Before introducing, as is proposed, condensed excerpta from our available
sources of information on Greek Mythology, it may be important for a
large class of readers to define the term, and also to show some of the
advantages arising from well directed mythological studies.
Mythology is a compound Greek word, meaning the science of—or, more
literally, discourse respecting—myths. What is a myth? No exact
definition of the word can be given, because there are many varieties of
myths, and the term has been used in several distinct senses. In the New
Testament it occurs five times, and is in every instance used in an evil,
or severely disparaging sense. In our English version it is translated
“fables,” not such as have been invented to convey and illustrate the
truth, but cunningly devised fictions, used to convey ethical notions
in themselves false. No such condemnation can be pronounced against
the Grecian myths in general, many of which, like those of Plato, are
charming figurative representations of important ideas, the splendidly
imaginative embodiment of subjective truths, and, like the inimitable
parables of our Lord, claim no credence for themselves, only as media
for conveying the lessons taught. Such myths are not only free from
any just reproach, but are commended, as a proper and effective method
of teaching, analogous to allegories, fables and parables, and often
found in the writings of the wisest and best of mankind. If in this way
falsehood has been embellished, we may repudiate their false doctrines,
though we admire the mythological dress in which they are presented.
Conscious that the best verbal definitions that can be given fail
to define or precisely indicate the generally accepted character of
the Grecian myth, we unconsciously multiply words and amplify their
meanings, till the attempt becomes rather descriptive than definitive.
Others, however acute and discerning, have had the same difficulty. In
his attempt to tell us just what a myth is, Dr. McClintock says: “It
is best described as a spontaneous product of the youthful imagination
of mankind—the natural form under which the infant race expressed its
conceptions and convictions about supernatural relations, and prehistoric
events. It is neither fiction, ordinary history, nor philosophy; it is
a spoken poetry, an uncritical and child-like history, a sincere and
self-believing romance. It does not invent, but simply imagines and
repeats; it may err, but it never lies. It is a narration, generally
marvelous, which no one consciously or scientifically invents, and
which every one unintentionally falsifies.” “It is,” says Mr. Grote,
“the natural effusion of the unlettered, imaginative, believing man.”
“It belongs to an age in which the mind was credulous, or confiding, the
imagination full of vigor and vivacity, the passions earnest and intense.
Its very essence consists in the projection of thought into the sphere of
facts; and it arises partly from the unconscious and gradual objectizing
of the subjective, or the confusing of mental processes with external
realities; that is, from imaginatively attributing to external nature the
feelings and qualities which exist only in the percipient soul.”
Myths, then, belong to that period of human progress in which the
untaught mind regards “history as all a fairy tale.” Before the dawn of
science, and the increase of knowledge by the general dissemination of
books, men’s fancies respecting the past, and the uncertain conjectures
of their nascent philosophy could be preserved only by these traditional
and semi-poetical tales of the mythologists. To borrow the fine
expression of Tacitus—_Fingunt simul creduntque_—“They at once fabricate
and believe.”
“The real and the ideal,” again says Mr. Grote, “were blended together
in the primitive conceptions.… The myth passed unquestioned from
the fact of its currency, and its harmony with existing sentiments
and preconceptions.” So to the intensity of a fresh, undisciplined
imagination, and the paucity of terms in the language yet in its extreme
adolescence, the origin of a vast number of myths can easily be traced.
“In those early days men looked at all things with the large open eyes of
childish wonderment, and much of what they saw was incapable of any other
than a metaphorical description at their hands. They had no words for the
purpose, and if the language had been richer it would have responded less
accurately to their thoughts, since they transferred their own feelings
and sentiments to the world about them, and made themselves the measure
of all things.” “Thus,” says one, “the hunter regarded the moon which
glanced rapidly along the clouded heavens, as a beaming goddess with her
nymphs,” and
Sunbeams upon distant hills,
Gilding space with shadows in their train,
Might, with small help from fancy, be transferred
Into fleet Oreads, sporting visibly.—_Wordsworth._
Among a race of unlettered, but intellectually active, stalwart men,
on whose path science shed but a dim, uncertain light, even natural
phenomena so imperfectly understood, and many things in the realm of the
spiritual and unseen being imaginatively conceived, and described in
metaphors, myths must abound. Nor is it wonderful that those belonging to
a remote prehistoric age are sometimes shrouded in a veil of impenetrable
mystery.
We may not be able to reach their true meaning, since when
personifications are so manifold, it is often impossible for us to tell
just what was regarded as fancy and what was believed to be fact. It is
worthy of remark that the same is as true of the grotesque incredible
legends current among semi-barbarian tribes at the present day, as in the
earliest Grecian myths. In many of them there is a substratum of facts,
of which there was some rather shadowy knowledge; after some progress,
and the introduction of letters among them, their guesses and imaginings
that were uttered in metaphorical expressions not fully understood, are
in a manner evaporated, or crystallize into dogmas that are accepted as
parts of the tribal faith.
So the more ancient narratives, that are called mythological, as we will
hereafter see, when collected, systematized and written by masters in the
art, have a value not only as indicating the incipient, though imperfect
development of the race, but in most cases, after the winnowing processes
applied have driven away the chaff, some kernels of truth will remain,
more than enough to repay those who mostly study them as interesting
relics of a primitive society, the earnest, impassioned deliverances of
nature’s children, yet unsophisticated by “philosophy falsely so called.”
We will a little further extend, and corroborate these views by another
quotation from a high authority on the subject.
“Myths,” he says, “are figurative representations of events or ideas
in the garb of history; they develop themselves spontaneously, and
unartificially in the consciousness of a primitive people; instead of
being products of design and invention, they symbolize the forces of
nature under whose influence they are formed, and have an essentially
religious character.”
The same authority further says: “The myth proceeds from an idea, either
true or false; the legend proceeds from facts, more or less clearly
apprehended, in which the idea was discovered. The one transforms poetry,
religion or philosophy into history; the other modifies history with
reference to conceptions of poetry, religion and philosophy.”
All persons interested in classical studies, and having given much
attention to comparative philology, find in the early history of mankind
an age in which words were very few—mostly names of things, and not used
to express abstract ideas, or any other than those things necessary to
the simplest modes of life. As words increased in number, some were
introduced expressive of qualities, relations and acts. They are found
variously related, phrases and brief sentences appear, the language
becomes organic, and the first elements of its grammar are discovered.
In a second period, as in the Aryan and Semitic tongues, language is
found advanced to a more systematic, grammatical development, and invites
us to a more critical study and analysis of its forms. As yet there
were neither abstract nor collective nouns, and every name designated a
definite individual object. All these names of things had terminations
suggestive of sex. Neuter nouns were yet unknown. Of course it was
impossible for them to speak of any object, though inanimate, without
ascribing to it something of an active, individual, sexual, personal
character; and for this reason, if for no other, personification is
a special characteristic of all languages in their earlier stages of
development, and it is found to have a close correspondence with the
mythical conceptions in the development of thought in those remote ages.
There was then nothing prosaic in men’s thinking or speaking. Their
language was a kind of unconscious poetry, every word a poem, every
phrase embracing the germs of something metaphorical, or sparkling with
the scintillations of some bright conceptions. Verbs, too, were strongly
expressive of the mind’s various moods and emotions, and needed few
auxiliaries that are employed in more abstract prose. Thus sunset was
described as the sun growing old, decaying, dying; the sunrise as night
giving birth to a brilliant, beautiful child. Spring was Sol greeting the
happy earth with a warm embrace, and showering his treasures into the lap
of nature. Rivers, fountains, grottoes, forests, mountains, rain, storm,
the ocean, fire, thunder clouds and the heavenly bodies were all clothed
with the attributes of living beings, and all descriptions of them were
myths.
Volumes have been written, and much more might here be said explanatory
of the general subject, and to remove prejudice against mythological
studies as useless or misleading in their tendency.
Some well meaning persons ask how Christians who know the truth and
rejoice in it can be either pleased or profited by communing with the
thoughts or fancies of those on whom the sun did not shine, and who had
none to lead them.
It is important for all such to distinguish the point of view in
which mythological narratives were contemplated by the ancients, by
mythologists themselves, and that in which we are to regard them. To
them they were in many respects realities closely connected with their
national history and their religious faith. To us they are unreal, but
affording evidence of the little nature taught them or that was acquired
by merely intellectual processes, and their evident, but often vaguely
felt, need of supernatural manifestations.
Classical study and literature are regarded as so important in education,
and a knowledge of Greek mythology is so obviously necessary to a full
understanding of the best Greek authors, that many works have been
published on the subject. The writers have either merely stated the
fables as reported among the ancients, or in addition have sought to
trace them to their origin, either by making conjectures of allegorical,
historical and physical meanings in the stories, or deriving them from
the events of the early ages, recorded in the Bible. But as these
traditions themselves arose in various ways, and often accidentally,
there of course must be error in every system which attempts to refer
them to a common cause and purpose.
The foundation of very many of the fictions of mythology is laid in ideas
that arose from the simplicity and inexperience of persons conversant
only with objects of sense. Wherever an unusual fact or appearance was
observed it was ascribed to a distinct being or existence, operating
directly or immediately. This creation by them of personal existences out
of natural phenomena, this ever ready personification of physical objects
and events, was, in all probability, one of the most fruitful sources of
fable and of idolatry, for which the stars and the elements seem to have
furnished the most common occasion.
“One source of fable,” says an able writer, “is the _perversion_ or
_alteration of facts_ in sacred history; and indeed this is its earliest
and principal source. The family of Noah, perfectly instructed by him
in religious matters, preserved for a considerable time the worship of
the true God in all its purity. But when the members of this family were
separated and scattered over different countries, diversity of language
and abode was soon followed by a change of worship. Truth, which had
hitherto been intrusted to the single channel of oral communication,
subject to a thousand variations, and which had not yet become fixed by
the use of writing, that surer guardian of facts, became obscured by an
infinite number of fables which greatly increased the darkness that had
enveloped it.”
The advantages of an acquaintance with mythology are many. They have been
admirably shown by Rollin, from whom we quote:
1. It apprises us how much we are indebted to Jesus Christ
the Savior, who had rescued us from the power of darkness and
introduced us into the wonderful light of the Gospel. Before
his time what was the real character of men? Even the wisest
and most upright men—those celebrated philosophers, those great
politicians, those renowned legislators of Greece, those grave
senators of Rome? In a word, what were all the nations of the
world, the most polished and the most enlightened? Fable informs
us they were the blind worshipers of some demon, and bowed
the knee before gods of gold, silver and marble. They offered
incense and prayers to statues, deaf and mute. They recognized
as gods animals, reptiles, and even plants. They did not blush
to adore an adulterous Mars, a prostituted Venus, an incestuous
Juno, a Jupiter blackened by every kind of crime, and worthy for
that reason to hold the first rank among the gods. See what our
fathers were, and what we ourselves should have been, had not the
light of the Gospel dissipated our darkness! Each story in fable,
every circumstance in the life of the gods, ought at once to fill
us with confusion, admiration and gratitude.
2. Another advantage from the study of fable is that, by
discovering to us the absurd ceremonies and impious maxims of
paganism, it may inspire us with new respect for the majesty
of the Christian religion, and for the sanctity of its morals.
Ecclesiastical history informs us that a Christian bishop
(Theophilus of Alexandria), to render idolatry odious in the
minds of the faithful, brought forth to the light and exposed to
the eyes of the public, all which was found in the interior of a
temple that had been demolished; bones of men, limbs of infants
immolated to demons, and many other vestiges of the sacrilegious
worship which pagans render to their deities. This is nearly the
effect which the study of fable must produce on the mind of every
sensible person; and this is the use to which it has been put by
the holy fathers and all the defenders of the Christian religion.
The great work of St. Augustin, entitled “The City of God,” which
has conferred such honor upon the Church, is at the same time a
proof of what I now advance, and a perfect model of the manner in
which profane studies ought to be sanctified.
3. Still another benefit of great importance may be realized in
the understanding of authors either in Greek, Latin, or even
French, in reading which a person is often stopped short if
ignorant of mythology. I speak now of the poets, merely, whose
natural language is fable; it is often employed also by orators,
and it furnishes them frequently with the happiest illustrations,
and with strains the most sprightly and eloquent.
4. There is another class of works whose meaning and beauty are
illustrated by a knowledge of fable, viz., paintings, coins,
statues, and the like. These are so many enigmas to persons
ignorant of mythology, which is often the only key to their
interpretation.