‘(The series is) intended as parallel reading to history, and
planned to illustrate history.... Great changes are coming over
the schools, ... changes in the right direction, which may shortly
amount to a revolution, when there will be no reason why these
_Tales of the Heroic Ages_ should not, although addressed to young
people at large, find a place, if not in the school curriculum, at
least in the wide margin of so-called ‘Supplementary Reading.’ May
they prove acceptable, not alone to the young, to whom they are
specially addressed, but also, as has been felicitously said, to
“the old with young tastes.”’ --Pages xx, xxii.
_Method of Paraphrase._
‘(The style) should be simple and epical; faithfully following the
main lines, bringing out also the characteristic details--the
poetical beauties, picturesque traits, and original dialogue,
as much as may be consistent with necessary condensation and,
frequently, elimination. It should be a consecutive, lively
narrative, with the necessary elucidating explanations
incorporated in the text and with the fewest and briefest possible
footnotes, while it should contain no critical or mythological
digressions.... What we want in telling it to the young, is to
take the epic just as it is, condensing and expurgating, but not
changing; rendering the characters, scenes and situations with the
faithfulness and reverence due to the masterpiece of a race; using
as much as possible, especially in the dialogue, the words of the
original.... (The language) should be simple, though not untinged
with quaintness, and even in places a certain degree of archaism.’
--Pages xvi, xix, xxi.
_Indebtedness to Earle._
‘Professor Earle’s[1] version has been fully utilized in the
present volume, even to the extent of frequently making use of its
wording, where it is not too archaic or literal for ordinary
purposes.’ --Page 330, footnote.
Some notion of the extent of this borrowing may be had by examining the
extract printed below and the criticism that follows.