Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/388

 356 HISTORY OF GREECE. Muse grants the gift of song to whem she will, sc she sometimes in her anger snatches it away, and the most consLinmate human genius is then left silent and helpless. 1 It is true that these ex- pressions, of the Muse inspiring and the poet singing a tale of past times, have passed from the ancient epic to compositions pro- duced under very different circumstances, and have now degen- erated into unmeaning forms of speech ; but they gained cur- rency originally in their genuine and literal acceptation. If poets had from the beginning written or recited, the predicate of sing- ing would never have been ascribed to them ; nor would it have ever become customary to employ the name of the Muse as a die to be stamped on licensed fiction, unless the practice had be- gun when her agency was invoked and hailed in perfect good faith. Belief, the fruit of deliberate inquiry and a rational scru- tiny of evidence, is in such an age unknown : the simple faith of the time slides in unconsciously, when the imagination and feel- ing are exalted ; and inspired authority is at once understood, easily admitted, and implicitly confided in. The word mythe (fiv&o?, fabula, story), in its original mean- ing, signified simply a statement or current narrative, without any connotative implication either of truth or falsehood. Subse- quently the meaning of the word (in Latin and English as well as in Greek) changed, and came to carry with it the idea of an old personal narrative, always uncertified, sometimes untrue or avow- edly fictitious. 2 And this change was the result of a silent alter- ation in the mental state of the society, of a transition on the 1 Iliad, ii. 599. 2 In this later sense it stands pointedly opposed to larcpia, history, which seems originally to have designated matter of fact, present and seen by tho describer, or the result of his personal inquiries (see Hcrodot. i. 1 ; Verrius Flacc. ap. Aul. Cell. v. 18 ; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii. 12; and the observa- tions of Dr. Jortin, Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 59). The original use of the word Aoyof was the same as that of fivdof a current tale, true or false, as the case might be ; and the term designating a person much conversant with the old legends (Aoyto? ) is derived from it (Herod. L 1 ; ii. 3). Hekataeus and Herodotus both use /Wyof in this sense. Herodotus calls both JEsop and Hekatams hoyoKoioi (ii. 134-143). Aristotle (Metaphys. i. p. 8, ed. Brandis) seems to use /ivdof in this sense, where he says &ib nal tjiMfiv&of 6 i7i6ao(p6f iruf ionv 6 yap fiirdos avyKeirai kx davjj.aaiuv, etc. In the same treatise Cxi. p. 254), he uses it to signify fabulous amplification and transformation of a doctrine true in tha main.