Public-domain ebook
by Jacob Abbott
Language: en6,145 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Mythology, Legends & Folklore·History - Ancient
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #27692.
The work is a scholarly historical narrative that sets out to present, in a strictly documentary fashion, the legendary origins of Rome and its earliest figures. The author begins by declaring a commitment to “accurate and faithful” recounting, insisting that every incident is drawn from ancient sources and that no invention or gratuitous embellishment has been added. The opening pages lay out a detailed contents list, ranging from the mythic exploits of Cadmus and Æneas to the founding of Rome and the death of Romulus, and they are accompanied by a series of illustrative engravings and maps. The introductory essay then frames Romulus as a “conspicuous” rather than a “great” man, whose fame rests on the later glory of the city he founded, while also offering a broad picture of ancient Mediterranean life and the way early peoples blended fact with romance in their storytelling.
Written in the formal, didactic style of late‑19th‑century scholarship, the prose is dense and richly descriptive, reflecting the period’s reverence for classical sources and its penchant for exhaustive footnotes and moral reflection. Readers who appreciate a measured, source‑based approach to mythic history, students of classical antiquity, enthusiasts of early Roman legend, or anyone drawn to the interplay of fact and folklore in ancient narratives, will find this volume a rewarding, if demanding, companion.
The opening · free to read
In writing the series of historical narratives to which the present work pertains, it has been the object of the author to furnish to the reading community of this country an accurate and faithful account of the lives and actions of the several personages that are made successively the subjects of the volumes, following precisely the story which has come down to us from ancient times. The writer has spared no pains to gain access in all cases to the original sources of information, and has confined himself strictly to them. The reader may, therefore, feel assured in perusing any one of these works, that the interest of it is in no degree indebted to the invention of the author. No incident, however trivial, is ever added to the original account, nor are any words even, in any case, attributed to a speaker without express authority. Whatever of interest, therefore, these stories may possess, is due solely to the facts themselves which are recorded in them, and to their being brought together in a plain, simple, and connected narrative.
CONTENTS.
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