148 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



conception as time went on ; and conversely how the 

 logical entity assumed the form of a myth, and how 

 interchangeable they are. It is well known that the 

 myths have been so far adapted to the necessities of 

 speech as to be transmuted into verbs ; libare from 

 liber, which perhaps came in its turn from liba, a 

 propitiatory cake, while Libra was the genius who in 

 mythological ages presided over fruitfulness and 

 plenty. So again juvare, from the root jov, after it 

 had already been used for the anthropomorphic Jove. 

 We find in Plautus the verb summanare, from the god 

 Summanus, the nocturnal sky. Not only verbs but 

 adjectives were derived in common speech from the 

 mythical names of gods; from Genius, a multiform 

 and universal power in ancient Latin mythology, we 

 have genialis, and hence the expressions genialis Icctus, 

 genialis homo, genialis hiems. and poets and philo- 

 sophers apply the same epithet even to the elements 

 and the stars. On the other hand, Virtue, Faith, 

 Piety, and other like moral conceptions, first regarded 

 as real, yet impersonal entities, were transformed into 

 a perfect myth, and into human forms worthy of 

 divine worship. 



Even in our own time, and not only among the un- 

 educated people but among men of high culture when 

 they do not pause to consider the real value of words 

 in the familiarity of daily conversation any one who 

 seeks for the direct meaning of the terms he uses will 

 admit the truth of what I say. We constantly ascribe 



