Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/65

 PRESUMPTIVE VALUE Olf TESTIMONY. 49 mythical world, he departs essentially from the point of view even of the later Greek3. And if he had consistently followed out that distinction in his particular criticisms, he would have found the ground slipping under his feet in his upward march even to Troy, not to mention the series of eighteen genera- tions farther up, to Phoroneus ; but he does not consistently fol- low it out, and therefore, in practice, he deviates little from the footsteps of the ancients. Enough has been said to show that the witnesses upon whom Mr. Clinton relies, blend truth and fiction habitually, indiscrimi- nately, and unconsciously, even upon his own admission. Let us now consider the positions which he lays down respecting historical evidence. He says (Introduct. pp. vi-vii) : " We may acknowledge as real persons all those whom there is no reason for rejecting. The presumption is in favor of the early tradition, if no argument can be brought to overthrow it. The persons may be considered real, when th" description of them is consonant with the state of the country at that time: when no national prejudice or vanity could be concerned in in- venting them : when the tradition is consistent and general : when rival or hostile tribes concur in the leading facts : when the acts ascribed to the person (divested of their poetical ornament) enter into the political system of the age, or form the basis of other transactions which fall within known historical times. Kadmus and Danaus appear to be real persons : for it is conformable to the state of mankind, and perfectly credible, that Phoenician and Egyptian adventurers, in the ages to which these persons are ascribed, should have found their way to the coasts of Greece : and the Greeks (as already observed) had no motive from any national vanity to feiga these settlements. Hercules was a real person. His acts were recorded by those who were not friendly to the Dorians ; by Achceans and JEolians, and lonians, who had no vanity to gratify in celebrating the hero of a hostile and rival people. His descendants in many branches remained in many states down to the historical times. His son Tlepolemus, and his grandson and great-grandson Cleodaeus and Aristomachus, are acknowledged (i. e. by O. Miiller) to be real persons : and there is no reason that can be assigned for receiving these, which will net be equally valid for establishing the reality both of Her- VOL. ii 3 4oc.