Bulfinchs Mythology | Page 3

of Gods and Heroes" are
derived from Ovid and Virgil. They are not literally translated, for, in
the author's opinion, poetry translated into literal prose is very
unattractive reading. Neither are they in verse, as well for other reasons
as from a conviction that to translate faithfully under all the
embarrassments of rhyme and measure is impossible. The attempt has
been made to tell the stories in prose, preserving so much of the poetry
as resides in the thoughts and is separable from the language itself, and
omitting those amplifications which are not suited to the altered form.
The Northern mythological stories are copied with some abridgment
from Mallet's "Northern Antiquities." These chapters, with those on
Oriental and Egyptian mythology, seemed necessary to complete the
subject, though it is believed these topics have not usually been
presented in the same volume with the classical fables.
The poetical citations so freely introduced are expected to answer
several valuable purposes. They will tend to fix in memory the leading
fact of each story, they will help to the attainment of a correct
pronunciation of the proper names, and they will enrich the memory
with many gems of poetry, some of them such as are most frequently
quoted or alluded to in reading and conversation.
Having chosen mythology as connected with literature for our province,
we have endeavored to omit nothing which the reader of elegant
literature is likely to find occasion for. Such stories and parts of stories
as are offensive to pure taste and good morals are not given. But such
stories are not often referred to, and if they occasionally should be, the
English reader need feel no mortification in confessing his ignorance of
them.
Our work is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the
philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who
wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public

speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite
conversation.
In the "Stories of Gods and Heroes" the compiler has endeavored to
impart the pleasures of classical learning to the English reader, by
presenting the stories of Pagan mythology in a form adapted to modern
taste. In "King Arthur and His Knights" and "The Mabinogeon" the
attempt has been made to treat in the same way the stories of the
second "age of fable," the age which witnessed the dawn of the several
states of Modern Europe.
It is believed that this presentation of a literature which held unrivalled
sway over the imaginations of our ancestors, for many centuries, will
not be without benefit to the reader, in addition to the amusement it
may afford. The tales, though not to be trusted for their facts, are
worthy of all credit as pictures of manners; and it is beginning to be
held that the manners and modes of thinking of an age are a more
important part of its history than the conflicts of its peoples, generally
leading to no result. Besides this, the literature of romance is a
treasure-house of poetical material, to which modern poets frequently
resort. The Italian poets, Dante and Ariosto, the English, Spenser, Scott,
and Tennyson, and our own Longfellow and Lowell, are examples of
this.
These legends are so connected with each other, so consistently adapted
to a group of characters strongly individualized in Arthur, Launcelot,
and their compeers, and so lighted up by the fires of imagination and
invention, that they seem as well adapted to the poet's purpose as the
legends of the Greek and Roman mythology. And if every
well-educated young person is expected to know the story of the
Golden Fleece, why is the quest of the Sangreal less worthy of his
acquaintance? Or if an allusion to the shield of Achilles ought not to
pass unapprehended, why should one to Excalibar, the famous sword of
Arthur?--
"Of Arthur, who, to upper light restored, With that terrific sword,
Which yet he brandishes for future war, Shall lift his country's fame
above the polar star."
[Footnote: Wordsworth]
It is an additional recommendation of our subject, that it tends to
cherish in our minds the idea of the source from which we sprung. We

are entitled to our full share in the glories and recollections of the land
of our forefathers, down to the time of colonization thence. The
associations which spring from this source must be fruitful of good
influences; among which not the least valuable is the increased
enjoyment which such associations afford to the American traveller
when he visits England, and sets his foot upon any of her renowned
localities.
The legends of Charlemagne and his peers are necessary to complete
the subject.
In an age when intellectual darkness enveloped Western Europe, a
constellation of brilliant writers arose in