proposes to men a variety of hard questions and riddles which she received from the Muses. In these, while they remain with the Muses, there is probably no cruelty; for so long as the object of meditation and inquiry is merely to know, the understanding is not oppressed or straitened by it, but is free to wander and expatiate, and finds in the very uncertainty of conclusion and variety of choice a certain pleasure and delight; but when they pass from the Muses to Sphinx, that is from contemplation to practice, whereby there is necessity for present action, choice, and decision, then they begin to be painful and cruel; and unless they be solved and disposed of, they strangely torment and worry the mind, pulling it first this way and then that, and fairly tearing it to pieces. Moreover the riddles of the Sphinx have always a twofold condition attached to them; distraction and laceration of mind, if you fail to solve them; if you succeed, a kingdom. For he who understands his subject is master of his end; and every workman is king over his work.

Now of the Sphinx's riddles there are in all two kinds one concerning the nature of things, another concerning the nature of man; and in like manner there are two kinds of kingdom offered as the reward of solving them: one over nature, and the other over man. For the command over things natural, — over bodies, medicines, mechanical powers, and infinite other of the kind—is the one proper and ultimate end of true natural philosophy; however the philosophy of the School, content with what it finds, and swelling with talk, may neglect or spurn the search after realities and works. But the riddle proposed to Edipus, by the solution of which he became King of Thebes,

related to the nature of man; for whoever has a thorough insight into the nature of man may shape his fortune almost as he will, and is born for empire; as was well declared concerning the arts of the Romans,—

Be thine the art,

O Rome, with government to rule the nations,
And to know whom to spare and whom to abate,
And settle the condition of the world.

And therefore it fell out happily that Augustus Cæsar, whether on purpose or by chance, used a Sphinx for his seal. For he certainly excelled in the art of politics if ever man did; and succeeded in the course of his line in solving most happily a great many new ridd'ea concerning the nature of man, which if he had not devirensy and reach y answered be weld many times have been in men bege of detractice. The

XXIX.

PROSERPINA;

OR SPIRIT.

THEY say that when Pluto upon that memorable partition of the kingdoms received for his portion the infernal regions, he despaired of gaining any of the goddesses above in marriage by addresses and gentle methods, and so was driven to take measures for carrying one of them off by force. Seizing his opportunity therefore, while Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, a fair virgin, was gathering flowers of Narcissus in the Sicilian meadows, he rushed suddenly upon her and carried her off in his chariot to the subterranean regions. Great reverence was paid her there: so much that she was even called the Mistress or Queen of Dis. Meanwhile her mother Ceres, filled with grief and anxiety by the disappearance of her dearly beloved daughter, took a lighted torch in her hand, and wandered with it all round the world in quest of her. Finding the sear à fruitless, and hearing by chance that she had been carried down to the internal regions, she wearied Jupiter with team and lamentations, praying to have her retured ; all at last she won a promise from him that if ber dasghter hat not eaten of anything belong ing to the ander world, then she might bring her back. Tes enten vis mranate for the mother: for Proserpina at sazen ¤ was found) three grains of a poegranate. But his fit aot prevent Ceres from renewing her prayers and amentations; and it vis agreed is last that Priserpina donut divide the year

between the two, and live by turns six months with her husband and the other six with her mother.

Afterwards a very daring attempt to carry away the same Proserpina from the chamber of Dis was made by Theseus and Pirithous. But having sate down to rest by the way on a stone in the infernal regions, they were unable to rise again, and continued sitting there for ever. So Proserpina remained Queen of the under world. where a great and new privilege was granted in honour of her; for whereas they who went down to the under world were not permitted to go back, a singular excxpden was made a favour of any who should beng 4 nich brunet as a present to Proserest adong me kar 2 o and re

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that is suddenly and forcibly carried off, by the Earth; because there is no holding it in if it have time and leisure to escape, and the only way to confine and fix it is by a sudden pounding and breaking up; just as if you would mix air with water, you can only do it by sudden and rapid agitation: for thus it is that we see these bodies united in foam, the air being as it were ravished by the water. It is prettily added that Proserpina was carried off while in the act of gathering flowers of Narcissus in the valleys: for Narcissus takes its name from torpor or stupor; and it is only when beginning to curdle, and as it were to gather torpor, that spirit is in the best state to be caught up and carried off by earthy matter. It is right too that Proserpina should have that honour, which is not conceded to the wife of any other God. to be called the Mistress or Queen of Dis: for the spirit does in fact govern and mariage everything in those regions, without the help of Panu, who remains stupid and unconscious.

The air nearwine, and the power of the celestial region (which is represented by Geres) strives with infine assiduity to win for au recover tuis impris onec spirit again; and that torgi. which the air carries

the ligined tore in Ceres's inaut -means to divust the SuL nich aves the office of a lamp all over tue earl. and wou do more than anyting else for tue ranovery of Proserpina, were the thing at al' posside. But Proserpin remains faet when sue is: the reason. and mamer vereof is accuratery aut admirably set for in those two agreements betwee. Jupiter aut Cores. For vnt regard to the first. most cerian ris tum there are two ways of confining aut restraining spirit in sulit an earthy matter: one in constipation.