ABSTRACT
The Délie depicts its beloved lady using a cosmic image which is somewhat unusual in love lyric, namely that of the moon. The moon and the name Delie refer to the Classical goddess, Diana, associations which Sceve frequently exploits. However, the moon, especially insofar as it is linked with illumination, also had other connotations related to the divine, suggesting some sort of mediated access to it, or divine revelation. Philon explains that mixed love serves to spread divine light through the cosmos. By loving one's more celestial 'superieur', one can become more like the intellectual or the divine; by loving one's more material 'inferieur', one enables that 'inferieur' to become, in its turn and to the extent of its capacity, more like the intellectual. The lady-light often brings darkness where she is depicted not as moon but rather as sun. Délie is often portrayed as a sun, or the sun.
