THE VIRGIN
61
wriggling
serpent .
She
bids
him
seek Zeus ,
and
leaves
the rest to him .
"
To the
lascivious
shade of
Ida's deep recesses ” he wends his way :
So fair , her image in the brook might make
A passionless old god his hunger slake
By plunging in the waters , though he knew
His drowning body drowned her image too. "
There he , or now she , meets
the great god wander
ing through
the green trees
and
the cool groves , as
Jahveh was wont once to do .
Amidst
those shades
of
Ida , where Paris adjudged
the prize of beauty ,
over
looking
the
blue Hellespont
,
the
greatest
sacrifice ,
and thereby the purest that love can make , was to be
demanded
, and freely given
-- the sacrifice of a woman's
honour
to save
her lover ; in fact to become
a prosti
tute in body , and
a virgin
in
spirit .
He , Zeus ,
is
weary of women's old lascivious
breed ,” and of “ the
large luxurious
lips of Ganymede .”
No freshness , no
restraint , no virgin
breast, no lips
“ without
a taint
of lewd
imagining ,”
all
the nymphs
of
those
green
wooded
slopes
,
all
are
as
brazen
and cold
as
the
meretrices
of
a
suburrian
lupanar
,
the
fire
of
love
having burnt itself out
to
the ashen lassitude
of
satiety
.
At
length
the god finds her asleep
under some shady
tree
,
and creeps towards her
-
little loath
To waken her caresses
,
and let noon
Fade into midnight
in
the amorous swoon
.”
His voluptuous
lips
touch
her
smooth
cheek
,
she
wakes
,
she flees
,
she
is
caught
;
“
panting
,
”
“
timid
,
”
“
tremulous
":
1
The Tale
of
Archais
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
21
.
2
Ibid
.
vol
.
i,
p
.
21
.