Pagina 149 de 1391

He is aware how deeply the greater part of mankind resent any

interference with the order of society, and therefore he proposes

his novel idea in the form of what he himself calls a 'monstrous

fiction.' (Compare the ceremony of preparation for the two 'great

waves' in Book v.) Two principles are indicated by him: first,

that there is a distinction of ranks dependent on circumstances

prior to the individual: second, that this distinction is and

ought to be broken through by personal qualities. He adapts

mythology like the Homeric poems to the wants of the state,

making 'the Phoenician tale' the vehicle of his ideas. Every

Greek state had a myth respecting its own origin; the Platonic

republic may also have a tale of earthborn men.