EROS

 

EROS

"A comly youth, in with and learning great, 

Skill'd in each art, and master of debate- 

Yet pensive now, since Eros' cruel dart 

Had pierc'd his own, but not his Delia's, heart."

H.P. Lovecraft, Why the Trees Are Tall

"He is generally described as a son of Aphrodite; but as love finds its way into the hearts of men in a manner which no one knows, the poets sometimes describe him as of unknown origin 2), or they say that he had indeed a mother, but not a father. In this stage Eros has nothing to do with uniting the discordant elements of the universe, or the higher sympathy or love which binds human kind together; but he is purely the god of sensual love, who bears sway over the inhabitants of Olympus as well as over men and all living creatures: he tames lions and tigers, breaks the thunderbolts of Zeus, deprives Heracles of his arms, and carries on his sport with the monsters of the sea. His arms, consisting of arrows, which he carries in a quiver, and of torches, 

no one can touch with impunity."

"His arrows are of different power: some are golden, and kindle love in the heart they wound; others are blunt and heavy with lead, and produce aversion to a lover. Eros is further represented with golden wings, and as fluttering about like a bird. His eyes are sometimes covered, 

so that he acts blindly."

 Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology