Dione

“ That poet puts a curious speech in the mouth of Dione, the mother of Venus, when addressing her daughter, who had been wounded by Diomede:-- My child! how hard soe'er thy sufferings seem, Endure them patiently, since many a wrong From human hands profane the gods endure, And many a painful stroke mankind from ours. ”

“ Dione will bring you bread and water only. If you fail in obedience, the fate I first intended will assuredly be yours, without time given for expostulation. Now go to the room that opens into the garden; and there remain, till I send Dione to conduct you to your own apartment. ”

“ VENUS, WOUNDED IN THE HAND, CONDUCTED BY IRIS TO MARS
Then she: “This insult from no god I found,
An impious mortal gave the daring wound!
Behold the deed of haughty Diomed!
’Twas in the son’s defence the mother bled.
The war with Troy no more the Grecians wage;
But with the gods (the immortal gods) engage.”
Dione then: “Thy wrongs with patience bear,
And share those griefs inferior powers must share:
Unnumber’d woes mankind from us sustain,
And men with woes afflict the gods again. ”

“ Others make her a Titanid, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea (Apollodorus i. 1) . Speaking generally, Dione may be regarded as the female embodiment of the attributes of Zeus, to whose name her own is related as Juno (= Jovino) to Jupiter. ”

“ Dion of Syracuse, a pupil of Plato, and an austere man; was from his austerity obnoxious to his pleasure-loving nephew, Dionysius the Younger; subjected to banishment; went to Athens; learned his estates had been confiscated, and his wife given to another; took up arms, drove his nephew from the throne, usurped his place, and was assassinated in 353 B.C., the citizens finding that in getting rid of one tyrant they had but saddled themselves with another, and greater.
Dione, a Greek goddess of the earlier mythology; figures as the wife of the Dodonian Zeus ”

“ Diod. Sic. xvi. 6-20) and in modern times by T. Lau (1860) ; see also Syracuse and Sicily : History.
DIONE, in the earliest Greek mythology, the wife of Zeus. As such she is associated with Zeus Naïus (the god of fertilizing moisture) at Dodona (Strabo vii. p. 329) , by whose side she sits, adorned with a bridal veil and garland and holding a sceptre. As the oracle declined in importance, her place as the wife of Zeus was taken by Hera. It is probable that in very early times the cult of Dione existed in Athens, where she had an altar before the Erechtheum. ”

“ Knowing that she was but a weak goddess Diomedes attacked her, wounding her in the hand. Dropping her son, she fled to Ares who was watching the battle and besought him to lend her his chariot, wherein she fled back to Olympus. There her mother Dione comforted her with the story of the woes which other gods had suffered from mortals.
"But this man hath been set upon thee by Athena. Foolish one, he knoweth not in his heart that no man liveth long who fighteth with the gods; no children lisp 'father' at his knees when he returneth from war and dread conflict. ”

“ What could it have been, except an illustrious maternity, to account for her elevation, and at the same time her original womanhood to account for the blank in the [152] descent and consanguinity, and for her total want of attributes?
It must be granted that there is a certain degree of resemblance between Latona and Dione: turning mainly upon this, that Dione seems to be in Olympus without either dignity or power, and simply as the vehicle, through which her daughter Venus was brought into existence. But then the want of basis is in her case immediately made evident by results. ”

“ Dione comforts her as best she may, reminding her how in times past other of the Olympian deities have had to endure woes from men: Mars, when the giants Otus and Ephialtes bound him for thirteen months in brazen fetters; Juno herself, the queen of Heaven, and Pluto, the king of the Shades, had been wounded by the daring Hercules. She foretells, however, an untimely death for the presumptuous hero who has raised his hand against a goddess ”

“ Dione intuitively turned her face from the orange-coloured Indian towards the rose-coloured youth, and sighed.
“Are you to be present at the steeple-chase on the 19th?” said Eyrymount to Nashon.
“Surely,” replied he, readily, “I canna resist a steeple-chase. I ken nae sport like that mixture o’ rinnin, louping, manœuvring, jockeyin, tumblin, an’ brak-neck feats o’ horsemanship. It’s right glorious. ”

“ It is love-philters that Dionea prepares. No; do not misunderstand; they do not give love of her, still less her love.
Your seller of love-charms is as cold as ice, as pure as snow. The priest has crusaded against her, and stones have flown at her as she went by from dissatisfied lovers; and the very children, paddling in the sea and making mud-pies in the sand, have put out forefinger and little finger and screamed, "Witch, witch! ugly witch!" as she passed with basket or brick load; but Dionea has only smiled, that snake-like, amused smile, but more ominous than of yore. ”

“ Dionaea, Venus' fly-trap, homoeopathic magic of, i. 144
Dione, wife of Zeus at Dodona, ii. 189;
the old consort of Zeus, ii. 381, 382 [pg 244]
Dionysiac festival of the opening of the wine jars, ix. 351 sq.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, on the simplicity of Roman worship, ii. 202 sq.;
on the Etruscans, ii. 287 n. 4;
on Tarquin the Proud, ii. 291 n. 2
Dionysus, vii. ”

“ You ask me how poor Dionea is getting on. Not as your Excellency and I ought to have expected when we placed her with the good Sisters of the Stigmata: although I wager that, fantastic and capricious as you are, you would be better pleased (hiding it carefully from that grave side of you which bestows devout little books and carbolic acid upon the indigent) that your protégée should be a witch than a serving-maid, a maker of philters rather than a knitter of stockings and sewer of shirts. ”

“ I wonder does that wicked little Dionea, whom no one pays court to, smile (her lips like a Cupid's bow or a tiny snake's curves) as she calls the pigeons down around her, or lies fondling the cats under the myrtle-bush, when she sees the pupils going about with swollen, red eyes; the poor little nuns taking fresh penances on the cold chapel flags ”

“ You ask whether, now that the Sisters let Dionea go and do half a day's service now and then in the village, and that Dionea is a grown-up creature, she does not set the place by the ears with her beauty. The people here are quite aware of its existence. She is already dubbed La bella Dionea; but that does not bring her any nearer getting a husband, although your Excellency's generous offer of a wedding-portion is well known throughout the district of San Massimo and Montemirto. None of our boys, peasants or fishermen, seem to hang on her steps ”

“ Dionea has a certain regard for me; not, I fancy, a result of gratitude, but rather the recognition of a certain admiration and awe which she inspires in your Excellency's foolish old servant. She has taken up her abode in a deserted hut, built of dried reeds and thatch, such as they keep cows in, among the olives on the cliffs. ”

“ It will be difficult to find a place for Dionea, and in this neighborhood well-nigh impossible. The people associate her somehow with the death of Father Domenico, which has confirmed her reputation of having the evil eye. She left the convent (being now seventeen) some two months back, and is at present gaining her bread working with the masons at our notary's new house at Lerici: the work is hard, but our women often do it, and it is magnificent to see Dionea, in her short white skirt and tight white bodice, mixing the smoking lime with her beautiful strong arms ”

“ They were Coelus, Saturn, Genius, Oreus, Sol, Bacchus, Terra, and Luna.
Dindymene (Din′dyme′ne) . A name of Cybele, from a mountain where she was worshiped.
“Nor Dindymene, nor her priest possest,
Can with their sounding cymbals shake the breast
Like furious anger.”
Francis.
Diomedes (Diome′des) , the cruel tyrant of Thrace, who fed his mares on the flesh of his guests. He was [Pg 48] overcome by Hercules, and himself given to the same horses as food.
Dione (Dio′ne) . A poetic name of Venus.
Dionysia (Diony′sia) were festivals in honor of Bacchus. ”

“ Andrew Savelli's miracles) , and insufficiently appreciative of embroidered pocket-handkerchiefs, will be quite as satisfied to hear that Dionea, instead of skill, has got the prettiest face of any little girl in Montemirto. She is tall, for her age (she is eleven) quite wonderfully well proportioned and extremely strong: of all the convent-full, she is the only one for whom I have never been called in. The features are very regular, the hair black, and despite all the good Sisters' efforts to keep it smooth like a Chinaman's, beautifully curly. ”

“ She spends hours and hours on the terrace overlooking the sea (her great desire, she confided to me, is to get to the sea—to get back to the sea, as she expressed it) , and lying in the garden, under the big myrtle-bushes, and, in spring and summer, under the rose-hedge. The nuns say that rose-hedge and that myrtle-bush are growing a great deal too big, one would think from Dionea's lying under them; the fact, I suppose, has drawn attention to them. "That child makes all the useless weeds grow," remarked Sister Reparata. Another of Dionea's amusements is playing with pigeons. ”

“ During the subsequent years, the twins grew and each had entered their own peculiar studies. Dioneza studied telepathy and when she turned fifteen she was asked to join the OMEGA operations Council as a reward for her progress, unsurpassed by anyone of her age. She, like Hosea, kept the title "BLUE" from her name.
When Dioneza received her appointment to the council, the Canon Di'Vaticanus returned from his forty-nine year trek in the wilderness of the Northern Continent. ”

“ Such, that after prevailing with Dionysius, they caused him to drive out Dion, and threw myself into a state of terror. But, that I may bring to a close not a few events which occurred in a short time, Dion, departing from Peloponnesus and Athens, admonished Dionysius indeed. Since then (Dion) had liberated and twice restored the town to the citizens, the Syracusans were affected in the same manner towards him, as Dionysius had been, when he endeavoured by educating and bringing him up to make him thus a worthy partner of his power through the whole of life. ”

“ Dion entered by the Menitid gate, and, having by sound of trumpet quieted the noise of the people, he caused proclamation to be made, that Dion and Megacles, who were come to overthrow the tyrannical government, did declare the Syracusans and all other Sicilians to be free from the tyrant. But, being desirous to harangue the people himself, he went up through the Achradina. The citizens on each side the way brought victims for sacrifice, set out their tables and goblets, and as he passed by each door threw flowers and ornaments upon him, with vows and acclamations, honoring him as a god. ”

“ After Dion had embraced his sister and his child, Aristomache led Arete forward, and said, “Dion, we were unhappy while you were an exile; but now that you have returned and conquered you have taken away our reproach from all but Arete here, whom I have had the misery to see forced to accept another husband while you were yet alive. Now, therefore, since fortune has placed us in your power, how do you propose to settle this difficulty? Is she to embrace you as her uncle or as her husband also?” Dion shed tears at these words of Aristomache, and affectionately embraced his wife. ”

“ And, moreover, time and conversation (as wild beasts by use grow tame and tractable) had brought Dionysius to endure Plato's company and discourse, so that he began to love the philosopher, but with such an affection as had something of the tyrant in it, requiring of Plato that he should, in return of his kindness, love him only, and attend to him above all other men; being ready to permit to his care the chief management of affairs, and even the government, too, upon condition that he would not prefer Dion's friendship before his. ”

“ There was but one mind and one wish or prayer among them all, that Dion would undertake the design, and come, though without either navy, men, horse, or arms; that he would simply put himself aboard any ship, and lend the Sicilians his person and name against Dionysius. This information from Speusippus encouraged Dion, who, concealing his real purpose, employed his friends privately to raise what men they could; and many statesmen and philosophers were assisting to him, as, for instance, Eudemus the Cyprian, on whose death Aristotle wrote his Dialogue of the Soul, and Timonides the Leucadian. ”

“ When Dionysus presently caught sight of her he loved, lightly he danced towards her, and with show of tenderest passion gently reclined upon her knees; his arms entwined about her lovingly, and upon her lips he sealed a kiss; (4) —she the while with most sweet bashfulness was fain to wind responsive arms about her lover; till the banqueters, the while they gazed all eyes, clapped hands and cried "Encore!" But when Dionysus rose upon his feet, and rising lifted Ariadne to her full height, the action of those lovers as they kissed and fondled one another was a thing to contemplate. ”

“ The other Olympians are above sorrow. Dionysus, like a strenuous mortal hero, like Hercules or Perseus, has his alternations of joy and sorrow, of struggle and hard-won triumph. It is out of the sorrows of Dionysus, then,—of Dionysus in winter—that all Greek tragedy grows; out of the song of the sorrows of Dionysus, sung at his winter feast by the chorus of satyrs, singers clad in goat-skins, in memory of his rural life, one and another of whom, from time to time, steps out of the company to emphasise and develope this or that circumstance of the story ”