56 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



oracle that they should obtain what they desired, if 

 taking the bones of their mother they cast them be 

 hind their backs ; which at first struck them with 

 great amazement and despair, seeing, all things 

 being defaced by the flood, it would be an endless 

 work to find their mother s sepulchre, but at length 

 they understood that by bones, the stones of the 

 earth, seeing the earth was the mother of all things, 

 were signified by the oracle. 



This fable seems to reveal a secret of nature, 

 and to correct an error familiar to men s conceits : 

 for through want of knowledge men think that 

 things may take renovation and restoration from 

 their putrefaction and dregs, no otherwise than 

 the phoenix from the ashes, which in no case can be 

 admitted, seeing such kind of materials, when they 

 have fulfilled their periods, are unapt for the begin 

 nings of such things : we must therefore look back 

 to more common principles. 



NEMESIS, OR THE VICISSITUDE OF 

 THINGS. 



Nemesis is said to be a goddess venerable unto 

 all, but to be feared of none but potentates and For 

 tune s favourites. She is thought to be the daughter 

 of Oceanus and Nox. She is pourtrayed with wings 

 on her shoulders, and on her head a coronet, bearing 

 in her right hand a javelin of ash, and in her left a 

 pitcher with the similitudes of ^Ethiopians engraven 

 on it; and lastly, she is described sitting on an 

 hart. 



