Thus it
is she who provokes Pandarus to the treachery which purposed to fulfil
the rape of Helen by the murder of her husband in time of truce; and then
the Greek king, holding his wounded brother's hand, prophesies against
Troy the darkness of the aegis which shall be over all, and for ever.**
* In the breastplate and shield of Atrides the serpents and bosses are
all of this dark color, yet the serpents are said to be like rainbows;
but through all this splendor and opposition of hue, I feel distinctly
that the literal "splendor," with its relative shade, are prevalent in
the conception; and that there is always a tendency to look through the
hue to its cause. And in this feeling about color the Greeks are
separated from the eastern nations, and from the best designers of
Christian times. I cannot find that they take pleasure in color for its
own sake; it may be in something more than color, or better; but it is
not in the hue itself. When Homer describes cloud breaking from a
mountain summit, the crags become visible in light, not color; he feels
only their flashing out in bright edges and trenchant shadows; above, the
"infinite," "unspeakable" aether is torn open--but not the blue of it.
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