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Mercurius Ver: The Sources of Botticelli's Primavera

Author(s): Charles DempseySource: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 31 (1968), pp. 251-273Published by: The Warburg InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750644 .

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MERCURIUS VER: THE SOURCES OFBOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA

By Charles Dempseyn 1616 GirolamoAleandroJr. publisheda small bookto explainthe meaningof a syncretisticsolar relief in the collection of Asdrubale Mattei (P1.72b).1The relief,which is now lost, showedthe attributesof fourgods groupedarounda bust crownedwith the raysof the sun: the lyre of Apollo, the club of Hercules,a fruit swag with the autumnal harvest of Bacchus, and Mercury's caduceus.We are not here concerned with Aleandro'sheavily Macrobian interpretationof this imagery. Suffice it to say that he identified all of the four gods withone another and with the sun, and argued that each one representeda phaseof the sun's power and was identical with one of the four elements and withone of the four seasons. Thus the sun exercised his power in the summer as

Apollo, in autumn as Bacchus, in winter as Hercules, and in spring asMercury.Aleandro's last chapter, here reprinted as an appendix, deals withMercury. It assembles the classical texts showing him to be a god of springand the month of May and defining his relationship to the other principalspringtimedeities, namely Venus, Flora, Chloris, and Zephyror Favonius, thewest wind. Aleandro argued that Mercury was a god of the spring first of allon the basis of Martianus Capella, who called him the deusveriswho flew overthe freshly flowered earth.2 He also cited the commentary on this passagewritten by the Carolingianmonk Remi of Auxerre,who asserted that Mercurywas a wind god who presided over the insemination of the sea and land-andwho was actually identical with Favonius. Aleandro confessed that he did notknow where Remi got this idea, but went on to say that there was neverthelessclassical warrant for it. Virgil, for example, made Jupiter address Mercuryas a leader of the winds: 'Vade age, nate, voca zephyros et labere pinnis . . .adloquere et celeris defer mea dicta per auras.'3 The ancient poets describedMercury and the winds alike, both moving the air with beating wings; andZephyr and Mercury were particularly linked because each had wings on hishead.41 Girolamo Aleandro Jr. (HieronymusAleander Jr.), Antiquaeabulaemarmoreaeoliseffigie,symbolisquexculptae,accurata xplicatio,

Rome 1616; second edition, Paris I617;reprinted in J. G. Graevius, Thesaurusantiquitatum omanarum, eiden I694-99, v,cols. 702-62. For Aleandro, see L. Pelissier,'Les amis d'Holstenius, III: Aleandro leJeune,' Melangesd'arche'ologiet d'histoire, iii,I888, pp. 323-402, and pp. 521-608; C.Dempsey, 'The ClassicalPerceptionof Naturein Poussin's Earlier Works,' this JournalXXIX, I966, pp. 219-49. For the relief, seeC. Vermeule, 'The Dal Pozzo-Albani Draw-ings of Classical Antiquities in the RoyalLibrary at Windsor Castle,' Transactionsf the

American Philosophical Society, n.s. lvi, part 2,1966, pp. 5-170, no. 8380.2 Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiaeet Mercurii, i, 27: 'Tum vero conspicerestotius mundi gaudia convenire: nam ettellus floribus luminata, quippe veris deumconspexerat subvolare Mercurium ... .3 Virgil, Aeneid, iv, 223ff. See alsoBoccaccio, Genealogiaedeorum,II. vii: 'Ventoagere Mercurii est.' E. Wind, Pagan Mysteriesin the Renaissance, London 1958, p. Io9,similarly associated Mercury with Zephyr inhis discussion of Botticelli's Primavera.4 For Zephyr's winged head see Philo-stratus, Imagines, i, 24, and see the Pompeiianwall painting of the marriage of Zephyr and

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252 CHARLES DEMPSEYThe advent of Favonius or Zephyr, the west wind, marked the beginningof spring. Here, among numerous other authors, Aleandro quoted Pliny,who dated the beginning of the cycle of nature to the firstblowing of Zephyr'swarm fertilizing breath. Favonius, according to Pliny, is the genitalis spiritus

mundi, he generative spirit of the world, and his name derives fromfovere,'to foster'.5 Favonius, called verispater by Claudian,6 softens the wintry skyand opens the seas to navigation. Again Pliny is the principal source: 'Verergo aperit navigantibusmaria: cuius in principio Favonii hibernum molliuntcoelum.'7Mercury is also a god of navigation. He is the son of Maia, loveliest of thePleiades; the rising of the Pleiades in early May reopened the sea for travelagain, after the storms of late spring. For this reason the Ides of May weresacred to Mercury and on this day the merchants dedicated a temple to him.Here Aleandro's principal source was Festus: 'Maiis Idibus mercatorum diesfestus erat, quod eo die Mercurii aedes esset dedicata.'8 Mercury is thusassociated with May, the spring month which he named after his mother.9This association is borne out by an ancient rustic calendar which Aleandrocited where May is dedicated both to Mercury and to Flora-SACRUM.MERCUR. ET. FLORAE.10 We may add, although Aleandro did notmention it, that Ovid dated the end of spring to the night of 13 May, whenall seven of the Pleiades were first fully visible.11 Spring thus begins andends with the same cloud-dispelling wind, starting with the advent ofZephyr, and departing with Mercury, in whose month the season turns tosummer.Aleandro next took up Mercury's relationship with the other deities ofspring. First among these is Venus, and the locus lassicusor her identificationas the moving spirit of the fertile spring is Lucretius's De rerumnatura, nChloris, discovered in I827 (in H. Roux Ain6,Herculanum et Pompeii: Recueil general despeintures . . . reproduitsd'apris Le Antichita diErcolano, II Museo Borbonico. . ., Paris 1875,p. 228). Mercury's wings generally appearnot on his head, but his hat; see, however,Apuleius, Metamorphosis,x, 30.5 Pliny, Naturalis historiae, xvi, 39: 'Ordoautem naturae annuus ita se habet: primusest conceptus flare incipiente vento favonio,ex a.d. fere vi idus Febr. hoc maritanturviviscentia e terra, quippe cum etiam equaein Hispania, ut diximus: hic est genitalisspiritus mundi a fovendo dictus, ut quidamexistimavere. flat ab occasu aequinoctiali verinchoans.' See also Varro, De re rustica, i, 29,and Columella, De re rustica, XI, ii, 15. TheRomans gave a day in the calendar, 7February, to Favonius, and this marked thefirst day of spring (although Pliny warnsfarmers that, regardless of the officiallydesignated day of Favonius's arrival, springhas not really come until his warming breathcan actually be felt); see InscriptionesItaliae,

Rome, 1937-63, xiii, fasc. ii (Fasti et Elogia,A. Degrassi ed.), pp. 407 and 421.6 Claudian, De raptuProserpinae, i, 73.7Pliny, Naturalis historia, ii, 47-8 Festus, De significatione verborum,p. 133.See also Ovid, Fasti, v, 663, and for otherreferences, Inscriptiones Italiae, xiii, fasc. ii,pp. 458f.9 Ovid, Fasti, v, 103f.-'at tu maternodonasti nomine mensem,/ inventor curvae,furibus apte, fidis.'10For further references, see InscriptionesItaliae, loc. cit. Aleandro makes the furtherpoint that, since Flora was the bride ofZephyr (as the earth nymph Chloris she wasraped by Zephyr and metamorphosed intoFlora), this is a further argument for actuallyidentifying Mercury and Zephyr.11Ovid, Fasti, v, 599-602:

Pliadas aspicies omnes totumque sororumagmen, ubi ante Idus nox erit una super.turn mihi non dubiis auctoribus incipit aestas,et tepidi finem tempora veris habent.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 253particularthe opening invocation to VenusGenetrix.12 enus's month is April.13Aleandro began by recalling the fable of Mercury's union with Venus, fromwhich Cupid was born.14 He pointed out that this most aptly signifiesspring,for it is Cupid who inspires living creatures with passionate desire (cupiditas),goading them to follow Venus so that all life, whether of the land, the sea, orthe air, will reproduce itself. Besides Lucretius, Aleandro's most explicitsource was Columella:

. . . nunc sunt genitalia tempora mundi:Nunc amor ad coitus properat,nunc spiritusorbisBacchaturVeneri, stimulisquecupidinisactusIpse suos adamat partus, et fetibus implet.15'Now who is there to deny us?' asked Aleandro. 'We have shown thatMercury is the same as Favonius, and we have seen that he joined with thatsame Venus who was thought to be the goddess of plants and flowers. InGreek the goddess of plants and flowers was called Chloris (because of thequality of greenness), and in Latin she was named Flora (after the flowers).The month of April was given as much to Flora as to Venus, and the monthof May which follows was dedicated to Mercury, as Plutarch says in Numa.And on this subject both Varro and Pliny teach us that Venus [as much asFlora] was the goddess of gardens. Of especial pertinence here is Catullus'selegy on the Lock of Berenice, where Venus is called Chloris. For in thispoem Venus, Arsinoe, Chloris and Zephyritis are synonymous; and if youinterpret it any other way you will not capture the poet's meaning.'16

12 Lucretius, De rerumnatura, i, 1-43 (seealso v. 737-40).13Ovid, Fasti, iv, I-I8 ('venimus adquartum, quo tu celeberrima mense:/etvatem et mensem scis, Venus, esse tuos').See also below, note 22. Ovid, Fasti, iv, 6If.,derives the name 'April' from the Greek&app6q,hence also the name 'Aphrodite'.14See Cicero, De natura deorum, ii. 59, 6o.This text is crucially important to Renais-sance conceptions of multiple Cupids (anotion to which Aleandro made no reference;neither, I think, did Botticelli). See EgonVerheyen, 'Eros et Anteros: "L'Iducationde Cupidon" et la pretendue "Antiope" duCorrege,' Gazette des Beaux-arts, lxv, I965,pp. 321I-40 (with a complete account ofprevious bibliography). As Aleandroobserved, Hermaphroditus was more com-monly held to be the offspring of Mercuryand Venus; this too he holds to be appro-priate to the spring, because of the bisexualnature of plants. And, in regard to therelationship between Mercury and Zephyr,he adduces Plutarch: 'Nec silentio praetere-undum, quod Plutarchus in amatorio exnescio cujus sententia Amorem Favonii jfiliumfecit.' Italics mine.

15 Columella, De re rustica,x, 196-9.16 Aleandro is thinking of Catullus lxvi.5Iff.:abiunctaepauloante comaemeafata sororeslugebant, cum se Memnonis Aethiopisunigena mpellensnutantibusaerapennisobtulitArsinoesLocridosalesequus,isque per aetherias me tollens avolat umbraset Veneriscastocollocat n gremio.ipsasuumZephyritis o famulum egarat,GraiaCanopeis ncolalitoribus.Cornish's translation (Loeb Library) reads:'My sister locks, sundered from me justbefore, were mourning for my fate, when theown brother of Ethiopian Memnon appeared,striking the air with waving wings, thewinged courser of Locrian Arsinoe. And hesweeping me away flies through the airs ofheaven and places me in the holy bosom ofVenus. On that service had the lady ofZephyrium, the Grecian queen, who sojournson the shores of Canopus, herself sent herown minister. Thus Venus [the poemcontinues] ... set me, a new constellation,among the ancient stars.' Arsinoe wasindeed deified as Arsinoe Aphrodite, and atemple was built to her on the promontoryof Zephyrium. But this reading of the text,which is notoriously corrupt, depends on


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254 CHARLES DEMPSEYIn 1477 Lorenzo di Pierfrancescode'Medici purchased a villa at Castello,and very likely in the following year Botticelli painted the Primavera(P1.72c)for that villa. The establishmentwas in fact a working farm, and is called asmuch in a Denunzia eturnedin 1480 by Lorenzo and his brotherGiovanni: 'Vn

podere posto allolmo achastello popolo disamichele luogho detto aluiuaio consua uochabolj & confini, et chonun palagio designore et chonorto murato, etchonsua apartenenze dimasserizie, el quale tegnamo per nostro habitare etper nostro vso ... '17The earliest particular mention of Botticelli's Primaveraand of the Birthof Venus)s by Vasari: 'Per la citta, in diverse case fece tondi da sua mano, efemmine ignude assai; delle quali oggi ancora a Castello, villa del DucaCosimo [Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's grandson], sono due quadri figurati,l'uno, Venere che nasce, e quelle aure e venti che la fanno venire in terra congli Amori; e cosi un'altra Venere, che le Grazie la fioriscono, dinotando laPrimavera; le quali da lui con grazia si veggono espresse.'is8We could wish for more. Yet we have learned two crucially importantthings: that the Primaverawas painted for a rural retreat, in fact a farm, andwhat its subject matter is. For slender though Vasari's description is, anddespite the tricks his memory has played him in the details of his account, hisnomenclature is perfectly correct. The subject of Botticelli's Primavera,hetitle the painting has borne since Vasari bestowed it, is in fact spring. Springis shown in two phases: from its beginning with the blowing of the west wind(Favonius, or Zephyr) to its fullness in the month of April, represented byVenus; and from April to its end in May, presided over by Mercury.The succession of figures correspondsto the elegant and stately rhythmicalmovement of the painting from right to left, an apparently eccentric reversalof our normal tendency to read a painting as we read print, from left to right.Zephyr rushesin from the right. The trees bend at the force of his movement

Bentley's reading of line 54 as 'obtulitArsinoes Locridos ales equus,' arguing that'Locridos' refers to Cyrenaica, where therewas also a temple to Arsinoe Aphrodite, andwhich was originally a Locrian settlement.Renaissance editors of Catullus from Avan-tius to Scaliger have it, 'obtulit ArsinoesChloridosales equus,' a reading which is thebasis of Aleandro's equation of Venus withChloris and Zephyritis (i.e., 'bride ofZephyr'). This reading of line 54, andhence this identity, almost certainly dependsonPoliziano, the first editor of Catullus (al-though he never published an edition) whowas competent in Greek, and many of whoseemendations of this poem (one that I knowof in this passage) on this basis still stand.For the problem of Catullus lxvi and thispassage, see Ugo Foscolo, La Chioma diBerenice,Bari 1803; R. Ellis, A Commentary nCatullus,London I889, p. 373f.; and especiallyC. Nigra, La Chiomadi Berenice, Milan 189I.For the fullest summary of pre-Bentleian

scholarship on the poem, see Vossius'sedition of Catullus, Leiden I684.17H. Horne, Alessandro Filipepi, London1908, Appendix ii, Document xv.18 Vasari, Milanesi ed., iii, p. 312. Theonly possible earlier reference to the paint-ings, in the 'Anonimo Gaddiano,' is toogeneral to be of any use for their icono-graphy (see Horne, op. cit., Appendix ii,Document ii). The most important studiesof the Primavera are: A. Warburg, SandroBotticelli's 'Geburt der Venus' und 'Friihling',Leipzig 1893, reprinted with additions inGesammelteSchriften,Leipzig 1932, i, pp.- 5-68and pp. 307-28; E. Gombrich, 'Botticelli'sMythologies: A Study in the NeoplatonicSymbolism of his Circle', this Journal, VIII,1945, pp. 7-60 (with summary of earlierbibliography); E. Wind, Pagan Mysteries inthe Renaissance, London 1958, pp. 100-20;and E. Panofsky, Renaissanceand Renascences nWesternArt, Uppsala 1960, pp. 191-200 (withfurther bibliography).


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 255as he reachesout and graspsthe earth nymph Chloris. She looks backin frightand as she does so flowersspring from her mouth and merge with the patternon the dress of the next figure. This is the Roman goddess Flora, Chloristransformed,who scatters the flowers created by the warm breath of Zephyr.In the centre of the painting stands Venus, framed in a natural arch formedby the boughs of the apple trees which close the garden at the back. Cupid,blindfolded and shooting an arrow tipped with flame, flies above her head.19Her gesturing hand leads us on to the three Graces, who with clasped handsdance a stately round, and who here assume their double function as theattendants of Venus (and the followers of Mercury) and as the springtimeHorae. The elegant, rippling motion initiated by Zephyr'simpetuous entranceat the right of the painting is brought to a conclusion in Mercury. All motionstops with him as he stands with his back turned to the other figuresand withstudied nonchalance softensthe clouds into a thin mist with his wand.Mercury'sbehaviour, his curious isolation from the rest of the figures,andhis presence in a group of otherwise normal springtimedeities, have been thestumbling block to successfulunderstanding of the Primavera'smagery. NowAleandro's chapter on MercuriusVergives us good reason to suppose thatwe need look no further than the season of spring itself to account for hispresence and behaviour.20 The problem now becomes one of focusing theevidence gathered in a seventeenth-century text on Mercury's nature in amanner which will shed light on the meaning of a late Quattrocento paintingdestined for the rural villa of a Medici prince.Help in this comes from a most unexpected quarter, an engraving entitledSpring (Pl. 72a) by Virgil Solis of Nuremberg (15I4-I562).21 The engravingis the firstof a set of four illustrating the seasonsof the year. At the left Venusenters in the embrace of Mars. Flora is in the centre, riding in a triumphalcar; blindfolded Cupid flies above her. Mercury exits at the right, walkingwith his back turned to the others. The basic scheme follows the rustic Romancalendar. The firstRoman calendar, traditionallyheld to have been institutedby Romulus, was not organized according to the turning of the solar or lunaryear, but followed the changing seasons of the farmer'syear. It consisted often months. The first of these was March, which Romulus named after hisfather Mars, and the second was April, named after the mother of Aeneas,Venus.22 The third month of the rustic calendar, May, was dedicated to

19It is Cupid in attendance, the fact thatthe scene is set in a garden of apple trees (afruit proper to Venus; see, e.g., Philostratus,Imagines, i, 6), and that the central figure isframed in a spray of myrtle, which clearlyestablishes her identity as Venus.20 Mercury has been the basis by which, inPanofsky's words (op. cit., p. 193), 'we mayinfer the presence and import of a"metaliteral" significance in Botticelli's com-position'. The source in which recentattempts to explain this 'metaliteral signifi-cance' have been founded is the Neoplatonismof Ficino; and at the heart of Neoplatonicexegesis of the Primavera lie two assumptions:

that Mercury cannot otherwise be accountedfor, and that the Primavera ears a program-matic relationship to the Birth of Venus.Both assumptions are questioned in thispaper.21 Bartsch, Peintre-Graveur,33.22See Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 12;Ausonius, Eclogarumiber,x, 5ff.:

Martius et generis Romani praesul et anni,prima dabas Latiis tempora consulibus.Aeneadum genetrix vicino nomen Aprilidas Venus: est Marti namque Aphrodita comes.See also Ovid, Fasti, i, 39 and iii, 73. InFasti, iv. 129f., Ovid describesspring as Marsand Venus locked in embrace. This accords


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256 CHARLES DEMPSEYMercury, as we have already learned from Aleandro, who quoted an inscrip-tion from a rustic calendar dedicating the month to Mercury and to Flora,and recalled Plutarch's testimony of this in the life of Numa.2 The rusticcalendar is unique in this respect. The Manilian calendar, for example,which Warburg proved was the basis for Cossa's frescoes in the PalazzoSchifanoia, gives May to Apollo and June to Mercury.24 Other calendarsdedicate May to Jupiter.25 Virgil Solis's engraving of Spring thus starts boththe season and the year with March and April, Venus in the embrace of Mars,and ends the season with May, personified by Mercury-in whose monthsummer begins.26 Flora stands between April and May because, as Ovidreports, both months are hers, which explains why the Floralia extended from28 April to 3 May:

Mater ades florum, ludis celebrandaiocosis!distulerampartesmense prioretuas.incipis Aprili, transisin tempora Mai:alter te fugiens, cum venit, alter habet.27The Primavera,destined for the rural villa of a Medici prince, is also basedon the rustic farmer's calendar. The scene is set in a narrow garden framed byapple trees. The ground is scattered with flowers, and a spray of myrtle fansout around the central figure of Venus, who dominates the setting. Upon this

with Ausonius and with Virgil Solis'sengraving (not to mention Botticelli's Marsand Venus). The source for this, as Ausonius's'Aeneadum genetrix' unmistakably testifies,is Lucretius's famous opening invocation toVenus Genetrix (De rerum natura, i, 1-43),where Venus is invoked as a spring goddess,as the governess of life in nature, and as thefounder of the Roman race. Here too Venusis described in Mars's embrace, and hercharacteristics very heavily influenceOvid's account of her (Fasti iv, 85-132).Lucretius's Venus Genetrixis, in other words,identical with the Venus to whom Romulusdedicated the second month of the calendar,and in this respect she too has something ofthe character of a rustic deity-certainly farmore Latin than Greek in nature. This is theway Dionysius Lambinus, in his famouscommentary of 1570 on the De rerumnatura,tells us we must understand its opening lines:'AENEADUM . . . Quemadmodum autema Romanis Mars, eo quod Romuli paterhaberetur, Romani generis auctor dicebatur:ita Venus Romanorum genetrix appellabatur,propterea quod Aeneae mater existimabatur.Idcirco Romulus cum annum describeret,eumque ex decem mensibus constitueret,primum a Marte patre, Martium, secunduma Venere, tanquam matre, aut certe pro-

genetrice, Aprilem nominavit.' It is note-worthy that she is planetary in nature,something Lambinus tells us we learn fromLucretius's second line, which describesVenus moving 'caeli subter labentia signi.'Lucretius, as we shall see, is a fundamentalsource for the Primavera,and there can be nodoubt that Botticelli's Venus is the VenusGenetrix of the rustic calendar. The sameholds true for his painting of Mars and Venus.23 Plutarch, Numa, xix, 3.24Manilius, Astronomicon, i. 439-47. Seealso Warburg, GesammelteSchriften, Leipzig1932, ii, pp. 46 I-81.25Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 12.26 See Ovid, Fasti, v, 599-602; and, forfurther references, Inscriptiones Italiae, xiii,fasc. ii, p. 454.27 Ovid, Fasti, v, 183-209: 'Come, motherof flowers, that we may honour thee withmerry games; last month I put off givingthee thy due. Thou dost begin in April andpassest into the time of May; the one monthclaims thee as it flies, the other as it comes.'See Inscriptiones taliae, xiii, fasc. ii, pp. 450ff.Note that Virgil Solis has representedblindfolded Cupid flying above Flora's head,a detail enforcing her relationship to Venus,with whom Flora is often confused; of whichmore presently.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 257narrow stage the whole season of spring unfolds, beginning with the firstgustof Zephyr at the right, continuing through its fullness in Venus and April, andending in May and Mercury at the left. Venus, like Mercury, is representedin her rustic character. The carefully patterned, almost medieval gardensetting clearly proclaims her Venus ortorum,he goddess of gardens. Venus asthe goddess of gardens, like Mercury as the god of May, is specifically a rusticdeity. Thus Varro invokes her assistanceat the beginning of the De rerustica,recalling that it was in her honour that the rustic Vinaliawere established.28Pliny and Festus also remember her.29 But the fullest indication of her nature,to which we shall turn presently, is found in the tenth book of Columella'sDe rerustica.30Beforeconsidering the rustic frameworkof the Primavera t greater length,however, we must first turn to Warburg's fundamental study of Botticelli'sliterary sources.31a Warburg conclusively showed the fundamental relation-ship existing between the Primaverand the poetry of Poliziano. Thus he citedthe Rusticus: Auricomae,jubare exorto, de nubibus adsuntHorae,quaecoeliportasatqueatriaservant,QuasJove plenaThemisnitidopulcherrima artuEdidit, Ireneque Diceque et mixta parentiEunomie, carpuntquerecenteis Pollice foetus:Quas inter, stygio remeans Proserpinaregno,Comptior ad matrem properat: comes alma sororiIt Venus, et Venerem parvi comitanturAmores:Floraqueascivoparatosculagratamarito:In mediis,resoluta omasnudatapapillas,Ludit et alterno terrampede Gratia pulsat:Uda chorosagitatnais...32As Warburg pointed out, Poliziano has here skilfully interwoven severalancient poetic sources.The firstis Horace:

28Varro, De re rustica, I, i, 6; see also Delingua latina, vi. 20; InscriptionesItaliae, xiii,fasc. ii, p. 446f. The Vinalia were celebratedtwice, on 19 August and 23 April. See Ovid,Fasti, iv, 863ff. Botticelli has doubtlessthought of Venus (incorrectly) in connexionwith the latter, celebrated when the newwines of spring were first tasted.29Pliny, Naturalis historia, xix, 19; Festus,De significationeverborum, .v. 'Vinalia rustica,'where he writes: 'Veneri templa suntconsecrata, quia in ipsius Deae tutela sunthorti.'30Columella, De re rustica, x, I194ff.31See note 18.32Poliziano, Rusticus, vv. 2 10-21 : 'Nowrejoice, the golden-haired Hours have comedown from the clouds, they who guard thegates and the halls of heaven, to whom lovelyThemis filled with radiant Jupiter gave

birth; Irene, Dice, and Eunomia (daughterof Pollux) now pluck the newly buddedshoots. Proserpine is with them, made morelovely by their company as she retraces hersteps from the Stygian kingdom and hastensto her mother. Nourishing Venus comes,companion to her sister, and is followed bythe little loves; Flora offers welcome kisses toher eager husband [Zephyr]; and in theirmidst with hair unbound and bared breastsdances Grace, tapping the ground withrhythmic step.' As Warburg says, 'DieseTatsache allein wfirde schon fufirden Beweisgeniigen, dass Polizian auch ffr das zweiteBild der Ratgeber Botticellis gewesen ist.'The Rusticuswas published in 1483, five yearsafter the Primaverawas painted, and Polizianomay well have had the painting in mind, orperhaps his own programme for it, when hewrote these lines.


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258 CHARLES DEMPSEYSolvitur acris hiems grata vice veris et Favoni,iam Cythereachorosducit Venus imminente luna,iunctaeque Nymphis Gratiae decentesalterno terram quatiunt pede...33

Another is Lucretius:it Ver et Venus et Veneris praenuntiusantepennatusgraditur, Zephyri vestigia propterFlora quibus mater praespargensante viaicuncta coloribusegregiiset odoribusopplet.34The description of the Horae and their character clearly derives from Philo-stratus.35 And Columella is the source for Poliziano's description of Proserpinein the midst of the other springtime deities:

Praeposuit,Ditemque Iovi, letumque saluti,Et nunc inferno potitur Proserpina regno:Vos quoque iam posito luctu maestoquetimoreHuc facili gressu teneras advertite plantas,Tellurisquecomas sacrisaptate canistris.36The community of reference shared by Poliziano's Rusticus, ts sources,and Botticelli's Primaverais undeniable. All the figures represented in thePrimavera,Mercury excepted, appear in these few lines. The right half of thePrimavera, enus, Cupid, Flora, and Zephyr, is founded on the same passagefrom Lucretius, just quoted, which Poliziano adapted five years later in theRusticus.The left half, Venus and Cupid again, the Graces, and Mercury, isalso based on Horace, but on a different ode from the one Poliziano drewfrom: O Venus, regina Cnidi Paphique,sperne dilectam Cypronet vocantisture te multo Glyceraedecoramtransfer n aedem.

fervidustecum puer et solutisGratiae zonis properentqueNymphaeet parum comis sine te luventasMercuriusque.3733Horace, Odes, i. 4: 'Keen winter isbreaking up at the welcome change to springand Zephyr.... Already Cytherean Venusleads her dancing bands beneath the o'er-hanging moon, and the comely Graceslinked with Nymphs tread the earth withtripping feet.' (Bennett's trans., LoebLibrary.)3 Lucretius, De rerum natura, v, 737-40:'On come Spring and Venus, and Venus'swinged harbinger [Cupid] marching before,with Zephyr and mother Flora a pace behindhim strewing the whole path in front withbrilliant colours and filling it with scents.'(Rouse's trans., Loeb Library). Herewiththe basisalso forthe righthalf of the Primavera.

35See below, note 59-.36 Columella, De re rustica, x, 273-7:'PreferringDis to Jove and death's abode tolife, in realms below she reigns, the QueenProsperine. Come, lay aside your mourningand sad fears and hither turn with gentlesteps your tender feet and fill your sacredbaskets with earth's blossoming.' (Forster'sand Heffner's trans., Loeb Library). Com-pare the rest of this passage also with Polizi-ano-and with Virgil Solis's engraving.Dione's daughter (i.e. Venus-Urania?)' ispresent, as are Nymphs who are namedcompanions of the Muses..3 Horace, Odes, i, 30: 'O Venus, queen ofCnidos and of Paphos, forsake thy beloved


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMAVERA 259The passage I have quoted from Poliziano's Rusticuscombines severalancient sources, but does not literally copy any of them; he has deleted theNymphs described by Horace, changed the Graces into Hours, introducedProserpine on the basis of Columella, and described Venus and her train in

a manner which is both clearly based on Lucretius and a consciousdeparturefrom him.38 Botticelli has followed his Horatian model equally literally(Venus... fervidus tecum puer et solutis Gratiae zonis... Mercurisque),yetwith equal freedom-he has deleted the Nymphs and the figure of Iuventasas inessential to his idea. Poliziano's Rusticus s a new Latin poem consciouslybased in the classical tradition, but not a slavish imitation. The same may besaid of the Primavera;t too is a Rusticusbased in the same sources and of thesame spirit, and it too speaks a pure Latin syntax.39Like Poliziano Botticelli has also subtly adapted Lucretius's passage (ItVer et Venus et Veneris praenuntiusante...) to his own meaning by adding,not Proserpine,but the earth nymph Chloris. He has done so on the basis ofthe Fasti. The speakeris Flora:Chloris ram,quaeFloravocor:corruptaLatinonominis est nostri littera Graeca sono.Chloris ram,nymphecampifelicis,ubi audisrem fortunatis ante fuisseviris.

quae fuerit mihi forma, grave est narrare modestaesedgenerummatrirepperitlla deum.vererat,errabam:Zephyrus onspexit,abibam.insequitur, fugio: fortior ille fuit,et dederat fratri Boreas ius omne rapinaeausus Erechtheapraemia ferredomo.vim tamenemendatdandomihinominanuptae,inquemeononestullaquerella oro.vere fruorsemper: sempernitidissimusannus,arborhabetfrondes,pabulasemperhumus.estmihifecundusdotalibushortus n agris:aurafovet,liquidae onterigaturaquae.hunc meus implevit generosoflore maritusatqueait 'arbitriumu, dea,floreshabe.'saepe ego digestosvolui numerarecoloresnec potui:numerocopiamaiorerat.roscidacumprimum oliisexcussapruinaest,et variae radiis intepuere comae,conveniuntpictis ncinctaevestibusHoraeinque leves calathos munera nostra legunt.

Cyprus and betake thyself to the fair shrineof Glycera, who summons thee with bounte-ous incense! And with thee let hasten thyardent child; the Graces too, with girdlesall unloosed, the Nymphs, and Youth,unlovely without thee, and Mercury!'(Bennett's trans., Loeb Library.) Panofsky,op. cit., p. I93, justifies his 'metaliteral'interpretation of the Primavera rincipally onthe basis that Mercury does not appear with

the other springtime deities in Poliziano'spoetry. But he does appear here, in a sourcecertainly well known to Poliziano.38 A departure which seems clearlyinspired by Poliziano's knowledge of thePrimavera.39Botticelli may not have eliminatedaltogether Horace's figure of luventas, butincorporated her instead into the Graces; forthe argument of this, see note 6o.


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260 CHARLES DEMPSEYprotinusaccedunt Charitesnectuntque coronassertaquecaelestesimplicituracomas.prima per immensassparsinova semina gentes:unius tellus ante coloriserat.40

'I was Chloris, who am now called Flora,' the goddess announces at thebeginning of the passage, and at the end explains the significance of hermetamorphosis: 'Before, the earth was of one colour.' Botticelli has represen-ted this by showing Chloris dressed in a plain, unadorned shift. But as shefeels green Zephyr's breath on her back and looks over her shoulder flowersspring from her mouth and merge with the flowered pattern on Flora's dress.As Wind observed, these flowers, like the merging Chloris-Flora, are represen-ted in a double aspect. They are real, as can be seen by the fact that thefingers of Chloris's left hand pass both in front of and behind the pattern onFlora's dress (and also by Flora's trailing veil, which shows the flowers on herdress reforming themselves into those on the ground), and they are alsoemblematic, the pattern on Flora's dress. From Chloris emerges Flora, anelegant pictorialization of the poetic metaphor of the bare earth becomingnewly mantled with flowers at the first breath of spring.41Botticelli has subtly altered the emphasis of Lucretius's description of theparade of springtime deities, changing it through Ovid's account of Flora'smetamorphosis into a representation of the growing process of spring. Thisgrowth is completed in the figure of Venus, as we have seen the goddess ofgardens, rustica Venushortorumdea. Normally, of course, it is Flora who is thepatroness of gardens, she who is also a goddess of the spring. Venus is thusshown with something of the character of Flora, with whom she is oftenconfused.42 In the same way that Chloris, nymph of the bare earth, is trans-formed into Flora by Zephyr's blowing, so Flora, who scatters the ground

40oOvid, Fasti, v, I95-222: 'I who am nowcalled Flora was formerly Chloris: a Greekletter of my name is corrupted in the Latinspeech. Chloris I was, a nymph of thehappy fields where, as you have heard, dweltfortunate men of old. Modesty shrinks fromdescribing my figure; but it procured thehand of a god for my mother's daughter.'Twas Spring, and I was roaming; Zephyrcaught sight of me; I retired; he pursued andI fled; but he was the stronger, and Boreashad given his brother full right of rape bydaring to carry off the prize from the houseof Erechtheus. However, he made amendsfor his violence by giving me the name ofbride, and in my marriage-bed I have naughtto complain of. I enjoy perpetual spring;most buxom is the year ever; the tree isclothed with leaves, the ground with pasture.In the fields that are my dower, I have afruitful garden, fanned by the breeze andwatered by a spring of running water. Thisgarden my husband filled with noble flowersand said, "Goddess, be queen of flowers".

Oft did I wish to count the colours in thebeds, but could not; the number was pastcounting. Soon as the dewy rime is shakenfrom the leaves, and the varied foliage iswarmed by the sunbeams, the Hoursassemble, clad in dappled weeds, and cullmy gifts in light baskets. Straightway theGraces draw near, and twine garlands andwreaths to bind their heavenly hair. I wasthe first to scatter new seeds among thecountless peoples; till then the earth hadbeen of but one colour.' (Frazer's trans.,Loeb Library.)41 See Wind, op. cit., pp. Io If.42See note 40 for Ovid's description of theGraces and Hours, both normally thecompanions of Venus, attendant on Flora.Virgil Solis's engraving of Spring (pl. 2)shows blind Cupid attending Flora, notVenus. For further documentation of thecloseness of Venus and Flora, see J. Held,'Flora, Goddess and Courtesan', De ArtibusOpuscula XL: Essays in Honor of ErwinPanofsky, Princeton 1961, pp. 201-18.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 261with the first flowersof spring, growsinto Venus, the goddessof April and thefull ripenessof the season. And as Ovid was the basis for Botticelli's depictionof the relationship between Chloris and Flora, so Catullus, as Aleandroobserved, definesVenus's relation to Chloris and Flora in his elegy on the lockof Berenice: 'For in this poem Venus. . . Chloris and Zephyritis [i.e., the brideof Zephyr] are synonymous; and if you interpret it any other way you will notcapture the poet's meaning.'43The sources for Venus's identification as the goddess of gardens are allconcerned with rustic matters and with the festivals and seasons of theancient farmer's calendar. The fullest description of Venus's nature in thisrole occurs in Columella's De re rustica,to which we may now return. Itappears in Columella's extraordinary tenth book, a Georgicn imitation ofVirgil.44 The subject of this book is the care of gardens ('Hortorum quoquete cultus, Silvine, docebo'),45where Venus appears as the spirit of April:

Tuque tuis, Paphie, Paphien iam pange calendis;Dum cupit, et cupidae quaerit se iungere matri,Et mater facili mollissima subiacet arvo,Ingenera; nunc sunt genitalia tempora mundi:Nunc amor ad coitus properat,nunc spiritusorbisBacchaturVeneri, stimulisque cupidinis actusIpse suos adamat partus, et fetibus implet.Nunc pater aequoreus,nunc et regnatoraquarum,Ille suam Tethyn, hic pellicit Amphitriten,Et iam caeruleo partus enixa maritoUtraque nunc reseratpontumque natantibusimplet.Maximus ipse deum posito iam fulmine fallaxAcrisioneos veteres imitatur amores,Inque sinus matris violento defluit imbre.Nec genetrix nati nunc aspernaturamorem,Sed patitur nexus flammata cupidine tellus.Hinc maria, hinc montes, hinc totus denique mundusVer agit: hinc hominum pecudum volucrumquecupido,Atque amor ignescit menti, saevitque medullis,Dum satiata Venus fecundoscompleat artus,Et generet varias soboles, semperque frequentetProle nova mundum, vacuo ne torpeat aevo.46

43This reading of Catullus's text almostcertainly depends on Poliziano's emenda-tions; see note 16.44Columella, De re rustica, x, Preface, 2,and lines 1-5.45Ibid., line i.46 Ibid., lines I92-214: 'On thy Calends,Paphian Queen, plant the Paphian lettuce.While the plant desires its mother-earth'sembrace, who longs for it, and she most softbeneath the yielding Earth lies waiting, granther increase. Now's the time when all theworld is mating, now when love to unionhastes; the spirit of the world in Venus'srevel joins and, headlong urged by Cupid's

goads, itself its progeny embraces and withteeming offspring fills. The father of the seahis Tethys now allures, and now the lord ofall the waves his Amphitrite; each anondisplays to her caerulean lord a new-bornbreed, and fills the sea with swimmers. Kingof gods himself lays down his thunder andrepeats, as once by craft with the Acrisianmaid, his ancient loves and in impetuousrain descends into the lap of Mother Earth;nor does the mother her son's love refuse,but his embrace, inflamed by love, permits.Hence seas, hence hills, hence even the wholewide world is celebrating spring; hencecomes desire to man and beast and bird, and


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262 CHARLES DEMPSEYVenus stands in the centre of the Primavera,attended by Cupid, thepersonificationof the passionate force (cupiditas)which goads living things tofollow her. He is blindfolded, with a flame-tipped arrow notched in his bow,a literal translation of Columella's line, 'atque amor ignescit menti.'47 It ishe who causes the earth, 'flammata cupidine,' to receive Jupiter's embracein the form of rain and put forth flowers. He is the procreative impulse ofnature, with his arrowscausing living things to follow in Venus's path. Thesense of the figure is from these lines of Columella: 'Nunc amor ad coitusproperat: nunc spiritus orbis Bacchatur Veneri, stimulisque cupidinis actus.'The abstract amorof the poem is translated into a literal, personifiedAmor nBotticelli's painting.Enough classical texts have now been introduced to allow us to pause for amoment and to remark upon their character and use in the picture. Imme-diately strikingis the extraordinarily literary quality of the programmeof thePrimaverand, if I may say so, the almost classicpurity of its sources. Catullus,

Horace, Lucretius, the Fasti, Pliny's sections on the rustic calendar, theScriptoreserumusticarum,ll are combined in a fashion which shows not onlygood poetic taste, but also sound scholarship. The Primavera'sources werenot randomly chosen. They are in fact profoundly related and were broughttogether in a manner which betrays the penetrating judgement of a first-ratetextual critic. Ovid's descriptionin the Fasti of Venus as the goddess of Apriland the spring,48 Columella's description of Venushortorum, ven Pliny'sprosaic account of the beginnings of the agriculturalyear,49all ring with theaccents of Lucretius's invocation to VenusGenetrixn the first book of theDe rerumnatura:Aeneadum enetrix,hominumdivomquevoluptas,almaVenus,caeli subter abentia igna

flames of love burn in the heart and in themarrow rage, till Venus, satiated, impreg-nates their fruitful members and a variedbrood brings forth, and ever fills the worldwith new offspring, lest it grow tired withchildless age.' (Forster's and Heffner'strans., Loeb Library.) It is noteworthy in thisregard that Botticelli's Venus is quite likelypregnant.Because Vasari's description of the Prima-vera and Birth of Venus,which he clearly hadnot recently seen, is slightly confused does notmean that he was, as some have argued,indifferent to or unaware of their meaning.That he was not is assured by his painting ofMarine Venus as the spirit of Acqua in thePalazzo Vecchio (see C. Dempsey, 'TheTextual Sources of Poussin's "Marine Venus"in Philadelphia,' this Journal, XXIX, I966,pp. 438-42), which depends on this samepassage from Columella for its representationof Neptune, Tethys, the Amphitrides, in factof the sea filled with swimmers ('pontumquenatantibus implet'). His second primary

source is Claudian's Epithalamium de NuptiisHonorii Augusti, 149-74.4 From a linguistic point of view it is oftenvery difficult to tell whether a Latin writeris thinking abstractly or in terms of personi-fied beings; it does not seem likely that theRomans really did distinguish between thetwo in the way we do. In this respect, notein the appendix that Aleandro capitalizes'Cupidinis' when quoting Columella. It hasbeen pointed out before that Poliziano alsouses the figure of Cupid with a flaming arrowin the Giostra (I. 40). Moschus, i, 27-9,refers to Cupid's armament 'dipped in fire'.Botticelli's Cupid, however, is directlyinspired by Columella.48Ovid, Fasti, v. 99ff.49Pliny, Naturalis historia, xvi, 39: 'hocmaritantur vivescentia e terra . . . hic estgenitalis spiritus mundi.' Compare, e.g.,Columella, De re rustica, x, 195: 'Nunc suntgenitalia tempora mundi . . . nunc spiritusorbis bacchatur Veneri.'


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 263quae mare navigerum, quae terras frugiferentisconcelabras, per te quoniam genus omne animantumconcipitur visitque exortum lumina solis:te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeliadventumque tuum, tibi suavis daedala tellussummittit flores, tibi rident aequora pontiplacatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum.nam simul ac species patefactast verna dieiet reserata viget genitabilis aura favoniaeriae primum volucris te, diva, tuumquesignificant initum perculsae corda tua vi.inde ferae pecudes persultant pabula laetaet rapidos tranant amnis: ita capta leporete sequitur cupide quo quamque inducere pergis.denique per maria ac montis fluviosque rapacisfrondiferasque domos avium camposque virentisomnibus incutiens blandum per pectora amoremefficis ut cupide generatim saecla propagent.quae quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernasnec sine te quicquam dias in luminis orasexoritur necque fit laetum necque amabile quicquam,te sociam studeo scribendis versibus essequos ego de rerum natura pangere conorMemmiadae nostro, quem tu, dea, tempore in omniomnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebus.50

50 Lucretius, De rerum natura, i, 1-27:'Venus Genetrix, mother of Aeneas and hisrace, delight of men and gods, nurturingVenus, who beneath the smooth-movingheavenly signs fillest with thyself the sea full-laden with ships, the earth with her kindlyfruits, since through thee every generation ofliving things is conceived and rising looks upon the light of the sun: from thee, O goddess,from thee the winds flee away, the clouds ofheaven from thee and thy coming; for theethe wonder-working earth puts forth sweetflowers, for thee the wide stretches of oceanlaugh, and heaven grown peaceful glowswith outpoured light. For as soon as thevernal face of day is made manifest, and thebreeze of the teeming west wind [Favonius]blows fresh and free, thee first the fowls of theair proclaim, thee divine one, and thyadvent, pierced to the heart by thy might:next the herds go wild and dance over therich pasturesand swim acrossrapid rivers, sopassionately does each one follow thee, heldcaptive by thy charm, whither thou goest onto lead them. Aye, throughout seas andmountains and sweeping torrents and theleafy dwellings of birds and verdant plains[compare Columella, De re rustica, x, 209ff.],striking soft love into the breasts of all

creatures, thou dost cause them passionatelyto beget their generations after their kind.Since therefore thou dost alone govern thenature of things, since without thee nothingcomes forth into the shining borders of light,nothing joyous and lovely is made, thee Icrave as partner in writing the verses, whichI essay to fashion touching the Nature ofThings, for my good Memmius, whom thou,goddess, hast willed at all times to excel,endowed with all gifts.' (Rouse's trans.,with one or two word changes, LoebLibrary.) Lines 28-43 go on to describeMarsin Venus's embrace, and are the source forBotticelli's Mars and Venusand Virgil Solis'srepresentation of Mars and Venus in hisengraving of Spring (pl. 2). This engraving,as we have seen, incorporates Mercury fromthe rustic calendar as the god of May,thereby showing that Virgil Solis interpretedLucretius's Venus Genetrix as the ancientRoman goddess for whom Romulus namedthe second month of his calendar. Thisaccords with Lambinus, part of whosecommentary on Lucretius is quoted in note22. It is noteworthy that Columella's textnot only depends on Lucretius from aliterary point of view, but also is associatedwith it historically; both Columella and


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264 CHARLESDEMPSEYIt is these lines to which Botticelli's other sourcesare comment; Venus ortorumis identical with VenusGenetrix,he moving spirit of nature, the mother ofRome, founder of the ancient Latin peoples.The third month of the rustic calendar, as we have seen, was given toMercury. And as the right half of the Primaveras devoted to the growth ofspring from the first gust of Zephyr to its full ripenessin Venus and April, sothe left half, towards which Venus gestureswith her right hand and a gracefulnod of her head, representsthe maturity of the season, fromApril to its end inMay.Mercury's back is turned to the rest not because he is disdainful of thembut because his month belongs equally to spring and to the summer, towardswhich he faces.51 As Aleandro reminded us, the Ides of May was sacred toMercury, a day which stands on the threshold of the new season. Moreover,Mercury is representedas the wind god which Aleandro characterized. He isshown dispelling the last wisps of cloud from the sky with his caduceus, anaction which underscores his closeness to Zephyr ('ver aperit navigantibusmaria, cuius in principio Favonii hibernum molliunt coelum')52 and toVenus ('te, dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila caeli'). In this role Mercurycompletes the movement initiated by Zephyr'simpetuous entrance. In a rela-tionship similar to Chloris's growth into Flora and into Venus, so Mercuryand Zephyr are complements, bracketing the picture and the season, thesingle breath which has brought the earth its life.Mercury and Venus are connected by the three Graces standing betweenthem, their hands locked together as they dance a stately and endless round.It is well established that the Graces appear in the Primavera ot only as thecompanions of Venus, but also as the followers of Mercury.54 But there ismore to their function in the painting than this. They are dressed in thingowns and they are dancing, both very unusual in normal representationsofthe Graces.55 These very features are, however, characteristicof the Hours,who moreover are very often confused with the Graces. In antiquity Venuswas commonly described as attended not only by the Graces but also by theHours.56 Both are companions of the spring; Ovid, for example, representsboth the Gracesand the Hours in attendance on Flora.57 Homer says that theHours guard the gates of heaven, and in this both Ovid and Philostratusfollow him.58 But more than this, as representatives of the seasons, theyLucretius were discovered at the same timeby Poggio. To the 15th-century

scholar thetwo texts were inextricably bound. Colu-mella was first published in 1472, togetherwith Cato and Varro, in a volume entitledScriptoresrerumrusticarum.51 Ovid, Fasti, v, 599-602.52 Pliny, Naturalis historiae,ii, 47.

53 Lucretius, De rerumnatura,i, 6.54 Panofsky, op. cit., p. 193, note 6.5 Panofsky, loc. cit. This statement appliesto visual representations of the Graces; as Ihave indicated, the left half of the Primaverais based on Horace, Odes, i, 30, where theGraces are described as Botticelli painted

them, 'solutis Gratiae zonis'.56 For Renaissance interpretations of theGraces and Hours, see L. G. Giraldi's chapteron the Graces in the Historiae deorumgentilium(idem, Opera omnia, Lyons 1696, col. 417ff.),much of which is picked up in Cartari,Imagini delli dei degl'antichi, Venice 1647 (Isted., Lyons 1556), pp. 286-90. The functionsof the two very frequently overlap, and theHours and Graces often appear even withthe same names.

57Ovid, Fasti, v, 217f., quoted above,note 40.58 Homer, Iliad, v, 749.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMAVERA 265descend to earth and preside over the abiding principle of fertility in nature;it is in this guise that Botticelli has shown his Graces, following Philostratus:

That the gates of heaven are in charge of the Horae we may leave to thespecial knowledge and prerogative of Homer, for very likely he becamean intimate of the Horae when he inherited the skies; but the subject thatis here treated in the painting is easy for a man to understand. For theHorae, coming to earth in their own proper forms, with clasped handsare dancing the year through its course, I think, and the Earth in herwisdom brings forth for them all the fruits of the year. 'Tread not on thehyacinth, or the rose,' I shall not say to the Horae of the spring-time; forwhen trodden on they seem sweeter and exhale a sweeter fragrance thanthe Horae themselves. 'Walk not on the ploughed fields when soft,' I shallnot say to the Horae of the winter-time; for if they are trodden on by theHorae they will produce the ear of grain. And the golden-haired Horaeyonder are walking on the spikesof the ears, but not so as to break or bendthem; nay, they are so light that they do not even sway the stalks. It ischarming of you, O grape-vines, that ye try to lay hold of the Horae of theautumn-tide; for you doubtless love the Horae because they make you sofair and wine-sweet.Now these are our harvestings, so to speak, from the painting; but asfor the Horae themselves, they are very charming and of marvellous art.How they sing, and how they whirl in the dance! Note too the fact thatthe back of none of them is turned to us, because they all seem to cometowards us; and note the raised arm, the freedom of flying hair, the cheekwarm from the running, and the eyes that join in the dance. Perhaps theypermit us to weave a tale about the painter; for it seems to me that he,falling in with the Horae as they danced, was caught up by them into theirdance, the goddesses perhaps thus intimating that grace [hora] mustattend his painting.59Botticelli's dancing Graces correspondexactly with Philostratus'sdescrip-tion of the Horae,with the single exception that one of the Graceshas her backturned toward us, a change which only underscoresPhilostratus'spun on theword cbpa.60Botticelli has really representedthe Horaeof spring in the guise

59Philostratus, Imagines, ii, 34. (Fair-banks's trans., Loeb Library.)60 The word ,p(4 as used here by Philo-stratus denotes a quality of stylistic beauty,or grace, characterized by youthful vigour.The word appears relatively rarely in thissense; its most famous occurrence is as apersonification in the opening line of Pindar'seighth Nemean ode: 'Opc n6TVtL. This isperhaps best translated as 'Queen of YouthfulBeauty', and she is described by Pindar as the'harbinger of the divine desires of Aphrodite'.She appears again in Horace, Odes, i, 30, theode which we have seen was the basis for theleft half of the Primavera: 'et parum comissine te luventas.' Why did Botticelli omit

luventas when he painted the Primavera?No doubt because her function was sub-sumed into this word Hora. But how can wesuppose that Botticelli's advisor used Pindarand Philostratusas glosseson Horace's use ofluventas? Here is part of the passage fromPoliziano's Rusticus,already quoted:Auricomae, jubare exorto, de nubibus adsuntHorae, quae coeli portas atque atria servant

It Venus, et Venerem parvi comitantur Amores:Floraque lascivo parat oscula grata marito:In mediis, resoluta comas nudata papillas,Ludit et alterno terram pede Gratiapulsat.That use of Grace, singular, is a marvellouspoetic effect, and in meaning very close toPindar's 'Hora potnia'. Mark the closeness of


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266 CHARLESDEMPSEYof the Graces, descended from heaven to lend a grace to the garden newlybedecked with flowers. A similar idea is expressed in the passage we havealready quoted from Poliziano's Rusticusof 1483, which appeared five yearsafter the Primaverawas painted and which is so clearly familiar with itsimagery. Poliziano describes the Hours in the company of Venus, Flora andZephyr, while in their midst dances (not the Charites, ut) Grace.61The season moves to its close in May and Mercury, in whose steps theGraces follow, their dance sweetening spring's maturity. As the Hours ofspringtime they too endow the season with its fruitfulness. And a touch ofsadness too, for the round of their dance, like the round of the year, under-scores the transienceof spring. With clasped hands they follow Mercury intosummer.

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco's arming villa at Castello also housed Botticelli'sBirthof Venus(P1.72d).Because of this, and because of the closenessof its sub-ject matter to that of the Primavera,he two paintingshave been associatedfromthe time of Vasari. But it does not follow from this that the two pictureswerenecessarilypendants.62 In fact the evidence argues that they were not. Theyare not the same size. The Primaveras painted on wood; the Birthof Venusspainted on linen. The scale of figures in relation to the painted surface isdifferent. They cannot have been painted at the same time. The Birth ofVenuss later stylistically, and is normally dated to 1485-6. The Primaveradates to about 1478. This is enough in itself to assurethat the Primaveras anindependent conception.63 The argument that the Primaveramust be con-sidered one of a pair because the rhythms of the painting and the successionof its figures moves from right to left is not conclusive. The circle of theZodiac, whose turningwas thought to control the ebb and flow of the changing

Poliziano's imagery in this passage to that ofthe Primavera. I think he must have had thepainting in mind (or perhaps, as Warburgsuggested, his own programme for it) when hewrote these lines. Confirmation that Polizi-ano, at least, understood the word 'hora' inthis sense is remarkably illustrated by twolines from his elegy, 'In violas':hoc floreamrnbrosiosncingiturHora capillos,hoc tegit indocilesGratiablandasinus.Here, as in the Rusticus, Hora and Gratia arejuxtaposed, and what is interesting here isthat Hora is in the singular. This is to saythat Poliziano is making reference not onlyto the meaning of the word as 'Hour', but isalso referring to the rustic Roman goddess(the deified wife of Romulus), Hora Quirini.Hora Quirini is the ancient Roman goddessof Youth. All three concepts, Gratia, Hora,and Iuventas are brought together in Botti-celli's dancing Graces.61See notes 32 and 6o.62The Neoplatonic interpretation of thePrimavera and Birth of Venusdepends heavily

on the assumption that the paintings arependants representing Heavenly Venus andEarthly Venus. Panofsky, op. cit., p. I92,although arguing a Neoplatonic interpreta-tion of the pictures, clearly outlines thedangers of overreliance on this assumption.63For the preceding data, see Horne, op.cit., pp. 5off. and pp. 148ff. More recently,see R. Salvini, All the Paintings of Botticelli,New York I965, ii, pp. 63-5, and iii, pp.I28-9, with very judicious summaries of thepaintings. The possibility remains that,although the Primavera was independentlyconceived, the Birth of Venuswas later paintedto expand upon its idea; it seems highlyunlikely that the Primaverawas conceived witha pendant in mind. It is noteworthy that thelater picture, painted on linen and not onwood, is a much less expensive production.It is possible that the Primaverawas conceivedas the first of a series representing the fourseasons of the year, a project perhapsabandoned because of its costliness.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMAVERA 267seasons, moves counter to the rotation of the earth. In schematic form, theseasons actually do move 'backwards',marching from right to left acrossthedome of the heavens.64In my view the Birthof Venuswas not intended as a pendant to the Prima-vera;it is rather an independent expression, a refinement, of the same idea.In this painting Venus again appearsas a goddessof the spring, but conceivedin more general terms. She is not linked with the rustic calendar, but isinstead representedas the controllingprinciple of the rebirthof life. To phraseit another way, Columella's Venushortorumas put aside her rustic weeds toemerge in her pure form as the VenusGenetrixf Lucretius.The subject of the Birthof Venuss made up of the same trinity, Chloris-Flora-Venus, which appears in the right half of the Primavera.Zephyr rushesin at the left, his cheeks distended with effort as he blows a warming gust ofair onto Venus. No more graphic illustration of the essential relationship ofChloris and Venus could be desired, for here it is Zephyr's fertilizing breathdirected toward Venus which produces the roses which, from the point ofview of mythological exactitude, in fact emanated from Chloris. The rudelydressedfemale figure in Zephyr's arms must be identified as Chloris. She hasusually been considered to be a second wind-god accompanying Zephyr, butneither her sex, her attributes, nor her actions support this identification.She is not blowing, nor does she have wings. The wings which can be seenbehind her back cannot possibly be attached to her shoulders; in order tomaintain her grasp on Zephyr (forshe is not flying, but being carriedby him)she has turned her shoulder down and well forward of the wing behind.Moreover, the rough green tunic thrown over her shoulder, appropriategarbfor Chloris, a plain nymph of the earth made newly green at the advent of thewest wind, is fastened in such a way as to leave no place for a wing to attach.Zephyr is in fact the possessorof a mighty pair of double wings, which propelhim toward Venus. It is his newly captured bride, Chloris, whom he holdsin his arms.65The figure who stands on the shore at the right has usually been identifiedas one of the Hours, on the basis of Warburg'sassociationof the theme of thepainting with the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.66 Yet the flowered pattern

64 My thanks to Charles Minott forpointing this out to me. See the illustrationsof the months in the Tres RichesHeures and inthe Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara. In bothexamples the months themselves advance'normally', which is to say from left to right,while the signs of the Zodiac move counterto them, 'backwards' from right to left.Since Botticelli did not represent the monthstogether with their Zodiacal signs, he insteadindicated their astronomical succession bymaking their personifications appear inreverse order. The same is true of DossoDossi's Jupiter and Mercury n Vienna, which Iam convinced is also a seasonal picture, alsobased in Columella. The dying springappears at the right of the painting,

representedby Flora (not Honour); Mercury,or May, is in the centre; and at the leftJupiter, as June, paints butterflies on acanvas. This point of view will be argued atsome future date.65Chloris's green mantle here indicatesthe effect of Zephyr's first advent, whichbrings greenness to the earth. In the Prima-vera this is indicated in another way, bymaking Zephyr himself green-somethingperhaps inspired by the pun in Horace,Odes, , 23:nam seu mobilibus veris inhorruitadventus foliis seu virides rubumdimovere lacertae,et corde et genibus tremit.66 TheHomericHymns,vi.


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268 CHARLES DEMPSEYof her dress, although slightly less elaborate, reminds us at once of Flora'sdress in the Primavera.Her belt, a twining briar of roses, is identical, andaround her neck she wears a wreath of myrtle, Venus's plant, which corres-ponds to the similar wreath worn by Flora in the earlierpainting. There canbe no substantial objection to her identification with Flora, second member ofthe vernal triad which is fulfilled in Venus. She stands on the shore of Cyprus,Venus's island, and prepares to place a cloak richly patterned with flowersover the nude goddess. The flowers which decorate this mantle are in fullbloom, in pointed contrast to those on her own dress,which are newly budded.The three-fold development of the season is at the moment of its completion.Chloris, nymph of the bare earth newly green, lies in her husband's arms;Flora, goddessof the earth freshlymantled with flowers, Chloris transformed,stands on the shore opposite; and Venus, whose spirit presidesover April andthe full spring, prepares to step on shore and receive the mantle of the earthnow fully cloaked in flowers.

As Warburg recognized, the title Birthof Venuss not really an accuratedescription of the content of Botticelli's painting. To call it the AdventofVenuswould be more precise, since this title does not tempt us to associate thepicture with a specific event in mythological narrative. Moreover, implicitin this title is the monthly and planetary nature of Venus, whose representa-tion in this painting must be considered a purely Lucretian refinementof theColumellan Venus of the Primavera.And in one respect, that she is shown asVenusAnadyomene,he is really a more orthodox representation of VenusGenetrix han was Botticelli's earlier Venus, whose archaic appearance isaccountable for by her specific attachment to the rustic calendar.67 Albricus,to cite one example, describes her as the Anadyomene:Venus quintum tenetinter planetas locum: propter quod quinto loco figurabatur. PingebaturVenus pulcherrima, nuda, & in mari natans.'68 It is thus no wonder thatBotticelli's second Venus set the definitive standardfor Renaissance represen-tations of Venus from Vasari to Poussin and beyond, while the Primaveraremained virtually unfollowed in its idea.69

Who was the author of the programme of the Primavera?Warburg'sanswer,which has never seriouslybeen challenged, was surely the right one-Angelo Poliziano. We have already remarked upon the scholarly judgementand literary taste which brought together and blendedthe sources behind the

67Botticelli's representations of Venus andFlora in the Primavera are conceivablyinspired by antique prototypes he would haveconsidered appropriately rustic or archaic instyle. See, for example, H. Sichtermann,GriechischeVasen in Unteritalien aus der Samm-lung Jatta in Ruvo, Tilbingen 1966, passim.68Albricus, De deorum maginibus libellus, v.See also Marion Lawrence, 'The Birth ofVenusin Roman Art', Essays in the History ofArt Presented to Rudolf Wittkower, London1967, pp. io-i6.

69Poussin's Realm of Flora in Dresden is theonly painting I know of whose language andmeaning approach that of the Primavera. I donot think it is wrong here to see in the figureof Flora, who presides over the garden,something of Venus as well. She is dancingbeneath a figure of Apollo driving thechariot of the sun through the signs of theZodiac, a representation irresistibly reminis-cent of Lucretius's description of Venus, thespirit of the spring, moving 'caeli subterlabentia signa'.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMAVERA 269Primavera's onception. Poliziano's mind possessed both virtues in eminentdegree. I need not here repeat Warburg'smasterfulanalysis of the similarityof Poliziano's poetic imagery and sources to those exploited in Botticelli'spainting. I would only remind the reader of certain salient features ofPoliziano's career: of his celebrated series of lectures on Lucretius; of hisprecocious mastery of the poetry of Catullus; of the fact that he was one of thefew scholars of his age whose knowledge of Greek was sufficient to the masteryof Philostratusand to the emendation of Catullus'stranslation of Callimachus'selegy on the lock of Berenice.70 But the real burden of my argument thatPoliziano constructed the literary framework of the Primavera ies in thepreceding pages.71 The same mind is present both in his poetry and inBotticelli's painting. If, however, we look for a poem in the corpus of Poli-ziano's work which exactly duplicates the imagery of the Primaverawe shalllook in vain. The Primaveras itself that poem.72

APPENDIXDeum Verni temporis fuisse creditum Mercurium, aperte insinuat MartianusCapella lib. I. de Nupt. Philolog. iis verbis. Tunc veroconspiceresotiusmundigaudia con-venire:nam & tellusfloribusuminata, uippeVerisdeum onspexeratubvolareMercurium, c.Remigius Monachus,de quo superiusverbafecimus,ad hunc Martiani locum ita notat:quod& ipseferturpraeesseeminibus aris,& terrae,& ipseestdictusFavonius: nde hanc sibierueritsententiam,haud sanescio: videor tamenquaedamsubodorariposseargumenta,quae in medium proferam. Zephyrus,seu Favonius (ut & alii venti) non minus quamMercurius, alatus volitansque fingitur a poetis: at notandum praecipue quod deutriusque alis refertur: nam quum Mercurio (ut cum Apulejo loquar) super emporaparespinnulaeemineant,Zephyro itidem alata finxerunt tempora: siquidem ipsumPhilostratus lib. i. Iconum appingit atu 7 PvP expooa p xd a op tc ?a, alatis temporibus,& venustaorma: quae postrema cum Mercurii quoque specie conveniunt, quiapud Lucianum in dialogo Mercur. & Panos, formositatemjactat, & ei ab Apulejofacies decora, & succiplena tribuitur: unde Galenus in Suasoria, ormosum passimaffingi solitum, tradit: id autem Mercurio fortasse tributum proptervernalemaciemterrae, quae ceteris ormosior, ut verbis utar D. Augustini, VII. de Civit. cap. XXV.Quoniam vero Zephyrus flat ab occasuaequinoctialiver inchoans,ut inquit Plinius, Mer-curiumfabulatisunt, Atlantis essenepotem, qui mons est Mauritaniae ad occidentalemplagam situs: ideoque Virgilius de MercurioAeneam adeunte ita loquitur IV. Aen.

Maternoveniensab avo Cylleniaproles.70 See J. E. Sandys, A Historyof ClassicalScholarship,Cambridge 1908, ii, pp. 83ff.,where Poliziano's particular interest in thetextual criticismof Lucretius,Ovid, Ausonius,Catullus, and the Scriptoreserumusticarumrenoted. That is, the texts which are thefoundation of the Primavera'sprogramme,whose conception and handling of relatedclassical sourcesreveals the mind of a textualcritic of the firstrank. See also R. Sabbadini,Le scoperteeicodiciLatinie Grecine'secoliXIV eXV, Florence 1905, p. 151ff.; InstitutoNazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, Mostradel Polizianonella BibliotecaMediceaLaurenzi-

ana: Manoscritti,ibrirari,autografi documenti,A. Perosa ed., Florence 1954; and mostrecently, Ida Maier, Les manuscritsd'AngePolitien, Geneva 1965, and idem, AngePolitien, La formation d'un poete humaniste,Geneva 1966.71 See in particular notes 16, 32, and 6o.72 I wish to thank ProfessorsAgnes K. L.Michels, Russell T. Scott, and in particularCharles Mitchell for their cheerful criticismand wise counsel; and special acknowledge-ment is due Miss Wendy Wassyng, whoasked a bright question.


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270 CHARLES DEMPSEYhaud enim mihi dubium, quin ad hanc de Mercurio, Zephyroque opinionem alludat:nam & Jovem ita Mercurio loquentem inducit:

Vadeage nate, vocazephyros,& laberepennis.aptissimis hic poeta & significantibus uti solet vocibus, seque peritissimum veteristheologiae ostendit, quod pluribus locis aperit Servius: temere Statius Mercurio datNotos: id enim tantum curae est minorum gentium poetis, ut ea usurpent, quae carmini,quoquomodo quadrent; dumque auribus blandiantur, nihil ulterius pensi habent:secus vatum princeps, qui penitiores satagit inserere sensus doctioribus perscrutandos:ac sane fabulosa illa Mercurii legatione, admonitum significare voluit Aeneam temporisad navigandum idonei. Jupiter enim Aeneae curam gerens aer esse videtur abscessuhiemis mitior redditus: ipse Mercurius Favonius est Veris pater, ut Claudiano dicitur.Etenim ver, teste Plinio lib. II. cap. XIII. aperit navigantibusmaria, cujus in principioFavonii hybernummolliuntcoelum: & wxo-r6xoq Satyro cognominatur Zephyrus, de quovide quaedam epigrammata primo Anthologias. Placet etiam quibusdam, Plejadasan7rTo 7rxco appellatas, quod suo exortu navigandi tempus ingerant: at MercuriumMaja ferunt genitum una ex Plejadibus. Ipsum quinetiam mercaturae deum statue-runt, quod mercatura quam maxime navigatione juvetur. Natalem navigationisappellatVegetius V. de re milit. diem sextum Iduum Martiarum, licet periculose adhuc mariatentari dicat usque in Idus Majas: ideo Majis Idibus(verba sunt Pauli ex Sexto Pompejo)mercatorumies estus erat, quodeo die Mercuriiaedesesset dedicata:qua de re Livius lib. II.quin natum eadem luce Mercurium prodit Martialis eo versiculo ex lib. XII.

Majae Mercurium reastis dus.nisi ad eandem templi dedicationem alludat, quasi tunc natus Romae dici queat,quum ejus aedes dedicata est: quo sensu Natale Salutis nominasse Tullius videtur IV.Epist. ad Atticum,ut & ab aliis observatum. At profecto vernum illum mensem a MajaMercurii parente nuncupatum, quidam suspicati sunt, quod Censorinus, FestusPompejus, & Ovidius testantur: sed & vetus poeta:

Mensis AtlantigenaedictuscognomineMajae.alius item:Majus Atlantiadosgnata dignatushonore.

Porro fabula de Mercurii cum Venere congressu, ex quo procreatus Cupido, utTullio placet III. de natur. deor. aut Hermaphroditus, ut Ovidius, aliique dixere,aptissime vernum tempus designat. Cupido siquidem cupiditatem illam innuit, quaob benignum verni aeris teporem ad Venerem omnia excitantur, procreationiqueinhiant: de qua Lucretius Venerem alloquens:Nam simul ac speciespatefactaest vernadiei,Et reseratavigetgenitabilis auraFavoni,Aeriaeprimumvolucres e, Diva, tuumqueSignificant nitumperculsaecordatua vi.

& apertius Columella de Cultu hort.. . . nuncsuntgenitalia temporamundi,Nunc amorad coitusproperat:nuncspiritusorbisBacchaturVeneri, timulisqueCupidinisastusIpse suas adamatpartes, & foetibus implet.& mox:


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMAVERA 271Hinc maria, hinc montes,hinc totusdeniquemundusVeragit hinchominum,pecudum,volucrumqueupido,Atqueamorignescitmenti,saevitquemedullis,Dum satiata VenusoecundoscompleatartusEt generetvariassoboles,semperquerequentetProle novamundum,vacuone torpeataevo.

Nec silentio praetereundum, quod Plutarchus in amatorioex nescio cujus sententiaAmorem Favonii filium facit. Per Hermaphroditum vero non inepte herbas intelli-gemus, quae verno tempore in lucem erumpunt: nam quemadmodum Hermaphroditoambiguum sexum tribuerunt, ita plantis vim inesse tam maris quam foeminae testaturPorphyrius apud Euseb. de Praep. Evang. sic enim de Baccho loquitur plantarumpraeside: ga'tr&e' 4opcpo, V60V -n~v 7rEP. t-r?V evyevawvT(JLv 0iXP08P~wv ppeV6Oi?UV'v&VocLLV,muliebriformis st, promiscuam ndicans virtutemgenerationisplantarum. Phurnutus quoqueBacchum 06-xopcpov effingi solitum scribit, & in Bacchico triumpho, quod praese fertvetus marmor in aedibus Hasdrubalis Matthaeii, Bacchus ipse curru vehitur vultu, &cultu muliebri. Aristides quoque Orat. in Bacchum, utroque sexu praeditum affirmat.o ' &po x?1 &pyv re xOtCOXuqe6 Ok c ac lv propterea & masculus est, & foeminais deus, uti ajunt. At quod Mercurium Favonium esse ostendimus, quis nos vetat, &copulatam ei Venerem illam ipsam herbarum ac florum deam putare, quae GraecisChloris a viriditate, Latinis Flora dicta est a floribus, de qua Ovidius IV. Fastorum?addictus enim tam Florae, quam Veneri mensis Aprilis, quem Majus statim sequiturMercurio dicatus, ut ait Plutarchus in Numa. Quapropter Venerem hortorum esse deam,docent nos Varro initio lib. de re rust. & V. de ling. Lat. necnon Plinius lib. XIX. cap.IV. ac sane apud Catullum in elegia de Coma Berenices ipsa Venus Chloris dicitur:sunt enim synonyma in eo poematio Venus, Arsinoe, Chloris, Zephyritis: neque, sialiter interpreteris, poetae mentem capias. Veneri dicata fuit Berenices coma, quaequum postridie in aede non reperiretur, ubi posita fuerat, in coelum esse translatamfabulatus est Conon: fingit vero Catullus, seu potius Callimachus, suum a Venereequum ea in re ministrum adhibitum: is equus non est Pegasus, ut docti viri credidere,sed Luciferi equus, quae Veneris stella est; de quo Venus ipsa apud Claudianum II.de raptuProserp. ta loquens inducitur:

Dum meushumectatflaventesLuciferagrosRorantiprovectus quo....meminit etiam Ovidius II. Tristium:

Hos utinamnitidi SolispraenuntiusortusAferat admissoLuciferalbus equo.nec non secundo Amorum,eleg. XI.

Haec mihi quamprimumoelonitidissimusaltoLuciferadmissotempora ortet equo.Et XV. Metamorph. . . . quumque lbo LuciferexitClarusequo.Martianus Capella lib. II. an Solis remigia vigilarent, sonipesquePhosphoricomeretur.Nam quum Berenicaea coma inter astra foret recipienda, docte Callimachus de Venereagit, tanquam de stella: porro singulares equi stellis tribuebantur. Lactantius, seuLuctatius Statii interpres ad VI. Theb. Quadrigasdant Soli, bigas Lunae, equossingulossideribus. Nec absurde alatus a Callimacho fingitur is equus ad notandam ejus stellaeceleritatem: nominatur vero, Memnonisunigena, tanquam ab Aurora profectus, quia


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272 CHARLES DEMPSEYnimirum matutinum sidus censetur Lucifer. Vocatur is equus a Claudiano Aethon, &Auroraenuntiusdicitur, Paneg. in IV. Hon. Cons.

QuinetiamveloxAuroraenuntiusAethon,Quifugat hinnitustellas, roseoque omaturLucifero,quotiesequitem e cernitab astrisInvidet, inquetuis mavultspumare upatis.

ac ne qua supersit dubitatio, eundem esse cum Aurorae equo, colligere licet ex iisServii verbis ad XI. Aen. Aethonnomenequi, quoetiamAuroraeequusvocatur,Aethonisverovocabulum ab ardendo derivatum est: idemque nomen dat Ovidius uni ex Solaribusequis, & ipsemet Claudianus uni ex quadriga Plutonis, ac praeterea uni ex Amoribus,qui Veneri famulantur: ut omittam Hectoris equum apud Homerum, & Pallantis apudVirgilium. Venus itaque eadem, quae Lucifer, & quae Chloris, seu Flora herbarumflorumque dea. Quocirca ad locum illum Ausonii, seu quisquis auctor fuit Elegiae deRosis, quae etiam Virgilio attribuitur, ad eum inquam locum:Sideris, & floris nam dominauna Venus:

quemadmodum & mox:CommunisPaphiae deasideris, & dea loris,

recte Pomponius Sabinus: VenusquaemaneLucifer. Flora & Venus dem sunt: ut meritode Venere pronunciarit Pelignus poeta IV. Fastorum:Illa satis causas,arboribusqueedit.

vis enim seminalis stirpium videtur esse; unde eleganter in Pervigilio Veneris:Ipsa venas,atquementempermeantepirituIntus occultisgubernatprocreatrixviribus,Perquecoelum,perqueterras,perquepontumsubditumPerviumsui tenorem eminalitramiteImbuit.

ac profecto eadem credita est, quae natura omnium parens. Artemidorus lib. IIMoe xcx,cyeopyot. cpaLyop &r~vOC4 Tjp rv "Xovvv6o'paTm:ona est & agricolis,natura enim & mater universorum sse creditur: jure igitur Mercurio copulatur, quempraeesse seminibus maris & terrae dixit Remigius. At vero quemadmodum Mercurium,ut docuimus, venerabantur mercatores tanquam navigationis praesidem, ita rusticieodem mense Majo sacrum ipsi faciebant, veluti satis omnibus vitam ferenti, nonsoli tamen, sed conjunctim cum Flora: quapropter legimus in antiquo KalendarioRustico: SACRUM. MERCUR. ET. FLORAE. atque hinc etiam arguere licet,Mercurium eundem esse cum Zephyro. Floram vero cum Venere confundi, quidattinet toties inculcare? dicendum potius, ex utriusque conjunctione ver excitari,flores oriri. Itaque in Pervigilio Veneris:Ipsa turgentes apillas de FavonispirituUrget in torospatentes...

hoc est, florum utriculos (ut alicubi nominat Plinius) in latos calices aperit. At Lucre-tius libro quinto ita poetice ludit:It Ver, & Venus,& Veneris raenuntius ntePennatusgraditurZephyrusvestigiapropter:Flora quibusmaterpraespargens nte viaiCunctacoloribus gregiis, & odoribusmplet.


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SOURCES OF BOTTICELLI'S PRIMA VERA 273nam quod Floram a Venere videtur quodammodo separare, poetarum morem sequitur,quibus deorum conducit multitudo ad fabulas confingendas. Quod vero Zephyrumfacit nuntium Veneris, id quorundam opinionem fulcit ajentium, ventos deorum esseinternuntios ex loco Virgiliano Ecloga III.

Partemaliquamventi divumreferatisad auras.quod sententiam firmat de Mercurio deorum nuntio, quem Zephyrum diximus essecreditum. Id vero in memoriam revocat locum illum in Psal. CIII. Quifacis angelostuos spiritus, quo Hebraei expositores, teste Genebrardo, post R. Salomonem intelligiajunt Deum ventorum uti ministerio tanquam nuntiorum: quem sensum & Janseniusingerit. Caeterum nolim quisquam labatur putans, Chlorida ventum esse Japygaex veteri Glossario, in quo scriptum, Clores, Lcun &'veLoq eceptus emendatione Jo.Meursii in Exercitation.Criticis, & Bon. Vulcanii in notis ad Glossar.qui reponunt Chloris:licet id blandiretur fabulae de Zephyri & Chloridos conjunctione; nam occidentalisquoque ventus est Japyx: siquidem in Glossario legendum Corus,vel Caurus,qui ventusidem est cum Japyge, ut disserit Phavorinus apud A. Gellium lib. II. cap. XXII.Quod vero ex Labeonis, aliorumque sententia tradit Macrobius, Majam Mercuriimatrem creditam esse terram, id etiam pertinere huc potest; palam enim est, oririventos ex terreno halitu: ideo ventorum parentes a Philochoro apud Suidam nominan-tur Tellus, & Sol; ab aliis caelum, & terram. Munus quoque Mercurii fuisse, legimusapud Lucianum, Jovis palatium verrendi: id quod & Zephyri opus indicat, qui abactahieme vernam inducens serenitatem detergitnubila caelo, ut de albo Noto alicubi aitHoratius: coelum enim, hoc est, aer, Jovis est domus, & verrere apud Lucretium,Maronem, Lucanum, aliosque passim venti dicuntur. Quod autem ait Plinius lib.XVIII. cap. XXXIV. Favonium in plantas afflatu nutricium exercere, id adumbraria poetis, aliisque fabulatoribus videtur, dum ajunt, Mercurium Bacchi fuisse nutricium:unde & cujusdam Mercurii statuae meminit idem Plinius lib. XXXIV. cap. VIII....

Here Aleandro moves to matters beyond our present concern.It should be pointed out that the texts Aleandro chooses to support his argument are,in contrast to the rest of

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