- cid
- bafkreiatyrjsb26cetbyzpstw7sl63cetplajvbzr3ijuirnczbzxtgfzi
- content_type
- image/jpeg
- filename
- 06_poems_pericles_facsimiles_1905_oxford_page_0024.jpg
- height
- 2400
- key
- pdf-page-1769752318051-aormruibed4
- ocr_model
- mistral-ocr-latest
- page_number
- 24
- size
- 515896
- text
- VENUS AND ADONIS 17
of lamentation for ritual observances in the sixth century B.C. But it was three centuries later, in the closing epoch of classical Greek literature, when the worship of Adonis flourished in its chief glory, that the theme was developed to best effect by Theocritus and Bion, the Greek pastoral poets of Sicily. The fifteenth of Theocritus’ Idylls describes the celebration of the festival of Adonis, and includes a beautiful psalm sung in the hero’s honour. The finest of all Greek poems on the theme is Bion’s pathetic *Lament for Adonis*, which enjoyed the admiration of the poets of the Renaissance, and ultimately suggested to Shelley his *Adonais*, the great elegy on Keats.
Idylls of Theocritus and Bion.
goddess of love, to spend in spirit half the year in Hades with Persephone (Proserpina) and half the year on earth with Aphrodite. The myth seems an anthropomorphic interpretation of the annual birth and decay of vegetation, Adonis being identified with the spirit that brings the flowers and fruits year by year to life, and then deserting them leaves them to decay. This interpretation is confirmed by the name of ‘Gardens of Adonis’ (εἶχου Ἀδώνιδος), which was conferred throughout Greece in classical times on earthen vessels, in which plants were brought to fruition with exceptional rapidity and then usually faded as quickly. Many classical authors mention these flower-pots under the name of ‘Gardens of Adonis’ (cf. Plato, *Phaedrus* 276). In *I Henry VI*, i. 6. 6–7 Joan of Arc’s ‘promises’ are likened to
Adonis’ gardens
That one day bloom’d and fruitful were the next—
sure evidence of ripe classical knowledge in the author of this scene. Spenser in his *Faerie et ueene* (Bk. iii, Canto vi, Stanzas xxix–liii) gives an elaborate description of ‘The Garden of Adonis’, which he represents allegorically as the great treasury of Nature’s seeds—
The first seminary
Of all things that are born to live and die
According to their kinds.
Developing his theme somewhat irregularly, Spenser finally makes the ‘garden’ the eternal home of the immortalized hero Adonis, where he is visited by his lover Venus (Stanzas xivl–xlix). Milton, doubtless imitating Spenser, wrote of
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign’d
Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renown’d
Alcinous, host of old Laertes’ son.
(*Paradise Lost*, ix. 439–41.)
C
- text_extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T06:12:00.483Z
- text_extracted_by
- ocr-service
- text_has_content
- true
- text_images_count
- 0
- text_source
- ocr
- uploaded
- true
- width
- 1750