Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/354

 33- HISTORY OK ART IN PII<MNICIA AND ITS I)i:ri;.i)!..ciMs. renewed energies of themselves and of everything about them broke out in unrestrained transports, in dancing and singing and abandoned orgies. They welcomed the reawakened sun and the sympathetic heat it kindled in their own veins. In such a cull those religious prostitutions which formed one of the chief char- acteristics of Syrian worship had their natural place. The hicroduli of Paphos were no less famous than those of Corinth, while the latter were influenced by Syrian ideas and religious traditions. In the sacred inclosure and its dependencies everything spoke to the senses ; the air was full of perfume, of soft and caressing sounds, the murmur of falling water, the song of the nightingale, and the voluptuous cooing of the dove mingled with the rippling notes of the ilute, the instrument which sounded the call to pleasure, or led the bride and bridegroom to the wedding feast. Under tents or light shelters built of branches skilfully interlaced, dwelt the slaves of the goddess, those who were called by Pindarus in the scoliast composed for Theoxenius of Corinth, the servants of the persuasion. These are Greek or Syrian girls, covered with jewels and dressed in rich stuffs with bright-coloured fringes. Their black and glossy tresses were twisted up in mitras, or scarves of brilliant colour, while natural flowers such as pinks, roses, and pomegranate blossoms hung over their foreheads. Their eyes glittered under the arch of wide eyebrows made still wider by art ; the freshness of their lips and cheeks was heightened by carmine ; necklaces of gold, amber and glass, hung between their swelling breasts ; with the pigeon, the emblem of fertility, in one hand, and a flower or myrtle-branch in the other, these women sat and waited.