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Essays and Lectures-Part2_OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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on the borderland between faith and rationalism, one likes to note

even the most minute instances of the rise of the critical and



sceptical spirit of inquiry.

How really strange, at base, it was with him may, I think, be shown



by a reference to those passages where he applies rationalistic

tests to matters connected with religion. He nowhere, indeed,



grapples with the moral and scientific difficulties of the Greek

Bible; and where he rejects as incredible the marvellous



achievements of Hercules in Egypt, he does so on the express

grounds that he had not yet been received among the gods, and so



was still subject to the ordinary conditions of mortal life ([Greek

text which cannot be reproduced]).



Even within these limits, however, his religious conscience seems

to have been troubled at such daringrationalism, and the passage



(ii. 45) concludes with a pious hope that God will pardon him for

having gone so far, the great rationalistic passage being, of



course, that in which he rejects the mythical account of the

foundation of Dodona. 'How can a dove speak with a human voice?'



he asks, and rationalises the bird into a foreign princess.

Similarly he seems more inclined to believe that the great storm at



the beginning of the Persian War ceased from ordinary atmospheric

causes, and not in consequence of the incantations of the MAGIANS.



He calls Melampos, whom the majority of the Greeks looked on as an

inspired prophet, 'a clever man who had acquired for himself the



art of prophecy'; and as regards the miracle told of the AEginetan

statues of the primeval deities of Damia and Auxesia, that they



fell on their knees when the sacrilegious Athenians strove to carry

them off, 'any one may believe it,' he says, 'who likes, but as for



myself, I place no credence in the tale.'

So much then for the rationalistic spirit of historical" target="_blank" title="a.历史(上)的">historicalcriticism,



as far as it appears explicitly in the works of this great and

philosophic writer; but for an adequateappreciation of his



position we must also note how conscious he was of the value of

documentary evidence, of the use of inscriptions, of the importance



of the poets as throwing light on manners and customs as well as on

historical" target="_blank" title="a.历史(上)的">historical incidents. No writer of any age has more vividly



recognised the fact that history is a matter of evidence, and that

it is as necessary for the historian to state his authority as it



is to produce one's witnesses in a court of law.

While, however, we can discern in Herodotus the rise of an historic



sense, we must not blind ourselves to the large amount of instances

where he receives supernatural influences as part of the ordinary



forces of life. Compared to Thucydides, who succeeded him in the

development of history, he appears almost like a mediaeval writer



matched with a modern rationalist. For, contemporary though they

were, between these two authors there is an infinite chasm of



thought.

The essential difference of their methods may be best illustrated



from those passages where they treat of the same subject. The

execution of the Spartan heralds, Nicolaos and Aneristos, during



the Peloponnesian War is regarded by Herodotus as one of the most

supernatural instances of the workings of nemesis and the wrath of



an outraged hero; while the lengthened siege and ultimate fall of

Troy was brought about by the avenging hand of God desiring to



manifest unto men the mighty penalties which always follow upon

mighty sins. But Thucydides either sees not, or desires not to



see, in either of these events the finger of Providence, or the

punishment of wicked doers. The death of the heralds is merely an



Athenian retaliation for similar outrages committed by the opposite

side; the long agony of the ten years' siege is due merely to the



want of a good commissariat in the Greek army; while the fall of

the city is the result of a united military attack consequent on a



good supply of provisions.

Now, it is to be observed that in this latter passage, as well as



elsewhere, Thucydides is in no sense of the word a sceptic as




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