The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1868-11-12
6rnrral %Sntrllioente.
the FABLES OF HISTORY,

TIL fABLE Of Hi5IUHhs
EMPLOYED FRRoRs-rHE COLOSSUS or RHoDTs.
DR.. Octave Delepierrie. the learned Sec
rotary Of Legation to the King of the Bel
gian5, has published a book entitled
Historical Difficulties and Contested
Events.
The first delnsion to which he addresses
himgelf is the Colossus of Rhodes. In the
elementary works in use in the English
and the American schools, the Colossus Of
Rhodes is represented 40 q statute with
gigantic limbs, eich leg resting on the
euurmou rocks which face the entrance 20
the principal port Of the Island Of Rhodes,
and ships in full sail passed easily, II Is
said, between its legs. This Is the nara
tive Of the historian Rollin, Of several
French dictionaries, and even Of some en-
cyclUpedias. The real truth about the
Colossus, according to DR., Delepierre, Is,
that about the year 800, before Christ, the
Rhodians, after successfully defending
themselves against q years seige, ordered
Chares 10 erect n memorial statue TO the
honor Of their diety, and this statue was
erected on IN open space Of ground near
the great harbor, where its fragments were
Gcen and admired by travellers for many
years after its destruction. Towards the
end Of the second century after Christ, the
Colossus was reconstructed under the En-
peror Nospasian, but Of smaller dimen-
sions. The fable Of the ancient statue, be-
tween whose gigantic limbs ships in full
sail were believed to have passed, original
ed apparently ut the time Of the Crusados,
when tho inhabitants Of Rhodes amused
themselves by relating to the newcomers
al sorts of incredible stories Of their past
grandeur.
DELIsABIUs.
The romantic tale OF Belisarius, the con-
queror OF the Nandals, deprived Of his sight
BY the Emperor Justiniau, and compelled
10 beg his bread ia the streets Of Constan-
tinople, was mentioned by no contempt
rary historian, but it has been repeated age
after age, and M%armontel's novel propaga.
ted the fiction in every language Of Eu-
rope. The real fact, as recorded by Glib
bon, is that BelisariUs was guarded for q
year as a prisoner in his own palace. His
innocence Of the treason Of which he had
been suspected became then acknowledged,
and his freedom and honors were restored;
but death removed him within a year OF
his liberation. He was never blind nor a
bCggor.
Il AL~ELASpRIAN LmRABY
Whether the Ale1ondrian Library con-
tanned $4,000 volumes or 400, 900, it IS tole-
rabiy cerslin that this immense collection
made by the ptolgmios was not, as is com
monty supposed, destroyed by the Arabs
in the seventh century, but become O prey
10 the flames when Julius Cesar, who was
besieged in THAT part Of Alexandria in which
the museum stood, ordered the fleet 70 be
set on fire. One story had It that the
books we've ordered to Be distributed in the
various baths at Alexandria, to be burnt in
the stoves, and that they lasted six months;
but il would have puzzled the Egyptians
TO heat baths with parchment Another
fiction was that ut the taking Of Babylon
the books we've thrown into the river Eu-
pirates, and the number was 80 great that
they formed a bridge over which foot pas
sengers and horsemcn went across
POPE Joan.
Is it true that n woman succeeded in de-
ceiying her contemporaries 10 the extent Of
eleyating herself to the Pontifcal throne =?
According to the widely-spread version, d
female Pope, disguised rs man, was elect
ed in tho year 855, and assumed the name
Of John VII, and subsequently died in
giving birth 70 q child. This is clearly a
legend, the most probable explanation of
which is, that Popo John XII. amongst
many concubines, had one named Joan,
who exercised such an empire over him
that for some time it might be said it was
She who governed. His love for her went
so far that he gave her entire cities, and
dsspoilCd the Church Of 81. Peter ofcrosses
and Of golden ch%slices, ia order 10 laythem
ut her feet, and we are told that she die 4
in childbed
ApELARD AND ELoTsA.
The history Of the two lovers, Abelart
and Eloissn, DIR. Delepierre takes 70 b.
true, az a whole, but he contends that tn
celebrated letters imputed to Eloisa wer
not written by her at all, and that TIA,
tomb in Pere la Chaise, at Paris, is alto
gether a modern construction.
WILLIAM TELL.
The tale Of William Tell is pronounce.
70 be nothing more nor less than
Northern saga that has been ndopteI
and repeated from generation 70 gen
GRAFTON. The revolution which too.
place in Switzerland in 1907 gave rie
TO the legend Of the Swiss hero, and fror
that time to the present writers have cor
tinually endeayored TO expose its unsoun
basis, but the public, equally ~pertinacious
have insisted on believing in its truth
The story was not known until two cer
turies after the supposed event, and th
chronicles of the Middle Ages, so cage
hAbpA N4hAepAhAAui1 ANNAa Nuu lultItblll
newg, are entirely ignorant Of il. Tell
lime tree in tho centre of the market-plao
at Altdorf, and his cross-bow preserved i
the arsenal at Zurich, are not more vail
proofs than the pieces Of true cross whicI
are exhibited in a thousand places.
PETRARcH M LAURA.
Petraroh was a great poet and a grea
politician, but he was not altogether tn
Platonic lover some have represented hin
10 be. With regard TO Laura all is doubt
obscurity and hypothesis. All traces lef
Of her were so faint, even in the century il
which she lived, that doubts were enter
tanned Of her existence. Baldelle, a yer,
partial commentator on Petrarch, /
obliged to confess that the poet was by NJ
means faithful 10 his divinity; but tina
another, whom he loved after a less idea
fashion, presented him with a daughter
who Afterwards became the consolation O
his old age. Laura has made far more
noise in the world during the past four OF
Ave centuries than she ever did in her OWL
time,
JOAN OF ARC.
We are now asked 10 believe that Joan OF
AWa u MT h,rnk "a D.. -. -.