524 A DESCRIPTION OF FABULOUS ANIMALS. 
probably derived from some of the larger species of apes. 
Exaggerated and erroneous reports of these creatures were 
probably first introduced into Greece by the companions 
of Bacchus on his return from his Indian expedition. 
Hence, in course of time, they came to be considered as 
his attendants, and were described as inhabiting woods 
and forests, of which they were regarded as the protecting 
deities. Probably, too, they were partly personifications, 
intended to express the debasing influence of animal pro- 
pensities and sensual indulgence ; and as nothing tends 
more than intoxication to reduce man to a level with the 
brutes, since it deprives reason of all control over the 
passions, the form of the Satyr may have been ingeniously 
intended as a visible representation of the degraded state 
of those who surrender up the noblest prerogative of 
man. Whether such was really or not the idea of those 
who first feigned the existence of such creatures, we may 
very rationally adopt this explanation, and thereby de- 
duce an important moral lesson from what is in itself an 
extravagant fiction. 
