Legends of Charlemagne | Page 2

a concise explanation or definition of
each has been given. Thus what was a mere list of names in the original
has been enlarged into a small classical and mythological dictionary,
which it is hoped will prove valuable for reference purposes not
necessarily connected with "The Age of Fable."
Acknowledgments are due the writings of Dr. Oliver Huckel for
information on the point of Wagner's rendering of the Nibelungen
legend, and M. I. Ebbutt's authoritative volume on "Hero Myths and
Legends of the British Race," from which much of the information
concerning the British heroes has been obtained

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps
to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then
Mythology has no claim to the appellation. But if that which tends to
make us happier and better can be called useful, then we claim that
epithet for our subject. For Mythology is the handmaid of literature;
and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of
happiness.
Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of

our own language cannot be understood and appreciated. When Byron
calls Rome "the Niobe of nations," or says of Venice, "She looks a
Sea-Cybele fresh from ocean," he calls up to the mind of one familiar
with our subject, illustrations more vivid and striking than the pencil
could furnish, but which are lost to the reader ignorant of mythology.
Milton abounds in similar allusions. The short poem "Comus" contains
more than thirty such, and the ode "On the Morning of the Nativity"
half as many. Through "Paradise Lost" they are scattered profusely.
This is one reason why we often hear persons by no means illiterate say
that they cannot enjoy Milton. But were these persons to add to their
more solid acquirements the easy learning of this little volume, much of
the poetry of Milton which has appeared to them "harsh and crabbed"
would be found "musical as is Apollo's lute." Our citations, taken from
more than twenty-five poets, from Spenser to Longfellow, will show
how general has been the practice of borrowing illustrations from
mythology.
The prose writers also avail themselves of the same source of elegant
and suggestive illustration. One can hardly take up a number of the
"Edinburgh" or "Quarterly Review" without meeting with instances. In
Macaulay's article on Milton there are twenty such.
But how is mythology to be taught to one who does not learn it through
the medium of the languages of Greece and Rome? To devote study to
a species of learning which relates wholly to false marvels and obsolete
faiths is not to be expected of the general reader in a practical age like
this. The time even of the young is claimed by so many sciences of
facts and things that little can be spared for set treatises on a science of
mere fancy.
But may not the requisite knowledge of the subject be acquired by
reading the ancient poets in translations? We reply, the field is too
extensive for a preparatory course; and these very translations require
some previous knowledge of the subject to make them intelligible. Let
any one who doubts it read the first page of the "Aeneid," and see what
he can make of "the hatred of Juno," the "decree of the Parcae," the
"judgment of Paris," and the "honors of Ganymede," without this

knowledge.
Shall we be told that answers to such queries may be found in notes, or
by a reference to the Classical Dictionary? We reply, the interruption of
one's reading by either process is so annoying that most readers prefer
to let an allusion pass unapprehended rather than submit to it. Moreover,
such sources give us only the dry facts without any of the charm of the
original narrative; and what is a poetical myth when stripped of its
poetry? The story of Ceyx and Halcyone, which fills a chapter in our
book, occupies but eight lines in the best (Smith's) Classical Dictionary;
and so of others.
Our work is an attempt to solve this problem, by telling the stories of
mythology in such a manner as to make them a source of amusement.
We have endeavored to tell them correctly, according to the ancient
authorities, so that when the reader finds them referred to he may not
be at a loss to recognize the reference. Thus we hope to teach
mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our
work the charm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a
knowledge of an important branch of education. The index at the end
will adapt it to the purposes of reference, and make it a Classical
Dictionary for the