New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-14


Macmillan & Co.
Time was not 40 very long ago. when the
theatrical poses Of Roman heroes and the re-
sounding lines Of Latin orators and poets nit the
modern taste. when men might be found VINO
IMAGINED that they were modelled on the lines OF
a Cato or n Rrutus or a Marcellus. not to men
tons Scipio or a Caesar The history and liter
allure Of the Republic were ransaoked for ex-
ampes and quotations. All this is changed Inc
revolution affects the modern point OF we" ds
well as the realities of the ancient story. La''n
quotations by no means as common as they
used TO be. either in writing or public addresses.
The world is no longer given to those hts OF
heroics which were so natural to a past genera
ton Exaggerated moods. those suitable to the
strained emotions of bitter political conflict or
actual war. are no longer looked upon with APP
prevail Intervals Of peace have been frequent
enough in recent times to give mankind calmer
outlook On the other hand. scepticism mas been
bust with the whole existence of the Roman
commonwealth. The kings Romulus ana all
went to the limbo OF discarded things long ago.
All those fine stories about the fostering care OF
a she-wolf the murder of Remus. the proves OF
the Horatii, the virtue of Lucretia, are ciouoeo
with doubt: and even the elephants Of Pyrrhus
are under almost much suspicion as the
pachyderms which. Poyaenl. says julius Caesar
imported into Britain. Doubt has gone so far'
in fact, concerning these matters that reacuoh
has set in of which Mr.. Schuckbursh is an advo-
cate. Not that he is prepared to assume the
childlike attitude Of Lvy. But he has gone iar
enough in the effort 10 rehabllitate the antique
story of Rome to warrant him IN saying
shall SEEM no doubt. to some to have been too
credulous" But so far the heroic episodes
are concerned he puts them forward simply as
what the Romans themselves believed about the
origin and early life of their city. He points TO
the example Of Niebuhr a warning against
making history by selecting what to credit or 10
reject among a number of facts. all of which rest
on precisely the same authority. He does not
admit for example, that a legend respecting the
visible interference Of god In Dattle VitiateS
the rest of the narrative. The rumor OF divine
Intervention simply Indicated the way men had
of looking at affairs. When they were pro-
foundly wrought upon by the rage or CONNECT
they saw strange things themselves. and reaoily
believed even stranger things soberly related by
others Modern history would be knocked all
aw,y II the dispatches were rejected OF the VIC
torious generals who attributed their success to
deliberate Partially on the part OF the Defy
The legends of antiquity often merely expressed
this devout trust in an Overruling Power in an
exaggerated and picturesque way. I'm times OF
for everything wonderful strange, everything
which they did not understand, by alleging the
direct agency of something above humanity.
What happened they may yet tell truly though
they may be quite mistaken as to the cause
On this ground Mr.. Schuckburgh argues that the
story OF the Seven Kings Of Rome from Rom
ulus 10 Tarquin the Proud cannot be rejected
II has the characteristics Of all legends that
pretend to account for the beginnings OF nation
whose true history is lost: Doubtless popular
songs and tales were the source OF much OF It,
Sometimes tradition may have busted Itself long
after the fact in the effort to account Tor IN
stitutons buildings. or other local features ana
names that still existed in historic times In
other cases it doubtless retained the memory or
actual occurrences. distorted or expanded, or
namented with episodes which. simpe at the out
set. grew to miraculous proportions in the words
of clever story teers. In this light 1t is not
easy 10 see how the author OF the book in hand
has helped the case Of the ancient legends against
the sceptics. We may be glad to have them, Tor
the story of Rome certainly reads better with
them than without them but still they are not
history The best he can say is that "a story Is
not disproved by the fact that the REALTORS or IL
were born many years or even centuries at'er
the alleged events. who may have had sources
of Information of which We know nothing. IL is
only shown to be unsupported by sufhclent EVIL
dence TO demand credit
He demclishes in sentence or two, and With
out much difficulty. the hypothesis that the whole
story Of Rome under the Kings was manufac-
tured practically to order at late period by
literary Greeks. Folklore does not come INTO
being by deliberate contrivance as rule; and
besides late as the story was In becoming d
matter Of record, 1t nevertheless anticipated the
I.aco lpfpr
This consideration affects also the genesis and
DEVELOPMENT of the saga which Virgil used In the
Aeneid To Romans OF the third and perhaps
of the fourth century before the Christian era.
the belief that Aeneas was the founder OF their
race was as certain as that Romulus was the
founder OF their city. The magnitude OF the
legend which had incrusted the name OF this
royal fugitive from Troy can be guessed from
Virgirs poem. 1t was hardly less remarkable IN
variety and detail than the tradition OF the
Seven Kings The same considerations which
render probable the native origin Of the one
legend are applicable to the other That the
story OF Aeneas In Italy emerged among the Ro-
mans as soon as the alleged descendant OF
Achilles Pyrrhus. made war upon them. Is fairly
good proof that 1t was already familiar to them
But Mr. Schuckburgh Is not decided He leaves
the saga dangling between the Roman annalists
and the Greek historians. Considering the num-
Der of races which settled in Italy In the print
tive period, and remained distinct in historic
times, some even retaining their pecuarities to
the present day. there is no antecedent improba-
bility In the tradition of a colony from the Wood
Among Iberian and Ligurian aborigines. Oscar
IMMIGRANTS from Pelasgic Greece Umbrians,
Latins, sabellians and the mysterious Etruscans.
Dardanians might also have found a place. The
fact that their memory beclme theme for rev.
erentai treatment would be due In any case to the
subsequent contact Of Romans and Greeks, when
the former acquired contempt for the latter as
brutal as that Of the average European for the
average Oriental. and demanded an origin as ini-
mical to Hellenism as possible. What comes out