which is mythological. Such is the account which Hesiod gives of the fourth race of mankind, himself living, as he says, with the fifth race.
Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο γένος κατὰ γαῖα κάλυψε,
αὗθις ἔτ᾽ ἄλλο τέταρτον ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ
Ζεὺσ Κρονίδης ποίησε δικαιότερον καὶ ἄρειον,
I have given this whole passage, in order to com- prehend the last lines, which exhibit so very striking a contrast to the Hades in which the Homeric heroes are placed^, and which Lucian considers so base a condition of existence^. Menelaus, it is true, had a peculiar fate*^ ; but it seems that he was not to die at all. These notions of the dignity of a preceding race belong to an early state of so- ciety ; and, as civilization advances, more time is conti- nually required to throw the preceding age sufficiently far backward. As men grow more sharpsighted, the distance must be increased in order to produce the mystic effect. When the worship of heroes became a recognized practice, the greater part of them were as early at least as the Tro- jan times. I put out of the question any instance v/here the making a hero of a conteynporary was a mere piece of flattery : any hero so created has of course no mytho- logical rank, properly speaking. Thus the two annual sacri-
^ Od. XI. especiaHy v. 487, foil. 2 Dial. Mort. Achill. et Aiitil. ^ Od. iv. 561. Vol. II. No. 4. K
