it gives a chance, as well, for the free expression and play of
sentiments, emotions and passions. In addition, music makes possible
pantomimic scenes which could not be done otherwise, and the music
itself flows more easily under such conditions. But that does not mean
that such conditions are indispensable for music. Music in its
flexibility and adaptability offers inexhaustible resources. Give Mozart
a fairy tale like the _Magic Flute_ or a lively comedy such as _Le Nozze
di Figaro_ and he creates without effort an immortal masterpiece.

It is a question whether there is any essential difference between
history and mythology. History is made up of what probably happened;
mythology of what probably did not happen. There are myths in history
and history in myths. Mythology is merely the old form of history.
Every myth is rooted in truth. And we have to seek for this truth in
the fable, just as we try to reconstruct extinct animals from the
remains Time has preserved to us. Behind the story of Prometheus we see
the invention of fire; behind the loves of Ceres and Triptolemus the
invention of the plow and the beginnings of agriculture. The adventures
of the Argonauts show us the first attempts at voyages of exploration
and the discovery of gold mines. Volumes have been written about the
truths behind the fables, and explanations have been found for the
strangest facts of mythology, even for the metamorphoses which Ovid
described so poetically.

Halfway between history and mythology come the sacred writings. Each
race has its own. Ours are the Old and New Testament. Many believe that
these books are myths; a larger number--the Believers--that they are
history, Sacred History, the only true history--the only one about which
it is not permitted to express a doubt. If you want a proof of this,
recall that not so many years ago a clergyman in the Church of England