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 : 



& arracf)vXis (TTa(f)is ecrri, km ov pohov avov oXetrcu. 



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 : 



, Ak\(itjs ode fxdvTis os ovb* oo~a naides laacriv 



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 3 , and the Twelve 

 Labours of the Hero-God 4 ; 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 



1 Ol fi€v yap tojv oo<p5>v pvOoi irepl di'StW clcrl irpaypaTcou, ol 8e rS>v iraiSwv irepl 

 kyxpovwv kcu crpiKpuiv Kal ol p.(V voepcLv ex ovo ~ l T V V oXijdeiav, ol St x a A iat7r * T ^ Kat 

 ovdkv v\pT)Kov evdeiKWfievrjv : Procl. in Plat. Tim. Cf. also Porph. V. Pythag. (41) 42, 

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



2 Apoll. Rh. iii. 930. 



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

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

 Schiller, Letter 496. 



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

 Golden Horns was a reindeer ! — 



'Siyqaoj fcepados xpvaeov Kepas' ov Se KaXioaco 



1tj\ikov 'Hpa/cXTJa. fiirjs kka.<poio <povfja" 



Mr) Tpop,eprjs k\a<pov pufivrjaKeo. — Nonn. Dionys. xxv. 223. 



