Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/61

 CHRONOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE POETS. 45 lion )v many able and learned persons, who reject Danaus, Kad- mus, Hercules, Theseus, and many others, as fictitious persons. It is evident that any fact would come from the hands of the poets embellished with many fabulous additions : and fictitious genealogies were undoubtedly composed. Because, however, some genealogies were fictitious, we are not justified in concluding '.hat all were fabulous In estimating, then, the histori- cal value of the genealogies transmitted by the early poets, we nay take a middle course ; not rejecting them as wholly false, -'.or yet implicitly receiving all as true. The genealogies con- 'ain many real persons, but these are incorporated with many fic- titious names. The fictions, however, will have a basis of truth : the genealogical expression may be false, but the connection which it describes is real. Even to those who reject the whole as fabulous, the exhibition of the early times which is presented in this volume may still be not unacceptable : because it is neces- sary to the right understanding of antiquity that the opinions of the Greeks concerning their own origin should be set before us, even if these are erroneous opinions, and that their story should be told as they have told it themselves. The names preserved by the ancient genealogies may be considered of three kinds ; either they were the name of a race or clan converted into the name of an individual, or they were altogether fictitious, or lastly, they were real historical names. An attempt is made, in the four genealogical tables inserted below, to distinguish these three classes of names Of those who are left in the third class (i. e. the real) all are not entitled to remain there. But I have only placed in the third class those names concerning which there seemed to be little doubt. The rest are left to the judgment of the reader." Pursuant to this principle of division, Mr. Clinton furnishes four genealogical tables, 1 in which the names of persons repre- senting races are printed in capital letters, and those of purely fictitious persons in italics. And these tables exhibit a curious sample of the intimate commixture of fiction with that which he calls- truth: real son and mythical father, real husband and mythical wife, or vice versa. 1 See Mr. Clinton's work, pp. 32, 40, 100.