Hymen

“ The poets called the hymen "fios virginitatis," the flower of virginity, whence the medico-legal term defloratio. Notwithstanding the great significance which has long been attached to the phenomena connected with it, the hymen was not accurately known until Vesalius, Fallopius, and Spigelius described and named it. It was, however, recognized by the Arab authors, Avicenna and Averroes. The early literature concerning it is summarized by Schurig, Muliebria, 1729, Section II, cap. ”

“ A wife may-be, a mother she
⁠In Hymen's shrine recals not now,
She first in hour, ah, not profane,
⁠With me to Hymen learnt to bow.
Ah no!—Yet owned we, fused in one,
⁠The Power which e'en in stones and earths
By blind elections felt, in forms
⁠Organic breeds to myriad births ”

“ Taken as a whole, and partly through being unencumbered with the satyric machinery of the Queen's Arcadia, Hymen's Triumph is a distinctly lighter and more pleasing composition. At least so it appears by comparison, for Daniel everywhere takes himself and his subject with a distressing seriousness wholly unsuited to the style; we look in vain for a gleam of humour such as that which in the final chorus of the Aminta casts a reflex light over the whole play [257] . ”

“ But your uncle has just issued orders to complete the work in the most magnificent style. The ways of destiny and the great are dark; may the brightest sunshine illumine yours! A prosperous journey! We shall hear, of course, when you celebrate the wedding, and if I can I shall join you in the Hymenaeus. Lucky fellow that you are! Now I'm summoned from over yonder! May Castor and Pollux, and all the gods favourable to travel, Aphrodite, and all the Loves attend your trip to Irenia, and protect you in the realm of Eros and Hymen! ”

“ OPHELIA. ’Tis brief, my lord.
HAMLET. As woman’s love.
Enter a King and a Queen.
PLAYER KING. Full thirty times hath Phoebus’ cart gone round Neptune’s salt wash and Tellus’ orbed ground, And thirty dozen moons with borrow’d sheen About the world have times twelve thirties been, Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands Unite commutual in most sacred bands.
PLAYER QUEEN. So many journeys may the sun and moon Make us again count o’er ere love be done. But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, So far from cheer and from your former state, That I distrust you. ”

“ Bride, thou also, if he demand
(145) Aught, refuse not, assent, obey.
Love can angrily pipe adieu.
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, O
155 Hymen, O Hymenaeus.
Look! thy mansion, a sovereign
(150) Home most goodly, by him to thee
Given. Reign as a queen within,
Hymen, O Hymenaeus, O
160 Hymen, O Hymenaeus.
Still when hoary decrepitude,
(155) Shaking wintery brows benign,
Nods a tremulous Yes to all. ”

“ This disappointment had such effect upon him that he could neither eat nor drink; this did not signify to him; but his passion at length became so violent, that he could neither play nor smoke. In this extremity love had recourse to Hymen; the Earl of Oxford, one of the first peers of the realm, is, you know, a very handsome man: he is of the order of the garter, which greatly adds to an air naturally noble. ”

“ Below the major gods was an infinity of smaller ones, who presided over physical and moral matters. There were, for example, wood and tree nymphs; Dryads and hamadryads—gods of rivers, such as Simois and Scamander. Pan presided over husbandmen; Hermes, over thieves, &c. Others, like Eros, fulfilled the duty of bringing the sexes together. Hymen secured them in marriage, and Venus had the duty of insuring connubial happiness, whilst Lucina's business was to bring the offspring of the marriage into the world—with as little pain or danger as possible. Then, again, Fortune brought good luck. ”

“ Free and wild, like the wood-maidens of Artemis, is this last group of four—very straight with heads tossed back. They sing in rich, free, swift notes. They move swiftly before the curtain in contrast to the slow, important pace of the first two groups. Their hair is loose and rayed out like that of the sun-god. They are boyish in shape and gesture. They carry hyacinths in baskets, strapped like quivers to their backs. They reach to draw the flower sprays from the baskets, as the Huntress her arrows. ”

“ In after life, I should have revelled in the enjoyment of anticipation before I had destroyed the hymen; but youth, want, liquor, drove me on, and I don't remember thinking much about the virginity, only that the cunt looked different from the two others I had known. The next instant I laid my belly on hers. ”

“ VI. chap. 39, note 5.↑ According to the Chron. of Eusebius, Hymenæus was bishop of Jerusalem from 265–298. It is expressly stated in the Chron. that the dates of the earlier Jerusalem bishops are not known (see Bk. V. chap. 12, note 1) ; but with the dates of the bishops of the latter part of the third century Eusebius can hardly have been unacquainted, and that Hymenæus was bishop at any rate as early as 265 is proved by chaps. 27 and 30 (see the note on Mazabanes referred to just above) . The dates given in the Chron. may therefore be accepted as at least approximately correct. ”

“ In silence o’er thy sorrows, but go forth
Amidst thy vassals, (yet be secret still,)
And let thy breath give nurture to the spark
Thou’lt find already kindled. I move on
In shadow, yet awakening in my path
That which shall startle nations. Fare thee well.
Vit. When shall we meet again?—Are we not those
Whom most he loved on earth, and think’st thou not
That love e’en yet shall bring his spirit near,
While thus we hold communion?
Pro. Yes, I feel
Its breathing influence whilst I look on thee,
Who wert its light in life. Yet will we not
Make womanish tears our offering on his tomb ”

“ The name Hymi, which in Norse makes Hýmir in the nominative case, is akin, for instance, to the Norse verb hýma, 'to sneak in the dark,' húma, 'to become dusk,' all from húm, 'twilight or dusk;' while the Greek Οὐρανός, 'Uranus,' and its Sanskrit equivalent Varuṇa, come from a root var, meaning 'to cover.' This chimes in with the grievance of which the children of Uranus complained, that he used to hide them from the light in the hollows of the earth. ”

“ Thou knowest well that the Jews are not accused of idolatry, nor of immoral conduct, nor of shedding blood; they are accused only of observing Thy Torah." God pacified him: "As thou livest, I have not abandoned them, I will not abandon them."
Haman's denunciations of the Jewish people found a ready echo in the heart of the king. He replied: "I, too, desire the annihilation of the Jews, but I fear their God, for He is mighty beyond compare, and He loves His people with a great love. Whoever rises up against them, He crushes under their feet. Just think of Pharaoh! ”

“ Heinrich had been religiously brought up, and while many brave men about him lost all faith and hope, and believed themselves forgotten by the God who made them, he believed that over their loathsome prison-yard hovered hosts of pitying angels, and that above and around the vast field of fraternal strife brooded an infinite fatherly love, and "the peace of God that passeth all understanding." ”

“ My lonely life, if for thine altar here
In this dread temple of the wilderness,
By prayer, and toil, and watching, I may win
The offering of one heart, one human heart,
Bleeding, repenting, loving!
Hark! a step,
An Indian tread! I know the stealthy sound—
'Tis on some quest of evil, through the grass
Gliding so serpent-like.
He comes forward and meets an Indian warrior armed.
Enonio, is it thou? I see thy form
Tower stately through the dusk; yet scarce mine eye
Discerns thy face.
Enonio. My father speaks my name.
Herrmann. Are not the hunters from the chase returned? ”

“ Thou treacherous Moor!
ELMINA.
⁠Let me not thus be tried
Beyond all strength, oh Heaven!
ABDULLAH.
⁠Now, 'tis for thee,
Thou Christian mother! on thy sons to pass
The sentence—life or death!—the price is set
On their young blood, and rests within thy hands.
ALPHONSO,
Mother! thou tremblest!
ABDULLAH.
⁠Hath thy heart resolved?
ELMINA (covering her face with her hands) .
My boy's proud eye is on me, and the things
Which rush, in stormy darkness, through my soul,
Shrink from his glance. I cannot answer here.
ABDULLAH.
Come forth. ”

“ The Norse version is, however, more explicit; and instead of a partial mutilation, as of Uranus by Cronus, it represents the vast frame of the world-giant Hymi completely cut up by the sons of Bor, that is to say, the Anses or Norse gods with Woden at their head: from Hymi's flesh they made the earth, from his bones the mountains, from his skull the heavens, from his blood the sea, from his brows the earth for the sons of men to dwell on, and from his brain the threatening clouds. ”

“ I give thee to thy God!—the God that gave thee,
A well-spring of deep gladness to my heart!
And precious as thou art,
And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee,
My own, my beautiful, my undefiled!
And thou shalt be His child!
Therefore, farewell!—I go; my soul may fail me,
As the stag panteth for the water-brooks,
Yearning for thy sweet looks!
But thou, my First-born! droop not, nor bewail me,
Thou in the shadow of the Rock shalt dwell,
The Rock of Strength—farewell! ”

“ I go gladly to my Jesus in heaven."
"'Upon this, old Heinrich stepped out in front of this faithful witness of the Lord, and with emotion he had hard work to keep down, he spoke: "Thou hast a brave heart. Thou shalt not die a coward's death. I love thee; thou art a hero, and thy Christ is a hero too. He died for sinners, thou sayest, and has vanquished death and the grave and hell. I will see if I can love Him. I cannot yet."
"'Scarcely had he finished speaking, when Hermann hastily came up. He had followed after his beloved Landolf, that he might see what turn things would take ”

“ S. HYMELIN, P. (8TH CENT.)
[Belgian Martyrology of Molanus, Aberdeen Breviary, and Anglican Martyrology. Authority:—A life founded on notices in the Martyrologies and popular tradition, by John Gilleman, about 1480.]
The Blessed Hymelin, priest and confessor, was a near relative of S. Rumbold, and an Irishman. Of his early life nothing is known. He undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return was attacked by a virulent fever at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, in Brabant. ”

“ On her arrival at the inn, she hastened to embrace her husband, and present her sons to him. The three elder lads embraced their sick father tenderly, but Reinold hung back.
“Who is this broken-down old man?” he cried. “It cannot be my father, for he is a great hero, and that man does not look much of a warrior. I wonder if he will try a bout with me.”
“Boy,” said Haymon, standing up straight, “do you not know me for your father? Look at this ring which your mother gave me years ago, and at these scars which I gained in battle.” ”

“ After I had performed such service as is usual on similar occasions, a most venerable-looking old man came forward, and asked me if I were willing that they should perform some of their peculiar rites. He opened a very ancient version of Luther's Hymns, and they all began to sing, in German, so loud that the woods echoed the strain. There was something affecting in the singing of these ancient people, carrying one of their brethren to his last home, and using the language and rites which they had brought with them over the sea from the Vaterland, a word which often occurred in this hymn. ”

“ So loud was the wind that they did not hear the sound of sleigh-bells, and suddenly the door flew open against the wall and the cure of St. Henri entered, bearing the Host in his raised hands. Maria and Tit'Sebe fell upon their knees; Tit'Bé ran to shut the door, then also knelt. The priest put off the heavy fur coat and the cap white with snow drawn down to his eyes, and instantly approached the sick-bed as heaven's envoy bringing pardon and peace.
Ah! the assurance, the comfort of the divine promise which dispels the awful mists of death! ”

“ The poet can give us nothing but the form under which the objects he describes present themselves to his own mind. That form must be noble, or it is not worthy of our consideration; it must be consistent, or it will fail to be true. Now, in the writings of Mrs Hemans, we are shown how life and its concerns appear to woman, and hear a mother intrusting to verse her experience and observation. So, in ‘The Hebrew Mother,’ ‘the spring-tide of nature’ swells high as she parts from her son, on devoting him to the service of the Temple ”

“ The verse you quote will apply in the same manner, 'I love you, therefore will I visit upon you your iniquities;' meaning, 'I will punish you for them as they occur, little by little, by which means you may have quittance and happiness in the world to come.'"
The action of the king in delivering his signet ring to Haman had more effect upon the Jews than the precepts and warnings of forty-eight prophets who lectured to them early and late. They clothed themselves in sackcloth, and repented truly with tears and fasting, and God had compassion upon them and destroyed Haman. ”

“ And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6All these were under the hands of their fathers for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the direction of the king—Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. 7And the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in singing unto the Lord, even all that were skilful, was two hundred fourscore and eight. 8And they cast lots ward against [ward] , as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar. ”