[1193]. Maximus Tyrius has, on the origin of love, a very beautiful passage. “Its well-spring is the beauty of the soul gleaming upward through the body. And as flowers seen under water appear still more brilliant and exquisite than they are, so mental excellence seems to manifest additional splendour when invested with corporeal loveliness.” ix. 113. Euripides, whatever he may have written in his old age, was once an enthusiastic panegyrist of love, of which he has left a brilliant description. Athen. xiii. 11. In the gymnasia the statue of Eros was placed beside those of Hermes and Hercules—eloquence and strength. Love festivals Ἐρωτίδια were celebrated by the Thespians. Athen. xiii. 12. Before entering battle the Cretans and Spartans sacrificed to Eros, Id. xiii. 12. Alexis imitates Plato in describing this passion. Eros had two bows, the one of the graces producing happiness, the other engendering violence and wrong. Id. xiii. 14. On the power of love see § 74. Cleisophos of Selymbria fell in love at Samos with a statue of Parian marble. § 84.
[1194]. Καὶ τὴν Πηνελόπην ἄλλως Ὀδυσσεὺς ὁρᾷ, ἄλλως ὁ Εὐρύμαχος.—Max. Tyr. ix. 115.
[1195]. Soph. Antig. 635. sqq.—Καὶ ἐν εὐτυχίαις συνευτύχει καὶ ἀποθανόντι συναποθνήσκει, Max. Tyr. ix. 116. We discover the same idea in our own marriage ceremony, where husband and wife are said to be joined together, “for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.”
[1196]. Even Lucian could discover that there was something holy in love. Κοινὸν οὖν ἀμφοτέρῳ γένει πόθον ἐγκερασαμένη, συνέζευξεν[συνέζευξεν] ἄλληλοις θεσμὸν ἀνάγκης[ἀνάγκης] ὅσιον. Amor. § 19.
[1197]. See too in Stobæus, the addresses of a bereaved husband to philosophy—ὦ φιλοσοφία, τυραννίκά σου τὰ επιτάγματα· λεγεις φίλει· κᾄν ἀποβάλῃ τις, λέγεις, μὴ λύπου. 34. Cf. Senec. Epist. 99. Scheffer, ad Ælian. 27. p. 471.
[1198]. Max. Tyr. x. 119. This author observes that the love depicted by the tragedians was a piece of ill-regulated passion rarely leading to happiness. Id. 123. 124. Cf. Luc. Amor. § 37.
[1199]. Ἐξ ὀνείρων ἐραστης. Max. Tyr. x. 126.
[1200]. See the invocation to Love in Lucian: σὺ γὰρ ἐξ ἀφανοῦς καὶ κεχυμένης ἀμορφίας τὸ πᾶν ἐμόρφωσας. κ. τ. λ. Amor. § 32.
[1201]. This thought occurs in a fragment of Licymnios
Ὕπνος δὲ χαίρων ὀμμάτων