“_Time._ Now the need is to visit other climes of earth And other youths. Ye warned then, bid farewell. _B._ What this heat of sudden flight? _C._ If flight indeed at length For thee is fix’d, her swift wings let the bald goddess At least rest here. _Occasion._ Why to no purpose words in air Waste ye? hence elsewhere, no delay, I go; farewell. _E._ Should she flee? rather her scattered locks in front Seize hold of. _Occasion._ Alas! freely I follow, at your own homes Will tarry, till in just measure I prolong my stay. _Faith._ I praise your spirit, for by friendly force the goddess Rejoices to be compelled.” The line, “her scattered locks in front seize hold of,” has its parallel in _Othello_ (act iii. sc. 1, l. 47, vol. viii. p. 505),— “he protests he loves you, And needs no other suitor but his likings To take the safest occasion by the front To bring you in again.” Classical celebrities, whether hero or heroine, wrapt round with mystery, or half-developed into historical reality, may also form portion of our Mythological Series. The grand character in Æschylus, _Prometheus Bound_, is depicted by at least four of the Emblematists. The hero of suffering is reclining against the rock on Caucasus, to which he had been chained; a vulture is seated on his broad chest and feeding there. Alciat’s Emblem, from the Lyons edition of 1551, or Antwerp, 1581, number 102, has the motto which reproves men for seeking the knowledge which is beyond them: _Things which are above us, are nothing to us_,—they are not our concern. The whole fable is a warning. Quæ ſupra nos, nihil ad nos. [Illustration: _Alciat, 1551._] _Caucaſi a æternùm pendens in rupe Prometheus Diripitur ſacri præpetis vngue iecur. Et nollet feciſſe hominem: figulosque peroſus Accenſam rapto damnat ab igne facem. Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis, Qui cœli affectant ſcire, deûmqúe vices._ “On the Caucasian rock Prometheus eternally suspended, Has his liver torn in pieces by talons of an accursed bird. And unwilling would he be to have made man; and hating the potters Dooms to destruction the torch lighted from stolen fire. Devoured by various cares are the bosoms of the wise, Who affect to know secrets of heaven, and courses of gods.” Similarly as a dissuasive from vain curiosity, Anulus, in his “PICTA POESIS” (Lyons, 1555, p. 90), sets up the notice,— CVRIOSITAS FVGIENDA. “Curiosity must be shunned.” [Illustration: _Aneau, 1555._]