Antinous: A Romance of Ancient Rome (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Antinous: A Romance of Ancient Rome

This lonely man, who remained incomprehensible even to friends and favorites, and whose mortal enemies, as Spartianus expresses himself, had first been his bosom friends, was devoted for a long time to a Bithynian youth, whom he loved as Socrates loved Alcibiades, and Caesar Brutus. This was Aniinom, with whose busts and statues Hadrian has filled the world. What a totally different impression the lad's thoughtful beauty produces upon us from the passion-seamed visage of the master, to whom he was the clearest thing in life. Inno cence and resignation, melancholy and aimless longing have found imperishable expression in these features. A head bowed 'mournfully, with waving locks falling low over the forehead, deep - set, mysterious eyes, brows gen tly curved, cheeks rounded like a girl's, which form a singular contrast to the sorrowful expression about the lips and the delicately-moulded chin: this is Antinous'. The thoughtful, earnest, spiritual head rests upon a strong neck and unusually broad breast, which reveals the athlete, while the body; with its daintily-formed limbs, is as perfect an ideal of beauty as artist ever dreamed in honor of Apollo or Hermes.

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