438. ~Do ye believe~. _Ye_ is properly a second person plural, but (like _you_) is frequently used as a singular: for examples, see Abbott, § 236.
439. ~old schools of Greece~. The brother now turns for his arguments from the mediaeval mythology of Northern Europe to the ancient legends of Greece.
440. ~to testify~, to bear witness to: comp. l. 248, 421.
441. ~Dian~. Diana was the huntress among the immortals: she was insensible to the bolts of Cupid, _i.e._ to the power of love. She was the protectress of the flocks and game from beasts of prey, and at the same time was believed to send plagues and sudden deaths among men and animals. Comp. the song to Cynthia (Diana) in _Cynthia's Revels_, v. 1, "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair," etc.
442. ~silver-shafted queen~. The epithet is applicable to Diana both as huntress and goddess of the moon: as the former she bore arrows which were frequently called _shafts_, and as the latter she bore shafts or rays of light. _Shaft_ is etymologically 'a _shaven_ rod.' In Chaucer, _C. T._ 1364, 'shaft' = arrow.
443. ~brinded lioness~. 'Brinded' = brindled or streaked. Comp. "_brinded_ cat," _Macb._ iv. 1. 1: _brind_ is etymologically connected with _brand_.
444. ~mountain-pard~, _i.e._ panther or other spotted wild beast. _Pard_, originally a Persian word, is common in the compounds leo-_pard_ and camelo-_pard_.
445. ~frivolous ... Cupid~. See the speech of Oberon, _M. N. D._ ii. 1. 65. The epithet 'frivolous' applies to Cupid in his lower character as the wanton god of sensual love, not in his character as the fair Eros who unites all the discordant elements of the universe: see note, l. 1004.
447. ~snaky-headed Gorgon shield~. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, frightful beings, whose heads were covered with hissing serpents, and who had wings, brazen claws, and huge teeth. Whoever looked at Medusa was turned into stone, but Perseus, by the aid of enchantment, slew her. Minerva (Athene) placed the monster's head in the centre of her shield, which confounded Cupid: see _Par. Lost_, ii. 610.
449. ~freezed~, froze. The adjective 'congealed' is used proleptically, the meaning being 'froze into a stone so that it was congealed.'
451. ~dashed~, confounded: this meaning of the word is obsolete.