Protea

“ Those also, says Hippolochus, we gave to the slaves; and when we had eaten to satiety, we washed our hands, and chaplets were brought in in great numbers, made of all sorts of flowers from all countries, and on each chaplet a circlet of gold, of about the same weight as the first chaplet. And Hippolochus having stated after this that Proteas, the descendant of that celebrated Proteas the son of Lanice, who had been the nurse of Alexander the king, was a most extraordinary drinker, as also his grandfather Proteas, who was the friend of Alexander, had been ”

“ When she went to that lady with the ring she was most glad to find that Silvia utterly rejected the suit of Proteus; and Julia—or the page Sebastian, as she was called, entered into conversation with Silvia about Proteus’s first love, the forsaken Lady Julia. She putting in (as one may say) a good word for herself, said she knew Julia; as well she might, being herself the Julia of whom she spoke; telling how fondly Julia loved her master, Proteus, and how his unkind neglect would grieve her. ”

“ Proteus knew the reason why Silvia and her lover were bent on flight. The Duke intended her to wed Sir Thurio, a gentlemanly noodle for whom she did not care a straw.
Proteus thought that if he could get rid of Valentine he might make Silvia fond of him, especially if the Duke insisted on her enduring Sir Thurio's tiresome chatter. He therefore went to the Duke, and said, “Duty before friendship! It grieves me to thwart my friend Valentine, but your Grace should know that he intends to-night to elope with your Grace's daughter.” ”

“ Not now were all the troubles of Florimel a at an end. Proteus beheld how fair the maiden was, and forgetful of her mortal birth, he sought her for his bride. But she, fearing such a suitor, and remembering her love for Marinell, which she still cherished in despite of the story of his cruel death, told Proteus she could wed none but an earthly knight.
Proteus, who can take as many shapes as there are fancies, took at once the image of a mortal gentleman; and finding the maiden still averse, he tried in turn all different shapes, striving in each to win her heart. ”

“ While Proteus at Milan was thus injuring Valentine, Julia at Verona was regretting the absence of Proteus; and her regard for him at last so far overcame her sense of propriety, that she resolved to leave Verona, and seek her lover at Milan; and to secure herself from danger on the road, she dressed her maiden Lucetta and herself in men's clothes, and they set out in this disguise, and arrived at Milan soon after Valentine was banished from that city through the treachery of Proteus. ”

“ In common with all the other gods, Proteus enjoyed the gift of prophecy, and had the power to assume any shape he pleased. The former gift he was wont to exercise very reluctantly; and when mortals wished to consult him, he would change his form with bewildering rapidity, and, unless they clung to him through all his changes, they could obtain no answer to their questions.
“Shouting [we] seize the god: our force t’ evade,
His various arts he soon resumes in aid:
A lion now, he curls a surgy mane ”

“ Proteus had refused to accompany his friend Valentine, but he soon found that he was not to be allowed to remain at Verona. In those days it was considered that no young man was well brought up unless he had had the advantage of foreign travel, and an uncle of his spoke very strongly on the subject. ”

“ At the same time (which is not our time!) , and as Intelligence takes on a leading part in morals, there will come the indulgent recognition that such a “decency” as we may exact (or try to exact) from ourselves, cannot, any more than personal cleanliness in our own day, be exacted from all our neighbours. It may take a good many transformations of Proteus before the mote can always be removed from our brother’s eye, even supposing the beam to have been taken away from our own. ”

“ She excels each mortal thing.”
Then Proteus thought Silvia excelled Julia; and, since he sang so beautifully for all the world to hear, it seemed that he was not only false to Julia, but had forgotten her. Yet Julia still loved him. She even went to him, and asked to be his page, and Proteus engaged her.
One day, he handed to her the ring which she had given him, and said, “Sebastian, take that to the Lady Silvia, and say that I should like the picture of her she promised me.” ”

“ How often have you perjured yourself!” cried Julia, throwing off her disguise. “Oh, Proteus, let these clothes make you blush! Are you ashamed that I have put on the raiment of a boy? I tell you, it is less shameful for women to change their guise than men their minds!”
“Than men their minds!” echoed the conscience-stricken Proteus. “That is true.”
“Come, come, give me each your hand,” interposed Valentine. “Let me be blest in making a happy ending. It were pity that two such friends should be long foes.” ”

“ There are obvious resemblances that strike us at once. He looks the same, he acts the same, he has the same mannerisms, the same kind of voice, and he answers to the same name. If Proteus, with the best intention in the world, but with an unlimited variety of self-manifestations, were to call every day, we should greet him always as a stranger. ”

“ Πρωρευς εν τῃ νησῳ δηχθεις ὑπο οφεως εταφη. This Pilot was bitten by a serpent, and buried in the island. Conformable to my opinion is the account given by Tzetzes, who says, that Proteus resided in the [626] Pharos: by which is signified, that he was the Deity of the place. He is represented in the Orphic poetry as the first-born of the world, the chief God of the sea, and at the same time a mighty [627] prophet.
The history then of Menelaus in Egypt, if such a person ever existed, amounts to this. In a state of uncertainty he applied to a temple near Canobus, which was sacred to Proteus. ”

“ Julia, unable to bear the absence of her lover, dressed in boy’s clothes, and, going to Milan, hired herself as a page to Protheus, and when Silvia was lost, the duke, with Thurio, Protheus and his page, went in quest of her. She was soon discovered, but when Thurio attempted to take possession of her, Valentine said to him, “I dare you to touch her;” and Thurio replied, “None but a fool would fight for a girl.” ”

“ Silvia was moved to pity this lovely lady, who was so sadly forsaken by the man she loved; and when Julia offered her the ring which Protheus had sent, refused it, saying, "The more shame for him that he sends me that ring; I will not take it, for I have often heard him say his Julia gave it to him. I love thee, gentle youth, for pitying her, poor lady! Here is a purse; I give it you for Julia's sake." These comfortable words coming from her kind rival's tongue cheered the drooping heart of the disguised lady. ”

“ After explanations Glaucus willingly accompanied him to Proteus lair.
The pact was sealed. Glaucus would be returned to his prior form. Proteus was to return once more to Poseidon's service. "And myself?" Demo queried.
"It shall be as with Glaucus."
Proteus smiled, if one can say a squid smiles. At least, he grimaced.
"How, then, do we deal with Oceanus? You know of his rekindled ambition. What can be done to placate one such as he?"
They talked long, examining the problem each from his own perspective. "It is a problem without solution!" exclaimed Proteus. "He seems invincible. ”

“ Aristæus, satisfied with this advice, though it gave him no prospect of repairing his loss, proceeds to execution. Proteus is catched sleeping,{458} bound with cords, and compelled to speak. He declares, that Aristæus was punished with the loss of his bees, for attempting the chastity of Euridice, the wife of Orpheus; she having got her death by the sting of a serpent in flying his embraces. Proteus, whose sullenness ought to have been converted into wrath by the rough treatment he met with, becomes on a sudden courteous and communicative. ”

“ As these thoughts force themselves upon the girls, they shudder, and involuntarily move closer to each other. Dulce covers her face with her hands, as though to shut out some dreadful sight, and a low dry sob escapes her. Portia, deadly pale, but calm and wide-eyed, is clinging to the balcony rails, and is gazing in speechless fear at the chestnut, that every instant is bringing nearer to the fateful goal. Julia, from time to time, emits short little shrieks of terror, she being the sort of person who, in moments of peril, would be always safe to scream. ”

“ After a time, however, the cells are produced transversely as well as longitudinally, resulting in the formation of a flattened leaf-like expansion (Fig. 125, d) , a cellular structure, the so-called Prothallus, which can scarcely be distinguished from a young Marchantia. In this Prothallus are developed Archegonia and Antheridia: the union of the embryo-cell of the Archegonia and the spiral filament of the Antheridia gives rise to the new Fern, which may be seen growing out of the Prothallus (Fig. 126) , which soon passes away. ”

“ Portia, a daughter of Cato, altogether a Roman woman, is, however, worthy of love, and even in her highest flights of heroism betrays the most feminine feeling and shrewdest womanly nature. With anxious looks of love she watches every shadow on the brow of her husband, betraying his troubled thoughts. She will know what torments him, she will share the burden of the secret which oppresses his soul ”

“ Canst thou tell me any thing of Portia my mother? or of Lucius Piso my brother? Live they?'
'Do I not know them well?' I replied: 'who that dwells in Rome knows not the noble Portia? She lives yet; and long may she live, the friend of all! To Jew, and even to Nazarene, she is good, even as to her own. Never did age, or want, or helplessness, ask of her in vain. Years have not stopped the fountains of her tears, nor chilled a single affection of her heart. And dost thou think that while she remembers the outcast Jew, and the despised Nazarene, she forgets her own offspring? ”

“ Proteus soon found that his scheme for winning Silvia met with small success. He had already been false to Valentine, and now he intended to be false to Sir Thurio; but his treachery was likely to be of little avail. Silvia was far too good and true to be corrupted by his worthless gifts. When he protested his loyalty to her, she twitted him with his falsehood to his absent friend; when he praised her beauty, she bade him remember how he had been forsworn in breaking faith with Julia, whom he loved. ”

“ Then Proteus reminded him of how he had been the real cause of Eurydice's death, by making her flee from him in such haste that she did not see the snake at her feet.52 The wood-nymphs, who were Eurydice's companions, had therefore wished to punish Aristæus, and had sent this destruction to his hives. It was necessary to appease the wrath of the nymphs; and to do this Proteus bade the youth build four altars, and sacrifice on them four bulls and four cows of perfect form and size. ”

“ So powerful did he grow that his mother began to fear lest his boldness and haughtiness might cost him his life, and she counselled him to forbear further warfare and be at rest.
That she might be the more secure of his welfare, Cymoent inquired of Proteus, the sea-god, concerning her son's future. Proteus replied that Marinell must beware of all womankind, as one day a strange maiden would cause him much dismay, if not destroy his life. Now Cymoent supposed this to mean that Marinell must not love any woman ”

“ Meretrix—Nonius Marcellus has pointed out the difference between this class of prostitutes and the prostibula. “This is the difference between a meretrix (harlot) and a prostibula (common strumpet) : a meretrix is of a more honorable station and calling; for meretrices are so named a merendo (from earning wages) because they plied their calling only by night; prostibulæ because they stand before the stabulum (stall) for gain both by day and night.”
Prostibula—She who stands in front of her cell or stall.
Proseda—She who sits in front of her cell or stall. ”

“ For Protos liked being master.
Another man than Protos might have raised, rehabilitated this woman. But first of all, he must have had the wish to. Protos, on the contrary, seemed bent on degrading her. We have seen what shameful services the ruffian demanded of her; it is true that she apparently submitted to them without much reluctance; but the first impulses of a soul in revolt against the ignominy of its lot, often pass unperceived by that very soul itself. It is only in the light of love that the secret kicking{158} against the pricks is revealed. Was Carola falling in love with Amédée? ”

“ A slave, having detected her in the act of embracing it and supposing it to be a lover, informed her father, who ordered her to burn the image; whereupon she threw herself with it into the flames. In another account (Conon, Narrationes, 13) Protesilaus survived the fall of Troy and carried off Aethilla, the sister of Priam. During a halt on the peninsula of Pallene, Aethilla and the other captive women set fire to the ships. Protesilaus, unable to continue his voyage, remained and built the city of Scione. His tomb and temple were to be seen near Eleus in the Thracian Chersonese. ”

“ These Protista, again, it is impossible to separate into animal and vegetal so sharply as to treat adequately of either group without including some of the other: thus it is that every text-book on Zoology, like the present work, treats of certain Protophyta. The most unmistakably animal group of the Protista, the Ciliata, is, as we have seen, by the complex differentiation of its protoplasm, widely removed from the Metazoa with their relatively simple cells but differentiated cell-groups and tissues. ”