Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-01-20
ERRORS OF HISTORY
FlcTiONs THAT FOR CENTURIES HAVE
POSED AS FACTS. .

Not Have Spawned the HarbOr-The
Force of Leonidas Mt Thermopyle.
The William Tell Myth. g"
There have been woven into history
many interesting stories that time and
investigation have proved myths, but
in spite of the efforts of the iconoclasts
these mistakes of history still pass
current with many people.
Probably one of the most affecting
scenes connected with the making of
literature is that described in the oft
repeated story Of the blind poet Milton
debating paradise Lost" to his daugh'
tiers. DR.. Johnson, however, has been
quoted as denying it. He said, further
more, that Milton never even permitted
his daughters to learn to read and
write.
A. favorite "piece'' with western and
southern schoolboys on recitation and.
exhibition days was a set Of verses tell
ing of the heroic stand of Leonidas and
his brave 300" at Thermopyla. The
Able Barthelemy, who asserted that
he had inquired infinitely into the SUBJ
ject, wrote that, according to Diodorus,
Leonidas had 1000 men under him and
that Pausanias gave the number OF Lee
onidas' army as 10000.
Did Caesar say to the pilot:
"Why do you fear? You have Caesar
on board"
Many trustworthy historians declare
that Caesar never used the words
quoted.
The inside Of cigar box covers are
sometimes ornamented with a picture
Of the Colossus of Rhodes, with ships
in full sail passing between the out
stretched legs Of the gigantic statue.
These pictures reflect the popular and
what for centuries was the historical
idea of the Colossus. which was &C
counted one Of the sever wonders Of
the world. 1t may be interesting to
know that all drawings of the statue
are purely imaginary and. what is
more, are modern, not ancient, efforts.
The Colossus was erected in 305 B. 9.
The most trustworthy of ancient ac-
counts of it is contained in a manu-
script dating about $50 B. c., in which
the height Of the statue is given as los
feet. The entrance to the harbor of
Rhodes is $50 feet across. so that it
was manifestly impossible that the legs
of the Colossus should span the en-
trance to the port or that ships should
sail beneath it.
As q matter of fact the Colossus was
not built across the harbor, but on an
open space of ground a it; but, for
all that, it was a wonderful statue.
People whose sympathies are easily
aroused have wept ove the wrongs
Of Belisarius, the conqueror Of the
Vandals, who, many were taught.
"Hbegged his bread at the city gates
after having commanded victorious
armies and been of much service to
the state. The good old general was
unquestionably IN unfortunate and
much abused man, but there is nc
proof that he begged his living at the
city gates or elsewhere. Yet Van Dyke
engraved him and David. the great
Frenchman, painted him, and TRACE
dies and romances were writer
around him in the belief that he did sf1
at the city gates a forlorn and discon
solate object with palm o~utstretcheG
for aims.
The facts are, a conspiracy against
the Emperor Justinian being discover
ed, two of Belisarius' officers confessed
under torture that the old general was
In the plot. He was condemned with
out further hearing, his property Sc
q~uestrated, and he suffered imprison.
ment for six months. His innocence
being established, Belisarius was re-
leased, and he died about a year later
But that he ever was reduced to the
extremity Of begging is declared to be
absolutely untrue.
The schoolbook tale of William Tel
shooting sn apple from his sons head
is also without foundation in fact
Tells name doesn't even appear in the
chronicles Of Zurich. and the most an
Gent writing in which the story II
mentioned bears date some 200 years
after the event it pretends to describe
The story is a variation of an old Scan
dinayian saga. A similar bit Of This
tory" is related of William of Clouds
ley in England in the twelfth century.
It is denied also that Emperor
Charles V. of Spain on his abdicat1ol
adopted the habit of a monk and oecu
pied himself in the manufacture O
clocks. It is declared that he neve,
ceased to be emperor de facto, and b.
never surrendered control. of affairs O
state. tr
Coming down to later times, the pee
pie of three different countries claimed
three different men as inventors Of tn
steam engine. In America there is
popular belief to this day that Rober
Fulton built the first successful engin
and steamboat. In England the Mar
quis OF Worcester. who published al
account of a steam engine in 1868, ha
received credit for the invention. Il
France Solomon de Caus (1615) was re
garded as the genius who had given t
the world a new motive power. Eacl
Of them may have conceived and work
ed out the idea Of a steam engine with