The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1880-12-22
4 MASSACRE OF MYTHS.
Departure Into the Realms Of Fable Of Old
Historical Beliefs.
1.-THE American

who reject everything that is not clearly
proved, and skeptical inquirers who reject
everything they think to be SO clearly proved
as to be of doubtful authenticity, and histor
ians, like Mr.. Froude, whose delight it is to
show that all the alleged bad characters in
history were but a little lower than the angels
while all the alleged good ones were sad
hypocrites, everybody in the nineteenth cen
fury is prepared to regard anybody in any
preceding century, to whom his attention may
be directed, as Betsey Prig and Mrs. Harris,
and cry, "There wasn't never any such per-
son." Or if he is compelled to admit that the
person in question did exist, that is to say,
that there is reasonable probability that he
did exist; skeptic of all the ages will deny that
any particular action attributed to that per-
son was performed by him in the manner,
from the motives, and with the consequences
recited in the popular histories. There was a
French ensjgre who made a handsome living
in England during the period of the Reyolu-
ton and the Empire, by wagering, whenever
q piece of news was received and circulated,
that it was not true. He might, if he were
now alive, make like offers with reference to
any historical allegation Of the popular"
sort with perfect confidence Of winning-if
he could only find anyone to take the bet.
Take classical history, continental history,
English history, from the foundation Of Rome
to the fall Of the French Empire, and over
what heaps Of mangled myths the student
treads! Cecrops was not an Egyptian, nor
was Cadmus q Phnnician. Leonidas made
his fight with 7 1000 men,-or II, 1000, accord
ing as Diodorus or Pausanias believed. Ksop
was not hump-backed, and it is particularly
doubtful whether Sappho committed suicide.
Diogenes's stub was not q tub-tubs, Pliny
tells us, were of Gallo origin-and, though
there were lanterns in his day, there is nc
good reason for believing the story about bis
quest with one in his hand. The virtue OF
Lucrece has been impugned, and her death
called suicide through fear OF detection. Mu-
thus Scavola did not thrust his hand into the
fire. nor did Brutus condemn his sons to
death through frmness, but through brutality;
nor did Clelia swim the Tiber; nor did Bren-
nus cast his sword into the scales; nor did
brave Horatius keep the bridge. Coriolanus
could not have gone through a tenth part Of
the scenes assigned to him. Livy himself
could not fix the respective nationality Of the
Horatii and Curiatti. Belisarius was not
blind, nor did Portia swallow burning Goals.
The tale Of Regulus's tortureE w,as invented.
Hannibal did not use vinegar to melt the Al
pine rocks nor did Cleopatra employ Q SINH
lar solvent for her pearl it is altogether
probable that she and her ladies committed
suicide by taking poison. Archimedes was
too good 9 mathematician to promise TO move
the world, were he given q point on which to
rest his lever. Caesar did not encourage his
pilot with the famous remark concerning
Julius and his fortunes-at least, the incident
is discredited on very sufficient grounds, and
doubt is cast upon his words on crossing the
Rubicon. he is silent on the subject, and
Ptutarch and Suetonius give differing YER
sions. The great Romans last words were
not III tn Brute e. as Shakespeare got them
from 'The True Tragedie of Richard Duke
Of York. but were spoken in Greek: ssAnd
you my son, and you are one Of them,'' Sue
%tonius,) though the versions Of Plutarch and
Nicholas Damascus vary. Julian the apos-
tate, having received his death wound, could
not have uttered either Of the dying speeches
attributed to him. There is no trustworthy
evidence to show that any Christians were
mastered or given to beasts in the Coliseum
the most that can be found, even when the
reports are not contradictory, Is, that they
were slain in q 'scircus.n Omar did not burn
the library Of Alexandria, with its 700. 600
books, uttering the famous dilemma. IF
these writings agree with the Book of God.
they are useless; if they DO not, they are
pernicious, because he was never at Alexan-
dria because it was not possible 10 have &C
eumulated roo, 900 volumes, and because IL
he, and not Amru, had taken Alexandria in
$40, be would have captured il just $50 years
after Theophitus dispersed the library.
Many Of these most cherished and circum-
stantial stories are il reality founded on orr
ginals that still survive. The heroic act of
ScnVola had been told long before OF a Greek
By Agatharcides. The prototypes Of the