Sphinx

the sphinx is the harmony of the world;

And the sphinx is not the binding-together of all things and the revolution of the world according to the poet Aratus, but perhaps it might be the pervading spiritual tension that holds the world together;

just as the ox, surely, of earth itself and of husbandry and of food, and the horse of courage and boldness, and again the sphinx of might together with understanding, having the whole body of a lion, but the face of a man.

It happened somehow that my son, Oedipus, guessed the Sphinx’s song;

and would that the Sphinx, that winged maid, monster from the hills, had never come as a grief to our land with her inharmonious songs, she that once drew near our walls and snatched the sons of Cadmus away in her taloned feet to the untrodden light of heaven, sent by Hades from hell to plague the men of Thebes;

You are bringing up again the reproach of the Sphinx.

So the sphinx, for instance, is called sphinx, instead of phix, and there are many other examples.

But until I see the word made good, I will never assent when men blame Oedipus.

Why, when the watchful dog who wove dark song was here, did you say nothing to free the people?

The riddling Sphinx had forced us to let things that were obscure go, and to investigate the pressing trouble.