“The myth,” Sorel replies, “must be judged as a means of acting on the present; any attempt to discuss how far it can be taken literally as future history is devoid of sense.” (Pp. 135-6.) If we should nevertheless put the question, it is plain that the ideal will in truth never be achieved or even approximated. This in no way detracts from the power of the myth, nor does it alter the fact that only these myths can inspire social groups to actions which, though they never gain the formal ideal, yet do bring about great social transformations.
