so, and their works are therefore more agreeable, than if they had confined themselves to strict authenticity. The origin of every nation is, as Livy says, 'Poeticis decora fabulis [1], Adorned with 'poetical fables.' These are always amusing to the imagination, when neither tedious, nor too extravagant. We love to be led on in a gradual progress, and to behold truth emerging from obscurity, like the sun breaking through the clouds. Such a progress makes a part of our own nature, which advances from the dawnings of being in our infancy, to greater and greater intelligence.
They, whose genius is directed to the study of antiquities, besides the immediate delight which such traditions afford them, are often able, from hints seemingly detached and unimportant, to trace the fundamental truth, and extend the bounds of reality. Few indeed have that peculiar turn for inquiry, to deserve the name of antiquarians. But there is an universal principle of curiosity, with respect to times past, which makes even conjectures be received with a kind of pleasing veneration; and although the great end of history is instruction, I think it is also valuable, when it serves to gratify this curiosity.
- ↑ Liv. Prooem.
