Such were the legends which were related in ancient poems and tales; and it is obvious that such narratives must have been composed to entertain groups of listeners whose main desire was to be excited and amused, and not to be instructed. The stories were believed, no doubt, and the faith which the hearer felt in their truth added of course very greatly to the interest which they awakened in his mind. The stories are _amusing_ to us; but it is impossible for us to share in the deep and solemn emotion with which the ancient audiences listened to them, for we have not the power, as they had, of believing them. Such tales related in respect to the great actors on the stage in modern times, would awaken no interest, for there is too general a diffusion both of historical and philosophical knowledge to render it possible for any one to suppose them to be true. But those for whom the story of Europa was invented, had no means of knowing how wide the Mediterranean sea might be, and whether a bull might not swim across it. They did not know but that Mars might have a dragon for a son, and that the teeth of such a dragon might not, when sown in the ground, spring up in the form of a troop of armed men. They listened therefore to the tale with an interest all the more earnest and solemn on account of the marvelousness of the recital. They repeated it word for word to one another, around their camp-fires, at their feasts, in their journeyings,--and when watching their flocks at midnight, among the solitudes of the mountains. Thus the tales were handed down from generation to generation, until at length the use of the letters of Cadmus became so far facilitated, that continuous narrations could be expressed by means of them; and then they were put permanently upon record in many forms, and were thus transmitted without any farther change to the present age. CHAPTER II. CADMUS'S LETTERS. B.C. 1500 Two modes of writing.--Symbols.--Example.--Symbol of the Deity.--Ancient symbols.--The Egyptian hieroglyphics phonetic.--Natural symbols.--Mexican record.--Arbitrary symbols.--Advantages of the symbolical mode of writing.--The meaning of them more easily understood.--Comparison of the two systems.--Further comparison of the two systems.--Two modes of representing the idea of a battle.--Great advantages of the phonetic mode of writing.--Uncertainty of the origin of phonetic writing.--Cadmus's alphabet.--Difficulties attending the introduction of it.--Different modes of writing.--The art of writing at first very little used.--Proofs of this.--Story of the lots.--Other instances.--The invention of papyrus.--Mode of manufacturing papyrus.--Volumes.--Mode of using ancient books.--Ink.--Ink found at Herculaneum.--Recent discoveries in respect to the Egyptian hieroglyphics.--Specimen of Egyptian hieroglyphics.--Explanation of the figures.--Moses in Egypt.--Importance of the art of writing.