I think the difference in Sallustius' usage is that physical myths are metaphorical, while material myths are literal—that is, we would call them "history" rather than "myth". (The mixed kind is a myth that we might say to have exoteric (literal) and esoteric (symbolic) meanings at the same time.)
Maybe an example might be more appropriate? One of my favorite Egyptian myths is the birth of the gods. Primordial Chaos separated into the elements, and Air and Water came together and gave birth to Earth and Sky. They lay together, and Sky became pregnant with quadruplets. Earth feared that his children would overthrow him, and so he cursed Sky so that she could not give birth on any of the 360 days of the year. Intellect got word of this and wished to help Sky, so he went over to the ever-shining Moon and challenged him to poker. After letting Moon win a few hands, Intellect began to raise the stakes and cheat mercilessly, eventually getting the Moon to wager—and lose!—half of his light. Intellect fashioned this light into five extra days and added them to the end of the year. Sky, who was way overdue by this point, gave birth to her children—Life, Love, Conflict, and Death—on the first four of these five days, and rested on the fifth.
Sallustius is saying—I think!—that those backward, foolish Egyptians took this myth literally, and that the year really was 360 days long, that the moon really was always full, etc. etc. until all these things happened, but we enlightened Greeks know better than that and treat our myths as having an esoteric side, kept apart for wise philosophers. Myself, I see no reason not to treat the Egyptian myth as being any less pregnant with symbolism than, say, Hesiod.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2021-11-26 07:34 pm (UTC)Maybe an example might be more appropriate? One of my favorite Egyptian myths is the birth of the gods. Primordial Chaos separated into the elements, and Air and Water came together and gave birth to Earth and Sky. They lay together, and Sky became pregnant with quadruplets. Earth feared that his children would overthrow him, and so he cursed Sky so that she could not give birth on any of the 360 days of the year. Intellect got word of this and wished to help Sky, so he went over to the ever-shining Moon and challenged him to poker. After letting Moon win a few hands, Intellect began to raise the stakes and cheat mercilessly, eventually getting the Moon to wager—and lose!—half of his light. Intellect fashioned this light into five extra days and added them to the end of the year. Sky, who was way overdue by this point, gave birth to her children—Life, Love, Conflict, and Death—on the first four of these five days, and rested on the fifth.
Sallustius is saying—I think!—that those backward, foolish Egyptians took this myth literally, and that the year really was 360 days long, that the moon really was always full, etc. etc. until all these things happened, but we enlightened Greeks know better than that and treat our myths as having an esoteric side, kept apart for wise philosophers. Myself, I see no reason not to treat the Egyptian myth as being any less pregnant with symbolism than, say, Hesiod.