The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-11-13
The Centaurs.

! Among all the fables of Greece, few ar,
more interesting TO examine than the ia
BILE of the Centaurs. The notion Of sucl
a race of two formed creatures was firml,
rooted in the ancient mind, and not soo1
relinquished. Although the belief il
their existence was laughed at by many
free-thinkers among the ancients them
selves, from the philosopher Plato, to the
| physician Galen. it continued to hold it,
own through several centuries of the
Christian era. St. jerome, making dis
tlnction between monsters which are
simply fabulous and monsters which real.
~ exist, contends that both Centaurs and
Sirens are real: and elsewhere he quotes
the testimony of St. Antony, who deposes
that he once spoke to live Centaur. as
he journeyed through the desert on his
way to visit the hermit Paul. To men
who neither knew nor cared about laws
OF structure and anatomy, there would be
nothing distasteful or absured in the idea
OF such a mixture and duplication of or
ganisms. Even to ourselves, if we can
forget our science, the absurdity is not
without its charm. To be part, meta
phorically. of his steed, is the ambition
of the rider; and to unite the two natures
In one indivisible being, able to leap,
gallop, and exult in swiftness like
horse, and having at the same
time the erect countenance and skill
full hands Of man. would be to
realize something like those physical
illusions which visit us in dreams. when
the body seems to have thrown of its
natural restraints, and we feel ourselves
careering through space in the exercise
OF miraculous and incompatible powers
The class of conceptions to which the
Centaurs belong are comparatively rare
in Greek mythology. A Centaur, made
up of the two most perfect Of the animals
In combination, may be an excellent
monster, but is monster still; and the
Greek imagination, we know, was too
clear and sane to be prodigal OF monstrosi-
ty. While Egypt and Asia w;orshiped
composite divinities, half man, half hawk
dog, cat, ape, eagle, or bull, the Greek
took his ideal Of the highest from him
self, and sacrificed to gods after his own
image. In its obscure origins, indeed, it
IS doubtful whether his religion differed
SO much in this respect from the religions
of his neighbors and in it's decline it
tended again to assimilate itself to theirs
till in the later creeds Of Alexandra, An
tioch, and Rome, We are used to finding
all manner Of grotesque and barbarolls
deities COMPOUNDED and identified with
the Olympians. But in the good davs.
while Greece was really Greece, her gods,
her greater gods at least. were 81 10
double nature, but simply shapes Of IN man
or woman made perfect. Monsters. when
they occur, occur always in inferior
place, and with special character and
significance. Men Or woman 81 m;xad
with brute in those, NEUROLOGICAL crea' &
lures .. which embody, not the highest, not
the foreseeing and controlling forces .cf
the y universe, Il but only it's 7 ca
PRECIOUS, violent or treacherous forces
those which, though stronger and more,
irrepressible than man, ARD lower ana
binder than he is. Thus the boistero,us-
ness of the earth's exuberance Is ir,car-
mated in the goat foot company of Satyrs
the clamorousness and head long strength
Of rivers in river gods having tie
faces Of men but the bodies Of bulls:
isnls, 80 that we may see the ascending
scale of animated nature mirrored and
summarized in the evolution Of eyery
embryo. Further, the marvel to human,
intelligence ia the development Of q |
feathered fowl out Of the albumen Of al,
egg is not intrinsically greater than would
pc the evolution Of all the dora and fauna
Of the universe out Of common proto-
plasmic germ. We know that the one
takes place NECESSARILY, and its mystery
is forgotten in its constancv and com mon
ness. The other Is unknown 10 ex1prus-
riencc; but the mind can see no obstacle |
TO il in the nature of things. It contains |
no greater mystery than the former. and |
its future demonstration would not ex-
cite surprise. Even within the range 81 |
experience we may witness develop
ment in progress. Alike in the animal
and vegetable Kingdoms, among the for
aminlfera and diatoms, change and trans.
formations, within a limited field. NAV
be observed. The developement Of high.
er organisms is only an inductive infer
ence, drawn BY analogy, from the Pie.
nomena that fall under our observation
and can be expe1imentally investigated.
Even the line between the Animal and