The Crown of Wild Olive

by John Ruskin

  NOTES.

  NOTE I.

  Page 24.

  _'That third pyramid of hers.'_

  Throughout the dialogues, it must be observed that 'Sibyl' is addressed(when in play) as having once been the Cumaean Sibyl; and 'Egypt' ashaving been queen Nitocris,--the Cinderella, and 'the greatest heroineand beauty' of Egyptian story. The Egyptians called her 'Neith theVictorious' (Nitocris), and the Greeks 'Face of the Rose' (Rhodope).Chaucer's beautiful conception of Cleopatra in the 'Legend of GoodWomen,' is much more founded on the traditions of her than on those ofCleopatra; and, especially in its close, modified by Herodotus'sterrible story of the death of Nitocris, which, however, ismythologically nothing more than a part of the deep monotonous ancientdirge for the fulfilment of the earthly destiny of Beauty; 'She castherself into a chamber full of ashes.'

  I believe this Queen is now sufficiently ascertained to have eitherbuilt, or increased to double its former size, the third pyramid ofGizeh: and the passage following in the text refers to an imaginaryendeavour, by the Old Lecturer and the children together, to make outthe description of that pyramid in the 167th page of the second volumeof Bunsen's 'Egypt's Place in Universal History'--idealendeavour,--which ideally terminates as the Old Lecturer's realendeavours to the same end always have terminated. There are, however,valuable notes respecting Nitocris at page 210 of the same volume: butthe 'Early Egyptian History for the Young,' by the author of SidneyGray, contains, in a pleasant form, as much information as young readerswill usually need.

  NOTE II.

  Page 25.

  _'Pyramid of Asychis.'_

  This pyramid, in mythology, divides with the Tower of Babel the shame,or vain glory, of being presumptuously, and first among great edifices,built with 'brick for stone.' This was the inscription on it, accordingto Herodotus:--

  'Despise me not, in comparing me with the pyramids of stone; for I have the pre-eminence over them, as far as Jupiter has pre-eminence over the gods. For, striking with staves into the pool, men gathered the clay which fastened itself to the staff, and kneaded bricks out of it, and so made me.'

  The word I have translated 'kneaded' is literally 'drew;' in the senseof drawing, for which the Latins used 'duco;' and thus gave us our'ductile' in speaking of dead clay, and Duke, Doge, or leader, inspeaking of living clay. As the asserted pre-eminence of the edifice ismade, in this inscription, to rest merely on the quantity of labourconsumed in it, this pyramid is considered, in the text, as the type, atonce, of the base building, and of the lost labour, of future ages, sofar at least as the spirits of measured and mechanical effort deal withit: but Neith, exercising her power upon it, makes it a type of the workof wise and inspired builders.

  NOTE III.

  Page 25.

  _'The Greater Pthah.'_

  It is impossible, as yet, to define with distinctness the personalagencies of the Egyptian deities. They are continually associated infunction, or hold derivative powers, or are related to each other inmysterious triads; uniting always symbolism of physical phenomena withreal spiritual power. I have endeavoured partly to explain this in thetext of the tenth Lecture: here, it is only necessary for the reader toknow that the Greater Pthah more or less represents the formative powerof order and measurement: he always stands on a four-square pedestal,'the Egyptian cubit, metaphorically used as the hieroglyphic for truth;'his limbs are bound together, to signify fixed stability, as of apillar; he has a measuring-rod in his hand; and at Philae, is representedas holding an egg on a potter's wheel; but I do not know if this symboloccurs in older sculptures. His usual title is the 'Lord of Truth.'Others, very beautiful: 'King of the Two Worlds, of GraciousCountenance,' 'Superintendent of the Great Abode,' &c., are given by Mr.Birch in Arundale's 'Gallery of Antiquities,' which I suppose is thebook of best authority easily accessible. For the full titles andutterances of the gods, Rosellini is as yet the only--and I believe,still a very questionable--authority; and Arundale's little book,excellent in the text, has this great defect, that its drawings give thestatues invariably a ludicrous or ignoble character. Readers who havenot access to the originals must be warned against this frequent faultin modern illustration (especially existing also in some of the paintedcasts of Gothic and Norman work at the Crystal Palace). It is not owingto any wilful want of veracity: the plates in Arundale's book arelaboriously faithful: but the expressions of both face and body in afigure depend merely on emphasis of touch; and, in barbaric art, mostdraughtsmen emphasise what they plainly see--the barbarism; and missconditions of nobleness, which they must approach the monument in adifferent temper before they will discover, and draw with great subtletybefore they can express.

  The character of the Lower Pthah, or perhaps I ought rather to say, ofPthah in his lower office, is sufficiently explained in the text of thethird Lecture; only the reader must be warned that the Egyptiansymbolism of him by the beetle was not a scornful one; it expressed onlythe idea of his presence in the first elements of life. But it may notunjustly be used, in another sense, by us, who have seen his power innew development; and, even as it was, I cannot conceive that theEgyptians should have regarded their beetle-headed image of him(Champollion, 'Pantheon,' pl. 12), without some occult scorn. It is themost painful of all their types of any beneficent power; and even amongthose of evil influences, none can be compared with it, except itsopposite, the tortoise-headed demon of indolence.

  Pasht (p. 24, line 32) is connected with the Greek Artemis, especiallyin her offices of judgment and vengeance. She is usually lioness-headed;sometimes cat-headed; her attributes seeming often trivial or ludicrousunless their full meaning is known; but the enquiry is much too wide tobe followed here. The cat was sacred to her; or rather to the sun, andsecondarily to her. She is alluded to in the text because she is alwaysthe companion of Pthah (called 'the beloved of Pthah,' it may be asJudgment, demanded and longed for by Truth); and it may be well foryoung readers to have this fixed in their minds, even by chanceassociation. There are more statues of Pasht in the British Museum thanof any other Egyptian deity; several of them fine in workmanship; nearlyall in dark stone, which may be, presumably, to connect her, as themoon, with the night; and in her office of avenger, with grief.

  Thoth (p. 27, line 17), is the Recording Angel of Judgment; and theGreek Hermes Phre (line 20), is the Sun.

  Neith is the Egyptian spirit of divine wisdom; and the Athena of theGreeks. No sufficient statement of her many attributes, still less oftheir meanings, can be shortly given; but this should be notedrespecting the veiling of the Egyptian image of her by vulturewings--that as she is, physically, the goddess of the air, this bird,the most powerful creature of the air known to the Egyptians, naturallybecame her symbol. It had other significations; but certainly this, whenin connection with Neith. As representing her, it was the most importantsign, next to the winged sphere, in Egyptian sculpture; and, just as inHomer, Athena herself guides her heroes into battle, this symbol ofwisdom, giving victory, floats over the heads of the Egyptian kings. TheGreeks, representing the goddess herself in human form, yet would notlose the power of the Egyptian symbol, and changed it into an angel ofvictory. First seen in loveliness on the early coins of Syracuse andLeontium, it gradually became the received sign of all conquest, and theso-called 'Victory' of later times; which, little by little, loses itstruth, and is accepted by the moderns only as a personification ofvictory itself,--not as an actual picture of the living Angel who led tovictory. There is a wide difference between these two conceptions,--allthe difference between insincere poetry, and sincere religion. This Ihave also endeavoured farther to illustrate in the tenth Lecture; thereis however one part of Athena's character which it would have beenirrelevant to dwell upon there; yet which I must not wholly leaveunnoticed.

  As the goddess of the air, she physically represents both its beneficentcalm, and necessary tempest: other storm-deities (as Chrysaor and AEolus)being invested with a subordinate and more or less malignant function,which is exclusively thei
r own, and is related to that of Athena as thepower of Mars is related to hers in war. So also Virgil makes her ableto wield the lightning herself, while Juno cannot, but must pray for theintervention of AEolus. She has precisely the correspondent moralauthority over calmness of mind, and just anger. She soothes Achilles,as she incites Tydides; her physical power over the air being alwayshinted correlatively. She grasps Achilles by his hair--as the wind wouldlift it--softly,

  'It fanned his cheek, it raised his hair, Like a meadow gale in spring.'

  She does not merely turn the lance of Mars from Diomed; but seizes it inboth her hands, and casts it aside, with a sense of making it vain, likechaff in the wind;--to the shout of Achilles, she adds her own voice ofstorm in heaven--but in all cases the moral power is still the principalone--most beautifully in that seizing of Achilles by the hair, which wasthe talisman of his life (because he had vowed it to the Sperchius if hereturned in safety), and which, in giving at Patroclus' tomb, he,knowingly, yields up the hope of return to his country, and signifiesthat he will die with his friend. Achilles and Tydides are, above allother heroes, aided by her in war, because their prevailing charactersare the desire of justice, united in both with deep affections; and, inAchilles, with a passionate tenderness, which is the real root of hispassionate anger. Ulysses is her favourite chiefly in her office as thegoddess of conduct and design.

  NOTE IV.

  Page 54.

  _'Geometrical limitations.'_

  It is difficult, without a tedious accuracy, or without fullillustration, to express the complete relations of crystallinestructure, which dispose minerals to take, at different times, fibrous,massive, or foliated forms; and I am afraid this chapter will begenerally skipped by the reader: yet the arrangement itself will befound useful, if kept broadly in mind; and the transitions of state areof the highest interest, if the subject is entered upon with anyearnestness. It would have been vain to add to the scheme of this littlevolume any account of the geometrical forms of crystals: an availableone, though still far too difficult and too copious, has been arrangedby the Rev. Mr. Mitchell, for Orr's 'Circle of the Sciences'; and, Ibelieve, the 'nets' of crystals, which are therein given to be cut outwith scissors and put prettily together, will be found more conquerableby young ladies than by other students. They should also, when anopportunity occurs, be shown, at any public library, the diagram of thecrystallisation of quartz referred to poles, at p. 8 of Cloizaux's'Manuel de Mineralogie': that they may know what work is; and what thesubject is.

  With a view to more careful examination of the nascent states of silica,I have made no allusion in this volume to the influence of meresegregation, as connected with the crystalline power. It has only beenrecently, during the study of the breccias alluded to in page 113, thatI have fully seen the extent to which this singular force often modifiesrocks in which at first its influence might hardly have been suspected;many apparent conglomerates being in reality formed chiefly bysegregation, combined with mysterious brokenly-zoned structures, likethose of some malachites. I hope some day to know more of these andseveral other mineral phenomena (especially of those connected with therelative sizes of crystals), which otherwise I should have endeavouredto describe in this volume.

  NOTE V.

  Page 102.

  _'St. Barbara.'_

  I would have given the legends of St. Barbara, and St. Thomas, if I hadthought it always well for young readers to have everything at once toldthem which they may wish to know. They will remember the stories betterafter taking some trouble to find them: and the text is intelligibleenough as it stands. The idea of St. Barbara, as there given is foundedpartly on her legend in Peter de Natalibus, partly on the beautifulphotograph of Van Eyck's picture of her at Antwerp: which was some timesince published at Lille.

  NOTE VI.

  Page 137.

  _'King of the Valley of Diamonds.'_

  Isabel interrupted the Lecturer here, and was briefly bid to hold hertongue; which gave rise to some talk, apart, afterwards, between L. andSibyl, of which a word or two may be perhaps advisably set down.

  SIBYL. We shall spoil Isabel, certainly, if we don't mind: I was gladyou stopped her, and yet sorry; for she wanted so much to ask about theValley of Diamonds again, and she has worked so hard at it, and made itnearly all out by herself. She recollected Elisha's throwing in themeal, which nobody else did.

  L. But what did she want to ask?

  SIBYL. About the mulberry trees and the serpents; we are all stopped bythat. Won't you tell us what it means?

  L. Now, Sibyl, I am sure you, who never explained yourself, should bethe last to expect others to do so. I hate explaining myself.

  SIBYL. And yet how often you complain of other people for not sayingwhat they meant. How I have heard you growl over the three stone stepsto purgatory; for instance!

  L. Yes; because Dante's meaning is worth getting at; but mine mattersnothing: at least, if ever I think it is of any consequence, I speak itas clearly as may be. But you may make anything you like of the serpentforests. I could have helped you to find out what they were, by giving alittle more detail, but it would have been tiresome.

  SIBYL. It is much more tiresome not to find out. Tell us, please, asIsabel says, because we feel so stupid.

  L. There is no stupidity; you could not possibly do more than guess atanything so vague. But I think, you, Sibyl, at least, might haverecollected what first dyed the mulberry?

  SIBYL. So I did; but that helped little; I thought of Dante's forest ofsuicides, too, but you would not simply have borrowed that?

  L. No. If I had had strength to use it, I should have stolen it, to beatinto another shape; not borrowed it. But that idea of souls in trees isas old as the world; or at least, as the world of man. And I _did_ meanthat there were souls in those dark branches; the souls of all those whohad perished in misery through the pursuit of riches; and that the riverwas of their blood, gathering gradually, and flowing out of the valley.That I meant the serpents for the souls of those who had livedcarelessly and wantonly in their riches; and who have all their sinsforgiven by the world, because they are rich: and therefore they haveseven crimson crested heads, for the seven mortal sins; of which theyare proud: and these, and the memory and report of them, are the chiefcauses of temptation to others, as showing the pleasantness andabsolving power of riches; so that thus they are singing serpents. Andthe worms are the souls of the common money-getters and traffickers, whodo nothing but eat and spin: and who gain habitually by the distress orfoolishness of others (as you see the butchers have been gaining out ofthe panic at the cattle plague, among the poor),--so they are made toeat the dark leaves, and spin, and perish.

  SIBYL. And the souls of the great, cruel, rich people who oppress thepoor, and lend money to government to make unjust war, where are they?

  L. They change into the ice, I believe, and are knit with the gold; andmake the grave dust of the valley. I believe so, at least, for no oneever sees those souls anywhere.

  (SIBYL _ceases questioning._)

  ISABEL (_who has crept up to her side without any one's seeing_). Oh,Sibyl, please ask him about the fire-flies!

  L. What, you there, mousie! No; I won't tell either Sibyl or you aboutthe fire-flies; nor a word more about anything else. You ought to belittle fire-flies yourselves, and find your way in twilight by your ownwits.

  ISABEL. But you said they burned, you know?

  L. Yes; and you may be fire-flies that way too, some of you, beforelong, though I did not mean that. Away with you, children. You havethought enough for to-day.