This is as much as to say, _I am a plain man, I am no reader of riddles_: because Œdipus, king of Thebes, was particularly celebrated for solving an enigma, which had long baffled the penetration of all the Thebans. Ancient writers relate the story thus: Europa, the sister of Cadmus, the first king of Thebes, having been carried off by Jupiter; Juno, in her jealousy, wreaked her vengeance on Europa’s family, and persecuted Cadmus and his descendants with the most inveterate hostility. During the reign of Creon, one of the successors of Cadmus, Juno sent to destroy Thebes, a dreadful monster, called Sphinx, which was described as having the face and voice of a woman, the wings of a dragon, the body of a dog, and the claws of a lion. This extraordinary monster dwelt in a cave, immediately in the neighbourhood of Thebes, and seizing every one that ventured to approach, proposed the following well-known riddle, “_What walks in the morning on four legs, at noon on two, and at night on three?_” Those who were unable to solve the enigma were instantly torn in pieces; and, as the Thebans were, in general, so remarkable for their slowness and sluggishness, that they were called “_Theban pigs_” by the rest of Greece, it may be readily believed that the monster’s question long remained unanswered. When the city was in danger of total demolition, Creon the king offered his daughter Jocasta, and his crown, to him who should solve the riddle, as the oracle declared that to be the only means of deliverance. This was at last accomplished by _Œdipus_, who replied, that it was _man_: _who crawls in his childhood, walks upright in the vigour of his age, and who uses a crutch when he grows old_: on hearing this answer, the Sphinx slew herself. Some commentator on Terence very ingeniously observes, that Davus, by saying that he is not Œdipus, and cannot understand his riddle, covertly insinuates that Simo is a second Sphinx. NOTE 88. _The grinding-house._