sought "higher argument" than

"Wars, hitherto the only argument
Heroic deemed,"

and crystallized the religious beliefs of his time in "Paradise Lost."

The characteristics both of the primitive and the modern epic are their
uniform metre, simplicity of construction, concentration of action into a
short time, and the use of episode and dialogue. The main difference lies
in the impersonality of the primitive epic, whose author has so skillfully
hidden himself behind his work that, as some one has said of Homer, "his
heroes are immortal, but his own existence is doubtful."

Although the historical events chronicled in the epics have in every case
been so distorted by the fancy of the poets that they cannot be accepted
as history, the epics are storehouses of information concerning ancient
manners and customs, religious beliefs, forms of government, treatment of
women, and habits of feeling.

Constructed upon the noblest principles of art, and pervaded by the
eternal calm of the immortals, these poems have an especial value to us,
who have scarcely yet realized that poetry is an art, and are feverish
from the unrest of our time. If by the help of this volume any reader be
enabled to find a portion of the wisdom that is hidden in these mines, its
purpose will have been accomplished.

My thanks are due to Mr. John A. Wilstach for the use of selections from
his translation of the "Divine Comedy;" to Prof. J. M. Crawford, for the
use of selections from his translation of the "Kalevala;" to Henry Holt &