_Dummkopf_, as the Alemanni say, in their own
language, when they would be pleasant among themselves.

Now, wouldst thou credit it? despite the mathematical plainness of
the facts, other Alemanni agree neither with Muellerus, nor yet with
Benfeius, and will neither hear that Athene was the Dawn, nor yet that
she is 'the feminine of the Zend _Thra'eta'na athwya'na_.' Lo, you! how
Prellerus goes about to show that her name is drawn not from _Ahana'_
and the old Brachmanae, nor _athwya'na_ and the old Medes, but from 'the
root _aith_*, whence _aither_*, the air, or _ath_*, whence _anthos_*, a
flower.' Yea, and Prellerus will have it that no man knows the verity of
this matter. None the less he is very bold, and will none of the Dawn;
but holds to it that Athene was, from the first, 'the clear pure height
of the Air, which is exceeding pure in Attica.'

Now, Father, as if all this were not enough, comes one Roscherus in,
with a mighty great volume on the Gods, and Furtwaenglerus, among
others, for his ally. And these doctors will neither with Rueckertus and
Hermannus, take Athene for 'wisdom in person;' nor with Welckerus
and Prellerus, for 'the goddess of air;' nor even, with Muellerus and
mathematical certainty, for 'the Morning-Red:' but they say that Athene
is the 'black thunder-cloud, and the lightning that leapeth therefrom'!
I make no doubt that other Alemanni are of other minds: _quot Alemanni
tot sententiae_.

Yea, as thou saidst of the learned heathen, _Oude gar allelois symphona_
_physiologousis_. Yet these disputes of theirs they call 'Science'!
But if any man says to the learned: 'Best of men, you are erudite,
and laborious and witty; but, till you are more of the same mind, your
opinions cannot be styled knowledge. Nay, they are at present of no
avail whereon to found any doctrine concerning the Gods'--that man is
railed at for his 'mean' and 'weak' arguments.

* Transliterated from Greek.

Was it thus, Father, that the heathen railed against thee? But I
must still believe, with thee, that these evil tales of the Gods were
invented 'when man's life was yet brutish and wandering' (as is the life
of many tribes that even now tell like tales), and were maintained in
honour of the later Greeks 'because none dared alter the ancient beliefs
of his ancestors.' Farewell, Father; and all good be with thee, wishes
thy well-wisher and thy disciple.

XVII. To Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Sir,--In your lifet