MITTE _arcana Dei cœlumque inquirere quid ſit. Nec ſapias pluſquàm debet homo ſapere. Caucaſeo vinctus monet hoc in rupe Prometheus Scrutator cœli, fur & in igne Iouis. Cui cor edax Aquila in rediuiuo vulnere rodit. Materia pœnis ſufficiente ſuis._ Ἣ δὲ προμηθέι’ ἂχ!ος! δάκνει κέαρ ἔντερον ἔνδον Καρδιοβρόσκ!ος! ὃμως ἂετ!ος! ἐσθὶν ἂχ!ος!. The device is almost the same with Alciat's,—the stanzas, however, are a little different,— “Forbear to inquire the secrets of God, and what heaven may be. Nor be wise more than man ought to be wise. Bound on Caucasian rock this does Prometheus warn, Scrutator of heaven and thief in the fire of Jove. His heart the voracious Eagle gnaws in ever reviving wound, Material sufficient this for all his penalties.”— “As for Prometheus pain gnaws his heart the bosom within, So is pain the eagle that consumes the heart.” The “MICROCOSME,” first published in 1579, fol. 5, celebrates in French stanzas Prometheus and his cruel destiny; a fine device accompanies the emblem, representing him bound not to Caucasus, but to the cross. “Promethee s’ estant guindé iusques aux cieux Pour desrober le feu des redoubables Dieux, Pour retribution de ceste outrecuidance Fut par eux poursuiui d’une rude vengeance. Il fut par leur decret à la croix attaché, La ou pour expier deuenant son peché, L'Aigle de Iupiter le becquetoit sans cesse, Si que ce patient estoit en grand oppressé.” But Reusner’s _Emblems_ (bk. i. Emb. 27, p. 37, edition 1581), and Whitney’s (p. 75), adopt the same motto, _O vita misero longa_,—“O life, how long for the wretched.” The stanzas of the latter may be accepted as being in some degree representative of those of the former,— “To Caucasus, behoulde PROMETHEVS chain’de, Whose liuer still, a greedie gripe dothe rente: He neuer dies, and yet is alwaies pain’de, With tortures dire, by which the Poëttes ment, That hee, that still amid misfortunes standes, Is sorrowes slaue, and bounde in lastinge bandes. For, when that griefe doth grate vppon our gall, Or surging seas, of sorrowes moste doe swell, That life is deathe, and is no life at all, The liuer rente, it dothe the conscience tell: Which being launch’de, and prick’d, with inward care, Although wee liue, yet still wee dyinge are.” How Shakespeare applies this mythic story appears in the _Titus Andronicus_ (act ii. sc. 1, l. 14, vol. vi. p. 451), where Aaron, speaking of his queen, Tamora, affirms of himself,—