68 Mr. Sankey on the Philological Analysis of the 



hood of the transaction. Unquestionably, these appendages 

 to the fact will vary much, both in tone and extent, according 

 to the peculiar character of the age and people. Still, we may 

 be certain that facts, orally transmitted, must, through a lapse 

 of time, receive a considerable degree of colouring from the 

 prevailing hues of the various media through which they are 

 transmitted. Many of the leading circumstances may be 

 altered, and not a few may be omitted, whilst some additional 

 ones may be grafted upon the original. The general outline, 

 however, still will have been drawn from fact. Amid all the 

 windings, therefore, and intricacies of the labyrinth, we need 

 not despair of being able to discover the thread which shall 

 serve to extricate us from the maze. It will be found, indeed, 

 I believe, that most of these fabulous legends may in general 

 be traced to 1. Exaggerated descriptions. %. Mistakes in 

 the reasons and explanations assigned for any particular line of 

 acting, where that was such as might, perhaps, appear extraor- 

 dinary to persons unacquainted with the circumstances and 

 motives that influenced. 3. Allegorical representations of per- 

 sons and events. 4. Metaphorical language ; and 5, as above, 

 ambiguities of words. This last requires no further confirma- 

 tion, after the many instances we have already been consider- 

 ing, in which the foundation of the legend obviously rests upon 

 such ambiguities. In like manner, too, each of the other heads 

 might also be illustrated by appropriate examples, were it 

 not that this would lead us beyond the proper limits of this 

 Essay. I cannot, however, help adducing one which falls 

 under the second head, inasmuch as, though altogether 

 absurd, as at present narrated, it is capable of receiving the 

 simplest explanation ; I allude to the singular tale of the punish- 

 ment of the daughters of Danaus. The solution is clearly 

 this : The perforated vessels which the daughters of Danaus 

 filled with water were evidently clepsydrae, the use of which 

 they had brought with them from Egypt. The Greeks, how- 

 ever, in their then state of ignorance, could naturally enough 

 perceive no benefit to be derived from pouring water into 

 vessels merely for the purpose that it might run out again 

 through holes in the sides and at the bottom ; the more so as 

 this operation, being constantly repeated, seemed as endless as, 



