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nydus/Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the AncientsPublic
Page 343 of 487
Table of Contents

THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. A SERIES OF MYTHOLOGICAL FABLES.

and leave a lasting impression upon the sense and memory.

XIX.—DÆDALUS, OR MECHANICAL SKILL. EXPLAINED OF ARTS AND ARTISTS IN KINGDOMS AND STATES.

The ancients have left us a description of mechanical skill, industry, and curious arts converted to ill uses, in the person of Dædalus, a most ingenious but execrable artist. This Dædalus was banished for the murder of his brother artist and rival, yet found a kind reception in his banishment from the kings and states where he came. He raised many incomparable edifices to the honor of the gods, and invented many new contrivances for the beautifying and ennobling of cities and public places, but still he was most famous for wicked inventions. Among the rest, by his abominable industry and destructive genius, he assisted in the fatal and infamous production of the monster Minotaur, that devourer of promising youths. And then, to cover one mischief with another, and provide for the security of this monster, he invented and built a labyrinth; a work infamous for its end and design,

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