Chloris

He made amends for his violence by giving me the name of bride, and in my marriage-bed I have naught to complain of. —Ovid, Fasti

The name Chloris may refer to several figures from Greek mythology. The Romans conflated her with Flora. Both names have been applied to characters and personae in many literary works, especially since the Renaissance.

Quotes

Chloris, beloved of Zephyrus

Classical sources

• I who now am called Flora was formerly Chloris: a Greek letter of my name is corrupted in the Latin speech. Chloris I was, a nymph of the happy fields where, as you have heard, dwelt fortunate men of old. Modesty shrinks from describing my figure; but it procured the hand of a god for my mother's daughter. 'Twas spring, and I was roaming; Zephyr caught sight of me; I retired; he pursued and I fled; but he was the stronger, and Boreas had given his brother full right of rape by daring to carry off the prize from the house of Erechtheus. However, he made amends for his violence by giving me the name of bride, and in my marriage-bed I have naught to complain of.
• Ovid, Fasti v. 183. Translated by J. G. Frazer (1929)

Post-classical sources

• And whither rennes this beuie of Ladies bright,
    raunged in a rowe?
  They bene all Ladyes of the lake behight,
    that vnto her goe.
  Chloris, that is the chiefest Nymph of al,
  Of Oliue braunches beares a Coronall:
    Oliues bene for peace,
    When wars doe surcease:
  Such for a Princesse bene principall.
  • Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender (1579)

• A soft enflowered banck-embrac’d the founte;
  Of Chloris ensignes, an abstracted field;
  Where grew Melanthy, great in Bees account,
  Amareus, that precious Balme dooth yeeld,
    Enameld Pansies, vs’d at Nuptials still,
  Dianas arrow, Cupids crimson shielde,
    Ope-morne, night-shade, and Venus nauill,
  Solemne Violets hanging head as shamed,
  And verdant Calaminth, for odor famed.
  • George Chapman, Ouids Banquet of Sence (1595)

Literary characters

• O Chloris waigh the taske I vndertake,
  Thy beautie subiect of my song I make.
  • William Smith, Chloris (1596), Sonnet 1

• Faire Chloris is when Shee doth paint Aprile,
  • William Drummond, Poems (1616), Sonnet 38

• Amarillis I did woo,
  And I courted Phillis too;
  Daphne, for her love, I chose;
  Cloris, for that damask rose
  In her cheek, I held as dear;
  Yea, a thousand liked well near.
  And, in love with all together,
  Fearèd the enjoying either;
  ’Cause to be of one possest,
  Barred the hope of all the rest.
  • George Wither, Fair Virtue, &c. (1622)

• Amyntas now doth with his Cloris sleepe
  • Thomas Carew, Poems (1640), "The Spring"

• I saw faire Cloris walke alone
  Where feather’d rain came softly downe,
  As Jove descended from his tower
  To court her in a silver shower;
  The wanton snowe flewe to her breast
  Like little birds into their nest,
  And overcome with whiteness there
  For griefe it thaw’d into a teare,
  Thence falling on her garment’s hem
  For griefe it freez’d into a gem.
  • "On a Gentlewoman walking in the Snowe",
    W. Porter, Madrigals and Airs (1632)
• I saw fair Chloris walk alone,
  When feather’d rain came softly down,
  As Jove descending from his Tower
  To court her in a silver shower:
  The wanton snow flew to her breast,
  Like pretty birds into their nest,
  But, overcome with whiteness there,
  For grief it thaw’d into a tear:
    Thence falling on her garments’ hem,
    To deck her, froze into a gem.
  • William Strode, "Chloris in the Snow",
    The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900)

• And Chloris, since a man she took,
  Has lesse of greennesse in her look.
  • Thomas Randolph, Poems (1638), "A Pastorall Courtship"

• ’Tis innocence and youth which makes
  In Chloris’ fancy such mistakes,
  To start at love, and play with snakes.
  • Edmund Waller, "To a fair Lady, playing with a Snake"

• Chloris is gone; and fate provides
  To make it Spring where she resides.
• When Chloris to the temple comes,
    Adoring crowds before her fall;
  She can restore the dead from tombs
    And every life but mine recall.
  • John Dryden, Examen Poeticum (1693),
    "Song to a Fair Young Lady, going out of the Town in the Spring"

•   One day the Amorous Lysander,
    By an impatient Passion sway’d,
    Surprised fair Cloris, that loved Maid,
    Who could defend herself no longer.
    All things did with his Love conspire;
    The gilded Planet of the Day,
    In his gay Chariot drawn by Fire,
    Was now descending to the Sea,
    And left no Light to guide the World,
  But what from Cloris’s Brighter Eyes were hurled.
  • Rochester's Poems on Several Occasions (1680);
    Aphra Behn's Poems (2nd ed., 1697)

• Fair Chloris in a pigsty lay;
  Her tender herd lay by her.
  • Earl of Rochester (1680)