Proserpine and Midas | Page 7

classical mythology. That twenty years before, at least in the
Shelley circle, it was far less grudging, we now have definite proof.
Not only was Shelley prepared to admit, with the liberal opinion of the
time, that ancient mythology 'was a system of nature concealed under
the veil of allegory', a system in which 'a thousand fanciful fables
contained a secret and mystic meaning': [Footnote: _Edinb. Rev._, July
1808.] he was prepared to go a considerable step farther, and claim that
there was no essential difference between ancient mythology and the
theology of the Christians, that both were interpretations, in more or
less figurative language, of the great mysteries of being, and indeed that
the earlier interpretation, precisely because it was more frankly
figurative and poetical than the later one, was better fitted to stimulate

and to allay the sense of wonder which ought to accompany a reverent
and high-souled man throughout his life-career.
In the earlier phase of Shelley's thought, this identification of the
ancient and the modern faiths was derogatory to both. The letter which
he had written in 1812 for the edification of Lord Ellenborough
revelled in the contemplation of a time 'when the Christian religion
shall have faded from the earth, when its memory like that of
Polytheism now shall remain, but remain only as the subject of ridicule
and wonder'. But as time went on, Shelley's views became less purely
negative. Instead of ruling the adversaries back to back out of court, he
bethought himself of venturing a plea in favour of the older and weaker
one. It may have been in 1817 that he contemplated an 'Essay in favour
of polytheism'.[Footnote: Cf. our _Shelley's Prose in the Bodleian
MSS_., 1910, p. 124.] He was then living on the fringe of a charmed
circle of amateur and adventurous Hellenists who could have furthered
the scheme. His great friend, Thomas Love Peacock, 'Greeky Peaky',
was a personal acquaintance of Thomas Taylor 'the Platonist', alias
'Pagan Taylor'. And Taylor's translations and commentaries of Plato
had been favourites of Shelley in his college days. Something at least
of Taylor's queer mixture of flaming enthusiasm and tortuous ingenuity
may be said to appear in the unexpected document we have now to
examine.
It is a little draft of an Essay, which occurs, in Mrs. Shelley's
handwriting, as an insertion in her Journal for the Italian period. The
fragment--for it is no more--must be quoted in full. [Footnote: From the
'Boscombe' MSS. Unpublished.]
The necessity of a Belief in the Heathen Mythology to a Christian
If two facts are related not contradictory of equal probability & with
equal evidence, if we believe one we must believe the other.
1st. There is as good proof of the Heathen Mythology as of the
Christian Religion.
2ly. that they [do] not contradict one another.

Con[clusion]. If a man believes in one he must believe in both.
Examination of the proofs of the Xtian religion--the Bible & its authors.
The twelve stones that existed in the time of the writer prove the
miraculous passage of the river Jordan. [Footnote: Josh. iv. 8.--These
notes are not Shelley's.] The immoveability of the Island of Delos
proves the accouchement of Latona [Footnote: Theogn. 5 foll.; Homer's
Hymn to Apollo, i. 25.]--the Bible of the Greek religion consists in
Homer, Hesiod & the Fragments of Orpheus &c.--All that came
afterwards to be considered apocryphal--Ovid = Josephus--of each of
these writers we may believe just what we cho[o]se.
To seek in these Poets for the creed & proofs of mythology which are
as follows--Examination of these--1st with regard to proof--2 in
contradiction or conformity to the Bible--various apparitions of God in
that Book [--] Jupiter considered by himself--his attributes-- disposition
[--] acts--whether as God revealed himself as the Almighty to the
Patriarchs & as Jehovah to the Jews he did not reveal himself as Jupiter
to the Greeks--the possibility of various revelations--that he revealed
himself to Cyrus. [Footnote: Probably Xenophon, Cyrop. VIII. vii. 2.]
The inferior deities--the sons of God & the Angels--the difficulty of
Jupiter's children explained away--the imagination of the poets--of the
prophets--whether the circumstance of the sons of God living with
women [Footnote: Gen. vi.] being related in one sentence makes it
more probable than the details of Greek--Various messages of the
Angels--of the deities--Abraham, Lot or Tobit. Raphael [--]Mercury to
Priam [Footnote: Iliad, xxiv.]--Calypso & Ulysses--the angel wd then
play the better part of the two whereas he now plays the worse. The ass
of Balaam--Oracles--Prophets. The revelation of God as Jupiter to the
Greeks---a more successful revelation than that as Jehovah to the
Jews--Power, wisdom, beauty, & obedience of the Greeks--greater & of
longer continuance--than those of the Jews. Jehovah's promises worse
kept than Jupiter's--the Jews or Prophets had not a more consistent or
decided notion