Myths of Greece and Rome

MYTHOLOGY is the science which treats of the early traditions, or myths, relating to the religion of the ancients, and includes, besides a full account of the origin of their gods, their theory concerning the beginning of all things. Myths of creation. Among all the nations scattered over the face of the earth, the Hebrews alone were instructed by God, who gave them not only a full account of the creation of the world and of all living creatures, but also a code of laws to regulate their conduct. All the questions they fain would ask were fully answered, and no room remained for conjecture. It was not so, however, with the other nations. The Greeks and Romans, for instance, lacking the definite knowledge which we obtain from the Scriptures, and still anxious to know everything, were forced to construct, in part, their own theory. As they looked about them for some clue to serve as guide, they could not help but observe and admire the wonders of nature. The succession of day and night, summer and winter, rain and sunshine; the fact that the tallest trees sprang from tiny seeds, the greatest rivers from diminutive streams, and the most beautiful flowers and delicious fruits from small green buds, -all seemed to tell them of a superior Being, who had fashioned them to serve a definite purpose. They soon came to the conclusion that a hand mighty enough to call all these wonders into life, could also have created the beautiful Earth whereon they dwelt. These thoughts gave rise to others; suppositions became certainties; and soon the following myth or fable was evolved, to be handed down from generation to generation. At first, when all things lay in a great confused mass, - "Ere earth, and sea, and covering heavens, were known, The face of nature, o'er the world, was one; And men have call'd it Chaos; formless, rude, The mass; dead matter's weight, inert, and crude; Where, in mix'd heap of ill-compounded mold, The jarring seeds of things confusedly roll'd." Ovid (Elton's tr.). The Earth did not exist. Land, sea, and air were mixed up together; so that the earth was not solid, the sea was not fluid, nor the air transparent. "No sun yet beam'd from yon cerulean height; No orbing moon repair'd her horns of light; No earth, self-poised, on liquid ether hung; No sea its world-enclasping waters flung; Earth was half air, half sea, an embryo heap; Nor earth was fix'd, nor fluid was the deep; Dark was the void of air; no form was traced; Obstructing atoms struggled through the waste; Where cold, and hot, and moist, and dry rebell'd; Heavy the light, and hard the soft repell'd." Ovid (Elton's tr.).