|
"Love resistless in fight,
all yield at a glance of thine eye,
Love who pillowed all night on a maiden's cheek
dost lie...
Over the upland folds thou roam'st, and the
trackless sea
Love the gods captive holds. Shall mortals not
yield to thee?" [Sophocles,
Antigone
781]
"Ruthless Eros, great
bane, great curse to mankind, from you come deadly
strifes and lamentations and groans, and countless
pains as well have their stormy birth from
you." [Apollonius Rhodius,
Argonautica
4.445]
|
Yo soy el Dios
poderoso
En el aire y en la tierra
Y en el ancho mar undoso
Y en cuanto el abismo encierra
En su báratro espantoso.
Nunca conocí qué es
miedo;
Todo cuanto quiero puedo,
Aunque quiera lo imposible,
Y en todo lo que es posible
Mando, quito, pongo y vedo.
[Miguel de Cervantes,
Don
Quijote de la Mancha, Segunda
Parte, Capítulo XX]
|
My name is Love,
supreme my sway.
The greatest god and greatest pain,
Air, earth, and seas, my power obey,
And gods themselves must drag my
chain.
In every heart my
throne I keep,
Fear ne'er could daunt my daring soul;
I fire the bosom of the deep,
And the profoundest hell control.
[Miguel de Cervantes,
Don
Quixote, Part II, Chapter XX]
|
"Whoever judges not Eros
to be a mighty god is either stupid or, having no
experience of good things, knows not of the god who
is the mightiest power to men." [Euripides,
quoted by Athenaeus,
Deipnosophistae
13.600]
|
|
Eros is Love, who overpowers the mind, and tames
the spirit in the breasts of both gods and men.
|
|
Love is more powerful than
Necessity
|
Eros (Love) has been regarded as more powerful a
god than Ananke
(Necessity). For Love has no concern with ugliness,
or with the violent dealings deriving from the
compelling power of
Necessity. And since Love
came to be, the delighting in beautiful things
surpassed the dominion of
Necessity, bringing all
kinds of benefits both to gods and mankind.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eros (Love) awakes
Psyche (the
Soul)
|
|
|
The Courage of Love revered by the gods
|
The gods are said to give special honour to
Love, and particularly to the courage that comes
with him. Consequently, they allowed
Alcestis, who died for
love of her husband, to return from the
Underworld. But they
did not give Orpheus his
wife back, considering his attempt to raise her
from the Underworld,
the quest of a coward. For he, unwilling to die for
her, entered the
Underworld alive, and
alive he left, both that gloomy place and his dead
wife.
On the other hand,
Achilles was honoured
and sent to the Islands
of the Blest because he, putting his love for
Patroclus 1 above
everything else, avenged him, and fearless sought
to slay Hector 1,
although he knew that he was fated to die soon
after killing him.
That is why it is said that there is no sort of
courage more respected by the gods than the one
coming from Love.
|
|
Body & Soul
|
Some affirm that just as there are two
Aphrodites [see 'Urania' and 'Pandemos' at
Aphrodite], there are
also two Loves: one of a meaner kind, being
concerned more with the body than with the soul,
and another one, worth of celebration, that impels
to love in a noble manner, that is, loving also the
mind.
It is on this ground that they who love the
bodies of children are called mean; for they just
deceive them, and take advantage of their green
thoughtlessness, since children have not yet
acquired enough mind. And because these
manipulations are mean, they must always be done in
secret. Yet it is known that it is more honourable
to love openly; specially when the beloved not only
excels for the beauty of the body, but also for the
qualities of both mind and heart. For the same
gestures of love may be judged admirable when they
attend both to body and soul, and disgraceful when
they only care for the body.
Craving only the body while forgetting the soul
has been considered wicked because there is no
permanence in the body, and promises and speeches
made in its favour are fated to be dishonoured as
the bloom of the body fades away. Therefore, those
who love only the beauty of the body and know no
other reason for loving are believed to be lovers
of their own pleasure, prone to wrong both their
friends and the god.
|
|
Generals of Love
|
But since mortals have a body and this is never
altogether disregarded (as eloquently shown by
those who give themselves to excessive
remodellation), they have been called hypocritical,
who assert that one sould not love bodies but soul;
and even more so when these are caught doing the
very opposite of what they preach.
Nevertheless, true lovers are said to look
mainly into each other's eyes, giving less
attention to the rest of the body; for they feel
that it is in the eyes that the charm of Love is
best perceived, as if they were the generals of the
god:
"... a kind of
lightning-flash that Pelops has in his eyes; with it he is
warmed himself, but scorches me with the flame
..." [Hippodamia 1 on her husband.
Athenaeus,
Deipnosophistae
13.564]
Similarly, it is told that not
Selene but
Hypnos (Sleep) was in
love with Endymion, and
that the god put him to rest with lids wide open,
so that he could gaze upon
Endymion's eyes
continually.
This is why praises of countenance, of curls, or
even of voice, have been regarded as inferior to
those addressed to the eyes, which bear the light
of love.
|
|
Love for Sale
|
There are also those who, resembling the lovers
of bodies, involve themselves in acts of love with
a view to gaining money, position, office, or
Fame. They performi a
vulgar charade or farce, leading to shame,
reproach, and even scandal; for they will renounce
Love when the money is gone, or the position lost.
But the same gestures performed by true lovers for
the sake of Love himself never lead to such
disgraces, and such lovers never have to regret
their conduct.
And here again: while the merchants of Love have
to act secretly as if they were thieves, the others
find the general approval when showing their
affection openly, for there is never shame in true
love.
|
|
Cosmic Force
|
Love has been believed to be identical with the
combining force pervading the universe, which
causes the attraction of all creatures to a great
variety of things, and works in everything
existing. For example, he who is a physician is
seen as concerning himself with the love-matters of
the body in regard to its functions. He
distinguishes (as in the case of Love between
humans) in the functions of the body nobler and
baser loves. Therefore he is considered a good
physician, who is able to produce love where it
ought to flourish and remove it from where it
should not be. And fostering love among the most
contrary qualities inside the body, such as cold
and heat, bitter and sweet, and dry and moist, was
the skill which
Asclepius developed to
such a high pitch.
Similarly, bringing that kind of consonance and
agreement among the sounds grave and acute creates
the harmony of music, just like the fast and the
slow, appropriately combined, produce its rhythm.
All these agreements, in both medicine and music,
are the works of Love, who introduces mutual
affection in opposites. Accordingly, the musician
is said to be concerned with the love-matters of
harmony and rhythm.
And the same principle has been applied to the
seasons of the year, in which Love introduces
harmony or disharmony by bringing together, in an
orderly or disorderly way, such qualities as heat
and cold, and drought and moisture, thus bestowing
fertility and health on animals and men, or through
disturbances in the love-connexions, causing
pestilence and disease.
|
|
Love brings Pleasure & Happiness
|
In this way, and through what is just, temperate
and have good purposes, Love, who is the only power
capable of bringing happiness to the world, exerts
his wide influence, providing peace and friendship
among men and women, and agreement between mankind
and the gods. And yet, it has been remarked,
mortals fail to perceive the power of Love. For,
some have asked, where are the many temples in
honour of this sweet god, the most friendly to
mankind?
Only following the leadership of Love, some
believe, may mankind escape harm and attain
happiness; and they who oppose him incur the hate
of Heaven. For Love is the god who brings
fulfilment, healing men and women, temperating
pleasures and desires, and greatly blessing all who
revere him for his own sake, since there is no
greater pleasure than that which is found in Love
himself.
|
|
The Abode
|
Of the abode of Love this has been said: that
Love, possessing a natural delicacy, has not a hard
habitation but a soft one, and that he does not go
upon earth, which is hard, but of all places he
chose the softest to live in. That is why the abode
of Love is the soul of both gods and mortals, which
is the most soft and delicate part ever to be
found.
|
|
The Goodness
|
The goodness of this god is such that it has
been said that no one has ever injured him, and no
one has ever been injured by him. For no violence
is present in his dealings, and whenever he is
revered, right and just agreement is reached, and
friendship, and concord. This is why it has been
pointed out that Ares may
be caught by Love, but Love could never be caught
by Ares.
|
|
Power to Create
|
Love has also been described as an accomplished
poet and composer, for when the god gets hold of
anybody, he or she becomes instantly a poet or a
composer, taking part in the creative power that is
again present when all creatures are produced.
Accordingly, when
Apollo invented archery,
and medicine and divination, or when the
MUSES created music, or
when Hephaestus
worked on his metals, or when
Athena was weaving, or
when Zeus was guiding gods
and men, they did all these things in such a way
that they could be judged to be the disciples of
Love, attaching themselves to beauty, and having no
concern with ugliness, which is the dominion not of
Love but of Ananke.
|
|
Some blessings of the sweetest god
|
Because of Love, mortals have intimacy and may
escape alienation, enjoy friendship, and avoid
enmity. Those who are with him, they treasure him;
and those who are not with him they covet him,
because he is a marvel and a delight, and all
tenderness, elegance and grace come from him, who
is the ornament of all creatures.
Similarly, they who know the labours of his
mystic rites, wish no part with those who ignore
them; for they, having found inspiration, wisdom,
virtue and delight in Love, consider him to be the
sweetest of all divinities, and do not desire any
other thing than to yield to Love
|
|
Dual nature
|
Despite all representations, in which Love is
depicted as a young man or a boy, Eros is believed
to have a dual nature, being neither female nor
male. He (or she) is regarded as composed of many
elements and able to bear different qualities
within a single frame. Therefore he may appear
audacious or timid, seem wise or stupid, give
himself to impetuosity, or choose persistance.
Consequently, his influence on lovers has been
compared to that of wine on
drinkers. For when Eros comes in moderation, he is
gracious; but when he comes with great intensity,
he seems cruel and many are thrown into perplexity.
This is why it has been written:
"... the
Love-god, golden-haired, stretches his charmed bow
with twin arrows, and one is aimed at happiness,
the other at life's confusion." [Euripides,
Iphigenia
in Aulis 549]
|
|
As many opinions about Love, as forms he might
have
|
In addition to these opinions, many others (for
opinions about Love are innumerable) have been
uttered. And some say roundly that Eros is not a
god, preferring to call him 'abstraction', or
'emotion', or 'a property inherent in ourselves',
or 'an object of our desire'. Accordingly, they
find themselves serving and revering these
qualities, as if they were deities, while still
imagining they avoid deification and adoration.
But, whatever his title, Eros, being inevitable, is
always worshipped.
|
|
Eros &
Psyche
How Love came to the
Soul
Short outline of the story (complete at
Psyche):
|
|
|
Psyche was
the daughter of an unknown king. Her
beauty was so extraordinary that men would
worship her instead of courting her.
Aphrodite
then, out of jealousy for her beauty, sent
Eros to make
Psyche fall in
love with some unworthy man while an
oracle said that
Psyche must wed
a horrible monster on the top of a
mountain. Psyche
then was first exposed, and then carried
by the wind to a castle. But Eros, instead
of obeying
Aphrodite,
fell in love with
Psyche and
visited her every night, although never
allowing Psyche
to see him. However, following the advices
dictated by jealousy that her two sisters
gave her, Psyche
managed to know who her lover was. Eros
then deserted her, and when their love was
discovered,
Psyche suffered
the wrath of
Aphrodite,
who mistreated her in many ways. However,
having surpassed several difficulties, the
lovers could reunite, and
Psyche was
reconciled with
Aphrodite,
and made immortal.
|
|
Anteros
Note about the
twin brother of Eros
Anteros is love avenged or returned,
"mutual love" or "reciprocal love".
Aphrodite is
called the mother of the "Twin Loves" (Eros
and Anteros) [Ov.Fast.4.1]. The
story of Timagoras and Meles illustrates
the nature of Anteros:
The Athenian Meles, spurning the love
of Timagoras, bade him ascend to the
highest point of a rock and cast himself
down. Timagoras, who was ready to gratify
his beloved friend in any of his requests,
went and cast himself down. When Meles saw
that Timagoras was dead, he suffered such
remorse that he threw himself from the
same rock and died. For this reason some
people in Athens
worshipped Anteros as the avenging spirit
of Timagoras [Pau.1.30.1].
According to Cicero, Anteros was the
son of Mars (Ares)
and "the third
Venus" [Cic.ND.3.60]. For
Cicero's confusing genealogies and
duplications of the gods, see
Graphic
Guide to Cicero's De Natura
Deorum.
|
|
|
|
|