Classical Theology.—Lxxxvi.

swollen state of his feet , named him GMipus . We know he solved the riddle of the Sphinx , of the mountain Sphincms . We are aware also that before then he had consulted the oracle about his parentage , and had been told that he should find

his father in Phocis . There , among some others , on a journey , meeting aud not knowing him , he , in a fray , killed him . After many years , when he ascertained it was his father he had slain , ancl his mother he had married , he Avas seized with such

Avild horror that he tore out his own eyes , and Avould have destroyed himself , and in like manner perish as Jocasta , his wife , by actual suicide , had not his daughter Antigone , who so tenderly led and watched over him after he had lost his si g ht , prevented him committing that fatal deed . He

resigned the government . His two sons entered into an agreement to reign for a year by turns . When the year of Eteocles had expired he refused to vacate the sceptre in favour of his brother , who , at Argos , had married the daughter of Adrastus ,

king of the Argives . In consequence of this refusal a violent war was rushed into against the Thebans . Polynices gained Adrastus aud other princes to espouse his claim . It is said seven in all engaged , namely , Adrastus ; Tydeus , the son

of CEueus the Calydonian , Hippomedon ; Parthepaneus , the son of Atalanta , the daughter of Schameus : Capaneus ; Amphiaraus , who was the husband of Eriphyle , the sister of Adrastus ; and Polynices . These , with the exception of Adrastus , lost their lives in that war . The two brothers

killed each other in a duel . So great had been their enmity , we are told , it lasted after their death . Their bodies when placed upon the one funeral pile , to be consumed by the same fire , the very flames avoided combination and divided

themselves into two parts . About thirty-nine years after this , or B . C . 1184 , Priam reigned in Troy . He had several children . Homer has given us a minute and glowing account of some of them . The progeny of the gods then

inhabited the earth , and the gods themselves took part in mortal disputes . The stars in their courses fought . Nay , surely , as to that elsewhere . Is it not written in the Book of Jasher . The Lord

cast down great stones from heaven upon the Amorites . And the sun stood still , and the moon stayed , and hasted not to go down about a whole day , until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies . In the resurrection of the dead do they rise and help us ? What would be our

country without our God , ancl who can give God a name' ' A few words only here will suffice to tell of the f . ir-celebrated siege of Troy . One of Priam ' s sons , Alexander , who Avas also called Paris , a nam ©

he received of the shepherd who found him whenexposed by the command of his father on Mount Ida , was thus brought up as a shepherd , in which capacity , according to the story , he was consulted at the resolve of Jupiter , by the three superior

goddesses , Juno , Pallas , and Venus , to determine for them to which of them belonged the " Golden Apple , " bearing this inscription of the goddess Discordia , Pulchrior occipiat , " the most beautiful take it . " Paris having selected Venus , that

goddess informed him of his being the son of Priamus and Hecuba , and , true to her promise , she rewarded him with the fairest woman she .

could find . Under the guise of an embassy he fitted out a large fleet , and sailed to Peloponnesus , to carry away Helena , the imputed most lovely virgin in the world . This young lady was betrothed to Menelaus , king of Sparta , in Avkosa

palace she resided . When he arrived Menelaus was not there , and taking advantage of his absence he induced Helena to leave her home , and bore her off with him to Troy . The incensed king demanded her return . Paris refused to give ,

her up . Whereupon under the conduct of Agamemnon , king of Myceua , and the brother of the king of Sparta , the Greeks indignant at such daring offences , united their forces to exact terrible retribution from the Trojans . After a ten years '

long , glorious , and fatal siege , in which it is calculated upwards of 800 , 000 Greeks , and more than 600 , 000 Trojans perished . Troy , tho great , aud mighty metropolis of Asia , Avas treacherously betrayed , given up to pillage , set on fire , and . utterly burnt down . ( To be continued . )

KYJIBOLISJI OT THE PELIC . VS . —Tlie pelican feeding her young , with her blood is a prominent symbol of the ISth or Hose Croix degree of tlie Ancient ancl Accepted Rite , ancl was adopted assuch from the fact that the pelican , in ancient Christian art , was considered as an emblem of the Saviour . Now this symbolism of the pelican , as a representative of the Saviour , is almost universally supposed to be derived from the conimonbelief ' tliat the pelican feeds her young with her bloodas the Saviour shed his

, blood for mankind ; and hence the bird is always represented as sitting on her nest and surrounded by her brood of young ones , who are clipping their bills into a wound in the mother ' s breast . But this is not the exact idea of the symbolism , which really refers to the resurrection , and i ? , in this point of view , more applicable to our Lord , as well as to the Masonic degree off which the resurrection is a doctrine . Masonic Trowel .