Download or read book Springs and Wells, in Greek and Roman Literature, Their Legends and Locations (Classic Reprint) written by James Reuel Smith and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-26 with total page 760 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Springs and Wells, in Greek and Roman Literature, Their Legends and Locations Even the Queen and the King, in the days of fable, were constrained to visit the sources of water supply quite as forcibly as Mahomet was compelled to the Mountain, and, just as, later, the idler at the village pump, or the more aspiring Spa, learned all the news of the neighborhood, so the reader, who leisurely traces the path that meanders by the numerous fountains of the ancient writers and makes the rounds of the Springs of Mythology, becomes the entertained recipient of all the gossip and the family history of that classic band of beings of the brain that the early poets preserved and transmitted to posterity. The gossip at each successive Spring widens the readers circle of acquaintance, and, before the end of the path is reached, there is little of interest in the records of the masters of make-believe that has not been laid before the literary loiterer and absorbed in the most pleasant manner. One of the first of the philosophic tenets likely to present itself to the human mind would be Metempsychosis, and Metamorphosis would follow by natural suggestion. Given the factors of facial resemblance, affection and absence, and the germs of the doctrine would inevitably sprout in some thinking brain. Later, in meditation, fancy and reasoning would find no limit to the guises the vital spirit might assume. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.