God and men, Heaven and Earth conspire to honour him; every one pities him above other, if he be in need, and all the world is willing to do him good. Chariclea fell into the hands of Pyrats, but when all the rest were put to the edge of the sword, she alone was preserved for her person. When Constantinople was sacked by the Turk, Irene escaped, and was so far from being made a captive, that she even captivated the grand Senior himself.

So did Rosamond insult over King Henry the second.

—— I was so fair an object, Whom fortune made my King, my love made subject, He found by proof the priviledge of beauty, That it had power to countermand all duty.

It captivates the very Gods themselves, Morosiora numina,

—— Deus ipse deorum Factus ob hanc formam bos, equus imber, olor.

And those mali genii are taken with it, as I have already proved. Formosam Barbari verentur, & ad aspectum pulchrum immanis animus mansuescit. (Heliodor. lib. 5.) The Barbarians stand in awe of a fair woman, and at a beautiful aspect a fierce spirit is pacified.

For when as Troy was taken, and the wars ended, (as Clemens Alexandrinus quotes out of Euripides) angry Menelaus with rage and fury armed, came with his sword drawn, to have killed Helena with his own hands, as being the sole cause of all those wars and miseries: but when he saw her fair face, as one amazed at her divine beauty, he let his weapon fall, and embraced her besides, he had no power to strike so sweet a creature.

Ergo hebetantur enses pulchritudine, the edge of a sharp sword (as the saying is) is dulled with a beautiful aspect, and severity it self is overcome. Hiperides the orator, when Phryne his client was accused at Athens for her lewdness, used no other defence in her cause, but tearing her upper garment, disclosed her naked breast to the Judges, with which comeliness of body and amiable gesture they were so moved and astonished, that they did acquit her forthwith, and let her go.

O noble piece of Justice, mine author exclaims, and who is he that would not rather lose his seat and robes, forfeit his office, then give sentence against the majesty of beauty? Such prerogatives have fair persons, and they alone are free from danger. Parthenopæus was so lovely and fair, that when he fought in the Theban wars, if his face had been by chance bare, no enemy would offer to strike or hurt him, such immunities hath beauty.

Beasts themselves are moved with it. Sinalda was a woman of such excellent feature, and a Queen, that when she was to be trodden on by wild horses for a punishment, the wild beasts stood in admiration of her person, (Saxo Grammaticus lib. 8. Dan. Hist.) and would not hurt her.

Wherefore did that royal virgin in Apuleius when she fled from the theeves den, in a desart, make such an Apostrophe to her Asse on whom she rode: (for what knew she to the contrary but that he was an Asse?) Si me parentibus & proco formoso reddideris, quas tibi gratias, quos honores habebo, quos cibos exhibebo?

She would comb him, dress him, feed him, and trick him every day her self, and he should work no more, toil no more, but rest and play, &c. And besides she would have a dainty picture drawn, in perpetual remembrance, a virgin riding upon an Asses back with this motto, Asino vectore regia virgo fugiens captivitatem; why said she all this? why did she make such promises to a dumb beast?

But that she perceived the poor Asse to be taken with her beauty; for he did often obliquo collo pedes puellæ decoros basiare, kiss her feet as she rid, & ad delicatulas voculas tentabat adhinnire, offer to give consent as much as in him was to her delicate speeches, and besides he had some feeling as he conceived of her misery.

And why did Theagines horse in Heliodorus curvet, prance, and go so proudly, exultans alacriter & superbiens, &c. but that sure as mine author supposeth, he was in love with his master? dixisses ipsum equum pulchrum intelligere pulchram domini formam?

A fly lighted on Malthus cheek as he lay asleep; but why? Not to hurt him, as a parasite of his standing by well perceived, non ut pungeret sed ut oscularetur, but certainly to kiss him, as ravished with his divine looks.

Inanimate creatures I suppose, have a touch of this, when a drop of Psyches Candle fell on Cupids shoulder, I think sure it was to kiss it. When Venus ran to meet her rose-cheeked Adonis, as an elegant Poet of ours sets her out,

—— the bushes in the way Some catch her neck, some kiss her face, Some twine about her legs to make her stay, And all did covet her for to embrace.

Aer ipse amore inficitur, as Heliodorus holds, the ayr it self is in love: For when Hero plaid upon her Lute,

The wanton Air in twenty sweet forms danc’t After her fingers ——

and those lascivious winds staid Daphne when she fled from Apollo;

—— nudabant corpora venti, Obviaque adversas vibrabant flamina vestes.

Boreas ventus loved Hyacinthus, and Orithya Ericthons daughter of Athens: vi rapuit, &c. he took her away by force, as she was playing with other wenches at Ilissus, and begat Zetes and Calais his two sons of her. That seas and waters are enamoured with this our beauty, is all out as likely as that of the air and winds; for when Leander swimmed in the Hellespont, Neptune with his Trident did beat down the waves, but

They still mounted up intending to have kiss’d him, And fell in drops like tears because they mist him.

The River Alpheus was in love with Arethusa, as she tells the tale herself,

—— viridesque manu siccata capillos, Fluminis Alphei veteres recitavit amores; Pars ego Nympharum, &c. ——

When our Tame and Isis meet