by Mercury, that he that could bring tidings of him should have seven kisses; a noble reward some say, and much better than so many golden talents; seven such kisses to many men were more precious than seven cities, or so many provinces.  One such a kiss alone would recover a man if he were a dying, [4885]_Suaviolum Stygia sic te de valle reducet_, &c.  Great Alexander married Roxanne, a poor man’s child, only for her person. [4886]’Twas well done of Alexander, and heroically done; I admire him for it.  Orlando was mad for Angelica, and who doth not condole his mishap?  Thisbe died for Pyramus, Dido for Aeneas; who doth not weep, as (before his conversion) [4887]Austin did in commiseration of her estate! she died for him; “methinks” (as he said) “I could die for her.”

But this is not the matter in hand; what prerogative this beauty hath, of what power and sovereignty it is, and how far such persons that so much admire, and dote upon it, are to be justified; no man doubts of these matters; the question is, how and by what means beauty produceth this effect?  By sight:  the eye betrays the soul, and is both active and passive in this business; it wounds and is wounded, is an especial cause and instrument, both in the subject and in the object. [4888]"As tears, it begins in the eyes, descends to the breast;” it conveys these beauteous rays, as I have said, unto the heart. Ut vidi ut perii. [4889]_Mars videt hanc, visamque cupit._ Schechem saw Dinah the daughter of Leah, and defiled her, Gen. xxxiv. 3.  Jacob, Rachel, xxix. 17, “for she was beautiful and fair.”  David spied Bathsheba afar off, 2 Sam. xi. 2.  The Elders, Susanna, [4890]as that Orthomenian Strato saw fair Aristoclea daughter of Theophanes, bathing herself at that Hercyne well in Lebadea, and were captivated in an instant. Viderunt oculi, rapuerunt pectora flammae; Ammon fell sick for Thamar’s sake, 2 Sam. xiii. 2.  The beauty of Esther was such, that she found favour not only in the sight of Ahasuerus, “but of all those that looked upon her.”  Gerson, Origen, and some others, contended that Christ himself was the fairest of the sons of men, and Joseph next unto him, speciosus prae filiis hominum, and they will have it literally taken; his very person was such, that he found grace and favour of all those that looked upon him.  Joseph was so fair, that, as the ordinary gloss hath it, filiae decurrerent per murum, et ad fenestras, they ran to the top of the walls and to the windows to gaze on him, as we do commonly to see some great personage go by:  and so Matthew Paris describes Matilda the Empress going through Cullen. [4891]P.  Morales the Jesuit saith as much of the Virgin Mary.  Antony no sooner saw Cleopatra, but, saith Appian, lib. 1, he was enamoured of her. [4892]Theseus at the first sight of Helen was so besotted, that he esteemed himself the happiest man in the world if he might enjoy her, and to that purpose kneeled down, and made his pathetical