le nation was ready to wage a fierce and
obstinate war for the sake of one beautiful woman. The Greeks had an
insult to revenge, but the Trojans fought for the possession of Helen.
Even the old men of Ilium were ready "to suffer long for such a woman."
And finally is not the whole question answered in Theocritus'
unparalleled poem, "the Sorceress?" We see the poor love-lorn girl and
her old woman-servant, Thestylis, cowering over the fire above which the
bird supposed to possess the power of bringing back the faithless Delphis
is sitting in his wheel. Simoetha has learnt many spells and charms from
an Assyrian, and she tries them all. The distant roar of the waves, the
stroke rising from the fire, the dogs howling in the street, the tortured
fluttering bird, the old woman, the broken-hearted girl and her awful
spells, all join in forming a night scene the effect of which is
heightened by the calm cold moonshine. The old woman leaves the girl, who
at once ceases to weave her spells, allows her pent-up tears to have
their way, and looking up to Selene the moon, the lovers' silent
confidante, pours out her whole story: how when she first saw the
beautiful Delphis her heart had glowed with love, she had seen nothing
more of the train of youths who followed him, "and," (thus sadly the poet
makes her speak)

"how I gained my home
I knew not; some strange fever wasted me.
Ten days and nights I lay upon my bed.
O tell me, mistress Moon, whence came my love!"

"Then" (she continues) when Delphis at last crossed her threshold:

"I
Became all cold like snow, and from my brow
Brake the damp dewdrops: utterance I had none,
Not e'en such utterance as a babe may make
That babbles to its mother in its dreams;
But all my fair frame stiffened into wax,--
O tell me mistress Moon, whence came my love!"

Whence came her love? thence, whence it comes to us now. The love of the
creature to its Creator, of man to God, is the grand and yet gracious
gift of Christianity. Christ's command to love our neighbor called into
existence not only the conception of philanthropy, but of humanity
itself, an idea unknown to the heathen world, where love had been at
widest limited to their native town and country. The love of man and wife
has without doubt been purified and transfigured by Christianity; still
it is possible that a Greek may h