Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/230

218 tall, and of a virginal aspect, not unlike that of the Apollo. Her hair shall be long, thick, and slightly waving; or she shall have the Phrygian cap on her head, with two wings on it, which shall be placed towards the front, and fall over the ears. There shall also be two small horns on the front, like those of the crescent moon; or, according to Apuleius, she should have a small polished mirror on her brow, with serpents at certain distances, and a few ears of corn on the upper edge. Her coronal shall be of dittany, according to the Greeks; or, according to Martianus, of varied flowers; nay, as some will have it, of helichrymum. There are some who would have her clothed in a vesture that should reach even to her feet, others will have it shortened to the knee, and there are who will have a cincture at the waist, and the vestment crossed beneath the girdle, after the manner of the Nymphs. Her mantle shall be clasped on the shoulder, and she shall have buskins neatly decorated. Pausanias, alluding, as I think, to Diana, clothes her with the skin of the deer; but Apuleius, taking her perchance for Isis, gives her a slight veil of many colours, white, yellow, and red, with a second vesture, wholly black, yet clear and shining; he sprinkles it, moreover, with stars, placing the moon in the centre of them, and adorning the edge with fruits and flowers, pendent in the manner of a knotted fripge. You may take either of these habits at your pleasure. Let her arms be naked, or with large sleeves; place a lighted torch in her right hand, and in her left a drawn bow, which last Claudian declares to be of horn, while Ovid maintains it to be of gold: make it which you please, but fail not to fix the quiver on her shoulders. Pausanias also places two serpents in her left hand, but in Apuleius she holds a golden vase, the handles whereof are serpents, which appear to be swollen with venom: the foot of the vase is adorned with palm leaves. But here also, I think, Apuleius must be alluding to Isis, wherefore I would have you give her the bow, as I have said. Let her be mounted on a chariot drawn by horses, of which one shall be black, the other white; or, if you desire variety, by a mule, according to Festus Pompey; or by oxen, according to Claudian and Apuleius; but if you have these last, let their horns be very small, and let them have a white spot on the right side. The attitude of the Moon must be that of one looking from the heaven of the