MEN had sinned against the gods, and had even denied their existence.
Zeus had a mind to destroy them, but at last resolved to inflict on them
a punishment worse than death. He sent Hermes to one of the chief cities
with a scroll on which a few magic letters were written, and the wise men
declared they contained a riddle. Its solution would bring immortal
happiness. The whole human race, neglecting all ordinary pursuits,
applied itself ceaselessly to the solution of the mystery. Professors
were appointed to lecture on it, it was attacked on all sides by
induction, deduction, and by flights of inspiration, but nobody was able
to unravel it. At last a child, seeing the perplexity in which her
father and mother were, took one of the copies of the scroll which were
hung in all the public buildings of the city, and secretly set off to
consult a distant oracle of Phœbus Apollo of which she had heard. She
had to traverse thirsty deserts, and not till she was nearly dead did she
reach the shrine. She told her story and handed in her scroll to a
priestess, who disappeared in an inner chamber. In a few minutes the
temple of the Sun-god was filled with blazing light, the child prostrated
herself on the floor, and she heard the words, _There is no riddle_. She
lifted herself up, and, fortified with some food given her by the
priestess, began her journey home. She was just able to struggle through
the city gates and deliver the message before she fell down lifeless. It
was not believed; the Secret, the Secret, everybody upheld it, the
professors lectured, the mad inquisition and guesses continued, and the
vengeance of Zeus is not yet satisfied.