“Each maiden representing a goddess was accompanied by her own escort … Aphrodite w

“Each maiden representing a goddess was accompanied by her own escort … Aphrodite was surrounded by a throng of the happiest children; you would have sworn that those little boys whose skins were smooth and milk-white were genuine Erotes who had just flown in from sky or sea. They looked just he part with their tiny wings, miniature arrows, and the rest of their get-up, as with gleaming torches they lit the way for their mistress as though she were en route to a wedding-banquet. Next floated in charming children, unmarried girls, representing on one side the Kharites at their most graceful, and on the other the Horai in all their beauty.  Behind the Kythereia , are Pothos (Desire), to whom nothing is denied, and the soft-lidded Peitho (Persuasion); and Harmonia (Harmony),who been moderately gracious to us all… They were appeasing the goddess by strewing wreaths and single blossoms before her, and they formed a most elegant chorus-line as they sought to please the Mistress of pleasures with the foliage of spring.“

Apuleius, The Golden Ass 10. 30 ff