material from the ,google ,print        
project47      ,transcriber's ,note3    
,footnotes are placed at the end of the 
relevant paragraph4 ,in ,chapters ,i and
 ,,ii1 the printed ,mitra was changed to
 ,mithra to match other occurrences in  
the text1 which predominate4 ,in        
,chapter ,,ii1 the notation 7a          
represents the letter a with breve4     
,also1 an instance in the original text 
of the word ,,jhvh in the ,hebrew       
alphabet has been changed to the ,roman4
     ,,the ,,lords ,,of ,,the           
,,ghostland  ,a ,history of the ,ideal  
,by ,,edgar ,,saltus    ,errons1 les    
doigts unis1 dans   l',alhambra du      
songe4                     ,rene ,vivien
    ,,new ,,york   ,,mitchell           
,,kennerley   ,,mcmvii    ,,copyright1  
#aijg   ,,by ,,edgar ,,saltus  ,the     
,plimpton ,press ,norwood ,mass4 ,,usa4 
,by ,mr4 ,saltus    ,,historia ,,amoris 
,,imperial ,,purple   ,,mary ,,magdalen 
,,the ,,pomps ,,of ,,satan   ,,the      
,,perfume ,,of ,,eros   ,,vanity        

,,square     ,,the ,,lords ,,of ,,the   
,,ghostland        ,i ,brahma           
#g      ,,ii ,ormuzd                    
#ci     ,,iii ,amon-,r                  
#fj      ,,iv ,bel-,marduk              
#ha       ,v ,jehovah                   
#aji      ,,vi ,zeus                    
#adj     ,,vii ,jupiter                 
#aff    ,,viii ,the ,nec ,plus ,ultra   
#ahi     ,,the ,,lords ,,of ,,the       
,,ghostland     ,i  ,,brahma   ,the     
ideal is the essence of poetry4 ,in the 
virginal innocence of the world1 poetry 
was a term that meant discourse of the  
gods4 ,a world grown grey has learned to
 regard the gods as diseases of         
language4 ,conceived1 it may be1 in     
fevers of fancy1 perhaps1 originally1   
they were but deified words4 ,yet1 it is
 as children of beauty and of dream that
 they remain4  ,mortal has made the     
immortal1 the ,rig-,veda explicitly     
declares4 ,the making was surely slow4  
,in tracing the genealogy of the divine1
 it has been found that its root was    

fear4 ,the root1 dispersed by light1    
ultimately dissolved4 ,but1 meanwhile1  
it founded religion1 which1 revealed in 
storm and panic1 for prophets had       
ignorance and dread4 ,the gods were not 
then4 ,there were demons only1 more     
exactly there were diabolized           
expressions invented to denominate      
natural phenomena and whatever else     
perturbed4 ,it was in the evolution of  
the demoniac that the divine appeared4  
,through one of time's unmeasurable gaps
 there floated the idea that perhaps the
 phenomena that alarmed were but the    
unconscious agents of superior minds4   
,at the suggestion1 irresistibly a      
dramatization of nature began in which  
the gods were born1 swarms of them1     
nebulous1 wayward1 uncertain1 that1     
through further gaps1 became concrete1  
became occasionally reducible to two    
great divinities1 earth and sky1 whose  
union was imagined--a hymen which the   
rain suggested--and from which broader  
conceptions proceeded and grander gods  

emerged4  ,the most poetic of these are 
perhaps the ,hindu4 ,at the heraldings  
of newer gods1 the lords of other       
ghostlands have1 after battling         
violently1 swooned utterly away4 ,but   
though many a fresher faith has been    
brandished at them1 apathetically1 in   
serene indifference1 the princes of the 
,aryan sky endure4  ,it is their poetry 
that has preserved them4 ,to their      
creators poetry was abundantly          
dispensed4 ,to no other people have     
myths been as frankly transparent4 ,to  
none other1 save only their cousins the 
,persians1 have fancies more luminous   
occurred4 ,the ,persians so polished    
their dreams that they entranced the    
world that was4 ,poets can do no more4  
,the ,hindus too were poets4 ,they were 
children as well4 ,their first lisp1 the
 first recorded stammer of              
,indo-,european speech1 is audible still
 in the ,rig-,veda1 a bundle of hymns   
tied together1 four thousand years ago1 
for the greater glory of ,fire4 ,the    

worship of the latter led to that of the
 ,sun and ignited the antique altars4   
,it flamed in ,persia1 lit perhaps the  
shrine of ,vesta1 afterward dazzled the 
,incas1 igniting1 meanwhile1 not altars 
merely1 but purgatory itself4  ,in      
,persia1 where it illuminated the face  
of ,ormuzd1 its beneficence is told in  
the ,avesta1 a work of such holiness    
that it was polluted if seen4 ,in the   
,rig-,veda1 there are verses which were 
subsequently accounted so sacred that if
 a soudra overheard them the ignominy of
 his caste was effaced4  ,the verses1   
the work of shepherds who were singers1 
are invocations to the dawn1 to the     
first flushes of the morning1 to the    
skies' heightening hues1 and the        
vermillion moment when the devouring    
,asiatic sun appears4 ,there are other  
themes1 minor melodies1 but the chief   
inspiration is light4  ,to primitive    
shepherds the approach of darkness was  
the coming of death4 ,the dawn1 which   
they were never wholly sure would       

reappear1 was resurrection4 ,they       
welcomed it with cries which the ,veda  
preserves1 which the ,avesta retains and
 the ,eddas repeat4 ,the potent forces  
that produced night1 the powers potenter
 still that routed it1 they regarded as 
beings whose moods genuflexions could   
affect4 ,in perhaps the same spirit that
 ,frenchmen assisted at a lever du roi1 
and ,englishmen attend a prince's levee1
 the ,aryan breakfasted on song and     
sacrifice4 ,it was an homage to the     
rising sun4  ,the sun was deva4 ,the    
,sanskrit root div1 from which the word 
is derived1 produced deus1 devi1        
divinities--numberless1 accursed1       
adored1 or forgot4 ,the common term     
applied to all abstractions that are and
 have been worshipped1 means ,that which
 shines and the name which1 in the early
 ,orient1 signified a star1 designates  
the ,deity in the ,occident to-day4     
,apologetically1 ,tertullian1 a         
,christian ,father1 remarked3 ,some     
think our ,god is the ,sun4 ,there were 

excuses perhaps for those that did4     
,adonai1 a ,hebrew term for the         
,almighty1 is a plural4 ,it means lords4
 ,but the lords indicated were ,baalim  
who were ,lords of the ,sun4 ,moreover1 
when the early ,christians prayed1 they 
turned to the ,east4 ,their holy day    
was1 as the holy day of ,christendom    
still is1 ,sunday1 day of the ,sun1 an  
expression that comes from the ,norse1  
on whom also shone the light of the     
,aryan deva4  ,to shepherds who1 in     
seeking pasture for their flocks1 were  
seeking also pasture for their souls1   
the deva became ,indra4 ,they had other 
gods4 ,there was ,agni1 fire2 ,varuna1  
the sky2 ,maruts1 the tempest4 ,there   
was ,mithra1 day1 and ,yama1 death4     
,there were still others1 infantile1    
undulant1 fluid1 not infrequently       
ridiculous also4 ,but it was ,indra for 
whom the dew and honey of the morning   
hymns were spread4 ,it was ,indra who1  
emerging from darkness1 made the earth  
after his image1 decorated the sky with 

constellations and wrapped the universe 
in space4 ,it was he who poured         
indifferently on just and unjust the    
triple torrent of splendour1 light1 and 
life4  ,indra was triple4 ,triple       
,indra1 the ,veda says4 ,in that        
description is the preface to a theogony
 of which ,hesiod wrote the final page4 
,it was the germ of sacred dynasties    
that ruled the ,aryan and the           
,occidental skies4 ,from it came the    
grandiose gods of ,greece and ,rome4    
,from it also came the paler deities of 
the ,norse4 ,meanwhile ages fled4 ,life 
nomad and patriarchal ceased4 ,from     
forest and plain1 temples arose2 from   
hymns1 interpretations2 from prayer1    
metaphysics2 for always man has tried to
 analyze the divine1 always too1 at some
 halt in life1 he has looked back and   
found it absent4  ,in meditation it was 
discerned that ,indra was an effect1 not
 the cause4 ,it was discerned also that 
that cause was not predicable of the    
gods who1 in their undulance and        

fluidity1 suggested ceaseless           
transformations and consequently        
something that is transformed4  ,the    
idea1 patiently elaborated1 resulted in 
a drainage of the fluid myths and the   
exteriorisation of a being entirely     
abstract4 ,designated first as          
,brahmanaspati1 ,lord of ,prayer1       
afterward more simply as ,brahma1 he was
 assumed to have been asleep in the     
secret places of the sky1 from which1 on
 awakening1 he created what is4  ,the   
conception1 ideal itself1 was not1      
however1 ideal enough4 ,the labour of   
creating was construed as a blemish on  
the splendour of the ,supreme4 ,it was  
held that the ,soul of ,things could but
 loll1 majestic and inert1 on a lotos of
 azure4 ,then1 above ,brahma1 was lifted
 ,brahm1 a god neuter and indeclinable2 
neuter as having no part in life1       
indeclinable because unique4  ,there was
 the apex of the world's most poetic    
creed1 one distinguished over all others
 in having no founder1 unless a heavenly

 inspiration be so regarded4 ,but the   
apex required a climax4 ,inspiration    
provided it4  ,the forms of matter and  
of man1 the glittering apsaras of the   
vermillion dawns1 ,indra himself1 these 
and all things else were construed into 
a bubble that ,brahm had blown4 ,the    
semblance of reality in which men occur 
and1 with them1 the days of their       
temporal breath1 was attributed not to  
the actual but to ,my--the magic of a   
high god's longing for something other  
than himself1 something that should     
contrast with his eternal solitude and  
fill the voids of his infinite ennui4   
,from that longing came the bubble1 a   
phantom universe1 the mirage of a god's 
desire4 ,earth2 sea and sky2 all that in
 them is1 all that has been and shall   
be1 are but the changing convolutions of
 a dream4  ,in that dream there         
descended a scale of beings1 above whom 
were set three great lords1 ,brahma the 
,creator1 ,vishnu the ,preserver1 and   
,siva the ,destroyer1 collectively the  

,tri-murti1 the ,hindu trinity expressed
 in the mystically ineffable syllable   
,om4 ,between the trinity and man came  
other gods1 a whole host1 powers of     
light and powers of darkness1 the divine
 and the demoniac fused in a hierarchy  
surprising but not everlasting4         
,eventually the dream shall cease1 the  
bubble break1 the universe collapse1 the
 heavens be folded like a tent1 the     
,tri-murti dissolved1 and in space will 
rest but the ,soul of ,things1 at whose 
will atoms shall reassemble and forms   
unite1 dis-unite and reappear1 depart   
and return1 endlessly1 in recurring     
cycles4  ,that conception1 the basis    
perhaps of the theory of cosmological   
days1 is perhaps also itself but a      
dream1 yet one that1 however defective1 
has a beauty which must have been too   
fair4 ,brahma1 ,vishnu1 ,siva1          
originally regarded as emanations of the
 ideal1 became concrete4 ,consorts were 
found for them4 ,from infinity they were
 lodged in idols4 ,a worship sensuous   

when not grotesque ensued1 from which   
the ideal took flight4  ,that was the   
work of the clergy4 ,brahmanism is also4
 ,the archaic conflict between light and
 darkness1 the triumph of the former    
over the latter1 diminished1 at their   
hands1 into the figurative4 ,that is    
only reasonable4 ,it was only reasonable
 also that they should claim the triumph
 as their own4 ,without them the gods   
could do nothing4 ,they would not even  
be4 ,in the ,rig-,veda and the ,vedas   
generally they are transparent4 ,the    
subsequent evolution of the ,paramtm1   
the ,tri-murti and the hierarchy1 had1  
for culmination1 the apotheosis of a    
priesthood that had invented them and   
who1 for the invention1 deserved the    
apotheosis which they claimed and got4  
,they were priests that were poets1 and 
poets that were seers4 ,but they were   
not sorcerers4 ,they could not provide  
successors equal to themselves4 ,it was 
the later clergy that pulled poetry from
 the infinite1 stuffed it into idols and

 prostituted it to nameless shames4  ,in
 the ,bhagavad-,gita it is written3     
,nothing is greater than ,i4 ,in        
scriptures ,i am prayer4 ,i am perfume  
in flowers1 brilliance in light4 ,i am  
life and its source4 ,i am the soul of  
creation4 ,i am the beginning and the   
end4 ,i am the ,divine4  ,that is       
,brahm4 ,ormuzd has faded4 ,zeus has    
passed4 ,jupiter has gone4 ,with them   
the divinities of ,egypt and the lords  
of the ,chaldean sky have been          
reabsorbed and forgot4 ,brahm still is4 
,the cohorts of ,cyrus might pray       
,ormuzd to peer where he glowed4 ,there1
 the phalanxes of ,alexander might raise
 altars to ,zeus4 ,parthians and ,tatars
 might dispute the land and the god4    
,muhammadans could bring their ,allah   
and ,christians their creed4            
,indifferently ,brahm has dreamed1      
knowing that he has all time as these   
all have their day4  ,the conception of 
that apathy1 grandiose in itself and    
marvellous in its persistence1 was due  

to unknown poets that had in them the   
true souffle of the real ideal4 ,but    
that also demanded a climax4 ,they      
produced it in the theory that the      
afflictions of this life are due to     
transgressions in another4  ,from       
afflictions death1 they taught1 is not a
 release1 for the reason that there is  
no death4 ,there is but absorption in   
,brahm4 ,yet that consummation cannot   
occur until all transgressions1 past and
 present1 have been expiated and the    
soul1 lifted from the eddies of         
migration1 becomes ,brahm himself4  ,to 
be absorbed1 to be ,brahm1 to be ,god1  
is an ambition1 certainly vertiginous   
yet as surely divine4 ,but to succeed1  
consciousness of success must be lost4  
,a mortal cannot attain divinity until  
annihilation is complete4 ,to become    
,god nothing must be left of man4 ,to   
loose1 then1 every bond1 to be freed    
from every tie1 to retire from finite   
things1 to mount to and sink in the     
immutable1 to see ,death die1 was and is

 the ,hindu ideal4  ,of the elect1 that 
is4 ,of the higher castes1 of the       
priest1 of the prince4 ,but not of the  
people4 ,the ideal was not for them1    
salvation either4 ,it was idle even to  
think about it4 ,set in hell1 they had  
to return here until in some one of the 
twenty-four lakhs of birth which the    
chain of migrations comports1 and which 
to saint and soudra were alike          
dispensed1 they arrived here in the     
purple4 ,then only was the opportunity  
theirs to rescale a sky that was        
reserved for prelates and rajahs4       
,suddenly1 to the pariah1 to the        
hopeless1 to those who outcast in hell  
were outcast from heaven1 an erect and  
facile ladder to that sky was brought4  
,the ,buddha furnished it4 ,if he did   
not1 a college of dissidents assumed    
that he had1 and in his name indicated a
 stairway which1 set among the people1  
all might mount and at whose summit gods
 actually materialized4  ,to those who  
believe in the ,dalai ,lama--there are  

millions that have believed1 there are  
millions that do--he is not a vicar of  
the divine1 he is himself divine1 a god 
in a tenement of flesh who1 as such1    
though he die1 immediately is           
reincarnated2 a god therefore always    
present among his people1 whose history 
is a continuous gospel4 ,in             
contemporaneous ,italy1 a peasant may   
aspire to the papacy4 ,in the uplands of
 ,asia1 men have loftier ambitions4     
,there they may become ,buddha1 who     
perhaps never was1 except in legend4    
,in the ,lalita ,vistra the legend      
unfolds4 ,in the strophes of the poem   
one may assist at the ,buddha's birth1  
an event which is said to have occurred 
at ,kapilavastu4 ,oriental geography is 
unacquainted with the place4 ,with the  
thing even ,occidental philosophy is    
familiar4 ,kapilavastu means the        
substance of ,kapila4 ,the substance is 
atheism4  ,history has its hesitancies4 
,often it stammers uncertainly4 ,but its
 earliest pages agree in representing   

,kapila as the initial religious rebel4 
,kapila was the first to declare the    
divine a human and invalid conjecture4  
,the announcement1 with its prefaces and
 deductions1 is contained in the        
,sankhya ,karika1 a system of           
rationalism1 still read in ,india1 where
 it is known as the godless tract4  ,in 
the ,orient1 existence is usually a     
sordid nightmare when it does not happen
 to be a golden dream4 ,kapila taught   
that it was a prison from which release 
could be had only through intellectual  
development4 ,that is ,kapilavastu1 the 
substance of ,kapila1 where the ,buddha 
was born4 ,in the ,lalita ,vistra it is 
fairyland4  ,there1 ,gotama the ,buddha 
is the ,prince ,charming of a sovereign 
house4 ,but a prince who developed into 
a nihilist prior to re-becoming the god 
that anteriorly he had been4 ,it was    
while in heaven that he selected ,my1 a 
ranee1 to be his mother4 ,it was        
surrounded by the heavenly that he      
appeared4 ,the fields foamed with       

flowers4 ,the skies flamed with faces4  
,in the air apsaras floated1 fanning    
themselves with peacocks' tails4 ,the   
galleries of the palace festooned       
themselves with pearls4 ,on the terraces
 a rain of perfume fell4 ,in the        
parterres ,my strolled4 ,a tree bent and
 bowed to her4 ,touching a branch with  
her hand she looked up and yawned4      
,painlessly from her immaculate breast  
,gotama issued4 ,an immense lotos       
sprouted to receive him4 ,to cover him a
 parasol dropped from above4 ,he1       
however1 already occupied1 was          
contemplating space1 the myriad worlds1 
the myriad lives1 and announced himself 
their saviour4 ,at once a deluge of     
roses descended4 ,the effulgence of a   
hundred thousand colours shone4 ,a spasm
 of delight pulsated4 ,sorrow and anger1
 envy and fear1 fled and fainted4 ,from 
the zenith came a murmur of voices1 the 
sound of dancing1 the kiss of timbril   
and of lute4  ,that is ,oriental poetry4
 ,oriental philosophy is less ornate4   

,from the former the ,buddha could not  
have come4 ,from the latter he probably 
did1 if not in flesh at least in spirit4
 ,to that spirit antiquity was indebted1
 as modernity is equally1 for the       
doctrines of a teacher known variously  
as ,gotama the ,enlightened and ,sakya  
the ,sage4 ,whether or not the teacher  
himself existed is1 therefore1          
unimportant4 ,the existence of the      
,christ has been doubted4 ,but the      
doctrines of both survive4 ,they do     
more1 they enchant4 ,occasionally they  
seem to combine4 ,the ,gospels have     
obviously nothing in common with the    
,lalita ,vistra1 which is an apocryphal 
novel of uncertain date4 ,the           
resemblance that is reflected comes from
 the ,tripitaka1 the ,three ,baskets    
that constitute the evangels of the     
,buddhist faith4  ,in an appendix to the
 ,mahvaggo1 it is stated that disciples 
of ,gotama1 who knew his sermons and his
 parables by heart1 determined the canon
 after his death4 ,the expression might 

mean anything4 ,but a ponderable        
antiquity is otherwise shown4 ,asoko1 a 
,hindu emperor1 sent an embassy to      
,ptolemy ,philadelphos4 ,the            
circumstance was set forth bilingually  
on various heights4 ,in another         
inscription ,asoko recommended the study
 of the ,tripitaka and mentioned titles 
of the books4 ,ptolemy ,philadelphos    
reigned at ,alexandria in the early part
 of the third century ,b4,c4 ,the       
,tripitaka must therefore have existed  
then4 ,but the thirty-seventh year of   
,asoko's reign was1 in a third          
inscription1 counted as the two hundred 
and fifty-seventh from the ,buddha's    
death1 a reckoning which makes them much
 older4 ,their existence1 however1 as a 
fourth inscription shows1 was oral4     
,transmitted for hundreds of years by   
trained schools of reciters1 it was     
during a synod that occurred in the     
first quarter of the first century      
before ,christ that1 finally1 they were 
written4  ,in them it is recited that   

,my1 the mother of ,gotama1 was         
immaculate4 ,according to ,st4 ,matthew1
 ,maria1 the mother of ,jesus1 was also4
 ,previously1 in each instance1 the     
coming of a ,messiah had been foretold4 
,the infant ,jesus was visited by magi4 
,the infant ,buddha was visited by      
kings4 ,afterward1 neither ,jesus or    
,gotama wrote4 ,but both preached       
charity1 chastity1 poverty1 humility1   
and abnegation of self4 ,both fasted in 
a wilderness4 ,both were tempted by a   
devil4 ,both announced a second advent4 
,both were transfigured4 ,both died in  
the open air4 ,at the death of each     
there was an earthquake4 ,both healed   
the sick4 ,both were the light of a     
world which both said would cease to be4
  ,according to ,luke1 a courtesan      
visited ,jesus and had her sins         
remitted4 ,according to the ,mahvaggo1  
,gotama was visited by a harlot whom he 
instructed in things divine4#a ,in      
,matthew1 ,jesus is depicted as a       
glutton and a wine-bibber4 ,in the      

,mahvaggo1 the picture of ,gotama is the
 same4#b ,in ,matthew it is written2    
,lay not up for yourselves treasures on 
earth1 where moth and rust doth consume 
and where thieves break through and     
steal4 ,the ,khuddakapatho says3        
,righteousness is a treasure which no   
man can steal4 ,it is a treasure that   
abideth alway4#c ,in ,luke it is        
written3 ,as ye would that men should do
 unto you1 do ye also unto them4 ,the   
,dhammaphada say3 ,put yourself in the  
place of others1 do as you would be done
 by4#d  ,footnote #a3 ,luke vii4 #cg-ej4
 ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 xi4 #cj4  
,footnote #b3 ,matthew xi1 #ai4 ,s4 ,b4 
,e4 xiii4 #ib4  ,footnote #c3 ,matthew  
vi4 #ai4 ,s4 ,b4 ,e4 x4 #aia4  ,footnote
 #d3 ,luke vi4 #ca4 ,s4 ,b4 ,e4 x4 #cf4 
,the miracle of walking on the water1   
that of the money-bearing fish1 the     
story of the ,woman at the ,well1 the   
proclamation of an unpardonable sin1    
even the medival myth of the ,wandering 
,jew1 may have originated in ,buddhist  

legend4#e  ,footnote #e3 ,cf4 ,edmunds3 
,buddhist and ,christian ,gospels4      
,pious minds have been disturbed by     
these similitudes4 ,the resemblance     
between ,my and ,maria has perplexed4   
,the perhaps uncertain likeness of      
,gotama to ,jesus has occasioned        
irreverent doubts4 ,but the parallelisms
 may be fortuitous4 ,probably they are4 
,even otherwise they but enhance the    
sororal beauties of faiths which if     
cognate are quite distinct4 ,then too   
the penetrating charm of the parables   
and sermons of the ,buddha fades before 
the perfection of the sermons and       
parables of the ,christ4 ,the birth1    
ministry1 transfiguration1 and passing  
of ,gotama are marvels which1 however   
exquisite1 the wholly spiritual         
apparitions of the ,lord efface4  ,other
 similarities1 such as they are1 may    
without impropriety1 perhaps1 be        
attributed to the ideals progressus4    
,hindu and ,chaldean beliefs constitute 
the two primal inspirational faiths4    

,from the one1 ,buddhism and            
,zoroasterism developed4 ,from the other
 the creed of ,israel and possibly that 
of ,egypt came4 ,religions that followed
 were afterthoughts of the divine4 ,they
 were revelations sometimes more        
intelligible1 in one instance           
inexpressibly more luminous1 yet        
invariably reminiscent of an anterior   
light4  ,the light of contemporaneous   
,buddhism is that of                    
,catholicism--heaven deducted1 a heaven1
 that is1 of ceaseless ,magnificats4    
,the latter conception is ,christian4   
,but it was ,persian first4 ,otherwise1 
in common with the ,church1 ,buddhism   
has saints1 censers1 litanies1 tonsures1
 holy water1 fasts1 and confession4     
,barring confession1 the extreme        
antiquity of which has been attested1   
the other rites and ceremonies are1 it  
may be1 borrowed1 but not the high      
morality1 the altruism1 the renunciation
 and effacement of self1 which          
,buddhists no longer very scrupulously  

observe1 perhaps1 but which their       
religion was the first to instil4       
,buddhism originally had neither rites  
nor ritual4 ,it was merely a mendicant  
order in which one tried to do what is  
right1 with1 for reward1 the hope of    
,pratscha-,parmita1 the peace that is   
beyond all knowledge and which ,nirvana 
provides4 ,that peace is--or was--the   
complete absence of anything1 extinction
 utter and everlasting1 a state of      
absolute non-existence which no whim of 
,brahm may disturb4  ,buddhism denied   
,brahm and every tenet of ,brahmanism1  
save only that which concerned the      
immedicable misery of life4 ,of final   
deliverance there was in ,brahmanism no 
known mode4 ,none at least that was     
exoteric4 ,brahmanism rolled man        
ceaselessly through all forms of        
existence1 from the elementary to the   
divine1 and even from the latter1 even  
when he was absorbed in ,brahm1 flung   
him out and back into a fresh circle of 
unavoidable births4  ,the theory is     

horrible4 ,in the horrible occasionally 
is the sublime4 ,to ,gotama it was      
merely absurd4 ,he blew on it4          
,abruptly1 the categories of the        
infinite1 the infant gods1 shapes divine
 and demoniac1 the entire phantasmagoria
 of metempsychosis1 seemed really       
absorbed and ,brahm himself ablated4    
,for a moment the skies1 sterilized by a
 breath1 seemingly were vacant4         
,actually they were never more peopled4 
,behind the pall1 tossed on an antique  
faith1 new gods were crouching and      
waiting4 ,buddhistic atheism had        
resulted but in the production of an    
earlier ,new ,testament4 ,from the      
depths of the ideal1 swarms of bedecked 
and bejewelled divinities escorted      
,brahm back to a lotos of azure4        
,coincidentally ,gotama1 enthroned in   
the zenith1 contemplated clusters of    
gods that dangled through twenty-eight  
abodes of bliss which other poets       
created4  ,in demonstrable triumph the  
,buddha was then1 as he has been since1 

even if previously his existence had    
been omitted4 ,but though he never were1
 there nevertheless occurred a social   
revolution of which he was the nominal  
originator and which1 had it not been   
diverted into other realms1 might have  
resulted in ,brahm's entire extinction4 
,wolves do not devour each other4       
,ideals should not either4 ,the         
,oriental heavens were wide enough to   
serve as fastnesses for two sets of     
hostile1 germane1 and ineffably poetic  
aberrations4 ,there was room even for   
more4 ,there always should be4 ,of the  
divine one can have never enough4  ,the 
gospel according to ,sakya the ,eremite 
is divine4 ,it is divine in its         
limitless compassion1 and though        
compassion1 when analyzed1 becomes but  
egotism in an etherialized form1 yet the
 gospel had other attractions4 ,in      
demonstrating that life is evil1 that   
rebirth is evil too1 that to be born    
even a god is evil still1--in           
demonstrating these things1 while       

insisting that all else1 ,buddhism      
included1 is but vanity1 it fractured   
the charm of error in which man had been
 confined4  ,sakya saw men born and     
reborn in hell4 ,he saw them ignorant1  
as humanity has always been1 unaware of 
their abjection as men are to-day1 and  
over the gulfs of existence1 through the
 torrents of rebirth1 he offered to     
ferry them4 ,but in the ferrying they   
had to aid4 ,the aid consisted in the   
rigorous observance of every virtue that
 ,christianity afterward professed4     
,therein is the beauty of ,buddhism4    
,its profundity resided in a revelation 
that everything human perishes except   
actions and the consequences that ensue4
 ,to orthodox ,india its tenets were as 
heretical as those of ,christianity were
 to the ,jews4 ,nonetheless the doctrine
 became popular4 ,but doctrines once    
popularized lose their nobility4 ,the   
degeneracy of ,buddhism is due to       
,cathay4  ,to the ,hindu life was an    
incident between two eternities1 an     

episode in the string of deaths and     
rebirths4 ,to ,mongolians it was a      
unique experience4 ,they had no         
knowledge of the supersensible1 no      
suspicion of the ideal4 ,among them     
,buddhism operated a conversion4 ,it    
stimulated a thirst for the divine4     
,the thirst is unquenchable4 ,buddhism1 
in its simple severity1 could not even  
attempt to slake it4 ,but on its        
simplicity a priesthood shook parures4  
,its severity was cloaked with mantles  
of gold4 ,the founder1 an atheist who   
had denied the gods1 was transformed    
into one4 ,about him a host of          
divinities was strung4 ,the most        
violently nihilistic of doctrines was   
fanned into an idolatry puerile and     
meek4 ,nirvana became ,elysium1 and a   
religion which began as a heresy        
culminated in a superstition4 ,that is  
the history of creeds4     ,,ii         
,,ormuzd   ,the purest of thoughts is   
that which concerns the beginning of    
things4  ,so ,ormuzd instructed         

,zarathrustra4  ,and what was there at  
the beginning8 the prophet asked4       
,there was light and the living ,word4#f
 ,long later the statement was repeated 
in the ,gospel attributed to ,john4     
,originally it occurred in the course of
 a conversation that the ,avesta        
reports4 ,in a similar manner ,exodus   
provides a revelation which ,moses      
received4 ,there ,jehovah said3 'ehyh   
'7asher 'ehyh4 ,in the ,avesta ,ormuzd  
said3 ahmi yad ahmi4#g ,word for word   
the declarations are identical4 ,each   
means ,i am that ,i am4#h  ,footnote #f3
 ,avesta 7,anquetil-,duperron71 i4 #cic4
  ,footnote #g3 ,avesta1 ,hormazd       
,yasht4  ,footnote #h3 ,exodus iii4 #ad4
  ,the conformity of the pronouncements 
may be fortuitous4 ,their relative      
priority uncertain chronology obscures4 
,the date that orthodoxy has assigned to
 ,moses is about #aejj ,b4,c4 ,plutarch 
said that ,zarathrustra lived five      
thousand years before the fall of ,troy4
 ,both dates are perhaps questionable4  

,but a possible hypothesis philology    
provides4 ,the term ,jehovah is a       
seventeenth-century expansion of the    
,hebrew ,jhvh1 now usually written      
,jahveh and commonly translated3 ,he who
 causes to be4 ,the original rendering  
of ,ormuzd is ,ahura-mazda4 ,ahura means
 living and mazda creator4 ,the period  
when ,exodus was written is probably    
post-exilic4 ,the period when the       
,avesta was completed is assumed to be  
pre-,cyrian4 ,it was at the junction of 
the two epochs that ,iran and ,israel   
met4  ,but1 however the pronouncements  
may conform1 however also they may      
confuse1 the one reported in ,exodus is 
alone exact4 ,in subsequent             
metamorphoses the name might fade1 the  
deity remained4 ,whereas1 save to       
diminishing ,parsis1 ,ormuzd1 once      
omnipotent throughout the ,persian sky1 
has gone4 ,a time1 though1 there was1   
when from his throne in the ideal he    
menaced the apathy of ,brahm1 the       
majesty of ,zeus1 when even from the    

death of deaths he might have ejected   
,buddha and1 supreme in the ,orient1    
ruled also in the ,west4 ,salamis       
prevented that4 ,but one may wonder     
whether the conquest had not already    
been effected1 whether for that matter  
the results are not apparent still4     
,brahma1 ,ormuzd1 ,zeus1 ,jupiter1 are  
but different conceptions of a primal   
idea4 ,they are four great gods         
diversely represented yet originally    
identical1 and whose attributes ,jahveh1
 in his ascensions1 perhaps absorbed4   
,ormuzd represented purity and light4   
,for his worship no temple was          
necessary1 barely a shrine1 never an    
image4 ,in his celestial court were     
parikas1 the glittering bayaderes of    
love that a later faith called peris1   
but his sole consorts were ,prayers4    
,about him and them gathered amshaspands
 and izeds1 angels and seraphs1 the     
winged host of loveliness that in       
,babylon enthralled the ,jews who       
returned from captivity escorted by     

them4 ,the allurement of their charm1   
enchanting then1 enchants the world     
to-day4 ,there has been little that is  
more poetic1 except perhaps ,ormuzd     
himself1 who symbolized whatever is     
blinding in beauty1 particularly the    
sun's effulgence1 the radiance of light4
  ,the light endures1 though the god has
 gone4 ,yet at the time1 aloof in clear 
ether and aloft1 he resplended in a     
sovereignty that only ,ahriman disputed4
  ,ahriman has been more steadfast than 
,ormuzd4 ,he too captivated the captive 
,hebrews4 ,the latter adopted him and   
called him ,satan1 as they also adopted 
one of his minor legates1               
,ashmodai--transformed by the ,vulgate  
into ,asmodeus--a little jealous devil  
who1 in the apocryphal ,tobit1 strangled
 husbands on their bridal nights4       
,ahriman1 his master1 represented       
everything that was the opposite of     
,ormuzd4 ,ahriman dwelt in darkness1    
,ormuzd in light4 ,ormuzd was primate of
 purity2 ,ahriman1 prince of whatever is

 base4 ,one had angels and archangels   
for aids1 the other fiends and demons4  
,between their forces war was constant4 
,each strove for the soul of man4 ,but  
after death1 when1 in the balance1 the  
deeds of the defunct were weighed1 there
 appeared a golden-eyed redeemer1       
,mithra1 who so closely resembled the   
,christ that the world hesitated1 for a 
moment1 between them4  ,it was because  
of these conceptions that ,persia       
dreamed of conquering the ,west4 ,at    
,marathon and at ,salamis that illusion 
was looted4 ,history tells of the       
cohorts that descended there4 ,it       
relates further what they did4 ,but of  
what they thought there is no record4   
,it was1 perhaps1 too obvious4 ,ormuzd1 
god of light and1 in the ,orient1 god of
 the day1 was1 in the darker and duller 
,occident1 menaced there also by        
,ahriman4 ,politically the expedition is
 not very explicable4 ,considered from a
 religious standpoint the motive is     
clear4 ,but though the ,persian forces  

could not uphold their light in ,greece1
 higher forces projected it far beyond1 
to the remote north1 to a south that was
 still remoter4  ,originally the light  
was ,vedic4 ,it was identical with that 
of ,agni1 of ,indra and of ,varuna4 ,but
 while these1 without subsidence1       
passed1 absorbed by ,brahm1 the light of
 ,iran1 deflecting1 persisted1 and so   
potently that it lit the ,teutonic sky1 
glows still in ,christendom1 after      
refracting perhaps in ,inca temples4    
,its revelation is due to ,zarathrustra4
  ,zarathrustra1 commonly written       
,zoroaster1 is a name translatable into 
star of gold and also into keeper of old
 camels4 ,probably it was first employed
 to designate an imaginary prophet1 and 
then a series of spiritual though actual
 successors by whom1 in the course of   
centuries1 the ,avesta was evolved4     
,otherwise ,zarathrustra and ,gotama are
 brothers in ,brahmanaspati4 ,both had  
virgin mothers4 ,in the lives of both   
miracles are common4 ,the advent of     

,zarathrustra was accounted the ruin of 
demons4 ,when he was born he laughed    
aloud4 ,as a child he slept in flames4  
,as a man he walked on water4 ,before   
prodigies such as these fiends fell like
 autumn leaves4 ,hence1 on the part of  
the devil1 an attempt to seduce him from
 the divine4 ,mairya1 the demon of      
death1 offered him1 as ,mara offered    
,gotama1 as ,satan offered ,jesus1 the  
empire of the earth4 ,zarathrustra      
rebuked the devil first with stones1    
then with pious words4 ,from him1 as    
from the ,buddha and the ,christ1       
abashed the tempter retreated4#i        
,footnote #i3 ,darmestetter3 ,ormazd et 
,ahriman4  ,that victory over evil1 the 
,parsis to-day regard as the capital    
event in the history of the world4 ,it  
was the immediate prelude to the        
revelation of the ,law which ,ormuzd    
vouchsafed to his prophet4  ,the        
revelation occurred on a mountain1 in   
the course of conversations1 during     
which ,zarathrustra questioned and      

,ormuzd1 in the voice of heaven1        
replied4 ,so was the ,law proclaimed in 
,india4 ,there ,mithra and ,varuna sang 
it through the sky4#aj ,the expression  
is notable1 for the song of the sky is  
thunder and the theophany that of       
,sinai4 ,there is another rapprochement 
in ,babylonian lore and a third in the  
,eddas1 where it is related that to     
,sigurd the secret of the runes was     
sung4  ,footnote #aj3 ,rig-,veda1 i4    
#aea4  ,meanwhile1 the revelation       
completed and proclaimed1 ,zarathrustra 
died as miraculously as he was born1    
foretelling1 as he went1 the coming of a
 messiah1 his own son1 ,coshyos--the    
delayed fruit of an immaculate hymen    
that is not to be fecund until the end  
of time--but who1 at the consummation of
 the ages1 will rejuvenate the world1   
affranchise it from death1 vanquish     
,ahriman1 terminate the struggle between
 good and evil1 purify hell and fill it 
full with glory4 ,then the dead shall   
rise and immortality be universal4#aa   

,footnote #aa3 ,zamyad ,yasht4 xix4 #hi 
sq4  ,zoroaster is obviously mythical4  
,the ,buddha is also4 ,but precisely as 
the ,buddhist scriptures exist1 so also 
do the ,zoroastrian4 ,they do more4     
,frequently they enlighten1 occasionally
 they exalt4 ,written in gold on        
perfumed leather1 the original edition1 
limited to two copies1 was so sacred    
that it was sullied if seen4 ,burned    
with the palace of ,persepolis--which   
,alexander1 the ,great ,sinner1 in a    
drunken orgy1 destroyed--only fragments 
of the fargards remain4 ,these tell of  
creation1 effected in six epochs1 and of
 a pairi-daza4  ,delitzsch voluminously 
asked3 ,wo lag das ,paradies8 ,there it 
is4 ,there is the primal paradise4 ,in  
it ,ormuzd put ,mashya1 the first man1  
and ,mashyana1 the first woman1 whom    
,ahriman1 in the form of a serpent1     
seduced4 ,thereafter ensued the struggle
 in which all have or will participate1 
one that1 extending beyond the limits of
 the visible world1 arrays seasons and  

spirits and the senses of man in a      
conflict of good and evil that can end  
only when1 from the depths of the dawn1 
radiant in the vermillion sky1 ,coshyos1
 hero of the resurrection1 triumphantly 
appears4  ,the parallel between this    
romance and subsequent poetry is        
curious4 ,in ,chaldea1 before the       
fargards were1 the story of ,creation1  
of ,eden1 and of the fall had been told4
 ,in ,egypt1 before the ,avesta was     
written1 the resurrection and the life  
were known4 ,similar legends and        
prospects may or may not represent an   
autonomous development of ,iranian      
thought4 ,the successors of the         
problematic ,zarathrustra1 the line of  
magi who wrote and taught in his name1  
may have gathered the tales and theories
 elsewhere4 ,in the creed which they    
instituted there is a trinity4 ,india   
had one1 ,egypt another1 ,babylonia a   
third4 ,babylonia had even three of     
them4 ,but in ,mithra1 ,iran had a      
redeemer that no other creed possessed4 

,in ,coshyos was a saviour1 virgin born1
 who nowhere else was imagined4 ,in     
,mara1 ,buddhism had a ,satan4 ,the     
,persian ,ahriman is ,satan himself4    
,babylon had angels and cherubs4 ,in    
,iran there were guardian angels1 there 
were archangels with flaming swords1    
there were fairies1 there were goblins1 
the celestial1 the poetic1 the demoniac 
combined4 ,zoroasterism may or may not  
have had a past1 it is perhaps evident  
that it had a future4  ,an inscription  
chiselled in the red granite of         
,ekbatana describes ,ormuzd as creator  
of heaven and earth4 ,in the ,veda the  
description of ,indra is identical4#ab  
,it was applied equally to ,jahveh in   
,judea4 ,but above ,jahveh1 ,kabbalists 
discerned ,en ,soph4 ,above ,indra      
metaphysicians discovered ,brahma4      
,similarly the ,persian magi found that 
,ormuzd1 however perfect1 was not       
perfect enough and1 from the depths of  
the ideal1 they disclosed ,zervan       
,akerene1 the ,eternal1 from whom all   

things come and to whom all return4     
,footnote #ab3 ,r4 ,v4 x4 #c4 ,indra    
created heaven and earth4  ,that        
conception is not reached in the        
,avesta4 ,it is in the ,bundahish1 a    
work which1 while much later1 is based  
on earlier traditions1 memories it may  
be1 of antediluvian legends brought from
 the summits of upper ,asia by          
,djemschid1 the fabulous ,abraham of the
 ,persians of whom ,zarathrustra was the
 ,moses4 ,but in default of the         
,eternal1 the ,avesta contains pictures 
of enduring charm4  ,among these is a   
highly poetic pastel that displays the  
soul of man surprised in the first      
post-mortem ambuscades4 ,there a figure1
 beautiful or revolting1 cries at him3  
,i am thyself1 the image of thine       
earthly life4  ,if that life has been   
beautiful1 the soul of man1 led by      
itself1 is conducted to heaven4         
,otherwise1 led still by itself1 it     
descended to ,drj-demna1 the ,house of  
,destruction1 where1 fed on insults and 

offal1 it waited till its sins were     
destroyed4 ,the waiting might be long4  
,it was not everlasting4 ,there was     
,mithra to intercede4 ,besides1 evil was
 regarded but as a shadow on the surface
 of things4 ,in the seventh epoch of    
creation1 a period yet to be1 the age   
which ,coshyos is to usher1 the shadow  
will fade4 ,the wicked1 purified of     
their wickedness1 will be received among
 the blessed4 ,even ,ahriman is to be   
converted4 ,in that definite triumph of 
light over darkness is the resurrection 
and the life1 life in ,gar-demna1       
literally ,house of ,hymns1 a           
pre-,christian heaven1 yet strictly     
,christian1 where1 to the trumpetings of
 angels1 hosannahs are ceaselessly      
sung4#ac  ,footnote #ac3 ,yasht4 xxviii4
 #aj1 xxxiv4 #b4  ,john--or1 more       
exactly1 his homonym--was perhaps       
acquainted with that idea1 as he may    
have been with other theories that the  
,avesta contains4 ,but the possibility  
is a detail4 ,it is the idea that       

counts4 ,behind it is the unique        
character of this doctrine which1 in    
eliminating evil1 converted even ,satan4
  ,satan seldom gets his due4 ,he was   
the first artist and has remained the   
greatest4 ,in creating evil he fashioned
 what is a luxury and a necessity       
combined4 ,evil is the counterpart of   
excellence4 ,both have their roots in   
nature4 ,one could not be destroyed     
without the other4 ,for every form of   
evil there is a corresponding form of   
good4 ,virtue would be meaningless were 
it not for vice4 ,honour would have no  
nobility were it not for shame4 ,if ever
 evil be banished from the scheme of    
things1 life could have no savour and   
joy no delight4 ,happiness and          
unhappiness would be synonymous terms4  
,it is for this reason that scoffers    
have mocked at heaven4 ,heaven may be   
very different from what has been       
fancied4 ,but the theory of it1 however 
unphilosophic1 which ,zoroasterism      
supplied1 carried with it a creed not of

 tears but of smiles1 a religion of     
lofty tolerance1 one in which the       
demonology barely alarmed1 for          
redemption was assured1 and so fully    
that on earth melancholy was accounted a
 folly4  ,though tolerant1 it could be  
austere4 ,meanness1 thanklessness1      
loquaciousness1 jealousy1 an unbecoming 
attire1 evil thoughts1 whatever is      
sensual1 whatever is coarse1 any        
promenade in mud actual or metaphorical1
 severely it condemned4 ,particularly   
was avarice censured4 ,there are many   
who do not like to give1 ,ormuzd1 in the
 ,vendidad1 confided to ,zarathrustra4  
,the high god added3 ,ahriman awaits    
them4  ,ahriman awaited also the harlot 
who1 elsewhere1 at that period1 was     
holy4 ,yet in lapses1 confession and    
repentance sufficed for remission1      
provided that in praying for forgiveness
 the sinner forgave those that had      
sinned against him4 ,if he lacked the   
time1 were he dying1 a priest might yet 
save him with words whispered in the    

ear4 ,that was the extreme unction1     
hardly administrable1 however1 in case  
of wilful omission of the darn1 which   
was communion4  ,this sacrament1 the    
most mystic of the ,church1 was observed
 by the ,incas1 who also confessed1 also
 atoned1 who1 like the ,buddhists1 were 
baptized1 but who1 like the ,persians1  
worshipped the sun and1 with perhaps a  
finer instinct of what the beautiful    
truly is1 worshipped too the rainbow4#ad
  ,footnote #ad3 ,garcilasso3           
,commentarios reales4  ,huraken1 the    
winged and feathered serpent-god of the 
,toltecs1 was adored in temples that    
upheld a cross4 ,the ,incas lacked that 
symbol4 ,but they had a ,satan4 ,they   
had also the expectation of a saviour1  
belief in whom could alone have consoled
 for the advent of ,pizarro4 ,over what 
highways of sea or sky1 the living      
,word1 which ,ormuzd spoke1 reached     
them1 there has been no somnambulist of 
history to divine4 ,but in the splendour
 that ,cuzco was1 in the golden temples 

of the town of gold1 along the scarlet  
lanes where sacred peacocks strolled and
 girls more sacred still--vestals whom  
,pizarro's soldiers raped--in that ,city
 of the ,sun1 the ,word re-echoed4 ,the 
mystery of it1 reported back to the     
,holy ,office1 was declared an artifice 
of the devil4  ,less mysteriously1      
through the obvious vehicle of cognate  
speech1 it reached the ,norse1 stirred  
the scalds1 who repeated it in the      
,eddie sagas4 ,loki and his inferior    
fiends are1 as there represented1 quite 
as black as ,ahriman and his cohorts4   
,the conflict of good and evil is almost
 as fully dire4 ,but ,odin is a         
colourless reflection of ,ormuzd4 ,the  
sir1 the angels of the ,scandinavian    
sky1 are paler than the izeds4 ,the     
figure of ,baldr1 the redeemer1 faints  
beside that of ,mithra4 ,valhalla1      
though perhaps less fatiguing than      
,gar-demna1 was more trite in its       
wassails than the latter in its hymns4  
,what these abstractions lacked was not 

the ,logos but the light4 ,however      
brilliantly the ,iranian sun might glow1
 in the sullen north its rays were lost4
 ,the mists1 obscuring it1 made         
,valhalla dim and set the gods in       
twilight4 ,it stirred the scalds to     
runes but not to inspiration4 ,there is 
none in the ,eddas4 ,nor was there any  
in the ,nibelungen1 until the light1    
almost extinct1 burst suddenly in the   
flaming scores of ,wagner4  ,transformed
 by ages and by man1 yet lifted at last 
from their secular slumber1 the ,persian
 myths achieved there their ,occidental 
apotheosis1 and1 it may be1 on steps of 
song1 mounted to the ideal where ,zervan
 ,akerene muses4     ,,iii  ,,amon-,r   
,i am all that is1 has been and shall   
be4 ,no mortal has lifted my veil4      
,that pronouncement1 graven on the      
statue of ,isis1 confounded ,egypt1     
condemning her mysteriously for some    
sin1 anterior and unknown1 to ignorance 
of the divine1 leaving her1 in default  
of revelation1 to worship what she      

would1 jackals1 hyenas1 cats1 hawks1 the
 ibis2 beasts and birds4 ,yet to the    
people1 whose minds were as naked as    
their bodies1 and who1 in addition1 were
 slaves1 there must have been something 
very superior in the lords of the desert
 and the air4 ,obviously they were wise4
 ,among them were some that knew in     
advance the change of the seasons4      
,others1 indifferent to man and         
independent of him1 migrated over       
highways known but to them4 ,the senses 
of all were keyed to vibrations4 ,they  
heard the inaudible1 saw the invisible1 
and1 though they had a language of their
 own1 when questioned never replied4 ,to
 slaves1 clearly they were gods4  ,not  
to the priests1 however4 ,they knew     
better4 ,they but affected belief in    
divinities that had perhaps emigrated   
from the enigmas of geography and who   
were polychrome as the skies they had   
crossed4 ,fashioned in stone1 these gods
 were dog-headed or longly beaked4      
,some1 though1 were alive4 ,in temples  

were saurians on purple carpets1 bulls  
draped with spangled shawls1 hawks on   
shimmering perches1 that little gold    
chains detained4 ,among gods of this    
character1 the ,sphinx1 in its role of  
eternal spectre1 must have seemed the   
ideal4 ,others were nearly sublime4     
,particularly there was ,ausar4  ,ausar1
 called commonly ,osiris1 died for man4 
,in an attempt to preserve harmony1 in a
 struggle with the real spirit of actual
 evil which discord is1 ,osiris was     
slain4 ,being a god he arose from the   
dead4 ,the latter thereafter he judged4 
,the people knew little1 if anything1   
concerning him4 ,they knew little if    
anything at all4 ,they had a menagerie  
and a full consciousness of their own   
insignificance4 ,that sufficed4 ,in all 
of carnal ,africa1 the priest alone     
possessed what then was truth and of    
which a part is theology now4  ,egypt1  
in which the evangels began1 millennia  
before they were written1 knew no       
genesis4 ,her history1 sculptured in    

hieroglyphics1 was cut on pages of      
stone4 ,it awoke in the falling of      
cataracts4 ,it ended with simoons in    
sand4 ,the books that tell of it are    
pyramids1 obelisks1 necropoles2         
constructions colossal and enigmatic2   
the granite epitaphs of finite things4  
,to-day1 in the shattered temples1 from 
which all other gods are gone1 one      
divinity still lingers4 ,it is ,silence4
  ,in ,iran sorrow was a folly4 ,in     
,egypt speech was a sin4 ,apis could    
bellow1 ,anubis bark2 man might not even
 stutter4 ,it was in the submission of  
dumb obedience that the palpable        
eternities of the pyramids were piled4  
,yet in that darkness was light1 in     
silence was the ,word4 ,but to behold   
and to hear was possible only in        
sanctuaries reserved to the elect4 ,the 
gods too had their castes4 ,the lowest  
only were fellahin fit to worship4 ,on  
the lips of the others the priests held 
always a finger4 ,crocodiles were less  
distant1 hyenas more approachable1 and  

the ,egyptian1 barred from the divine1  
found it on earth4 ,he prayed to        
scorpions1 sang hymns to scarabs1 coaxed
 the jackal with psalms2 with dances he 
placated the ibis4 ,it was ridiculous   
but human4 ,he too would have a part1   
however insensate1 in the dreams of all 
mankind4  ,yet1 had he looked not down  
but up1 he would have lifted at least a 
fringe of the ,isian veil4 ,the sun1    
taken as a symbol only1 the symbol of   
life1 death1 and resurrection--phases   
which its rising1 setting1 and return   
suggest--was the deity1 the one really  
existing god4 ,nominally1 figuratively1 
even concretely1 there were others2 a   
whole host1 a hierarchy vaster than the 
,aryans knew2 a great crowd of          
divinities less grandiose than gaudy1   
that swarmed in space1 strolled through 
the dawns and dusk1 thronged the        
temples1 eyed the quick1 confronted the 
dead4 ,they were but appearances1 mere  
masks1 expressions1 hypostases1 eidolons
 of ,r4  ,r was the celestial pharaoh4  

,but not originally4 ,originally he was 
part of a triad which itself was part of
 a triple trinity4 ,r then was but one  
divinity among many gods4 ,these        
ultimately lost themselves in him so    
indistinguishably that there are        
litanies in which the names of          
seventy-five of them are used in        
addressing him4 ,regarded as the        
unbegotten begetter of the first        
beginning1 he succeeded in achieving the
 incomprehensible4 ,he became triune and
 remained unique4 ,he was ,osiris1 he   
was ,isis1 he was ,horus4 ,at once      
father1 mother1 and son1 he fecundated1 
conceived1 produced1 and was4  ,from him
 gods and goddesses emanated in sidereal
 fireworks that illuminated the heavens1
 dazzled the earth1 then melted into    
each other1 faded away or1 occasionally1
 flared afresh in a glare dispelling and
 persistent4 ,among these latter was    
,amon4 ,glimmering primarily in         
provincial obscurity at ,thebes1 the    
thin fire of his shrine mounted spirally

 to ,r1 fused its flames with his1      
expanding and uniting so inseparably    
with them1 that the two became one4     
,amon means hidden2 ,amon-,r1 the hidden
 light4  ,in the infinite1 time is not4 
,in heaven there is no chronology4 ,the 
date of any god's accession to supremacy
 there is1 consequently1 apart from     
mortal ken4 ,none the less that of      
,amon-,r is known4 ,at the beginning of 
the earthly reign of ,amonhoteph ,,iii41
 an edict1 scrupulously executed        
throughout ,egypt1 determined1 on       
monument and wall1 the substitution of  
,amon-,r's name for that of previously  
superior gods4  ,the pharaohnate of     
,amonhoteph began about #aejj ,b4,c4 ,it
 is from that period1 therefore1 that   
dates the divinity's accession to the   
pharaohnate of the skies4 ,there is1 or 
should be1 a reason for all things4     
,there is one for that4 ,amonhoteph     
regarded himself as ,amon's son4 ,it was
 one of the traits of the pharaohs1 as  
it was also of the ,incas1 to believe1  

or at least to assert1 that their       
fathers1 therefore themselves1 were     
divine4 ,as a consequence of the idea   
they prayed to their own images and     
likened their palaces to inns4          
,originally foreigners1 invaders from   
,akkad or ,sumer1 the pharaohs first    
conquered1 then surprised4 ,it was they 
that embanked the ,nile1 turned morasses
 into meadows and piled the pyramids4   
,more exactly1 it was by their commands 
that these miracles were contrived4 ,to 
the neolithic people whom they          
subjugated their divinity was clear4 ,so
 elsewhere was that of the kings of     
,akkad4 ,like them1 like the ,incas1 the
 pharaohs were of the solar race and so 
remained from the first dynasty to the  
,greek conquest1 when ,alexander1 to    
legitimatize his sovereignty1 had       
himself acknowledged as ,amon's son4    
,the ceremony had its precedents4 ,an   
inscription in eulogy of the great      
,rameses states that ,amon1 when        
possessing the pharaohs august mother1  

engendered him as a god4 ,on a wall of  
the ,temple of ,luxor an earlier        
inscription sets forth that the god of  
,thebes1 incarnating himself in the     
person of ,thotmes ,,iv41 appeared in   
his divine form to the pharaoh's queen1 
who1 at sight of his beauty1 conceived4 
,it was therefore not in the beast      
alone1 but in man1 that divinity        
revealed itself in ,egypt4 ,that in     
,judea a similar revelation should have 
been withheld until after the ,roman    
occupation is hardly explicable on the  
theory1 general among scholars1 that    
,moses is not a historical character1   
for an identical revelation had been    
received in ,babylonia where ,israel    
twice loitered4 ,moreover1 a curious    
parallelism exists between post-,mosaic 
prophecy and ,egyptian clairvoyance4 ,in
 a papyrus of the ,thotmes ,,iii4       
epoch--about #afjj ,b4,c4--it is        
written3 ,the people of the age of the  
son of man shall rejoice and establish  
his name forever4 ,they shall be removed

 from evil and the wicked shall humble  
their mouths4 ,in commenting the passage
 an ,egyptologist noted that the words  
son of man are a literal translation of 
the original si-n-sa4#ae ,but already in
 ,akkad a similar prophecy had been     
uttered4#af ,it may be1 therefore1 that 
it was in ,babylon that ,israel first   
heard it4  ,footnote #ae3 ,sayce3       
,guifford ,lectures4  ,footnote #af3    
,jastrow3 ,the ,dibbara ,epic4  ,the    
doctrine of a trinity1 common to almost 
all antique beliefs1 was a blasphemy to 
the ,jews4 ,the belief in immortality1  
also prevalent1 though less general1 was
 to them an abomination4 ,the miracle of
 divine descent they were perhaps too   
practical to accept4 ,there was no room 
in their creed for the dogma of future  
rewards and punishments1 and that1      
together with other articles of the     
,christian faith1 ,egypt's elect        
professed4  ,the slaves and mongrels    
that constituted the bulk of the        
population were not instructed in these 

things and would not have understood    
them if they had been4 ,in ,babylonia   
education was compulsory4 ,in ,egypt it 
was an art1 a gift1 mysterious in       
itself1 reserved to the few4 ,to the    
,egyptian1 religion consisted in paraded
 symbols1 in avenues of sphinxes1 in    
forests of obelisks1 in pharaohs seated 
colossally before the temple doors1 in  
inscriptions that told indistinguishably
 of theomorphic men and anthropomorphic 
gods1 and in a belief in the divinity of
 bulls and hawks4  ,these latter had    
their uses4 ,in transformations         
elsewhere effected1 the sacred bull may 
have become a golden calf1 the golden   
hawk a sacred dove4 ,in ,egypt they were
 otherwise serviceable4 ,the worship of 
them1 of other birds and beasts1 of     
insects and vipers as well1             
ecclesiastically indorsed1 hid the myth 
of metempsychosis4  ,of that the people 
knew nothing4 ,when they died they      
ceased to be4 ,even mummification1      
usually supposed to have been general1  

was not for them4 ,down to an epoch     
relatively late it was a privilege      
reserved to priests and princes4 ,when  
the commonalty were embalmed it was with
 the opulent design that1 in a future   
existence1 they should serve their      
masters as they had in this4 ,embalming 
was a preparation for the ,judgment     
,day4 ,of that the people knew nothing  
either4 ,it was even unlawful that      
concerning it they should be apprised4  
,in the ,louvre is a statue of          
,ptah-meh1 high priest of ,memphis4 ,on 
it are the significant words3 ,nothing  
was hidden from him4 ,a passage of      
,zosimus states that what was hidden it 
was illicit to reveal1 except1          
,jamblicus explained1 to those whose    
discretion a long novitiate had assured4
 ,to such only was disclosed the secret 
that life is death in a land of         
darkness1 and death is life in a land of
 light4  ,it was because of this that   
the pharaohs seated themselves          
colossally before the temple doors4 ,it 

was because of it that their palaces    
were inns and their tombs were homes4   
,it was because of it that their        
sepulchres were built for eternity and  
the tenements of their souls placed     
there embalmed4 ,it was because of this 
that the triumphs of men were inscribed 
in the halls of the gods4 ,instead of   
seeking to be absorbed1 it was their own
 inextinguishable individuality that    
they endeavoured to assert4 ,tombs1     
tenements1 triumphs1 these all were     
preparations for the ,land of ,light4   
,the land was ,alu1 the asphodel meadows
 of the celestial ,nile that wound      
through the ,milky ,way4 ,to reach it a 
passport1 vis'd by ,osiris1 sufficed4   
,the first draft of that passport was   
held to have been written on tablets of 
alabaster1 in letters of lapis lazuli1  
by an eidolon of ,r1 who1 known in      
,egypt as ,thoth1 elsewhere was ,hermes 
,thrice the ,greatest4  ,at ,memphis1   
,hermes was regarded as representing the
 personification of divine wisdom1 or1  

more exactly perhaps1 the inventive     
power of the human mind4 ,a little      
library of forty-two books--which a     
patricist saw1 but not being initiate   
could not read--was attributed to       
him4#ag ,the books contained the entire 
hieratic belief4 ,fragments that are    
held to have survived in an extant      
,greek novel are obviously ,egyptian1   
but as obviously ,alexandrine and       
neo-platonic4 ,in the editio princeps   
,pheidias is mentioned4 ,mention of     
,michel ,angelo would have been less    
anachronistic4 ,the original books are  
gone1 all of them1 forever1 perhaps1    
save one1 chapters of which are as old  
as the fourth dynasty and1 it may be1   
are still older4 ,pyramid texts of the  
fifth dynasty show that there then      
existed what to-day is termed ,the ,book
 of the ,dead1 a copy of which1 put in a
 mummy's arms1 was a talisman for the   
soul in the ,court of ,amenti1 a        
passport thence to the ,land of ,light4 
,footnote #ag3 ,clemens ,alexandrinos3  

,stromata vi4  ,there is no book like   
it1 man hath not spoken it1 earth hath  
not heard it--very truthfully it recites
 of itself4 ,one copy1 known as the     
,louvre ,papyrus1 presents the ,divine  
,comedy1 as primarily conceived and     
illustrated by an archaic ,dor4 ,text   
and vignettes display the tribunal where
 the souls of the dead are judged4  ,in 
the foreground is an altar4 ,adjacent is
 a figure1 half griffon1 half chimera1  
the ,beast of ,amenti1 perhaps too of   
the ,apocalypse4 ,beyond1 an ape poises 
a pair of scales4 ,for balance is an    
ostrich feather4 ,above are the spirits 
of fate4 ,at the left ,osiris is        
enthroned4 ,from a balcony his assessors
 lean4 ,at the right is the entrance4   
,there the disembodied1 ushered by      
,truth1 appears and1 in homages and     
genuflections1 affirms negatively the   
decalogue2 protesting before the ,master
 of ,eternity that there is no evil in  
him2 praying the dwellers in ,amenti    
that he may cross the dark way2         

declaring to each that he has not       
committed the particular sin over which 
they preside4  ,o ,eater of ,spirits    
gone out of the windows of ,alu6 ,o     
,master of the ,faces6 he variously     
calls4 ,o the ,one who associates the   
,splendours6 ,o the ,glowing ,feet gone 
out of the ,night6 ,i did not lie4 ,i   
did not kill4 ,i have not been anxious4 
,i did not talk abundantly4 ,i made no  
one weep4 ,no heart have ,i harmed4     
,the assessors listen4 ,i have not been 
anxious4 ,i made no one weep4 ,no heart 
have ,i harmed4 ,these abstentions1     
graces now1 were virtues then1 and so   
efficacious that they perhaps sufficed1 
as rightly they should1 for absolution4 
,but while the assessors listen and     
,osiris looks gravely on1 no one        
accuses4 ,it is conscience in its       
nakedness1 conscience exposed there     
where all may see it1 where for the     
first time perhaps it truly sees itself1
 and seeing realizes what there is in it
 of evil and what of good1 it is that   

which protests4  ,still the assessors   
listen4 ,orthodoxy on the part of the   
respondent is to them a minor thing4    
,what they require is that he shall have
 been merciful to his fellow creatures1 
true to himself4 ,only when it is proven
 that he has done his duty to man1 is he
 permitted to show that he has done his 
duty to gods4  ,the appeal continues3 ,i
 fed the hungry1 clothed the naked1 ,i  
gave water to them that thirsted4 ,o ye 
that dwell in ,amenti6 ,i am unpolluted1
 ,i am pure4  ,but is it true8 ,the     
scales decide4 ,the heart of the        
respondent is weighed4 ,if heavy1 out it
 is cast to pass with him again through 
life's infernal circles4 ,but1 if light 
as the feather in the balance and       
therefore equal with truth1 it is       
restored to the body1 which then        
resurrects and1 in the bark of the ,sun1
 sails the celestial ,nile to ,r and the
 ,land of ,light4  ,that singer gone out
 of ,amenti1 actually1 like ,osiris1    
rose from the dead4 ,the picture which a

 papyrus forty centuries old presents1  
is the dream of a vision that ,michel   
,angelo displayed1 a sketch for a papal 
fresco4 ,such indeed was the conformity 
between the underlying conceptions1     
that1 at almost the first monition1     
,isis1 whose veil no mortal had raised1 
lifted it from her black breast and     
suckled there the infant ,jesus4 ,then1 
presently1 in temples that had teemed1  
the silence of the desert brooded4 ,the 
tide of life retreated1 an entire       
theogony vanished1 exorcised1 both of   
them1 by the sign of the cross4  ,at    
sight of the unimagined emblem1 a       
priesthood who in secret sanctuaries had
 evolved nearly all but that1 flung     
themselves into crypts beneath1 pulled  
the walls down after them1 burying      
unembalmed the arcana of a creed whose  
spirit still is immortal4  ,in ,egypt1  
then1 only tombs and necropoles         
survived4 ,but it is legendary that1 in 
the solitudes of the ,thebad1           
dispossessed eidolons of ,r1 appearing  

in the shape of chimeras1 terrified     
anchorites1 to whom1 with vengeful eyes1
 they indicated their ruined altars4    
,,iv  ,,bel-,,marduk   ,the inscriptions
 of ,assyrian kings have1 many of them1 
the monotony of hell4 ,made of boasts   
and shrieks1 they recite the capture and
 sack of cities2 the torrents of blood  
with which1 like wool1 the streets were 
dyed2 the flaming pyramids of prisoners2
 the groans of men impaled2 the cries of
 ravished women4  ,the inscriptions are 
not all infernal4 ,those that relate to 
,assurbanipal--vulgarly1                
,sandanapallos1--are even ornate4 ,but  
,assurbanipal1 while probably fiendish  
and certainly crapulous1 was clearly    
literary besides4 ,from the spoil of    
sacked cities this bibliofilou took     
libraries1 the myths and epics of       
creation1 sacred texts from ,eridu and  
,ur1 volumes in the extinct tongues of  
,akkad and ,sumer1 first editions of the
 ,book of ,god4  ,these1 re-edited in   
cuneiform and kept conveniently on the  

second floor of his palace1 fell with   
,nineveh1 where1 until recently         
recovered1 for millennia they lay4      
,additionally1 from shelves set up in   
the days of ,khammurabi--the ,amraphel  
of ,genesis--,nippur has yielded ghostly
 tablets and ,borsippa treasuries of    
,babylonian ken4  ,these1 the eldest    
revelations of the divine1 are the last 
that man has deciphered4 ,the altars and
 people that heard them first1 the      
marble temples1 the ivory palaces1 the  
murderous throngs1 are dust4 ,the entire
 civilization from which they came has  
vanished4 ,yet1 traced with a wooden    
reed on squares of clay1 are flights of 
little arrows1 from which1 magically1 it
 all returns4 ,miraculously with these  
books a world revives4 ,fashioned1 some 
of them1 at an epoch that in biblical   
chronology is anterior to man1 they tell
 of creation1 of the serpent1 the fall  
and the deluge4 ,at the gates of        
paradise you see man dying1 poisoned by 
the tree of life4 ,before ,genesis was1 

already it had been written4  ,in the   
,chaldean ,book of the ,beginnings      
creation was effected in successive     
acts4 ,according to the epic of it1     
humanity's primal home was a paradise   
where ten impressive persons--the       
models1 it may be1 of antediluvian      
patriarchs--reigned interminably1       
agreeably also1 finally sinfully as     
well4 ,in punishment a deluge swept them
 away4 ,from the flood there escaped one
 man who separated a mythical from an   
heroic age4 ,in the latter epoch1 beings
 descended from demons built ,nineveh   
and ,babylon2 organized human existence2
 invented arithmetic1 geometry1         
astronomy and the calendar2 counted the 
planets2 numbered the days of the year1 
divided them into months and weeks2     
established the ,sabbath2 decorated the 
skies with the signs of the zodiac1     
instituting1 in the interim1 colleges of
 savants and priests4 ,these speculated 
on the origin of things1 attributed it  
to spontaneous generation1 the descent  

of man to evolution1 entertaining the   
vulgar meanwhile with tales of gods and 
ghosts4#ah  ,footnote #ah3 ,lenormant3  
,les ,origines4 ,schrader3 ,die         
,keilenschriften4 ,smith3 ,chaldean     
,genesis4  ,the cosmological texts now  
available were not written then4 ,they  
are drawn from others that were4 ,but   
there is a vignette that probably is of 
that age4 ,it represents a man and a    
woman stretching their hands to a tree4 
,behind the woman writhes a snake4 ,the 
tree1 known as the holy cedar of ,eridu1
 the fruit of which stimulated desire1  
is described in an epic that recites the
 adventures of ,gilgames4  ,gilgames was
 the national hero of ,chaldea4 ,the    
story of his loves with ,ishtar is      
repeated in the ,samson and ,delilah    
myth4 ,ishtar1 described in an ,assyrian
 inscription as ,our ,lady of ,girdles1 
was the original ,venus1 as ,gilgames   
was perhaps the prototype of ,hercules4 
,the legend of his labours is           
represented on a seal of ,sargon of     

,akkad1 a king who ruled fifty-seven    
hundred years ago4  ,in the epic1       
,gilgames1 betrayed by ,ishtar1 tried to
 find out how not to die4 ,in trying he 
reached a garden1 guarded by cherubim1  
where the holy cedar was4 ,there he     
learned that one being only could teach 
him to be immortal1 and that being1     
,adra-,khasis1 had been translated to   
the ,land of the ,silver ,sky4          
,adra-,khasis1 was the ,chaldean ,noah4 
,gilgames sought him and the story of   
the deluge follows4 ,but with a         
difference4 ,on the seventh day1        
,adra-,khasis released from his ark a   
dove that returned1 finally a raven that
 did not4 ,then he looked out1 and      
looking1 shrieked4 ,every one had       
perished4  ,noah was less emotional1 or1
 if equally compassionate1 the fact is  
not recited4 ,apart from that detail and
 one other1 the story of the flood is   
common to all folklore4 ,even the       
,aztecs knew of it4 ,probably it        
originated in the matrix of nations     

which the table-land of ,asia was4 ,but 
only in ,chaldean myth1 and subsequently
 in ,hebrew legend1 was the flood       
ascribed to sin4  ,gilgames' quest1     
meanwhile1 could not have been wholly   
vain4 ,in an archaic inscription it is  
stated that the city of ,erech was built
 in olden times by the deified          
,gilgames4#ai  ,footnote #ai3 ,proc4 ,s4
 ,b4 ,a4 xvi4 #ac-ae4  ,how old the     
olden times may have been is            
conjectural4 ,modern science has put the
 advent of man sixty million years ago4 
,chaldean chronology is less spacious4  
,but its traditions stretched back a    
hundred thousand years4 ,the traditions 
were probably imaginary4 ,even so1 in   
the morning of the world1 already there 
were ancient cities4 ,there was ,nippur1
 one of whose gods1 ,el ,lil1 was lord  
of ghosts4 ,there was ,eridu1 where ,ea 
was lord of man4 ,there was ,ur1 where  
,sin was lord of the moon4 ,there were  
other divinities4 ,there was ,enmesara1 
lord of the land whence none return1 and

 ,makhir1 god of dreams4  ,there were   
many more like the latter1 so many that 
their sanctuaries made the realm a holy 
land1 but one which1 administratively1  
was an aggregate of principalities that 
,sargon1 nearly six thousand years ago1 
combined4 ,ultimately1 from sheer age1  
the empire tottered4 ,it would have     
fallen had not ,khammurabi surged4 ,what
 ,sargon made1 ,khammurabi solidified4  
,between their colossal figures two     
millennia stretch4 ,these giants are    
distinct4 ,none the less1 across the    
ages they seem to fuse1 suggestively1   
not together1 but into another person4  
,sargon has descended through time      
clothed in a little of the poetry which 
garments nation builders4 ,but the      
poetry is not a mantle for the          
imaginary4 ,in the ,british ,museum is a
 marble ball that he dedicated to a god4
 ,paris has the seal of his             
librarian4#bj ,copies of his annals are 
extant4#ba ,in these it is related that1
 when a child1 his mother put him in a  

basket of rushes and set him adrift on  
the ,euphrates4 ,presently he was       
rescued4 ,afterward he became a leader  
of men4  ,footnote #bj3 ,collection de  
,clerq4 pl4 #e1 no4 #df4  ,footnote #ba3
 ,cuneiform ,insc4 ,w4 ,a4 iv4 #cd4     
,khammurabi was also a leader4 ,he was a
 legislator as well4 ,sargon united     
principalities1 ,khammurabi their       
shrines4 ,from one came the nation1 from
 the other the god4 ,it is in this way  
that they fuse4 ,to the composite1 if it
 be one1 history added a heightening    
touch4  ,the ,khammurabi legislation    
came from ,bel1 who1 originally1 was a  
local sun-god of ,nippur4 ,there he was 
regarded as the possessor of the        
,chaldean ,urim and ,thummin1 the       
tablets of destiny with which he cast   
the fates of men4 ,in the mythology of  
,babylonia these tablets were stolen by 
the god of storms1 who kept them in his 
thunder fastness4 ,among the forked     
flames of the lightning there they were 
recovered by ,bel1 who revealed the law 

to ,khammurabi4  ,the theophany is      
perhaps similar to that of ,sinai4 ,but 
perhaps1 too1 it is better attested4 ,a 
diorite block1 found at ,susa in #aijb1 
has the law engraved on it4 ,on the     
summit1 a bas-relief displays the god   
disclosing the statutes to the king4    
,there are other analogies4 ,sinai was  
named after ,sin1 who1 though but a     
moon-god1 was previously held supreme   
for the reason that1 in primitive       
,babylonia1 the lunar year preceded the 
solar4 ,the sanctuary of the moon-god   
was ,ur1 of which ,abraham was emir4 ,he
 was more1 perhaps4 ,sarratu1 from which
 ,sarai comes1 was the title of the     
moon-goddess4 ,in ,genesis1 ,sarai is   
,abraham's wife4 ,abraham is a          
derivative of ,aburamu1 which was one of
 the moon's many names4#bb  ,footnote   
#bb3 ,sayce3 ,guifford ,lectures4       
,among these1 one in particular has     
since been identified with ,jahveh4 ,in 
addition1 a clay tablet of the age of   
,khammurabi1 now in the ,british        

,museum1 has on it3  ,illustration      
,that flight of arrows1 being           
interpreted1 means3 ,jave ilu1 ,jahveh  
is god4#bc  ,footnote #bc3 ,delitzch3   
,babel und ,bibel4  ,other texts show   
that a title of ,bel was ,msu1 a word   
that letter for letter is the same as   
the ,hebrew ,mosheh or ,moses4#bd       
,footnote #bd3 ,records of the ,past1 i4
 #ia4  ,it is in this way that ,sargon  
and ,khammurabi fuse4 ,meanwhile the    
title ,msu1 or hero1 was not confined to
 ,bel4 ,it was given also to ,marduk1   
the tutelary god of ,babylon1 from whom 
local monotheism proceeded4  ,that      
monotheism1 in appearance relatively    
modern1 actually was archaic4 ,the      
,chaldean savants knew of but one really
 existing god4 ,to them1 all others were
 his emanations4 ,the deus              
exsuperantissimus was represented by a  
single stroke of the reed1 a sign that  
in its vagueness left him formless and  
incommunicable1 therefore unworshipable1
 hence without a temple1 unless         

,bab-ili1 ,babylon1 the ,gate of ,god1  
may be so construed4  ,the name of the  
deity1 fastidiously concealed from the  
vulgar1 was1 in ,english1 ,one4 ,not    
after1 or beneath1 or above1 but before 
him1 a trinity swung like a screen4     
,from it1 for pendant1 another trinity  
dangled4 ,from the latter fell a third4 
,below these glories were the           
coruscations of an entire nation of     
inferior gods4 ,the latter1 as well as  
the former1 all of them1 were but the   
fireworks of ,one4 ,he alone was4 ,the  
rest1 like ,makhir1 were gods of dream4 
,to the savants1 that is2 to the magi   
and seers4 ,to the people the sidereal  
triads and planetary divinities throned 
in the ,silver ,sky augustly real1      
equally august1 and in that celestial   
equality remained1 until ,khammurabi    
gave precedence to ,bel1 who as ,marduk1
 ,bel or ,baal ,marduk1 ,lord ,marduk1  
became supreme4  ,before ,bel1 then1 the
 other gods faded as the ,elohim did    
before ,jahveh1 with the possible       

difference that there were more to      
fade--sixty-five thousand1              
,assurnatsipal1 in an inscription1      
declared4 ,over that army ,bel-,marduk  
acquired the title1 perhaps significant1
 of ,bel-,kissat1 ,lord of ,hosts4 ,yet 
it was less as a usurper than as an     
absorber that the ascension was         
achieved4 ,bel but mounted above his    
former peers and from the superior      
height drew their attributes to himself4
 ,it was sacrilege none the less4 ,as   
such it alienated the clergy and enraged
 the plebs4 ,begun under ,khammurabi and
 completed under ,nabonidos1 it was the 
reason why1 during the latter's reign1  
orthodox ,babylon received ,cyrus not as
 a foe but a friend4  ,from the         
spoliation1 meanwhile1 no nebulousness  
resulted4 ,bel was distinctly           
anthropomorphic4 ,his earthly plaisance 
was the ,home of the ,height1 a         
seven-floored mountain of masonry1 a    
rainbow pyramid of enamelled brick4 ,at 
the top was a dome4 ,there1 in a        

glittering chamber1 on a dazzling couch1
 he appeared4 ,elsewhere1 in the        
vermillion recesses of a neighbouring   
chapel1 that winged bulls guarded and   
frescoed monsters adorned1 once a year  
he also appeared1 and1 above the mercy  
seat1 on an alabaster throne1 sat1 or   
was supposed to sit1 contemplating the  
tablets of destiny1 determining when men
 should die4  ,to the ,greeks1 the      
future lay in the lap of the gods4 ,to  
the ,babylonians the gods alone         
possessed it1 as alone also they        
possessed the present and the past4     
,they had all time as all men have their
 day4 ,that day was here and it was     
brief4 ,death was a descent to ,aral1   
the land whence none return1 a region of
 the underworld1 called also ,shual1    
where the departed were nourished on    
dust4 ,dust they were and to dust they  
returned4  ,extinction was not a        
punishment or even a reward1 it was a   
law4 ,punishment was visited on the     
transgressor here1 as here also the     

piety of the righteous was rewarded4    
,when death came1 just and unjust fared 
alike4 ,the ,aryan and ,egyptian belief 
in immortality had no place in this     
creed1 and consequently it had none     
either in ,israel1 where ,sheol was a   
replica of ,shual4 ,to the ,semites of  
,babylonia and ,kanaan1 the gods alone  
were immortal1 and immortal beings would
 be gods4 ,man could not become divine  
while his deities were still human4     
,exceptionally1 exceptional beings such 
as ,gilgames and ,adra-,khasis might be 
translated to the land of the ,silver   
,sky1 as ,elijah was translated to      
heaven1 but otherwise the only mortals  
that could reach it were kings1 for a   
king1 in becoming sovereign1 became1    
ipso facto1 celestial4 ,as such1 ages   
later1 ,alexander had himself           
worshipped1 and it was in imitation of  
his apotheosis that the subsequent      
,csars declared themselves gods4 ,yet   
precisely as the latter were man-made   
deities1 so the ,babylonian ,baalim were

 very similar to human kings4  ,for     
their hunger was cream1 oil1 dates1 the 
flesh of ewe lambs4 ,for their nostrils 
was the perfume of prayers and of       
psalms2 for their passions the virginity
 of girls4 ,originally the first born of
 men were also given them1 but while1   
with higher culture1 that sacrifice was 
abolished1 the sacred harlotry1 over    
which ,ishtar presided1 remained4       
,judaism omitted to incorporate that1   
but in ,kanaan1 which ,babylonia        
profoundly influenced1 it was general   
and1 though reviled by ,israel1 was     
tempting even1 and perhaps particularly1
 to ,solomon4#be  ,footnote #be3 #a     
,kings xi4 #e4 ,solomon went after      
,ashtoreth4  ,the latter's temple was   
similar to ,bel's1 from which the       
,hebraic ritual1 terms of the ,law1 the 
,torah itself1 may have proceeded1 as1  
it may be1 the ,sabbath did also4 ,on a 
tablet recovered from the library of    
,assurbanipal it is written3 ,the       
seventh day is a fast day1 a lucky day1 

a sabbatuv--literally1 a day of rest for
 the heart4#bf  ,footnote #bf3          
,cuneiform ,insc4 ,w4 ,a4 ii4 #cb4  ,in 
,aral that day never ceased2 the dead   
there1 buried1 ,herodotos said1 in      
honey1 were unresurrectably dead1 dead  
to the earth1 dead to the ,silver ,sky4 
,yet though that was an article of      
faith1 through a paradox profoundly     
poetic1 there was a belief equally      
general1 in ghosts1 in hobgoblins1 in   
men with the faces of ravens1 in others 
with the bodies of scorpions1 and in the
 post-mortem persistence of girls that  
died pure4  ,these latter1 in searching 
for someone whom they might seduce1 must
 have afterward wandered into the       
presence of ,st4 ,anthony4 ,perhaps1    
too1 it was they who1 as succubi1       
emotionalized the dreams of monks4 ,yet1
 in view of ,ishtar1 they could not have
 been very numerous in ,babylon where1  
however1 they had a queen1 ,lilt1 the   
,lilith of the ,talmud1 ,adam's vampire 
wife1 who conceived with him shapes of  

sin4 ,in these also the ,babylonians    
believed1 and navely they represented   
them in forms so revolting that the     
sight of their own image alarmed them   
away4  ,from these shapes or1 more      
exactly1 from sin itself1 it was very   
properly held that all diseases came4   
,medicine consequently was a branch of  
religion4 ,the physician was a priest4  
,he asked the patient3 ,have you shed   
your neighbour's blood8 ,have you       
approached your neighbour's wife8 ,have 
you stolen your neighbour's garment8 ,or
 is it that you have failed to clothe   
the naked8 ,according to the responses  
he prescribed4#bg  ,footnote #bg3 ,,iv4 
,r4 #ej-ec4 ,cf4 ,delitzch3 op4 cit4    
,but the priest who was a physician was 
also a wizard4 ,he peeped and muttered1 
or1 more subtly1 provided enchanted     
philters in which simples had been      
dissolved4 ,these devices failing1 there
 was a series of incantations1 the      
,ritual of the ,whispered ,charm1 in    
which the most potent conjuration was   

the incommunicable name4 ,to that all   
things yielded1 even the gods4#bh ,but  
like the ,shem of the ,jews1 it was     
probably never wholly uttered1 because1 
save to the magi1 not wholly known4 ,in 
the formul of the necromancers it is    
omitted1 though in practice it may have 
been pronounced4  ,footnote #bh3        
,lenormant3 ,la ,magie chez les         
,chaldens4  ,even that is doubtful4 ,a  
knowledge of it conferred powers similar
 to those that have been attributed to  
the ,christ1 and which the ,sadducees   
ascribed to his knowledge of the        
tetragrammation4 ,a knowledge of the    
,babylonian ,shem was as potent4 ,it    
served not only men but gods4 ,ishtar1  
for purposes of her own1 wanted to get  
into ,aral4 ,in the recovered epic of   
her descent1 imperiously she demanded   
entrance3    ,porter1 open thy door4    
,open thy door that ,i may enter4   ,if 
thou dost not open thy door1   ,i will  
attack it1 ,i will break down the bars1 
,i will cause the dead to rise and      

devour the living4#bi  ,footnote #bi3   
,records of the ,past4  ,ishtar was     
admitted4 ,but ,aral was the land whence
 none return4 ,once in1 she could not   
get out until1 ultimately1 the          
incommunicable name was uttered4 ,the   
epic says that1 in the interim1 there   
was on earth neither love nor loving4   
,in possible connection with which      
incantations have been found1           
deprecating the consecrated harlots with
 rebellious hearts that have abandoned  
the holy places4#cj  ,footnote #cj3     
,lenormant3 op4 cit4  ,in addition to   
the ,ritual of the ,whispered ,charm1   
there was the ,illumination of ,bel1 an 
encyclopdia of astrology in seventy-two 
volumes which the suburban library of   
,borsippa contained4 ,during the        
captivity many ,jews must have gone     
there4 ,in the large light halls they   
were free to read whatever they liked1  
religion1 history1 science1 the romance 
of all three4 ,the books1 catalogued and
 numbered1 were ranged on shelves4 ,one 

had but to ask4 ,the service was gratis4
  ,babylon1 then1 prismatic and learned1
 was the most respectable place on      
earth4 ,for ten thousand years man had  
there consulted the stars4 ,but though  
respectable1 it was also equivocal4     
,during a period equally long--or       
brief--the girls of the city had loosed 
their girdles for ,ishtar and yielded   
themselves to anyone1 stranger or       
neighbour1 that asked4 ,in the service  
of the goddess their brothers           
occasionally feigned that they too were 
girls4 ,meanwhile1 from the summit of a 
seven-floored pyramid1 mortals          
contemplated the divine4  ,beneath was  
cosmopolis1 the golden cup that1 in the 
words of ,jeremiah1 made the whole world
 drunk4 ,seated immensely on the twin   
banks of the ,euphrates--banks that     
bridges above and tunnels beneath       
interjoined--,babylon more nearly       
resembled a walled nation than a        
fortified town4 ,within the gates1 in an
 enclosure ample and noble1 a space that

 exceeded a hundred square miles1 an    
area sufficient for ,paris quintupled1  
observatories and palaces rose above the
 roar of human tides that swept in waves
 through the wide boulevards1 surged    
over the quays1 flooded the gardens1    
eddied through the open-air lupanar1    
circled among statues of gods and bulls1
 poured out of the hundred gates1 or    
broke against the polychrome walls and  
seethed back in the avenues1 along      
which1 to the high flourishes of        
military bands1 passed armed hoplites1  
merchants in long robes1 cloaked        
bedouins1 ,kelts in bearskins1 priests  
in spangled dresses1 tiara'd princes1   
burdened slaves1 kings discrowned1      
furtive forms--prostitutes1 pederasts1  
human wolves1 vermin1 sheep--the flux   
and reflux of the gigantic city4  ,in   
that ocean1 the captive ,jews1 if       
captive they were1 rolled1 lost as a    
handful of salt spilt in the sea4 ,yet1 
from the depths1 a few had swum up and1 
filtering adroitly1 had reached the     

dignity of high place4 ,one was pontiff4
 ,others were viceroys4 ,in addition to 
being pontiff1 ,daniel was chancellor of
 the realm4 ,ezra was rector of the     
university4 ,as pontiff of a college of 
wizards1 ,daniel may have known the     
future4 ,as ,minister of ,wisdom1 ,ezra 
may have known1 what is quite as        
difficult1 the past4 ,for the moment    
there was but the present4 ,over it     
ruled ,belshazzar4  ,yet1 ruler though  
he was1 there were powers potenter than 
his own3 ,baalim1 outraged at the       
elevation of a parvenu god2 a priesthood
 consequently disaffected2 and1 without1
 at the gates1 the foe4  ,it would have 
been interesting to have assisted at the
 final festival when1 beneath cyclopean 
arches1 in the sunlight of clustered    
candelabra1 amid the glitter of gold and
 white teeth1 among the fair sultanas   
that were strewn like flowers through   
the throne-room of the imperial court1  
,belshazzar lay1 smiling1 amused rather 
than annoyed at the impudent menace of  

,cyrus4  ,babylon was impregnable4 ,he  
knew it4 ,but the subtle ,jews1 the     
indignant gods1 the alienated priests to
 whom the ,persian was a redeemer1 of   
these he did not think4 ,daniel had     
indeed warned him and1 vaguely1 he had  
promised something which he had since   
forgot4  ,beyond1 an orchestra was      
playing4 ,further yet1 columns upheld a 
ceiling so lofty that it was lost4 ,on  
the adjacent wall was a frieze of       
curious and chimerical beasts4          
,belshazzar was looking at them4 ,in    
their dumb stupidity was a suggestion of
 the foe4 ,the suggestion amused4       
,smiling still he raised a cup4         
,abruptly1 before it could reach his    
lips1 it fell with a clatter on the     
lapis lazuli of the floor beneath4      
,before him1 on that wall1 beneath those
 beasts1 the necromancy of the          
priesthood had projected an armless1    
fluidic hand that mounted1 descended1   
tracing with a forefinger the three     
luminous hierograms of his doom4  ,the  

story1 a little drama1 was1 with the    
tale concerning ,nebuchadnezzar1 that of
 ,daniel1 and other novels quite as     
strange1 evolved long later in the wide 
leisures of ,jerusalem4 ,the fluidic    
hand did not appear4 ,even had it       
zigzagged there was no ,belshazzar to   
frighten4  ,only the doom was real4     
,cyrus was clothed with it4 ,to the     
trumpetings of heralds and the sheen of 
angels' wings1 triumphantly he came4    
,then1 presently1 by royal decree1 the  
,jews1 manumitted and released1 retraced
 their steps1 burdened with spoil2 with 
the lore of two distinct civilizations1 
which1 fusing in the great square       
letters of the ,pentateuch1 was to      
become the poetry of all mankind4       
,babylon1 ultimately1 with her goblin   
gods and harlot goddess1 sank into her  
own ,aral4 ,nourished there on dust1    
,lilt1 with the sister vampires of      
eternal night1 fed on her4     ,v       
,,jehovah   ,a camel's-hair tent set in 
the desert was the first cathedral1 the 

earliest cloister of latest ideals4 ,set
 not in one desert merely but in two1 in
 the infinite of time as well as in that
 of space1 there was about it a         
limitlessness in which the past could   
sleep1 the future awake1 and into which 
all things1 the human1 the divine1 gods 
and romance1 could enter4  ,the human   
came first4 ,then the gods4 ,then       
romance4 ,the divine was their triple   
expansion4 ,it was an after growth1 in  
other lands1 that tears had watered4 ,in
 the desert it was unimagined4 ,only the
 gods had been conceived4  ,the gods    
were many and yet but one4 ,though      
plural they were singular4 ,the subjects
 of impersonal verbs1 they represented  
the pronoun in such expressions as3 it  
rains2 it thunders4 ,it was ,elohim4    
,already among nomad ,semites monotheism
 had begun4 ,yet with this distinction4 
,each tribe had separate sets of ,its   
that guided1 guarded1 and scourged4     
,omnipresent but not omnipotent1 any    
humiliation to the family that they had 

in charge humiliated them4 ,it made them
 angry1 therefore vindictive1           
consequently unjust4 ,it may be that    
they were not very ethical4 ,perhaps the
 bedouins were not either4 ,man fashions
 his god in proportion to his           
intelligence4 ,that of the nomad was    
slender4 ,he lacked1 what the ,aryan    
shepherd possessed1 the ability for     
mythological invention4 ,the defect was 
due to his speech1 which did not lend   
itself to the deification of epithets4  
,even had it done so1 it is probable    
that his mode of life would have        
rendered the paraphernalia of polytheism
 impossible4 ,people constantly moving  
from place to place could not be        
cumbered with idols4 ,the ,elohim were1 
therefore1 a convenience for travellers 
and an unidolatrous monotheism a        
necessity which the absence of vehicles 
imposed4 ,on the other hand1 given every
 facility1 it is presumable that the    
result would have been the same4        
,mythology is the mother of poetry4     

,idolatry is the father of art4 ,neither
 could appeal to a people to whom       
delicacy was an unknown god4 ,had it    
been known and a fetish1 they could not 
have become the practical people that   
they are4 ,even then they were shrewd4  
,their ,elohim might alarm but never    
delude4 ,israel was uncheatable even in 
dream4  ,originally emigrants from      
,arabia1 the nomads reached ,syria1 some
 directly1 others circuitously1 by way  
of ,padan-,aram and across the          
,euphrates1 whence perhaps their name of
 ,ibrim or ,hebrews--,those from beyond4
 ,in the journey ,babel and ,ur must    
have detained4 ,these cities1 with their
 culture relatively deep and their      
observatories equally high1 became1 in  
after days1 a source of legend1 of      
wonder1 of hatred1 perhaps of revelation
 as well4  ,at the time the nomads had  
no cosmogony or theories4 ,the          
,chaldeans had both4 ,there was a story 
of creation1 another of antediluvian    
kings and of the punishment that        

overtook them4 ,there was also a story  
of an emir of ,ur1 an old man who had   
benevolently killed an animal instead of
 his son4 ,the story1 like the others1  
must have impressed4 ,in after years the
 old man became ,abraham1 a great       
person1 who had conversed with the      
,elohim and whose descendants they were4
  ,the story of creation also impressed4
 ,it was enlightening and               
comprehensible4 ,the parallel theory of 
spontaneous generation and the          
progressive evolution of the species    
which the magi entertained1 they        
probably never heard4 ,even otherwise it
 was too complex for minds as yet       
untutored4 ,the fables alone appealed4  
,mentally compressed into portable      
shape1 carried along1 handed down1 their
 origin afterward forgotten1 they became
 the traditions of a nation1 which1     
eminently conservative1 preserved what  
it found1 among other things the name1  
perhaps inharmonious1 of ,jhvh4#ca      
,footnote #ca3 ,renan3 ,histoire du     

peuple d',isral4 ,kuenen3 ,de           
,godsdienst van ,isral4  ,that name1    
since found on an inscription of        
,sargon1 appears to have been the title 
of a local god of ,sinai1 whom the      
nomads may have identified with ,elohim1
 particularly1 perhaps1 since he        
presided over thunder1 the phenomenon   
that alarmed them most and which1 in    
consequence1 inspired the greatest awe4 
,that awe they put into the name1 the   
pronunciation of which1 like the origin 
of their traditions1 they afterward     
forgot4 ,in subsequent rabbinical       
writings it became ,shem1 the ,name2    
,shemhammephoresh1 the ,revealed ,name1 
uttered but once a year1 on the day of  
,atonement1 by the high priest in the   
,holy of ,holies4 ,mention of it by     
anyone else was deemed a capital        
offence1 though1 permissibly1 it might  
be rendered ,el ,shaddai1 the ,almighty4
 ,that term the ,septuagint translated  
into ,greek3 ho ,kyrios1 a ,greek form1 
in the singular1 of the ,aramaic plural 

,adonai1 which means ,baalim1 or sun    
lords4  ,that form the ,vulgate gave as 
,dominus and posterior theology as ,god4
 ,the latter term1 common to all        
,teutonic tongues1 has no known meaning4
 ,it designates that which1 to the      
limited intelligence of man1 has been1  
and must be1 incomprehensible4 ,but the 
original term ,jhvh1 which1 in the      
seventeenth century1 was developed into 
,jehovah1 yet which1 the vowels being   
wholly conjectural1 might have been     
developed into anything else1 clearly   
appealed to wayfarers to whom ,chaldean 
science was a book that remained closed 
until ,nebuchadnezzar blew their        
descendants back into the miraculous    
,babel of their youth4  ,meanwhile1     
apart from the name--now generally      
written ,jahveh--apart too from the     
fables and the enduring detestation     
which the colossal city inspired1       
probably but one other thing impressed1 
and that was the observance of the      
,sabbath4 ,to a people whose public     

works were executed by forced labour1   
such a day was a necessity4 ,to vagrants
 it was not1 and1 though the custom     
interested1 it was not adopted by them  
until their existence from nomad had    
become fixed4  ,at this latter period   
they were in ,kanaan4 ,whether in the   
interval a tribe1 the ,beni-,israel1    
went down into ,egypt1 is a subject on  
which ,continental scholarship has its  
doubts4 ,the early life of the tribe's  
leader and legislator is usually        
associated with ,rameses ,,ii41 a       
pharaoh of the ,,xix4 dynasty4 ,but it  
has been found that incidents connected 
with ,moses must apparently have        
occurred1 if they occurred at all1 at a 
period not earlier than the ,,xxvi4     
dynasty1 which constitutes a minimum    
difference of seven hundred years4 ,yet1
 in view of the decalogue1 with its     
curious analogy to the negative         
confession in the ,book of the ,dead2 in
 view also of a practice surgical and   
possibly hygienic which1 customary among

 the ,egyptians1 was adopted by the     
,jews2 in view1 further1 of ceremonies  
and symbols peculiarly ,egyptian that   
were also absorbed1 a sojourn in ,goshen
 there may have been4  ,the spoiling of 
the ,egyptians1 a roguery on which      
,israel afterward prided herself1 is a  
trait perhaps too typical to be lightly 
dismissed4 ,on the other hand1 if ,moses
 were1 which is at least problematic1   
and if1 in addition to being1 he was    
both the nephew of a pharaoh and the    
son-in-law of a priest1 as such one to  
whom1 in either quality1 the arcana of  
the creed would be revealed1 it becomes 
curious that nowhere in the ,pentateuch 
is there any doctrine of a future life4 
,of the entire story1 it may be that    
only the journey into the ,sinaiatic    
peninsula is true1 and of that there    
probably remained but tradition1 on     
which history was based much later1 by  
writers who had only surmises concerning
 the time and circumstances in which it 
occurred4  ,yet equally with the        

roguery1 ,moses may have been4 ,seen    
through modern criticism his figure     
fades though his name persists4 ,to that
 name the ,septuagint tried to give an  
,egyptian flavour4 ,in their version it 
is always ,greek3 ,muss1 a compound     
derived from the ,egyptian m1 water1 and
 uss1 saved from1 or                    
,saved-from-the-water4#cb ,per contra1  
the ,hebrew form ,mosheh is1 as already 
indicated1 the same as the ,babylonian  
,mas1 a term which means at once leader 
and littrateur1 in addition to being the
 cognomen of a god4#cc  ,footnote #cb3  
,josephus3 ,antiq4 ii4 #i4  ,footnote   
#cc3 ,sayce3 ,the ,religion of the      
,babylonians4  ,moses is said to have   
led his people out of bondage4 ,he was  
the writer to whom the ,pentateuch has  
been ascribed4 ,but he was also a       
prophet4 ,in ,babylon1 the god of       
prophecy was ,nebo4 ,it was on ,mount   
,nebo that ,jahveh commanded the prophet
 of ,israel to die4 ,moreover1 the      
divinity that had ,mas for cognomen was1

 as is shown by a ,babylonian text1 the 
primitive god of the sun at ,nippur1 but
 the sun at noon1 at the period of its  
greatest effulgence1 at the hour when it
 wars with whatever opposes1 when it    
wars as ,jahveh did1 or as the latter   
may be assumed to have warred1 since    
,isaiah represented him as a mighty man1
 roaring at his enemies1 exciting the   
fury of the fight1 marching personally  
to the conflict1 and1 in the ,fourth    
,roll of the ,law 7,numbers71 there is  
mention of a book entitled3 ,the ,wars  
of ,jahveh4  ,whether1 then1 ,moses is  
but a composite of things ,babylonian   
fused in an effort to show a link       
between a god and a people1 is          
conjectural4 ,but it is also immaterial4
 ,the one instructive fact is that1 in a
 retrospect1 the god1 immediately after 
the exodus1 became dictator4  ,yet even 
in the later age1 when the retrospect   
was effected1 conceptions were evidently
 immature4 ,on one occasion the god met 
,moses1 tried to kill him1 but finally  

let him go4 ,the picture is that of a   
personal struggle4#cd ,again1 the       
spectacle of his back which he          
vouchsafed to ,moses is construable only
 as an arrire-pense1 unless it be       
profound philosophy1 unless it be taken 
that the face of ,god represents        
,providence1 to see which would be to   
behold the future1 whereas the back     
disclosed the past4  ,footnote #cd3     
,exodus iv4 #bd-bf4  ,it is1 however1   
hardly probable that that construction  
occurred to the editors of the          
,pentateuch1 who1 elsewhere1 represented
 ,jahveh as a butcher1 insatiable1      
jealous1 vindictive1 treacherous1 and   
vain1 one that consigned all nations    
other than ,israel to ruin and whom a   
poet represented trampling people in    
anger1 making them drunk with his fury1 
and defiling his raiment with blood4#ce 
,footnote #ce3 ,isaiah lxiii4 #a-f4     
,but in the period related in ,exodus1  
,jahveh was but the tutelary god of an  
itinerant tribe that1 in its gipsy lack 

of territorial possessions1 was not even
 a nation4 ,like his people he too was a
 vagrant4 ,like them he had no home4    
,other gods had temples and altars4 ,he 
lacked so much as a shrine4 ,in         
prefigurement of the ,wandering ,jew1   
each day he moved on4 ,the threats of a 
land that never smiled were reflected in
 his face4 ,the sight of him was death4 
,certainly he was terrible4  ,this      
conception1 corrected by later writers1 
was otherwise revised4 ,in the interim  
,jahveh himself was transformed4 ,he    
became ,el1 the god2 presently ,el      
,shaddai1 ,god ,almighty4 ,in the       
ascension former traits disappeared4 ,he
 developed into the deity of emphatic   
right4 ,morality1 hitherto absent from  
religion1 entered into it4 ,israel1 who 
perhaps had been careless1 who1 like    
,solomon1 had followed ,ishtar1 became  
austere4 ,thereafter1 ,judaism1 of which
 ,christianity and ,muhammadanism were  
the after thoughts1 was destined to     
represent almost the sum total of the   

human conscience4  ,but in ,kanaan1     
during the rude beginnings1 though      
,jahveh was jealous1 ,ishtar1 known     
locally as ,ashtoreth1 allured4         
,conjointly with ,baal1 the indigenous  
term for ,bel1 circumadjacently she     
ruled4 ,the propitiatory rites of these 
fair gods were debauchery and           
infanticide1 the loosening of the       
girdles of girls1 the thrusting of      
children into fires4 ,it may be that    
these ceremonies at first amazed the    
,hebrews4 ,but conscientiously they     
adopted them1 less perhaps through zeal 
than politeness2 because1 in this       
curious epoch1 on entering a country it 
was thought only civil to serve the     
divinities that were there1 in          
accordance with the ritual that pleased 
them4  ,with the mere mortal            
inhabitants1 ,israel was less           
ceremonious4 ,commanded by ,jahveh to   
kill1 extermination was but an act of   
piety4 ,it was then1 perhaps1 that the  
,wars of ,jahveh were sung1 a pan that  

must have been resonant with cries1 with
 the death-rattle of kingdoms1 with the 
shouts of the invading host4 ,from the  
breast-plates of the chosen1 the terror 
of ,sinai gleamed4 ,men could not see   
their faces and live4 ,the moon was     
their servant4 ,to aid them the sun     
stood still4 ,they encroached1 they     
slaughtered1 they quelled4 ,in the      
conquest a nation was born4 ,from that  
bloody cradle the ,god of ,humanity     
came4 ,but around and about it was      
vacancy4 ,in emerging from one solitude 
the ,jews created another4 ,they have   
never left it4 ,the desert which they   
made destined them to be alone on this  
earth1 as their god was to be solitary  
in heaven4  ,meanwhile there had been no
 kings in ,israel4 ,with the nation     
royalty came4 ,david followed ,saul4    
,after him was ,solomon4 ,it is         
presumably at this period that          
traditions1 orally transmitted from a   
past relatively remote1 were first put  
in writing4 ,previously it is           

conjectural if the ,jews could write4   
,if they could1 it is uncertain whether 
they made any use of the ability other  
than in the possible compilation of     
toledoth1 such as the ,book of the      
,generations of ,adam and the ,wars of  
,jahveh1 works that1 later1 may have    
served as data for the ,pentateuch4     
,even then1 the compositions must have  
been crude1 and such rolls as existed   
may have been lost when ,nebuchadnezzar 
overturned ,jerusalem4  ,presumably1 it 
was not until the post-exilic period    
that1 under the editorship perhaps of   
,ezra1 the definitive edition of the    
,torah was produced4 ,this supposition  
existing texts support4 ,in ,genesis    
7xxxvii4 #ca7 it is written3 ,these are 
the kings of ,edom before there reigned 
any king over the children of ,israel4  
,the passage shows1 if it shows         
anything1 that there were1 or had been1 
kings in ,israel at the time when the   
passage itself was written4 ,it is1     
therefore1 at least post-,davidic4 ,in  

,genesis another passage 7xlix4 #aj7    
says3 ,the sceptre shall not pass from  
,judah until ,shiloh come4 ,judah was   
the tribe that became pre-eminent in    
,israel after the captivity4 ,the       
passage is therefore post-exilic1       
consequently so is ,genesis1 and        
obviously the rest of the ,pentateuch as
 well4 ,or1 if not obviously1 perhaps   
demonstrably4 ,in ,,ii ,esdras xiv4     
#bb-dh it is stated that the writer1 a  
candle of understanding in his heart1   
and aided by five swift scribes1        
recomposed the ,law1 which1 previously  
burned1 was known to none4  ,the burning
 referred to is what may1 perhaps1 be   
termed religious fiction4 ,barring      
toledoth and related data that may have 
been lost1 the ,law had almost certainly
 not existed before1 and this           
post-exilic romance concerning it was   
evolved in a laudable effort to show its
 ,mosaic source4 ,what is true of the   
,law is1 in a measure1 true of the      
,prophets4 ,none of them anterior to    

,cyrus1 all are later than ,alexander4  
,spiritually very near to ,christianity1
 chronologically they are neighbourly   
too4 ,if not divinely inspired1 they at 
least disclosed the ideal4  ,previously 
the ideal had not perhaps been very     
apparent4 ,apart from secessions1       
rebellions1 concussions1 convulsions    
that deified ,hatred until ,jahveh1 in  
the person of ,nebuchadnezzar1 talked   
,assyrian1 and then1 in the person of   
,cyrus1 talked ,zend1 the god of        
,israel1 even in ,israel1 was not       
unique4 ,he had a home1 his first1 the  
,temple1 built gorgeously by ,solomon1  
where invisibly1 mysteriously1 perhaps  
terribly1 beneath the wings of cherubim 
that rose from the depths of the ,holy  
of ,holies1 he dwelled4 ,but the shrine1
 however ornate1 was not the only one4  
,there were other altars1 other gods2   
the plentiful sanctuaries of ,ashera1 of
 ,moloch and of ,baal4 ,on the adjacent 
hilltops the phallus stood4 ,in the     
neighbouring groves the kisses of       

,ishtar consumed4  ,the ,lady of        
,girdles was worshipped there not by men
 and women only1 but by girls with      
girls2 by others too1 not in couples1   
but singly1 girls who in their solitary 
devotions had instruments for aid4#cf   
,religion1 as yet1 had but the slightest
 connection with morality1 a            
circumstance explicable perhaps by the  
fact that it resumed the ethnical       
conscience of a race4 ,between the altar
 of ,el ,shaddai and the shrines of     
other gods there were many differences1 
of which geography was the least4       
,jahveh1 from a tutelary god1 had indeed
 become the national divinity of a      
chosen people4 ,but the ,moabites were  
the chosen people of ,chemos2 the       
,ammonites were the chosen people of    
,rimmon2 the ,babylonians were the      
chosen people of ,bel4 ,the title       
conferred no distinction4 ,as a         
consequence1 to differentiate ,jahveh   
from all other gods1 and ,israel from   
all other people1 to make the one unique

 and the other pontiff and shepherd of  
the nations of the world1 became the    
dream of anonymous poets1 one that      
prophets1 sometimes equally anonymous1  
proclaimed4 ,it was the prophets that   
reviled the false gods1 denounced the   
abominations of ,ishtar1 and purified   
the ,israelite heart4 ,while nothing    
discernible1 or even imaginable1        
menaced1 however slightly1 the great    
empires of that day1 the prophets were  
the first to realize that the ,orient   
was dead4 ,when the ,christ announced   
that the end of the world was at hand1  
he but reiterated anterior predictions  
that presently were fulfilled4 ,a world 
did end4 ,that of antiquity ceased to   
be4  ,footnote #cf3 ,cf4 ,deut4 xxiii4  
#ag1 where 'almth 7puell7 is rendered in
 the ,sapphist sense4 ,ezekiel xvi4 #ag4
 ,fecisti tibi imagines masculinas4  ,it
 was the prophets that foretold it4     
,gloomy1 fanatic1 implacable and1 it may
 be1 mad1 yet inspired at least by      
genius which itself1 while madness1 is a

 madness wholly divine1 they heralded   
the future1 they established the past4  
,abraham they drew from allegory1 ,moses
 from myth4 ,they made them live1 and so
 immortally that one survives in ,islam1
 the other in words that are a law of   
grace for all4  ,if1 in visions possibly
 ecstatic1 they beheld heights that lost
 themselves in immensity1 and saw there 
an ineffable name seared by forked      
flames on a tablet of stone2 if that    
spectacle and the theophany of it were  
but poetry1 the decalogue is a fact1 one
 so solid that though ages have gone1   
though empires have crumbled1 though the
 customs of man have altered1 though the
 sky itself have changed1 still is      
obeyed the commandment3 ,thou shalt have
 no other gods before me4  ,from ,chemos
 in ,moab1 from ,rimmon among the       
,ammonites1 no such edict had come4 ,it 
felled them4 ,amon-,r it tore from the  
celestial ,nile1 and ,bel-,marduk from  
the ,silver ,sky4 ,the ,refam hid them  
in shadows as surely as they buried     

there the high and potent lords of      
,greece and ,rome4 ,these interments1   
completed by others1 the prophets began4
 ,for it was they who1 in addition to   
the command1 revealed the commandant1   
creator of whatever is3 the ,being      
,absolute that abhorred evil1 loved     
righteousness1 punished the transgressor
 and rewarded the just2 ,el ,shaddai1   
then really ,lord of ,hosts4  ,it may be
 that already in ,israel there had been 
some prescience of this4 ,but it lacked 
the authority of inspired text4 ,the    
omission was one that only seers could  
remedy4 ,it was presumably in these     
circumstances that an agreement was     
imagined which1 construed as a condition
 of a covenant1 assumed to have been    
made with ,abraham1 was further assumed 
to have been renewed to ,moses4 ,the    
resulting poetry was enveloped in a     
romance of which ,continental           
scholarship has discovered two versions1
 woven together1 perhaps by ,ezra1 into 
a single tale4  ,in the beginning       

,elohim created the heaven and earth4   
,that abrupt declaration1 presented     
originally in but one of the versions1  
had already been pronounced of ,indra   
and also of ,ormuzd4 ,the ,hebraic      
announcement alone prevailed4 ,it       
emptied the firmament of its monsters1  
dislodged the gods from the skies1 and  
enthroned there a deity at first        
multiple but subsequently unique4       
,afterward seraphs and saints might     
replace the evaporated imaginings of    
other creeds2 ,satan might create a     
world of his own and people it with the 
damned2 theology might evolve from elder
 faiths a newer trinity and set it like 
a diadem in space2 angels and archangels
 might refill the devastated heavens of 
the past2 none the less1 in the light of
 that austere pronouncement1 for a      
moment ,israel dwelled in contemplation 
of the ,ideal4  ,at the time it is      
probable that the story of the love of  
the sons of ,jahveh for the daughters of
 men1 together with the pastel of ,eden 

as it stands to-day1 were not contained 
in existing accounts of that ideal4     
,these legends1 which regarded as       
legends are obviously false1 but which1 
construed as allegories1 may be         
profoundly true1 were probably not      
diffused until after the captivity1 when
 ,israel was not more subtle1 that is   
not possible1 but1 by reason of her     
contact with ,persia1 more wise4  ,the  
origin of evil these myths related but  
did not explain4 ,since then1 from no   
church has there come an adequate       
explanation of the malediction under    
which man is supposed to labour because 
of the natural propensities of beings   
that never were4 ,that explanation these
 myths1 which orthodoxy has gravely1    
though sometimes reluctantly1 accepted1 
both provide and conceal4 ,they date    
possibly from the ,ormuzdian revelation3
 ,in the beginning was the living ,word4
  ,john1 or more exactly his homonym1   
repeated the pronouncement1 adding3 ,the
 word was made flesh4 ,but1 save for a  

mention of the glory which he had before
 the world was1 he omitted to further   
follow the thought of ,ormuzd1 who1 in  
describing paradise to ,zarathrustra1   
likened it1 in every way1 to heaven4    
,there the first beings were1 exempt    
from physical necessities1 pure         
intelligences1 naked as the compilers of
 ,genesis translated1 naked and         
unashamed1 but naked and unashamed      
because incorporeal1 unincarnate and    
clothed in light1 a vestment which they 
exchanged for a garment of flesh1 coats 
of skin as it is in ,genesis1 when1     
descended on earth1 their intelligence1 
previously luminous1 swooned in the     
senses of man4  ,in ,egypt1 the harper  
going out from ,amenti sang3 ,life is   
death in a land of darkness1 death is   
life in a land of light4 ,there perhaps 
is the origin of evil4 ,there too       
perhaps is its cure4 ,but the view      
accepted there too is pre-existence and 
persistence1 a doctrine blasphemous to  
the ,jew as it was to the ,assyrian1 to 

whom the gods alone were immortal1 and  
to whom1 in consequence1 immortal beings
 would be gods4 ,in the creed of both1  
man was essentially evanescent4 ,to the 
,hebrew1 he lived a few1 brief days and 
then went down into silence1 where no   
remembrance is4 ,there1 gathered among  
the ,refam to his fathers1 he remained  
forever1 unheeded by ,god4  ,the        
conception1 passably rationalistic and  
not impossibly correct1 veiled the      
beautiful allegory that was latent in   
the ,eden myth4 ,it had the further     
defect1 or the additional advantage1 of 
eliminating any theory of future        
punishment and reward4 ,in lieu of      
anything of the kind1 there was a       
doctrine that evil1 in producing evil1  
automatically punished itself4 ,the     
doctrine is incontrovertible4 ,but1 for 
corollary1 went the fallacy that virtue 
is its own reward4 ,against that idea   
,job protested so energetically that    
medival monks were afraid to read what  
he wrote4 ,yet it was perhaps in        

demonstration of the real significance  
of the allegory that a spiritualistic   
doctrine--always an impiety to the      
orthodox--was insinuated by the         
,pharisees and instilled by the ,christ4
  ,the basis of it rested perhaps       
partially in the idealism of the        
prophets4 ,the clamour of their voices  
awoke the dead4 ,it transformed the     
skies4 ,it transfigured ,jahveh4 ,it    
divested him of attributes that were    
human4 ,it outlined others that were    
divine4 ,it awoke not merely the dead1  
but the consciousness that a god that   
had a proper name could not be the true 
one4 ,thereafter mention of it was      
avoided4 ,the vowels were dropped4 ,it  
became unpronounceable1 therefore       
incommunicable4 ,for it was substituted 
the term vaguer1 and therefore more     
exact1 of ,lord1 one in whose service   
were fulfilled the words of ,isaiah3 ,i 
am the first and ,i am the last1 and    
beside me there is no ,god4  ,in the    
marvel of that miraculous realization   

were altitudes hitherto undreamed1 peaks
 from whose summits there was           
discernible but the valleys beneath1 and
 another height on which stood the ,son 
of man4 ,yet marvellous though the      
realization was1 instead of diminishing1
 it increased4 ,it did not pass4 ,it was
 not forgot4 ,ceaselessly it augmented4 
,in the ,scriptures there are many      
marvels4 ,that perhaps is the greatest4 
,amon1 originally an obscure provincial 
god of ,thebes1 became the supreme      
divinity of ,egypt4 ,bel1 originally a  
local god of ,nippur1 became in ,babylon
 ,lord of ,hosts4 ,but ,jahveh1         
originally the tutelary god of squalid  
nomads1 became the ,deity of            
,christendom4 ,the fact is one that any 
scholarship must admit4 ,it is the      
indisputable miracle of the ,bible4     
,,vi  ,,zeus   ,in ,judea1 when ,jahveh 
was addressed1 he answered1 if at all1  
with a thunderclap4 ,since then he has  
ceased to reply4 ,zeus was more         
complaisant4 ,one might enter with him  

into the intimacy of the infinite4 ,the 
father of the ,graces1 the ,muses1 the  
,hours1 it was natural that he should be
 debonair4 ,but he had other children4  
,among them were ,litai1 the ,prayers4  
,in the ,vedas1 where ,zeus was born1   
the ,prayers upheld the skies4 ,lame and
 less lofty in ,greece1 they could but  
listen and intercede4  ,the detail is   
taken from ,homer4 ,in his ,ionian      
,pentateuch is the statement that       
beggars are sent by ,zeus1 that whoever 
stretches a hand is respectable in his  
eyes1 that the mendicant who is repulsed
 may perhaps be a god#cg--suggestions   
which1 afterward1 were superiorly       
resumed in the dictum3 ,inasmuch as ye  
have done it unto the least of these my 
brethren1 ye have done it unto me4      
,footnote #cg3 ,odyssey1 xviii4 #dhe1 v4
 #ddg1 xiv4 #ef4  ,the ,litai were not  
alone in their offices4 ,there were the 
oracles of ,delphi1 of ,trophonios and  
of ,mopsos1 where one might converse    
with any divinity1 even with ,pan1 who  

was a very great god4 ,but ,olympos was 
neighbourly4 ,it was charming too4      
,there was unending spring there1       
eternal youth1 immortal beauty1 the     
harmonies of divine honey-moons1 the    
ideal in a golden dream2 a stretch of   
crystal parapets1 from which1 leaning   
and laughing1 radiant goddesses and     
resplendent gods looked down1 and to    
whom a people1 adolescent still1 looked 
up4  ,in that morning of delight fear   
was absent1 mystery was replaced by joy4
 ,the pageantry of the hours may have   
been too near to nature to know of      
shame1 it was yet too close to the      
divine to know of hate4 ,man1 then1 for 
the first time1 loved what he worshipped
 and worshipped what he loved4 ,his     
brilliant and musical ,bible moved his  
heart without tormenting it4 ,it        
conducted but did not constrain4 ,it    
taught him that in death all are equal  
and that in life the noble-minded are   
serene4  ,in the ,genesis of this ,bible
 there is an account of a golden age and

 of a paradise into which evil was      
introduced by woman4 ,the account is    
,hesiod's1 to whom the ,orient had      
furnished the details4 ,it may be that  
both erred4 ,if ever there were a golden
 age it must have been in those days    
when heaven was on earth and1 mingling  
familiarly with men1 were processions of
 gods1 gods of love1 of light1 of       
liberty1 thousands of them1 not one of  
whom had ever heard an atheist's voice4 
,related to humanity1 of the same blood1
 sons of the same ,aryan mother1 they   
differed from men only in that the      
latter died because they were real1     
while they were deathless because ideal4
  ,the ideal was too fair4 ,presently   
,pallas became the soul of ,athens4 ,but
 meanwhile from the ,east there strayed 
swarms of enigmatic faces2 the harlot   
handmaids of her ,celestial ,highness   
,ishtar1 ,princess of ,heaven2 the      
mutilated priests of ,tammuz her lover2 
dual conceptions that resulted in       
,aphrodite ,pandemos1 the postures of   

,priapos1 the leer of the ,lampsacene1  
and1 with them1 forms of worship        
comparable1 in the circumadjacent       
beauty1 to latrin in a garden1 ignoble  
shapes that violated the candour of     
maidens' eyes1 but with which ,greece   
became so accustomed that on them moral 
aphorisms were engraved4 ,in the mind of
 ,hellas1 these things1 ,renan1 with his
 usual unctuousness1 declared1 awoke but
 pious thoughts4  ,pious at heart       
,hellas was4 ,even art1 which now is    
wholly profane1 with her was wholly     
sacred4 ,the sanctity was due to its    
perfection4 ,the perfection was such    
that imbeciles who fancy that it has    
been or could be surpassed show merely  
that they know nothing about it4 ,at    
,athens1 where ,pheidias created a      
palpable ,olympos1 ,pallas stood        
colossally1 a torch in her hand1 a lance
 at her shoulder1 a shield at her side1 
a plastron of gold on her immaculate    
breast1 a golden robe about her ivory   
form1 and on her immortal brow a crown  

of gold1 beneath which1 sapphire eyes1  
that saw and foresaw1 glittered4 ,to-day
 the place where the marvellous creation
 stood is vacant4 ,with the gorgeous    
host ,pallas has departed4 ,but the     
torch she held still burns4 ,from the   
emptiness of her virginal arms1 that    
never were filled1 proceeds all         
civilization4  ,adjacently at ,eleusis  
was ,demeter4 ,pallas was the soul of   
,greece4 ,eleusis was the ,jerusalem1   
,demeter the ,madonna4  ,demeter--the   
earth1 the universal mother--had1 in a  
mystic hymen with her brother ,zeus1    
conceived ,persephone4 ,the latter1 when
 young and a maiden1 beckoned perhaps by
 ,eros1 wandered from ,olympos and was  
gathering flowers when ,pluto1 borne by 
black horses1 erupted1 raped her1 and   
tore her away4 ,the cries of the        
indignant ,demeter sterilized the earth4
 ,to assuage her1 ,zeus undertook to    
have ,persephone recovered1 provided    
that in ,hades1 of which ,pluto was     
lord1 she had eaten nothing4 ,but the   

girl had--a pomegranate grain4 ,it was  
the irrevocable4 ,demeter yielded1 as   
the high gods had to yield1 to what was 
higher than they1 to ,destiny4          
,meanwhile1 in the shadows below1       
,persephone was transfigured4    ,thou  
art more than the day or the morrow1 the
 seasons that laugh and       that weep2
   ,for these give joy and sorrow3 but  
thou1 ,proserpina1 sleep4444   ,o       
daughter of earth1 of my mother1 her    
crown and blossom of birth1   ,i am     
also1 ,i also1 thy brother2 ,i go as ,i 
came unto earth4   ,in the night where  
thine eyes are as moons are in heaven1  
the night       where thou art1   ,where
 the silence is more than all tunes1    
where sleep overflows from       the    
heart1 444   ,and the murmur of spirits 
that sleep in the shadow of gods from   
afar   ,grows dim in thine ears and deep
 as the deep dim soul of a star4   ,in  
the sweet low light of thy face1 under  
heavens untrod by the sun1   ,let my    
soul with their souls find place and    

forget what was done or       undone4   
,thou art more than the gods that number
 the days of our temporal breath   ,for 
these give labour and slumber2 but thou1
 ,proserpina1 death4  ,like ,hesiod1    
,swinburne erred1 though perhaps        
intentionally1 as poets should1 for the 
greater glory of the ,muses4 ,persephone
 brought not death but life4 ,the aisles
 of despair she filled with hope4       
,transfigured herself1 ,pluto she       
transformed4 ,she changed what had been 
hell into what was to be purgatory4 ,it 
was not yet ,elysium1 but it was no     
longer ,hades4 ,plato said that those   
who were in her world had no wish at all
 for this4  ,it is for that reason that 
,demeter is the ,madonna of ,greece1 as 
her ethereal daughter was the saviour4  
,the myth of it all1 brought by         
,pythagoras from ,egypt is very old4    
,known in ,memphis1 it was known too in 
,babylon1 perhaps before ,memphis was4  
,but the legend of ,isis and that of    
,ishtar--both of whom descended into    

hell--lack the transparent charm which  
this idyl unfolds and of which the      
significance was revealed only to       
initiate in epiphanies at ,eleusis4     
,before these sacraments ,greece stood1 
a finger to her lips4 ,yet the whispers 
from them that have reached us1 while   
furtive perhaps1 are clear4 ,they       
furnished the poets with notes that are 
resonant still4 ,they lifted the drama  
to heights that astound4 ,even in the   
fancy balls of ,aristophanes1 where men 
were ribald and the gods were mocked1   
suddenly1 in the midst of the orgy1     
laughter ceased1 obscenities were       
hushed4 ,afar a hymn resounded4 ,it was 
the chorus of the ,initiate going       
measuredly by4  ,the original mysteries 
were ,hermetic4 ,enterable only after a 
prolonged novitiate1 the adept then     
beheld an unfolding of the theosophy of 
the soul4 ,in visions1 possibly         
ecstatic1 he saw the series of its      
incarnations1 the seven cycles through  
which it passed1 the ,ship of a ,million

 ,years on which the migrations are     
effected and on which1 at last1 from the
 ,valley of the ,shadow of ,death1 it   
sails to its primal home4  ,that home   
was colour1 its sustenance light4       
,there1 in ethereal evolutions1 its     
incarnations began4 ,at first           
unsubstantial and wholly ineffable1     
these turned for it every object into   
beauty1 every sound into joy4 ,without  
needs1 from beatitude to beatitude      
blissfully it floated4 ,but1 subjected  
to the double attraction of matter and  
of sin1 the initiate saw the memories   
and attributes of its spirituality fade4
 ,he saw it flutter1 and fluttering     
sink4 ,he saw that in sinking it        
enveloped itself in garments that grew  
heavier at each descent4 ,through the   
denser clothing he saw the desires of   
the flesh pulsate4 ,he saw them force it
 lower1 still lower1 until1 fallen into 
its earthly tenement1 it swooned in the 
senses of man4 ,from the chains of that 
prison he learned that the soul's one   

escape was in a recovery of the memory  
of what it had been when it was other   
than what it had become4  ,that memory  
the mysteries provided4 ,those of       
,eleusis differed from the ,egyptian    
only in detail4 ,at ,eleusis1 in lieu of
 visions1 there were tableaux4          
,persephone1 beckoned by desire1        
straying then from ,olympos1 afterward  
fainting in the arms of ,pluto1 but     
subsequently1 while preparing her own   
reascension1 saving and embellishing all
 that approach1 was the symbol1 in an   
,hellenic setting1 of the fall and      
redemption of man4  ,the human tragedy  
thus portrayed was the luminous         
counterpart of the dark dramas that     
,athens beheld4 ,there1 in the          
theatre--which itself was a church with 
the stage for pulpit--man1 blinded by   
passions1 the ,fates pursued and        
,destiny felled4  ,the sombre spectacle 
was inexplicable4 ,at ,eleusis was      
enlightenment4 ,eskato ,bebelo--,out    
from here1 the profane--the heralds     

shouted as the mysteries began4 ,konx   
ompax--,go in peace--they called when   
the epiphanies were completed4  ,in     
peace the initiate went1 serenely1 it is
 said1 ever after4 ,from them the load  
of ignorance was lifted4 ,but what their
 impressions were is unrecorded4 ,they  
were bound to secrecy4 ,no one could    
learn what occurred without being       
initiated1 or without dying4 ,for death 
too is initiation4  ,the mysteries were 
schools of immortality4 ,they           
plentifully taught many a lesson that   
,christianity afterward instilled4 ,but 
their drapery was perhaps over ornate4  
,truth does not need any4 ,truth always 
should be charming4 ,yet always it      
should be naked as well4 ,about it the  
mysteries hung a raiment that was       
beautiful1 but of which the rich        
embroideries obscured4 ,the mysteries   
could not have been more fascinating1   
that is not possible1 but1 the myths    
removed1 in simple nudity they would    
have been more clear4 ,doubtless it was 

for that very reason1 in order that they
 might not be transparent1 that the     
myths were employed4 ,it is for that    
very reason1 perhaps1 that ,christianity
 also adopted a few4 ,yet at least from 
cant they were free4 ,among the multiple
 divinities of ,greece1 hypocrisy was   
the unknown god4 ,consideration of the  
others is1 to-day1 usually effected     
through the pages of ,ovid4 ,one might  
as well study ,christianity in the works
 of ,voltaire4 ,christianity's brightest
 days were in the dark ages4 ,the       
splendid glamour of them that persists  
is due to many causes1 among which1 in  
minor degree1 may be the compelling     
glare of ,greek genius4 ,that glare1    
veiled in the mysteries1 philosophy     
reflects4  ,philosophy is but the love  
of wisdom4 ,it began with ,socrates4 ,he
 had no belief in the gods4 ,the man who
 has none may be very religious4 ,but   
though ,socrates did not believe in the 
gods he did not deny them4 ,he did what 
perhaps was worse4 ,he ignored their    

perfectly poetic existence4 ,he was put 
to death for it1 though only at the     
conclusion of a long promenade during   
which he delivered ,athenian youths of  
their intelligence4 ,facility in the    
operation may have been inherited4      
,socrates was the son of a midwife4 ,his
 own progeny consisted in a complete    
transfiguration of ,athenian thought4   
,he told of an ,intelligence1 supreme1  
ethical1 just1 seeing all1 hearing all1 
governing all2 a creator made not after 
the image of man but of the soul1 and   
visible only in the conscience4 ,it was 
for that he died4 ,there was no such god
 on ,olympos4  ,there was an additional 
indictment4 ,socrates was accused of    
perverting the jeunesse dore4 ,at a     
period when1 everywhere1 save only in   
,israel1 the abnormal was usual1        
,socrates was almost insultingly chaste4
 ,the perversion of which he was accused
 was not of that order4 ,it was that of 
inciting lads to disobey their parents  
when the latter opposed what he taught4 

,i am come to set a man against his     
father1 it is written in ,matthew4 ,the 
mission of ,socrates was the same4      
,because of it he died4 ,he was the     
first martyr4 ,but his death was        
overwhelming in its simplicity4 ,even in
 fairyland there has been nothing more  
calm4 ,by way of preparation he said to 
his judges3 ,were you to offer to acquit
 me on condition that ,i no longer      
profess what ,i believe1 ,i would       
answer2 ',athenians1 ,i honour and ,i   
love you1 but a god has commanded me and
 that god ,i will obey1 rather than     
you4'  ,in the speech was irony1 with   
which ,athens was familiar4 ,but it also
 displayed a conception1 wholly new1    
that of maintaining at any cost the     
truth4 ,the novelty must have charmed4  
,when ,peter and the apostles were      
arraigned before the ,sanhedrin1 their  
defence consisted in the very words that
 ,socrates had used3 ,we should obey    
,god rather than man4#ch  ,footnote #ch3
 ,acts v4 #bi4  ,socrates wrote nothing4

 ,the ,buddha did not either4 ,neither  
did the ,christ4 ,these had their       
evangelists4 ,socrates had also         
disciples who1 as vehicle for his ideas1
 employed the nightingale tongue of     
beauty into which the ,law and the      
,prophets were translated by the        
,septuagint and into which the ,gospels 
were put4  ,it would be irreverent to   
suggest that the latter are in any way  
indebted to ,socratic inspiration4 ,it  
would be irrelevant as well4 ,for1 while
 the ,intelligence that ,socrates       
preached differed as much from the      
volage and voluptuous ,zeus as the ,god 
of ,christendom differs from the ,jahveh
 of ,job1 yet1 in a divergence so wide1 
an idealist1 very poor except in ideas2 
a teacher killed by those who knew not  
what they did2 a philosopher that       
drained the cup without even asking that
 it pass from him2 a mere reformer1     
though dangerous perhaps as every       
reformer worth the name must be2 but1   
otherwise1 a mere man like any other1   

only a little better1 could obviously   
have had no share4 ,for reasons not     
minor but major1 ,plato could have had  
none either4  ,it is related that a     
,roman invader sank back1 stricken with 
deisidaimonia--the awe that the gods    
inspired--at the sight of the ,pheidian 
,zeus4 ,it is with a wonder not cognate 
certainly1 yet in a measure relative1   
that one considers what ,socrates must  
have been if millennia have gone without
 producing one mind approaching that of 
his spiritual heir4 ,it was uranian2 but
 not disassociated from human things4   
,plato1 like his master1 was but a man  
in whom the ideal was intuitive1 perhaps
 the infernal also4 ,in the gardens of  
the ,academe and along the banks of the 
,ilissus1 he announced a ,last          
,judgment4 ,the announcement1 contained 
in the ,phdo1 had for supplement a      
picture that may have been ,persian1 of 
the righteous ascending to heaven and   
the wicked descending to hell4 ,in the  
,laws1 the picture was annotated with a 

statement to the effect that whatever a 
man may do1 there is an eye that sees   
him1 a memory that registers and        
retains4 ,in the ,republic he declared  
that afflictions are blessings in       
disguise4 ,but his ,republic1 a utopian 
commonwealth1 was not1 he said1 of this 
world1 adding in the ,phdo1 that few are
 chosen though many are called4  ,the   
mystery of the catholicism of the       
,incas1 reported back to the ,holy      
,office1 was there defined as an        
artifice of the devil4 ,with finer      
circumspection1 ,christian ,fathers     
attributed the denser mystery of ,greek 
philosophy to the inspiration of ,god4  
,certainly it is ample4 ,as exemplified 
by ,plato it has1 though1 its           
limitations4 ,there is no charity in it4
 ,plato preached humility1 but there is 
none in his sermons4 ,his thought is a  
winged thing1 as the thought of a poet  
ever should be4 ,but in the expression  
of it he seems smiling1 disdainful1     
indifferent as a statue to the poverties

 of the heart4 ,that too1 perhaps1 is as
 it should be4 ,the high muse wears a   
radiant peplum4 ,anxiety is banished    
from the minds that she haunts4 ,then1  
also1 if1 in the nectar of ,plato's     
speech1 compassion is not an ingredient1
 it may be because1 in his              
violet-crowned city1 it was strewn      
open-handed through the beautiful       
streets4 ,there1 public malediction was 
visited on anyone that omitted to guide 
a stranger on his way4  ,israel was too 
strictly monotheistic to raise an altar 
to ,pity1 the rest of antiquity too     
cruel4 ,in ,athens there was one4 ,in   
addition there were missions for the    
needy1 asylums for the infirm4 ,if      
anywhere1 at that period1 human sympathy
 existed1 it was in ,greece4 ,the       
aristocratic silence of ,plato may have 
been due to that fact4 ,he would not    
talk of the obvious1 though he did of   
the vile4 ,in one of his books the then 
common and abnormal conception of       
sexuality was1 if not authorized1 at    

least condoned4 ,it is conjectural1     
however1 whether the conception was more
 monstrous than that which subsequent   
mysticity evolved4  ,said ,ruysbroeck3  
,the mystic carries her soul in her hand
 and gives it to whomsoever she wishes4 
,said ,st4 ,francis of ,sales3 ,the soul
 draws to itself motives of love and    
delectates in them4 ,what the gift and  
what the delectation were1 other saints 
have described4  ,marie de la ,croix    
asserted that in the arms of the        
celestial ,spouse she swam in an ocean  
of delight4 ,concerning that ,spouse1   
,marie ,alacoque added3 ,like the most  
passionate of lovers he made me         
understand that ,i should taste what is 
sweetest in the suavity of caresses1 and
 indeed1 so poignant were they1 that ,i 
swooned4 ,the ravishments which ,st4    
,theresa experienced she expressed in   
terms of abandoned precision4 ,mme4     
,guyon wrote so carnally of the divine  
that ,bossuet exclaimed2 ,seigneur1 if  
,i dared1 ,i would pray that a seraph   

with a flaming sword might come and     
purify my lips sullied by this          
recital4#ci  ,footnote #ci3 ,relation   
sur le ,quitisme4  ,augustin pleasantly 
remarked that we are all born for hell4 
,one need not agree with him4 ,in the   
presence of the possibly monstrous and  
the impossibly blasphemous1 there is    
always a recourse4 ,it is to turn away1 
though it be to ,zeus1 a belief in whom1
 however stupid1 is ennobling beside the
 turpitudes that ,christian mysticism   
produced4  ,at ,athens1 meanwhile1 the  
religion of ,state persisted4 ,so also  
did philosophy4 ,when1 occasionally1 the
 two met1 the latter bowed4 ,that was   
sufficient4 ,religion exacted respect1  
not belief4 ,it was not a faith1 it was 
a law1 one that for its majesty was     
admired and for its poetry was beloved4 
,in the deification of whatever is      
exquisite it was but an artistic cult4  
,the real ,olympos was the ,pantheon4   
,the other was fading away4 ,deeper and 
deeper it was sinking back into the     

golden dream from which it had sprung4  
,further and further the crystal        
parapets were retreating4 ,dimmer and   
more dim the gorgeous host became4 ,in  
words of perfect piety ,epicurus        
pictured them in the felicity of the    
ideal4 ,there1 they had no heed of man1 
no desire for worship1 no wish for      
prayer4 ,it was unnecessary even to     
think of them4 ,decorously1 with every  
homage1 they were being deposed4  ,but  
if ,epicurus was decorous1 ,evemerus was
 devout4 ,it was his endeavour1 he said1
 not to undermine but to fortify4 ,the  
gods he described as philanthropists    
whom a grateful world had deified4 ,zeus
 had waged a sacrilegious war against   
his father4 ,aphrodite was a harlot and 
a procuress4 ,the others were equally   
commendable4 ,once they had all lived4  
,since then all had died4 ,evemerus had 
seen their tombs4  ,one should not      
believe him4 ,their parapets are dimmer1
 perhaps1 but from them still they lean 
and laugh4 ,they are immortal as the    

hexameters in which their loves unfold4 
,yet1 oddly enough1 presently the oracle
 of ,delphi strangled4 ,in his cavern   
,trophonios was gagged4 ,the voice of   
,mopsos withered4  ,that is nothing4 ,on
 the ,ionian1 the captain of a ship     
heard some one calling loudly at him    
from the sea4 ,the passengers1 who were 
at table1 looked out astounded4 ,again  
the loud voice called3 ,captain1 when   
you reach shore announce that the great 
god ,pan is dead4#dj  ,footnote #dj3    
,plutarch3 de ,oracul4 defect4 #ad4  ,it
 may be that it was true4 ,it may be    
that after ,pan the others departed4    
,when ,paul reached ,athens he found a  
denuded ,pantheon1 a vacant ,olympos1   
skies more empty still4     ,,vii       
,,jupiter   ,the name of the national   
deity of ,israel is unpronounceable4    
,the name of the national divinity of   
,rome is unknown4 ,to all but the       
hierophants it was a secret4 ,for       
uttering it a senator was put to death4 
,but ,tullius ,hostilius erected temples

 to ,fear and to ,pallor4 ,it may have  
been ,fright4 ,the conjecture is        
supported by the fact that1 as was      
usual1 ,rome had any number of deified  
epithets1 as she had also a quantity of 
little bits of gods4 ,these latter      
greatly amused the ,christian ,fathers4 
,among them was ,alemona1 who1 in homely
 ,english1 was ,wet-nurse4  ,tertullian1
 perhaps navely1 remarked3 ,superstition
 has invented these deities for whom we 
have substituted angels4 ,in addition to
 the diva mater ,alemona was the divus  
pater ,vaticanus1 the holy father       
,vatican1 who assisted at a child's     
first cry4 ,there was the equally holy  
father ,fabulin1 who attended him in his
 earliest efforts at speech4 ,neither of
 them had anything else to do4  ,pavor  
had4 ,at thunder1 at lightning1 at a    
meteor1 at moisture on a wall1 at no    
matter what1 at silence even1 the       
descendants of a she-wolf's nursling    
quailed4 ,they lived in a panic4 ,in    
panic the gods were born4 ,it is but    

natural1 perhaps1 that ,fright should   
have been held supreme4 ,the other gods1
 mainly divinities of prey and of havoc1
 were lustreless as the imaginations    
that conceived them4 ,prosaic1 unimaged1
 without poetry or myth1 they dully     
persisted until pedlars appeared with   
,hellenic legends and wares4 ,to their  
tales ,rome listened4 ,then eidolons of 
the ,olympians became naturalized there4
 ,zeus was transformed into ,jupiter1   
,aphrodite into ,venus1 ,pallas into    
,minerva1 ,demeter into ,ceres1 and all 
of them--and with them all the          
others--into an irritable police4 ,the  
,greek gods enchanted1 those of ,rome   
alarmed4 ,plutarch said that they were  
indignant if one presumed to so much as 
sneeze4  ,worship1 consequently1 was a  
necessary precaution1 an insurance      
against divine risks1 a matter of       
business in which the devout bargained  
with the divine4 ,ovid represented ,numa
 trying to elude the exigencies of      
,jove4 ,the latter had demanded the     

sacrifice of a head4 ,you shall have a  
cabbage1 said the king4 ,i mean         
something human4 ,some hairs then4 ,no1 
,i want something alive4 ,we will give  
you a pretty little fish4 ,jupiter      
laughed and yielded4 ,that was much     
later1 after ,lucretius1 in putting     
,epicurus into verse1 had declared      
religion to be the mother of sin4 ,by   
that time ,fear and ,pallor had struck  
terror into the very marrow of barbarian
 bones4 ,fright was a god more          
serviceable than ,zeus4 ,with him ,rome 
conquered the world4 ,yet in the        
conquest ,fright became ,might and the  
latter an effulgence of ,jove's4  ,jove 
was magnificent4 ,in the ,capitol he    
throned so augustly that we swear by him
 still4 ,like ,rome he is immortal4 ,but
 ,pavor1 that had faded into him1 was   
never invoked4 ,the reason was not      
sacerdotal1 it was political4 ,rome     
never imposed her gods on the quelled4  
,with superior tact she lured their gods
 from them4 ,at any siege1 that was her 

first device4 ,to it she believed her   
victories were due4 ,it was to avoid    
possible reprisals and to remain        
invincible1 that her own national       
divinity she so carefully concealed that
 the name still is a secret4 ,with the  
gods1 ,rome gathered the creeds of the  
world1 set them like fountains among her
 hills1 and drank of their sacred       
waters4 ,her early deity is unknown4    
,but the secret of her eternity is in   
the religions that she absorbed4 ,it was
 these that made her immortal4  ,to that
 immortality the obscure god of an      
obscure people contributed largely1     
perhaps1 but perhaps1 too1 not uniquely4
 ,jahveh might have remained unperceived
 behind the veil of the sanctuary had   
not his altar been illuminated by lights
 from other shrines4 ,in the early days 
of the empire1 ,rome was fully aware of 
the glamour of ,amon1 of the star of    
,ormuzd1 ,brahm's cerulean lotos and the
 rainbow heights of ,bel-,marduk4 ,but  
in the splendour of ,jove all these were

 opaque4  ,jupiter1 always imposing1 was
 grandiose then4 ,his thoughts were vast
 as the sky4 ,in a direct revelation to 
,vergil he said of his chosen people3 ,i
 have set no limits to their conquest or
 its duration4 ,the empire ,i have given
 them shall be without end4#da ,hebrew  
prophets had spoken similarly4 ,vergil  
must have been more truly inspired4 ,the
 ,roman empire1 nominally holy1         
figuratively still exists4 ,yet         
fulfilment of the prophecy is due       
perhaps less to the ,god of the         
,gentiles than to the ,god of the ,jews4
 ,though perhaps also it may be         
permissible to discern in the latter a  
transfiguration of ,jove1 who originally
 ,zeus1 and primarily not ,hellenic but 
,hindu1 ultimately became supreme4      
,after the terrific struggle which      
resulted in that final metamorphosis1   
,jerusalem1 disinherited1 saw ,rome the 
spiritual capital of the globe4         
,footnote #da3 neid i4 #bgh4  ,jerusalem
 was not a home of logic4 ,rome was the 

city of law4 ,that law1 cold1           
inflexible1 passionless as a sword and  
quite as effective1 ,rome brandished at 
philosophy4 ,it is said that the        
intellectual gymnastics of ,greece were 
displeasing to her traditions4 ,it is   
more probable that augurs had foreseen  
or oracles had foretold that philosophy 
would divest her of the sword1 and with 
it of her sceptre and her might4 ,ideas 
cannot be decapitated4 ,only ridicule   
can demolish them4 ,philosophy1 mistress
 of irony1 resisted while nations fell4 
,it was philosophy that first undermined
 established creeds and then led to the 
pursuit of new ones4 ,yet it may be that
 a contributing cause was a curious     
theory that the world was to end4       
,foretold in the ,brahmanas1 in the     
,avesta and in the ,eddas1 probably it  
was in the ,sibylline ,books4 ,if not1  
the subsequent ,church may have so      
assumed4    ,dies ir1 dies illa1        
,solvet sclum in favilla1   ,teste      
,david cum ,sibylla4  ,not alone ,david 

and the ,sibyl but ,etruscan seers had  
seen in the skies that the tenth and    
last astronomical cycle had begun4#db   
,plutarch1 in his life of ,sylla1       
testified to the general belief in an   
approaching cataclysm4 ,lucretius       
announced that at any moment it might   
occur4#dc ,that was in the latter days  
of the republic4 ,in the early days of  
the empire the theory persisting may    
have induced the hope of a saviour4     
,suetonius said that nature in her      
parturitions was elaborating a king4#dd 
,afterward he added that such was       
,asia's archaic belief4#de ,recent      
discoveries have verified the assertion4
 ,in the ,akkadian ,epic of ,dibbara a  
messiah was foretold4#df ,that epic1    
anterior to a cognate ,egyptian         
prophecy1#dg anterior also to the       
,sibylline ,books1 was anterior too to  
the ,hebrew prophets and necessarily to 
those of ,rome4  ,footnote #db3         
,censorinus3 ,de die nat4 #ag4          
,footnote #dc3 ,de rerum nat41 v4 #aje4 

,footnote #dd3 ,in ,augusto1 #gd4       
,footnote #de3 ,in ,vesp4 #d4  ,footnote
 #df3 ,jastrow3 op4 cit4  ,footnote #dg3
 ,see back1 ,chapter ,,iii4  ,among     
these was ,vergil4 ,in the fourth       
,eclogue he beheld an age of gold1      
preceded by the advent on earth of a son
 of ,jove1 under whose auspices the last
 traces of sin and sorrow were to       
disappear and a new race descend from   
heaven4 ,the serpent shall die1 he      
declared1 adding3 ,the time is at hand4 
,the ,eclogue was written #dj ,b4,c41   
during the consulate of ,pallio1 whom   
the poet wished perhaps to flatter4     
,then presently ,ovid sang the deathless
 soul and ,tibullus gave rendezvous     
hereafter4 ,the atmosphere dripped with 
wonders4 ,the air became charged with   
the miraculous4 ,at stated intervals the
 doors of temples opened of themselves4 
,statues perspired visibly4 ,there was a
 book that explained the mechanism of   
these marvels4 ,it interested nobody4   
,prodigies were matters of course4  ,the

 people had a heaven1 also a hell1 both 
of them ,greek1 a purgatory that may    
have been ,asiatic1 and1 pending the    
advent of the son of ,jove1 in ,mithra  
they could have had a redeemer4 ,had it 
been desired1 ,buddhism could have      
supplied gospels1 ,india the trinity1   
,persia the resurrection1 ,egypt the    
life4 ,from ,iran could have been       
obtained an ,intelligence1 sovereign1   
unimaged1 and just4 ,that was           
unnecessary4 ,long since ,socrates had  
displayed it4 ,in addition1 ,epicurus   
had told of an ascension of heavens1    
skies beyond the sky1 worlds without    
number1 the many mansions of a later    
faith4  ,meanwhile1 austerity was an    
appanage of the stoics1 in whose        
faultless code the dominant note was    
contempt for whatever is base1 respect  
for all that is noble4 ,a doctrine of   
great beauty1 purely ,greek1 as was     
everything else in ,rome that was       
beautiful1 its heights were too lofty   
for the vulgar4 ,it appealed only to the

 lettered1 that is to the few1 to the   
infrequent disciples of ,zeno and of    
,cicero1 his prophet1 who1 ,erasmus     
said1 was inspired by ,god4  ,it may be 
that ,cicero inspired a few of ,god's   
preachers4 ,the latter were not yet in  
,rome4 ,christ had not come4 ,at that   
period1 unique in history1 man alone    
existed4 ,the temples were thronged1 but
 the skies were bare4 ,cicero knew that4
 ,elysium and ,hades were as chimerical 
to him as the ,epicurean heavens4       
,people1 he said1 talk of these places  
as though they had been there4 ,but that
 which was superstition to him he       
regarded as beneficial for others1 who  
had to have something and who got it1 in
 temples where a sin was a prayer4      
,there was once a play of which there   
has survived but the title3 ,the ,last  
,will and ,testament of ,defunct        
,jupiter4 ,it appeared in the days of   
,diocletian1 but it might have appealed 
when ,cicero taught4 ,faith then had    
fainted4 ,fright had ceased to build4   

,worship remained1 but religion had     
gone4 ,the gods themselves were         
departing4 ,the epoch itself was        
apoplectic4 ,the tramp of legions was   
continuous4 ,not alone the skies but the
 world was in a ferment4 ,it was not    
until a diadem1 falling from            
,cleopatra's golden bed1 rolled to the  
feet of ,augustus1 that the gods were   
stayed and faith revived4  ,in the      
interim1 prisoners had been deported    
from ,judea4 ,at first they were slaves4
 ,subsequently manumitted1 they formed a
 colony that in the high-viced city     
resembled ,esther in the seraglio of    
,ahasuerus4 ,rome1 amateur of cults1    
always curious of foreign faiths1 might 
have been interested in ,judaism4 ,it   
had many analogies with local beliefs4  
,its adherents awaited1 as ,rome did1 a 
messiah4 ,they awaited too a golden age4
 ,for those who were weary of           
philosophy1 they had a religion in which
 there was none4 ,for those to whom the 
marvellous appealed1 they had a history 

in which miracles were a string of      
pearls4 ,for those who were sceptic     
concerning the post-mortem1 they offered
 blankness4 ,in addition1 their god1 the
 enemy of all others1 was adapted to an 
empire that recognized no sovereignty   
but its own4 ,readily might ,rome have  
become ,hebrew4 ,but then1 with equal   
ease1 she might have become ,egyptian4  
,for those who were perhaps afraid of   
going to hell and yet may have been     
equally afraid of not going anywhere1   
,egypt held passports to a land of      
light4 ,then too1 the gods of ,egypt    
were friendly and accessible4 ,they     
mingled familiarly with those of ,rome1 
complaisantly with the deified ,csars1  
as already they had with the pharaohs1 a
 condescension1 parenthetically1 that   
did not protect them from ,tiberius1    
who1 for reasons with which religion had
 nothing whatever to do1 persecuted the 
,egyptians1 as he persecuted also the   
,jews4 ,none the less1 ,rome1 weary of  
local fictions1 might have become       

converted to foreign ideas4 ,in default 
of ,syrian or ,copt1 she might have     
become ,persian as already she was      
,greek4  ,augustus had other views4     
,divinities1 made not merely after the  
image of man but in symbols of sin1 he  
saluted4 ,with a hand usually small1 but
 in this instance tolerably large1 he   
re-established them on their pedestals4 
,a relapse to spiritual infancy         
resulted4 ,it was what he sought4 ,he   
wanted to be a god himself and he became
 one4 ,his power and1 after him1 that of
 his successors1 had no earthly limit1  
no restraint human or divine4 ,it was   
the same omnipotence here that elsewhere
 ,jupiter wielded4  ,jupiter had flamens
 who told him the time of day4 ,he had  
others that read to him4 ,for his       
amusement there were mimes4 ,for his    
delectation1 matrons established        
themselves in the ,capitol and affected 
to be his loves4 ,but then he was       
superb4 ,made of ivory1 painted         
vermillion1 seated colossally on a      

colossal throne1 a sceptre in one hand1 
a thunderbolt in the other1 a radiating 
gold crown on his august head1 and1     
about his limbs1 a shawl of ,tyrian     
purple1 he looked every inch the god4   
,the ,csars1 if less imposing1 were more
 potent4 ,their hands1 in which there   
was nothing symbolic1 held life and     
death1 absolute dominion over           
everything1 over every one4 ,jupiter was
 but a statue4 ,they alone were real1   
alone divine4 ,to them incense ascended4
 ,at their feet libations poured4 ,the  
nectar fumes confused4 ,rome1 mad as    
they1 built them temples1 raised them   
shrines1 creating for them a worship    
that they accepted1 as only their due   
perhaps1 but in which their reason fled4
 ,in accounts of the epoch there is much
 mention of citizens1 senators1         
patricians4 ,nominally there were such  
people4 ,actually there were but slaves4
 ,the slaves had a succession of        
masters4 ,among them was a lunatic1     
,caligula1 and an imbecile1 ,claud4     

,there were others4 ,there was ,terror1 
there was ,hatred1 there was ,crime4    
,these last1 though several1 were yet   
but one4 ,collectively1 they were ,nero4
  ,if philosophy ever were needed it was
 in his monstrous day4 ,to anyone1 at   
any moment1 there might be brought the  
laconic message3 ,die4 ,in republican   
,rome1 philosophy separated man from    
sin4 ,at that period it was perhaps a   
luxury4 ,in the imperial epoch it was a 
necessity4 ,it separated man from life4 
,the philosophy of the republic ,cicero 
expounded4 ,that of the empire ,seneca  
produced4  ,the neo-stoicism of the     
latter sustained the weak1 consoled the 
just4 ,it was a support and a guide4 ,it
 preached poverty4 ,it condemned wealth4
 ,it deprecated honours and pleasure4   
,it inculcated chastity1 humility1 and  
resignation4 ,it detached man from      
earth4 ,it inspired1 or attempted to    
inspire1 a desire for the ideal which it
 represented as the goal of the sage1   
who1 true child of ,god1#dh prepared for

 any torture1 even for the cross1#di    
yet1 essentially meek1#ej sorrowed for  
mankind1#ea happy if he might die for   
it4#eb  ,footnote #dh3 ,de ,provid4 i4  
,footnote #di3 ,cf4 ,lactantius vi4 #ag4
  ,footnote #ej3 ,epit4 cxx4 #ac4       
,footnote #ea3 ,lucanus ii4 #cgh4       
,footnote #eb3 ,ibidem4  ,in iambics    
that caressed the ear like flutes1 poets
 had told of ,jupiter clothed in purple 
and glory4 ,they had told of his        
celestial amours1 of his human and of   
his inhuman vices4 ,seneca believed in  
,jupiter4 ,but not in the ,jove of the  
poets4 ,that god dwelled in ivory and   
anapests4 ,seneca's deity1 nowhere      
visible1 was everywhere present4#ec     
,creator of heaven and earth1#ed without
 whom there is nothing1#ee from whom    
nothing is hidden1#ef and to whom all   
belongs1#eg our ,father1#eh whose will  
shall be done4#ei  ,footnote #ec3 ,nemo 
novit ,deum4 ,epit4 xxxi4 ,ubique ,deus4
 ,epit4 xli4  ,footnote #ed3 ,mundum    
hujus operis dominum et artificem4      

,qust4 nat4 i4  ,footnote #ee3 ,sine quo
 nihil est4 ,qust4 nat4 vii4 #ca4       
,footnote #ef3 ,nil ,deo ,clausam4 ,ep4 
lxxxx4  ,footnote #eg3 ,omnia habentem4 
,ep4 xcv4  ,footnote #eh3 ,parens       
noster4 ,ep4 cx4  ,footnote #ei3        
,placeat homini quidquid ,deo placuit4  
,ep4 lxxv4  ,life1 said ,seneca1 is a   
tribulation1 death a release4 ,in order 
not to fear death1 he added1 think of it
 always4 ,the day on which it comes     
judges all others4#fj ,meanwhile comfort
 those that sorrow4#fa ,share your bread
 with them that hunger4#fb ,wherever    
there is a human being there is place   
for a good deed4#fc ,sin is an ulcer4   
,deliverance from it is the beginning of
 health--salvation1 salutem4#fd         
,footnote #fj3 ,ep4 xxvi4 #d4  ,footnote
 #fa3 ,de ,clem4 ii4 #f4  ,footnote #fb3
 ,ep4 xcv4 #ea4  ,footnote #fc3 ,de     
,vita ,beata1 #ad4  ,footnote #fd3 ,ep4 
xxviii4 #i4  ,words such as these       
suggest others4 ,they are anterior to   
those which they recall4 ,the latter are

 more beautiful1 they are more ample1   
there is in them a poetry and a         
profundity that has rarely been         
excelled4 ,yet1 it may be1 that a germ  
of them is in ,seneca1 or1 more exactly1
 in theories which1 beginning in ,india1
 prophets1 seers1 and stoics variously  
interpreted and recalled4  ,however     
since they have charmed the world1 their
 effect on ,nero was curious4 ,seneca   
was his preceptor4 ,but so too was ,art4
 ,the lessons of these teachers1 fusing 
in the demented mind of the monster1    
produced transcendental depravity1 the  
apogee of the abnormal and the          
epileptically obscene4 ,what is more    
important1 they produced ,christianity4 
,christianity already existed in ,rome1 
but obscurely1 subterraneanly1 among a  
class of poor people generally detested1
 particularly by the ,jews4             
,christianity was not as yet a religion1
 it was but the belief of a sect that   
announced that the world was to be      
consumed4 ,presently ,rome was4 ,the    

conflagration1 which was due to ,nero1  
swept everything sacred away4  ,even for
 a prince that1 perhaps1 was excessive4 
,nero may have felt that he had gone too
 far4 ,an emperor was omnipotent1 he was
 not inviolable4 ,tiberius was          
suffocated1 ,caligula was stabbed1      
,claud was poisoned4 ,nero1 it may be1  
in feeling that he had gone too far1    
felt also that he needed a scapegoat4   
,christian pyromania suggested itself4  
,but probably it suggested itself first 
to the ,jews1 who1 ,renan has intimated1
 denounced the ,christians accordingly4 
,such may have been the case4 ,in any   
event1 then it was that ,christianity   
received its baptism of blood4  ,all    
antiquity was cruel1 but1 barring       
perhaps the immense ,asiatic butcheries1
 ,nero contrived then to surpass        
anything that had been done4 ,bloated   
and hideous1 his hair done up in a      
chignon1 a concave emerald for monocle1 
in the crowded arena he assisted at the 
rape of ,christian girls4 ,their lovers1

 their brothers and fathers were either 
eaten alive by beasts or1 that night1   
dressed in tunics that had been soaked  
in oil1 were fastened to posts and set  
on fire1 in order that1 as human        
torches1 they might illuminate palace   
gardens1 through which1 costumed as a   
jockey1 ,nero raced4  ,the spectacle in 
the amphitheatre1 which fifty thousand  
people beheld2 the succeeding festival  
at which all ,rome assembled1 were two  
acts in the birthday of a faith4  ,then1
 to the cradle1 presently1 ,wise ,men   
came with gifts--the gold1 the          
frankincense1 the myrrh1 of creeds      
anterior though less divine4     ,,viii 
,,the ,,nec ,,plus ,,ultra   ,it was    
after fastidious rites1 the heart       
entirely devout and on his knees1 that  
,angelico di ,fiesole drew a picture of 
the ,christ4 ,the attitude is emulative4
 ,it is with brushes dipped in holy     
water that ,jesus should be displayed1  
though more reverent still is the       
absence of any delineation4  ,reverence 

of that high character history formerly 
observed4 ,there is no mention of the   
,saviour in the chronicles of those who 
were blessed in being his               
contemporaries4 ,one indiscreet remark  
of ,josephus has been recognized as the 
interpolation of a later hand1          
well-intentioned perhaps1 but misguided4
 ,jesus glows in the ,gospels4 ,yet they
 that awaited the day when1 in a great  
aurora borealis1 the ,son of man should 
appear1 had passed from earth before one
 of the evangels was written4  ,it was a
 hundred years later before the texts   
that comprise the ,new ,testament were  
complete4 ,it was nearly two hundred    
before they were definitive4 ,in the    
interim many gospels appeared4          
,attributed indifferently to each of the
 ,twelve1 one was ascribed to ,judas4   
,there was a ,gospel to the ,hebrews1 a 
,gospel to the ,egyptians4 ,there were  
evangels of ,childhood1 of ,perfection  
and of ,mary4  ,these primitive memoirs 
were based on oral accounts of          

occurrences long anterior4 ,into them   
entered extraneous beauties1 felicities 
of phrase and detail1 which1 with naf   
effrontery1 were put into the mouth of  
one apostle or another1 even into that  
of ,jesus4 ,the ascription was regarded 
as highly commendable4 ,it was but a way
 of glorifying the ,lord4 ,besides1 the 
scenarii of these pious evocations the  
prophets had traced in advance4         
,rejoice1 daughter of ,zion2 shout1     
daughter of ,jerusalem1 behold thy ,king
 cometh unto thee2 he is just and having
 salvation1 lowly and riding upon an    
ass4  ,that king of the poor whom       
,zachariah had foreseen1 the stumbling  
block of ,israel that ,isaiah had       
foretold1 the ,son1 mentioned by ,hosea1
 whom ,jahveh had called out of ,egypt1 
was the ,saviour1 ascending in glory as 
,elijah had done4 ,a passage incorrectly
 rendered by the ,septuagint indicated a
 virginal birth4 ,that also was         
suggestive4  ,the little biographies in 
which these developments appeared were  

intended for circulation only among an  
author's narrow circle of immediate     
friends1 at most to be read aloud in    
devout reunions4 ,if1 ultimately1 of the
 entire collection1 four only were      
retained1 it is probably because these  
best expressed existing convictions4    
,though1 irrespective of their beauties1
 ,irenus said that there had to be four 
and could be but four1 for the reason   
that there are four seasons1 four winds1
 four corners of the earth1 and the four
 revelations of ,adam1 ,noah1 ,moses1   
and ,jesus4  ,it is not on that perhaps 
arbitrary deduction that their validity 
resides1 but rather because the parables
 and miracles which they recite became  
the spiritual nourishment of a world4   
,to their title of eternal verities they
 have other and stronger claims4 ,they  
have consoled and they have ennobled4   
,elder creeds may have done likewise1   
but these lacked that of which          
,christianity was the unique possessor1 
the marvel of a crucified god4          

,saviours there had been4 ,mithra was a 
redeemer4 ,zoroaster was born of a      
virgin4 ,persephone descended into hell4
 ,osiris rose from the dead4 ,gotama was
 tempted by the devil4 ,moses was       
transfigured4 ,elijah ascended into     
heaven4 ,but in no belief is there a    
parallel for the crucifixion1 although  
in ,hindu legend1 ,krishna1 a divinity  
whose mythical infancy a mythical       
prototype of ,herod troubled1 died1     
nailed by arrows to a tree4  ,in        
,oriental lore ,krishna is held to have 
been the eighth avatar of ,vishnu1 of   
whom ,gotama was the ninth4 ,krishna was
 therefore anterior to the ,buddha1 at  
least in myth4 ,but it would be a grave 
impropriety to infer that with the      
legend concerning him the narrative of  
the crucifixion has any other connection
 than the possible one of having        
suggested it4 ,the ,bhagavad-,purana1 in
 which the legend occurs1 is relatively 
modern1 though the legend itself may1   
like the ,tripitaka1 have existed       

orally1 for centuries1 before it was    
finally committed to writing4  ,there   
can1 however1 be no impropriety in      
recalling analogies that exist between  
the ,saviour and one whom the ,orient   
holds also divine4 ,these analogies1 set
 forth in the first chapter of the      
present volume1 are1 it may be1 wholly  
fortuitous1 though ,pliny stated that1  
centuries before his day1 disciples of  
,gotama were established on the ,dead   
,sea and1 from a passage in ,josephus1  
it seems probable that the ,essenes were
 ,buddhists1 in the same degree perhaps 
that the ,pharisees were ,parsis4 ,but  
the point is also obscure4 ,it is       
immaterial as well4 ,the ,gospels were  
not written in ,jerusalem but mainly in 
,rome1 where crucifixions were common1  
as they were1 for that matter1          
throughout the ,east1 but where1 too1   
all religions were acclimated and the   
supernatural was at home4  ,rome had    
witnessed the tours de force of         
,apollonios of ,tyana4 ,those of ,simon 

the ,magician had also been beheld4     
,rome had seen1 or1 it may be1 thought  
she believed she had seen1 ,vespasian   
cure the halt and the blind with a      
touch4 ,the atmosphere then was charged 
with the marvellous4 ,the temples were  
filled with prodigies1 with strange     
gods1 beckoning chimeras1 credulous     
crowds4  ,there was something superior4 
,rome was the depository of the legends 
and lore of the world4 ,a haunt of the  
,muses1 the sensual city was a hermitage
 of philosophy as well4 ,these things   
collectively represented a great        
literary feast1 of which not all the    
courses have descended to us1 though1 as
 is not impossible1 a lost dish or two1 
transmuted1 by the alchemy of faith1    
from dross into gold1 the ,gospels may  
perhaps contain4  ,in that case there is
 cause for great thankfulness4          
,moreover1 assuming the transmutation1  
no impiety can be implied4 ,it was as   
usual and as indicated as were papyrus  
and the stylus4 ,it is common to-day for

 a poet1 before spreading his own wings1
 to contemplate those of another4       
,inspiration is infectious4  ,a page of 
verse1 whether ,hindu1 ,persian1        
,egyptian1 ,greek1 or ,latin1 was as    
useful then4 ,dante fed on the          
troubadours4 ,they are lost and forgot4 
,he divinely stands greater than the    
tallest of them all4 ,in a measure the  
same may be true of those from whom the 
,gospels came4 ,yet with a very notable 
difference4 ,the ,divina ,commedia was  
written for all time4 ,so too were the  
,gospels4 ,but not intentionally4 ,they 
were written to prepare man for the     
immediate termination of the world4     
,with the most perfect propriety1       
therefore1 anything serviceable could   
have been utilized and probably was4    
,the devout had but to lift their eyes4 
,in the words of ,isaiah1 there1 before 
them1 were the treasures of nations2    
there were the camels and dromedaries   
bearing from every side incense and     
gold2 there were the sons of strangers  

to build up their walls4  ,the sons were
 many1 the treasures as great4 ,even    
otherwise there was the ,law1 there too 
were the ,prophets4 ,moses fasted for   
forty days4 ,elisha performed a miracle 
of the loaves1 if he did not that of the
 fishes4 ,job saw the ,lord walking upon
 the sea4 ,jeremiah said3 ,seek and ye  
shall find4 ,isaiah bid those that      
sorrowed come and be consoled4 ,in the  
poem of that poet the servant of the    
,lord had vinegar when he thirsted1 he  
was spat upon and for his garments lots 
were cast4  ,in an effort to fill in a  
picture of which the central figure had 
passed from the real to the ideal1 these
 things may have been suggestive4 ,so   
also1 perhaps1 was the ,talmud4 ,the    
redaction of that chaos began in the    
second century4 ,but the ,vedas1 the    
,homeric poems1 the ,tripitaka as well1 
existed in memory long before they were 
committed to writing4 ,the same is true 
of the ,talmud4 ,orally it existed prior
 to the ,christ4 ,considered as         

literature1 if it may be so considered1 
it is the reverse of endearing4 ,but of 
the many maxims that it contains there  
are some of singular charm4 ,among      
others is the ,lay not up for yourselves
 treasures on earth4#fe ,the origin of  
that1 as already indicated1 is traceable
 to the ,tripitaka1 which1              
parenthetically1 were so well known in  
,babylon that ,gotama was there regarded
 as a ,chaldean seer4 ,that abridgement 
of the ,law which is called the ,golden 
,rule is also in the ,talmud1#ff as     
also1 before the ,talmud was1 it was in 
the ,tripitaka4 ,the injunction to love 
one's enemies is equally in both4 ,so is
 the very excellent suggestion that one 
should consider one's own faults before 
admonishing a brother concerning his    
defects4 ,but the perhaps subtle        
intimation that the desire to commit    
adultery is as reprehensible as the act1
 and the rather extravagant statement   
that it is easier for a camel to pass   
through the eye of a needle than for a  

rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven1
 these1 originally1 were perhaps        
uniquely ,talmudic4 ,currently cited    
with multiple others they were all so   
many common sayings1 which1 strung      
together in the ,gospels1 became a      
rosary of most perfect pearls4          
,footnote #fe3 ,talmud ,babli3 ,baba    
bathra1 #aa a4  ,footnote #ff3          
,schabbath1 #cg a4  ,in a passage of    
,irenus it is stated that the ,gospel   
according to ,st4 ,matthew was arranged 
by the ,church for the benefit of the   
,jews who awaited a ,messiah descended  
from ,david4 ,a ,syro-,chaldaic evangel1
 known as the ,gospel to the ,hebrews1  
had then appeared4 ,so also had the     
,gospel according to ,st4 ,mark4 ,but   
these offered no evidence that ,jesus   
was the one they sought4 ,another was   
then prepared4 ,written in ,greek and   
bearing the authoritative name of       
,matthew1 it traced from ,david1        
,joseph's descent4  ,the narrative      
continued3 ,now the birth of ,jesus     

,christ was in this wise4 ,when as his  
mother ,mary was espoused to ,joseph1   
before they came together1 she was found
 with child by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,then  
,joseph her husband being a just man and
 not willing to make her a publick      
example1 was minded to put her away     
privily4 ,but while he thought on these 
things1 behold1 the angel of the ,lord  
appeared unto him in a dream1 saying1   
,joseph1 thou son of ,david1 fear not to
 take unto thee ,mary thy wife3 for that
 which is conceived in her is of the    
,holy ,ghost4  ,the genealogy completed1
 though perhaps inadequately1 since     
,jesus1 not being a son of ,joseph1     
could not have descended from ,david1   
the ,church continued3 ,now all this was
 done that it might be fulfilled which  
was spoken of the ,lord by the prophet  
saying1 ,behold a virgin shall be with  
child and shall bring forth a son and   
call his name ,emmanuel4  ,the prophecy 
mentioned occurs in ,isaiah vii1 #ad4   
,in the ,king ,james version it is as   

follows3 ,behold a virgin shall conceive
 and bear a son and shall call his name 
,immanuel4 ,but the ,aramaic reading is3
 ,behold an 'alm shall conceive4 ',alm  
means young woman4 ,the ,septuagint1 in 
translating it1 employed the term       
,greek3 parthenos1 or maiden4 ,in       
,matthew the term was retained4         
,matthew1 at the time1 had long been    
dead4 ,even had he been living it is    
improbable that he could write in       
,greek4 ,unfortunately there were others
 who could not only write ,greek but    
read ,hebrew4 ,in particular1 there was 
a rabbi ,aquila who retranslated ,isaiah
 with no other purpose than the malign  
object of definitely re-establishing the
 exact expression which the old poet had
 used4#fg  ,footnote #fg3 ,renan3 ,les  
,evangiles4  ,it was presumably in these
 circumstances that the ,evangel of     
,mary was advanced4 ,among other        
elucidations1 the work contained        
professional testimony of the immaculacy
 that was claimed4 ,additionally1 in    

reparation of the earlier oversight1 the
 ,virgin was genealogically descended   
from the royal line4  ,that1 however1 is
 apocryphal1 and if1 regarding the other
 genealogy1 exegesis has since obscured 
the luminousness of the method adapted  
by the ,church1 the latter's intention  
was none the less irreproachable1 and   
that alone imports4 ,before it1 before  
the miracle of the nativity and the     
divine episodes of the transfiguration1 
crucifixion1 resurrection1 and          
ascension1 reverently the ,occident has 
knelt4 ,they are indeed divine4 ,if they
 did not occur in ,judea1 they have     
occurred ever since4 ,continuously1 in  
the hearts of the devout1 they are      
repeated4  ,unhappily there were        
heretics then as now4 ,to the ,gnostics1
 ,jesus was an on that had never been4  
,to the ,docetists1 he was a phantasm4  
,there are always brutes that can       
believe but in the reality of things4   
,there are others to whom the symbolic  
is dumb4 ,in the ,gospels there is much 

that is figurative1 there is more that  
is ineffable1 there are suggestions     
sheerly ideal4  ,in my ,father's house  
are many mansions1 the ,saviour         
declared4 ,in his own ministry there are
 as many lights4 ,he was a vagrant and  
he created pure sentiment4 ,he was a    
nihilist and he inspired a new          
conception of life4 ,he said he had not 
come to destroy and he changed the face 
of the earth4 ,he remitted the sins of a
 harlot and condemned both marriage and 
love4 ,there are other antitheses1      
deeper contradictions4 ,these perhaps   
are more apparent than real4 ,behind    
them there may have been the            
co-ordination of a central thought4 ,of 
many gospels but few remain4 ,among the 
lost evangels was one that ,valentinian 
said was imparted only to the more      
spiritual of the disciples4 ,it may be  
that in it a main idea was elucidated   
and1 perhaps1 as a consequence1 the     
meaning of the esoteric proclamation3   
,before ,abraham was ,i am4  ,yet though

 now the authoritative explanation be   
lacking1 its significance seems to run  
beneath the texts4 ,at the first        
apparition of ,jesus1 the chief         
preoccupation of those that stood about 
was what prophet of the old days had    
returned in the new4 ,some thought him  
,elijah4 ,others ,jeremiah4 ,antipas    
feared that he was the ,baptist revived4
 ,jesus himself asked the disciples whom
 he was said to be4 ,later he assured   
them that the awaited return of ,elijah 
had been accomplished in ,john4 ,that   
assurance1 together with the            
perplexities regarding him and the      
esoteric announcement which he made     
concerning himself1 can hardly indicate 
anything else than a belief in          
reincarnation4  ,the belief1 common to  
all antiquity1 though not necessarily   
valid on that account1 is not           
discernible in ,hebrew thought1 perhaps 
for the reason that it is not           
perceptible in ,babylonian4 ,yet the    
myth of ,eden barely conceals it4 ,it is

 almost obvious in the allegory of      
,beth-el4 ,solomon said3 ,i was set up  
from everlasting1 from the beginning or 
ever earth was4 ,if the idea contained  
in that statement was not a part of the 
philosophy attributed to the ,christ1 it
 might have been4 ,the amount of beauty 
stored in it is more enormous than in   
any other4  ,to the materialist the     
beauty is meaningless4 ,to the          
mathematician it has the value of a zero
 from which the periphery has gone4 ,but
 at the ,pillars of ,hercules early     
geographers put on their maps3 ,hic     
deficit orbis--,here ends the world4    
,they had no suspicion that beyond that 
world there stretched another twice as  
great4 ,materialists may be equally naf4
 ,on the other hand1 they may not be4   
,the theory of reincarnation is one that
 transcends the limits of experience4   
,of the many tenets of the belief there 
are but two with which the              
matter-of-fact agrees4 ,one of them     
concerns the conservation of energy1 the

 other the negation of death4 ,theory   
and practice unite in admitting that the
 supply of energy is invariable4        
,constantly it is transformed and as    
constantly transposed1 but whether it   
enter into fungus or star1 into worm or 
man1 the loss of a particle never       
occurs4 ,death consequently is but the  
constituent of a change4 ,when it comes1
 that which was living assumes a state  
that has in it the potentiality of      
another form4 ,a tenement has crumbled  
and a tenant gone forth4 ,though just   
where is the riddle4  ,in the thousand  
and one nights that were less astronomic
 than our own1 it was thought that the  
riddle was answered4 ,poets had erected 
an edifice of verse and called it       
,creation4 ,in the strophes of the epic 
the earth was a flat and stationary     
parallelogram4 ,about the earth1 and    
uniquely for its benefit1 sun1 moon and 
stars paraded4 ,above was a deity one or
 multiple4 ,below were places of vivid  
discomfort4 ,to the latter1 or to the   

former1 the soul of man proceeded4      
,there were no other resorts4 ,creation 
had its limits4  ,poets younger yet more
 gray have presented a different        
conception4 ,in the glare of a million  
million of suns they have sent the earth
 spinning like a midge4 ,beyond the     
uttermost horizon they have strewn other
 systems1 other worlds2 beyond the      
latter1 more4 ,wherever imagination in  
its weariness would set a limit1 there  
is space begun4  ,there too is energy4  
,throughout the stretch of universes the
 same force pulsates that is            
recognizable here4 ,a deduction is      
obvious4 ,throughout infinity are       
sentient beings1 perhaps our brothers1  
perhaps ourselves4  ,the obvious1 very  
frequently1 is misleading4 ,but the     
dream of precipitation into that        
wonderful tornado of worlds has the     
merit of more colourful idealism than   
that which was formerly displayed4      
,taken but as an hypothesis1 it holds   
suggestions ampler than any other       

conveys4 ,it intimates that just as the 
butterfly rises from the chrysalis1 so  
does the spiritual rise from the flesh4 
,it indicates that just as the sun      
cannot set1 so is it impossible for     
death to be4  ,there are topics about   
which words hover like enchanted bees4  
,death is one of them4 ,medivally it was
 represented by a skeleton to which     
prose had given a rictus1 poetry a      
scythe1 and philosophy wings4 ,from its 
eyries it swooped spectral and sinister4
 ,previously it was more gracious4 ,in  
,greece it resembled ,eros4 ,among its  
attributes was beauty4 ,it did not      
alarm4 ,it beckoned and consoled4 ,the  
child of ,night1 the brother of ,sleep1 
it was less funereal than narcotic4 ,the
 theory of it generally was beneficent4 
,but not enduring4 ,in the change of    
things death lost its charm4 ,it became 
a sexless nightmare-frame of bones      
topped by a grinning skull4 ,that       
perhaps was excessive4 ,in epicurean    
,rome it was a marionette that invited  

you to wreathe yourself with roses      
before they could fade4 ,in the ,muslim 
,east it was represented by ,azrael1 who
 was an angel4 ,in ,vedic ,india it was 
represented by ,yama1 who was a god4    
,but medivally in ,europe the skeleton  
was preferred4 ,since then it has       
changed again4 ,it is no longer a       
spectral vampire4 ,it has acquired the  
serenity of a natural law4 ,regarding   
the operation of that law there are     
perhaps but three valid conjectures4    
,rome entertained all of them4 ,there1  
there was a tomb on which was written   
,umbra4 ,before it was another on which 
was engraved ,nihil4 ,between the two   
was a portal behind which the ,nec plus 
ultra stood revealed4  ,the portal1     
fashioned by the philosophy of ages1    
still is open1 wider than before1 on    
vaster horizons and unsuspected skies4  
,through it one may see the explication 
of things2 the reason why men are not   
born equal1 why some are rich and some  
are poor1 why some are weak and some are

 strong1 why some are wise and many are 
not4 ,one may see there too the reason  
of joys and sorrows1 the cause of tears 
and smiles4 ,one may see also how the   
soul changes its raiment and how it     
happens to have a raiment to change4    
,one may see all these things1 and      
others besides1 in the revelation that  
this life1 being the refuse of many     
deaths1 has acquired merits and demerits
 in accordance with which are present   
punishments and rewards4  ,in proportion
 as these are utilized or disregarded1  
so perhaps is retrogression induced or  
progress achieved4 ,but not in ,hades or
 yet in ,elysium4 ,these were the       
inventions of man for his brother4 ,so  
also was the very neighbourly heaven    
which the early ,church devised4 ,but   
because that has gone from the sidereal 
chart1 it does not follow that there is 
no such place4 ,because there is nothing
 alarming under the earth1 it does not  
follow that hell has ceased to be4 ,on  
the contrary4 ,both are constant1 though

 it be but in the heart4  ,in the light 
of reincarnation it is probable that    
neither can occur there without anterior
 cause4 ,but probably too it is the     
preponderance of either that creates the
 mystery of life1 as it may also        
foreshadow the portent of death4        
,death1 it may be1 is not merely a law  
but a place1 perhaps a garage which the 
traveller reaches on a demolished motor1
 but whence none can proceed until all  
old scores are paid4 ,pending payment1  
there1 perhaps the soul must wait4 ,but 
the bill of its past acquitted1 it may  
be that then it shall be free to pursue 
on trillions of spheres the diversified 
course of endless life--free to pass    
from world to world1 from beatitude to  
bliss1 from transformation to           
transfiguration1 from the transitory to 
the eternal2 weaving1 meanwhile1 a      
garland of migrations that stretch from 
sky to sky1 marrying its memoirs with   
those of the universe1 and1 finally1    
from some ultimate zenith1 reviewing1 as

 it casts them aside1 the masks of      
concluded incarnations4  ,the prospect1 
overwhelming in beauty1 is really       
divine4 ,the divine is always utopian4  
,but there is the supreme ,alhambra of  
dream4 ,it exceeds any other1 however   
excessive another may be4 ,it is the    
,nec plus ultra4 ,into it all may wander
 and never weary of the wonders that are
 there4 ,it may be unrealizable1 but for
 that very reason it must be also ideal4
   ,,finis ,,histori ,,deorum