Chapter 28

Chapter XXVIII
Origin of Mythology Statues of Gods and Goddesses Poets of
Mythology Having reached the close of our series of stories of Pagan
mythology, an inquiry suggests itself. "Whence came these
stories? Have they a foundation in truth, or are they simply
dreams of the imagination?" Philosophers have suggested various
theories on the subject of which we shall give three or four. 1. The Scriptural theory; according to which all mythological
legends are derived from the narratives of Scripture, though the
real facts have been disguised and altered. Thus Deucalion is
only another name for Noah, Hercules for Samson, Arion for Jonah,
etc. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World, says,
"Jubal, Tubal, and Tubal-Cain were Mercury, Vulcan, and Apollo,
inventors of Pasturage, Smithing, and Music. The Dragon which
kept the golden apples was the serpent that beguiled Eve.
Nimrod's tower was the attempt of the Giants against Heaven.
There are doubtless many curious coincidences like these, but the
theory cannot without extravagance be pushed so far as to account
for any great proportion of the stories. 2. The Historical theory; according to which all the persons
mentioned in mythology were once real human beings, and the
legends and fabulous traditions relating to them are merely the
additions and embellishments of later times. Thus the story of
AEolus, the king and god of the winds, is supposed to have risen
from the fact that AEolus was the ruler of some islands in the
Tyrrhenian Sea, where he reigned as a just and pious king, and
taught the natives the use of sails for ships, and how to tell
from the signs of the atmosphere the changes of the weather and
the winds. Cadmus, who, the legend says, sowed the earth with
dragon's teeth, from which sprang a crop of armed men, was in
fact an emigrant from Phoenicia, and brought with him into Greece
the knowledge of the letters of the alphabet, which he taught to
the natives. From these rudiments of learning sprung
civilization, which the poets have always been prone to describe
as a deterioration of man's first estate, the Golden Age of
innocence and simplicity. 3. The Allegorical theory supposes that all the myths of the
ancients were allegorical and symbolical, and contained some
moral, religious, or philosophical truth or historical fact,
under the form of an allegory, but came in process of time to be
understood literally. Thus Saturn, who devours his own children,
is the same power whom the Greeks called Kronos (Time), which may
truly be said to destroy whatever it has brought into existence.
The story of Io is interpreted in a similar manner. Io is the
moon, and Argus the starry sky, which, as it were, keeps
sleepless watch over her. The