lected in one vast system. It would be worth
while to know, not only that dove and goblet, flower and ring were each
the 'motive' of a graceful fable, but also that this fable was something
more than merely fanciful or graceful--that it had a deep meaning, and
that each and all were essential parts of one vast whole. And it would
be pleasant, I presume, to see these myths and meanings somewhat
illustrated by poem or proverb, or other literary ornament. What is here
offered is, indeed, little more than a beginning--for the actual
completion of such a work would involve the learning and labor, not of a
man, but of an age. I trust, however, that these chapters may induce
some curiosity and research into the marvels and mysteries of antique
symbolism, and perhaps invest with a new interest many objects hitherto
valued more for their external attractions than for their associations.

The reading world has for many years received with favor works
purporting to teach with poetic illustration the Language of Flowers.
But we learn from ancient lore that there is a secret language and a
symbolism, not only of flowers, but of _all_ natural objects. These
objects, on one side, or from one point of view, all stand for each
other, and are, in fact, synonymes--the whole representing singly the
Venus-mystery of love and generation, or _life_. That is to say, this is
what they do _positively_--for negatively, at the same time, and under
the same forms, they also typify death, repulsion, darkness--even as the
same word in Hebrew often means unity or harmony when read backward, and
the reverse when taken forward. Why they represent _opposites_ (the
great opposites of existence, life and death, lust and loathing,
darkness and light) is evident enough to any one who will reflect that
each was intended to represent in itself all Nature, and that in Nature
the great mystery of mysteries is the springing of death from life and
of life from death by means of the agency of sexual action through
vitality and light.

I would beg the reader to constantly bear in mind this fact when
studying the symbolism and mythology of Nature--that among the ancients
every object, beginning with the serpent, typified _all that is_, or all
Nature, and consequently the opposites of Death and Life, united in one,
as also the male and female principle, darkness and light, sleep and
waking, and, in fact, _all_ antagonisms. Even when, as in the case of
the goat, the w