64

The 'bees and honey' of the Hellenic tradition are inverted into spiders and worms who weave with "golden Looms" and "spindles of iron." As with Enion's weaving in Night the First, this binds finite being to the world of Ulro. A curtain is woven as the 'fabric' of light energy to unite the planetary bodies. A net is woven to trap generative energies. The "warp & woof" manufactures the curtains, the net and the "Atmospheres." Matter and life thereby form a condensed whole. First the curtains are hung:

ISO While far into the vast unknown the strong wing'd

Eagles bend

Their venturous flight in Human forms distinct;

thro' darkness deep

They bear the woven draperies; on golden hooks they

hang abroad

The universal curtains & spread out from Sun to Sun

The vehicles of light; they separate the furious

particles

155 Into mild currents as the water mingles with the wine.

(K. II. 150-155)

The symbol of genius, the eagle, reflects the "lineaments divine of human beauty" (K. II. 34) that characterize all of the animals. They are "in Human forms distinct" and spread light from sun to sun in "mild currents." This gives the atoms of Thanes the motion of light-particles. In conjunction, a net that traps life energy is spread. The net is associated with Urizen throughout The Four Zoas and can be thought of as his conceptual labyrinth or maze. The net traps life energies and compresses them into seeds of generation:

While thus the Spirits of strongest wing enlighten

the dark deep,

The threads are spun & the cords twisted & drawn

out; then the weak

Begin their work, & many a net is netted, many a net

Spread, & many a Spirit caught; innumerable the nets,

Innumerable the gins & traps, § many a soothing flute

Is form'd, & many a corded lyre outspread over the

immense.