ABSTRACT
I said that Cecrops founded no dynasty: the same traditions that bring him from Egypt give him Cranaus, a native, for his successor. The darkness
of fable closes over the interval between the reign of Cranaus and the time of Theseus: if tradition be any guide whatsoever, the history of that period was the his-
tory of the human race-it was the gradual passage of men from a barbarous state to the dawn of civilization-and the national mythi only gather in wild and beautiful fictions round every landmark in their slow and encumbered progress.
