32
But whan thou lokest on Iuno, sche wil schewe thee grete dyversitee of semblauntz; for al be it that the hool, trewely considered, be luno, natheles it conteyneth some dele of Minerve and Venus and Luna and Cibella and Deane and Fortune and Parcas.Compare Plutarch, Crassus, 17, 6: “And the first warning sign came to him from this very goddess, whom some call Venus, others Juno, while others (cf. Cornutus 6) still regard her as the natural cause which supplies from moisture the beginnings and seeds of everything, and points out to mankind the source of all blessings. for as they were leaving her temple (where, Plutarch says, he had been taking an inventory of the treasures), first the younger Crassus stumbled and fell at the gate, and then his father fell over him” (Perrin’s translation). The identification with Aphrodite, which occurs on inscriptions from Delos, is due to her Astarte side; to Lucian in this case it is of course particularly suggested by the famous cestus. What suggested the other goddesses is not clear to me in the case of Athena or of Nemesis; the rays indicate Selene, the distaff Artemis, and the sceptre the Parcae, or Moirai (Fates). cestus And in that oon hond sche holt a troncheon, and in that other a distaf; and on hir hede sche bereth rayes, and a tour, and that ceynt that men arayen with Venus Celestial allone. And abouten hir sche hath mo gold and precious stones right costlewe, some whyte and some watry, and manye lyk wyn and manye lyk fuyr; and therto sardoynes withouten nombre and berylles and emeraudes. Thise stones bryngen men of Egypte and Inde and Ethyope and Medye and Ermonye and Babyloyne. But I schal devyse you a thyng that is yit mo to speke of. Sche bereth on hir hede a ston that hight Lampe and hath his name after that that it doth. That ston schyneth in the nyght with grete claretee and serveth all the temple with light, right as it were of lampes. In the daye his schyninge is feble but it hath a right fuyry aspect.Compare Herodotus2, 44, on the great emerald pillar in the temple of Melkart at Tyre; also Mandeville, pp. 239, 276, ed. Halliwell, on luminous stones in the possession of the Emperor of Cathay and of Prester John. Diodorus (3, 39, 8) credits the topaz with this power. And ther is an other merveylle in that ydole. Gif thou loke on hir stondynge ayenst hir, sche loketh on thee, and if thou remeve thee, hir regard folweth thee; natheles if an other beholde hir fro the tothere syde, sche doth right so to him also.
