Read Ebook: The literature of kissing by Bombaugh Charles C Charles Carroll

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Ebook has 1957 lines and 122888 words, and 40 pages

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THE KISS IN HISTORY 9

THE KISS IN POETRY 93

THE KISS IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 191

THE KISS IN FICTION 225

THE KISS IN HUMOROUS STORY AND ANECDOTE 273

MISCELLANEOUS ASPECTS AND RELATIONS 321

THE KISS IN HISTORY.

THE KISS IMPRIMIS.

"he, in delight Both of her beauty and submissive charms, Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers; and pressed her matron lips With kisses pure."

SIGNIFICANCE AMONG THE HEBREWS.

Originally, in Oriental life, the act of kissing had a symbolical character whose import was, in many respects, of greater breadth than that of the custom in our day. Acts, as Dr. Beard, the German theologian, remarks, speak no less--sometimes far more--forcibly than words. In the early period of society, when the foundation was laid of most even of our Western customs, action constituted a large portion of what we may term human language, or the means of intercommunication between man and man; because then words were less numerous, books unknown, the entire machinery of speaking being in its rudimental and elementary state, less developed and called into play; to say nothing of that peculiarity of the Oriental character which inclined men to general taciturnity, with occasional outbreaks of fervid, abrupt, or copious eloquence. In this language of action, a kiss, inasmuch as it was a bringing into contact of parts of the body of two persons, was naturally the expression and the symbol of affection, regard, respect, and reverence; and if deeper source of its origin were sought for, it would, doubtless, be found in the fondling and caresses with which the mother expresses her tenderness for her babe. That the custom is of very early date, and very varied in its form among the Hebrews, may be seen in numerous familiar citations from Holy Writ.

DIVERSITIES IN THE BIBLE.

SALUTATION.

VALEDICTION.

RECONCILIATION.

SUBJECTION.

APPROBATION.

ADORATION.

TREACHERY.

Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

AFFECTION.

A Hebrew commentator on Genesis xxix. 11 says that the Rabbins did not permit more than three kinds of kisses, the kiss of reverence, of reception, and of dismissal.

SYMBOLICAL EXPRESSION AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.

ANCIENT HISTORY AND POETRY COMMINGLED.

In Homer's beautiful description of the parting of Hector from his wife and child upon returning to the field of battle, occurs a touching recital of paternal affection and solicitude . The passage is so beautiful that we quote it at length:

"Thus having spoke, the illustrious chief of Troy Stretched his fond arms to clasp the lovely boy. The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, Scared at the dazzling helm and nodding crest; With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled, And Hector hastened to relieve his child, The glittering terrors from his brows unbound, And placed the beaming helmet on the ground, Then kissed the child, and, lifting high in air, Thus to the gods preferred a father's prayer.

"'O thou! whose glory fills th' ethereal throne, And all ye deathless powers, protect my son! Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown, To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown, Against his country's foes the war to wage, And rise the Hector of the future age! So when, triumphant from successful toils, Of heroes slain he bears the reeking spoils, Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim, And say, This chief transcends his father's fame.'"

The grief of the venerable Priam upon learning of the death of his favorite son, Hector, at the hands of Achilles, and his journey to the Grecian camp to beg of Achilles the body of Hector for burial, are portrayed with equal force . The Trojan monarch, prostrating himself before the warrior,

"Embraced his knees, and bathed his hands in tears; Those direful hands his kisses pressed, imbrued E'en with the best, the dearest of his blood."

In the course of his entreaty, which completely softens Achilles, the suppliant says:

"Think of thy father, and this face behold! See him in me, as helpless and as old! Though not so wretched: there he yields to me, The first of men in sovereign misery! Thus forced to kneel, thus grovelling to embrace The scourge and ruin of my realm and race; Suppliant my children's murderer to implore, And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore!"

Virgil gives us a picture similar to that of Hector when bidding farewell to his child. AEneas, having recovered from a dangerous wound, returns to the combat with Turnus, first bestowing his blessing upon his son Ascanius :

"Then with a close embrace he strained his son, And, kissing through his helmet, thus begun: 'My son! from my example learn the war, In camps to suffer, and in fields to dare: But happier chance than mine attend thy care! This day my hand thy tender age shall shield, And crown with honors of the conquered field; Thou, when thy riper years shall send thee forth To toils of war, be mindful of thy worth: Assert thy birthright; and in arms be known For Hector's nephew, and AEneas' son.'"

Turning from the camp to the sweets of domestic life, we find in the same charming poet these lines:

"His cares are eased with intervals of bliss: His little children, climbing for a kiss, Welcome their father's late return at night; His faithful bed is crowned with chaste delight."

Xenophon says, in "Agesilaus" , that it was a national custom with the Persians to kiss whomsoever they honored. And Herodotus , in speaking of their manners and customs, says, "If Persians meet at any time by accident, the rank of each party is easily discovered: if they are of equal dignity, they salute each other on the mouth; if one is an inferior, they only kiss the cheek; if there be a great difference in situation, the inferior falls prostrate on the ground." Respecting the mode of salutation between relatives, the following passage from the "Cyropaedia" of Xenophon is worth transcribing:

"If I may be allowed to relate a sportive affair, it is said that when Cyrus went away, and he and his relations parted, they took their leave, and dismissed him with a kiss, according to the Persian custom,--for the Persians practise it to this day,--and that a certain Mede, a very excellent person, had been long struck with the beauty of Cyrus, and when he saw Cyrus's relations kiss him, he stayed behind, and, when the rest were gone, accosted Cyrus, and said to him, 'And am I, Cyrus, the only one of all your relations that you do not know?' 'What!' said Cyrus, 'are you a relation?' 'Yes,' said he. 'This was the reason, then,' said Cyrus, 'that you used to gaze at me; for I think I recollect that you frequently did so.' 'I was very desirous,' said he, 'to salute you, but I was always ashamed to do it.' 'But,' said Cyrus, 'you that are a relation ought not to have been so.' So, coming up to him, he kissed him. The Mede, having received the kiss, is said to have, asked this question: 'And is it a custom among the Persians to kiss relations?' 'It is so,' said Cyrus, 'when they see one another at some distance of time, or when they part.' 'Then,' said the Mede, 'it seems now to be time for you to kiss me again; for, as you see, I am just going away.' So Cyrus, kissing him again, dismissed him, and went his way. They had not gone very far before the Mede came up with him again, with his horse all over in a sweat; and Cyrus, getting sight of him, said, 'What! have you forgotten anything that you had a mind to say to me?' 'No, by Jove,' said he, 'but I am come again at a distance of time.' 'Dear relation,' said he, 'it is a very short time.' 'How a short one?' said the Mede: 'do you not know, Cyrus, that the very twinkling of my eyes is a long time to be without seeing you, you who are so lovely?' Here Cyrus, from being in tears, broke out into laughter, bid him go his way and take courage, adding that in a little time he would be with him again, and that then he would be at liberty to look at him, if he pleased, with steady eyes and without twinkling."

The kiss among the ancients was an essential implement in the armory of love. Virgil, for instance, uses it in the device by which Queen Dido was to be inspired with a passion for AEneas. Venus, in the course of her instructions to Cupid, says:

"Thyself a boy, assume a boy's dissembled face; That when, amid the fervor of the feast, The Tyrian hugs and fonds thee on her breast, And with sweet kisses in her arms constrains, Thou mayst infuse thy venom in her veins."

Horace, in the ode to Lydia, in which he gives such free expression to his jealousy , refers with considerable point and feeling to the osculatory attentions of his rival. The following translation is by Bulwer-Lytton:

"When thou the rosy neck of Telephus, The waxen arms of Telephus, art praising, Woe is me, Lydia, how my jealous heart Swells with the anguish I would vainly smother!

"I burn, whether he quarrel o'er his wine, Stain with a bruise dishonoring thy white shoulders, Or whether my boy-rival on thy lips Leave by a scar the mark of his rude kisses.

"Thrice happy, ay, more than thrice happy, they Whom one soft bond unbroken binds together; Whose love serene from bickering and reproach In life's last moment finds the first that severs."

The closing lines of an ode to Maecenas are worth noting:

"Say, for all that Achaemenes boasted of treasure, All the wealth which Mygdonia gave Phrygia in tribute, All the stores of all Araby--say, wouldst thou barter One lock of Lycimnia's bright hair?

"When at moments she bends down her neck to thy kisses, Or declines them with coy but not cruel denial, Rather pleased if the prize be snatched off by the spoiler, Nor slow in reprisal sometimes."

Literally, "when she turns to meet the ardent kisses, or with a gentle cruelty denies what she would more delight to have ravished by the petitioner; sometimes she is eager to snatch them herself."

In the Latin Anthology is an ode to another Lydia, by an unknown poet, but probably Gallus, which breathes throughout the rapturous idolatry of the enamored writer. We have only space for these lines:

"Unveil those rosy cheeks, o'erspread With blushes of the Tyrian red, And pout those coral lips of thine, And breathe the turtle's kiss on mine; Deep on my heart you print that kiss, You melt my wildered soul in bliss. Ah, softly, girl! thy amorous play Has sucked my very blood away! Hide thy twin bosom fruit, just shown Milk-ripe above thy bursting zone; Such sweets, as India's summer gale Wafts from her spice-beds, they exhale."

Ovid appropriates the kiss most effectively in his passages descriptive of the endearments, the fascinations, the yearnings, and the transports of love. Briseis in her letter to Achilles, begging him to return to the Grecian camp, is made to say:

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