XIV PREFACE 



are the folk-lore tales and customs that are presented to 

 us by the school of Mannhardt. But others, and these for 

 the most part are astronomic myths, belonging to a relatively 

 later age, were artificially invented of the wise, to adorn, 

 preserve, or conceal their store of learning ; they had their 

 birth in cultured homes of deep religion, of treasured science, 

 of exalted poetry. Both orders of Myth come to us with 

 the glamour of antiquity, and each has for us a diverse but 

 perennial interest : 



a aTa(pvK\i (TTa(^ls iari, Kat ov p68ou avov okfurai. 



The distinction between these two orders of Myth was 

 pointed out long ago by an ancient critic ^ ; he drew the dis- 

 tinction clearly, but the tales of folk-lore, puerile in his eyes, 

 found no echo of sympathy in the old scholar's heart. We, on 

 the other hand, have learned nowadays to say with the poet : 



'AicXttijs oSf fxavTis OS ov8' oaa TralSey 'laacrip 



The great Signs of the Heavens are as old as our knowledge 

 of the months and years, and about them poet-watchers of the 

 stars wove an imperishable web of imagery. Of this kind are 

 the Voyage in quest of the Golden Fleece^, and the Twelve 

 Labours of the Hero-God '^ ; and I have attempted to show 

 how into the same fabric are woven tales of Aetos and 

 Haliaetos, of Halcyon and Ciris, of Stymphalian perhaps also 



* Ot fiiy yap rujv ao(pcvy ixv$oi ntpi diSiajv flal irpayixarcDV, ol Se tu>v rraiSaiv ■ntpi 

 iyxpovoov KOi apitcpwv koI ol p.tv vofpoLv exovfft tt]v dKriOuav, ol Si xap,anriTfi icai 

 ovStv inpTjKbv evSeiKvvp.iVTji' : Procl. in Plat. Tim. Cf. also Porph.V. Pythag. (41) 42, 

 Iambi. V. Pythag. 23, and other commentators on the Pythagorean Symbols. 



^ Apoll. Rh. iii. 930. 



'' ' Auf die Argonauten hatte ich immer ein Zutrauen .... Es liegen herrliche 

 Motive darin, und gewiss liessen sich noch manche daraus entwickelu ' : Goethe to 

 Schiller, Letter 496. 



* An English scholar very recently propounded the view that the Hind with the 

 Golden Horns was a reindeer ! — 



^ly-qaw KfpdSos xpvaiov Kipas' ov 5( KaXiaao) 



IrjKiKov 'Hpaickija pirjs f\d(poio tpofTJa' 



yii] TpojxepTjs i\dipov pufivrjOKfo. — Nonn. Dionys. xxv. 223. 



