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Septemide^ 2 g^655. j TMM;xThMM l*m m^F ...
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GERMAN MYTHOLOGY AND LEGEND. ; , I, Odin...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Sir G.Q. Lewis On The Credibility Of Ear...
^ twnr , * f < v anvthinff stF important as the existence of a mass of national SSS ^ e ^ Su ^ to-Jt . existence in the age of * Picfepr att < i tf ^ such o ^ uppositioii . The verse o £ Fauns and prophets , mentioned ^ S * clearly enough proved by Sir G . C . Lewis to ^ be nothing xnore or lSs than the Saturnian . « ietre , m ^ hieh Naevws wrote ; and Namus is * h » subject and apparently the sole subject of the allusion . Thus the external SStaS a ^ t hlin & rnWdicat £ > n of "Bays" incorporated in the Ms ^ Ibfv bf Jivy' ^ na Pionysius come equally to nothing . In endeavouring to distinguish" the ^ e iays , i ^ iebuhr hovers between two di fferent tests—the test of matter and the test of form . The test of poetical matter is wholly inadmissible in support of his Special theory . Nobody doubts that the character of the le ^ end § S poetical , but it does not follow that they ever existed in the metrical form of balladsany more than the oral mythology of Greeee , part
, of which was first reduced to writing by prose mytholbgists . It is essential tb ballads that they should be in verse , andit is essential to the ballad theory that this verse , or the traces of it , should be clearly discerned . Niebtthr felt this , and therefore , while he really rests the weight of his theory btl the poetical character of the narrative of Livy , he also undertakes to rfoint out one or two vestiges of actual metre . And the chief of these- ^ -the . grand instance—is found , not in the golden reign of jfuraa , or the battle of the Horatii and iCuriatii , or . the destruction of Alba , or the history of Iiucretia or Virginia , ' but in the dry legal fragment of the law of treason "tfHich is incorporated in the story of the trial of Horatius . This Niebuhr tjreaks up with his periinto short lines , with mysterious accents , and calls it Saturriian verse . Sir G . C . Lewis justly saj's that at this rate you might
find ballads in the Institutes . The fact is that Niebuhr was attracted to the passage , and induced to choose it for his experiment , on account of its archaic language , and for no better reason . " Be ^ des ni s Lays , Niebuhr" conceives funeral orations to have been preservecl in writing at a very early period , and to have been one of the sources ofthe early history . He even undertakes to criticise and compare the qdality of these orations , and to pronounce that the stories derived from , those of the Fabii are of undeniable authenticity , while those of the Valerii are , he regrets to say , less worthy of credit . Not a vestige of these Orations exists , dffig earliest oration mentioned as having been preserved in writing , is that 4 » f Appitis the Blind against peace with Pyrrhus . In later times funeral fcaneeyrics , werepreserved ,, and the achievements attributed in them to
tk ^ ancestors of the deceased , had , by Livy ' s time , coloured history , ^ ejther is there any -historical trace of family memoirs preserved by the grejaj ; 'houses in the early period of Rome , though there were doubtless in-, gcriptkms under the ancestral images which constituted a Roman pedijk $ B , To theseirtscriptions and pedigrees Livy probably refers in speakliig ^ pTfthe private records lost in the Gallic conflagration . The dirges , Sir < J . tJ . Lewis seems justified in saying , probably did not survive the day of ffiefuneral . . . - > " 1 , R eaders of Kiebuhr must be cautioned against his constant insinuation of < Ke existence of family and other histories prior to the war with Pyrrhus , 4 *) $ against his ambiguous use of the word Annals , which in . one sense denoted chronicles , such as those of Fabius Pic tor and his successors , but in another sense Cthe only sense in which it is applicable to any documents
copfpcJsed before the war with Pyrrhiis ) denotes the Annals of the Pontiffs , ¦ vyibich ; ¦ ysrere only dry and meagre annual registers . ' ' After disposing of the external testimony , Sir G . C . Lewis proceeds to aiialyse the internal character of the history , as we have it in Livy and © l ^ ny sius ; aiad he finds that it corresponds to the want of external evidence . The , re ^ al . period has all the character of fable . The subsequent period is rriarked ; by discrepancy between the authorities , inconsistency , incoherency , tixd iroprobabil ^ ty ,, not only in its general texture , but even in the accounts bf the mp s ^ . leJadirig events , down at least to the period of the Sammite wars . 1 ' In his chanter on the ancient nations of Italy , Niebuhr has laid down for like the
tunseJf the . convenient rule that m an obscure question origin ana migrations of the ancient Italian races , where there is no trustworthy CKidence to be had you may decide without trustworthy evidence ; and that your ctecisions mil ' be a valuable addition to history . Tha ^ is to iay , ' you . may ,. dispense with the . rules of evidence when there is a temptaitipn to 4 ( spPn ^ - . , th them ; , otherwise they may remahi in forqe . Sir G ,, . 0- ' I * ewis takes a better course , and examining the legends from iflhiUsh , Niebuhr has framed , his ethnological chart of ancient , Italy , finds € hiein a heap . of contradictory and fluctuating fable , from which , no facts 6 f -any kind can be drawn- He justly repudiates NiebuhrV mpde of iediiping myths , by treating thorn , as ethinological symbols , as being merely aivjiriety of the old mode of rationalising fable , and equally without
jUsti-KWtiqn . ; The , legend of jEneae , from which Niebuhr deduces a cohnexipn between tpPaJasffiana of AsiaJMi ^ or and Italy , Sir G , C Lewis shows to be merely « nOfthe legends of the Homeric cycle , from which it has been improperly « w $ | a $ > d . It is at ^ evidence pf tUe , infiue , n <; e of , th ^> Honjeric poems in Italy SfCwetll M Grrejece , and nothing more . . The rel , i < 33 by which , U waa supposed to fee altered were just like those of Homeric herjOes , which were shown in 4 iffierent ci ^ es of Grpece . The history of Alba , about which and its eon-^ xj ^ on , , w , ith , Ivayinium Niebuhr supposes that he can edi ^ co facts , is also a p ^ m faJ bte , iniven , ted to . fill the cap between the flight of iEneas from Troy amLthe , fbiindation of Borne * The very existence , of the city of Alba , as
distinguished from the temples on the Albari Hill , rests on the frail found f # w \ x | f ap , oyal tradition of 450 years , 1 )\ Jj ? e . & c ^ ^ e more unwilling to adnut that noth ing bo known about the fQUjad ^^ n . pf ( Korae . Suph , howover , is the fact . , Upmulus and Remus are p . ^ reJy . myjtMcal personages , and their biato ' ryis purely niythical , and a sequel to , the , my ^ hs p , f A ) iba and . iEnoas . And , there * is , no other account more ^ ecUbtejin . ; itself , or supported by better testimony . The origin of the city , jw 9 fc » " » Bf } ipatttuti , pns which are attributed ,, tp Us mythical fqun ^ qr and ^ ft ^ flU ^ tl yujw ^ hiQal . succesap ^ . Nuina , arc tilings about which imagination P ^^ AJndpro ^ ably will , sppepul ^ ,. b ut about which history is dumb . Hypor t ^ ejjeB oono ^ rnjing them ,, such , aa jtho union of a ^ . atin and a Sabinc o « ty and tiC'I * ' ' in :,,. !¦ :- <" . \ -. ¦¦ - , ¦ , ¦ . ¦• ¦ - j ..... ' .. . ¦ ' . ¦ - ¦¦ .
the successive formation of the three patrician tribes , and the plebs , propounded by Niebuhr , are excursions into what Germans call the Prehistoric Foretime , wholly unedifying , except as monuments of learned ingenuity , to the inquirer after positive truth . The legends ^ or the Kings are inade up , for the most part , of fabulous origins of institutions , rites , customs , monuments , and local names , which all nations , are alike prone to invent , stuck together so as to form a continuous narrative , the cement being of ten very ill concealed . There seems tp be no reason whatever for allowing , with Niebuhr , that the ^ ttarrative assumes a more historical character with Tullus Hostilius , whose reign is just as obviously made up of astiological legends as those of his predeeesspra The institutions of the King of the Sacrifices and the Interrex , the Valerian
law against aspiring to royal power , and the hatred of the name pf ~ King which was fatal to Caesar , are sufficient proof that the Roman cpnstitutiQn was at one time a monarchy ; and the Interrex shows that this monarchy was elective . But as to the names and history of the individual * kings ,- and- ' the political progress of the nation under them , we must be content to remain i gnorant .-- The constitution of Servius Tullius , the exact and prosaic form of which contrasts so curiously with the poetical leg ends by which it is surrounded , is considered both by Schwegler and Sir O .-C . Lewis on good grounds tq : be unauthentic . The treaty with Carthage in the first year of the republic , seen by Polybius , and the cloacap and other great works attributed to the regal period , seem , however , to attest the prosperity of Rome tinder the kings . r f
r possession of the conquered territories was a substantial record of the . progress of Roman conquest before the war wijth Pyrrhua . , > The existence , of the great political institutions of Rome was in like manner , a prp . of that , those institutions had beea ~ dev . eloped , and , it would be unreasonable to doubt , by conflict between the orders . Particular events , such as the Decemviral legislation , ' . ' the Gallic conflagration , the Caudine convention , were preserved in authentic monuments , or indelibly written in the national heart . Subsequent to the Gallic conflagration , there were registets ; of ? the / annual magistrates , however imperfect , and there is some appearance of registration of other events . But all the details even of such events as the Secession of the Plebs , the Institution of the Tribunate , the Decemyirate , and the Gallic war , prove on examination as utterly untrustworthy in their internal texture , as they are destitute of external evidence . Such ; at least 5 is the conviction that Sir G . C . Lewis es analysis leaves on our minds , . ' . ¦ •
After illustrating his principles by applying them to the early history of Greece , and showing that there also internal untrustworthiness . . coincides , with the want of external evidence traceable to contemporary testi ? nony Sir G . 0 . Lewis ends by saying := — w _' . All the historical latoour bestowed upon the eariy ^ centuries of Rome , will in general be waited . The histoiy of this period , viewed as a series of picturesqrte' narratives , will be read to the greatest advantageAn the original writers , ' and will 1 . be deteriorated ! by reproduction in . a modern dress . If we regard a hjstorigal painting merely as » work of art , the accounts of the ancientsrean on ^ y siiffer from bepg retouched by . the pencil of the modern restorer . On-the other hand , all ' attempts to reduce ' th ^ m'to : a ' purely historical form by conjectural omissions , additions , alterations ; ari ! d transpositions , must be nugatory . The workers on the historical' treadmill may continue ^ to * grind the air , but they will never produce any valuable resuft . ' -.. •; * . . ;¦ .
This is a true verdiot , and all scholars , and all teachers of Rpjaian Jwstory ou «» ht to make themselves acquainted with the evidence by which it fa supported . If Sir G . C . Lewis had written before Niebuhr , attd his blitid though able and vigorous follower , Arnold , we should have lost something ^ but we should have been spared more . We should have lost a good deal of learning and ingenuity , and some fine moral writing ; we shouldIjave , been ; spared the trouble and the intellectual evil , of attempting , to / o . typ ; w ^ learning to credit volumes of unauthorised and dreamy speculation . The true disciples of Niebuhr will , of course , still , love tp dwell vfith him in the Pre-historic Foretime ; but less mystical scholars will devotetheir own attention , and direct the attention of their pupils , to the peri 6 d of Roman history subsequent to the war with Pyrrhus , according to Sir G ; C . Lewis a sound
ftflVlf * fi ¦ ¦ . ¦ i , ' i . ¦ , " . •' ¦ . ' ¦¦ '¦' Thii in our opinion , is the best of Sir G . , C . Lewis ' si books , . thoug h it exhibits his usual heaviness and pointlessness of style . It shows throughout wonderful erudition : and is marked throughout by strong sense , clear reasoning , and independence of mihdi We apprehend it will , if not cldse , at least decade the controversy ; arid we ' earnestly commend it to thejfltudenfc ( we cannot comniend ife to the light reader ) as ; one from : the attentive . perusalof ; which he will derive health and vigour , of . understanding , *& well aB the true view of the questipn to wh ^ ich it immedjately relates , , . .
Septemide^ 2 G^655. J Tmm;Xthmm L*M M^F ...
Septemide ^ 2 g ^ 655 . j TMM ; xThMM l * m m ^ F _^ ^^ gg £ .
German Mythology And Legend. ; , I, Odin...
GERMAN MYTHOLOGY AND LEGEND . ; , I , Odin . Yon Wolfgang Mensel . ' . ^ fer Pi ^ ™^ II . Baveriscke Sagen und Brduohe ( Bavarian Legends and Customs ) . Von FrledncH Panzer . Ztdeiier Band . London : J > . Nutt . When Tacitus said of the Germans : " They think' it unfitting the ftiajosty of the gods to confine them within walls , or to represent . themj under any human form "— " Ceteruin nee cohibere parietibua deps , nequs inullam humani oris , speotem assimilare , ex magnitudine coelestiuni arbitrantur , "—he probably committed a mistake something like our anthropomorphic interatcrioutea 10
pretations of the actions or , ana a yn » - ciple what was simply the result of circumstances chiefly negative . At the period when history first caught sight of the Northern tribes , they were already in the tumult of their great migrations ,, in which all tUo condition ? necessary to the enshrining of al * oligjy ? n in , Art were wanting j and when % \ w rush of nations southward bpgan to subside , Christianity was »» g [ g tising , German men and German ideas with new namos . Ihuaiitw « ^ w oiicSf the grandest arid hiost purely indigenous raytlio \ o ^ ni t * o wona r ^^^ o ^^^ T ^ Pt ^^^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22091855/page/17/
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