And stole away the enchanted gazer's mind.
Ob talem uxorem cui praestantissima forma,
Nil mortale refert.
But this is not the matter in hand; what prerogative this beauty hath, of what power and sovereignty it is, and how far such persons that so much admire, and dote upon it, are to be justified; no man doubts of these matters; the question is, how and by what means beauty produceth this effect? By sight: the eye betrays the soul, and is both active and passive in this business; it wounds and is wounded, is an especial cause and instrument, both in the subject and in the object. [4888]“As tears, it begins in the eyes, descends to the breast;” it conveys these beauteous rays, as I have said, unto the heart. Ut vidi ut perii. [4889]Mars videt hanc, visamque cupit. Schechem saw Dinah the daughter of Leah, and defiled her, Gen. xxxiv. 3. Jacob, Rachel, xxix. 17, “for she was beautiful and fair.” David spied Bathsheba afar off, 2 Sam. xi. 2. The Elders, Susanna, [4890]as that Orthomenian Strato saw fair Aristoclea daughter of Theophanes, bathing herself at that Hercyne well in Lebadea, and were captivated in an instant. Viderunt oculi, rapuerunt pectora flammae; Ammon fell sick for Thamar's sake, 2 Sam. xiii. 2. The beauty of Esther was such, that she found favour not only in the sight of Ahasuerus, “but of all those that looked upon her.” Gerson, Origen, and some others, contended that Christ himself was the fairest of the sons of men, and Joseph next unto him, speciosus prae filiis hominum, and they will have it literally taken; his very person was such, that he found grace and favour of all those that looked upon him. Joseph was so fair, that, as the ordinary gloss hath it, filiae decurrerent per murum, et ad fenestras, they ran to the top of the walls and to the windows to gaze on him, as we do commonly to see some great personage go by: and so Matthew Paris describes Matilda the Empress going through Cullen. [4891]P. Morales the Jesuit saith as much of the Virgin Mary. Antony no sooner saw Cleopatra, but, saith Appian, lib. 1, he was enamoured of her. [4892]Theseus at the first sight of Helen was so besotted, that he esteemed himself the happiest man in the world if he might enjoy her, and to that purpose kneeled down, and made his pathetical prayers unto the gods. [4893]Charicles, by chance, espying that curious picture of smiling Venus naked in her temple, stood a great while gazing, as one amazed; at length, he brake into that mad passionate speech, “O fortunate god Mars, that wast bound in chains, and made ridiculous for her sake!” He could not contain himself, but kissed her picture, I know not how oft, and heartily desired to be so disgraced as Mars was. And what did he that his betters had not done before him?
[4894]———atque aliquis de diis non tristibus optat
Sic fieri turpis———
[4898]Νικᾶ δε καὶ σίδηρον
Καὶ πῦρ καλὴ τὶς οὖσα.
[4899]Nought under heaven so strongly doth allure
The sense of man and all his mind possess,