Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/287

 ARGONAUTIC LEGEND MODIFIED. 255 faith in the l3gend did not the less continue. It was a faith originally generated at a time when the unassisted narrative of the inspired poet sufficed for the conviction of his hearers; it consecrated one among the capital exploits of that heroic and superhuman race, whom the Greek was accustomed at once to look back upon as his ancestors and to worship conjointly with his gods : it lay too deep in his mind either to require historical evidence for its support, or to be overthrown by geographical difficulties as th'ey were then appreciated. Supposed traces of the past event, either preserved in the names of places, or embo- died in standing religious customs with their explanatory com- ments, served as sufficient authentication in the eyes of the curious inquirer. And even men trained in a more severe school of criticism contented themselves with eliminating the palpable con- tradictions and softening down the supernatural and romantic events, so as to produce an Argonautic expedition of their own invention as the true and accredited history. Strabo, though he can neither overlook nor explain the geographical impossibilities of the narrative, supposes himself to have discovered the basis of actual fact, which the original poets had embellished or exag- gerated. The golden fleece was typical of the great wealth of Kolchis, arising from gold-dust washed down by the rivers ; and the voyage of Jason was in reality an expedition at the head of a considerable army, with which he plundered this wealthy coun- try and made extensive conquests in the interior. 1 Strabo has nowhere laid down what he supposes to have been the exact measure and direction of Jason's march, but he must have re- garded it as very long, since he classes Jason with Dionysus and Herakles, and emphatically characterizes all the three as having 1 Strabo, i. p. 45. He speaks here of the voyage of Phryxus, as well as that of Jason, as having been a military undertaking (orpare/a) : so again, iii. p. 149, he speaks of the military expedition of Odysseus TJ rov '06va- oeuf arparia, and i) 'Hpa/c,leot;f arparia (ib.). Again xi. p. 498. Ql fiv-Q-ot, alviTTOfiEvoi rrfv 'luaovof (TTpaTstav irposTi'&ovTOf fiEXpi Kal M.ij6iaf ETI 6% TTDOTEpov TTjv 4>pi'fov. Compare also Justin, xlii. 2-3 ; Tacit. Annal. vi. 34. Strabo cannot speak of the old fables with literal fidelity : he unconscious- ly transforms them into quasi-historical incidents of his own imagination. Diodorus gives a narrative of the same kind, with decent substitutes for the fabulous elements (iv. 40-47-56).