THE Age of Fable

THE AGE OF FABLE - 1912 - INTRODUCTION -- THOMAs BULFINCH whose name for some reason suggests Dickens and the heroes and mortals of his London rather than the classical mythology, was a Boston man, who used his leisure to supply young readers or busy readers with culture in a nutshell. He seems to have viewed all the Greek and Latin poets first of all through the vista of English and American verse, using the allusions of a Keats, Tennyson or Longfellow as little windows into the antique world. This, it must be admitted, was an ingenious way of surprising its secrets, without giving the untrained man the trouble of studying the original literature. The success of his method of concentrating the thousand and ten tales and fables, occupying a whole library of the ancients, into some forty-one compact chapters may be seen by taking, as a test, his salient ten pages on Proserpine and Glaucus and Scylla, or his account in brief of Medea and the Golden Fleece, or better still, his pocket epitome of the Trojan War. His book has the singular merit of provoking further inquiry and leaving the reader tantalized and quite unsatisfied. His Ulysses and Wneas send the new-come traveller in these realms of gold clamouring to Homer, and his notes on the Dryads and Water Deities open the road at the end of which waves the Golden Bough of the new classical mythologists. It was, in fact, a service or pioneer book that he wished to offer, and in that light it must be regarded, and in that way it will be found of signal value to the new beginner and the young scholar. vii The following are the works of Thomas Bulfinch-Hebrew Lyrical History, 163 Tbe Age of Fable, 1855 The Age of Chivalry, 1858,190 The BoyInventor, 1860 Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance o k Middle Ages, 1863 Poetry of the Age of Fable 1863 Oregon and Eldorado, or Romance of the Rivers, 1866. CONTENTS IV. v. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. . XIII. XIV. xv. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA . . . . APOLLO AND DAPHNE-PYRAMUS AND THISBE - CEPHALUS AND PROCRIS . . . JUNO AND HER RIVALS, I 0 AND CALLISTO - DIANA AND ACTAXON-LATONA AND THE RUSTICS . . . . . . PHAETON . . . . MIDAS-BAUCIS AND PHILEMON . . . PROSERPINE-GLAUCUS AND SCYLLA . PYGMALION-DRYOPE-VENUS AND ADONISAPOLLO AND HYACINTHUS. . . CEYX AND HALCYONE a . . . VERTUMNUS AND POMONA-IPHIS AND ANAXARETE . CUPID AND PSYCHE . ., . . CADMUS-THE MYRMIDONS . NISUS AND SCYLLA-ECHO AND NARCISSUSCLYTIE-HERO AND LEANDER . . MINERVA AND ARACHNE-NIOBE . a . THE GRAM3 AND GORGONS-PERSEUS AND MEDUSA . . MONSTERS GIANTS-SPHINX-PEGASUS AND CHIMERA-CENTAURS-GRIFFIN - PYGMIES THE GOLDEN FLEECE-MEDEA . . . MELEAGER AND ATALANTA ., . . HERCULES-HEBE AND GANYMEDE . THESEUS AND DIEDALUS--CASTOR AND POIr LUX-FESTIVALS AND GAMES, . BACCHUS AND ARIADNE . . . THE RURAL DEITIES-THE DRYADS AND ERISICHTHON - RHCECUS - THE WATER DEITIES-THE CAMENE-THE WINDS . PAGE 7 7 Contents CHAP. XXIII. XXIV. xxv. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. xxxv. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. ACHELOUS AND HERCULES-ADMETUS AND ALCESTIS-ANTIGONE-PENELOPE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE-ARISTBUS AMPHION-LINUS-THAMYRIS-MARSYAS - MELAMPUS-MUStEUS . . S ARION-IBYCUS-SIMONIDES-SAPPHO ENDYMION - ORION - AURORA AND TITHONUS-ACIS AND GALATEA THE TROJAN WAR . . . . THE FALL OF TROY-RETURN OF THE GREEKS-ORESTES AND ELECTRA ...