INTRODUCTION. 1 1 



Platonians, to whom is attributed an engraved gem in 

 which a butterfly hovers over a death's-head.* 



Perhaps a more interesting series of examples of the 

 application of this symbol could hardly be found than is 

 presented by the bas-relief on a Koman sarcophagus, 

 described by Maury,f in which are set forth the 

 course of man's destiny, his creation, the imparting 

 to him a living soul ; his life and sufferings ; his death, 

 or the parting of soul and body ; and the transportation 

 of the disembodied spirit. 



The subject begins with the creation of man, and the 

 reader must be prepared for a little confusion, entailed 

 by Prometheus bearing a double character as creator and 

 as the prototype of man. 



Prometheus is represented seated, holding the finished 

 man, the work of his own hands, upon his knee. Before 

 him stands Minerva, in the act of placing the Butterfly 

 on the head of the newly-created (" and man became a 

 living soul") ; whilst near this group are seen Terra 

 (the Earth, from whence all men come), and Cupid 

 and Psyche, who, embracing each other, set forth 

 the union of soul and body. Above, the fates are 

 busy ; Clotho winds the thread of man's life upon a 

 spindle, while Lachesis traces his horoscope upon a globe. 



The next scene represents the sufferings of Prometheus 

 (as man)', and Deucalion and Pyrrha, types of the per- 

 petuation of the race of mankind, are present ; but, whilst 

 the race subsists, the individual passes away, and the 

 next figure is of the lifeless body extended before Atropos, 

 who sits with the book of destiny open, whilst Love, in 



* Figured at the head of the chapter on Lepidoptera. 

 f " Nouvelle Galerie Mythologique." 



