Mars and Venus, by C.F Le Gros, 1837

As recited from the Bentley miscellany, vol.1 1837 MARS AND VENUS . by C.F Le Gros NOTES . (I'll timestamp the notes) A - Vulcan vented all his rage ; ( a ) Ovid thus speaks of the result of Vulcan's exposure of his wife's infi- delity : " Hoc tibi profectum , Vulcane , quod ante tegebant , Liberius faciunt ut pudor omnis abest ; Sæpe tamen demens stultè fecisse fateris , Teque ferunt iræ pœnituisse tuæ . " "This has resulted for you, Vulcan: what they used to cover up before, they now do more freely, and all shame is gone; yet often, you foolish madman, you confess to having acted stupidly, and they say you have repented of your anger." B - My fortune in the battlefield ; ( b ) Leonidas , in his beautiful epigram to Venus armed , says , Αρεος ἔντια ταῦτα τίνος χάριν , ω Κυθέρεια , Ἐνδέδυσαι , κενεὸν τοῦτο φέρουσα βάρος , Αὐτον " Αρὴ γυμνῆ γὰρ ἀφοπλίσας , εἰ δὲ λέλειπται Καὶ θεὸς , ἄνθρωποις ὅπλα μάτην ἐπάγεις . "Why, Cytherea (Venus), have you put on these weapons of Ares,carrying this empty, pointless weight?For you disarmed Ares yourself while completely naked;and if a god was defeated, it is in vain that you bring weapons against mortal men." C - The wounded coward hid his face ; ( c ) The ancients were seldom guilty of making the actions of their gods in- consistent with their general character and attributes ; but there seems to have been much of the Captain Bobadil in the mighty god of war , and the instance of cowardice here alluded to is not the only one recorded of him by the poets . In the wars with the Titans he showed a decided " white feather , " and suf- fered himself to be made prisoner .