127

In the religious cultus an earlier degree of culture comes to light a
remnant of former times. The ages that celebrate it are not those which
invent it, the contrary is often the case. There are many contrasts to
be found here. The Greek cultus takes us back to a pre-Homeric
disposition and culture. It is almost the oldest that we know of the
Greeks--older than their mythology, which their poets have considerably
remoulded, so far as we know it--Can this cult really be called Greek? I
doubt it: they are finishers, not inventors. They _preserve_ by means of
this beautiful completion and adornment.


128

It is exceedingly doubtful whether we should draw any conclusion in
regard to nationality and relationship with other nations from
languages. A victorious language is nothing but a frequent (and not
always regular) indication of a successful campaign. Where could there
have been autochthonous peoples! It shows a very hazy conception of
things to talk about Greeks who never lived in Greece. That which is
really Greek is much less the result of natural aptitude than of adapted
institutions, and also of an acquired language.


129

To live on mountains, to travel a great deal, and to move quickly from
one place to another . in these ways we can now begin to compare
ourselves with the Greek gods. We know the past, too, and we almost know