306 NATURE MYTHS AND ALLEGORIES 



(Eta, because he thought that Hesperus was calling to him 

 for his love, he did not wholly dream : for who has not known 

 the persuasions of the evening star, and dimly felt his heart 

 drawn forth to it with longing? We cannot behold hama- 

 dryads hurrying across the lawn, or astral gods leaning to us 

 from the saffron-tinted mountain crests. That way of feeling 

 the spirituality of nature and of expressing our sense oi 

 affinity with natural things is perhaps for ever closed. It is 

 indeed probable that both hamadryad and ethereal Hesperus 

 were never seen except in reverie or pious act of faith by 

 Greeks. Yet surely our intellectual life will be richer, anc 

 our intuition into the world will be truer, when we yield once 

 more to the belief upon which those myths were founded 

 when we cease from standing aloof from nature and repelling 

 the constant spiritual intimations she is giving us. 



Thus far I have been dealing with nature myths. For 

 those myths which may properly be called allegories, a similar 

 method of analysis can be adopted. But here the subject 

 matter itself is different, and the inquiry will lead to othe 

 considerations regarding the validity of ancient fables, 

 shall seek to give some reasons why we should not so lightl; 

 reject, as we are wont to do, those personified abstractions 

 which men of former ages drew from the substance of their 

 souls and called realities. 



The essence of allegory consists in extracting some marked 

 portion of our psychology from its environments, and present- 

 ing it alone for contemplation. We think of wisdom solely, 

 or strength solely, or physical beauty solely ; but having 

 thought of these qualities in isolation, we are at once com- 

 pelled to clothe them with bodies and regard them as persons. 

 Human thought labours here under the same necessity as 

 when it expresses our sense of affinity with nature in the 

 forms of myth. When this step has been taken, the personage 

 brought into ideal being cannot be merely wise, or merely 

 strong, or merely beautiful. Together with personality, it 



