“SHE HAD REVERENCE”
Reading edition
“O Rhadamanthos, or O Minos, if you have judged any other woman as of surpassing worth, so also judge this young wife of Aristomachos and take her to the Islands of the Blessèd. For she had reverence for the gods and a sense of justice sitting in council with her. Talisos, a Cretan city, reared her and this same earth enfolds her dead; thy fate, O Archidíke!”—From a painted stele in the Museum at Volo.
The dear dead women Browning drew Lean forth in happy watchfulness; With them Rossetti’s Starry-tress: And Tennyson’s royal maidens press To bring you to their Sacred Few. Lovely companions wait for you, Dear Archidíke, wife divine, With asphodels your locks to twine; Thus crowning with celestial vine That noble reverence you knew!