Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/446

 414 HISTORY OF GREECE. ancles which they present. 1 Yet though Diodorus here exhibits a preponderance of the religious sentiment over the purely his- torical point of view, and thus reminds us of a period earlier than Thucydides he in another place inserts a series of stories which seem to be derived from Euemerus, and in which Uranus, Kronus, and Zeus appear reduced to the character of human kings celebrated for their exploits and benefactions. 2 Many of the authors, whom Diodorus copies, have so entangled together Grecian, Asiatic, Egyptian, and Libyan fables, that it becomes impossible to ascertain how much of this heterogeneous mass can be considered as at all connected with the genuine Hellenic mind. Pausanias is far more strictly Hellenic in his view of the Gre- cian mythes than Diodorus : his sincere piety makes him inclined to faith generally with regard to the mythical narratives, but subject nevertheless to the frequent necessity of historicizing or allegorizing them. His belief in the general reality of the myth- ical history and chronology is complete, in spite of the many 1 Diodor. iv. 1-8. 'Evioi yap TUV uvayivuGKovruv, ov dtnaia xpufisvoi. Kpiaei, TUKpipee iTnl^TjTovaiv iv ralf upxaiair; fiv&oTioyiatf, iiricnjc rotf Trparro/ievotf iv ru ai9' fipuf xpovu, Kai ra 6iara^6fj.Eva TUV spyuv 6ia rb fieje-^ag, kit rot) tad' avrove fliov TEKuaipofiEVOL, r?/v 'Hpax^lovf dvvafiiv in TTJC aadrveiae rav vvv uv&puiruv &Eupovaiv, uare 6iu TTJV VTTEpjBo^v rov fieyi'&ov^ TUV Ipyuv uTTiff-elcr&ai TTJV -ypa^f/v. Ka&bhov yap ev rale upxalaif fivdohoyiaif OVK e navrbf rpoitov IT i Kpuf rrjv a/l^i?etav kfctT aareov. Kal ylip iv Toif dearpoic IT eir e 10 uev 01 /J.TJT E K ev T av pov diQvEic 1% irspoye- vuv ffufiuTuv imapgai, [tyre Trjpvovrjv rpiaufiarov, 5 fiu f rue roiavras [iv&o'koyias, nal raif in tart paai atf ofiev T^V rov t^eov rififjv. Kal yap UTOTTOV, 'Hpa/c^ta ftev In Kar uv&puTiOVf ovTa roif idioif novoif i^rjftEpuaai T?jv oiKovftEvriv, Toitf d' av&pu* rrouf, ETU%.a-&Ofi.evovc TJJS KOIVTJC EVEpyEalaf, cvKotyavT elv rov Inl rolf KaMLiaToif spyoif Inaivov, etc. This is a remarkable passage : first, inasmuch as it sets forth the total inap- plicability of analogies drawn from the historical past as narratives about Hurakles ; next, inasmuch as it suspends the employment of critical and scientific tests, and invokes an acquiescence interwoven and identified with the feelings, as the proper mode of evincing pious reverence for the god Herakles. It aims at reproducing exactly that state of mind to which tha mythes were addressed, and with which alone they could ever b in thorough harmony.
 * Diodor. iii 45-60 ; v. 44-46.