tis
true, yet they shoot far.... Small is his arrow, yet it carries even
to the sky.... He is naked indeed, so far as his body is concerned,
but his mind is shrouded. And being winged as a bird he flies upon now
one party of men and women and now another, and settles on their
inmost hearts."

[Footnote 36: In the first idyl, translated by J. Bank.]

The mingled pain and delight caused by a wound of love is explained by
the fact that Cupid's arrows were tipped with gall and honey. The way
in which they were fashioned is variously described by the poets.
Anacreon has it that they were made at the forge of Vulcan, the
husband of Venus, and the blacksmith of the gods. One of this poet's
odes relates how--

"In the Lemnian caves of fire
The mate of her who nursed Desire
Moulded the glowing steel to form
Arrows for Cupid thrilling warm;
While Venus every barb imbues
With droppings of her honeyed dews;
And Love (alas the victim heart)
Tinges with gall the burning dart."[37]

[Footnote 37: In Moore's translation.]

A slightly different explanation is given by the Latin poet
Claudian:--

"In Cyprus' isle two rippling fountains fall
And one with honey flows, and one with gall;
In these, if we may take the tale from fame,
The son of Venus dips his darts of flame."

However the story may run, there is but one ending. The victim of the
love-god's arrow confesses that "loving is a painful thrill," but "not
to love, more painful still."

[Illustration: CUPID SHARPENING HIS ARROWS (DETAIL OF DANAE)
_Borghese Gallery, Rome_]

So bold was the little archer that the mightiest could not withstand
his arts. The war-god Mars, bringing his spear one day to Vulcan's
forge, smiled contemptuously at the light shafts of Cupid. "Try it,"
said little Love, handing him one. Whereupon the foolish fellow cried
out in an agony of pain, and begged Cupid to take the arrow back.
Apollo, the archer of the sun, was equally imprudent, and was richly
punished for his sneers. An arrow from the fatal quiver made him mad
with unrequited love for the nymph Daphne. A being who could give so
much pain and pleasure was at once to be loved and feared. Hence all
paid homage--

"To Love, for heaven and earth adore him
And gods and mortals bow before him."

In our picture, Cupid looks just as the poets have described him, a
beautiful baby boy with wings and "goodly curls." Only the milk and
hon