ENIGMA

(Gr. owviy^ta.) A proposition put in obscure or ambiguous terms to puzzle or exercise the ingenuity in discovering its meaning. In the present day, the enigma is only a jeu d'esprit, or a species of amusement to beguile a leisure hour; but formerly it was a matter of such importance that the eastern monarchs used to send mutual emba ies for the solution of enigmas. Every one remembers the enigma which Sampson proposed to the Philistines for solution; and the still more famous enigma of the Sphinx (quod vide), the source at once of the elevation and the misfortunes of CEdipus. About the 17th century the enigma, which had been for centuries neglected as a species of'literary display, again came into favour; and in France particularly it was cultivated with so much zeal, that several grand treatises were dedicated to its history and characteristics. The best enigmas with which we are acquainted were written by Schiller, and have been incorporated in his works. Even in the present day the periodical literature of France and Germany does not disdain this species of writing; though, as was before observed, it is now employed geueD d [s. 414]