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 OPINION OF PLATO. 441 it is gratifying to find Plato discussing the subject in a more philosophical spirit. The Platonic Socrates, being asked whethe- he believed the current Attic fable respecting the abduction of Oreithyia (daughter of Erechtheus) by Boreas, replies, in sub- stance, " It would not be strange if I disbelieved it, as the clever men do ; I might then show my cleverness by saying that a gust of Boreas blew her down from the rocks above while she was at play, and that., having been killed in this manner, she was reported to have been carried off by Boreas. Such speculations are amusing enough, but they belong to men ingenious and busy- minded overmuch, and not greatly to be envied, if it be only for this reason, that, after having set right one fable, they are under the necessity of applying the same process to a host of others Hippo- centaurs, Chimaeras, Gorgons, Pegasus, and numberless other monsters and incredibilities. A man, who, disbelieving these stories, shall try to find a probable basis for each of them, will display an ill-placed acuteness and take upon himself an endless burden, for which I at least have no leisure : accordingly, I forego such researches, and believe in the current version of tht O * stories." 1 These remarks of Plato are valuable, not simply because they point out the uselessness of digging for a supposed basis of truth in the mythes, but because they at the same time suggest the true reason for mistrusting all such tentatives. The mythes form 1 Plato, Phsedr. c. 7. p. 229 : PHJEDRUS. EZra fioi, u 2u/cparf, ai> TOVTO TO //utfoAoy^/za ire'idei u/tijdtf dvai ; SOCRATES. 'A?^' d uiriaToiijv, vamp ol aool, OVK uv UTOTTOS eiijv, elra coyi&nevof tyairiv avrrjv irvevua Eopeov KOTU TUV irM/atov nerpuv avv ijtap- fiaKeia iraifrvaav uaat, Kal OVTU 61) T&evrfiffaaav /Ux#^vaf fab TOV Eopeov avapKaarbv yeyovevai 'E/6> <5e, a Qaidpe, uMuc [v ru roiavra Xapievra r)yov;j.aL, 'kia.v c5e Setvov Kal Imirovov Kal oil iravv evrv^ovs uvtipbc, car' a/Uo ikv ovdev, OTI & aiTia xp^fitvof, 7roWf/f avT$ ff^oAw de^aei. 'Eftol 6e npbt ravTa ovdapue EOTI O^fy *0t?ev 6r) xaipciv luoac TOVTO, ontvos 6e -C> voui&fievv ncpl avruv, b vvvor) tf.eyov, OKOKV ov Tov, etc. 19*