Now  it  is  strange  that  the  excavations  of  Schliemann  seem  to  verify
the  Homeric  stories,  for  Schliemann  discovered  ancient  ornaments
and  weapons  such  as  are  described  in  Homer,  and  believers  in  the
letter  of  Homer  rejoiced  at  the  fact  and  declared  triumphantly  that,
after  all,  Homer  must  be  believed  in  ;  but,  unfortunately  for  these
enthusiasts,  Schliemann's  excavations  prove  too  much,  for  he  ex-
cavated not  only  one  city  of  Troy,  but  several  cities  which  are  built
one  upon  the  top  of  the  other,  proving  that  the  siege  of  Troy  and  the
conquest  and  burning  of  the  city,  had  not  taken  place  once  but  several
times ;  and  so  we  see  that  history  must  have  repeated  itself,  and  the
mythology  that  overlies  the  tradition  of  one  tale  may  have  suited
all  others  of  the  same  kind.  If  a  myth  embodies  a  general  truth,
the  myth  will  find  verification  in  history  whenever  events  of  the  same
kind  happen,  not  once  but  repeatedly,  for  the  myth  stands  for  the
type  and  the  type  is  realized  in  everv  concrete  instance.
Events  repeat  themselves,  and  these  very  repetitions  are  mostly


l66  THE    STORY   OF    SAMSON.
incorporated  in  myths.  As  wild  animals  use  the  same  trick  in  catch-
ing their  prey,  and  these  victims  try  the  same  methods  of  dodging
their  enemies,  so  men,  being  endowed  with  a  definite  psychological
organism,  will  naturally  act  in  a  typical  way.  Under  similar  con-
ditions their  sentiments,  their  words,  their  actions  will  be  similar.
