a goodly person and a fair.”  Maximinus elected emperor, &c.  Branchus the son of Apollo, whom he begot of Jance, Succron’s daughter (saith Lactantius), when he kept King Admetus’ herds in Thessaly, now grown a man, was an earnest suitor to his mother to know his father; the nymph denied him, because Apollo had conjured her to the contrary; yet overcome by his importunity at last she sent him to his father; when he came into Apollo’s presence, malas Dei reverenter osculatus, he carried himself so well, and was so fair a young man, that Apollo was infinitely taken with the beauty of his person, he could scarce look off him, and said he was worthy of such parents, gave him a crown of gold, the spirit of divination, and in conclusion made him a demigod. O vis superba formae, a goddess beauty is, whom the very gods adore, nam pulchros dii amant; she is Amoris domina, love’s harbinger, love’s loadstone, a witch, a charm, &c.  Beauty is a dower of itself, a sufficient patrimony, an ample commendation, an accurate epistle, as [4829]Lucian, [4830]Apuleius, Tiraquellus, and some others conclude. Imperio digna forma, beauty deserves a kingdom, saith Abulensis, paradox. 2. cap. 110. immortality; and [4831]"more have got this honour and eternity for their beauty, than for all other virtues besides:”  and such as are fair, “are worthy to be honoured of God and men.”  That Idalian Ganymede was therefore fetched by Jupiter into heaven, Hephaestion dear to Alexander, Antinous to Adrian.  Plato calls beauty for that cause a privilege of nature, Naturae gaudentis opus, nature’s masterpiece, a dumb comment; Theophrastus, a silent fraud; still rhetoric Carneades, that persuades without speech, a kingdom without a guard, because beautiful persons command as so many captains; Socrates, a tyranny, “which tyranniseth over tyrants themselves;” which made Diogenes belike call proper women queens, quod facerent homines quae praeciperent, because men were so obedient to their commands.  They will adore, cringe, compliment, and bow to a common wench (if she be fair) as if she were a noble woman, a countess, a queen, or a goddess.  Those intemperate young men of Greece erected at Delphos a golden image with infinite cost, to the eternal memory of Phryne the courtesan, as Aelian relates, for she was a most beautiful woman, insomuch, saith [4832]Athenaeus, that Apelles and Praxiteles drew Venus’s picture from her.  Thus young men will adore and honour beauty; nay kings themselves I say will do it, and voluntarily submit their sovereignty to a lovely woman.  “Wine is strong, kings are strong, but a woman strongest,” 1 Esd. iv. 10. as Zerobabel proved at large to King Darius, his princes and noblemen.  “Kings sit still and command sea and land, &c., all pay tribute to the king; but women make kings pay tribute, and have dominion over them.  When they have got gold and silver, they submit all to a beautiful woman, give themselves wholly to her, gape and gaze on her,