On Unbelievable Tales

real events, and these were subsequently recounted in such a fabulous manner. All the phenomena and shapes that are said to have existed in the age of fables, but which nevertheless do not exist now, such things have never existed. For had they existed then and at other times, they would exist now and in the future. I have therefore always given my approval to the writers Melissus and Lamistus of Samos: formerly, they say, something actually existed; therefore, it can still exist today. The poets and mythographers have indeed driven some events beyond the boundaries of the believable and into the marvelous in order to arouse wonder, and I myself see well that the events, as they are told, could not have taken place; but I also know that if the fable had no events as a foundation, one would not tell them at all. Since I have now traveled to various regions myself, I have inquired among old people