Forlong - Rivers of Life

xxviii
Preface.
which are as yet obscure to us, but which nevertheless all point very clearly to a
remote parent tongue before our present classification was possible. It is on this
account that we constantly see writers fretting under some present philological restrictions
or passing them silently by as the author of “The Great Dionysiak Myth”
seems frequently to do, especially when he gives us an Asyro-Shemitik base in Dian
Nisi of the tablets for the Aryan Dionysos.
The more prominent and characteristic names of the gods then have travelled
like the gods themselves, where verb, all ordinary nouns and other such general
furniture of languages could not move. In this and other respects the author has
endeavoured to be clear, but the main arguments of his Work—extending over a long
period—might be considerably strengthened by facts which have recently come to
light since some early parts of it were in print. On this account the reader has been
troubled with a lengthy Preface, and inasmuch as the volumes treat to a considerable
extent of pre-historic matter, it is hoped that he will give due weight to the cumulative
force of the circumstantial evidence advanced, in support of the conclusions which
are drawn. It will not do to skim over, or merely dip into this work or its indexes
in order to ascertain its views on any particular subjects or words; whoever does so,
is likely to form opinions which a distant context or remote explanation may probably
prove erroneous. The author has been unable to provide against such superficial
reading, because once having taken the trouble to establish certain opinions he has
been compelled merely to assume them in other parts of the work.
It is not given to man to know his own genesis. He cannot sit down before
authentic histories to gather up the requisite facts, nor is he likely to find true
history in the regions of Religions and Theologies. We must therefore cast about
widely, grasping at all sciences, including Philology and its congeners. A good
practical knowledge however of similar living faiths, in all their vagaries, esoterik
and exoterik, is an excellent test of the value of these; without this our philology can
be nothing more than the outcome of atudious theories devoid, or or insufficiently hased
upon facts.
The philological principles of this work will probably be considered. by some to
be heresies as great, though not greater perhaps than the genral views enunciated;
but minorities must wait, though perhaps in this case not so very long, before they
become majorities, and by that time probably another minority will have arisen, and
so truth go forward conquering and to conquer.
The author has never had any other object in view than the advancement of