aenigma
aenigma, a figure, allegory
- that which is enigmatical or dark in a figurative representation, an allegory; accto Quintilian's expl.: allegoria, quae est obscurior, Inst. 8, 6, 52; Cic. de Or. 3, 42.—
- II Of other things.
- A That which is dark, obscure, or inexplicable; a riddle, enigma, obscurity: regina Saba venit temptare eum in aenigmatibus, Vulg. 3 Reg. 10, 1: obscuritates et aenigmata somniorum, Cic. Div. 2, 64; aenigma numero Platonis obscurius, id. Att. 7, 13: legum, Juv. 8, 50: palam et non per aenigmata Dominum videt, Vulg. Num. 12, 8; 1 Cor. 13, 12.—
- B A mystery; a mystical tenet or dogma in religion, Arn 3, p. 109.
ordo rerum exigit ut promissa ~atum problemata luculentae urbanitatis versibus patefacias
~a est obscura sententia per occultam similitudinem rerum
ut ‥ certiora essent experimenta rerum quam ~ata figurarum
multa dicimus que proprie sicut sunt non exprimimus, sed per aliud significamus ‥, ut cum per ~ata loquimur
quia nunc per speculum et ~a videmus in eamdem gloriam
ista pervigil oculo corporeo et sub nullo ~ate vidit
perceptis hic erroribus sub lucis ~ate
➳ dat.-abl. pl. ænigmatis, cf. Char. 123, 3.
- 1. raadsel;
- 2. het raadselachtige, geheimzinnigheid [somniorum];
- 3. raadselachtige aanduiding, toespeling.
- , αἴνιγμα, a figure, allegory, C.
AENIGMA(αἴνιγμα), a riddle. It appears to have been a very ancient custom among the Greeks, especially at their symposia, to amuse themselves by proposing riddles to be solved. Their partiality for this sort of amusement is attested by the fact that some persons, such as Theodectes of Phaselis and Aristonymus, acquired considerable reputation as inventors and writers of riddles. (Athen. x. pp. 451, 452; 12. p. 538.) Those who were successful in solving the riddle proposed to them received a prize, which had been previously agreed upon by the company, and usually consisted of wreaths, taeniae, cakes, and other sweetmeats, or kisses, whereas a person unable to solve a riddle was condemned to drink in one breath a certain quantity of wine, sometimes mixed with salt water. (Athen. 10. p. 457; Pollux, 6.107; Hesych. s. v. γρῖφος.) Those riddles which have come down to us are mostly in hexameter verse, and the tragic as well as comic writers not unfrequently introduced them into their plays. Pollux (l. c.) distinguishes. two kinds of riddles, the αἴνιγμα and γρῖφος, and, according to him, the former was of a jocose and the latter of a serious nature; but in the writers whose works have come down to us, no such distinction is observed; and there are passages where the name γρῖφος is given to the most ludicrous jokes of this kind. (Aristoph. Vesp. 20; Becker-Göll, Charikles, 2. p. 363; K. F. Hermann, Gottesdienstl. Alt. § 62, 29.) The Romans seem to have been too serious to find any great amusement in riddles; and when Gellius (Gell. 18.2) introduces some Romans at a banquet engaged in solving riddles, we must remember that the scene is laid at Athens ; and we do not hear of any Romans who invented or wrote riddles until a very late period. Apuleius wrote a work entitled Liber Ludicrorum et Griphorum, which is lost. After the time of Apuleius, several collections of riddles were made, some of which are still extant in MS. in various libraries.
[L.S](αἴνιγμα). A riddle. The Greeks were especially fond of riddles, the propounding of which even formed a part of some of their semireligious festivals (see Agrionia); and certain persons, such as Theodectes of Phaselis and Aristonymus, owed their celebrity to their cleverness at propounding aenigmata. At the symposia especially, the asking and answering of riddles formed a favourite amusement, and those who successfully solved them received a prize in the form of cakes, sweetmeats, wreaths, etc., while the unsuccessful were condemned to swallow a draught of wine sometimes mixed with salt water. Riddles were often written in hexameter verse, and the tragic as well as the comic writers have introduced them into their plays. The most famous riddle of antiquity is perhaps the celebrated one propounded by the Sphinx to Oedipus (q.v.).
The Romans cared little for riddles, though Apuleius wrote a work on the subject (Liber Ludicrorum et Griphorum), and mentions several collections of riddles that had been made. (See Athenaeus, x. 457.) A late writer, Symphosius, in the fourth century A.D., wrote a work entitled Aenigmata Symphosi Scholastici, containing a hundred riddles. The best list of these is in Riese's Anthologia Lat., pp. 187-207; trans. into French by Corpet (Paris, 1868).