a had assisted Cadmus in this
combat, and when it was ended she directed him to plant the teeth of
the dragon in the ground. Cadmus did so, and immediately a host of
armed men sprung up from the place where he had planted them. Cadmus
threw a stone among these armed men, when they immediately began to
contend together in a desperate conflict, until at length all but five
of them were slain. These five then joined themselves to Cadmus, and
helped him to build his city.

He went on very successfully after this. The city which he built was
Thebes, which afterward became greatly celebrated. The citadel which
he erected within, he called, from his own name, Cadmia.

Such were the legends which were related in ancient poems and tales;
and it is obvious that such narratives must have been composed to
entertain groups of listeners whose main desire was to be excited and
amused, and not to be instructed. The stories were believed, no doubt,
and the faith which the hearer felt in their truth added of course
very greatly to the interest which they awakened in his mind. The
stories are _amusing_ to us; but it is impossible for us to share in
the deep and solemn emotion with which the ancient audiences listened
to them, for we have not the power, as they had, of believing them.
Such tales related in respect to the great actors on the stage in
modern times, would awaken no interest, for there is too general a
diffusion both of historical and philosophical knowledge to render it
possible for any one to suppose them to be true. But those for whom
the story of Europa was invented, had no means of knowing how wide the
Mediterranean sea might be, and whether a bull might not swim across
it. They did not know but that Mars might have a dragon for a son, and
that the teeth of such a dragon might not, when sown in the ground,
spring up in the form of a troop of armed men. They listened therefore
to the tale with an interest all the more earnest and solemn on
account of the marvelousness of the recital. They repeated it word for
word to one another, around their camp-fires, at their feasts, in
their journeyings,--and when watching their flocks at midnight, among
the solitudes of the mountains. Thus the tales were handed down from
generation to generation, until at length the use of the letters of
Cadmus became so far facilitated, that continuous narrations could be
expressed by means of them; and then they were put permanently upon
record i