{"product_id":"2940012352729","title":"BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY","description":"AUTHOR'S PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which\u003cbr\u003ehelps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in\u003cbr\u003esociety, then Mythology has no claim to the appellation. But if\u003cbr\u003ethat which tends to make us happier and better can be called\u003cbr\u003euseful, then we claim that epithet for our subject. For Mythology\u003cbr\u003eis the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best\u003cbr\u003eallies of virtue and promoters of happiness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWithout a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of\u003cbr\u003eour own language cannot be understood and appreciated. When Byron\u003cbr\u003ecalls Rome \"the Niobe of nations,\" or says of Venice, \"She looks a\u003cbr\u003eSea-Cybele fresh from ocean,\" he calls up to the mind of one\u003cbr\u003efamiliar with our subject, illustrations more vivid and striking\u003cbr\u003ethan the pencil could furnish, but which are lost to the reader\u003cbr\u003eignorant of mythology. Milton abounds in similar allusions. The\u003cbr\u003eshort poem \"Comus\" contains more than thirty such, and the ode \"On\u003cbr\u003ethe Morning of the Nativity\" half as many. Through \"Paradise Lost\"\u003cbr\u003ethey are scattered profusely. This is one reason why we often hear\u003cbr\u003epersons by no means illiterate say that they cannot enjoy Milton.\u003cbr\u003eBut were these persons to add to their more solid acquirements the\u003cbr\u003eeasy learning of this little volume, much of the poetry of Milton\u003cbr\u003ewhich has appeared to them \"harsh and crabbed\" would be found\u003cbr\u003e\"musical as is Apollo's lute.\" Our citations, taken from more than\u003cbr\u003etwenty-five poets, from Spenser to Longfellow, will show how\u003cbr\u003egeneral has been the practice of borrowing illustrations from\u003cbr\u003emythology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe prose writers also avail themselves of the same source of\u003cbr\u003eelegant and suggestive illustration. One can hardly take up a\u003cbr\u003enumber of the \"Edinburgh\" or \"Quarterly Review\" without meeting\u003cbr\u003ewith instances. In Macaulay's article on Milton there are twenty\u003cbr\u003esuch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut how is mythology to be taught to one who does not learn it\u003cbr\u003ethrough the medium of the languages of Greece and Rome? To devote\u003cbr\u003estudy to a species of learning which relates wholly to false\u003cbr\u003emarvels and obsolete faiths is not to be expected of the general\u003cbr\u003ereader in a practical age like this. The time even of the young is\u003cbr\u003eclaimed by so many sciences of facts and things that little can be\u003cbr\u003espared for set treatises on a science of mere fancy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut may not the requisite knowledge of the subject be acquired by\u003cbr\u003ereading the ancient poets in translations? We reply, the field is\u003cbr\u003etoo extensive for a preparatory course; and these very\u003cbr\u003etranslations require some previous knowledge of the subject to\u003cbr\u003emake them intelligible. Let any one who doubts it read the first\u003cbr\u003epage of the \"Aeneid,\" and see what he can make of \"the hatred of\u003cbr\u003eJuno,\" the \"decree of the Parcae,\" the \"judgment of Paris,\" and\u003cbr\u003ethe \"honors of Ganymede,\" without this knowledge.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShall we be told that answers to such queries may be found in\u003cbr\u003enotes, or by a reference to the Classical Dictionary? We reply,\u003cbr\u003ethe interruption of one's reading by either process is so annoying\u003cbr\u003ethat most readers prefer to let an allusion pass unapprehended\u003cbr\u003erather than submit to it. Moreover, such sources give us only the\u003cbr\u003edry facts without any of the charm of the original narrative; and\u003cbr\u003ewhat is a poetical myth when stripped of its poetry? The story of\u003cbr\u003eCeyx and Halcyone, which fills a chapter in our book, occupies but\u003cbr\u003eeight lines in the best (Smith's) Classical Dictionary; and so of\u003cbr\u003eothers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOur work is an attempt to solve this problem, by telling the\u003cbr\u003estories of mythology in such a manner as to make them a source of\u003cbr\u003eamusement. We have endeavored to tell them correctly, according to\u003cbr\u003ethe ancient authorities, so that when the reader finds them\u003cbr\u003ereferred to he may not be at a loss to recognize the reference.\u003cbr\u003eThus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a\u003cbr\u003erelaxation from study; to give our work the charm of a story-book,\u003cbr\u003eyet by means of it to impart a knowledge of an important branch of\u003cbr\u003eeducation. The index at the end will adapt it to the purposes of\u003cbr\u003ereference, and make it a Classical Dictionary for the parlor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost of the classical legends in \"Stories of Gods and Heroes\" are\u003cbr\u003ederived from Ovid and Virgil. They are not literally translated,\u003cbr\u003efor, in the author's opinion, poetry translated into literal prose\u003cbr\u003eis very unattractive reading. Neither are they in verse, as well\u003cbr\u003efor other reasons as from a conviction that to translate\u003cbr\u003efaithfully under all the embarrassments of rhyme and measure is\u003cbr\u003eimpossible. The attempt has been made to tell the stories in\u003cbr\u003eprose, preserving so much of the poetry as resides in the thoughts\u003cbr\u003eand is separable from the language itself, and omitting those\u003cbr\u003eamplifications which are not suited to the altered form.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069276012784,"sku":"2940012352729","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012352729_p0.jpg?v=1763567832","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012352729","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}