For almost a century and a half, Bulfinch's Mythology has been the text by which the great tales of the gods and goddesses, Greek and Roman antiquity; Scandinavian, Celtic, and Oriental fables and myths; and the age of chivalry have been known.
The stories are divided into three sections: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes (first published in 1855); The Age of Chivalry (1858), which contains King Arthur and His Knights, The Mabinogeon, and The Knights of English History; and Legends of Charlemagne or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863). For the Greek myths, Bulfinch drew on Ovid and Virgil, and for the sagas of the north, from Mallet's Northern Antiquities. He provides lively versions of the myths of Zeus and Hera, Venus and Adonis, Daphne and Apollo, and their cohorts on Mount Olympus; the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea; the legends of the Trojan War and the epic wanderings of Ulysses and Aeneas; the joys of Valhalla and the furies of Thor; and the tales of Beowulf and Robin Hood.
The tales are eminently readable. As Bulfinch wrote, "Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated. . . . Our book 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."
Thomas Bulfinch, in his day job, was a clerk in the Merchant's Bank of Boston, an undemanding position that afforded him ample leisure time in which to pursue his other interests. In addition to serving as secretary of the Boston Society of Natural History, he thoroughly researched the myths and legends and copiously cross-referenced them with literature and art. As such, the myths are an indispensable guide to the cultural values of the nineteenth century; however, it is the vigor of the stories themselves that returns generation after generation to Bulfinch.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Excerpt
IF no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but thatwhich helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station insociety, then mythology has no claim to the appellation. But if thatwhich tends to make us happier and better can be called useful then weclaim that epithet for our subject. For mythology is the handmaid ofliterature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue andpromoters of happiness.
Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of ourown language cannot be understood and appreciated. When Byron calls Rome"the Niobe of nations," or says of Venice, "She looks a Sea-Cybele freshfrom ocean," he calls up to the mind of one familiar with our subject,illustrations more vivid and striking than the pencil could furnish, butwhich are lost to the reader ignorant of mythology. Milton abounds insimilar allusions. The short poem "Comus" contains more than thirtysuch, and the ode "On the Morning of the Nativity" half as many. Through"Paradise Lost" they are scattered profusely. This is one reason why weoften hear persons by no means illiterate say that they cannot enjoyMilton. But were these persons to add to their more solid acquirementsthe easy learning of this little volume, much of the poetry of Miltonwhich has appeared to them "harsh and crabbed" would be found "musicalas is Apollo's lute." Our citations, taken from more than twenty-fivepoets, from Spenser to Longfellow, will show how general has been thepractice of borrowing illustrations from mythology.
The prose writers also avail themselves of the same source of elegantand suggestive illustration. One can hardly take up a number of the"Edinburgh" or "Quarterly Review" without meeting with instances. InMacaulay's article on Milton there are twenty such.
But how is mythology to be taught to one who does not learn it throughthe medium of the languages of Greece and Rome? To devote study to aspecies of learning which relates wholly to false marvels and obsoletefaiths is not to be expected of the general reader in a practical agelike this. The time even of the young is claimed by so many sciences offacts and things that little can be spared for set treatises on ascience of mere fancy.
But may not the requisite knowledge of the subject be acquired byreading the ancient poets in translations? We reply, the field is tooextensive for a preparatory course; and these very translations requiresome previous knowledge of the subject to make them intelligible. Letany one who doubts it read the first page of the "Æneid," and seewhat he can make of "the hatred of Juno," the "decree of theParcæ," the "judgment of Paris," and the "honours of Ganymede,"without this knowledge.
Shall we be told that answers to such queries may be found in notes, orby a reference to the Classical Dictionary? We reply, the interruptionof one's reading by either process is so annoying that most readersprefer to let an allusion pass unapprehended rather than submit to it.Moreover, such sources give us only the dry facts without any of thecharm of the original narrative; and what is a poetical myth whenstripped of its poetry? The story of Ceyx and Halcyone, which fills achapter in our book, occupies but eight lines in the best (Smith's)Classical Dictionary; and so of others.
Our book is an attempt to solve this problem, by telling the stories ofmythology in such a manner as to make them a source of amusement. Wehave endeavoured to tell them correctly, according to the ancientauthorities, so that when the reader finds them referred to he may notbe at a loss to recognize the reference. Thus we hope to teach mythologynot as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our work thecharm of a story-book, yet by means of it to impart a knowledge of animportant branch of education. The index at the end will adapt it to thepurposes of reference, and make it a Classical Dictionary for theparlour.
Most of the classical legends in this book are derived from Ovid andVirgil. 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 aconviction that to translate faithfully under all the embarrassments ofrhyme and measure is impossible. The attempt has been made to tell thestories in prose, preserving so much of the poetry as resides in thethoughts and is separable from the language itself, and omitting thoseamplifications which are not suited to the altered form.
The Northern mythological stories are copied with some abridgement fromMallet's "Northern Antiquities." These chapters, with those on Orientaland Egyptian mythology, seemed necessary to complete the subject, thoughit is believed these topics have not usually been presented in the samevolume with the classical fables.
The poetical citations so freely introduced are expected to answerseveral valuable purposes. They will tend to fix in memory the leadingfact of each story, they will help to the attainment of a correctpronunciation of the proper names, and they will enrich the memory withmany gems of poetry, some of them such as are most frequently quoted oralluded to in reading and conversation.
Having chosen mythology as connected with literature for ourprovince, we have endeavoured to omit nothing which the reader ofelegant literature is likely to find occasion for. Such stories andparts of stories as are offensive to pure taste and good morals are notgiven. But such stories are not often referred to, and if theyoccasionally should be, the English reader need feel no mortification inconfessing his ignorance of them.
Our book is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for thephilosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex,who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by publicspeakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur inpolite conversation.
We trust our young readers will find it a source of entertainment; thosemore advanced a useful companion in their reading; those who travel, andvisit museums and galleries of art, an interpreter of paintings andsculptures; those who mingle in cultivated society a key to allusionswhich are occasionally made; and last of all, those in advanced lifepleasure in retracing a path of literature which leads them back to thedays of their childhood, and revives at every step the associations ofthe morning of life.
The permanency of those associations is beautifully expressed in thewell-known lines of Coleridge, in "The Piccolomini," Act ii, Scene 4:
"The intelligible forms of ancient poets,
The fair humanities of old religion,
The Power, the Beauty, and the Majesty
That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain,
Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring,
Or chasms and watery depths; all these have vanished;
They live no longer in the faith of reason;
But still the heart doth need a language; still
Doth the old instinct bring back the old names;
Spirits or gods that used to share this earth
With man as with their friend; and at this day
'Tis Jupiter who brings whate'er is great,
And Venus who brings every thing that's fair."
Continues...Excerpted from Bulfinch's Mythologyby Thomas Bulfinch Copyright © 1993 by Thomas Bulfinch. Excerpted by permission.
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