Too many of these fictions are unfit to meet the eye of innocence, but so far as any of them convey a moral, so far as they throw light upon the history of mankind, so far as they have been incorporated in our literature, either with the design of instruction or of ornament, they require to make a part of useful education. […] There a vulture was commanded to prey upon his liver, which was reproduced so soon as it was devoured, so that he was doomed to eternal sufferings. […] And so heroes come to be “as gods revered.” […] It is to be lamented that a legislator so wise and so successful in improving the condition of his subjects as Theseus, could not have spent his whole life so honourably and usefully; but he became tired of quiet; he remembered the days which he had spent in hazardous enterprises; in killing robbers and wild beasts; and as then there were no books to read, he felt the want of something more to do, so he left his people to govern themselves, and went into the less civilized countries of Greece, to seek new adventures. […] As soon as Jocasta had a son, Laius commanded her to kill him; but no mother could be so cruel, so she gave the infant to her servant, and ordered him to destroy it.