difficulties — the fact or condition of being difficult.
oracles — (especially in ancient Greece) an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry.
perplexities — the state of being perplexed; confusion; uncertainty.
sphinges — a figure of an imaginary creature having the head of a man or an animal and the body of a lion. (usually initial capital letter) the colossal recumbent stone figure of this kind near the pyramids of Giza.
