Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-18

with thousands Of spectators and wor.
slippers for about four weeks Lydia
NJ. Finkolstein, in the Independent.
A Massacre of Myths.
Take classical history, continental
history. English history, from the foun-
aation CT Rome to the fall of the French
Empire, ard over what heaps of man
gled myths the student treads! Leon
idas made his fight with 1000 men-or
II 600 according as Diodorus or Pausa-
MAS be believed. -Esop was not hump.
backed, and it is particularly doubtful
whether Sappho committed suicide.
Diogenes's I" tub" was not tub-tubs,
Plisy tells US, were of Gallo origin
and, though there were lanterns in his
day, there is no good reason for believ-
ing the story about his quest with one
in his hand. Mutius Scsvola did not
thrust his hand into the fire; nor did
irennus cas-. his sword into the scales;
nor did brave Horatius keep the bridge.
Belisarius was not blind, nor did Portia
swallow burning Goals. Hannibal did
not use vinegar to melt the Alpine rocks,
nor did Cleopatra employ similar solv-
ent for her pearl; tits altogether prob
able that she and her ladies' committed
suicide by taking poison. The great
Romans last words were not "ht tn
Brnte! as Shakespeare got them from
THE True Tragedie Of Richard Duke
of York" but wero spoken in Greek:
And You, Ely son, aad you are ole Of
them" (Suetoniua). though tho versions
OF plutlrch and Nicholas Damascus
vary. There is no Trustworthy evidence
n $40 ;hat any Christians were maasa-
CO. Do, zen IL oasis in the Coliseum
the Lost thnt cgn be found, even
wien the reports are not con IA l.c,orY.
/ is, that tGcy were slain in q " circus"
! Tho medieval Logon Is were quile as
in&acrra.o aH ttl classical Ei- 'rias.
ArtAGr's T.D'o EJ"gl wa5 not II re Of
fctian tl.ar Chorlomnrue's dr1oa Of
palu6ius. One line ia l. yiIharl con-
tains all that We truly know OF Roland,
viz, thet he Uas siaia in q mountain
pass. Clnflerlague, readers Of Long
/ f.i!ow Will regret 10 know, had no
daughter Emma. Alfred the Great msy
have loft the cottagers cakes burn,
| though MS friend and biographer, Asser,
! is silent Oh the subject, but he did not
venture into the Danish camp, dis.
! puiseI as a minstrel. No old Saxon
writ tells the tale OF Alfred; it is told
of another Saxon King. II Canute
really set his chair on the sea beach and
ordered the surges to retire, il is curl
Gus that no one thought of recording
the fac. till hundred years had elapsed.
If Lirgara speaks the truth, Fair Rosa
mend wAs rot killed by Queen Eleanor,
but iioi ~ II convent i'll the odor Of
sanctity. D!ondel had no need to go
the round of all the strong places of
EnrOpc, warbling his song and listening
iOr reply from Richard Cnnr de Lion,
seeing that the place OF the Kings cap
tivity Eas known. Rollo, the great
Norman, did not marry Giseila. daugh-
ter Of Charles the Simple, in Oil, part
ly because he was then well stricken in
years, partly because Gisella had rot
yet been born. Nor did Charlema8re
bnrst into tears on seeing Norman pi.
rates approach the southern coast OF
Erauce, and laueIlt what such 'emerity
meant for his weaker successors, though
Micaeiet adopts the story as true. In
the first place, ESinhard, though his
chr0nicler records matter Of infinitely
les, Importance. is silent on the subject;
in the second, Charlemagne died forty
five years before the first Norman yes
sells catered the Mediterranean.
Nor have tho historians Of more mod
ern times been at oil more accurate or
fortunate. The woes OF the starry Call
leo were nuch exaggerated. The de-
cree OF absolute prohibition was, indeed,
authentic: but it was never cOmmunl-
Gated to Giiileo. 80 his "e PR Sc m"ooe'