Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream

POLIPHILUS BEGINS HIS HYPNEROTO-

MACHIA BY DESCRIBING THE HOUR AND THE SEA-

SON WHEN IT APPEARED TO HIM IN SLEEP THAT HE

FOUND HIMSELF ON A QUIET AND SILENT PLAIN,

DESOLATE OF CULTIVATION. FROM THERE, LATER,

UNAWARES AND WITH GREAT FEAR, HE ENTERED

A PATHLESS AND DARK FOREST.

THE STRIFE OF LOVE IN A DREAM BY POLIPHILUS.

original: "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili."

DESCRIPTION OF THE DAWN:

Decorative woodcut initial letter 'P' with classical foliated scrollwork and vines. PHOEBUS The Sun God. WAS EMERGING AT THAT HOUR
when the brow of Matuta Leucothea The Goddess of the Dawn. was whit-
ening; though he did not yet show his revolving
wheels suspended above the Ocean waves, he was
diligent with his winged horses. Pyrois appeared first, and then Eous,
appearing somewhat to paint the twilight chariot of the daughter Aurora, the Dawn.
of vermillion roses, following her most swiftly without delay.
And already his radiating hair shimmered and glistened
above the azure and restless waves. At that very moment
of his arrival, the waning, hornless Cynthia The Moon. was giving way,
urging on the two horses of her vehicle with her Mule—one white
and the other dark—having reached the furthest horizon that
divides the hemispheres; she yielded, chased away by the bright star
that heralds the day. At that time, the Rhipaean mountains A legendary mountain range in the north.
were peaceful; nor did the cold and freezing Eurus The East Wind.
blow with such rigidity from the side, shaking the tender
branches, or disturbing the shifting reeds, the sharp rushes, and the weak
sedge, or distressing the pliable osiers, tossing the slow willows,
and bending the fragile fir tree under the horns of the playful Taurus
The constellation Taurus, signifying the season of Spring.,
as he was accustomed to blow in winter time. Similarly,
boastful Orion had ceased to pursue the tearful, adorned
Taurine shoulder of the seven sisters The Pleiades..

In that same hour, the colored flowers did not yet fear the harmful heat
from the approaching son of Hyperion The Sun.. Instead,
the greening meadows were moist and flowing with the fresh
tears of Aurora. And Halcyone The Kingfisher; according to myth, the sea becomes calm when she nests.
appeared to be nesting on the leveled waves of the tranquil,
calm, and smooth sea, near the sandy shores. Therefore, at
the hour when the grieving Hero Likely referring to the tragic lover of Leander, or perhaps the 'heroine' of the night's watch....