A. A thing exists which nor immortal is, Nor mortal, but to both belongs, and lives As neither god nor man does. Every day, ’Tis born anew and dies. No eye can see it, And yet to all ’tis known. B. A plague upon you! you bore me with your riddles. A. Still, all this Is plain and easy. B. What then can it be? A. SLEEP—that puts all our cares and pains to flight.[862] ----- Footnote 862: Athen. x. 71. ----- The following from Eubulos is not amiss: A. What is it that, while young, is plump and heavy, But, being full grown, is light, and wingless mounts Upon the courier winds, and foils the sight? B. The THISTLE’S BEARD; for this at first sticks fast To the green seed, which, ripe and dry, falls off Upon the cradling breeze, or, upwards puffed By playful urchins, sails along the air. Antiphanes, in his Sappho, introduces a very ingenious riddle, partly for the purpose of offering a sarcastic explanation directed against the orators: There is a female which within her bosom Carries her young, that, mute, in fact, yet speak, And make their voice heard on the howling waves, Or wildest continent. They will converse Even with the absent, and inform the deaf.[863] ----- Footnote 863: Athen. x. 73. ----- The poet introduces the “Lesbian maid,” explaining the riddle, and this passage of the Athenian comic writer may be regarded as the original of those fine lines in Ovid, which Pope has so elegantly translated: Heaven first taught LETTERS for some wretch’s aid, Some banish’d lover, or some captive maid, They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires, Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires, The virgin’s wish without her fears impart, Excuse the blush and pour out all the heart, Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole.