CHAPTER IV.
ROMAN MYTHOLOGY.
In all that has been said up to this time Roman
mythology has not once been mentioned. Why
not? Properly speaking, there is no such thing. It
is an historical fact, that nearly the whole Roman
literature, especially that part of it which may be called
belles-lettres, is scarcely anything but imitation. It
did not, like the Greek and Old Norse, spring from the
popular mind, by which it was cherished through
centuries; but at least a large portion of it was
produced for pay and for ornament, mostly in the time
of the tyrant Augustus, to tickle his ear and gild those
chains that were artfully forged to fetter the peoples of
southern Europe. This is a dry but stubborn truth,
and it is wonderful with what tenacity the schools in
all civilized lands have clung to the Roman or Latin
language, after it had become nothing but a
corpse; as though it could be expected that any
genuine culture could be derived from this dead
monster.
It is, however, an encouraging fact that the Teutonic races are indicating a tendency to emancipate themselves from the fetters of Roman bondage, and happy should we be if our English words were emancipated therefrom. We should then use neither emancipate, nor tendency, nor indicate, but would have enough of Gothic words to use in place of them. Ay, the signs
