FORETHOUGHT IN FARMING. 113 



were considered of so much importance that at their commence- 

 ment a sacred truce was proclaimed, and any armed invasion 

 during their continuance was considered an act of sacrilege ; 

 and finally, the territory where they were held, was claimed as 

 sacred from war. Men of skill and men of wealth contended 

 for prizes, which at iirst were magnificent and valuable, serving 

 to call forth and cultivate the artistic skill of the nation. Statu- 

 ary also was greatly encouraged, as the statues of the victors 

 were erected at their own expense, or that of their fellow citi- 

 zens, in the sacred grove of Olympia. Crowds flocked together 

 to witness the contests and admire the works of art, and praise 

 in words as well as gifts, was bestowed on the victor. Orators 

 and poets were thus called in requisition, and literary produc- 

 tions became works of finished taste. Men began to work for 

 fame, or rather compose and rehearse for fame. Speaking, or 

 declamations came to be practiced, and thus Homer's poems 

 were saved to the world. Here Herodotus, that famous old 

 father of history, first recited his great work, and from Greece 

 sprang Thucydides, to whom we are indebted for much of our 

 knowledge of the ancient world. 



But we find that the records of heroic deeds, kept only in 

 memory, met with gradual changes, till at length the heroes 

 were accounted as gods, thus forming that wonderful mythology 

 which, when closely studied, shows how the works of man and 

 the works of nature, or the genius of nature, stood out boldest 

 in their thoughts. Had I time, I should like to show how the 

 early husbandmen were obliged to watch the seasons, the sun- 

 shine and the storm ; to show how the active mind of the 

 poetic Greek personified the soil, sunshine and the atmosphere ; 

 thus adding to those myths of the olden time. Great Jupiter, 

 father of the gods, is but the power of the sun personified, and 

 Juno, his goddess wife, the personified influence of the air, 

 and the famous quarrels of these, the personified struggles of 

 the elements. From these contentions the early agriculturists 

 suffered, and to guard against them were ever watchful. This 

 constant watchfulness is typified by the four-eyed (sometimes 

 hundred eyed) Argus, representing the four seasons, who was 

 slain by Mercury, the inventor of letters. Early agriculture is 

 typified by lo, and the legend runs, when Mercury slew Argus, lo 



15 



