Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/447

 PAL^PIIATUhL 415 discrepancies which he finds in it, and which he is unable to reconcile. Another author who seems to have conceived clearly, and applied consistently, the semi-historical theory of the Grecian mythes, is Palsephatus, of whose work what appears to be a short abstract has been preserved. 1 In the short preface of this trea- tise " concerning Incredible Tales," he remarks, that some men, from want of instruction, believe all the current narratives ; while others, more searching and cautious, disbelieve them altogether. Each of these extremes he is anxious to avoid. On the one hand, he thinks that no narrative could ever have acquired cre- dence unless it had been founded in truth ; on the other, it is impossible for him to accept so much of the existing narratives as conflicts with the analogies of present natural phenomena. If such things ever had been, they would still continue to be but they never have so occurred; and the extra-analogical features of the stories are to be ascribed to the license of the poets. Pala& phatus wishes to adopt a middle course, neither accepting al' nor rejecting all : accordingly, he had taken great pains to sepa- rate the true from the false in many of the narratives ; he hac 1 visited the localities wherein they had taken place, and maxL careful inquiries from old men and others. 2 The results of his 1 The work of Palrcphatus, probably this original, is alluded to in the Cirisof Virgil (88): " Docta Palsephatid testatur voce papyrus." The date of Palaephatns is unknown indeed this passage of the Cms seems the only ground that there is for inference respecting it. That which we now possess is probably an extract from a larger work made by another person at some later time : see Vossius de Historicis Gratis, p. 478, ed. Westermann. 2 Palsephat. init. ap. Script. Mythogr. ed. Westermann, p. 268. Tuv uvd-punuv ol HEV Treidovrai TTUVI rolf Aeyopevoi?, <5f avop^riroi ao(j>ia<; Kal iTnaT7i[ij]<; ol de iruKvoTtpoi TTJV ipvaiv Kal irohvTrpayfiovee amaTovai TO irapinrav (jL^Ssv yevea&ai TOVTUV. 'E/zo2 6e doKKi yevecr&ai iravra T& Tityo- fj.eva- yevofieva 6e nva oi KoiTjral Kal AoyoypaQoi iraperpe^av elf rb uTUffrorepov Kal davfiaaMTepov rot) -&avfiu^eiv IVCKO roi>c uv&puirovg. 'Eyw 6'e yivuaKu, on ov dvvarai TU roiavra elvat ola Kal T^JETCLL ' TOVTO 6e Kal TmA)70a, on el firi eyevero, OVK uv tteyero. The main assumption of the semi-historical theory is here shortly and learly stated. One of the early Christian writers, Minucius Felix, is astonished at the asy belief of his pagan forefathers in miracles If ever such thiags had