PREFACE.

[what is] most useful and most interesting; and it will be clearly seen that often my consideration for them The author is referring to his readers, whom he wishes to engage rather than overwhelm with dry academic detail. has been dearer to me than my reputation; for it is no small thing that an author suppresses strokes of erudition that he has at hand, and which would cost him only the trouble of transcribing.

Here then is the method I have followed. When I make use of the testimony of an Author, I usually quote their words and provide a translation; and when this translation is missing, the discourse that precedes or follows the citation makes its meaning sufficiently clear. I observe, as much as possible, the practice of citing the most ancient authors before those who came later; thus Homer and Hesiod among the Poets, Herodotus and some others among the Historians, are always preferred over those who followed them. It is not that I neglect the latter: they were able to consult Traditions, or Works that still existed in their time; and the former certainly did not say everything: it is only a question here of the preference I give to some over others. The Poets who have transmitted so many fictions to us are nonetheless, whatever one might say, the first custodians of the ancient Traditions of Greece, and its first Historians, since writing in Prose began there only very late. In the archaic period of Greece, history and myth were intertwined and preserved through epic poetry before the development of formal prose history.

To the Poets and Historians I have sometimes added Medals Medals In the 18th century, the term "medals" (médailles) was commonly used to refer to ancient coins, which served as vital archaeological evidence for historical figures and events. and Inscriptions, because these are monuments that attest to ancient Tradition.

With regard to the Modern authors who have worked on this subject, I limit myself to repor-