70 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



besques which decorate the remains of some ancient 

 buildings, and which have been multiplied by the 

 fertile, pencil of Raphael, the forms which they 

 combine, however repugnant to reason they may 

 be, present agreeable contours. They are the 

 fantastic productions of playful genius ; perhaps 

 emblematic representations in the oriental taste, 

 in which were supposed to be concealed under my- 

 stical images certain propositions in metaphysics 

 or in morals. We may excuse those who employ 

 their time in attempts to discover the wisdom con- 

 cealed in the sphinx of Thebes, the pegasus of 

 Thessaly, the minotaur of Crete, or the chimera 

 of Epirus ; but it would be absurd to expect seri- 

 ously to find such productions in nature. As well 

 might we search for the animals described in the 

 Book of Daniel, or for the beast of the Apoca- 

 lypse. 



Neither may we look for the mythological ani- 

 mals of the Persians, creatures of a still bolder 

 imagination : the martichore, or man-destroyer, 

 bearing a human head on the body of a lion, ter- 

 .minated by the tail of a scorpion * ; the griffon, 

 guardian of treasures, half eagle, half lion f ; the 



* Plin. viii. 31. Arist. lib. ii. cap. 40. Phot. Bibl., Art. 

 72 ; Ctes. Indie. vElian. Anim., iv. 21. 



t ^Elian, Anim. iv. 27. 



