Cynʹthia

The moon; a surname of Arʹtemis or Diana. The Roman Diana, who represented the moon, was called Cynthia from Mount Cynthus, where she was born.

“And from embattled clouds emerging slow,

Cynthia came riding on her silver car.”

Beattie: Minstrel.

Cynthia. Pope, speaking of the inconstant character of woman, “matter too soft a lasting mark to bear,” says—

“Come, then, the colours and the ground prepare!

Choose a firm cloud, before it fall, and in it

Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of the minute.”

Epistle ii. 17–20.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.