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to systematize and simplify governments . We . turn with a sigh from the reliable authorities to the unreliable . And first to mention the most brilliant and remarkable reverie of all , the Atlantis story of Plato , and the Saitic annals of hoar antiquity . ' The statements are wholly at variance with both letter and spirit of Egyptian history . The ideal Atlantis , and the wonderful
priests who talked with Solon of the forgotten glories of primeval history , are alike shadowy . And were there nothing else to stamp the fiction- ( which , as a fiction , is elegant and poetical ) , it is quite plain , from the plan of the Eepublic , Timseus , and Critias , —even admitting the latter to be a veritable production of the Hellenic philosopher , that the ideal kingdom of Atlantis , and eonsequently | its Egyptian adornment , is an invention , a trick of art , balancing the ideal Eepublic , in
which his imagination , poetical to the last degree , although intolerant of poets , revelled at ease , and for all of which he alone is answerable . Totally irreconcilable with any chronological fact , the story of Atlantis , which might have been considered an Egyptian myth had it anything of an Egyptian character , remains for ever one of the most brilliant romances of Greek philosophy , but in no respect whatever of any value to the student of antiquity .
To mythical stories and poetical phantasms like this of Plato , we may well apply the words of Ewald : — " It is not , " he urges , t'" the great and wonderful respecting which we have in history a dark misgiving , or which we would cast away or cling to : we know that not only the earth , but history also , as it has its plains , has also
its lofty crags ; and how much more eagerly do we strive to scale these latter , without , at the same time , despising the former ! But to what extent the heights of history are real , and at what elevation above the plains , this we have to examine ; and the more we recognise this mutual relation , the more shall we prize and admire the peaks and crags , which we did not raise , but another . " And in
contradistinction to the legend , as a less profitable portion of the legacy left us by antiquity , may we esteem the spirit of history which is self-evident , and to be discovered through the immutable laws which guide its course . Well says De Brotoune : " The life of the nations is long , and the traditions liable to mutation . That which
memory does for the individual , history accomplishes for the nations . " J Out from the figments of falsehood may sometimes be brought forth truth , and legend , when rightly examined , has its tale to tell likewise of the hopes and fears , sentiments and passions , of the men of old time , who preceded us in doing the work of the Almighty in the sphere appointed to each .
Of the lamentably foolish theories enunciated m various other later and spurious productions , it is not necessary to speak at length here . The miserably weak and uncritical Byzantine school , inherit-* Long since confuted hy Martin ( " Etudes sur la TimeV' ) . I think it is now evident that it is nob even based upon any tradition of Egyptian history . t Ewald , " Geschichte des Yolkes Israel , " vol . i . p . 63 . Second edition , t " Filiations et Migrationsdes Penples . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to systematize and simplify governments . We . turn with a sigh from the reliable authorities to the unreliable . And first to mention the most brilliant and remarkable reverie of all , the Atlantis story of Plato , and the Saitic annals of hoar antiquity . ' The statements are wholly at variance with both letter and spirit of Egyptian history . The ideal Atlantis , and the wonderful
priests who talked with Solon of the forgotten glories of primeval history , are alike shadowy . And were there nothing else to stamp the fiction- ( which , as a fiction , is elegant and poetical ) , it is quite plain , from the plan of the Eepublic , Timseus , and Critias , —even admitting the latter to be a veritable production of the Hellenic philosopher , that the ideal kingdom of Atlantis , and eonsequently | its Egyptian adornment , is an invention , a trick of art , balancing the ideal Eepublic , in
which his imagination , poetical to the last degree , although intolerant of poets , revelled at ease , and for all of which he alone is answerable . Totally irreconcilable with any chronological fact , the story of Atlantis , which might have been considered an Egyptian myth had it anything of an Egyptian character , remains for ever one of the most brilliant romances of Greek philosophy , but in no respect whatever of any value to the student of antiquity .
To mythical stories and poetical phantasms like this of Plato , we may well apply the words of Ewald : — " It is not , " he urges , t'" the great and wonderful respecting which we have in history a dark misgiving , or which we would cast away or cling to : we know that not only the earth , but history also , as it has its plains , has also
its lofty crags ; and how much more eagerly do we strive to scale these latter , without , at the same time , despising the former ! But to what extent the heights of history are real , and at what elevation above the plains , this we have to examine ; and the more we recognise this mutual relation , the more shall we prize and admire the peaks and crags , which we did not raise , but another . " And in
contradistinction to the legend , as a less profitable portion of the legacy left us by antiquity , may we esteem the spirit of history which is self-evident , and to be discovered through the immutable laws which guide its course . Well says De Brotoune : " The life of the nations is long , and the traditions liable to mutation . That which
memory does for the individual , history accomplishes for the nations . " J Out from the figments of falsehood may sometimes be brought forth truth , and legend , when rightly examined , has its tale to tell likewise of the hopes and fears , sentiments and passions , of the men of old time , who preceded us in doing the work of the Almighty in the sphere appointed to each .
Of the lamentably foolish theories enunciated m various other later and spurious productions , it is not necessary to speak at length here . The miserably weak and uncritical Byzantine school , inherit-* Long since confuted hy Martin ( " Etudes sur la TimeV' ) . I think it is now evident that it is nob even based upon any tradition of Egyptian history . t Ewald , " Geschichte des Yolkes Israel , " vol . i . p . 63 . Second edition , t " Filiations et Migrationsdes Penples . "