,transcriber's ,notes3 ,greek words1 ,hebrew words1 and some characters may not display properly--in that case1 try another version4 ,transliterations of ,greek and ,hebrew words can be found in the ascii and html files4 ,words surrounded by underscores are in italics in the original4 ,characters superscripted in the original are enclosed in braces4 ,ellipses match the original4 ,a row of asterisks represents a thought break4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original4 ,some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected4 ,a complete list follows the text4 ,,five ,,stages ,,of ,,greek ,,religion ,,by ,,gilbert ,,murray ,boston ,,the ,,beacon ,,press ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,third ,,edition ,anyone who has been in ,greece at ,easter time1 especially among the more remote peasants1 must have been struck by the emotion of suspense and excitement with which they wait for the announcement ,christos anest1 ,christ is risen6 and the response ,alths anest1 ,he has really risen6 ,i have referred elsewhere to ,mr4 ,lawson's old peasant woman1 who explained her anxiety3 ,if ,christ does not rise tomorrow we shall have no harvest this year 7,modern ,greek ,folklore1 p4 #egc74 ,we are evidently in the presence of an emotion and a fear which1 beneath its ,christian colouring and1 so to speak1 transfiguration1 is in its essence1 like most of man's deepest emotions1 a relic from a very remote pre-,christian past4 ,every spring was to primitive man a time of terrible anxiety4 ,his store of food was near its end4 ,would the dead world revive1 or would it not8 ,the ,old ,year was dead2 would the ,new ,year1 the ,young ,king1 born afresh of ,sky and ,earth1 come in the ,old ,king's place and bring with him the new growth and the hope of life8 ,i hardly realized1 when writing the earlier editions of this book1 how central1 how omnipresent1 this complex of ideas was in ancient ,greek religion4 ,attis1 ,adonis1 ,osiris1 ,dionysus1 and the rest of the ,year ,gods were not eccentric divagations in a religion whose proper worship was given to the immortal ,olympians2 they are different names given in different circumstances to this one being who dies and is born again each year1 dies old and polluted with past deaths and sins1 and is reborn young and purified4 ,i have tried to trace this line of tradition in an article for the ,journal of ,hellenic ,studies for ,june #aiea1 and to show1 incidentally1 how many of the elements in the ,christian tradition it has provided1 especially those elements which are utterly alien from ,hebrew monotheism and must1 indeed1 have shocked every orthodox ,jew4 ,the best starting point is the conception of the series of ,old ,kings1 each1 when the due time comes1 dethroned and replaced by his son1 the ,young ,king1 with the help of the ,queen ,mother2 for ,gaia or ,earth1 the eternal ,wife and ,mother of each in turn1 is always ready to renew herself4 ,the new vegetation ,god each year is born from the union of the ,sky-,god and the ,earth-,mother2 or1 as in myth and legend the figures become personified1 he is the ,son of a ,god and a mortal princess4 ,we all know the sequence of ,kings in ,hesiod3 ,first ,uranus 7,sky71 ,king of the ,world1 and his wife ,gaia 7,earth72 ,uranus reigns till he is dethroned by his son ,cronos with the help of ,gaia2 then ,cronos and ,rhea 7,earth7 reign till ,cronos is dethroned by his son ,zeus1 with the help of ,rhea2 then ,zeus reigns till 4 4 4 but here the series stops1 since1 according to the orthodox ,olympian system1 ,zeus is the eternal ,king4 ,but there was another system1 underlying the ,olympian1 and it is to that other system that the ,year-,kings belong4 ,the ,olympians are definite persons4 ,they are immortal2 they do not die and revive2 they are not beings who come and go1 in succession to one another4 ,in the other series are the ,attis-,adonis-,osiris type of gods1 and especially ,dionysus1 whose name has been shown by ,kretschmer to be simply the ,thracian ,deos or ,dios nysos1 ,zeus-,young or ,zeus-the-son4 ,and in the ,orphic tradition it is laid down that ,zeus yields up his power to ,dionysus and bids all the gods of the ,cosmos obey him4 ,the mother of ,dionysus was ,semel1 a name which1 like ,gaia and ,rhea1 means ,earth4 ,the series is not only continuous but infinite2 for on one side ,uranus 7,sky7 was himself the son of ,gaia the eternal1 and on the other1 every year a ,zeus was succeeded by a ,young ,zeus4 ,the ,young ,king1 bearer of spring and the new summer1 is the ,saviour of the ,earth1 made cold and lifeless by winter and doomed to barrenness by all the pollutions of the past2 the ,saviour also of mankind from all kinds of evils1 and bringer of a new ,aion1 or ,age1 to the world4 ,innumerable different figures in ,greek mythology are personifications of him1 from ,dionysus and ,heracles to the ,dioscuri and many heroes of myth4 ,he bears certain distinguishing marks4 ,he is always the son of a ,god and a mortal princess4 ,the mother is always persecuted1 a mater dolorosa1 and rescued by her son4 ,the ,son is always a ,saviour2 very often a champion who saves his people from enemies or monsters2 but sometimes a ,healer of the ,sick1 like ,asclepius2 sometimes1 like ,dionysus1 a priest or hierophant with a thiasos1 or band of worshippers2 sometimes a ,king's ,son who is sacrificed to save his people1 and mystically identified with some sacrificial animal1 a lamb1 a young bull1 a horse or a fawn1 whose blood has supernatural power4 ,sometimes again he is a divine or miraculous ,babe1 for whose birth the whole world has been waiting1 who will bring his own ,age or ,kingdom and make all things new4 ,his life is almost always threatened by a cruel king1 like ,herod1 but he always escapes4 ,the popularity of the ,divine ,babe is probably due to the very widespread worship of the ,egyptian ,child-,god1 ,harpocrates4 ,egyptian also is the ,virgin-,mother1 impregnated by the holy ,pneuma or ,spiritus of the god1 or sometimes by the laying on of his hand4 ,besides the ordinary death and rebirth of the vegetation year god1 the general conclusion to which these considerations point has many parallels elsewhere4 ,our own religious ideas are subject to the same tendencies as those of other civilizations4 ,men and women1 when converted to a new religion or instructed in some new and unaccustomed knowledge1 are extremely unwilling1 and sometimes absolutely unable1 to give up their old magical or religious practices and habits of thought4 ,when ,african negroes are converted to ,christianity and forbidden to practise their tribal magic1 they are apt to steal away into the depths of the forest and do secretly what they have always considered necessary to ensure a good harvest4 ,not to do so would be too great a risk4 ,when ,goths were converted by battalions the change must have been more in names than in substance4 ,when ,greeks of the ,mediterranean were forbidden to say prayers to a figure of ,helios1 the ,sun1 it was not difficult to call him the prophet ,elias and go on with the same prayers and hopes4 ,not difficult to continue your prayers to the age-old ,mother ,goddess of all ,mediterranean peoples1 while calling her ,mary1 the ,mother of ,christ4 ,eusebius studied the subject1 somewhat superficially1 in his ,praeparatio ,evangelica1 in which he argued that much old pagan belief was to be explained as an imperfect preparation for the full light of the ,gospel4 ,and it is certainly striking how the ,anatolian peoples1 among whom the seed of the early ,church was chiefly sown1 could never1 in spite of ,jewish monotheism1 give up the beloved ,mother ,goddess for whom mankind craves1 or the divine ,faithful ,son who will by his own sacrifice save his people4 ,where scientific knowledge fails man cannot but be guided by his felt needs and longings and aspirations4 ,the elements in ,christianity which derive from what ,jews called the ,gyim or nations beyond the pale1 seem to be far deeper and more numerous than those which come unchanged from ,judaism4 ,even the ,sabbath had to be changed1 and the birthday of ,jesus conformed to that of the ,sun4 ,judaism contributed a strong1 though not quite successful1 resistance to polytheism1 and a purification of sexual morality4 ,it provided perhaps a general antiseptic1 which was often needed by the passionate gropings of ,hellenistic religion1 in the stage which ,i call the ,failure of ,nerve4 ,g4 ,m4 ,september #aiea4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition ,in revising the ,four ,stages of ,greek ,religion ,i have found myself obliged to change its name4 ,i felt there was a gap in the story4 ,the high-water mark of ,greek religious thought seems to me to have come just between the ,olympian ,religion and the ,failure of ,nerve2 and the decline--if that is the right word--which is observable in the later ages of antiquity is a decline not from ,olympianism but from the great spiritual and intellectual effort of the fourth century ,b4,c41 which culminated in the ,metaphysics and the ,de ,anima and the foundation of the ,stoa and the ,garden4 ,consequently ,i have added a new chapter at this point and raised the number of ,stages to five4 ,my friend ,mr4 ,e4 ,e4 ,genner has kindly enabled me to correct two or three errors in the first edition1 and ,i owe special thanks to my old pupil1 ,professor ,e4 ,r4 ,dodds1 for several interesting observations and criticisms on points connected with ,plotinus and ,sallustius4 ,otherwise ,i have altered little4 ,i am only sorry to have left the book so long out of print4 ,g4 ,m4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,first ,,edition ,this small book has taken a long time in growing4 ,though the first two essays were only put in writing this year for a course of lectures which ,i had the honour of delivering at ,columbia ,university in #aiab1 the third1 which was also used at ,columbia1 had in its main features appeared in the ,hibbert ,journal in #aiaj1 the fourth in part in the ,english ,review in #aijh2 the translation of ,sallustius was made in #aijg for use with a small class at ,oxford4 ,much of the material is much older in conception1 and all has been reconsidered4 ,i must thank the editors of both the above-named periodicals for their kind permission to reprint4 ,i think it was the writings of my friend ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang that first awoke me1 in my undergraduate days1 to the importance of anthropology and primitive religion to a ,greek scholar4 ,certainly ,i began then to feel that the great works of the ancient ,greek imagination are penetrated habitually by religious conceptions and postulates which literary scholars like myself had not observed or understood4 ,in the meantime the situation has changed4 ,greek religion is being studied right and left1 and has revealed itself as a surprisingly rich and attractive1 though somewhat controversial1 subject4 ,it used to be a deserted territory2 now it is at least a battle-ground4 ,if ever the present differences resolved themselves into a simple fight with shillelaghs between the scholars and the anthropologists1 ,i should without doubt wield my reluctant weapon on the side of the scholars4 ,scholarship is the rarer1 harder1 less popular and perhaps the more permanently valuable work1 and it certainly stands more in need of defence at the moment4 ,but in the meantime ,i can hardly understand how the purest of 'pure scholars' can fail to feel his knowledge enriched by the savants who have compelled us to dig below the surface of our classical tradition and to realize the imaginative and historical problems which so often lie concealed beneath the smooth security of a verbal 'construe'4 ,my own essays do not for a moment claim to speak with authority on a subject which is still changing and showing new facets year by year4 ,they only claim to represent the way of regarding certain large issues of ,greek ,religion which has gradually taken shape1 and has proved practically helpful and consistent with facts1 in the mind of a very constant1 though unsystematic1 reader of many various periods of ,greek literature4 ,in the first essay my debt to ,miss ,harrison is great and obvious4 ,my statement of one or two points is probably different from hers1 but in the main ,i follow her lead4 ,and in either case ,i cannot adequately describe the advantage ,i have derived from many years of frequent discussion and comparison of results with a ,hellenist whose learning and originality of mind are only equalled by her vivid generosity towards her fellow-workers4 ,the second may also be said to have grown out of ,miss ,harrison's writings4 ,she has by now made the title of ',olympian' almost a term of reproach1 and thrown down so many a scornful challenge to the canonical gods of ,greece1 that ,i have ventured on this attempt to explain their historical origin and plead for their religious value4 ,when the essay was already written ,i read ,mr4 ,chadwick's impressive book on ,the ,heroic ,age 7,cambridge1 #aiab71 and was delighted to find in an author whose standpoint and equipment are so different from mine so much that confirmed or clarified my own view4 ,the title of the third essay ,i owe to a conversation with ,professor ,j4 ,b4 ,bury4 ,we were discussing the change that took place in ,greek thought between1 say1 ,plato and the ,neo-,platonists1 or even between ,aristotle and ,posidonius1 and which is seen at its highest power in the ,gnostics4 ,i had been calling it a rise of asceticism1 or mysticism1 or religious passion1 or the like1 when my friend corrected me4 ',it is not a rise2 it is a fall or failure of something1 a sort of failure of nerve4'--,we are treading here upon somewhat firmer ground than in the first two essays4 ,the field for mere conjecture is less3 we are supported more continuously by explicit documents4 ,yet the subject is a very difficult one owing to the scattered and chaotic nature of the sources1 and even where we get away from fragments and reconstructions and reach definite treatises with or without authors' names1 ,i cannot pretend to feel anything like the same clearness about the true meaning of a passage in ,philo or the ,corpus ,hermeticum that one normally feels in a writer of the classical period4 ,consequently in this essay ,i think ,i have hugged my modern authorities rather close1 and seldom expressed an opinion for which ,i could not find some fairly authoritative backing1 my debt being particularly great to ,reitzenstein1 ,bousset1 and the brilliant ,hellenistisch-rmische ,kultur of ,p4 ,wendland4 ,i must also thank my old pupil1 ,mr4 ,edwyn ,bevan1 who was kind enough to read this book in proof1 for some valuable criticisms4 ,the subject is one of such extraordinary interest that ,i offer no apology for calling further attention to it4 ,a word or two about the last brief revival of the ancient religion under ',julian the ,apostate' forms the natural close to this series of studies4 ,but here our material1 both historical and literary1 is so abundant that ,i have followed a different method4 ,after a short historical introduction ,i have translated in full a very curious and little-known ancient text1 which may be said to constitute something like an authoritative ,pagan creed4 ,some readers may regret that ,i do not give the ,greek as well as the ,english4 ,i am reluctant1 however1 to publish a text which ,i have not examined in the ,,mss41 and ,i feel also that1 while an edition of ,sallustius is rather urgently needed1 it ought to be an edition with a full commentary4xvi3#a ,i was first led to these studies by the wish to fill up certain puzzling blanks of ignorance in my own mind1 and doubtless the little book bears marks of this origin4 ,it aims largely at the filling of interstices4 ,it avoids the great illuminated places1 and gives its mind to the stretches of intervening twilight4 ,it deals little with the harvest of flowers or fruit1 but watches the inconspicuous seasons when the soil is beginning to stir1 the seeds are falling or ripening4 ,g4 ,m4 ,,footnotes3 xvi3#a ,professor ,nock's edition 7,cambridge #aibf7 has admirably filled this gap4 ,,contents ,,page ,i4 ,,saturnia ,,regna #a ,,ii4 ,,the ,,olympian ,,conquest #ci ,,iii4 ,,the ,,great ,,schools #gi ,,iv4 ,,the ,,failure ,,of ,,nerve #abc ,v4 ,,the ,,last ,,protest #agc ,,appendix3 ,,translation ,,of ,,the ,,treatise ,,of #bjj ,,sallustius1 ,,index #bbg 1 4 ,the first man is of the earth1 earthy2 the second man is the ,lord from heaven4 ,i ,,saturnia ,,regna ,many persons who are quite prepared to admit the importance to the world of ,greek poetry1 ,greek art1 and ,greek philosophy1 may still feel it rather a paradox to be told that ,greek religion specially repays our study at the present day4 ,greek religion1 associated with a romantic1 trivial1 and not very edifying mythology1 has generally seemed one of the weakest spots in the armour of those giants of the old world4 ,yet ,i will venture to make for ,greek religion almost as great a claim as for the thought and the literature1 not only because the whole mass of it is shot through by those strange lights of feeling and imagination1 and the details of it constantly wrought into beauty by that instinctive sense of artistic form1 which we specially associate with ,classical ,greece1 but also for two definite historical reasons4 ,in the first place1 the student of that dark and fascinating department of the human mind which we may call ,religious ,origins1 will find in ,greece an extraordinary mass of material belonging to a very early date4 ,for detail and variety the primitive ,greek evidence has no equal4 ,and1 secondly1 in this department as in others1 ancient ,greece has the triumphant if tragic distinction of beginning at the very bottom and struggling1 however precariously1 to the very summits4 ,there is hardly any horror of primitive superstition of which we cannot find some distant traces in our ,greek record4 ,there is hardly any height of spiritual thought attained in the world that has not its archetype or its echo in the stretch of ,greek literature that lies between ,thales and ,plotinus1 embracing much of the ',wisdom-,teachers' and of ,st4 ,paul4 ,the progress of ,greek religion falls naturally into three stages1 all of them historically important4 ,first there is the primitive ,euetheia or ,age of ,ignorance1 before ,zeus came to trouble men's minds1 a stage to which our anthropologists and explorers have found parallels in every part of the world4 ,dr4 ,preuss applies to it the charming word ',urdummheit'1 or ',primal ,stupidity'4 ,in some ways characteristically ,greek1 in others it is so typical of similar stages of thought elsewhere that one is tempted to regard it as the normal beginning of all religion1 or almost as the normal raw material out of which religion is made4 ,there is certainly some repulsiveness1 but ,i confess that to me there is also an element of fascination in the study of these ',beastly ,devices of the ,heathen'1 at any rate as they appear in early ,greece1 where each single 'beastly device' as it passes is somehow touched with beauty and transformed by some spirit of upward striving4 ,secondly there is the ,olympian or classical stage1 a stage in which1 for good or ill1 blunderingly or successfully1 this primitive vagueness was reduced to a kind of order4 ,this is the stage of the great ,olympian gods1 who dominated art and poetry1 ruled the imagination of ,rome1 and extended a kind of romantic dominion even over the ,middle ,ages4 ,it is the stage that we learn1 or mis-learn1 from the statues and the handbooks of mythology4 ,critics have said that this ,olympian stage has value only as art and not as religion4 ,that is just one of the points into which we shall inquire4 ,thirdly1 there is the ,hellenistic period1 reaching roughly from ,plato to ,st4 ,paul and the earlier ,gnostics4 ,the first edition of this book treated the whole period as one1 but ,i have now divided it by writing a new chapter on the ,movements of the ,fourth ,century ,b4 ,c41 and making that my third stage4 ,this was the time when the ,greek mind1 still in its full creative vigour1 made its first response to the twofold failure of the world in which it had put its faith1 the open bankruptcy of the ,olympian religion and the collapse of the city-state4 ,both had failed1 and each tried vainly to supply the place of the other4 ,greece responded by the creation of two great permanent types of philosophy which have influenced human ethics ever since1 the ,cynic and ,stoic schools on the one hand1 and the ,epicurean on the other4 ,these schools belong properly1 ,i think1 to the history of religion4 ,the successors of ,aristotle produced rather a school of progressive science1 those of ,plato a school of refined scepticism4 ,the religious side of ,plato's thought was not revealed in its full power till the time of ,plotinus in the third century ,a4 ,d42 that of ,aristotle1 one might say without undue paradox1 not till its exposition by ,aquinas in the thirteenth4 ,the old ,third ,stage1 therefore1 becomes now a ,fourth1 comprising the later and more popular movements of the ,hellenistic ,age1 a period based on the consciousness of manifold failure1 and consequently touched both with morbidity and with that spiritual exaltation which is so often the companion of morbidity4 ,it not only had behind it the failure of the ,olympian theology and of the free city-state1 now crushed by semi-barbarous military monarchies2 it lived through the gradual realization of two other failures--the failure of human government1 even when backed by the power of ,rome or the wealth of ,egypt1 to achieve a good life for man2 and lastly the failure of the great propaganda of ,hellenism1 in which the long-drawn effort of ,greece to educate a corrupt and barbaric world seemed only to lead to the corruption or barbarization of the very ideals which it sought to spread4 ,this sense of failure1 this progressive loss of hope in the world1 in sober calculation1 and in organized human effort1 threw the later ,greek back upon his own soul1 upon the pursuit of personal holiness1 upon emotions1 mysteries and revelations1 upon the comparative neglect of this transitory and imperfect world for the sake of some dream-world far off1 which shall subsist without sin or corruption1 the same yesterday1 to-day1 and for ever4 ,these four are the really significant and formative periods of ,greek religious thought2 but we may well cast our eyes also on a fifth stage1 not historically influential perhaps1 but at least romantic and interesting and worthy of considerable respect1 when the old religion in the time of ,julian roused itself for a last spiritual protest against the all-conquering 'atheism' of the ,christians4 ,i omit ,plotinus1 as in earlier chapters ,i have omitted ,plato and ,aristotle1 and for the same reason4 ,as a rule in the writings of ,julian's circle and still more in the remains of popular belief1 the tendencies of our fourth stage are accentuated by an increased demand for definite dogma and a still deeper consciousness of worldly defeat4 ,i shall not start with any definition of religion4 ,religion1 like poetry and most other living things1 cannot be defined4 ,but one may perhaps give some description of it1 or at least some characteristic marks4 ,in the first place1 religion essentially deals with the uncharted region of human experience4 ,a large part of human life has been thoroughly surveyed and explored2 we understand the causes at work2 and we are not bewildered by the problems4 ,that is the domain of positive knowledge4 ,but all round us on every side there is an uncharted region1 just fragments of the fringe of it explored1 and those imperfectly2 it is with this that religion deals4 ,and secondly we may note that religion deals with its own province not tentatively1 by the normal methods of patient intellectual research1 but directly1 and by methods of emotion or sub-conscious apprehension4 ,agriculture1 for instance1 used to be entirely a question of religion2 now it is almost entirely a question of science4 ,in antiquity1 if a field was barren1 the owner of it would probably assume that the barrenness was due to 'pollution'1 or offence somewhere4 ,he would run through all his own possible offences1 or at any rate those of his neighbours and ancestors1 and when he eventually decided the cause of the trouble1 the steps that he would take would all be of a kind calculated not to affect the chemical constitution of the soil1 but to satisfy his own emotions of guilt and terror1 or the imaginary emotions of the imaginary being he had offended4 ,a modern man in the same predicament would probably not think of religion at all1 at any rate in the earlier stages2 he would say it was a case for deeper ploughing or for basic slag4 ,later on1 if disaster followed disaster till he began to feel himself a marked man1 even the average modern would1 ,i think1 begin instinctively to reflect upon his sins4 ,a third characteristic flows from the first4 ,the uncharted region surrounds us on every side and is apparently infinite2 consequently1 when once the things of the uncharted region are admitted as factors in our ordinary conduct of life they are apt to be infinite factors1 overruling and swamping all others4 ,the thing that religion forbids is a thing never to be done2 not all the inducements that this life can offer weigh at all in the balance4 ,indeed there is no balance4 ,the man who makes terms with his conscience is essentially non-religious2 the religious man knows that it will profit him nothing if he gain all this finite world and lose his stake in the infinite and eternal4#f3a ,am ,i going to draw no distinction then between religion and mere superstition8 ,not at present4 ,later on we may perhaps see some way to it4 ,superstition is the name given to a low or bad form of religion1 to the kind of religion we disapprove4 ,the line of division1 if we made one1 would be only an arbitrary bar thrust across a highly complex and continuous process4 ,does this amount to an implication that all the religions that have existed in the world are false8 ,not so4 ,it is obvious indeed that most1 if analysed into intellectual beliefs1 are false2 and ,i suppose that a thoroughly orthodox member of any one of the million religious bodies that exist in the world must be clear in his mind that the other million minus one are wrong1 if not wickedly wrong4 ,that1 ,i think1 we must be clear about4 ,yet the fact remains that man must have some relation towards the uncharted1 the mysterious1 tracts of life which surround him on every side4 ,and for my own part ,i am content to say that his method must be to a large extent very much what ,st4 ,paul calls or faith3 that is1 some attitude not of the conscious intellect but of the whole being1 using all its powers of sensitiveness1 all its feeblest and most inarticulate feelers and tentacles1 in the effort somehow to touch by these that which cannot be grasped by the definite senses or analysed by the conscious reason4 ,what we gain thus is an insecure but a precious possession4 ,we gain no dogma1 at least no safe dogma1 but we gain much more4 ,we gain something hard to define1 which lies at the heart not only of religion1 but of art and poetry and all the higher strivings of human emotion4 ,i believe that at times we actually gain practical guidance in some questions where experience and argument fail4#h3a ,that is a great work left for religion1 but we must always remember two things about it3 first1 that the liability to error is enormous1 indeed almost infinite2 and second1 that the results of confident error are very terrible4 ,probably throughout history the worst things ever done in the world on a large scale by decent people have been done in the name of religion1 and ,i do not think that has entirely ceased to be true at the present day4 ,all the ,middle ,ages held the strange and1 to our judgement1 the obviously insane belief that the normal result of religious error was eternal punishment4 ,and yet by the crimes to which that false belief led them they almost proved the truth of something very like it4 ,the record of early ,christian and medieval persecutions which were the direct result of that one confident religious error comes curiously near to one's conception of the wickedness of the damned4 99 99 99 99 99 ,to turn to our immediate subject1 ,i wish to put forward here what is still a rather new and unauthorized view of the development of ,greek religion2 readers will forgive me if1 in treating so vast a subject1 ,i draw my outline very broadly1 leaving out many qualifications1 and quoting only a fragment of the evidence4 ,the things that have misled us moderns in our efforts towards understanding the primitive stage in ,greek religion have been first the widespread and almost ineradicable error of treating ,homer as primitive1 and more generally our unconscious insistence on starting with the notion of ',gods'4 ,mr4 ,hartland1 in his address as president of one of the sections of the ,international ,congress of ,religions at ,oxford1#i3a dwelt on the significant fact about savage religions that wherever the word ',god' is used our trustiest witnesses tend to contradict one another4 ,among the best observers of the ,arunta tribes1 for instance1 some hold that they have no conception of ,god1 others that they are constantly thinking about ,god4 ,the truth is that this idea of a god far away in the sky--,i do not say merely a ,first ,cause who is 'without body parts or passions'1 but almost any being that we should naturally call a 'god'--is an idea not easy for primitive man to grasp4 ,it is a subtle and rarefied idea1 saturated with ages of philosophy and speculation4 ,and we must always remember that one of the chief religions of the world1 ,buddhism1 has risen to great moral and intellectual heights without using the conception of ,god at all2 in his stead it has ,dharma1 the ,eternal ,law4#aj3a ,apart from some few philosophers1 both ,christian and ,moslem1 the gods of the ordinary man have as a rule been as a matter of course anthropomorphic4 ,men did not take the trouble to try to conceive them otherwise4 ,in many cases they have had the actual bodily shape of man2 in almost all they have possessed--of course in their highest development--his mind and reason and his mental attributes4 ,it causes most of us even now something of a shock to be told by a medieval ,arab philosopher that to call ,god benevolent or righteous or to predicate of him any other human quality is just as ,pagan and degraded as to say that he has a beard4#aj3b ,now the ,greek gods seem at first sight quite particularly solid and anthropomorphic4 ,the statues and vases speak clearly1 and they are mostly borne out by the literature4 ,of course we must discount the kind of evidence that misled ,winckelmann1 the mere ,roman and ,alexandrian art and mythology2 but even if we go back to the fifth century ,b4 ,c4 we shall find the ruling conceptions far nobler indeed1 but still anthropomorphic4 ,we find firmly established the ,olympian patriarchal family1 ,zeus the ,father of gods and men1 his wife ,hera1 his son ,apollo1 his daughter ,athena1 his brothers ,poseidon and ,hades1 and the rest4 ,we probably think of each figure more or less as like a statue1 a habit of mind obviously wrong and indeed absurd1 as if one thought of ',labour' and ',grief' as statues because ,rodin or ,st4 ,gaudens has so represented them4 ,and yet it was a habit into which the late ,greeks themselves sometimes fell2#aa3a their arts of sculpture and painting as applied to religion had been so dangerously successful3 they sharpened and made vivid an anthropomorphism which in its origin had been mostly the result of normal human laziness4 ,the process of making winds and rivers into anthropomorphic gods is1 for the most part1 not the result of using the imagination with special vigour4 ,it is the result of not doing so4 ,the wind is obviously alive2 any fool can see that4 ,being alive1 it blows2 how8 why1 naturally2 just as you and ,i blow4 ,it knocks things down1 it shouts and dances1 it whispers and talks4 ,and1 unless we are going to make a great effort of the imagination and try to realize1 like a scientific man1 just what really happens1 we naturally assume that it does these things in the normal way1 in the only way we know4 ,even when you worship a beast or a stone1 you practically anthropomorphize it4 ,it happens indeed to have a perfectly clear shape1 so you accept that4 ,but it talks1 acts1 and fights just like a man--as you can see from the ,australian ,folk ,tales published by ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker--because you do not take the trouble to think out any other way of behaving4 ,this kind of anthropomorphism--or as ,mr4 ,gladstone used to call it1 'anthropophuism'--'humanity of nature'--is primitive and inevitable3 the sharp-cut statue type of god is different1 and is due in ,greece directly to the work of the artists4 ,we must get back behind these gods of the artist's workshop and the romance-maker's imagination1 and see if the religious thinkers of the great period use1 or imply1 the same highly human conceptions4 ,we shall find ,parmenides telling us that ,god coincides with the universe1 which is a sphere and immovable2#ab3a ,heraclitus1 that ,god is 'day night1 summer winter1 war peace1 satiety hunger'4 ,xenophanes1 that ,god is all-seeing1 all-hearing1 and all mind2#ab3b and as for his supposed human shape1 why1 if bulls and lions were to speak about ,god they would doubtless tell us that he was a bull or a lion4#ab3c ,we must notice the instinctive language of the poets1 using the word in many subtle senses for which our word ',god' is too stiff1 too personal1 and too anthropomorphic4 1 'the fact of success'1 is 'a god and more than a god'2 1 'the thrill of recognizing a friend' after long absence1 is a 'god'2 wine is a 'god' whose body is poured out in libation to gods2 and in the unwritten law of the human conscience 'a great god liveth and groweth not old'4#ab3d ,you will say that is mere poetry or philosophy3 it represents a particular theory or a particular metaphor4 ,i think not4 ,language of this sort is used widely and without any explanation or apology4 ,it was evidently understood and felt to be natural by the audience4 ,if it is metaphorical1 all metaphors have grown from the soil of current thought and normal experience4 ,and without going into the point at length ,i think we may safely conclude that the soil from which such language as this grew was not any system of clear-cut personal anthropomorphic theology4 ,no doubt any of these poets1 if he had to make a picture of one of these utterly formless ,gods1 would have given him a human form4 ,that was the recognized symbol1 as a veiled woman is ,st4 ,gaudens's symbol for ',grief'4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but we have other evidence too which shows abundantly that these ,olympian gods are not primary1 but are imposed upon a background strangely unlike themselves4 ,for a long time their luminous figures dazzled our eyes2 we were not able to see the half-lit regions behind them1 the dark primeval tangle of desires and fears and dreams from which they drew their vitality4 ,the surest test to apply in this question is the evidence of actual cult4 ,miss ,harrison has here shown us the right method1 and following her we will begin with the three great festivals of ,athens1 the ,diasia1 the ,thesmophoria1 and the ,anthesteria4#ad3a ,the ,diasia was said to be the chief festival of ,zeus1 the central figure of the ,olympians1 though our authorities generally add an epithet to him1 and call him ,zeus ,meilichios1 ,zeus of ,placation4 ,a god with an 'epithet' is always suspicious1 like a human being with an 'alias'4 ,miss ,harrison's examination 7,prolegomena1 pp4 #bh ff47 shows that in the rites ,zeus has no place at all4 ,meilichios from the beginning has a fairly secure one4 ,on some of the reliefs ,meilichios appears not as a god1 but as an enormous bearded snake1 a well-known representation of underworld powers or dead ancestors4 ,sometimes the great snake is alone2 sometimes he rises gigantic above the small human worshippers approaching him4 ,and then1 in certain reliefs1 his old barbaric presence vanishes1 and we have instead a benevolent and human father of gods and men1 trying1 as ,miss ,harrison somewhere expresses it1 to look as if he had been there all the time4 ,there was a sacrifice at the ,diasia1 but it was not a sacrifice given to ,zeus4 ,to ,zeus and all the heavenly gods men gave sacrifice in the form of a feast1 in which the god had his portion and the worshippers theirs4 ,the two parties cemented their friendship and feasted happily together4 ,but the sacrifice at the ,diasia was a holocaust3#ad3b every shred of the victim was burnt to ashes1 that no man might partake of it4 ,we know quite well the meaning of that form of sacrifice3 it is a sacrifice to placate or appease the powers below1 the ,chthonioi1 the dead and the lords of death4 ,it was performed1 as our authorities tell us1 1 with shuddering or repulsion4#ae3a ,the ,diasia was a ritual of placation1 that is1 of casting away various elements of pollution or danger and appeasing the unknown wraths of the surrounding darkness4 ,the nearest approach to a god contained in this festival is ,meilichios1 and ,meilichios1 as we shall see later1 belongs to a particular class of shadowy beings who are built up out of ritual services4 ,his name means ',he of appeasement'1 and he is nothing else4 ,he is merely the personified shadow or dream generated by the emotion of the ritual--very much1 to take a familiar instance1 as ,father ,christmas is a 'projection' of our ,christmas customs4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,thesmophoria formed the great festival of ,demeter and her daughter ,kor1 though here again ,demeter appears with a clinging epithet1 ,thesmophoros4 ,we know pretty clearly the whole course of the ritual3 there is the carrying by women of certain magic charms1 fir-cones and snakes and unnameable objects made of paste1 to ensure fertility2 there is a sacrifice of pigs1 who were thrown into a deep cleft of the earth1 and their remains afterwards collected and scattered as a charm over the fields4 ,there is more magic ritual1 more carrying of sacred objects1 a fast followed by a rejoicing1 a disappearance of life below the earth1 and a rising again of life above it2 but it is hard to find definite traces of any personal goddess4 ,the ,olympian ,demeter and ,persephone dwindle away as we look closer1 and we are left with the shadow ,thesmophoros1 ',she who carries ,thesmoi'1#af3a not a substantive personal goddess1 but merely a personification of the ritual itself3 an imaginary ,charm-bearer generated by so much charm-bearing1 just as ,meilichios in the ,diasia was generated from the ritual of appeasement4 ,now the ,diasia were dominated by a sacred snake4 ,is there any similar divine animal in the ,thesmophoria8 ,alas1 yes4 ,both here1 and still more markedly in the mysteries of ,demeter and ,persephone at ,eleusis1 we regularly find the most lovely of all goddesses1 ,demeter and ,persephone1 habitually--,i will not say represented by1 but dangerously associated with1 a sacred ,sow4 ,a ,pig is the one animal in ,greek religion that actually had sacrifice made to it4#af3b 99 99 99 99 99 ,the third feast1 the ,anthesteria1 belongs in classical times to the ,olympian ,dionysus1 and is said to be the oldest of his feasts4 ,on the surface there is a touch of the wine-god1 and he is given due official prominence2 but as soon as we penetrate anywhere near the heart of the festival1 ,dionysus and his brother gods are quite forgotten1 and all that remains is a great ritual for appeasing the dead4 ,all the days of the ,feast were nefasti1 of ill omen2 the first day especially was 4 ,on it the ,wine ,jars which were also ,seed and ,funeral ,jars were opened and the spirits of the ,dead let loose in the world4#ag3a ,nameless and innumerable1 the ghosts are summoned out of their tombs1 and are duly feasted1 each man summoning his own ghosts to his own house1 and carefully abstaining from any act that would affect his neighbours4 ,and then1 when they are properly appeased and made gentle1 they are swept back again out of this world to the place where they properly belong1 and the streets and houses cleaned from the presence of death4 ,there is one central stage indeed in which ,dionysus does seem to appear4 ,and he appears in a very significant way1 to conduct a ,sacred ,marriage4 ,for1 why do you suppose the dead are summoned at all8 ,what use to the tribe is the presence of all these dead ancestors8 ,they have come1 ,i suspect1 to be born again1 to begin a new life at the great ,spring festival4 ,for the new births of the tribe1 the new crops1 the new kids1 the new human beings1 are of course really only the old ones returned to earth4#ag3b ,the important thing is to get them properly placated and purified1 free from the contagion of ancient sin or underworld anger4 ,for nothing is so dangerous as the presence of what ,i may call raw ghosts4 ,the ,anthesteria contained1 like other feasts of the kind1 a 1 or ,holy ,marriage1 between the wife of the ,basileus or ,sacred ,king1 and the imaginary god4#ah3a ,whatever reality there ever was in the ceremony has apparently by classical times faded away4 ,but the place where the god received his bride is curious4 ,it was called the ,boukolion1 or ,bull's ,shed4 ,it was not originally the home of an anthropomorphic god1 but of a divine animal4 99 99 99 99 99 ,thus in each of these great festivals we find that the ,olympian gods vanish away1 and we are left with three things only3 first1 with an atmosphere of religious dread2 second1 with a whole sequence of magical ceremonies which1 in two at least of the three cases1#ah3b produce a kind of strange personal emanation of themselves1 the ,appeasements producing ,meilichios1 the ,charm-bearings ,thesmophoros2 and thirdly1 with a divine or sacred animal4 ,in the ,diasia we find the old superhuman snake1 who reappears so ubiquitously throughout ,greece1 the regular symbol of the underworld powers1 especially the hero or dead ancestor4 ,why the snake was so chosen we can only surmise4 ,he obviously lived underground3 his home was among the ,chthonioi1 the ,earth-,people4 ,also1 says the ,scholiast to ,aristophanes 7,plut4 #ecc71 he was a type of new birth because he throws off his old skin and renews himself4 ,and if that in itself is not enough to show his supernatural power1 what normal earthly being could send his enemies to death by one little pin-prick1 as some snakes can8 ,in the ,thesmophoria we found sacred swine1 and the reason given by the ancients is no doubt the right one4 ,the sow is sacred because of its fertility1 and possibly as practical people we should add1 because of its cheapness4 ,swine are always prominent in ,greek agricultural rites4 ,and the bull8 ,well1 we modern town-dwellers have almost forgotten what a real bull is like4 ,for so many centuries we have tamed him and penned him in1 and utterly deposed him from his place as lord of the forest4 ,the bull was the chief of magic or sacred animals in ,greece1 chief because of his enormous strength1 his size1 his rage1 in fine1 as anthropologists call it1 his mana2 that primitive word which comprises force1 vitality1 prestige1 holiness1 and power of magic1 and which may belong equally to a lion1 a chief1 a medicine-man1 or a battle-axe4 ,now in the art and the handbooks these sacred animals have all been adopted into the ,olympian system4 ,they appear regularly as the 'attributes' of particular gods4 ,zeus is merely accompanied by a snake1 an eagle1 a bull1 or at worst assumes for his private purposes the forms of those animals4 ,the cow and the cuckoo are sacred to ,hera2 the owl and the snake to ,athena2 the dolphin1 the crow1 the lizard1 the bull1 to ,apollo4 ,dionysus1 always like a wilder and less middle-aged ,zeus1 appears freely as a snake1 bull1 he-goat1 and lion4 ,allowing for some isolated exceptions1 the safest rule in all these cases is that the attribute is original and the god is added4#bj3a ,it comes out very clearly in the case of the snake and the bull4 ,the tremendous mana of the wild bull indeed occupies almost half the stage of pre-,olympian ritual4 ,the religion unearthed by ,dr4 ,evans in ,crete is permeated by the bull of ,minos4 ,the heads and horns are in almost every sacred room and on every altar4 ,the great religious scene depicted on the sarcophagus of ,hagia ,triada#bj3b centres in the holy blood that flows from the neck of a captive and dying bull4 ,down into classical times bull's blood was a sacred thing which it was dangerous to touch and death to taste3 to drink a cup of it was the most heroic form of suicide4#bj3c ,the sacrificial bull at ,delphi was called ,hositr3 he was not merely hosios1 holy2 he was ,hositr1 the ,sanctifier1 ,he who maketh ,holy4 ,it was by contact with him that holiness was spread to others4 ,on a coin and a vase1 cited by ,miss ,harrison1#ba3a we have a bull entering a holy cave and a bull standing in a shrine4 ,we have holy pillars whose holiness consists in the fact that they have been touched with the blood of a bull4 ,we have a long record of a bull-ritual at ,magnesia1#ba3b in which ,zeus1 though he makes a kind of external claim to be lord of the feast1 dare not claim that the bull is sacrificed to him4 ,zeus has a ram to himself and stands apart1 showing but a weak and shadowy figure beside the original ,holy ,one4 ,we have immense masses of evidence about the religion of ,mithras1 at one time the most serious rival of ,christianity1 which sought its hope and its salvation in the blood of a divine bull4 ,now what is the origin of this conception of the sacred animal8 ,it was first discovered and explained with almost prophetic insight by ,dr4 ,robertson ,smith4#ba3c ,the origin is what he calls a sacramental feast3 you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the divine animal in order--here ,i diverge from ,robertson ,smith's language--to get into you his mana1 his vital power4 ,the classical instance is the sacramental eating of a camel by an ,arab tribe1 recorded in the works of ,st4 ,nilus4#ba3d ,the camel was devoured on a particular day at the rising of the morning star4 ,he was cut to pieces alive1 and every fragment of him had to be consumed before the sun rose4 ,if the life had once gone out of the flesh and blood the sacrifice would have been spoilt2 it was the spirit1 the vitality1 of the camel that his tribesmen wanted4 ,the only serious error that later students have found in ,robertson ,smith's statement is that he spoke too definitely of the sacrifice as affording communion with the tribal god4 ,there was no god there1 only the raw material out of which gods are made4 ,you devoured the holy animal to get its mana1 its swiftness1 its strength1 its great endurance1 just as the savage now will eat his enemy's brain or heart or hands to get some particular quality residing there4 ,the imagination of the pre-,hellenic tribes was evidently dominated above all things by the bull1 though there were other sacramental feasts too1 combined with sundry horrible rendings and drinkings of raw blood4 ,it is strange to think that even small things like kids and fawns and hares should have struck primitive man as having some uncanny vitality which he longed for1 or at least some uncanny power over the weather or the crops4 ,yet to him it no doubt appeared obvious4 ,frogs1 for instance1 could always bring rain by croaking for it1 and who can limit the powers and the knowledge of birds8#bb3a ,here comes a difficulty4 ,if the ,olympian god was not there to start with1 how did he originate8 ,we can understand--at least after a course of anthropology--this desire of primitive man to acquire for himself the superhuman forces of the bull2 but how does he make the transition from the real animal to the imaginary human god8 ,first let us remember the innate tendency of primitive man everywhere1 and not especially in ,greece1 to imagine a personal cause1 like himself in all points not otherwise specified1 for every striking phenomenon4 ,if the wind blows it is because some being more or less human1 though of course superhuman1 is blowing with his cheeks4 ,if a tree is struck by lightning it is because some one has thrown his battle-axe at it4 ,in some ,australian tribes there is no belief in natural death4 ,if a man dies it is because 'bad man kill that fellow'4 ,st4 ,paul1 we may remember1 passionately summoned the heathen to refrain from worshipping 1 the creation1 and go back to 1 the creator1 human and masculine4 ,it was as a rule a road that they were only too ready to travel4#bc3a ,but this tendency was helped by a second factor4 ,research has shown us the existence in early ,mediterranean religion of a peculiar transitional step1 a man wearing the head or skin of a holy beast4 ,the ,egyptian gods are depicted as men with beasts' heads3 that is1 the best authorities tell us1 their shapes are derived from the kings and priests who on great occasions of sacrifice covered their heads with a beast-mask4#bc3b ,minos1 with his projection the ,minotaur1 was a bull-god and wore a bull-mask4 ,from early ,island gems1 from a fresco at ,mycenae1 from ,assyrian reliefs1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,b4 ,cook has collected many examples of this mixed figure--a man wearing the protom1 or mask and mane1 of a beast4 ,sometimes we can actually see him offering libations4 ,sometimes the worshipper has become so closely identified with his divine beast that he is represented not as a mere man wearing the protom of a lion or bull1 but actually as a lion or bull wearing the protom of another4#bd3a ,hera1 1 with a cow's head2 ,athena1 1 with an owl's head1 or bearing on her breast the head of the ,gorgon2 ,heracles clad in a lion's skin and covering his brow 1 'with the awful spread jaws of the wild beast'1 belong to the same class4 ,so does the ,dadouchos at ,eleusis and other initiators who let candidates for purification set one foot--one only and that the left--on the skin of a sacrificial ram1 and called the skin 1 the fleece not of a ram1 but of ,zeus4#bd3b ,the mana of the slain beast is in the hide and head and blood and fur1 and the man who wants to be in thorough contact with the divinity gets inside the skin and wraps himself deep in it4 ,he begins by being a man wearing a lion's skin3 he ends1 as we have seen1 by feeling himself to be a lion wearing a lion's skin4 ,and who is this man8 ,he may on particular occasions be only a candidate for purification or initiation4 ,but par excellence he who has the right is the priest1 the medicine-man1 the divine king4 ,if an old suggestion of my own is right1 he is the original or 1 the incarnate medicine or spell or magic power4#bd3c ,he at first1 ,i suspect1 is the only or ',god' that his society knows4 ,we commonly speak of ancient kings being 'deified'2 we regard the process as due to an outburst of superstition or insane flattery4 ,and so no doubt it sometimes was1 especially in later times--when man and god were felt as two utterly distinct things4 ,but 'deification' is an unintelligent and misleading word4 ,what we call 'deification' is only the survival of this undifferentiated human 1 with his mana1 his and 1 his control of the weather1 the rain and the thunder1 the spring crops and the autumn floods2 his knowledge of what was lawful and what was not1 and his innate power to curse or to 'make dead'4 ,recent researches have shown us in abundance the early ,greek medicine-chiefs making thunder and lightning and rain4#be3a ,we have long known the king as possessor of ,dike and ,themis1 of justice and tribal custom2 we have known his effect on the fertility of the fields and the tribes1 and the terrible results of a king's sin or a king's sickness4#be3b ,what is the subsequent history of this medicine-chief or 8 ,he is differentiated1 as it were3 the visible part of him becomes merely human2 the supposed supernatural part grows into what we should call a ,god4 ,the process is simple4 ,any particular medicine-man is bound to have his failures4 ,as ,dr4 ,frazer gently reminds us1 every single pretension which he puts forth on every day of his life is a lie1 and liable sooner or later to be found out4 ,doubtless men are tender to their own delusions4 ,they do not at once condemn the medicine-chief as a fraudulent institution1 but they tend gradually to say that he is not the real all-powerful 4 ,he is only his representative4 ,the real 1 tremendous1 infallible1 is somewhere far away1 hidden in clouds perhaps1 on the summit of some inaccessible mountain4 ,if the mountain is once climbed the god will move to the upper sky4 ,the medicine-chief meanwhile stays on earth1 still influential4 ,he has some connexion with the great god more intimate than that of other men2 at worst he possesses the god's sacred instruments1 his or 2 he knows the rules for approaching him and making prayers to him4 ,there is therefore a path open from the divine beast to the anthropomorphic god4 ,from beings like ,thesmophoros and ,meilichios the road is of course much easier4 ,they are already more than half anthropomorphic2 they only lack the concreteness1 the lucid shape and the detailed personal history of the ,olympians4 ,in this connexion we must not forget the power of hallucination1 still fairly strong1 as the history of religious revivals in ,america will bear witness1#bf3a but far stronger1 of course1 among the impressionable hordes of early men4 ',the god'1 says ,m4 ,doutt in his profound study of ,algerian magic1 'c'est le dsir collectif personnifi'1 the collective desire projected1 as it were1 or personified4#bg3a ,think of the gods who have appeared in great crises of battle1 created sometimes by the desperate desire of men who have for years prayed to them1 and who are now at the last extremity for lack of their aid1 sometimes by the confused and excited remembrances of the survivors after the victory4 ,the gods who led the ,roman charge at ,lake ,regillus1#bg3b the gigantic figures that were seen fighting before the ,greeks at ,marathon1#bg3c even the celestial signs that promised ,constantine victory for the cross3#bg3d--these are the effects of great emotion3 we can all understand them4 ,but even in daily life primitive men seem to have dealt more freely than we generally do with apparitions and voices and daemons of every kind4 ,one of the most remarkable and noteworthy sources for this kind of hallucinatory god in early societies is a social custom that we have almost forgotten1 the religious ,dance4 ,when the initiated young men of ,crete or elsewhere danced at night over the mountains in the ,oreibasia or ,mountain ,walk they not only did things that seemed beyond their ordinary workaday strength2 they also felt themselves led on and on by some power which guided and sustained them4 ,this daemon has no necessary name3 a man may be named after him ',oreibasius'1 ',belonging to the ,mountain ,dancer'1 just as others may be named ',apollonius' or ',dionysius'4 ,the god is only the spirit of the ,mountain ,dance1 ,oreibates1 though of course he is absorbed at different times in various ,olympians4 ,there is one god called ,aphiktor1 the ,suppliant1 ,he who prays for mercy4 ,he is just the projection1 as ,m4 ,doutt would say1 of the intense emotion of one of those strange processions well known in the ancient world1 bands of despairing men or women who have thrown away all means of self-defence and join together at some holy place in one passionate prayer for pity4 ,the highest of all gods1 ,zeus1 was the special patron of the suppliant2 and it is strange and instructive to find that ,zeus the all-powerful is actually identified with this ,aphiktor3 4#bh3a ,the assembled prayer1 the united cry that rises from the oppressed of the world1 is itself grown to be a god1 and the greatest god4 ,a similar projection arose from the dance of the ,kouroi1 or initiate youths1 in the dithyramb--the magic dance which was to celebrate1 or more properly1 to hasten and strengthen1 the coming on of spring4 ,that dance projected the ,megistos ,kouros1 the greatest of youths1 who is the incarnation of spring or the return of life1 and lies at the back of so many of the most gracious shapes of the classical pantheon4 ,the ,kouros appears as ,dionysus1 as ,apollo1 as ,hermes1 as ,ares3 in our clearest and most detailed piece of evidence he actually appears with the characteristic history and attributes of ,zeus4#bh3b ,this spirit of the dance1 who leads it or personifies its emotion1 stands more clearly perhaps than any other daemon half-way between earth and heaven4 ,a number of difficult passages in ,euripides' ,bacchae and other ,dionysiac literature find their explanations when we realize how the god is in part merely identified with the inspired chief dancer1 in part he is the intangible projected incarnation of the emotion of the dance4 99 99 99 99 99 ',the collective desire personified'3 on what does the collective desire1 or collective dread1 of the primitive community chiefly concentrate8 ,on two things1 the food-supply and the tribe-supply1 the desire not to die of famine and not to be harried or conquered by the neighbouring tribe4 ,the fertility of the earth and the fertility of the tribe1 these two are felt in early religion as one4#bi3a ,the earth is a mother3 the human mother is an 1 or ploughed field4 ,this earth-mother is the characteristic and central feature of the early ,aegean religions4 ,the introduction of agriculture made her a mother of fruits and corn1 and it is in that form that we best know her4 ,but in earlier days she had been a mother of the spontaneous growth of the soil1 of wild beasts and trees and all the life of the mountain4#bi3b ,in early ,crete she stands with lions erect on either side of her or with snakes held in her hands and coiled about her body4 ,and as the earth is mother when the harvest comes1 so in spring she is maiden or ,kor1 but a maiden fated each year to be wedded and made fruitful2 and earlier still there has been the terrible time when fields are bare and lifeless4 ,the ,kor has been snatched away underground1 among the dead peoples1 and men must wait expectant till the first buds begin to show and they call her to rise again with the flowers4 ,meantime earth as she brings forth vegetation in spring is ,kourotrophos1 rearer of ,kouroi1 or the young men of the tribe4 ,the nymphs and rivers are all ,kourotrophoi4 ,the ,moon is ,kourotrophos4 ,she quickens the young of the tribe in their mother's womb2 at one terrible hour especially she is 'a lion to women' who have offended against her holiness4 ,she also marks the seasons of sowing and ploughing1 and the due time for the ripening of crops4 ,when men learn to calculate in longer units1 the ,sun appears3 they turn to the ,sun for their calendar1 and at all times of course the ,sun has been a power in agriculture4 ,he is not called ,kourotrophos1 but the ,young ,sun returning after winter is himself a ,kouros1#cj3a and all the ,kouroi have some touch of the ,sun in them4 ,the ,cretan ,spring-song of the ,kouretes prays for 1 young citizens1 quite simply among the other gifts of the spring4#cj3b ,this is best shown by the rites of tribal initiation1 which seem normally to have formed part of the spring ,drmena or sacred performances4 ,the ,kouroi1 as we have said1 are the initiated young men4 ,they pass through their initiation2 they become no longer 1 boys1 but 1 men4 ,the actual name ,kouros is possibly connected with 1 to shave1#ca3a and may mean that after this ceremony they first cut their long hair4 ,till then the is --with hair unshorn4 ,they have now open to them the two roads that belong to alone3 they have the work of begetting children for the tribe1 and the work of killing the tribe's enemies in battle4 ,the classification of people according to their age is apt to be sharp and vivid in primitive communities4 ,we1 for example1 think of an old man as a kind of man1 and an old woman as a kind of woman2 but in primitive peoples as soon as a man and woman cease to be able to perform his and her due tribal functions they cease to be men and women1 and 3 the ex-man becomes a 2 the ex-woman a 4#ca3b ,we distinguish between 'boy' and 'man'1 between 'girl' and 'woman'2 but apart from the various words for baby1 ,attic ,greek would have four sharp divisions1 1 1 1 4#ca3c ,in ,sparta the divisions are still sharper and more numerous1 centring in the great initiation ceremonies of the ,iranes1 or full-grown youths1 to the goddess called ,orthia or ,bortheia4#cb3a ,these initiation ceremonies are called ,teletai1 'completions'3 they mark the great 'rite of transition' from the immature1 charming1 but half useless thing which we call boy or girl1 to the 1 the full member of the tribe as fighter or counsellor1 or to the 1 the full wife and mother4 ,this whole subject of ,greek initiation ceremonies calls pressingly for more investigation4 ,it is only in the last few years that we have obtained the material for understanding them1 and the whole mass of the evidence needs re-treatment4 ,for one instance1 it is clear that a great number of rites which were formerly explained as remnants of human sacrifice are simply ceremonies of initiation4#cb3b ,at the great spring ,drmenon the tribe and the growing earth were renovated together3 the earth arises afresh from her dead seeds1 the tribe from its dead ancestors2 and the whole process1 charged as it is with the emotion of pressing human desire1 projects its anthropomorphic god or daemon4 ,a vegetation-spirit we call him1 very inadequately2 he is a divine ,kouros1 a ,year-,daemon1 a spirit that in the first stage is living1 then dies with each year1 then thirdly rises again from the dead1 raising the whole dead world with him--the ,greeks called him in this phase 'the ,third ,one'1 or the ',saviour'4 ,the renovation ceremonies were accompanied by a casting off of the old year1 the old garments1 and everything that is polluted by the infection of death4 ,and not only of death2 but clearly ,i think1 in spite of the protests of some ,hellenists1 of guilt or sin also4 ,for the life of the ,year-,daemon1 as it seems to be reflected in ,tragedy1 is generally a story of ,pride and ,punishment4 ,each ,year arrives1 waxes great1 commits the sin of ,hubris1 and then is slain4 ,the death is deserved2 but the slaying is a sin3 hence comes the next ,year as ,avenger1 or as the ,wronged ,one re-risen4 ',all things pay retribution for their injustice one to another according to the ordinance of time4'#cc3a ,it is this range of ideas1 half suppressed during the classical period1 but evidently still current among the ruder and less ,hellenized peoples1 which supplied ,st4 ,paul with some of his most famous and deep-reaching metaphors4 ',thou fool1 that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die4'#cc3b ',as ,he was raised from the dead we may walk with ,him in newness of life4' ,and this renovation must be preceded by a casting out and killing of the old polluted life--'the old man in us must first be crucified'4 ',the old man must be crucified4' ,we observed that in all the three ,festivals there was a pervasive element of vague fear4 ,hitherto we have been dealing with early ,greek religion chiefly from the point of view of mana1 the positive power or force that man tries to acquire from his totem-animal or his god4 ,but there is also a negative side to be considered3 there is not only the mana1 but the tabu1 the ,forbidden1 the ,thing ,feared4 ,we must cast away the old year2 we must put our sins on to a or scapegoat and drive it out4 ,when the ghosts have returned and feasted with us at the ,anthesteria we must1 with tar and branches of buckthorn1 purge them out of every corner of the rooms till the air is pure from the infection of death4 ,we must avoid speaking dangerous words2 in great moments we must avoid speaking any words at all1 lest there should be even in the most innocent of them some unknown danger2 for we are surrounded above and below by ,kres1 or ,spirits1 winged influences1 shapeless or of unknown shape1 sometimes the spirits of death1 sometimes of disease1 madness1 calamity2 thousands and thousands of them1 as ,sarpedon says1 from whom man can never escape nor hide2#cd3a 'all the air so crowded with them'1 says an unknown ancient poet1 'that there is not one empty chink into which you could push the spike of a blade of corn4'#cd3b ,the extraordinary security of our modern life in times of peace makes it hard for us to realize1 except by a definite effort of the imagination1 the constant precariousness1 the frightful proximity of death1 that was usual in these weak ancient communities4 ,they were in fear of wild beasts2 they were helpless against floods1 helpless against pestilences4 ,their food depended on the crops of one tiny plot of ground2 and if the ,saviour was not reborn with the spring1 they slowly and miserably died4 ,and all the while they knew almost nothing of the real causes that made crops succeed or fail4 ,they only felt sure it was somehow a matter of pollution1 of unexpiated defilement4 ,it is this state of things that explains the curious cruelty of early agricultural doings1 the human sacrifices1 the scapegoats1 the tearing in pieces of living animals1 and perhaps of living men1 the steeping of the fields in blood4 ,like most cruelty it has its roots in terror1 terror of the breach of ,tabu--the ,forbidden ,thing4 ,i will not dwell on this side of the picture3 it is well enough known4 ,but we have to remember that1 like so many morbid growths of the human mind1 it has its sublime side4 ,we must not forget that the human victims were often volunteers4 ,the records of ,carthage and ,jerusalem1 the long list in ,greek legend of princes and princesses who died for their country1 tell the same story4 ,in most human societies1 savage as well as civilized1 it is not hard to find men who are ready to endure death for their fellow-citizens4 ,we need not suppose that the martyrs were always the noblest of the human race4 ,they were sometimes mad--hysterical or megalomaniac3 sometimes reckless and desperate3 sometimes1 as in the curious case attested of the ,roman armies on the ,danube1 they were men of strong desires and weak imagination ready to die at the end of a short period1 if in the meantime they might glut all their senses with unlimited indulgence4#ce3a ,still1 when all is said1 there is nothing that stirs men's imagination like the contemplation of martyrdom1 and it is no wonder that the more emotional cults of antiquity vibrate with the worship of this dying ,saviour1 the ,ssipolis1 the ,str1 who in so many forms dies with his world or for his world1 and rises again as the world rises1 triumphant through suffering over ,death and the broken ,tabu4 ,tabu is at first sight a far more prominent element in the primitive religions than ,mana1 just as misfortune and crime are more highly coloured and striking than prosperity and decent behaviour4 ,to an early ,greek tribe the world of possible action was sharply divided between what was ,themis and what was ,not ,themis1 between lawful and tabu1 holy and unholy1 correct and forbidden4 ,to do a thing that was not ,themis was a sure source of public disaster4 ,consequently it was of the first necessity in a life full of such perils to find out the exact rules about them4 ,how is that to be managed8 ,themis is ancient law3 it is 1 the way of our ancestors1 the thing that has always been done and is therefore divinely right4 ,in ordinary life1 of course1 ,themis is clear4 ,every one knows it4 ,but from time to time new emergencies arise1 the like of which we have never seen1 and they frighten us4 ,we must go to the ,gerontes1 the ,old ,men of the ,tribe2 they will perhaps remember what our fathers did4 ,what they tell us will be ,presbiston1 a word which means indifferently 'oldest' and 'best'-- 1 ',young men are always being foolish'4 ,of course1 if there is a ,basileus1 a holy ,king1 he by his special power may perhaps know best of all1 though he too must take care not to gainsay the ,old ,men4 ,for the whole problem is to find out 1 the ways that our fathers followed4 ,and suppose the ,old ,men themselves fail us1 what must we needs do8 ,here we come to a famous and peculiar ,greek custom1 for which ,i have never seen quoted any exact parallel or any satisfactory explanation4 ,if the ,old ,men fail us1 we must go to those older still1 go to our great ancestors1 the 1 the ,chthonian people1 lying in their sacred tombs1 and ask them to help4 ,the word means both 'to lend money' and 'to give an oracle'1 two ways of helping people in an emergency4 ,sometimes a tribe might happen to have a real ancestor buried in the neighbourhood2 if so1 his tomb would be an oracle4 ,more often perhaps1 for the memories of savage tribes are very precarious1 there would be no well-recorded personal tomb4 ,the oracle would be at some place sacred to the ,chthonian people in general1 or to some particular personification of them1 a ,delphi or a cave of ,trophnius1 a place of ,snakes and ,earth4 ,you go to the ,chthonian folk for guidance because they are themselves the ,oldest of the ,old ,ones1 and they know the real custom3 they know what is ,presbiston1 what is ,themis4 ,and by an easy extension of this knowledge they are also supposed to know what is4 ,he who knows the law fully to the uttermost also knows what will happen if the law is broken4 ,it is1 ,i think1 important to realize that the normal reason for consulting an oracle was not to ask questions of fact4 ,it was that some emergency had arisen in which men simply wanted to know how they ought to behave4 ,the advice they received in this way varied from the virtuous to the abominable1 as the religion itself varied4 ,a great mass of oracles can be quoted enjoining the rules of customary morality1 justice1 honesty1 piety1 duty to a man's parents1 to the old1 and to the weak4 ,but of necessity the oracles hated change and strangled the progress of knowledge4 ,also1 like most manifestations of early religion1 they throve upon human terror3 the more blind the terror the stronger became their hold4 ,in such an atmosphere the lowest and most beastlike elements of humanity tended to come to the front2 and religion no doubt as a rule joined with them in drowning the voice of criticism and of civilization1 that is1 of reason and of mercy4 ,when really frightened the oracle generally fell back on some remedy full of pain and blood4 ,the medieval plan of burning heretics alive had not yet been invented4 ,but the history of uncivilized man1 if it were written1 would provide a vast list of victims1 all of them innocent1 who died or suffered to expiate some portent or monstrum--some reported --with which they had nothing whatever to do1 which was in no way altered by their suffering1 which probably never really happened at all1 and if it did was of no consequence4 ,the sins of the modern world in dealing with heretics and witches have perhaps been more gigantic than those of primitive men1 but one can hardy rise from the record of these ancient observances without being haunted by the judgement of the ,roman poet3 ,tantum religio potuit suadere malorum1 and feeling with him that the lightening of this cloud1 the taming of this blind dragon1 must rank among the very greatest services that ,hellenism wrought for mankind4 ,,footnotes3 #f3a ,professor mile ,durkheim in his famous analysis of the religious emotions argues that when a man feels the belief and the command as something coming from without1 superior1 authoritative1 of infinite import1 it is because religion is the work of the tribe and1 as such1 superior to the individual4 ,the voice of ,god is the imagined voice of the whole tribe1 heard or imagined by him who is going to break its laws4 ,i have some difficulty about the psychology implied in this doctrine3 surely the apparent externality of the religious command seems to belong to a fairly common type of experience1 in which the personality is divided1 so that first one part of it and then another emerges into consciousness4 ,if you forget an engagement1 sometimes your peace is disturbed for quite a long time by a vague external annoyance or condemnation1 which at last grows to be a distinct judgement--',heavens6 ,i ought to be at the ,committee on ,so-and-so4' ,but apart from this criticism1 there is obviously much historical truth in ,professor ,durkheim's theory1 and it is not so different as it seems at first sight from the ordinary beliefs of religious men4 ,the tribe to primitive man is not a mere group of human beings4 ,it is his whole world4 ,the savage who is breaking the laws of his tribe has all his world--totems1 tabus1 earth1 sky and all--against him4 ,he cannot be at peace with ,god4 ,the position of the hero or martyr who defies his tribe for the sake of what he thinks the truth or the right can easily be thought out on these lines4 ,he defies this false temporary ,cosmos in loyalty to the true and permanent ,cosmos4 ,see ,durkheim1 ',les ,formes lmentaires de la vie religieuse'1 in ,travaux de l',anne ,sociologique1 #aiab2 or ,g4 ,davy1 ',la ,sociologie de ,m4 ,durkheim'1 in ,rev4 ,philosophique1 xxxvi1 pp4 #db-ga and #afj-he4 #h3a ,i suspect that most reforms pass through this stage4 ,a man somehow feels clear that some new course is1 for him1 right1 though he cannot marshal the arguments convincingly in favour of it1 and may even admit that the weight of obvious evidence is on the other side4 ,we read of judges in the seventeenth century who believed that witches ought to be burned and that the persons before them were witches1 and yet would not burn them--evidently under the influence of vague half-realized feelings4 ,i know a vegetarian who thinks that1 as far as he can see1 carnivorous habits are not bad for human health and actually tend to increase the happiness of the species of animals eaten--as the adoption of ,swift's ,modest ,proposal would doubtless relieve the economic troubles of the human race1 and yet feels clear that for him the ordinary flesh meal 7or 'feasting on corpses'7 would 'partake of the nature of sin'4 ,the path of progress is paved with inconsistencies1 though it would be an error to imagine that the people who habitually reject any higher promptings that come to them are really any more consistent4 #i3a ,transactions of the ,third ,international ,congress of ,religions1 ,oxford1 #aijh1 pp4 #bf-g4 #aj3a ,the ,buddhist ,dharma1 by ,mrs4 ,rhys ,davids4 #aj3b ,see ,die ,mutaziliten1 oder die ,freidenker im ,islam1 von ,h4 ,steiner1 #ahfe4 ,this ,arab was clearly under the influence of ,plotinus or some other ,neo-,platonist4 #aa3a ,cf4 ,e4 ,reisch1 ,entstehung und ,wandel griechischer ,gttergestalten4 ,vienna1 #aiji4 #ab3a ,parm4 ,fr4 #h1 #c-g 7,diels#b74 #ab3b ,xen4 ,fr4 #bd 7,diels#b74 #ab3c ,xen4 ,fr4 #ae4 #ab3d ,aesch4 ,cho4 #fj2 ,eur4 ,hel4 #efj2 ,bac4 #bhd2 ,soph4 ,o4,t4 #hga4 ,cf4 also 4 ,soph4 ,fr4 #hcf1 #b 7,nauck74 1 1 4 ,eur4 ,cycl4 #caf4 4 ,eur4 ,fr4 #ajah4 4 ,hippothon4 ,fr4 #b4 ,a certain moment of time3 4 ,pl4 ,leg4 #gge ,e4 ' 4 ,eur4 ,tro4 #ihi4 4 ,soph4 ,fr4 #edh4 #ad3a ,see ,j4 ,e4 ,harrison1 ,prolegomena1 i1 ii1 iv2 ,mommsen1 ,feste der ,stadt ,athen1 #ahih1 pp4 #cjh-bb 7,thesmophoria71 #chd-djd 7,anthesteria72 #dba-f 7,diasia74 ,see also ,pauly ,wissowa1 s4v4 #ad3b ,prolegomena1 p4 #ae f4 #ae3a ,luc4 ,icaro-,menippos #bd schol4 ad loc4 #af3a ,frequently dual1 1 under the influence of the ',mother and ,maiden' idea2 ,dittenberger ,inscr4 ,sylloge #fbh1 ,ar4 ,thesm4 #hd1 #bif et passim4 ,the plural used in late ,greek is not1 as one might imagine1 a projection from the whole band of worshippers2 it is merely due to the disappearance of the dual from ,greek4 ,i accept provisionally the derivation of these from - in 1 1 1 1 1 c43 cf4 ,a4 ,w4 ,verrall in ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 xx1 p4 #aad2 and ,prolegomena1 pp4 #dh ff41 #acf f4 ,but1 whatever the derivation1 the ,thesmoi were the objects carried4 #af3b ,frazer1 ,golden ,bough1 ii4 #dd ff42 ,a4 ,b4 ,cook1 ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 xiv1 pp4 #aec-d2 ,j4 ,e4 ,harrison1 ,themis1 p4 #e4 ,see also ,a4 ,lang1 ,homeric ,hymns1 #ahii1 p4 #fc4 #ag3a ,feste der ,stadt ,athen1 p4 #cij f4 ,on ,seed ,jars1 ,wine ,jars and ,funeral ,jars1 see ,themis1 pp4 #bgf-hh1 and ,warde ,fowler1 ',mundus ,patet1' in ,journ4 ,roman ,studies1 ii1 pp4 #be ff4 ,cf4 below1 p4 #bh f4 #ag3b ,dieterich1 ,muttererde1 #aije1 p4 #dh f4 #ah3a ,dr4 ,frazer1 ,the ,magic ,art1 ii4 #acg1 thinks it not certain that the took place during the ,anthesteria1 at the same time as the oath of the 4 ,without the 1 however1 it is hard to see what the and had to do in the festival2 and this is the view of ,mommsen1 ,feste der ,stadt ,athen1 pp4 #cia-c2 ,gruppe in ,iwan ,mller1 ,mythologie und ,religionsgeschichte1 i4 #cc2 ,farnell1 ,cults1 v4 #bag4 #ah3b ,one might perhaps say1 in all three4 is the name of a society of worshippers in the island of ,thera1 ,i4 ,g4 ,i4 iii4 #cbi4 ,this gives a god ,anthister1 who is clearly identified with ,dionysus1 and seems to be a projection of a feast ,anthisteria ,anthesteria4 ,the inscription is of the second century ,b4 ,c4 and it seems likely that ,anthister-,anthisteria1 with their clear derivation from 1 are corruptions of the earlier and difficult forms -4 ,it is noteworthy that ,thera1 an island lying rather outside the main channels of civilization1 kept up throughout its history a tendency to treat the 'epithet' as a full person4 ,hikesios and ,koures come very early2 also ,polieus and ,stoichaios without the name ,zeus2 ,delphinios1 ,karneios1 ,aiglatas1 and ,aguieus without ,apollo4 ,see ,hiller von ,gaertringen in the ,festschrift fr ,o4 ,benndorff1 p4 #bbh4 ,also ,nilsson1 ,griechische ,feste1 #aijf1 p4 #bfg1 n4 #e4 #bj3a ,miss ,harrison1 ',bird and ,pillar ,worship in relation to ,ouranian ,divinities'1 ,transactions of the ,third ,international ,congress for the ,history of ,religion1 ,oxford1 #aijh1 vol4 ii1 p4 #aed2 ,farnell1 ,greece and ,babylon1 #aiaa1 pp4 #ff ff4 #bj3b ,first published by ,r4 ,paribeni1 ',il ,sarcofago dipinto di ,hagia ,triada'1 in ,monumenti antichi della ,r4 ,accademia dei ,lincei1 xix1 #aijh1 p4 #f1 ,t4 i-iii4 ,see also ,themis1 pp4 #aeh ff4 #bj3c ,ar4 ,equites1 #hb-d--or possibly of apotheosis4 ,see ,themis1 p4 #aed1 n4 #b4 #ba3a ,themis1 p4 #ade1 fig4 #be2 and p4 #aeb1 fig4 #bh b4 #ba3b ,o4 ,kern1 ,inschriften v4 ,magnesia1 ,no4 #ih1 discussed by ,o4 ,kern1 ,arch4 ,anz4 #ahid1 p4 #gh1 and ,nilsson1 ,griechische ,feste1 p4 #bc4 #ba3c ,religion of the ,semites1 #aija1 p4 #cch2 ,reuterskiold1 in ,archiv f4 ,relig4 xv4 #a-bc4 #ba3d ,nili ,opera1 ,narrat4 iii4 #bh4 #bb3a ,see ,aristophanes' ,birds1 e4 g4 #fhe-gcf3 cf4 the practice of augury from birds1 and the art-types of ,winged ,kres1 ,victories and ,angels4 #bc3a ,romans1 i4 #be2 viii4 #bj-c4 #bc3b ,lang1 ,myth1 ,ritual1 and ,religion1 #aijf1 ii4 #bhd2 ibid41 #acj2 ,moret1 ,caractre religieux de la ,monarchie gyptienne2 ,dieterich1 ,mithrasliturgie1 #aijc4 #bd3a ,a4 ,b4 ,cook in ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 #ahid1 ',animal ,worship in the ,mycenaean ,age'4 ,see also ,hogarth on the ',zakro ,sealings'1 ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 #aijb2 these seals show a riot of fancy in the way of mixed monsters1 starting in all probability from the simpler form4 ,see the quotation from ,robertson ,smith in ,hogarth1 p4 #ia4 #bd3b ,feste der ,stadt ,athen1 p4 #daf4 #bd3c ,anthropology and the ,classics1 #aijh1 pp4 #gg1 #gh4 #be3a ,a4 ,b4 ,cook1 ,class4 ,rev4 xvii1 pp4 #bge ff42 ,a4 ,j4 ,reinach1 ,rev4 de l',hist4 des ,religions1 lx1 p4 #agh2 ,s4 ,reinach1 ,cultes1 ,mythes1 c41 ii4 #afj-f4 #be3b ,one may suggest in passing that this explains the enormous families attributed to many sacred kings of ,greek legend3 why ,priam or ,danaus have their fifty children1 and ,heracles1 most prolific of all1 his several hundred4 ,the particular numbers chosen1 however1 are probably due to other causes1 e4 g4 the fifty moon-months of the ,penteteris4 #bf3a ,see ,primitive ,traits in ,religious ,revivals1 by ,f4 ,m4 ,davenport4 ,new ,york1 #aijf4 #bg3a ,e4 ,doutt1 ,magie et religion dans l',afrique du ,nord1 #aiji1 p4 #fja4 #bg3b ,cicero1 de ,nat4 ,deorum1 ii4 #b2 iii4 #e1 #f2 ,florus1 ii4 #ab4 #bg3c ,plut4 ,theseus1 #ce2 ,paus4 i4 #cb4 #e4 ,herodotus only mentions a bearded and gigantic figure who struck ,epizelos blind 7vi4 #aag74 #bg3d ,eusebius1 ,vit4 ,constant41 l4 i1 cc4 #bh1 #bi1 #cj2 ,nazarius inter ,panegyr4 ,vet4 x4 #ad4 #ae4 #bh3a ,aesch4 ,suppl4 #a1 cf4 #dgh 4 ,rise of the ,greek ,epic#c1 p4 #bge n4 ,adjectival phrases like 1 1 are common and call for no remark4 #bh3b ,hymn of the ,kouretes1 ,themis1 passim4 #bi3a ,see in general ,i4 ,king1 ,the ,development of ,religion1 #aiaj2 ,e4 ,j4 ,payne1 ,history of the ,new ,world1 #ahib1 p4 #dad4 ,also ,dieterich1 ,muttererde1 esp4 pp4 #cg-eh4 #bi3b ,see ,dieterich1 ,muttererde1 ,j4 ,e4 ,harrison1 ,prolegomena1 chap4 vi1 ',the ,making of a ,goddess'2 ,themis1 chap4 vi1 ',the ,spring ,drmenon'4 ,as to the prehistoric art-type of this goddess technically called 'steatopygous'1 ,i cannot refrain from suggesting that it may be derived from a mountain turned into a human figure1 as the palladion or figure-#h type came from two round shields4 ,see p4 #eb4 #cj3a ,hymn ,orph4 #h1 #aj 4 #cj3b ,for the order in which men generally proceed in worship1 turning their attention to 7#a7 the momentary incidents of weather1 rain1 sunshine1 thunder1 c42 7#b7 the ,moon2 7#c7 the ,sun and stars1 see ,payne1 ,history of the ,new ,world called ,america1 vol4 i1 p4 #dgd1 cited by ,miss ,harrison1 ,themis1 p4 #cij4 #ca3a ,on the subject of ,initiations see ,webster1 ,primitive ,secret ,societies1 ,new ,york1 #aijh2 ,schurtz1 ,altersklassen und ,mnnerbunde1 ,berlin1 #aijb2 ,van ,gennep1 ,rites de ,passage1 ,paris1 #aiji2 ,nilsson1 ,grundlage des ,spartanischen ,lebens in ,klio xii 7#aiab71 pp4 #cjh-dj2 ,themis1 p4 #ccg1 n4 #a4 ,since the above1 ,rivers1 ,social ,organization1 #aibd4 #ca3b ,cf4 ,dr4 ,rivers on mate1 ',primitive ,conception of ,death'1 ,hibbert ,journal1 ,january #aiab1 p4 #cic4 #ca3c ,cf4 ,cardinal ,virtues1 ,pindar1 ,nem4 iii4 #gb3 1 1 1 4 1 also ,pindar1 ,pyth4 iv4 #bha4 #cb3a ,see ,woodward in ,b4 ,s4 ,a4 xiv1 #hc4 ,nikagoras won four 7successive87 victories as 1 1 1 and 1 i4 e4 from his tenth to fifteenth year4 ,he would then at #ad or #ae become an iran4 ,plut4 ,lyc4 #ag gives the age of an iran as #bj4 ,this agrees with the age of an at ,athens as '#ae-bj'1 '#ad-ba'1 'about #af'2 see authorities in ,stephanus s4 v4 4 ,such variations in the date of 'puberty ceremonies' are common4 #cb3b ,see ,rise of the ,greek ,epic1 ,appendix on ,hym4 ,dem42 and ,w4 ,r4 ,halliday1 ,c4 ,r4 xxv1 #h4 ,nilsson's valuable article has appeared since the above was written 7see note #a1 p4 #ca74 #cc3a ,anaximander apud ,simplic4 phys4 #bd1 #ac2 ,diels1 ,fragmente der ,vorsokratiker1 i4 #ac4 ,see especially ,f4 ,m4 ,cornford1 ,from ,religion to ,philosophy 7,cambridge1 #aiab71 i2 also my article on ,english and ,greek ,tragedy in ,essays of the ,oxford ,english ,school1 #aiab4 ,this explanation of the is my conjecture4 #cc3b #a ,cor4 xv4 #cf2 ,rom4 vi4 generally1 #c-aa4 #cd3a ,il4 ,m4 #cbf f4 1 1 ' 4 #cd3b ,frg4 ,ap4 ,plut4 ,consol4 ad ,apoll4 xxvi 4 4 4 1 ' ' 7,,ms4 74 #ce3a ,frazer1 ,lectures on the ,early ,history of the ,kingship1 #bfg2 ,f4 ,cumont1 ',les ,actes de ,s4 ,dasius'1 in ,analecta ,bollandiana1 xvi4 #e-af3 cf4 especially what ,st4 ,augustine says about the disreputable hordes of would-be martyrs called ,circumcelliones4 ,see ,index to ,augustine1 vol4 xi in ,migne3 some passages collected in ,seeck1 ,gesch4 d4 ,untergangs der antiken ,welt1 vol4 iii1 ,anhang1 pp4 #ejc ff4 ,,ii ,,the ,,olympian ,,conquest ,i4 ,origin of the ,olympians ,the historian of early ,greece must find himself often on the watch for a particular cardinal moment1 generally impossible to date in time and sometimes hard even to define in terms of development1 when the clear outline that we call ,classical ,greece begins to take shape out of the mist4 ,it is the moment when1 as ,herodotus puts it1 'the ,hellenic race was marked off from the barbarian1 as more intelligent and more emancipated from silly nonsense'4#ci3a ,in the eighth century ,b4 ,c41 for instance1 so far as our remains indicate1 there cannot have been much to show that the inhabitants of ,attica and ,boeotia and the ,peloponnese were markedly superior to those of1 say1 ,lycia or ,phrygia1 or even ,epirus4 ,by the middle of the fifth century the difference is enormous4 ,on the one side is ,hellas1 on the other the motley tribes of 'barbaroi'4 ,when the change does come and is consciously felt we may notice a significant fact about it4 ,it does not announce itself as what it was1 a new thing in the world4 ,it professes to be a revival1 or rather an emphatic realization1 of something very old4 ,the new spirit of classical ,greece1 with all its humanity1 its intellectual life1 its genius for poetry and art1 describes itself merely as being ',hellenic'--like the ,hellenes4 ,and the ,hellenes were simply1 as far as we can make out1 much the same as the ,achaioi1 one of the many tribes of predatory ,northmen who had swept down on the ,aegean kingdoms in the dawn of ,greek history4#dj3a ,this claim of a new thing to be old is1 in varying degrees1 a common characteristic of great movements4 ,the ,reformation professed to be a return to the ,bible1 the ,evangelical movement in ,england a return to the ,gospels1 the ,high ,church movement a return to the early ,church4 ,a large element even in the ,french ,revolution1 the greatest of all breaches with the past1 had for its ideal a return to ,roman republican virtue or to the simplicity of the natural man4#dj3b ,i noticed quite lately a speech of an ,american ,progressive leader claiming that his principles were simply those of ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,the tendency is due in part to the almost insuperable difficulty of really inventing a new word to denote a new thing4 ,it is so much easier to take an existing word1 especially a famous word with fine associations1 and twist it into a new sense4 ,in part1 no doubt1 it comes from mankind's natural love for these old associations1 and the fact that nearly all people who are worth much have in them some instinctive spirit of reverence4 ,even when striking out a new path they like to feel that they are following at least the spirit of one greater than themselves4 ,the ,hellenism of the sixth and fifth centuries was to a great extent what the ,hellenism of later ages was almost entirely1 an ideal and a standard of culture4 ,the classical ,greeks were not1 strictly speaking1 pure ,hellenes by blood4 ,herodotus1 and ,thucydides#da3a are quite clear about that4 ,the original ,hellenes were a particular conquering tribe of great prestige1 which attracted the surrounding tribes to follow it1 imitate it1 and call themselves by its name4 ,the ,spartans were1 to ,herodotus1 ,hellenic2 the ,athenians on the other hand were not4 ,they were ,pelasgian1 but by a certain time 'changed into ,hellenes and learnt the language'4 ,in historical times we cannot really find any tribe of pure ,hellenes in existence1 though the name clings faintly to a particular district1 not otherwise important1 in ,south ,thessaly4 ,had there been any undoubted ,hellenes with incontrovertible pedigrees still going1 very likely the ideal would have taken quite a different name4 ,but where no one's ancestry would bear much inspection1 the only way to show you were a true ,hellene was to behave as such3 that is1 to approximate to some constantly rising ideal of what the true ,hellene should be4 ,in all probability if a ,greek of the fifth century1 like ,aeschylus or even ,pindar1 had met a group of the real ,hellenes or ,achaioi of the ,migrations1 he would have set them down as so many obvious and flaming barbarians4 ,we do not know whether the old ,hellenes had any general word to denote the surrounding peoples 7',pelasgians and divers other barbarous tribes'#db3a7 whom they conquered or accepted as allies4#db3b ,in any case by the time of the ,persian ,wars 7say #ejj ,b4 ,c47 all these tribes together considered themselves ,hellenized1 bore the name of ',hellenes'1 and formed a kind of unity against hordes of 'barbaroi' surrounding them on every side and threatening them especially from the east4 ,let us consider for a moment the dates4 ,in political history this self-realization of the ,greek tribes as ,hellenes against barbarians seems to have been first felt in the ,ionian settlements on the coast of ,asia ,minor1 where the 'sons of ,javan' 7,yawan 7 clashed as invaders against the native ,hittite and ,semite4 ,it was emphasized by a similar clash in the further colonies in ,pontus and in the ,west4 ,if we wish for a central moment as representing this self-realization of ,greece1 ,i should be inclined to find it in the reign of ,pisistratus 7#efj-ebg ,b4 ,c47 when that monarch made1 as it were1 the first sketch of an ,athenian empire based on alliances and took over to ,athens the leadership of the ,ionian race4 ,in literature the decisive moment is clear4 ,it came when1 in ,mr4 ,mackail's phrase1 ',homer came to ,hellas'4#db3c ,the date is apparently the same1 and the influences at work are the same4 ,it seems to have been under ,pisistratus that the ,homeric ,poems1 in some form or other1 came from ,ionia to be recited in a fixed order at the ,panathenaic ,festival1 and to find a canonical form and a central home in ,athens till the end of the classical period4 ,athens is the centre from which ,homeric influence radiates over the mainland of ,greece4 ,its effect upon literature was of course enormous4 ,it can be traced in various ways4 ,by the content of the literature1 which now begins to be filled with the heroic saga4 ,by a change of style which emerges in1 say1 ,pindar and ,aeschylus when compared with what we know of ,corinna or ,thespis4 ,more objectively and definitely it can be traced in a remarkable change of dialect4 ,the old ,attic poets1 like ,solon1 were comparatively little affected by the epic influence2 the later elegists1 like ,ion1 ,euenus1 and ,plato1 were steeped in it4#dc3a ,in religion the cardinal moment is the same4 ,it consists in the coming of ,homer's ',olympian ,gods'1 and that is to be the subject of the present essay4 ,i am not1 of course1 going to describe the cults and characters of the various ,olympians4 ,for that inquiry the reader will naturally go to the five learned volumes of my colleague1 ,dr4 ,farnell4 ,i wish merely to face certain difficult and1 ,i think1 hitherto unsolved problems affecting the meaning and origin and history of the ,olympians as a whole4 ,herodotus in a famous passage tells us that ,homer and ,hesiod 'made the generations of the ,gods for the ,greeks and gave them their names and distinguished their offices and crafts and portrayed their shapes' 7#b4 #ec74 ,the date of this wholesale proceeding was1 he thinks1 perhaps as much as four hundred years before his own day 7c4 #dcj ,b4 ,c47 but not more4 ,before that time the ,pelasgians--i4 e4 the primitive inhabitants of ,greece as opposed to the ,hellenes--were worshipping gods in indefinite numbers1 with no particular names2 many of them appear as figures carved emblematically with sex-emblems to represent the powers of fertility and generation1 like the ,athenian ',herms'4 ,the whole account bristles with points for discussion1 but in general it suits very well with the picture drawn in the first of these essays1 with its ,earth ,maidens and ,mothers and its projected ,kouroi4 ,the background is the pre-,hellenic ',urdummheit'2 the new shape impressed upon it is the great anthropomorphic ,olympian family1 as defined in the ,homeric epos and1 more timidly1 in ,hesiod4 ,but of ,hesiod we must speak later4 99 99 99 99 99 ,now who are these ,olympian ,gods and where do they come from8 ,homer did not 'make' them out of nothing4 ,but the understanding of them is beset with problems4 ,in the first place why are they called ',olympian'8 ,are they the ,gods of ,mount ,olympus1 the old sacred mountain of ,homer's ,achaioi1 or do they belong to the great sanctuary of ,olympia in which ,zeus1 the lord of the ,olympians1 had his greatest festival8 ,the two are at opposite ends of ,greece1 ,olympus in ,north ,thessaly in the north-east1 ,olympia in ,elis in the south-west4 ,from which do the ,olympians come8 ,on the one hand it is clear in ,homer that they dwell on ,mount ,olympus2 they have ',olympian houses' beyond human sight1 on the top of the sacred mountain1 which in the ,odyssey is identified with heaven4 ,on the other hand1 when ,pisistratus introduced the worship of ,olympian ,zeus on a great scale into ,athens and built the ,olympieum1 he seems to have brought him straight from ,olympia in ,elis4 ,for he introduced the special ,elean complex of gods1 ,zeus1 ,rhea1 ,kronos1 and ,g ,olympia4#de3a ,fortunately this puzzle can be solved4 ,the ,olympians belong to both places4 ,it is merely a case of tribal migration4 ,history1 confirmed by the study of the ,greek dialects1 seems to show that these northern ,achaioi came down across central ,greece and the ,gulf of ,corinth and settled in ,elis4#de3b ,they brought with them their ,zeus1 who was already called ',olympian'1 and established him as superior to the existing god1 ,kronos4 ,the ,games became ,olympian and the sanctuary by which they were performed ',olympia'4#de3c ,as soon as this point is clear1 we understand also why there is more than one ,mount ,olympus4 ,we can all think of two1 one in ,thessaly and one across the ,aegean in ,mysia4 ,but there are many more2 some twenty-odd1 if ,i mistake not1 in the whole ,greek region4 ,it is a pre-,greek word applied to mountains2 and it seems clear that the ',olympian' gods1 wherever their worshippers moved1 tended to dwell in the highest mountain in the neighbourhood1 and the mountain thereby became ,olympus4 ,the name1 then1 explains itself4 ,the ,olympians are the mountain gods of the old invading ,northmen1 the chieftains and princes1 each with his comitatus or loose following of retainers and minor chieftains1 who broke in upon the ordered splendours of the ,aegean palaces and1 still more important1 on the ordered simplicity of tribal life in the pre-,hellenic villages of the mainland4 ,now1 it is a canon of religious study that all gods reflect the social state1 past or present1 of their worshippers4 ,from this point of view what appearance do the ,olympians of ,homer make8 ,what are they there for8 ,what do they do1 and what are their relations one to another8 ,the gods of most nations claim to have created the world4 ,the ,olympians make no such claim4 ,the most they ever did was to conquer it4 ,zeus and his comitatus conquered ,cronos and his2 conquered and expelled them--sent them migrating beyond the horizon1 ,heaven knows where4 ,zeus took the chief dominion and remained a permanent overlord1 but he apportioned large kingdoms to his brothers ,hades and ,poseidon1 and confirmed various of his children and followers in lesser fiefs4 ,apollo went off on his own adventure and conquered ,delphi4 ,athena conquered the ,giants4 ,she gained ,athens by a conquest over ,poseidon1 a point of which we will speak later4 ,and when they have conquered their kingdoms1 what do they do8 ,do they attend to the government8 ,do they promote agriculture8 ,do they practise trades and industries8 ,not a bit of it4 ,why should they do any honest work8 ,they find it easier to live on the revenues and blast with thunderbolts the people who do not pay4 ,they are conquering chieftains1 royal buccaneers4 ,they fight1 and feast1 and play1 and make music2 they drink deep1 and roar with laughter at the lame smith who waits on them4 ,they are never afraid1 except of their own king4 ,they never tell lies1 except in love and war4 ,a few deductions may be from this statement1 but they do not affect its main significance4 ,one god1 you may say1 ,hephaistos1 is definitely a craftsman4 ,yes3 a smith1 a maker of weapons4 ,the one craftsman that a gang of warriors needed to have by them2 and they preferred him lame1 so that he should not run away4 ,again1 ,apollo herded for hire the cattle of ,admetus2 ,apollo and ,poseidon built the walls of ,troy for ,laomedon4 ,certainly in such stories we have an intrusion of other elements2 but in any case the work done is not habitual work1 it is a special punishment4 ,again1 it is not denied that the ,olympians have some effect on agriculture and on justice3 they destroy the harvests of those who offend them1 they punish oath-breakers and the like4 ,even in the ,heroic ,age itself--if we may adopt ,mr4 ,chadwick's convenient title for the ,age of the ,migrations--chieftains and gods probably retained some vestiges of the functions they had exercised in more normal and settled times2 and besides we must always realize that1 in these inquiries1 we never meet a simple and uniform figure4 ,we must further remember that these gods are not real people with a real character4 ,they never existed4 ,they are only concepts1 exceedingly confused cloudy and changing concepts1 in the minds of thousands of diverse worshippers and non-worshippers4 ,they change every time they are thought of1 as a word changes every time it is pronounced4 ,even in the height of the ,achaean wars the concept of any one god would be mixed up with traditions and associations drawn from the surrounding populations and their gods2 and by the time they come down to us in ,homer and our other early literature1 they have passed through the minds of many different ages and places1 especially ,ionia and ,athens4 ,the ,olympians as described in our text of ,homer1 or as described in the ,athenian recitations of the sixth century1 are mutatis mutandis related to the ,olympians of the ,heroic ,age much as the ,hellenes of the sixth century are to the ,hellenes of the ,heroic ,age4 ,i say 'mutatis mutandis'1 because the historical development of a group of imaginary concepts shrined in tradition and romance can never be quite the same as that of the people who conceive them4 ,the realm of fiction is apt both to leap in front and to lag in the rear of the march of real life4 ,romance will hug picturesque darknesses as well as invent perfections4 ,but the gods of ,homer1 as we have them1 certainly seem to show traces of the process through which they have passed3 of an origin among the old conquering ,achaioi1 a development in the ,ionian epic schools1 and a final home in ,athens4#di3a ,for example1 what gods are chiefly prominent in ,homer8 ,in the ,iliad certainly three1 ,zeus1 ,apollo1 and ,athena1 and much the same would hold for the ,odyssey4 ,next to them in importance will be ,poseidon1 ,hera1 and ,hermes4 ,zeus stands somewhat apart4 ,he is one of the very few gods with recognizable and undoubted ,indo-germanic names1 ,djus1 the well-attested sky- and rain-god of the ,aryan race4 ,he is ,achaian2 he is ',hellanios'1 the god worshipped by all ,hellenes4 ,he is also1 curiously enough1 ,pelasgian1 and ,mr4 ,a4 ,b4 ,cook#di3b can explain to us the seeming contradiction4 ,but the ,northern elements in the conception of ,zeus have on the whole triumphed over any ,pelasgian or ,aegean sky-god with which they may have mingled1 and ,zeus1 in spite of his dark hair1 may be mainly treated as the patriarchal god of the invading ,northmen1 passing from the ,upper ,danube down by his three great sanctuaries1 ,dodona1 ,olympus1 and ,olympia4 ,he had an extraordinary power of ousting or absorbing the various objects of aboriginal worship which he found in his path4 ,the story of ,meilichios above 7p4 #ad7 is a common one4 ,of course1 we must not suppose that the ,zeus of the actual ,achaioi was a figure quite like the ,zeus of ,pheidias or of ,homer4 ,there has been a good deal of expurgation in the ,homeric ,zeus1#ej3a as ,mr4 ,cook clearly shows4 ,the ,counsellor and ,cloud-compeller of classical ,athens was the wizard and rainmaker of earlier times2 and the ,all-,father surprises us in ,thera and ,crete by appearing both as a babe and as a ,kouros in spring dances and initiation rituals4#ej3b ,it is a long way from these conceptions to the ,zeus of ,aeschylus1 a figure as sublime as the ,jehovah of ,job2 but the lineage seems clear4 ,zeus is the ,achaean ,sky-god4 ,his son ,phoebus ,apollo is of more complex make4 ,on one side he is clearly a ,northman4 ,he has connexions with the ,hyperboreans4#ej3c ,he has a 'sacred road' leading far into the ,north1 along which offerings are sent back from shrine to shrine beyond the bounds of ,greek knowledge4 ,such 'sacred roads' are normally the roads by which the ,god himself has travelled2 the offerings are sent back from the new sanctuary to the old4 ,on the other side ,apollo reaches back to an ,aegean matriarchal ,kouros4 ,his home is ,delos1 where he has a mother1 ,leto1 but no very visible father4 ,he leads the ships of his islanders1 sometimes in the form of a dolphin4 ,he is no ',hellene'4 ,in the fighting at ,troy he is against the ,achaioi3 he destroys the ,greek host1 he champions ,hector1 he even slays ,achilles4 ,in the ,homeric hymn to ,apollo we read that when the great archer draws near to ,olympus all the gods tremble and start from their seats2 ,leto alone1 and of course ,zeus1 hold their ground4#ea3a ,what this god's original name was at ,delos we cannot be sure3 he has very many names and 'epithets'4 ,but he early became identified with a similar god at ,delphi and adopted his name1 ',apolln'1 or1 in the ,delphic and ,dorian form1 ',apelln'--presumably the ,kouros projected from the ,dorian gatherings called 'apellae'4#ea3b ,as ,phoibos he is a sun-god1 and from classical times onward we often find him definitely identified with the ,sun1 a distinction which came easily to a ,kouros4 ,in any case1 and this is the important point1 he is at ,delos the chief god of the ,ionians4 ,the ,ionians are defined by ,herodotus as those tribes and cities who were sprung from ,athens and kept the ,apaturia4 ,they recognized ,delos as their holy place and worshipped ,apollo ,patros as their ancestor4#ea3c ,the ,ionian ,homer has naturally brought us the ,ionian god2 and1 significantly enough1 though the tradition makes him an enemy of the ,greeks1 and the poets have to accept the tradition1 there is no tendency to crab or belittle him4 ,he is the most splendid and awful of ,homer's ,olympians4 ,the case of ,pallas ,athena is even simpler1 though it leads to a somewhat surprising result4 ,what ,apollo is to ,ionia that1 and more1 ,athena is to ,athens4 ,there are doubtless foreign elements in ,athena1 some ,cretan and ,ionian1 some ,northern4#eb3a ,but her whole appearance in history and literature tells the same story as her name4 ,athens is her city and she is the goddess of ,athens1 the ,athena or ,athenaia ,kor4 ,in ,athens she can be simply ',parthenos'1 the ,maiden2 elsewhere she is the ',attic' or ',athenian ,maiden'4 ,as ,glaucopis she is identified or associated with the ,owl that was the sacred bird of ,athens4 ,as ,pallas she seems to be a ,thunder-maiden1 a sort of ,keraunia or bride of ,keraunos4 ,a ,palladion consists of two thunder-shields1 set one above the other like a figure #h1 and we can trace in art-types the development of this #h into a human figure4 ,it seems clear that the old ,achaioi cannot have called their warrior-maiden1 daughter of ,zeus1 by the name ,athena or ,athenaia4 ,the ,athenian goddess must have come in from ,athenian influence1 and it is strange to find how deep into the heart of the poems that influence must have reached4 ,if we try to conjecture whose place it is that ,athena has taken1 it is worth remarking that her regular epithet1 'daughter of ,zeus'1 belongs in ,sanskrit to the ,dawn-goddess1 ,es4#eb3b ,the transition might be helped by some touches of the ,dawn-goddess that seem to linger about ,athena in myth4 ,the rising ,sun stayed his horses while ,athena was born from the head of ,zeus4 ,also she was born amid a snowstorm of gold4 ,and ,es1 on the other hand1 is1 like ,athena1 sometimes the daughter of the ,giant ,pallas4#ec3a ,our three chief ,olympians1 then1 explain themselves very easily4 ,a body of poetry and tradition1 in its origin dating from the ,achaioi of the ,migrations1 growing for centuries in the hands of ,ionian bards1 and reaching its culminating form at ,athens1 has prominent in it the ,achaian ,zeus1 the ,ionian ,apollo1 the ,athenian ,kor--the same ,kor who descended in person to restore the exiled ,pisistratus to his throne4#ec3b ,we need only throw a glance in passing at a few of the other ,olympians4 ,why1 for instance1 should ,poseidon be so prominent8 ,in origin he is a puzzling figure4 ,besides the ,achaean ,earth-shaking brother of ,zeus in ,thessaly there seems to be some ,pelasgian or ,aegean god present in him4 ,he is closely connected with ,libya2 he brings the horse from there4#ed3a ,at times he exists in order to be defeated2 defeated in ,athens by ,athena1 in ,naxos by ,dionysus1 in ,aegina by ,zeus1 in ,argos by ,hera1 in ,acrocorinth by ,helios though he continues to hold the ,isthmus4 ,in ,trozen he shares a temple on more or less equal terms with ,athena4#ed3b ,even in ,troy he is defeated and cast out from the walls his own hands had built4#ed3c ,these problems we need not for the present face4 ,by the time that concerns us most the ,earth-,shaker is a sea-god1 specially important to the sea-peoples of ,athens and ,ionia4 ,he is the father of ,neleus1 the ancestor of the ,ionian kings4 ,his temple at ,cape ,mykale is the scene of the ,panionia1 and second only to ,delos as a religious centre of the ,ionian tribes4 ,he has intimate relations with ,attica too4 ,besides the ancient contest with ,athena for the possession of the land1 he appears as the father of ,theseus1 the chief ,athenian hero4 ,he is merged in other ,attic heroes1 like ,aigeus and ,erechtheus4 ,he is the special patron of the ,athenian knights4 ,thus his prominence in ,homer is very natural4 ,what of ,hermes8 ,his history deserves a long monograph to itself2 it is so exceptionally instructive4 ,originally1 outside ,homer1 ,hermes was simply an old upright stone1 a pillar furnished with the regular ,pelasgian sex-symbol of procreation4 ,set up over a tomb he is the power that generates new lives1 or1 in the ancient conception1 brings the souls back to be born again4 ,he is the ,guide of the ,dead1 the ,psychopompos1 the divine ,herald between the two worlds4 ,if you have a message for the dead1 you speak it to the ,herm at the grave4 ,this notion of ,hermes as herald may have been helped by his use as a boundary-stone--the ,latin ,terminus4 ,your boundary-stone is your representative1 the deliverer of your message1 to the hostile neighbour or alien4 ,if you wish to parley with him1 you advance up to your boundary-stone4 ,if you go1 as a ,herald1 peacefully1 into his territory1 you place yourself under the protection of the same sacred stone1 the last sign that remains of your own safe country4 ,if you are killed or wronged1 it is he1 the immovable ,watcher1 who will avenge you4 ,now this phallic stone post was quite unsuitable to ,homer4 ,it was not decent2 it was not quite human2 and every personage in ,homer has to be both4 ,in the ,iliad ,hermes is simply removed1 and a beautiful creation or tradition1 ,iris1 the rainbow-goddess1 takes his place as the messenger from heaven to earth4 ,in the ,odyssey he is admitted1 but so changed and castigated that no one would recognize the old ,herm in the beautiful and gracious youth who performs the gods' messages4 ,i can only detect in his language one possible trace of his old ,pelasgian character4#ef3a ,pausanias knew who worked the transformation4 ,in speaking of ,hermes among the other ',workers'1 who were 'pillars in square form'1 he says1 ',as to ,hermes1 the poems of ,homer have given currency to the report that he is a servant of ,zeus and leads down the spirits of the departed to ,hades'4#ef3b ,in the magic papyri ,hermes returns to something of his old functions2 he is scarcely to be distinguished from the ,agathos ,daimon4 ,but thanks to ,homer he is purified of his old phallicism4 ,hera1 too1 the wife of ,zeus1 seems to have a curious past behind her4 ,she has certainly ousted the original wife1 ,dione1 whose worship continued unchallenged in far ,dodona1 from times before ,zeus descended upon ,greek lands4 ,when he invaded ,thessaly he seems to have left ,dione behind and wedded the ,queen of the conquered territory4 ,hera's permanent epithet is ',argeia'1 ',argive'4 ,she is the ,argive ,kor or ,year-,maiden1 as ,athena is the ,attic1 ,cypris the ,cyprian4 ,but ,argos in ,homer denotes two different places1 a watered plain in the ,peloponnese and a watered plain in ,thessaly4 ,hera was certainly the chief goddess of ,peloponnesian ,argos in historic times1 and had brought her consort ,herakles#ef3c along with her1 but at one time she seems to have belonged to the ,thessalian ,argos4 ,she helped ,thessalian ,jason to launch the ship ,argo1 and they launched it from ,thessalian ,pagasae4 ,in the ,argonautica she is a beautiful figure1 gracious and strong1 the lovely patroness of the young hero4 ,no element of strife is haunting her4 ,but in the ,iliad for some reason she is unpopular4 ,she is a shrew1 a scold1 and a jealous wife4 ,why8 ,miss ,harrison suggests that the quarrel with ,zeus dates from the time of the invasion1 when he was the conquering alien and she the native queen of the land4#eg3a ,it may be1 too1 that the ,ionian poets who respected their own ,apollo and ,athena and ,poseidon1 regarded ,hera as representing some race or tribe that they disliked4 ,a goddess of ,dorian ,argos might be as disagreeable as a ,dorian4 ,it seems to be for some reason like this that ,aphrodite1 identified with ,cyprus or some centre among ,oriental barbarians1 is handled with so much disrespect2 that ,ares1 the ,thracian ,kouros1 a ,sun-god and ,war-god1 is treated as a mere bully and coward and general pest4#eg3b ,there is not much faith in these gods1 as they appear to us in the ,homeric ,poems1 and not much respect1 except perhaps for ,apollo and ,athena and ,poseidon4 ,the buccaneer kings of the ,heroic ,age1 cut loose from all local and tribal pieties1 intent only on personal gain and glory1 were not the people to build up a powerful religious faith4 ,they left that1 as they left agriculture and handiwork1 to the nameless common folk4#eg3c ,and it was not likely that the bards of cultivated and scientific ,ionia should waste much religious emotion on a system which was clearly meant more for romance than for the guiding of life4 ,yet the power of romance is great4 ,in the memory of ,greece the kings and gods of the ,heroic ,age were transfigured4 ,what had been really an age of buccaneering violence became in memory an age of chivalry and splendid adventure4 ,the traits that were at all tolerable were idealized2 those that were intolerable were either expurgated1 or1 if that was impossible1 were mysticized and explained away4 ,and the savage old ,olympians became to ,athens and the mainland of ,greece from the sixth century onward emblems of high humanity and religious reform4 ,,ii4 ,the ,religious ,value of the ,olympians ,now to some people this statement may seem a wilful paradox1 yet ,i believe it to be true4 ,the ,olympian religion1 radiating from ,homer at the ,panathenaea1 produced what ,i will venture to call exactly a religious reformation4 ,let us consider how1 with all its flaws and falsehoods1 it was fitted to attempt such a work4 ,in the first place the ,poems represent an ,achaian tradition1 the tradition of a ,northern conquering race1 organized on a patriarchal monogamous system vehemently distinct from the matrilinear customs of the ,aegean or ,hittite races1 with their polygamy and polyandry1 their agricultural rites1 their sex-emblems and fertility goddesses4 ,contrast for a moment the sort of sexless ,valkyrie who appears in the ,iliad under the name of ,athena with the ,kor of ,ephesus1 strangely called ,artemis1 a shapeless fertility figure1 covered with innumerable breasts4 ,that suggests the contrast that ,i mean4 ,secondly1 the poems are by tradition aristocratic2 they are the literature of chieftains1 alien to low popular superstition4 ,true1 the poems as we have them are not ,court poems4 ,that error ought not to be so often repeated4 ,as we have them they are poems recited at a ,panegyris1 or public festival4 ,but they go back in ultimate origin to something like lays sung in a royal hall4 ,and the contrast between the ,homeric gods and the gods found outside ,homer is well compared by ,mr4 ,chadwick#ei3a to the difference between the gods of the ,edda and the historical traces of religion outside the ,edda4 ,the gods who feast with ,odin in ,asgard1 forming an organized community or comitatus1 seem to be the gods of the kings1 distinct from the gods of the peasants1 cleaner and more warlike and lordlier1 though in actual religious quality much less vital4 ,thirdly1 the poems in their main stages are ,ionian1 and ,ionia was for many reasons calculated to lead the forward movement against the ',urdummheit'4 ,for one thing1 ,ionia reinforced the old ,heroic tradition1 in having much the same inward freedom4 ,the ,ionians are the descendants of those who fled from the invaders across the sea1 leaving their homes1 tribes1 and tribal traditions4 ,wilamowitz has well remarked how the imagination of the ,greek mainland is dominated by the gigantic sepulchres of unknown kings1 which the fugitives to ,asia had left behind them and half forgotten4#ei3b ,again1 when the ,ionians settled on the ,asiatic coasts they were no doubt to some extent influenced1 but they were far more repelled by the barbaric tribes of the interior4 ,they became conscious1 as we have said1 of something that was ,hellenic1 as distinct from something else that was barbaric1 and the ,hellenic part of them vehemently rejected what struck them as superstitious1 cruel1 or unclean4 ,and lastly1 we must remember that ,ionia was1 before the rise of ,athens1 not only the most imaginative and intellectual part of ,greece1 but by far the most advanced in knowledge and culture4 ,the ,homeric religion is a step in the self-realization of ,greece1 and such self-realization naturally took its rise in ,ionia4 ,granted1 then1 that ,homer was calculated to produce a kind of religious reformation in ,greece1 what kind of reformation was it8 ,we are again reminded of ,st4 ,paul4 ,it was a move away from the 'beggarly elements' towards some imagined person behind them4 ,the world was conceived as neither quite without external governance1 nor as merely subject to the incursions of mana snakes and bulls and thunder-stones and monsters1 but as governed by an organized body of personal and reasoning rulers1 wise and bountiful fathers1 like man in mind and shape1 only unspeakably higher4 ,for a type of this ,olympian spirit we may take a phenomenon that has perhaps sometimes wearied us3 the reiterated insistence in the reliefs of the best period on the strife of men against centaurs or of gods against giants4 ,our modern sympathies are apt to side with the giants and centaurs4 ,an age of order likes romantic violence1 as landsmen safe in their houses like storms at sea4 ,but to the ,greek1 this battle was full of symbolical meaning4 ,it is the strife1 the ultimate victory1 of human intelligence1 reason1 and gentleness1 against what seems at first the overwhelming power of passion and unguided strength4 ,it is ,hellas against the brute world4#fa3a ,the victory of ,hellenism over barbarism1 of man over beast3 that was the aim1 but was it ever accomplished8 ,the ,olympian gods as we see them in art appear so calm1 so perfect1 so far removed from the atmosphere of acknowledged imperfection and spiritual striving1 that what ,i am now about to say may again seem a deliberate paradox4 ,it is nevertheless true that the ,olympian ,religion is only to the full intelligible and admirable if we realize it as a superb and baffled endeavour1 not a telos or completion but a movement and effort of life4 ,we may analyse the movement into three main elements3 a moral expurgation of the old rites1 an attempt to bring order into the old chaos1 and lastly an adaptation to new social needs4 ,we will take the three in order4 ,in the first place1 it gradually swept out of religion1 or at least covered with a decent veil1 that great mass of rites which was concerned with the ,food-supply and the ,tribe-supply and aimed at direct stimulation of generative processes4#fb3a ,it left only a few reverent and mystic rituals1 a few licensed outbursts of riotous indecency in comedy and the agricultural festivals4 ,it swept away what seems to us a thing less dangerous1 a large part of the worship of the dead4 ,such worship1 our evidence shows us1 gave a loose rein to superstition4 ,to the ,olympian movement it was vulgar1 it was semi-barbarous1 it was often bloody4 ,we find that it has almost disappeared from ,homeric ,athens at a time when the monuments show it still flourishing in un-,homeric ,sparta4 ,the ,olympian movement swept away also1 at least for two splendid centuries1 the worship of the man-god1 with its diseased atmosphere of megalomania and blood-lust4#fb3b ,these things return with the fall of ,hellenism2 but the great period1 as it urges man to use all his powers of thought1 of daring and endurance1 of social organization1 so it bids him remember that he is a man like other men1 subject to the same laws and bound to reckon with the same death4 ,so much for the moral expurgation3 next for the bringing of intellectual order4 ,to parody the words of ,anaxagoras1 ',in the early religion all things were together1 till the ,homeric system came and arranged them'4 ,we constantly find in the ,greek pantheon beings who can be described as 1 'one form of many names'4 ,each tribe1 each little community1 sometimes one may almost say each caste--the ,children of the ,bards1 the ,children of the ,potters--had its own special gods4 ,now as soon as there was any general ',sunoikismos' or ',settling-together'1 any effective surmounting of the narrowest local barriers1 these innumerable gods tended to melt into one another4 ,under different historical circumstances this process might have been carried resolutely through and produced an intelligible pantheon in which each god had his proper function and there was no overlapping--one ,kor1 one ,kouros1 one ,sun-,god1 and so on4 ,but in ,greece that was impossible4 ,imaginations had been too vivid1 and local types had too often become clearly personified and differentiated4 ,the ,maiden of ,athens1 ,athena1 did no doubt absorb some other ,korai1 but she could not possibly combine with her of ,cythra or ,cyprus1 or ,ephesus1 nor with the ,argive ,kor or the ,delian or the ,brauronian4 ,what happened was that the infinite cloud of ,maidens was greatly reduced and fell into four or five main types4 ,the ,korai of ,cyprus1 ,cythra1 ,corinth1 ,eryx1 and some other places were felt to be one1 and became absorbed in the great figure of ,aphrodite4 ,artemis absorbed a quantity more1 including those of ,delos and ,brauron1 of various parts of ,arcadia and ,sparta1 and even1 as we saw1 the fertility ,kor of ,ephesus4 ,doubtless she and the ,delian were originally much closer together1 but the ,delian differentiated towards ideal virginity1 the ,ephesian towards ideal fruitfulness4 ,the ,kouroi1 or ,youths1 in the same way were absorbed into some half-dozen great mythological shapes1 ,apollo1 ,ares1 ,hermes1 ,dionysus1 and the like4 ,as so often in ,greek development1 we are brought up against the immense formative power of fiction or romance4 ,the simple ,kor or ,kouros was a figure of indistinct outline with no history or personality4 ,like the ,roman functional gods1 such beings were hardly persons2 they melted easily one into another4 ,but when the ,greek imagination had once done its work upon them1 a figure like ,athena or ,aphrodite had become1 for all practical purposes1 a definite person1 almost as definite as ,achilles or ,odysseus1 as ,macbeth or ,falstaff4 ,they crystallize hard4 ,they will no longer melt or blend1 at least not at an ordinary temperature4 ,in the fourth and third centuries we hear a great deal about the gods all being one1 ',zeus the same as ,hades1 ,hades as ,helios1 ,helios the same as ,dionysus'1#fd3a but the amalgamation only takes place in the white heat of ecstatic philosophy or the rites of religious mysticism4 ,the best document preserved to us of this attempt to bring order into ,chaos is the poetry of ,hesiod4 ,there are three poems1 all devoted to this object1 composed perhaps under the influence of ,delphi and certainly under that of ,homer1 and trying in a quasi-,homeric dialect and under a quasi-,olympian system to bring together vast masses of ancient theology and folk-lore and scattered tradition4 ,the ,theogony attempts to make a pedigree and hierarchy of the ,gods2 ,the ,catalogue of ,women and the ,eoiai1 preserved only in scanty fragments1 attempt to fix in canonical form the cloudy mixture of dreams and boasts and legends and hypotheses by which most royal families in central ,greece recorded their descent from a traditional ancestress and a conjectural ,god4 ,the ,works and ,days form an attempt to collect and arrange the rules and tabus relating to agriculture4 ,the work of ,hesiod as a whole is one of the most valiant failures in literature4 ,the confusion and absurdity of it are only equalled by its strange helpless beauty and its extraordinary historical interest4 ,the ,hesiodic system when compared with that of ,homer is much more explicit1 much less expurgated1 infinitely less accomplished and tactful4 ,at the back of ,homer lay the lordly warrior-gods of the ,heroic ,age1 at the back of ,hesiod the crude and tangled superstitions of the peasantry of the mainland4 ,also the ,hesiodic poets worked in a comparatively backward and unenlightened atmosphere1 the ,homeric were exposed to the full light of ,athens4 ,the third element in this ,homeric reformation is an attempt to make religion satisfy the needs of a new social order4 ,the earliest ,greek religion was clearly based on the tribe1 a band of people1 all in some sense kindred and normally living together1 people with the same customs1 ancestors1 initiations1 flocks and herds and fields4 ,this tribal and agricultural religion can hardly have maintained itself unchanged at the great ,aegean centres1 like ,cnossus and ,mycenae4#fe3a ,it certainly did not maintain itself among the marauding chiefs of the heroic age4 ,it bowed its head beneath the sceptre of its own divine kings and the armed heel of its northern invaders1 only to appear again almost undamaged and unimproved when the kings were fallen and the invaders sunk into the soil like storms of destructive rain4 ,but it no longer suited its environment4 ,in the age of the migrations the tribes had been broken1 scattered1 re-mixed4 ,they had almost ceased to exist as important social entities4 ,the social unit which had taken their place was the political community of men1 of whatever tribe or tribes1 who were held together in times of danger and constant war by means of a common circuit-wall1 a ,polis4#ff3a ,the idea of the tribe remained4 ,in the earliest classical period we find every ,greek city still nominally composed of tribes1 but the tribes are fictitious4 ,the early city-makers could still only conceive of society on a tribal basis4 ,every local or accidental congregation of people who wish to act together have to invent an imaginary common ancestor4 ,the clash between the old tribal traditions that have lost their meaning1 though not their sanctity1 and the new duties imposed by the actual needs of the ,polis1 leads to many strange and interesting compromises4 ,the famous constitution of ,cleisthenes shows several4 ,an old proverb expresses well the ordinary feeling on the subject3 1 ' 4 ',whatever the ,city may do2 but the old custom is the best4' ,now in the contest between city and tribe1 the ,olympian gods had one great negative advantage4 ,they were not tribal or local1 and all other gods were4 ,they were by this time international1 with no strong roots anywhere except where one of them could be identified with some native god2 they were full of fame and beauty and prestige4 ,they were ready to be made ',poliouchoi'1 ',city-holders'1 of any particular city1 still more ready to be ',hellnioi'1 patrons of all ,hellas4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in the working out of these three aims the ,olympian religion achieved much3 in all three it failed4 ,the moral expurgation failed owing to the mere force of inertia possessed by old religious traditions and local cults4 ,we must remember how weak any central government was in ancient civilization4 ,the power and influence of a highly civilized society were apt to end a few miles outside its city wall4 ,all through the backward parts of ,greece obscene and cruel rites lingered on1 the darker and worse the further they were removed from the full light of ,hellenism4 ,but in this respect the ,olympian ,religion did not merely fail3 it did worse4 ,to make the elements of a nature-religion human is inevitably to make them vicious4 ,there is no great moral harm in worshipping a thunder-storm1 even though the lightning strikes the good and evil quite recklessly4 ,there is no need to pretend that the ,lightning is exercising a wise and righteous choice4 ,but when once you worship an imaginary quasi-human being who throws the lightning1 you are in a dilemma4 ,either you have to admit that you are worshipping and flattering a being with no moral sense1 because he happens to be dangerous1 or else you have to invent reasons for his wrath against the people who happen to be struck4 ,and they are pretty sure to be bad reasons4 ,the god1 if personal1 becomes capricious and cruel4 ,when the ,ark of ,israel was being brought back from the ,philistines1 the cattle slipped by the threshing floor of ,nachon1 and the holy object was in danger of falling4 ,a certain ,uzzah1 as we all know1 sprang forward to save it and was struck dead for his pains4 ,now1 if he was struck dead by the sheer holiness of the tabu object1 the holiness stored inside it like so much electricity1 his death was a misfortune1 an interesting accident1 and no more4#fh3a ,but when it is made into the deliberate act of an anthropomorphic god1 who strikes a well-intentioned man dead in explosive rage for a very pardonable mistake1 a dangerous element has been introduced into the ethics of that religion4 ,a being who is the moral equal of man must not behave like a charge of dynamite4 ,again1 to worship emblems of fertility and generation1 as was done in agricultural rites all through the ,aegean area1 is in itself an intelligible and not necessarily a degrading practice4 ,but when those emblems are somehow humanized1 and the result is an anthropomorphic god of enormous procreative power and innumerable amours1 a religion so modified has received a death-blow4 ,the step that was meant to soften its grossness has resulted in its moral degradation4 ,this result was intensified by another well-meant effort at elevation4 ,the leading tribes of central ,greece were1 as we have mentioned1 apt to count their descent from some heroine-ancestress4 ,her consort was sometimes unknown and1 in a matrilinear society1 unimportant4 ,sometimes he was a local god or river4 ,when the ,olympians came to introduce some order and unity among these innumerable local gods1 the original tribal ancestor tended1 naturally enough1 to be identified with ,zeus1 ,apollo1 or ,poseidon4 ,the unfortunate ,olympians1 whose system really aimed at purer morals and condemned polygamy and polyandry1 are left with a crowd of consorts that would put ,solomon to shame4 ,thus a failure in the moral expurgation was deepened by a failure in the attempt to bring intellectual order into the welter of primitive gods4 ,the only satisfactory end of that effort would have been monotheism4 ,if ,zeus had only gone further and become completely1 once and for all1 the father of all life1 the scandalous stories would have lost their point and meaning4 ,it is curious how near to monotheism1 and to monotheism of a very profound and impersonal type1 the real religion of ,greece came in the sixth and fifth centuries4 ,many of the philosophers1 ,xenophanes1 ,parmenides1 and others1 asserted it clearly or assumed it without hesitation4 ,aeschylus1 ,euripides1 ,plato1 in their deeper moments point the same road4 ,indeed a metaphysician might hold that their theology is far deeper than that to which we are accustomed1 since they seem not to make any particular difference between and or 4 ,they do not instinctively suppose that the human distinctions between 'he' and 'it'1 or between 'one' and 'many'1 apply to the divine4 ,certainly ,greek monotheism1 had it really carried the day1 would have been a far more philosophic thing than the tribal and personal monotheism of the ,hebrews4 ,but unfortunately too many hard-caked superstitions1 too many tender and sensitive associations1 were linked with particular figures in the pantheon or particular rites which had brought the worshippers religious peace4 ,if there had been some ,hebrew prophets about1 and a tyrant or two1 progressive and bloody-minded1 to agree with them1 polytheism might perhaps actually have been stamped out in ,greece at one time4 ,but ,greek thought1 always sincere and daring1 was seldom brutal1 seldom ruthless or cruel4 ,the thinkers of the great period felt their own way gently to the ,holy of ,holies1 and did not try to compel others to take the same way4 ,greek theology1 whether popular or philosophical1 seldom denied any god1 seldom forbade any worship4 ,what it tried to do was to identify every new god with some aspect of one of the old ones1 and the result was naturally confusion4 ,apart from the ,epicurean school1 which though powerful was always unpopular1 the religious thought of later antiquity for the most part took refuge in a sort of apotheosis of good taste1 in which the great care was not to hurt other people's feelings1 or else it collapsed into helpless mysticism4 ,the attempt to make ,olympianism a religion of the ,polis failed also4 ,the ,olympians did not belong to any particular city3 they were too universal2 and no particular city had a very positive faith in them4 ,the actual ,polis was real and tangible1 the ,homeric gods a little alien and literary4 ,the ,city herself was a most real power2 and the true gods of the ,city1 who had grown out of the soil and the wall1 were simply the ,city herself in her eternal and personal aspect1 as mother and guide and lawgiver1 the worshipped and beloved being whom each citizen must defend even to the death4 ,as the ,kouros of his day emerged from the social group of ,kouroi1 or the ,aphiktor from the band of suppliants1 in like fashion or emerged as a personification or projection of the city4 in ,athens was of course ,athena2 might as well be called ,zeus as anything else4 ,in reality such beings fall into the same class as the hero ,argos or ',korinthos son of ,zeus'4 ,the ,city worship was narrow2 yet to broaden it was1 except in some rare minds1 to sap its life4 ,the ordinary man finds it impossible to love his next-door neighbours except by siding with them against the next-door-but-one4 ,it proved difficult even in a city like ,athens to have gods that would appeal to the loyalty of all ,attica4 ,on the ,acropolis at ,athens there seem originally to have been ,athena and some ,kouros corresponding with her1 some ,waterer of the earth1 like ,erechtheus4 ,then as ,attica was united and brought under the lead of its central city1 the gods of the outlying districts began to claim places on the ,acropolis4 ,pallas1 the thunder-maid of ,pallene in the south1 came to form a joint personality with ,athena4 ,oinoe1 a town in the north-east1 on the way from ,delos to ,delphi1 had for its special god a ',pythian ,apollo'2 when ,oinoe became ,attic a place for the ,pythian ,apollo had to be found on the ,acropolis4 ,dionysus came from ,eleutherae1 ,demeter and ,kor from ,eleusis1 ,theseus himself perhaps from ,marathon or even from ,trozn4 ,they were all given official residences on ,athena's rock1 and ,athens in return sent out ,athena to new temples built for her in ,prasiae and ,sunion and various colonies4#gb3a ,this development came step by step and grew out of real worships4 ,it was quite different from the wholesale adoption of a body of non-national1 poetical gods3 yet even this development was too artificial1 too much stamped with the marks of expediency and courtesy and compromise4 ,it could not live4 ,the personalities of such gods vanish away2 their prayers become prayers to 'all gods and goddesses of the ,city'-- 2 those who remain1 chiefly ,athena and ,theseus1 only mean ,athens4 ,what then1 amid all this failure1 did the ,olympian religion really achieve8 ,first1 it debarbarized the worship of the leading states of ,greece--not of all ,greece1 since antiquity had no means of spreading knowledge comparable to ours4 ,it reduced the horrors of the ',urdummheit'1 for the most part1 to a romantic memory1 and made religion no longer a mortal danger to humanity4 ,unlike many religious systems1 it generally permitted progress2 it encouraged not only the obedient virtues but the daring virtues as well4 ,it had in it the spirit that saves from disaster1 that knows itself fallible and thinks twice before it hates and curses and persecutes4 ,it wrapped religion in ,sophrosyn4 ,again1 it worked for concord and fellow-feeling throughout the ,greek communities4 ,it is1 after all1 a good deal to say1 that in ,greek history we find almost no warring of sects1 no mutual tortures or even blasphemies4 ,with many ragged edges1 with many weaknesses1 it built up something like a united ,hellenic religion to stand against the 'beastly devices of the heathen'4 ,and after all1 if we are inclined on the purely religious side to judge the ,olympian system harshly1 we must not forget its sheer beauty4 ,truth1 no doubt1 is greater than beauty4 ,but in many matters beauty can be attained and truth cannot4 ,all we know is that when the best minds seek for truth the result is apt to be beautiful4 ,it was a great thing that men should envisage the world as governed1 not by ,giants and ,gorgons and dealers in eternal torture1 but by some human and more than human ,understanding 771#gc3a by beings of quiet splendour like many a classical ,zeus and ,hermes and ,demeter4 ,if ,olympianism was not a religious faith1 it was at least a vital force in the shaping of cities and societies which remain after two thousand years a type to the world of beauty and freedom and high endeavour4 ,even the stirring of its ashes1 when they seemed long cold1 had power to produce something of the same result2 for the classicism of the ,italian ,renaissance is a child1 however fallen1 of the ,olympian spirit4 ,of course1 ,i recognize that beauty is not the same as faith4 ,there is1 in one sense1 far more faith in some hideous miracle-working icon which sends out starving peasants to massacre ,jews than in the ,athena of ,phidias4 ,yet1 once we have rid our minds of trivial mythology1 there is religion in ,athena also4 ,athena is an ideal1 an ideal and a mystery2 the ideal of wisdom1 of incessant labour1 of almost terrifying purity1 seen through the light of some mystic and spiritual devotion like1 but transcending1 the love of man for woman4 ,or1 if the way of ,athena is too hard for us common men1 it is not hard to find a true religious ideal in such a figure as ,persephone4 ,in ,persephone there is more of pathos and of mystery4 ,she has more recently entered the calm ranks of ,olympus2 the old liturgy of the dying and re-risen ,year-bride still clings to her4 ,if ,religion is that which brings us into relation with the great world-forces1 there is the very heart of life in this home-coming ,bride of the underworld1 life with its broken hopes1 its disaster1 its new-found spiritual joy3 life seen as ,mother and ,daughter1 not a thing continuous and unchanging but shot through with parting and death1 life as a great love or desire ever torn asunder and ever renewed4 ',but stay1' a reader may object3 'is not this the ,persephone1 the ,athena1 of modern sentiment8 ,are these figures really the goddesses of the ,iliad and of ,sophocles8' ,the truth is1 ,i think1 that they are neither the one nor the other4 ,they are the goddesses of ancient reflection and allegory2 the goddesses1 that is1 of the best and most characteristic worship that these idealized creations awakened4 ,what we have treated hitherto as the mortal weakness of the ,olympians1 the fact that they have no roots in any particular soil1 little hold on any definite primeval cult1 has turned out to be their peculiar strength4 ,we must not think of allegory as a late post-classical phenomenon in ,greece4 ,it begins at least as early as ,pythagoras and ,heraclitus1 perhaps as early as ,hesiod2 for ,hesiod seems sometimes to be turning allegory back into myth4 ,the ,olympians1 cut loose from the soil1 enthroned only in men's free imagination1 have two special regions which they have made their own3 mythology and allegory4 ,the mythology drops for the most part very early out of practical religion4 ,even in ,homer we find it expurgated2 in ,pindar1 ,aeschylus1 and ,xenophanes it is expurgated1 denied and allegorized4 ,the myths survive chiefly as material for literature1 the shapes of the gods themselves chiefly as material for art4 ,they are both of them objects not of belief but of imagination4 ,yet when the religious imagination of ,greece deepens it twines itself still around these gracious and ever-moving shapes2 the ,zeus of ,aeschylus moves on into the ,zeus of ,plato or of ,cleanthes or of ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,hermes1 ,athena1 ,apollo1 all have their long spiritual history4 ,they are but little impeded by the echoes of the old frivolous mythology2 still less by any local roots or sectional prejudices or compulsory details of ritual4 ,as the more highly educated mind of ,greece emerged from a particular1 local1 tribal1 conception of religion1 the old denationalized ,olympians were ready to receive her4 ,the real religion of the fifth century was1 as we have said1 a devotion to the ,city itself4 ,it is expressed often in ,aeschylus and ,sophocles1 again and again with more discord and more criticism in ,euripides and ,plato2 for the indignant blasphemies of the ,gorgias and the ,troades bear the same message as the ideal patriotism of the ,republic4 ,it is expressed best perhaps1 and that without mention of the name of a single god1 in the great ,funeral ,speech of ,pericles4 ,it is higher than most modern patriotism because it is set upon higher ideals4 ,it is more fervid because the men practising it lived habitually nearer to the danger-point1 and1 when they spoke of dying for the ,city1 spoke of a thing they had faced last week and might face again to-morrow4 ,it was more religious because of the unconscious mysticism in which it is clothed even by such hard heads as ,pericles and ,thucydides1 the mysticism of men in the presence of some fact for which they have no words great enough4 ,yet for all its intensity it was condemned by its mere narrowness4 ,by the fourth century the average ,athenian must have recognized what philosophers had recognized long before1 that a religion1 to be true1 must be universal and not the privilege of a particular people4 ,as soon as the ,stoics had proclaimed the world to be 'one great ,city of gods and men'1 the only ,gods with which ,greece could satisfactorily people that ,city were the idealized band of the old ,olympians4 ,they are artists' dreams1 ideals1 allegories2 they are symbols of something beyond themselves4 ,they are ,gods of half-rejected tradition1 of unconscious make-believe1 of aspiration4 ,they are gods to whom doubtful philosophers can pray1 with all a philosopher's due caution1 as to so many radiant and heart-searching hypotheses4 ,they are not gods in whom any one believes as a hard fact4 ,does this condemn them8 ,or is it just the other way8 ,is it perhaps that one difference between ,religion and ,superstition lies exactly in this1 that ,superstition degrades its worship by turning its beliefs into so many statements of brute fact1 on which it must needs act without question1 without striving1 without any respect for others or any desire for higher or fuller truth8 ,it is only an accident--though perhaps an invariable accident--that all the supposed facts are false4 ,in ,religion1 however precious you may consider the truth you draw from it1 you know that it is a truth seen dimly1 and possibly seen by others better than by you4 ,you know that all your creeds and definitions are merely metaphors1 attempts to use human language for a purpose for which it was never made4 ,your concepts are1 by the nature of things1 inadequate2 the truth is not in you but beyond you1 a thing not conquered but still to be pursued4 ,something like this1 ,i take it1 was the character of the ,olympian ,religion in the higher minds of later ,greece4 ,its gods could awaken man's worship and strengthen his higher aspirations2 but at heart they knew themselves to be only metaphors4 ,as the most beautiful image carved by man was not the god1 but only a symbol1 to help towards conceiving the god2#gg3a so the god himself1 when conceived1 was not the reality but only a symbol to help towards conceiving the reality4 ,that was the work set before them4 ,meantime they issued no creeds that contradicted knowledge1 no commands that made man sin against his own inner light4 ,,footnotes3 #ci3a ,hdt4 i4 #fj 4 ,as to the date here suggested for the definite dawn of ,hellenism ,mr4 ,edwyn ,bevan writes to me3 ',i have often wondered what the reason is that about that time a new age began all over the world that we know4 ,in ,nearer ,asia the old ,semitic monarchies gave place to the ,zoroastrian ,aryans2 in ,india it was the time of ,buddha1 in ,china of ,confucius4' is almost ',urdummheit'4 #dj3a ,see in general ,ridgeway1 ,early ,age of ,greece1 vol4 i2 ,leaf1 ,companion to ,homer1 ,introduction3 ,r4 ,g4 ,e41 chap4 ii2 ,chadwick1 ,the ,heroic ,age 7last four chapters72 and ,j4 ,l4 ,myres1 ,dawn of ,history1 chaps4 viii and ix4 #dj3b ,since writing the above ,i find in ,vandal1 ,l',avnement de ,bonaparte1 p4 #bj1 in ,nelson's edition1 a phrase about the ,revolutionary soldiers3 ',ils se modelaient sur ces ,romains 4 4 4 sur ces ,spartiates 4 4 4 et ils craient un type de haute vertu guerrire1 quand ils croyaient seulement le reproduire4' #da3a ,hdt4 i4 #ef f42 ,th4 i4 #c 7,hellen son of ,deucalion1 in both74 #db3a ,hdt4 i4 #eh4 ,in viii4 #dd the account is more detailed4 #db3b ,the ,homeric evidence is1 as usual1 inconclusive4 ,the word is absent from both poems1 an absence which must be intentional on the part of the later reciters1 but may well come from the original sources4 ,the compound occurs in ,b #hfg1 but who knows the date of that particular line in that particular wording8 #db3c ,paper read to the ,classical ,association at ,birmingham in #aijh4 #dc3a ,for ,korinna see ,wilamowitz in ,berliner ,klassikertexte1 ,v4 xiv1 especially p4 #ee4 ,the ,homeric epos drove out poetry like ,corinna's4 ,she had actually written3 ',i sing the great deeds of heroes and heroines' 7 ' 1 fr4 #aj1 ,bergk71 so that presumably her style was sufficiently 'heroic' for an un-,homeric generation4 ,for the change of dialect in elegy1 c41 see ,thumb1 ,handbuch d4 gr4 ,dialekte1 pp4 #cbg-cj1 #cfh ff41 and the literature there cited4 ,fick and ,hoffmann overstated the change1 but ,hoffmann's new statement in ,die griechische ,sprache1 #aiaa1 sections on ,die ,elegie1 seems just4 ,the question of ,tyrtaeus is complicated by other problems4 #de3a ,the facts are well known3 see ,paus4 i4 #ah4 #g4 ,the inference was pointed out to me by ,miss ,harrison4 #de3b ,i do not here raise the question how far the ,achaioi have special affinities with the north-west group of tribes or dialects4 ,see ,thumb1 ,handbuch d4 gr4 ,dialekte 7#aiji71 p4 #aff f4 ,the ,achaioi must have passed through ,south ,thessaly in any case4 #de3c ,that ,kronos was in possession of the ,kronion and ,olympia generally before ,zeus came was recognized in antiquity2 ,paus4 v4 #g4 #d and #aj4 ,also ,mayer in ,roscher's ,lexicon1 ii1 p4 #aejh1 #ej ff42 ,rise of ,greek ,epic#c1 pp4 #dj-h2 ,j4 ,a4 ,k4 ,thomson1 ,studies in the ,odyssey 7#aiad71 chap4 vii1 viii2 ,chadwick1 ,heroic ,age 7#aiaa71 pp4 #bhb1 #bhi4 #di3a ,i do not touch here on the subject of the gradual expurgation of the ,poems to suit the feelings of a more civilized audience2 see ,rise of the ,greek ,epic1#c pp4 #abj-d4 ,many scholars believe that the ,poems did not exist as a written book till the public copy was made by ,pisistratus2 see ,cauer1 ,grundfragen der ,homerkritik#b1 7#aiji71 pp4 #aac-de2 ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c pp4 #cjd-af2 ,leaf1 ,iliad1 vol4 i1 p4 xvi4 ,this view is tempting1 though the evidence seems to be insufficient to justify a pronouncement either way4 ,if it is true1 then various passages which show a verbal use of earlier documents 7like the ,bellerophon passage1 ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c pp4 #age ff47 cannot have been put in before the ,athenian period4 #di3b ,in his ,zeus1 the ,indo-,european ,sky-,god 7#aiad1 #aibd74 ,see ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c pp4 #dj ff4 #ej3a ,a somewhat similar change occurred in ,othin1 though he always retains more of the crooked wizard4 #ej3b ,themis1 chap4 i4 ,on the ,zeus of ,aeschylus cf4 ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c pp4 #bgg ff42 ,gomperz1 ,greek ,thinkers1 ii4 #f-h4 #ej3c ,farnell1 ,cults1 iv4 #ajj-d4 ,see1 however1 ,gruppe1 p4 #ajg f4 #ea3a ,hymn4 ,ap4 init4 ,cf4 ,wilamowitz's ,oxford ,lecture on ',apollo' 7,oxford1 #aijg74 #ea3b ,themis1 p4 #dci f4 ,cf4 4 ,other explanations of the name in ,gruppe1 p4 #abbd f41 notes4 #ea3c ,hdt4 i4 #adg2 ,plato1 ,euthyd4 #cjb c3 ,socrates4 ',no ,ionian recognizes a ,zeus ,patros2 ,apollo is our ,patros1 because he was father of ,ion4' #eb3a ,see ,gruppe1 p4 #abjf1 on the development of his ',philistine thunderstorm-goddess'4 #eb3b ,hoffmann1 ,gesch4 d4 griechischen ,sprache1 ,leipzig1 #aiaa1 p4 #af4 ,cf4 ,pind4 ,ol4 vii4 #ce2 ,ov4 ,metam4 ix4 #dba2 xv4 #aia1 #gjj1 c4 #ec3a ,as to the name1 is of course simply ',athenian'2 the shorter and apparently original form 1 is not so clear1 but it seems most likely to mean ',attic'4 ,cf4 ,meister1 ,gr4 ,dial4 ii4 #bij4 ,he classes under the head of ,oertliche ,bestimmungen3 7,collitz and ,bechtel1 ,sammlung der griechischen ,dialekt-,inschriften1 #b1 #c1 #ad;a1 b1 #ae1 #af74 ',in ,paphos selbst hiess die ,gttin nur oder 2-- 7#fa7-- 7#fj1 #bg1 #bh71 'die ,gttin1 die ,athenische1 die ber ,edalion 7waltet7'2 '- ist1 wie ,j4 ,baunack 7,studia ,nicolaitana1 s4 #bg7 gezeigt hat1 das ,adjectiv zu 799- ',seeland'73 -2 -2 99-2 also - -1 - ursprnglich - 4' ,other derivations in ,gruppe1 p4 #aaid4 ,or again may be simply 'the place where the ,athenas are'1 like 1 the fish-market2 'the ,athenas' would be statues1 like --the famous ',attic ,maidens' on the ,acropolis4 ,this explanation would lead to some interesting results4 ,we need not here consider how1 partly by identification with other ,korae1 like ,pallas1 ,onka1 c41 partly by a genuine spread of the cult1 ,athena became prominent in other cities4 ,as to ,homer1 ,athena is far more deeply imbedded in the ,odyssey than in the ,iliad4 ,i am inclined to agree with those who believe that our ,odyssey was very largely composed in ,athens1 so that in most of the poem ,athena is original4 7,cf4 ,o4 ,seeck1 ,die ,quellen der ,odyssee 7#ahhg71 pp4 #cff-dbj2 ,mlder1 ,die ,ilias and ihre ,quellen 7#aiaj71 pp4 #cej-e47 ,in some parts of the ,iliad the name ,athena may well have been substituted for some ,northern goddess whose name is now lost4 #ec3b ,it is worth noting also that this ,homeric triad seems also to be recognized as the chief ,athenian triad4 ,plato1 ,euthyd4 #cjb c1 quoted above1 continues3 ,socrates4 ',we have ,zeus with the names ,herkeios and ,phratrios1 but not ,patros1 and ,athena ,phratria4' ,dionysodorus4 ',well that is enough4 ,you have1 apparently1 ,apollo and ,zeus and ,athena8' ,socrates4 ',certainly4'--,apollo is put first because he has been accepted as ,patros4 ,but see ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c p4 #di1 n4 #ed3a ,ridgeway1 ,origin and ,influence of the ,thoroughbred ,horse1 #aije1 pp4 #bhg-ic2 and ,early ,age of ,greece1 #aija1 p4 #bbc4 #ed3b ,cf4 ,plut4 ,q4 ,conv4 ix4 #f2 ,paus4 ii4 #a4 #f2 #d4 #f2 #ae4 #e2 #cj4 #f4 #ed3c ,so in the non-,homeric tradition1 ,eur4 ,troades init4 ,in the ,iliad he is made an enemy of ,troy1 like ,athena1 who is none the less the ,guardian of the city4 #ef3a ,od4 #cci ff4 #ef3b ,see ,paus4 viii4 #cb4 #d4 ,themis1 pp4 #bie1 #bif4 #ef3c ,for the connexion of 7 in ,sophron1 fr4 #adb ,k7 see especially ,a4 ,b4 ,cook1 ,class4 ,review1 #aijf1 pp4 #cfe and #daf4 ,the name seems probably to be an 'ablaut' form of 3 cf4 phrases like 4 ,other literature in ,gruppe1 pp4 #deb1 #aabb4 #eg3a ,prolegomena1 p4 #cae1 referring to ,h4 ,d4 ,mller1 ,mythologie d4 gr4 ,stmme1 pp4 #bdi-ee4 ,another view is suggested by ,mlder1 ,die ,ilias und ihre ,quellen1 p4 #acf4 ,the jealous ,hera comes from the ,heracles-saga1 in which the wife hated the bastard4 #eg3b ,p4 ,gardner1 in ,numismatic ,chronicle1 ,n4,s4 xx1 ',ares as a ,sun-,god'4 #eg3c ,chadwick1 ,heroic ,age1 especially pp4 #dad1 #dei-fc4 #ei3a ,chap4 xviii4 #ei3b ,introduction to his edition of the ,chophoroe1 p4 #i4 #fa3a ,the spirit appears very simply in ,eur4 ,iph4 ,taur4 #chf ff41 where ,iphigenia rejects the gods who demand human sacrifice3 ,these tales be false1 false as those feastings wild ,of ,tantalus1 and gods that tare a child4 ,this land of murderers to its gods hath given ,its own lust4 ,evil dwelleth not in heaven4 ,yet just before she has accepted the loves of ,zeus and ,leto without objection4 ',leto1 whom ,zeus loved1 could never have given birth to such a monster6' ,cf4 ,plutarch1 ,vit4 ,pelop4 xxi1 where ,pelopidas1 in rejecting the idea of a human sacrifice1 says3 ',no high and more than human beings could be pleased with so barbarous and unlawful a sacrifice4 ,it was not the fabled ,titans and ,giants who ruled the world1 but one who was a ,father of all gods and men4' ,of course1 criticism and expurgation of the legends is too common to need illustration4 ,see especially ,kaibel1 ,daktyloi ,idaioi1 #aijb1 p4 #eab4 #fb3a ,aristophanes did much to reduce this element in comedy2 see ,clouds1 #ecg ff43 also ,albany ,review1 #aijg1 p4 #bja4 #fb3b ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c p4 #aci f4 #fd3a ,justin1 ,cohort4 c4 #ae4 ,but such pantheistic language is common in ,orphic and other mystic literature4 ,see the fragments of the ,orphic 7pp4 #add ff4 in ,abel's ,hymni74 #fe3a ,i have not attempted to consider the ,cretan cults4 ,they lie historically outside the range of these essays1 and ,i am not competent to deal with evidence that is purely archaeological4 ,but in general ,i imagine the ,cretan religion to be a development from the religion described in my first essay1 affected both by the change in social structure from village to sea-empire and by foreign1 especially ,egyptian1 influences4 ,no doubt the ,achaean gods were influenced on their side by ,cretan conceptions1 though perhaps not so much as ,ionia was4 ,cf4 the ,cretan influences in ,ionian vase-painting1 and e4 g4 ,a4 ,b4 ,cook on ',cretan ,axe-cult outside ,crete'1 ,transactions of the ,third ,international ,congress for the ,history of ,religion1 ii4 #ahd4 ,see also ,sir ,a4 ,evans's striking address on ',the ,minoan and ,mycenaean ,element in ,hellenic ,life'1 ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 xxxii4 #bgg-ig4 #ff3a ,see ,r4 ,g4 ,e41#c p4 #eh f4 #fh3a #b ,sam4 vi4 #f4 ,see ,s4 ,reinach1 ,orpheus1 p4 #e 7,english ,translation1 p4 #d74 #gb3a ,cf4 ,sam ,wide in ,gercke and ,norden's ,handbuch1 ii4 #bag-ai4 #gc3a ,the in which the ,chorus finds it hard to believe1 ,hippolytus1 #aaje4 ,cf4 ,iph4 ,aul4 #cid1 #aahi2 ,herc4 #fee2 also the ideas in ,suppl4 #bjc1 ,eur4 ,fr4 #eb1 #i1 where is implanted in man by a special grace of ,god4 ,the gods are 1 but of course ,euripides goes too far in actually praying to 1 ,ar4 ,frogs1 #hic4 #gg3a ,cf4 the beautiful defence of idols by ,maximus of ,tyre1 ,or4 viii 7in ,wilamowitz's ,lesebuch1 ii4 #cch ff474 ,i quote the last paragraph3 ',god ,himself1 the father and fashioner of all that is1 older than the ,sun or the ,sky1 greater than time and eternity and all the flow of being1 is unnameable by any lawgiver1 unutterable by any voice1 not to be seen by any eye4 ,but we1 being unable to apprehend ,his essence1 use the help of sounds and names and pictures1 of beaten gold and ivory and silver1 of plants and rivers1 mountain-peaks and torrents1 yearning for the knowledge of ,him1 and in our weakness naming all that is beautiful in this world after ,his nature--just as happens to earthly lovers4 ,to them the most beautiful sight will be the actual lineaments of the beloved1 but for remembrance' sake they will be happy in the sight of a lyre1 a little spear1 a chair1 perhaps1 or a running-ground1 or anything in the world that wakens the memory of the beloved4 ,why should ,i further examine and pass judgement about ,images8 ,let men know what is divine 7 71 let them know3 that is all4 ,if a ,greek is stirred to the remembrance of ,god by the art of ,pheidias1 an ,egyptian by paying worship to animals1 another man by a river1 another by fire--,i have no anger for their divergences2 only let them know1 let them love1 let them remember4' ,,iii ,,the ,,great ,,schools ,,of ,,the ,,fourth ,,century1 ,b4 ,c4 ,there is a passage in ,xenophon describing how1 one summer night1 in #dje ,b4 ,c41 people in ,athens heard a cry of wailing1 an oimg1 making its way up between the long walls from the ,piraeus1 and coming nearer and nearer as they listened4 ,it was the news of the final disaster of ,kynoskephalai1 brought at midnight to the ,piraeus by the galley ,paralos4 ',and that night no one slept4 ,they wept for the dead1 but far more bitterly for themselves1 when they reflected what things they had done to the people of ,mlos1 when taken by siege1 to the people of ,histiaea1 and ,skon and ,torn and ,aegna1 and many more of the ,hellenes4'#gi3a ,the echo of that lamentation seems to ring behind most of the literature of the fourth century1 and not the ,athenian literature alone4 ,defeat can on occasion leave men their self-respect or even their pride2 as it did after ,chaeronea in #cch and after the ,chremonidean ,war in #bfb1 not to speak of ,thermopylae4 ,but the defeat of #djd not only left ,athens at the mercy of her enemies4 ,it stripped her of those things of which she had been inwardly most proud2 her 'wisdom'1 her high civilization1 her leadership of all that was most ,hellenic in ,hellas4 ,the ',beloved ,city' of ,pericles had become a tyrant1 her nature poisoned by war1 her government a by-word in ,greece for brutality4 ,and ,greece as a whole felt the tragedy of it4 ,it is curious how this defeat of ,athens by ,sparta seems to have been felt abroad as a defeat for ,greece itself and for the hopes of the ,greek city state4 ,the fall of ,athens mattered more than the victory of ,lysander4 ,neither ,sparta nor any other city ever attempted to take her place4 ,and no writer after the year #djj speaks of any other city as ,pericles used to speak of fifth-century ,athens1 not even ,polybius #bej years later1 when he stands amazed before the solidity and the 'fortune' of ,rome4 ,the city state1 the ,polis1 had concentrated upon itself almost all the loyalty and the aspirations of the ,greek mind4 ,it gave security to life4 ,it gave meaning to religion4 ,and in the fall of ,athens it had failed4 ,in the third century1 when things begin to recover1 we find on the one hand the great military monarchies of ,alexander's successors1 and on the other1 a number of federations of tribes1 which were generally strongest in the backward regions where the city state had been least developed4 or had become more important than ,athens or ,corinth1 and ,sparta was only strong by means of a ,league4#hj3a ,by that time the ,polis was recognized as a comparatively weak social organism1 capable of very high culture but not quite able1 as the ,covenant of the ,league of ,nations expresses it1 'to hold its own under the strenuous conditions of modern life'4 ,besides1 it was not now ruled by the best citizens4 ,the best had turned away from politics4 ,this great discouragement did not take place at a blow4 ,among the practical statesmen probably most did not form any theory about the cause of the failure but went on1 as practical statesmen must1 doing as best they could from difficulty to difficulty4 ,but many saw that the fatal danger to ,greece was disunion1 as many see it in ,europe now4 ,when ,macedon proved indisputably stronger than ,athens ,isocrates urged ,philip to accept the leadership of ,greece against the barbarian and against barbarism4 ,he might thus both unite the ,greek cities and also evangelize the world4 ,lysias1 the democratic and anti-,spartan orator1 had been groping for a similar solution as early as #chd ,b4 ,c41 and was prepared to make an even sharper sacrifice for it4 ,he appealed at ,olympia for a crusade of all the free ,greek cities against ,dionysius of ,syracuse1 and begged ,sparta herself to lead it4 ,the ,spartans are 'of right the leaders of ,hellas by their natural nobleness and their skill in war4 ,they alone live still in a city unsacked1 unwalled1 unconquered1 uncorrupted by faction1 and have followed always the same modes of life4 ,they have been the saviours of ,hellas in the past1 and one may hope that their freedom will be everlasting4'#ha3a ,a great and generous change in one who had 'learned by suffering' in the ,peloponnesian ,war4 ,others no doubt merely gave their submission to the stronger powers that were now rising4 ,there were openings for counsellors1 for mercenary soldiers1 for court savants and philosophers and poets1 and1 of course1 for agents in every free city who were prepared for one motive or another not to kick against the pricks4 ,and there were always also those who had neither learned nor forgotten1 the unrepentant idealists2 too passionate or too heroic or1 as some will say1 too blind1 to abandon their life-long devotion to ',athens' or to ',freedom' because the world considered such ideals out of date4 ,they could look the ruined ,athenians in the face1 after the lost battle1 and say with ,demosthenes1 '' 1 4 ,it cannot be that you did wrong1 it cannot be6'#hb3a ,but in practical politics the currents of thought are inevitably limited4 ,it is in philosophy and speculation that we find the richest and most varied reaction to the ,great ,failure4 ,it takes different shapes in those writers1 like ,plato and ,xenophon1 who were educated in the fifth century and had once believed in the ,great ,city1 and those whose whole thinking life belonged to the time of disillusion4 ,plato was disgusted with democracy and with ,athens1 but he retained his faith in the city1 if only the city could be set on the right road4 ,there can be little doubt that he attributes to the bad government of the ,demos many evils which were really due to extraneous causes or to the mere fallibility of human nature4 ,still his analysis of democracy is one of the most brilliant things in the history of political theory4 ,it is so acute1 so humorous1 so affectionate2 and at many different ages of the world has seemed like a portrait of the actual contemporary society4 ,like a modern popular newspaper1 ,plato's democracy makes it its business to satisfy existing desires and give people a 'good time'4 ,it does not distinguish between higher and lower4 ,any one man is as good as another1 and so is any impulse or any idea4 ,consequently the commoner have the pull4 ,even the great democratic statesmen of the past1 he now sees1 have been ministers to mob desires2 they have 'filled the city with harbours and docks and walls and revenues and such-like trash1 without ,sophrosyn and righteousness'4 ,the sage or saint has no place in practical politics4 ,he would be like a man in a den of wild beasts4 ,let him and his like seek shelter as best they can1 standing up behind some wall while the storm of dust and sleet rages past4 ,the world does not want truth1 which is all that he could give it4 ,it goes by appearances and judges its great men with their clothes on and their rich relations round them4 ,after death1 the judges will judge them naked1 and alone2 and then we shall see6#hc3a ,yet1 in spite of all this1 the child of the fifth century cannot keep his mind from politics4 ,the speculations which would be scouted by the mass in the marketplace can still be discussed with intimate friends and disciples1 or written in books for the wise to read4 ,plato's two longest works are attempts to construct an ideal society2 first1 what may be called a ,city of ,righteousness1 in the ,republic2 and afterwards in his old age1 in the ,laws1 something more like a ,city of ,refuge1 uncontaminated by the world2 a little city on a hill-top away in ,crete1 remote from commerce and riches and the 'bitter and corrupting sea' which carries them2 a city where life shall move in music and discipline and reverence for the things that are greater than man1 and the songs men sing shall be not common songs but the preambles of the city's laws1 showing their purpose and their principle2 where no wall will be needed to keep out the possible enemy1 because the courage and temperance of the citizens will be wall enough1 and if war comes the women equally with the men 'will fight for their young1 as birds do'4 ,this hope is very like despair2 but1 such as it is1 ,plato's thought is always directed towards the city4 ,no other form of social life ever tempts him away1 and he anticipates no insuperable difficulty in keeping the city in the right path if once he can get it started right4 ,the first step1 the necessary revolution1 is what makes the difficulty4 ,and he sees only one way4 ,in real life he had supported the conspiracy of the extreme oligarchs in #djd which led to the rule of the ',thirty ,tyrants'2 but the experience sickened him of such methods4 ,there was no hope unless1 by some lucky combination1 a philosopher should become a king or some young king turn philosopher4 ',give me a city governed by a tyrant1' he says in the ,laws1#hd3a 'and let the tyrant be young1 with a good memory1 quick at learning1 of high courage1 and a generous nature4 4 4 4 ,and besides1 let him have a wise counsellor6' ,ironical fortune granted him an opportunity to try the experiment himself at the court of ,syracuse1 first with the elder and then1 twenty years later1 with the younger ,dionysius 7#chg and #cfg ,b4 ,c474 ,it is a story of disappointment1 of course2 bitter1 humiliating and ludicrous disappointment1 but with a touch of that sublimity which seems so often to hang about the errors of the wise4 ,one can study them in ,seneca at the court of ,nero1 or in ,turgot with ,louis2 not so well perhaps in ,voltaire with ,frederick4 ,plato failed in his enterprise1 but he did keep faith with the ',righteous ,city'4 ,another of the ,socratic circle turned in a different direction4 ,xenophon1 an exile from his country1 a brilliant soldier and adventurer as well as a man of letters1 is perhaps the first ,greek on record who openly lost interest in the city4 ,he thought less about cities and constitutions than about great men and nations1 or generals and armies4 ,to him it was idle to spin cobweb formations of ideal laws and communities4 ,society is right enough if you have a really fine man to lead it4 ,it may be that his ideal was formed in childhood by stories of ,pericles and the great age when ,athens was 'in name a democracy but in truth an empire of one leading man'4 ,he gave form to his dream in the ,education of ,cyrus1 an imaginary account of the training which formed ,cyrus the ,great into an ideal king and soldier4 ,the ,cyropaedeia is said to have been intended as a counterblast to ,plato's ,republic1 and it may have provoked ,plato's casual remark in the ,laws that ',cyrus never so much as touched education'4 ,no doubt the book suffered in persuasiveness from being so obviously fictitious4#he3a ,for example1 the ,cyrus of ,xenophon dies peacefully in his bed after much affectionate and edifying advice to his family1 whereas all ,athens knew from ,herodotus how the real ,cyrus had been killed in a war against the ,massagetae1 and his head1 to slake its thirst for that liquid1 plunged into a wineskin full of human blood4 ,perhaps also the monarchical rule of ,cyrus was too absolute for ,greek taste4 ,at any rate1 later on ,xenophon adopted a more real hero1 whom he had personally known and admired4 ,agesilaus1 king of ,sparta1 had been taken as a type of 'virtue' even by the bitter historian ,theopompus4 ,agesilaus was not only a great general4 ,he knew how to 'honour the gods1 do his duty in the field1 and to practise obedience'4 ,he was true to friend and foe4 ,on one memorable occasion he kept his word even to an enemy who had broken his4 ,he enjoined kindness to enemy captives4 ,when he found small children left behind by the barbarians in some town that he occupied--because either their parents or the slave-merchants had no room for them--he always took care of them or gave them to guardians of their own race3 'he never let the dogs and wolves get them'4 ,on the other hand1 when he sold his barbarian prisoners he sent them to market naked1 regardless of their modesty1 because it cheered his own soldiers to see how white and fat they were4 ,he wept when he won a victory over ,greeks2 'for he loved all ,greeks and only hated barbarians'4 ,when he returned home after his successful campaigns1 he obeyed the orders of the ephors without question2 his house and furniture were as simple as those of a common man1 and his daughter the princess1 when she went to and fro to ,amyclae1 went simply in the public omnibus4 ,he reared chargers and hunting dogs2 the rearing of chariot horses he thought effeminate4 ,but he advised his sister ,cynisca about hers1 and she won the chariot race at ,olympia4 ',have a king like that'1 says ,xenophon1 'and all will be well4 ,he will govern right2 he will beat your enemies2 and he will set an example of good life4 ,if you want ,virtue in the state look for it in a good man1 not in a speculative tangle of laws4 ,the ,spartan constitution1 as it stands1 is good enough for any one4' ,but it was another of the great ,socratics who uttered first the characteristic message of the fourth century1 and met the blows of ,fortune with a direct challenge4 ,antisthenes was a man twenty years older than ,plato4 ,he had fought at ,tanagra in #dbf ,b4 ,c4 ,he had been friends with ,gorgias and ,prodicus1 the great ,sophists of the ,periclean age4 ,he seems to have been1 at any rate till younger and more brilliant men cut him out1 the recognized philosophic heir of ,socrates4#hg3a ,and late in life1 after the fall of ,athens and the condemnation and death of his master1 the man underwent a curious change of heart4 ,he is taunted more than once with the lateness of his discovery of truth1#hg3b and with his childish subservience to the old jeux d'esprit of the ,sceptics which professed to prove the impossibility of knowledge4#hg3c ,it seems that he had lost faith in speculation and dialectic and the elaborate superstructures which ,plato and others had built upon them2 and he felt1 like many moralists after him1 a sort of hostility to all knowledge that was not immediately convertible into conduct4 ,but this scepticism was only part of a general disbelief in the world4 ,greek philosophy had from the first been concerned with a fundamental question which we moderns seldom put clearly to ourselves4 ,it asked ',what is the ,good8' meaning thereby ',what is the element of value in life8' or ',what should be our chief aim in living8' ,a medieval ,christian would have answered without hesitation ',to go to ,heaven and not be damned'1 and would have been prepared with the necessary prescriptions for attaining that end4 ,but the modern world is not intensely enough convinced of the reality of ,sin and ,judgement1 ,hell and ,heaven1 to accept this answer as an authoritative guide in life1 and has not clearly thought out any other4 ,the ancient ,greek spent a great part of his philosophical activity in trying1 without propounding supernatural rewards and punishments1 or at least without laying stress on them1 to think out what the ,good of man really was4 ,the answers given by mankind to this question seem to fall under two main heads4 ,before a battle if both parties were asked what aim they were pursuing1 both would say without hesitation ',victory'4 ,after the battle1 the conqueror would probably say that his purpose was in some way to consolidate or extend his victory2 but the beaten party1 as soon as he had time to think1 would perhaps explain that1 after all1 victory was not everything4 ,it was better to have fought for the right1 to have done your best and to have failed1 than to revel in the prosperity of the unjust4 ,and1 since it is difficult to maintain1 in the midst of the triumph of the enemy and your own obvious misery and humiliation1 that all is well and you yourself thoroughly contented1 this second answer easily develops a third3 ',wait a little1 till ,god's judgement asserts itself2 and see who has the best of it then6' ,there will be a rich reward hereafter for the suffering virtuous4 ,the typical ,athenian of the ,periclean age would have been in the first state of mind4 ,his 'good' would be in the nature of success3 to spread ,justice and ,freedom1 to make ,athens happy and strong and her laws wise and equal for rich and poor4 ,antisthenes had fallen violently into the second4 ,he was defeated together with all that he most cared for1 and he comforted himself with the thought that nothing matters except to have done your best4 ,as he phrased it ,aret is the good1 ,aret meaning 'virtue' or 'goodness'1 the quality of a good citizen1 a good father1 a good dog1 a good sword4 ,the things of the world are vanity1 and philosophy as vain as the rest4 ,nothing but goodness is good2 and the first step towards attaining it is to repent4 ,there was in ,athens a gymnasium built for those who were base-born and could not attend the gymnasia of true citizens4 ,it was called ,kynosarges and was dedicated to the great bastard1 ,heracles4 ,antisthenes1 though he had moved hitherto in the somewhat patrician circle of the ,socratics1 remembered how that his mother was a ,thracian slave1 and set up his school in ,kynosarges among the disinherited of the earth4 ,he made friends with the 'bad1' who needed befriending4 ,he dressed like the poorest workman4 ,he would accept no disciples except those who could bear hardship1 and was apt to drive new-comers away with his stick4 ,yet he also preached in the streets1 both in ,athens and ,corinth4 ,he preached rhetorically1 with parables and vivid emotional phrases1 compelling the attention of the crowd4 ,his eloquence was held to be bad style1 and it started the form of literature known to the ,cynics as 1 'a help'1 or 1 'a study'1 and by the ,christians as 1 a 'homily' or sermon4 ,this passionate and ascetic old man would have attracted the interest of the world even more1 had it not been for one of his disciples4 ,this was a young man from ,sinope1 on the ,euxine1 whom he did not take to at first sight2 the son of a disreputable money-changer who had been sent to prison for defacing the coinage4 ,antisthenes ordered the lad away1 but he paid no attention2 he beat him with his stick1 but he never moved4 ,he wanted 'wisdom'1 and saw that ,antisthenes had it to give4 ,his aim in life was to do as his father had done1 to 'deface the coinage'1 but on a much larger scale4 ,he would deface all the coinage current in the world4 ,every conventional stamp was false4 ,the men stamped as generals and kings2 the things stamped as honour and wisdom and happiness and riches2 all were base metal with lying superscriptions4 ,all must have the stamp defaced4#ij3a ,this young man was ,diogenes1 afterwards the most famous of all the ,cynics4 ,he started by rejecting all stamps and superscriptions and holding that nothing but ,aret1 'worth' or 'goodness'1 was good4 ,he rejected tradition4 ,he rejected the current religion and the rules and customs of temple worship4 ,true religion was a thing of the spirit1 and needed no forms4 ,he despised divination4 ,he rejected civil life and marriage4 ,he mocked at the general interest in the public games and the respect paid to birth1 wealth1 or reputation4 ,let man put aside these delusions and know himself4 ,and for his defences let him arm himself 'against ,fortune with courage1 against ,convention with ,nature1 against passion with ,reason'4 ,for ,reason is 'the god within us'4 ,the salvation for man was to return to ,nature1 and ,diogenes interpreted this return in the simplest and crudest way4 ,he should live like the beasts1 like primeval men1 like barbarians4 ,were not the beasts blessed1 like the ,gods in ,homer8 ,and so1 though in less perfection1 were primitive men1 not vexing their hearts with imaginary sins and conventions4 ,travellers told of savages who married their sisters1 or ate human flesh1 or left their dead unburied4 ,why should they not1 if they wished to8 ,no wonder ,zeus punished ,prometheus the ,fire-,bringer1 who had brought all this progress upon us and left man civilized and more unhappy than any beast6 ,he deserved his crag and his vulture6 ,diogenes took his mission with great earnestness4 ,he was leader in a 'great battle against ,pleasures and ,desires'4 ,he was 'the servant1 the message-bearer1 sent by ,zeus'1 'the ,setter-,free of mankind' and the ',healer of passions'4 ,the life that he personally meant to live1 and which he recommended to the wise1 was what he called 1 'a dog's life'1 and he himself wished to be a 'cynic' or 'canine'4 ,a dog was brave and faithful2 it had no bodily shame1 no false theories1 and few wants4 ,a dog needed no clothes1 no house1 no city1 no possessions1 no titles2 what he did need was 'virtue'1 ,aret1 to catch his prey1 to fight wild beasts1 and to defend his master2 and that he could provide for himself4 ,diogenes found1 of course1 that he needed a little more than an ordinary dog2 a blanket1 a wallet or bowl to hold his food1 and a staff a 'to beat off dogs and bad men'4 ,it was the regular uniform of a beggar4 ,he asked for no house4 ,there was a huge earthen pitcher--not a tub--outside the ,temple of the ,great ,mother2 the sort of vessel that was used for burial in primitive ,greece and which still had about it the associations of a coffin4 ,diogenes slept there when he wanted shelter1 and it became the nearest approach to a home that he had4 ,like a dog he performed any bodily act without shame1 when and where he chose4 ,he obeyed no human laws because he recognized no city4 ,he was ,cosmopoltes1 ,citizen of the ,universe2 all men1 and all beasts too1 were his brothers4 ,he lived preaching in the streets and begging his bread2 except that he did not 'beg'1 he 'commanded'4 ,other folk obeyed his commands because they were still slaves1 while he 'had never been a slave again since ,antisthenes set him free'4 ,he had no fear1 because there was nothing to take from him4 ,only slaves are afraid4 ,greece rang with stories of his mordant wit1 and every bitter saying became fathered on ,diogenes4 ,every one knew how ,alexander the ,great had come to see the famous beggar and1 standing before him where he sat in the open air1 had asked if there was any boon he could confer on him4 ',yes1 move from between me and the sun4' ,they knew the king's saying1 ',if ,i were not ,alexander ,i would be ,diogenes'1 and the polite answer ',if ,i were not ,diogenes ,i would be ,alexander'4 ,the ,master of the ,world and the ,rejector of the ,world met on an equality4 ,people told too how the ,cynic walked about with a lamp in the daytime searching1 so he said1 'for a man'4 ,they knew his scorn of the ,mysteries with their doctrine of exclusive salvation2 was a thief to be in bliss because he was initiated1 while ,agesilaus and ,epaminondas were in outer darkness8 ,a few of the stories are more whimsical4 ,a workman carrying a pole accidentally hit ,diogenes and cried ',look out6' ',why1' said he1 'are you going to hit me again8' ,he had rejected patriotism as he rejected culture4 ,yet he suffered as he saw ,greece under the ,macedonians and ,greek liberties disappearing4 ,when his death was approaching some disciple asked his wishes about his burial2 ',let the dogs and wolves have me1' he said2 ',i should like to be of some use to my brothers when ,i die4' ,when this request was refused his thoughts turned again to the ,macedonian ,wars2 ',bury me face downwards2 everything is soon going to be turned the other way up4' ,he remains the permanent and unsurpassed type of one way of grappling with the horror of life4 ,fear nothing1 desire nothing1 possess nothing3 and then ,life with all its ingenuity of malice cannot disappoint you4 ,if man cannot enter into life nor yet depart from it save through agony and filth1 let him learn to endure the one and be indifferent to the other4 ,the watchdog of ,zeus on earth has to fulfil his special duty1 to warn mankind of the truth and to set slaves free4 ,nothing else matters4 ,the criticism of this solution is not that it is selfish4 ,it is not4 ,the ,cynic lives for the salvation of his fellow creatures4 ,and it is worth remembering that before the ,roman gladiatorial games were eventually stopped by the self-immolation of the monk ,telemachus1 two ,cynic philosophers had thrown themselves into the arena in the same spirit4 ,its weakness lies in a false psychology1 common to all the world at that time1 which imagined that salvation or freedom consists in living utterly without desire or fear1 that such a life is biologically possible1 and that ,diogenes lived it4 ,to a subtler critic it is obvious that ,diogenes was a man of very strong and successful ambitions1 though his ambitions were different from those of most men4 ,he solved the problem of his own life by following with all the force and courage of his genius a line of conduct which made him1 next to ,alexander1 the most famous man in ,greece4 ,to be really without fear or desire would mean death1 and to die is not to solve the riddle of living4 ,the difference between the ,cynic view of life and that of ,plato's ,republic is interesting4 ,plato also rejected the most fundamental conventions of existing society1 the accepted methods of government1 the laws of property and of marriage1 the traditional religion and even the poetry which was a second religion to the ,greeks4 ,but he rejected the existing culture only because he wanted it to be better4 ,he condemned the concrete existing city in order to build a more perfect city1 to proceed in infinite searching and longing towards the ,idea of ,good1 the ,sun of the spiritual universe4 ,diogenes rejected the civilization which he saw1 and admitted the reality of no other4 ,his crude realistic attitude of mind had no use for ,plato's ',ideas'4 ',i can see a table1' he said2 ',i cannot see ,tabularity' 774 ',i know ,athens and ,corinth and other cities1 and can see that they are all bad4 ,as for the ,ideal ,society1 show it me and ,i will say what ,i think4' ,in spite of its false psychology the ,cynic conception of life had a great effect in ,greece4 ,it came almost as a revelation to both men and women#ie3a and profoundly influenced all the ,schools4 ,here indeed1 it seemed1 was a way to baffle ,fortune and to make one's own soul unafraid4 ,what men wanted was 'to be of good cheer'2 as we say now1 to regain their morale after bewildering defeats4 ,the ,cynic answer1 afterwards corrected and humanized by the ,stoics1 was to look at life as a long and arduous campaign4 ,the loyal soldier does not trouble about his comfort or his rewards or his pleasures4 ,he obeys his commander's orders without fear or failing1 whether they lead to easy victories or merely to wounds1 captivity or death4 ,only ,goodness is good1 and for the soldier ,goodness 77 is the doing of ,duty4 ,that is his true prize1 which no external power can take away from him4 ,but after all1 what is ,duty8 ,diogenes preached 'virtue' and assumed that his way of life was 'virtue'4 ,but was it really so8 ,and1 if so1 on what evidence8 ,to live like a beast1 to be indifferent to art1 beauty1 letters1 science1 philosophy1 to the amenities of civic life1 to all that raised ,hellenic ,man above the beast or the savage8 ,how could this be the true end of man8 ,the ,stoic ,school1 whose founder1 ,zeno1 was a disciple of old ,antisthenes1 gradually built up a theory of moral life which has on the whole weathered the storms of time with great success4 ,it largely dominated later antiquity by its imaginative and emotional power4 ,it gave form to the aspirations of early ,christianity4 ,it lasts now as the nearest approach to an acceptable system of conduct for those who do not accept revelation1 but still keep some faith in the ,purpose of ,things4 ,the problem is to combine the absolute value of that ,goodness which1 as we say1 'saves the soul' with the relative values of the various good things that soothe or beautify life4 ,for1 if there is any value at all--,i will not say in health and happiness1 but in art1 poetry1 knowledge1 refinement1 public esteem1 or human affection1 and if their claims do clash1 as in common opinion they sometimes do1 with the demands of absolute sanctity1 how is the balance to be struck8 ,are we to be content with the principle of accepting a little moral wrong for the sake of much material or artistic or intellectual advantage8 ,that is the rule which the practical world follows1 though without talking about it2 but the ,stoics would have none of any such compromise4 ,zeno first1 like ,antisthenes1 denied any value whatever to these earthly things that are not virtue--to health or sickness1 riches or poverty1 beauty or ugliness1 pain or pleasure2 who would ever mention them when the soul stood naked before ,god8 ,all that would then matter1 and consequently all that can ever matter1 is the goodness of the man's self1 that is1 of his free and living will4 ,the ,stoics improved on the military metaphor2 for to the soldier1 after all1 it does matter whether in his part of the field he wins or loses4 ,life is not like a battle but like a play1 in which ,god has handed each man his part unread1 and the good man proceeds to act it to the best of his power1 not knowing what may happen in the last scene4 ,he may become a crowned king1 he may be a slave dying in torment4 ,what matters it8 ,the good actor can play either part4 ,all that matters is that he shall act his best1 accept the order of the ,cosmos and obey the ,purpose of the great ,dramaturge4 ,the answer seems absolute and unyielding1 with no concession to the weakness of the flesh4 ,yet1 in truth1 it contains in itself the germ of a sublime practical compromise which makes ,stoicism human4 ,it accepts the ,cosmos and it obeys the ,purpose2 therefore there is a ,cosmos1 and there is a purpose in the world4 ,stoicism1 like much of ancient thought at this period1 was permeated by the new discoveries of astronomy and their formation into a coherent scientific system1 which remained unshaken till the days of ,copernicus4 ,the stars1 which had always moved men's wonder and even worship1 were now seen and proved to be no wandering fires but parts of an immense and apparently eternal order4 ,one star might differ from another star in glory1 but they were all alike in their obedience to law4 ,they had their fixed courses1 divine though they were1 which had been laid down for them by a ,being greater than they4 ,the ,order1 or ,cosmos1 was a proven fact2 therefore1 the ,purpose was a proven fact2 and1 though in its completeness inscrutable1 it could at least in part be divined from the fact that all these varied and eternal splendours had for their centre our ,earth and its ephemeral master4 ,the ,purpose1 though it is not our ,purpose1 is especially concerned with us and circles round us4 ,it is the purpose of a ,god who loves ,man4 ,let us forget that this system of astronomy has been overthrown1 and that we now know that ,man is not the centre of the universe4 ,let us forget that the majestic order which reigns1 or seems to reign1 among the stars1 is matched by a brutal conflict and a chaos of jarring purposes in the realms of those sciences which deal with life4#ih3a ,if we can recover the imaginative outlook of the generations which stretched from1 say1 ,meton in the fifth century before ,christ to ,copernicus in the sixteenth after1 we shall be able to understand the spiritual exaltation with which men like ,zeno or ,poseidonius regarded the world4 ,we are part of an ,order1 a ,cosmos1 which we see to be infinitely above our comprehension but which we know to be an expression of love for ,man2 what can we do but accept it1 not with resignation but with enthusiasm1 and offer to it with pride any sacrifice which it may demand of us4 ,it is a glory to suffer for such an end4 ,and there is more4 ,for the ,stars show only what may be called a stationary purpose1 an ,order which is and remains for ever4 ,but in the rest of the world1 we can see a moving ,purpose4 ,it is ,phusis1 the word which the ,romans unfortunately translated ',natura'1 but which means ',growing' or 'the way things grow'--almost what we call ,evolution4 ,but to the ,stoic it is a living and conscious evolution1 a forethought or in the mind of ,god1 what the ,romans called providentia1 guiding all things that grow in a direction which accords with the divine will4 ,and the direction1 the ,stoic pointed out1 was not towards mere happiness but towards ,aret1 or the perfection of each thing or each species after its kind4 ,phusis shapes the acorn to grow into the perfect oak1 the blind puppy into the good hound2 it makes the deer grow in swiftness to perform the function of a deer1 and man grow in power and wisdom to perform the function of a man4 ,if a man is an artist it is his function to produce beauty2 if he a governor1 it is his function to produce a flourishing and virtuous city4 ,true1 the things that he produces are but shadows and in themselves utterly valueless2 it matters not one straw whether the deer goes at ten miles an hour or twenty1 whether the population of a city die this year of famine and sickness or twenty years hence of old age4 ,but it belongs to the good governor to avert famine and to produce healthy conditions1 as it belongs to the deer to run its best4 ,so it is the part of a friend1 if need arise1 to give his comfort or his life for a friend2 of a mother to love and defend her children2 though it is true that in the light of eternity these 'creaturely' affections shrivel into their native worthlessness4 ,if the will of ,god is done1 and done willingly1 all is well4 ,you may1 if it brings you great suffering1 feel the pain4 ,you may even1 through human weakness1 weep or groan2 that can be forgiven4 1 ',but in the centre of your being groan not6' ,accept the ,cosmos4 ,will joyously that which ,god wills and make the eternal ,purpose your own4 ,i will say no more of this great body of teaching1 as ,i have dealt with it in a separate publication4#ajj3a ,but ,i would point out two special advantages of a psychological kind which distinguish ,stoicism from many systems of philosophy4 ,first1 though it never consciously faced the psychological problem of instinct1 it did see clearly that man does not necessarily pursue what pleases him most1 or what is most profitable to him1 or even his 'good'4 ,it saw that man can determine his end1 and may well choose pain in preference to pleasure4 ,this saved the school from a great deal of that false schematization which besets most forms of rationalistic psychology4 ,secondly1 it did build up a system of thought on which1 both in good days and evil1 a life can be lived which is not only saintly1 but practically wise and human and beneficent4 ,it did for practical purposes solve the problem of living1 without despair and without grave1 or at least without gross1 illusion4 ,the other great school of the fourth century1 a school which1 in the matter of ethics1 may be called the only true rival of ,stoicism1 was also rooted in defeat4 ,but it met defeat in a different spirit4#aja3a ,epicurus1 son of ,neocles1 of the old ,athenian clan of the ,philadae1 was born on a colony in ,samos in #cda ,b4 ,c4 ,his father was evidently poor2 else he would hardly have left ,athens to live on a colonial farm1 nor have had to eke out his farming by teaching an elementary school4 ,we do not know how much the small boy learned from his father4 ,but for older students there was a famous school on the neighbouring island of ,teos1 where a certain ,nausiphanes taught the ,ionian tradition of ,mathematics and ,physics as well as rhetoric and literary subjects4 ,epicurus went to this school when he was fourteen1 and seems1 among other things1 to have imbibed the ,atomic ,theory of ,democritus without realizing that it was anything peculiar4 ,he felt afterwards as if his school-days had been merely a waste of time4 ,at the age of eighteen he went to ,athens1 the centre of the philosophic world1 but he only went1 as ,athenian citizens were in duty bound1 to perform his year of military service as ephbus4 ,study was to come later4 ,the next year1 however1 #cbb1 ,perdiccas of ,thrace made an attack on ,samos and drove out the ,athenian colonists4 ,neocles had by then lived on his bit of land for thirty years1 and was old to begin life again4 ,the ruined family took refuge in ,colophon1 and there ,epicurus joined them4 ,they were now too poor for the boy to go abroad to study philosophy4 ,he could only make the best of a hard time and puzzle alone over the problems of life4 ,recent years have taught us that there are few forms of misery harder than that endured by a family of refugees1 and it is not likely to have been easier in ancient conditions4 ,epicurus built up his philosophy1 it would seem1 while helping his parents and brothers through this bad time4 ,the problem was how to make the life of their little colony tolerable1 and he somehow solved it4 ,it was not the kind of problem which ,stoicism and the great religions specially set themselves2 it was at once too unpretending and too practical4 ,one can easily imagine the condition for which he had to prescribe4 ,for one thing1 the unfortunate refugees all about him would torment themselves with unnecessary terrors4 ,the ,thracians were pursuing them4 ,the ,gods hated them2 they must obviously have committed some offence or impiety4 7,it is always easy for disheartened men to discover in themselves some sin that deserves punishment47 ,it would surely be better to die at once2 except that1 with that sin upon them1 they would only suffer more dreadfully beyond the grave6 ,in their distress they jarred1 doubtless1 on one another's nerves2 and mutual bitterness doubled their miseries4 ,epicurus is said to have had poor health1 and the situation was one where even the best health would be sorely tried4 ,but he had superhuman courage1 and--what does not always go with such courage--a very affectionate and gentle nature4 ,in later life all his three brothers were his devoted disciples--a testimonial accorded to few prophets or founders of religions4 ,and he is the first man in the record of ,european history whose mother was an important element in his life4 ,some of his letters to her have been preserved1 and show a touch of intimate affection which of course must have existed between human beings from the remotest times1 but of which we possess no earlier record4 ,and fragments of his letters to his friends strike the same note4#ajc3a ,his first discovery was that men torture themselves with unnecessary fears4 ,he must teach them courage1 1 1 to fear no evil from either man or ,god4 ,god is a blessed being2 and no blessed being either suffers evil or inflicts evil on others4 ,and as for men1 most of the evils you fear from them can be avoided by ,justice2 and if they do come1 they can be borne4 ,death is like sleep1 an unconscious state1 nowise to be feared4 ,pain when it comes can be endured2 it is the anticipation that makes men miserable and saps their courage4 ,the refugees were forgotten by the world1 and had no hope of any great change in their condition4 ,well1 he argued1 so much the better6 ,let them till the earth and love one another1 and they would find that they had already in them that ,natural ,happiness which is man's possession until he throws it away4 ,and of all things that contribute to happiness the greatest is ,affection1 4 ,like the ,cynics and ,stoics1 he rejected the world and all its conventions and prizes1 its desires and passions and futility4 ,but where the ,stoic and ,cynic proclaimed that in spite of all the pain and suffering of a wicked world1 man can by the force of his own will be virtuous1 ,epicurus brought the more surprising good news that man can after all be happy4 ,but to make this good news credible he had to construct a system of thought4 ,he had to answer the temple authorities and their adherents among the vulgar1 who threatened his followers with the torments of ,hades for their impiety4 ,he had to answer the ,stoics and ,cynics1 preaching that all is worthless except ,aret2 and the ,sceptics1 who dwelt on the fallibility of the senses1 and the logical impossibility of knowledge4 ,he met the last of these by the traditional ,ionian doctrine of sense-impressions1 ingeniously developed4 ,we can1 he argued1 know the outer world1 because our sense impressions are literally 'impressions' or stamps made by external objects upon our organs4 ,to see1 for instance1 is to be struck by an infinitely tenuous stream of images1 flowing from the object and directly impinging upon the retina4 ,such streams are flowing from all objects in every direction--an idea which seemed incredible until the modern discoveries about light1 sound1 and radiation4 ,thus there is direct contact with reality1 and consequently knowledge4 ,besides direct vision1 however1 we have 'anticipations'1 or 1 sometimes called 'common conceptions'1 e4 g4 the general conception which we have of a horse when we are not seeing one4 ,these are merely the result of repeated acts of vision4 ,a curious result of this doctrine was that all our 'anticipations' or 'common ideas' are true2 mistakes occur through some interpretation of our own which we add to the simple sensation4 ,we can know the world4 ,how then are we to understand it8 ,here again ,epicurus found refuge in the old ,ionian theory of ,atoms and the ,void1 which is supposed to have originated with ,democritus and ,leucippus1 a century before4 ,but ,epicurus seems to have worked out the ,atomic ,theory more in detail1 as we have it expounded in ,lucretius' magnificent poem4 ,in particular it was possibly he who first combined the ,atomic ,theory with hylozoism2 i4 e4 he conceived of the ,atoms as possessing some rudimentary power of movement and therefore able to swerve slightly in their regular downward course4 ,that explains how they have become infinitely tangled and mingled1 how plants and animals are alive1 and how men have ,free ,will4 ,it also enables ,epicurus to build up a world without the assistance of a god4 ,he set man free1 as ,lucretius says1 from the 'burden of ,religion'1 though his doctrine of the 'blessed ,being' which neither has pain nor gives pain1 enables him to elude the dangerous accusation of atheism4 ,he can leave people believing in all their traditional gods1 including even1 if so they wish1 'the bearded ,zeus and the helmed ,athena' which they see in dreams and in their 'common ideas'1 while at the same time having no fear of them4 ,there remains the foolish fancy of the ,cynics and ,stoics that ',aret' is the only good4 ,of course1 he answers1 ,aret is good2 but that is because it produces happy life1 or blessedness or pleasure or whatever you call it4 ,he used normally the word 'sweetness'1 and counted the ,good as that which makes life sweet4 ,he seems never to have entered into small disputes as to the difference between 'sweetness'1 or 'pleasure'1 and 'happiness' and 'well-being' 71 1 1 471 though sometimes1 instead of 'sweetness' he spoke of 'blessedness' 774 ,ultimately the dispute between him and the ,stoics seems to resolve itself into a question whether the ,good lies in or 1 in ,experience or in ,action2 and average human beings seem generally to think that the ,good for a conscious being must be something of which he is conscious4 ,thus the great system is built1 simple1 intelligible1 dogmatic1 and--as such systems go--remarkably water-tight4 ,it enables man to be unafraid1 and it helps him to be happy4 ,the strange thing is that1 although on more than one point it seems to anticipate most surprisingly the discoveries of modern science1 it was accepted in a spirit more religious than scientific4 ,as we can see from ,lucretius it was taken almost as a revelation1 from one who had saved mankind2 whose intellect had pierced beyond the 'flaming walls of ,heaven' and brought back to man the gospel of an intelligible universe4#ajf3a ,in #caj ,b4 ,c41 when ,epicurus was thirty-two1 things had so far improved that he left ,colophon and set up a school of philosophy in ,mytilene1 but soon moved to ,lampsacus1 on the ,sea of ,marmora1 where he had friends4 ,disciples gathered about him4 ,among them were some of the leading men of the city1 like ,leonteus and ,idomeneus4 ,the doctrine thrilled them and seemed to bring freedom with it4 ,they felt that such a teacher must be set up in ,athens1 the home of the great philosophers4 ,they bought by subscription a house and garden in ,athens for #hj minae 7about #cbj7ajg3a and presented it to the ,master4 ,he crossed to ,athens in #cjf and1 though he four times revisited ,lampsacus and has left letters addressed ,to ,friends in ,lampsacus1 he lived in the famous ,garden for the rest of his life4 ,friends from ,lampsacus and elsewhere came and lived with him or near him4 ,the ,garden was not only a philosophical school2 it was also a sort of retreat or religious community4 ,there lived there not only philosophers like ,mtrodrus1 ,coltes1 ,hermarchus1 and others2 there were slaves1 like ,mys1 and free women1 like ,themista1 the wife of ,leonteus1 to both of whom the ,master1 as the extant fragments testify1 wrote letters of intimate friendship4 ,and not only free women1 but women with names that show that they were slaves1 ,leontion1 ,nikidion1 ,mammarion4 ,they were hetairae2 perhaps victims of war1 like many of the unfortunate heroines in the ,new ,comedy2 free women from conquered cities1 who had been sold in the slave market or reduced to misery as refugees1 and to whom now the ,garden afforded a true and spiritual refuge4 ,for1 almost as much as ,diogenes1 ,epicurus had obliterated the stamp on the conventional currency4 ,the values of the world no longer held good after you had passed the wicket gate of the ,garden1 and spoken with the ,deliverer4 ,the ,epicureans lived simply4 ,they took neither flesh nor wine1 and there is a letter extant1 asking some one to send them a present of 'potted cheese'#ajh3a as a special luxury4 ,their enemies1 who were numerous and lively1 make the obvious accusations about the hetairae1 and cite an alleged letter of the ,master to ,leontion4 ',lord ,paean1 my dear little ,leontion1 your note fills me with such a bubble of excitement6'#ajh3b ,the problem of this letter well illustrates the difficulty of forming clear judgements about the details of ancient life4 ,probably the letter is a forgery3 we are definitely informed that there was a collection of such forgeries1 made in order to damage ,epicurus4 ,but1 if genuine1 would it have seemed to a fair-minded contemporary a permissible or an impermissible letter for a philosopher to write8 ,by modern standards it would be about the border-line4 ,and again1 suppose it is a definite love-letter1 what means have we of deciding whether ,epicurus--or for that matter ,zeno or ,plato or any unconventional philosopher of this period--would have thought it blameworthy1 or would merely have called our attention to the legal difficulties of contracting marriage with one who had been a ,hetaira1 and asked us how we expect men and women to live4 ,curiously enough1 we happen to have the recorded sayings of ,epicurus himself3 ',the wise man will not fall in love'1 and ',physical union of the sexes never did good2 it is much if it does not do harm4' ,this philosophy is often unjustly criticized4 ,it is called selfish2 but that it is certainly not4 ,it is always aiming at the deliverance of mankind#aji3a and it bases its happiness on 1 ,friendship or ,affection1 just as the early ,christians based it on 1 a word no whit stronger than 1 though it is conventionally translated ',love'4 ,by this conception it becomes at once more human than the ,stoa1 to which1 as to a ,christian monk1 human affection was merely a weakness of the flesh which might often conflict with the soul's duty towards ,god4 ,epicurus passionately protested against this unnatural 'apathy'4 ,it was also human in that it recognized degrees of good or bad1 of virtue or error4 ,to the ,stoic that which was not right was wrong4 ,a calculator who says that seven sevens make forty-eight is just as wrong as one who says they make a thousand1 and a sailor one inch below the surface of the water drowns just as surely as one who is a furlong deep4 ,just so in human life1 wrong is wrong1 falsehood is falsehood1 and to talk of degrees is childish4 ,epicureanism had an easy and natural answer to these arguments1 since pleasure and pain obviously admit of degrees4#aaj3a ,the school is blamed also for pursuing pleasure1 on the ground that the direct pursuit of pleasure is self-defeating4 ,but ,epicurus never makes that mistake4 ,he says that pleasure1 or 'sweetness of life'1 is the good2 but he never counsels the direct pursuit of it4 ,quite the reverse4 ,he says that if you conquer your desires and fears1 and live simply and love those about you1 the natural sweetness of life will reveal itself4 ,a truer criticism is one which appears dimly in ,plutarch and ,cicero4#aaj3b ,there is a strange shadow of sadness hanging over this wise and kindly faith1 which proceeds from the essential distrust of life that lies at its heart4 ,the best that ,epicurus has really to say of the world is that if you are very wise and do not attract its notice-- --it will not hurt you4 ,it is a philosophy not of conquest but of escape4 ,this was a weakness from which few of the fourth-century thinkers completely escaped4 ,to aim at what we should call positive happiness was1 to the ,epicureans1 only to court disappointment2 better make it your aim to live without strong passion or desire1 without high hopes or ambitions4 ,their professed ideals-- 1 1 1 'the removal of all active suffering'1 'undisturbedness'1 'a smooth flow'--seem to result in rather a low tension1 in a life that is only half alive4 ,we know that1 as a matter of fact1 this was not so4 ,the ,epicureans felt their doctrine to bring not mere comfort but inspiration and blessedness4 ,the young ,colotes1 on first hearing the master speak1 fell on his knees with tears and hailed him as a god4#aaa3a ,we may compare the rapturous phrases of ,lucretius4 ,what can be the explanation of this8 ,perhaps it is that a deep distrust of the world produces its own inward reaction1 as starving men dream of rich banquets1 and persecuted sects have apocalyptic visions of paradise4 ,the hopes and desires that are starved of their natural sustenance project themselves on to some plane of the imagination4 ,the martyr1 even the most heretical martyr1 sees the vision of his crown in the skies1 the lover sees in obvious defects only rare and esoteric beauties4 ,epicurus avoided sedulously the transcendental optimism of the ,stoics4 ,he avoided mysticism1 avoided allegory1 avoided faith2 he tried to set the feet of his philosophy on solid ground4 ,he can make a strong case for the probable happiness of a man of kindly affections and few desires1 who asks little from the outside world4 ,but after all it is only probable2 misfortunes and miseries may come to any man4 ',most of the evils you fear are false1' he answers1 still reasonably4 ',death does not hurt4 ,poverty need never make a man less happy4' ,and actual pain8 ',yes1 pain may come4 ,but you can endure it4 ,intense pains are brief2 long-drawn pains are not excruciating2 or seldom so4' ,is that common-sense comfort not enough8 ,the doctrine becomes more intense both in its promises and its demands4 ,if intense suffering comes1 he enjoins1 turn away your mind and conquer the pain by the 'sweetness' of memory4 ,there are in every wise man's life moments of intense beauty and delight2 if he has strength of mind he will call them back to him at will and live in the blessedness of the past1 not in the mere dull agony of the moment4 ,nay1 can he not actually enjoy the intellectual interest of this or that pang8 ,has he not that within him which can make the quality of its own life8 ,on hearing of the death of a friend he will call back the sweetness of that friend's converse2 in the burning ,bull of ,phalaris he will think his thoughts and be glad4 ,illusion1 the old ,siren with whom man cannot live in peace1 nor yet without her1 has crept back unseen to the centre of the citadel4 ,it was ,epicurus1 and not a ,stoic or ,cynic1 who asserts that a ,wise ,man will be happy on the rack4#aab3a ,strangely obliging1 ironic ,fortune gave to him also a chance of testing of his own doctrine4 ,there is extant a letter written on his death-bed4 ',i write to you on this blissful day which is the last of my life4 ,the obstruction of my bladder and internal pains have reached the extreme point1 but there is marshalled against them the delight of my mind in thinking over our talks together4 ,take care of the children of ,metrodorus in a way worthy of your life-long devotion to me and to philosophy4'#aac3a ,at least his courage1 and his kindness1 did not fail4 ,epicureanism had certainly its sublime side2 and from this very sublimity perhaps arose the greatest flaw in the system1 regarded as a rational philosophy4 ,it was accepted too much as a ,revelation1 too little as a mere step in the search for truth4 ,it was based no doubt on careful and even profound scientific studies1 and was expounded by the master in a vast array of volumes4 ,but the result so attained was considered sufficient4 ,further research was not encouraged4 ,heterodoxy was condemned as something almost approaching 'parricide'4#aac3b ,the pursuit of 'needless knowledge' was deliberately frowned upon4#aac3c ,when other philosophers were working out calculations about the size of the ,sun and the commensurability of the sun-cycle and the moon-cycle1 ,epicurus contemptuously remarked that the ,sun was probably about as big as it looked1 or perhaps smaller3 since fires at a distance generally look bigger than they are4 ,the various theories of learned men were all possible but none certain4 ,and as for the cycles1 how did any one know that there was not a new sun shot off and extinguished every day8#aac3d ,it is not surprising to find that none of the great discoveries of the ,hellenistic ,age were due to the ,epicurean school4 ,lucretius1 writing #bej years later1 appears to vary hardly in any detail from the doctrines of the ,master1 and ,diogenes of ,oenoanda1 #ejj years later1 actually repeats his letters and sayings word for word4 ,it is sad1 this4 ,it is un-,hellenic2 it is a clear symptom of decadence from the free intellectual movement and the high hopes which had made the fifth century glorious4 ,only in one great school does the true ,hellenic ,sphrosyn continue flourishing1 a school whose modesty of pretension and quietness of language form a curious contrast with the rapt ecstasies of ,stoic and ,cynic and even1 as we have seen1 of ,epicurean1 just as its immense richness of scientific achievement contrasts with their comparative sterility4 ,the ,porch and the ,garden offered new religions to raise from the dust men and women whose spirits were broken2 ,aristotle in his ,open ,walk1 or ,peripatos1 brought philosophy and science and literature to guide the feet and interest the minds of those who still saw life steadily and tried their best to see it whole4 ,aristotle was not lacking in religious insight and imagination1 as he certainly was not without profound influence on the future history of religion4 ,his complete rejection of mythology and of anthropomorphism2 his resolute attempt to combine religion and science1 not by sacrificing one to the other but by building the highest spiritual aspirations on ascertained truth and the probable conclusions to which it pointed2 his splendid imaginative conception of the ,divine ,being or ,first ,cause as unmoved itself while moving all the universe 'as the beloved moves the lover'2 all these are high services to religious speculation1 and justify the position he held1 even when known only through a distorting ,arabic translation1 in medieval ,christianity4 ,if he had not written his other books he might well be famous now as a great religious teacher4 ,but his theology is dwarfed by the magnificence and mass of his other work4 ,and as a philosopher and man of science he does not belong to our present subject4 ,he is only mentioned here as a standard of that characteristic quality in ,hellenism from which the rest of this book records a downfall4 ,one variant of a well-known story tells how a certain philosopher1 after frequenting the ,peripatetic ,school1 went to hear ,chrysippus1 the ,stoic1 and was transfixed4 ',it was like turning from men to ,gods4' ,it was really turning from ,greeks to ,semites1 from philosophy to religion1 from a school of very sober professions and high performance to one whose professions dazzled the reason4 ',come unto me1' cried the ,stoic1 'all ye who are in storm or delusion2 ,i will show you the truth and the world will never grieve you more4' ,aristotle made no such profession4 ,he merely thought and worked and taught better than other men4 ,aristotle is always surprising us not merely by the immense volume of clear thinking and co-ordinated knowledge of which he was master1 but by the steady ,sphrosyn of his temper4 ,son of the court physician of ,philip1 tutor for some years to ,alexander the ,great1 he never throughout his extant writings utters one syllable of flattery to his royal and world-conquering employers2 nor yet one syllable which suggests a grievance4 ,he saw1 at close quarters and from the winning side1 the conquest of the ,greek city states by the ,macedonian ethnos or nation2 but he judges dispassionately that the city is the higher social form4 ,it seems characteristic that in his will1 which is extant1 after providing a dowry for his widow1 ,herpyllis1 to facilitate her getting a second husband1 and thanking her for her goodness to him1 he directs that his bones are to be laid in the same grave with those of his first wife1 ,pythias1 whom he had rescued from robbers more than twenty years before4#aaf3a ,other philosophers disliked him because he wore no long beard1 dressed neatly and had good normal manners1 and they despised his philosophy for very similar reasons4 ,it was a school which took the existing world and tried to understand it instead of inventing some intense ecstatic doctrine which should transform it or reduce it to nothingness4 ,it possessed no ,open ,sesame to unlock the prison of mankind2 yet it is not haunted by that ,oimg of ,kynoskephalai4 ,while armies sweep ,greece this way and that1 while the old gods are vanquished and the cities lose their freedom and their meaning1 the ,peripatetics instead of passionately saving souls diligently pursued knowledge1 and in generation after generation produced scientific results which put all their rivals into the shade4#aaf3b ,in mathematics1 astronomy1 physics1 botany1 zoology1 and biology1 as well as the human sciences of literature and history1 the ,hellenistic ,age was one of the most creative known to our record4 ,and it is not only that among the savants responsible for these advances the proportion of ,peripatetics is overwhelming2 one may also notice that in this school alone it is assumed as natural that further research will take place and will probably correct as well as increase our knowledge1 and that1 when such corrections or differences of opinion do take place1 there is no cry raised of ,heresy4 ,it is the old difference between ,philosophy and ,religion1 between the search of the intellect for truth and the cry of the heart for salvation4 ,as the interest in truth for its own sake gradually abated in the ancient world1 the works of ,aristotle might still find commentators1 but his example was forgotten and his influence confined to a small circle4 ,the ,porch and the ,garden1 for the most part1 divided between them the allegiance of thoughtful men4 ,both systems had begun in days of discomfiture1 and aimed originally more at providing a refuge for the soul than at ordering the course of society4 ,but after the turmoil of the fourth century had subsided1 when governments began again to approach more nearly to peace and consequently to justice1 and public life once more to be attractive to decent men1 both philosophies showed themselves adaptable to the needs of prosperity as well as adversity4 ,many kings and great ,roman governors professed ,stoicism4 ,it held before them the ideal of universal ,brotherhood1 and of duty to the ',great ,society of ,gods and ,men'2 it enabled them to work1 indifferent to mere pain and pleasure1 as servants of the divine purpose and 'fellow-workers with ,god' in building up a human ,cosmos within the eternal ,cosmos4 ,it is perhaps at first sight strange that many kings and governors also followed ,epicurus4 ,yet after all the work of a public man is not hindered by a slight irony as to the value of worldly greatness and a conviction that a dinner of bread and water with love to season it 'is better than all the crowns of the ,greeks'4 ,to hate cruelty and superstition1 to avoid passion and luxury1 to regard human 'pleasure' or 'sweetness of life' as the goal to be aimed at1 and 'friendship' or 'kindliness' as the principal element in that pleasure1 are by no means doctrines incompatible with wise and effective administration4 ,both systems were good and both in a way complementary one to another4 ,they still divide between them the practical philosophy of western mankind4 ,at times to most of us it seems as though nothing in life had value except to do right and to fear not2 at others that the only true aim is to make mankind happy4 ,at times man's best hope seems to lie in that part of him which is prepared to defy or condemn the world of fact if it diverges from the ideal2 in that intensity of reverence which will accept many impossibilities rather than ever reject a holy thing2 above all in that uncompromising moral sensitiveness to which not merely the corruptions of society but the fundamental and necessary facts of animal existence seem both nauseous and wicked1 links and chains in a system which can never be the true home of the human spirit4 ,at other times men feel the need to adapt their beliefs and actions to the world as it is2 to brush themselves free from cobwebs2 to face plain facts with common sense and as much kindliness as life permits1 meeting the ordinary needs of a perishable and imperfect species without illusion and without make-believe4 ,at one time we are ,stoics1 at another ,epicureans4 ,but amid their differences there is one faith which was held by both schools in common4 ,it is the great characteristic faith of the ancient world1 revealing itself in many divergent guises and seldom fully intelligible to modern men2 faith in the absolute supremacy of the inward life over things external4 ,these men really believed that wisdom is more precious than jewels1 that poverty and ill health are things of no import1 that the good man is happy whatever befall him1 and all the rest4 ,and in generation after generation many of the ablest men1 and women also1 acted upon the belief4 ,they lived by free choice lives whose simplicity and privation would horrify a modern labourer1 and the world about them seems to have respected rather than despised their poverty4 ,to the ,middle ,age1 with its monks and mendicants expectant of reward in heaven1 such an attitude1 except for its disinterestedness1 would be easily understood4 ,to some eastern nations1 with their cults of asceticism and contemplation1 the same doctrines have appealed almost like a physical passion or a dangerous drug running riot in their veins4 ,but modern western man cannot believe them1 nor believe seriously that others believe them4 ,on us the power of the material world has1 through our very mastery of it and the dependence which results from that mastery1 both inwardly and outwardly increased its hold4 ,capta ferum victorem cepit4 ,we have taken possession of it1 and now we cannot move without it4 ,the material element in modern life is far greater than in ancient2 but it does not follow that the spiritual element is correspondingly less4 ,no doubt it is true that a naval officer in a conning-tower in a modern battle does not need less courage and character than a naked savage who meets his enemy with a stick and a spear4 ,yet probably in the first case the battle is mainly decided by the weight and accuracy of the guns1 in the second by the qualities of the fighter4 ,consequently the modern world thinks more incessantly and anxiously about the guns1 that is1 about money and mechanism2 the ancient devotes its thought more to human character and duty4 ,and it is curious to observe how1 in general1 each tries to remedy what is wrong with the world by the method that is habitually in its thoughts4 ,speaking broadly1 apart from certain religious movements1 the enlightened modern reformer1 if confronted with some ordinary complex of misery and wickedness1 instinctively proposes to cure it by higher wages1 better food1 more comfort and leisure2 to make people comfortable and trust to their becoming good4 ,the typical ancient reformer would appeal to us to care for none of those things 7since riches notoriously do not make men virtuous71 but with all our powers to pursue wisdom or righteousness and the life of the spirit2 to be good men1 as we can be if we will1 and to know that all else will follow4 ,this is one of the regions in which the ancients might have learned much from us1 and in which we still have much to learn from them1 if once we can shake off our temporal obsessions and listen4 ,,note ,as an example it is worth noticing1 even in a bare catalogue1 the work done by one of ,aristotle's own pupils1 a ,peripatetic of the second rank1 ,dicaearchus of ,messene4 ,his floruit is given as #caj ,b4 ,c4 ,dorian by birth1 when ,theophrastus was made head of the school he retired to the ,peloponnese1 and shows a certain prejudice against ,athens4 ,one of the discoveries of the time was biography4 ,and1 by a brilliant stroke of imagination ,dicaearchus termed one of his books 1 ,the ,life of ,hellas4 ,he saw civilization as the biography of the world4 ,first1 the ,age of ,cronos1 when man as a simple savage made no effort after higher things2 next1 the ancient river-civilizations of the orient2 third1 the ,hellenic system4 ,among his scanty fragments we find notes on such ideas as 1 1 1 as ,greek institutions4 ,the ,life of ,hellas was much used by late writers4 ,it formed the model for another by a certain ,jason1 and for ,varro's ,vita ,populi ,romani4 ,then1 like his great master1 ,dicaearchus made studies of the ,constitutions of various states 7e4 g4 ,pellene1 ,athens1 and ,corinth72 his treatise on the ,constitution of ,sparta was read aloud annually in that city by order of the ,ephors4 ,it was evidently appreciative4 ,a more speculative work was his ,tripoliticus1 arguing that the best constitution ought to be compounded of the three species1 monarchic1 aristocratic1 and democratic1 as in ,sparta4 ,only then would it be sure to last4 ,polybius accepted the principle of the ,mixed ,constitution1 but found his ideal in the constitution of ,rome1 which later history was to prove so violently unstable4 ,cicero1 ,de ,republica1 takes the same line 7,polyb4 vi4 #b-aj2 ,cic4 ,de ,rep4 i4 #de2 ii4 #fe74 ,dicaearchus treated of similar political subjects in his public addresses at ,olympia and at the ,panathenaea4 ,we hear more about his work on the history of literature1 though his generation was almost the first to realize that such a subject had any existence4 ,he wrote ,lives of ,philosophers--a subject hitherto not considered worth recording--giving the biographical facts followed by philosophic and aesthetic criticism4 ,we hear1 for example1 of his life of ,plato2 of ,pythagoras 7in which he laid emphasis on the philosopher's practical work71 of ,xenophanes1 and of the ,seven ,wise ,men4 ,he also wrote ,lives of ,poets4 ,we hear of books on ,alcaeus and on ,homer1 in which latter he is said to have made the startling remark that the poems 'should be pronounced in the ,aeolic dialect'4 ,whatever this remark exactly meant1 and we cannot tell without the context1 it seems an extraordinary anticipation of modern philological discoveries4 ,he wrote on the ,hypotheses--i4 e4 the subject matter--of ,sophocles and ,euripides2 also on ,musical ,contests1 1 carrying further ,aristotle's own collection of the ,didascaliae1 or official notices of the production of ,tragedies in ,athens4 ,the book dealt both with dates and with customs2 it told how ,skolia were sung1 with a laurel or myrtle twig in the hand1 how ,sophocles introduced a third actor1 and the like4 ,in philosophy proper he wrote ,on the ,soul1 4 ,his first book1 the ,corinthiacus1 proved that the ,soul was a 'harmony' or 'right blending' of the four elements1 and was identical with the force of the living body4 ,the second1 the ,lesbiacus1 drew the conclusion that1 if a compound1 it was destructible4 7,hence a great controversy with his master47 ,he wrote 1 on the ,perishing of ,mankind2 i4 e4 on the way in which large masses of men have perished off the earth1 through famine1 pestilence1 wild beasts1 war1 and the like4 ,he decides that man's most destructive enemy is ,man4 7,the subject may have been suggested to him by a fine imaginative passage in ,aristotle's ,meteorology 7i4 #ad1 #g7 dealing with the vast changes that have taken place on the earth's surface and the unrecorded perishings of races and communities47 ,he wrote a treatise against ,divination1 and a 7satirical87 ,descent to the ,cave of ,trophonius4 ,he seems1 however1 to have allowed some importance to dreams and to the phenomena of 'possession'4 ,and1 with all this1 we have not touched on his greatest work1 which was in the sphere of geography4 ,he wrote a 1 a ,journey ,round the ,earth1 accompanied with a map4 ,he used for this map the greatly increased stores of knowledge gained by the ,macedonian expeditions over all ,asia as far as the ,ganges4 ,he also seems to have devised the method of denoting the position of a place by means of two co-ordinates1 the method soon after developed by ,eratosthenes into ,latitude and ,longitude4 ,he attempted calculations of the measurements of large geographic distances1 for which of course both his data and his instruments were inadequate4 ,nevertheless his measurements remained a well-known standard2 we find them quoted and criticized by ,strabo and ,polybius4 ,and1 lastly1 he published ,measurements of the ,heights of ,mountains in the ,peloponnese2 but the title seems to have been unduly modest1 for we find in the fragments statements about mountains far outside that area2 about ,pelion and ,olympus in ,thessaly and of ,atabyrion in ,rhodes4 ,he had a subvention1 ,pliny tells us 7,n4 ,h4 ii4 #afb1 'regum cura permensus montes'71 from the king of ,macedon1 probably either ,cassander or1 as one would like to believe1 the philosophic ,antigonus ,gonatas4 ,and he calculated the heights1 so we are told1 by trigonometry1 using the 1 an instrument of hollow reeds without lenses which served for his primitive theodolite4 ,it is an extraordinary record1 and illustrates the true ,peripatetic spirit4 ,,footnotes3 #gi3a ,hellen4 ii4 #b1 #c4 #hj3a ,cf4 ,tarn1 ,antigonus ,gonatas1 p4 #eb1 and authorities there quoted4 #ha3a ,lysias1 xxxiii4 #hb3a ,dem4 ,crown1 #bjh4 #hc3a ',such-like trash'1 ,gorgias1 #eai ,a2 dust-storm1 ,rep4 vi4 #dif2 clothes1 ,gorg4 #ebc ,e2 'democratic man'1 ,rep4 viii4 #eef ff4 #hd3a ,laws1 #gji ,e1 cf4 ,letter ,,vii4 #he3a ,aulus ,gellius1 xiv4 #c2 ,plato1 ,laws1 p4 #fie2 ,xen4 ,cyrop4 viii4 #g1 compared with ,hdt4 i4 #bad4 #hg3a ,this is the impression left by ,xenophon1 especially in the ,symposium4 ,cf4 ,dmmler1 ,antisthenica 7#ahhb72 ,akademika 7#ahhi74 ,cf4 the ,life of ,antisthenes in ,diog4 ,laert4 #hg3b 1 ,plato1 ,soph4 #bea ,b1 ,isocr4 ,helena1 i4 #b4 #hg3c e4 g4 no combination of subject and predicate can be true because one is different from the other4 ',man' is 'man' and 'good' is 'good'2 but 'man' is not 'good'4 ,nor can 'a horse' possibly be 'running'2 they are totally different conceptions4 ,see ,plutarch1 adv4 ,co4 #bb1 #a 7p4 #aaai72 ,plato1 ,soph4 #bea ,b2 ,arist4 ,metaph4 #ajbd;b #cc2 ,top4 #ajd;b #bj2 ,plato1 ,euthyd4 #bhe ,e4 ,for similar reasons no statement can ever contradict another2 the statements are either the same or not the same2 and if not the same they do not touch4 ,every object has one or thing to be said about it2 if you say a different you are speaking of something else4 ,see especially ,scholia ,arist41 p4 #gcb;a #cj ff4 on the passage in the ,metaphysics1 #ajbd;b #cc4 #ij3a 3 see ,life in ,diog4 ,laert41 fragments in ,mullach1 vol4 ii1 and the article in ,pauly-,wissowa4 #ie3a ,there were women among the ,cynics4 ',the doctrine also captured ,metrocles' sister1 ,hipparchia4 ,she loved ,crates1 his words1 and his way of life1 and paid no attention to any of her suitors1 however rich or highborn or handsome4 ,crates was everything to her4 ,she threatened her parents that she would commit suicide unless she were given to him4 ,they asked ,crates to try to change the girl's mind1 and he did all he could to no effect1 till at last he put all his possessions on the floor and stood up in front of her4 ',here is your bridegroom2 there is his fortune2 now think6' ,the girl made her choice1 put on the beggar's garb1 and went her ways with ,crates4 ,she lived with him openly and went like him to beg food at dinners4' ,diog4 ,laert4 vi4 #if ff4 #ih3a e4 g4 the struggle for existence among animals and plants2 the 1 or 'mutual devouring'1 of animals2 and such points as the various advances in evolution which seem self-destructive4 ,thus1 ,man has learnt to stand on two feet and use his hands2 a great advantage but one which has led to numerous diseases4 ,again1 physiologists say that the increasing size of the human head1 especially when combined with the diminishing size of the pelvis1 tends to make normal birth impossible4 #ajj3a ,the ,stoic ,philosophy 7#aiae74 ,see also ,arnold's ,roman ,stoicism 7#aiaa72 ,bevan's ,stoics and ,sceptics 7#aiac72 and especially ,stoicorum ,veterum ,fragmenta by von ,arnim 7#aijc-e74 #aja3a ,the chief authorities on ,epicurus are ,usener's ,epicurea1 containing the ,life from ,diog4 ,laert41 fragments and introduction3 the papyrus fragments of ,philodemus in ,volumina ,herculanensia2 ,diogenes of ,oenoanda 7text by ,william1 ,teubner1 #aijg72 the commentaries on ,lucretius 7,munro1 ,giussani1 c474 #ajc3a ,epicurus is the one philosopher who protests with real indignation against that inhuman superiority to natural sorrows which is so much prized by most of the ancient schools4 ,to him such 'apathy' argues either a hard heart or a morbid vanity 7,fr4 #abj74 ,his letters are full of affectionate expressions which rather shock the stern reserve of antique philosophy4 ,he waits for one friend's 'heavenly presence' 7,fr4 #afe74 ,he 'melts with a peculiar joy mingled with tears in remembering the last words' of one who is dead 7,fr4 #ahf2 cf4 #bac74 ,he is enthusiastic about an act of kindness performed by another1 who walked some five miles to help a barbarian prisoner 7,fr4 #aid74 #ajf3a ,lucretius1 i4 #fb-gi1 actually speaks of the great atheist in language taken from the ,saviour ,religions 7see below1 p4 #afb73 ,when ,man's life upon earth in base dismay1 ,crushed by the burthen of ,religion1 lay1 ,whose face1 from all the regions of the sky1 ,hung1 glaring hate upon mortality1 ,first one ,greek man against her dared to raise ,his eyes1 against her strive through all his days2 ,him noise of ,gods nor lightnings nor the roar ,of raging heaven subdued1 but pricked the more ,his spirit's valiance1 till he longed the ,gate ,to burst of this low prison of man's fate4 ,and thus the living ardour of his mind ,conquered1 and clove its way2 he passed behind ,the world's last flaming wall1 and through the whole ,of space uncharted ranged his mind and soul4 ,whence1 conquering1 he returned to make ,man see ,at last what can1 what cannot1 come to be2 ,by what law to each ,thing its power hath been ,assigned1 and what deep boundary set between2 ,till underfoot is tamed ,religion trod1 ,and1 by ,his victory1 ,man ascends to ,god4 #ajg3a ,that is1 #h1jjj drachmae4 ,rents had risen violently in #cad and so presumably had land prices4 ,else one would say the ,garden was about the value of a good farm4 ,see ,tarn in ,the ,hellenistic ,age 7#aibc71 p4 #aaf4 #ajh3a 1 ,fr4 #ahb4 #ajh3b ,fr4 #adc4 1 1 1 4 ,fr4 #aba 7from an enemy7 implies that the ,hetairae were expected to reform when they entered the ,garden4 ,cf4 ,fr4 #fb 1 3 cf4 ,fr4 #egd4 #aji3a ,see p4 #afi below on ,diogenes of ,oenoanda4 #aaj3a ,pleasures and pains may be greater or less1 but the complete 'removal of pain and fear' is a perfect end1 not to be surpassed4 ,fr4 #djh-dh1 ,ep4 iii4 #abi-ca4 #aaj3b e4 g4 ,plut4 ,ne suaviter quidem vivi1 esp4 chap4 #ag 7p4 #ajih ,d74 #aaa3a ,cf4 ,fr4 #ada when ,epicurus writes to ,colotes3 ',think of me as immortal1 and go your ways as immortal too4' #aab3a ,fr4 #fja2 cf4 #eih ff4 #aac3a ,fr4 #ach2 cf4 #agg4 #aac3b ' '1 ,fr4 #di4 ,usener1 from ,philodemus1 ,de ,rhet4 ,this may be only a playful reference to ,plato's phrase about being a of his father1 ,parmenides1 ,soph41 p4 #bda ,d4 #aac3c ,epicurus congratulated himself 7erroneously7 that he came to ,philosophy 1 'undefiled by education'4 ,cf4 ,fr4 #afc to ,pythocles1 1 1 1 ',from education in every shape1 my son1 spread sail and fly6' #aac3d ,fr4 #cdc-f4 #aaf3a ,pythias was the niece1 or ward1 of ,aristotle's friend1 ,hermias1 an extraordinary man who rose from slavery to be first a free man and a philosopher1 and later ,prince or ',dynast' of ,assos and ,atarneus4 ,in the end he was treacherously entrapped by the ,persian ,general1 ,mentor1 and crucified by the king4 ,aristotle's ',ode to ,virtue' is addressed to him4 ,to his second wife1 ,herpyllis1 ,aristotle was only united by a civil marriage like the ,roman usus4 #aaf3b ,see note on ,dicaearchus at end of chapter4 ,,iv ,,the ,,failure ,,of ,,nerve ,any one who turns from the great writers of classical ,athens1 say ,sophocles or ,aristotle1 to those of the ,christian era must be conscious of a great difference in tone4 ,there is a change in the whole relation of the writer to the world about him4 ,the new quality is not specifically ,christian3 it is just as marked in the ,gnostics and ,mithras-worshippers as in the ,gospels and the ,apocalypse1 in ,julian and ,plotinus as in ,gregory and ,jerome4 ,it is hard to describe4 ,it is a rise of asceticism1 of mysticism1 in a sense1 of pessimism2 a loss of self-confidence1 of hope in this life and of faith in normal human effort2 a despair of patient inquiry1 a cry for infallible revelation2 an indifference to the welfare of the state1 a conversion of the soul to ,god4 ,it is an atmosphere in which the aim of the good man is not so much to live justly1 to help the society to which he belongs and enjoy the esteem of his fellow creatures2 but rather1 by means of a burning faith1 by contempt for the world and its standards1 by ecstasy1 suffering1 and martyrdom1 to be granted pardon for his unspeakable unworthiness1 his immeasurable sins4 ,there is an intensifying of certain spiritual emotions2 an increase of sensitiveness1 a failure of nerve4 ,now this antithesis is often exaggerated by the admirers of one side or the other4 ,a hundred people write as if ,sophocles had no mysticism and practically speaking no conscience4 ,half a dozen retort as if ,st4 ,paul had no public spirit and no common sense4 ,i have protested often against this exaggeration2 but1 stated reasonably1 as a change of proportion and not a creation of new hearts1 the antithesis is certainly based on fact4 ,the historical reasons for it are suggested above1 in the first of these essays4 ,my description of this complicated change is1 of course1 inadequate1 but not1 ,i hope1 one-sided4 ,i do not depreciate the religions that followed on this movement by describing the movement itself as a 'failure of nerve'4 ,mankind has not yet decided which of two opposite methods leads to the fuller and deeper knowledge of the world3 the patient and sympathetic study of the good citizen who lives in it1 or the ecstatic vision of the saint who rejects it4 ,but probably most ,christians are inclined to believe that without some failure and sense of failure1 without a contrite heart and conviction of sin1 man can hardly attain the religious life4 ,i can imagine an historian of this temper believing that the period we are about to discuss was a necessary softening of human pride1 a ,praeparatio ,evangelica4#abd3a ,i am concerned in this paper with the lower country lying between two great ranges4 ,the one range is ,greek ,philosophy1 culminating in ,plato1 ,aristotle1 the ,porch1 and the ,garden2 the other is ,christianity1 culminating in ,st4 ,paul and his successors4 ,the one is the work of ,hellas1 using some few foreign elements2 the second is the work of ,hellenistic culture on a ,hebrew stock4 ,the books of ,christianity are ,greek1 the philosophical background is ,hellenistic1 the result of the interplay1 in the free atmosphere of ,greek philosophy1 of religious ideas derived from ,egypt1 ,anatolia1 ,syria1 and ,babylon4 ,the preaching is carried on in ,greek among the ,greek-speaking workmen of the great manufacturing and commercial cities4 ,the first preachers are ,jews3 the central scene is set in ,jerusalem4 ,i wish in this essay to indicate how a period of religious history1 which seems broken1 is really continuous1 and to trace the lie of the main valleys which lead from the one range to the other1 through a large and imperfectly explored territory4 ,the territory in question is the so-called ,hellenistic ,age1 the period during which the ,schools of ,greece were 'hellenizing' the world4 ,it is a time of great enlightenment1 of vigorous propaganda1 of high importance to history4 ,it is a time full of great names3 in one school of philosophy alone we have ,zeno1 ,cleanthes1 ,chrysippus1 ,panaetius1 ,posidonius4 ,yet1 curiously enough1 it is represented in our tradition by something very like a mere void4 ,there are practically no complete books preserved1 only fragments and indirect quotations4 ,consequently in the search for information about this age we must throw our nets wide4 ,beside books and inscriptions of the ,hellenistic period proper ,i have drawn on ,cicero1 ,pliny1 ,seneca1 and the like for evidence about their teachers and masters4 ,i have used many ,christian and ,gnostic documents and works like the ,corpus of ,hermetic writings and the ,mithras ,liturgy4 ,among modern writers ,i must acknowledge a special debt to the researches of ,dieterich1 ,cumont1 ,bousset1 ,wendland1 and ,reitzenstein4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,hellenistic ,age seems at first sight to have entered on an inheritance such as our speculative ,anarchists sometimes long for1 a tabula rasa1 on which a new and highly gifted generation of thinkers might write clean and certain the book of their discoveries about life--what ,herodotus would call their ',histori'4 ,for1 as we have seen in the last essay1 it is clear that by the time of ,plato the traditional religion of the ,greek states was1 if taken at its face value1 a bankrupt concern4 ,there was hardly one aspect in which it could bear criticism2 and in the kind of test that chiefly matters1 the satisfaction of men's ethical requirements and aspirations1 it was if anything weaker than elsewhere4 ,now a religious belief that is scientifically preposterous may still have a long and comfortable life before it4 ,any worshipper can suspend the scientific part of his mind while worshipping4 ,but a religious belief that is morally contemptible is in serious danger1 because when the religious emotions surge up the moral emotions are not far away4 ,and the clash cannot be hidden4 ,this collapse of the traditional religion of ,greece might not have mattered so much if the form of ,greek social life had remained4 ,if a good ,greek had his ,polis1 he had an adequate substitute in most respects for any mythological gods4 ,but the ,polis too1 as we have seen in the last essay1 fell with the rise of ,macedon4 ,it fell1 perhaps1 not from any special spiritual fault of its own2 it had few faults except its fatal narrowness2 but simply because there now existed another social whole1 which1 whether higher or lower in civilization1 was at any rate utterly superior in brute force and in money4 ,devotion to the ,polis lost its reality when the ,polis1 with all that it represented of rights and laws and ideals of ,life1 lay at the mercy of a military despot1 who might1 of course1 be a hero1 but might equally well be a vulgar sot or a corrupt adventurer4 ,what the succeeding ages built upon the ruins of the ,polis is not our immediate concern4 ,in the realm of thought1 on the whole1 the ,polis triumphed4 ,aristotle based his social theory on the ,polis1 not the nation4 ,dicaearchus1 ,didymus1 and ,posidonius followed him1 and we still use his language4 ,rome herself was a ,polis1 as well as an ,empire4 ,and ,professor ,haverfield has pointed out that a ,city has more chance of taking in the whole world to its freedoms and privileges than a ,nation has of making men of alien birth its compatriots4 ,a ,jew of ,tarsus could easily be granted the civic rights of ,rome3 he could never have been made an ,italian or a ,frenchman4 ,the ,stoic ideal of the ,world as 'one great ,city of ,gods and ,men' has not been surpassed by any ideal based on the ,nation4 ,what we have to consider is the general trend of religious thought from1 say1 the ,peripatetics to the ,gnostics4 ,it is a fairly clear history4 ,a soil once teeming with wild weeds was to all appearance swept bare and made ready for new sowing3 skilled gardeners chose carefully the best of herbs and plants and tended the garden sedulously4 ,but the bounds of the garden kept spreading all the while into strange untended ground1 and even within the original walls the weeding had been hasty and incomplete4 ,at the end of a few generations all was a wilderness of weeds again1 weeds rank and luxuriant and sometimes extremely beautiful1 with a half-strangled garden flower or two gleaming here and there in the tangle of them4 ,does that comparison seem disrespectful to religion8 ,is philosophy all flowers and traditional belief all weeds8 ,well1 think what a weed is4 ,it is only a name for all the natural wild vegetation which the earth sends up of herself1 which lives and will live without the conscious labour of man4 ,the flowers are what we keep alive with difficulty2 the weeds are what conquer us4 ,it has been well observed by ,zeller that the great weakness of all ancient thought1 not excepting ,socratic thought1 was that instead of appealing to objective experiment it appealed to some subjective sense of fitness4 ,there were exceptions1 of course3 ,democritus1 ,eratosthenes1 ,hippocrates1 and to a great extent ,aristotle4 ,but in general there was a strong tendency to follow ,plato in supposing that people could really solve questions by an appeal to their inner consciousness4 ,one result of this1 no doubt1 was a tendency to lay too much stress on mere agreement4 ,it is obvious1 when one thinks about it1 that quite often a large number of people who know nothing about a subject will all agree and all be wrong4 ,yet we find the most radical of ancient philosophers unconsciously dominated by the argument ex consensu gentium4 ,it is hard to find two more uncompromising thinkers than ,zeno and ,epicurus4 ,yet both of them1 when they are almost free from the popular superstitions1 when they have constructed complete systems which1 if not absolutely logic-proof1 are calculated at least to keep out the weather for a century or so1 open curious side-doors at the last moment and let in all the gods of mythology4#abi3a ,true1 they are admitted as suspicious characters1 and under promise of good behaviour4 ,epicurus explains that they do not and cannot do anything whatever to anybody2 ,zeno explains that they are not anthropomorphic1 and are only symbols or emanations or subordinates of the all-ruling ,unity2 both parties get rid of the myths4 ,but the two great reformers have admitted a dangerous principle4 ,the general consensus of humanity1 they say1 shows that there are gods1 and gods which in mind1 if not also in visual appearance1 resemble man4 ,epicurus succeeded in barring the door1 and admitted nothing more4 ,but the ,stoics presently found themselves admitting or insisting that the same consensus proved the existence of daemons1 of witchcraft1 of divination1 and when they combined with the ,platonic school1 of more dangerous elements still4 ,i take the ,stoics and ,epicureans as the two most radical schools4 ,on the whole both of them fought steadily and strongly against the growth of superstition1 or1 if you like to put it in other language1 against the dumb demands of man's infra-rational nature4 ,the glory of the ,stoics is to have built up a religion of extraordinary nobleness2 the glory of the ,epicureans is to have upheld an ideal of sanity and humanity stark upright amid a reeling world1 and1 like the old ,spartans1 never to have yielded one inch of ground to the common foe4 ,the great thing to remember is that the mind of man cannot be enlightened permanently by merely teaching him to reject some particular set of superstitions4 ,there is an infinite supply of other superstitions always at hand2 and the mind that desires such things--that is1 the mind that has not trained itself to the hard discipline of reasonableness and honesty1 will1 as soon as its devils are cast out1 proceed to fill itself with their relations4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us first consider the result of the mere denial of the ,olympian religion4 ,the essential postulate of that religion was that the world is governed by a number of definite personal gods1 possessed of a human sense of justice and fairness and capable of being influenced by normal human motives4 ,in general1 they helped the good and punished the bad1 though doubtless they tended too much to regard as good those who paid them proper attention and as bad those who did not4 ,speaking broadly1 what was left when this conception proved inadequate8 ,if it was not these personal gods who made things happen1 what was it8 ,if the ,tower of ,siloam was not deliberately thrown down by the gods so as to kill and hurt a carefully collected number of wicked people1 while letting the good escape1 what was the explanation of its falling8 ,the answer is obvious1 but it can be put in two ways4 ,you can either say3 ',it was just chance that the ,tower fell at that particular moment when ,so-and-so was under it4' ,or you can say1 with rather more reflection but not any more common sense3 ',it fell because of a definite chain of causes1 a certain degree of progressive decay in the building1 a certain definite pressure1 c4 ,it was bound to fall4' ,there is no real difference in these statements1 at least in the meaning of those who ordinarily utter them4 ,both are compatible with a reasonable and scientific view of the world4 ,but in the ,hellenistic ,age1 when ,greek thought was spreading rapidly and superficially over vast semi-barbarous populations whose minds were not ripe for it1 both views turned back instinctively into a theology as personal as that of the ,olympians4 ,it was not1 of course1 ,zeus or ,apollo who willed this2 every one knew so much3 it happened by ,chance4 ,that is1 ,chance or ,fortune willed it4 ,and became a goddess like the rest4 ,the great catastrophes1 the great transformations of the mediterranean world which marked the ,hellenistic period1 had a strong influence here4 ,if ,alexander and his generals had practised some severely orthodox ,macedonian religion1 it would have been easy to see that the ,gods of ,macedon were the real rulers of the world4 ,but they most markedly did not4 ,they accepted hospitably all the religions that crossed their path4 ,some power or other was disturbing the world1 that was clear4 ,it was not exactly the work of man1 because sometimes the good were exalted1 sometimes the bad2 there was no consistent purpose in the story4 ,it was just ,fortune4 ,happy is the man who knows how to placate ,fortune and make her smile upon him6 ,it is worth remembering that the best seed-ground for superstition is a society in which the fortunes of men seem to bear practically no relation to their merits and efforts4 ,a stable and well-governed society does tend1 speaking roughly1 to ensure that the ,virtuous and ,industrious ,apprentice shall succeed in life1 while the ,wicked and ,idle ,apprentice fails4 ,and in such a society people tend to lay stress on the reasonable or visible chains of causation4 ,but in a country suffering from earthquakes or pestilences1 in a court governed by the whim of a despot1 in a district which is habitually the seat of a war between alien armies1 the ordinary virtues of diligence1 honesty1 and kindliness seem to be of little avail4 ,the only way to escape destruction is to win the favour of the prevailing powers1 take the side of the strongest invader1 flatter the despot1 placate the ,fate or ,fortune or angry god that is sending the earthquake or the pestilence4 ,the ,hellenistic period pretty certainly falls in some degree under all of these categories4 ,and one result is the sudden and enormous spread of the worship of ,fortune4 ,of course1 there was always a protest4 ,there is the famous ,nullum numen habes si sit prudentia3 nos te1 ,nos facimus1 ,fortuna1 deam1 taken by ,juvenal from the ,greek4 ,there are many unguarded phrases and at least three corrections in ,polybius4#acc3a ,most interesting of all perhaps1 there is the first oration of ,plutarch on the ,fortune of ,alexander4#acc3b ,a sentence in ,pliny's ,natural ,history1 ii4 #bb1 seems to go back to ,hellenistic sources3 ',throughout the whole world1 at every place and hour1 by every voice ,fortune alone is invoked and her name spoken3 she is the one defendant1 the one culprit1 the one thought in men's minds1 the one object of praise1 the one cause4 ,she is worshipped with insults1 counted as fickle and often as blind1 wandering1 inconsistent1 elusive1 changeful1 and friend of the unworthy4 4 4 4 ,we are so much at the mercy of chance that ,chance is our god4' ,the word used is first ,fortuna and then ,sors4 ,this shows how little real difference there is between the two apparently contradictory conceptions4--',chance would have it so4' ',it was fated to be4' ,the sting of both phrases--their pleasant bitterness when played with1 their quality of poison when believed--lies in their denial of the value of human endeavour4 ,yet on the whole1 as one might expect1 the believers in ,destiny are a more respectable congregation than the worshippers of ,chance4 ,it requires a certain amount of thoughtfulness to rise to the conception that nothing really happens without a cause4 ,it is the beginning1 perhaps1 of science4 ,ionic philosophers of the fifth century had laid stress on the 1#acd3a what we should call the ,chain of causes in ,nature4 ,after the rise of ,stoicism ,fate becomes something less physical1 more related to conscious purpose4 ,it is not ,anank but ,heimarmen4 ,heimarmen1 in the striking simile of ,zeno1#acd3b is like a fine thread running through the whole of existence--the world1 we must remember1 was to the ,stoics a live thing--like that invisible thread of life which1 in heredity1 passes on from generation to generation of living species and keeps the type alive2 it runs causing1 causing for ever1 both the infinitesimal and the infinite4 ,it is the 1#ace3a the 1 the ,reason of the ,world or the mind of ,zeus1 rather difficult to distinguish from the ,pronoia or ,providence which is the work of ,god and indeed the very essence of ,god4 ,thus it is not really an external and alien force4 ,for the human soul itself is a fragment or effluence of the divine1 and this ,law of ,god is also the law of man's own ,phusis4 ,as long as you act in accordance with your true self you are complying with that divine or 1 whose service is perfect freedom4 ,only when you are false to your own nature and become a rebel against the kingdom of ,god which is within you1 are you dragged perforce behind the chariot-wheels4 ,the doctrine is implied in ,cleanthes' celebrated ,hymn to ,destiny and is explained clearly by ,plotinus4#ace3b ,that is a noble conception4 ,but the vulgar of course can turn ,kismet into a stupid idol1 as easily as they can ,fortune4 ,and ,epicurus may have had some excuse for exclaiming that he would sooner be a slave to the old gods of the vulgar1 than to the ,destiny of the philosophers4#ace3c ,so much for the result in superstitious minds of the denial1 or rather the removal1 of the ,olympian ,gods4 ,it landed men in the worship of ,fortune or of ,fate4 ,next1 let us consider what happened when1 instead of merely rejecting the ,gods en masse1 people tried carefully to collect what remained of religion after the ,olympian system fell4 ,aristotle himself gives us a fairly clear answer4 ,he held that the origins of man's idea 77 of the ,divine were twofold1#acf3a the phenomena of the sky and the phenomena of the human soul4 ,it is very much what ,kant found two thousand years later4 ,the spectacle of the vast and ordered movements of the heavenly bodies are compared by him in a famous fragment with the marching forth of ,homer's armies before ,troy4 ,behind such various order and strength there must surely be a conscious mind capable 1 ,to order steeds of war and maild men4 ,it is only a step from this to regarding the sun1 moon1 and stars as themselves divine1 and it is a step which both ,plato and ,aristotle1 following ,pythagoras and followed by the ,stoics1 take with confidence4 ,chrysippus gives practically the same list of gods3 'the ,sun1 ,moon1 and ,stars2 and ,law3 and men who have become ,gods4'#acf3b ,both the wandering stars and the fixed stars are 'animate beings1 divine and eternal'1 self-acting subordinate gods4 ,as to the divinity of the soul or the mind of man1 the earlier generations are shy about it4 ,but in the later ,stoics it is itself a portion of the divine life4 ,it shows this ordinarily by its power of reason1 and more conspicuously by becoming 1 or 'filled with ,god'1 in its exalted moments of prevision1 ecstasy1 and prophetic dreams4 ,if reason itself is divine1 there is something else in the soul which is even higher than reason or at least more surprisingly divine4 ,let us follow the history of both these remaining substitutes for the ,olympian gods4 ,first for the ,heavenly bodies4 ,if they are to be made divine1 we can hardly stop there4 ,the ,earth is also a divine being4 ,old tradition has always said so1 and ,plato has repeated it4 ,and if ,earth is divine1 so surely are the other elements1 the ,stoicheia1 ,water1 ,air1 and above all1 ,fire4 ,for the ,gods themselves are said by ,plato to be made of fire1 and the ,stars visibly are so4 ,though perhaps the heavenly ,fire is really not our ,fire at all1 but a 1 a ',fifth ,body'1 seeing that it seems not to burn nor the ,stars to be consumed4 ,this is persuasive enough and philosophic2 but whither has it led us8 ,back to the ,olympians1 or rather behind the ,olympians2 as ,st4 ,paul puts it 7,gal4 iv4 #i71 to 'the beggarly elements'4 ,the old ,kor1 or ,earth ,maiden and ,mother1 seems to have held her own unshaken by the changes of time all over the ,aegean area4 ,she is there in prehistoric ,crete with her two lions2 with the same lions orientalized in ,olympia and ,ephesus2 in ,sparta with her great marsh birds2 in ,boeotia with her horse4 ,she runs riot in a number of the ,gnostic systems both pre-,christian and post-,christian4 ,she forms a divine triad with the ,father and the ,son3 that is ancient and natural4 ,but she also becomes the ,divine ,wisdom1 ,sophia1 the ,divine ,truth1 ,aletheia1 the ,holy ,breath or ,spirit1 the ,pneuma4 ,since the word for 'spirit' is neuter in ,greek and masculine in ,latin1 this last is rather a surprise4 ,it is explained when we remember that in ,hebrew the word for ,spirit1 ',ruah'1 is mostly feminine4 ,in the meantime let us notice one curious development in the life of this goddess4 ,in the old religion of ,greece and ,western ,asia1 she begins as a ,maiden1 then in fullness of time becomes a mother4 ,there is evidence also for a third stage1 the widowhood of withering autumn4#ach3a ,to the classical ,greek this motherhood was quite as it should be1 a due fulfilment of normal functions4 ,but to the ,gnostic and his kind it connoted a 'fall'1 a passage from the glory of ,virginity to a state of ,sin4#ach3b ,the ,kor becomes a fallen ,virgin1 sometimes a temptress or even a female devil2 sometimes she has to be saved by her ,son the ,redeemer4#ach3c ,as far as ,i have observed1 she loses most of her earthly agricultural quality1 though as ,selene or even ,helen she keeps up her affinity with the ,moon4 ,almost all the writers of the ,hellenistic ,age agree in regarding the ,sun1 ,moon1 and ,stars as gods4 ,the rationalists ,hecataeus and ,euhemerus1 before going on to their deified men1 always start with the heavenly bodies4 ,when ,plutarch explains in his beautiful and kindly way that all religions are really attempts towards the same goal1 he clinches his argument by observing that we all see the same ,sun and ,moon though we call them by different names in all languages4#aci3a ,but the belief does not seem to have had much religious intensity in it1 until it was reinforced by two alien influences4 ,first1 we have the ancient worship of the ,sun1 implicit1 if not explicit1 in a great part of the oldest ,greek rituals1 and then idealized by ,plato in the ,republic1 where the ,sun is the author of all light and life in the material world1 as the ,idea of ,good is in the ideal world4 ,this worship came gradually into contact with the traditional and definite ,sun-worship of ,persia4 ,the final combination took place curiously late4 ,it was the ,roman conquests of ,cilicia1 ,cappadocia1 ,commagene1 and ,armenia that gave the decisive moment4#aci3b ,to men who had wearied of the myths of the poets1 who could draw no more inspiration from their ,apollo and ,hyperion1 but still had the habits and the craving left by their old ,gods1 a fresh breath of reality came with the entrance of 1 ',mithras1 the ,unconquered ,sun'4 ,but long before the triumph of ,mithraism as the military religion of the ,roman frontier1 ,greek literature is permeated with a kind of intense language about the ,sun1 which seems derived from ,plato4#aci3c ,in later times1 in the fourth century ,a4 ,d4 for instance1 it has absorbed some more full-blooded and less critical element as well4 ,secondly1 all the seven planets4 ,these had a curious history4 ,the planets were of course divine and living bodies1 so much ,plato gave us4 ,then come arguments and questions scattered through the ,stoic and eclectic literature4 ,is it the planet itself that is divine1 or is the planet under the guidance of a divine spirit8 ,the latter seems to win the day4 ,anthropomorphism has stolen back upon us3 we can use the old language and speak simply of the planet ,mercury as 4 ,it is the star of ,hermes1 and ,hermes is the spirit who guides it4#adj3a ,even ,plato in his old age had much to say about the souls of the seven planets4 ,further1 each planet has its sphere4 ,the ,earth is in the centre1 then comes the sphere of the ,moon1 then that of the ,sun1 and so on through a range of seven spheres4 ,if all things are full of gods1 as the wise ancients have said1 what about those parts of the sphere in which the shining planet for the moment is not8 ,are they without god8 ,obviously not4 ,the whole sphere is filled with innumerable spirits everywhere4 ,it is all ,hermes1 all ,aphrodite4 7,we are more familiar with the ,latin names1 ,mercury and ,venus47 ,but one part only is visible4 ,the voice of one school1 as usual1 is raised in opposition4 ,one veteran had seen clearly from the beginning whither all this sort of thing was sure to lead4 ',epicurus approves none of these things4'#adj3b ,it was no good his having destroyed the old traditional superstition1 if people by deifying the stars were to fill the sky with seven times seven as many objects of worship as had been there before4 ,he allows no ,schwrmerei about the stars4 ,they are not divine animate beings1 or guided by ,gods4 ,why cannot the astrologers leave ,god in peace8 ,when their orbits are irregular it is not because they are looking for food4 ,they are just conglomerations of ordinary atoms of air or fire--it does not matter which4 ,they are not even very large--only about as large as they look1 or perhaps smaller1 since most fires tend to look bigger at a distance4 ,they are not at all certainly everlasting4 ,it is quite likely that the sun comes to an end every day1 and a new one rises in the morning4 ,all kinds of explanations are possible1 and none certain4 4 ,in any case1 as you value your life and your reason1 do not begin making myths about them6 ,on other lines came what might have been the effective protest of real ,science1 when ,aristarchus of ,samos 7#bej ,b4 ,c47 argued that the earth was not really the centre of the universe1 but revolved round the ,sun4 ,but his hypothesis did not account for the phenomena as completely as the current theory with its ',epicycles'2 his fellow astronomers were against him2 ,cleanthes the ,stoic denounced him for 'disturbing the ,hearth of the ,universe'1 and his heresy made little headway4#ada3a ,the planets in their seven spheres surrounding the earth continued to be objects of adoration4 ,they had their special gods or guiding spirits assigned them4 ,their ordered movements through space1 it was held1 produce a vast and eternal harmony4 ,it is beautiful beyond all earthly music1 this ,music of the ,spheres1 beyond all human dreams of what music might be4 ,the only pity is that--except for a few individuals in trances--nobody has ever heard it4 ,circumstances seem always to be unfavourable4 ,it may be that we are too far off1 though1 considering the vastness of the orchestra1 this seems improbable4 ,more likely we are merely deaf to it because it never stops and we have been in the middle of it since we first drew breath4#adb3a ,the planets also become ,elements in the ,kosmos1 ,stoicheia4 ,it is significant that in ,hellenistic theology the word ,stoicheion1 ,element1 gets to mean a ,daemon--as ,megathos1 ,greatness1 means an ,angel4#adb3b ,but behold a mystery6 ,the word ,stoicheia1 'elementa'1 had long been used for the ,greek ,a ,b ,c1 and in particular for the seven vowels 4 ,that is no chance1 no mere coincidence4 ,the vowels are the mystic signs of the ,planets2 they have control over the planets4 ,hence strange prayers and magic formulae innumerable4 ,even the way of reckoning time changed under the influence of the ,planets4 ,instead of the old division of the month into three periods of nine days1 we find gradually establishing itself the week of seven days with each day named after its planet1 ,sun1 ,moon1 ,ares1 ,hermes1 ,zeus1 ,aphrodite1 ,kronos4 ,the history of the ,planet week is given by ,dio ,cassius1 xxxvii4 #ah1 in his account of the ,jewish campaign of ,pompeius4 ,but it was not the ,jewish week4 ,the ,jews scorned such idolatrous and polytheistic proceedings4 ,it was the old week of ,babylon1 the original home of astronomy and planet-worship4#adc3a ,for here again a great foreign religion came like water in the desert to minds reluctantly and superficially enlightened1 but secretly longing for the old terrors and raptures from which they had been set free4 ,even in the old days ,aeschylus had called the planets 'bright potentates1 shining in the fire of heaven'1 and ,euripides had spoken of the 'shaft hurled from a star'4#adc3b ,but we are told that the first teaching of astrology in ,hellenic lands was in the time of ,alexander1 when ,brssos the ,chaldaean set up a school in ,cos and1 according to ,seneca1 ,belum interpretatus est4 ,this must mean that he translated into ,greek the ',eye of ,bel'1 a treatise in seventy tablets found in the library of ,assur-bani-pal 7#fhf-fbf ,b4 ,c47 but composed for ,sargon ,i in the third millennium ,b4 ,c4 ,even the philosopher ,theophrastus is reported by ,proclus#adc3c as saying that 'the most extraordinary thing of his age was the lore of the ,chaldaeans1 who foretold not only events of public interest but even the lives and deaths of individuals'4 ,one wonders slightly whether ,theophrastus spoke with as much implicit faith as ,proclus suggests4 ,but the chief account is given by ,diodorus1 ii4 #cj 7perhaps from ,hecataeus74 ',other nations despise the philosophy of ,greece4 ,it is so recent and so constantly changing4 ,they have traditions which come from vast antiquity and never change4 ,notably the ,chaldaeans have collected observations of the ,stars through long ages1 and teach how every event in the heavens has its meaning1 as part of the eternal scheme of divine forethought4 ,especially the seven ,wanderers1 or ,planets1 are called by them ,hermneis1 ,interpreters3 and among them the ,interpreter in chief is ,saturn4 ,their work is to interpret beforehand 1 the thought that is in the mind of the ,gods4 ,by their risings and settings1 and by the colours they assume1 the ,chaldaeans predict great winds and storms and waves of excessive heat1 comets1 and earthquakes1 and in general all changes fraught with weal or woe not only to nations and regions of the world1 but to kings and to ordinary men and women4 ,beneath the ,seven are thirty ,gods of ,counsel1 half below and half above the ,earth2 every ten days a ,messenger or ,angel star passes from above below and another from below above4 ,above these gods are twelve ,masters1 who are the twelve signs of the ,zodiac2 and the planets pass through all the ,houses of these twelve in turn4 ,the ,chaldaeans have made prophecies for various kings1 such as ,alexander who conquered ,darius1 and ,antigonus and ,seleucus ,nikator1 and have always been right4 ,and private persons who have consulted them consider their wisdom as marvellous and above human power4' ,astrology fell upon the ,hellenistic mind as a new disease falls upon some remote island people4 ,the tomb of ,ozymandias1 as described by ,diodorus 7i4 #di1 #e71 was covered with astrological symbols1 and that of ,antiochus ,i1 which has been discovered in ,commagene1 is of the same character4 ,it was natural for monarchs to believe that the stars watched over them4 ,but every one was ready to receive the germ4 ,the ,epicureans1 of course1 held out1 and so did ,panaetius1 the coolest head among the ,stoics4 ,but the ,stoics as a whole gave way4 ,they formed with good reason the leading school of philosophy1 and it would have been a service to mankind if they had resisted4 ,but they were already committed to a belief in the deity of the stars and to the doctrine of ,heimarmen1 or ,destiny4 ,they believed in the pervading ,pronoia1#ade3a or ,forethought1 of the divine mind1 and in the --the ,sympathy of all ,creation1#ade3b whereby whatever happens to any one part1 however remote or insignificant1 affects all the rest4 ,it seemed only a natural and beautiful illustration of this ,sympathy that the movements of the ,stars should be bound up with the sufferings of man4 ,they also appealed to the general belief in prophecy and divination4#ade3c ,if a prophet can foretell that such and such an event will happen1 then it is obviously fated to happen4 ,foreknowledge implies ,predestination4 ,this belief in prophecy was1 in reality1 a sort of appeal to fact and to common sense4 ,people could produce then1 as they can now1 a large number of striking cases of second sight1 presentiment1 clairvoyance1 actual prophecy and the like2#ade3d and it was more difficult then to test them4 ,the argument involved ,stoicism with some questionable allies4 ,epicureans and sceptics of the ,academy might well mock at the sight of a great man like ,chrysippus or ,posidonius resting an important part of his religion on the undetected frauds of a shady ,levantine 'medium'4 ,still the ,stoics could not but welcome the arrival of a system of prophecy and predestination which1 however the incredulous might rail at it1 possessed at least great antiquity and great stores of learning1 which was respectable1 recondite1 and in a way sublime4 ,in all the religious systems of later antiquity1 if ,i mistake not1 the ,seven ,planets play some lordly or terrifying part4 ,the great ,mithras ,liturgy1 unearthed by ,dieterich from a magical papyrus in ,paris1#adf3a repeatedly confronts the worshipper with the seven vowels as names of 'the ,seven ,deathless ,kosmokratores'1 or ,lords of the ,universe1 and seems1 under their influence1 to go off into its ',seven ,maidens with heads of serpents1 in white raiment'1 and its divers other ,sevens4 ,the various ,hermetic and ,mithraic communities1 the ,naassenes described by ,hippolytus1#adf3b and other ,gnostic bodies1 authors like ,macrobius and even ,cicero in his ,somnium ,scipionis1 are full of the influence of the seven planets and of the longing to escape beyond them4 ,for by some simple psychological law the stars which have inexorably pronounced our fate1 and decreed1 or at least registered the decree1 that in spite of all striving we must needs tread their prescribed path2 still more perhaps1 the ,stars who know in the midst of our laughter how that laughter will end1 become inevitably powers of evil rather than good1 beings malignant as well as pitiless1 making life a vain thing4 ,and ,saturn1 the chief of them1 becomes the most malignant4 ,to some of the ,gnostics he becomes ,jaldabaoth1 the ,lion-headed ,god1 the evil ,jehovah4#adg3a ,the religion of later antiquity is overpoweringly absorbed in plans of escape from the prison of the seven planets4 ,in author after author1 in one community after another1 the subject recurs4 ,and on the whole there is the same answer4 ,here on the earth we are the sport of ,fate2 nay1 on the earth itself we are worse off still4 ,we are beneath the ,moon1 and beneath the ,moon there is not only ,fate but something more unworthy and equally malignant1 ,chance--to say nothing of damp and the ills of earth and bad daemons4 ,above the ,moon there is no chance1 only ,necessity3 there is the will of the other six ,kosmokratores1 ,rulers of the ,universe4 ,but above them all there is an ,eighth region--they call it simply the ,ogdoas--the home of the ultimate ,god1#adg3b whatever ,he is named1 whose being was before the ,kosmos4 ,in this ,sphere is true ,being and ,freedom4 ,and more than freedom1 there is the ultimate ,union with ,god4 ,for that spark of divine life which is man's soul is not merely1 as some have said1 an 1 an effluence of the stars3 it comes direct from the first and ultimate ,god1 the ,alpha and ,omega1 who is beyond the ,planets4 ,though the ,kosmokratores cast us to and fro like their slaves or dead chattels1 in soul at least we are of equal birth with them4 ,the ,mithraic votary1 when their wrathful and tremendous faces break in upon his vision1 answers them unterrified3 1 ',i am your fellow wanderer1 your fellow ,star4' ,the ,orphic carried to the grave on his golden scroll the same boast3 first1 ',i am the child of ,earth and of the starry ,heaven'2 then later1 ',i too am become ,god'4#adh3a ,the ,gnostic writings consist largely of charms to be uttered by the ,soul to each of the ,planets in turn1 as it pursues its perilous path past all of them to its ultimate home4 ,that journey awaits us after death2 but in the meantime8 ,in the meantime there are initiations1 sacraments1 mystic ways of communion with ,god4 ,to see ,god face to face is1 to the ordinary unprepared man1 sheer death4 ,but to see ,him after due purification1 to be led to ,him along the true ,way by an initiating ,priest1 is the ultimate blessing of human life4 ,it is to die and be born again4 ,there were regular official initiations4 ,we have one in the ,mithras-,liturgy1 more than one in the ,corpus ,hermeticum4 ,apuleius#adh3b tells us at some length1 though in guarded language1 how he was initiated to ,isis and became 'her image'4 ,after much fasting1 clad in holy garments and led by the ,high ,priest1 he crossed the threshold of ,death and passed through all the ,elements4 ,the ,sun shone upon him at midnight1 and he saw the ,gods of ,heaven and of ,hades4 ,in the morning he was clad in the ,robe of ,heaven1 set up on a pedestal in front of the ,goddess and worshipped by the congregation as a ,god4 ,he had been made one with ,osiris or ,horus or whatever name it pleased that ,sun-,god to be called4 ,apuleius does not reveal it4 ,there were also1 of course1 the irregular personal initiations and visions of god vouchsafed to persons of special prophetic powers4 ,st4 ,paul1 we may remember1 knew personally a man who had actually been snatched up into the ,third ,heaven1 and another who was similarly rapt into ,paradise1 where he heard unspeakable words2#adi3a whether in the body or not1 the apostle leaves undecided4 ,he himself on the road to ,damascus had seen the ,christ in glory1 not after the flesh4 ,the philosopher ,plotinus1 so his disciple tells us1 was united with ,god in trance four times in five years4#adi3b ,we seem to have travelled far from the simplicity of early ,greek religion4 ,yet1 apart always from ,plotinus1 who is singularly aloof1 most of the movement has been a reaction under ,oriental and barbarous influences towards the most primitive pre-,hellenic cults4 ,the union of man with ,god came regularly through ,ekstasis--the soul must get clear of its body--and ,enthousiasmos--the ,god must enter and dwell inside the worshipper4 ,but the means to this union1 while sometimes allegorized and spiritualized to the last degree1 are sometimes of the most primitive sort4 ,the vagaries of religious emotion are apt to reach very low as well as very high in the scale of human nature4 ,certainly the primitive ,thracian savages1 who drank themselves mad with the hot blood of their ,god-beast1 would have been quite at home in some of these rituals1 though in others they would have been put off with some substitute for the actual blood4 ,the primitive priestesses who waited in a bridal chamber for the ,divine ,bridegroom1 even the ,cretan ,kourtes with their ,zeus ,kours#aej3a and those strange hierophants of the ',men's ,house' whose initiations are written on the rocks of ,thera1 would have found rites very like their own reblossoming on earth after the fall of ,hellenism4 ',prepare thyself as a bride to receive her bridegroom1' says ,markos the ,gnostic1#aej3b 'that thou mayst be what ,i am and ,i what thou art4' ',i in thee1 and thou in me6' is the ecstatic cry of one of the ,hermes liturgies4 ,before that the prayer has been ',enter into me as a babe into the womb of a woman'4#aej3c ,in almost all the liturgies that ,i have read need is felt for a mediator between the seeker after ,god and his goal4 ,mithras himself saw a ,mests1 a ,mediator1 between ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 but the ordinary mediator is more like an interpreter or an adept with inner knowledge which he reveals to the outsider4 ,the circumstances out of which these systems grew have left their mark on the new gods themselves4 ,as usual1 the social structure of the worshippers is reflected in their objects of worship4 ,when the ,chaldaeans came to ,cos1 when the ,thracians in the ,piraeus set up their national worship of ,bendis1 when the ,egyptians in the same port founded their society for the ,egyptian ritual of ,isis1 when the ,jews at ,assuan in the fifth century ,b4 ,c4 established their own temple1 in each case there would come proselytes to whom the truth must be explained and interpreted1 sometimes perhaps softened4 ,and in each case there is behind the particular priest or initiator there present some greater authority in the land he comes from4 ,behind any explanation that can be made in the ,piraeus1 there is a deeper and higher explanation known only to the great master in ,jerusalem1 in ,egypt1 in ,babylon1 or perhaps in some unexplored and ever-receding region of the east4 ,this series of revelations1 one behind the other1 is a characteristic of all these mixed ,graeco-,oriental religions4 ,most of the ,hermetic treatises are put in the form of initiations or lessons revealed by a 'father' to a 'son'1 by ,ptah to ,hermes1 by ,hermes to ,thoth or ,asclepios1 and by one of them to us4 ,it was an ancient formula1 a natural vehicle for traditional wisdom in ,egypt1 where the young priest became regularly the 'son' of the old priest4 ,it is a form that we find in ,greece itself as early as ,euripides1 whose ,melanippe says of her cosmological doctrines1 ',it is not my word but my ,mother's word'4#aeb3a ,it was doubtless the language of the old ,medicine-,man to his disciple4 ,in one fine liturgy ,thoth wrestles with ,hermes in agony of spirit1 till ,hermes is forced to reveal to him the path to union with ,god which he himself has trodden before4 ,at the end of the ,mithras liturgy the devotee who has passed through the mystic ordeals and seen his god face to face1 is told3 ',after this you can show the way to others4' ,but this leads us to the second great division of our subject4 ,we turn from the phenomena of the sky to those of the soul4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if what ,i have written elsewhere is right1 one of the greatest works of the ,hellenic spirit1 and especially of fifth-century ,athens1 was to insist on what seems to us such a commonplace truism1 the difference between ,man and ,god4 ,sophrosyn in religion was the message of the classical age4 ,but the ages before and after had no belief in such a lesson4 ,the old ,medicine-,man was perhaps himself the first ,theos4 ,at any rate the primeval kings and queens were treated as divine4#aeb3b ,just for a few great generations1 it would seem1 humanity rose to a sufficient height of self-criticism and self-restraint to reject these dreams of self-abasement or megalomania4 ,but the effort was too great for the average world2 and in a later age nearly all the kings and rulers--all people in fact who can command an adequate number of flatterers--become divine beings again4 ,let us consider how it came about4 ,first there was the explicit recognition by the soberest philosophers of the divine element in man's soul4#aec3a ,aristotle himself built an altar to ,plato4 ,he did nothing superstitious2 he did not call ,plato a god1 but we can see from his beautiful elegy to ,eudemus1 that he naturally and easily used language of worship which would seem a little strange to us4 ,it is the same emotion--a noble and just emotion on the whole--which led the philosophic schools to treat their founders as 'heroes'1 and which has peopled most of ,europe and ,asia with the memories and the worship of saints4 ,but we should remember that only a rare mind will make its divine man of such material as ,plato4 ,the common way to dazzle men's eyes is a more brutal and obvious one4 ,to people who were at all accustomed to the conception of a ,god-,man it was difficult not to feel that the conception was realized in ,alexander4 ,his tremendous power1 his brilliant personality1 his achievements beggaring the fables of the poets1 put people in the right mind for worship4 ,then came the fact that the kings whom he conquered were1 as a matter of fact1 mostly regarded by their subjects as divine beings4#aed3a ,it was easy1 it was almost inevitable1 for those who worshipped the ',god'#aed3b ,darius to feel that it was no man but a greater god who had overthrown ,darius4 ,the incense which had been burned before those conquered gods was naturally offered to their conqueror4 ,he did not refuse it4 ,it was not good policy to do so1 and self-depreciation is not apt to be one of the weaknesses of the born ruler4#aed3c ,but besides all this1 if you are to judge a ,god by his fruits1 what ,god could produce better credentials8 ,men had often seen ,zeus defied with impunity2 they had seen faithful servants of ,apollo come to bad ends4 ,but those who defied ,alexander1 however great they might be1 always rued their defiance1 and those who were faithful to him always received their reward4 ,with his successors the worship became more official4 ,seleucus1 ,ptolemaeus1 ,antigonus1 ,demetrius1 all in different degrees and different styles are deified by the acclamations of adoring subjects4 ,ptolemy ,philadelphus seems to have been the first to claim definite divine honours during his own life4 ,on the death of his wife in #bga he proclaimed her deity and his own as well in the worship of the ,theoi ,adelphoi1 the ',gods ,brethren'4 ,of course there was flattery in all this1 ordinary self-interested lying flattery1 and its inevitable accompaniment1 megalomania4 ,any reading of the personal history of the ,ptolemies1 the ,seleucidae or the ,caesars shows it4 ,but that is not the whole explanation4 ,one of the characteristics of the period of the ,diadochi is the accumulation of capital and military force in the hands of individuals4 ,the ,ptolemies and ,seleucidae had at any moment at their disposal powers very much greater than any ,pericles or ,nicias or ,lysander4#aee3a ,the folk of the small cities of the ,aegean hinterlands must have felt towards these great strangers almost as poor ,indian peasants in time of flood and famine feel towards an ,english official4 ,there were men now on earth who could do the things that had hitherto been beyond the power of man4 ,were several cities thrown down by earthquake2 here was one who by his nod could build them again4 ,famines had always occurred and been mostly incurable4 ,here was one who could without effort allay a famine4 ,provinces were harried and wasted by habitual wars3 the eventual conqueror had destroyed whole provinces in making the wars2 now1 as he had destroyed1 he could also save4 ',what do you mean by a god1' the simple man might say1 'if these men are not gods8 ,the only difference is that these gods are visible1 and the old gods no man has seen4' ,the titles assumed by all the divine kings tell the story clearly4 ,antiochus ,epiphans--'the god made manifest'2 ,ptolemaios ,euergets1 ,ptolemaios ,str4 ,occasionally we have a ,keraunos or a ,nikator1 a ',thunderbolt' or a ',god of ,mana'1 but mostly it is ,str1 ,euergets and ,epiphans1 the ,saviour1 the ,benefactor1 the ,god made manifest1 in constant alternation4 ,in the honorific inscriptions and in the writings of the learned1 philanthropy 77 is by far the most prominent characteristic of the ,god upon earth4 ,was it that people really felt that to save or benefit mankind was a more godlike thing than to blast and destroy them8 ,philosophers have generally said that1 and the vulgar pretended to believe them4 ,it was at least politic1 when ministering to the half-insane pride of one of these princes1 to remind him of his mercy rather than of his wrath4 ,wendland in his brilliant book1 ,hellenistisch-rmische ,kultur1 calls attention to an inscription of the year #aif ,b4 ,c4 in honour of the young ,ptolemaios ,epiphans1 who was made manifest at the age of twelve years4#aef3a ,it is a typical document of ,graeco-,egyptian king-worship3 ',in the reign of the young king by inheritance from his ,father1 ,lord of the ,diadems1 great in glory1 pacificator of ,egypt and pious towards the gods1 superior over his adversaries1 ,restorer of the life of man1 ,lord of the ,periods of ,thirty ,years1 like ,hephaistos the ,great1 ,king like the ,sun1 the ,great ,king of the ,upper and ,lower ,lands2 offspring of the ,gods of the ,love of the ,father1 whom ,hephaistos has approved1 to whom the ,sun has given ,victory2 living image of ,zeus2 ,son of the ,sun1 ,ptolemaios the ever-living1 beloved by ,phtha2 in the ninth year of ,atos son of ,atos1 ,priest of ,alexander and the ,gods ,saviours and the ,gods ,brethren and the ,gods ,benefactors and the ,gods of the ,love of the ,father and the ,god ,manifest for whom thanks be given3' ,the ,priests who came to his coronation ceremony at ,memphis proclaim3 ',seeing that ,king ,ptolemaios ever-living1 beloved of ,phtha1 ,god ,manifest for whom ,thanks be given1 born of ,king ,ptolemaios and ,queen ,arsinoe1 the ,gods of the ,love of the ,father1 has done many benefactions to the ,temples and those in them and all those beneath his rule1 being from the beginning ,god born of ,god and ,goddess1 like ,horus son of ,isis and ,osiris1 who came to the help of his father ,osiris 7and87 in his benevolent disposition towards the ,gods has consecrated to the temples revenues of silver and of corn1 and has undergone many expenses in order to lead ,egypt into the sunlight and give peace to the ,temples1 and has with all his powers shown love of mankind4' ,when the people of ,lycopolis revolted1 we hear3 'in a short time he took the city by storm and slew all the ,impious who dwelt in it1 even as ,hermes and ,horus1 son of ,isis and ,osiris1 conquered those who of old revolted in the same regions 4 4 4 in return for which the ,gods have granted him ,health ,victory ,power and all other good things1 the ,kingdom remaining to him and his sons for time everlasting4'#aeg3a ,the conclusion which the ,priests draw from these facts is that the young king's titles and honours are insufficient and should be increased4 ,it is a typical and terribly un-,hellenic document of the ,hellenistic ,god-man in his appearance as ,king4 ,now the early successors of ,alexander mostly professed themselves members of the ,stoic school1 and in the mouth of a ,stoic this doctrine of the potential divinity of man was an inspiring one4 ,to them virtue was the really divine thing in man2 and the most divine kind of virtue was that of helping humanity4 ,to love and help humanity is1 according to ,stoic doctrine1 the work and the very essence of ,god4 ,if you take away ,pronoia from ,god1 says ,chrysippus1#aeh3a it is like taking away light and heat from fire4 ,this doctrine is magnificently expressed by ,pliny in a phrase that is probably translated from ,posidonius3 ',god is the helping of man by man2 and that is the way to eternal glory4'#aeh3b ,the conception took root in the minds of many ,romans4 ,a great ,roman governor often had the chance of thus helping humanity on a vast scale1 and liked to think that such a life opened the way to heaven4 ',one should conceive'1 says ,cicero 7,tusc4 i4 #cb71 'the gods as like men who feel themselves born for the work of helping1 defending1 and saving humanity4 ,hercules has passed into the number of the gods4 ,he would never have so passed if he had not built up that road for himself while he was among mankind4' ,i have been using some rather late authors1 though the ideas seem largely to come from ,posidonius4#aei3a ,but before ,posidonius the sort of fact on which we have been dwelling had had its influence on religious speculation4 ,when ,alexander made his conquering journey to ,india and afterwards was created a god1 it was impossible not to reflect that almost exactly the same story was related in myth about ,dionysus4 ,dionysus had started from ,india and travelled in the other direction3 that was the only difference4 ,a flood of light seemed to be thrown on all the traditional mythology1 which1 of course1 had always been a puzzle to thoughtful men4 ,it was impossible to believe it as it stood1 and yet hard--in an age which had not the conception of any science of mythology--to think it was all a mass of falsehood1 and the great ,homer and ,hesiod no better than liars4 ,but the generation which witnessed the official deification of the various ,seleucidae and ,ptolemies seemed suddenly to see light4 ,the traditional gods1 from ,heracles and ,dionysus up to ,zeus and ,cronos and even ,ouranos1 were simply old-world rulers and benefactors of mankind1 who had1 by their own insistence or the gratitude of their subjects1 been transferred to the ranks of heaven4 ,for that is the exact meaning of making them divine3 they are classed among the true immortals1 the ,sun and ,moon and ,stars and ,corn and ,wine1 and the everlasting elements4 ,the philosophic romance of ,euhemerus1 published early in the third century ,b4 ,c41 had instantaneous success and enormous influence4#afj3a ,it was one of the first ,greek books translated into ,latin1 and became long afterwards a favourite weapon of the ,christian fathers in their polemics against polytheism4 ',euhemerism' was1 on the face of it1 a very brilliant theory2 and it had1 as we have noticed1 a special appeal for the ,romans4 ,yet1 if such a conception might please the leisure of a statesman1 it could hardly satisfy the serious thought of a philosopher or a religious man4 ,if man's soul really holds a fragment of ,god and is itself a divine being1 its godhead cannot depend on the possession of great riches and armies and organized subordinates4 ,if 'the helping of man by man is ,god'1 the help in question cannot be material help4 ,the religion which ends in deifying only kings and millionaires may be vulgarly popular but is self-condemned4 ,as a matter of fact the whole tendency of ,greek philosophy after ,plato1 with some illustrious exceptions1 especially among the ,romanizing ,stoics1 was away from the outer world towards the world of the soul4 ,we find in the religious writings of this period that the real ,saviour of men is not he who protects them against earthquake and famine1 but he who in some sense saves their souls4 ,he reveals to them the ,gnsis ,theou1 the ,knowledge of ,god4 ,the 'knowledge' in question is not a mere intellectual knowledge4 ,it is a complete union1 a merging of beings4 ,and1 as we have always to keep reminding our cold modern intelligence1 he who has 'known' ,god is himself thereby deified4 ,he is the ,image of ,god1 the ,son of ,god1 in a sense he is ,god4#afa3a ,the stratum of ideas described in the first of the studies will explain the ease with which transition took place4 ,the worshipper of ,bacchos became ,bacchos simply enough1 because in reality the ,god ,bacchos was originally only the projection of the human ,bacchoi4 ,and in the ,hellenistic age the notion of these secondary mediating gods was made easier by the analogy of the human interpreters4 ,of course1 we have abundant instances of actual preachers and miracle-workers who on their own authority posed1 and were accepted1 as gods4 ,the adventure of ,paul and ,barnabas at ,lystra#afa3b shows how easily such things could happen4 ,but as a rule1 ,i suspect1 the most zealous priest or preacher preferred to have his ,god in the background4 ,he preaches1 he heals the sick and casts out devils1 not in his own name but in the name of ,one who sent him4 ,this actual present priest who initiates you or me is himself already an ,image of ,god2 but above him there are greater and wiser priests1 above them others1 and above all there is the one eternal ,divine ,mediator1 who being in perfection both man and ,god can alone fully reveal ,god to man1 and lead man's soul up the heavenly path1 beyond ,change and ,fate and the ,houses of the ,seven ,rulers1 to its ultimate peace4 ,i have seen somewhere a ,gnostic or early ,christian emblem which indicates this doctrine4 ,some ,shepherd or ,saviour stands1 his feet on the earth1 his head towering above the planets1 lifting his follower in his outstretched arms4 ,the ,gnostics are still commonly thought of as a body of ,christian heretics4 ,in reality there were ,gnostic sects scattered over the ,hellenistic world before ,christianity as well as after4 ,they must have been established in ,antioch and probably in ,tarsus well before the days of ,paul or ,apollos4 ,their ,saviour1 like the ,jewish ,messiah1 was established in men's minds before the ,saviour of the ,christians4 ',if we look close'1 says ,professor ,bousset1 'the result emerges with great clearness1 that the figure of the ,redeemer as such did not wait for ,christianity to force its way into the religion of ,gnsis1 but was already present there under various forms4'#afb3a ,he occurs notably in two pre-,christian documents1 discovered by the keen analysis and profound learning of ,dr4 ,reitzenstein3 the ,poimandres revelation printed in the ,corpus ,hermeticum1 and the sermon of the ,naassenes in ,hippolytus1 ,refutatio ,omnium ,haeresium1 which is combined with ,attis-worship4#afb3b ,the violent anti-,jewish bias of most of the sects--they speak of 'the accursed ,god of the ,jews' and identify him with ,saturn and the ,devil--points on the whole to pre-,christian conditions3 and a completely non-,christian standpoint is still visible in the ,mandaean and ,manichean systems4 ,their ,redeemer is descended by a fairly clear genealogy from the ',tritos ,str' of early ,greece1 contaminated with similar figures1 like ,attis and ,adonis from ,asia ,minor1 ,osiris from ,egypt1 and the special ,jewish conception of the ,messiah of the ,chosen people4 ,he has various names1 which the name of ,jesus or ',christos'1 'the ,anointed'1 tends gradually to supersede4 ,above all he is1 in some sense1 ,man1 or 'the ,second ,man' or 'the ,son of ,man'4 ,the origin of this phrase needs a word of explanation4 ,since the ultimate unseen ,god1 spirit though ,he is1 made man in ,his image1 since holy men 7and divine kings7 are images of ,god1 it follows that ,he is ,himself ,man4 ,he is the real1 the ultimate1 the perfect and eternal ,man1 of whom all bodily men are feeble copies4 ,he is also the ,father2 the ,saviour is his ,son1 'the ,image of the ,father'1 'the ,second ,man'1 'the ,son of ,man'4 ,the method in which he performs his mystery of ,redemption varies4 ,it is haunted by the memory of the old ,suffering and ,dying ,god1 of whom we spoke in the first of these studies4 ,it is vividly affected by the ideal ',righteous ,man' of ,plato1 who 'shall be scourged1 tortured1 bound1 his eyes burnt out1 and at last1 after suffering every evil1 shall be impaled or crucified'4#afc3a ,but in the main he descends1 of his free will or by the eternal purpose of the ,father1 from ,heaven through the spheres of all the ,archontes or ,kosmokratores1 the planets1 to save mankind1 or sometimes to save the fallen ,virgin1 the ,soul1 ,wisdom1 or 'the ,pearl'4#afd3a ,the ,archontes let him pass because he is disguised2 they do not know him 7cf4 #a ,cor4 ii4 #g ff474 ,when his work is done he ascends to ,heaven to sit by the side of the ,father in glory2 he conquers the ,archontes1 leads them captive in his triumph1 strips them of their armour 7,col4 ii4 #ae2 cf4 the previous verse71 sometimes even crucifies them for ever in their places in the sky4#afd3b ,the epistles to the ,colossians and the ,ephesians are much influenced by these doctrines4 ,paul himself constantly uses the language of them1 but in the main we find him discouraging the excesses of superstition1 reforming1 ignoring1 rejecting4 ,his ,jewish blood was perhaps enough to keep him to strict monotheism4 ,though he admits ,angels and ,archontes1 ,principalities and ,powers1 he scorns the ,elements and he seems deliberately to reverse the doctrine of the first and second ,man4#afd3c ,he says nothing about the ,trinity of ,divine ,beings that was usual in ,gnosticism1 nothing about the ,divine ,mother4 ,his mind1 for all its vehement mysticism1 has something of that clean antiseptic quality that makes such early ,christian works as the ,octavius of ,minucius ,felix and the ,epistle to ,diognetus so infinitely refreshing4 ,he is certainly one of the great figures in ,greek literature1 but his system lies outside the subject of this essay4 ,we are concerned only with those last manifestations of ,hellenistic religion which probably formed the background of his philosophy4 ,it is a strange experience1 and it shows what queer stuff we humans are made of1 to study these obscure congregations1 drawn from the proletariate of the ,levant1 superstitious1 charlatan-ridden1 and helplessly ignorant1 who still believed in ,gods begetting children of mortal mothers1 who took the ',word'1 the ',spirit'1 and the ',divine ,wisdom'1 to be persons called by those names1 and turned the ,immortality of the ,soul into 'the standing up of the corpses'2#afe3a and to reflect that it was these who held the main road of advance towards the greatest religion of the western world4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have tried to sketch in outline the main forms of belief to which ,hellenistic philosophy moved or drifted4 ,let me dwell for a few pages more upon the characteristic method by which it reached them4 ,it may be summed up in one word1 ,allegory4 ,all ,hellenistic philosophy from the first ,stoics onward is permeated by allegory4 ,it is applied to ,homer1 to the religious traditions1 to the ancient rituals1 to the whole world4 ,to ,sallustius after the end of our period the whole material world is only a great myth1 a thing whose value lies not in itself but in the spiritual meaning which it hides and reveals4 ,to ,cleanthes at the beginning of it the ,universe was a mystic pageant1 in which the immortal stars were the dancers and the ,sun the priestly torch-bearer4#afe3b ,chrysippus reduced the ,homeric gods to physical or ethical principles2 and ,crates1 the great critic1 applied allegory in detail to his interpretation of the all-wise poet4#aff3a ,we possess two small but complete treatises which illustrate well the results of this tendency1 ,cornutus and the ,homeric ,allegories of ,heraclitus1 a brilliant little work of the first century ,b4 ,c4 ,i will not dwell upon details3 they are abundantly accessible and individually often ridiculous4 ,a by-product of the same activity is the mystic treatment of language3 a certain ,titan in ,hesiod is named ,koios4 ,why8 ,because the ,titans are the elements and one of them is naturally the element of 1 the ,ionic ,greek for ',quality'4 ,the ,egyptian ,isis is derived from the root of the ,greek 1 ,knowledge1 and the ,egyptian ,osiris from the ,greek and 7'holy' and 'sacred'1 or perhaps more exactly 'lawful' and 'tabu'74 ,is this totally absurd8 ,i think not4 ,if all human language is1 as most of these thinkers believed1 a divine institution1 a cap filled to the brim with divine meaning1 so that by reflecting deeply upon a word a pious philosopher can reach the secret that it holds1 then there is no difficulty whatever in supposing that the special secret held by an ,egyptian word may be found in ,greek1 or the secret of a ,greek word in ,babylonian4 ,language is ,one4 ,the ,gods who made all these languages equally could use them all1 and wind them all intricately in and out1 for the building up of their divine enigma4 ,we must make a certain effort of imagination to understand this method of allegory4 ,it is not the frigid thing that it seems to us4 ,in the first place1 we should remember that1 as applied to the ancient literature and religious ritual1 allegory was at least a vera causa--it was a phenomenon which actually existed4 ,heraclitus of ,ephesus is an obvious instance4 ,he deliberately expressed himself in language which should not be understood of the vulgar1 and which bore a hidden meaning to his disciples4 ,pythagoras did the same4 ,the prophets and religious writers must have done so to an even greater extent4#afg3a ,and we know enough of the history of ritual to be sure that a great deal of it is definitely allegorical4 ,the ,hellenistic ,age did not wantonly invent the theory of allegory4 ,and secondly1 we must remember what states of mind tend especially to produce this kind of belief4 ,they are not contemptible states of mind4 ,it needs only a strong idealism with which the facts of experience clash1 and allegory follows almost of necessity4 ,the facts cannot be accepted as they are4 ,they must needs be explained as meaning something different4 ,take an earnest ,stoic or ,platonist1 a man of fervid mind1 who is possessed by the ideals of his philosophy and at the same time feels his heart thrilled by the beauty of the old poetry4 ,what is he to do8 ,on one side he can find ,zoilus1 or ,plato himself1 or the ,cynic preachers1 condemning ,homer and the poets without remorse1 as teachers of foolishness4 ,he can treat poetry as the ,english puritans treated the stage4 ,but is that a satisfactory solution8 ,remember that these generations were trained habitually to give great weight to the voice of their inner consciousness1 and the inner consciousness of a sensitive man cries out that any such solution is false3 that ,homer is not a liar1 but noble and great1 as our fathers have always taught us4 ,on the other side comes ,heraclitus the allegorist4 ',if ,homer used no allegories he committed all impieties4' ,on this theory the words can be allowed to possess all their old beauty and magic1 but an inner meaning is added quite different from that which they bear on the surface4 ,it may1 very likely1 be a duller and less poetic meaning2 but ,i am not sure that the verses will not gain by the mere process of brooding study fully as much as they lose by the ultimate badness of the interpretation4 ,anyhow1 that was the road followed4 ,the men of whom ,i speak were not likely to give up any experience that seemed to make the world more godlike or to feed their spiritual and emotional cravings4 ,they left that to the barefooted cynics4 ,they craved poetry and they craved philosophy2 if the two spoke like enemies1 their words must needs be explained away by one who loved both4 ,the same process was applied to the world itself4 ,something like it is habitually applied by the religious idealists of all ages4 ,a fundamental doctrine of ,stoicism and most of the idealist creeds was the perfection and utter blessedness of the world1 and the absolute fulfilment of the purpose of ,god4 ,now obviously this belief was not based on experience4 ,the poor world1 to do it justice amid all its misdoings1 has never lent itself to any such barefaced deception as that4 ,no doubt it shrieked against the doctrine then1 as loud as it has always shrieked1 so that even a ,posidonian or a ,pythagorean1 his ears straining for the music of the spheres1 was sometimes forced to listen4 ,and what was his answer8 ,it is repeated in all the literature of these sects4 ',our human experience is so small3 the things of the earth may be bad and more than bad1 but1 ah6 if you only went beyond the ,moon6 ,that is where the true ,kosmos begins4' ,and1 of course1 if we did ever go there1 we all know they would say it began beyond the ,sun4 ,idealism of a certain type will have its way2 if hard life produces an ounce or a pound or a million tons of fact in the scale against it1 it merely dreams of infinite millions in its own scale1 and the enemy is outweighed and smothered4 ,i do not wish to mock at these ,posidonian ,stoics and ,hermetics and ,gnostics and ,neo-,pythagoreans4 ,they loved goodness1 and their faith is strong and even terrible4 ,one feels rather inclined to bow down before their altars and cry3 ,magna est ,delusio et praevalebit4 ,yet on the whole one rises from these books with the impression that all this allegory and mysticism is bad for men4 ,it may make the emotions sensitive1 it certainly weakens the understanding4 ,and1 of course1 in this paper ,i have left out of account many of the grosser forms of superstition4 ,in any consideration of the balance1 they should not be forgotten4 ,if a reader of ,proclus and the ,corpus ,hermeticum wants relief1 he will find it1 perhaps1 best in the writings of a gentle old ,epicurean who lived at ,oenoanda in ,cappadocia about ,a4 ,d4 #bjj4 ,his name was ,diogenes4#afi3a ,his works are preserved1 in a fragmentary state1 not on papyrus or parchment1 but on the wall of a large portico where he engraved them for passers-by to read4 ,he lived in a world of superstition and foolish terror1 and he wrote up the great doctrines of ,epicurus for the saving of mankind4 ',being brought by age to the sunset of my life1 and expecting at any moment to take my departure from the world with a glad song for the fullness of my happiness1 ,i have resolved1 lest ,i be taken too soon1 to give help to those of good temperament4 ,if one person or two or three or four1 or any small number you choose1 were in distress1 and ,i were summoned out to help one after another1 ,i would do all in my power to give the best counsel to each4 ,but now1 as ,i have said1 the most of men lie sick1 as it were of a pestilence1 in their false beliefs about the world1 and the tale of them increases2 for by imitation they take the disease from one another1 like sheep4 ,and further it is only just to bring help to those who shall come after us--for they too are ours1 though they be yet unborn2 and love for man commands us also to help strangers who may pass by4 ,since therefore the good message of the ,book has this wall and to set forth in public the medicine of the healing of mankind4' ,the people of his time and neighbourhood seem to have fancied that the old man must have some bad motive4 ,they understood mysteries and redemptions and revelations4 ,they understood magic and curses4 ,but they were puzzled1 apparently1 by this simple message1 which only told them to use their reason1 their courage1 and their sympathy1 and not to be afraid of death or of angry gods4 ,the doctrine was condensed into four sentences of a concentrated eloquence that make a translator despair3#agj3a ',nothing to fear in ,god3 ,nothing to feel in ,death3 ,good can be attained3 ,evil can be endured4' ,of course1 the doctrines of this good old man do not represent the whole truth4 ,to be guided by one's aversions is always a sign of weakness or defeat2 and it is as much a failure of nerve to reject blindly for fear of being a fool1 as to believe blindly for fear of missing some emotional stimulus4 ,there is no royal road in these matters4 ,i confess it seems strange to me as ,i write here1 to reflect that at this moment many of my friends and most of my fellow creatures are1 as far as one can judge1 quite confident that they possess supernatural knowledge4 ,as a rule1 each individual belongs to some body which has received in writing the results of a divine revelation4 ,i cannot share in any such feeling4 ,the ,uncharted surrounds us on every side and we must needs have some relation towards it1 a relation which will depend on the general discipline of a man's mind and the bias of his whole character4 ,as far as knowledge and conscious reason will go1 we should follow resolutely their austere guidance4 ,when they cease1 as cease they must1 we must use as best we can those fainter powers of apprehension and surmise and sensitiveness by which1 after all1 most high truth has been reached as well as most high art and poetry3 careful always really to seek for truth and not for our own emotional satisfaction1 careful not to neglect the real needs of men and women through basing our life on dreams2 and remembering above all to walk gently in a world where the lights are dim and the very stars wander4 ,,bibliographical ,,note ,it is not my purpose to make anything like a systematic bibliography1 but a few recommendations may be useful to some students who approach this subject1 as ,i have done1 from the side of classical ,greek4 ,for ,greek ,philosophy ,i have used besides ,plato and ,aristotle1 ,diogenes ,laertius and ,philodemus1 ,diels1 ,fragmente der ,vorsokratiker2 ,diels1 ,doxographi ,graeci2 von ,arnim1 ,stoicorum ,veterum ,fragmenta2 ,usener1 ,epicurea2 also the old ,fragmenta ,philosophorum of ,mullach4 ,for later ,paganism and ,gnosticism1 ,reitzenstein1 ,poimandres2 ,reitzenstein1 ,die hellenistischen ,mysterienreligionen2 ,dieterich1 ,eine ,mithrasliturgic 7also ,abraxas1 ,nekyia1 ,muttererde1 c472 ,p4 ,wendland1 ,hellenistisch-,rmische ,kultur2 ,cumont1 ,textes et ,monuments relatifs aux ,mystres de ,mithra 7also ,the ,mysteries of ,mithra1 ,chicago1 #aijc71 and ,les ,religions ,orientales dans l',empire ,romain2 ,seeck1 ,untergang der antiken ,welt1 vol4 iii2 ,philo1 de ,vita ,contemplativa1 ,conybeare2 ,gruppe1 ,griechische ,religion and ,mythologie1 pp4 #adeh-afgf2 ,bousset1 ,hauptprobleme der ,gnosis1 #aijg1 with good bibliography in the introduction2 articles by ,e4 ,bevan in the ,quarterly ,review1 ,no4 #dbd 7,june #aiaj71 and the ,hibbert ,journal1 xi4 #a 7,october #aiab74 ,dokumente der ,gnosis1 by ,w4 ,schultz 7,jena1 #aiaj71 gives a highly subjective translation and reconstruction of most of the ,gnostic documents3 the ,corpus ,hermeticum is translated into ,english by ,g4 ,r4 ,s4 ,meade1 ,thrice ,greatest ,hermes1 #aijf4 ,the first volume of ,dr4 ,scott's monumental edition of the ,hermetica 7,clarendon ,press1 #aibd7 has appeared just too late to be used in the present volume4 ,for ,jewish thought before the ,christian era ,dr4 ,charles's ,testaments of the ,twelve ,patriarchs2 also the same writer's ,book of ,enoch1 and the ,religionsgeschichtliche ,erklrung des ,neuen ,testaments by ,carl ,clemen1 ,giessen1 #aiji4 ,of ,christian writers apart from the ,new ,testament those that come most into account are ,hippolytis 7cross symbol ,a4 ,d4 #bej71 ,refutatio ,omnium ,haeresium1 ,epiphanius 7#cfg-djc71 ,panarion1 and ,irenaeus 7cross symbol ,a4 ,d4 #bjb71 ,contra ,haereses1 i1 ii4 ,for a simple introduction to the problems presented by the ,new ,testament literature ,i would venture to recommend ,prof4 ,bacon's ,new ,testament1 in the ,home ,university ,library1 and ,dr4 ,estlin ,carpenter's ,first ,three ,gospels4 ,in such a vast literature ,i dare not make any further recommendations1 but for a general introduction to the ,history of ,religions with a good and brief bibliography ,i would refer the reader to ,salomon ,reinach's ,orpheus 7,paris1 #aiji2 ,english translation the same year71 a book of wide learning and vigorous thought4 ,,footnotes3 #abd3a ,mr4 ,marett has pointed out that this conception has its roots deep in primitive human nature3 ,the ,birth of ,humility1 ,oxford1 #aiaj1 p4 #ag4 ',it would1 perhaps1 be fanciful to say that man tends to run away from the sacred as uncanny1 to cower before it as secret1 and to prostrate himself before it as tabu4 ,on the other hand1 it seems plain that to these three negative qualities of the sacred taken together there corresponds on the part of man a certain negative attitude of mind4 ,psychologists class the feelings bound up with flight1 cowering1 and prostration under the common head of asthenic emotion4 ,in plain ,english they are all forms of heart-sinking1 of feeling unstrung4 ,this general type of innate disposition would seem to be the psychological basis of ,humility4 ,taken in its social setting1 the emotion will1 of course1 show endless shades of complexity2 for it will be excited1 and again will find practical expression1 in all sorts of ways4 ,under these varying conditions1 however1 it is reasonable to suppose that what ,mr4 ,mc,dougall would call the central part of the experience remains very much the same4 ,in face of the sacred the normal man is visited by a heart-sinking1 a wave of asthenic emotion4' ,mr4 ,marett continues3 ',if that were all1 however1 ,religion would be a matter of pure fear4 ,but it is not all4 ,there is yet the positive side of the sacred to be taken into account4' ,it is worth remarking also that ,schleiermacher 7#agfg-ahcd7 placed the essence of religion in the feeling of absolute dependence without attempting to define the object towards which it was directed4 #abi3a ,usener1 ,epicurea 7#ahhg71 pp4 #bcb ff42 ,diels1 ,doxographi ,graeci 7#ahgi71 p4 #cjf2 ,arnim1 ,stoicorum ,veterum ,fragmenta 7#aijc-e71 ,chrysippus #ajad1 #ajai4 #acc3a ,juv4 x4 #cfe f42 ,polyb4 ii4 #ch1 #e2 x4 #e1 #h2 xviii4 #aa1 #e4 #acc3b ,cf4 also his ,consolatio ad ,apollonium4 ,the earliest text is perhaps the interesting fragment of ,demetrius of ,phalerum 7fr4 #ai1 in ,f4 ,h4 ,g4 ii4 #cfh71 written about #cag ,b4 ,c4 ,it is quoted with admiration by ,polybius xxix4 #ba1 with reference to the defeat of ,perseus of ,macedon by the ,romans3 ',one must often remember the saying of ,demetrius of ,phalerum 4 4 4 in his ,treatise on ,fortune4 4 4 4 ,if you were to take not an indefinite time1 nor many generations1 but just the fifty years before this1 you could see in them the violence of ,fortune4 ,fifty years ago do you suppose that either the ,macedonians or the ,king of ,macedon1 or the ,persians or the ,king of ,persia1 if some ,god had foretold them what was to come1 would ever have believed that by the present time the ,persians1 who were then masters of almost all the inhabited world1 would have ceased to be even a geographical name1 while the ,macedonians1 who were then not even a name1 would be rulers of all8 ,yet this ,fortune1 who bears no relation to our method of life1 but transforms everything in the way we do not expect and displays her power by surprises1 is at the present moment showing all the world that1 when she puts the ,macedonians into the rich inheritance of the ,persian1 she has only lent them these good things until she changes her mind about them4 ,which has now happened in the case of ,perseus4 ,the words of ,demetrius were a prophecy uttered1 as it were1 by inspired lips4' #acd3a ,eur41 ,tro4 #hhf4 ,literally it means ',the ,compulsion in the way ,things grow'4 #acd3b ,zeno1 fr4 #hg1 ,arnim4 #ace3a ,chrysippus1 fr4 #iac1 ,arnim4 #ace3b ,cleanthes1 #ebg1 ,arnim4 '1 1 ' 1 4 ,plotinus1 ,enn4 ,,iii4 i4 #aj4 #ace3c ,epicurus1 ,third ,letter4 ,usener1 p4 #fe1 #ab ,diog4 ,la4 x4 #acd4 #acf3a ,aristotle1 fr4 #ab ff4 #acf3b e4 g4 ,chrysippus1 fr4 #ajgf1 ,arnim4 #ach3a ,themis1 p4 #ahj1 n4 #a4 #ach3b ,not to ,plotinus3 ,enn4 ,,ii4 ix against the ,valentinians4 ,cf4 ,porphyry1 1 #bh4 #ach3c ,bousset1 ,hauptprobleme der ,gnosis1 #aijg1 pp4 #ac1 #ba1 #bf1 #ha1 c42 pp4 #ccb ff4 ,she becomes ,helen in the beautiful myth of the ,simonian ,gnostics--a ,helen who has forgotten her name and race1 and is a slave in a brothel in ,tyre4 ,simon discovers her1 gradually brings back her memory and redeems her4 ,irenaeus1 i4 #bc1 #b4 #aci3a ,de ,iside et ,osiride1 #fg4 7,he distinguishes them from the real ,god1 however1 just as ,sallustius would47 #aci3b ,mithras was worshipped by the ,cilician ,pirates conquered by ,pompey4 ,plut41 ,vit4 ,pomp4 #bd4 #aci3c 4 ,plato 7,diels1 #cje72 ,stoics1 ib4 #edg1 l4 #h4 #adj3a ,aristotle 7,diels1 #dej74 1 4 ,chrysippus 7,diels #dff72 ,posidonius1 ib4 7cf4 ,plato1 ,laws4 #hih ff474 ,see ,epicurus's ,second ,letter1 especially ,usener1 pp4 #cf-dg ,diog4 ,la4 x4 #hf-ajd4 ,on the food required by the heavenly bodies cf4 ,chrysippus1 fr4 #feh-fa1 ,arnim4 #adj3b 4 ,diels1 #cjg;a #ae4 ,cf4 #dcb;a #aj4 #ada3a ,heath1 ,aristarchos of ,samos1 pp4 #cja-aj4 #adb3a ,pythagoras in ,diels1 p4 #eee1 #bj2 the best criticism is in ,aristotle1 ,de ,caelo1 chap4 #i 7p4 #bij b71 the fullest account in ,macrobius1 ,comm4 in ,somn4 ,scipionis1 ii4 #adb3b ,see ,diels1 ,elementium1 #ahii1 p4 #ag4 ,these magic letters are still used in the ,roman ritual for the consecration of churches4 #adc3a ,a seven-day week was known to ,pseudo-,hippocrates ad fin41 but the date of that treatise is very uncertain4 #adc3b ,aesch41 ,ag4 #f2 ,eur41 ,hip4 #ecj4 ,also ,ag4 #cfe1 where goes together and ' 4 #adc3c ,proclus1 ,in ,timaeum1 #bhi ,f2 ,seneca1 ,nat4 ,quaest4 iii4 #bi1 #a4 #ade3a ,chrysippus1 #aahg-ie4 ,esse divinationem si di sint et providentia4 #ade3b ,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,de4 iii4 #aa1 #bh2 especially ,de ,divinatione1 ii4 #ad1 #cd2 #fj1 #abd2 #fi1 #adb4 ',qua ex coniunctione naturae et quasi concentu atque consensu1 quam ,graeci appellant1 convenire potest aut fissum iecoris cum lucello meo aut meus quaesticulus cum caelo1 terra rerumque natura8' asks the sceptic in the second of these passages4 #ade3c ,chrysippus1 #ici-dd4 ,vaticinatio probat fati necessitatem4 #ade3d ,chrysippus1 #abad1 #abjj-f4 #adf3a ,eine ,mithrasliturgie1 #aijc4 ,the ,,ms4 is #egd ,supplment grec de la ,bibl4 ,nationale4 ,the formulae of various religions were used as instruments of magic1 as our own witches used the ,lord's ,prayer backwards4 #adf3b ,refutatio ,omnium ,haeresium1 v4 #g4 ,they worshipped the ,serpent1 ,nhsh 774 #adg3a ,bousset1 p4 #cea4 ,the hostility of ,zoroastrianism to the old ,babylonian planet gods was doubtless at work also4 ,ib4 pp4 #cg-df4 #adg3b ,or1 in some ,gnostic systems1 of the ,mother4 #adh3a ,harrison1 ,prolegomena1 ,appendix on the ,orphic tablets4 #adh3b ,ap4 ,metamorphoses1 xi4 #adi3a #b ,cor4 xii4 #b and #c 7he may be referring in veiled language to himself72 ,gal4 i4 #ab ff42 ,acts ix4 #a-bb4 ,on the difference of tone and fidelity between the ,epistles and the ,acts see the interesting remarks of ,prof4 ,p4 ,gardner1 ,the ,religious ,experience of ,st4 ,paul1 pp4 #e ff4 #adi3b ,porphyry1 ,vita ,plotini1 #bc4 ',we have explained that he was good and gentle1 mild and merciful2 we who lived with him could feel it4 ,we have said that he was vigilant and pure of soul1 and always striving towards the ,divine1 which with all his soul he loved4 4 4 4 ,and thus it happened to this extraordinary man1 constantly lifting himself up towards the first and transcendent ,god by thought and the ways explained by ,plato in the ,symposium1 that there actually came a vision of that ,god who is without shape or form1 established above the understanding and all the intelligible world4 ,to whom ,i1 ,porphyry1 being now in my sixty-eighth year1 profess that ,i once drew near and was made one with him4 ,at any rate he appeared to ,plotinus a goal close at hand4 ,for his whole end and goal was to be made ,one and draw near to the supreme ,god4 ,and he attained that goal four times1 ,i think1 while ,i was living with him--not potentially but in actuality1 though an actuality which surpasses speech4' #aej3a ,c4 ,i4 ,g41 vol4 xii1 fasc4 #c2 and ,bethe in ,rhein4 ,mus41 ,n4 ,f41 xlii1 #dch-ge4 #aej3b ,irenaeus1 i4 #ac1 #c4 #aej3c ,bousset1 chap4 vii2 ,reitzenstein1 ,mysterienreligionen1 p4 #bj ff41 with excursus2 ,poimandres1 #bbf ff42 ,dieterich1 ,mithrasliturgie1 pp4 #aba ff4 #aeb3a ,eur4 fr4 #dhd4 #aeb3b ,r4 ,g4 ,e4#c1 pp4 #ace-dj4 ,i do not touch on the political side of this apotheosis of ,hellenistic kings2 it is well brought out in ,ferguson's ,hellenistic ,athens1 e4 g4 p4 #ajh f41 also p4 #aa f4 and note4 ,antigonus ,gonatas refused to be worshipped 7,tarn1 p4 #bej f474 ,for ,sallustius's opinion1 see below1 p4 #bbc1 chap4 xviii ad fin4 #aec3a ,cf4 1 ,democr4 #aga1 ,diels1 and ,alcmaeon is said by ,cicero to have attributed divinity to the ,stars and the ,soul4 ,melissus and ,zeno 4 ,the phrase 1 ,diels #fea1 must refer to some ,gnostic sect4 #aed3a ,see for instance ,frazer1 ,golden ,bough#c1 part ,i1 i4 #dag-ai4 #aed3b ,aesch4 ,pers4 #aeg1 #fdd 771 #fdb 774 ,mr4 ,bevan however suspects that ,aeschylus misunderstood his ,persian sources3 see his article on ',deification' in ,hastings's ,dictionary of ,religion4 #aed3c ,cf4 ,aristotle on the 1 ,eth4 ,nic4 #aabc b4 #ae4 1 1 4 4 4 4 ' 4 ,but these kings clearly transgressed the mean4 ,for the satirical comments of various public men in ,athens see ,ed4 ,meyer1 ,kleine ,schriften1 #cja ff41 #ccj4 #aee3a ,lysander too had altars raised to him by some ,asiatic cities4 #aef3a ,dittenberger1 ,inscr4 ,orientis ,graeci1 #ij2 ,wendland1 ,hellenistisch-rmische ,kultur1 #aijg1 p4 #gd f4 and notes4 #aeg3a ,several of the phrases are interesting4 ,the last gift of the heavenly gods to this ,theos is the old gift of ,mana4 ,in ,hesiod it was 1 the two ministers who are never away from the ,king ,zeus4 ,in ,aeschylus it was ,kratos and ,bia who subdue ,prometheus4 ,in ,tyrtaeus it was 4 ,in other inscriptions of the ,ptolemaic age it is or 4 ,in the current ,christian liturgies it is 'the ,kingdom1 the ,power1 and the ,glory'4 ,r4 ,g4 ,e4#c1 p4 #ace1 n4 ,the new conception1 as always1 is rooted in the old4 ',the ,gods ,saviours1 ,brethren'1 c41 are of course ,ptolemy ,soter1 ,ptolemy ,philadelphus1 c41 and their ,queens4 ,the phrases 1 1 1 are characteristic of the religious language of this period4 ,cf4 also ,col4 i4 #ad1 2 #b ,cor4 iv4 #d2 ,ephes4 i4 #e1 #f4 #aeh3a ,fr4 #aaah4 ,arnim4 ,cf4 ,antipater1 fr4 #cc1 #cd1 is part of the definition of ,deity4 #aeh3b ,plin41 ,nat4 ,hist4 ii4 #g1 #ah4 ,deus est mortali iuvare mortalem et haec ad aeternam gloriam via4 ,cf4 also the striking passages from ,cicero and others in ,wendland1 p4 #he1 n4 #b4 #aei3a ,the ,stoic philosopher1 teaching at ,rhodes1 c4 #ajj ,b4 ,c4 ,a man of immense knowledge and strong religious emotions1 he moved the ,stoa in the direction of ,oriental mysticism4 ,see ,schwartz's sketch in ,characterkpfea1 pp4 #hi-ih4 ,also ,norden's ,commentary on ,aeneid vi4 #afj3a ,jacoby in ,pauly-,wissowa's ,realencyclopdie1 vi4 #ied4 ,it was called 4 #afa3a ,cf4 ,plotin4 ,enn4 ,i1 ii4 #f ' 1 4 #afa3b ,acts xiv4 #ab4 ,they called ,barnabas ,zeus and ,paul ,hermes1 because he was 4--,paul also writes to the ,galatians 7iv4 #ad73 ',ye received me as a messenger of ,god1 as ,jesus ,christ4' #afb3a ,bousset1 p4 #bch4 #afb3b ,hippolytus1 #acd1 #ij ff41 text in ,reitzenstein's ,poimandres1 pp4 #hc-ih4 #afc3a ,republic1 #cfb ,a4 is said to 1 which is used both for 'impale' and 'crucify'4 ,the two were alternative forms of the most slavish and cruel capital punishment1 impalement being mainly ,persian1 crucifixion ,roman4 #afd3a ,see ,the ,hymn of the ,soul1 attributed to the ,gnostic ,bardesanes1 edited by ,a4 ,a4 ,bevan1 ,cambridge1 #ahig4 #afd3b ,bousset cites ,acta ,archelai #h1 and ,epiphanius1 ,haeres4 #ff1 #cb4 #afd3c ,gal4 iv4 #i2 #a ,cor4 xv4 #ba f41 #dg2 ,rom4 v4 #ab-ah4 #afe3a 4 ,cf4 ,acts xvii4 #cb4 #afe3b ,cleanthes1 #ech1 ,arnim2 ,diels1 p4 #eib1 #cj4 ,cf4 ,philolaus1 ,diels1 p4 #ccf f4 #aff3a ,see especially the interpretation of ,nestor's ,cup1 ,athenaeus1 pp4 #dhi c4 ff4 #afg3a ,i may refer to the learned and interesting remarks on the ,esoteric ,style in ,prof4 ,margoliouth's edition of ,aristotle's ,poetics4 ,it is not1 of course1 the same as ,allegory4 #afi3a ,published in the ,teubner series by ,william1 #aijg4 #agj3a 4 4 4 4 ,i regret to say that ,i cannot track this ,epicurean 'tetractys' to its source4 ,v ,,the ,,last ,,protest ,in the last essay we have followed ,greek popular religion to the very threshold of ,christianity1 till we found not only a soil ready for the seed of ,christian metaphysic1 but a large number of the plants already in full and exuberant growth4 ,a complete history of ,greek religion ought1 without doubt1 to include at least the rise of ,christianity and the growth of the ,orthodox ,church1 but1 of course1 the present series of studies does not aim at completeness4 ,we will take the ,christian theology for granted as we took the classical ,greek philosophy1 and will finish with a brief glance at the ,pagan reaction of the fourth century1 when the old religion1 already full of allegory1 mysticism1 asceticism1 and ,oriental influences1 raised itself for a last indignant stand against the all-prevailing deniers of the gods4 ,this period1 however1 admits a rather simpler treatment than the others4 ,it so happens that for the last period of paganism we actually possess an authoritative statement of doctrine1 something between a creed and a catechism4 ,it seems to me a document so singularly important and1 as far as ,i can make out1 so little known1 that ,i shall venture to print it entire4 ,a creed or catechism is1 of course1 not at all the same thing as the real religion of those who subscribe to it4 ,the rules of metre are not the same thing as poetry2 the rules of cricket1 if the analogy may be excused1 are not the same thing as good play4 ,nay1 more4 ,a man states in his creed only the articles which he thinks it right to assert positively against those who think otherwise4 ,his deepest and most practical beliefs are those on which he acts without question1 which have never occurred to him as being open to doubt4 ,if you take on the one hand a number of persons who have accepted the same creed but lived in markedly different ages and societies1 with markedly different standards of thought and conduct1 and on the other an equal number who profess different creeds but live in the same general environment1 ,i think there will probably be more real identity of religion in the latter group4 ,take three orthodox ,christians1 enlightened according to the standards of their time1 in the fourth1 the sixteenth1 and the twentieth centuries respectively1 ,i think you will find more profound differences of religion between them than between a ,methodist1 a ,catholic1 a ,freethinker1 and even perhaps a well-educated ,buddhist or ,brahmin at the present day1 provided you take the most generally enlightened representatives of each class4 ,still1 when a student is trying to understand the inner religion of the ancients1 he realizes how immensely valuable a creed or even a regular liturgy would be4 ,literature enables us sometimes to approach pretty close1 in various ways1 to the minds of certain of the great men of antiquity1 and understand how they thought and felt about a good many subjects4 ,at times one of these subjects is the accepted religion of their society2 we can see how they criticized it or rejected it4 ,but it is very hard to know from their reaction against it what that accepted religion really was4 ,who1 for instance1 knows ,herodotus's religion8 ,he talks in his penetrating and garrulous way1 'sometimes for children and sometimes for philosophers1' as ,gibbon puts it1 about everything in the world2 but at the end of his book you find that he has not opened his heart on this subject4 ,no doubt his profession as a reciter and story-teller prevented him4 ,we can see that ,thucydides was sceptical2 but can we fully see what his scepticism was directed against1 or where1 for instance1 ,nikias would have disagreed with him1 and where he and ,nikias both agreed against us8 ,we have1 of course1 the systems of the great philosophers--especially of ,plato and ,aristotle4 ,better than either1 perhaps1 we can make out the religion of ,m4 ,aurelius4 ,amid all the harshness and plainness of his literary style1 ,marcus possessed a gift which has been granted to few1 the power of writing down what was in his heart just as it was1 not obscured by any consciousness of the presence of witnesses or any striving after effect4 ,he does not seem to have tried deliberately to reveal himself1 yet he has revealed himself in that short personal note-book almost as much as the great inspired egotists1 ,rousseau and ,st4 ,augustine4 ,true1 there are some passages in the book which are unintelligible to us2 that is natural in a work which was not meant to be read by the public2 broken flames of the white passion that consumed him bursting through the armour of his habitual accuracy and self-restraint4 ,people fail to understand ,marcus1 not because of his lack of self-expression1 but because it is hard for most men to breathe at that intense height of spiritual life1 or1 at least1 to breathe soberly4 ,they can do it if they are allowed to abandon themselves to floods of emotion1 and to lose self-judgement and self-control4 ,i am often rather surprised at good critics speaking of ,marcus as 'cold'4 ,there is as much intensity of feeling in as in most of the nobler modern books of religion1 only there is a sterner power controlling it4 ,the feeling never amounts to complete self-abandonment4 ',the ,guiding ,power' never trembles upon its throne1 and the emotion is severely purged of earthly dross4 ,that being so1 we children of earth respond to it less readily4 ,still1 whether or no we can share ,marcus's religion1 we can at any rate understand most of it4 ,but even then we reach only the personal religion of a very extraordinary man2 we are not much nearer to the religion of the average educated person--the background against which ,marcus1 like ,plato1 ought to stand out4 ,i believe that our conceptions of it are really very vague and various4 ,our great-grandfathers who read ',tully's ,offices and ,ends' were better informed than we4 ,but there are many large and apparently simple questions about which1 even after reading ,cicero's philosophical translations1 scholars probably feel quite uncertain4 ,were the morals of ,epictetus or the morals of ,part ,v of the ,anthology most near to those of real life among respectable persons8 ,are there not subjects on which ,plato himself sometimes makes our flesh creep8 ,what are we to feel about slavery1 about the exposing of children8 ,true1 slavery was not peculiar to antiquity2 it flourished in a civilized and peculiarly humane people of ,english blood till a generation ago4 ,and the history of infanticide among the finest modern nations is such as to make one reluctant to throw stones1 and even doubtful in which direction to throw them4 ,still1 these great facts and others like them have to be understood1 and are rather hard to understand1 in their bearing on the religious life of the ancients4 ,points of minor morals again are apt to surprise a reader of ancient literature4 ,we must remember1 of course1 that they always do surprise one1 in every age of history1 as soon as its manners are studied in detail4 ,one need not go beyond ,salimbene's ,chronicle1 one need hardly go beyond ,macaulay's ,history1 or any of the famous ,french memoirs1 to realize that4 ,was it really an ordinary thing in the first century1 as ,philo seems to say1 for gentlemen at dinner-parties to black one another's eyes or bite one another's ears off8#agg3a ,or were such practices confined to some ,smart ,set8 ,or was ,philo1 for his own purposes1 using some particular scandalous occurrence as if it was typical8 ,st4 ,augustine mentions among the virtues of his mother her unusual meekness and tact4 ,although her husband had a fiery temper1 she never had bruises on her face1 which made her a rara avis among the matrons of her circle4#agg3b ,her circle1 presumably1 included ,christians as well as ,pagans and ,manicheans4 ,and ,philo's circle can scarcely be considered ,pagan4 ,indeed1 as for the difference of religion1 we should bear in mind that1 just at the time we are about to consider1 the middle of the fourth century1 the conduct of the ,christians1 either to the rest of the world or to one another1 was very far from evangelical4 ,ammianus says that no savage beasts could equal its cruelty2 ,ammianus was a pagan2 but ,st4 ,gregory himself says it was like ,hell4#agh3a ,i have expressed elsewhere my own general answer to this puzzle4#agh3b ,not only in early ,greek times1 but throughout the whole of antiquity the possibility of all sorts of absurd and atrocious things lay much nearer1 the protective forces of society were much weaker1 the strain on personal character1 the need for real 'wisdom and virtue'1 was much greater than it is at the present day4 ,that is one of the causes that make antiquity so interesting4 ,of course1 different periods of antiquity varied greatly1 both in the conventional standard demanded and in the spiritual force which answered or surpassed the demand4 ,but1 in general1 the strong governments and orderly societies of modern ,europe have made it infinitely easier for men of no particular virtue to live a decent life1 infinitely easier also for men of no particular reasoning power or scientific knowledge to have a more or less scientific or sane view of the world4 ,that1 however1 does not carry us far towards solving the main problem3 it brings us no nearer to knowledge of anything that we may call typically a religious creed or an authorized code of morals1 in any age from ,hesiod to ,m4 ,aurelius4 ,the book which ,i have ventured to call a ,creed or ,catechism is the work of ,sallustius ,about the ,gods and the ,world1 a book1 ,i should say1 about the length of the ,scottish ,shorter ,catechism4 ,it is printed in the third volume of ,mullach's ,fragmenta ,philosophorum2 apart from that1 the only edition generally accessible--and that is rare--is a duodecimo published by ,allatius in #aeci4 ,orelli's brochure of #ahba seems to be unprocurable4 ,the author was in all probability that ,sallustius who is known to us as a close friend of ,julian before his accession1 and a backer or inspirer of the emperor's efforts to restore the old religion4 ,he was concerned in an educational edition of ,sophocles--the seven selected plays now extant with a commentary4 ,he was given the rank of prefect in #cfb1 that of consul in #cfc4 ,one must remember1 of course1 that in that rigorous and ascetic court high rank connoted no pomp or luxury4 ,julian had dismissed the thousand hairdressers1 the innumerable cooks and eunuchs of his ,christian predecessor4 ,it probably brought with it only an increased obligation to live on pulse and to do without such pamperings of the body as fine clothes or warmth or washing4 ,julian's fourth oration1 a prose hymn ,to ,king ,sun1 1 is dedicated to ,sallustius2 his eighth is a ',consolation to ,himself upon the ,departure of ,sallustius'4 7,he had been with ,julian in the wars in ,gaul1 and was recalled by the jealousy of the emperor ,constantius47 ,it is a touching and even a noble treatise4 ,the nervous self-distrust which was habitual in ,julian makes him write always with a certain affectation1 but no one could mistake the real feeling of loss and loneliness that runs through the consolation4 ,he has lost his 'comrade in the ranks'1 and now is ',odysseus left alone'4 ,so he writes1 quoting the ,iliad2 ,sallustius has been carried by ,god outside the spears and arrows3 'which malignant men were always aiming at you1 or rather at me1 trying to wound me through you1 and believing that the only way to beat me down was by depriving me of the fellowship of my true friend and fellow-soldier1 the comrade who never flinched from sharing my dangers4' ,one note recurs four times2 he has lost the one man to whom he could talk as a brother2 the man of 'guileless and clean free-speech'1#ahj3a who was honest and unafraid and able to contradict the emperor freely because of their mutual trust4 ,if one thinks of it1 ,julian1 for all his gentleness1 must have been an alarming emperor to converse with4 ,his standard of conduct was not only uncomfortably high1 it was also a little unaccountable4 ,the most correct and blameless court officials must often have suspected that their master looked upon them as simply wallowing in sin4 ,and that feeling does not promote ease or truthfulness4 ,julian compares his friendship with ,sallustius to that of ,scipio and ,laelius4 ,people said of ,scipio that he only carried out what ,laelius told him4 ',is that true of me8' ,julian asks himself4 ',have ,i only done what ,sallustius told me8' ,his answer is sincere and beautiful3 4 ,it little matters who suggested1 and who agreed to the suggestion2 his thoughts1 and any credit that came from the thoughts1 are his friend's as much as his own4 ,we happen to hear from the ,christian ,theodoret 7,hist4 iii4 #aa7 that on one occasion when ,julian was nearly goaded into persecution of the ,christians1 it was ,sallustius who recalled him to their fixed policy of toleration4 ,sallustius then may be taken to represent in the most authoritative way the ,pagan reaction of ,julian's time1 in its final struggle against ,christianity4 ,he was1 roughly speaking1 a ,neo-,platonist4 ,but it is not as a professed philosopher that he writes4 ,it is only that ,neo-,platonism had permeated the whole atmosphere of the age4#aha3a ,the strife of the philosophical sects had almost ceased4 ,just as ,julian's mysticism made all gods and almost all forms of worship into one1 so his enthusiasm for ,hellenism revered1 nay1 idolized1 almost all the great philosophers of the past4 ,they were all trying to say the same ineffable thing2 all lifting mankind towards the knowledge of ,god4 ,i say 'almost' in both cases2 for the ,christians are outside the pale in one domain and the ,epicureans and a few ,cynics in the other4 ,both had committed the cardinal sin2 they had denied the gods4 ,they are sometimes lumped together as ,atheoi4 ,l'athisme1 voil l'ennemi4 ,this may surprise us at first sight1 but the explanation is easy4 ,to ,julian the one great truth that matters is the presence and glory of the gods4 ,no doubt1 they are all ultimately one3 they are 1 'forces1' not persons1 but for reasons above our comprehension they are manifest only under conditions of form1 time1 and personality1 and have so been revealed and worshipped and partly known by the great minds of the past4 ,in ,julian's mind the religious emotion itself becomes the thing to live for4 ,every object that has been touched by that emotion is thereby glorified and made sacred4 ,every shrine where men have worshipped in truth of heart is thereby a house of ,god4 ,the worship may be mixed up with all sorts of folly1 all sorts of unedifying practice4 ,such things must be purged away1 or1 still better1 must be properly understood4 ,for to the pure all things are pure3 and the myths that shock the vulgar are noble allegories to the wise and reverent4 ,purge religion from dross1 if you like2 but remember that you do so at your peril4 ,one false step1 one self-confident rejection of a thing which is merely too high for you to grasp1 and you are darkening the ,sun1 casting ,god out of the world4 ,and that was just what the ,christians deliberately did4 ,in many of the early ,christian writings denial is a much greater element than assertion4 ,the beautiful ,octavius of ,minucius ,felix 7about ,a4 ,d4 #acj-fj7 is an example4 ,such denial was1 of course1 to our judgement1 eminently needed1 and rendered a great service to the world4 ,but to ,julian it seemed impiety4 ,in other ,christian writings the misrepresentation of pagan rites and beliefs is decidedly foul-mouthed and malicious4 ,quite apart from his personal wrongs and his contempt for the character of ,constantius1 ,julian could have no sympathy for men who overturned altars and heaped blasphemy on old deserted shrines1 defilers of every sacred object that was not protected by popularity4 ,the most that such people could expect from him was that they should not be proscribed by law4 ,but meantime what were the multitudes of the god-fearing to believe8 ,the arm of the state was not very strong or effective4 ,labour as he might to supply good teaching to all provincial towns1 ,julian could not hope to educate the poor and ignorant to understand ,plato and ,m4 ,aurelius4 ,for them1 he seems to say1 all that is necessary is that they should be pious and god-fearing in their own way4 ,but for more or less educated people1 not blankly ignorant1 and yet not professed students of philosophy1 there might be some simple and authoritative treatise issued--a sort of reasoned creed1 to lay down in a convincing manner the outlines of the old ,hellenic religion1 before the ,christians and ,atheists should have swept all fear of the gods from off the earth4 ,the treatise is this work of ,sallustius4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,christian fathers from ,minucius ,felix onward have shown us what was the most vulnerable point of ,paganism3 the traditional mythology4 ,sallustius deals with it at once4 ,the ,akrots1 or pupil1 he says in ,section #a1 needs some preliminary training4 ,he should have been well brought up1 should not be incurably stupid1 and should not have been familiarized with foolish fables4 ,evidently the mythology was not to be taught to children4 ,he enunciates certain postulates of religious thought1 viz4 that ,god is always good and not subject to passion or to change1 and then proceeds straight to the traditional myths4 ,in the first place1 he insists that they are what he calls 'divine'4 ,that is1 they are inspired or have some touch of divine truth in them4 ,this is proved by the fact that they have been uttered1 and sometimes invented1 by the most inspired poets and philosophers and by the gods themselves in oracles--a very characteristic argument4 ,the myths are all expressions of ,god and of the goodness of ,god2 but they follow the usual method of divine revelation1 to wit1 mystery and allegory4 ,the myths state clearly the one tremendous fact that the ,gods are2 that is what ,julian cared about and the ,christians denied3 what they are the myths reveal only to those who have understanding4 ',the world itself is a great myth1 in which bodies and inanimate things are visible1 souls and minds invisible4' ',but1 admitting all this1 how comes it that the myths are so often absurd and even immoral8' ,for the usual purpose of mystery and allegory2 in order to make people think4 ,the soul that wishes to know ,god must make its own effort2 it cannot expect simply to lie still and be told4 ,the myths by their obvious falsity and absurdity on the surface stimulate the mind capable of religion to probe deeper4 ,he proceeds to give instances1 and chooses at once myths that had been for generations the mock of the sceptic1 and in his own day furnished abundant ammunition for the artillery of ,christian polemic4 ,he takes first ,hesiod's story of ,kronos swallowing his children2 then the ,judgement of ,paris2 then comes a long and earnest explanation of the myth of ,attis and the ,mother of the ,gods4 ,it is on the face of it a story highly discreditable both to the heart and the head of those august beings1 and though the rites themselves do not seem to have been in any way improper1 the ,christians naturally attacked the ,pagans and ,julian personally for countenancing the worship4 ,sallustius's explanation is taken directly from ,julian's fifth oration in praise of the ,great ,mother1 and reduces the myth and the ritual to an expression of the adventures of the ,soul seeking ,god4 ,so much for the whole traditional mythology4 ,it has been explained completely away and made subservient to philosophy and edification1 while it can still be used as a great well-spring of religious emotion4 ,for the explanations given by ,sallustius and ,julian are never rationalistic4 ,they never stimulate a spirit of scepticism1 always a spirit of mysticism and reverence4 ,and1 lest by chance even this reverent theorizing should have been somehow lacking in insight or true piety1 ,sallustius ends with the prayer3 ',when ,i say these things concerning the myths1 may the gods themselves and the spirits of those who wrote the myths be gracious to me4' ,he now leaves mythology and turns to the ,first ,cause4 ,it must be one1 and it must be present in all things4 ,thus1 it cannot be ,life1 for1 if it were1 all things would be alive4 ,by a ,platonic argument in which he will still find some philosophers to follow him1 he proves that everything which exists1 exists because of some goodness in it2 and thus arrives at the conclusion that the ,first ,cause is 1 the ,good4 ,the gods are emanations or forces issuing from the ,good2 the makers of this world are secondary gods2 above them are the makers of the makers1 above all the ,one4 ,next comes a proof that the world is eternal--a very important point of doctrine2 next that the soul is immortal2 next a definition of the workings of ,divine ,providence1 ,fate1 and ,fortune--a fairly skilful piece of dialectic dealing with a hopeless difficulty4 ,next come ,virtue and ,vice1 and1 in a dead and perfunctory echo of ,plato's ,republic1 an enumeration of the good and bad forms of human society4 ,the questions which vibrated with life in free ,athens had become meaningless to a despot-governed world4 ,then follows more adventurous matter4 ,first a chapter headed3 ',whence ,evil things come1 and that there is no ,phusis ,kakou--,evil is not a real thing4' ',it is perhaps best'1 he says1 'to observe at once that1 since the gods are good and make everything1 there is no positive evil2 there is only absence of good2 just as there is no positive darkness1 only absence of light4' ,what we call 'evils' arise only in the activities of men1 and even here no one ever does evil for the sake of evil4 ',one who indulges in some pleasant vice thinks the vice bad but his pleasure good2 a murderer thinks the murder bad1 but the money he will get by it1 good2 one who injures an enemy thinks the injury bad1 but the being quits with his enemy1 good'2 and so on4 ,the evil acts are all done for the sake of some good1 but human souls1 being very far removed from the original flawless divine nature1 make mistakes or sins4 ,one of the great objects of the world1 he goes on to explain1 of gods1 men1 and spirits1 of religious institutions and human laws alike1 is to keep the souls from these errors and to purge them again when they have fallen4 ,next comes a speculative difficulty4 ,sallustius has called the world 'eternal in the fullest sense'--that is1 it always has been and always will be4 ,and yet it is 'made' by the gods4 ,how are these statements compatible8 ,if it was made1 there must have been a time before it was made4 ,the answer is ingenious4 ,it is not made by handicraft as a table is2 it is not begotten as a son by a father4 ,it is the result of a quality of ,god just as light is the result of a quality of the sun4 ,the sun causes light1 but the light is there as soon as the sun is there4 ,the world is simply the other side1 as it were1 of the goodness of ,god1 and has existed as long as that goodness has existed4 ,next come some simpler questions about man's relation to the gods4 ,in what sense do we say that the gods are angry with the wicked or are appeased by repentance8 ,sallustius is quite firm4 ,the gods cannot ever be glad--for that which is glad is also sorry2 cannot be angry--for anger is a passion2 and obviously they cannot be appeased by gifts or prayers4 ,even men1 if they are honest1 require higher motives than that4 ,god is unchangeable1 always good1 always doing good4 ,if we are good1 we are nearer to the gods1 and we feel it2 if we are evil1 we are separated further from them4 ,it is not they that are angry1 it is our sins that hide them from us and prevent the goodness of ,god from shining into us4 ,if we repent1 again1 we do not make any change in ,god2 we only1 by the conversion of our soul towards the divine1 heal our own badness and enjoy again the goodness of the gods4 ,to say that the gods turn away from the wicked1 would be like saying that the sun turns away from a blind man4 ,why then do we make offerings and sacrifices to the gods1 when the gods need nothing and can have nothing added to them8 ,we do so in order to have more communion with the gods4 ,the whole temple service1 in fact1 is an elaborate allegory1 a representation of the divine government of the world4 ,the custom of sacrificing animals had died out some time before this4 ,the ,jews of the ,dispersion had given it up long since because the ,law forbade any such sacrifice outside the ,temple4#ahh3a ,when ,jerusalem was destroyed ,jewish sacrifice ceased altogether4 ,the ,christians seem from the beginning to have generally followed the ,jewish practice4 ,but sacrifice was in itself not likely to continue in a society of large towns4 ,it meant turning your temples into very ill-conducted slaughter-houses1 and was also associated with a great deal of muddled and indiscriminate charity4#ahh3b ,one might have hoped that men so high-minded and spiritual as ,julian and ,sallustius would have considered this practice unnecessary or even have reformed it away4 ,but no4 ,it was part of the genuine ,hellenic tradition2 and no jot or tittle of that tradition should1 if they could help it1 be allowed to die4 ,sacrifice is desirable1 argues ,sallustius1 because it is a gift of life4 ,god has given us life1 as ,he has given us all else4 ,we must therefore pay to ,him some emblematic tithe of life4 ,again1 prayers in themselves are merely words2 but with sacrifice they are words plus life1 ,living ,words4 ,lastly1 we are ,life of a sort1 and ,god is ,life of an infinitely higher sort4 ,to approach ,him we need always a medium or a mediator2 the medium between life and life must needs be life4 ,we find that life in the sacrificed animal4#ahi3a ,the argument shows what ingenuity these religious men had at their command1 and what trouble they would take to avoid having to face a fact and reform a bad system4 ,there follows a long and rather difficult argument to show that the world is1 in itself1 eternal4 ,the former discussion on this point had only shown that the gods would not destroy it4 ,this shows that its own nature is indestructible4 ,the arguments are very inconclusive1 though clever1 and one wonders why the author is at so much pains4 ,indeed1 he is so earnest that at the end of the chapter he finds it necessary to apologize to the ,kosmos in case his language should have been indiscreet4 ,the reason1 ,i think1 is that the ,christians were still1 as in apostolic times1 pinning their faith to the approaching end of the world by fire4#aij3a ,they announced the end of the world as near1 and they rejoiced in the prospect of its destruction4 ,history has shown more than once what terrible results can be produced by such beliefs as these in the minds of excitable and suffering populations1 especially those of eastern blood4 ,it was widely believed that ,christian fanatics had from time to time actually tried to light fires which should consume the accursed world and thus hasten the coming of the kingdom which should bring such incalculable rewards to their own organization and plunge the rest of mankind in everlasting torment4 ,to any respectable ,pagan such action was an insane crime made worse by a diabolical motive4 ,the destruction of the world1 therefore1 seems to have become a subject of profound irritation1 if not actually of terror4 ,at any rate the doctrine lay at the very heart of the perniciosa superstitio1 and ,sallustius uses his best dialectic against it4 ,the title of ,chapter ,,xviii has a somewhat pathetic ring3 ',why are ,atheai'--,atheisms or rejections of ,god--'permitted1 and that ,god is not injured thereby8' 4 ',if over certain parts of the world there have occurred 7and will occur more hereafter7 rejections of the gods1 a wise man need not be disturbed at that4' ,we have always known that the human soul was prone to error4 ,god's providence is there2 but we cannot expect all men at all times and places to enjoy it equally4 ,in the human body it is only the eye that sees the light1 the rest of the body is ignorant of the light4 ,so are many parts of the earth ignorant of ,god4 ,very likely1 also1 this rejection of ,god is a punishment4 ,persons who in a previous life have known the gods but disregarded them1 are perhaps now born1 as it were1 blind1 unable to see ,god2 persons who have committed the blasphemy of worshipping their own kings as gods may perhaps now be cast out from the knowledge of ,god4 ,philosophy had always rejected the ,man-,god1 especially in the form of ,king-worship2 but opposition to ,christianity no doubt intensifies the protest4 ,the last chapter is very short4 ',souls that have lived in virtue1 being otherwise blessed and especially separated from their irrational part and purged of all body1 are joined with the gods and sway the whole world together with them4' ,so far triumphant faith3 then the after-thought of the brave man who means to live his best life even if faith fail him4 ',but even if none of these rewards came to them1 still ,virtue itself and the ,joy and ,glory of ,virtue1 and the ,life that is subject to no grief and no master1 would be enough to make blessed those who have set themselves to live in ,virtue and have succeeded4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,there the book ends4 ,it ends upon that well-worn paradox which1 from the second book of the ,republic onwards1 seems to have brought so much comfort to the nobler spirits of the ancient world4 ,strange how we moderns cannot rise to it6 ,we seem simply to lack the intensity of moral enthusiasm4 ,when we speak of martyrs being happy on the rack2 in the first place we rarely believe it1 and in the second we are usually supposing that the rack will soon be over and that harps and golden crowns will presently follow4 ,the ancient moralist believed that the good man was happy then and there1 because the joy1 being in his soul1 was not affected by the torture of his body4#aib3a ,not being able fully to feel this conviction1 we naturally incline to think it affected or unreal4 ,but1 taking the conditions of the ancient world into account1 we must admit that the men who uttered this belief at least understood better than most of us what suffering was4 ,many of them were slaves1 many had been captives of war4 ,they knew what they were talking about4 ,i think1 on a careful study of ,m4 ,aurelius1 ,epictetus1 and some of these ,neo-,platonic philosophers1 that we shall be forced to realize that these men could rise to much the same heights of religious heroism as the ,catholic saints of the ,middle ,age1 and that they often did so--if ,i may use such a phrase--on a purer and thinner diet of sensuous emotion1 with less wallowing in the dust and less delirium4 ,be that as it may1 we have now seen in outline the kind of religion which ancient ,paganism had become at the time of its final reaction against ,christianity4 ,it is a more or less intelligible whole1 and succeeds better than most religions in combining two great appeals4 ,it appeals to the philosopher and the thoughtful man as a fairly complete and rational system of thought1 which speculative and enlightened minds in any age might believe without disgrace4 ,i do not mean that it is probably true2 to me all these overpowering optimisms which1 by means of a few untested a priori postulates1 affect triumphantly to disprove the most obvious facts of life1 seem very soon to become meaningless4 ,i conceive it to be no comfort at all1 to a man suffering agonies of frostbite1 to be told by science that cold is merely negative and does not exist4 ,so far as the statement is true it is irrelevant2 so far as it pretends to be relevant it is false4 ,i only mean that a system like that of ,sallustius is1 judged by any standard1 high1 civilized1 and enlightened4 ,at the same time this religion appeals to the ignorant and the humble-minded4 ,it takes from the pious villager no single object of worship that has turned his thoughts heavenwards4 ,it may explain and purge2 it never condemns or ridicules4 ,in its own eyes that was its great glory1 in the eyes of history perhaps its most fatal weakness4 ,christianity1 apart from its positive doctrines1 had inherited from ,judaism the noble courage of its disbeliefs4 ,to compare this ,paganism in detail with its great rival would be1 even if ,i possessed the necessary learning1 a laborious and unsatisfactory task4 ,but if a student with very imperfect knowledge may venture a personal opinion on this obscure subject1 it seems to me that we often look at such problems from a wrong angle4 ,harnack somewhere1 in discussing the comparative success or failure of various early ,christian sects1 makes the illuminating remark that the main determining cause in each case was not their comparative reasonableness of doctrine or skill in controversy--for they practically never converted one another--but simply the comparative increase or decrease of the birth-rate in the respective populations4 ,on somewhat similar lines it always appears to me that1 historically speaking1 the character of ,christianity in these early centuries is to be sought not so much in the doctrines which it professed1 nearly all of which had their roots and their close parallels in older ,hellenistic or ,hebrew thought1 but in the organization on which it rested4 ,for my own part1 when ,i try to understand ,christianity as a mass of doctrines1 ,gnostic1 ,trinitarian1 ,monophysite1 ,arian and the rest1 ,i get no further4 ,when ,i try to realize it as a sort of semi-secret society for mutual help with a mystical religious basis1 resting first on the proletariates of ,antioch and the great commercial and manufacturing towns of the ,levant1 then spreading by instinctive sympathy to similar classes in ,rome and the ,west1 and rising in influence1 like certain other mystical cults1 by the special appeal it made to women1 the various historical puzzles begin to fall into place4 ,among other things this explains the strange subterranean power by which the emperor ,diocletian was baffled1 and to which the pretender ,constantine had to capitulate2 it explains its humanity1 its intense feeling of brotherhood within its own bounds1 its incessant care for the poor1 and also its comparative indifference to the virtues which are specially incumbent on a governing class1 such as statesmanship1 moderation1 truthfulness1 active courage1 learning1 culture1 and public spirit4 ,of course1 such indifference was only comparative4 ,after the time of ,constantine the governing classes come into the fold1 bringing with them their normal qualities1 and thereafter it is ,paganism1 not ,christianity1 that must uphold the flag of a desperate fidelity in the face of a hostile world--a task to which1 naturally enough1 ,paganism was not equal4 ,but ,i never wished to pit the two systems against one another4 ,the battle is over1 and it is poor work to jeer at the wounded and the dead4 ,if we read the literature of the time1 especially some records of the martyrs under ,diocletian1 we shall at first perhaps imagine that1 apart from some startling exceptions1 the conquered party were all vicious and hateful1 the conquerors1 all wise and saintly4 ,then1 looking a little deeper1 we shall see that this great controversy does not stand altogether by itself4 ,as in other wars1 each side had its wise men and its foolish1 its good men and its evil4 ,like other conquerors these conquerors were often treacherous and brutal2 like other vanquished these vanquished have been tried at the bar of history without benefit of counsel1 have been condemned in their absence and died with their lips sealed4 ,the polemic literature of ,christianity is loud and triumphant1 the books of the ,pagans have been destroyed4 ,only an ignorant man will pronounce a violent or bitter judgement here4 ,the minds that are now tender1 timid1 and reverent in their orthodoxy would probably in the third or fourth century have sided with the old gods2 those of more daring and puritan temper with the ,christians4 ,the historian will only try to have sympathy and understanding for both4 ,they are all dead now1 ,diocletian and ,ignatius1 ,cyril and ,hypatia1 ,julian and ,basil1 ,athanasius and ,arus3 every party has yielded up its persecutors and its martyrs1 its hates and slanders and aspirations and heroisms1 to the arms of that great ,silence whose secrets they all claimed so loudly to have read4 ,even the dogmas for which they fought might seem to be dead too4 ,for if ,julian and ,sallustius1 ,gregory and ,john ,chrysostom1 were to rise again and see the world as it now is1 they would probably feel their personal differences melt away in comparison with the vast difference between their world and this4 ,they fought to the death about this credo and that1 but the same spirit was in all of them4 ,in the words of one who speaks with greater knowledge than mine1 'the most inward man in these four contemporaries is the same4 ,it is the ,spirit of the ,fourth ,century4'#aif3a 99 99 99 99 99 ',dieselbe ,seelenstimmung1 derselbe ,spiritualismus'2 also the same passionate asceticism4 ,all through antiquity the fight against luxury was a fiercer and stronger fight than comes into our modern experience4 ,there was not more objective luxury in any period of ancient history than there is now2 there was never anything like so much4 ,but there does seem to have been more subjective abandonment to physical pleasure and concomitantly a stronger protest against it4 ,from some time before the ,christian era it seems as if the subconscious instinct of humanity was slowly rousing itself for a great revolt against the long intolerable tyranny of the senses over the soul1 and by the fourth century the revolt threatened to become all-absorbing4 ,the ,emperor ,julian was probably as proud of his fireless cell and the crowding lice in his beard and cassock as an average ,egyptian monk4 ,the ascetic movement grew1 as we all know1 to be measureless and insane4 ,it seemed to be almost another form of lust1 and to have the same affinities with cruelty4 ,but it has probably rendered priceless help to us who come afterwards4 ,the insane ages have often done service for the sane1 the harsh and suffering ages for the gentle and well-to-do4 ,sophrosyn1 however we try to translate it1 temperance1 gentleness1 the spirit that in any trouble thinks and is patient1 that saves and not destroys1 is the right spirit4 ,and it is to be feared that none of these fourth-century leaders1 neither the fierce bishops with their homilies on ,charity1 nor ,julian and ,sallustius with their worship of ,hellenism1 came very near to that classic ideal4 ,to bring back that note of ,sophrosyn ,i will venture1 before proceeding to the fourth-century ,pagan creed1 to give some sentences from an earlier ,pagan prayer4 ,it is cited by ,stobaeus from a certain ,eusebius1 a late ,ionic ,platonist of whom almost nothing is known1 not even the date at which he lived4#aig3a ,but the voice sounds like that of a stronger and more sober age4 ',may ,i be no man's enemy1' it begins1 'and may ,i be the friend of that which is eternal and abides4 ,may ,i never quarrel with those nearest to me2 and if ,i do1 may ,i be reconciled quickly4 ,may ,i never devise evil against any man2 if any devise evil against me1 may ,i escape uninjured and without the need of hurting him4 ,may ,i love1 seek1 and attain only that which is good4 ,may ,i wish for all men's happiness and envy none4 ,may ,i never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me4 4 4 4 ,when ,i have done or said what is wrong1 may ,i never wait for the rebuke of others1 but always rebuke myself until ,i make amends4 4 4 4 ,may ,i win no victory that harms either me or my opponent4 4 4 4 ,may ,i reconcile friends who are wroth with one another4 ,may ,i1 to the extent of my power1 give all needful help to my friends and to all who are in want4 ,may ,i never fail a friend in danger4 ,when visiting those in grief may ,i be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain4 4 4 4 ,may ,i respect myself4 4 4 4 ,may ,i always keep tame that which rages within me4 4 4 4 ,may ,i accustom myself to be gentle1 and never be angry with people because of circumstances4 ,may ,i never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done1 but know good men and follow in their footsteps4' ,there is more of it4 ,how unpretending it is and yet how searching6 ,and in the whole there is no petition for any material blessing1 and--most striking of all--it is addressed to no personal god4 ,it is pure prayer4 ,of course1 to some it will feel thin and cold4 ,most men demand of their religion more outward and personal help1 more physical ecstasy1 a more heady atmosphere of illusion4 ,no one man's attitude towards the ,uncharted can be quite the same as his neighbour's4 ,in part instinctively1 in part superficially and self-consciously1 each generation of mankind reacts against the last4 ,the grown man turns from the lights that were thrust upon his eyes in childhood4 ,the son shrugs his shoulders at the watchwords that thrilled his father1 and with varying degrees of sensitiveness or dullness1 of fuller or more fragmentary experience1 writes out for himself the manuscript of his creed4 ,yet1 even for the wildest or bravest rebel1 that manuscript is only a palimpsest4 ,on the surface all is new writing1 clean and self-assertive4 ,underneath1 dim but indelible in the very fibres of the parchment1 lie the characters of many ancient aspirations and raptures and battles which his conscious mind has rejected or utterly forgotten4 ,and forgotten things1 if there be real life in them1 will sometimes return out of the dust1 vivid to help still in the forward groping of humanity4 ,a religious system like that of ,eusebius or ,marcus1 or even ,sallustius1 was not built up without much noble life and strenuous thought and a steady passion for the knowledge of ,god4 ,things of that make do not1 as a rule1 die for ever4 ,,footnotes3 #agg3a ,de ,vit4 ,contempl41 p4 #dgg ,m4 #agg3b ,conf4 ix4 #i4 #agh3a ,gibbon1 chap4 xxi1 notes #afa1 #afb4 #agh3b ,rise of the ,greek ,epic1 chap4 i4 #ahj3a 4 #aha3a ',many of his sections come straight from ,plotinus3 xiv and xv perhaps from ,porphyry's ,letter to ,marcella1 an invaluable document for the religious side of ,neo-,platonism4 ,a few things 7prayer to the souls of the dead in iv1 to the ,cosmos in xvii1 the doctrine of 1 in ix7 are definitely un-,plotinian3 probably concessions to popular religion4'--,e4 ,r4 ,d4 #ahh3a ,s4 ,reinach1 ,orpheus1 p4 #bgc 7,engl4 trans41 p4 #ahe74 #ahh3b ,see ,ammianus1 xxii4 #ab1 on the bad effect of ,julian's sacrifices4 ,sacrifice was finally forbidden by the emperor ,theodosius in #cia4 ,it was condemned by ,theophrastus1 and is said by ,porphyry 7,de ,abstinentia1 ii4 #aa7 simply 4 #ahi3a ,sallustius's view of sacrifice is curiously like the illuminating theory of ,,mm4 ,hubert and ,mauss1 in which they define primitive sacrifice as a medium1 a bridge or lightning-conductor1 between the profane and the sacred4 ',essai sur la ,nature et la ,fonction du ,sacrifice' 7,anne ,sociologique1 ii4 #ahig-h71 since republished in the ,mlanges d',histoire des ,religions1 #aiji4 #aij3a ,cf4 ,minucius ,felix1 ,octavius1 p4 #if1 ,ouzel 7chap4 #aa1 ,boenig74 ',quid quod toti orbi et ipsi mundo cum sideribus suis minantur incendium1 ruinam moliuntur8' ,the doctrine in their mouths became a very different thing from the ,stoic theory of the periodic re-absorption of the universe in the ,divine ,element4 ,ibid41 pp4 #cbb ff4 7#cd ,boenig74 #aib3a ,even ,epicurus himself held 1 4 ,diog4 ,la4 x4 #aah4 ,see above1 end of chap4 iii4 #aif3a ,geffcken in the ,neue ,jahrbcher1 xxi4 #afb f4 #aig3a ,mullach1 ,fragmenta ,philosophorum1 iii4 #g1 from ,stob4 ,flor4 i4 #he4 ,,sallustius ',,on ,,the ,,gods ,,and ,,the ,,world'#bjj3a ,i4 ,what the ,disciple should be2 and concerning ,common ,conceptions4 ,those who wish to hear about the ,gods should have been well guided from childhood1 and not habituated to foolish beliefs4 ,they should also be in disposition good and sensible1 that they may properly attend to the teaching4 ,they ought also to know the ,common ,conceptions4 ,common ,conceptions are those to which all men agree as soon as they are asked2 for instance1 that all ,god is good1 free from passion1 free from change4 ,for whatever suffers change does so for the worse or the better3 if for the worse1 it is made bad2 if for the better1 it must have been bad at first4 ,,ii4 ,that ,god is unchanging1 unbegotten1 eternal1 incorporeal1 and not in space4 ,let the disciple be thus4 ,let the teachings be of the following sort4 ,the essences of the ,gods never came into existence 7for that which always is never comes into existence2 and that exists for ever which possesses primary force and by nature suffers nothing73 neither do they consist of bodies2 for even in bodies the powers are incorporeal4 ,neither are they contained by space2 for that is a property of bodies4 ,neither are they separate from the ,first ,cause nor from one another1 just as thoughts are not separate from mind nor acts of knowledge from the soul4 ,,iii4 ,concerning myths2 that they are divine1 and why4 ,we may well inquire1 then1 why the ancients forsook these doctrines and made use of myths4 ,there is this first benefit from myths1 that we have to search and do not have our minds idle4 ,that the myths are divine can be seen from those who have used them4 ,myths have been used by inspired poets1 by the best of philosophers1 by those who established the mysteries1 and by the ,gods themselves in oracles4 ,but why the myths are divine it is the duty of ,philosophy to inquire4 ,since all existing things rejoice in that which is like them and reject that which is unlike1 the stories about the ,gods ought to be like the ,gods1 so that they may both be worthy of the divine essence and make the ,gods well disposed to those who speak of them3 which could only be done by means of myths4 ,now the myths represent the ,gods themselves and the goodness of the ,gods--subject always to the distinction of the speakable and the unspeakable1 the revealed and the unrevealed1 that which is clear and that which is hidden3 since1 just as the ,gods have made the goods of sense common to all1 but those of intellect only to the wise1 so the myths state the existence of ,gods to all1 but who and what they are only to those who can understand4 ,they also represent the activities of the ,gods4 ,for one may call the ,world a ,myth1 in which bodies and things are visible1 but souls and minds hidden4 ,besides1 to wish to teach the whole truth about the ,gods to all produces contempt in the foolish1 because they cannot understand1 and lack of zeal in the good2 whereas to conceal the truth by myths prevents the contempt of the foolish1 and compels the good to practise philosophy4 ,but why have they put in the myths stories of adultery1 robbery1 father-binding1 and all the other absurdity8 ,is not that perhaps a thing worthy of admiration1 done so that by means of the visible absurdity the ,soul may immediately feel that the words are veils and believe the truth to be a mystery8 ,,iv4 ,that the species of ,myth are five1 with examples of each4 ,of myths some are theological1 some physical1 some psychic1 and again some material1 and some mixed from these last two4 ,the theological are those myths which use no bodily form but contemplate the very essences of the ,gods3 e4 g4 ,kronos swallowing his children4 ,since ,god is intellectual1 and all intellect returns into itself1 this myth expresses in allegory the essence of ,god4 ,myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of the ,gods in the world3 e4 g4 people before now have regarded ,kronos as ,time1 and calling the divisions of ,time his sons say that the sons are swallowed by the father4 ,the psychic way is to regard the activities of the ,soul itself3 the ,soul's acts of thought1 though they pass on to other objects1 nevertheless remain inside their begetters4 ,the material and last is that which the ,egyptians have mostly used1 owing to their ignorance1 believing material objects actually to be ,gods1 and so calling them3 e4 g4 they call the ,earth ,isis1 moisture ,osiris1 heat ,typhon1 or again1 water ,kronos1 the fruits of the earth ,adonis1 and wine ,dionysus4 ,to say that these objects are sacred to the ,gods1 like various herbs and stones and animals1 is possible to sensible men1 but to say that they are gods is the notion of madmen--except1 perhaps1 in the sense in which both the orb of the sun and the ray which comes from the orb are colloquially called 'the ,sun'4#bjc3a ,the mixed kind of myth may be seen in many instances3 for example they say that in a banquet of the ,gods ,discord threw down a golden apple2 the goddesses contended for it1 and were sent by ,zeus to ,paris to be judged2 ,paris saw ,aphrodite to be beautiful and gave her the apple4 ,here the banquet signifies the hyper-cosmic powers of the ,gods2 that is why they are all together4 ,the golden apple is the world1 which1 being formed out of opposites1 is naturally said to be 'thrown by ,discord'4 ,the different ,gods bestow different gifts upon the world and are thus said to 'contend for the apple'4 ,and the soul which lives according to sense--for that is what ,paris is--not seeing the other powers in the world but only beauty1 declares that the apple belongs to ,aphrodite4 ,theological myths suit philosophers1 physical and psychic suit poets1 mixed suit religious initiations1 since every initiation aims at uniting us with the ,world and the ,gods4 ,to take another myth1 they say that the ,mother of the ,gods seeing ,attis lying by the river ,gallus fell in love with him1 took him1 crowned him with her cap of stars1 and thereafter kept him with her4 ,he fell in love with a nymph and left the ,mother to live with her4 ,for this the ,mother of the ,gods made ,attis go mad and cut off his genital organs and leave them with the ,nymph1 and then return and dwell with her4 ,now the ,mother of the ,gods is the principle that generates life2 that is why she is called ,mother4 ,attis is the creator of all things which are born and die2 that is why he is said to have been found by the river ,gallus4 ,for ,gallus signifies the ,galaxy1 or ,milky ,way1 the point at which body subject to passion begins4#bjd3a ,now as the primary gods make perfect the secondary1 the ,mother loves ,attis and gives him celestial powers4 ,that is what the cap means4 ,attis loves a nymph3 the nymphs preside over generation1 since all that is generated is fluid4 ,but since the process of generation must be stopped somewhere1 and not allowed to generate something worse than the worst1 the ,creator who makes these things casts away his generative powers into the creation and is joined to the gods again4 ,now these things never happened1 but always are4 ,and ,mind sees all things at once1 but ,reason 7or ,speech7 expresses some first and others after4 ,thus1 as the myth is in accord with the ,cosmos1 we for that reason keep a festival imitating the ,cosmos1 for how could we attain higher order8 ,and at first we ourselves1 having fallen from heaven and living with the ,nymph1 are in despondency1 and abstain from corn and all rich and unclean food1 for both are hostile to the soul4 ,then comes the cutting of the tree and the fast1 as though we also were cutting off the further process of generation4 ,after that the feeding on milk1 as though we were being born again2 after which come rejoicings and garlands and1 as it were1 a return up to the ,gods4 ,the season of the ritual is evidence to the truth of these explanations4 ,the rites are performed about the ,vernal ,equinox1 when the fruits of the earth are ceasing to be produced1 and day is becoming longer than night1 which applies well to ,spirits rising higher4 7,at least1 the other equinox is in mythology the time of the ,rape of ,kor1 which is the descent of the souls47 ,may these explanations of the myths find favour in the eyes of the ,gods themselves and the souls of those who wrote the myths4 ,v4 ,on the ,first ,cause4 ,next in order comes knowledge of the ,first ,cause and the subsequent orders of the gods1 then the nature of the world1 the essence of intellect and of soul1 then ,providence1 ,fate1 and ,fortune1 then to see ,virtue and ,vice and the various forms of social constitution good and bad that are formed from them1 and from what possible source ,evil came into the world4 ,each of these subjects needs many long discussions2 but there is perhaps no harm in stating them briefly1 so that a disciple may not be completely ignorant about them4 ,it is proper to the ,first ,cause to be ,one--for unity precedes multitude--and to surpass all things in power and goodness4 ,consequently all things must partake of it4 ,for owing to its power nothing else can hinder it1 and owing to its goodness it will not hold itself apart4 ,if the ,first ,cause were ,soul1 all things would possess ,soul4 ,if it were ,mind1 all things would possess ,mind4 ,if it were ,being1 all things would partake of ,being4 ,and seeing this quality 7i4 e4 ,being7 in all things1 some men have thought that it was ,being4 ,now if things simply were1 without being good1 this argument would be true1 but if things that are are because of their goodness1 and partake in the good1 the ,first thing must needs be both beyond-,being and good4 ,it is strong evidence of this that noble souls despise ,being for the sake of the good1 when they face death for their country or friends or for the sake of virtue4--,after this inexpressible power come the orders of the ,gods4 ,,vi4 ,on ,gods ,cosmic and ,hypercosmic4 ,of the ,gods some are of the world1 ,cosmic1 and some above the world1 ,hypercosmic4 ,by the ,cosmic ,i mean those who make the ,cosmos4 ,of the ,hypercosmic ,gods some create ,essence1 some ,mind1 and some ,soul4 ,thus they have three orders2 all of which may be found in treatises on the subject4 ,of the ,cosmic ,gods some make the ,world be1 others animate it1 others harmonize it1 consisting as it does of different elements2 the fourth class keep it when harmonized4 ,these are four actions1 each of which has a beginning1 middle1 and end1 consequently there must be twelve gods governing the world4 ,those who make the world are ,zeus1 ,poseidon1 and ,hephaistos2 those who animate it are ,demeter1 ,hera1 and ,artemis2 those who harmonize it are ,apollo1 ,aphrodite1 and ,hermes2 those who watch over it are ,hestia1 ,athena1 and ,ares4 ,one can see secret suggestions of this in their images4 ,apollo tunes a lyre2 ,athena is armed2 ,aphrodite is naked 7because harmony creates beauty1 and beauty in things seen is not covered74 ,while these twelve in the primary sense possess the world1 we should consider that the other gods are contained in these4 ,dionysus in ,zeus1 for instance1 ,asklepios in ,apollo1 the ,charites in ,aphrodite4 ,we can also discern their various spheres3 to ,hestia belongs the ,earth1 to ,poseidon water1 to ,hera air1 to ,hephaistos fire4 ,and the six superior spheres to the gods to whom they are usually attributed4 ,for ,apollo and ,artemis are to be taken for the ,sun and ,moon1 the sphere of ,kronos should be attributed to ,demeter1 the ether to ,athena1 while the heaven is common to all4 ,thus the orders1 powers1 and spheres of the ,twelve ,gods have been explained and celebrated in hymns4 ,,vii4 ,on the ,nature of the ,world and its ,eternity4 ,the ,cosmos itself must of necessity be indestructible and uncreated4 ,indestructible because1 suppose it destroyed3 the only possibility is to make one better than this or worse or the same or a chaos4 ,if worse1 the power which out of the better makes the worse must be bad4 ,if better1 the maker who did not make the better at first must be imperfect in power4 ,if the same1 there will be no use in making it2 if a chaos 4 4 4 it is impious even to hear such a thing suggested4 ,these reasons would suffice to show that the ,world is also uncreated3 for if not destroyed1 neither is it created4 ,everything that is created is subject to destruction4 ,and further1 since the ,cosmos exists by the goodness of ,god it follows that ,god must always be good and the world exist4 ,just as light coexists with the ,sun and with fire1 and shadow coexists with a body4 ,of the bodies in the ,cosmos1 some imitate ,mind and move in orbits2 some imitate ,soul and move in a straight line1 fire and air upward1 earth and water downward4 ,of those that move in orbits the fixed sphere goes from the east1 the ,seven from the west4 7,this is so for various causes1 especially lest the creation should be imperfect owing to the rapid circuit of the spheres4#bjh3a7 ,the movement being different1 the nature of the bodies must also be different2 hence the celestial body does not burn or freeze what it touches1 or do anything else that pertains to the four elements4#bji3a ,and since the ,cosmos is a sphere--the zodiac proves that--and in every sphere 'down' means 'towards the centre'1 for the centre is farthest distant from every point1 and heavy things fall 'down' and fall to the earth it follows that the ,earth is in the centre of the ,cosmos4 ,all these things are made by the ,gods1 ordered by ,mind1 moved by ,soul4 ,about the ,gods we have spoken already4 ,,viii4 ,on ,mind and ,soul1 and that the latter is immortal4 ,there is a certain force1#bji3b less primary than ,being but more primary than the ,soul1 which draws its existence from ,being and completes the ,soul as the ,sun completes the eyes4 ,of ,souls some are rational and immortal1 some irrational and mortal4 ,the former are derived from the first ,gods1 the latter from the secondary4 ,first1 we must consider what soul is4 ,it is1 then1 that by which the animate differs from the inanimate4 ,the difference lies in motion1 sensation1 imagination1 intelligence4 ,soul1 therefore1 when irrational1 is the life of sense and imagination2 when rational1 it is the life which controls sense and imagination and uses reason4 ,the irrational soul depends on the affections of the body2 it feels desire and anger irrationally4 ,the rational soul both1 with the help of reason1 despises the body1 and1 fighting against the irrational soul1 produces either virtue or vice1 according as it is victorious or defeated4 ,it must be immortal1 both because it knows the gods 7and nothing mortal knows#baj3a what is immortal71 it looks down upon human affairs as though it stood outside them1 and1 like an unbodied thing1 it is affected in the opposite way to the body4 ,for while the body is young and fine1 the soul blunders1 but as the body grows old it attains its highest power4 ,again1 every good soul uses mind2 but no body can produce mind3 for how should that which is without mind produce mind8 ,again1 while ,soul uses the body as an instrument1 it is not in it2 just as the engineer is not in his engines 7although many engines move without being touched by any one74 ,and if the ,soul is often made to err by the body1 that is not surprising4 ,for the arts cannot perform their work when their instruments are spoilt4 ,,ix4 ,on ,providence1 ,fate1 and ,fortune4 ,this is enough to show the ,providence of the ,gods4 ,for whence comes the ordering of the world1 if there is no ordering power8 ,and whence comes the fact that all things are for a purpose3 e4 g4 irrational soul that there may be sensation1 and rational that the earth may be set in order8 ,but one can deduce the same result from the evidences of ,providence in nature3 e4 g4 the eyes have been made transparent with a view to seeing2 the nostrils are above the mouth to distinguish bad-smelling foods2 the front teeth are sharp to cut food1 the back teeth broad to grind it4 ,and we find every part of every object arranged on a similar principle4 ,it is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details1 and none in the first principles4 ,then the arts of prophecy and of healing1 which are part of the ,cosmos1 come of the good providence of the ,gods4 ,all this care for the world1 we must believe1 is taken by the ,gods without any act of will or labour4 ,as bodies which possess some power produce their effects by merely existing3 e4 g4 the sun gives light and heat by merely existing2 so1 and far more so1 the ,providence of the ,gods acts without effort to itself and for the good of the objects of its forethought4 ,this solves the problems of the ,epicureans1 who argue that what is ,divine neither has trouble itself nor gives trouble to others4 ,the incorporeal providence of the ,gods1 both for bodies and for souls1 is of this sort2 but that which is of bodies and in bodies is different from this1 and is called ,fate1 ,heimarmen1 because the chain of causes 7,heirmos7 is more visible in the case of bodies2 and it is for dealing with this ,fate that the science of ',mathematic' has been discovered4#baa3a ,therefore1 to believe that human things1 especially their material constitution1 are ordered not only by celestial beings but by the ,celestial ,bodies1 is a reasonable and true belief4 ,reason shows that health and sickness1 good fortune and bad fortune1 arise according to our deserts from that source4 ,but to attribute men's acts of injustice and lust to ,fate1 is to make ourselves good and the ,gods bad4 ,unless by chance a man meant by such a statement that in general all things are for the good of the world and for those who are in a natural state1 but that bad education or weakness of nature changes the goods of ,fate for the worse4 ,just as it happens that the ,sun1 which is good for all1 may be injurious to persons with ophthalmia or fever4 ,else why do the ,massagetae eat their fathers1 the ,hebrews practise circumcision1 and the ,persians preserve rules of rank8#bab3a ,why do astrologers1 while calling ,saturn and ,mars 'malignant'1 proceed to make them good1 attributing to them philosophy and royalty1 generalships and treasures8 ,and if they are going to talk of triangles and squares1 it is absurd that gods should change their natures according to their position in space1 while human virtue remains the same everywhere4 ,also the fact that the stars predict high or low rank for the father of the person whose horoscope is taken1 teaches that they do not always make things happen but sometimes only indicate things4 ,for how could things which preceded the birth depend upon the birth8 ,further1 as there is ,providence and ,fate concerned with nations and cities1 and also concerned with each individual1 so there is also ,fortune1 which should next be treated4 ,that power of the gods which orders for the good things which are not uniform1 and which happen contrary to expectation1 is commonly called ,fortune1 and it is for this reason that the goddess is especially worshipped in public by cities2 for every city consists of elements which are not uniform4 ,fortune has power beneath the moon1 since above the moon no single thing can happen by fortune4 ,if ,fortune makes a wicked man prosperous and a good man poor1 there is no need to wonder4 ,for the wicked regard wealth as everything1 the good as nothing4 ,and the good fortune of the bad cannot take away their badness1 while virtue alone will be enough for the good4 ,x4 ,concerning ,virtue and ,vice4 ,the doctrine of ,virtue and ,vice depends on that of the ,soul4 ,when the irrational soul enters into the body and immediately produces ,fight and ,desire1 the rational soul1 put in authority over all these1 makes the soul tripartite1 composed of ,reason1 ,fight1 and ,desire4 ,virtue in the region of ,reason is ,wisdom1 in the region of ,fight is ,courage1 in the region of ,desire it is ,temperance3 the virtue of the whole ,soul is ,righteousness4 ,it is for ,reason to judge what is right1 for ,fight in obedience to ,reason to despise things that appear terrible1 for ,desire to pursue not the apparently desirable1 but1 that which is with ,reason desirable4 ,when these things are so1 we have a righteous life2 for righteousness in matters of property is but a small part of virtue4 ,and thus we shall find all four virtues in properly trained men1 but among the untrained one may be brave and unjust1 another temperate and stupid1 another prudent and unprincipled4 ,indeed these qualities should not be called ,virtues when they are devoid of ,reason and imperfect and found in irrational beings4 ,vice should be regarded as consisting of the opposite elements4 ,in ,reason it is ,folly1 in ,fight1 ,cowardice1 in ,desire1 ,intemperance1 in the whole soul1 ,unrighteousness4 ,the virtues are produced by the right social organization and by good rearing and education1 the vices by the opposite4 ,,xi4 ,concerning right and wrong ,social ,organization4#bad3a ,constitutions also depend on the tripartite nature of the ,soul4 ,the rulers are analogous to ,reason1 the soldiers to ,fight1 the common folk to ,desires4 ,where all things are done according to ,reason and the best man in the nation rules1 it is a ,kingdom2 where more than one rule according to ,reason and ,fight1 it is an ,aristocracy2 where the government is according to ,desire and offices depend on money1 that constitution is called a ,timocracy4 ,the contraries are3 to ,kingdom tyranny1 for ,kingdom does all things with the guidance of reason and tyranny nothing2 to ,aristocracy oligarchy1 when not the best people but a few of the worst are rulers2 to ,timocracy democracy1 when not the rich but the common folk possess the whole power4 ,,xii4 ,the origin of evil things2 and that there is no positive evil4 ,the ,gods being good and making all things1 how do evils exist in the world8 ,or perhaps it is better first to state the fact that1 the ,gods being good and making all things1 there is no positive evil1 it only comes by absence of good2 just as darkness itself does not exist1 but only comes about by absence of light4 ,if ,evil exists it must exist either in ,gods or minds or souls or bodies4 ,it does not exist in any god1 for all god is good4 ,if any one speaks of a 'bad mind' he means a mind without mind4 ,if of a bad soul1 he will make soul inferior to body1 for no body in itself is evil4 ,if he says that ,evil is made up of soul and body together1 it is absurd that separately they should not be evil1 but joined should create evil4 ,suppose it is said that there are evil spirits3--if they have their power from the gods1 they cannot be evil2 if from elsewhere1 the gods do not make all things4 ,if they do not make all things1 then either they wish to and cannot1 or they can and do not wish2 neither of which is consistent with the idea of ,god4 ,we may see1 therefore1 from these arguments1 that there is no positive evil in the world4 ,it is in the activities of men that the evils appear1 and that not of all men nor always4 ,and as to these1 if men sinned for the sake of evil1 ,nature itself would be evil4 ,but if the adulterer thinks his adultery bad but his pleasure good1 and the murderer thinks the murder bad but the money he gets by it good1 and the man who does evil to an enemy thinks that to do evil is bad but to punish his enemy good1 and if the soul commits all its sins in that way1 then the evils are done for the sake of goodness4 7,in the same way1 because in a given place light does not exist1 there comes darkness1 which has no positive existence47 ,the soul sins therefore because1 while aiming at good1 it makes mistakes about the good1 because it is not ,primary ,essence4 ,and we see many things done by the ,gods to prevent it from making mistakes and to heal it when it has made them4 ,arts and sciences1 curses and prayers1 sacrifices and initiations1 laws and constitutions1 judgements and punishments1 all came into existence for the sake of preventing souls from sinning2 and when they are gone forth from the body gods and spirits of purification cleanse them of their sins4 ,,xiii4 ,how things eternal are said to 'be made' 774 ,concerning the ,gods and the ,world and human things this account will suffice for those who are not able to go through the whole course of philosophy but yet have not souls beyond help4 ,it remains to explain how these objects were never made and are never separated one from another1 since we ourselves have said above that the secondary substances were 'made' by the first4 ,everything made is made either by art or by a physical process or according to some power4#baf3a ,now in art or nature the maker must needs be prior to the made3 but the maker1 according to power1 constitutes the made absolutely together with itself1 since its power is inseparable from it2 as the sun makes light1 fire makes heat1 snow makes cold4 ,now if the ,gods make the world by art1 they do not make it be1 they make it be such as it is4 ,for all art makes the form of the object4 ,what therefore makes it to be8 ,if by a physical process1 how in that case can the maker help giving part of himself to the made8 ,as the ,gods are incorporeal1 the ,world ought to be incorporeal too4 ,if it were argued that the ,gods were bodies1 then where would the power of incorporeal things come from8 ,and if we were to admit it1 it would follow that when the world decays1 its maker must be decaying too1 if he is a maker by physical process4 ,if the ,gods make the world neither by art nor by physical process1 it only remains that they make it by power4 ,everything so made subsists together with that which possesses the power4 ,neither can things so made be destroyed1 except the power of the maker be taken away3 so that those who believe in the destruction of the world1 either deny the existence of the gods1 or1 while admitting it1 deny ,god's power4 ,therefore he who makes all things by his own power makes all things subsist together with himself4 ,and since his power is the greatest power he must needs be the maker not only of men and animals1 but of ,gods1 men1 and spirits4#bag3a ,and the further removed the ,first ,god is from our nature1 the more powers there must be between us and him4 ,for all things that are very far apart have many intermediate points between them4 ,,xiv4 ,in what sense1 though the ,gods never change1 they are said to be made angry and appeased4 ,if any one thinks the doctrine of the unchangeableness of the ,gods is reasonable and true1 and then wonders how it is that they rejoice in the good and reject the bad1 are angry with sinners and become propitious when appeased1 the answer is as follows3 ,god does not rejoice--for that which rejoices also grieves2 nor is he angered--for to be angered is a passion2 nor is he appeased by gifts--if he were1 he would be conquered by pleasure4 ,it is impious to suppose that the ,divine is affected for good or ill by human things4 ,the ,gods are always good and always do good and never harm1 being always in the same state and like themselves4 ,the truth simply is that1 when we are good1 we are joined to the ,gods by our likeness to them2 when bad1 we are separated from them by our unlikeness4 ,and when we live according to virtue we cling to the gods1 and when we become evil we make the gods our enemies--not because they are angered against us1 but because our sins prevent the light of the gods from shining upon us1 and put us in communion with spirits of punishment4 ,and if by prayers and sacrifices we find forgiveness of sins1 we do not appease or change the gods1 but by what we do and by our turning towards the ,divine we heal our own badness and so enjoy again the goodness of the gods4 ,to say that ,god turns away from the evil is like saying that the sun hides himself from the blind4 ,,xv4 ,why we give worship to the ,gods when they need nothing4 ,this solves the question about sacrifices and other rites performed to the ,gods4 ,the ,divine itself is without needs1 and the worship is paid for our own benefit4 ,the providence of the ,gods reaches everywhere and needs only some congruity#bah3a for its reception4 ,all congruity comes about by representation and likeness2 for which reason the temples are made in representation of heaven1 the altar of earth1 the images of life 7that is why they are made like living things71 the prayers of the element of thought1 the mystic letters#bai3a of the unspeakable celestial forces1 the herbs and stones of matter1 and the sacrificial animals of the irrational life in us4 ,from all these things the ,gods gain nothing2 what gain could there be to ,god8 ,it is we who gain some communion with them4 ,,xvi4 ,concerning sacrifices and other worships1 that we benefit man by them1 but not the gods4 ,i think it well to add some remarks about sacrifices4 ,in the first place1 since we have received everything from the gods1 and it is right to pay the giver some tithe of his gifts1 we pay such a tithe of possessions in votive offerings1 of bodies in gifts of hair and adornment1 and of life in sacrifices4 ,then secondly1 prayers without sacrifices are only words1 with sacrifices they are live words2 the word gives meaning to the life1 while the life animates the word4 ,thirdly1 the happiness of every object is its own perfection2 and perfection for each is communion with its own cause4 ,for this reason we pray for communion with the ,gods4 ,since1 therefore1 the first life is the life of the gods1 but human life is also life of a kind1 and human life wishes for communion with divine life1 a mean term is needed4 ,for things very far apart cannot have communion without a mean term1 and the mean term must be like the things joined2 therefore the mean term between life and life must be life4 ,that is why men sacrifice animals2 only the rich do so now1 but in old days everybody did1 and that not indiscriminately1 but giving the suitable offerings to each god together with a great deal of other worship4 ,enough of this subject4 ,,xvii4 ,that the ,world is by nature ,eternal4 ,we have shown above that the gods will not destroy the world4 ,it remains to show that its nature is indestructible4 ,everything that is destroyed is either destroyed by itself or by something else4 ,if the world is destroyed by itself1 fire must needs burn itself and water dry itself4 ,if by something else1 it must be either by a body or by something incorporeal4 ,by something incorporeal is impossible2 for incorporeal things preserve bodies--nature1 for instance1 and soul--and nothing is destroyed by a cause whose nature is to preserve it4 ,if it is destroyed by some body1 it must be either by those which exist or by others4 ,if by those which exist3 then either those moving in a straight line must be destroyed by those that revolve1 or vice versa4 ,but those that revolve have no destructive nature2 else1 why do we never see anything destroyed from that cause8 ,nor yet can those which are moving straight touch the others2 else1 why have they never been able to do so yet8 ,but neither can those moving straight be destroyed by one another3 for the destruction of one is the creation of another2 and that is not to be destroyed but to change4 ,but if the ,world is to be destroyed by other bodies than these it is impossible to say where such bodies are or whence they are to arise4 ,again1 everything destroyed is destroyed either in form or matter4 7,form is the shape of a thing1 matter the body47 ,now if the form is destroyed and the matter remains1 we see other things come into being4 ,if matter is destroyed1 how is it that the supply has not failed in all these years8 ,if when matter is destroyed other matter takes its place1 the new matter must come either from something that is or from something that is not4 ,if from that-which-is1 as long as that-which-is always remains1 matter always remains4 ,but if that-which-is is destroyed1 such a theory means that not the ,world only but everything in the universe is destroyed4 ,if again matter comes from that-which-is-not3 in the first place1 it is impossible for anything to come from that which is not2 but suppose it to happen1 and that matter did arise from that which is not2 then1 as long as there are things which are not1 matter will exist4 ,for ,i presume there can never be an end of things which are not4 ,if they say that matter will become formless3 in the first place1 why does this happen to the world as a whole when it does not happen to any part8 ,secondly1 by this hypothesis they do not destroy the being of bodies1 but only their beauty4 ,further1 everything destroyed is either resolved into the elements from which it came1 or else vanishes into not-being4 ,if things are resolved into the elements from which they came1 then there will be others3 else how did they come into being at all8 ,if that-which-is is to depart into not-being1 what prevents that happening to ,god himself8 7,which is absurd47 ,or if ,god's power prevents that1 it is not a mark of power to be able to save nothing but oneself4 ,and it is equally impossible for that-which-is to come out of nothing and to depart into nothing4 ,again1 if the ,world is destroyed1 it must needs either be destroyed according to ,nature or against ,nature4 ,against ,nature is impossible1 for that which is against nature is not stronger than ,nature4#bbb3a ,if according to ,nature1 there must be another ,nature which changes the ,nature of the ,world3 which does not appear4 ,again1 anything that is naturally destructible we can ourselves destroy4 ,but no one has ever destroyed or altered the round body of the ,world4 ,and the elements1 though they can be changed1 cannot be destroyed4 ,again1 everything destructible is changed by time and grows old4 ,but the world through all these years has remained utterly unchanged4 ,having said so much for the help of those who feel the need of very strong demonstrations1 ,i pray the ,world himself to be gracious to me4 ,,xviii4 ,why there are rejections of ,god1 and that ,god is not injured4 ,nor need the fact that rejections of ,god have taken place in certain parts of the earth and will often take place hereafter1 disturb the mind of the wise3 both because these things do not affect the gods1 just as we saw that worship did not benefit them2 and because the soul1 being of middle essence1 cannot be always right2 and because the whole world cannot enjoy the providence of the gods equally1 but some parts may partake of it eternally1 some at certain times1 some in the primal manner1 some in the secondary4 ,just as the head enjoys all the senses1 but the rest of the body only one4 ,for this reason1 it seems1 those who ordained ,festivals ordained also ,forbidden ,days1 in which some temples lay idle1 some were shut1 some had their adornment removed1 in expiation of the weakness of our nature4 ,it is not unlikely1 too1 that the rejection of ,god is a kind of punishment3 we may well believe that those who knew the gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether4 ,also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of ,god4 ,,xix4 ,why sinners are not punished at once4 ,there is no need to be surprised if neither these sins nor yet others bring immediate punishment upon sinners4 ,for it is not only ,spirits#bbc3a who punish the soul1 the ,soul brings itself to judgement3 and also it is not right for those who endure for ever to attain everything in a short time3 and also1 there is need of human virtue4 ,if punishment followed instantly upon sin1 men would act justly from fear and have no virtue4 ,souls are punished when they have gone forth from the body1 some wandering among us1 some going to hot or cold places of the earth1 some harassed by ,spirits4 ,under all circumstances they suffer with the irrational part of their nature1 with which they also sinned4 ,for its sake#bbd3a there subsist that shadowy body which is seen about graves1 especially the graves of evil livers4 ,,xx4 ,on ,transmigration of ,souls1 and how ,souls are said to migrate into brute beasts4 ,if the transmigration of a soul takes place into a rational being1 it simply becomes the soul of that body4 ,but if the soul migrates into a brute beast1 it follows the body outside1 as a guardian spirit follows a man4 ,for there could never be a rational soul in an irrational being4 ,the transmigration of souls can be proved from the congenital afflictions of persons4 ,for why are some born blind1 others paralytic1 others with some sickness in the soul itself8 ,again1 it is the natural duty of ,souls to do their work in the body2 are we to suppose that when once they leave the body they spend all eternity in idleness8 ,again1 if the souls did not again enter into bodies1 they must either be infinite in number or ,god must constantly be making new ones4 ,but there is nothing infinite in the world2 for in a finite whole there cannot be an infinite part4 ,neither can others be made2 for everything in which something new goes on being created1 must be imperfect4 ,and the ,world1 being made by a perfect author1 ought naturally to be perfect4 ,,xxi4 ,that the ,good are happy1 both living and dead4 ,souls that have lived in virtue are in general happy1#bbd3b and when separated from the irrational part of their nature1 and made clean from all matter1 have communion with the gods and join them in the governing of the whole world4 ,yet even if none of this happiness fell to their lot1 virtue itself1 and the joy and glory of virtue1 and the life that is subject to no grief and no master are enough to make happy those who have set themselves to live according to virtue and have achieved it4 ,,footnotes3 #bjj3a ,i translate generally as ',world'1 sometimes as ',cosmos'4 ,it always has the connotation of 'divine order'2 always ',soul'1 to keep it distinct from 1 'physical life'1 though often ',life' would be a more natural ,english equivalent2 'to animate'2 sometimes 'essence'1 sometimes 'being' 7never 'substance' or 'nature'72 'nature'2 sometimes 'body'1 sometimes 'matter'4 #bjc3a e4 g4 when we say ',the sun is coming in through the window'1 or in ,greek 1 ,plat4 ,rep4 #eaf ,e4 ,this appears to mean that you can loosely apply the term ',osiris' both to 7i7 the real ,osiris and 7ii7 the corn which comes from him1 as you can apply the name ',sun' both to 7i7 the real orb and 7ii7 the ray that comes from the orb4 ,however1 ,julian1 ,or4 v1 on the ,sun suggests a different view--that both the orb and the ray are mere effects and symbols of the true spiritual ,sun1 as corn is of ,osiris4 #bjd3a ,mr4 ,l4 ,w4 ,hunter1 ,,ms4 ,above the ,milky ,way there is no such body1 only 4 ,cf4 ,macrob4 in ,somn4 ,scip4 i4 #ab4 #bjh3a i4 e4 if the ,firmament or ,fixed ,sphere moved in the same direction as the seven ,planets1 the speed would become too great4 ,on the circular movement cf4 ,plot4 ,eun4 ii4 #b4 #bji3a ,the fire of which the heavenly bodies are made is the 1 matter1 but different from earthly matter4 ,see p4 #acg4 #bji3b ,proclus1 ,elem4 ,theol4 xx1 calls it 1 ,natura ,intellectualis4 ,there are four degrees of existence3 lowest of all1 ,bodies2 above that1 ,soul2 above all ,souls1 this ',intellectual ,nature'2 above that1 ,the ,one4 #baj3a i4 e4 in the full sense of ,gnsis4 #baa3a i4 e4 ,astrology1 dealing with the ',celestial ,bodies'4 #bab3a ,cf4 ,hdt4 i4 #acd4 #bad3a ,this section is a meagre reminiscence of ,plato's discussion in ,repub4 viii4 ,the interest in politics and government had died out with the loss of political freedom4 #baf3a 1 secundum potentiam quandam2 i4 e4 in accordance with some indwelling 'virtue' or quality4 #bag3a ,the repetition of in this sentence seems to be a mistake4 #bah3a 4 #bai3a ,on the mystic letters see above1 p4 #adb4 #bbb3a ,the text here is imperfect3 ,i have followed ,mullach's correction4 #bbc3a 4 #bbd3a i4 e4 that it may continue to exist and satisfy justice4 #bbd3b 4 ,,index ,achaioi1 #de1 #di ,acropolis1 #ga1 #gb ,aeschylus1 #ab3d1 #dc ,affection1 #ajd1 #aji ,agesilaus1 #hf ,agriculture1 ,religion in1 #e f4 ,alexander the ,great1 #ib1 #ic1 #id1 #aae1 #aei ,allegory1 in ,hellenistic philosophy1 #afe ff42 in ,olympian religion1 #gd 1 #ih3a ,alpha and ,omega1 ,god as1 #adh ,anaximander1 #cc3a ,angel ,megethos1 #adb2 star1 #add ,animal sacrifice1 #ahh f4 ,anthesteria1 #af-ah1 #cd ,anthister1 #ah3b ,anthropomorphism1 #aj ff41 #adj ,antigonus ,gonatas1 #aeb3a ,antiochus ,i1 #add ,anti-semitism1 #afb ,antisthenes1 #hg1 #hi f41 #if ,apathy1 #ajc3a1 #aji ,apelln ,apolln1 #ea ,aphiktor1 #bh ,aphrodite1 #eg ,apollo1 #ej1 #gb ,apotheosis of ,hellenistic kings1 #aeb3a ,apparitions1 primitive belief in1 #bg ,apuleius1 #adh ,aquinas1 #c ,archontes1 #afd ,ares1 #eg ,aret1 #hi1 #if1 #ii1 #ajd f4 ,aristarchus of ,samos1 #ada ,aristophanes1 #bj3c1 #bb3a1 #fb3a ,aristotle1 #c1 #aad f41 #aag1 #abj1 #abg1 #acf1 #aec1 #aed3c ,ark of ,israel1 #fh ,arnim1 von1 #abi3a1 #agb ,arnold1 ,professor ,e4 ,v41 #ajj3a ,asceticism in antiquity1 #aif ,astrology1 #adc f41 #baa3a ,astronomy1 #ig 771 #ec3a ,atheism1 #aha f41 #aij ,athena1 #ec3a1 #ga1 #gb1 #gd2 ,athenaia ,kor1 #eb2 ,pallas1 #eb ,athens1 effect of defeat of1 #gi f4 ,atomic ,theory of ,democritus1 #aja2 of ,ionia1 #aje ,attis1 #ahe ',attributes'1 animals as1 #bj ,augustine1 ,st41 #age1 #agg ,aurelius1 ,marcus1 religion of1 #age f4 ,bacchos1 #afa ,bacon1 ,professor1 #agb ',barbaroi' as opposed to ,hellenes1 #ci2 1 #db3b ,bardesanes1 #afd3a ,barnabas1 ,st41 #afa ,beast-mask1 #bc-e ,bendis1 #aea ,bethe1 ,e41 #aej3a ,bevan1 ,e41 xvi1 #ci3a1 #ajj3a1 #aed3b1 #agb ,birth-rate1 its effect on early ,christian sects1 #aid ,blessedness1 ,epicurus on1 #ajf ,body1 ,fifth1 #acg 1 #bd ,bousset1 ,w41 xv1 #abf1 #aej3c1 #afb1 #agb ,buddhism1 #aj ,bull1 blood of1 #bj2 in pre-,hellenic ritual1 #ai-ba ,bury1 ,professor ,j4 ,b41 xv ,carpenter1 ,dr4 ,e41 #agb ,cauer1 ,p41 #di3a ,centaurs1 #fj ,chadwick1 ,h4 ,m41 xv1 #df n41 #eg3c1 #ei ,chaldaeans1 #add1 #aea ,chance1 #aca1 #adg ,charles1 ,dr41 #agb 1 #cg 1 #ij ,christianity1 #hh1 #ij1 #if1 #aji1 #aae1 #aai1 #abc-e1 #agc1 #aha f41 #aib-e ,christmas1 ,father1 #ae ,christos1 #afc ,chrysippus1 #aae1 #ade3a1 #ade3c1 #ade3d1 #adf1 #aff ,chthonioi1 as oracles1 #cg ,cicero1 #bg3b ,circular movement1 #bjh3a ,circumcelliones1 #cf n4 ,city of gods and men1 world as1 #gf2 of ,refuge1 in the ,laws1 #hc2 of ,righteousness1 in the ,republic1 #hc3 see ,polis ,cleanthes1 #ace1 #ada1 #afe ,clemen1 ,carl1 #agb ,coinage1 deface of1 #ij ',collective ,desire'1 ,god defined as the1 #bf1 #bi ,colotes1 #aaa3a ,comitatus1 #df ,commagene1 #add ,conceptions1 ,common1 #bjj ,constantine1 #aid ,constantius1 #agi ,convention1 #ia ,conybeare1 ,f4 ,c41 #agb ,cook1 ,a4 ,b41 #af3a1 #bc1 #bd3a1 #di f41 #ef3c1 #ff n4 ,copernicus1 #ig ,corinna1 #dc ,cornford1 ,f4 ,m41 #cc3a ,cornutus1 #aff ,cosmopoltes1 #ib ,cosmos1 #ig-ajj1 #bjh ,crates1 #ie3a1 #aff ,creeds1 #agc f41 #agh1 #ahc ,crucifixion1 #afc3a ,cumont1 ,f41 #ce3a1 #abf1 #agb ,cynics1 #c1 #ij-b1 #ic-e1 #ajd2 women among1 #ie3a ,cyropaedeia1 #he ,cyrus1 #he ,daemon ,stoicheion1 #adb ,dance1 religious1 #bg f4 ,davenport1 ,f4 ,m41 #bf3a ,davy1 ,g41 #g n4 ,dead1 worship of1 #fb ,deification1 ,e4 ,bevan on1 #aed3b ,deliverer1 the1 #ajh ,delos1 #ea ,delusio1 #afi ,demeter1 #gb ,democritus1 ,atomic ,theory of1 #aja ,demos1 #hb ,demosthenes1 #hb ,destiny1 ,hymn to1 #ace3 see ,fate ,dharma1 #aj ,diadochi1 #aee ,diasia1 #ad-ae 1 #ij ,dicaearchus1 #aba f4 ,didascaliae1 #aba ,diels1 #cc3a1 #abi3a1 #agb ,dieterich1 ,a41 #ag3a1 #bc3a1 #bi3b1 #abf1 #adf1 #aej3c1 #agb ,dio ,cassius1 #adb ,diocletian1 #aid f4 ,diodorus1 #add f4 ,diogenes1 #ij-c1 #ie2 his 'tub1' #ib ,diogenes of ,oenoanda1 #aja3a1 #aad1 #afi f4 ,dione1 #ef ,dionysius1 #ag1 #bj1 #gb1 #hd1 #aei 1 #abb ,disciples1 qualifications and conduct of1 #bjj ,discouragement due to collapse of the ,polis1 #ha ,dittenberger4 ,w41 #af3a1 #aef3a ,divine ,mother1 #afd2 ',divine ,wisdom'1 personified1 #afe ,dodds1 ,e4 ,r41 #aha3a ,doutt1 ,e41 #bf f4 ,dramaturge1 #ig ,drmenon1 spring1 #cb f4 ,dmmler1 #hg3a ,durkheim1 ,professor mile1 #f3a ,earth1 divinity of1 #acg2 ,earth-mother1 #bi 1 #ajf ,education1 #aac3c ,ekstasis1 #aej ,elements1 ,apuleius on1 #adh2 divinity of1 #acg2 in the ,kosmos1 #adb 1 #bjj3a ,enthousiasmos1 #aej ,es1 #ec ,epictetus1 morals of1 #agf ,epicureans1 #c1 #aaj f41 #aac1 #aai1 #acj1 #ade f41 #aha ,epicurus1 #aja-aa1 #aac1 #abi f41 #ace1 #adj f41 #agj1 #aib3a ,epiphans1 #aee ,epiphanius1 #agb 1 #cg ,euergets1 #aef ,euhemerus1 #afj ,euripides1 #ab3d1 #ed3c1 passim1 #adc1 #aeb ,eusebius1 #bg3d1 #aig ,evans1 ,sir ,a41 #bj1 #ff n4 ,evil1 existence of1 #bae2 origin of1 #ahf1 #bad-af ,expurgation of mythology1 #ge f42 ,olympian1 #fa f41 #fg f4 ,eye of ,bel1 #adc ,failure1 ,great1 #hb ,farnell1 ,dr4 ,l4 ,r41 #ah3a1 #bj3a1 #dd ,fate1 #acb1 #acd1 #ade1 #adf f41 #baa f4 ,federations1 #hj ,ferguson1 ,w4 ,s41 #aeb3a ,first ,cause1 #ahe1 #bje f4 ,fortune1 #ia1 #aca f41 #bab f4 ,fourth ,century1 ,movements of1 #c1 #gi-abb ,frazer1 ,sir ,j4 ,g41 #af3a1 #ah3a1 #ce3a1 #aed3a ,gaertringen1 ,hiller von1 #ah3b ,galaxy1 #bjd ,games1 ,roman gladiatorial1 #id ,garden1 #ajg f41 #aad ,gardner4 ,p41 #eg3b1 #adi3a ,gennep1 ,a4 ,van41 #ca3a 1 #ca ,gerontes1 #cf ,ghosts1 #bba ,giants1 #fj 1 forms of1 #baf f4 1 #bd ,gnostics1 #c1 #abc1 #abh1 #acg f41 #adh1 #afb ,god1 as the 'collective desire'1 #bf1 #bi2 conception of1 in savage tribes1 #i2 does not rejoice1 nor is angered1 #bah2 essence of1 #aeh2 home of1 #adh2 of the ,jews1 #afc2 rejections of1 #bbb f42 unchangeable1 #ahg2 ,union with1 #adg ,god-,man1 as ,king1 #aeb f4 ,gods1 communion with1 #ahh2 ,cosmic and ,hypercosmic1 #bjf f42 men as1 #acf2 nature of1 #bjj f42 ,twelve1 #bjg2 unchangeable1 #bag2 why worshipped1 #bah ,good1 the1 #hh f41 #aaj1 #ahe f41 #bjf2 happiness of1 #bbd f42 ,idea of1 as ,sun of the spiritual universe1 #id 1 #ca ,gruppe1 ,dr41 #ah3a1 #ej3c1 #eb3a1 #ef3c1 #agb ,hagia ,triada1 sarcophagus of1 #bj ,halliday1 ,w4 ,r41 #cb3b ,happiness1 ,natural1 #ajd ,harnack1 ,a41 #aic ,harrison1 ,miss ,j4 ,e41 xiv1 #ac-cj1 passim1 #adh3a ,hartland1 ,e4 ,s41 #i ,haverfield1 ,professor ,f4 ,j41 #abg ,heath1 ,sir ,t41 #ada3a ,heaven1 ,third1 #adi ,hebrews1 #abe ,hecataeus1 #adc ,heimarmen1 #acd1 #ade1 #baa ,helen1 ,kor as1 #ach ,hellenes1 conquered tribes took name of1 #db2 no tribe of1 existing in ancient times1 #da2 same as ,achaioi1 #dj ,hellenism1 as standard of culture1 #da ,hellenistic ,age1 #c f41 #aad1 #aag1 #abe1 #aca1 #add1 #afa1 #afg2 culture1 #abe2 philosophy1 #afe2 revival1 #dj f42 spirit1 #aeb ,hera1 #ef ,heraclitus of ,ephesus1 #afg ,herakles1 #ef1 #hi ,hermes1 #ee1 #aea ,hermetica1 #adh1 #aea ,hermetic communities1 #adf ,hermias1 #aaf3a ,herodotus1 #bg3c1 #ci1 #da1 #db3a1 #dd2 religion of1 #age ,heroes1 philosophers as1 #aec ,heroic ,age1 #dh f41 #eg ,heroism1 religious1 of antiquity1 #aib ,hesiod1 #dd1 #fd f4 ,hipparchia1 #ie3a ,hippolytus1 #agb ,hoffmann1 ,dr4 ,o41 #dc3a1 #eb3a ,hogarth1 ,d4 ,g41 #bd3a ,holocaust1 #ad ,homer1 #i1 #dd f41 #dh f41 #ed3c1 passim1 #fd f4 ,hositr1 bull as1 #bj f4 ,hubert and ,mauss1 ,,mm41 #ahi3a ,idealists1 #hb ,idols1 defence of1 #gg3a ,illusion1 #aab1 #aai ,impalement1 #afc3a ,infanticide1 #agg ,initiations1 ,hellenistic1 #adh-eb ,instinct1 #ajj ,interpreters1 ,planets as1 #add ,ionia1 #ei f4 ,ionian tradition1 #aja1 #ajd ,ionians1 #ea ,iphigenia1 #fa3a ,iranes1 #cb ,irenaeus1 #agb ,iris1 #ee ,isis1 #aea1 #aff ,isocrates1 #ha ,jacoby1 #afj3a ,jaldabaoth ,saturn1 #adg ,javan1 sons of1 #db ,jews1 #abe1 #aea1 #ahh2 ,god of1 #afc ,judaism1 #aic ,julian1 xvi1 #d1 #agi ff41 #ahd f41 #aig ,justin1 #fd3a ,kaibel1 #fa3a ,kant1 #acf ,keraunos1 #aee ,kres1 #cd ,kern1 ,o41 #ba3b ,king1 ,i41 #bi3a ,kings1 as gods1 #aia2 divine1 titles of1 #aee ff42 predictions concerning1 by ,planets1 #add2 worship of1 #aef ,koios1 #aff ,kor1 #fc f42 as fallen ,virgin1 #ach2 ,earth1 #cj2 ,earth ,maiden and ,mother1 #acg ,kosmokratores1 #adf1 #adh1 #afd ,kosmos1 #adg1 #bjj3a2 ,moon as origin of1 #afi2 planets as ,elements in1 #adb ,kour1 ,zeus1 #aej ,kourtes1 #aej2 ,spring-song of1 #cj ,kouroi1 #cj2 dance of1 #bh ,kouros1 #fc f41 #ga2 ,megistos1 #bh2 ,sun as1 #cj2 ,year-,daemon1 #cb ,kourotrophos1 ,earth1 #cj and 1 #be1 #aeg3a ,kronos1 #de 1 #bc 1 #bc ,kynosarges1 #hi ,lampsacus1 #ajg ,lang1 ,andrew1 xiii1 #af3b1 #bc3b 1 #aaj ,leaf1 ,w41 #dj3a1 #di3a ,leagues1 #hj ,leontion1 #ajh ,life1 inward1 #aai f4 1 #ace ,lucian1 ,icaro-,menippos1 #ae3a ,lucretius1 #ch1 #aje1 #ajf3a1 #aad ,lysander1 #aee ,lysias1 #ha ,mc,dougall1 ,w41 #abe n4 ,macedon1 #ha1 #abg ,macedonians1 #ic1 #aaf1 #abb ,mackail1 ,professor ,j4 ,w41 #db ,man1 ,first1 #afd2 ,righteous1 of ,plato1 #afc2 ,second1 #afc f42 ,son of ,man1 #afc ,man-,god1 worship of1 #aef ff4 ,mana1 #ai1 #ba1 #bd1 #cd1 #aeg3a ,marett1 ,r4 ,r41 #abd3a ,margoliouth1 ,professor1 #afg3a ,markos the ,gnostic1 #aej ,marriage1 ,sacred1 #ag f4 ,maximus of ,tyre1 #gg3a ,mayer1 ,m41 #df n4 ,meade1 ,g4 ,r4 ,s41 #agb ,mediator between ,god and worshipper1 #ahi2 ,mithras as1 #aea2 ,saviour as1 #afb ,medicine-king1 as 1 #be1 #aeb2 powers of1 #be ,megethos1 #adb ,meilichios1 in the ,diasia1 #ad-ae1 #ai ,meister1 ,r41 #ec3a ,meyer1 ,ed41 #aed3c ,mind1 nature of1 #bji ,mithraic communities1 #adf ,mithraism1 #adh ,mithras1 #abc1 #aci1 #aeb2 as ,mediator1 #aea2 ,liturgy1 #adf1 #adh2 religion of1 #ba ,mommsen1 ,august1 #ad3a1 #ag3a1 #ah3a ,monotheism1 #fi f4 ,moon1 as ,kourotrophos1 #cj2 as origin of ,kosmos1 #afi2 divinity of1 #acf ff4 ,morals1 minor1 #agg2 of antiquity1 #agg f42 of ,christians1 #agh ,moret1 #bc3b ,mother1 ,divine1 #afd2 ,great1 #ahe ,mlder1 ,d41 #ec3a1 #eg3a ,mullach1 #agb ,mller1 ,h4 ,d41 #eg3a ,music of the ,spheres1 #adb ,myres1 ,j4 ,l41 #dj ,mysteries1 #ic ,mystic letters1 #bai ,mysticism1 #afi ,mythology1 ,olympian1 #ge ,myths1 ,sallustius' treatment of1 #bba f42 why divine1 #bja2 five species1 #bjb2 explanation of examples1 #bjc-e ,naassenes1 #adf1 #afb ,nature1 the return to1 as salvation for man1 #ia ,nausiphanes1 #aja ,neo-,platonism1 #aha ,nerve1 failure of1 chap4 iv4 ,nikator1 #aee ,nilsson1 ,m4 ,p41 #ah3b1 #ba3b1 #ca3a1 #cb3a ,nilus1 ,st41 #ba ,norden1 #aei3a ,octavius1 #afd1 #ahb1 #aij3a ,odin1 #ei ,ogdoas1 #adg ,oimg1 #gi1 #aaf ,olympian expurgation1 #fa f41 #fg ff42 family1 #aa2 reformation1 #eh1 #fa ff42 stage1 #b2 theology1 #d ,olympian ,gods1 brought by ,northern invaders1 #de2 character of1 #df-eh2 coming of1 #dc2 why so called1 #dd f4 ,olympian religion1 achievements of1 #gb ff42 beauty of1 #gc2 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,persephone1 #gd f4 1 #cd ,pheidias1 #ej 1 #aef1 #aeh 1 #ajd1 #aji ,philo1 #agb1 #agg ,phusis1 #ii1 #acd1 #bjj3a ,pindar1 #ca3c1 #dc1 #eb3b ,pisistratus1 #dc1 #ec 1 #g ,planets1 seven1 history and worship of1 #adj ff4 ,plato1 #c1 #ac n41 #hb-d1 #aji1 #abf1 #abi1 #afc ,pleasure1 pursuit of1 #aaj ,plotinus1 #b1 #d1 #aj3b1 #ace2 his union with ,god1 #adi ,plutarch1 #bg3c #cba1 #cd3b1 #ed3b1 passim ,poimandres1 #afb 1 1 or 1 1 #ga ,poliouchoi1 #fg ,polis1 collapse of1 #hj1 #abg f42 projection of1 #ga2 religion of1 #ga1 #ge f42 replaces ,tribe1 #ff f4 ,polybius1 #hj ,porch1 #aad ,porphyry1 #adi3b1 #ahh3b ,poseidon1 #ed ,posidonius1 #adf1 #aei ,predestination1 #ade ,preuss1 ,dr41 #b ,proclus1 #bji3b ,proletariates1 #aid ,pronoia or ,providence1 ,stoic belief in1 #ij1 #ace ,providence1 #baj f4 1 #bjj3a ,ptah1 #aea ,ptolemaios ,epiphans1 #aef f4 ,punishment1 eternal1 #i2 why not immediate1 #bbc ,purpose of ,dramaturge1 #ig-ajj ,pythagoras1 #afg ,pythias1 #aaf ,rack1 martyrs happy on the1 #aib 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,fowler1 ,w41 #ag3a ,webster1 ,h41 #ca3a ,week of seven days1 established1 #adb f4 ,wendland1 ,p41 xvi1 #abf1 #aef1 #agb ,wilamowitz-,moellendorff1 ,u4 von1 #dc3a1 #ei ,wisdom1 ,divine1 personified1 #afe2 ,wisdom-,teachers1 #b ,woodward1 ,a4 ,m41 #cb3a ,word1 the1 personified1 #afe ,world1 ancient and modern1 #abj2 blessedness of1 #afh2 end of1 by fire1 ,christian belief in1 #aij2 eternal and indestructible1 #ahf f41 #ahi1 #bjh-i1 #bbj-b ,xenophanes1 #ab ,xenophon1 #gi1 #he1 #hf 1 #gc ,year-,daemon1 #cb f4 ,zeller1 ,e41 #abh ,zeno1 #if f41 #ih1 #aji1 #abh ,zeus1 ,aphiktor1 #bh2 in ,magnesia bull-ritual1 #ba2 ,kours1 #aej2 ,meilichios1 #ad-ae2 origin and character of1 #di f42 watchdog of1 #ic ,zodiac1 #add ,transcriber's ,notes ,the following corrections have been made to the text4 ,page #ii3 iforiginal has is he a governor1 it is his function ,page #aci3 some more full-blooded and less critical elementoriginal has critica lelement ,page #aff3 7'holy' and 'opening quote missing in originalsacred'1 or perhaps more exactly 'lawful' and 'tabu'7 ,page #ahd3 proceeds straight to the traditionaloriginal has traditiona ,page #bbg3 ,antigonus ,gonatasoriginal has ,gonatus1 #aeb3a ,page #bbh3 ,chaldaeansoriginal has ,chaldeans1 #add1 #aea ,page #bcj3 ,kronos1 #deoriginal has #dc3b ,page #bca3 ,mommsen1 ,august1 #ad3a1 #ag3a1;comma missing in original #ah3a ,page #bcb3 ,pausanias1 #bg3c1 #ed3b1 passimoriginal has extraneous period ,page #bcc3 ,plutarch1 #bg3c1 #cb3a1 #cd3b1 #ed3b1 passimoriginal has extraneous period ,page #bcd3 ,urdummheit1comma missing in original #b1 #dd1 #gb ,footnote #af3b ,a4 ,b4 ,cook1 ,j4 ,h4 ,s4 xiv1comma missing in original pp4 #aec-d ,footnote #bh3a smooth breathing mark missing in original are common ,footnote #cc3b ,rom4 vi4period missing in original generally1 #c-aa ,footnote #ec3a original has is of course simply ',athenian' ,footnote #ec3a original has capital digamma--source document has small digamma2-- ,footnote #ij3a see ,life in ,diog4original has ,diorg4 ,laert4 ,footnote #ie3a ,diog4original has ,diorg4 ,laert4 vi4 #if ff4 ,footnote #aac3c original has ,footnote #aeb3b ,ferguson's ,hellenistic ,athens1 e4 g4period missing in original p4 #ajh f4 ,footnote #afd3c ,gal4 iv4period missing in original #i ,footnote #aig3a ,mullach1 ,fragmenta ,philosophorum1 iii4period missing in original #g