Reference  |  Brewer's Readers Guide  |  D  |  Dinah to Dionys ia

D — Dinah to Dionys ia (Part 3 of 3)

Dionæan Cæsar, Juliu s Cæsar, who claimed descent from Venus, called Dione from her mother. Æneas was son of Venus and Anchisês.

Ecce, Dionæl processit Cæsaris astrum.
   —Virgil: Eclogues, ix. 47.

Dione , mother of Aphroditê (Venus), Zeus or Jove being the father. Venus herself is sometimes called Dione.

Oh bear … thy treasures to the green recess,
Where young Dionê strays; with sweetest airs
Entice her forth to lend her angel form
For Beauty’s honoured image.
   —Akenside: Pleasures of Imagination, i. (1744).

Dionysia, wife of Cleon governor of Tarsus. Periclês prince of Tyre commits to her charge his infant daughter Marina, supposed to be motherless. When 14 years old, Dionysia, out of jealousy, employs a man to murder her foster-child, and the people of Tarsus, hearing thereof, set fire to her house, and both Dionysia and Cleon are burnt to death in the flames.—Shakespeare: Pericles Prince of Tyre (1608).