P R E F A C E.

...tain (1) See the 1st Chapter. some particular fictions where one would search in vain for any historical traits (1): but in general, almost all of them have some connection to history, or are linked to events authorized by everything that is most respectable in Antiquity The period of ancient history, particularly Greek and Roman history and culture..

In the past, Mythologists Those who study and interpret myths. believed they had penetrated the meaning of a Fable A myth or legendary story; in this period, "fable" was the standard term for Greco-Roman mythology. once they had succeeded in drawing from it some allegory or moral lesson; and this is essentially what all their explanations amounted to. Today, the Scholars—persuaded that Fables hide the History of the times following the Deluge The Great Flood, traditionally referring to the biblical flood of Noah, which 18th-century scholars used as a primary chronological marker. beneath ingenious coverings—have applied themselves to lifting the mysterious veil that hid the truths they contain from short-sighted eyes.

There are times favorable to certain opinions, and that of the historical truth within Fables has so thoroughly gained the upper hand that one must henceforth either gracefully renounce finding any reasonable meaning in them at all, or else relate them to History.

However, one can raise an objection against this opinion that at first seems very solid: How can we trace back to History what the Greeks, for example, say about their Gods, since these Gods lived in the eras they themselves call "unknown"? What History can be drawn from an "unknown" time—a time which would no longer be unknown if we had some knowledge of it?

To be better acquainted with this difficulty, one must recall the famous division made by Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE), a Roman scholar and writer whose chronological divisions of history were highly influential., who divided time into unknown times, fabulous times, and historical times. The first category included everything that happened in the world until the time of Ogyges A legendary king of Attica or Boeotia; his reign was often cited by ancients as the furthest point back that Greek memory could reach.; and it was in this interval that lived

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