Volume 1

History of Greece / by George Grote.

  • Grote, George, 1794-1871.
Date:
1849-1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of Greece / by George Grote. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    679/698 (page 639)
    The romances of chivalry represented, to those who heard them, real deeds of the foretime—‘‘glo- ries of the foregone men,” to use the Hesiodic ex- pression ^—at the same time that they embodied and filled up the details of an heroic ideal, such as that age could conceive and admire—a fervent piety, combined with strength, bravery, and the love of adventurous aggression directed sometimes against infidels, sometimes against enchanters or d’autres noms les details exacts de la fameuse defaite d’Attila dans les champs Catalauniques. Saint Loup et Saint Nicaise, glorieux prelats du quatrieme siecle, reviennent figurer autour du pere de Pepin le Bref: enfin pour completer la confusion, Charles Martel meurt sur le champ de bataille, a la place du roi des Visigoths, Theodoric Toutes les par- ties de la narration sont vraies : seulement toutes s’y trouvent deplacees. En general, les peoples n’entendent rien a la chronologic: les evene- mens restent: les individus, les lieux et les epoques, ne laissent aucune trace : c’est pour ainsi dire, une decoration scenique que Ton applique indifferemment a des recits souvent contraires.” (Preface to the Roman de Garin le Loherain, pp. xvi.-xx.: Paris, 1833.) Compare also his Lettre a VI. Monmerqu^ prefixed to the Roman de Berthe aux Grans Pies, Paris, 1836. To say that all the parts of the narrative are true, is contrary to M. Paris’s own showing : some parts may he true, separately taken, but these fragnjents of truth are melted down wdth a large mass of fiction, and cannot be discriminated unless we possess some independent test. The poet who picks out one incident from the fourth century, another from the fifth, and a few more from the eighth, and then blends them all into a continuous tale along with many additions of his own, shows that he takes the items of fact because they suit the purposes of his narrative, not because they happen to be attested by historical evidence. His hearers are not critical: they desire to have their imaginations and feelings affected, and they are content to accept w ithout question what- ever accomplishes this end. ^ Hesiod, Theogon. 100—sXea nporepcou dv6p<x>7rcov. Puttenham talks of the remnant of bards existing in his time (1589): Blind Harpers, or such like Taverne Minstrels, whose matters are for the most part stories of old time, as the Tale of Sir Topaze, the Reportes of Bevis of Southamp- ton, Adam Bell, Clymme of the Clough, and such other old Romances or Historical Rhymes.’^ (Arte of English Poesie, book ii. cap. 9.) Accepted as realities of the fore- time.