------
We have already seen that the decrees of Destiny, or Fate, were superior
even to the will of Jupiter, as the King of the Gods could not restore
Proserpine to her mother, Destiny having decreed otherwise. But of this
being, as possessing a place among the heroes of mythology, we are left in
considerable ignorance. Scarcely knowing even if he were a God, or only the
name or symbol whereby to represent an immutable and unchangeable law. In
the antique bas-reliefs he is often to be seen, with a bandage over his
eyes, and near him an open book which the gods alone might consult: and in
which are written those events which must inevitably come to pass, and
which all are so anxious to discover.
"Thou power which all men strive to look into!
Thou power which dost elude all human search!
To thee alone is given the right to gaze
Into the fate prepared for all who live.
Oh! wilt thou ne'er unlock thine iron bars,
Oh! wilt thou ne'er enable us to look
Into the volume clasped at thy right hand?
The past is known to us, and doth contain
So much of evil and so little good,
So much of wrong, and oh! so little right,
So much of suffering, and so little peace,
That we would fain turn o'er the leaves which speak
Of future things to our sore troubled souls.
Yet no! perchance the burden is too much,
And is in mercy hidden from our eyes.
Earth is made up of so much care and woe,
The past, the present, and the future known,
Would sink us into deep and desperate sorrow."
[Illustration] {33}