called βοῶπις by Homer. Aristœnetos, describing his Laïs, says: ὀφθαλμοὶ[ὀφθαλμοὶ] μεγάλοι τε καὶ διαυγεῖς καὶ καθαρῷ φωτὶ διαλάμποντες.—Scheffer ad Æl. Hist. Var. xii. 1. With respect to the colour of the hair see Winkelmann, iv. 4. 38. It was, of course, considered a great beauty to have it long, and, therefore, Helen, in honour of Clytemnæstra, cut off the points only.—Eurip. Orest. 128. seq.
[1054]. On the respect paid to women, see Demosth. in Ev. et Mnes. § 11.
[1055]. Herodot. i. 1.
[1056]. Athen. i. 18.
[1057]. Describing the beauty of Hippodameia, daughter of Anchises, Homer says, she excelled all the maidens of her age in beauty, skill in female accomplishments, and endowments of the mind, for which reason Alcathoos, the noblest man in Troy, chose her to be his wife.—Iliad, ε. 480. sqq. He must necessarily, therefore, have enjoyed opportunities of studying her character. Another illustration of the freedom of heroic female manners is furnished by the author of the Little Iliad, who relates that, when Aias and Odysseus were contending for the armour of Achilles, the Greeks, by the advice of Nestor, sent certain scouts to listen beneath the battlements of Troy to the conversation of the virgins who, in the cool of the evening, it may be presumed, were wont to walk upon the ramparts and converse frankly of the exploits of their illustrious enemies.—Sch. Aristoph. Equit. 1051. Cf. Il. ζ. 239.
[1058]. Hom. Odyss. α. 330. sqq.
[1059]. Apollod. ii. 4. 8.