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diff --git a/40686-8.txt b/40686-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8b58d07..0000000 --- a/40686-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,27938 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Demonology and Devil-lore, by Moncure Daniel Conway - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Demonology and Devil-lore - -Author: Moncure Daniel Conway - -Release Date: September 6, 2012 [EBook #40686] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMONOLOGY AND DEVIL-LORE *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - DEMONOLOGY AND DEVIL-LORE - - By - - MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY, M.A. - - B. D. of Divinity College, Harvard University - Member of the Anthropological Institute, London - - - - With numerous illustrations - - - - New York - Henry Holt and Company - - 1879 - - - - - - - - -PREFACE. - - -Three Friars, says a legend, hid themselves near the Witch Sabbath -orgies that they might count the devils; but the Chief of these, -discovering the friars, said--'Reverend Brothers, our army is such -that if all the Alps, their rocks and glaciers, were equally divided -among us, none would have a pound's weight.' This was in one Alpine -valley. Any one who has caught but a glimpse of the world's Walpurgis -Night, as revealed in Mythology and Folklore, must agree that this -courteous devil did not overstate the case. Any attempt to catalogue -the evil spectres which have haunted mankind were like trying to count -the shadows cast upon the earth by the rising sun. This conviction -has grown upon the author of this work at every step in his studies -of the subject. - -In 1859 I contributed, as one of the American 'Tracts for the Times,' -a pamphlet entitled 'The Natural History of the Devil.' Probably -the chief value of that essay was to myself, and this in that -its preparation had revealed to me how pregnant with interest and -importance was the subject selected. Subsequent researches in the -same direction, after I had come to reside in Europe, revealed how -slight had been my conception of the vastness of the domain upon which -that early venture was made. In 1872, while preparing a series of -lectures for the Royal Institution on Demonology, it appeared to me -that the best I could do was to print those lectures with some notes -and additions; but after they were delivered there still remained with -me unused the greater part of materials collected in many countries, -and the phantasmal creatures which I had evoked would not permit me -to rest from my labours until I had dealt with them more thoroughly. - -The fable of Thor's attempt to drink up a small spring, and his -failure because it was fed by the ocean, seems aimed at such efforts -as mine. But there is another aspect of the case which has yielded -me more encouragement. These phantom hosts, however unmanageable as -to number, when closely examined, present comparatively few types; -they coalesce by hundreds; from being at first overwhelmed by their -multiplicity, the classifier finds himself at length beating bushes to -start a new variety. Around some single form--the physiognomy, it may -be, of Hunger or Disease, of Lust or Cruelty--ignorant imagination -has broken up nature into innumerable bits which, like mirrors of -various surface, reflect the same in endless sizes and distortions; -but they vanish if that central fact be withdrawn. - -In trying to conquer, as it were, these imaginary monsters, they -have sometimes swarmed and gibbered around me in a mad comedy -which travestied their tragic sway over those who believed in their -reality. Gargoyles extended their grin over the finest architecture, -cornices coiled to serpents, the very words of speakers started out of -their conventional sense into images that tripped my attention. Only -as what I believed right solutions were given to their problems were -my sphinxes laid; but through this psychological experience it appeared -that when one was so laid his or her legion disappeared also. Long ago -such phantasms ceased to haunt my nerves, because I discovered their -unreality; I am now venturing to believe that their mythologic forms -cease to haunt my studies, because I have found out their reality. - -Why slay the slain? Such may be the question that will arise in the -minds of many who see this book. A Scotch song says, 'The Devil is -dead, and buried at Kirkcaldy;' if so, he did not die until he had -created a world in his image. The natural world is overlaid by an -unnatural religion, breeding bitterness around simplest thoughts, -obstructions to science, estrangements not more reasonable than if -they resulted from varying notions of lunar figures,--all derived from -the Devil-bequeathed dogma that certain beliefs and disbeliefs are of -infernal instigation. Dogmas moulded in a fossil demonology make the -foundation of institutions which divert wealth, learning, enterprise, -to fictitious ends. It has not, therefore, been mere intellectual -curiosity which has kept me working at this subject these many years, -but an increasing conviction that the sequelæ of such superstitions are -exercising a still formidable influence. When Father Delaporte lately -published his book on the Devil, his Bishop wrote--'Reverend Father, if -every one busied himself with the Devil as you do, the kingdom of God -would gain by it.' Identifying the kingdom here spoken of as that of -Truth, it has been with a certain concurrence in the Bishop's sentiment -that I have busied myself with the work now given to the public. - - - - - - - - -CONTENTS - - -Part I. - - -Chapter I. - -Dualism. - - Origin of Deism--Evolution from the far to the near--Illustrations - from Witchcraft--The primitive Pantheism--The dawn of Dualism - -Chapter II. - -The Genesis of Demons. - - Their good names euphemistic--Their mixed character--Illustrations: - Beelzebub, Loki--Demon-germs--The knowledge of good and - evil--Distinction between Demon and Devil - - -Chapter III. - -Degradation. - - The degradation of Deities--Indicated in names--Legends of - their fall--Incidental signs of the divine origin of Demons and - Devils - - -Chapter IV. - -The Abgott. - - The ex-god--Deities demonised by conquest--Theological animosity-- - Illustration from the Avesta--Devil-worship an arrested Deism-- - Sheik Adi--Why Demons were painted ugly--Survivals of their beauty - - -Chapter V. - -Classification. - - The obstructions of man--The twelve chief classes--Modifications of - particular forms for various functions--Theological Demons - - -Part II. - - -Chapter I. - -Hunger. - - Hunger-demons--Kephn--Miru--Kagura--Ráhu the Hindu sun-devourer-- - The earth monster at Pelsall--A Franconian custom--Sheitan as - moon-devourer--Hindu offerings to the dead--Ghoul--Goblin-- - Vampyres--Leanness of demons--Old Scotch custom--The origin of - sacrifices - - -Chapter II. - -Heat. - - Demons of fire--Agni--Asmodeus--Prometheus--Feast of fire--Moloch - --Tophet--Genii of the lamp--Bel-fires--Hallowe'en--Negro - superstitions--Chinese fire-god--Volcanic and incendiary demons-- - Mangaian fire-demon--Demons' fear of water - - -Chapter III. - -Cold. - - Descent of Ishtar into Hades--Bardism--Baldur--Herakles--Christ-- - Survivals of the Frost Giant in Slavonic and other countries-- - The Clavie--The Frozen Hell--The Northern abode of Demons--North - side of churches - - -Chapter IV. - -Elements. - - A Scottish Munasa--Rudra--Siva's lightning eye--The flaming - sword--Limping Demons--Demons of the storm--Helios, Elias, - Perun--Thor arrows--The Bob-tailed Dragon--Whirlwind--Japanese - Thunder God--Christian survivals--Jinni--Inundations--Noah--Nik, - Nicholas, Old Nick--Nixies--Hydras--Demons of the Danube--Tides - --Survivals in Russia and England - - -Chapter V. - -Animals. - - Animal demons distinguished--Trivial sources of Mythology-- - Hedgehog--Fox--Transmigrations in Japan--Horses bewitched-- - Rats--Lions--Cats--The Dog--Goethe's horror of dogs--Superstitions - of the Parsees, people of Travancore, and American Negroes, Red - Indians, &c.--Cynocephaloi--The Wolf--Traditions of the Nez Perces - --Fenris--Fables--The Boar--The Bear--Serpent--Every animal power - to harm demonised--Horns - - -Chapter VI. - -Enemies. - - Aryas, Dasyus, - Nagas--Yakkhos--Lycians--Ethiopians--Hirpini--Polites--Sosipolis-- - Were-wolves--Goths and Scythians--Giants and Dwarfs--Berserkers-- - Britons--Iceland--Mimacs--Gog and Magog - - -Chapter VII. - -Barrenness. - - Indian Famine and Sun-spots--Sun-worship--Demon of the Desert--The - Sphinx--Egyptian Plagues described by Lepsius: Locusts, Hurricane, - Flood, Mice, Flies--The Sheikh's ride--Abaddon--Set--Typhon--The - Cain wind--Seth--Mirage--The Desert Eden--Azazel--Tawiscara and - the Wild-rose - - -Chapter VIII. - -Obstacles. - - Mephistopheles on crags--Emerson on Monadnoc--Ruskin on Alpine - peasants--Holy and unholy mountains--The Devil's Pulpit-- - Montagnards--Tarns--Tenjo--T'ai-shan--Apocatequil--Tyrolese - legends--Rock ordeal--Scylla and Charybdis--Scottish giants-- - Pontifex--Devil's bridges--Le géant Yéous - - -Chapter IX. - -Illusion. - - Maya--Natural Treacheries--Misleaders--Glamour--Lorelei--Chinese - Mermaid--Transformations--Swan Maidens--Pigeon Maidens--The - Seal-skin--Nudity--Teufelsee--Gohlitsee--Japanese Siren--Dropping - Cave--Venusberg--Godiva--Will-o'-Wisp--Holy Fräulein--The Forsaken - Merman--The Water-Man--Sea Phantom--Sunken Treasures--Suicide - - -Chapter X. - -Darkness. - - Shadows--Night Deities--Kobolds--Walpurgisnacht--Night as - Abettor of Evil-doers--Nightmare--Dreams--Invisible Foes--Jacob - and his Phantom--Nott--The Prince of Darkness--The Brood of - Midnight--Second-Sight--Spectres of Souter Fell--The Moonshine - Vampyre--Glamour--Glam and Grettir--A-Story of Dartmoor - - -Chapter XI. - -Disease. - - The Plague Phantom--Devil-dances--Destroying Angels--Ahriman in - Astrology--Saturn--Satan and Job--Set--The Fatal Seven--Yakseyo-- - The Singhalese Pretraya--Reeri--Maha Sohon--Morotoo--Luther on - Disease-demons--Gopolu--Madan--Cattle-demon in Russia--Bihlweisen - --The Plough - - -Chapter XII. - -Death. - - The Vendetta of Death--Teoyaomiqui--Demon of Serpents--Death on - the Pale Horse--Kali--War-gods--Satan as Death--Death-beds-- - Thanatos--Yama--Yimi--Towers of Silence--Alcestis--Herakles, - Christ, and Death--Hell--Salt--Azraël--Death and the Cobbler-- - Dance of Death--Death as Foe and as Friend - - - -Part III. - - -Chapter I. - -Decline of Demons. - - The Holy Tree of Travancore--The growth of Demons in India, - and their decline--The Nepaul Iconoclast--Moral Man and unmoral - Nature--Man's physical and mental migrations--Heine's 'Gods in - Exile'--The Goban Saor--Master Smith--A Greek caricature of - the Gods--The Carpenter v. Deity and Devil--Extermination of - the Were-wolf--Refuges of Demons--The Giants reduced to Little - People--Deities and Demons returning to nature - - -Chapter II. - -Generalisation of Demons. - - The Demons' bequest to their - conquerors--Nondescripts--Exaggerations of Tradition--Saurian - Theory of Dragons--The Dragon not primitive in Mythology--Monsters - of Egyptian, Iranian, Vedic, and Jewish Mythologies--Turner's - Dragon--Della Bella--The Conventional Dragon - - -Chapter III. - -The Serpent. - - The beauty of the Serpent--Emerson on ideal forms--Michelet's - thoughts on the viper's head--Unique characters of the - Serpent--The Monkey's horror of Snakes--The Serpent protected - by superstition--Human defencelessness against its subtle - powers--Dubufe's picture of the Fall of Man - - -Chapter IV. - -The Worm. - - An African Serpent-drama in America--The Veiled Serpent--The - Ark of the Covenant--Aaron's Rod--The Worm--An Episode on the Dii - Involuti--The Serapes--The Bambino at Rome--Serpent-transformations - - -Chapter V. - -Apophis. - - The Naturalistic Theory of Apophis--The Serpent of Time--Epic of - the Worm--The Asp of Melite--Vanquishers of Time--Nachash-Beriach - --The Serpent-Spy--Treading on Serpents - - -Chapter VI. - -The Serpent in India. - - The Kankato na--The Vedic Serpents not worshipful--Ananta and - Sesha--The Healing Serpent--The guardian of treasures--Miss - Buckland's theory--Primitive rationalism--Underworld - plutocracy--Rain and lightning--Vritra--History of the word - 'Ahi'--The Adder--Zohak--A Teutonic Laokoon - - -Chapter VII. - -The Basilisk. - - The Serpent's gem--The Basilisk's eye--Basiliscus - mitratus--House-snakes in Russia and Germany--King-snakes--Heraldic - Dragon--Henry III.--Melusina--The Laidley Worm--Victorious - Dragons--Pendragon--Merlin and Vortigern--Medicinal dragons - 361 - - -Chapter VIII. - -The Dragon's Eye. - - The Eye of Evil--Turner's Dragons--Cloud-phantoms--Paradise and - the Snake--Prometheus and Jove--Art and Nature--Dragon forms: - Anglo-Saxon, Italian, Egyptian, Greek, German--The modern - conventional Dragon - - -Chapter IX. - -The Combat. - - The pre-Munchausenite world--The Colonial Dragon--Io's - journey--Medusa--British Dragons--The Communal Dragon--Savage - Saviours--A Mimac helper--The Brutal Dragon--Woman protected--The - Saint of the Mikados - - -Chapter X. - -The Dragon-slayer. - - Demi-gods--Alcestis--Herakles--The Ghilghit Fiend--Incarnate - deliverer of Ghilghit--A Dardistan Madonna--The religion - of Atheism--Resuscitation of Dragons--St. George and his - Dragon--Emerson and Ruskin on George--Saintly allies of the - Dragon - - -Chapter XI. - -The Dragon's Breath. - - Medusa--Phenomena of recurrence--The Brood of Echidna and their - survival--Behemoth and Leviathan--The Mouth of Hell--The Lambton - Worm--Ragnar--The Lambton Doom--The Worm's Orthodoxy--The Serpent, - Superstition, and Science - - -Chapter XII. - -Fate. - - Doré's 'Love and Fate'--Moira and Moiræ--The 'Fates' - of Æschylus--Divine absolutism surrendered--Jove - and Typhon--Commutation of the Demon's share--Popular - fatalism--Theological fatalism--Fate and Necessity--Deification - of Will--Metaphysics, past and present - - - -Part IV. - - -Chapter I. - -Diabolism. - - Dragon and Devil distinguished--Dragons' wings--War in Heaven-- - Expulsion of Serpents--Dissolution of the Dragon--Theological - origin of the Devil--Ideal and Actual--Devil Dogma--Debasement - of ideal persons--Transmigration of phantoms - - -Chapter II. - -The Second Best. - - Respect for the Devil--Primitive Atheism--Idealisation--Birth of - new gods--New gods diabolised--Compromise between new gods and - old--Foreign deities degraded--Their utilisation - - -Chapter III. - -Ahriman, the Divine Devil. - - Mr. Irving's impersonation of Superstition--Revolution against - pious privilege--Doctrine of 'Merits'--Saintly immorality in - India--A Pantheon turned Inferno--Zendavesta on Good and Evil-- - Parsî Mythology--The Combat of Ahriman with Ormuzd--Optimism-- - Parsî Eschatology--Final Restoration of Ahriman - - -Chapter IV. - -Viswámitra, the Theocratic Devil. - - Priestcraft and Pessimism--An Aryan Tetzel and his Luther--Brahman - Frogs--Evolution of the Sacerdotal Saint--Viswámitra the Accuser - of Virtue--The Tamil Passion-Play 'Harischandra'--Ordeal of - Goblins--The Martyr of Truth--Virtue triumphant over ceremonial - 'Merits'--Harischandra and Job - - -Chapter V. - -Elohim and Jehovah. - - Deified power--Giants and Jehovah--Jehovah's manifesto--The various - Elohim--Two Jehovahs and two Tables--Contradictions--Detachment - of the Elohim from Jehovah - - -Chapter VI. - -The Consuming Fire. - - The Shekinah--Jewish idols--Attributes of the fiery and - cruel Elohim compared with those of the Devil--The powers of - evil combined under a head--Continuity--The consuming fire - spiritualised - - -Chapter VII. - -Paradise and the Serpent. - - Herakles and Athena in a holy picture--Human significance of - Eden--The legend in Genesis puzzling--Silence of later books - concerning it--Its Vedic elements--Its explanation--Episode of - the Mahábhárata--Scandinavian variant--The name of Adam--The - story re-read--Rabbinical interpretations - - -Chapter VIII. - -Eve. - - The Fall of Man--Fall of gods--Giants--Prajápati and Ráhu--Woman - and Star-Serpent in Persia--Meschia and Meschiane--Bráhman - legends of the creation of Man--The strength of Woman--Elohist - and Jehovist creations of Man--The Forbidden Fruit--Eve reappears - as Sara--Abraham surrenders his wife to Jehovah--The idea not - sensual--Abraham's circumcision--The evil name of Woman--Noah's - wife--The temptation of Abraham--Rabbinical legends concerning - Eve--Pandora--Sentiment of the Myth of Eve - - -Chapter IX. - -Lilith. - - Madonnas--Adam's first wife--Her flight and doom--Creation of - Devils--Lilith marries Samaël--Tree of Life--Lilith's part - in the Temptation--Her locks--Lamia--Bodeima--Meschia and - Meschiane--Amazons--Maternity--Rib-theory of Woman--Káli and - Durga--Captivity of Woman - - -Chapter X. - -War in Heaven. - - The 'Other'--Tiamat, Bohu, 'the Deep'--Ra and Apophis--Hathors - --Bel's combat--Revolt in Heaven--Lilith--Myth of the Devil at - the creation of Light - - -Chapter XI. - -War on Earth. - - The Abode of Devils--Ketef--Disorder--Talmudic legends--The - restless Spirit--The Fall of Lucifer--Asteria, Hecate, Lilith--The - Dragon's triumph--A Gipsy legend--Cædmon's Poem of the Rebellious - Angels--Milton's version--The Puritans and Prince Rupert--Bel - as ally of the Dragon--A 'Mystery' in Marionettes--European - Hells - - -Chapter XII. - -Strife. - - Hebrew God of War--Samaël--The father's blessing and curse-- - Esau--Edom--Jacob and the Phantom--The planet Mars--Tradesman - and Huntsman--'The Devil's Dream' - - -Chapter XIII. - -Barbaric Aristocracy. - - Jacob, the 'Impostor'--The Barterer--Esau, the 'Warrior'--Barbarian - Dukes--Trade and War--Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau--Their - Ghosts--Legend of Iblis--Pagan Warriors of Europe--Russian - Hierarchy of Hell - - -Chapter XIV. - -Job and the Divider. - - Hebrew Polytheism--Problem of Evil--Job's disbelief in a - future life--The Divider's realm--Salted sacrifices--Theory - of Orthodoxy--Job's reasoning--His humour--Impartiality of - Fortune between the evil and good--Agnosticism of Job--Elihu's - Eclecticism--Jehovah of the Whirlwind--Heresies of Job--Rabbinical - legend of Job--Universality of the legend - - -Chapter XV. - -Satan. - - Public Prosecutors--Satan as Accuser--English Devil-Worshipper - --Conversion by Terror--Satan in the Old Testament--The trial of - Joshua--Sender of Plagues--Satan and Serpent--Portrait of Satan - --Scapegoat of Christendom--Catholic 'Sight of Hell'--The ally - of Priesthoods - - -Chapter XVI. - -Religious Despotism. - - Pharaoh and Herod--Zoroaster's mother--Ahriman's emissaries--Kansa - and Krishna--Emissaries of Kansa--Astyages and Cyrus--Zohák--Bel - and the Christian - - -Chapter XVII. - -The Prince of this World. - - Temptations--Birth of Buddha--Mara--Temptation of Power--Asceticism - and Luxury--Mara's menaces--Appearance of the Buddha's - Vindicator--Ahriman tempts Zoroaster--Satan and Christ--Criticism - of Strauss--Jewish traditions--Hunger--Variants - - -Chapter XVIII. - -Trial of the Great. - - A 'Morality' at Tours--The 'St. Anthony' of Spagnoletto--Bunyan's - Pilgrim--Milton on Christ's Temptation--An Edinburgh saint and - Unitarian fiend--A haunted Jewess--Conversion by fever--Limit of - courage--Woman and sorcery--Luther and the Devil--The ink-spot at - Wartburg--Carlyle's interpretation--The cowled Devil--Carlyle's - trial--In Rue St. Thomas d'Enfer--The Everlasting No--Devil of - Vauvert--The latter-day conflict--New conditions--The Victory of - Man--The Scholar and the World - - -Chapter XIX. - -The Man of Sin. - - Hindu myth--Gnostic theories--Ophite scheme of redemption-- - Rabbinical traditions of Primitive Man--Pauline Pessimism--Law - of death--Satan's ownership of Man--Redemption of the Elect-- - Contemporary statements--Baptism--Exorcism--The 'new man's' - food--Eucharist--Herbert Spencer's explanation--Primitive - ideas--Legends of Adam and Seth--Adamites--A Mormon 'Mystery' - of initiation - - -Chapter XX. - -The Holy Ghost. - - A Hanover relic--Mr. Atkinson on the Dove--The Dove in the Old - Testament--Ecclesiastical symbol--Judicial symbol--A vision of - St. Dunstan's--The witness of chastity--Dove and Serpent--The - unpardonable sin--Inexpiable sin among the Jews--Destructive - power of Jehovah--Potency of the breath--Third persons of - Trinities--Pentecost--Christian superstitions--Mr. Moody on the sin - against the Holy Ghost--Mysterious fear--Idols of the cave - - -Chapter XXI. - -Antichrist. - - The Kali Age--Satan sifting Simon--Satan as Angel of Light-- - Epithets of Antichrist--The Cæsars--Nero--Sacraments imitated - by Pagans--Satanic signs and wonders--Jerome on Antichrist-- - Armillus--Al Dajjail--Luther on Mohammed--'Mawmet'--Satan - 'God's ape'--Mediæval notions--Witches' Sabbath--An Infernal - Trinity--Serpent of Sins--Antichrist Popes--Luther as Antichrist - --Modern notions of Antichrist - - -Chapter XXII. - -The Pride of Life. - - The curse of Iblis--Samaël as Democrat--His vindication by - Christ and Paul--Asmodäus--History of the name--Aschmedai of the - Jews--Book of Tobit--Doré's 'Triumph of Christianity'--Aucassin - and Nicolette--Asmodeus in the convent--The Asmodeus of Le - Sage--Mephistopheles--Blake's 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell'--The - Devil and the artists--Sádi's Vision of Satan--Arts of the - Devil--Suspicion of beauty--Earthly and heavenly mansions--Deacon - versus Devil - - -Chapter XXIII. - -The Curse on Knowledge. - - A Bishop on intellect--The Bible on learning--The Serpent and - Seth--A Hebrew Renaissance--Spells--Shelley at Oxford-- - Book-burning--Japanese ink-devil--Book of Cyprianus--Devil's - Bible--Red Letters--Dread of Science--Roger Bacon--Luther's - Devil--Lutherans and Science - - -Chapter XXIV. - -Witchcraft. - - Minor gods--Saint and Satyr--Tutelaries--Spells--Early Christianity - and the poor--Its doctrine as to pagan deities--Mediæval - Devils--Devils on the stage--An Abbot's revelations--The fairer - deities--Oriental dreams and spirits--Calls for Nemesis--Lilith - and her children--Neoplatonicism--Astrology and Alchemy--Devil's - College--Shem-hammphorásch--Apollonius of Tyana--Faustus--Black Art - Schools--Compacts with the Devil--Blood covenant--Spirit-seances in - old times--The Fairfax delusion--Origin of its devil--Witch, goat, - and cat--Confessions of Witches--Witchcraft in New England--Witch - trials--Salem demonology--Testing witches--Witch trials in - Sweden--Witch Sabbath--Mythological elements--Carriers--Scotch - Witches--The cauldron--Vervain--Rue--Invocation of Hecaté--Factors - of Witch persecution--Three centuries of massacre--Würzburg - horrors--Last victims--Modern Spiritualism - - -Chapter XXV. - -Faust and Mephistopheles. - - Mephisto and Mephitis--The Raven Book--Papal sorcery--Magic - seals--Mephistopheles as dog--George Sabellicus alias Faustus--The - Faust myth--Marlowe's 'Faust'--Good and evil angels--'El Magico - Prodigioso'--Cyprian and Justina--Klinger's 'Faust'--Satan's - sermon--Goethe's Mephistopheles--His German characters--Moral - scepticism--Devil's gifts--Helena--Redemption through Art--Defeat - of Mephistopheles - - -Chapter XXVI. - -The Wild Huntsman. - - The Wild Hunt--Euphemisms--Schimmelreiter--Odinwald--Pied Piper - --Lyeshy--Waldemar's Hunt--Palne Hunter--King Abel's Hunt--Lords - of Glorup--Le Grand Veneur--Robert le Diable--Arthur--Hugo--Herne - --Tregeagle--Der Freischütz--Elijah's chariot--Mahan Bali--Déhak - --Nimrod--Nimrod's defiance of Jehovah--His Tower--Robber Knights - --The Devil in Leipzig--Olaf hunting pagans--Hunting-horns--Raven - --Boar--Hounds--Horse--Dapplegrimm--Sleipnir--Horse-flesh--The - mare Chetiya--Stags--St. Hubert--The White Lady--Myths of Mother - Rose--Wodan hunting St. Walpurga--Friar Eckhardt - - -Chapter XXVII. - -Le Bon Diable. - - The Devil repainted--Satan a divine agent--St. Orain's - heresy--Primitive universalism--Father Sinistrari--Salvation of - demons--Mediæval sects--Aquinas--His prayer for Satan--Popular - antipathies--The Devil's gratitude--Devil defending - innocence--Devil against idle lords--The wicked ale-wife--Pious - offenders punished--Anachronistic Devils--Devils turn to - poems--Devil's good advice--Devil sticks to his word--His love - of justice--Charlemagne and the Serpent--Merlin--His prison of - Air--Mephistopheles in Heaven - - -Chapter XXVIII. - -Animalism. - - Celsus on Satan--Ferocities of inward nature--The Devil - of Lust--Celibacy--Blue Beards--Shudendozi--A lady in - distress--Bahirawa--The Black Prince--Madana Yaksenyo--Fair - fascinators--Devil of Jealousy--Eve's jealousy--Noah's wife--How - Satan entered the Ark--Shipwright's Dirge--The Second Fall--The - Drunken curse--Solomon's Fall--Cellar Devils--Gluttony--The Vatican - haunted--Avarice--Animalised Devils--Man-shaped Animals - - -Chapter XXIX. - -Thoughts and Interpretations 421 - - - - - - - - -PART I. - -DEMONOLATRY. - - -CHAPTER I. - -DUALISM. - - Origin of Deism--Evolution from the far to the near--Illustrations - from witchcraft--The primitive Pantheism--The dawn of Dualism. - - -A college in the State of Ohio has adopted for its motto the words -'Orient thyself.' This significant admonition to Western youth -represents one condition of attaining truth in the science of -mythology. Through neglect of it the glowing personifications and -metaphors of the East have too generally migrated to the West only to -find it a Medusa turning them to stone. Our prosaic literalism changes -their ideals to idols. The time has come when we must learn rather to -see ourselves in them: out of an age and civilisation where we live in -habitual recognition of natural forces we may transport ourselves to a -period and region where no sophisticated eye looks upon nature. The sun -is a chariot drawn by shining steeds and driven by a refulgent deity; -the stars ascend and move by arbitrary power or command; the tree is -the bower of a spirit; the fountain leaps from the urn of a naiad. In -such gay costumes did the laws of nature hold their carnival until -Science struck the hour for unmasking. The costumes and masks have -with us become materials for studying the history of the human mind, -but to know them we must translate our senses back into that phase -of our own early existence, so far as is consistent with carrying -our culture with us. - -Without conceding too much to Solar mythology, it may be pronounced -tolerably clear that the earliest emotion of worship was born out -of the wonder with which man looked up to the heavens above him. The -splendours of the morning and evening; the azure vault, painted with -frescoes of cloud or blackened by the storm; the night, crowned with -constellations: these awakened imagination, inspired awe, kindled -admiration, and at length adoration, in the being who had reached -intervals in which his eye was lifted above the earth. Amid the rapture -of Vedic hymns to these sublimities we meet sharp questionings whether -there be any such gods as the priests say, and suspicion is sometimes -cast on sacrifices. The forms that peopled the celestial spaces may -have been those of ancestors, kings, and great men, but anterior to -all forms was the poetic enthusiasm which built heavenly mansions for -them; and the crude cosmogonies of primitive science were probably -caught up by this spirit, and consecrated as slowly as scientific -generalisations now are. - -Our modern ideas of evolution might suggest the reverse of this--that -human worship began with things low and gradually ascended to high -objects; that from rude ages, in which adoration was directed to -stock and stone, tree and reptile, the human mind climbed by degrees -to the contemplation and reverence of celestial grandeurs. But the -accord of this view with our ideas of evolution is apparent only. The -real progress seems here to have been from the far to the near, from -the great to the small. It is, indeed, probably inexact to speak of -the worship of stock and stone, weed and wort, insect and reptile, -as primitive. There are many indications that such things were by no -race considered intrinsically sacred, nor were they really worshipped -until the origin of their sanctity was lost; and even now, ages -after their oracular or symbolical character has been forgotten, the -superstitions that have survived in connection with such insignificant -objects point to an original association with the phenomena of the -heavens. No religions could, at first glance, seem wider apart than -the worship of the serpent and that of the glorious sun; yet many -ancient temples are covered with symbols combining sun and snake, -and no form is more familiar in Egypt than the solar serpent standing -erect upon its tail, with rays around its head. - -Nor is this high relationship of the adored reptile found only in -regions where it might have been raised up by ethnical combinations as -the mere survival of a savage symbol. William Craft, an African who -resided for some time in the kingdom of Dahomey, informed me of the -following incident which he had witnessed there. The sacred serpents -are kept in a grand house, which they sometimes leave to crawl in -their neighbouring grounds. One day a negro from some distant region -encountered one of these animals and killed it. The people learning -that one of their gods had been slain, seized the stranger, and having -surrounded him with a circle of brushwood, set it on fire. The poor -wretch broke through the circle of fire and ran, pursued by the crowd, -who struck him with heavy sticks. Smarting from the flames and blows, -he rushed into a river; but no sooner had he entered there than the -pursuit ceased, and he was told that, having gone through fire and -water, he was purified, and might emerge with safety. Thus, even in -that distant and savage region, serpent-worship was associated with -fire-worship and river-worship, which have a wide representation in -both Aryan and Semitic symbolism. To this day the orthodox Israelites -set beside their dead, before burial, the lighted candle and a basin -of pure water. These have been associated in rabbinical mythology with -the angels Michael (genius of Water) and Gabriel (genius of Fire); -but they refer both to the phenomenal glories and the purifying -effects of the two elements as reverenced by the Africans in one -direction and the Parsees in another. - -Not less significant are the facts which were attested at the -witch-trials. It was shown that for their pretended divinations they -used plants--as rue and vervain--well known in the ancient Northern -religions, and often recognised as examples of tree-worship; but it -also appeared that around the cauldron a mock zodiacal circle was -drawn, and that every herb employed was alleged to have derived its -potency from having been gathered at a certain hour of the night or -day, a particular quarter of the moon, or from some spot where sun or -moon did or did not shine upon it. Ancient planet-worship is, indeed, -still reflected in the habit of village herbalists, who gather their -simples at certain phases of the moon, or at certain of those holy -periods of the year which conform more or less to the pre-christian -festivals. - -These are a few out of many indications that the small and senseless -things which have become almost or quite fetishes were by no means such -at first, but were mystically connected with the heavenly elements -and splendours, like the animal forms in the zodiac. In one of the -earliest hymns of the Rig-Veda it is said--'This earth belongs to -Varuna (Ouranos) the king, and the wide sky: he is contained also in -this drop of water.' As the sky was seen reflected in the shining curve -of a dew-drop, even so in the shape or colour of a leaf or flower, -the transformation of a chrysalis, or the burial and resurrection -of a scarabæus' egg, some sign could be detected making it answer in -place of the typical image which could not yet be painted or carved. - -The necessities of expression would, of course, operate to invest -the primitive conceptions and interpretations of celestial phenomena -with those pictorial images drawn from earthly objects of which the -early languages are chiefly composed. In many cases that are met -in the most ancient hymns, the designations of exalted objects are -so little descriptive of them, that we may refer them to a period -anterior to the formation of that refined and complex symbolism by -which primitive religions have acquired a representation in definite -characters. The Vedic comparisons of the various colours of the dawn -to horses, or the rain-clouds to cows, denotes a much less mature -development of thought than the fine observation implied in the -connection of the forked lightning with the forked serpent-tongue and -forked mistletoe, or symbolisation of the universe in the concentric -folds of an onion. It is the presence of these more mystical and -complex ideas in religions which indicate a progress of the human -mind from the large and obvious to the more delicate and occult, and -the growth of the higher vision which can see small things in their -large relationships. Although the exaltation in the Vedas of Varuna -as king of heaven, and as contained also in a drop of water, is in -one verse, we may well recognise an immense distance in time between -the two ideas there embodied. The first represents that primitive -pantheism which is the counterpart of ignorance. An unclassified -outward universe is the reflection of a mind without form and void: -it is while all within is as yet undiscriminating wonder that the -religious vesture of nature will be this undefined pantheism. The -fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has not yet been -tasted. In some of the earlier hymns of the Rig-Veda, the Maruts, -the storm-deities, are praised along with Indra, the sun; Yama, -king of Death, is equally adored with the goddess of Dawn. 'No real -foe of yours is known in heaven, nor in earth.' 'The storms are thy -allies.' Such is the high optimism of sentences found even in sacred -books which elsewhere mask the dawn of the Dualism which ultimately -superseded the harmony of the elemental Powers. 'I create light -and I create darkness, I create good and I create evil.' 'Look unto -Yezdan, who causeth the shadow to fall.' But it is easy to see what -must be the result when this happy family of sun-god and storm-god -and fire-god, and their innumerable co-ordinate divinities, shall -be divided by discord. When each shall have become associated with -some earthly object or fact, he or she will appear as friend or foe, -and their connection with the sources of human pleasure and pain will -be reflected in collisions and wars in the heavens. The rebel clouds -will be transformed to Titans and Dragons. The adored Maruts will be -no longer storm-heroes with unsheathed swords of lightning, marching -as the retinue of Indra, but fire-breathing monsters--Vritras and -Ahis,--and the morning and evening shadows from faithful watch-dogs -become the treacherous hell-hounds, like Orthros and Cerberus. The -vehement antagonisms between animals and men and of tribe against -tribe, will be expressed in the conception of struggles among gods, -who will thus be classified as good or evil deities. - -This was precisely what did occur. The primitive pantheism was broken -up: in its place the later ages beheld the universe as the arena of -a tremendous conflict between good and evil Powers, who severally, -in the process of time, marshalled each and everything, from a world -to a worm, under their flaming banners. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE GENESIS OF DEMONS. - - Their good names euphemistic--Their mixed character--Illustrations: - Beelzebub, Loki--Demon-germs--The knowledge of good and - evil--Distinction between Demon and Devil. - - -The first pantheon of each race was built of intellectual -speculations. In a moral sense, each form in it might be described -as more or less demonic; and, indeed, it may almost be affirmed that -religion, considered as a service rendered to superhuman beings, -began with the propitiation of demons, albeit they might be called -gods. Man found that in the earth good things came with difficulty, -while thorns and weeds sprang up everywhere. The evil powers seemed to -be the strongest. The best deity had a touch of the demon in him. The -sun is the most beneficent, yet he bears the sunstroke along with -the sunbeam, and withers the blooms he calls forth. The splendour, -the might, the majesty, the menace, the grandeur and wrath of the -heavens and the elements were blended in these personifications, -and reflected in the trembling adoration paid to them. The flattering -names given to these powers by their worshippers must be interpreted -by the costly sacrifices with which men sought to propitiate them. No -sacrifice would have been offered originally to a purely benevolent -power. The Furies were called the Eumenides, 'the well-meaning,' -and there arises a temptation to regard the name as preserving the -primitive meaning of the Sanskrit original of Erinyes, namely, Saranyu, -which signifies the morning light stealing over the sky. But the -descriptions of the Erinyes by the Greek poets--especially of Æschylus, -who pictures them as black, serpent-locked, with eyes dropping blood, -and calls them hounds--show that Saranyu as morning light, and thus -the revealer of deeds of darkness, had gradually been degraded into -a personification of the Curse. And yet, while recognising the name -Eumenides as euphemistic, we may admire none the less the growth of -that rationalism which ultimately found in the epithet a suggestion of -the soul of good in things evil, and almost restored the beneficent -sense of Saranyu. 'I have settled in this place,' says Athene in the -'Eumenides' of Æschylus, 'these mighty deities, hard to be appeased; -they have obtained by lot to administer all things concerning men. But -he who has not found them gentle knows not whence come the ills of -life.' But before the dread Erinyes of Homer's age had become the -'venerable goddesses' (semnai theai) of popular phrase in Athens, -or the Eumenides of the later poet's high insight, piercing their -Gorgon form as portrayed by himself, they had passed through all the -phases of human terror. Cowering generations had tried to soothe the -remorseless avengers by complimentary phrases. The worship of the -serpent, originating in the same fear, similarly raised that animal -into the region where poets could invest it with many profound and -beautiful significances. But these more distinctly terrible deities -are found in the shadowy border-land of mythology, from which we may -look back into ages when the fear in which worship is born had not yet -been separated into its elements of awe and admiration, nor the heaven -of supreme forces divided into ranks of benevolent and malevolent -beings; and, on the other hand, we may look forward to the ages in -which the moral consciousness of man begins to form the distinctions -between good and evil, right and wrong, which changes cosmogony into -religion, and impresses every deity of the mind's creation to do his -or her part in reflecting the physical and moral struggles of mankind. - -The intermediate processes by which the good and evil were detached, -and advanced to separate personification, cannot always be traced, but -the indications of their work are in most cases sufficiently clear. The -relationship, for instance, between Baal and Baal-zebub cannot be -doubted. The one represents the Sun in his glory as quickener of -Nature and painter of its beauty, the other the insect-breeding power -of the Sun. Baal-zebub is the Fly-god. Only at a comparatively recent -period did the deity of the Philistines, whose oracle was consulted -by Ahaziah (2 Kings i.), suffer under the reputation of being 'the -Prince of Devils,' his name being changed by a mere pun to Beelzebul -(dung-god). It is not impossible that the modern Egyptian mother's -hesitation to disturb flies settling on her sleeping child, and the -sanctity attributed to various insects, originated in the awe felt -for him. The title Fly-god is parallelled by the reverent epithet -apomuios, applied to Zeus as worshipped at Elis, [1] the Myiagrus -deus of the Romans, [2] and the Myiodes mentioned by Pliny. [3] Our -picture is probably from a protecting charm, and evidently by the god's -believers. There is a story of a peasant woman in a French church who -was found kneeling before a marble group, and was warned by a priest -that she was worshipping the wrong figure--namely, Beelzebub. 'Never -mind,' she replied, 'it is well enough to have friends on both -sides.' The story, though now only ben trovato, would represent the -actual state of mind in many a Babylonian invoking the protection of -the Fly-god against formidable swarms of his venomous subjects. - -Not less clear is the illustration supplied by Scandinavian -mythology. In Sæmund's Edda the evil-minded Loki says:-- - - - Odin! dost thou remember - When we in early days - Blended our blood together? - - -The two became detached very slowly; for their separation implied -the crumbling away of a great religion, and its distribution into -new forms; and a religion requires, relatively, as long to decay -as it does to grow, as we who live under a crumbling religion have -good reason to know. Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, of the Brahmo-Somaj, -in an address in London, said, 'The Indian Pantheon has many millions -of deities, and no space is left for the Devil.' He might have added -that these deities have distributed between them all the work that -the Devil could perform if he were admitted. His remark recalled to -me the Eddaic story of Loki's entrance into the assembly of gods in -the halls of Oegir. Loki--destined in a later age to be identified -with Satan--is angrily received by the deities, but he goes round -and mentions incidents in the life of each one which show them to be -little if any better than himself. The gods and goddesses, unable to -reply, confirm the cynic's criticisms in theologic fashion by tying -him up with a serpent for cord. - -The late Theodore Parker is said to have replied to a Calvinist who -sought to convert him--'The difference between us is simple: your god -is my devil.' There can be little question that the Hebrews, from whom -the Calvinist inherited his deity, had no devil in their mythology, -because the jealous and vindictive Jehovah was quite equal to any -work of that kind,--as the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, bringing -plagues upon the land, or deceiving a prophet and then destroying him -for his false prophecies. [4] The same accommodating relation of the -primitive deities to all natural phenomena will account for the absence -of distinct representatives of evil of the most primitive religions. - -The earliest exceptions to this primeval harmony of the gods, -implying moral chaos in man, were trifling enough: the occasional -monster seems worthy of mention only to display the valour of the god -who slew him. But such were demon-germs, born out of the structural -action of the human mind so soon as it began to form some philosophy -concerning a universe upon which it had at first looked with simple -wonder, and destined to an evolution of vast import when the work of -moralising upon them should follow. - -Let us take our stand beside our barbarian, but no longer savage, -ancestor in the far past. We have watched the rosy morning as it -waxed to a blazing noon: then swiftly the sun is blotted out, the -tempest rages, it is a sudden night lit only by the forked lightning -that strikes tree, house, man, with angry thunder-peal. From an -instructed age man can look upon the storm blackening the sky not as -an enemy of the sun, but one of its own superlative effects; but some -thousands of years ago, when we were all living in Eastern barbarism, -we could not conceive that a luminary whose very business it was to -give light, could be a party to his own obscuration. We then looked -with pity upon the ignorance of our ancestors, who had sung hymns to -the storm-dragons, hoping to flatter them into quietness; and we came -by irresistible logic to that Dualism which long divided the visible, -and still divides the moral, universe into two hostile camps. - -This is the mother-principle out of which demons (in the ordinary -sense of the term) proceeded. At first few, as distinguished from the -host of deities by exceptional harmfulness, they were multiplied with -man's growth in the classification of his world. Their principle of -existence is capable of indefinite expansion, until it shall include -all the realms of darkness, fear, and pain. In the names of demons, -and in the fables concerning them, the struggles of man in his ages of -weakness with peril, want, and death, are recorded more fully than in -any inscriptions on stone. Dualism is a creed which all superficial -appearances attest. Side by side the desert and the fruitful land, -the sunshine and the frost, sorrow and joy, life and death, sit -weaving around every life its vesture of bright and sombre threads, -and Science alone can detect how each of these casts the shuttle -to the other. Enemies to each other they will appear in every realm -which knowledge has not mastered. There is a refrain, gathered from -many ages, in William Blake's apostrophe to the tiger:-- - - - -Tiger! tiger! burning bright -In the forests of the night; -What immortal hand or eye -Framed thy fearful symmetry? - - - -In what distant deeps or skies -Burned that fire within thine eyes? -On what wings dared he aspire? -What the hand dared seize the fire? - - - -When the stars threw down their spears -And water heaven with their tears, -Did he smile his work to see? -Did he who made the lamb make thee? - - - -That which one of the devoutest men of genius whom England has produced -thus asked was silently answered in India by the serpent-worshipper -kneeling with his tongue held in his hand; in Egypt, by Osiris seated -on a throne of chequer. [5] - -It is necessary to distinguish clearly between the Demon and the Devil, -though, for some purposes, they must be mentioned together. The world -was haunted with demons for many ages before there was any embodiment -of their spirit in any central form, much less any conception of -a Principle of Evil in the universe. The early demons had no moral -character, not any more than the man-eating tiger. There is no outburst -of moral indignation mingling with the shout of victory when Indra -slays Vritra, and Apollo's face is serene when his dart pierces the -Python. It required a much higher development of the moral sentiment -to give rise to the conception of a devil. Only that intensest light -could cast so black a shadow athwart the world as the belief in a -purely malignant spirit. To such a conception--love of evil for its -own sake--the word Devil is limited in this work; Demon is applied to -beings whose harmfulness is not gratuitous, but incidental to their -own satisfactions. - -Deity and Demon are from words once interchangeable, and the latter has -simply suffered degradation by the conventional use of it to designate -the less beneficent powers and qualities, which originally inhered -in every deity, after they were detached from these and separately -personified. Every bright god had his shadow, so to say; and under -the influence of Dualism this shadow attained a distinct existence -and personality in the popular imagination. The principle having -once been established, that what seemed beneficent and what seemed -the reverse must be ascribed to different powers, it is obvious that -the evolution of demons must be continuous, and their distribution -co-extensive with the ills that flesh is heir to. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -DEGRADATION. - - The degradation of deities--Indicated in names--Legends of their - fall--Incidental signs of the divine origin of demons and devils. - - -The atmospheric conditions having been prepared in the human mind for -the production of demons, the particular shapes or names they would -assume would be determined by a variety of circumstances, ethnical, -climatic, political, or even accidental. They would, indeed, be rarely -accidental; but Professor Max Müller, in his notes to the Rig-Veda, -has called attention to a remarkable instance in which the formation of -an imposing mythological figure of this kind had its name determined -by what, in all probability, was an accident. There appears in the -earliest Vedic hymns the name of Aditi, as the holy Mother of many -gods, and thrice there is mentioned the female name Diti. But there -is reason to believe that Diti is a mere reflex of Aditi, the a being -dropped originally by a reciter's license. The later reciters, however, -regarding every letter in so sacred a book, or even the omission of a -letter, as of eternal significance, Diti--this decapitated Aditi--was -evolved into a separate and powerful being, and, every niche of -beneficence being occupied by its god or goddess, the new form was at -once relegated to the newly-defined realm of evil, where she remained -as the mother of the enemies of the gods, the Daityas. Unhappily this -accident followed the ancient tendency by which the Furies and Vices -have, with scandalous constancy, been described in the feminine gender. - -The close resemblance between these two names of Hindu mythology, -severally representing the best and the worst, may be thus accidental, -and only serve to show how the demon-forming tendency, after it began, -was able to press even the most trivial incidents into its service. But -generally the names of demons, and for whole races of demons, report -far more than this; and in no inquiry more than that before us is it -necessary to remember that names are things. The philological facts -supply a remarkable confirmation of the statements already made -as to the original identity of demon and deity. The word 'demon' -itself, as we have said, originally bore a good instead of an evil -meaning. The Sanskrit deva, 'the shining one,' Zend daêva, correspond -with the Greek theos, Latin deus, Anglo-Saxon Tiw; and remain in -'deity,' 'deuce' (probably; it exists in Armorican, teuz, a phantom), -'devel' (the gipsy name for God), and Persian div, demon. The Demon -of Socrates represents the personification of a being still good, but -no doubt on the path of decline from pure divinity. Plato declares -that good men when they die become 'demons,' and he says 'demons -are reporters and carriers between gods and men.' Our familiar word -bogey, a sort of nickname for an evil spirit, comes from the Slavonic -word for God--bog. Appearing here in the West as bogey (Welsh bwg, -a goblin), this word bog began, probably, as the 'Baga' of cuneiform -inscriptions, a name of the Supreme Being, or possibly the Hindu -'Bhaga,' Lord of Life. In the 'Bishop's Bible' the passage occurs, -'Thou shalt not be afraid of any bugs by night:' the word has been -altered to 'terror.' When we come to the particular names of demons, -we find many of them bearing traces of the splendours from which they -have declined. 'Siva,' the Hindu god of destruction, has a meaning -('auspicious') derived from Svi, 'thrive'--thus related ideally to -Pluto, 'wealth'--and, indeed, in later ages, appears to have gained -the greatest elevation. In a story of the Persian poem Masnavi, -Ahriman is mentioned with Bahman as a fire-fiend, of which class are -the Magian demons and the Jinns generally; which, the sanctity of -fire being considered, is an evidence of their high origin. Avicenna -says that the genii are ethereal animals. Lucifer--light-bearing--is -the fallen angel of the morning star. Loki--the nearest to an evil -power of the Scandinavian personifications--is the German leucht, -or light. Azazel--a word inaccurately rendered 'scape-goat' in the -Bible--appears to have been originally a deity, as the Israelites -were originally required to offer up one goat to Jehovah and -another to Azazel, a name which appears to signify the 'strength -of God.' Gesenius and Ewald regard Azazel as a demon belonging -to the pre-Mosaic religion, but it can hardly be doubted that the -four arch-demons mentioned by the Rabbins--Samaël, Azazel, Asaël, -and Maccathiel--are personifications of the elements as energies -of the deity. Samaël would appear to mean the 'left hand of God;' -Azazel, his strength; Asaël, his reproductive force; and Maccathiel, -his retributive power, but the origin of these names is doubtful.. - -Although Azazel is now one of the Mussulman names for a devil, -it would appear to be nearly related to Al Uzza of the Koran, -one of the goddesses of whom the significant tradition exists, -that once when Mohammed had read, from the Sura called 'The Star,' -the question, 'What think ye of Allat, Al Uzza, and Manah, that -other third goddess?' he himself added, 'These are the most high -and beauteous damsels, whose intercession is to be hoped for,' the -response being afterwards attributed to a suggestion of Satan. [6] -Belial is merely a word for godlessness; it has become personified -through the misunderstanding of the phrase in the Old Testament by -the translators of the Septuagint, and thus passed into christian -use, as in 2 Cor. vi. 15, 'What concord hath Christ with Belial?' The -word is not used as a proper name in the Old Testament, and the late -creation of a demon out of it may be set down to accident. - -Even where the names of demons and devils bear no such traces of -their degradation from the state of deities, there are apt to be -characteristics attributed to them, or myths connected with them, -which point in the direction indicated. Such is the case with Satan, -of whom much must be said hereafter, whose Hebrew name signifies -the adversary, but who, in the Book of Job, appears among the sons -of God. The name given to the devil in the Koran--Eblis--is almost -certainly diabolos Arabicised; and while this Greek word is found -in Pindar [7] (5th century B.C.), meaning a slanderer, the fables -in the Koran concerning Eblis describe him as a fallen angel of the -highest rank. - -One of the most striking indications of the fall of demons from heaven -is the wide-spread belief that they are lame. Mr. Tylor has pointed -out the curious persistence of this idea in various ethnical lines of -development. [8] Hephaistos was lamed by his fall when hurled by Zeus -from Olympos; and it is not a little singular that in the English -travesty of limping Vulcan, represented in Wayland the Smith, [9] -there should appear the suggestion, remarked by Mr. Cox, of the name -'Vala' (coverer), one of the designations of the dragon destroyed by -Indra. 'In Sir Walter Scott's romance,' says Mr. Cox, 'Wayland is a -mere impostor, who avails himself of a popular superstition to keep -up an air of mystery about himself and his work, but the character to -which he makes pretence belongs to the genuine Teutonic legend.' [10] -The Persian demon Aeshma--the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit--appears -with the same characteristic of lameness in the 'Diable Boiteux' -of Le Sage. The christian devil's clubbed or cloven foot is notorious. - -Even the horns popularly attributed to the devil may possibly have -originated with the aureole which indicates the glory of his 'first -estate.' Satan is depicted in various relics of early art wearing the -aureole, as in a miniature of the tenth century (from Bible No. 6, -Bib. Roy.), given by M. Didron. [11] The same author has shown that -Pan and the Satyrs, who had so much to do with the shaping of our -horned and hoofed devil, originally got their horns from the same -high source as Moses in the old Bibles, [12] and in the great statue -of him at Rome by Michel Angelo. - -It is through this mythologic history that the most powerful -demons have been associated in the popular imagination with stars, -planets,--Ketu in India, Saturn and Mercury the 'Infortunes,'--comets, -and other celestial phenomena. The examples of this are so numerous -that it is impossible to deal with them here, where I can only hope -to offer a few illustrations of the principles affirmed; and in this -case it is of less importance for the English reader, because of the -interesting volume in which the subject has been specially dealt -with. [13] Incidentally, too, the astrological demons and devils -must recur from time to time in the process of our inquiry. But it -will probably be within the knowledge of some of my readers that the -dread of comets and of meteoric showers yet lingers in many parts -of Christendom, and that fear of unlucky stars has not passed away -with astrologers. There is a Scottish legend told by Hugh Miller -of an avenging meteoric demon. A shipmaster who had moored his -vessel near Morial's Den, amused himself by watching the lights -of the scattered farmhouses. After all the rest had gone out one -light lingered for some time. When that light too had disappeared, -the shipmaster beheld a large meteor, which, with a hissing noise, -moved towards the cottage. A dog howled, an owl whooped; but when -the fire-ball had almost reached the roof, a cock crew from within -the cottage, and the meteor rose again. Thrice this was repeated, -the meteor at the third cock-crow ascending among the stars. On the -following day the shipmaster went on shore, purchased the cock, and -took it away with him. Returned from his voyage, he looked for the -cottage, and found nothing but a few blackened stones. Nearly sixty -years ago a human skeleton was found near the spot, doubled up as -if the body had been huddled into a hole: this revived the legend, -and probably added some of those traits which make it a true bit of -mosaic in the mythology of Astræa. [14] - -The fabled 'fall of Lucifer' really signifies a process similar to -that which has been noticed in the case of Saranyu. The morning star, -like the morning light, as revealer of the deeds of darkness, becomes -an avenger, and by evolution an instigator of the evil it originally -disclosed and punished. It may be remarked also that though we have -inherited the phrase 'Demons of Darkness,' it was an ancient rabbinical -belief that the demons went abroad in darkness not only because it -facilitated their attacks on man, but because being of luminous forms, -they could recognise each other better with a background of darkness. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE ABGOTT. - - The ex-god--Deities demonised by conquest--Theological animosity - --Illustration from the Avesta--Devil-worship an arrested Deism-- - Sheik Adi--Why demons were painted ugly--Survivals of their beauty. - - -The phenomena of the transformation of deities into demons meet the -student of Demonology at every step. We shall have to consider many -examples of a kind similar to those which have been mentioned in the -preceding chapter; but it is necessary to present at this stage of our -inquiry a sufficient number of examples to establish the fact that in -every country forces have been at work to degrade the primitive gods -into types of evil, as preliminary to a consideration of the nature -of those forces. - -We find the history of the phenomena suggested in the German word for -idol, Abgott--ex-god. Then we have 'pagan,' villager, and 'heathen,' of -the heath, denoting those who stood by their old gods after others had -transferred their faith to the new. These words bring us to consider -the influence upon religious conceptions of the struggles which have -occurred between races and nations, and consequently between their -religions. It must be borne in mind that by the time any tribes had -gathered to the consistency of a nation, one of the strongest forces of -its coherence would be its priesthood. So soon as it became a general -belief that there were in the universe good and evil Powers, there -must arise a popular demand for the means of obtaining their favour; -and this demand has never failed to obtain a supply of priesthoods -claiming to bind or influence the præternatural beings. These -priesthoods represent the strongest motives and fears of a people, -and they were gradually intrenched in great institutions involving -powerful interests. Every invasion or collision or mingling of races -thus brought their respective religions into contact and rivalry; -and as no priesthood has been known to consent peaceably to its own -downfall and the degradation of its own deities, we need not wonder -that there have been perpetual wars for religious ascendency. It -is not unusual to hear sects among ourselves accusing each other -of idolatry. In earlier times the rule was for each religion to -denounce its opponent's gods as devils. Gregory the Great wrote -to his missionary in Britain, the Abbot Mellitus, second Bishop of -Canterbury, that 'whereas the people were accustomed to sacrifice -many oxen in honour of demons, let them celebrate a religious and -solemn festival, and not slay the animals to the devil (diabolo), -but to be eaten by themselves to the glory of God.' Thus the devotion -of meats to those deities of our ancestors which the Pope pronounces -demons, which took place chiefly at Yule-tide, has survived in our -more comfortable Christmas banquets. This was the fate of all the -deities which Christianity undertook to suppress. But it had been the -habit of religions for many ages before. They never denied the actual -existence of the deities they were engaged in suppressing. That would -have been too great an outrage upon popular beliefs, and might have -caused a reaction; and, besides, each new religion had an interest -of its own in preserving the basis of belief in these invisible -beings. Disbelief in the very existence of the old gods might be -followed by a sceptical spirit that might endanger the new. So the -propagandists maintained the existence of native gods, but called -them devils. Sometimes wars or intercourse between tribes led to their -fusion; the battle between opposing religions was drawn, in which case -there would be a compromise by which several deities of different -origin might continue together in the same race and receive equal -homage. The differing degrees of importance ascribed to the separate -persons of the Hindu triad in various localities of India, suggest -it as quite probable that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva signalled in their -union the political unity of certain districts in that country. [15] -The blending of the names of Confucius and Buddha, in many Chinese -and Japanese temples, may show us an analogous process now going on, -and, indeed, the various ethnical ideas combined in the christian -Trinity render the fact stated one of easy interpretation. But the -religious difficulty was sometimes not susceptible of compromise. The -most powerful priesthood carried the day, and they used every ingenuity -to degrade the gods of their opponents. Agathodemons were turned into -kakodemons. The serpent, worshipped in many lands, might be adopted -as the support of sleeping Vishnu in India, might be associated with -the rainbow ('the heavenly serpent') in Persia, but elsewhere was -cursed as the very genius of evil. - -The operation of this force in the degradation of deities, is -particularly revealed in the Sacred Books of Persia. In that country -the great religions of the East would appear to have contended -against each other with especial fury, and their struggles were -probably instrumental in causing one or more of the early migrations -into Western Europe. The great celestial war between Ormuzd and -Ahriman--Light and Darkness--corresponded with a violent theological -conflict, one result of which is that the word deva, meaning 'deity' -to Brahmans, means 'devil' to Parsees. The following extract from -the Zend-Avesta will serve as an example of the spirit in which the -war was waged:-- - -'All your devas are only manifold children of the Evil Mind--and the -great one who worships the Saoma of lies and deceits; besides the -treacherous acts for which you are notorious throughout the seven -regions of the earth. - -'You have invented all the evil which men speak and do, which is -indeed pleasant to the Devas, but is devoid of all goodness, and -therefore perishes before the insight of the truth of the wise. - -'Thus you defraud men of their good minds and of their immortality -by your evil minds--as well through those of the Devas as that of the -Evil Spirit--through evil deeds and evil words, whereby the power of -liars grows.' [16] - -That is to say--Ours is the true god: your god is a devil. - -The Zoroastrian conversion of deva (deus) into devil does not -alone represent the work of this odium theologicum. In the early -hymns of India the appellation asuras is given to the gods. Asura -means a spirit. But in the process of time asura, like dæmon, came -to have a sinister meaning: the gods were called suras, the demons -asuras, and these were said to contend together. But in Persia the -asuras--demonised in India--retained their divinity, and gave the name -ahura to the supreme deity, Ormuzd (Ahura-mazda). On the other hand, -as Mr. Muir supposes, Varenya, applied to evil spirits of darkness in -the Zendavesta, is cognate with Varuna (Heaven); and the Vedic Indra, -king of the gods--the Sun--is named in the Zoroastrian religion as -one of the chief councillors of that Prince of Darkness. - -But in every country conquered by a new religion, there will always be -found some, as we have seen, who will hold on to the old deity under -all his changed fortunes. These will be called 'bigots,' but still they -will adhere to the ancient belief and practise the old rites. Sometimes -even after they have had to yield to the popular terminology, and call -the old god a devil, they will find some reason for continuing the -transmitted forms. It is probable that to this cause was originally -due the religions which have been developed into what is now termed -Devil-worship. The distinct and avowed worship of the evil Power in -preference to the good is a rather startling phenomenon when presented -baldly; as, for example, in a prayer of the Madagascans to Nyang, -author of evil, quoted by Dr. Réville:--'O Zamhor! to thee we offer no -prayers. The good god needs no asking. But we must pray to Nyang. Nyang -must be appeased. O Nyang, bad and strong spirit, let not the thunder -roar over our heads! Tell the sea to keep within its bounds! Spare, -O Nyang, the ripening fruit, and dry not up the blossoming rice! Let -not our women bring forth children on the accursed days. Thou reignest, -and this thou knowest, over the wicked; and great is their number, -O Nyang. Torment not, then, any longer the good folk!' [17] - -This is natural, and suggestive of the criminal under sentence of -death, who, when asked if he was not afraid to meet his God, replied, -'Not in the least; it's that other party I'm afraid of.' Yet it -is hardly doubtful that the worship of Nyang began in an era when -he was by no means considered morally baser than Zamhor. How the -theory of Dualism, when attained, might produce the phenomenon -called Devil-worship, is illustrated in the case of the Yezedis, now -so notorious for that species of religion. Their theory is usually -supposed to be entirely represented by the expression uttered by one -of them, 'Will not Satan, then, reward the poor Izedis, who alone have -never spoken ill of him, and have suffered so much for him?' [18] -But these words are significant, no doubt, of the underlying fact: -they 'have never spoken ill of' the Satan they worship. The Mussulman -calls the Yezedi a Satan-worshipper only as the early Zoroastrian held -the worshipper of a deva to be the same. The chief object of worship -among the Yezedis is the figure of the bird Taous, a half-mythical -peacock. Professor King of Cambridge traces the Taous of this Assyrian -sect to the "sacred bird called a phoenix," whose picture, as seen -by Herodotus (ii. 73) in Egypt, is described by him as 'very like an -eagle in outline and in size, but with plumage partly gold-coloured, -partly crimson,' and which was said to return to Heliopolis every -five hundred years, there to burn itself on the altar of the Sun, -that another might rise from its ashes. [19] Now the name Yezedis -is simply Izeds, genii; and we are thus pointed to Arabia, where we -find the belief in genii is strongest, and also associated with the -mythical bird Rokh of its folklore. There we find Mohammed rebuking -the popular belief in a certain bird called Hamâh, which was said to -take form from the blood near the brain of a dead person and fly away, -to return, however, at the end of every hundred years to visit that -person's sepulchre. But this is by no means Devil-worship, nor can we -find any trace of that in the most sacred scripture of the Yezedis, -the 'Eulogy of Sheikh Adi.' This Sheikh inherited from his father, -Moosafir, the sanctity of an incarnation of the divine essence, -of which he (Adi) speaks as 'the All-merciful.' - - - By his light he hath lighted the lamp of the morning. - I am he that placed Adam in my Paradise. - I am he that made Nimrod a hot burning fire. - I am he that guided Ahmet mine elect, - I gifted him with my way and guidance. - Mine are all existences together, - They are my gift and under my direction. - I am he that possesseth all majesty, - And beneficence and charity are from my grace, - I am he that entereth the heart in my zeal; - And I shine through the power of my awfulness and majesty. - I am he to whom the lion of the desert came: - I rebuked him and he became like stone. - I am he to whom the serpent came, - And by my will I made him like dust. - I am he that shook the rock and made it tremble, - And sweet water flowed therefrom from every side. [20] - - -The reverence shown in these sacred sentences for Hebrew names and -traditions--as of Adam in Paradise, Marah, and the smitten rock--and -for Ahmet (Mohammed), appears to have had its only requital in the -odious designation of the worshippers of Taous as Devil-worshippers, -a label which the Yezedis perhaps accepted as the Wesleyans and -Friends accepted such names as 'Methodist' and 'Quaker.' - -Mohammed has expiated the many deities he degraded to devils by being -himself turned to an idol (mawmet), a term of contempt all the more -popular for its resemblance to 'mummery.' Despite his denunciations -of idolatry, it is certain that this earlier religion represented -by the Yezedis has never been entirely suppressed even among his own -followers. In Dr. Leitner's interesting collection there is a lamp, -which he obtained from a mosque, made in the shape of a peacock, -and this is but one of many similar relics of primitive or alien -symbolism found among the Mussulman tribes. - -The evolution of demons and devils out of deities was made real to -the popular imagination in every country where the new religion found -art existing, and by alliance with it was enabled to shape the ideas -of the people. The theoretical degradation of deities of previously -fair association could only be completed where they were presented to -the eye in repulsive forms. It will readily occur to every one that a -rationally conceived demon or devil would not be repulsive. If it were -a demon that man wished to represent, mere euphemism would prevent its -being rendered odious. The main characteristic of a demon--that which -distinguishes it from a devil--is, as we have seen, that it has a real -and human-like motive for whatever evil it causes. If it afflict or -consume man, it is not from mere malignancy, but because impelled by -the pangs of hunger, lust, or other suffering, like the famished wolf -or shark. And if sacrifices of food were offered to satisfy its need, -equally we might expect that no unnecessary insult would be offered in -the attempt to portray it. But if it were a devil--a being actuated -by simple malevolence--one of its essential functions, temptation, -would be destroyed by hideousness. For the work of seduction we might -expect a devil to wear the form of an angel of light, but by no means -to approach his intended victim in any horrible shape, such as would -repel every mortal. The great representations of evil, whether imagined -by the speculative or the religious sense, have never been, originally, -ugly. The gods might be described as falling swiftly like lightning -out of heaven, but in the popular imagination they retained for a long -time much of their splendour. The very ingenuity with which they were -afterwards invested with ugliness in religious art, attests that there -were certain popular sentiments about them which had to be distinctly -reversed. It was because they were thought beautiful that they must be -painted ugly; it was because they were--even among converts to the new -religion--still secretly believed to be kind and helpful, that there -was employed such elaboration of hideous designs to deform them. The -pictorial representations of demons and devils will come under a more -detailed examination hereafter: it is for the present sufficient to -point out that the traditional blackness or ugliness of demons and -devils, as now thought of, by no means militates against the fact -that they were once the popular deities. The contrast, for instance, -between the horrible physiognomy given to Satan in ordinary christian -art, and the theological representation of him as the Tempter, is -obvious. Had the design of Art been to represent the theological -theory, Satan would have been portrayed in a fascinating form. But -the design was not that; it was to arouse horror and antipathy for -the native deities to which the ignorant clung tenaciously. It was -to train children to think of the still secretly-worshipped idols -as frightful and bestial beings. It is important, therefore, that we -should guard against confusing the speculative or moral attempts of -mankind to personify pain and evil with the ugly and brutal demons and -devils of artificial superstition, oftenest pictured on church walls. -Sometimes they are set to support water-spouts, often the brackets -that hold their foes, the saints. It is a very ancient device. Our -figure 2 is from the handle of a chalice in possession of Sir James -Hooker, meant probably to hold the holy water of Ganges. These are -not genuine demons or devils, but carefully caricatured deities. Who -that looks upon the grinning bestial forms carved about the roof of any -old church--as those on Melrose Abbey and York Cathedral [21]--which, -there is reason to believe, represent the primitive deities driven from -the interior by potency of holy water, and chained to the uncongenial -service of supporting the roof-gutter--can see in these gargoyles -(Fr. gargouille, dragon), anything but carved imprecations? Was it -to such ugly beings, guardians of their streams, hills, and forests, -that our ancestors consecrated the holly and mistletoe, or with such -that they associated their flowers, fruits, and homes? They were -caricatures inspired by missionaries, made to repel and disgust, as -the images of saints beside them were carved in beauty to attract. If -the pagans had been the artists, the good looks would have been on -the other side. And indeed there was an art of which those pagans -were the unconscious possessors, through which the true characters of -the imaginary beings they adored have been transmitted to us. In the -fables of their folklore we find the Fairies that represent the spirit -of the gods and goddesses to which they are easily traceable. That -goddess who in christian times was pictured as a hag riding on a -broom-stick was Frigga, the Earth-mother, associated with the first -sacred affections clustering around the hearth; or Freya, whose very -name was consecrated in frau, woman and wife. The mantle of Bertha did -not cover more tenderness when it fell to the shoulders of Mary. The -German child's name for the pre-christian Madonna was Mother Rose: -distaff in hand, she watched over the industrious at their household -work: she hovered near the cottage, perhaps to find there some weeping -Cinderella and give her beauty for ashes. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -CLASSIFICATION. - - The obstructions of man--The twelve chief classes--Modifications - of particular forms for various functions--Theological demons. - - -The statements made concerning the fair names of the chief demons -and devils which have haunted the imagination of mankind, heighten -the contrast between their celestial origin and the functions -attributed to them in their degraded forms. The theory of Dualism, -representing a necessary stage in the mental development of every -race, called for a supply of demons, and the supply came from the -innumerable dethroned, outlawed, and fallen deities and angels which -had followed the subjugation of races and their religions. But though -their celestial origin might linger around them in some slight legend -or characteristic as well as in their names, the evil phenomenon to -which each was attached as an explanation assigned the real form and -work with which he or she was associated in popular superstition. We -therefore find in the demons in which men have believed a complete -catalogue of the obstacles with which they have had to contend in the -long struggle for existence. In the devils we discover equally the -history of the moral and religious struggles through which priesthoods -and churches have had to pass. And the relative extent of this or -that particular class of demons or devils, and the intensity of -belief in any class as shown in the number of survivals from it, -will be found to reflect pretty faithfully the degree to which the -special evil represented by it afflicted primitive man, as attested -by other branches of pre-historic investigation. - -As to function, the demons we shall have to consider are those -representing--1. Hunger; 2. Excessive Heat; 3. Excessive Cold; -4. Destructive elements and physical convulsions; 5. Destructive -animals; 6. Human enemies; 7. The Barrenness of the Earth, as rock and -desert; 8. Obstacles, as the river or mountain; 9. Illusion, seductive, -invisible, and mysterious agents, causing delusions; 10. Darkness -(especially when unusual), Dreams, Nightmare; 11. Disease; 12. Death. - -These classes are selected, in obedience to necessary limitations, -as representing the twelve chief labours of man which have given -shape to the majority of his haunting demons, as distinguished from -his devils. Of course all classifications of this character must be -understood as made for convenience, and the divisions are not to be -too sharply taken. What Plotinus said of the gods, that each contained -all the rest, is equally true of both demons and devils. The demons -of Hunger are closely related to the demons of Fire: Agni devoured -his parents (two sticks consumed by the flame they produce); and -from them we pass easily to elemental demons, like the lightning, -or demons of fever. And similarly we find a relationship between -other destructive forces. Nevertheless, the distinctions drawn are -not fanciful, but exist in clear and unmistakable beliefs as to the -special dispositions and employments of demons; and as we are not -engaged in dealing with natural phenomena, but with superstitions -concerning them, the only necessity of this classification is that -it shall not be arbitrary, but shall really simplify the immense mass -of facts which the student of Demonology has to encounter. - -But there are several points which require especial attention as -preliminary to a consideration of these various classes of demons. - -First, it is to be borne in mind that a single demonic form will often -appear in various functions, and that these must not be confused. The -serpent may represent the lightning, or the coil of the whirlwind, or -fatal venom; the earthquake may represent a swallowing Hunger-demon, -or the rage of a chained giant. The separate functions must not be -lost sight of because sometimes traceable to a single form, nor their -practical character suffer disguise through their fair euphemistic -or mythological names. - -Secondly, the same form appears repeatedly in a diabolic as well as -a demonic function, and here a clear distinction must be maintained -in the reader's mind. The distinction already taken between a demon -and a devil is not arbitrary: the word demon is related to deity; -the word devil, though sometimes connected with the Sanskrit deva, -has really no relation to it, but has a bad sense as 'calumniator:' -but even if there were no such etymological identity and difference, -it would be necessary to distinguish such widely separate offices as -those representing the afflictive forces of nature where attributed -to humanly appreciable motives on the one hand, and evils ascribed to -pure malignancy or a principle of evil on the other. The Devil may, -indeed, represent a further evolution in the line on which the Demon -has appeared; Ahriman the Bad in conflict with Ormuzd the Good may -be a spiritualisation of the conflict between Light and Darkness, Sun -and Cloud, as represented in the Vedic Indra and Vritra; but the two -phases represent different classes of ideas, indeed different worlds, -and the apprehension of both requires that they shall be carefully -distinguished even when associated with the same forms and names. - -Thirdly, there is an important class of demons which the reader -may expect to find fully treated of in the part of my work more -particularly devoted to Demonology, which must be deferred, or further -traced in that portion relating to the Devil; they are forms which in -their original conception were largely beneficent, and have become of -evil repute mainly through the anathema of theology. The chequer-board -on which Osiris sat had its development in hosts of primitive shapes of -light opposing shapes of darkness. The evil of some of these is ideal; -others are morally amphibious: Teraphim, Lares, genii, were ancestors -of the guardian angels and patron saints of the present day; they were -oftenest in the shapes of dogs and cats and aged human ancestors, -supposed to keep watch and ward about the house, like the friendly -Domovoi respected in Russia; the evil disposition and harmfulness -ascribed to them are partly natural but partly also theological, -and due to the difficulty of superseding them with patron saints and -angels. The degradation of beneficent beings, already described in -relation to large demonic and diabolic forms, must be understood as -constantly acting in the smallest details of household superstition, -with what strange reaction and momentous result will appear when we -come to consider the phenomena of Witchcraft. - -Finally, it must be remarked that the nature of our inquiry renders -the consideration of the origin of myths--whether 'solar' or other--of -secondary importance. Such origin it will be necessary to point out -and discuss incidentally, but our main point will always be the forms -in which the myths have become incarnate, and their modifications -in various places and times, these being the result of those actual -experiences with which Demonology is chiefly concerned. A myth, as -many able writers have pointed out, is, in its origin, an explanation -by the uncivilised mind of some natural phenomenon--not an allegory, -not an esoteric conceit. For this reason it possesses fluidity, and -takes on manifold shapes. The apparent sleep of the sun in winter -may be represented in a vast range of myths, from the Seven Sleepers -to the Man in the Moon of our nursery rhyme; but the variations all -have relation to facts and circumstances. Comparative Mythology is -mainly concerned with the one thread running through them, and binding -them all to the original myth; the task of Demonology is rather to -discover the agencies which have given their several shapes. If it be -shown that Orthros and Cerberus were primarily the morning and evening -twilight or howling winds, either interpretation is here secondary to -their personification as dogs. Demonology would ask, Why dogs? why -not bulls? Its answer in each case detaches from the anterior myth -its mode, and shows this as the determining force of further myths. - - - - - - - - -PART II. - -THE DEMON. - - -CHAPTER I. - -HUNGER. - - Hunger-demons--Kephn--Miru--Kagura--Ráhu the Hindu - sun-devourer--The earth monster at Pelsall--A Franconian - custom--Sheitan as moon-devourer--Hindu offerings to the - dead--Ghoul--Goblin--Vampyres--Leanness of demons--Old Scotch - custom.--The origin of sacrifices. - - -In every part of the earth man's first struggle was for his daily -food. With only a rude implement of stone or bone he had to get fish -from the sea, bird from the air, beast from the forest. For ages, -with such poor equipment, he had to wring a precarious livelihood from -nature. He saw, too, every living form around him similarly trying to -satisfy its hunger. There seemed to be a Spirit of Hunger abroad. And, -at the same time, there was such a resistance to man's satisfaction -of his need--the bird and fish so hard to get, the stingy earth so -ready to give him a stone when he asked for bread--that he came to the -conclusion that there must be invisible voracious beings who wanted all -good things for themselves. So the ancient world was haunted by a vast -brood of Hunger-demons. There is an African tribe, the Karens, whose -representation of the Devil (Kephn) is a huge stomach floating through -the air; and this repulsive image may be regarded as the type of nearly -half the demons which have haunted the human imagination. This, too, -is the terrible Miru, with her daughters and slave, haunting the South -Sea Islander. 'The esoteric doctrine of the priests was, that souls -leave the body ere breath has quite gone, and travel to the edge of -a cliff facing the setting sun (Ra). A large wave now approaches the -base of the cliff, and a gigantic bua tree, covered with fragrant -blossoms, springs up from Avaiki (nether world) to receive on its -far-reaching branches human spirits, who are mysteriously impelled to -cluster on its limbs. When at length the mystic tree is covered with -human spirits, it goes down with its living freight to the nether -world. Akaanga, the slave of fearful Miru, mistress of the invisible -world, infallibly catches all these unhappy spirits in his net and -laves them to and fro in a lake. In these waters the captive ghosts -exhaust themselves by wriggling about like fishes, in the vain hope of -escape. The net is pulled up, and the half-drowned spirits enter into -the presence of dread Miru, who is ugliness personified. The secret -of Miru's power over her intended victims is the 'kava' root (Piper -mythisticum). A bowl of this drink is prepared for each visitor to the -shades by her four lovely daughters. Stupefied with the draught, the -unresisting victims are borne off to a mighty oven and cooked. Miru, -her peerless daughters, her dance-loving son, and the attendants, -subsist exclusively on human spirits decoyed to the nether world -and then cooked. The drinking-cups of Miru are the skulls of her -victims. She is called in song 'Miru-the-ruddy,' because her cheeks -ever glow with the heat of the oven where her captives are cooked. As -the surest way to Miru's oven is to die a natural death, one need not -marvel that the Rev. Mr. Gill, who made these statements before the -Anthropological Institute in London (February 8, 1876), had heard -'many anecdotes of aged warriors, scarcely able to hold a spear, -insisting on being led to the field of battle in the hope of gaining -the house of the brave.' As the South Sea paradise seems to consist -in an eternal war-dance, or, in one island, in an eternal chewing -of sugar-cane, it is not unlikely that the aged seek violent death -chiefly to avoid the oven. We have here a remarkable illustration of -the distinguishing characteristic of the demon. Fearful as Miru is, -it may be noted that there is not one gratuitous element of cruelty -in her procedure. On the contrary, she even provides her victims -with an anæsthetic draught. Her prey is simply netted, washed, and -cooked, as for man are his animal inferiors. In one of the islands -(Aitutaki), Miru is believed to resort to a device which is certainly -terrible--namely, the contrivance that each soul entering the nether -world shall drink a bowl of living centipedes; but this is simply -with the one end in view of appeasing her own pangs of hunger, for -the object and effect of the draught is to cause the souls to drown -themselves, it being apparently only after entire death that they -can be cooked and devoured by Miru and her household. - -Fortunately for the islanders, Miru is limited in her tortures to -a transmundane sphere, and room is left for many a slip between -her dreadful cup and the human lip. The floating stomach Kephn is, -however, not other-worldly. We see, however, a softened form of him -in some other tribes. The Greenlanders, Finns, Laps, conceived the -idea that there is a large paunch-demon which people could invoke to -go and suck the cows or consume the herds of their enemies; and the -Icelanders have a superstition that some people can construct such a -demon out of bones and skins, and send him forth to transmute the milk -or flesh of cattle into a supply of flesh and blood. A form of this -kind is represented in the Japanese Kagura (figure 3), the favourite -mask of January dancers and drum-beaters seeking money. The Kagura -is in precise contrast with the Pretas (Siam), which, though twelve -miles in height, are too thin to be seen, their mouths being so small -as to render it impossible to satisfy their fearful hunger. - -The pot-bellies given to demons in Travancore and other districts -of India, and the blood-sacrifices by which the natives propitiate -them--concerning which a missionary naively remarks, that even these -heathen recognise, though in corrupted form, 'the great truth that -without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins' [22]--refer -to the Hunger-demon. They are the brood of Kali, girt round with -human skulls. - -The expedition which went out to India to observe the last solar -eclipse was incidentally the means of calling attention to a -remarkable survival of the Hunger-demon in connection with astronomic -phenomena. While the English observers were arranging their apparatus, -the natives prepared a pile of brushwood, and, so soon as the eclipse -began, they set fire to this pile and began to shout and yell as they -danced around it. Not less significant were the popular observances -generally. There was a semi-holiday in honour of the eclipse. The -ghauts were crowded with pious worshippers. No Hindu, it is thought, -ought to do any work whatever during an eclipse, and there was a -general tendency to prolong the holiday a little beyond the exact -time when the shadow disappears, and indeed to prolong it throughout -the day. All earthenware vessels used for cooking were broken, and all -cooked food in the houses at the time of the eclipse was thrown out. It -is regarded as a time of peculiar blessings if taken in the right way, -and of dread consequences to persons inclined to heterodoxy or neglect -of the proper observances. Between nine and ten in the evening two -shocks of an earthquake occurred, the latter a rather unpleasant one, -shaking the tables and doors in an uncomfortable fashion for several -seconds. To the natives it was no surprise--they believe firmly in -the connection of eclipses and earthquakes. [23] - -Especially notable is the breaking of their culinary utensils by -the Hindus during an eclipse. In Copenhagen there is a collection -of the votive weapons of ancient Norsemen, every one broken as it -was offered up to the god of their victory in token of good faith, -lest they should be suspected of any intention to use again what they -had given away. For the same reason the cup was offered--broken--with -the libation. The Northman felt himself in the presence of the Jötunn -(giants), whose name Grimm identifies as the Eaters. For the Hindu of -to-day the ceremonies appropriate at an eclipse, however important, -have probably as little rational meaning as the occasional Belfire -that lights up certain dark corners of Europe has for those who build -it. But the traditional observances have come up from the childhood -of the world, when the eclipse represented a demon devouring the sun, -who was to have his attention called by outcries and prayers to the -fact that if it was fire he needed there was plenty on earth; and if -food, he might have all in their houses, provided he would consent -to satisfy his appetite with articles of food less important than -the luminaries of heaven. - -Such is the shape now taken in India of the ancient myth of the -eclipse. When at the churning of the ocean to find the nectar of -immortality, a demon with dragon-tail was tasting that nectar, the sun -and moon told on him, but not until his head had become immortal; and -it is this head of Ráhu which seeks now to devour the informers--the -Sun and Moon. [24] Mythologically, too, this Ráhu has been divided; -for we shall hereafter trace the dragon-tail of him to the garden of -Eden and in the christian devil, whereas in India he has been improved -from a vindictive to a merely voracious demon. - -The fires kindled by the Hindus to frighten Ráhu on his latest -appearance might have defeated the purpose of the expedition by the -smoke it was sending up, had not two officers leaped upon the fire -and scattered its fuel; but just about the time when these courageous -gentlemen were trampling out the fires of superstition whose smoke -would obscure the vision of science, an event occurred in England -which must be traced to the same ancient belief--the belief, namely, -that when anything is apparently swallowed up, as the sun and moon -by an eclipse, or a village by earthquake or flood, it is the work -of a hungry dragon, earthworm, or other monster. The Pelsall mine -was flooded, and a large number of miners drowned. When the accident -became known in the village, the women went out with the families of -the unfortunate men, and sat beside the mouth of the flooded pit, -at the bottom of which the dead bodies yet remained. These women -then yelled down the pit with voices very different from ordinary -lamentation. They also refused unanimously to taste food of any kind, -saying, when pressed to do so, that so long as they could refrain from -eating, their husbands might still be spared to them. When, finally, -one poor woman, driven by the pangs of hunger, was observed to eat a -crust of bread, the cries ceased, and the women, renouncing all hope, -proceeded in silent procession to their homes in Pelsall. - -The Hindu people casting their food out of the window during -an eclipse, the Pelsall wives refusing to eat when the mine is -flooded, are acting by force of immemorial tradition, and so are -doing unconsciously what the African woman does consciously when she -surrounds the bed of her sick husband with rice and meat, and beseeches -the demon to devour them instead of the man. To the same class of -notions belong the old custom of trying to discover the body of one -drowned by means of a loaf of bread with a candle stuck in it, which -it was said would pause above the body, and the body might be made to -appear by firing a gun over it--that is, the demon holding it would be -frightened off. A variant, too, is the Persian custom of protecting a -woman in parturition by spreading a table, with a lamp at each corner, -with seven kinds of fruits and seven different aromatic seeds upon it. - -In 1769, when Pennant made his 'Scottish Tour,' he found fully -observed in the Highlands the ceremony of making the Beltane Cake on -the first of May, and dedicating its distributed fragments to birds -and beasts of prey, with invocation to the dread being of whom they -were the supposed agents to spare the herds. Demons especially love -milk: the Lambton Worm required nine cows' milk daily; and Jerome -mentions a diabolical baby which exhausted six nurses. - -The Devil nominally inherits, among the peasantry of Christendom, the -attributes of the demons which preceded him; but it must be understood -that in every case where mere voracity is ascribed to the Devil, a -primitive demon is meant, and of this fact the superstitious peasant -is dimly conscious. In Franconia, when a baker is about to put dough -biscuits into an oven to be baked, he will first throw half-a-dozen of -them into the fire, saying, 'There, poor devil! those are for you.' If -pressed for an explanation, he will admit his fear that but for this -offering his biscuits are in danger of coming out burnt; but that the -'poor devil' is not bad-hearted, only driven by his hunger to make -mischief. The being he fears is, therefore, clearly not the Devil at -all--whose distinction is a love of wickedness for its own sake--but -the half-starved gobbling ghosts of whom, in Christian countries, -'Devil' has become the generic name. Of their sacrifices, Grace before -meat is a remnant. In Moslem countries, however, 'Sheitan' combines the -demonic and the malignant voracities. During the late lunar eclipse, -the inhabitants of Pera and Constantinople fired guns over their houses -to drive 'Sheitan' (Satan) away from the moon, for, whoever the foe, -the Turk trusts in gunpowder. But superstitions representing Satan -as a devourer are becoming rare. In the church of Nôtre Dame at Hal, -Belgium, the lectern shows a dragon attempting to swallow the Bible, -which is supported on the back of an eagle. - -There is another and much more formidable form in which the -Hunger-demon appears in Demonology. The fondness for blood, so -characteristic of supreme gods, was distributed as a special thirst -through a large class of demons. In the legend of Ishtar descending -to Hades [25] to seek some beloved one, she threatens if the door be -not opened-- - - - -I will raise the dead to be devourers of the living! -Upon the living shall the dead prey! - - - -This menace shows that the Chaldæan and Babylonian belief in the -vampyre, called Akhkharu in Assyrian, was fully developed at a very -early date. Although the Hunger-demon was very fully developed in -India, it does not appear to have been at any time so cannibalistic, -possibly because the natives were not great flesh-eaters. In some -cases, indeed, we meet with the vampyre superstition; as in the story -of Vikram and the Vampyre, and in the Tamil drama of Harichándra, -where the frenzied Sandramáti says to the king, 'I belong to the -race of elves, and I have killed thy child in order that I might -feed on its delicate flesh.' Such expressions are rare enough to -warrant suspicion of their being importations. The Vetala's appetite -is chiefly for corpses. The poor hungry demons of India--such as the -Bhút, a dismal, ravenous ghost, dreaded at the moon-wane of the month -Katik (Oct.-Nov.)--was not supposed to devour man, but only man's -food. The Hindu demons of this class may be explained by reference -to the sráddha, or oblation to ancestors, concerning which we read -directions in the Manu Code. 'The ancestors of men are satisfied a -whole month with tila, rice, &c.; two months with fish, &c. The Manes -say, Oh, may that man be born in our line who may give us milky food, -with honey and pure butter, both on the thirteenth of the moon and -when the shadow of an elephant falls to the east!' The bloodthirsty -demons of India have pretty generally been caught up like Kali into -a higher symbolism, and their voracity systematised and satisfied in -sacrificial commutations. The popular belief in the southern part of -that country is indicated by Professor Monier Williams, in a letter -written from Southern India, wherein he remarks that the devils alone -require propitiation. It is generally a simple procedure, performed -by offerings of food or other articles supposed to be acceptable -to disembodied beings. For example, when a certain European, once a -terror to the district in which he lived, died in the South of India, -the natives were in the constant habit of depositing brandy and cigars -on his tomb to propitiate his spirit, supposed to roam about the -neighbourhood in a restless manner, and with evil proclivities. The -very same was done to secure the good offices of the philanthropic -spirit of a great European sportsman, who, when he was alive, delivered -his district from the ravages of tigers. Indeed all evil spirits -are thought to be opposed by good ones, who, if duly propitiated, -make it their business to guard the inhabitants of particular places -from demonic intruders. Each district, and even every village, has -its guardian genius, often called its Mother. [26] - -Such ideas as these are represented in Europe in some varieties of -the Kobold and the Goblin (Gk. kobalos). Though the goblin must, -according to folk-philosophy, be fed with nice food, it is not -a deadly being; on the contrary, it is said the Gobelin tapestry -derives its name because the secret of its colours was gained from -these ghosts. Though St. Taurin expelled one from Evreux, he found -it so polite that he would not send it to hell, and it still haunts -the credulous there and at Caen, without being thought very formidable. - -The demon that 'lurks in graveyards' is universal, and may have -suggested cremation. In the East it is represented mainly by such forms -as the repulsive ghoul, which preys on dead bodies; but it has been -developed in some strange way to the Slavonic phantom called Vampyre, -whose peculiar fearfulness is that it represents the form in which -any deceased person may reappear, not ghoul-like to batten on the -dead, but to suck the blood of the living. This is perhaps the most -formidable survival of demonic superstition now existing in the world. - -A people who still have in their dictionary such a word as 'miscreant' -(misbeliever) can hardly wonder that the priests of the Eastern -Church fostered the popular belief that heretics at death changed -into drinkers of the blood of the living. The Slavonic vampyres have -declined in England and America to be the 'Ogres,' who 'smell the blood -of an Englishman,' but are rarely supposed to enjoy it; but it exposes -the real ugliness of the pious superstitions sometimes deemed pretty, -that, in proportion to the intensity of belief in supernaturalism, -the people live in terror of the demons that go about seeking whom -they may devour. In Russia the watcher beside a corpse is armed with -holy charms against attack from it at midnight. A vampyre may be the -soul of any outcast from the Church, or one over whose corpse, before -burial, a cat has leaped or a bird flown. It may be discovered in a -graveyard by leading a black colt through; the animal will refuse to -tread on the vampyre's grave, and the body is taken out and a stake -driven through it, always by a single blow. A related class of demons -are the 'heart-devourers.' They touch their victim with an aspen or -other magical twig; the heart falls out, and is, perhaps, replaced -by some baser one. Mr. Ralston mentions a Mazovian story in which a -hero awakes with the heart of a hare, and remains a coward ever after; -[27] and in another case a quiet peasant received a cock's heart and -was always crowing. The Werewolf, in some respects closely related -to the vampyre, also pursues his ravages among the priest-ridden -peasantry of the South and East. - -In Germany, though the more horrible forms of the superstition are -rare, the 'Nachzehrer' is much dreaded. Even in various Protestant -regions it is thought safest that a cross should be set beside every -grave to impede any demonic propensities that may take possession -of the person interred; and where food is not still buried with the -corpse to assuage any pangs of hunger that may arise, a few grains -of corn or rice are scattered upon it in reminiscence of the old -custom. In Diesdorf it is believed that if money is not placed in the -dead person's mouth at burial, or his name not cut from his shirt, he -is likely to become a Nachzehrer, and that the ghost will come forth -in the form of a pig. It is considered a sure preventative of such -a result to break the neck of the dead body. On one occasion, it is -there related, several persons of one family having died, the suspected -corpse was exhumed, and found to have eaten up its own grave-clothes. - -Dr. Dyer, an eminent physician of Chicago, Illinois, told me (1875) -that a case occurred in that city within his personal knowledge, -where the body of a woman who had died of consumption was taken out of -the grave and the lungs burned, under a belief that she was drawing -after her into the grave some of her surviving relatives. In 1874, -according to the Providence Journal, in the village of Peacedale, Rhode -Island, U.S., Mr. William Rose dug up the body of his own daughter, -and burned her heart, under the belief that she was wasting away the -lives of other members of his family. - -The characteristics of modern 'Spiritualism' appear to indicate -that the superstitious have outgrown this ancient fear of ghostly -malevolence where surrounded by civilisation. It is very rare in the -ancient world or in barbarous regions to find any invocations for the -return of the spirits of the dead. Mr. Tylor has quoted a beautiful -dirge used by the Ho tribe of India, beginning-- - - - -We never scolded you, never wronged you; - Come to us back! - - - -But generally funereal customs are very significant of the fear that -spirits may return, and their dirges more in the vein of the Bodo -of North-East India: 'Take and eat: heretofore you have eaten and -drunk with us, you can do so no more: you were one of us, you can be -so no longer: we come no more to you, come you not to us.' 'Even,' -says Mr. Tylor, 'in the lowest culture we find flesh holding its own -against spirit, and at higher stages the householder rids himself with -little scruple of an unwelcome inmate. The Greenlanders would carry -the dead out by the window, not by the door, while an old woman, -waving a firebrand behind, cried 'Piklerrukpok!' i.e., 'There is -nothing more to be had here!' the Hottentots removed the dead from the -hut by an opening broken out on purpose, to prevent him from finding -the way back; the Siamese, with the same intention, break an opening -through the house wall to carry the coffin through, and then hurry it -at full speed thrice round the house; the Siberian Chuwashes fling a -red-hot stone after the corpse is carried out, for an obstacle to bar -the soul from coming back; so Brandenburg peasants pour out a pail of -water at the door after the coffin to prevent the ghost from walking; -and Pomeranian mourners returning from the churchyard leave behind -the straw from the hearse, that the wandering soul may rest there, -and not come back so far as home.' [28] - -It may be remarked, in this connection, that in nearly all the pictures -of demons and devils, they are represented as very lean. The exceptions -will be found generally in certain Southern and tropical demons which -represent cloud or storm--Typhon, for instance--and present a swollen -or bloated appearance. No Northern devil is fat. Shakespeare ascribes -to Cæsar a suspicion of leanness-- - - - Yond' Cassius hath a lean and hungry look: - He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. - - -When Antony defends Cassius, Cæsar only replies, 'Would he were -fatter!' This mistrust of leanness is a reflection from all the -Hunger-demons; it interprets the old sayings that a devil, however -fair in front, may be detected by hollowness of the back, and that -he is usually so thin as to cast no shadow. [29] - -Illustrations of the Hunger-demon and its survivals might be greatly -multiplied, were it necessary. It need only, however, be mentioned that -it is to this early and most universal conception of præternatural -danger that the idea of sacrifice as well as of fasting must be -ascribed. It is, indeed, too obvious to require extended demonstration -that the notion of offering fruits and meat to an invisible being -could only have originated in the belief that such being was hungry, -however much the spiritualisation of such offerings may have attended -their continuance among enlightened peoples. In the evolution of -purer deities, Fire--'the devouring element'--was substituted for a -coarser method of accepting sacrifices, and it became a sign of baser -beings--such as the Assyrian Akhkharu, and the later Lamia--to consume -dead bodies with their teeth; and this fire was the spiritual element -in the idolatries whose objects were visible. But the original accent -of sacrifice never left it. The Levitical Law says: 'The two kidneys, -and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul -above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the -priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering -made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the Lord's. It shall be -a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, -that ye eat neither fat nor blood.' [30] We find the Hunger-demon -shown as well in the wrath of Jehovah against the sons of Eli for -eating the choice parts of the meats offered on his altar, as in that -offering of tender infants to Moloch which his priests denounced, -or in Saturn devouring his children, whom Aryan faith dethroned; -and they all reappear as phantoms thinly veiled above the spotless -Lamb offered up on Calvary, the sacrificed Macaria ('Blessed'), the -pierced heart of Mary. The beautiful boy Menoeceus must be sacrificed -to save Thebes; the gods will not have aged and tough Creon, though a -king, in his place. Iphigenia, though herself saved from the refined -palate of Artemis, through the huntress's fondness for kid's blood, -becomes the priestess of human sacrifices. The human offering deemed -half-divine could alone at last satisfy the Deity, gathered in his -side this sheaf of sacrificial knives, whetted in many lands and -ages, and in his self-sacrifice the Hunger-demon himself was made -the victim. Theologians have been glad to rescue the First Person -of their Trinity from association with the bloodthirsty demons of -barbarous ages by describing the sacrifice of Jesus as God himself -becoming the victim of an eternal law. But, whatever may be said of -this complex device, it is sufficient evidence that man's primitive -demon which personified his hunger has ended with being consumed on -his own altar. For though fasting is a survival of the same savage -notion that man may secure benefits from invisible beings by leaving -them the food, it is a practice which survives rather through the -desire of imitating ascetic saints than because of any understood -principle. The strange yet natural consummation adds depth of meaning -to the legend of Odin being himself sacrificed in his disguise on -the Holy Tree at Upsala, where human victims were hung as offerings -to him; and to his rune in the Havamal-- - - - I know that I hung - On a wind-rocked tree - Nine whole nights, - With a spear wounded, - And to Odin offered - Myself to myself. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -HEAT. - - Demons of Fire--Agni--Asmodeus--Prometheus--Feast of fire--Moloch - --Tophet--Genii of the lamp--Bel-fires--Hallowe'en--Negro - superstitions--Chinese fire-god--Volcanic and incendiary demons-- - Mangaian fire-demon--Demons' fear of water. - - -Fire was of old the element of fiends. No doubt this was in part due to -the fact that it also was a devouring element. Sacrifices were burnt; -the demon visibly consumed them. But the great flame-demons represent -chiefly the destructive and painful action of intense heat. They -originate in regions of burning desert, of sunstroke, and drouth. - -Agni, the Hindu god of fire, was adored in Vedic hymns as the twin -of Indra. - -'Thy appearance is fair to behold, thou bright-faced Agni, when like -gold thou shinest at hand; thy brightness comes like the lightning -of heaven; thou showest splendour like the splendour of the bright sun. - -'Adorable and excellent Agni, emit the moving and graceful smoke. - -'The flames of Agni are luminous, powerful, fearful, and not to -be trusted. - -'I extol the greatness of that showerer of rain, whom men celebrate -as the slayer of Vritra: the Agni, Vaiswanara, slew the stealer of -the waters.' - -The slaying of Vritra, the monster, being the chief exploit of Indra, -Agni could only share in it as being the flame that darted with -Indra's weapon, the disc (of the sun). - -'Thou (Agni) art laid hold off with difficulty, like the young of -tortuously twining snakes, thou who art a consumer of many forests -as a beast is of fodder.' - -Petrifaction awaits all these glowing metaphors of early time. Verbal -inspiration will make Agni a literally tortuous serpent and consuming -fire. His smoke, called Kali (black), is now the name of Siva's -terrible bride. - -Much is said in Vedic hymns of the method of producing the sacred -flame symbolising Agni; namely, the rubbing together of two sticks. 'He -it is whom the two sticks have engendered, like a new-born babe.' It -is a curious coincidence that a similar phrase should describe 'the -devil on two sticks,' who has come by way of Persia into European -romance. Asmodeus was a lame demon, and his 'two sticks' as 'Diable -Boiteux' are crutches; but his lameness may be referable to the -attenuated extremities suggested by spires of flame--'tortuously -twining snakes,'--rather than to the rabbinical myth that he broke -his leg on his way to meet Solomon. Benfey identified Asmodeus as -Zend Aêshma-daêva, demon of lust. His goat-feet and fire-coal eyes -are described by Le Sage, and the demon says he was lamed by falling -from the air, like Vulcan, when contending with Pillardoc. It is not -difficult to imagine how flame engendered by the rubbing of sticks -might have attained personification as sensual passion, especially -among Zoroastrians, who would detach from the adorable Fire all -associations of evil. It would harmonise well with the Persian -tendency to diabolise Indian gods, that they should note the lustful -character occasionally ascribed to Agni in the Vedas. 'Him alone, -the ever-youthful Agni, men groom like a horse in the evening and -at dawn; they bed him as a stranger in his couch; the light of Agni, -the worshipped male, is lighted.' Agni was the Indian 'Brulefer' or -love-charmer, and patron of marriage; the fire-god Hephaistos was the -husband of Aphrodite; the day of the Norse thunder-and-lightning god -Thor (Thursday), is in Scandinavian regions considered the luckiest -for marriages. - -The process of obtaining fire by friction is represented by a nobler -class of myths than that referred to. In the Mahábhárata the gods -and demons together churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality; -and they use for their churning-stick the mountain Manthara. This word -appears in pramantha, which means a fire-drill, and from it comes the -great name of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven, and conferred -on mankind a boon which rendered them so powerful that the jealousy -and wrath of Zeus were excited. This fable is generally read in its -highly rationalised and mystical form, and on this account belongs to -another part of our general subject; but it may be remarked here that -the Titan so terribly tortured by Zeus could hardly have been regarded, -originally, as the friend of man. At the time when Zeus was a god -genuinely worshipped--when he first stood forth as the supplanter of -the malign devourer Saturn--it could have been no friend of man who -was seen chained on the rock for ever to be the vulture's prey. It -was fire in some destructive form which must have been then associated -with Prometheus, and not that power by which later myths represented -his animating with a divine spark the man of clay. The Hindu myth -of churning the ocean for the immortal draught, even if it be proved -that the ocean is heaven and the draught lightning, does not help us -much. The traditional association of Prometheus with the Arts might -almost lead one to imagine that the early use of fire by some primitive -inventor had brought upon him the wrath of his mates, and that Zeus' -thunderbolts represented some early 'strike' against machinery. - -It is not quite certain that it may not have been through some -euphemistic process that Fire-worship arose in Persia. Not only does -fire occupy a prominent place in the tortures inflicted by Ahriman -in the primitive Parsee Inferno, but it was one of the weapons by -which he attempted to destroy the heavenly child Zoroaster. The evil -magicians kindled a fire in the desert and threw the child on it; -but his mother, Dogdo, found him sleeping tranquilly on the flames, -which were as a pleasant bath, and his face shining like Zohore and -Moschteri (Jupiter and Mercury). [31] The Zoroastrians also held -that the earth would ultimately be destroyed by fire; its metals and -minerals, ignited by a comet, would form streams which all souls would -have to pass through: they would be pleasant to the righteous, but -terrible to the sinful,--who, however, would come through, purified, -into paradise, the last to arrive being Ahriman himself. - -The combustible nature of many minerals under the surface of the -earth,--which was all the realm of Hades (invisible),--would assist -the notion of a fiery abode for the infernal gods. Our phrase 'plutonic -rock' would then have a very prosaic sense. Pliny says that in his time -sulphur was used to keep off evil spirits, and it is not impossible -that it first came to be used as a medicine by this route. [32] - -Fire-festivals still exist in India, where the ancient raiment of Agni -has been divided up and distributed among many deities. At the popular -annual festival in honour of Dharma Rajah, called the Feast of Fire, -the devotees walk barefoot over a glowing fire extending forty feet. It -lasts eighteen days, during which time those that make a vow to keep -it must fast, abstain from women, lie on the bare ground, and walk -on a brisk fire. The eighteenth day they assemble on the sound of -instruments, their heads crowned with flowers, their bodies daubed -with saffron, and follow the figures of Dharma Rajah and Draupadi -his wife in procession. When they come to the fire, they stir it -to animate its activity, and take a little of the ashes, with which -they rub their foreheads; and when the gods have been carried three -times round it they walk over a hot fire, about forty feet. Some -carry their children in their arms, and others lances, sabres, and -standards. After the ceremony the people press to collect the ashes -to rub their foreheads with, and obtain from devotees the flowers -with which they were adorned, and which they carefully preserve. [33] - -The passion of Agni reappears in Draupadi purified by fire for -her five husbands, and especially her union with Dharma Rajah, -son of Yama, is celebrated in this unorthodox passion-feast. It has -been so much the fashion for travellers to look upon all 'idolatry' -with biblical eyes, that we cannot feel certain with Sonnerat that -there was anything more significant in the carrying of children by -the devotees, than the supposition that what was good for the parent -was equally beneficial to the child. But the identification of Moloch -with an Aryan deity is not important; the Indian Feast of Fire and -the rites of Moloch are derived by a very simple mental process -from the most obvious aspects of the Sun as the quickening and the -consuming power in nature. The child offered to Moloch was offered -to the god by whom he was generated, and as the most precious of all -the fruits of the earth for which his genial aid was implored and his -destructive intensity deprecated. Moloch, a word that means 'king,' -was a name almost synonymous with human sacrifice. It was in all -probability at first only a local (Ammonite) personification growing -out of an ancient shrine of Baal. The Midianite Baal accompanied the -Israelites into the wilderness, and that worship was never thoroughly -eradicated. In the Egyptian Confession of Faith, which the initiated -took even into their graves inscribed upon a scroll, the name of -God is not mentioned, but is expressed only by the words Nuk pu Nuk, -'I am he who I am.' [34] The flames of the burning bush, from which -these same words came to Moses, were kindled from Baal, the Sun; -and we need not wonder that while the more enlightened chiefs of -Israel preserved the higher ideas and symbols of the countries they -abandoned, the ignorant would still cling to Apis (the Golden Calf), -to Ashtaroth, and to Moloch. Amos (v. 26), and after him Stephen the -martyr (Acts vii. 43), reproach the Hebrews with having carried into -the wilderness the tabernacle of their god Moloch. And though the -passing of children through the fire to Moloch was, by the Mosaic Law, -made a capital crime, the superstition and the corresponding practice -retained such strength that we find Solomon building a temple to Moloch -on the Mount of Olives (1 Kings xi. 7), and, long after, Manasseh -making his son pass through the fire in honour of the same god. - -It is certain from the denunciations of the prophets [35] that the -destruction of children in these flames was actual. From Jeremiah -xix. 6, as well as other sources, we know that the burnings took -place in the Valley of Tophet or Hinnom (Gehenna). The idol Moloch -was of brass, and its throne of brass; its head was that of a calf, -and wore a royal crown; its stomach was a furnace, and when the -children were placed in its arms they were consumed by the fierce -heat,--their cries being drowned by the beating of drums; from which, -toph meaning a 'drum,' the place was also called Tophet. In the fierce -war waged against alien superstitions by Josiah, he defiled Gehenna, -filling it with ordure and dead men's bones to make it odious, 'that -no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire -to Moloch' (2 Kings xxiii. 10), and a perpetual fire was kept there -to consume the filth of Jerusalem. - -From this horrible Gehenna, with its perpetual fire, its loathsome -worm, its cruelties, has been derived the picture of a never-ending -Hell prepared for the majority of human beings by One who, while they -live on earth, sends the rain and sunshine alike on the evil and the -good. Wo Chang, a Chinaman in London, has written to a journal [36] -his surprise that our religious teachers should be seized with such -concern for the victims of Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, while -they are so calm in view of the millions burning, and destined to -burn endlessly, in the flames of hell. Our Oriental brothers will -learn a great deal from our missionaries; among other things, that -the theological god of Christendom is still Moloch. - -The Ammonites, of whom Moloch was the special demon, appear to have -gradually blended with the Arabians. These received from many sources -their mongrel superstitions, but among them were always prominent -the planet-gods and fire-gods, whom their growing monotheism (to use -the word still in a loose sense) transformed to powerful angels and -genii. The genii of Arabia are slaves of the lamp; they are evoked -by burning tufts of hair; they ascend as clouds of smoke. Though, as -subordinate agents of the Fire-fiend, they may be consumed by flames, -yet those who so fight them are apt to suffer a like fate, as in the -case of the Lady of Beauty in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Many -stories of this kind preceded the declarations of the Old Testament, -that Jehovah breathes fire and brimstone, his breath kindling Tophet; -and also the passages of the Koran, and of the New Testament describing -Satan as a fiery fiend. - -Various superstitions connecting infernal powers with fire survive -among the Jews of some remote districts of Europe. The Passover -is kept a week by the Jewish inhabitants in the villages on the -Vosges mountains and on the banks of the Rhine. The time of omer is -the interval between the Passover and Pentecost, the seven weeks -elapsing from the departure from Egypt and the giving of the law, -marked in former days by the offering of an omer of barley daily at -the temple. It is considered a fearful time, during which every Jew is -particularly exposed to the evil influence of evil spirits. There is -something dangerous and fatal in the air; every one should be on the -watch, and not tempt the schedim (demons) in any way. Have a strict -eye upon your cattle, say the Jews, for the sorceress will get into -your stables, mount your cows and goats, bring diseases upon them, -and turn their milk sour. In the latter case, try to lay your hand -upon the suspected person; shut her up in a room with a basin of sour -milk, and beat the milk with a hazel-wand, pronouncing God's name -three times. Whilst you are doing this, the sorceress will make great -lamentation, for the blows are falling upon her. Only stop when you see -blue flames dancing on the surface of the milk, for then the charm is -broken. If at nightfall a beggar comes to ask for a little charcoal to -light his fire, be very careful not to give it, and do not let him go -without drawing him three times by his coat-tail; and without losing -time, throw some large handfuls of salt on the fire. In all of which -we may trace traditions of parched wildernesses and fiery serpents, -as well as of Abraham's long warfare with the Fire-worshippers, until, -according to the tradition, he was thrown into the flames he refused -to worship. - -It is probable that in all the popular superstitions which now -connect devils and future punishments with fire are blended both the -apotheosis and the degradation of demons. The first and most universal -of deities being the Sun, whose earthly representative is fire, the -student of Comparative Mythology has to pick his way very carefully -in tracing by any ethnological path the innumerable superstitions of -European folklore in which Fire-worship is apparently reflected. The -collection of facts and records contained in a work so accessible to -all who care to pursue the subject as that of Brand and his editors, -[37] renders it unnecessary that I should go into the curious facts -to any great extent here. The uniformity of the traditions by which -the midsummer fires of Northern Europe have been called Baal-fires or -Bel-fires warrant the belief that they are actually descended from -the ancient rites of Baal, even apart from the notorious fact that -they have so generally been accompanied by the superstition that -it is a benefit to children to leap over or be passed through such -fires. That this practice still survives in out-of-the way places of -the British Empire appears from such communications as the following -(from the Times), which are occasionally addressed to the London -journals:--'Lerwick (Shetland), July 7, 1871.--Sir,--It may interest -some of your readers to know that last night (being St. John's Eve, -old style) I observed, within a mile or so of this town, seven bonfires -blazing, in accordance with the immemorial custom of celebrating the -Midsummer solstice. These fires were kindled on various heights around -the ancient hamlet of Sound, and the children leaped over them, and -'passed through the fire to Moloch,' just as their ancestors would -have done a thousand years ago on the same heights, and their still -remoter progenitors in Eastern lands many thousand years ago. This -persistent adherence to mystic rites in this scientific epoch seems -to me worth taking note of.--A. J.' - -To this may be added the following recent extract from a Scotch -journal:-- - -'Hallowe'en was celebrated at Balmoral Castle with unusual ceremony, -in the presence of her Majesty, the Princess Beatrice, the ladies -and gentlemen of the royal household, and a large gathering of the -tenantry. The leading features of the celebration were a torchlight -procession, the lighting of large bonfires, and the burning in effigy -of witches and warlocks. Upwards of 150 torch-bearers assembled at -the castle as dark set in, and separated into two parties, one band -proceeding to Invergelder, and the other remaining at Balmoral. The -torches were lighted at a quarter before six o'clock, and shortly -after the Queen and Princess Beatrice drove to Invergelder, followed -by the Balmoral party of torchbearers. The two parties then united -and returned in procession to the front of Balmoral Castle, where -refreshments were served to all, and dancing was engaged in round a -huge bonfire. Suddenly there appeared from the rear of the Castle a -grotesque apparition representing a witch with a train of followers -dressed like sprites, who danced and gesticulated in all fashions. Then -followed a warlock of demoniac shape, who was succeeded by another -warlock drawing a car, on which was seated the figure of a witch, -surrounded by other figures in the garb of demons. The unearthly -visitors having marched several times round the burning pile, -the principal figure was taken from the car and tossed into the -flames amid the burning of blue lights and a display of crackers -and fireworks. The health of her Majesty the Queen was then pledged, -and drunk with Highland honours by the assembled hundreds. Dancing -was then resumed, and was carried on till a late hour at night.' - -The Sixth Council of Constantinople (an. 680), by its sixty-fifth -canon, forbids these fires in the following terms:--'Those bonefires -that are kindled by certain people before their shops and houses, -over which also they use ridiculously to leap, by a certain ancient -custom, we command them from henceforth to cease. Whoever, therefore, -shall do any such thing, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed; -if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated. For in the Fourth Book -of the Kings it is thus written: And Manasseh built an altar to all -the host of heaven, in the two courts of the Lord's house, and made -his children to pass through the fire.' There is a charming naïveté -in this denunciation. It is no longer doubtful that this 'bonefire' -over which people leaped came from the same source as that Gehenna -from which the Church derived the orthodox theory of hell, as we have -already seen. When Shakespeare speaks (Macbeth) of 'the primrose way -to the everlasting bonfire,' [38] he is, with his wonted felicity, -assigning the flames of hell and the fires of Moloch and Baal their -right archæological relation. - -In my boyhood I have often leaped over a bonfire in a part of the -State of Virginia mainly settled by Scotch families, with whom -probably the custom migrated thither. In the superstitions of the -negroes of that and other Southern States fire plays a large part, -but it is hardly possible now to determine whether they have drifted -there from Africa or England. Sometimes there are queer coincidences -between their notions and some of the early legends of Britain. Thus, -the tradition of the shepherd guided by a distant fire to the entrance -of King Arthur's subterranean hall, where a flame fed by no fuel -coming through the floor reveals the slumbering monarch and his court, -resembles somewhat stories I have heard from negroes of their being led -by distant fires to lucky--others say unlucky--or at any rate enchanted -spots. A negro belonging to my father told me that once, as he was -walking on a country road, he saw a great fire in the distance; he -supposed it must be a house on fire, and hastened towards it, meantime -much puzzled, since he knew of no house in that direction. As he went -on his way he turned into a small wood near which the fire seemed to -be, but when he emerged, all he found was a single fire-coal burning -in the path. There were no other traces whatever of fire, but just -then a large dog leaped past him with a loud bark and disappeared. - -In a letter on 'Voudouism in Virginia,' which appeared in the New -York Tribune, dated Richmond, September 17, 1875, occurs an account -of a class of superstitions generally kept close from the whites, -as I have always believed because of their purely African origin. As -will be seen, fire represents an important element in the superstitious -practices. - -'If an ignorant negro is smitten with a disease which he cannot -comprehend, he often imagines himself the victim of witchcraft, -and having no faith in 'white folks' physic' for such ailments, -must apply to one of these quacks. A physician residing near this -city was invited by such a one to witness his mode of procedure -with a dropsical patient for whom the physician in question had -occasionally charitably prescribed. Curiosity led him to attend the -seance, having previously informed the quack that since the case was -in such hands he relinquished all connection with it. On the coverlet -of the bed on which the sick man lay was spread a quantity of bones, -feathers, and other trash. The charlatan went through with a series of -so-called conjurations, burned feathers, hair, and tiny fragments of -wood in a charcoal furnace, and mumbled gibberish past the physician's -comprehension. He then proceeded to rip open the pillows and bolsters, -and took from them some queer conglomerations of feathers. These he -said had caused all the trouble. Sprinkling a whitish powder over them, -he burnt them in his furnace. A black offensive smoke was produced, -and he announced triumphantly that the evil influence was destroyed -and that the patient would surely get well. He died not many days -later, believing, in common with all his friends and relatives, that -the conjurations of the 'trick doctor' had failed to save him only -because resorted to too late.' - -The following account of a spell from which his wife was rescued, -was given me by a negro in Virginia:-- - -'The wizard,' to quote the exact words of my informant, 'threw a stick -on a chest; the stick bounded like a trapball three times; then he -opened the chest, took out something looking like dust or clay, and -put it into a cup with water over a fire; then he poured it over a -board (after chopping it three times), which he then put up beneath -the shingles of the house. Returning to the chest he took a piece of -old chain, near the length of my hand, took a hoe and buried the chain -near the sill of the door of my wife's house where she would pass; -then he went away. I saw my wife coming and called to her not to pass, -and to go for a hoe and dig up the place. She did this, and I took -up the chain, which burned the ends of all my fingers clean off. The -same night the conjuror came back: my wife took two half dollars and -a quarter in silver and threw them on the ground before him. The man -seemed as if he was shocked, and then offered her his hand, which -she refused to take, as I had bid her not to let him touch her. He -left and never came to the house again. The spell was broken.' - -I am convinced that this is a pure Voudou procedure, and it is -interesting in several regards. The introduction of the chain may have -been the result of the excitement of the time, for it was during the -war when negroes were breaking their chains. The fire and water show -how wide-spread in Africa is that double ordeal which, as we have -seen, is well known in the kingdom of Dahomey. [39] But the mingling -of 'something like dust' with the water held in a cup over the fire, -is strongly suggestive of the Jewish method of preparing holy water, -'the water of separation.' 'For an unclean person they shall take of -the dust of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running -water shall be put thereto in a vessel.' [40] The fiery element -of the mixture was in this case imported with the ashes of the red -heifer. As for this sacrifice of the red heifer itself [41] it was -plainly the propitiation of a fiery demon. In Egypt red hair and red -animals of all kinds were considered infernal, and all the details -of this sacrifice show that the colour of this selected heifer was -typical. The heifer was not a usual sacrifice: a red one was obviously -by its colour marked for the genii of fire--the terrible Seven--and -not to be denied them. Its blood was sprinkled seven times before the -tabernacle, and the rest was utterly consumed--including the hide, -which is particularly mentioned--and the ashes taken to make the -'water of separation.' Calmet notes, in this connection, that the -Apis of India was red-coloured. - -The following interesting story of the Chinese Fire-god was supplied -to Mr. Dennys [42] by Mr. Playfair of H.M. Consulate, to whom it was -related in Peking:-- - -'The temples of the God of Fire are numerous in Peking, as is natural -in a city built for the most part of very combustible materials. The -idols representing the god are, with one exception, decked with red -beards, typifying by their colour the element under his control. The -exceptional god has a white beard, and 'thereby hangs a tale.' - -'A hundred years ago the Chinese imperial revenue was in much -better case than it is now. At that time they had not yet come into -collision with Western Powers, and the word 'indemnity' had not, -so far, found a place in their vocabulary; internal rebellions were -checked as soon as they broke out, and, in one word, Kien Lung was in -less embarrassed circumstances than Kwang Hsu; he had more money to -spend, and did lay out a good deal in the way of palaces. His favourite -building, and one on which no expense had been spared, was the 'Hall of -Contemplation.' This hall was of very large dimensions; the rafters and -the pillars which supported the roof were of a size such as no trees -in China furnish now-a-days. They were not improbably originally sent -as an offering by the tributary monarch of some tropical country, such -as Burmah or Siam. Two men could barely join hands round the pillars; -they were cased in lustrous jet-black lacquer, which, while adding to -the beauty of their appearance, was also supposed to make them less -liable to combustion. Indeed, every care was taken that no fire should -approach the building; no lighted lamp was allowed in the precincts, -and to have smoked a pipe inside those walls would have been punished -with death. The floor of the hall was of different-coloured marbles, -in a mosaic of flowers and mystic Chinese characters, always kept -polished like a mirror. The sides of the room were lined with rare -books and precious manuscripts. It was, in short, the finest palace -in the imperial city, and it was the pride of Kien Lung. - -'Alas for the vanity of human wishes! In spite of every precaution, -one night a fire broke out, and the Hall of Contemplation was in -danger. The Chinese of a century ago were not without fire-engines, -and though miserably inefficient as compared with those of our London -fire brigade, they were better than nothing, and a hundred of them -were soon working round the burning building. The Emperor himself -came out to superintend their efforts and encourage them to renewed -exertions. But the hall was doomed; a more than earthly power was -directing the flames, and mortal efforts were of no avail. For on -one of the burning rafters Kien Lung saw the figure of a little old -man, with a long white beard, standing in a triumphant attitude. 'It -is the God of Fire,' said the Emperor, 'we can do nothing;' so the -building was allowed to blaze in peace. Next day Kien Lung appointed a -commission to go the round of the Peking temples in order to discover -in which of them there was a Fire-god with a white beard, that he -might worship him, and appease the offended deity. The search was -fruitless; all the Fire-gods had red beards. But the commission had -done its work badly; being highly respectable mandarins of genteel -families, they had confined their search to such temples as were -in good repair and of creditable exterior. Outside the north gate -of the imperial city was one old, dilapidated, disreputable shrine -which they had overlooked. It had been crumbling away for years, and -even the dread figure of the God of Fire, which sat above the altar, -had not escaped desecration. 'Time had thinned his flowing locks,' -and the beard had fallen away altogether. One day some water-carriers -who frequented the locality thought, either in charity or by way -of a joke, that the face would look the better for a new beard. So -they unravelled some cord, and with the frayed-out hemp adorned the -beardless chin. An official passing the temple one day peeped in out -of curiosity, and saw the hempen beard. 'Just the thing the Emperor -was inquiring about,' said he to himself, and he took the news to -the palace without delay. Next day there was a state visit to the -dilapidated temple, and Kien Lung made obeisance and vowed a vow. - -'O Fire-god,' said he, 'thou hast been wroth with me in that I have -built me palaces, and left thy shrine unhonoured and in ruins. Here do -I vow to build thee a temple surpassed by none other of the Fire-gods -in Peking; but I shall expect thee in future not to meddle with -my palaces.' - -'The Emperor was as good as his word. The new temple is on the site of -the old one, and the Fire-god has a flowing beard of fine white hair.' - -In the San Francisco Bulletin, I recently read a description of the -celebration by the Chinese in that city of their Feast for the Dead, -in which there are some significant features. The chief attention -was paid, says the reporter, to a figure 'representing what answers -in their theology to our devil, and whom they evidently think it -necessary to propitiate before proceeding with their worship over -individual graves.' This figure is on the west side of their temple; -before and around it candles and joss-sticks were kept burning. On -the east side was the better-looking figure, to which they paid -comparatively little attention. - -It was of course but natural that the demons of fire should -gradually be dispelled from that element in its normal aspects, as -its uses became more important through human invention, and its evil -possibilities were mastered. Such demons became gradually located in -the region of especially dangerous fires, as volcanoes and boiling -springs. The Titan whom the ancients believed struggling beneath -Ætna remained there as the Devil in the christian age. St. Agatha -is said to have prevented his vomiting fire for a century by her -prayers. St. Philip ascended the same mountain, and with book and -candle pronounced a prayer of exorcism, at which three devils came -out like fiery flying stones, crying, 'Woe is us! we are still hunted -by Peter through Philip the Elder!' The volcanoes originated the -belief that hell is at the earth's centre, and their busy Vulcans of -classic ages have been easily transformed into sulphurous lords of -the christian Hell. Such is the mediæval Haborym, demon of arson, -with his three heads--man, cat, and serpent--who rides through the -air mounted on a serpent, and bears in his hand a flaming torch. The -astrologers assigned him command of twenty-six legions of demons in -hell, and the superstitious often saw him laughing on the roofs of -burning houses. [43] But still more dignified is Raum, who commands -thirty legions, and who destroys villages; hence, also, concerned in -the destructions of war, he became the demon who awards dignities; -and although this made his usual form of apparition on the right bank -of the Rhine that of the Odinistic raven, on the left bank he may be -detected in the little red man who was reported as the familiar of -Napoleon I. during his career. - -Among Mr. Gill's South Pacific myths is one of a Prometheus, Maui, who -by assistance of a red pigeon gets from the subterranean fire-demon -the secret of producing fire (by rubbing sticks), the demon (Mauike) -being then consumed with his realm, and fire being brought to the -upper world to remain the friend of man. In Vedic legend, when the -world was enveloped in darkness, the gods prayed to Agni, who suddenly -burst out as Tvashtri--pure fire, the Vedic Vulcan--to the dismay of -the universe. In Eddaic sagas, Loki was deemed the most voracious of -beings until defeated in an eating match with Logi (devouring fire). - -Survivals of belief in the fiery nature of demons are very -numerous. Thus it is a very common belief that the Devil cannot touch -or cross water, and may therefore be escaped by leaping a stream. This -has sometimes been supposed to have something to do with the purifying -character of water; but there are many instances in Christian folklore -where the Devil is shown quite independent of even holy water if it -is not sprinkled on him or does not wet his feet. Thus in the Norfolk -legend concerning St. Godric, the Devil is said to have thrown the -vessel with its holy water at the saint's head out of anger at his -singing a canticle which the Virgin taught him. But when the Devil -attacked him in various ferocious animal shapes, St. Godric escaped -by running into the Wear, where he sometimes stood all night in water -up to his neck. - -The Kobolds get the red jackets they are said to wear from their fiery -nature. Originally the lar familiaris of Germany, the Kobold became -of many varieties; but in one line he has been developed from the -house-spirit, whose good or evil temper was recognised in the comforts -or dangers of fire, to a special Stone-demon. The hell-dog in Faust's -room takes refuge from the spell of 'Solomon's Key' behind the stone, -and is there transformed to human shape. The German maidens read many -pretty oracles in the behaviour of the fire, and the like in that of -its fellow Wahrsager the house-dog. It is indeed a widespread notion -that imps and witches lurk about the fireside, obviously in cat and -dog, and ride through the air on implements that usually stand about -the fire,--shovel, tongs, or broom. In Paris it was formerly the -custom to throw twenty-four cats into the fire on St. John's night, -the animals being, according to M. De Plancy, emblems of the devil. So -was replaced the holocaust of human witches, until at last civilisation -rang out its curfew for all such fires as that. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -COLD. - - Descent of Ishtar into Hades--Bardism--Baldur--Hercules--Christ - --Survivals of the Frost Giant in Slavonic and other countries-- - The Clavie--The Frozen Hell--The Northern abode of demons--North - side of churches. - - -Even across immemorial generations it is impossible to read without -emotion the legend of the Descent of Ishtar into Hades. [44] Through -seven gates the goddess of Love passes in search of her beloved, -and at each some of her ornaments and clothing are removed by the -dread guardian. Ishtar enters naked into the presence of the Queen -of Death. But gods, men, and herds languish in her absence, and the -wonder-working Hea, the Saviour, so charms the Infernal Queen, that -she bids the Judge of her realm, Annunak, absolve Ishtar from his -golden throne. - - - -'He poured out for Ishtar the waters of life and let her go. -Then the first gate let her forth, and restored to her the first -garment of her body. -The second gate let her forth, and restored to her the diamonds of -her hands and feet. -The third gate let her forth, and restored to her the central girdle -of her waist. -The fourth gate let her forth, and restored to her the small lovely -gems of her forehead. -The fifth gate let her forth, and restored to her the precious stones -of her head. -The sixth gate let her forth, and restored to her the earrings of -her ears. -The seventh gate let her forth, and restored to her the great crown -on her head.' - - - -This old miracle-play of Nature--the return of summer flower by -flower--is deciphered from an ancient Assyrian tablet in a town -within only a few hours of another, where a circle of worshippers -repeat the same at every solstice! Myfyr Morganwg, the Arch-Druid, -adores still Hea by name as his Saviour, and at the winter solstice -assembles his brethren to celebrate his coming to bruise the head -of the Serpent of Hades (Annwn, nearly the same as in the tablet), -that seedtime and harvest shall not fail. [45] - -Is this a survival? No doubt; but there is no cult in the world which, -if 'scratched,' as the proverb says, will not reveal beneath it the -same conception. However it may be spiritualised, every 'plan of -salvation' is cast in the mould of Winter conquered by the Sun, the -Descent of Love to the Under World, the delivery of the imprisoned -germs of Life. - -It is very instructive to compare with the myth of Ishtar that of -Hermödr, seeking the release of Baldur the Beautiful from Helheim. - -The deadly powers of Winter are represented in the Eddaic account -of the death of Baldur, soft summer Light, the Norse Baal. His blind -brother Hödr is Darkness; the demon who directed his arrow is Loki, -subterranean fire; the arrow itself is of mistletoe, which, fostered by -Winter, owes no duty to Baldur; and the realm to which he is borne is -that of Hel, the frozen zone. Hermödr, having arrived, assured Hel that -the gods were in despair for the loss of Baldur. The Queen replied that -it should now be tried whether Baldur was so beloved. 'If, therefore, -all things in the world, both living and lifeless, weep for him, he -shall return to the Æsir.' In the end all wept but the old hag Thokk -(Darkness), who from her cavern sang-- - - - -Thokk will wail -With dry eyes -Baldur's bale-fire. -Nought quick or dead -For Carl's son care I. -Let Hel hold her own. - - - -So Baldur remained in Helheim. The myth very closely resembles that -of Ishtar's Descent. In similar accent the messenger of the Southern -gods weeps and lacerates himself as he relates the grief of the -upper world, and all men and animals 'since the time that mother -Ishtar descended into Hades.' But in the latter the messenger is -successful, in the North he is unsuccessful. In the corresponding -myths of warm and sunny climes the effort at release is more or -less successful, in proportion to the extent of winter. In Adonis -released from Hades for four months every year, and another four if -he chose to abandon Persephone for Aphrodite, we have a reflection of -a variable year. That, and the similar myth of Persephone, varied in -the time specified for their passing in the upper and under worlds, -probably in accordance with the climatic averages of the regions in -which they were told. But in the tropics it was easy to believe the -release complete, as in the myth of Ishtar. In Mangaian myths the hero, -Maui, escapes from a nether world of fire, aided by a red pigeon. - -When this contest between Winter's Death and Spring's Life became -humanised, it was as Hercules vanquishing Death and completely -releasing Alcestis. When it became spiritualised it was as Christ -conquering Death and Hell, and releasing the spirits from prison. The -wintry desolation had to be artificially imitated in a forty days' fast -and Lent, closing with a thrust from the spear (the mistletoe arrow) -amid darkness (blind Hödr). But the myth of a swift resurrection -had to be artificially preserved in the far North. The legend of a -full triumph over Death and Hell could never have originated among -our Norse ancestors. Their only story resembling it, that of Iduna, -related how her recovery from the Giants brought back health to the -gods, not men. But it was from the South that men had to hear tidings -of a rescue for the earth and man. - -We cannot realise now what glad tidings were they which told this new -gospel to peoples sitting in regions of ice and gloom, after it had -been imposed on them against their reluctant fears. In manifold forms -the old combat was renewed in their festivals, and peoples who had -long been prostrate and helpless before the terrible powers of nature -were never weary of the Southern fables of heroic triumphs over them, -long interpreted in the simple physical sense. - -The great Demon of the Northern World is still Winter, and the -hereditary hatred of him is such that he is still cursed, scourged, -killed, and buried or drowned under various names and disguises. In -every Slavonic country, says Mr. Ralston, there are to be found, -about carnival time, traces of ancient rites, intended to typify the -death of Winter and the birth of Spring or Summer. In Poland a puppet -made of hemp or straw is flung into a pond or swamp with the words, -'The Devil take thee!' Then the participators in the deed scamper home, -and if one of them stumbles and falls it is believed he will die within -the year. In Upper Lausatia a similar figure is fastened on a pole to -be pelted, then taken to the village boundary and thrown across it or -cast into the water, its bearers returning with green boughs. Sometimes -the figure is shrouded in white, representing snow, and bears in its -hands a broom (the sweeping storm) and a sickle (the fatal reaper). In -Russia the 'Straw Mujik' is burned, and also in Bulgaria; in the latter -the bonfire is accompanied by the firing of guns, and by dances and -songs to Lado, goddess of Spring. This reminiscence of Leto, on whose -account Apollo slew the Python, is rendered yet more striking by the -week of archery which accompanies it, recalling the sunbeam darts of -the god. In Spain and Italy the demon puppet is scourged under the name -of Judas, as indeed is the case in the annual Good Friday performance -of Portuguese sailors in the London Docks. Mr. Tylor found in Mexico a -similar custom, the Judas being a regular horned and hoofed devil. In -Scotland the pre-christian accessories of a corresponding custom are -more pronounced both in the time selected (the last day of the year, -old style) and the place. 'The Clavie,' as the custom of burning the -puppet of Winter is mysteriously called, occurred on January 12 of -this year (1878) at Burghead, a fishing village near Forres, where -stands an old Roman altar locally named the 'Douro.' A tar-barrel -was set on fire and carried by a fisherman round the town, while the -people shouted and hallooed. (If the man who carries the barrel falls -it is an evil omen.) The lighted barrel, having gone round the town, -was carried to the top of the hill and placed on the Douro. More fuel -was added. The sparks as they fly upwards are supposed to be witches -and evil spirits leaving the town; the people therefore shout at and -curse them as they disappear in vacancy. When the burning tar-barrel -falls in pieces, the fishwomen rush in and endeavour to get a lighted -bit of wood from its remains; with this light the fire on the cottage -hearth is at once kindled, and it is considered lucky to keep this -flame alive all the rest of the year. The charcoal of the Clavie is -collected and put in bits up the chimney to prevent the witches and -evil spirits coming into the house. The Douro is covered with a thick -layer of tar from the fires that are annually lighted upon it. Close -to it is a very ancient Roman well. - -It is an instance of the irony of etymology that the word 'Hell' -means a place of fireless darkness. Nor is the fact that the name of -the Scandinavian demoness Hel, phonetically corresponding with Kali, -'the Black One' (Goth. Halja), whose abode was an icy hole, has her -name preserved as a place of fiery torment, without significance. In -regions where cold was known to an uncomfortable extent as well -as heat, we usually find it represented in the ideas of future -punishment. The realm called Hades, meaning just the same as Hell, -suggests cold. Tertullian and Jerome say that Christ's own phrases -'outer darkness' and the 'gnashing (chattering) of teeth' suggest a -place of extreme cold alternating with the excessive heat. Traces of -similar speculations are found with the Rabbins. Thus Rabbi Joseph -says Gehenna had both water and fire. Noah saw the angel of death -approaching and hid from him twelve months. Why twelve? Because -(explains Rabbi Jehuda) such is the trial of sinners,--six in water, -six in fire. Dante (following Virgil) has frigid as well as burning -hells; and the idea was refined by some scholiasts to a statement -which would seem to make the alternations of future punishment amount -to a severe ague and fever. Milton (Paradise Lost, ii.) has blended -the rabbinical notions with those of Virgil (Æn. vi.) in his terrible -picture of the frozen continent, where - - - - The parching air -Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire: -Thither by harpy-footed Furies haled -At certain revolutions all the damn'd -Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change -Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, -From beds of raging fire to starve in ice -Their soft etherial warmth, and there to pine -Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round. - - - -With which may be compared Shakespeare's lines in 'Measure for -Measure'-- - - - The de-lighted spirit -To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside -In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice. - - - -In Thibet hell is believed to have sixteen circles, eight burning, -eight frozen, which M. Delepierre attributes to the rapid changes of -their climate between the extremes of heat and cold. [46] Plutarch, -relating the vision of Thespesius in Hades, speaks of the frozen region -there. Denys le Chartreux (De Poenis Inferni) says the severest of -infernal torments is freezing. In the 'Kalendar of Shepherds' (1506) -a legend runs:--'Lazarus sayde, 'I sawe a flode of frosone yce in -the whiche envyous men and women were plonged unto the navyll, and -then sodynly came a colde wynde ryght great that blewe and dyd depe -downe all the envyous into the colde water that nothynge was seen of -them.' Such, too, is Persian Ardá Viráf's vision. - -The Demon of Cold has a habitat, naturally, in every -Northern region. He is the Ke-mung of China, who--man-shaped, -dragon-headed--haunts the Chang river, and causes rain-storms. [47] In -Greenland it is Erleursortok, who suffers perpetual agues, and leaps -on souls at death to satisfy his hunger. The Chenoos (demons) of the -Mimacs of Nova Scotia present certain features of the race-demons, -but are fearfully cold. The Chenoo weapon is a dragon's horn, his -yell is fatal to the hearer, his heart is a block of ice. This heart -must be destroyed if the demon is to be slain, but it can only be -done by melting in the fire: the chief precaution required is that -one is not drowned in the flood so caused. The icy demon survived -long in Scotland. Sir James Melville, in his 'Memoirs,' says 'the -spirit or devil that helped the Scottish witches to raise a storm -in the sea of Norway was cold as ice and his body hard as iron; -his face was terrible, his nose like the beak of an eagle, great -burning eyes, his hands and legs hairy, with claws on his nails like -a griffin.' Dr. Fian was burnt for raising this demon to oppose James -I. on his stormy passage from Denmark. - -This type of demon haunted people's minds in Scandinavia, where, -though traditions of a flame demon (Loki) and the end of the world -by fire were imported, the popular belief seems to have been mainly -occupied with Frost giants, and the formidable Oegir, god of the -bleak sea east winds, preserved in our word awe (Anglo-Saxon ege), -and more directly in the name of our familiar demon, the Ogre, -so often slain in the child's Gladsheim. Loki (fire) was, indeed, -speedily relegated by the Æsir (gods) to a hidden subterraneous -realm, where his existence could only be known by the earthquakes, -geysers, and Hecla eruptions which he occasioned. Yet he was to come -forth at Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods. We can see a singular -blending of tropical and frigid zones--the one traditional, the other -native--in the Prose Edda. Thus:--'What will remain,' said Gangler, -'after heaven and earth and the whole universe shall be consumed, -and after all the gods and the homes of Valhalla and all mankind -shall have perished?' 'There will be many abodes,' replied Thridi, -'some good, some bad. The best place of all to be in will be Gimil, -in heaven; and all who delight in quaffing good drink will find a -great store in the hall called Brimir, which is also in heaven in the -region Okolni. There is also a fair hall of ruddy gold, (for) Sindri, -which stands on the mountains of Nida. In those halls righteous and -well-minded men shall abide. In Ná-strönd there is a vast and direful -structure with doors that face the north. It is formed entirely of the -backs of serpents, wattled together like wicker-work. But the serpents' -heads are turned towards the inside of the hall, and continually vomit -forth floods of venom, in which wade all those who commit murder or -who forswear themselves. As it is said in the Völuspá:-- - - - -She saw a hall -Far from the sun -In Náströnd standing, -Northward the doors look, -And venom-drops -Fall in through loopholes. -Formed is that hall -Of wreathed serpents. -There saw she wade -Through heavy streams -Men forsworn -And murderers. - - - -These names for the heavenly regions and their occupants indicate -sunshine and fire. Gimil means fire (gímr): Brimir (brími, flame), -the giant, and Sindri (cinder), the dwarf, jeweller of the gods, -are raised to halls of gold. Nothing is said of a garden, or walking -therein 'in the cool of the day.' On the other hand, Ná-strönd means -Strand of the Dead, in that region whose 'doors face the north, far -from the sun,' we behold an inferno of extreme cold. Christianity -has not availed to give the Icelanders any demonic name suggestive of -fire. They speak of 'Skratti' (the roarer, perhaps our Old Scratch), -and 'Kolski' (the coal black one), but promise nothing so luminous -and comfortable as fire or fire-fiend to the evil-doer. - -In the great Epic of the Nibelungen Lied we have probably the shape -in which the Northman's dream of Paradise finally cohered,--a -Rose-garden in the South, guarded by a huge Worm (water-snake, -or glittering glacial sea intervening), whose glowing charms, with -Beauty (Chriemhild) for their queen, could be won only by a brave -dragon-slaying Siegfried. In passing by the pretty lakeside home of -Richard Wagner, on my way to witness the Ammergau version of another -dragon-binding and paradise-regaining legend, I noted that the -old name of the (Starnberg) lake was Wurmsee, from the dragon that -once haunted it, while from the composer's window might be seen its -'Isle of Roses,' which the dragon guarded. Since then the myth of -many forms has had its musical apotheosis at Bayreuth under his wand. - -England, partly perhaps on account of its harsh climate, once had the -reputation of being the chief abode of demons. A demoness leaving her -lover on the Continent says, 'My mother is calling me in England.' [48] -But England assigned them still higher latitudes; in christianising -Ireland, Iona, and other islands far north, it was preliminary to -expel the demons. 'The Clavie,' the 'Deis-iuil' of Lewis and other -Hebrides islands--fire carried round cattle to defend them from demons, -and around mothers not yet churched, to keep the babes from being -'changed'--show that the expulsion still goes on, though in such -regions Norse and christian notions have become so jumbled that it is -'fighting the devil with fire.' So in the Havamal men are warned to -invoke 'fire for distempers;' and Gudrun sings-- - - - -Raise, ye Jarls, an oaken pile; -Let it under heaven the lightest be. -May it burn a breast full of woes! -The fire round my heart its sorrows melt. - - - -The last line is in contrast with the Hindu saying, 'the flame of -her husband's pyre cools the widow's breast.' - -The characters of the Northern Heaven and Hell survive in the English -custom of burying the dead on the southern side of a church. How widely -this usage prevailed in Brand's time may be seen by reference to his -chapter on churchyards. The north side of the graveyard was set apart -for unbaptized infants and executed criminals, and it was permitted -the people to dance or play tennis in that part. Dr. Lee says that in -the churchyard at Morwenstow the southern portion only contains graves, -the north part being untenanted; as the Cornish believe (following old -traditions) that the north is the region of demons. In some parishes -of Cornwall when a baptism occurs the north door of the nave opposite -the font is thrown open, so that the devil cast out may retire to his -own region, the north. [49] This accords with the saying in Martin's -'Month's Mind'--ab aquilone omne malum. - -Indeed, it is not improbable that the fact noted by White, in his -'History of Selborne,' that 'the usual approach to most country -churches is by the south,' indicated a belief that the sacred edifice -should turn its back on the region of demons. It is a singular instance -of survival which has brought about the fact that people who listen -devoutly to sermons describing the fiery character of Satan and his -abode should surround the very churches in which those sermons are -heard with evidences of their lingering faith that the devil belongs to -the region of ice, and that their dead must be buried in the direction -of the happy abodes of Brimir and Sindri,--Fire and Cinders! - -M. François Lenormant has written an extremely instructive chapter -in comparison of the Accadian and the Finnish mythologies. He there -shows that they are as one and the same tree, adapted to antagonistic -climates. [50] With similar triad, runes, charms, and even names in -some cases, their regard for the fire worshipped by both varies in a -way that seems at first glance somewhat anomalous. The Accadians in -their fire-worship exhausted the resources of praise in ascription of -glory and power to the flames; the Finns in their cold home celebrated -the fire festival at the winter solstice, uttered invocations over -the fire, and the mother of the family, with her domestic libation, -said: 'Always rise so high, O my flame, but burn not larger nor more -ardent!' This diminution of enthusiasm in the Northern fire-worshipper, -as compared with the Southern, may only be the result of euphemism in -the latter; or perhaps while the formidable character of the fire-god -among the primitive Assyrians is indicated in the utter prostration -before him characteristic of their litanies and invocations, in the -case of the Finns the perpetual presence of the more potent cold -led to the less excessive adoration. These ventured to recognise the -faults of fire. - -The true nature of this anomaly becomes visible when we consider -that the great demon, dreaded by the two countries drawing their -cult from a common source, represented the excess of the power most -dreaded. The demon in each case was a wind; among the Finns the north -wind, among the Accadians the south-west (the most fiery) wind. The -Finnish demon was Hiisi, speeding on his pale horse through the air, -with a terrible train of monster dogs, cats, furies, scattering pain, -disease, and death. [51] The Accadian demon, of which the bronze image -is in the Louvre, is the body of a dog, erect on eagle's feet, its arms -pointed with lion's paws; it has the tail of a scorpion and the head of -a skeleton, half stripped of flesh, preserving the eyes, and mounted -with the horns of a goat. It has four outspread wings. On the back -of this ingeniously horrible image is an inscription in the Accadian -language, apprising us that it is the demon of the south-west wind, -made to be placed at the door or window, to avert its hostile action. - -As we observe such figures as these on the one hand, and on the other -the fair beings imagined to be antagonistic to them; as we note in -runes and incantations how intensely the ancients felt themselves to -be surrounded by these good and evil powers, and, reading nature so, -learned to see in the seasons successively conquering and conquered -by each other, and alternation of longer days and longer nights, the -changing fortunes of a never-ending battle; we may better realise -the meaning of solstitial festivals, the customs that gathered -around Yuletide and New Year, and the manifold survivals from them -which annually masquerade in Christian costume and names. To our -sun-worshipping ancestor the new year meant the first faint advantage -of the warmer time over winter, as nearly as he could fix it. The -hovering of day between superiority of light and darkness is now named -after doubting Thomas. At Yuletide the dawning victory of the sun is -seen as a holy infant in a manger amid beasts of the stall. The old -nature-worship has bequeathed to christian belief a close-fitting -mantle. But the old idea of a war between the wintry and the warm -powers still haunts the period of the New Year; and the twelve days -and nights, once believed to be the period of a fiercely-contested -battle between good and evil demons, are still regarded by many -as a period for especial watchfulness and prayer. New Year's Eve, -in the north of England still 'Hogmanay,'--probably O. N. höku-nött, -midwinter-night, when the sacrifices of Thor were prepared,--formerly -had many observances which reflected the belief that good and evil -ghosts were contending for every man and woman: the air was believed -to be swarming with them, and watch must be kept to see that the -protecting fire did not go out in any household; that no strange man, -woman, or animal approached,--possibly a demon in disguise. Sacred -plants were set in doors and windows to prevent the entrance of any -malevolent being from the multitudes filling the air. John Wesley, -whose noble heart was allied with a mind strangely open to stories -of hobgoblins, led the way of churches and sects back into this -ancient atmosphere. Nevertheless, the rationalism of the age has -influenced St. Wesley's Feast--Watchnight. It can hardly recognise -its brother in the Boar's Head Banquet of Queen's College, Oxford, -which celebrated victory over tusky winter, the decapitated demon -whose bristles were once icicles fallen beneath the sylvan spirits -of holly and rosemary. Yet what the Watchnight really signifies in -the antiquarian sense is just that old culminating combat between the -powers of fire and frost, once believed to determine human fates. In -White Russia, on New Year's Day, when the annual elemental battle has -been decided, the killed and wounded on one hand, and the fortunate -on the other, are told by carrying from house to house the rich and -the poor Kolyadas. These are two children, one dressed in fine attire, -and crowned with a wreath of full ears of grain, the other ragged, and -wearing a wreath of threshed straw. These having been closely covered, -each householder is called in, and chooses one. If his choice chances -upon the 'poor Kolyada,' the attending chorus chant a mournful strain, -in which he is warned to expect a bad harvest, poverty, and perhaps -death; if he selects the 'rich Kolyada,' a cheerful song is sung -promising him harvest, health, and wealth. - -The natives of certain districts of Dardistan assign political and -social significance to their Feast of Fire, which is celebrated in the -month preceding winter, at new moon, just after their meat provision -for the season is laid in to dry. Their legend is, that it was then -their national hero slew their ancient tyrant and introduced good -government. This legend, related elsewhere, is of a tyrant slain -through the discovery that his heart was made of snow. He was slain -by the warmth of torches. In the celebrations all the men of the -villages go forth with torches, which they swing round their heads, -and throw in the direction of Ghilgit, where the snow-hearted tyrant -so long held his castle. When the husbands return home from their -torch-throwing a little drama is rehearsed. The wives refuse them -entrance till they have entreated, recounting the benefits they have -brought them; after admission the husband affects sulkiness, and must -be brought round with caresses to join in the banquet. The wife leads -him forward with this song:--'Thou hast made me glad, thou favourite -of the Rajah! Thou hast rejoiced me, oh bold horseman! I am pleased -with thee who so well usest the gun and sword! Thou hast delighted -me, oh thou invested with a mantle of honours! Oh great happiness, -I will buy it by giving pleasure's price! Oh thou nourishment to us, -heap of corn, store of ghee--delighted will I buy it all by giving -pleasure's price!' - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -ELEMENTS. - - A Scottish Munasa--Rudra--Siva's lightning eye--The flaming - sword--Limping demons--Demons of the storm--Helios, Elias, - Perun--Thor arrows--The Bob-tailed Dragon--Whirlwind--Japanese - thunder god--Christian survivals--Jinni--Inundations--Noah--Nik, - Nicholas, Old Nick--Nixies--Hydras--Demons of the - Danube--Tides--Survivals in Russia and England. - - -During some recent years curious advertisements have appeared in a -journal of Edinburgh, calling for pious persons to occupy certain -hours of the night with holy exercises. It would appear that they -refer to a band of prayerful persons who provide that there shall -be an unbroken round of prayers during every moment of the day and -night. Their theory is, that it is the usual cessation of christian -prayers at night which causes so many disasters. The devils being then -less restrained, raise storms and all elemental perils. The praying -circle, which hopes to bind these demons by an uninterrupted chain of -prayers, originated, as I am informed, in the pious enthusiasm of a -lady whose kindly solicitude in some pre-existent sister was no doubt -personified in the Hindu Munasa, who, while all gods slept, sat in the -shape of a serpent on a branch of Euphorbia to preserve mankind from -the venom of snakes. It is to be feared, however, that it is hardly -the wisdom of the serpent which is on prayerful watch at Edinburgh, -but rather a vigilance of that perilous kind which was exercised by -'Meggie o' the Shore,' anno 1785, as related by Hugh Miller. [52] -On a boisterous night, when two young girls had taken refuge in her -cottage, they all heard about midnight cries of distress mingling -with the roar of the sea, 'Raise the window curtain and look out,' -said Meggie. The terrified girls did so, and said, 'There is a bright -light in the middle of the Bay of Udall. It hangs over the water about -the height of a ship's mast, and we can see something below it like -a boat riding at anchor, with the white sea raging around her.' 'Now -drop the curtain,' said Meggie; 'I am no stranger, my lasses, to -sights and noises like these--sights and noises of another world; -but I have been taught that God is nearer to me than any spirit can -be; and so have learned not to be afraid.' Afterwards it is not -wonderful that a Cromarty yawl was discovered to have foundered, -and all on board to have been drowned; though Meggie's neighbours -seemed to have preserved the legend after her faith, and made the -scene described a premonition of what actually occurred. It was in -a region where mariners when becalmed invoke the wind by whistling; -and both the whistling and the praying, though their prospects in -the future may be slender, have had a long career in the past. - -In the 'Rig-Veda' there is a remarkable hymn to Rudra (the Roarer), -which may be properly quoted here:-- - -1. Sire of the storm gods, let thy favour extend to us; shut us not -out from the sight of the sun; may our hero be successful in the -onslaught. O Rudra, may we wax mighty in our offspring. - -2. Through the assuaging remedies conferred by thee, O Rudra, may -we reach a hundred winters; drive away far from us hatred, distress, -and all-pervading diseases. - -3. Thou, O Rudra, art the most excellent of beings in glory, the -strongest of the strong, O wielder of the bolt; bear us safely through -evil to the further shore; ward off all the assaults of sin. - -4. May we not provoke thee to anger, O Rudra, by our adorations, -neither through faultiness in praises, nor through wantonness in -invocations; lift up our heroes by thy remedies; thou art, I hear, -the chief physician among physicians. - -5. May I propitiate with hymns this Rudra who is worshipped with -invocations and oblations; may the tender-hearted, easily-entreated, -tawny-haired, beautiful-chinned god not deliver us up to the plotter -of evil [literally, to the mind meditating 'I kill']. - -6. The bounteous giver, escorted by the storm-gods, hath gladdened -me, his suppliant, with most invigorating food; as one distressed by -heat seeketh the shade, may I, free from harm, find shelter in the -good-will of Rudra. - -7. Where, O Rudra, is that gracious hand of thine, which is healing -and comforting? Do thou, removing the evil which cometh from the gods, -O bounteous giver, have mercy upon me. - -8. To the tawny, the fair-complexioned dispenser of bounties, I send -forth a great and beautiful song of praise; adore the radiant god -with prostrations; we hymn the illustrious name of Rudra. - -9. Sturdy-limbed, many-shaped, fierce, tawny, he hath decked himself -with brilliant ornaments of gold; truly strength is inseparable from -Rudra, the sovereign of this vast world. - -10. Worthy of worship, thou bearest the arrows and the bow; worthy of -worship, thou wearest a resplendent necklace of many forms; worthy -of worship, thou rulest over this immense universe; there is none, -O Rudra, mightier than thou. - -11. Celebrate the renowned and ever-youthful god who is seated on a -chariot, who is, like a wild beast, terrible, fierce, and destructive; -have mercy upon the singer, O Rudra, when thou art praised; may thy -hosts strike down another than us. - -12. As a boy saluteth his father who approacheth and speaketh to him, -so, O Rudra, I greet thee, the giver of much, the lord of the good; -grant us remedies when thou art praised. - -13. Your remedies, O storm-gods, which are pure and helping, O -bounteous givers, which are joy-conferring, which our father Manu -chose, these and the blessing and succour of Rudra I crave. - -14. May the dart of Rudra be turned aside from us, may the great -malevolence of the flaming-god be averted; unbend thy strong bow -from those who are liberal with their wealth; O generous god, have -mercy upon our offspring and our posterity (i.e., our children and -children's children). - -15. Thus, O tawny Rudra, wise giver of gifts, listen to our cry, -give heed to us here, that thou mayest not be angry with us, O god, -nor slay us; may we, rich in heroic sons, utter great praise at the -sacrifice. [53] - -In other hymns the malevolent character of Rudra is made still more -prominent:-- - -7. Slay not our strong man nor our little child, neither him who -is growing nor him who is grown, neither our father nor our mother; -hurt not, O Rudra, our dear selves. - -8. Harm us not in our children and children's children, nor in our men, -nor in our kine, nor in our horses. Smite not our heroes in thy wrath; -we wait upon thee perpetually with offerings. [54] - -In this hymn (verse 1) Rudra is described as 'having braided hair;' -and in the 'Yajur-veda' and the 'Atharva-veda' other attributes -of Siva are ascribed to him, such as the epithet nîla-grîva, or -blue-necked. In the 'Rig-veda' Siva occurs frequently as an epithet, -and means auspicious. It was used as a euphemistic epithet to appease -Rudra, the lord of tempests; and finally, the epithet developed into -a distinct god. - -The parentage of Siva is further indicated in the legends that -his glance destroyed the head of the youthful deity Ganesa, -who now wears the elephant head, with which it was replaced; and -that the gods persuaded him to keep his eyes perpetually winking -(like sheet-lightning), lest his concentrated look (the thunderbolt) -should reduce the universe to ashes. With the latter legend the gaze -of the evil eye in India might naturally be associated, though in -the majority of countries this was rather associated with the malign -influences ascribed to certain planets, especially Saturn; the charms -against the evil eye being marked over with zodiacal signs. The very -myth of Siva's eye survives in the Russian demon Magarko ('Winker') -and the Servian Vii, whose glance is said to have power to reduce men, -and even cities, to ashes. - -The terrible Rudra is represented in a vast number of beliefs, some -of them perhaps survivals; in the rough sea and east-wind demon Oegir -of the northern world, and Typhon in the south; and in Luther's faith -that 'devils do house in the dense black clouds, and send storms, -hail, thunder and lightning, and poison the air with their infernal -stench,' a doctrine which Burton, the Anatomist of Melancholy, too, -maintained against the meteorologists of his time. - -Among the ancient Aryans lightning seems to have been the supreme type -of divine destructiveness. Rudra's dart, Siva's eye, reappear with -the Singhalese prince of demons Wessamonny, described as wielding a -golden sword, which, when he is angry, flies out of his hand, to which -it spontaneously returns, after cutting off a thousand heads. [55] -A wonderful spear was borne by Odin, and was possibly the original -Excalibur. The four-faced Sviatevit of Russia, whose mantle has fallen -to St. George, whose statue was found at Zbrucz in 1851, bore a horn -of wine (rain) and a sword (lightning). - -In Greece similar swords were wielded by Zeus, and also by the -god of war. Through Zeus and Ares, the original wielders of the -lightning--Indra and Siva--became types of many gods and semi-divine -heroes. The evil eye of Siva glared from the forehead of the Cyclopes, -forgers of thunderbolts; and the saving disc of Indra flashed in the -swords and arrows of famous dragon-slayers--Perseus, Pegasus, Hercules, -and St. George. The same sword defended the Tree of Life in Eden, -and was borne in the hand of Death on the Pale Horse (a white horse -was sacrificed to Sviatevit in Russia within christian times). And, -finally, we have the wonderful sword which obeys the command 'Heads -off!' delighting all nurseries by the service it does to the King of -the Golden Mountain. - -'I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven.' To the Greeks -this falling of rebellious deities out of heaven accounted, as we -have seen explained, for their lameness. But a universal phenomenon -can alone account for the many demons with crooked or crippled legs -(like 'Diable Boiteux') [56] all around the world. The Namaquas of -South Africa have a 'deity' whose occupation it is to cause pain -and death; his name is Tsui'knap, that is 'wounded knee.' [57] -Livingstone says of the Bakwains, another people of South Africa, -'It is curious that in all their pretended dreams or visions of -their god he has always a crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau.' [58] -In Mainas, South America, they believe in a treacherous demon, -Uchuella-chaqui, or Lame-foot, who in dark forests puts on a friendly -shape to lure Indians to destruction; but the huntsmen say they can -never be deceived if they examine this demon's foot-track, because -of the unequal size of the two feet. [59] The native Australians -believed in a demon named Biam; he is black and deformed in his lower -extremities; they attributed to him many of their songs and dances, -but also a sort of small-pox to which they were liable. [60] We have -no evidence that these superstitions migrated from a common centre; -and there can be little doubt that many of these crooked legs are -traceable to the crooked lightning. [61] At the same time this is by -no means inconsistent with what has been already said of the fall of -Titans and angels from heaven as often accounting for their lameness -in popular myths. But in such details it is hard to reach certainty, -since so many of the facts bear a suspicious resemblance to each -other. A wild boar with 'distorted legs' attacked St. Godric, and -the temptation is strong to generalise on the story, but the legs -probably mean only to certify that it was the devil. - -Dr. Schliemann has unearthed among his other treasures the remarkable -fact that a temple of Helios (the sun) once stood near the site of -the present Church of Elias, at Mycenæ, which has from time immemorial -been the place to which people repair to pray for rain. [62] When the -storm-breeding Sun was succeeded by the Prophet whose prayer evoked -the cloud, even the name of the latter did not need to be changed. The -discovery is the more interesting because it has always been a part -of the christian folklore of that region that, when a storm with -lightning occurs, it is 'Elias in his chariot of fire.' A similar -phrase is used in some part of every Aryan country, with variation -of the name: it is Woden, or King Waldemar, or the Grand Veneur, -or sometimes God, who is said to be going forth in his chariot. - -These storm-demons in their chariots have their forerunner in Vata -or Vayu, the subject of one of the most beautiful Vedic hymns. 'I -celebrate the glory of Vata's chariot; its noise comes rending and -resounding. Touching the sky he moves onward, making all things ruddy; -and he comes propelling the dust of the earth. - -'Soul of the gods, source of the universe, this deity moves as he -lists. His sounds have been heard, but his form is not seen; this -Vata let us worship with an oblation.' [63] - -This last verse, as Mr. Muir has pointed out, bears a startling -resemblance to the passage in John, 'The Wind bloweth where it listeth, -and thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is -every one that is born of the Wind.' [64] - -But an equally striking development of the Vedic idea is represented -in the Siamese legend of Buddha, and in this case the Vedic Wind-god -Vayu reappears by name for the Angels of Tempests, or Loka Phayu. The -first portent which preceded the descent of Buddha from the Tushita -heavens was 'when the Angels of the Tempest, clothed in red garments, -and with streaming hair, travel among the abodes of mankind crying, -'Attend all ye who are near to death; repent and be not heedless! The -end of the world approaches, but one hundred thousand years more -and it will be destroyed. Exert yourselves, then, exert yourselves -to acquire merit. Above all things be charitable; abstain from doing -evil; meditate with love to all beings, and listen to the teachings of -holiness. For we are all in the mouth of the king of death. Strive then -earnestly for meritorious fruits, and seek that which is good.' [65] - -Not less remarkable is the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel to 1 Kings -xix., where around Elias on the mountain gather 'a host of angels of -the wind, cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the -Lord;' and after these, 'angels of commotion,' and next 'of fire,' -and, finally, 'voices singing in silence' preceded the descent of -Jehovah. It can hardly be wondered that a prophet of whom this story -was told, and that of the storm evoked from a small cloud, should -be caught up into that chariot of the Vedic Vayu which has rolled on -through all the ages of mythology. - -Mythologic streams seem to keep their channels almost as steadfastly -as rivers, but as even these change at last or blend, so do the old -traditions. Thus we find that while Thor and Odin remain as separate -in survivals as Vayu and Parjanya in India, in Russia Elias has -inherited not the mantle of the wind-god or storm-breeding sun, -but of the Slavonic Thunderer Perun. There is little doubt that -this is Parjanya, described in the 'Rig-Veda' as 'the thunderer, -the showerer, the bountiful,' [66] who 'strikes down trees' and 'the -wicked.' 'The people of Novgorod,' says Herberstein, 'formerly offered -their chief worship and adoration to a certain idol named Perun. When -subsequently they received baptism they removed it from its place, -and threw it into the river Volchov; and the story goes that it swam -against the stream, and that near the bridge a voice was heard saying, -'This for you, O inhabitants of Novgorod, in memory of me;' and at -the same time a certain rope was thrown upon the bridge. Even now -it happens from time to time on certain days of the year that this -voice of Perun may be heard, and on these occasions the citizens run -together and lash each other with ropes, and such a tumult arises -therefrom that all the efforts of the governor can scarcely assuage -it.' [67] The statue of Perun in Kief, says Mr. Ralston, had a trunk -of wood, while the head was of silver, with moustaches of gold, and -among its weapons was a mace. Afanasief states that in White-Russian -traditions Perun is tall and well-shaped, with black hair and a long -golden beard. This beard relates him to Barbarossa, and, perhaps, -though distantly, with the wood-demon Barbatos, the Wild Archer, -who divined by the songs of birds. [68] Perun also has a bow which is -'sometimes identified with the rainbow, an idea which is known also to -the Finns. From it, according to the White Russians, are shot burning -arrows, which set on fire all things that they touch. In many parts of -Russia (as well as of Germany) it is supposed that these bolts sink -deep into the soil, but that at the end of three or seven years they -return to the surface in the shape of longish stones of a black or dark -grey colour--probably belemnites, or masses of fused sand--which are -called thunderbolts, and considered as excellent preservations against -lightning and conflagrations. The Finns call them Ukonkiwi--the stone -of thunder-god Ukko, and in Courland their name is Perkuhnsteine, which -explains itself. In some cases the flaming dart of Perun became, in the -imagination of the people, a golden key. With it he unlocked the earth, -and brought to light its concealed treasures, its restrained waters, -its captive founts of light. With it also he locked away in safety -fugitives who wished to be put out of the power of malignant conjurors, -and performed various other good offices. Appeals to him to exercise -these functions still exist in the spells used by the peasants, -but his name has given way to that of some christian personage. In -one of them, for instance, the Archangel Michael is called upon to -secure the invoker behind an iron door fastened by twenty-seven locks, -the keys of which are given to the angels to be carried to heaven. In -another, John the Baptist is represented as standing upon a stone in -the Holy Sea [i.e., in heaven], resting upon an iron crook or staff, -and is called upon to stay the flow of blood from a wound, locking -the invoker's veins 'with his heavenly key.' In this case the myth has -passed into a rite. In order to stay a violent bleeding from the nose, -a locked padlock is brought, and the blood is allowed to drop through -its aperture, or the sufferer grasps a key in each hand, either plan -being expected to prove efficacious. As far as the key is concerned, -the belief seems to be still maintained among ourselves.' [69] - -The Key has a holy sense in various religions, and consequently an -infernal key is its natural counterpart. The Vedic hymns, which say -so much about the shutting and opening, imprisoning and releasing, -of heavenly rains and earthly fruits by demons and deities, interpret -many phenomena of nature, and the same ideas have arisen in many -lands. We cannot be certain, therefore, that Calmet is right in -assigning an Indian origin to the subjoined Figure 5, an ancient -Persian medal. The signs of the zodiac on its body show it to be one -of those celestial demons believed able to bind the beneficent or -loose the formidable powers of nature. The Key is of especial import -in Hebrew faith. It was the high-priest Eliakim's symbol of office, -as being also prefect in the king's house. 'The key of the house of -David will I lay upon his shoulder: he shall open and none shall shut; -he shall shut and none shall open.' [70] The Rabbins had a saying -that God reserves to himself four keys, which he will intrust not -even to the angels: the key of rain, the key of the grave, the key of -fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. It was the sign of one set -above angels when Christ was seen with the keys of Hell and Death, -or when he delivered the keys of heaven to Peter, [71]--still thrust -down the backs of protestant children to cure nose-bleed. - -The ubiquitous superstition which attributes the flint arrows of -pre-historic races to gods, shot by them as lightning, and, as some -said, from a rainbow, is too childlike a theory to call for elaborate -treatment. We need not, ethnographically, connect our 'Thor arrows' -and 'Elf shots' with the stones hurled at mortals by the Thunder-Duke -(Lui-tsz) of China. The ancient Parthians, who used to reply to the -thunderstorm by shooting arrows at it, and the Turks, who attack an -eclipse with guns, fairly represent the infancy of the human race, -though perhaps with more than its average pluck. Dr. Macgowan relates, -concerning the Lei-chau (Thunder District) of China, various myths -which resemble those which surround the world. After thunderstorms, -black stones, it is believed, may be found which emit light and -peculiar sounds on being struck. In a temple consecrated to the -Thunder Duke the people annually place a drum for that stormy demon -to beat. The drum was formerly left on a mountain-top with a little -boy as a sacrifice. [72] Mr. Dennys [73] speaks of the belief in the -same country that violent winds and typhoons are caused by the passage -through the air of the 'Bob-tailed Dragon,' and also of the rain-god -Yü-Shüh. A storm-god connected with the 'Eagre,' or bore of the river -Tsien-tang, presents a coincidence of name with the Scandinavian -Oegir, which would be hardly noticeable were it not for the very close -resemblance between the folklore concerning the 'Bob-tailed Dragon' -and the storm-dragons of several Aryan races. Generally, in both -China and Japan the Dragon is regarded with a veneration equal to -the horror with which the serpent is visited. Of this phenomenon and -its analogies in Britain I shall have an explanation to submit when -we come to consider Dragon-myths more particularly. To this general -rule the 'Bob-tailed Dragon' of China is a partial exception. His -fidelity as a friend led to the ill return of an attack by which his -tail was amputated, and ever since his soured temper has shown itself -in raising storms. When a violent tempest arises the Cantonese say, -'The Bob-tailed Dragon is passing,' in the same proverbial way as the -Aryan peasantries attribute the same phenomenon to their storm-gods. - -The notion is widely prevalent in some districts of France that -all whirlwinds, however slight, are caused by wizards or witches, -who are in them, careering through the air; and it is stated by the -Melusine that in the department of the Orne storms are attributed -to the clergy, who are supposed to be circling in them. The same -excellent journal states that some years ago, in that department, a -parishioner who saw his crops threatened by a hail-storm fired into -the cloud. The next day he heard that the parish priest had broken -his leg by a fall for which he could not account. - -The following examples are given by Kuhn. Near Stangenhagen is a -treasure hid in a mountain which Lord von Thümen tried to seek, -but was caught up with his horse by a whirlwind and deposited at -home again. The Devil is believed to be seated at the centre of -every whirlwind. At Biesenthal it is said a noble lady became the -Wind's bride. She was in her time a famous rider and huntress, who -rode recklessly over farmers' fields and gardens; now she is herself -hunted by snakes and dragons, and may be heard howling in every storm. - -I suspect that the bristling hair so frequently portrayed in the -Japanese Oni, Devils, refers to their frequent residence at the -centre of a gale of wind. Their demon of the storm is generally -pictured throned upon a flower of flames, his upraised and extended -fingers emitting the most terrific lightnings, which fall upon his -victims and envelop them in flames. Sometimes, however, the Japanese -artists poke fun at their thunder-god, and show him sprawling on the -ground from the recoil of his own lightnings. The following extract -from The Christian Herald (London, April 12, 1877) will show how -far the dread of this Japanese Oni extends: 'A pious father writes, -'A few days ago there was a severe thunderstorm, which seemed to -gather very heavily in the direction where my son lived; and I had -a feeling that I must go and pray that he might be protected, and -not be killed by the lightning. The impression seemed to say, 'There -is no time to be lost.' I obeyed, and went and knelt down and prayed -that the Lord would spare his life. I believe he heard my prayer. My -son called on me afterwards, and, speaking of the shower, said, -'The lightning came downwards and struck the very hoe in my hands, -and numbed me.' I said, 'Perhaps you would have been killed if some -one had not been praying for you.' Since then he has been converted, -and, I trust, will be saved in God's everlasting kingdom.'' - -Such paragraphs may now strike even many christians as 'survivals.' But -it is not so very long since some eminent clergymen looked upon -Benjamin Franklin as the heaven-defying Ajax of Christendom, because -he undertook to show people how they might divert the lightnings -from their habitations. In those days Franklin personally visited a -church at Streatham, whose steeple had been struck by lightning, and, -after observing the region, gave an opinion that if the steeple were -again erected without a lightning-rod, it would again be struck. The -audacious man who 'snatched sceptres from tyrants and lightnings -from heaven,' as the proverb ran, was not listened to: the steeple -was rebuilt, and again demolished by lightning. - -The supreme god of the Quichuas (American), Viracocha ('sea foam'), -rises out of Lake Titicaca, and journeys with lightnings for -all opposers, to disappear in the Western Ocean. The Quichua is -mentally brother of the Arab camel-driver. 'The sea,' it is said -in the 'Arabian Nights,'--'the sea became troubled before them, and -there arose from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and -approaching the meadow,' and 'behold it was a Jinn [74] of gigantic -stature.' The Jinn is sometimes helpful as it is formidable; it repays -the fisherman who unseals it from the casket fished up from the sea, -as fruitfulness comes out of the cloud no larger than a man's hand -evoked by Elijah. The perilous Jinn described in the above extract is -the waterspout. Waterspouts are attributed in China to the battles -of dragons in the air, and the same country recognises a demon of -high tides. The newest goddess in China is a canonised protectress -against the shipwrecking storm-demons of the coast, an exaltation -recently proclaimed by the Government of the empire in obedience, -as the edict stated, to the belief prevailing among sailors. In this -the Chinese are a long way behind the mariners and fishermen of the -French coast, who have for centuries, by a pious philology, connected -'Maria' with 'La Marée' and 'La Mer;' and whenever they have been -saved from storms, bring their votive offerings to sea-side shrines -of the Star of the Sea. - -The old Jewish theology, in its eagerness to claim for Jehovah the -absolutism which would make him 'Lord of lords,' instituted his -responsibility for many doubtful performances, the burthen of which -is now escaped by the device of saying that he 'permitted' them. In -this way the Elohim who brought on the Deluge have been identified -with Jehovah. None the less must we see in the biblical account -of the Flood the action of tempestuous water-demons. What power a -christian would recognise in such an event were it related in the -sacred books of another religion may be seen in the vision of the -Apocalypse--'The Serpent cast out of his mouth a flood of water after -the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away with the flood; -and the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up -the flood.' This Demon of Inundation meets the explorer of Egyptian -and Accadian inscriptions at every turn. The terrible Seven, whom -even the God of Fire cannot control, 'break down the banks of the -Abyss of Waters.' [75] The God of the Tigris, Tourtak (Tartak of the -Bible), is 'the great destroyer.' [76] Leviathan 'maketh the deep to -boil like a pot:' 'when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid; -by reason of breakings they purify themselves.' [77] - -In the Astronomical Tablets, which Professor Sayce dates about -B.C. 1600, we have the continual association of eclipse and flood: -'On the fifteenth day an eclipse takes place. The king dies; and rains -in the heaven, floods in the channels are.' 'In the month of Elul -(August), the fourteenth day, an eclipse takes place.... Northward -... its shadow is seen; and to the King of Mullias a crown is -given. To the king the crown is an omen; and over the king the eclipse -passes. Rains in heaven, floods in the channels flow. A famine is -in the country. Men their sons for silver sell.' 'After a year the -Air-god inundates.' [78] - -In the Chaldæo-Babylonian cosmogony the three zones of the universe -were ruled over by a Triad as follows: the Heaven by Anu; the surface -of the earth, including the atmosphere, by Bel; the under-world by -Nouah. [79] This same Nouah is the Assyrian Hea or Saviour; and it -is Noah of the Bible. The name means a rest or residence,--the place -where man may dwell. When Tiamat the Dragon, or the Leviathan, opens -'the fountains of the great deep,' and Anu 'the windows of Heaven,' -it is Hea or Noah who saves the life of man. M. François Lenormant -has shown this to be the probable sense of one of the most ancient -Accadian fragments in the British Museum. In it allusion is made -to 'the serpent of seven heads ... that beats the sea.' [80] Hea, -however, appears to be more clearly indicated in a fragment which -Professor Sayce appends to this:-- - - - -Below in the abyss the forceful multitudes may they sacrifice. -The overwhelming fear of Anu in the midst of Heaven encircles his path. -The spirits of earth, the mighty gods, withstand him not. -The king like a lightning-flash opened. -Adar, the striker of the fortresses of the rebel band, opened. -Like the streams in the circle of heaven I besprinkled the seed of men. -His marching in the fealty of Bel to the temple I directed, -(He is) the hero of the gods, the protector of mankind, far (and) -near.... -O my lord, life of Nebo (breathe thy inspiration), incline thine ear. -O Adar, hero, crown of light, (breathe) thy inspiration, (incline) -thine ear. -The overwhelming fear of thee may the sea know.... -Thy setting (is) the herald of his rest from marching, -In thy marching Merodach (is) at rest [81].... -Thy father on his throne thou dost not smite. -Bel on his throne thou dost not smite. -The spirits of earth on their throne may he consume. -May thy father into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth. -May Bel into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth. -(The king, the proclaimed) of Anu, the firstborn of the gods. -He that stands before Bel, the heart of the life of the House of the -Beloved. [82] -The hero of the mountain (for those that) die in multitudes.... the -one god, he will not urge. [83] - - - -In this primitive fragment we find the hero of the mountain (Noah), -invoking both Bel and Nebo, aerial and infernal Intelligences, and Adar -the Chaldæan Hercules, for their 'inspiration'--that breath which, in -the biblical story, goes forth in the form of the Dove ('the herald -of his rest' in the Accadian fragment), and in the 'wind' by which -the waters were assuaged (in the fragment 'the spirits of the earth' -which are given into the hand of the violent 'hero of the mountain,' -whom alone the gods 'will not urge'). - -The Hydra may be taken as a type of the destructive water-demon in a -double sense, for its heads remain in many mythical forms. The Syrian -Dagon and Atergatis, fish-deities, have bequeathed but their element -to our Undines of romance. Some nymphs have so long been detached -from aqueous associations as to have made their names puzzling, and -their place in demonology more so. To the Nixy (nêchô) of Germany, -now merely mischievous like the British Pixy, many philologists trace -the common phrase for the Devil,--'Old Nick.' I believe, however, -that this phrase owes its popularity to St. Nicholas rather than to -the Norse water-god whose place he was assigned after the christian -accession. This saintly Poseidon, who, from being the patron of -fishermen, gradually became associated with that demon whom, Sir -Walter Scott said, 'the British sailor feared when he feared nothing -else,' was also of old the patron of pirates; and robbers were called -'St. Nicholas' clerks.' [84] In Norway and the Netherlands the ancient -belief in the demon Nikke was strong; he was a kind of Wild Huntsman -of the Sea, and has left many legends, of which 'The Flying Dutchman' -is one. But my belief is that, through his legendary relation to boys, -St. Nicholas gave the name Old Nick its modern moral accent. Because -of his reputation for having restored to life three murdered children -St. Nicholas was made their patron, and on his day, December 6, it -was the old custom to consecrate a Boy-Bishop, who held office until -the 28th of the month. By this means he became the moral appendage -of the old Wodan god of the Germanic races, who was believed in -winter time to find shelter in and shower benefits from evergreens, -especially firs, on his favourite children who happened to wander -beneath them. 'Bartel,' 'Klaubauf,' or whatever he might be called, was -reduced to be the servant of St. Nicholas, whose name is now jumbled -into 'Santaclaus.' According to the old custom he appeared attended -by his Knecht Klaubauf--personated by those who knew all about the -children--bringing a sort of doomsday. The gifts having been bestowed -on the good children, St. Nicholas then ordered Klaubauf to put the -naughty ones into his pannier and carry them off for punishment. The -terror and shrieks thus caused have created vast misery among children, -and in Munich and some other places the authorities have very properly -made such tragedies illegal. But for many centuries it was the custom -of nurses and mothers to threaten refractory children with being -carried off at the end of the year by Nicholas; and in this way -each year closed, in the young apprehension, with a Judgment Day, -a Weighing of Souls, and a Devil or Old Nick as agent of retribution. - -Nick has long since lost his aquatic character, and we find his name in -the Far West (America) turning up as 'The Nick of the Woods,'--the wild -legend of a settler who, following a vow of vengeance for his wrongs, -used to kill the red men while they slept, and was supposed to be a -demon. The Japanese have a water-dragon--Kappa--of a retributive and -moral kind, whose office it is to swallow bad boys who go to swim -in disobedience to their parents' commands, or at improper times -and places. It is not improbable that such dangers to the young -originated some of the water-demons,--probably such as are thought -of as diminutive and mischievous,--e.g., Nixies. The Nixa was for a -long time on the Baltic coast the female 'Old Nick,' and much feared -by fishermen. Her malign disposition is represented in the Kelpie -of Scotland,--a water-horse, believed to carry away the unwary by -sudden floods to devour them. In Germany there was a river-goddess -whose temple stood at Magdeburg, whence its name. A legend exists of -her having appeared in the market there in christian costume, but she -was detected by a continual dripping of water from the corner of her -apron. In Germany the Nixies generally played the part of the naiads -of ancient times. [85] In Russia similar beings, called Rusalkas, -are much more formidable. - -In many regions of Christendom it is related that these demons, -relatives of the Swan-maidens, considered in another chapter, have -been converted into friendly or even pious creatures, and baptized -into saintly names. Sometimes there are legends which reveal this -transition. Thus it is related that in the year 1440, the dikes of -Holland being broken down by a violent tempest, the sea overflowed -the meadows; and some maidens of the town of Edam, in West Friesland, -going in a boat to milk their cows, espied a mermaid embarrassed in -the mud, the waters being very shallow. They took it into their boat -and brought it to Edam, and dressed it in women's apparel, and taught -it to spin. It ate as they did, but could not be brought to speak. It -was carried to Haarlem, where it lived for some years, though showing -an inclination to water. Parival, who tells the story, relates that -they had conveyed to it some notions of the existence of a deity, -and it made its reverences devoutly whenever it passed a crucifix. - -Another creature of the same species was in the year 1531 caught in -the Baltic, and sent as a present to Sigismund, King of Poland. It -was seen by all the persons about the court, but only lived three days. - -The Hydra--the torrent which, cut off in one direction, makes many -headways in others--has its survivals in the many diabolical names -assigned to boiling springs and to torrents that become dangerously -swollen. In California the boiling springs called 'Devil's Tea-kettle' -and 'Devil's Mush-pot' repeat the 'Devil's Punch-bowls' of Europe, -and the innumerable Devil's Dikes and Ditches. St. Gerard's Hill, -near Pesth, on which the saint suffered martyrdom, is believed to be -crowded with devils whenever an inundation threatens the city; they -indulge in fiendish laughter, and play with the telescopes of the -observatory, so that they who look through them afterwards see only -devils' and witches' dances! [86] At Buda, across the river from Pesth, -is the famous 'Devil's Ditch,' which the inhabitants use as a sewer -while it is dry, making it a Gehenna to poison them with stenches, -but which often becomes a devastating torrent when thaw comes on the -Blocksberg. In 1874 the inhabitants vaulted it over to keep away the -normal stench, but the Hydra-head so lopped off grew again, and in -July 1875 swallowed up a hundred people. [87] - -The once perilous Strudel and Wirbel of the Danube are haunted by -diabolical legends. From Dr. William Beattie's admirable work on -'The Danube' I quote the following passages:--'After descending the -Greinerschwall, or rapids of Grein above mentioned, the river rolls -on for a considerable space, in a deep and almost tranquil volume, -which, by contrast with the approaching turmoil, gives increased -effect to its wild, stormy, and romantic features. At first a hollow, -subdued roar, like that of distant thunder, strikes the ear and -rouses the traveller's attention. This increases every second, and -the stir and activity which now prevail among the hands on board show -that additional force, vigilance, and caution are to be employed -in the use of the helm and oars. The water is now changed in its -colour--chafed into foam, and agitated like a seething cauldron. In -front, and in the centre of the channel, rises an abrupt, isolated, -and colossal rock, fringed with wood, and crested with a mouldering -tower, on the summit of which is planted a lofty cross, to which in -the moment of danger the ancient boatmen were wont to address their -prayers for deliverance. The first sight of this used to create -no little excitement and apprehension on board; the master ordered -strict silence to be observed, the steersman grasped the helm with a -firmer hand, the passengers moved aside, so as to leave free space -for the boatmen, while the women and children were hurried into -the cabin, there to await, with feelings of no little anxiety, the -result of the enterprise. Every boatman, with his head uncovered, -muttered a prayer to his patron saint; and away dashed the barge -through the tumbling breakers, that seemed as if hurrying it on -to inevitable destruction. All these preparations, joined by the -wildness of the adjacent scenery, the terrific aspect of the rocks, -and the tempestuous state of the water, were sufficient to produce a -powerful sensation on the minds even of those who had been all their -lives familiar with dangers; while the shadowy phantoms with which -superstition had peopled it threw a deeper gloom over the whole scene.' - -Concerning the whirlpool called Wirbel, and the surrounding ruins, -the same author writes: 'Each of these mouldering fortresses was -the subject of some miraculous tradition, which circulated at every -hearth. The sombre and mysterious aspect of the place, its wild -scenery, and the frequent accidents which occurred in the passage, -invested it with awe and terror; but above all, the superstitions -of the time, a belief in the marvellous, and the credulity of the -boatmen, made the navigation of the Strudel and the Wirbel a theme of -the wildest romance. At night, sounds that were heard far above the -roar of the Danube issued from every ruin. Magical lights flashed -through their loopholes and casements, festivals were held in the -long-deserted halls, maskers glided from room to room, the waltzers -maddened to the strains of an infernal orchestra, armed sentinels -paraded the battlements, while at intervals the clash of arms, the -neighing of steeds, and the shrieks of unearthly combatants smote -fitfully on the boatmen's ear. But the tower on which these scenes -were most fearfully enacted was that on the Longstone, commonly -called the 'Devil's Tower,' as it well deserved to be--for here, -in close communion with his master, resided the 'Black Monk,' whose -office it was to exhibit false lights and landmarks along the gulf, -so as to decoy the vessels into the whirlpool, or dash them against -the rocks. He was considerably annoyed in his quarters, however, -on the arrival of the great Soliman in these regions; for to repel -the turbaned host, or at least to check their triumphant progress to -the Upper Danube, the inhabitants were summoned to join the national -standard, and each to defend his own hearth. Fortifications were -suddenly thrown up, even churches and other religious edifices were -placed in a state of military defence; women and children, the aged -and the sick, as already mentioned in our notice of Schaumburg, -were lodged in fortresses, and thus secured from the violence of -the approaching Moslem. Among the other points at which the greatest -efforts were made to check the enemy, the passage of the Strudel and -Wirbel was rendered as impregnable as the time and circumstances of -the case would allow. To supply materials for the work, patriotism -for a time got the better of superstition, and the said Devil's Tower -was demolished and converted into a strong breastwork. Thus forcibly -dislodged, the Black Monk is said to have pronounced a malediction -on the intruders, and to have chosen a new haunt among the recesses -of the Harz mountains.' - -When the glaciers send down their torrents and flood the Rhone, -it is the immemorial belief that the Devil may be sometimes seen -swimming in it, with a sword in one hand and a golden globe in the -other. Since it is contrary to all orthodox folklore that the Devil -should be so friendly with water, the name must be regarded as a -modern substitute for the earlier Rhone demon. We probably get closer -to the original form of the superstition in the Swiss Oberland, which -interprets the noises of the Furka Glacier, which feeds the Rhone, -as the groans of wicked souls condemned for ever to labour there -in directing the river's course; their mistress being a demoness -who sometimes appears just before the floods, floating on a raft, -and ordering the river to rise. - -There is a tidal demonolatry also. The author of 'Rambles in -Northumberland' gives a tradition concerning the river Wansbeck: -'This river discharges itself into the sea at a place called Cambois, -about nine miles to the eastward, and the tide flows to within five -miles of Morpeth. Tradition reports that Michael Scott, whose fame as a -wizard is not confined to Scotland, would have brought the tide to the -town had not the courage of the person failed upon whom the execution -of this project depended. This agent of Michael, after his principal -had performed certain spells, was to run from the neighbourhood of -Cambois to Morpeth without looking behind, and the tide would follow -him. After having advanced a certain distance he became alarmed at -the roaring of the waters behind him, and forgetting the injunction, -gave a glance over his shoulder to see if the danger was imminent, -when the advancing tide immediately stopped, and the burgesses of -Morpeth thus lost the chance of having the Wansbeck navigable between -their town and the sea. It is also said that Michael intended to -confer a similar favour on the inhabitants of Durham, by making the -Wear navigable to their city; but his good intentions, which were to -be carried into effect in the same manner, were also frustrated by -the cowardice of the person who had to guide the tide.' - -The gentle and just king Æolus, who taught his islanders navigation, in -his mythologic transfiguration had to share the wayward dispositions of -the winds he was said to rule; but though he wrecked the Trojan fleet -and many a ship, his old human heart remained to be trusted on the -appearance of Halcyon. His unhappy daughter of that name cast herself -into the sea after the shipwreck of her husband (Ceyx), and the two -were changed into birds. It was believed that for seven days before and -seven after the shortest day of the year, when the halcyon is breeding, -Æolus restrains his winds, and the sea is calm. The accent of this -fable has been transmitted to some variants of the folklore of swans. -In Russia the Tsar Morskoi or Water Demon's beautiful daughters (swans) -may naturally be supposed to influence the tides which the fair bathers -of our time are reduced to obey. In various regions the tides are -believed to have some relation to swans, and to respect them. I have -met with a notion of this kind in England. On the day of Livingstone's -funeral there was an extraordinary tide in the Thames, which had been -predicted and provided for. The crowds which had gathered at the Abbey -on that occasion repaired after the funeral to Westminster Bridge to -observe the tide, and among them was a venerable disbeliever in -science, who announced to a group that there would be no high tide, -'because the swans were nesting.' This sceptic was speedily put to -confusion by the result, and perhaps one superstition the less remained -in the circle that seemed to regard him as an oracle. - -The Russian peasantry live in much fear of the Rusalkas and Vodyanuie, -water-spirits who, of course, have for their chief the surly Neptune -Tsar Morskoi. In deprecation of this tribe, the peasant is careful -not to bathe without a cross round the neck, nor to ford a stream -on horseback without signing a cross on the water with a scythe -or knife. In the Ukrain these water-demons are supposed to be the -transformed souls of Pharaoh and his host when they were drowned, -and they are increased by people who drown themselves. In Bohemia -fishermen are known sometimes to refuse aid to one drowning, for -fear the Vodyany will be offended and prevent the fish, over which -he holds rule, from entering their nets. The wrath of such beings is -indicated by the upheavals of water and foam; and they are supposed -especially mischievous in the spring, when torrents and floods are -pouring from melted snow. Those undefined monsters which Beowulf slew, -Grendel and his mother, are interpreted by Simrock as personifications -of the untamed sea and stormy floods invading the low flat shores, -whose devastations so filled Faust with horror (II. iv.), and in -combating which his own hitherto desolating powers found their task. - - - The Sea sweeps on in thousand quarters flowing, - Itself unfruitful, barrenness bestowing; - It breaks, and swells, and rolls, and overwhelms - The desert stretch of desolated realms.... - Let that high joy be mine for evermore, - To shut the lordly Ocean from the shore, - The watery waste to limit and to bar, - And push it back upon itself afar! - - -In such brave work Faust had many forerunners, whose art and courage -have their monument in the fairer fables of all these elemental powers -in which fear saw demons. Pavana, in India, messenger of the gods, -rides upon the winds, and in his forty-nine forms, corresponding with -the points of the Hindu compass, guards the earth. Solomon, too, -journeyed on a magic carpet woven of the winds, which still serves -the purposes of the Wise. From the churned ocean rose Lakshmí (after -the solar origin was lost to the myth), Hindu goddess of prosperity; -and from the sea-foam rose Aphrodite, Beauty. These fair forms had -their true worshipper in the Northman, who left on mastered wind and -wave his song as Emerson found it-- - - - The gale that wrecked you on the sand, - It helped my rowers to row; - The storm is my best galley hand, - And drives me where I go. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -ANIMALS. - - Animal demons distinguished--Trivial sources of - Mythology--Hedgehog--Fox--Transmigrations in Japan--Horses - bewitched--Rats--Lions--Cats--The Dog--Goethe's horror of - dogs--Superstitions of the Parsees, people of Travancore, - and American Negroes, Red Indians, &c.--Cynocephaloi--The - Wolf--Traditions of the Nez Perces--Fenris--Fables--The Boar--The - Bear--Serpent--Every animal power to harm demonised--Horns. - - -The animal demons--those whose evil repute is the result of -something in their nature which may be inimical to man--should -be distinguished from the forms which have been diabolised by -association with mythological personages or ideas. The lion, tiger, -and wolf are examples of the one class; the stag, horse, owl, and -raven of the other. But there are circumstances which render it very -difficult to observe this distinction. The line has to be drawn, if -at all, between the measureless forces of degradation on the one side, -discovering some evil in animals which, but for their bad associations, -would not have been much thought of; and of euphemism on the other, -transforming harmful beasts to benignant agents by dwelling upon some -minor characteristic. - -There are a few obviously dangerous animals, such as the serpent, -where it is easy to pick our way; we can recognise the fear that -flatters it to an agathodemon and the diminished fear that pronounces -it accurst. [88] But what shall be said of the Goat? Was there really -anything in its smell or in its flesh when first eaten, its butting, -or injury to plants, which originally classed it among the unclean -animals? or was it merely demonised because of its uncanny and -shaggy appearance? What explanation can be given of the evil repute -of our household friend the Cat? Is it derived by inheritance from -its fierce ancestors of the jungle? Was it first suggested by its -horrible human-like sleep-murdering caterwaulings at night? or has it -simply suffered from a theological curse on the cats said to draw the -chariots of the goddesses of Beauty? The demonic Dog is, if anything, -a still more complex subject. The student of mythology and folklore -speedily becomes familiar with the trivial sources from which vast -streams of superstition often issue. The cock's challenge to the -all-detecting sun no doubt originated his ominous career from the -Code of Manu to the cock-headed devils frescoed in the cathedrals of -Russia. The fleshy, forked roots of a soporific plant issued in that -vast Mandrake Mythology which has been the subject of many volumes, -without being even yet fully explored. The Italians have a saying that -'One knavery of the hedgehog is worth more than many of the fox;' yet -the nocturnal and hibernating habits and general quaintness of the -humble hedgehog, rather than his furtive propensity to prey on eggs -and chickens, must have raised him to the honours of demonhood. In -various popular fables this little animal proves more than a match -for the wolf and the serpent. It was in the form of a hedgehog that -the Devil is said to have made the attempt to let in the sea through -the Brighton Downs, which was prevented by a light being brought, -though the seriousness of the scheme is still attested in the Devil's -Dyke. There is an ancient tradition that when the Devil had smuggled -himself into Noah's Ark, he tried to sink it by boring a hole; but -this scheme was defeated, and the human race saved, by the hedgehog -stuffing himself into the hole. In the Brighton story the Devil would -appear to have remembered his former failure in drowning people, -and to have appropriated the form which defeated him. - -The Fox, as incarnation of cunning, holds in the primitive belief of -the Japanese almost the same position as the Serpent in the nations -that have worshipped, until bold enough to curse it. In many of -the early pictures of Japanese demons one may generally detect amid -their human, wolfish, or other characters some traits of the kitsune -(fox). He is always the soul of the three-eyed demon of Japan -(fig. 7). He is the sagacious 'Vizier,' as the Persian Desatir -calls him, and is practically the Japanese scape-goat. If a fox -has appeared in any neighbourhood, the next trouble is attributed -to his visit; and on such occasions the sufferers and their friends -repair to some ancient gnarled tree in which the fox is theoretically -resident and propitiate him, just as would be done to a serpent in -other regions. In Japan the fox is not regarded as always harmful, -but generally so. He is not to be killed on any account. Being thus -spared through superstition, the foxes increase sufficiently to supply -abundant material for the continuance of its demonic character. 'Take -us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines,' [89] is an -admonition reversed in Japan. The correspondence between the cunning -respected in this animal and that of the serpent, reverenced elsewhere, -is confirmed by Mr. Fitz Cunliffe Owen, who observed, as he informs -me, that the Japanese will not kill even the poisonous snakes which -crawl freely amid the decaying Buddhist temples of Nikko, one of the -most sacred places in Japan, where once as many as eight thousand -monastic Buddhists were harboured. It is the red fox that abounds -in Japan, and its human-like cry at night near human habitations is -such as might easily encourage these superstitions. But, furthermore, -mythology supplies many illustrations of a creditable tendency among -rude tribes to mark out for special veneration or fear any force in -nature finer than mere strength. Emerson says, 'Foxes are so cunning -because they are not strong.' In our Japanese demon, whose three -eyes alone connect it with the præternatural vision ascribed by that -race to the fox, the harelip is very pronounced. That little animal, -the Hare, is associated with a large mythology, perhaps because -out of its weakness proceeds its main forces of survival--timidity, -vigilance, and swiftness. The superstition concerning the hare is found -in Africa. The same animal is the much-venerated good genius of the -Calmucs, who call him Sákya-muni (Buddha), and say that on earth he -submitted himself to be eaten by a starving man, for which gracious -deed he was raised to dominion over the moon, where they profess to -see him. The legend is probably traceable back to the Sanskrit word -sasin, moon, which means literally 'the hare-marked.' Sasa means -'hare.' Pausanias relates the story of the moon-goddess instructing -exiles to build their city where they shall see a hare take refuge in -a myrtle-grove. [90] In the demonic fauna of Japan another cunning -animal figures--the Weasel. The name of this demon is 'the sickle -weasel,' and it also seems to occupy the position of a scape-goat. In -the language of a Japanese report, 'When a person's clogs slip from -under his feet, and he falls and cuts his face on the gravel, or when -a person, who is out at night when he ought to have been at home, -presents himself to his family with a freshly-scarred face, the wound -is referred to the agency of the malignant invisible weasel and his -sharp sickle.' In an aboriginal legend of America, also, two sister -demons commonly take the form of weasels. - -The popular feeling which underlay much of the animal-worship in -ancient times was probably that which is reflected in the Japanese -notions of to-day, as told in the subjoined sketch from an amusing -book. - -'One of these visitors was an old man, who himself was at the time a -victim of a popular superstition that the departed revisit the scenes -of their life in this world in shapes of different animals. We noticed -that he was not in his usual spirits, and pressed him to unburden his -mind to us. He said he had lost his little son Chiosin, but that was -not so much the cause of his grief as the absurd way in which his -wife, backed up by a whole conclave of old women who had taken up -their abode in his house to comfort her, was going on. 'What do they -all do?' we asked sympathetically. 'Why,' he replied, 'every beastly -animal that comes to my house, there is a cry amongst them all, -'Chiosin, Chiosin has come back!' and the whole house swarms with -cats and dogs and bats--for they say they are not quite sure which -is Chiosin, and that they had better be kind to the lot than run the -chance of treating him badly; the consequence is, all these brutes are -fed on my rice and meat, and now I am driven out of doors and called -an unnatural parent because I killed a mosquito which bit me!' [91] - -The strange and inexplicable behaviour of animals in cases of fear, -panic, or pain has been generally attributed by ignorant races to -their possession by demons. Of this nature is the story of the devil -entering the herd of swine and carrying them into the sea, related -in the New Testament. It is said that even yet in some parts of -Scotland the milkmaid carries a switch of the magical rowan to expel -the demon that sometimes enters the cow. Professor Monier Williams -writes from Southern India--'When my fellow-travellers and myself -were nearly dashed to pieces over a precipice the other day by some -restive horses on a ghat near Poona, we were told that the road at -this particular point was haunted by devils who often caused similar -accidents, and we were given to understand that we should have done -well to conciliate Ganesa, son of the god Siva, and all his troops -of evil spirits, before starting.' The same writer also tells us -that the guardian spirits or 'mothers' who haunt most regions of -the Peninsula are believed to ride about on horses, and if they are -angry, scatter blight and disease. Hence the traveller just arrived -from Europe is startled and puzzled by apparitions of rudely-formed -terra-cotta horses, often as large as life, placed by the peasantry -round shrines in the middle of fields as acceptable propitiatory -offerings, or in the fulfilment of vows in periods of sickness. [92] - -This was the belief of the Corinthians in the Taraxippos, or shade -of Glaucus, who, having been torn in pieces by the horses with which -he had been racing, and which he had fed on human flesh to make more -spirited, remained to haunt the Isthmus and frighten horses during -the races. - -There is a modern legend in the Far West (America) of a horse called -'The White Devil,' which, in revenge for some harm to its comrades, -slew men by biting and trampling them, and was itself slain after -defying many attempts at its capture; but among the many ancient -legends of demon-horses there are few which suggest anything about -that animal hostile to man. His occasional evil character is simply -derived from his association with man, and is therefore postponed. For -a similar reason the Goat also must be dealt with hereafter, and -as a symbolical animal. A few myths are met with which relate to -its unpleasant characteristics. In South Guinea the odour of goats -is accounted for by the Saga that their ancestor having had the -presumption to ask a goddess for her aromatic ointment, she angrily -rubbed him with ointment of a reverse kind. It has also been said that -it was regarded as a demon by the worshippers of Bacchus, because -it cropped the vines; and that it thus originated the Trageluphoi, -or goat-stag monsters mentioned by Plato, [93] and gave us also the -word tragedy. [94] But such traits of the Goat can have very little -to do with its important relations to Mythology and Demonology. To -the list of animals demonised by association must also be added the -Stag. No doubt the anxious mothers, wives, or sweethearts of rash -young huntsmen utilised the old fables of beautiful hinds which -in the deep forests changed to demons and devoured their pursuers, -[95] for admonition; but the fact that such stags had to transform -themselves for evil work is a sufficient certificate of character to -prevent their being included among the animal demons proper, that is, -such as have in whole or part supplied in their disposition to harm -man the basis of a demonic representation. - -It will not be deemed wonderful that Rats bear a venerable rank in -Demonology. The shudder which some nervous persons feel at sight -of even a harmless mouse is a survival from the time when it was -believed that in this form unshriven souls or unbaptized children -haunted their former homes; and probably it would be difficult to -estimate the number of ghost-stories which have originated in their -nocturnal scamperings. Many legends report the departure of unhallowed -souls from human mouths in the shape of a Mouse. During the earlier -Napoleonic wars mice were used in Southern Germany as diviners, -by being set with inked feet on the map of Europe to show where the -fatal Frenchmen would march. They gained this sanctity by a series of -associations with force stretching back to the Hindu fable of a mouse -delivering the elephant and the lion by gnawing the cords that bound -them. The battle of the Frogs and Mice is ascribed to Homer. Mice are -said to have foretold the first civil war in Rome by gnawing the gold -in the temple. Rats appear in various legends as avengers. The uncles -of King Popelus II., murdered by him and his wife and thrown into a -lake, reappear as rats and gnaw the king and queen to death. The same -fate overtakes Miskilaus of Poland, through the transformed widows and -orphans he had wronged. Mouse Tower, standing in the middle of the -Rhine, is the haunted monument of cruel Archbishop Hatto, of Mainz, -who (anno 970) bade the famine-stricken people repair to his barn, -wherein he shut them fast and burned them. But next morning an army -of rats, having eaten all the corn in his granaries, darkened the -roads to the palace. The prelate sought refuge from them in the Tower, -but they swam after, gnawed through the walls and devoured him. [96] - -St. Gertrude, wearing the funereal mantle of Holda, commands an army -of mice. In this respect she succeeds to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, -who also leads off children; and my ingenious friend Mr. John -Fiske suggests that this may be the reason why Irish servant-maids -often show such frantic terror at sight of a mouse. [97] The care -of children is often intrusted to them, and the appearance of mice -prognosticated of old the appearance of the præternatural rat-catcher -and psychopomp. Pliny says that in his time it was considered -fortunate to meet a white rat. The people of Bassorah always bow to -these revered animals when seen, no doubt to propitiate them. - -The Lion is a symbol of majesty and of the sun in his glory (reached -in the zodiacal Leo), though here and there his original demonic -character appears,--as in the combats of Indra, Samson, and Herakles -with terrible lions. Euphemism, in one sense, fulfils the conditions -of Samson's riddle--Sweetness coming out of the Strong--and has -brought honey out of the Lion. His cruel character has subtly fallen -to Sirius the Dog-star, to whom are ascribed the drought and malaria -of 'dog-days' (when the sun is in Leo); but the primitive fact is -intimated in several fables like that of Aristæus, who, born after -his mother had been rescued from the Lybian lion, was worshipped in -Ceos as a saviour from both droughts and lions. The Lion couching at -the feet of beautiful Doorga in India, reappears drawing the chariot -of Aphrodite, and typifies the potency of beauty rather than, as -Emerson interprets, that beauty depends on strength. The chariot -of the Norse Venus, Freyja, was drawn by Cats, diminished forms of -her Southern sister's steeds. It was partly by these routes the Cat -came to play the sometimes beneficent rôle in Russian, and to some -extent in German, French, and English folklore,--e.g., Puss in Boots, -Whittington and his Cat, and Madame D'Aulnoy's La Chatte Blanche. The -demonic characteristics of the destructive cats have been inherited -by the black,--or, as in Macbeth, the brindled,--cat. In Germany the -approach of a cat to a sick-bed announces death; to dream of one is -an evil omen. In Hungary it is said every black cat becomes a witch -at the age of seven. It is the witch's favourite riding-horse, but -may sometimes be saved from such servitude by incision of the sign of -the cross. A scratch from a black cat is thought to be the beginning -of a fatal spell. - -De Gubernatis [98] has a very curious speculation concerning the origin -of our familiar fable the Kilkenny Cats, which he traces to the German -superstition which dreads the combat between cats as presaging death to -one who witnesses it; and this belief he finds reflected in the Tuscan -child's 'game of souls,' in which the devil and angel are supposed -to contend for the soul. The author thinks this may be one outcome -of the contest between Night and Twilight in Mythology; but, if the -connection can be traced, it would probably prove to be derived from -the struggle between the two angels of Death, one variation of which -is associated with the legend of the strife for the body of Moses. The -Book of Enoch says that Gabriel was sent, before the Flood, to excite -the man-devouring giants to destroy one another. In an ancient Persian -picture in my possession, animal monsters are shown devouring each -other, while their proffered victim, like Daniel, is unharmed. The -idea is a natural one, and hardly requires comparative tracing. - -Dr. Dennys tells us that in China there exists precisely the same -superstition as in Scotland as to the evil omen of a cat (or dog) -passing over a corpse. Brand and Pennant both mention this, the -latter stating that the cat or dog that has so done is killed without -mercy. This fact would seem to show that the fear is for the living, -lest the soul of the deceased should enter the animal and become one -of the innumerable werewolf or vampyre class of demons. But the origin -of the superstition is no doubt told in the Slavonic belief that if -a cat leap over a corpse the deceased person will become a vampyre. - -In Russia the cat enjoys a somewhat better reputation than it does -in most other countries. Several peasants in the neighbourhood of -Moscow assured me that while they would never be willing to remain in -a church where a dog had entered, they would esteem it a good sign if -a cat came to church. One aged woman near Moscow told me that when the -Devil once tried to creep into Paradise he took the form of a mouse: -the Dog and Cat were on guard at the gates, and the Dog allowed the -evil one to pass, but the Cat pounced on him, and so defeated another -treacherous attempt against human felicity. - -The Cat superstition has always been strong in Great Britain. It is, -indeed, in one sense true, as old Howell wrote (1647)--'We need not -cross the sea for examples of this kind, we have too many (God wot) -at home: King James a great while was loath to believe there were -witches; but that which happened to my Lord Francis of Rutland's -children convinced him, who were bewitched by an old woman that was -a servant of Belvoir Castle, but, being displeased, she contracted -with the Devil, who conversed with her in the form of a Cat, whom she -called Rutterkin, to make away those children out of mere malignity -and thirst of revenge.' It is to be feared that many a poor woman -has been burned as a witch against whom her cherished cat was the -chief witness. It would be a curious psychological study to trace how -far the superstition owns a survival in even scientific minds,--as -in Buffon's vituperation of the cat, and in the astonishing story, -told by Mr. Wood, of a cat which saw a ghost (anno 1877)! - -The Dog, so long the faithful friend of man, and even, possibly, -because of the degree to which he has caught his master's manners, -has a large demonic history. In the Semitic stories there are many -that indicate the path by which 'dog' became the Mussulman synonym -of infidel; and the one dog Katmir who in Arabic legend was admitted -to Paradise for his faithful watching three hundred and nine years -before the cave of the Seven Sleepers, [99] must have drifted among -the Moslems from India as the Ephesian Sleepers did from the christian -world. In the beautiful episode of the 'Mahábhárata,' Yudhisthira -having journeyed to the door of heaven, refuses to enter into that -happy abode unless his faithful dog is admitted also. He is told -by Indra, 'My heaven hath no place for dogs; they steal away our -offerings on earth;' and again, 'If a dog but behold a sacrifice, -men esteem it unholy and void.' This difficulty was solved by the -Dog--Yama in disguise--revealing himself and praising his friend's -fidelity. It is tolerably clear that it is to his connection with Yama, -god of Death, and under the evolution of that dualism which divided the -universe into upper and nether, that the Dog was degraded among our -Aryan ancestors; at the same time his sometimes wolfish disposition -and some other natural characters supplied the basis of his demonic -character. He was at once a dangerous and a corruptible guard. - -In the early Vedic Mythology it is the abode of the gods that is -guarded by the two dogs, identified by solar mythologists as the -morning and evening twilight: a later phase shows them in the -service of Yama, and they reappear in the guardian of the Greek -Hades, Cerberus, and Orthros. The first of these has been traced -to the Vedic Sarvara, the latter to the monster Vritra. 'Orthros' -is the phonetical equivalent of Vritra. The bitch Sarama, mother -of the two Vedic dogs, proved a treacherous guard, and was slain by -Indra. Hence the Russian peasant comes fairly by another version of -how the Dog, while on guard, admitted the Devil into heaven on being -thrown a bone. But the two watch-dogs of the Hindu myth do not seem to -bear an evil character. In a funeral hymn of the 'Rig-Veda' (x. 14), -addressed to Yama, King of Death, we read:--'By an auspicious path -do thou hasten past the two four-eyed brindled dogs, the offspring -of Sarama; then approach the beautiful Pitris who rejoice together -with Yama. Intrust him, O Yama, to thy two watch-dogs, four-eyed, -road-guarding, and man-observing. The two brown messengers of Yama, -broad of nostril and insatiable, wander about among men; may they give -us again to-day the auspicious breath of life that we may see the sun!' - -And now thousands of years after this was said we find the Dog still -regarded as the seer of ghosts, and watcher at the gates of death, of -whose opening his howl forewarns. The howling of a dog on the night of -December 9, 1871, at Sandringham, where the Prince of Wales lay ill, -was thought important enough for newspapers to report to a shuddering -country. I read lately of a dog in a German village which was supposed -to have announced so many deaths that he became an object of general -terror, and was put to death. In that country belief in the demonic -character of the dog seems to have been strong enough to transmit an -influence even to the powerful brain of Goethe. - -In Goethe's poem, it was when Faust was walking with the student -Wagner that the black Dog appeared, rushing around them in spiral -curves--spreading, as Faust said, 'a magic coil as a snare around -them;' [100] that after this dog had followed Faust into his study, -it assumed a monstrous shape, until changed to a mist, from which -Mephistopheles steps forth--'the kernel of the brute'--in guise of a -travelling scholar. This is in notable coincidence with the archaic -symbolism of the Dog as the most frequent form of the 'Lares' (fig. 9), -or household genii, originally because of its vigilance. The form here -presented is nearly identical with the Cynocephalus, whom the learned -author of 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny,' identifies as the Adamic -being set as a watch and instructor in Eden (Gen. xvi. 15), an example -of which, holding pen and tablet (as described by Horapollo), is given -in that work from Philæ. Chrysippus says that these were afterwards -represented as young men clothed with dog-skins. Remnants of the -tutelary character of the dog are scattered through German folklore: -he is regarded as oracle, ghost-seer, and gifted with second sight; -in Bohemia he is sometimes made to lick an infant's face that it may -see well. - -The passage in 'Faust' has been traced to Goethe's antipathy to -dogs, as expressed in his conversation with Falk at the time of -Wieland's death. 'Annihilation is utterly out of the question; but -the possibility of being caught on the way by some more powerful -and yet baser monas, and subordinated to it; this is unquestionably -a very serious consideration; and I, for my part, have never been -able entirely to divest myself of the fear of it, in the way of a -mere observation of nature.' At this moment, says Falk, a dog was -heard repeatedly barking in the street. Goethe, sprang hastily to the -window and called to it: 'Take what form you will, vile larva, you -shall not subjugate me!' After some pause, he resumed with the remark: -'This rabble of creation is extremely offensive. It is a perfect pack -of monades with which we are thrown together in this planetary nook; -their company will do us little honour with the inhabitants of other -planets, if they happen to hear anything about them.' - -In visiting the house where Goethe once resided in Weimar, I -was startled to find as the chief ornament of the hall a large -bronze dog, of full size, and very dark, looking proudly forth, -as if he possessed the Goethean monas after all. However, it is not -probable that the poet's real dislike of dogs arose solely from that -speculation about monades. It is more probable that in observing the -old wall-picture in Auerbach's cellar, wherein a dog stands beside -Mephistopheles, Goethe was led to consider carefully the causes of -that intimacy. Unfortunately, and notwithstanding the fables and -the sentiment which invest that animal, there are some very repulsive -things about him, such as his tendency to madness and the infliction on -man of a frightful death. The Greek Mania's 'fleet hounds' (Bacchæ 977) -have spread terrors far and wide. - -Those who carefully peruse the account given by Mr. Lewes of the -quarrel between Karl August and Goethe, on account of the opposition -of the latter to the introduction of a performing dog on the Weimar -stage--an incident which led to his resignation of his position of -intendant of the theatre--may detect this aversion mingling with -his disgust as an artist; and it may be also suspected that it was -not the mere noise which caused the tortures he described himself as -having once endured at Göttingen from the barking of dogs. - -It is, however, not improbable that in the wild notion of Goethe, -joined with his cynophobia, we find a survival of the belief of the -Parsees of Surat, who venerate the Dog above all other animals, -and who, when one is dying, place a dog's muzzle near his mouth, -and make it bark twice, so that it may catch the departing soul, -and bear it to the waiting angel. - -The devil-worshippers of Travancore to this day declare that the -evil power approaches them in the form of a Dog, as Mephistopheles -approached Faust. But before the superstition reached Goethe's poem -it had undergone many modifications; and especially its keen scent -had influenced the Norse imagination to ascribe to it præternatural -wisdom. Thus we read in the Saga of Hakon the Good, that when Eystein -the Bad had conquered Drontheim, he offered the people choice of -his slave Thorer or his dog Sauer to be their king. They chose the -Dog. 'Now the dog was by witchcraft gifted with three men's wisdom; -and when he barked he spoke one word and barked two.' This Dog wore -a collar of gold, and sat on a throne, but, for all his wisdom and -power, seems to have been a dog still; for when some wolves invaded -the cattle, he attacked and was torn to pieces by them. - -Among the negroes of the Southern States in America I have found the -belief that the most frequent form of a diabolical apparition is that -of a large Dog with fiery eyes, which may be among them an original -superstition attributable to their horror of the bloodhound, by which, -in some regions, they were pursued when attempting to escape. Among -the whites of the same region I have never been able to find any -instance of the same belief, though belief in the presage of the -howling dog is frequent; and it is possible that this is a survival -from some region in Africa, where the Dog has an evil name of the -same kind as the scape-goat. Among some tribes in Fazogl there is -an annual carnival at which every one does as he likes. The king -is then seated in the open air, a dog tied to the leg of his chair, -and the animal is then stoned to death. - -Mark Twain [101] records the folklore of a village of Missouri, -where we find lads quaking with fear at the howling of a 'stray dog' -in the night, but indifferent to the howling of a dog they recognise, -which may be a form of the common English belief that it is unlucky -to be followed by a 'strange' dog. From the same book it appears -also that the dog will always have his head in the direction of the -person whose doom is signified: the lads are entirely relieved when -they find the howling animal has his back turned to them. - -It is remarkable that these fragments of European superstition should -meet in the Far West a plentiful crop of their like which has sprung up -among the aborigines, as the following extract from Mr. Brinton's work, -'Myths of the New World,' will show: 'Dogs were supposed to stand -in some peculiar relation to the moon, probably because they howl -at it and run at night, uncanny practices which have cost them dear -in reputation. The custom prevailed among tribes so widely asunder -as Peruvians, Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois, Algonquins, and Greenland -Eskimos to thrash the curs most soundly during an eclipse. The Creeks -explained this by saying that the big Dog was swallowing the sun, and -that by whipping the little ones they could make him desist. What -the big Dog was they were not prepared to say. We know. It was -the night goddess, represented by the Dog, who was thus shrouding -the world at mid-day. In a better sense, they represented the more -agreeable characteristics of the lunar goddess. Xochiquetzal, most -fecund of Aztec divinities, patroness of love, of sexual pleasure, -and of child-birth, was likewise called Itzcuinan, which, literally -translated, is 'bitch-mother.' This strange and to us so repugnant -title for a goddess was not without parallel elsewhere. When in his -wars the Inca Pachacutec carried his arms into the province of Huanca, -he found its inhabitants had installed in their temples the figure of -a Dog as their highest deity.... This canine canonisation explains why -in some parts of Peru a priest was called, by way of honour, allco, -Dog!... Many tribes on the Pacific coast united in the adoration of -a wild species, the coyote, the Canis latrans of naturalists.' Of -the Dog-demon Chantico the legend of the Nahuas was, 'that he made a -sacrifice to the gods without observing a preparatory fast, for which -he was punished by being changed into a Dog. He then invoked the god -of death to deliver him, which attempt to evade a just punishment so -enraged the divinities that they immersed the world in water.' - -The common phrase 'hell-hounds' has come to us by various routes. Diana -being degraded to Hecate, the dogs of Hades, Orthros and Cerberus, -multiplied into a pack of hounds for her chase, were degraded with her -into infernal howlers and hunters. A like degradation of Odin's hunt -took place at a later date. The Wild Huntsman, being a diabolical -character, is considered elsewhere. Concerning the Dog, it may be -further said here, that there are probably various characteristics -of that animal reflected in his demonic character. His liability -to become rabid, and to afflict human beings with hydrophobia, -appears to have had some part in it. Spinoza alludes to the custom -in his time of destroying persons suffering from this canine rabies -by suffocation; and his English biographer and editor, Dr. Willis, -tells me that in his boyhood in Scotland he always heard this spoken -of as the old custom. That such treatment could have prevailed can -hardly be ascribed to anything but a belief in the demonic character -of the rabid dog, cognate with the unconscious superstition which -still causes rural magistrates to order a dog which has bitten any -one to be slain. The notion is, that if the dog goes mad thereafter, -the man will also. Of course it would be rational to preserve the -dog's life carefully, in order that, if it continues healthy, the -bitten may feel reassured, as he cannot be if it be dead. - -But the degradation of the dog had a cause even in his fidelity -as a watch. For this, as we have just seen, made him a common form -among Lares or domestic demons. The teraphim also were often in this -shape. Christianity had therefore a special reason for ascribing an -infernal character to these little idols, which interfered with the -popular dependence on the saints. It will thus be seen that there -were many causes operating to create that formidable class of demons -which were called in the Middle Ages Cynocephaloi. The ancient holy -pictures of Russia especially abound in these dog-headed devils; in -the sixteenth century they were frequently represented rending souls -in hell; and sometimes the dragon of the Apocalypse is represented -with seven horrible canine heads. - -M. Toussenel, in his transcendental interpretations, has identified -the Wolf as the bandit and outlaw. [102] The proverbial mediæval -phrase for an outlaw--one who wears a teste loeve, caput lupinum, -wulfesheofod, which the ingenious author perhaps remembered--is -of good antiquity. The wolf is called robber in the 'Rig-Veda,' -and he is there also demonised, since we find him fleeing before a -devotee. (In the Zend 'Vendidad' the souls of the pious fear to meet -the wolf on the way to heaven.) The god Pushan is invoked against the -evil wolf, the malignant spirit. [103] Cardano says that to dream of -a wolf announces a robber. There is in the wolf, at the same time, -that always attractive love of liberty which, in the well-known fable, -makes him prefer leanness to the comfort of the collar-wearing dog, -which makes him among demonic animals sometimes the same as the mighty -huntsmen Nimrod and shaggy Esau among humanised demons. One is not -surprised to find occasionally good stories about the wolf. Thus the -Nez Perces tribe in America trace the origin of the human race to a -wolf. They say that originally, when there were nothing but animals, -there was a huge monster which devoured them whole and alive. This -monster swallowed a wolf, who, when he entered its belly, found -the animals therein snarling at and biting one another as they had -done on the earth outside. The wolf exhorted them that their common -sufferings should teach them friendliness, and finally he induced them -to a system of co-operation by which they made their way out through -the side of the monster, which instantly perished. The animals so -released were at once transformed to men, how and why the advocates -of co-operation will readily understand, and founded the Nez Perces -Indians. The myths of Asia and Europe are unhappily antipodal to this -in spirit and form, telling of human beings transformed to wolves. In -the Norse Mythology, however, there stands a demon wolf whose story -bears a touch of feeling, though perhaps it was originally the mere -expression for physical law. This is the wolf Fenris, which, from being -at first the pet of the gods and lapdog of the goddesses, became so -huge and formidable that Asgard itself was endangered. All the skill -and power of the gods could not forge chains which might chain him; -he snapped them like straws and toppled over the mountains to which -he was fastened. But the little Elves working underground made that -chain so fine that none could see or feel it,--fashioned it out of -the beards of women, the breath of fish, noise of the cat's footfall, -spittle of birds, sinews of bears, roots of stones,--by which are meant -things non-existent. This held him. Fenris is chained till the final -destruction, when he shall break loose and devour Odin. The fine chain -that binds ferocity,--is it the love that can tame all creatures? Is -it the sunbeam that defines to the strongest creature its habitat? - -The two monsters formed when Ráhu was cloven in twain, in Hindu -Mythology, reappear in Eddaic fable as the wolves Sköll and Hati, -who pursue the sun and moon. As it is said in the Völuspá:-- - - - Eastward in the Iron-wood - The old one sitteth, - And there bringeth forth - Fenrir's fell kindred. - Of these one, the mightiest, - The moon's devourer, - In form most fiend-like, - And filled with the life-blood - Of the dead and the dying, - Reddens with ruddy gore - The seats of the high gods. - - -Euphemism attending propitiation of such monsters may partly explain -the many good things told of wolves in popular legend. The stories of -the she-wolf nourishing children, as Romulus and Remus, are found in -many lands. They must, indeed, have had some prestige, to have been -so largely adopted in saintly tradition. Like the bears that Elisha -called to devour the children, the wolves do not lose their natural -ferocity by becoming pious. They devour heretics and sacrilegious -people. One guarded the head of St. Edmund the Martyr of England; -another escorted St. Oddo, Abbot of Cluny, as his ancestors did the -priests of Cluny. The skin of the wolf appears in folklore as a charm -against hydrophobia; its teeth are best for cutting children's gums, -and its bite, if survived, is an assurance against any future wound -or pain. - -The tragedy which is so foolishly sprung upon the nerves of children, -Little Red Riding-Hood, shows the wolf as a crafty animal. There are -many legends of a like character which have made it a favourite figure -in which to represent pious impostors. In our figure 10, the wolf -appears as the 'dangerous confessor;' it was intended, as Mr. Wright -thought, for Mary of Modena, Queen of James II., and Father Petre. At -the top of the original are the words 'Converte Angliam' and beneath, -'It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf her confessor.' The craft -of the wolf is represented in a partly political partly social turn -given by an American fabulist to one of Æsop's fables. The wolf -having accused the lamb he means to devour of fouling the stream, and -receiving answer that the lamb was drinking farther down the current, -alters the charge and says, 'You opposed my candidature at the caucus -two years ago.' 'I was not then born,' replies the lamb. The wolf then -says, 'Any one hearing my accusations would testify that I am insane -and not responsible for my actions,' and thereupon devours the lamb -with full faith in a jury of his countrymen. M. Toussenel says the wolf -is a terrible strategist, albeit the less observant have found little -in his character to warrant this attribute of craft, his physiognomy -and habits showing him a rather transparent highwayman. It is probable -that the fables of this character have derived that trait from his -association with demons and devils supposed to take on his shape. - -In a beautiful hymn to the Earth in the 'Atharva Veda' it is said, 'The -Earth, which endureth the burden of the oppressor, beareth up the abode -of the lofty and of the lowly, suffereth the hog, and giveth entrance -to the wild boar.' Boar-hounds in Brittany and some other regions -are still kept at Government expense. There are many indications of -this kind that in early times men had to defend themselves vigorously -against the ravages of the wild boar, and, as De Gubernatis remarks, -[104] its character is generally demoniacal. The contests of Hercules -with the Erymanthian, and of Meleager with the Calydonian, Boar, -are enough to show that it was through its dangerous character that -he became sacred to the gods of war, Mars and Odin. But it is also -to be remembered that the third incarnation of Vishnu was as a Wild -Boar; and as the fearless exterminator of snakes the pig merited -this association with the Preserver. Provided with a thick coat of -fat, no venom can harm him unless it be on the lip. It may be this -ability to defy the snake-ordeal which, after its uncleanliness had -excepted the hog from human voracity in some regions, assigned it a -diabolical character. In rabbinical fable the hog and rat were created -by Noah to clear the Ark of filth; but the rats becoming a nuisance, -he evoked a cat from the lion's nose. - -It is clear that our Asiatic and Norse ancestors never had such a -ferocious beast to encounter as the Grisly Bear (Ursus horribilis) -of America, else the appearances of this animal in Demonology could -never have been so respectable. The comparatively timid Asiatic -Bear (U. labiatus), the small and almost harmless Thibetan species -(U. Thibetanus), would appear to have preponderated over the fiercer -but rarer Bears of the North in giving us the Indo-Germanic fables, -in which this animal is, on the whole, a favourite. Emerson finds in -the fondness of the English for their national legend of 'Beauty and -the Beast' a sign of the Englishman's own nature. 'He is a bear with -a soft place in his heart; he says No, and helps you.' The old legend -found place in the heart of a particularly representative American -also--Theodore Parker, who loved to call his dearest friend 'Bear,' and -who, on arriving in Europe, went to Berne to see his favourites, from -which its name is derived. The fondness of the Bear for honey--whence -its Russian name, medv-jed, 'honey-eater'--had probably something to do -with its dainty taste for roses and its admiration for female beauty, -as told in many myths. In his comparative treatment of the mythology -of the Bear, De Gubernatis [105] mentions the transformation of King -Trisankus into a bear, and connects this with the constellation of the -Great Bear; but it may with equal probability be related to the many -fables of princes who remain under the form of a bear until the spell -is broken by the kiss of some maiden. It is worthy of note that in the -Russian legends the Bear is by no means so amiable as in those of our -Western folklore. In one, the Bear-prince lurking in his fountain holds -by the beard the king who, while hunting, tries to quench his thirst, -and releases him only after a promise to deliver up whatever he has -at home without his knowledge; the twins, Ivan and Maria, born during -his absence, are thus doomed--are concealed, but discovered by the -bear, who carries them away. They are saved by help of the bull. When -escaping the bear Ivan throws down a comb, which becomes a tangled -forest, which, however, the bear penetrates; but the spread-out -towel which becomes a lake of fire sends the bear back. [106] It -is thus the ferocious Arctic Bear which gives the story its sombre -character. Such also is the Russian tale of the Bear with iron hairs, -which devastates the kingdom, devouring the inhabitants until Ivan -and Helena alone remain; after the two in various ways try to escape, -their success is secured by the Bull, which, more kindly than Elisha, -blinds the Bear with his horns. [107] (The Bear retires in winter.) In -Norwegian story the Bear becomes milder,--a beautiful youth by night, -whose wife loses him because she wishes to see him by lamplight: her -place is taken by a long-nosed princess, until, by aid of the golden -apple and the rose, she recovers her husband. In the Pentameron, -[108] Pretiosa, to escape the persecutions of her father, goes into -the forest disguised as a she-bear; she nurses and cures the prince, -who is enamoured of her, and at his kiss becomes a beautiful maid. The -Bear thus has a twofold development in folklore. He used to be killed -(13th century) at the end of the Carnival in Rome, as the Devil. [109] -The Siberians, if they have killed a bear, hang his skin on a tree and -apologise humbly to it, declaring that they did not forge the metal -that pierced it, and they meant the arrow for a bird; from which it -is plain that they rely more on its stupidity than its good heart. In -Canada, when the hunters kill a bear, one of them approaches it and -places between his teeth the stem of his pipe, breathes in the bowl, -and thus, filling with smoke the animal's mouth, conjures its soul not -to be offended at his death. As the bear's ghost makes no reply, the -huntsman, in order to know if his prayer is granted, cuts the thread -under the bear's tongue, and keeps it until the end of the hunt, when -a large fire is kindled, and all the band solemnly throw in it what -threads of this kind they have; if these sparkle and vanish, as is -natural, it is a sign that the bears are appeased. [110] In Greenland -the great demon, at once feared and invoked, especially by fishermen, -is Torngarsuk, a huge Bear with a human arm. He is invisible to all -except his priests, the Anguekkoks, who are the only physicians of -that people. - -The extreme point of demonic power has always been held by the -Serpent. So much, however, will have to be said of the destructiveness -and other characteristics of this animal when we come to consider -at length its unique position in Mythology, that I content myself -here with a pictorial representation of the Singhalese Demon of -Serpents. If any one find himself shuddering at sight of a snake, -even in a country where they are few and comparatively harmless, -perhaps this figure (11) may suggest the final cause of the shudder. - -In conclusion, it may be said that not only every animal ferocity, -but every force which can be exerted injuriously, has had its -demonic representations. Every claw, fang, sting, hoof, horn, -has been as certain to be catalogued and labelled in demonology -as in physical science. It is remarkable also how superstition -rationalises. Thus the horn in the animal world, though sometimes -dangerous to man, was more dangerous to animals, which, as foes of -the horned animals, were foes to man's interests. The early herdsman -knew the value of the horn as a defence against dog and wolf, besides -its other utilities. Consequently, although it was necessary that the -horn-principle, so to say, in nature must be regarded as one of its -retractile and cruel features, man never demonised the animals whose -butt was most dangerous, but for such purpose transferred the horns -to the head of some nondescript creature. The horn has thus become -a natural weapon of man-demons. The same evolution has taken place -in America; for, although among its aboriginal legends we may meet -with an occasional demon-buffalo, such are rare and of apocryphal -antiquity. The accompanying American figure (12) is from a photograph -sent me by the President of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, who -found it in an old mound (Red Indian) in the State of Georgia. It is -probably as ancient as any example of a human head with horns in the -world; and as it could not have been influenced by European notions, -it supplies striking evidence that the demonisation of the forces and -dangers of nature belongs to the structural action of the human mind. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -ENEMIES. - - - Aryas, Dasyus, Nagas--Yakkhos--Lycians--Ethiopians--Hirpini-- - Polites--Sosipolis--Were-wolves--Goths and Scythians--Giants and - Dwarfs--Berserkers--Britons--Iceland--Mimacs--Gog and Magog. - - -We paint the Devil black, says George Herbert. On the other hand the -negro paints him white, with reason enough. The name of the Devil -at Mozambique is Muzungu Maya, or Wicked White Man. Of this demon -they make little images of extreme hideousness, which are kept by -people on the coast, and occasionally displayed, in the belief that -if the White Devil is lurking near them he will vanish out of sheer -disgust with a glimpse of his own ugliness. The hereditary horror of -the kidnapper displayed in this droll superstition may possibly have -been assisted by the familiarity with all things infernal represented -in the language of the white sailors visiting the coast. Captain -Basil Hall, on visiting Mozambique about fifty years ago, found -that the native dignitaries had appropriated the titles of English -noblemen, and a dumpy little Duke of Devonshire met him with his whole -vocabulary of English,--'How do you do, sir. Very glad see you. Damn -your eyes. Johanna man like English very much. God damn. That very -good? Eh? Devilish hot, sir. What news? Hope your ship stay too long -while very. Damn my eye. Very fine day.' - -In most parts of India Siva also is painted white, which would indicate -that there too was found reason to associate diabolism with the white -face. It is said the Thugs spared Englishmen because their white faces -suggested relationship to Siva. In some of the ancient Indian books -the monster whom Indra slew, Vritra, is called Dasyu (enemy), a name -which in the Vedas designates the Aborigines as contrasted with the -Aryans of the North. 'In the old Sanskrit, in the hymns of the Veda, -ârya occurs frequently as a national name and as a name of honour, -comprising the worshippers of the gods of the Brahmans, as opposed to -their enemies, who are called in the Veda Dasyus. Thus one of the gods, -Indra, who in some respects answers to the Greek Zeus, is invoked -in the following words (Rigveda, i. 57, 8):--'Know thou the Aryas, -O Indra, and those who are Dasyus; punish the lawless, and deliver -them unto thy servant! Be thou the mighty helper of the worshippers, -and I will praise all these thy deeds at the festivals.' [111] - -Naglok (snakeland) was at an early period a Hindu name for hell. But -the Nagas were not real snakes,--in that case they might have fared -better,--but an aboriginal tribe in Ceylon, believed by the Hindus to -be of serpent origin,--'naga' being an epithet for 'native.' [112] The -Singhalese, on the other hand, have adapted the popular name for demons -in India, 'Rakshasa,' in their Rakseyo, a tribe of invisible cannibals -without supernatural powers (except invisibility), who no doubt merely -embody the traditions of some early race. The dreaded powers were -from another tribe designated Yakkhos (demons), and believed to have -the power of rendering themselves invisible. Buddha's victories over -these demonic beings are related in the 'Mahawanso.' 'It was known -(by inspiration) by the vanquishers that in Lanka, filled by yakkhos, -... would be the place where his religion would be glorified. In -like manner, knowing that in the centre of Lanka, on the delightful -bank of a river, ... in the agreeable Mahanaga garden, ... there -was a great assembly of the principal yakkhos, ... the deity of -happy advent, approaching that great congregation, ... immediately -over their heads hovering in the air, ... struck terror into them -by rains, tempests, and darkness. The yakkhos, overwhelmed with awe, -supplicated of the vanquisher to be released from their terror.... The -consoling vanquisher thus replied: 'I will release ye yakkhos from -this your terror and affliction: give ye unto me here by unanimous -consent a place for me to alight on.' All these yakkhos replied: -'Lord, we confer on thee the whole of Lanka, grant thou comfort -to us.' The vanquisher thereupon dispelling their terror and cold -shivering, and spreading his carpet of skin on the spot bestowed on -him, he there seated himself. He then caused the aforesaid carpet, -refulgent with a fringe of flames, to extend itself on all sides: -they, scorched by the flames, (receding) stood around on the shores -(of the island) terrified. The Saviour then caused the delightful isle -of Giri to approach for them. As soon as they transferred themselves -thereto (to escape the conflagration), he restored it to its former -position.' [113] - -This legend, which reminds one irresistibly of the expulsion of -reptiles by saints from Ireland, and other Western regions, is -the more interesting if it be considered that these Yakkhos are the -Sanskrit Yakshas, attendants on Kuvera, the god of wealth, employed in -the care of his garden and treasures. They are regarded as generally -inoffensive. The transfer by English authorities of the Tasmanians from -their native island to another, with the result of their extermination, -may suggest the possible origin of the story of Giri. - -Buddha's dealings with the serpent-men or nagas is related as follows -in the same volume:-- - -'The vanquisher (i.e., of the five deadly sins), ... in the fifth -year of his buddhahood, while residing at the garden of (the prince) -Jeto, observing that, on account of a disputed claim for a gem-set -throne between the naga Mahodaro and a similar Chalodaro, a maternal -uncle and nephew, a conflict was at hand, ... taking with him his -sacred dish and robes, out of compassion to the nagas, visited -Nagadipo.... These mountain nagas were, moreover, gifted with -supernatural powers.... The Saviour and dispeller of the darkness -of sin, poising himself in the air over the centre of the assembly, -caused a terrifying darkness to these nagas. Attending to the prayer -of the dismayed nagas, he again called forth the light of day. They, -overjoyed at having seen the deity of felicitous advent, bowed down -at the feet of the divine teacher. To them the vanquisher preached -a sermon of reconciliation. Both parties rejoicing thereat, made an -offering of the gem-throne to the divine sage. The divine teacher, -alighting on the earth, seated himself on the throne, and was served -by the naga kings with celestial food and beverage. The lord of the -universe procured for eighty kotis of nagas, dwelling on land and in -the waters, the salvation of the faith and the state of piety.' - -At every step in the conversion of the native Singhalese,--the demons -and serpent-men,--Buddha and his apostles are represented as being -attended by the devas,--the deities of India,--who are spoken of as -if glad to become menials of the new religion. But we find Zoroaster -using this term in a demonic sense, and describing alien worshippers -as children of the Devas (a Semite would say, Sons of Belial). And -in the conventional Persian pictures of the Last Judgment (moslem), -the archfiend has the Hindu complexion. A similar phenomenon may -be observed in various regions. In the mediæval frescoes of Moscow, -representing infernal tortures, it is not very difficult to pick out -devils representing the physical characteristics of most of the races -with which the Muscovite has struggled in early times. There are also -black Ethiopians among them, which may be a result of devils being -considered the brood of Tchernibog, god of Darkness; but may also, not -impossibly, have come of such apocryphal narratives as that ascribed -to St. Augustine. 'I was already Bishop of Hippo when I went into -Ethiopia with some servants of Christ, there to preach the gospel. In -this country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two -great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more southerly -we saw a people who had but one eye in their foreheads.' [114] - -In considering animal demons, the primitive demonisation of the Wolf -has been discussed. But it is mainly as a transformation of man and -a type of savage foes that this animal has been a prominent figure -in Mythology. - -Professor Max Müller has made it tolerably clear that Bellerophon -means Slayer of the Hairy; and that Belleros is the transliteration -of Sanskrit varvara, a term applied to the dark Aborigines by their -Aryan invaders, equivalent to barbarians. [115] This points us for the -origin of the title rather to Bellerophon's conquest of the Lycians, -or Wolf-men, than to his victory over the Chimæra. The story of -Lycaon and his sons--barbarians defying the gods and devouring human -flesh--turned into wolves by Zeus, connects itself with the Lycians -(hairy, wolfish barbarians), whom Bellerophon conquered. - -It was not always, however, the deity that conquered in such -encounters. In the myth of Soracte, the Wolf is seen able to hold -his own against the gods. Soranus, worshipped on Mount Soracte, -was at Rome the god of Light, and is identified with Apollo by -Virgil. [116] A legend states that he became associated with the -infernal gods, though called Diespiter, because of the sulphurous -exhalations from the side of Mount Soracte. It is said that once when -some shepherds were performing a sacrifice, some wolves seized the -flesh; the shepherds, following them, were killed by the poisonous -vapours of the mountain to which the wolves retreated. An oracle gave -out that this was a punishment for their pursuing the sacred animals; -and a general pestilence also having followed, it was declared that it -could only cease if the people were all changed to wolves and lived by -prey. Hence the Hirpini, from the Sabine 'hirpus,' a wolf. The story -is a variant of that of the Hirpinian Samnites, who were said to have -received their name from their ancestors having followed a sacred wolf -when seeking their new home. The Wolf ceremonies were, like the Roman -Lupercalia, for purposes of purification. The worshippers ran naked -through blazing fires. The annual festival, which Strabo describes -as occurring in the grove of Feronia, goddess of Nature, became at -last a sort of fair. Its history, however, is very significant of -the formidable character of the Hirpini, or Wolf-tribe, which could -alone have given rise to such euphemistic celebrations of the wolf. - -It is interesting to note that in some regions this wolf of -superstition was domesticated into a dog. Pierius says there was a -temple of Vulcan in Mount Ætna, in whose grove were dogs that fawned -on the pious, but rent the polluted worshippers. It will be seen by -the left form of Fig. 13 that the wolf had a diminution, in pictorial -representation similar to that which the canine Lares underwent -(p. 135). This picture is referred by John Beaumont [117] to Cartarius' -work on 'The Images of the Gods of the Ancients;' the form wearing -a wolf's skin and head is that of the demon Polites, who infested -Temesa in Italy, according to a story related by Pausanias. Ulysses, -in his wanderings, having come to this town, one of his companions -was stoned to death for having ravished a virgin; after which his -ghost appeared in form of this demon, which had to be appeased, by -the direction of the oracle of Apollo, by the annual sacrifice to -him of the most beautiful virgin in the place. Euthymus, enamoured -of a virgin about to be so offered, gave battle to this demon, and, -having expelled him from the country, married the virgin. However, -since the infernal powers cannot be deprived of their rights without -substitution, this saviour of Temesa disappeared in the river Cæcinus. - -The form on the right in Fig. 13 represents the genius of the -city of Rome, and is found on some of Hadrian's coins; he holds -the cornucopia and the sacrificial dish. The child and the serpent -in the same picture represent the origin of the demonic character -attributed to the Eleans by the Arcadians. This child-and-serpent -symbol, which bears resemblance to certain variants of Bel and the -Dragon, no doubt was brought to Elea, or Velia in Italy, by the -Phocæans, when they abandoned their Ionian homes rather than submit -to Cyrus, and founded that town, B.C. 544. The two forms were jointly -worshipped with annual sacrifices in the temple of Lucina, under the -name Sosipolis. The legend of this title is related by Pausanias. When -the Arcadians invaded the Eleans, a woman came to the Elean commander -with an infant at her breast, and said that she had been admonished -in a dream to place her child in front of the army. This was done; -as the Arcadians approached the child was changed to a serpent, and, -astounded at the prodigy, they fled without giving battle. The child -was represented by the Eleans decorated with stars, and holding the -cornucopia; by the Arcadians, no doubt, in a less celestial way. It -is not uncommon in Mythology to find the most dangerous demons -represented under some guise of weakness, as, for instance, among -the South Africans, some of whom recently informed English officers -that the Galeikas were led against them by a terrible sorcerer in -the form of a hare. The most fearful traditional demon ever slain -by hero in Japan was Shuden Dozi--the Child-faced Drinker. In Ceylon -the apparition of a demon is said to be frequently under the form of -a woman with a child in her arms. - -Many animal demons are mere fables for the ferocity of human -tribes. The Were-wolf superstition, which exists still in Russia, where -the transformed monster is called volkodlák (volk, a wolf, and dlak, -hair), might even have originated in the costume of Norse barbarians -and huntsmen. The belief was always more or less rationalised, -resembling that held by Verstegan three hundred years ago, and which -may be regarded as prevalent among both the English and Flemish people -of his day. 'These Were-wolves,' he says, 'are certain sorcerers, -who, having anointed their bodies with an ointment they make by the -instinct of the devil, and putting on a certain enchanted girdle, -do not only unto the view of others seem as wolves, but to their own -thinking have both the nature and shape of wolves so long as they -wear the said girdle; and they do dispose themselves as very wolves, -in worrying and killing, and waste of human creatures.' During the -Franco-German war of 1870-71, a family of ladies on the German side -of the Rhine, sitting up all night in apprehension, related to me -such stories of the 'Turcos' that I have since found no difficulty -in understanding the belief in weird and præternatural wolves which -once filled Europe with horror. The facility with which the old Lycian -wolf-girdle, so to say, was caught up and worn in so many countries -where race-wars were chronic for many ages, renders it nearly certain -that this superstition (Lycanthropy), however it may have originated, -was continued through the custom of ascribing demonic characteristics -to hostile and fierce races. It has been, indeed, a general opinion -that the theoretical belief originated in the Pythagorean doctrine -of metempsychosis. Thus Shakspere:-- - - - Thou almost makest me waver in my faith, - To hold opinion with Pythagoras, - That souls of animals infuse themselves - Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit - Governed a wolf, who, hanged for human slaughter, - Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, - And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam - Infused itself in thee; for thy desires - Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous. - - -But the superstition is much older than Pythagoras, who, no doubt, -tried to turn it into a moral theory of retributions,--as indeed did -Plato in his story of the Vision of Er the Armenian. - -Professor Weber and others have adduced evidence indicating that -although belief in the transformation of men into beasts was not -developed in the Vedic age of India, the matrix of it was there. But -of our main fact--the association of demonic characters with certain -tribes--India has presented many examples. In the mountains of -Travancore there are tribes which are still generally believed to -be on terms of especial familiarity with the devils of that region; -and the dwellers on the plains relate that on these mountains gigantic -demons, sixteen or seventeen feet high, may sometimes be seen hurling -firebrands at each other. - -Professor Monier Williams contributes an interesting note concerning -this general phase of South-Indian demonology. 'Furthermore, it -must not be forgotten that although a belief in devils and homage -to bhutas, or spirits, of all kinds is common all over India, yet -what is called devil-worship is far more systematically practised -in the South of India and Ceylon than in the North. And the reason -may be that as the invading Aryans advanced towards Southern India, -they found portions of it peopled by wild aboriginal savages, whose -behaviour and aspect appeared to them to resemble that of devils. The -Aryan mind, therefore, naturally pictured to itself the regions of the -South as the chief resort and stronghold of the demon race, and the -dread of demonical agency became more deeply rooted in Southern India -than in the North. Curiously enough, too, it is commonly believed in -Southern India that every wicked man contributes by his death to swell -the ever-increasing ranks of devil legions. His evil passions do not -die with him; they are intensified, concentrated, and perpetuated in -the form of a malignant and mischievous spirit.' [118] - -It is obvious that this principle may be extended from individuals -to entire tribes. The Cimmerians were regarded as dwelling in a land -allied with hell. In the legend of the Alhambra, as told by Washington -Irving, the astrologer warns the Moorish king that the beautiful -damsel is no doubt one of those Gothic sorceresses of whom they have -heard so much. Although, as we have seen, England was regarded on the -Continent as an island of demons because of its northern latitude, -probably some of its tribes were of a character dangerous enough to -prolong the superstition. The nightmare elves were believed to come -from England, and to hurry away through the keyholes at daybreak, -saying 'The bells are calling in England.' [119] Visigoth probably -left us our word bigot; and 'Goths and Vandals' sometimes designate -English roughs, as 'Turks' those of Constantinople. Herodotus says -the Scythians of the Black Sea regarded the Neurians as wizards, -who transformed themselves into wolves for a few days annually; but -the Scythians themselves are said by Herodotus to have sprung from a -monster, half-woman half-serpent; and possibly the association of the -Scotch with the Scythians by the Germans, who called them both Scutten, -had something to do with the uncanny character ascribed to the British -Isles. Sir Walter Raleigh described the Red Men of America as gigantic -monsters. 'Red Devils' is still the pioneer's epithet for them in the -Far West. The hairy Dukes of Esau were connected with the goat, and -demonised as Edom; and Ishmael was not believed much better by the -more peaceful Semitic tribes. Such notions are akin to those which -many now have of the Thugs and Bashi-Bazouks, and are too uniform -and natural to tax much the ingenuity of Comparative Mythology. - -Underlying many of the legends of giants and dwarfs may be found a -similar demonologic formation. A principle of natural selection would -explain the existence of tribes, which, though of small stature, -are able to hold their own against the larger and more powerful by -their superior cunning. That such equalisation of apparently unequal -forces has been known in pre-historic ages may be gathered from many -fables. Before Bali, the monarch already mentioned, whose power alarmed -the gods themselves, Vishnu appeared as a dwarf, asking only so much -land as he could measure with three steps; the apparently ridiculous -request granted, the god strode over the whole earth with two steps -and brought his third on the head of Bali. In Scandinavian fable -we have the young giantess coming to her mother with the plough and -ploughman in her apron, which she had picked up in the field. To her -child's inquiry, 'What sort of beetle is this I found wriggling in -the sand?' the giantess replies, 'Go put it back in the place where -thou hast found it. We must be gone out of this land, for these -little people will dwell in it.' - -The Sagas contain many stories which, while written in glorification -of the 'giant' race, relate the destruction of their chiefs by -the magical powers of the dwarfs. I must limit myself to a few -notes on the Ynglinga Saga. 'In Swithiod,' we are told, 'are many -great domains, and many wonderful races of men, and many kinds of -languages. There are giants, and there are dwarfs, and there are also -blue men. There are wild beasts, and dreadfully large dragons.' We -learn that in Asaland was a great chief, Odin, who went out to conquer -Vanaland. The Vanalanders are declared to have magic arts,--such as -are ascribed to Finns and Lapps to this day by the more ignorant of -their neighbours. But that the people of Asaland learned their magic -charms. 'Odin was the cleverest of them all, and from him all the -others learned their magic arts.' 'Odin could make his enemies in -battle blind, or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons so blunt -that they could no more cut than a willow twig; on the other hand, his -men rushed forward without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit -their shields, and were as strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed -people at a blow, and neither fire nor iron told upon them. These -were called Berserkers.' (From ber, bear, and serkr, sark or coat; -the word being probably, as Maurer says, a survival of an earlier -belief in the transformation of men into bears.) But the successors of -Odin did not preserve his occult power. Svegdir, for instance, saw a -large stone and a dwarf at the door entering in it. The dwarf called -him to come in and he should see Odin. 'Swedger ran into the stone, -which instantly closed behind him, and Swedger never came back.' The -witchcraft of the Finn people is said to have led Vanlandi (Svegdir's -son) to his death by Mara (night-mare). Vanlandi's son too, Visbur, -fell a victim to sorcery. Such legends as these, and many others which -may be found in Sturleson's Heimskringla, have influenced our popular -stories whose interest turns on the skill with which some little Jack -or Thumbling overcomes his adversary by superior cunning. - -Superstitions concerning dwarf-powers are especially rife in -Northumberland, where they used to be called Duergar, and they were -thought to abound on the hills between Rothbury and Elsdon. They -mislead with torches. One story relates that a traveller, beguiled at -night into a hut where a dwarf prepared a comfortable fire for him, -found himself when daylight returned sitting upon the edge of a deep -rugged precipice, where the slightest movement had caused him to be -dashed to pieces. [120] The Northumbrian stories generally, however, -do not bear the emphasis of having grown out of aboriginal conditions, -or even of having been borrowed for such. The legends of Scotland, -and of the South-West of England, appear to me much more suggestive of -original struggles between large races and small. They are recalled by -the superstitions which still linger in Norway concerning the Lapps, -who are said to carry on unholy dealings with gnomes. - -In the last century the 'Brownie' was commonly spoken of in Scotland -as appearing in shape of 'a tall man,' and the name seems to refer -to the brown complexion of that bogey, and its long brown hair, -hardly Scottish. [121] It is generally the case that Second Sight, -which once attained the dignity of being called 'Deuteroscopia,' -sees a doomed man or woman shrink to the size of a dwarf. The 'tall -man' is not far off in such cases. 'In some age of the world more -remote than even that of Alypos,' says Hugh Miller, 'the whole of -Britain was peopled by giants--a fact amply supported by early English -historians and the traditions of the North of Scotland. Diocletian, -king of Syria, say the historians, had thirty-three daughters, who, -like the daughters of Danaus, killed their husbands on their wedding -night. The king, their father, in abhorrence of the crime, crowded -them all into a ship, which he abandoned to the mercy of the waves, -and which was drifted by tides and winds till it arrived on the coast -of Britain, then an uninhabited island. There they lived solitary, -subsisting on roots and berries, the natural produce of the soil, -until an order of demons, becoming enamoured of them, took them for -their wives; and a tribe of giants, who must be regarded as the true -aborigines of the country, if indeed the demons have not a prior claim, -were the fruit of these marriages. Less fortunate, however, than even -their prototypes the Cyclops, the whole tribe was extirpated a few ages -after by Brutus the parricide, who, with a valour to which mere bulk -could offer no effectual resistance, overthrew Gog-Magog and Termagol, -and a whole host of others with names equally terrible. Tradition -is less explicit than the historians in what relates to the origin -and extinction of the race, but its narratives of their prowess are -more minute. There is a large and ponderous stone in the parish -of Edderston which a giantess of the tribe is said to have flung -from the point of a spindle across the Dornoch Firth; and another, -within a few miles of Dingwall, still larger and more ponderous, -which was thrown by a person of the same family, and which still -bears the marks of a gigantic finger and thumb.' [122] - -Perhaps we may find the mythological descendants of these Titans, -and also of the Druids, in the so-called 'Great Men' once dreaded -by Highlanders. The natives of South Uist believed that a valley, -called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side -of the island, was haunted by these Great Men, and that if any one -entered the valley without formally resigning themselves to the -conduct of those beings, they would infallibly become mad. Martin, -having remonstrated with the people against this superstition, was told -of a woman's having come out of the valley a lunatic because she had -not uttered the spell of three sentences. They also told him of voices -heard in the air. The Brownie ('a tall man with very long brown hair'), -who has cow's milk poured out for him on a hill in the same region, -probably of this giant tribe, might easily have been demonised at -the time when the Druids were giving St. Columba so much trouble, -and trying to retain their influence over the people by professing -supernatural powers. [123] - -The man of the smaller stature, making up for his inferiority by -invention, perhaps first forged the sword, the coat of mail, and the -shield, and so confronted the giant with success. The god with the -Hammer might thus supersede the god of the Flint Spear. Magic art -seemed to have rendered invulnerable the man from whom the arrow -rebounded. - -It would appear from King Olaf Tryggvason's Saga that nine hundred -years ago the Icelanders and the Danes reciprocally regarded each -other as giants and dwarfs. The Icelanders indited lampoons against -the Danes which allude to their diminutive size:-- - - - The gallant Harald in the field - Between his legs lets drop his shield, - Into a pony he was changed, &c. - - -On the other hand, the Danes had by no means a contemptuous idea of -their Icelandic enemies, as the following narrative from Heimskringla -proves. 'King Harald told a warlock to hie to Iceland in some altered -shape, and to try what he could learn there to tell him: and he set -out in the shape of a whale. And when he came near to the land he -went to the west side of Iceland, north around the land, when he -saw all the mountains and hills full of land-serpents, some great, -some small. When he came to Vapnafiord he went in towards the land, -intending to go on shore; but a huge dragon rushed down the dale -against him, with a train of serpents, paddocks, and toads, that blew -poison towards him. Then he turned to go westward around the land as -far as Eyafiord, and he went into the fiord. Then a bird flew against -him, which was so great that its wings stretched over the mountains -on either side of the fiord, and many birds, great and small, with -it. Then he swam further west, and then south into Breidafiord. When -he came into the fiord a large grey bull ran against him, wading into -the sea, and bellowing fearfully, and he was followed by a crowd of -land-serpents. From thence he went round by Reikaness and wanted to -land at Vikarsted, but there came down a hill-giant against him with -an iron staff in his hands. He was a head higher than the mountains, -and many other giants followed him.' The most seductive Hesperian -gardens of the South and East do not appear to have been so thoroughly -guarded or defended as Iceland, and one can hardly call it cowardice -when (after the wizard-whale brought back the log of its voyage) -it is recorded: 'Then the Danish king turned about with his fleet -and sailed back to Denmark.' - -It is a sufficiently curious fact that the Mimacs, aborigines of -Nova Scotia, [124] were found with a whale-story, already referred to -(p. 46), so much like this. They also have the legend of an ancient -warrior named Booin, who possessed the præternatural powers especially -ascribed to Odin, those of raising storms, causing excessive cold, -increasing or diminishing his size, and assuming any shape. Besides -the fearful race of gigantic ice-demons dreaded by this tribe, as -elsewhere stated (p. 84), they dread also a yellow-horned dragon called -Cheepichealm, (whose form the great Booin sometimes assumes). They -make offerings to the new moon. They believe in pixies, calling them -Wigguladum-moochkik, 'very little people.' They anciently believed in -two great spirits, good and evil, both called Manitoos; since their -contact with christians only the evil one has been so called. - -The entire motif of the Mimac Demonology is, to my mind, that of -early conflicts with some formidable races. It is to be hoped that -travellers will pay more attention to this unique race before it -has ceased to exist. The Chinese theory of genii is almost exactly -that of the Mimacs. The Chinese genii are now small as a moth, now -fill the world; can assume any form; they command demons; they never -die, but, at the end of some centuries, ride to heaven on a dragon's -back. [125] Ordinarily the Chinese genii use the yellow heron as an -aerial courser. The Mimacs believe in a large præternatural water-bird, -Culloo, which devours ordinary people, but bears on its back those -who can tame it by magic. - -Mr. Mayers, in his 'Chinese Reader's Manual,' suggests that the -designation of Formosa as 'Isles of the Genii' (San Shén Shan) by the -Chinese, has some reference to their early attempts at colonisation -in Japan. Su Fuh, a necromancer, who lived B.C. 219, is said to have -announced their discovery, and at the head of a troop of young men -and maidens, voyaged with an expedition towards them, but, when within -sight of the magic islands, were driven back by contrary winds. - -Gog and Magog stand in London Guildhall, though much diminished -in stature, to suit the English muscles that had to bear them in -processions, monuments of the præternatural size attributed to -the enemies which the Aryan race encountered in its great westward -migrations. Even to-day, when the progress of civilisation is harassed -by untamed Scythian hordes, how strangely fall upon our ears the -ancient legends and prophecies concerning them! - - - Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: - Behold I am against thee, O Gog, - Prince of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubul: - And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee; - And I will cause thee to come up from the north parts, - And will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: - And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, - And will cause thine arrows to fall from thy right hand. - Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, - Thou and all thy bands. [126] - - -In the Koran it is related of Dhulkarnein:--'He journeyed from south to -north until he came between the two mountains, beneath which he found -a people who could scarce understand what was said. And they said, O -Dhulkarnein, verily Gog and Magog waste the land; shall we, therefore, -pay thee tribute, on condition that thou build a rampart between us -and them? He answered, The power wherewith my Lord hath strengthened -me is better than your tribute; but assist me strenuously and I will -set a strong wall between you and them.... Wherefore when this wall -was finished, Gog and Magog could not scale it, neither could they -dig through it. And Dhulkarnein said, This is a mercy from my Lord; -but when the prediction of my Lord shall come to be fulfilled, he -will reduce the wall to dust.' - -The terror inspired by these barbarians is reflected in the prophecies -of their certain irruption from their supernaturally-built fastnesses; -as in Ezekiel:-- - - - Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, - Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, - Thou and all thy bands, - And many people with thee; - - -and in the Koran, 'Gog and Magog shall have a passage open for them, -and they shall hasten from every high hill;' and in the Apocalypse, -'Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive -the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, -to gather them in battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the -sea.' Five centuries ago Sir John Maundeville was telling in England -the legend he had heard in the East. 'In that same regioun ben the -mountaynes of Caspye, that men clepen Uber in the contree. Betwene the -mountaynes the Jews of 10 lynages ben enclosed, that men clepen Gothe -and Magothe: and they mowe not gon out on no syde. There weren enclosed -22 kynges, with hire peple, that dwelleden betwene the mountayns -of Sythe. There King Alisandre chacede hem betwene the mountaynes, -and there he thought for to enclose hem thorghe work of his men. But -when he saughe that he might not doon it, ne bringe it to an ende, -he preyed to God of Nature, that he wolde performe that that he had -begoune. And all were it so, that he was a Payneme, and not worthi to -ben herd, zit God of his grace closed the mountaynes to gydre: so that -thei dwellen there, all fast ylokked and enclosed with highe mountaynes -all aboute, saf only on o syde; and on that syde is the See of Caspye.' - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -BARRENNESS. - - Indian famine and Sun-spots--Sun-worship--Demon of the Desert--The - Sphinx--Egyptian plagues described by Lepsius: Locusts, Hurricane, - Flood, Mice, Flies--The Sheikh's ride--Abaddon--Set--Typhon--The - Cain wind--Seth--Mirage--The Desert Eden--Azazel--Tawiscara and - the Wild Rose. - - -In their adoration of rain-giving Indra as also a solar majesty, -the ancient Hindus seem to have been fully aware of his inconsistent -habits. 'Thy inebriety is most intense,' exclaims the eulogist, -and soothingly adds, 'Thou desirest that both thy inebriety and thy -beneficence should be the means of destroying enemies and distributing -riches.' [127] Against famine is invoked the thunderbolt of Indra, -and it is likened to the terrible Tvashtri, in whose fearful shape -(pure fire) Agni once appeared to the terror of gods and men. [128] -This Tvashtri was not an evil being himself, but, as we have seen, an -artificer for the gods similar to Vulcan; he was, however, father of a -three-headed monster who has been identified with Vritra. Though these -early worshippers recognised that their chief trouble was connected -with 'glaring heat' (which Tvashtri seems to mean in the passage just -referred to), Indra's celebrants beheld him superseding his father -Dyaus, and reigning in the day's splendour as well as in the cloud's -bounty. This monopolist of parts in their theogony anticipated Jupiter -Pluvius. Vedic mythology is pervaded with stories of the demons that -arrested the rain and stole the cloud-cows of Indra--shutting them -away in caves,--and the god is endlessly praised for dealing death -to such. He slays Vritra, the 'rain-arresting,' and Dribhika, Bala, -Urana, Arbuda, 'devouring Swasna,' 'unabsorbable Súshna,' Pipru, -Namuchi, Rudhikrá, Varchin and his hundred thousand descendants; [129] -the deadly strangling serpent Ahi, especial type of Drouth as it dries -up rivers; and through all these combats with the alleged authors of -the recurring Barrenness and Famine, as most of these monsters were, -the seat of the evil was the Sun-god's adorable self! - -Almost pathetic does the long and vast history appear just now, -when competent men of science are giving us good reason to believe -that right knowledge of the sun, and the relation of its spots to -the rainfall, might have covered India with ways and means which -would have adapted the entire realm to its environment, and wrested -from Indra his hostile thunderbolt--the sunstroke of famine. The -Hindus have covered their lands with temples raised to propitiate and -deprecate the demons, and to invoke the deities against such sources -of drouth and famine. Had they concluded that famine was the result of -inexactly quartered sun-dials, the land would have been covered with -perfect sun-dials; but the famine would have been more destructive, -because of the increasing withdrawal of mind and energy from the -true cause, and its implied answer. Even so were conflagrations in -London attributed to inexact city clocks; the clocks would become -perfect, the conflagrations more numerous, through misdirection -of vigilance. But how much wiser are we of Christendom than the -Hindus? They have adapted their country perfectly for propitiation of -famine-demons that do not exist, at a cost which would long ago have -rendered them secure from the famine-forces that do exist. We have -similarly covered Christendom with a complete system of securities -against hells and devils and wrathful deities that do not exist, while -around our churches, chapels, cathedrals, are the actually-existent -seething hells of pauperism, shame, and crime. - -'Nothing can advance art in any district of this accursed -machine-and-devil-driven England until she changes her mind in many -things.' So wrote John Ruskin recently. Of course, so long as the -machine toils and earns wealth and other power which still goes to -support and further social and ecclesiastical forms, constituted with -reference to salvation from a devil or demons no longer believed in, -the phrase 'machine-and-devil-driven' is true. Until the invention -and enterprise of the nation are administered in the interest of right -ideas, we may still sigh, like John Sterling, for 'a dozen men to stand -up for ideas as Cobden and his friends do for machinery.' But it still -remains as true that all the machinery and wealth of England devoted -to man might make its every home happy, and educate every inhabitant, -as that every idolatrous temple in India might be commuted into a -shield against famine. - -Our astronomers and economists have enabled us to see clearly how -the case is with the country whose temples offer no obstruction -to christian vision. The facts point to the conclusion that the -sun-spots reach their maximum and minimum of intensity at intervals of -eleven years, and that their high activity is attended with frequent -fluctuations of the magnetic needle, and increased rainfall. In 1811, -and since then, famines in India have, with one exception, followed -years of minimum sun-spots. [130] These facts are sufficiently well -attested to warrant the belief that English science and skill will -be able to realise in India the provision which Joseph is said to -have made for the seven lean years of which Pharaoh dreamed. - -Until that happy era shall arrive, the poor Hindus will only go -on alternately adoring and propitiating the sun, as its benign or -its cruel influences shall fall upon them. The artist Turner said, -'The sun is God.' The superb effects of light in Turner's pictures -could hardly have come from any but a sun-worshipper dwelling amid -fogs. Unfamiliarity often breeds reverence. There are few countries -in which the sun, when it does shine, is so likely to be greeted with -enthusiasm, and observed in all its variations of splendour, as one -in which its appearance is rare. Yet the superstition inherited from -regions where the sun is equally a desolation was strong enough to -blot out its glory in the mind of a writer famous in his time, Tobias -Swinden, M.A., who wrote a work to prove the sun to be the abode of -the damned. [131] The speculation may now appear only curious, but, -probably, it is no more curious than a hundred years from now will -seem to all the vulgar notion of future fiery torments for mankind, -the scriptural necessity of which led the fanciful rector to his -grotesque conclusion. These two extremes--the Sun-worship of Turner, -the Sun-horror of Swinden,--survivals in England, represent the two -antagonistic aspects of the sun, which were of overwhelming import -to those who dwelt beneath its greatest potency. His ill-humour, or -his hunger and thirst, in any year transformed the earth to a desert, -and dealt death to thousands. - -In countries where drouth, barrenness, and consequent famine were -occasional, as in India, it would be an inevitable result that -they would represent the varying moods of a powerful will, and -in such regions we naturally find the most extensive appliances -for propitiation. The preponderant number of fat years would -tell powerfully on the popular imagination in favour of priestly -intercession, and the advantage of sacrifices to the great Hunger-demon -who sometimes consumed the seeds of the earth. But in countries -where barrenness was an ever-present, visible, unvarying fact, -the Demon of the Desert would represent Necessity, a power not to -be coaxed or changed. People dwelling in distant lands might invent -theoretical myths to account for the desert. It might be an accident -resulting from the Sun-god having given up his chariot one day to an -inexperienced driver who came too close to the earth. But to those -who lived beside the desert it could only seem an infernal realm, -quite irrecoverable. The ancient civilisation of Egypt, so full of -grandeur, might, in good part, have been due to the lesson taught -them by the desert, that they could not change the conditions around -them by any entreaties, but must make the best of what was left. If -such, indeed, was the force that built the ancient civilisation -whose monuments remain so magnificent in their ruins, its decay -might be equally accounted for when that primitive faith passed into -a theological phase. For as Necessity is the mother of invention, -Fate is fatal to the same. Belief in facts, and laws fixed in the -organic nature of things, stimulates man to study them and constitute -his life with reference to them; but belief that things are fixed by -the arbitrary decree of an individual power is the final sentence -of enterprise. Fate might thus steadily bring to ruin the grandest -achievements of Necessity. - -Had we only the true history of the Sphinx--the Binder--we -might find it a landmark between the rise and decline of Egyptian -civilisation. When the great Limitation surrounding the powers of man -was first personified with that mystical grandeur, it would stand -in the desert not as the riddle but its solution. No such monument -was ever raised by Doubt. But once personified and outwardly shaped, -the external Binder must bind thought as well; nay, will throttle -thought if it cannot pierce through the stone and discover the -meaning of it. 'How true is that old fable of the Sphinx who sat by -the wayside propounding her riddle to the passengers, which if they -could not answer she destroyed them! Such a Sphinx is this Life of -ours to all men and societies of men. Nature, like the Sphinx, is of -womanly celestial loveliness and tenderness; the face and bosom of -a goddess, but ending in claws and the body of a lioness. There is -in her a celestial beauty,--which means celestial order, pliancy -to wisdom; but there is also a darkness, a ferocity, fatality, -which are infernal. She is a goddess, but one not yet disimprisoned; -one still half-imprisoned,--the articulate, lovely still encased in -the inarticulate, chaotic. How true! And does she not propound her -riddles to us? Of each man she asks daily, in mild voice, yet with -a terrible significance, 'Knowest thou the meaning of this Day? What -thou canst do To-day, wisely attempt to do.' Nature, Universe, Destiny, -Existence, howsoever we name this grand unnameable Fact, in the midst -of which we live and struggle, is as a heavenly bride and conquest to -the wise and brave, to them who can discern her behests and do them; a -destroying fiend to them who cannot. Answer her riddle, it is well with -thee. Answer it not, pass on regarding it not, it will answer itself; -the solution for thee is a thing of teeth and claws; Nature to thee -is a dumb lioness, deaf to thy pleadings, fiercely devouring. Thou -art not now her victorious bridegroom; thou art her mangled victim, -scattered on the precipices, as a slave found treacherous, recreant, -ought to be, and must.' [132] - -On the verge of the Desert, Prime Minister to the Necropolis at -whose gateway it stands, the Sphinx reposes amid the silence of -science and the centuries. Who built it? None can answer, so far as -the human artist, or the king under whom he worked, is concerned. But -the ideas and natural forces which built the Sphinx surround even now -the archæologist who tries to discover its history and chronology. As -fittest appendage to Carlyle's interpretation, let us read some -passages from Lepsius. - -'The Oedipus for this king of the Sphinxes is yet wanting. Whoever -would drain the immeasurable sand-flood which buries the tombs -themselves, and lay open the base of the Sphinx, the ancient -temple-path, and the surrounding hills, could easily decide it. But -with the enigmas of history there are joined many riddles and wonders -of nature, which I must not leave quite unnoticed. The newest of all, -at least, I must describe. - -'I had descended with Abeken into a mummy-pit, to open some -newly discovered sarcophagi, and was not a little astonished, upon -descending, to find myself in a regular snow-drift of locusts, which, -almost darkening the heavens, flew over our heads from the south-west -from the desert in hundreds of thousands to the valley. I took it -for a single flight, and called my companions from the tombs, where -they were busy, that they might see this Egyptian wonder ere it was -over. But the flight continued; indeed the work-people said it had -begun an hour before. Then we first observed that the whole region, -near and far, was covered with locusts. I sent an attendant into the -desert to discover the breadth of the flock. He ran for the distance -of a quarter of an hour, then returned and told us that, as far as -he could see, there was no end to them. I rode home in the midst of -the locust shower. At the edge of the fruitful plain they fell down -in showers; and so it went on the whole day until the evening, and -so the next day from morning till evening, and the third; in short to -the sixth day, indeed in weaker flights much longer. Yesterday it did -seem that a storm of rain in the desert had knocked down and destroyed -the last of them. The Arabs are now lighting great smoke-fires in the -fields, and clattering and making loud noises all day long to preserve -their crops from the unexpected invasion. It will, however, do little -good. Like a new animated vegetation, these millions of winged spoilers -cover even the neighbouring sand-hills, so that scarcely anything -is to be seen of the ground; and when they rise from one place they -immediately fall down somewhere in the neighbourhood; they are tired -with their long journey, and seem to have lost all fear of their -natural enemies, men, animals, smoke, and noise, in their furious -wish to fill their stomachs, and in the feeding of their immense -number. The most wonderful thing, in my estimation, is their flight -over the naked wilderness, and the instinct which has guided them from -some oasis over the inhospitable desert to the fat soil of the Nile -vale. Fourteen years ago, it seems, this Egyptian plague last visited -Egypt with the same force. The popular idea is that they are sent by -the comet which we have observed for twelve days in the South-west, -and which, as it is now no longer obscured by the rays of the moon, -stretches forth its stately tail across the heavens in the hours -of the night. The Zodiacal light, too, so seldom seen in the north, -has lately been visible for several nights in succession.' - -Other plagues of Egypt are described by Lepsius:-- - -'Suddenly the storm grew to a tremendous hurricane, such as I have -never seen in Europe, and hail fell upon us in such masses as almost -to turn day into night.... Our tents lie in a valley, whither the -plateau of the pyramids inclines, and are sheltered from the worst -winds from the north and west. Presently I saw a dashing mountain -flood hurrying down upon our prostrate and sand-covered tents, like -a giant serpent upon its certain prey. The principal stream rolled -on to the great tent; another arm threatened mine without reaching -it. But everything that had been washed from our tents by the shower -was torn away by the two streams, which joined behind the tents, and -carried into a pool behind the Sphinx, where a great lake immediately -formed, which fortunately had no outlet. Just picture this scene -to yourself! Our tents, dashed down by the storm and heavy rain, -lying between two mountain torrents, thrusting themselves in several -places to the depth of six feet in the sand, and depositing our books, -drawings, sketches, shirts, and instruments--yes, even our levers and -iron crow-bars; in short, everything they could seize, in the dark -foaming mud-ocean. Besides this, ourselves wet to the skin, without -hats, fastening up the weightier things, rushing after the lighter -ones, wading into the lake to the waist to fish out what the sand had -not yet swallowed; and all this was the work of a quarter of an hour, -at the end of which the sun shone radiantly again, and announced the -end of this flood by a bright and glorious rainbow. - -'Now comes the plague of mice, with which we were not formerly -acquainted; in my tent they grow, play, and whistle, as if they -had been at home here all their lives, and quite regardless of my -presence. At night they have already run across my bed and face, -and yesterday I started terrified from my slumbers, as I suddenly -felt the sharp tooth of such a daring guest at my foot. - -'Above me a canopy of gauze is spread, in order to keep off the flies, -these most shameless of the plagues of Egypt, during the day, and the -mosquitos at night.... Scorpions and serpents have not bitten us yet, -but there are very malicious wasps, which have often stung us. - -'The dale (in the Desert) was wild and monotonous, nothing but -sandstone rock, the surfaces of which were burned as black as coals, -but turned into burning golden yellow at every crack, and every ravine, -whence a number of sand-rivulets, like fire-streams from black dross, -ran and filled the valleys. No tree, no tuft of grass had we yet seen, -also no animals, except a few vultures and crows feeding on the carcase -of the latest fallen camel.... Over a wild and broken path, and cutting -stones, we came deeper and deeper into the gorge. The first wide -basins were empty, we therefore left the camels and donkeys behind, -climbed up the smooth granite wall, and thus proceeded amidst these -grand rocks from one basin to another; they were all empty. Behind -there, in the farthest ravine, the guide said there must be water, -for it was never empty; but there proved to be not a single drop. We -were obliged to return dry.... We saw the most beautiful mirages very -early in the day; they most minutely resemble seas and lakes, in which -mountains, rocks, and everything in their vicinity, are reflected -as in the clearest water. They form a remarkable contrast with the -staring dry desert, and have probably deceived many a poor wanderer, -as the legend goes. If one be not aware that no water is there, it is -quite impossible to distinguish the appearance from the reality. A -few days ago I felt quite sure that I perceived an overflowing of -the Nile, or a branch near El Mechêref, and rode towards it, but only -found Bahr Sheitan, Satan's water, as the Arabs call it.' [133] - -Amid such scenery the Sphinx arose. Egypt was able to recognise the -problem of blended barrenness and beauty--alternation of Nature's -flowing breast and leonine claw--but could she return the right -answer? The primitive Egyptian answer may, indeed, as I have guessed, -be the great monuments of her civilisation, but her historic solution -has been another world. This world a desert, with here and there a -momentary oasis, where man may dance and feast a little, stimulated -by the corpse borne round the banquet, ere he passes to paradise. So -thought they and were deceived; from generation to generation have -they been destroyed, even unto this day. How destroyed, Lepsius may -again be our witness. - -'The Sheîkh of the Saadîch-derwishes rides to the chief Sheîkh of all -the derwishes of Egypt, El Bekri. On the way thither, a great number -of these holy folk, and others, too, who fancy themselves not a whit -behind-hand in piety, throw themselves flat on the ground, with their -faces downward, and so that the feet of one lie close to the head of -the next; over this living carpet the sheîkh rides on his horse, which -is led on each side by an attendant, in order to compel the animal to -the unnatural march. Each body receives two treads of the horse; most -of them jump up again without hurt, but whoever suffers serious, or as -it occasionally happens, mortal injury, has the additional ignominy -to bear of not having pronounced, or not being able to pronounce, -the proper prayers and magical charms that alone could save him.' - -'What a fearful barbarous worship' (the Sikr, in which the derwishes -dance until exhausted, howling 'No God but Allah') 'which the astounded -multitude, great and small, gentle and simple, gaze upon seriously, -and with stupid respect, and in which it not unfrequently takes a -part! The invoked deity is manifestly much less an object of reverence -than the fanatic saints who invoke him; for mad, idiotic, or other -psychologically-diseased persons are very generally looked upon as -holy by the Mohammedans, and treated with great respect. It is the -demoniacal, incomprehensibly-acting, and therefore fearfully-observed, -power of nature that the natural man always reveres when he perceives -it, because he is sensible of some connection between it and his -intellectual power, without being able to command it; first in the -mighty elements, then in the wondrous but obscure law-governed -instincts of animals, and at last in the yet more overpowering -ecstatical or generally abnormal mental condition of his own race.' - -The right answer to the enigma of the Sphinx is Man. But this creature -prostrating himself under the Sheîkh's horse, or under the invisible -Sheîkh called Allah, and ascribing sanctity to the half-witted, is not -Man at all. Those hard-worked slaves who escaped into the wilderness, -and set up for worship an anthropomorphic Supreme Will, and sought -their promised milk and honey in this world alone, carried with them -the only force that could rightly answer the Sphinx. Their Allah or -Elohim they heard say,--'Why howlest thou to me? Go forward.' Somewhat -more significant than his usual jests was that cartoon of Punch which -represented the Sphinx with relaxed face smiling recognition on the -most eminent of contemporary Israelites returning to the land of his -race's ancient bondage, to buy the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal half -answers the Sphinx; when man has subdued the Great Desert to a sea, -the solution will be complete, and the Sphinx may cast herself into it. - -Far and wide through the Southern world have swarmed the -locusts described by Lepsius, and with them have migrated many -superstitions. The writer of this well remembers the visit of the -so-called 'Seventeen-year locusts,' to the region of Virginia where he -was born, and across many years can hear the terrible never-ceasing -roar coming up from the woods, uttering, as all agreed, the ominous -word 'Pharaoh.' On each wing every eye could see the letter W, -signifying War. With that modern bit of ancient Egypt in my memory, -I find the old Locust-mythology sufficiently impressive. - -By an old tradition the Egyptians, as described by Lepsius, connected -the locusts with the comet. In the Apocalypse (ix.) a falling star -is the token of the descent of the Locust-demon to unlock the pit -that his swarms may issue forth for their work of destruction. Their -king Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon,--Destroyer,--has had an evolution -from being the angel of the two (rabbinical) divisions of Hades to the -successive Chiefs of Saracenic hordes. It is interesting to compare the -graphic description of a locust-storm in Joel, with its adaptation to -an army of human destroyers in the Apocalypse. And again the curious -description of these hosts of Abaddon in the latter book, partly repeat -the strange notions of the Bedouins concerning the locust,--one of -whom, says Niebuhr, 'compared the head of the locust to that of the -horse; its breast to that of a lion; its feet to those of a camel; -its body to that of the serpent; its tail to that of the scorpion; -its horns (antennæ) to the locks of hair of a virgin.' The present -generation has little reason to deny the appropriateness of the -biblical descriptions of Scythian hordes as locusts. 'The land is as -the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.' - -The ancient seeming contest between apparent Good and Evil in Egypt, -was represented in the wars of Ra and Set. It is said (Gen. iv. 26), -'And to Seth, to him also was born a son; and he called his name -Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.' Aquila -reads this--'Then Seth began to be called by the name of the -Lord.' Mr. Baring-Gould remarks on this that Seth was at first regarded -by the Egyptians as the deity of light and civilisation, but that -they afterwards identified as Typhon, because he was the chief god of -the Hyksos or shepherd kings; and in their hatred of these oppressors -the name of Seth was everywhere obliterated from their monuments, and -he was represented as an ass, or with an ass's head. [134] But the -earliest date assigned to the Hyksos dominion in Egypt, B.C. 2000, -coincides with that of the Egyptian planisphere in Kircher, [135] -where Seth is found identified with Sirius, or the dog-headed Mercury, -in Capricorn. This is the Sothiac Period, or Cycle of the Dog-star. He -was thus associated with the goat and the winter solstice, to which -(B.C. 2000) Capricorn was adjacent. That Seth or Set became the -name for the demon of disorder and violence among the Egyptians is, -indeed, probably due to his being a chief god, among some tribes -Baal himself, among the Asiatics, before the time of the Hyksos. It -was already an old story to put their neighbours' Light for their own -Darkness. The Ass's ears they gave him referred not to his stupidity, -but to his hearing everything, as in the case of the Ass of Apuleius, -and the ass Nicon of Plutarch, or, indeed, the many examples of the -same kind which preceeded the appearance of this much misunderstood -animal as the steed of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In -Egyptian symbolism those long ears were as much dreaded as devils' -horns. From the eyes of Ra all beneficent things, from the eyes of Set -all noxious things, were produced. Amen-Ra, as the former was called, -slew the son of Set, the great serpent Naka, which in one hymn is -perhaps tauntingly said to have 'saved his feet.' Amen-Ra becomes -Horus and Set becomes Typhon. The Typhonian myth is very complex, -and includes the conflict between the Nile and all its enemies--the -crocodiles that lurk in it, the sea that swallows it, the drouth that -dries it, the burning heat that brings malaria from it, the floods -that render it destructive--and Set was through it evolved to a point -where he became identified with Saturn, Sheitan, or Satan. Plutarch, -identifying Set with Typho, says that those powers of the universal -Soul, which are subject to the influences of passions, and in the -material system whatever is noxious, as bad air, irregular seasons, -eclipses of the sun and moon, are ascribed to Typho. The name Set, -according to him, means 'violent' and 'hostile;' and he was described -as 'double-headed,' 'he who has two countenances,' and 'the Lord of -the World.' Not the least significant fact, in a moral sense, is that -Set or Typho is represented as the brother of Osiris whom he slew. - -Without here going into the question of relationship between Typhaon -and Typhoeus, we may feel tolerably certain that the fire-breathing -hurricane-monster Typhaon of Homer, and the hundred-headed, -fierce-eyed roarer Typhoeus--son of Tartarus, father of Winds and -Harpies--represent the same ferocities of Nature. No fitter place -was ever assigned him than the African desert, and the story of -the gods and goddesses fleeing before Typhon into Egypt, and there -transforming themselves into animals, from terror, is a transparent -tribute to the dominion over the wilderness of sand exercised by the -typhoon in its many moods. The vulture-harpy tearing the dead is his -child. He is many-headed; now hot, stifling, tainted; now tempestuous; -here sciroc, there hurricane, and often tornado. It may be indeed that -as at once coiled in the whirlwind and blistering, he is the fiery -serpent to appease whom Moses lifted the brasen serpent for the worship -of Israel. I have often seen snakes hung up by negroes in Virginia, -to bring rain in time of drouth. Typhon, as may easily be seen by the -accompanying figure (14), is a hungry and thirsty demon. His tongue is -lolling out with thirst. [136] His later connection with the underworld -is shown in various myths, one of which seems to suggest a popular -belief that Typhon is not pleased with the mummies withheld from him, -and that he can enjoy his human viands only through burials of the -dead. In Egypt, after the Coptic Easter Monday--called Shemmen-Nesseem -(smelling the zephyr)--come the fifty-days' hot wind, called Khamseen -or Cain wind. After slaying Abel, Cain wandered amid such a wind, -tortured with fever and thirst. Then he saw two birds fight in the -air; one having killed the other scratched a hole in the desert sand -and buried it. Cain then did the like by his brother's body, when a -zephyr sprang up and cooled his fever. But still, say the Alexandrians, -the fifty-days' hot Cain wind return annually. - -In pictures of the mirage, or in cloud-shapes faintly illumined by -the afterglow, the dwellers beside the plains of sand saw, as in -phantasmagoria, the gorgeous palaces, the air-castles, and mysterious -cities, which make the romance of the desert. Unwilling to believe -that such realms of barrenness had ever been created by any good god, -they beheld in dreams, which answer to nature's own mirage-dreaming, -visions of dynasties passed away, of magnificent palaces and monarchs -on whose pomp and heaven-defying pride the fatal sand-storm had fallen, -and buried their glories in the dust for ever. The desert became the -emblem of immeasurable all-devouring Time. In many of these legends -there are intimations of a belief that Eden itself lay where now all is -unbroken desert. In the beautiful legend in the Midrash of Solomon's -voyage on the Wind, the monarch alighted near a lofty palace of gold, -'and the scent there was like the scent of the garden of Eden.' The -dust had so surrounded this palace that Solomon and his companions only -learned that there had been an entrance from an eagle in it thirteen -centuries old, which had heard from its father the tradition of an -entrance on the western side. The obedient Wind having cleared away -the sand, a door was found on whose lock was written, 'Be it known to -you, ye sons of men, that we dwelt in this palace in prosperity and -delight many years. When the famine came upon us we ground pearls -in the mill instead of wheat, but it profited us nothing.' Amid -marvellous splendours, from chamber to chamber garnished with ruby, -topaz, emerald, Solomon passed to a mansion on whose three gates -were written admonitions of the transitory nature of all things -but--Death. 'Let not fortune deceive thee.' 'The world is given from -one to another.' On the third gate was written, 'Take provision for -thy journey, and make ready food for thyself while it is yet day; -for thou shalt not be left on the earth, and thou knowest not the day -of thy Death.' This gate Solomon opened and saw within a life-like -image seated: as the monarch approached, this image cried with a -loud voice, 'Come hither, ye children of Satan; see! King Solomon is -come to destroy you.' Then fire and smoke issued from the nostrils of -the image; and there were loud and bitter cries, with earthquake and -thunder. But Solomon uttered against them the Ineffable Name, and all -the images fell on their faces, and the sons of Satan fled and cast -themselves into the sea, that they might not fall into the hands of -Solomon. The king then took from the neck of the image a silver tablet, -with an inscription which he could not read, until the Almighty sent -a youth to assist him. It said:--'I, Sheddad, son of Ad, reigned over -a thousand thousand provinces, and rode on a thousand thousand horses; -a thousand thousand kings were subject to me, and a thousand thousand -warriors I slew. Yet in the hour that the Angel of Death came against -me, I could not withstand him. Whoso shall read this writing let him -not trouble himself greatly about this world, for the end of all men -is to die, and nothing remains to man but a good name.' [137] - -Azazel--'of doubtful meaning'--is the biblical name of the Demon of the -Desert (Lev. xvi.). 'Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot -for Jehovah, and the other for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat -upon which the lot for Jehovah fell, and offer him for a sin-offering: -But the goat, on which the lot for Azazel fell, shall be presented -alive before Jehovah, to make an atonement with him, to let him go to -Azazel in the wilderness.... And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon -the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of -the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, -putting them upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand -of a fit man into the desert. And the goat shall bear upon him all -their iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the -goat in the desert.' Of the moral elements here involved much will -have to be said hereafter. This demon ultimately turned to a devil; -and persisting through both forms is the familiar principle that it -is 'well enough to have friends on both sides' so plainly at work in -the levitical custom; but it is particularly interesting to observe -that the same animal should be used as offerings to the antagonistic -deities. In Egyptian Mythology we find that the goat had precisely -this two-fold consecration. It was sacred to Chem, the Egyptian Pan, -god of orchards and of all fruitful lands; and it became also sacred -to Mendes, the 'Destroyer,' or 'Avenging Power' of Ra. It will thus -be seen that the same principle which from the sun detached the -fructifying from the desert-making power, and made Typhon and Osiris -hostile brothers, prevailed to send the same animal to Azazel in the -Desert and Jehovah of the milk and honey land. Originally the goat was -supreme. The Samaritan Pentateuch, according to Aben Ezra (Preface to -Esther), opens, 'In the beginning Ashima created the heaven and the -earth.' In the Hebrew culture-myth of Cain and Abel, also brothers, -there may be represented, as Goldziher supposes, the victory of the -agriculturist over the nomad or shepherd; but there is also traceable -in it the supremacy of the Goat, Mendez or Azima. 'Abel brought the -firstling of the goats.' - -Very striking is the American (Iroquois) myth of the conflict between -Joskeha and Tawiscara,--the White One and the Dark One. They were -twins, born of a virgin who died in giving them life. Their grandmother -was the moon (Ataensic, she who bathes). These brothers fought, Joskeha -using as weapon the horns of a stag, Tawiscara the wild-rose. The -latter fled sorely wounded, and the blood gushing from him turned to -flint-stones. The victor, who used the stag-horns (the same weapon -that Frey uses against Beli, in the Prose Edda, and denoting perhaps a -primitive bone-age art), destroyed a monster frog which swallowed all -the waters, and guided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes. He -stocked the woods with game, invented fire, watched and watered crops, -and without him, says the old missionary Brebeuf, 'they think they -could not boil a pot.' The use by the desert-demon Tawiscara of a -wild rose as his weapon is a beautiful touch in this myth. So much -loveliness grew even amid the hard flints. One is reminded of the -closing scene in the second part of Goethe's Faust. There, when Faust -has realised the perfect hour to which he can say, 'Stay, thou art -fair!' by causing by his labour a wilderness to blossom as a rose, -he lies down in happy death; and when the demons come for his soul, -angels pelt them with roses, which sting them like flames. Not wild -roses were these, such as gave the Dark One such poor succour. The -defence of Faust is the roses he has evoked from briars. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -OBSTACLES. - - Mephistopheles on Crags--Emerson on Monadnoc--Ruskin on - Alpine peasants--Holy and Unholy Mountains--The Devil's - Pulpit--Montagnards--Tarns--Tenjo--T'ai-shan--Apocatequil--Tyrolese - Legends--Rock Ordeal--Scylla and Charybdis--Scottish - Giants--Pontifex--Devil's Bridges--Le géant Yéous. - - -Related to the demons of Barrenness, and to the hostile human demons, -but still possessing characteristics of their own, are the demons -supposed to haunt gorges, mountain ranges, ridges of rocks, streams -which cannot be forded and are yet unbridged, rocks that wreck the -raft or boat. Each and every obstruction that stood in the way of man's -plough, or of his first frail ship, or his migration, has been assigned -its demon. The reader of Goethe's page has only to turn to the opening -lines of Walpurgisnacht in Faust to behold the real pandemonium of -the Northern man, as in Milton he may find that of the dweller amid -fiery deserts and volcanoes. That labyrinth of vales, crossed with -wild crag and furious torrent, is the natural scenery to surround -the orgies of the phantoms which flit from the uncultured brain to -uncultured nature. Elsewhere in Goethe's great poem, Mephistopheles -pits against the philosophers the popular theory of the rugged remnants -of chaos in nature, and the obstacles before which man is powerless. - - - FAUST. For me this mountain mass rests nobly dumb; - I ask not whence it is, nor why 'tis come? - Herself when Nature in herself did found - This globe of earth, she then did purely round; - The summit and abyss her pleasure made, - Mountain to mountain, rock to rock she laid; - The hillocks down she neatly fashion'd then, - To valleys soften'd them with gentle train. - Then all grew green and bloom'd, and in her joy - She needs no foolish spoutings to employ. - - MEPHISTOPHELES. So say ye! It seems clear as noon to ye, - Yet he knows who was there the contrary. - I was hard by below, when seething flame - Swelled the abyss, and streaming fire forth came; - When Moloch's hammer forging rock to rock, - Far flew the fragment-cliffs beneath the shock: - Of masses strange and huge the land was full; - Who clears away such piles of hurl'd misrule? - Philosophers the reason cannot see; - There lies the rock, and they must let it be. - We have reflected till ashamed we've grown; - The common folk can thus conceive alone, - And in conception no disturbance know, - Their wisdom ripen'd has long while ago: - A miracle it is, they Satan honour show. - My wanderer on faith's crutches hobbles on - Towards the devil's bridge and devil's stone. [138] - - -The great American poet made his pilgrimage to the mountain so -beautiful in the distance, thinking to find there the men of equal -elevation. Did not Milton describe Freedom as 'a mountain nymph?' - - - To myself I oft recount - The tale of many a famous mount,-- - Wales, Scotland, Uri, Hungary's dells; - Roys, and Scanderbergs, and Tells. - Here Nature shall condense her powers, - Her music, and her meteors, - And lifting man to the blue deep - Where stars their perfect courses keep, - Like wise preceptor, lure his eye. - To sound the science of the sky. - - -But instead of finding there the man using those crags as a fastness -to fight pollution of the mind, he - - - searched the region round - And in low hut my monarch found: - He was no eagle, and no earl;-- - Alas! my foundling was a churl, - With heart of cat and eyes of bug, - Dull victim of his pipe and mug. [139] - - -Ruskin has the same gloomy report to make of the mountaineers of -Europe. 'The wild goats that leap along those rocks have as much -passion of joy in all that fair work of God as the men that toil -among them. Perhaps more.' 'Is it not strange to reflect that hardly -an evening passes in London or Paris but one of those cottages is -painted for the better amusement of the fair and idle, and shaded -with pasteboard pines by the scene-shifter; and that good and kind -people,--poetically minded,--delight themselves in imagining the -happy life led by peasants who dwell by Alpine fountains, and kneel -to crosses upon peaks of rock? that nightly we lay down our gold to -fashion forth simulacra of peasants, in gay ribbons and white bodices, -singing sweet songs and bowing gracefully to the picturesque crosses; -and all the while the veritable peasants are kneeling, songlessly, to -veritable crosses in another temper than the kind and fair audiences -dream of, and assuredly with another kind of answer than is got out -of the opera catastrophe.' [140] - -The writer remembers well the emphasis with which a poor woman at whose -cottage he asked the path to the Natural Bridge in Virginia said, -'I don't know why so many people come to these rocks; for my part, -give me a level country.' Many ages lay between that aged crone and -Emerson or Ruskin, and they were ages of heavy war with the fortresses -of nature. The fabled ordeals of water and fire through which the human -race passed were associated with Ararat and Sinai, because to migrating -or farming man the mountain was always an ordeal, irrespective even of -its torrents or its occasional lava-streams. A terrible vista is opened -by the cry of Lot, 'I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take -me!' Not even the fire consuming Sodom in the plains could nerve him -to dare cope with the demons of the steep places. As time went on, -devotees proved to the awe-stricken peasantries their sanctity and -authority by combating those mountain demons, and erecting their altars -in the 'high places.' So many summits became sacred. But this very -sanctity was the means of bringing on successive demoniac hordes to -haunt them; for every new religion saw in those altars in 'high places' -not victories over demons, but demon-shrines. And thus mountains became -the very battlefields between rival deities, each demon to his or her -rival; and the conflict lasts from the cursing of the 'high places' -by the priests of Israel [141] to the Devil's Pulpits of the Alps -and Apennines. Among the beautiful frescoes at Baden is that of the -Angel's and the Devil's Pulpit, by Götzenberger. Near Gernsbach, -appropriately at the point where the cultivable valley meets the -unconquerable crests of rock, stand the two pulpits from which Satan -and an Angel contended, when the first Christian missionaries had -failed to convert the rude foresters. When, by the Angel's eloquence, -all were won from the Devil's side except a few witches and usurers, -the fiend tore up great masses of rock and built the 'Devil's Mill' -on the mountain-top; and he was hurled down by the Almighty on the -rocks near 'Lord's Meadow,' where the marks of his claws may still -be seen, and where, by a diminishing number of undiminished ears, -his groans are still heard when a storm rages through the valley. - -Such conflicts as these have been in some degree associated with every -mountain of holy or unholy fame. Each was in its time a prosaic Hill -Difficulty, with lions by no means chained, to affright the hearts -of Mistrust and Timorous, till Dervish or Christian impressed there -his holy footprint, visible from Adam's Peak to Olivet, or built -there his convents, discernible from Meru and Olympus to Pontyprydd -and St. Catharine's Hill. By necessary truces the demons and deities -repair gradually to their respective summits,--Seir and Sinai hold -each their own. But the Holy Hills have never equalled the number of -Dark Mountains [142] dreaded by man. These obstructive demons made -the mountains Moul-ge and Nin-ge, names for the King and Queen of -the Accadian Hell; they made the Finnish Mount Kippumaki the abode -of all Pests. They have identified their name (Elf) with the Alps, -given nearly every tarn an evil fame, and indeed created a special -class of demons, 'Montagnards,' much dreaded by mediæval miners, -whose faces they sometimes twisted so that they must look backward -physically, as they were much in the habit of doing mentally, for ever -afterward. Gervais of Tilbury, in his Chronicle, declares that on the -top of Mount Canigon in France, which has a very inaccessible summit, -there is a black lake of unknown depth, at whose bottom the demons -have a palace, and that if any one drops a stone into that water, -the wrath of the mountain demons is shown in sudden and frightful -tempests. From a like tarn in Cornwall, as Cornish Folklore claims, -on an accessible but very tedious hill, came up the hand which received -the brand Escalibore when its master could wield it no more,--as told -in the Morte D'Arthur, with, however, clear reference to the sea. - -I cannot forbear enlivening my page with the following sketch of a -visit of English officers to the realm of Ten-jo, the long-nosed -Mountain-demon of Japan, which is very suggestive of the mental -atmosphere amid which such spectres exist. The mountains and forests -of Japan are, say these writers, inhabited as thickly by good and -evil spirits as the Hartz and Black Forest, and chief among them, -in horrible sanctity, is O-yama,--the word echoes the Hindu Yama, -Japanese Amma, kings of Hades,--whose demon is Ten-jo. 'Abdul and -Mulney once started, on three days' leave, with the intention of -climbing to the summit--not of Ten-jo's nose, but of the mountain; -their principal reason for so doing being simply that they were told -by every one that they had better not. They first tried the ascent on -the most accessible side, but fierce two-sworded yakomins jealously -guarded it; and they were obliged to make the attempt on the other, -which was almost inaccessible, and was Ten-jo's region. The villagers -at the base of the mountain begged them to give up the project; and -one old man, a species of patriarch, reasoned with them. 'What are -you going to do when you get to the top?' he asked. Our two friends -were forced to admit that their course, then, would be very similar -to that of the king of France and his men--come down again. - -The old man laughed pityingly, and said, 'Well, go if you like; but, -take my word for it, Ten-jo will do you an injury.' - -They asked who Ten-jo was. - -'Why Ten-jo,' said the old man, 'is an evil spirit, with a long nose, -who will dislocate your limbs if you persist in going up the mountain -on this side.' - -'How do you know he has got a long nose?' they asked, 'Have you ever -seen him?' - -'Because all evil spirits have long noses'--here Mulney hung his -head,--'and,' continued the old man, not noticing how dreadfully -personal he was becoming to one of the party, 'Ten-jo has the longest -of the lot. Did you ever know a man with a long nose who was good?' - -'Come on,' said Mulney hurriedly to Abdul, 'or the old fool will make -me out an evil spirit.' - -'Syonara,' said the old man as they walked away, 'but look out for -Ten-jo!' - -After climbing hard for some hours, and not meeting a single human -being,--not even the wood-cutter could be tempted by the fine timber -to encroach on Ten-jo's precincts,--they reached the top, and enjoyed -a magnificent view. After a rest they started on their descent, -the worst part of which they had accomplished, when, as they were -walking quietly along a good path, Abdul's ankle turned under him, -and he went down as if he had been shot, with his leg broken in two -places. With difficulty Mulney managed to get him to the village -they had started from, and the news ran like wild-fire that Ten-jo -had broken the leg of one of the adventurous tojins. - -'I told you how it would be,' exclaimed the old man, 'but you would -go. Ah, Ten-jo is a dreadful fellow!' - -All the villagers, clustering round, took up the cry, and shook -their heads. Ten-jo's reputation had increased wonderfully by this -accident. Poor Abdul was on his back for eleven weeks, and numbers of -Japanese--for he was a general favourite amongst them--went to see him, -and to express their regret and horror at Ten-jo's behaviour. [143] - -It is obvious that to a demon dwelling in a high mountain a -long nose would be variously useful to poke into the affairs of -people dwelling in the plains, and also to enjoy the scent of -their sacrifices offered at a respectful distance. That feature -of the face which Napoleon I. regarded as of martial importance, -and which is prominent in the warriors marked on the Mycenæ pottery, -has generally been a physiognomical characteristic of European ogres, -who are blood-smellers. That the significance of Ten-jo's long nose -is this, appears probable when we compare him with the Calmuck -demon Erlik, whose long nose is for smelling out the dying. The -Cossacks believed that the protector of the earth was a many-headed -elephant. The snouted demon (figure 15) is from a picture of Christ -delivering Adam and Eve from hell, by Lucas Van Leyden, 1521. - -The Chinese Mountains also have their demons. The demon of the mountain -T'ai-shan, in Shantung, is believed to regulate the punishments -of men in this world and the next. Four other demon princes rule -over the principal mountain chains of the Empire. Mr. Dennys remarks -that mountainous localities are so regularly the homes of fairies in -Chinese superstition that some connection between the fact and the -relation of 'Elf' to 'Alp' in Europe is suggested. [144] But this -coincidence is by no means so remarkable as the appearance among -these Chinese mountain sprites of the magical 'Sesame,' so familiar -to us in Arabian legend. The celebrated mountain Ku'en Lun (usually -identified with the Hindoo Kush) is said to be peopled with fairies, -who cultivate upon its terraces the 'fields of sesamum and gardens -of coriander seeds,' which are eaten as ordinary food by those who -possess the gift of longevity. - -In the superstitions of the American Aborigines we find gigantic demons -who with their hands piled up mountain-chains as their castles, from -whose peak-towers they hurled stones on their enemies in the plains, -and slung them to the four corners of the earth. [145] Such was the -terrible Apocatequil, whose statue was erected on the mountains, with -that of his mother on the one hand and his brother on the other. He -was Prince of Evil and the chief god of the Peruvians. From Quito -to Cuzco every Indian would give all he possessed to conciliate -him. Five priests, two stewards, and a crowd of slaves served his -image. His principal temple was surrounded by a considerable village, -whose inhabitants had no other occupation than to wait on him. [146] - -The plaudits which welcomed the first railway train that sped beneath -the Alps, echoing amid their crags and gorges, struck with death -the old phantasms which had so long held sway in the imagination of -the Southern peasantry. The great tunnel was hewn straight through -the stony hearts of giants whom Christianity had tried to slay, and, -failing that, baptised and adopted. It is in the Tyrol that we find -the clearest survivals of the old demons of obstruction, the mountain -monarchs. Such is Jordan the Giant of Kohlhütte chasm, near Ungarkopf, -whose story, along with others, is so prettily told by the Countess Von -Gunther. This giant is something of a Ten-jo as to nose, for he smells -'human meat' where his pursued victims are hidden, and his snort makes -things tremble as before a tempest; but he has not the intelligence -ascribed to large noses, for the boys ultimately persuade him that -the way to cross a stream is to tie a stone around his neck, and he -is drowned. One of the giants of Albach could carry a rock weighing -10,000 pounds, and his comrades, while carrying others of 700 pounds, -could leap from stone to stone across rivers, and stoop to catch -the trout with their hands as they leaped. The ferocious Orco, the -mountain-ghost who never ages, fulfils the tradition of his classic -name by often appearing as a monstrous black dog, from whose side -stones rebound, and fills the air with a bad smell (like Mephisto). His -employment is hurling wayfarers down precipices. In her story of the -'Unholdenhof'--or 'monster farm' in the Stubeithal--the Countess Von -Gunther describes the natural character of the mountain demons. - -'It was on this self-same spot that the forester and his son took up -their abode, and they became the dread and abomination of the whole -surrounding country, for they practised, partly openly and partly in -secret, the most manifold iniquities, so that their nature and bearing -grew into something demoniacal. As quarrellers very strong, and as -enemies dreadfully revengeful, they showed their diabolical nature by -the most inhuman deeds, which brought down injury not only on those -against whom their wrath was directed, but also upon their families for -centuries. In the heights of the mountains they turned the beds of the -torrents, and devastated by this means the most flourishing tracts of -land; on other places the Unholde set on fire whole mountain forests, -to allow free room for the avalanches to rush down and overwhelm the -farms. Through certain means they cut holes and fissures in the rocks, -in which, during the summer, quantities of water collected, which froze -in the winter, and then in the spring the thawing ice split the rocks, -which then rolled down into the valleys, destroying everything before -them.... But at last Heaven's vengeance reached them. An earthquake -threw the forester's house into ruins, wild torrents tore over it, -and thunderbolts set all around it in a blaze; and by fire and water, -with which they had sinned, father and son perished, and were condemned -to everlasting torments. Up to the present day they are to be seen -at nightfall on the mountain in the form of two fiery boars.' [147] - -Some of these giants, as has been intimated, were converted. Such was -the case with Heimo, who owned and devastated a vast tract of country -on the river Inn, which, however, he bridged--whence Innsbruck--when -he became a christian and a monk. This conversion was a terrible -disappointment to the devil, who sent a huge dragon to stop the -building of the monastery; but Heimo attacked the dragon, killed him, -and cut out his tongue. With this tongue, a yard and a half long, in -his hand, he is represented in his statue, and the tongue is still -preserved in the cloister. Heimo became a monk at Wilten, lived -a pious life, and on his death was buried near the monastery. The -stone coffin in which the gigantic bones repose is shown there, -and measures over twenty-eight feet. - -Of nearly the same character as the Mountain Demons, and possessing -even more features of the Demons of Barrenness, are the monsters -guarding rocky passes. They are distributed through land, sea, -and rivers. The famous rocks between Italy and Sicily bore the -names of dangerous monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, which have now -become proverbial expressions for alternative perils besetting any -enterprise. According to Homer, Scylla was a kind of canine monster -with six long necks, the mouths paved each with three rows of sharp -teeth; while Charybdis, sitting under her fig-tree, daily swallowed -the waters and vomited them up again. [148] Distantly related to these -fabulous monsters, probably, are many of the old notions of ordeals -undergone between rocks standing close together, or sometimes through -holes in rocks, of which examples are found in Great Britain. An -ordeal of this kind exists at Pera, where the holy well is reached -through a narrow slit. Visitors going there recently on New Year's -Day were warned by the dervish in charge--'Look through it at the -water if you please, but do not essay to enter unless your consciences -are completely free from sin, for as sure as you try to pass through -with a taint upon your soul, you will be gripped by the rock and held -there for ever.' [149] The 'Bocca della Verità'--a great stone face -like a huge millstone--stands in the portico of the church S. Maria -in Cosmedin at Rome, and its legend is that a suspected person was -required to place his hand through the open mouth; if he swore falsely -it would bite off the hand--the explanation now given being that a -swordsman was concealed behind to make good the judicial shrewdness -of the stone in case the oath were displeasing to the authorities. - -The myth of Scylla, which relates that she was a beautiful maiden, -beloved by Glaucus, whom Circe through jealousy transformed to a -monster by throwing magic herbs into the well where she was wont to -bathe, is recalled by various European legends. In Thuringia, on the -road to Oberhof, stands the Red Stone, with its rosebush, and a stream -issuing from beneath it, where a beautiful maid is imprisoned. Every -seven years she may be seen bathing in the stream. On one occasion -a peasant passing by heard a sneeze in the rock, and called out, -'God help thee!' The sneeze and the benediction were repeated, -until at the seventh time the man cried, 'Oh, thou cursed witch, -deceive not honest people!' As he then walked off, a wailing voice -came out of the stone, 'Oh, hadst thou but only wished the last time -that God would help me. He would have helped me, and thou wouldst -have delivered me; now I must tarry till the Day of Judgment!' The -voice once cried out to a wedding procession passing by the stone, -'To-day wed, next year dead;' and the bride having died a year after, -wedding processions dread the spot. - -The legends of giants and giantesses, so numerous in Great Britain, -are equally associated with rocky mountain-passes, or the boulders -they were supposed to have tossed thence when sportively stoning each -other. They are the Tor of the South and Ben of the North. The hills of -Ross-shire in Scotland are mythological monuments of Cailliachmore, -great woman, who, while carrying a pannier filled with earth and -stones on her back, paused for a moment on a level spot, now the site -of Ben-Vaishard, when the bottom of the pannier gave way, forming the -hills. The recurrence of the names Gog and Magog in Scotland suggests -that in mountainous regions the demons were especially derived from the -hordes of robbers and savages, among whom, in their uncultivable hills, -the ploughshare could never conquer the spear and club. Richard Doyle -enriched the first Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery in London, 1877, -with many beautiful pictures inspired by European Folklore. They were -a pretty garniture for the cemetery of dead religions. The witch once -seen on her broom departing from the high crags of Cuhillan, cheered -by her faithful dwarf, is no longer unlovely as in the days when she -was burned by proxy in some poor human hag; obedient to art--a more -potent wand than her own--she reascends to the clouds from which she -was borne, and is hardly distinguishable from them. Slowly man came -to learn with the poet-- - - - It was the mountain streams that fed - The fair green plain's amenities. [150] - - -Then the giants became fairies, and not a few of these wore at last -the mantles of saints. A similar process has been undergone by another -subject, which finds its pretty epitaph in the artist's treatment. We -saw in two pictures the Dame Blanche of Normandy, lurking in the ravine -beside a stream under the dusk, awaiting yon rustic wood-cutter who is -presently horizontal in the air in that mad dance, after which he will -be found exhausted. As her mountain-sister is faintly shaped out of -the clouds that cap Cuhillan, this one is an imaginative outgrowth of -the twilight shadows, the silvery glintings of moving clouds mirrored -in pools, and her tresses are long luxuriant grasses. She is of a -sisterhood which passes by hardly perceptible gradations into others, -elsewhere described--the creations of Illusion and Night. She is not -altogether one of these, however, but a type of more direct danger--the -peril of fords, torrents, thickets, marshes, and treacherous pools, -which may seem shallow, but are deep. - -The water-demons have been already described in their obvious aspects, -but it is necessary to mention here the simple obstructive river-demons -haunting fords and burns, and hating bridges. Many tragedies, and -many personifications of the forces which caused them, preceded the -sanctity of the title Pontifex. The torrent that roared across man's -path seemed the vomit of a demon: the sacred power was he who could -bridge it. In one of the most beautiful celebrations of Indra it is -said: 'He tranquillised this great river so that it might be crossed; -he conveyed across it in safety the sages who had been unable to pass -over it, and who, having crossed, proceeded to realise the wealth -they sought; in the exhilaration of the soma, Indra has done these -deeds.' [151] In Ceylon, the demon Tota still casts malignant spells -about fords and ferries. - -Many are the legends of the opposition offered by demons to -bridge-building, and of the sacrifices which had to be made to them -before such works could be accomplished. A few specimens must suffice -us. Mr. Dennys relates a very interesting one of the 'Loh-family -bridge' at Shanghai. Difficulty having been found in laying the -foundations, the builder vowed to Heaven two thousand children if the -stones could be placed properly. The goddess addressed said she would -not require their lives, but that the number named would be attacked by -small-pox, which took place, and half the number died. A Chinese author -says, 'If bridges are not placed in proper positions, such as the -laws of geomancy indicate, they may endanger the lives of thousands, -by bringing about a visitation of small-pox or sore eyes.' At Hang-Chow -a tea-merchant cast himself into the river Tsien-tang as a sacrifice -to the Spirit of the dikes, which were constantly being washed away. - -The 'Devil's Bridges,' to which Mephistopheles alludes so proudly, are -frequent in Germany, and most of them, whether natural or artificial, -have diabolical associations. The oldest structures often have legends -in which are reflected the conditions exacted by evil powers, of -those who spanned the fords in which men had often been drowned. Of -this class is the Montafon Bridge in the Tyrol, and another is the -bridge at Ratisbon. The legend of the latter is a fair specimen of -those which generally haunt these ancient structures. Its architect -was apprentice to a master who was building the cathedral, and laid -a wager that he would bridge the Danube before the other laid the -coping-stone of the sacred edifice. But the work of bridging the river -was hard, and after repeated failures the apprentice began to swear, -and wished the devil had charge of the business! Whereupon he of the -cloven foot appeared in guise of a friar, and agreed to build the -fifteen arches--for a consideration. The fee was to be the first three -that crossed the bridge. The cunning apprentice contrived that these -three should not be human, but a dog, a cock, and a hen. The devil, -in wrath at the fraud, tore the animals to pieces and disappeared; -a procession of monks passed over the bridge and made it safe; -and thereon are carved figures of the three animals. In most of the -stories it is a goat which is sent over and mangled, that poor animal -having preserved its character as scape-goat in a great deal of the -Folklore of Christendom. The Danube was of old regarded as under the -special guardianship of the Prince of Darkness, who used to make great -efforts to obstruct the Crusaders voyaging down it to rescue the Holy -Land from pagans. On one occasion, near the confluence of the Vilz -and Danube, he began hurling huge rocks into the river-bed from the -cliffs; the holy warriors resisted successfully by signing the cross -and singing an anthem, but the huge stone first thrown caused a whirl -and swell in that part of the river, which were very dangerous until -it was removed by engineers. - -It is obvious, especially to the English, who have so long found a -defensive advantage in the silver streak of sea that separates them -from the Continent, that an obstacle, whether of mountain-range -or sea, would, at a certain point in the formation of a nation, -become as valuable as at another it might be obstructive. Euphemism -is credited with having given the friendly name 'Euxine' to the -rough 'Axine' Sea,--'terrible to foreigners.' But this is not so -certain. Many a tribe has found the Black Sea a protection and a -friend. In the case of mountains, their protective advantages would -account at once for Milton's celebration of Freedom as a mountain -nymph, and for the stupidity of the people that dwell amid them, -so often remarked; the very means of their independence would also -be the cause of their insulation and barbarity. It is for those who -go to and fro that knowledge is increased. The curious and inquiring -are most apt to migrate; the enterprising will not submit to be shut -away behind rocks and mountains; by their departure there would be -instituted, behind the barriers of rock and hill, a survival of the -stupidest. These might ultimately come to worship their chains and -cover their craggy prison-walls with convents and crosses. The demons -of aliens would be their gods. The climbing Hannibals would be their -devils. It might have been expected, after the passages quoted from -Mr. Ruskin concerning the bovine condition of Alpine peasantries, -that he would salute the tunnel through Mont Cenis. The peasantries -who would see in the sub-alpine engine a demon are extinct. Admiration -of the genii of obstruction, and horror of the demons that vanquished -them, are discoverable only in folk-tales distant enough to be pretty, -such as the interesting Serbian story of 'Satan's jugglings and God's -might,' in which fairies hiding in successively opened nuts vainly -try to oppose with fire and flood a she-demon pursuing a prince and -his bride, to whose aid at last comes a flash of lightning which -strikes the fiend dead. - -One of the beautiful 'Contes d'une Grand'mère,' by George Sand, -Le géant Yéous, has in it the sense of many fables born of man's -struggle with obstructive nature. With her wonted felicity she -places the scene of this true human drama near the mountain Yéous, -in the Pyrenees, whose name is a far-off echo of Zeus. The summit -bore an enormous rock which, seen from a distance, appeared somewhat -like a statue. The peasant Miquelon, who had his little farm at the -mountain's base, whenever he passed made the sign of the cross and -taught his little son Miquel to do the same, telling him that the -great form was that of a pagan god, an enemy of the human race. An -avalanche fell upon the home and garden of Miquelon; the poor man -himself was disabled for life, his house and farm turned in a moment -into a wild mass of stones. Miquel looked up to the summit of Yéous; -the giant had disappeared; henceforth it was the mighty form of an -organic monster which the boy saw stretched over what had once been -their happy home and smiling acres. The family went about begging, -Miquelon repeating his strange appeal, 'Le géant s'est couché sur -moi.' But when at last the old man dies, the son resolves to fulfil the -silent dream of his life; he will encounter the giant Yéous still in -possession of his paternal acres. With eyes of the young world this -boy sees starting up here and there amid the vast debris, the head -of the demon he wishes to crush. He hurls stones hither and thither -where some fearful feature or limb appears. He is filled with rage; -his dreams are filled with attacks on the giant, in which the colossal -head tumbles only to reappear on the shoulders; every broken limb has -the self-repairing power. There is no progress. But as the boy grows, -and the contest grows, and need comes, there gathers in Miquel a -desire to clear the ground. When he begins to think, it is no longer -the passion to avenge his father on the stony giant which possesses -him, but to recover their lost garden. Thus, indeed, the giant himself -could alone be conquered. The huge rocks are split by gunpowder, some -fragments are made into fences, others into a comfortable mansion -for Miquel's mother and sisters. When the garden smiles again, and -all are happy the demon form is no longer discoverable. [152] - -This little tale interprets with fine insight the demonology of -barrenness and obstruction. The boy's wrath against the unconscious -cause of his troubles is the rage often observed in children -who retaliate upon the table or chair on which they have been -bruised, and it repeats embryologically the rage of the world's -boyhood inspired by ascription of personal motives to inanimate -obstructions. Possibly such wrath might have added something to -the force with which man entered upon his combat with nature; but -George Sand's tale reminds us that whatever was gained in force was -lost in its misdirection. Success came in the proportion that fury -was replaced by the youth's growing recognition that he was dealing -with facts that could not be raged out of existence. It is crowned -when he makes friends with the unconquerable remnant of the giant, -and sees that he is not altogether evil. - -It is at this stage that the higher Art, conversant with Beauty, enters -to relieve man of many moral wounds received in the struggle. Clothed -with moss and clematis, Yéous appears not so hideous after all. Further -invested by the genius of a Turner, he would be beautiful. Yéous is -a fair giant after all, only he needed finish. He is a type of nature. - -The boyhood of the world has not passed away with Miquel. We find a -fictitious dualism cherished by the lovers of nature in their belief or -feeling that nature exerts upon man some spiritual influence. Ruskin -has said that in looking from the Campanile at Venice to the circle -of snow which crowns the Adriatic, and then to the buildings which -contain the works of Titian and Tintoret, he has felt unable to -answer the question of his own heart, By which of these--the nature -or the manhood--has God given mightier evidence of Himself? So nature -may teach the already taught. While Ruskin looks from the Campanile, -the peasant is fighting the mountain and calling its rocky grandeurs -by the devil's name; before the pictures he kneels. Untaught by art -and science, the mind can derive no elevation from nature, can find no -sympathy in it. It is a false notion that there is any compensation for -the ignorant, denied access to art-galleries, in ability to pass their -Sundays amid natural scenery. Health that may bring them, but mentally -they are still inside the prison-walls from which look the stony eyes -of Fates and Furies. Natural sublimities cannot refine minds crude -as themselves; they must pass through thought before they can feed -thought; it is nature transfigured in art that changes the snow-clad -mountain from a heartless giant to a saviour in snow-pure raiment. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -ILLUSION. - - Maya--Natural Treacheries--Misleaders--Glamour--Lorelei--Chinese - Mermaid--Transformations--Swan Maidens--Pigeon Maidens--The - Seal-skin--Nudity--Teufelsee--Gohlitsee--Japanese Siren--Dropping - Cave--Venusberg--Godiva--Will-o'-Wisp--Holy Fräulein--The Forsaken - Merman--The Water-Man--Sea Phantom--Sunken Treasures--Suicide. - - -Most beautiful of all the goddesses of India is Maya, Illusion. In -Hindu iconography she is portrayed in drapery of beautiful colours, -with decoration of richest gems and broidery of flowers. From above -her crown falls a veil which, curving above her knees, returns on -the other side, making, as it were, also an apron in which are held -fair animal forms--prototypes of the creation over which she has -dominion. The youthful yet serious beauty of her face and head is -surrounded with a semi-aureole, fringed with soft lightning, striated -with luminous sparks; and these are background for a cruciform nimbus -made of three clusters of rays. Maya presses her full breasts, from -which flow fountains of milk which fall in graceful streams to mingle -with the sea on which she stands. - -So to our Aryan ancestors appeared the spirit that paints the universe, -flushing with tints so strangely impartial fruits forbidden and -unforbidden for man and beast. Mankind are slandered by the priest's -creed, Populus vult decipi; they are justly vindicated in Plato's -aphorism, 'Unwillingly is the soul deprived of truth;' but still -they are deceived. Large numbers are truly described by Swedenborg, -who found hells whose occupants believed themselves in heaven and -sang praises therefor. Such praises we may hear in the loud laughter -proceeding from dens where paradise has been gained by the cheap charm -of a glass of gin or a prostitute's caress. Serpent finds its ideal -in serpent. In heaven, says Swedenborg, we shall see things as they -are. But it is the adage of those who have lost their paradise, and -eat still the dry dust of reality not raised by science; the general -world has not felt that divine curse, or it has been wiped away so that -the most sensual fool may rejoice in feeling himself God's darling, -and pities the paganism of Plato. Man and beast are certain that they -do see things as they are. Maya's milk is tinctured from the poppies -of her robe; untold millions of misgivings have been put to sleep by -her tender bounty; the waters that sustain her are those of Lethe. - -But beneath every illusive heaven Nature stretches also an illusive -hell. The poppies lose their force at last, and under the scourge -of necessity man wakes to find all his paradise of roses turned to -briars. Maya's breast-fountains pass deeper than the surface--from -one flows soft Lethe, the other issues at last in Phlegethon. Fear is -even a more potent painter than Hope, and out of the manifold menaces -of Nature can at last overlay the fairest illusions. It is a pathetic -fact, that so soon as man begins to think his first theory infers a -will at work wherever he sees no cause; his second, to suppose that -it will harm him! - -Harriet Martineau's account of her childish terror caused by seeing -some prismatic colours dancing on the wall of a vacant room she was -entering--'imps' that had no worse origin than a tremulous candelabrum, -but which haunted her nerves through life--is an experience which may -be traced in the haunted childhood of every nation. There are other -phenomena besides these prismatic colours, which have had an evil name -in popular superstition, despite their beauty. Strange it might seem to -a Buddhist that yon exquisite tree with its blood-red buds should be -called the Judas-tree, as to us that the graceful swan which might be -the natural emblem of purity should be associated with witchcraft! But -the student of mythology will at every moment be impressed by the fact -that myths oftener represent a primitive science than mere fancies -and conceits. The sinuous neck of the swan, its passionate jealousy, -and the uncanny whistle, or else dumbness, found where, from so snowy -an outside, melody might have been looked for, may have made this -animal the type of a double nature. The treacherous brilliants of -the serpent, or honey protected by stings, or the bright blossoms of -poisons, would have trained the instinct which apprehends evil under -the apparition of beauty. This, as we shall have occasion to see, -has had a controlling influence upon the ethical constitution of our -nature. But it is at present necessary to observe that the primitive -science generally reversed the induction of our later philosophy; for -where an evil or pain was discovered in anything, it concluded that -such was its raison d'être, and its attractive qualities were simply -a demon's treacherous bait. However, here are the first stimulants -to self-control in the lessons that taught distrust of appearances. - -Because many a pilgrim perished through a confidence in the -lake-pictures of the mirage which led to carelessness about economising -his skin of water, the mirage gained its present name--Bahr Sheitan, -or Devil's Water. The 'Will o' wisp,' which appeared to promise the -night-wanderer warmth or guidance, but led him into a bog, had its -excellent directions as to the place to avoid perverted by an unhappy -misunderstanding into a wilful falsehood, and has been branded ignis -fatuus. Most of the mimicries in nature gradually became as suspicious -to the primitive observer as aliases to a magistrate. The thing -that seemed to be fire, or water, but was not; the insect or animal -which took its hue or form from some other, from the leaf-spotted -or stem-striped cats to that innocent insect whose vegetal disguise -has gained for it the familiar name of 'Devil's Walking-stick;' -the humanlike hiss, laugh, or cry of animals; the vibratory sound or -movement which so often is felt as if near when it really is far; the -sand which seems hard but sinks; the sward which proves a bog;--all -these have their representation in the demonology of delusion. The -Coroados of Brazil says that the Evil One 'sometimes transforms -(himself) into a swamp, &c., leads him astray, vexes him, brings him -into danger, and even kills him.' [153] It is like an echo of Burton's -account. 'Terrestrial devils are those lares, genii, faunes, satyrs, -wood-nymphs, foliots, fairies, Robin Good-fellows, trulli, &c., which, -as they are most conversant with men, so they do them most harm. These -are they that dance on heaths and greens, as Lavater thinks with -Trithemius, and, as Olaus Magnus adds, leave that green circle which -we commonly find in plain fields. They are sometimes seen by old women -and children. Hieron. Pauli, in his description of the city of Bercino, -Spain, relates how they have been familiarly seen near that town, about -fountains and hills. 'Sometimes,' saith Trithemius, 'they lead simple -people into the recesses of mountains and show them wonderful sights,' -&c. Giraldus Cambrensis gives an instance of a monk of Wales that was -so deluded. Paracelsus reckons up many places in Germany where they -do usually walk about in little coats, some two feet long. [154] Real -dangers beset the woods and mountain passes, the swamp and quicksand; -in such forms did they haunt the untamed jungles of imagination! - -Over that sea on which Maya stands extends the silvery wand of -Glamour. It descended to the immortal Old Man of the Sea, favourite -of the nymphs, oracle of the coasts, patron of fishermen, friend of -Proteus, who could see through all the sea's depths and assume all -shapes. How many witcheries could proceed from the many-tinted sea to -affect the eyes and enable them to see Triton with his wreathed horn, -and mermaids combing their hair, and marine monsters, and Aphrodite -poised on the white foam! Glaucoma it may be to the physicians; -but Glaucus it is in the scheme of Maya, who has never left land -or sea without her witness. Beside the Polar Sea a Samoyed sailor, -asked by Castrén 'where is Num' (i.e., Jumala, his god), pointed to -the dark distant sea, and said, He is there. - -To the ancients there were two seas,--the azure above, and that -beneath. The imaginative child in its development passes all those -dreamy coasts; sees in clouds mountains of snow on the horizon, and in -the sunset luminous seas laving golden isles. When as yet to the young -world the shining sun was Berchta, the white fleecy clouds were her -swans. When she descended to the sea, as a thousand stories related, -it was to repeat the course of the sun for all tribes looking on a -westward sea. No one who has read that charming little book, 'The -Gods in Exile,' [155] will wonder at the happy instinct of learning -shown in Heine's little poem, 'Sonnenuntergang,' [156] wherein we -see shining solar Beauty compelled to become the spinning housewife, -or reluctant spouse of Poseidon:-- - - - A lovely dame whom the old ocean-god - For convenience once had married; - And in the day-time she wanders gaily - Through the high heaven, purple-arrayed, - And all in diamonds gleaming, - And all beloved, and all amazing - To every worldly being, - And every worldly being rejoicing - With warmth and splendour from her glances. - Alas! at evening, sad and unwilling, - Back must she bend her slow steps - To the dripping house, to the barren embrace - Of grisly old age. - - -This of course is Heinesque, and has no relation to any legend of -Bertha, but is a fair specimen of mythology in the making, and is -quite in the spirit of many of the myths that have flitted around -sunset on the sea. Whatever the explanation of their descent, the -Shining One and her fleecy retinue were transformed. When to sea or -lake came Berchta (or Perchta), it was as Bertha of the Large Foot -(i.e., webbed), or of the Long Nose (beak), and her troop were -Swan-maidens. Their celestial character was changed with that of -their mistress. They became familiars of sorcerers and sorceresses. To -'wear yellow slippers' became the designation of a witch. - -How did these fleecy white cloud-phantoms become demonised? What -connection is there between them and the enticing Lorelei and the -dangerous Rhine-daughters watching over golden treasures, once, -perhaps, metaphors of moonlight ripples? They who have listened to -the wild laughter of these in Wagner's opera, Das Rheingold, and -their weird 'Heiayaheia!' can hardly fail to suspect that they became -associated with the real human nymphs whom the summer sun still finds -freely sporting in the bright streams of Russia, Hungary, Austria, -and East Germany, naked and not ashamed. Many a warning voice against -these careless Phrynes, who may have left tattered raiment on the shore -to be transfigured in the silvery waves, must have gone forth from -priests and anxious mothers. Nor would there be wanting traditions -enough to impress such warnings. Few regions have been without such -stories as those which the traveller Hiouen-Thsang (7th century) -found in Buddhist chronicles of the Rakshasis of Ceylon. 'They waylay -the merchants who land in the isle, and, changing themselves to women -of great beauty, come before them with fragrant flowers and music; -attracting them with kind words to the town of Iron, they offer them -a feast, and give themselves up to pleasure with them; then shut them -in an iron prison, and eat them one after the other.' - -There is a strong accent of human nature in the usual plot of the -Swan-maiden legend, her garments stolen while she bathes, and her -willingness to pay wondrous prices for them--since they are her -feathers and her swanhood, without which she must remain for ever -captive of the thief. The stories are told in regions so widely -sundered, and their minor details are so different, that we may at -any rate be certain that they are not all traceable solely to fleecy -clouds. Sometimes the garments of the demoness--and these beings -are always feminine--are not feathery, as in the German stories, but -seal-skins, or of nondescript red tissue. Thus, the Envoy Li Ting-yuan -(1801) records a Chinese legend of a man named Ming-ling-tzu, a poor -and worthy farmer without family, who, on going to draw water from -a spring near his house, saw a woman bathing in it. She had hung -her clothes on a pine tree, and, in punishment for her 'shameless -ways' and for her fouling the well, he carried off the dress. The -clothing was unlike the familiar Lewchewan in style, and 'of a ruddy -sunset colour.' The woman, having finished her bath, cried out in -great anger, 'What thief has been here in broad day? Bring back my -clothes, quick.' She then perceived Ming-ling-tzu, and threw herself -on the ground before him. He began to scold her, and asked why she -came and fouled his water; to which she replied that both the pine -tree and the well were made by the Creator for the use of all. The -farmer entered into conversation with her, and pointed out that fate -evidently intended her to be his wife, as he absolutely refused to -give up her clothes, while without them she could not get away. The -result was that they were married. She lived with him for ten years, -and bore him a son and a daughter. At the end of that time her fate -was fulfilled: she ascended a tree during the absence of her husband, -and having bidden his children farewell, glided off on a cloud and -disappeared. [157] - -In South Africa a parallel myth, in its demonological aspect, bears -no trace of a cloud origin. In this case a Hottentot, travelling with -a Bushwoman and her child, met a troop of wild horses. They were all -hungry; and the woman, taking off a petticoat made of human skin, -was instantly changed into a lioness. She struck down a horse, and -lapped its blood; then, at the request of the Hottentot, who in his -terror had climbed a tree, she resumed her petticoat and womanhood, and -the friends, after a meal of horseflesh, resumed their journey. [158] -Among the Minussinian Tartars these demons partake of the nature of -the Greek Harpies; they are bloodthirsty vampyre-demons who drink -the blood of men slain in battle, darken the air in their flight, -and house themselves in one great black fiend. [159] As we go East -the portrait of the Swan-maiden becomes less dark, and she is not -associated with the sea or the under-world. Such is one among the -Malays, related by Mr. Tylor. In the island of Celebes it is said -that seven nymphs came down from the sky to bathe, and were seen by -Kasimbaha, who at first thought them white doves, but in the bath -perceived they were women. He stole the robe of one of them, Utahagi, -and as she could not fly without it, she became his wife and bare him -a son. She was called Utahagi because of a single magic white hair -she had; this her husband pulled out, when immediately a storm arose, -and she flew to heaven. The child was in great grief, and the husband -cast about how he should follow her up into the sky. - -The Swan-maiden appears somewhat in the character of a Nemesis in -a Siberian myth told by Mr. Baring-Gould. A certain Samoyed who had -stolen a Swan-maiden's robe, refused to return it unless she secured -for him the heart of seven demon robbers, one of whom had killed -the Samoyed's mother. The robbers were in the habit of hanging -up their hearts on pegs in their tent. The Swan-maiden procured -them. The Samoyed smashed six of the hearts; made the seventh robber -resuscitate his mother, whose soul, kept in a purse, had only to be -shaken over the old woman's grave for that feat to be accomplished, -and the Swan-maiden got back her plumage and flew away rejoicing. [160] - -In Slavonic Folklore the Swan-maiden is generally of a dangerous -character, and if a swan is killed they are careful not to show it to -children for fear they will die. When they appear as ducks, geese, -and other water-fowl, they are apt to be more mischievous than when -they come as pigeons; and it is deemed perilous to kill a pigeon, -as among sailors it was once held to kill an albatross. Afanasief -relates a legend which shows that, even when associated with the -water-king, the Tsar Morskoi or Slavonic Neptune, the pigeon preserves -its beneficent character. A king out hunting lies down to drink from -a lake (as in the story related on p. 146), when Tsar Morskoi seizes -him by the beard, and will not release him until he agrees to give -him his infant son. The infant prince, deserted on the edge of the -fatal lake, by advice of a sorceress hides in some bushes, whence he -presently sees twelve pigeons arrive, which, having thrown off their -feathers, disport themselves in the lake. At length a thirteenth, -more beautiful than the rest, arrives, and her sorochka (shift) Ivan -seizes. To recover it she agrees to be his wife, and, having told -him he will find her beneath the waters, resumes her pigeon-shape and -flies away. Beneath the lake he finds a beautiful realm, and though -the Tsar Morskoi treats him roughly and imposes heavy tasks on him, -the pigeon-maiden (Vassilissa) assists him, and they dwell together -happily. [161] - -In Norse Mythology the vesture of the uncanny maid is oftenest a -seal-skin, and a vein of pathos enters the legends. Of the many -legends of this kind, still believed in Sweden and Norway, one has -been pleasantly versified by Miss Eliza Keary. A fisherman having -found a pretty white seal-skin, took it home with him. At night there -was a wailing at his door; the maid enters, becomes his wife, and -bears him three children. But after seven years she finds the skin, -and with it ran to the shore. The eldest child tells the story to -the father on his return home. - - - Then we three, Daddy, - Ran after, crying, 'Take us to the sea! - - Wait for us, Mammy, we are coming too! - Here's Alice, Willie can't keep up with you! - Mammy, stop--just for a minute or two!' - At last we came to where the hill - Slopes straight down to the beach, - And there we stood all breathless, still - Fast clinging each to each. - We saw her sitting upon a stone, - Putting the little seal-skin on. - O Mammy! Mammy! - She never said goodbye, Daddy, - She didn't kiss us three; - She just put the little seal-skin on - And slipt into the sea! - - -Some of the legends of this character are nearly as realistic as -Mr. Swinburne's 'Morality' of David and Bathsheba. To imagine -the scarcity of wives in regions to which the primitive Aryan -race migrated, we have only to remember the ben trovato story of -Californians holding a ball in honour of a bonnet, in the days before -women had followed them in migration. To steal Bathsheba's clothes, -and so capture her, might at one period have been sufficiently common -in Europe to require all the terrors contained in the armoury of -tradition concerning the demonesses that might so be taken in, and -might so tempt men to take them in. In the end they might disappear, -carrying off treasures in the most prosaic fashion, or perhaps they -might bring to one's doors a small Trojan war. It is probable that -the sentiment of modesty, so far as it is represented in the shame -of nudity, was the result of prudential agencies. Though the dread -of nudity has become in some regions a superstition in the female -mind strong enough to have its martyrs--as was seen at the sinking -of the Northfleet and the burning hotel in St. Louis--it is one -that has been fostered by men in distrust of their own animalism. In -barbarous regions, where civilisation introduces clothes, the women -are generally the last to adopt them; and though Mr. Herbert Spencer -attributes this to female conservatism, it appears more probable -that it is because the men are the first to lose their innocence and -the women last to receive anything expensive. It is noticeable how -generally the Swan-maidens are said in the myths to be captured by -violence or stratagem. At the same time the most unconscious temptress -might be the means of breaking up homes and misleading workmen, and -thus become invested with all the wild legends told of the illusory -phenomena of nature in popular mythology. - -It is marvellous to observe how all the insinuations of the bane were -followed by equal dexterities in the antedote. The fair tempters might -disguise their intent in an appeal to the wayfarer's humanity; and, -behold, there were a thousand well-attested narratives ready for the -lips of wife and mother showing the demoness appealing for succour -to be fatalest of all! - -There is a stone on the Müggelsberger, in Altmark, which is said to -cover a treasure; this stone is sometimes called 'Devil's Altar,' -and sometimes it is said a fire is seen there which disappears when -approached. It lies on the verge of Teufelsee,--a lake dark and small, -and believed to be fathomless. Where the stone lies a castle once -stood which sank into the ground with its fair princess. But from the -underground castle there is a subterranean avenue to a neighbouring -hill, and from this hill of an evening sometimes comes an old woman, -bent over her staff. Next day there will be seen a most beautiful lady -combing her long golden hair. To all who pass she makes her entreaties -that they will set her free, her pathetic appeals being backed by offer -of a jewelled casket which she holds. The only means of liberating her -is, she announces, that some one shall bear her on his shoulders three -times round Teufelsee church without looking back. The experiment -has several times been made. One villager at his first round saw a -large hay-waggon drawn past him by four mice, and following it with -his eyes received blows on the ears. Another saw a waggon drawn by -four coal-black fire-breathing horses coming straight against him, -started back, and all disappeared with the cry 'Lost again for ever!' A -third tried and almost got through. He was found senseless, and on -recovering related that when he took the princess on his shoulders -she was light as a feather, but she grew heavier and heavier as he -bore her round. Snakes, toads, and all horrible animals with fiery -eyes surrounded him; dwarfs hurled blocks of wood and stones at him; -yet he did not look back, and had nearly completed the third round, -when he saw his village burst into flames; then he looked behind--a -blow felled him--and he seems to have only lived long enough to tell -this story. The youth of Köpernick are warned to steel their hearts -against any fair maid combing her hair near Teufelsee. But the folklore -of the same neighbourhood admits that it is by no means so dangerous -for dames to listen to appeals of this kind. In the Gohlitzsee, for -example, a midwife was induced to plunge in response to a call for aid; -having aided a little Merwoman in travail, she was given an apronful of -dust, which appeared odd until on shore it proved to be many thalers. - -In countries where the popular imagination, instead of being -scientific, is trained to be religiously retrospective, it relapses -at the slightest touch into the infantine speculations of the human -race. Not long ago, standing at a shop-window in Ostend where a -'Japanese Siren' was on view, the clever imposture interested me -less than the comments of the passing and pausing observers. The -most frequent wonders seriously expressed were, whether she sang, -or combed her hair, or was under a doom, or had a soul to be -saved. Every question related to Circe, Ulysses and the Sirens, and -other conceptions of antiquity. The Japanese artists rightly concluded -they could float their Siren in any intellectual waters where Jonah -in his whale could pass, or a fish appear with its penny. Nay, even -in their primitive form the Sirens find their kith and kin still -haunting all the coasts of northern Europe. A type of the Irish and -Scottish Siren may be found in the very complete legend of one seen -by John Reid, shipmaster of Cromarty. With long flowing yellow hair -she sat half on a rock, half in water, nude and beautiful, half woman -half fish, and John managed to catch and hold her tight till she had -promised to fulfil three wishes; then, released, she sprang into the -sea. The wishes were all fulfilled, and to one of them (though John -would never reveal it) the good-luck of the Reids was for a century -after ascribed. [162] - -The scene of this legend is the 'Dropping Cave,' and significantly -near the Lover's Leap. One of John's wishes included the success of -his courtship. These Caves run parallel with that of Venusberg, where -the minstrel Tannhäuser is tempted by Venus and her nymphs. Heine -finishes off his description of this Frau Venus by saying he fancied -he met her one day in the Place Bréda. 'What do you take this lady -to be?' asked he of Balzac, who was with him. 'She is a mistress,' -replied Balzac. 'A duchess rather,' returned Heine. But the friends -found on further explanation that they were both quite right. Venus' -doves, soiled for a time, were spiritualised at last and made white, -while the snowy swan grew darker. An old German word for swan, -elbiz, originally denoting its whiteness (albus), furthered its -connection with all 'elfish' beings--elf being from the same word, -meaning white; but, as in Goethe's 'Erl König,' often disguising a -dark character. The Swan and the Pigeon meet (with some modifications) -as symbols of the Good and Evil powers in the legend of Lohengrin. The -witch transforms the boy into a Swan, which, however, draws to save his -sister, falsely accused of his murder, the Knight of the Sangreal, who, -when the mystery of his holy name is inquired into by his too curious -bride, is borne away by white doves. These legends all bear in them, -however faintly, the accent of the early conflict of religion with -the wild passions of mankind. Their religious bearings bring us to -inquiries which must be considered at a later phase of our work. But -apart from purely moral considerations, it is evident that there must -have been practical dangers surrounding the early social chaos amid -which the first immigrants in Europe found themselves. - -Although the legend of Lady Godiva includes elements of another origin, -it is probable that in the fate of Peeping Tom there is a distant -reflection of the punishment sometimes said to overtake those who -gazed too curiously upon the Swan-maiden without her feathers. The -devotion of the nude lady of Coventry would not be out of keeping -with one class of these mermaiden myths. There is a superstition, now -particularly strong in Iceland, that all fairies are children of Eve, -whom she hid away on an occasion when the Lord came to visit her, -because they were not washed and presentable. So he condemned them -to be for ever invisible. This superstition seems to be related to -an old debate whether these præternatural beings are the children of -Adam and Eve or not. A Scotch story bears against that conclusion. A -beautiful nymph, with a slight robe of green, came from the sea and -approached a fisherman while he was reading his Bible. She asked him if -it contained any promise of mercy for her. He replied that it contained -an offer of salvation to 'all the children of Adam;' whereupon with a -loud shriek she dashed into the sea again. Euphemism would co-operate -with natural compassion in saying a good word for 'the good little -people,' whether hiding in earth or sea. In Altmark, 'Will-o'-wisps' -are believed to be the souls of unbaptized children--sometimes of -lunatics--unable to rest in their graves; they are called 'Light-men,' -and it is said that though they may sometimes mislead they often guide -rightly, especially if a small coin be thrown them,--this being also -an African plan of breaking a sorcerer's spell. Christianity long -after its advent in Germany had to contend seriously with customs and -beliefs found in some lakeside villages where the fishermen regarded -themselves as in friendly relations with the præternatural guardians -of the waters, and unto this day speak of their presiding sea-maiden -as a Holy Fräulein. They hear her bells chiming up from the depths in -holy seasons to mingle with those whose sounds are wafted from church -towers; and it seems to have required many fables, told by prints of -fishermen found sitting lifeless on their boats while listening to -them, to gradually transfer reverence to the new christian fairy. - -It may be they heard some such melody as that which has found its -finest expression in Mr. Matthew Arnold's 'Forsaken Merman:'-- - - - Children dear, was it yesterday - (Call yet once) that she went away? - Once she sate with you and me, - On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea, - And the youngest sate on her knee. - She comb'd its bright hair, and she tended it well, - When down swung the sound of the far-off bell. - She sigh'd, she look'd up through the clear green sea; - She said: 'I must go, for my kinsfolk pray - In the little grey church on the shore to-day. - 'Twill be Easter-time in the world--ah me! - And I lose my poor soul, Merman, here with thee.' - I said, 'Go up, dear heart, through the waves, - Say thy prayer, and come back to the kind sea-caves.' - She smil'd, she went up through the surf in the bay. - Children dear, was it yesterday? - - -Perhaps we should find the antecedents of this Merman's lost Margaret, -whom he called back in vain, in the Danish ballad of 'The Merman and -the Marstig's Daughter,' who, in Goethe's version, sought the winsome -May in church, thither riding as a gay knight on - - - horse of the water clear, - The saddle and bridle of sea-sand were. - - They went from the church with the bridal train, - They danced in glee, and they danced full fain; - They danced them down to the salt-sea strand, - And they left them standing there, hand in hand. - - 'Now wait thee, love, with my steed so free, - And the bonniest bark I'll bring for thee.' - And when they passed to the white, white sand, - The ships came sailing on to the land; - - But when they were out in the midst of the sound, - Down went they all in the deep profound! - Long, long on the shore, when the winds were high, - They heard from the waters the maiden's cry. - - I rede ye, damsels, as best I can-- - Tread not the dance with the Water-Man! - - -According to other legends, however, the realm under-sea was not a -place for weeping. Child-eyes beheld all that the Erl-king promised, -in Goethe's ballad-- - - - Wilt thou go, bonny boy? wilt thou go with me? - My daughters shall wait on thee daintily; - My daughters around thee in dance shall sweep, - And rock thee and kiss thee, and sing thee to sleep! - - -Or perhaps child-eyes, lingering in the burning glow of manhood's -passion, might see in the peaceful sea some picture of lost love like -that so sweetly described in Heine's 'Sea Phantom:'-- - - - But I still leaned o'er the side of the vessel, - Gazing with sad-dreaming glances - Down at the water, clear as a mirror, - Looking yet deeper and deeper,-- - Till far in the sea's abysses, - At first like dim wavering vapours, - Then slowly--slowly--deeper in colour, - Domes of churches and towers seemed rising, - And then, as clear as day, a city grand.... - Infinite longing, wondrous sorrow, - Steal through my heart,-- - My heart as yet scarce healed; - It seems as though its wounds, forgotten, - By loving lips again were kissed, - And once again were bleeding - Drops of burning crimson, - Which long and slowly trickle down - Upon an ancient house below there - In the deep, deep sea-town, - On an ancient, high-roofed, curious house, - Where, lone and melancholy, - Below by the window a maiden sits, - Her head on her arm reclined,-- - Like a poor and uncared-for child; - And I know thee, thou poor and long-sorrowing child! - - ... I meanwhile, my spirit all grief, - Over the whole broad world have sought thee, - And ever have sought thee, - Thou dearly beloved, - Thou long, long lost one, - Thou finally found one,-- - At last I have found thee, and now am gazing - Upon thy sweet face, - With earnest, faithful glances, - Still sweetly smiling; - And never will I again on earth leave thee. - I am coming adown to thee, - And with longing, wide-reaching embraces, - Love, I leap down to thy heart! - - -The temptations of fishermen to secure objects seen at the bottom of -transparent lakes, sometimes appearing like boxes or lumps of gold, -and even more reflections of objects in the upper world or air, must -have been sources of danger; there are many tales of their being so -beguiled to destruction. These things were believed treasures of the -little folk who live under water, and would not part with them except -on payment. In Blumenthal lake, 'tis said, there is an iron-bound -yellow coffer which fishermen often have tried to raise, but their -cords are cut as it nears the surface. At the bottom of the same -lake valuable clothing is seen, and a woman who once tried to secure -it was so nearly drowned that it is thought safer to leave it. The -legends of sunken towns (as in Lake Paarsteinchen and Lough Neagh), -and bells (whose chimes may be heard on certain sacred days), are -probably variants of this class of delusions. They are often said to -have been sunk by some final vindictive stroke of a magician or witch -resolved to destroy the city no longer trusting them. Landslides, -engulfing seaside homes, might originate legends like that of King -Gradlon's daughter Dahut, whom the Breton peasant sees in rough weather -on rocks around Poul-Dahut, where she unlocked the sluice-gates on -the city Is in obedience to her fiend-lover. - -If it be remembered that less than fifty years ago Dr. Belon [163] -thought it desirable to anatomise gold fishes, and prove in various -ways that it is a fallacy to suppose they feed on pure gold (as -many a peasant near Lyons declares of the laurets sold daily in the -market), it will hardly be thought wonderful that perilous visions of -precious things were seen by early fishermen in pellucid depths, and -that these should at last be regarded as seductive arts of Lorelei, -who have given many lakes and rivers the reputation of requiring one -or more annual victims. - -Possibly it was through accumulation of many dreams about beautiful -realms beneath the sea or above the clouds that suicide became among -the Norse folk so common. It was a proverb that the worst end was to -die in bed, and to die by suicide was to be like Egil, and Omund, and -King Hake, like nearly all the heroes who so passed to Valhalla. The -Northman had no doubt concerning the paradise to which he was going, -and did not wish to reach it enfeebled by age. But the time would come -when the earth and human affection must assert their claims, and the -watery tribes be pictured as cruel devourers of the living. Even so -would the wood-nymphs and mountain-nymphs be degraded, and fearful -legends of those lost and wandering in dark forests be repeated to -shuddering childhood. The actual dangers would mask themselves in -the endless disguises of illusion, the wold and wave be peopled with -cruel and treacherous seducers. Thus suicide might gradually lose -its charms, and a dismal underworld of heartless gnomes replace the -grottoes and fairies. - -We may close this chapter with a Scottish legend relating to the -'Shi'ichs,' or Men of Peace, in which there is a strange intimation -of a human mind dreaming that it dreams, and so far on its way to -waking. A woman was carried away by these shadowy beings in order that -she might suckle her child which they had previously stolen. During her -retention she once observed the Shi'ichs anointing their eyes from a -caldron, and seizing an opportunity, she managed to anoint one of her -own eyes with the ointment. With that one eye she now saw the secret -abode and all in it 'as they really were.' The deceptive splendour -had vanished. The gaudy ornaments of a fairy grot had become the -naked walls of a gloomy cavern. When this woman had returned to live -among human beings again, her anointed eye saw much that others saw -not; among other things she once saw a 'man of peace,' invisible to -others, and asked him about her child. Astonished at being recognised, -he demanded how she had been able to discover him; and when she had -confessed, he spit in her eye and extinguished it for ever. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -DARKNESS. - - Shadows--Night Deities--Kobolds--Walpurgisnacht--Night as - Abettor of Evil-doers--Nightmare--Dreams--Invisible Foes--Jacob - and his Phantom--Nott--The Prince of Darkness--The Brood of - Midnight--Second-Sight--Spectres of Souter Fell--The Moonshine - Vampyre--Glamour--Glam and Grettir--A Story of Dartmoor. - - -From the little night which clings to man even by day--his own -shadow--to the world's great shade of darkness, innumerable are the -coverts from which have emerged the black procession of phantoms which -have haunted the slumbers of the world, and betrayed the enterprise -of man. - -How strange to the first man seemed that shadow walking beside him, -from the time when he saw it as a ghost tracking its steps and giving -him his name for a ghost, on to the period in which it seemed the -emanation of an occult power, as to them who brought their sick into -the streets to be healed by the passing shadow of Peter; and still -on to the day when Beaumont wrote-- - - - Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, - Our fatal shadows that walk by us still; - - -or that in which Goethe found therein the mystical symbol of the -inward arrest of our moral development, and said 'No man can jump -off of his shadow.' And then from the culture of Europe we pass to -the Feejee-Islanders, and find them believing that every man has -two spirits. One is his shadow, which goes to Hades; the other is -his image as reflected in water, and it is supposed to stay near the -place where the man dies. [164] But, like the giants of the Brocken, -these demons of the Shadow are trembled at long after they are known -to be the tremblers themselves mirrored on air. Have we not priests -in England still fostering the belief that the baptized child goes -attended by a white spirit, the unbaptized by a dark one? Why then -need we apologise for the Fijians? - -But little need be said here of demons of the Dark, for they are -closely related to the phantasms of Delusion, of Winter, and others -already described. Yet have they distinctive characters. As many as -were the sunbeams were the shadows; every goddess of the Dawn (Ushas) -cast her shadow; every Day was swallowed up by Night. This is the -cavern where hide the treacherous Panis (fog) in Vedic mythology, -they who steal and hide Indra's cows; this is the realm of Hades (the -invisible); this is the cavern of the hag Thökk (dark) in Scandinavian -mythology,--she who alone of all in the universe refused to weep -for Baldur when he was shut up in Helheim, where he had been sent -by the dart of his blind brother Hödr (darkness). In the cavern of -Night sleep the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, and Barbarossa, and all -slumbering phantoms whose genius is the night-winged raven. Thorr, -the Norse Hercules, once tried to lift a cat--as it seemed to him--from -the ground; but it was the great mid-earth serpent which encircles the -whole earth. Impossible feat as it was for Thorr--who got only one paw -of the seeming cat off the ground--in that glassless and gasless era, -invention has accomplished much in that direction; but the black Cat -is still domiciled securely among idols of the mental cave. - -There is an Anglo-Saxon word, cof-godas (lit. cove-gods), employed as -the equivalent of the Latin lares (the Penates, too, are interpreted as -cof-godu, cofa signifying the inner recess of a house, penetrale). The -word in German corresponding to this cofa, is koben; and from this -Hildebrand conjectures kob-old to be derived. The latter part of -the word he supposes to be walt (one who 'presides over,' e.g., -Walter); so that the original form would be kob-walt. [165] Here, -then, in the recesses of the household, among the least enlightened -of its members--the menials, who still often neutralise the efforts -of rational people to dispel the delusions of their children--the -discredited deities and demons of the past found refuge, and through -a little baptismal change of names are familiars of millions unto -this day. In the words of the ancient Hebrew, 'they lay in their -own houses prisoners of darkness, fettered with the bonds of a long -night.' 'No power of the fire might give them light, neither could -the bright flames of the stars lighten that horrible night.' [166] -Well is it added, 'Fear is nothing else but a betraying of the succours -which reason offereth,' a truth which finds ample illustration in the -Kobolds. These imaginary beings were naturally associated with the dark -recesses of mines. There they gave the name to our metal Cobalt. The -value of Cobalt was not understood until the 17th century, and the -metal was first obtained by the Swedish chemist Brandt in 1733. The -miners had believed that the silver was stolen away by Kobolds, and -these 'worthless' ores left in its place. Nickel had the like history, -and is named after Old Nick. So long did those Beauties slumber in -the cavern of Ignorance till Science kissed them with its sunbeam, -and led them forth to decorate the world! - -How passed this (mental) cave-dweller even amid the upper splendours -and vastnesses of his unlit world? A Faust guided by his Mephistopheles -only amid interminable Hartz labyrinths. - - - How sadly rises, incomplete and ruddy, - The moon's lone disk, with its belated glow, - And lights so dimly, that, as one advances, - At every step one strikes a rock or tree! - Let us then use a Jack-o'-lantern's glances: - I see one yonder, burning merrily. - Ho, there! my friend! I'll levy thine attendance: - Why waste so vainly thy resplendence? - Be kind enough to light us up the steep! - - Tell me, if we still are standing, - Or if further we're ascending? - All is turning, whirling, blending, - Trees and rocks with grinning faces, - Wandering lights that spin in mazes, - Still increasing and expanding. [167] - - -It could only have been at a comparatively late period of social -development that Sancho's benediction on the inventor of sleep could -have found general response. The Red Indian found its helplessness -fatal when the 'Nick of the Woods' was abroad; the Scotch sailor found -in it a demon's opiate when the 'Nigg of the Sea' was gathering his -storms above the sleeping watchman. It was among the problems of Job, -the coöperation of darkness with evil-doers. - - - The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight; - He saith, No eye will see me, - And putteth a mask upon his face. - In the dark men break into houses; - In the day-time they shut themselves up; - They are strangers to the light. - The morning to them is the shadow of death; - They are familiar with the dark terrors of midnight. - - -Besides this fact that the night befriends and masks every treacherous -foe, it is also to be remembered that man is weakest at night. Not -only is he weaker than by day in the veil drawn over his senses, -but physiologically also. When the body is wearied out by the toils -or combats of the day, and the mind haunted by dreams of danger, -there are present all the terrors which Byron portrays around the -restless pillow of Sardanapalus. The war-horse of the day becomes -a night-mare in the darkness. In the Heimskringla it is recorded: -'Vanland, Svegdir's son, succeeded his father and ruled over the -Upsal domain. He was a great warrior, and went far around in different -lands. Once he took up his winter abode in Finland with Snio the Old, -and got his daughter Drisa in marriage; but in spring he set out -leaving Drisa behind, and although he had promised to return within -three years he did not come back for ten. Then Drisa sent a message to -the witch Hulda; and sent Visbur, her son by Vanland, to Sweden. Drisa -bribed the witch-wife Hulda, either that she should bewitch Vanland -to return to Finland or kill him. When this witch-work was going -on Vanland was at Upsal, and a great desire came over him to go to -Finland, but his friends and counsellors advised him against it, and -said the witchcraft of the Fin people showed itself in this desire of -his to go there. He then became very drowsy, and laid himself down to -sleep; but when he had slept but a little while he cried out, saying, -'Mara was treading on him.' His men hastened to help him; but when they -took hold of his head she trod on his legs, and when they laid hold -of his legs she pressed upon his head; and it was his death.' [168] - -This witch is, no doubt, Hildur, a Walkyr of the Edda, leading heroes -to Walhalla. Indeed, in Westphalia, nightmare is called Walriderske. It -is a curious fact that 'Mara' should be preserved in the French -word for nightmare, Cauche-mar, 'cauche' being from Latin calcare, -to tread. Through Teutonic folklore this Night-demon of many names, -having floated from England in a sieve paddled with cow-ribs, rides to -the distress of an increasingly unheroic part of the population. Nearly -always still the 'Mahrt' is said to be a pretty woman,--sometimes, -indeed, a sweetheart is involuntarily transformed to one,--every -rustic settlement abounding with tales of how the demoness has been -captured by stopping the keyhole, calling the ridden sleeper by his -baptismal name, and making the sign of the cross; by such process the -wicked beauty appears in human form, and is apt to marry the sleeper, -with usually evil results. The fondness of cats for getting on the -breasts of sleepers, or near their breath, for warmth, has made that -animal a common form of the 'Mahrt.' Sometimes it is a black fly with -red ring around its neck. This demoness is believed to suffer more -pain than it inflicts, and vainly endeavours to destroy herself. - -In savage and nomadic times sound sleep being an element of danger, the -security which required men to sleep on their arms demanded also that -they should sleep as it were with one eye open. Thus there might have -arisen both the intense vividness which demons acquired by blending -subjective and objective impressions, and the curious inability, so -frequent among barbarians and not unknown among the men civilised, to -distinguish dream from fact. The habit of day-dreaming seems, indeed, -more general than is usually supposed. Dreams haunt all the region of -our intellectual twilight,--the borderland of mystery, where rise the -sources of the occult and the mystical which environ our lives. The -daily terrors of barbarous life avail to haunt the nerves of civilised -people, now many generations after they have passed away, with special -and irrational shudders at certain objects or noises: how then must -they have haunted the dreams of humanity when, like the daughter of -Nathan the Wise, rescued from flames, it passed the intervals of strife - - - With nerves unstrung through fear, - And fire and flame in all she sees or fancies; - Her soul awake in sleep, asleep when wide awake? - - -Among the sources of demoniac beliefs few indeed are more prolific than -Dreams. 'The witchcraft of sleep,' says Emerson, 'divides with truth -the empire of our lives. This soft enchantress visits two children -lying locked in each other's arms, and carries them asunder by wide -spans of land and sea, wide intervals of time. 'Tis superfluous to -think of the dreams of multitudes; the astonishment remains that -one should dream; that we should resign so quietly this deifying -reason and become the theatre of delusions, shows, wherein time, -space, persons, cities, animals, should dance before us in merry and -mad confusion, a delicate creation outdoing the prime and flower of -actual nature, antic comedy alternating with horrid spectres. Or we -seem busied for hours and days in peregrinations over seas and lands, -in earnest dialogues, strenuous actions for nothings and absurdities, -cheated by spectral jokes, and waking suddenly with ghostly laughter, -to be rebuked by the cold lonely silent midnight, and to rake with -confusion in memory among the gibbering nonsense to find the motive -of this contemptible cachinnation.' [169] - -It has always been the worst of periods of religious excitement that -they shape the dreams of old and young, and find there a fearful -and distorted, but vivid and realistic, embodiment of their feverish -experiences. In the days of witchcraft thousands visited the Witches' -Sabbaths, as they believed and danced in the Walpurgis orgies, -borne (by hereditary orthodox canon) on their own brooms up their own -chimneys; and to-day, by the same morbid imaginations, the victims are -able to see themselves or others elongated, levitated, floating through -the air. If people only knew how few are ever really wide-awake, -these spiritual nightmares would soon reach their termination. The -natural terrors before which helpless man once cowered, have been -prolonged past all his real victories over his demons by a succession -of such nightmares, so that the vulgar religion might be portrayed -somewhat as Richard Wagner described his first tragedy, in which, -having killed off forty-two of his characters, he had to bring them -back as ghosts to carry on the fifth act! - -The perils of darkness, as ambush of foes human and animal, -concealer of pitfalls, misguider of footsteps, misdirector of aims, -were more real than men can well imagine in an age of gaslight plus -the policeman. The myth of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still; -the cry of Ajax when darkness fell on the combat, 'Grant me but to -see!' refer us to the region from which come all childish shudders -at going into the dark. The limit of human courage is reached where -its foe is beyond the reach of its force. Fighting in the dark may -even be suicidal. A German fable of blindfold zeal--the awakened -sleeper demolishing his furniture and knocking out his own teeth in -the attempt to punish cats--has its tragical illustrations also. But -none of these actual dangers have been of more real evil to man than -the demonisation of them. This rendered his very skill a blunder, his -energy weakness. If it was bad to retreat in the dusk from an innocent -bush into an unrecognised well, it was worse to meet the ghost with -rune or crucifix and find it an assassin. When man fights with his -shadow, he instantly makes it the demon he fears; ghoul-like it preys -upon his paralysed strength, vampyre-like it sucks his blood, and he is -consigned disarmed to the evil that is no shadow. The Scottish Sinclair -marching through Norway, in the 16th century, owes his monument at -Wiblungen rather to the magpie believed to precede him as a spy, -with night and day upon its wings, than to his own prowess or power. - -In a sense all demons, whatever their shapes, are the ancient -brood of night. Mental darkness, even more moral darkness within, -supply the phantasmagoria in which unknown things shape themselves as -demons. Esau is already reconciled, but guilty Jacob must still wrestle -with him as a phantom of Fear till daybreak. A work has already been -written on 'The Night-side of Nature,' but it would require many -volumes to tell the story of what monsters have been conjured out -of the kind protecting darkness. How great is the darkness which -man makes for himself out of the imagination which should be his -light and vision! Much of the so-called 'religion' of our time is -but elaborate demoniculture and artificial preservation of mental -Walpurgis-nights. Nott (Night) says the Edda rides first on her horse -called Hrimfaxi (frost-maned), which every morning as he ends his -course bedews the earth with the foam that falls from his bit. Though -the horse of Day--Skinfaxi, or Shining-mane--follows hard after her, -yet the foam is by no means drunk up by his fires. Foam of the old -phantasms still lingers in our mediæval liturgies, and even falls -afresh where the daylight is shut out that altar-candles may burn, -or for other dark seances are prepared the conditions necessary for -whatsoever loves not the light. - -What we call the Dark Ages were indeed spiritually a perpetual seance -with lights lowered. Nay, human superstition was able to turn the -very moon and stars into mere bluish night-tapers, giving just light -enough to make the darkness visible in fantastic shapes fluttering -around the Prince of Darkness,--or Non-existence in Chief! How much -of the theosophic speculation of our time is the mere artificial -conservation of that darkness? How much that still flits bat-winged -from universities, will, in the future, be read with the same wonder -as that with which even the more respectable bats can now read account -of the midnight brood which now for the most part sleep tranquilly in -such books as Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy'? 'There are,' he says, -'certain spirits which Miraldus calls Ambulones, that walk about -midnight on great heaths and desert places, which (saith Lavater) -draw men out of their way, and lead them all night by a byway, or -quite bar them of their way. These have several names in several -places. We commonly call them Pucks. In the deserts of Lop, in Asia, -such illusions of walking spirits are often perceived, as you may read -in M. Paulus, the Venetian, his travels. If one lose his company by -chance, these devils will call him by his name, and counterfeit voices -of his companions to seduce him. Lavater and Cicogna have a variety of -examples of spirits and walking devils in this kind. Sometimes they -sit by the wayside to give men falls, and make their horses stumble -and start as they ride (according to the narration of that holy man -Ketellus in Nubrigensis, that had an especial grace to see devils); -and if a man curse and spur his horse for stumbling, they do heartily -rejoice at it.' - -While observing a spirited and imaginative picture by Macallum of -the Siege of Jerusalem, it much interested me to observe the greater -or less ease with which other visitors discovered the portents in -the air which, following the narrative of Josephus, the artist had -vaguely portrayed. The chariots and horsemen said to have been seen -before that event were here faintly blent with indefinite outlines -of clouds; and while some of the artist's friends saw them with a -distinctness greater, perhaps, than that with which they impressed -the eye of the artist himself, others could hardly be made to see -anything except shapeless vapour, though of course they all agreed -that they were there and remarkably fine. - -It would seem that thus, in a London studio, there were present all -the mental pigments for frescoing the air and sky with those visions -of aërial armies or huntsmen which have become so normal in history -as to be, in a subjective sense, natural. In the year 1763, an author, -styling himself Theophilus Insulanus, published at Edinburgh a book on -Second-Sight, in which he related more than a hundred instances of the -power he believed to exist of seeing events before they had occurred, -and whilst, of course, they did not exist. It is not difficult in -reading them to see that they are all substantially one and the -same story, and that the sight in operation was indeed second; for -man or woman, at once imaginative and illiterate, have a second and -supernumerary pair of eyes inherited from the traditional superstitions -and ghost stories which fill all the air they breathe from the cradle -to the grave. While the mind is in this condition, that same nature -whose apparitions and illusions originally evoked and fostered the -glamoury, still moves on with her minglings of light and shade, cloud -and mirage, giving no word of explanation. There are never wanting the -shadowy forms without that cast their shuttles to the dark idols of the -mental cave, together weaving subtle spells round the half-waking mind. - -In the year 1743 all the North of England and Scotland was in alarm -on account of some spectres which were seen on the mountain of Souter -Fell in Cumberland. The mountain is about half-a-mile high. On a summer -evening a farmer and his servant, looking from Wilton Hall, half a -mile off, saw the figures of a man and a dog pursuing some horses -along the mountain-side, which is very steep; and on the following -morning they repaired to the place, expecting to find dead bodies, but -finding none. About one year later a troop of horsemen were seen riding -along the same mountain-side by one of the same persons, the servant, -who then called others who also saw the aërial troopers. After a year -had elapsed the above vision was attested before a magistrate by two -of those who saw it. The event occurred on the eve of the Rebellion, -when horsemen were exercising, and when also the popular mind along -the Border may be supposed to have been in a highly excited condition. - -What was seen on this strongly-authenticated occasion? Was anything -seen? None can tell. It is open to us to believe that there may have -been some play of mirage. As there are purely aërial echoes, so are -there aërial reflectors for the eye. On the other hand, the vision so -nearly resembles the spectral processions which have passed through -the mythology of the world, that we can never be sure that it was -not the troop of King Arthur, emerging from Avallon to announce -the approaching strife. A few fleecy, strangely-shaped clouds, -chasing each other along the hillside in the evening's dusk would -have amply sufficed to create the latter vision, and the danger of -the time would easily have supplied all the Second-Sight required to -reveal it to considerable numbers. In questions of this kind a very -small circumstance--a phrase, a name, perhaps--may turn the balance -of probabilities. Thus it may be noted that, in the instance just -related, the vision was seen on the steep side of Souter Fell. Fell -means a hill or a steep rock, as in Drachenfels. But as to Souter, -although, as Mr. Robert Ferguson says, the word may originally -have meant sheep, [170] it is found in Scotland used as 'shoemaker' -in connection with the fabulous giants of that region. Sir Thomas -Urquhart, in the seventeenth century, relates it as the tradition -of the two promontories of Cromarty, called 'Soutars,' that they -were the work-stools of two giants who supplied their comrades with -shoes and buskins. Possessing but one set of implements, they used -to fling these to each other across the opening of the firth, where -the promontories are only two miles apart. In process of time the name -Soutar, shoemaker, was bequeathed by the craftsmen to their stools. It -is not improbable that the name gradually connected itself with other -places bearing traditions connecting them with the fabulous race, -and that in this way the Souter Fell, from meaning in early times -much the same as Giants' Hill, preserved even in 1743-44 enough of the -earlier uncanny associations to awaken the awe of Borderers in a time -of rebellion. The vision may therefore have been seen by light which -had journeyed all the way from the mythologic heavens of ancient India: -substantially subjective--such stuff as dreams and dreamers are made -of--no doubt there were outer clouds, shapes and afterglows enough, -even in the absence of any fata morgana to supply canvas and pigment -to the cunning artist that hides in the eye. - -In an old tale, the often-slain Vampyre-bat only requests, with -pathos, that his body may be laid where no sunlight, but only the -moonlight, will fall on it--only that! But it is under the moonshine -that it always gains new life. No demon requires absolute darkness, -but half-darkness, in which to live: enough light to disclose a -Somewhat, but not enough to define and reveal its nature, is just -what has been required for the bat-eyes of fable and phantasy, which -can make vampyre of a sparrow or giant out of a windmill. - -Glamour! A marvellous history has this word of the artists and -poets,--sometimes meaning the charm with which the eye invests any -object; or, in Wordsworth's phrase, 'the light that never was on -land or sea.' But no artist or poet ever rose to the full height -of the simple term itself, which well illustrates Emerson's saying, -'Words are fossil poetry.' Professor Cowell of Cambridge says: 'Glám, -or in the nominative Glámr, is also a poetical name for the Moon. It -does not actually occur in the ancient literature, but it is given in -the glossary in the Prose Edda in the list of the very old words for -the Moon.' Vigfusson in his dictionary says, 'The word is interesting -on account of its identity with Scot. Glamour, which shows that the -tale of Glam was common to Scotland and Iceland, and this much older -than Grettir (in the year 1014).' The Ghost or Goblin Glam seems -evidently to have arisen from a personification of the delusive and -treacherous effects of moonlight on the benighted traveller, - - - Quale per incertam lunam sub luce malignâ, - Est iter in sylvis. - - -Now, there is a curious old Sanskrit word, glau or gláv, which is -explained in all the old native lexicons as meaning 'the moon.' It -might either be taken as 'waning,' or in a casual sense 'obscuring.' - -The following lines from an early mediæval poet, Bhása (seventh -century), will illustrate the deceptive character of moonlight from -a Hindu point of view. The strong and wild Norse imagination delights -in what is terrible and gloomy: the Hindu loves to dwell on the milder -and quieter aspects of human life. - -'The cat laps the moonbeams in the bowl of water, thinking them to -be milk: the elephant thinks that the moonbeams, threaded through -the intervals of the trees, are the fibres of the lotus-stalk. The -woman snatches at the moonbeams as they lie on the bed, taking them -for her muslin garment: oh, how the moon, intoxicated with radiance, -bewilders all the world!' - -A similar passage, no doubt imitated from this, is also quoted: - -'The bewildered herdsmen place the pails under the cows, thinking -that the milk is flowing; the maidens also put the blue lotus blossom -in their ears, thinking that it is the white; the mountaineer's wife -snatches up the jujube fruit, avaricious for pearls. Whose mind is -not led astray by the thickly clustering moonbeams?' [171] - -In the Icelandic legend of the struggle between the hero Grettir, -translated by Magnússen and Morris (London, 1869), the saga -supplies a scenery as archæological as if the philologists had been -consulted. 'Bright moonlight was there without, and the drift was -broken, now drawn over the moon, now driven off from her; and even as -Glam fell, a cloud was driven from the moon, and Glam glared up against -her.' When the hero beheld these glaring eyes of the giant Ghost, he -felt some fiendish craft in them, and could not draw his short sword, -and 'lay well nigh 'twixt home and hell.' This half-light of the moon, -which robs the Strong of half his power, is repeated in Glam's curse: -'Exceedingly eager hast thou sought to meet me, Grettir, but no -wonder will it be deemed, though thou gettest no good hap of me; -and this I must tell thee, that thou now hast got half the strength -and manhood which was thy lot if thou hadst not met me: now I may -not take from thee the strength which thou hast got before this; -but that may I rule, that thou shalt never be mightier than now thou -art ... therefore this weird I lay on thee, ever in those days to -see these eyes with thine eyes, and thou wilt find it hard to be -alone--and that shalt drag thee unto death.' - -The Moon-demon's power is limited to the spell of illusion he can -cast. Presently he is laid low; the 'short sword' of a sunbeam pales, -decapitates him. But after Glam is burned to cold coals, and his -ashes buried in skin of a beast 'where sheep-pastures were fewest, -or the ways of men,' the spell lay upon the hero's eyes. 'Grettir -said that his temper had been nowise bettered by this, that he was -worse to quiet than before, and that he deemed all trouble worse than -it was; but that herein he found the greatest change, in that he was -become so fearsome a man in the dark, that he durst go nowhither alone -after nightfall, for then he seemed to see all kinds of horrors. And -that has fallen since into a proverb, that Glam lends eyes, or gives -Glamsight to those who see things nowise as they are.' - -In reading which one may wonder how this world would look if for -a little moment one's eyes could be purged of glamour. Even at the -moon's self one tries vainly to look: where Hindu and Zulu see a hare, -the Arab sees coils of a serpent, and the Englishman sees a man; and -the most intelligent of these several races will find it hard to see in -the moon aught save what their primitive ancestors saw. And this small -hint of the degree to which the wisest, like Merlin, are bound fast -in an air-prison by a Vivien whose spells are spun from themselves, -would carry us far could we only venture to follow it out. 'The Moon,' -observed Dr. Johnson unconsciously, 'has great influence in vulgar -philosophy.' How much lunar theology have we around us, so that -many from the cradle to the grave get no clear sight of nature or of -themselves! Very closely did Carlyle come to the fable of Glam when -speaking of Coleridge's 'prophetic moonshine,' and its effect on poor -John Sterling. 'If the bottled moonshine beactually substance? Ah, -could one but believe in a church while finding it incredible!... The -bereaved young lady has taken the veil then!... To such lengths can -transcendental moonshine, cast by some morbidly radiating Coleridge -into the chaos of a fermenting life, act magically there, and produce -divulsions and convulsions and diseased developments.' One can almost -fancy Carlyle had ringing in his memory the old Scottish ballad of -the Rev. Robert Kirk, translator of the Psalms into Gaelic, who, -while walking in his night-gown at Aberfoyle, was 'snatched away to -the joyless Elfin bower.' - - - It was between the night and day - When the fairy-king has power. - - -The item of the night-gown might have already prepared us for the -couplet; and it has perhaps even a mystical connection with the -vestment of the 'black dragoon' which Sterling once saw patrolling -in every parish, to whom, however, he surrendered at last. - -A story is told of a man wandering on a dark night over Dartmoor, -whose feet slipped over the edge of a pit. He caught the branch of -a tree suspended over the terrible chasm, but unable to regain the -ground, shrieked for help. None came, though he cried out till his -voice was gone; and there he remained dangling in agony until the grey -light revealed that his feet were only a few inches from the solid -ground. Such are the chief demons that bind man till cockcrow. Such are -the apprehensions that waste also the moral and intellectual strength -of man, and murder his peace as he regards the necessary science of his -time to be cutting some frail tenure sustaining him over a bottomless -pit, instead of a release from real terror to the solid ground. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -DISEASE. - - The Plague Phantom--Devil-dances--Destroying Angels--Ahriman in - Astrology---Saturn--Satan and Job--Set--The Fatal Seven--Yakseyo - --The Singhalese Pretraya--Reeri--Maha Sohon--Morotoo--Luther on - Disease-demons--Gopolu--Madan--Cattle-demon in Russia--Bihlweisen - --The Plough. - - -A familiar fable in the East tells of one who met a fearful phantom, -which in reply to his questioning answered--'I am Plague: I have come -from yon city where ten thousand lie dead: one thousand were slain by -me, the rest by Fear.' Perhaps even this story does not fully report -the alliance between the plague and fear; for it is hardly doubtful -that epidemics retain their power in the East largely because they have -gained personification through fear as demons whose fatal power man -can neither prevent nor cure, before which he can only cower and pray. - -In the missionary school at Canterbury the young men prepare themselves -to help the 'heathen' medically, and so they go forth with materia -medica in one hand, and in the other an infallible revelation from -heaven reporting plagues as the inflictions of Jehovah, or the -destroying angel, or Satan, and the healing of disease the jealously -reserved monopoly of God. [172] - -The demonisation of diseases is not wonderful. To thoughtful -minds not even science has dispelled the mystery which surrounds -many of the ailments that afflict mankind, especially the normal -diseases besetting children, hereditary complaints, and the strange -liabilities to infection and contagion. A genuine, however partial, -observation would suggest to primitive man some connection between -the symptoms of many diseases and the mysterious universe of which he -could not yet recognise himself an epitome. There were indications -that certain troubles of this kind were related to the seasons, -consequently to the celestial rulers of the seasons,--to the sun -that smote by day, and the moon at night. Professor Monier Williams, -describing the Devil-dances of Southern India, says that there seems -to be an idea among them that when pestilences are rife exceptional -measures must be taken to draw off the malignant spirits, supposed -to cause them, by tempting them to enter into these wild dancers, -and so become dissipated. He witnessed in Ceylon a dance performed by -three men who personated the forms and phases of typhus fever. [173] -These dances probably belong to the same class of ideas as those of -the dervishes in Persia, whose manifold contortions are supposed -to repeat the movements of planets. They are invocations of the -souls of good stars, and propitiations of such as are evil. Belief -in such stellar and planetary influences has pervaded every part of -the world, and gave rise to astrological dances. 'Gebelin says that -the minuet was the danse oblique of the ancient priests of Apollo, -performed in their temples. The diagonal line and the two parallels -described in this dance were intended to be symbolical of the zodiac, -and the twelve steps of which it is composed were meant for the twelve -signs and the months of the year. The dance round the Maypole and the -Cotillon has the same origin. Diodorus tells us that Apollo was adored -with dances, and in the island of Iona the god danced all night. The -Christians of St. Thomas till a very late day celebrated their worship -with dances and songs. Calmet says there were dancing-girls in the -temple at Jerusalem.' [174] - -The influence of the Moon upon tides, the sleeplessness it causes, -the restlessness of the insane under its occasional light, and such -treacheries of moonshine as we have already considered, have populated -our uninhabited satellite with demons. Lunar legends have decorated -some well-founded suspicions of moonlight. The mother draws the -curtain between the moonshine and her little Endymion, though not -because she sees in the waning moon a pining Selene whose kiss may -waste away the beauty of youth. A mere survival is the 'bowing to -the new moon:' a euphonism traceable to many myths about 'lunacy,' -among them, as I think, to Delilah ('languishing'), in whose lap -the solar Samson is shorn of his locks, leaving him only the blind -destructive strength of the 'moonstruck.' - -In the purely Semitic theories of the Jews we find diseases ascribed -to the wrath of Jehovah, and their cure to his merciful mood. 'Jehovah -will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed; ... he -will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt whereof thou wast -afraid.' [175] The emerods which smote the worshippers of Dagon were -ascribed directly to the hand of Jehovah. [176] In that vague degree -of natural dualistic development which preceded the full Iranian -influence upon the Jews, the infliction of diseases was delegated to -an angel of Jehovah, as in the narratives of smiting the firstborn -of Egypt, wasting the army of Sennacherib, and the pestilence sent -upon Israel for David's sin. In the progress of this angel to be -a demon of disease we find a phase of ambiguity, as shown in the -hypochondria of Saul. 'The spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, -and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.' [177] - -All such ambiguities disappeared under the influence of Iranian -dualism. In the Book of Job we find the infliction of diseases and -plagues completely transferred to a powerful spirit, a fully formed -opposing potentate. The 'sons of God,' who in the first chapter -of Job are said to have presented themselves before Jehovah, may -be identified in the thirty-eighth as the stars which shouted for -joy at the creation. Satan is the wandering or malign planet which -leads in the Ahrimanic side of the Persian planisphere. In the -cosmographical theology of that country Ormuzd was to reign for -six thousand years, and then Ahriman was to reign for a similar -period. The moral associations of this speculation are discussed -elsewhere; it is necessary here only to point out the bearing of the -planispheric conception upon the ills that flesh is heir to. Ahriman -is the 'star-serpent' of the Zendavasta. 'When the pâris rendered -this world desolate, and overran the universe; when the star-serpent -made a path for himself between heaven and earth,' &c.; 'when Ahriman -rambles on the earth, let him who takes the form of a serpent glide -on the earth; let him who takes the form of the wolf run on the earth, -and let the violent north wind bring weakness.' [178] - -The dawn of Ormuzd corresponds with April. The sun returns from -winter's death by sign of the lamb (our Aries), and thenceforth -every month corresponds with a thousand years of the reign of the -Beneficent. September is denoted by the Virgin and Child. To the dark -domain of Ahriman the prefecture of the universe passes by Libra,--the -same balances which appear in the hand of Satan. The star-serpent -prevails over the Virgin and Child. Then follow the months of the -scorpion, the centaur, goat, &c., every month corresponding to a -thousand years of the reign of Ahriman. - -While this scheme corresponds in one direction with the demons of -cold, and in another with the entrance and reign of moral evil in -the world, beginnings of disease on earth were also ascribed to this -seventh thousand of years when the Golden Age had passed. The depth of -winter is reached in domicile of the goat, or of Sirius, Seth, Saturn, -Satan--according to the many variants. And these, under their several -names, make the great 'infortune' of astrology, wherein old Culpepper -amply instructed our fathers. 'In the general, consider that Saturn -is an old worn-out planet, weary, and of little estimation in this -world; he causeth long and tedious sicknesses, abundance of sadness, -and a Cartload of doubts and fears; his nature is cold, and dry, -and melancholy. And take special notice of this, that when Saturn is -Lord of an Eclipse (as he is one of the Lords of this), he governs all -the rest of the planets, but none can govern him. Melancholy is made -of all the humors in the body of man, but no humor of melancholy. He -is envious, and keeps his anger long, and speaks but few words, but -when he speaks he speaks to purpose. A man of deep cogitations; he -will plot mischief when men are asleep; he hath an admirable memory, -and remembers to this day how William the Bastard abused him; he -cannot endure to be a slave; he is poor with the poor, fearful with -the fearful; he plots mischief against the Superiours, with them that -plot mischief against them; have a care of him, Kings and Magistrates -of Europe; he will show you what he can do in the effects of this -Eclipse; he is old, and therefore hath large experience, and will -give perilous counsel; he moves but slowly, and therefore doth the -more mischief; all the planets contribute their natures and strength -to him, and when he sets on doing mischief he will do it to purpose; -he doth not regard the company of the rest of the Planets, neither -do any of the rest of the Planets regard his; he is a barren Planet, -and therefore delights not in women; he brings the Pestilence; he is -destructive to the fruits of the earth; he receives his light from -the Sun, and yet he hates the Sun that gives it him.' [179] - -Many ages anterior to this began in India the dread of Ketu, -astronomically the ninth planet, mythologically the tail of the -demon Rahu, cut in twain as already told (p. 46), supposed to be -the prolific source of comets, meteors, and falling stars, also of -diseases. From this Ketu or dragon's tail were born the Arunah Ketavah -(Red Ketus or apparitions), and Ketu has become almost another word -for disease. [180] - -Strongly influenced as were the Jews by the exact division of the -duodecimal period between Good and Evil, affirmed by the Persians, -they never lost sight of the ultimate supremacy of Jehovah. Though -Satan had gradually become a voluntary genius of evil, he still had -to receive permission to afflict, as in the case of Job, and during -the lifetime of Paul appears to have been still denied that 'power of -death' which is first asserted by the unknown author of the Epistle -to the Hebrews. [181] Satan's especial office was regarded as the -infliction of disease. Paul delivers the incestuous Corinthian to -Satan 'for the destruction of the flesh,' and he also attributed the -sickness and death of many to their communicating unworthily. [182] -He also recognises his own 'thorn in the flesh' as 'an angel from -Satan,' though meant for his moral advantage. [183] - -A penitential Psalm (Assyrian) reads as follows:-- - -O my Lord! my sins are many, my trespasses are great; and the wrath -of the gods has plagued me with disease, and with sickness and sorrow. - - - I fainted, but no one stretched forth his hand! - I groaned, but no one drew nigh! - I cried aloud, but no one heard! - O Lord, do not abandon thy servant! - In the waters of the great storm seize his hand! - The sins which he has committed turn them to righteousness. [184] - - -This Psalm would hardly be out of place in the English burial-service, -which deplores death as a visitation of divine wrath. Wherever such -an idea prevails, the natural outcome of it is a belief in demons of -disease. In ancient Egypt--following the belief in Ra the Sun, from -whose eyes all pleasing things proceeded, and Set, from whose eyes came -all noxious things,--from the baleful light of Set's eyes were born the -Seven Hathors, or Fates, whose names are recorded in the Book of the -Dead. Mr. Fox Talbot has translated 'the Song of the Seven Spirits:'-- - - - They are seven! they are seven! - In the depths of ocean they are seven! - In the heights of heaven they are seven! - In the ocean-stream in a palace they were born! - Male they are not: female they are not! - Wives they have not: children are not born to them! - Rule they have not: government they know not! - Prayers they hear not! - They are seven! they are seven! twice over they are seven! [185] - - -These demons have a way of herding together; the Assyrian tablets -abundantly show that their occupation was manifested by diseases, -physical and mental. One prescription runs thus:-- - - - The god (...) shall stand by his bedside: - Those seven evil spirits he shall root out, and shall expel them - from his body: - And those seven shall never return to the sick man again! - - -It is hardly doubtful that these were the seven said to have been -cast out of Mary Magdalen; for their father Set is Shedîm (devils) -of Deut. xxxii. 17, and Shaddai (God) of Gen. xvi. 1. But the fatal -Seven turn to the seven fruits that charm away evil influences at -parturition in Persia, also the Seven Wise Women of the same country -traditionally present on holy occasions. When Ardá Viráf was sent -to Paradise by a sacred narcotic to obtain intelligence of the true -faith, seven fires were kept burning for seven days around him, -and the seven wise women chanted hymns of the Avesta. [186] - -The entrance of the seven evil powers into a dwelling was believed by -the Assyrians to be preventible by setting in the doorway small images, -such as those of the sun-god (Hea) and the moon-goddess, but especially -of Marduk, corresponding to Serapis the Egyptian Esculapius. These -powers were reinforced by writing holy texts over and on each side -of the threshold. 'In the night time bind around the sick man's head -a sentence taken from a good book.' The phylacteries of the Jews were -originally worn for the same purpose. They were called Tefila, and were -related to teraphim, the little idols [187] used by the Jews to keep -out demons--such as those of Laban, which his daughter Rachel stole. - -The resemblance of teraphim to the Tarasca (connected by some with -G. teras, a monster) of Spain may be noted,--the serpent figures -carried about in Corpus Christi processions. The latter word is -known in the south of France also, and gave its name to the town -Tarascon. The legend is that an amphibious monster haunted the Rhone, -preventing navigation and committing terrible ravages, until sixteen -of the boldest inhabitants of the district resolved to encounter -it. Eight lost their lives, but the others, having destroyed the -monster, founded the town of Tarascon, where the 'Fête de la tarasque' -is still kept up. [188] Calmet, Sedley, and others, however, believe -that teraphim is merely a modification of seraphim, and the Tefila, -or phylacteries, of the same origin. - -The phylactery was tied into a knot. Justin Martyr says that the -Jewish exorcists used 'magic ties or knots.' The origin of this -custom among the Jews and Babylonians may be found in the Assyrian -Talismans preserved in the British Museum, of which the following -has been translated by Mr. Fox Talbot:-- - - -Hea says: Go, my son! -Take a woman's kerchief, -Bind it round thy right hand, loose it from the left hand! -Knot it with seven knots: do so twice: -Sprinkle it with bright wine: -Bind it round the head of the sick man: -Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters. -Sit down on his bed: -Sprinkle holy water over him. -He shall hear the voice of Hea, -Darkness shall protect him! -And Marduk, eldest son of Heaven, shall find him a happy -habitation. [189] - - -The number seven holds an equally high degree of potency in Singhalese -demonolatry, which is mainly occupied with diseases. The Capuas or -conjurors of that island enumerate 240,000 magic spells, of which all -except one are for evil, which implies a tolerably large preponderance -of the emergencies in which their countervailing efforts are required -by their neighbours. That of course can be easily appreciated by -those who have been taught that all human beings are included under a -primal curse. The words of Micah, 'Thou wilt cast all their sins into -the depths of the sea,' [190] are recalled by the legend of these -evil spells of Ceylon. The king of Oude came to marry one of seven -princesses, all possessing præternatural powers, and questioned each -as to her art. Each declared her skill in doing harm, except one who -asserted her power to heal all ills which the others could inflict. The -king having chosen this one as his bride, the rest were angry, and -for revenge collected all the charms in the world, enclosed them in a -pumpkin--the only thing that can contain spells without being reduced -to ashes--and sent this infernal machine to their sister. It would -consume everything for sixteen hundred miles round; but the messenger -dropped it in the sea. A god picked it up and presented it to the King -of Ceylon, and these, with the healing charm known to his own Queen, -make the 240,000 spells known to the Capuas of that island, who have -no doubt deified the rescuer of the spells on the same principle that -inspires some seaside populations to worship Providence more devoutly -on the Sunday after a valuable wreck in their neighbourhood. - -The astrological origin of the evils ascribed to the Yakseyo (Demons) -of Ceylon, and the horoscope which is a necessary preliminary to -any dealing with their influences; the constant recurrence of the -number seven, denoting origin with races holding the seven-planet -theories of the universe; and the fact that all demons are said, on -every Saturday evening, to attend an assemblage called Yaksa Sabawa -(Witches' Sabbath), are facts that may well engage the attention -of Comparative Mythologists. [191] In Dardistan the evil spirits are -called Yatsh; they dwell 'in the regions of snow,' and the overthrow of -their reign over the country is celebrated at the new moon of Daykio, -the month preceding winter. - -The largest proportion of the Disease Demons of Ceylon are descended -from its Hunger Demons. The Preta there is much the same phantom -as in Siam, only they are not quite so tall. [192] They range from -two to four hundred feet in height, and are so numerous that a Pali -Buddhist book exhorts people not to throw stones, lest they should -harm one of these harmless starveling ghosts, who die many times -of hunger, and revive to suffer on in expiation of their sins in a -previous existence. They are harmless in one sense, but filthy; and -bad smells are personified in them. The great mass of demons resemble -the Pretraya, in that their king (Wessamony) has forbidden them to -satisfy themselves directly upon their victims, but by inflicting -diseases they are supposed to receive an imaginative satisfaction -somewhat like that of eating people. - -Reeri is the Demon of Blood-disease. His form is that of a man with -face of a monkey; he is fiery red, rides on a red bull, and all -hemorrhages and diseases of the blood are attributed to him. Reeri -has eighteen different disguises or avatars. One of these recalls his -earlier position as a demon of death, before Vishnu revealed to Capuas -the means of binding him: he is now supposed to be present at every -death-bed in the form of a delighted pigmy, one span and six inches -high. On such occasions he bears a cock in one hand, a club in the -other, and in his mouth a corpse. In the same country Maha Sohon is the -'great graveyard demon.' He resides in a hill where he is supposed to -surround himself with carcases. He is 122 feet high, has four hands -and three eyes, and a red skin. He has the head of a bear; the legend -being that while quarrelling with another giant his head was knocked -off, and the god Senasura was gracious enough to tear off the head -of a bear and clap it on the decapitated giant. His capua threatens -him with a repetition of this catastrophe if he does not spare any -threatened victim who has called in his priestly aid. Except for this -timidity about his head, Maha is formidable, being chief of 30,000 -demons. But curiously enough he is said to choose for his steeds the -more innocent animals,--goat, deer, horse, elephant, and hog. - -One of the demons most dreaded in Ceylon is the 'Foreign Demon' -Morotoo, said to have come from the coast of Malabar, and from -his residence in a tree disseminated diseases which could not be -cured until, the queen being afflicted, one capua was found able -to master him. Seven-eighths of the charms used in restraining the -disease-demons of Ceylon, of which I have mentioned but a few, are -in the Tamil tongue. In various parts of India are found very nearly -the same systematic demonolatry and 'devil-dancing;' for example in -Travancore, to whose superstitions of this character the Rev. Samuel -Mateer has devoted two chapters in his work 'The Land of Charity.' - -The great demon of diseases in Ceylon is entitled Maha Cola Sanni -Yakseya. His father, a king, ordered his queen to be put to death in -the belief that she had been faithless to him. Her body was to be cut -in two pieces, one of which was to be hung upon a tree (Ukberiya), -the other to be thrown at its foot to the dogs. The queen before -her execution said, 'If this charge be false, may the child in my -womb be born this instant a demon, and may that demon destroy the -whole of this city and its unjust king.' So soon as the executioners -had finished their work, the two severed parts of the queen's body -reunited, a child was born who completely devoured his mother, -and then repaired to the graveyard (Sohon), where for a time he -fattened on corpses. Then he proceeded to inflict mortal diseases -upon the city, and had nearly depopulated it when the gods Iswara -and Sekkra interfered, descending to subdue him in the disguise of -mendicants. Possibly the great Maha Sohon mentioned above, and the -Sohon (graveyard) from which Sanni dealt out deadliness, may be best -understood by the statement of the learned writer from whom these facts -are quoted, that, 'excepting the Buddhist priests, and the aristocrats -of the land, whose bodies were burnt in regular funeral-piles after -death, the corpses of the rest of the people were neither burned nor -buried, but thrown into a place called Sohona, which was an open piece -of ground in the jungle, generally a hollow among the hills, at the -distance of three or four miles from any inhabited place, where they -were left in the open air to be decomposed or devoured by dogs and -wild beasts.' [193] There would appear to be even more ground for -the dread of the Great Graveyard Demon in many parts of Christendom, -where, through desire to preserve corpses for a happy resurrection, -they are made to steal through the water-veins of the earth, and find -their resurrection as fell diseases. Iswara and Sekkra were probably -two reformers who persuaded the citizens to bury the poor deep in -the earth; had they been wise enough to place the dead where nature -would give them speedy resurrection and life in grass and flowers, -it would not have been further recorded that 'they ordered him (the -demon) to abstain from eating men, but gave him Wurrun or permission -to inflict disease on mankind, and to obtain offerings.' This is very -much the same as the privilege given our Western funeral agencies and -cemeteries also; and when the Modliar adds that Sanni 'has eighteen -principal attendants,' one can hardly help thinking of the mummers, -gravediggers, chaplains, all engaged unconsciously in the work of -making the earth less habitable. - -The first of the attendants of this formidable avenger of his mother's -wrongs is named Bhoota Sanni Yakseya, Demon of Madness. The whole -demonolatry and devil-dancing of that island are so insane that one is -not surprised that this Bhoota had but little special development. It -is amid clear senses we might naturally look for full horror of -madness, and there indeed do we find it. One of the most horrible -forms of the disease-demon was the personification of madness among -the Greeks, as Mania. [194] In the Hercules Furens of Euripides, -where Madness, 'the unwedded daughter of black Night,' and sprung of -'the blood of Coelus,' is evoked from Tartarus for the express purpose -of imbreeding in Hercules 'child-slaying disturbances of reason,' -there is a suggestion of the hereditary nature of insanity. Obedient -to the vindictive order of Juno, 'in her chariot hath gone forth the -marble-visaged, all-mournful Madness, the Gorgon of Night, and with -the hissing of hundred heads of snakes, she gives the goad to her -chariot, on mischief bent.' We may plainly see that the religion -which embodied such a form was itself ending in madness. Already -ancient were the words mantikê (prophecy) and manikê (madness) when -Plato cited their identity to prove one kind of madness the special -gift of Heaven: [195] the notion lingers in Dryden's line, 'Great -wits to madness sure are near allied;' and survive in regions where -deference is paid to lunatics and idiots. Other diseases preserve in -their names indications of similar association: e.g., Nympholepsy, -St. Vitus's Dance, St. Anthony's Fire. Wesley attributes still epilepsy -to 'possession.' This was in pursuance of ancient beliefs. Typhus, a -name anciently given to every malady accompanied with stupor (typhos), -seemed the breath of feverish Typhon. Max Müller connects the word -quinsy with Sanskrit amh, 'to throttle,' and Ahi the throttling -serpent, its medium being angina; and this again is kynanchê, -dog-throttling, the Greek for quinsy. [196] - -The genius of William Blake, steeped in Hebraism, never showed -greater power than in his picture of Plague. A gigantic hideous form, -pale-green, with the slime of stagnant pools, reeking with vegetable -decays and gangrene, the face livid with the motley tints of pallor -and putrescence, strides onward with extended arms like a sower sowing -his seeds, only in this case the germs of his horrible harvest are not -cast from the hands, but emanate from the fingers as being of their -essence. Such, to the savage mind, was the embodiment of malaria, -sultriness, rottenness, the putrid Pretraya, invisible, but smelt -and felt. Such, to the ignorant imagination, is the Destroying Angel -to which rationalistic artists and poets have tried to add wings -and majesty; but which in the popular mind was no doubt pictured -more like this form found at Ostia (fig. 16), and now passing in -the Vatican for a Satan,--probably a demon of the Pontine Marshes, -and of the fever that still has victims of its fatal cup (p. 291). In -these fearful forms the poor savage believed with such an intensity -that he was able to shape the brain of man to his phantasy; bringing -about the anomaly that the great reformer, Luther, should affirm, -even while fighting superstition, that a Christian ought to know -that he lives in the midst of devils, and that the devil is nearer -to him than his coat or his shirt. The devils, he tells us, are -all around us, and are at every moment seeking to ensnare our lives, -salvation, and happiness. There are many of them in the woods, waters, -deserts, and in damp muddy places, for the purpose of doing folk a -mischief. They also house in the dense black clouds, and send storms, -hail, thunder and lightning, and poison the air with their infernal -stench. In one place, Luther tells us that the devil has more vessels -and boxes full of poison, with which he kills people, than all the -apothecaries in the whole world. He sends all plagues and diseases -among men. We may be sure that when any one dies of the pestilence, -is drowned, or drops suddenly dead, the devil does it. - -Knowing nothing of Zoology, the primitive man easily falls into the -belief that his cattle--the means of life--may be the subjects of -sorcery. Jesus sending devils into a herd of swine may have become -by artificial process a divine benefactor in the eye of Christendom, -but the myth makes Him bear an exact resemblance to the dangerous -sorcerer that fills the savage mind with dread. It is probable that the -covetous eye denounced in the decalogue means the evil eye, which was -supposed to blight an object intensely desired but not to be obtained. - -Gopolu, already referred to (p. 136) as the Singhalese demon of -hydrophobia, bears the general name of the 'Cattle Demon.' He -is said to have been the twin of the demigod Mangara by a queen -on the Coromandel coast. The mother died, and a cow suckled the -twins, but afterwards they quarrelled, and Gopolu being slain was -transformed into a demon. He repaired to Arangodde, and fixed his -abode in a Banyan where there is a large bee-hive, whence proceed -many evils. The population around this Banyan for many miles being -prostrated by diseases, the demigod Mangara and Pattini (goddess of -chastity) admonished the villagers to sacrifice a cow regularly, -and thus they were all resuscitated. Gopolu now sends all cattle -diseases. India is full of the like superstitions. The people of -Travancore especially dread the demon Madan, 'he who is like a cow,' -believed to strike oxen with sudden illness,--sometimes men also. - -In Russia we find superstition sometimes modified by common -sense. Though the peasant hopes that Zegory (St. George) will defend -his cattle, he begins to see the chief foes of his cattle. As in -the folk-song-- - - - We have gone around the field, - We have called Zegory.... - O thou, our brave Zegory, - Save our cattle, - In the field and beyond the field, - In the forest and beyond the forest, - Under the bright moon, - Under the red sun, - From the rapacious wolf, - From the cruel bear, - From the cunning beast. [197] - - -Nevertheless when a cattle plague occurs many villages relapse into a -normally extinct state of mind. Thus, a few years ago, in a village -near Moscow, all the women, having warned the men away, stripped -themselves entirely naked and drew a plough so as to make a furrow -entirely around the village. At the point of juncture in this circle -they buried alive a cock, a cat, and a dog. Then they filled the -air with lamentations, crying--'Cattle Plague! Cattle Plague! spare -our cattle! Behold, we offer thee cock, cat, and dog!' The dog is -a demonic character in Russia, while the cat is sacred; for once -when the devil tried to get into Paradise in the form of a mouse, -the dog allowed him to pass, but the cat pounced on him--the two -animals being set on guard at the door. The offering of both seems to -represent a desire to conciliate both sides. The nudity of the women -may have been to represent to the hungry gods their utter poverty, -and inability to give more; but it was told me in Moscow, where I -happened to be staying at the time, that it would be dangerous for -any man to draw near during the performance. - -In Altmark [198] the demons who bewitch cattle are called 'Bihlweisen,' -and are believed to bury certain diabolical charms under thresholds -over which the animals are to pass, causing them to wither away, the -milk to cease, etc. The prevention is to wash the cattle with a lotion -of sea cabbage boiled with infusion of wine. In the same province it -is related that once there appeared in a harvest-field at one time -fifteen, at another twelve men (apparently), the latter headless. -They all laboured with scythes, but though the rustling could be -heard no grain fell. When questioned they said nothing, and when -the people tried to seize them they ran away, cutting fruitlessly as -they ran. The priests found in this a presage of the coming cattle -plague. The Russian superstition of the plough, above mentioned, is -found in fragmentary survivals in Altmark. Thus, it is said that to -plough around a village and then sit under the plough (placed upright), -will enable any one to see the witches; and in some villages, some -bit of a plough is hung up over a doorway through which cattle pass, -as no devil can then approach them. The demons have a natural horror -of honest work, and especially the culture of the earth. Goethe, -as we have seen, notes their fear of roses: perhaps he remembered -the legend of Aspasia, who, being disfigured by a tumour on the chin, -was warned by a dove-maiden to dismiss her physicians and try a rose -from the garland of Venus; so she recovered health and beauty. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -DEATH. - - The Vendetta of Death--Teoyaomiqui--Demon of Serpents--Death on - the Pale Horse--Kali--War-gods--Satan as Death--Death-beds-- - Thanatos--Yama--Yimi--Towers of Silence--Alcestis--Hercules, - Christ, and Death--Hel--Salt--Azraël--Death and the Cobbler-- - Dance of Death--Death as Foe, and as Friend. - - -Savage races believe that no man dies except by sorcery. Therefore -every death must be avenged. The Actas of the Philippines regard the -'Indians' as the cause of the deaths among them; and when one of them -loses a relative, he lurks and watches until he has spied an 'Indian' -and killed him. [199] It is a progress from this when primitive man -advances to the belief that the fatal sorcerer is an invisible man--a -demon. When this doctrine is taught in the form of a belief that death -entered the world through the machinations of Satan, and was not in the -original scheme of creation, it is civilised; but when it is inculcated -under a set of African or other non-christian names, it is barbarian. - -The following sketch, by Mr. Gideon Lang, will show the intensity of -this conviction among the natives of New South Wales:-- - -'While at Nanima I constantly saw one of these, named Jemmy, a -remarkably fine man, about twenty-eight years of age, who was the -'model Christian' of the missionaries, and who had been over and -over again described in their reports as a living proof that, taken -in infancy, the natives were as capable of being truly christianised -as a people who had had eighteen centuries of civilisation. I confess -that I strongly doubted, but still there was no disputing the apparent -facts. Jemmy was not only familiar with the Bible, which he could -read remarkably well, but he was even better acquainted with the more -abstruse tenets of christianity; and so far as the whites could see, -his behaviour was in accordance with his religious acquirements. One -Sunday morning I walked down to the black fellows' camp, to have -a talk with Jemmy, as usual. I found him sitting in his gunyah, -overlooking a valley of the Macquarrie, whose waters glanced brightly -in the sunshine of the delicious spring morning. He was sitting in a -state of nudity, excepting his waistcloth, very earnestly reading the -Bible, which indeed was his constant practice; and I could see that -he was perusing the Sermon on the Mount. I seated myself, and waited -till he concluded the chapter, when he laid down the Bible, folded -his hands, and sat with his eyes fixed abstractedly on his fire. I -bade him 'good morning,' which he acknowledged without looking up. I -then said, 'Jemmy, what is the meaning of your spears being stuck -in a circle round you?' He looked me steadily in the eyes, and said -solemnly and with suppressed fierceness, 'Mother's dead!' I said that -I was very sorry to hear it; 'but what had her death to do with the -spears being stuck around so?' 'Bogan black-fellow killed her!' was -the fierce and gloomy reply. 'Killed by a Bogan black!' I exclaimed: -'why, your mother has been dying a fortnight, and Dr. Curtis did not -expect her to outlive last night, which you know as well as I do.' His -only reply was a dogged repetition of the words: 'A Bogan black-fellow -killed her!' I appealed to him as a Christian--to the Sermon on the -Mount, that he had just been reading; but he absolutely refused to -promise that he would not avenge his mother's death. In the afternoon -of that day we were startled by a yell which can never be mistaken by -any person who has once heard the wild war-whoop of the blacks when -in battle array. On marching out we saw all the black fellows of the -neighbourhood formed into a line, and following Jemmy in an imaginary -attack upon an enemy. Jemmy himself disappeared that evening. On the -following Wednesday morning I found him sitting complacently in his -gunyah, plaiting a rope of human hair, which I at once knew to be that -of his victim. Neither of us spoke; I stood for some time watching him -as he worked with a look of mocking defiance of the anger he knew I -felt. I pointed to a hole in the middle of his fire, and said, 'Jemmy, -the proper place for your Bible is there.' He looked up with his eyes -flashing as I turned away, and I never saw him again. I afterwards -learned that he had gone to the district of the Bogan tribe, where -the first black he met happened to be an old friend and companion of -his own. This man had just made the first cut in the bark of a tree, -which he was about to climb for an opossum; but on hearing footsteps -he leaped down and faced round, as all blacks do, and whites also, -when blacks are in question. Seeing that it was only Jemmy, however, -he resumed his occupation, but had no sooner set to work than Jemmy -sent a spear through his back and nailed him to the tree. [200] - -Perhaps if Jemmy could have been cross-examined by the non-missionary -mind, he might have replied with some effect to Mr. Lang's suggestion -that he ought to part with his Bible. Surely he must have found -in that volume a sufficient number of instances to justify his -faith in the power of demons over human health and life. Might he -not have pondered the command, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to -live,' and imagined that he was impaling another Manasseh, who 'used -enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, -and with wizards (and) wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to -provoke Him to anger.' [201] Those who hope that the Bible may carry -light into the dark places of superstition and habitations of cruelty -might, one would say, reflect upon the long contest which European -science had with bibliolators in trying to relieve the popular mind -from the terrors of witchcraft, whose genuineness it was (justly) -declared contrary to the Scriptures to deny. There are districts in -Great Britain and America, and many more on the continent of Europe, -where the spells that waste and destroy are still believed in; where -effigies of wax or even onions are labelled with some hated name, -and stuck over with pins, and set near fires to be melted or dried -up, in full belief that some subject of the charm will be consumed by -disease along with the object used. Under every roof where such coarse -superstitions dwell the Bible dwells beside them, and experience proves -that the infallibility of all such talismans diminishes pari passu. - -What the savage is really trying to slay when he goes forth to avenge -his relative's death on the first alien he finds may be seen in the -accompanying figure (17), which represents the Mexican goddess of -death--Teoyaomiqui. The image is nine feet high, and is kept in -a museum in the city of Mexico. Mr. Edward B. Tylor, from whose -excellent book of travels in that country the figure is copied, -says of it:--'The stone known as the statue of the war-goddess is a -huge block of basalt covered with sculptures. The antiquaries think -that the figures on it stand for different personages, and that it is -three gods--Huitzilopochtli, the god of war; Teoyaomiqui, his wife; and -Mictlanteuctli, the god of hell. It has necklaces of alternate hearts -and dead men's hands, with death's heads for a central ornament. At the -bottom of the block is a strange sprawling figure, which one cannot -see now, for it is the base which rests on the ground; but there are -two shoulders projecting from the idol, which show plainly that it -did not stand on the ground, but was supported aloft on the tops of -two pillars. The figure carved upon the bottom represents a monster -holding a skull in each hand, while others hang from his knees and -elbows. His mouth is a mere oval ring, a common feature of Mexican -idols, and four tusks project just above it. The new moon laid down -like a bridge forms his forehead, and a star is placed on each side -of it. This is thought to have been the conventional representation -of Mictlanteuctli (Lord of the Land of the Dead), the god of hell, -which was a place of utter and eternal darkness. Probably each victim -as he was led to the altar could look up between the two pillars and -see the hideous god of hell staring down upon him from above. There is -little doubt that this is the famous war-idol which stood on the great -teocalli of Mexico, and before which so many thousands of human beings -were sacrificed. It lay undisturbed under ground in the great square, -close to the very site of the teocalli, until sixty years ago. For -many years after that it was kept buried, lest the sight of one of -their old deities might be too exciting for the Indians, who, as I -have mentioned before, had certainly not forgotten it, and secretly -ornamented it with garlands of flowers while it remained above ground.' - -If my reader will now turn to the (fig. 11) portrait of the Demon -of Serpents, he will find a conception fundamentally similar to -the Mexican demoness of death or slaughter, but one that is not -shut up in a museum of antiquities; it still haunts and terrifies a -vast number of the people born in Ceylon. He is the principal demon -invoked in Ceylon by the malignant sorcerers in performing the 84,000 -different charms that afflict evils (Hooniyan). His general title is -Oddy Cumara Hooniyan Dewatawa; but he has a special name for each of -his six several apparitions, the chief of these being Cali Oddisey, -or demon of incurable diseases, therefore of death, and Naga Oddisey, -demon of serpents--deadliest of animals. Beneath him is the Pale Horse -which has had its career so long and far,--even to the White Mare on -which, in some regions, Christ is believed to revisit the earth every -Christmas; and also the White Mare of Yorkshire Folklore which bore -its rider from Whitestone Cliff to hell. This Singhalese form also, -albeit now associated by Capuas with fatal disease, was probably at -first, like the Mexican, a war goddess and god combined, as is shown -by the uplifted sword, and reeking hand uplifted in triumph. Equally -a god of war is our 'Death on the Pale Horse,' which christian art, -following the so-called Apocalypse, has made so familiar. 'I looked, -and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and -Hell followed with him. And power was given to him over the fourth -part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, -and with the beasts of the earth.' This is but a travesty of the Greek -Ares, the Roman Mars, or god of War. In the original Greek-form Ares -was not solely the god of war, but of destruction generally. In the -OEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles we have the popular conception of him -as one to whom the deadly plague is ascribed. He is named as the -'god unhonoured among gods,' and it is said:--'The city is wildly -tossing, and no more can lift up her head from the waves of death; -withering the ripening grain in the husks, withering the kine in their -pastures; blighted are the babes through the failing labours of women; -the fire-bearing god, horrid Pestilence, having darted down, ravages -the city; by him the house of Cadmus is empty, and dark Hades enriched -with groans and lamentations.' - -Mother of the deadliest 'Calas' of Singhalese demonolatry, sister of -the Scandinavian Hel in name and nature, is Kali. Although the Hindu -writers repudiate the idea that there is any devil among their three -hundred and thirty millions of deities, it is difficult to deny Kali -that distinction. Her wild dance of delight over bodies of the slain -would indicate pleasure taken in destruction for its own sake, so -fulfilling the definition of a devil; but, on the other hand, there -is a Deccan legend that reports her as devouring the dead, and this -would make her a hunger-demon. We may give her the benefit of the -doubt, and class her among the demons--or beings whose evil is not -gratuitous--all the more because the mysteriously protruding tongue, -as in the figure of Typhon (p. 185), probably suggests thirst. Hindu -legend does, indeed, give another interpretation, and say that when she -was dancing for joy at having slain a hundred-headed giant demigod, the -shaking of the earth was so formidable that Siva threw himself among -the slain, whom she was crushing at every step, hoping to induce her -to pause; but when, unheeding, she trod upon the body of her husband, -she paused and thrust out her tongue from surprise and shame. The -Vedic description of Agni as an ugra (ogre), with 'tongue of flame,' -may better interpret Kali's tongue. It is said Kali is pleased for -a hundred years by the blood of a tiger; for a thousand by that of -a man; for a hundred thousand by the blood of three men. - -How are we to understand this dance of Death, and the further legend -of her tossing dead bodies into the air for amusement? Such a figure -found among a people who shudder at taking life even from the lowest -animals is hardly to be explained by the destructiveness of nature -personified in her spouse Siva. Her looks and legends alike represent -slaughter by human violence. May it not be that Kali represents some -period when the abhorrence of taking life among a vegetarian people--a -people, too, believing in transmigration--might have become a public -danger? When Krishna appeared it was, according to the Bhágavat Gita, -as charioteer inciting Arjoon to war. There must have been various -periods when a peaceful people must fall victims to more savage -neighbours unless they could be stimulated to enter on the work of -destruction with a light heart. There may have been periods when the -human Kalis of India might stimulate their husbands and sons to war -with such songs as the women of Dardistan sing at the Feast of Fire -(p. 91). The amour of the Greek goddess of Beauty with the god of War, -leaving her lawful spouse the Smith, is full of meaning. The Assyrian -Venus, Istar, appeared in a vision, with wings and halo, bearing a bow -and arrow for Assurbanipal. The Thug appears to have taken some such -view of Kali, regarding her as patroness of their plan for reducing -population. They are said to have claimed that Kali left them one of -her teeth for a pickaxe, her rib for a knife, her garment's hem for -a noose, and wholesale murder for a religion. The uplifted right -hand of the demoness has been interpreted as intimating a divine -purpose in the havoc around her, and it is possible that some such -euphemism attached to the attitude before the Thug accepted it as his -own benediction from this highly decorated personage of human cruelty. - -The ancient reverence for Kali has gradually passed to her mitigated -form--Durgá. Around her too are visible the symbols of destruction; -but she is supposed to be satisfied with pumpkin-animals, and the -weapons in her ten hands are believed to be directed against the -enemies of the gods, especially against the giant king Muheshu. She -is mother of the beautiful boy Kartik, and of the elephant-headed -inspirer of knowledge Ganesa. She is reverenced now as female energy, -the bestower of beauty and fruitfulness on women. - -The identity of war-gods and death-demons, in the most frightful -conceptions which have haunted the human imagination, is of profound -significance. These forms do not represent peaceful and natural death, -not death by old age,--of which, alas, those who cowered before them -knew but little,--but death amid cruelty and agony, and the cutting -down of men in the vigour of life. That indeed was terrible,--even -more than these rude images could describe. - -But there are other details in these hideous forms. The priest has -added to the horse and sword of war the adored serpent, and hideous -symbols of the 'Land of the Dead.' For it is not by terror of death, -but of what he can persuade men lies beyond, that the priest has -reigned over mankind. When Isabel (in 'Measure for Measure') is -trying to persuade her brother that the sense of death lies most in -apprehension, the sentenced youth still finds death 'a fearful thing.' - - - Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; - To lie in cold obstruction and to rot; - This sensible warm motion to become - A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit - To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside - In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; - To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, - And blown with violence round about - The pendent world; or to be worse than worst - Of these, that lawless and incertain thoughts - Imagine howling!--'tis too horrible! - The weariest and most loathed worldly life - That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment - Can lay on nature, is a paradise - To what we fear of death. - - -In all these apprehensions of Claudio there is no thought of -annihilation. What if he had seen death as an eternal sleep? Let -Hamlet answer:-- - - - To die,--to sleep;-- - No more;--and, by a sleep, to say we end - The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks - That flesh is heir to,--'tis a consummation - Devoutly to be wished. - - -The greater part of the human race still belong to religions which, -in their origin, promised eternal repose as the supreme final -bliss. Had death in itself possessed horrors for the human mind, -the priest need not have conjured up beyond it those tortures that -haunted Hamlet with the dreams of possible evils beyond which make -even the wretched rather bear the ills they have than fly to others -they know not of. It would have been sufficient sanction to promise -immortality only to the pious. But as in Claudio's shuddering lines -every hell is reflected--whether of ice, fire, or brutalisation--so -are the same mixed with the very blood and brain of mankind, even -where literally outgrown. Christianity superadded to the horrors by -importing the idea that death came by human sin, and so by gradual -development ascribing to Satan the power of death; thereby forming a -new devil who bore in him the power to make death a punishment. How -the matter stood in the mediæval belief may be seen in figure 19, -copied from a Russian Bible of the (early) seventeenth century. Lazarus -smiles to see the nondescript soul of Dives torn from him by a devil -with a hook, while another drowns the groans with a drum. Satan -squirts an infernal baptism on the departing soul, and the earnest -co-operation of the archangel justifies the satisfaction of Lazarus -and Abraham. This degraded belief is still found in the almost gleeful -pulpit-picturings of physical agonies as especially attending the -death-beds of 'infidels,'--as Voltaire and Paine,--and its fearful -result is found in the degree to which priesthoods are still able -to paralyse the common sense and heart of the masses by the barbaric -ceremonials with which they are permitted to surround death, and the -arrogant line drawn between unorthodox goats and credulous sheep by -'consecrated' ground. - -Mr. Keary, in his interesting volume on 'The Dawn of History,' [202] -says that it has been suggested that the youthful winged figure -on the drum of a column from the temple of Diana at Ephesus to the -British Museum, may be a representation of Thanatos, Death. It would -be agreeable to believe that the only important representation of Death -left by Greek art is that exquisite figure, whose high tribute is that -it was at first thought to be Love! The figure is somewhat like the -tender Eros of preraphaelite art, and with the same look of gentle -melancholy. Such a sweet and simple form of Death would be worthy of -the race which, amid all the fiery or cold rivers of the underworld -which had gathered about their religion, still saw running there the -soft-flowing stream of forgetfulness. Let one study this Ephesian -Thanatos reverently--no engraving or photograph can do it even partial -justice--and then in its light read those myths of Death which seem to -bear us back beyond the savagery of war and the artifices of priests -to the simpler conceptions of humanity. In its serene light we may -especially read both Vedic and Iranian hymns and legends of Yama. - -The first man to die became the powerful Yama of the Hindus, the -monarch of the dead; and he became invested with metaphors of the sun -that had set. [203] In a solemn and pathetic hymn of the Vedas he is -said to have crossed the rapid waters, to have shown the way to many, -to have first known the path on which our fathers crossed over. [204] -But in the splendours of sunset human hope found its prophetic pictures -of a heaven beyond. The Vedic Yama is ever the friend. It is one of -the most picturesque facts of mythology that, after Yama had become -in India another name for Death, the same name reappeared in Persia, -and in the Avesta, as a type at once of the Golden Age in the past -and of paradise in the future. - -Such was the Iranian Yima. He was that 'flos regum' whose reign -represented 'the ideal of human happiness, when there was neither -illness nor death, neither heat nor cold,' and who has never -died. 'According to the earlier traditions of the Avesta,' says -Spiegel, 'Jima does not die, but when evil and misery began to prevail -on earth, retires to a smaller space, a kind of garden or Eden, where -he continues his happy life with those who remained true to him.' Such -have been the antecedents of our many beautiful myths which ascribe -even an earthly immortality to the great,--to Barbarossa, Arthur, -and even to the heroes of humbler races as Hiawatha and Glooscap -of North American tribes,--who are or were long believed to have -'sailed into the fiery sunset,' or sought some fair island, or to -slumber in a hidden grotto, until the world shall have grown up to -their stature and requires their return. - -In Japan the (Sintoo) god of Hell is now named Amma, and one may -suspect that it is some imitation of Yama by reason of the majesty he -still retains in the popular conception. He is pictured as a grave -man, wearing a judicial cap, and no cruelties seem to be attributed -to him personally, but only to the oni or demons of whom he is lord. - -The kindly characteristics of the Hindu Yama seem in Persia to have -been replaced by the bitterness of Ahriman, or Anra-mainyu, the -genius of evil. Haug interprets Anra-mainyu as 'Death-darting.' The -word is the counterpart of Speñta-mainyu, and means originally the -'throttling spirit;' being thus from anh, philologically the root of -all evil, as we shall see when we consider its dragon brood. Professor -Whitney translates the name 'Malevolent.' But, whatever may be the -meaning of the word, there is little doubt that the Twins of Vedic -Mythology--Yama and Yami--parted into genii of Day and Night, and -were ultimately spiritualised in the Spirit of Light and Spirit of -Darkness which have made the basis of all popular theology from the -time of Zoroaster until this day. - -Nothing can be more remarkable than the extreme difference between -the ancient Hindu and the Persian view of death. As to the former it -was the happy introduction to Yama, to the latter it was the visible -seal of Ahriman's equality with Ormuzd. They held it in absolute -horror. The Towers of Silence stand in India to-day as monuments of -this darkest phase of the Parsî belief. The dead body belonged to -Ahriman, and was left to be devoured by wild creatures; and although -the raising of towers for the exposure of the corpse, so limiting its -consumption to birds, has probably resulted from a gradual rationalism -which has from time to time suggested that by such means souls of the -good may wing their way to Ormuzd, yet the Parsî horror of death is -strong enough to give rise to such terrible suspicions, even if they -were unfounded, as those which surrounded the Tower (Khao's Dokhma) -in June 1877. The strange behaviour of the corpse-bearers in leaving -one tower, going to another, and afterwards (as was said) secretly -repairing to the first, excited the belief that a man had been found -alive in the first and was afterwards murdered. The story seems to have -begun with certain young Parsîs themselves, and, whether it be true -or not, they have undoubtedly interpreted rightly the ancient feeling -of that sect with regard to all that had been within the kingdom of -the King of Terrors. 'As sickness and death,' says Professor Whitney, -'were supposed to be the work of the malignant powers, the dead body -itself was regarded with superstitious horror. It had been gotten by -the demons into their own peculiar possession, and became a chief -medium through which they exercised their defiling action upon the -living. Everything that came into its neighbourhood was unclean, and to -a certain extent exposed to the influences of the malevolent spirits, -until purified by the ceremonies which the law prescribed.' [205] -It is to be feared this notion has crept in among the Brahmans; -the Indian Mirror (May 26, 1878) states that a Chandernagore lady, -thrown into the Ganges, but afterwards found to be alive, was believed -to be possessed by Dano (an evil spirit), and but for interference -would have found a watery grave. The Jews also were influenced by -this belief, and to this day it is forbidden a Cohen, or descendant -of the priesthood, to touch a dead body. - -The audience at the Crystal Palace which recently witnessed the -performance of Euripides' Alcestis could hardly, it is to be feared, -have realised the relation of the drama to their own religion. Apollo -induces the Fates to consent that Admetus shall not die provided he -can find a substitute for him. The pure Alcestis steps forward and -devotes herself to death to save her husband. Apollo tries to persuade -Death to give back Alcestis, but Death declares her fate demanded -by justice. While Alcestis is dying, Admetus bids her entreat the -gods for pity; but Alcestis says it is a god who has brought on the -necessity, and adds, 'Be it so!' She sees the hall of the dead, with -'the winged Pluto staring from beneath his black eyebrows.' She reminds -her husband of the palace and regal sway she might have enjoyed in -Thessaly had she not left it for him. Bitterly does Pheres reproach -Admetus for accepting life through the vicarious suffering and death -of another. Then comes Hercules; he vanquishes Death; he leads forth -Alcestis from 'beneath into the light.' With her he comes into the -presence of Admetus, who is still in grief. Admetus cannot recognise -her; but when he recognises her with joy, Hercules warns him that it -is not lawful for Alcestis to address him 'until she is unbound from -her consecration to the gods beneath, and the third day come.' - -It only requires a change of names to make Alcestis a Passion-play. The -unappeasable Justice which is as a Fate binding the deity, though it -may be satisfied vicariously; 'the last enemy, Death;' the atonement -by sacrifice of a saintly human being, who from a father's palace is -brought by love freely to submit to death; the son of a god (Zeus) by a -human mother (Alcmene),--the god-man Herakles,--commissioned to destroy -earthly evils by twelve great labours,--descending to conquer Death and -deliver one of the 'spirits in prison,' the risen spirit not recognised -at first, as Jesus was not by Mary; still bearing the consecration -of the grave until the third day, which forbade intercourse with the -living ('Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father'),--all -these enable us to recognise in the theologic edifices around us the -fragments of a crumbled superstition as they lay around Euripides. - -From the old pictures of Christ's triumphal pilgrimage on earth -parallels for the chief Labours of Herakles may be found; he is shown -treading on the lion, asp, dragon, and Satan; but the myths converge -in the Descent into Hades and the conquest of Death. It is remarkable -that in the old pictures of Christ delivering souls from Hades he is -generally represented closely followed by Eve, whose form so emerging -would once have been to the greater part of Europe already familiar as -that of either Alcestis, Eurydice, or Persephone. One of the earliest -examples of the familiar subject, Christ conquering Death, is that in -the ancient (tenth century) Missal of Worms,--that city whose very name -preserves the record of the same combat under the guise of Siegfried -and the Worm, or Dragon. The cross is now the sword thrust near the -monster's mouth. The picture illustrates the chant of Holy Week: -'De manu Mortis liberabo eos, de Morte redimam eos. Ero Mors tua, -O Mors; morsus tuus ero, inferne.' From the pierced mouth of Death -are vomited flames, which remind us of his ethnical origin; but it -is not likely that to the christianised pagans of Worms the picture -could ever have conveyed an impression so weirdly horrible as that -of their own goddess of Death, Hel. 'Her hall is called Elvidnir, -realm of the cold storm: Hunger is her table; Starvation, her knife; -Delay, her man; Slowness, her maid; Precipice, her threshold; Care, -her bed; burning Anguish, the hangings of her apartments. One half -of her body is livid, the other half the colour of human flesh.' - -With the Scandinavian picture of the Abode of Death may be compared the -description of the Abode of Nin-ki-gal, the Assyrian Queen of Death, -from a tablet in the British Museum, translated by Mr. Fox Talbot: -[206]-- - - - To the House men enter--but cannot depart from: - To the Road men go--but cannot return. - The abode of darkness and famine - Where Earth is their food: their nourishment Clay: - Light is not seen; in darkness they dwell: - Ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings there; - On the door and the gate-posts the dust lies undisturbed. - - -The Semitic tribes, undisturbed, like the importers of their theology -into the age of science, by the strata in which so many perished animal -kingdoms are entombed, attributed all death, even that of animals, -to the forbidden fruit. The Rabbins say that not only Adam and Eve, -but the animals in Eden, partook of that fruit, and came under the -power of Sammaël the Violent, and of his agent Azraël, the demon of -Death. The Phoenix, having refused this food, preserved the power of -renovating itself. - -It is an example of the completeness and consistency with which a -theory may organise its myth, that the fatal demons are generally -represented as abhorring salt--the preserving agent and foe of -decay. The 'Covenant of Salt' among the ancient Jews probably had -this significance, and the care with which Job salted his sacrifice -is considered elsewhere. Aubrey says, 'Toads (Saturnine animals) are -killed by putting salt upon them. I have seen the experiment.' The -devil, as heir of death-demons, appears in all European folklore -as a hater of salt. A legend, told by Heine, relates that a knight, -wandering in a wood in Italy, came upon a ruin, and in it a wondrous -statue of the goddess of Beauty. Completely fascinated, the knight -haunted the spot day after day, until one evening he was met by a -servant who invited him to enter a villa which he had not before -remarked. What was his surprise to be ushered into the presence of -the living image of his adored statue! Amid splendour and flowers -the enraptured knight is presently seated with his charmer at -a banquet. Every luxury of the world is there; but there is no -salt! When he hints this want a cloud passes over the face of his -Beauty. Presently he asks the servant to bring the salt; the servant -does so, shuddering; the knight helps himself to it. The next sip of -wine he takes elicits a cry from him: it is liquid fire. Madness seizes -upon him; caresses, burning kisses follow, until he falls asleep on the -bosom of his goddess. But what visions! Now he sees her as a wrinkled -crone, next a great bat bearing a torch as it flutters around him, -and again as a frightful monster, whose head he cuts off in an agony -of terror. When the knight awakes it is in his own villa. He hastens -to his ruin, and to the beloved statue; he finds her fallen from the -pedestal, and the beautiful head cut from the neck lying at her feet. - -The Semitic Angel of Death is a figure very different from any that -we have considered. He is known in theology only in the degradation -which he suffered at the hands of the Rabbins, but originally was an -awful but by no means evil genius. The Persians probably imported him, -under the name of Asuman, for we do not find him mentioned in their -earlier books, and the name has a resemblance to the Hebrew shamad, -to exterminate, which would connect it with the biblical 'destroyer' -Abaddon. This is rendered more probable because the Zoroastrians -believed in an earlier demon, Vízaresha, who carried souls after death -to the region of Deva-worshippers (India). The Chaldaic Angel of Death, -Malk-ad Mousa, may have derived his name from the legend of his having -approached Moses with the object of forcing his soul out of his body, -but, being struck by the glory of Moses' face, and by virtue of the -divine name on his rod, was compelled to retire. The legend is not -so ancient as the name, and was possibly a Saga suggested by the -name; it is obviously the origin of the tradition of the struggle -between Michael and Satan for the body of Moses (Jude 9.). This -personification had thus declined among the Jews into being evil enough -to be identified with Samaël,--who, in the Book of the Assumption of -Moses, is named as his assailant,--and subsequently with Satan himself, -named in connection with the New Testament version. It was on account -of this degradation of a being described in the earlier books of the -Bible as the commissioner of Jehovah that there was gradually developed -among the Jews two Angels of Death, one (Samaël, or his agent Azraël) -for those who died out of the land of Israel, and the other (Gabriel) -for those who had the happier lot of dying in their own country. - -This relegation of Samaël to the wandering Jews--who if they died -abroad were not supposed to reach Paradise with facility, if at -all--is significant. For Samaël is pretty certainly a conception -borrowed from outlying Semitic tribes. What that conception was we -find in Job xviii. 18, where he is 'the king of Terrors,' and still -more in the Arabic Azraël. The legend of this typical Angel of Death -is that he was promoted to his high office for special service. When -Allah was about to create man he sent the angels Gabriel, Michael, -and Israfil to the earth to bring clay of different colours for that -purpose; but the Earth warned them that the being about to be formed -would rebel against his creator and draw down a curse upon her (the -Earth), and they returned without bringing the clay. Then Azraël was -sent by Allah, and he executed his commission without fear; and for -this he was appointed the angel to separate souls from bodies. Azraël -had subordinate angels under him, and these are alluded to in the -opening lines of the Sura 79 of the Koran: - - - By the angels who tear forth the souls of some with violence; - And by those who draw forth the souls of others with gentleness. - - -The souls of the righteous are drawn forth with gentleness, those -of the wicked torn from them in the way shown in the Russian picture -(Fig. 19), which is indeed an illustration of the same mythology. - -These terrible tasks were indeed such as were only too likely to -bring Azraël into the evil repute of an executioner in the course -of time; but no degradation of him seems to have been developed -among the Moslems. He seems to have been associated in their minds -with Fate, and similar stories were told of him. Thus it is related -that once when Azraël was passing by Solomon he gazed intently upon -a man with whom Solomon was conversing. Solomon told his companion -that it was the Angel of Death who was looking at him, and the man -replied, 'He seems to want me: order the wind to carry me from hence -into India;' when this was done Azraël approached Solomon and said, -'I looked earnestly at that man from wonder, for I was commanded to -take his soul in India.' [207] - -Azraël was often represented as presenting to the lips a cup of -poison. It is probable that this image arose from the ancient ordeal -by poison, whereby draughts, however manipulated beforehand with -reference to the results, were popularly held to be divinely mingled -for retributive or beneficent effects. 'Cup' thus became among Semitic -tribes a symbol of Fate. The 'cup of consolation,' 'cup of wrath,' -'cup of trembling,' which we read of in the Old Testament; the 'cup -of blessing,' and 'cup of devils,' spoken of by Paul, have this -significance. The cup of Nestor, ornamented with the dove (Iliad, -xi. 632), was probably a 'cup of blessing,' and Mr. Schliemann has -found several of the same kind at Mycenæ. The symbol was repeatedly -used by Christ,--'Let this cup pass from me,' 'The cup that my Father -hath given me to drink shall I not drink it,' 'Are ye able to drink -of the cup that I drink of,'--and the familiar association of Azraël's -cup is expressed in the phrase 'taste of death.' - -One of the most pleasing modifications of the belief in the Angel of -Death is that found by Lepsius [208] among the Mohammedan negroes of -Kordofan. Osraîn (Azraël), it is said, receives the souls of the dead, -and leads the good to their reward, the bad to punishment. 'He lives -in a tree, el segerat mohana (the tree of fulfilling), which has as -many leaves as there are inhabitants in the world. On each leaf is -a name, and when a child is born a new one grows. If any one becomes -ill his leaf fades, and should he be destined to die, Osraîn breaks -it off. Formerly he used to come visibly to those whom he was going -to carry away, and thus put them in great terror. Since the prophet's -time, however, he has become invisible; for when he came to fetch -Mohammed's soul he told him that it was not good that by his visible -appearance he should frighten mankind. They might then easily die of -terror, before praying; for he himself, although a courageous and -spirited man, was somewhat perturbed at his appearance. Therefore -the prophet begged God to make Osraîn invisible, which prayer was -granted.' Mr. Mackenzie adds on this that, among the Moravian Jews, -at new moon a branch is held in its light, and the name of a person -pronounced: his face will appear between the horns of the moon, -and should he be destined to die the leaves will fade. - -Mr. John Ruskin has been very severe upon the Italians for the humour -with which they introduce Death as a person of their masque. 'When I -was in Venice in 1850,' he says, 'the most popular piece of the comic -opera was "Death and the Cobbler," in which the point of the plot was -the success of a village cobbler as a physician, in consequence of -the appearance of Death to him beside the bed of every patient who -was not to recover; and the most applauded scene in it was one in -which the physician, insolent in success, and swollen with luxury, -was himself taken down into the abode of Death, and thrown into an -agony of terror by being shown lives of men, under the form of wasting -lamps, and his own ready to expire.' On which he expresses the opinion -that 'this endurance of fearful images is partly associated with -indecency, partly with general fatuity and weakness of mind.' [209] -But may it not rather be the healthy reaction from morbid images of -terror, with which a purely natural and inevitable event has so long -been invested by priests, and portrayed in such popular pictures as -'The Dance of Death?' The mocking laughter with which the skeletons -beset the knight in our picture (Fig. 20), from the wall of La Chaise -Dieu, Auvergne, marks the priestly terrorism, which could not fail -to be vulgarised even more by the frivolous. In 1424 there was a -masquerade of the Dance of Death in the Cemetery of the Innocents -at Paris, attended by the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Burgundy, -just returned from battle. It may have been the last outcome in -the west of Kali's dance over the slain; but it is fortunate when -Fanaticism has no worse outcome than Folly. The Skeleton Death has -the advantage over earlier forms of suggesting the naturalness of -death. It is more scientific. The gradual discovery by the people -that death is not caused by sin has largely dissipated its horrors -in regions where the ignorance and impostures of priestcraft are of -daily observation; and although the reaction may not be expressed with -good taste, there would seem to be in it a certain vigour of nature, -reasserting itself in simplicity. - -In the northern world we are all too sombre in the matter. It is the -ages of superstition which have moulded our brains, and too generally -given to our natural love of life the unnatural counterpart of a -terror of death. What has been artificially bred into us can be -cultivated out of us. There are indeed deaths corresponding to the -two Angels--the death that comes by lingering disease and pain, and -that which comes by old age. There are indeed Azraëls in our cities -who poison the food and drink of the people, and mingle death in the -cup of water; and of them there should be increasing horror until the -gentler angel abides with us, and death by old age becomes normal. The -departure from life being a natural condition of entering upon it, -it is melancholy indeed that it should be ideally confused with the -pains and sorrows often attending it. It is fabled that Menippus -the Cynic, travelling through Hades, knew which were the kings there -by their howling louder than the rest. They howled loudest because -they had parted from most pleasures on earth. But all the happy and -young have more reason to lament untimely death than kings. The only -tragedy of Death is the ruin of living Love. Mr. Watts, in his great -picture of Love and Death (Grosvenor Gallery, 1877), revealed the -real horror. Not that skeleton which has its right time and place, -not the winged demon (called angel), who has no right time or place, -is here, but a huge, hard, heartless form, as of man half-blocked out -of marble; a terrible emblem of the remorseless force that embodies -the incompleteness and ignorance of mankind--a force that steadily -crushes hearts where intellects are devoting their energies to alien -worlds. Poor Love has little enough science; his puny arm stretched -out to resist the colossal form is weak as the prayers of agonised -parents and lovers directed against never-swerving laws; he is almost -exhausted; his lustrous wings are broken and torn in the struggle; -the dove at his feet crouches mateless; the rose that climbed on his -door is prostrate; over his shoulder the beam-like arm has set the -stony hand against the door where the rose of joy must fall. - -The aged when they die do but follow the treasures that have gone -before. One by one the old friends have left them, the sweet ties -parted, and the powers to enjoy and help become feeble. When of the -garden that once bloomed around them memory alone is left, friendly -is death to scatter also the leaves of that last rose where the loved -ones are sleeping. This is the real office of death. Nay, even when -it comes to the young and happy it is not Death but Disease that is -the real enemy; in disease there is almost no compensation at all but -learning its art of war; but Death is Nature's pity for helpless pain; -where love and knowledge can do no more it comes as a release from -sufferings which were sheer torture if prolonged. The presence of -death is recognised oftenest by the cessation of pain. Superstition -has done few heavier wrongs to humanity than by the mysterious terrors -with which it has invested that change which, to the simpler ages, -was pictured as the gentle river Lethe, flowing from the abode of -sleep, from which the shades drank oblivion alike of their woes and -of the joys from which they were torn. - - - - - - - - -PART III. - -THE DRAGON. - - -CHAPTER I. - -DECLINE OF DEMONS. - - The Holy Tree of Travancore--The growth of Demons in India and - their decline--The Nepaul Iconoclast--Moral Man and unmoral - Nature--Man's physical and mental migrations--Heine's 'Gods in - Exile'--The Goban Saor--Master Smith--A Greek caricature of - the Gods--The Carpenter v. Deity and Devil--Extermination of - the Werewolf--Refuges of Demons--The Giants reduced to Little - People--Deities and Demons returning to nature. - - -Having indicated, necessarily in mere outline and by selected -examples, the chief obstacles encountered by primitive man, and his -apprehensions, which he personified as demons, it becomes my next -task to show how and why many of these demons declined from their -terrible proportions and made way for more general forms, expressing -comparatively abstract conceptions of physical evil. This will involve -some review of the processes through which man's necessary adaptation -to his earthly environment brought him to the era of Combat with -multiform obstruction. - -There was, until within a few recent years, in a mountain of -Travancore, India, an ancient, gigantic Tree, regarded by the natives -as the residence of a powerful and dangerous deity who reigned over -the mountains and the wild beasts. [210] Sacrifices were offered to -this tree, sermons preached before it, and it seems to have been the -ancient cathedral of the district. Its trunk was so large that four -men with outstretched arms could not compass it. - -This tree in its early growth may symbolise the upspringing of natural -religion. Its first green leaves may be regarded as corresponding -to the first crude imaginations of man as written, for instance, -on leaves of the Vedas. Perceiving in nature, as we have seen, a -power of contrivance like his own, a might far superior to his own, -man naturally considered that all things had been created and were -controlled by invisible giants; and bowing helplessly beneath them -sang thus his hymns and supplications. - -'This earth belongs to Varuna, the king, and the wide sky, with its -ends far apart: the two seas (sky and ocean) are Varuna's loins; -he is also contained in this drop of water. He who would flee far -beyond the sky even he would not be rid of Varuna. His spies proceed -from heaven towards this earth.' - -'Through want of strength, thou ever strong and bright god, have I -gone wrong: have mercy, have mercy!' - -'However we break thy laws from day to day, men as we are, O god -Varuna, do not deliver us to death!' - -'Was it an old sin, Varuna, that thou wished to destroy the friend -who always praises thee!' - -'O Indra, have mercy, give me my daily bread! Raise up wealth to the -worshipper, thou mighty Dawn!' - -'Thou art the giver of horses, Indra, thou art the giver of cows, -the giver of corn, the strong lord of wealth: the old guide of -man disappointing no desires: to him we address this song. All this -wealth around here is known to be thine alone: take from it conqueror, -bring it hither!' - -In these characteristic sentences from various hymns we behold -man making his first contract with the ruling powers of nature: -so much adoration and flattery on his part for so much benefit on -theirs. But even in these earliest hymns there are intimations that -the gods were not fulfilling their side of the engagement. 'Why is -it,' pleads the worshipper, 'that you wish to destroy one who always -praises you? Was it an old sin?' The simple words unconsciously report -how faithfully man was performing his part of the contract. Having -omitted no accent of the prayer, praise, or ritual, he supposes the -continued indifference of the gods must be due to an old sin, one he -has forgotten, or perhaps one committed by some ancestor. - -In this state of mind the suggestion would easily take root that -words alone were too cheap to be satisfactory to the gods. There must -be offerings. Like earthly kings they must have their revenues. We -thus advance to the phase of sacrifices. But still neither in answer -to prayer, flattery, or sacrifice did the masses receive health or -wealth. Poverty, famine, death, still continued their remorseless -course with the silent machinery of sun, moon, and star. - -But why, then, should man have gone on fulfilling his part of -the contract--believing and worshipping deities, who when he -begged for corn gave him famine, and when he asked for fish gave -him a serpent? The priest intervened with ready explanation. And -here we may consult the holy Tree of Travancore again? Why should -that particular Tree--of a species common in the district and not -usually very large--have grown so huge? 'Because it is holy,' said -the priest. 'Because it was believed holy,' says the fact. For ages -the blood and ashes of victims fed its roots and swelled its trunk; -until, by an argument not confined to India, the dimensions of -the superstition were assumed to prove its truth. When the people -complained that all their offerings and worship did not bring -any returns the priest replied, You stint the gods and they stint -you. The people offered the fattest of their flocks and fruits: -More yet! said the priest. They built fine altars and temples for -the gods: More yet! said the priest. They built fine houses for the -priests, and taxed themselves to support them. And when thus, fed by -popular sacrifices and toils, the religion had grown to vast power, -the priest was able to call to his side the theologian for further -explanation. The theologian and the priest said--'Of course there must -be good reasons why the gods do not answer all your prayers (if they -did not answer some you would be utterly consumed); mere mortals must -not dare to inquire into their mysteries; but that there are gods, -and that they do attend to human affairs, is made perfectly plain -by this magnificent array of temples, and by the care with which -they have supplied all the wants of us, their particular friends, -whose cheeks, as you see, hang down with fatness.' - -If, after this explanation, any scepticism or rebellion arose among -the less favoured, the priest might easily add--'Furthermore, we and -our temples are now institutions; we are so strong and influential -that it is evident that the gods have appointed us to be their -representatives on earth, the dispensers of their favours. Also, of -their disfavours. We are able to make up for the seeming indifference -of the gods, rewarding you if you give us honour and wealth, but -ruining you if you turn heretical.' - -So grew the holy Tree. But strong as it was there was something -stronger. Some few years ago a missionary from London went to -Travancore, and desired to build a chapel near the same tree, no -doubt to be in the way of its worshippers and to borrow some of -the immemorial sanctity of the spot. This missionary fixed a hungry -eye upon that holy timber, and reflected how much holier it would -be if ending its career in the beams of a christian chapel. So one -day--English authorities being conveniently near--he and his workmen -began to cut down the sacred Tree. The natives gradually gathered -around, and looked on with horror. While the cutting proceeded a -tiger drew near, but shouts drove him off: the natives breathed freer; -the demon had come and looked on, but could not protect the Tree from -the Englishman. They still shuddered, however, at the sacrilege, and -when at last the Holy Tree of Travancore fell, its crash was mingled -with the cries and screams of its former worshippers. The victorious -missionary may be pointing out in his chapel the cut-up planks which -reveal the impotence of the deity so long feared by the natives; and -perhaps he is telling them of the bigness of his Tree, and claiming -its flourishing condition in Europe as proof of its supernatural -character. Possibly he may omit to mention the blood and ashes which -have fattened the root and enlarged the trunk of his Holy Tree! - -That Tree in Travancore could never have been so destroyed if the -primitive natural religion in which lay its deeper root had not -previously withered. The gods, the natural forces, which through -so many ages had not heeded man's daily martyrdoms, had now for a -long time been shown quite as impotent to protect their own shrines, -images, holy trees, and other interests. The priests as vainly invoked -those gods to save their own country from subjugation by other nations -with foreign gods, as the masses had invoked their personal aid. For -a long time the gods in some parts of India have received only a -formal service, coextensive with their association with a lingering -order, or as part of princely establishments; but they topple down -from time to time, as the masses realise their freedom to abandon -them with impunity. They are at the mercy of any strong heretic -who arises. The following narrative, quoted by Mr. Herbert Spencer, -presents a striking example of what some Hindoos had been doing before -the missionary cut down the Tree at Travancore:-- - -'A Nepaul king, Rum Bahâdur, whose beautiful queen, finding her -lovely face had been disfigured by smallpox, poisoned herself, -cursed his kingdom, her doctors, and the gods of Nepaul, vowing -vengeance on all. Having ordered the doctors to be flogged, and -the right ear and nose of each to be cut off, he then wreaked his -vengeance on the gods of Nepaul, and after abusing them in the most -gross way, he accused them of having obtained from him 12,000 goats, -some hundred-weights of sweetmeats, 2000 gallons of milk, &c., under -false pretences. He then ordered all the artillery, varying from -three to twelve-pounders, to be brought in front of the palace. All -the guns were then loaded to the muzzle, and down he marched to -the headquarters of the Nepaul deities. All the guns were drawn up -in front of the several deities, honouring the most sacred with the -heaviest metal. When the order to fire was given, many of the chiefs -and soldiers ran away panic-stricken, and others hesitated to obey -the sacrilegious order; and not till several gunners had been cut down -were the guns opened. Down came the gods and the goddesses from their -hitherto sacred positions; and after six hours' heavy cannonading, -not a vestige of the deities remained.' - -However panic-stricken the Nepaulese may have been at this ferocious -manifestation, it was but a storm bred out of a more general mental and -moral condition. Rum Bahâdur only laid low in a few moments images of -gods who, passing from the popular interest, had been successively -laid to sleep on the innumerable shelves of Hindu mythology. The -early Dualism was developed into Moral Man on one side, and Unmoral -Nature on the other. Man had discovered that moral order in nature -was represented solely by his own power: by his culture or neglect the -plant or animal grew or withered, and where his control did not extend, -there sprang the noxious weed or beast. So far as good gods had been -imagined they were respected now only as incarnate in men. But the -active powers of evil still remained, hurtful and hateful to man, and -the pessimist view of nature became inevitable. To man engaged in his -life-and-death struggle with nature many a beauty which now nourishes -the theist's optimism was lost. The fragrant flower was a weed to -the man hungry for bread, and he viewed many an idle treasure with -the disappointment of Sâdi when, travelling in the desert, he found a -bag in which he hoped to discover grain, but found only pearls. Fatal -to every deity not anthropomorphic was the long pessimistic phase of -human faith. Each became more purely a demon, and passed on the road -to become a devil. - -Many particular demons man conquered as he progressively carried -order amid the ruggedness and wildness of his planet. Every new weapon -or implement he invented punctured a thousand phantoms. Only in the -realms he could not yet conquer remained the hostile forces to which -he ascribed præternatural potency, because not able to pierce them and -see through them. Nevertheless, the early demonic forms had to give -way, for man had discovered that they were not his masters. He could -cut down the Upas and root up the nightshade; he had bruised many a -serpent's head and slain many a wolf. In detail innumerable enemies -had been proved his inferiors in strength and intelligence. Important -migrations took place: man passes, geographically, away from the region -of some of his worst enemies, inhabits countries more fruitful, less -malarious, his habitat exceeding that of his animal foe in range; -and, still better, he passes by mental migration out of the stone -age, out of other helpless ages, to the age of metal and the skill to -fashion and use it. He has made the fire-fiend his friend. No longer -henceforth a naked savage, with bit of stone or bone only to meet -the crushing powers of the world and win its reluctant supplies! - -There is a sense far profounder than its charming play of fancy in -Heine's account of the 'Gods in Exile,' an essay which Mr. Pater -well describes as 'full of that strange blending of sentiment which -is characteristic of the traditions of the Middle Age concerning -the Pagan religions.' [211] Heine writes: 'Let me briefly remind -the reader how the gods of the older world, at the time of the -definite triumph of Christianity, that is, in the third century, -fell into painful embarrassments, which greatly resembled certain -tragical situations of their earlier life. They now found themselves -exposed to the same troublesome necessities to which they had once -before been exposed during the primitive ages, in that revolutionary -epoch when the Titans broke out of the custody of Orcus, and, piling -Pelion on Ossa, scaled Olympus. Unfortunate gods! They had, then, -to take flight ignominiously, and hide themselves among us here on -earth under all sorts of disguises. Most of them betook themselves to -Egypt, where for greater security they assumed the form of animals, -as is generally known. Just in the same way they had to take flight -again, and seek entertainment in remote hiding-places, when those -iconoclastic zealots, the black brood of monks, broke down all the -temples, and pursued the gods with fire and curses. Many of these -unfortunate emigrants, entirely deprived of shelter and ambrosia, -had now to take to vulgar handicrafts as a means of earning their -bread. In these circumstances, many, whose sacred groves had been -confiscated, let themselves out for hire as wood-cutters in Germany, -and had to drink beer instead of nectar. Apollo seems to have been -content to take service under graziers, and as he had once kept the -cows of Admetus, so he lived now as a shepherd in Lower Austria. Here, -however, having become suspected, on account of his beautiful singing, -he was recognised by a learned monk as one of the old pagan gods, -and handed over to the spiritual tribunal. On the rack he confessed -that he was the god Apollo; and before his execution he begged that -he might be suffered to play once more upon the lyre and to sing a -song. And he played so touchingly, and sang with such magic, and was -withal so beautiful in form and feature that all the women wept, and -many of them were so deeply impressed that they shortly afterwards -fell sick. And some time afterwards the people wished to drag him -from the grave again, that a stake might be driven through his body, -in the belief that he had been a vampire, and that the sick women -would by this means recover. But they found the grave empty.' - -Naturally: it is hard to bury Apollo. The next time he appeared was, no -doubt, as musical director in the nearest cathedral. The young singers -and artists discovered by such severe lessons that it was dangerous -to sing Pagan ballads too realistically; that a cowl is capable of a -high degree of decoration; that Pan's pipe sounds well evolved into -an organ; that Cupids look just as well if called Cherubs. It is odd -that it should have required Robert Browning three centuries away to -detect the real form and face beneath the vestment of the Bishop who -orders his tomb at Saint Praxed's Church:-- - - - The bas-relief in bronze ye promised me, - Those Pans and Nymphs ye wot of, and perchance - Some tripod, thyrsus, with a vase or so, - The Saviour at his sermon on the mount, - Saint Praxed in a glory, and one Pan - Ready to twitch the Nymph's last garment off, - And Moses with the tables.... - - -So in one direction grew the hermitage to the Vatican; so Zeus regained -his throne by exchanging his thunderbolts for Peter's keys, and Mars -regained his steed as St. George, and Hercules as Christ wrestles with -Death once more. But while these artificial restorations were going on -in one direction, in another some of the gods were passing through many -countries, outwitting and demolishing their former selves as lowered -to demons. There are many legends which report this strange phase of -development, one of the finest being that of The Goban Saor, told by -Mr. Kennedy. The King of Munster sent for this wonderful craftsman to -build him a castle. The Goban could fashion a spear with three strokes -of his hammer--St. Patrick, who found the Trinity in the shamrock, -may have determined the number of strokes,--and when he wished to drive -in nails high up, had only to throw his hammer at them. On his way to -work for the King, Goban, accompanied by his son, passed the night at -the house of a farmer, whose daughters--one dark and industrious, the -other fair and idle--received from him (Goban) three bits of advice: -'Always have the head of an old woman by the hob; warm yourselves -with your work in the morning; and some time before I come back take -the skin of a newly-killed sheep to the market, and bring itself and -the price of it home again.' As Goban, with his son, journeyed on, -they found a poor man vainly trying to roof his house with three -joists and mud; and by simply making one end of each joist rest on -the middle of another, the other ends being on the wall, the structure -was perfect. He relieved puzzled carpenters by putting up for them the -pegless and nailless bridge described in Cæsar's Commentaries. Having -done various great things, Goban returns to the homestead of the -girls who had received his three bits of advice. The idle one had, -of course, blundered at each point, and been ridiculed in the market -for her proposition to bring back the sheep's skin and its price. The -other, by kindly taking in an aged female relative, by working till -she was warm, and by plucking and selling the wool of the sheep's -skin and bringing home the latter, had obeyed the Goban's advice, -and was selected as his daughter-in-law--the prince attending the -wedding. Now, as to building the castle, Goban knew that the King had -employed on previous castles four architects and then slain them, so -that they should never build another palace equal to his. He therefore -says he has left at home a necessary implement which his wife will -only give to himself or one of royal blood. The King sends his son, -who is kept as hostage till the husband's safe return. - -This is the Master Smith of Norse fable, who has a chair from which -none can rise, and who therein binds the devil; which again is the -story of Hephaistos, and the chair in which he entrapped Hera until -she revealed the secret of his birth. The 'devil' whom the Master -Smith entraps is, in Norse mythology, simply Loki: and as Loki is a -degraded Hephaistos, fire in its demonic forms, we have in all these -legends the fire-fiend fought with fire. - -This re-dualisation of the gods into demonic and saintly forms -had a long preparation. The forces that brought it about may be -seen already beginning in Hesiod's representations of the gods, in -their presentation on the stage by Euripides, in a manner certain -to demonise them to the vulgar, and to subject them to such laughter -among scholars as still rings across the ages in the divine dialogues -of Lucian. What the gods had become to the Lucians before they -reached the Heines may be gathered from the accompanying caricature -(Fig. 21). [212] Nothing can be more curious than the encounters of the -gods with their dead selves, their Manes. What unconscious ingenuity -in the combinations! St. Martin on his grey steed divides with the -beggar the cloud-cloak of Wodan on his black horse, treading down -just such paupers in his wild hunt; as saint he now shelters those -whom as storm-demon he chilled; but the identity of Junker Martin -is preserved in both titles and myths, and the Martinhorns (cakes), -twisted after fashion of the horns of goat or buck pursued by Wodan, -are deemed potent like horse-shoes to defend house or stable from -the outlawed god. [213] - -The more impressive and attractive myths transferred to christian -saints--as the flowers sacred to Freyja became Our Lady's-glove, -or slipper, or smock--there remained to the old gods, in their own -name, only the repulsive and puerile, and by this means they were -doomed at once to become unmitigated knaves and fools. If Titans, -Jötunn or Jinni, they were giant humbugs, whom any small Hans or Jack -might outwit and behead. Our Fairy lore is full of stories which show -that in the North as well as in Latin countries there had already -been a long preparation for the contempt poured by Christianity -upon the Norse deities. Many of the stories, as they now stand in -Folktales, speak of the vanquished demon or giant as the devil, -but it is perfectly easy to detach the being meant from the name -so indiscriminately bestowed by christian priests upon most of the -outlawed deities. In Lithuania, where survived too much reverence for -some of the earlier deities to admit of their being identified with -the devil, we still find them triumphed over by the wit and skill of -the artisan. Such is the case in a favourite popular legend of that -country in which Perkunas--the ancient Thunder-god, corresponding to -Perun in Russia--is involved in disgrace along with the devil by the -sagacity and skill of a carpenter. The aged god, the venerable Devil, -and the young Carpenter, united for a journey. Perkun kept the beasts -off with thunder and lightning, the Devil hunted up food, the Carpenter -cooked. At length they built a hut and lived in it, and planted the -ground with vegetables. Presently a thief invaded their garden. Perkun -and the Devil successively tried to catch him, but were well thrashed; -whereas the Carpenter by playing the fiddle fascinated the thief, -who was a witch, a hag whose hand the fiddler managed to get into -a split tree (under pretence of giving her a music lesson), holding -her there till she gave up her iron waggon and the whip which she had -used on his comrades. After this the three, having decided to separate, -disputed as to which should have the hut; and they finally agreed that -it should be the possession of him who should succeed in frightening -the two others. The Devil raised a storm which frightened Perkun, and -Perkun with his thunder and lightning frightened the Devil; but the -Carpenter held out bravely, and, in the middle of the night, came in -with the witch's waggon, and, cracking her whip, the Devil and Perkun -both took flight, leaving the Carpenter in possession of the hut. [214] - -So far as Perkun is concerned, and may be regarded as representative -of the gods, the hut may be symbol of Europe, and the Carpenter -type of the power which conquered all that was left of them after -their fair or noble associations had been transferred to christian -forms. Somewhat later, the devil was involved in a like fate, as we -shall have to consider in a future chapter. - -The most horrible superstitions, if tracked in their popular -development, reveal with special impressiveness the progressive -emancipation of man from the phantasms of ferocity which represented -his primal helplessness. The universal werewolf superstition, for -instance, drew its unspeakable horrors from deep and wide-spreading -roots. Originating, probably, in occasional relapses to cannibalism -among tribes or villages which found themselves amid circumstances as -urgent as those which sometimes lead a wrecked crew to draw lots which -shall die to support the rest, it would necessarily become demonised -by the necessity of surrounding cannibalism with dangers worse than -starvation. But it would seem that individuals are always liable, -by arrest of development which usually takes the form of disease -or insanity, to be dragged back to the savage condition of their -race. In the course of this dark history, we note first an increasing -tendency to show the means of the transformation difficult. In the -Volsunga Saga it is by simply putting on a 'wolf-shirt' (wolfskin) -that a man may become a wolf. Then it is said it is done by a belt -made of the skin of a man who has been hung--all executed persons -being sacred to Wodan (because not dying a natural death), to whom -also the wolf was sacred. Then it is added, that the belt must be -marked with the signs of the zodiac, and have a buckle with seven -teeth. Then it is said that 'only a seventh son' is possessed of -this diabolical power; or others say one whose brows meet over his -nose. The means of detecting werewolves and retransforming them to -human shape multiplied as those of transformation diminished in number, -and such remedies reflected the advance of human skill. The werewolf -could be restored by crossing his path with a knife or polished -steel; by a sword laid on the ground with point towards him; by a -silver ball. Human skill was too much for him. In Posen mothers had -discovered that one who had bread in his or her mouth could by even -such means discover werewolves; and fathers, to this hint about keeping -'the wolf from the door,' added that no one could be attacked by any -such monster if he were in a cornfield. The Slav levelled a plough -at him. Thus by one prescription and another, and each representing a -part of man's victory over chaos, the werewolf was driven out of all -but a few 'unlucky' days in the year, and especially found his last -refuge in Twelfth Night. But even on that night the werewolf might -be generally escaped by the simple device of not speaking of him. If -a wolf had to be spoken of he was then called Vermin, and Dr. Wuttke -mentions a parish priest named Wolf in East Prussia who on Twelfth -Night was addressed as Mr. Vermin! The actual wolf being already out -of the forests in most places by art of the builder and the architect; -the phantasmal wolf driven out of fear for most of the year by man's -recognition of his own superiority to this exterminated beast; even -the proverbial 'ears' of the vanishing werewolf ceased to be visible -when on his particular fest-night his name was not mentioned. - -The last execution of a man for being an occasional werewolf was, -I believe, in 1589, near Cologne, there being some evidence of -cannibalism. But nine years later, in France, where the belief in -the Loup-garou had been intense, a man so accused was simply shut -up in a mad-house. It is an indication of the revolution which has -occurred, that when next governments paid attention to werewolves -it was because certain vagabonds went about professing to be able -to transform themselves into wolves, in order to extort money from -the more weak-minded and ignorant peasants. [215] There could hardly -be conceived a more significant history: the werewolf leaves where -he entered. Of ignorance and weakness trying, too often in vain, -'to keep the wolf from the door,' was born this voracious phantom; -with the beggar and vagabond, survivals of helplessness become -inveterate, he wanders thin and crafty. He keeps out of the way of all -culture, whether of field or mind. So is it indeed with all demons -in decline--of which I can here only adduce a few characteristic -examples. So runs the rune-- - - - When the barley there is, - Then the devils whistle; - When the barley is threshed, - Then the devils whine; - When the barley is ground, - Then the devils roar; - When the flour is produced, - Then the devils perish. - - -The old Scottish custom, mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, of leaving -around each cultivated field an untilled fringe, called the Gude -Man's Croft, is derived from the ancient belief that unless some -wild place is left to the sylvan spirits they will injure the grain -and vegetables; and, no doubt, some such notion leads the farmers of -Thurgau still to graft mistletoe upon their fruit-trees. Many who can -smile at such customs do yet preserve in their own minds, or those of -their servants or neighbours, crofts which the ploughshare of science -is forbidden to touch, and where the præternatural troops still hide -their shrivelled forms. But this wild girdle becomes ever narrower, -and the images within it tend to blend with rustling leaf and straw, -and the insects, and to be otherwise invisible, save to that second -sight which is received from Glam. As in some shadow-pantomime, the -deities and demons pursue each other in endless procession, dropping -down as awe-inspiring Titans, vanishing as grotesque pigmies--vanishing -beyond the lamp into Nothingness! - -So came most of the monsters we have been describing--Animals, -Volcanoes, Icebergs, Deserts, though they might be--by growing culture -and mastery of nature to be called 'the little people;' and perhaps -it is rather through pity than euphemism when they were so often -called, as in Ireland (Duine Matha), 'the good little people.' [216] -At every step in time or space back of the era of mechanic arts -the little fairy gains in physical proportions. The house-spirits -(Domovoi) of Russia are full-sized, shaggy human-shaped beings. In -Lithuania the corresponding phantoms (Kaukas) average only a foot -in height. The Krosnyata, believed in by the Slavs on the Baltic -coast, are similarly small; and by way of the kobolds, elves, fays, -travelling westward, we find the size of such shapes diminishing, until -warnings are given that the teeth must never be picked with a straw, -that slender tube being a favourite residence of the elf! In Bavaria -a little red chafer with seven spots (Coccinella septempunctata) is -able to hold Thor with his lightnings, and in other regions is a form -of the goddess of Love! [217] Our English name for the tiny beetle -'Lady-bug' is derived from the latter notion; and Mr. Karl Blind has -expressed the opinion that our children's rune-- - - - Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, - Thy house is on fire, thy children will roam-- - - -is last echo of the Eddaic prophecies of the destruction of the -universe by the fire-fiend Loki! [218] Such reductions of the ancient -gods, demons, and terrors to tiny dimensions would, of course, be -only an indirect result of the general cause stated. They were driven -from the great world, and sought the small world: they survived in -the hut and were adapted to the nerves of the nursery. So alone can -Tithonos live on: beyond the age for which he is born he shrinks to -a grasshopper; and it is now by only careful listening that in the -chirpings of the multitudinous immortals, of which Tithonos is type, -may be distinguished the thunders and roarings of deities and demons -that once made the earth to tremble. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -GENERALISATION OF DEMONS. - - The Demons' bequest to their conquerors--Nondescripts-- - Exaggerations of tradition--Saurian Theory of Dragons-- - The Dragon not primitive in Mythology--Monsters of Egyptian, - Iranian, Vedic, and Jewish Mythologies--Turner's Dragon-- - Della Bella--The Conventional Dragon. - - -After all those brave victories of man over the first chaos, organic -and inorganic, whose effect upon his phantasms has been indicated; -after fire had slain its thousands, and iron its tens of thousands of -his demons, and the rough artisan become a Nemesis with his rudder and -wheel pursuing the hosts of darkness back into Night and Invisibility; -still stood the grim fact of manyformed pain and evil in the world, -still defying the ascending purposes of mankind. Moreover, confronting -these, he is by no means so different mentally from that man he was -before conquering many foes in detail, and laying their phantoms, as -he was morally. More courage man had gained, and more defiance; and, -intellectually, a step had been taken, if only one: he had learned -that his evils are related to each other. Hunger is of many heads -and forms. Its yawning throat may be seen in the brilliant sky that -lasts till it is as brass, in the deluge, the earthquake, in claw -and fang; and then these together do but relate the hunger-brood to -Fire and Ferocity; the summer sunbeam may be venomous as a serpent, -and the end of them all is Death. Some tendency to these more general -conceptions of an opposing principle and power in the world seems -to be represented in that phase of development at which nondescript -forms arise. These were the conquered demons' bequest. - -It is, of course, impossible to measure the various forces which -combined to produce the complex symbolical forms of physical -evil. Tradition is not always a good draughtsman, and in portraying -for a distant generation in Germany a big snake killed in India might -not be exact as to the number of its heads or other details. Heroes -before Falstaff were liable to overstate their foes in buckram. The -less measurable a thing by fact, the more immense in fancy: werewolves -of especial magnitude haunted regions where there had not been actual -wolves for centuries; huge serpents play a large part in the annals -of Ireland, where not even the smallest have been found. But after all -natural influences have been considered, one can hardly look upon the -sphynx, the chimæra, or on a conventional dragon, without perceiving -that he is in presence of a higher creation than a demonic bear or a -giant ruffian. The fundamental difference between the two classes is -that one is natural, the other præternatural. Of course a werewolf is -as præternatural as a gryphon to the eye of science, but as original -expressions of human imagination the former could hardly have been a -more miraculous monster than the Siamese twins to intelligent people -to-day. The demonic forms are generally natural, albeit caricatured -or exaggerated. And this effort at a præternatural conception is, -in this early form, by no means mere superstition; rather is it -poetic and artistic,--a kind of crude effort at allgemeinheit, at -realisation of the types of evil--the claw-principle, fang-principle -in the universe, the physiognomies of venom and pain detached from -forms to which they are accidental. - -Some of the particular forms we have been considering are, indeed, -by no means of the prosaic type. Such conceptions as Ráhu, Cerberus, -and several others, are transitional between the natural and mystical -conceptions; while the sphynx, however complete a combination of ideal -forms, is not all demonic. In this Part III. are included those forms -whose combination is not found in objective nature, but which are -yet travesties of nature and genuine fauna of the human mind. - -Perhaps it may be thought somewhat arbitrary that I should describe -all these intermediate forms between demon and devil by the term -Dragon; but I believe there is no other fabulous form which includes -so many individual types of transition, or whose evolution may be -so satisfactorily traced from the point where it is linked with the -demon to that where it bequeathes its characters to the devil. While, -however, this term is used as the best that suggests itself, it cannot -be accepted as limiting our inquiry or excluding other abstract forms -which ideally correspond to the dragon,--the generalised expression -for an active, powerful, and intelligent enemy to mankind, a being -who is antagonism organised, and able to command every weapon in -nature for an antihuman purpose. - -The opinion has steadily gained that the conventional dragon is the -traditional form of some huge Saurian. It has been suggested that some -of those extinct forms may have been contemporaneous with the earliest -men, and that the traditions of conflicts with them, transmitted orally -and pictorially, have resulted in preserving their forms in fable -(proximately). The restorations of Saurians on their islet at the -Crystal Palace show how much common sense there is in this theory. The -discoveries of Professor Marsh of Yale College have proved that the -general form of the dragon is startlingly prefigured in nature; and -Mr. Alfred Tylor, in an able paper read before the Anthropological -Society, has shown that we are very apt to be on the safe side in -sticking to the theory of an 'object-origin' for most things. - -Concerning this theory, it may be said that the earliest descriptions, -both written and pictorial, which have been discovered of the -reptilian monsters around which grew the germs of our dragon-myths, -are crocodiles or serpents, and not dragons of any conventional -kind,--with a few doubtful exceptions. In an Egyptian papyrus there -is a hieroglyphic picture of San-nu Hut-ur, 'plunger of the sea;' -it is a marine, dolphin-like monster, with four feet, and a tail -ending in a serpent's head. [219] With wings, this might approach -the dragon-form. Again, Amen-Ra slew Naka, and this serpent 'saved -his feet.' Possibly the phrase is ironical, and means that the -serpent saved nothing; but apart from that, the poem is too highly -metaphorical--the victorious god himself being described in it -as a 'beautiful bull'--for the phrase to be important. On Egyptian -monuments are pictured serpents with human heads and members, and the -serpent Nahab-ka is pictured on amulets with two perfect human legs -and feet. [220] Winged serpents are found on Egyptian monuments, but -almost as frequently with the incredible number of four as with the -conceivable two wings of the pterodactyl. The forms of the serpents -thus portrayed with anthropomorphic legs and slight wings are, in -their main shapes, of ordinary species. In the Iranian tradition of the -temptation of the first man and woman, Meschia and Meschiane, by the -'two-footed serpent of lies.' And it is possible that out of this myth -of the 'two-footed' serpent grew the puzzling legend of Genesis that -the serpent of Eden was sentenced thereafter to crawl on his belly. The -snake's lack of feet, however, might with equal probability have given -rise to the explanation given in mussulman and rabbinical stories of -his feet being cut off by the avenging angel. But the antiquity of the -Iranian myth is doubtful; while the superior antiquity of the Hindu -fable of Ráhu, to which it seems related, suggests that the two legs -of the Ahriman serpent, like the four arms of serpent-tailed Ráhu, -is an anthropomorphic addition. In the ancient planispheres we find -the 'crooked serpent' mentioned in the Book of Job, but no dragon. - -The two great monsters of Vedic mythology, Vritra and Ahi, are -not so distinguishable from each other in the Vedas as in more -recent fables. Vritra is very frequently called Vritra Ahi--Ahi -being explained in the St. Petersburg Dictionary as 'the Serpent -of the Heavens, the demon Vritra.' Ahi literally means 'serpent,' -answering to the Greek echi-s, echi-dna; and when anything is added -it appears to be anthropomorphic--heads, arms, eyes--as in the case -of the Egyptian serpent-monsters. The Vedic demon Urana is described -as having three heads, six eyes, and ninety-nine arms. - -There would appear to be as little reason for ascribing to the -Tannin of the Old Testament the significance of dragon, though it is -generally so translated. It is used under circumstances which show it -to mean whale, serpent, and various other beasts. Jeremiah (xiv. 6) -compares them to wild asses snuffing the wind, and Micah (i. 8) -describes their 'wailing.' The fiery serpents said to have afflicted -Israel in the wilderness are called seraphim, but neither in their -natural or mythological forms do they anticipate our conventional -dragon beyond the fiery character that is blended with the serpent -character. Nor do the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan comport -with the dragon-form. - -The serpent as an animal is a consummate development. Its feet, so -far from having been amputated, as the fables say, in punishment of -its sin, have been withdrawn beneath the skin as crutches used in a -feebler period. It is found as a tertiary fossil. Since, therefore, -the dragon form ex hypothesi is a reminiscence of the huge, now fossil, -Saurians which preceded the serpent in time, the early mythologies -could hardly have so regularly described great serpents instead of -dragons. If the realistic theory we are discussing were true, the -earliest combats--those of Indra, for instance--ought to have been -with dragons, and the serpent enemies would have multiplied as time -went on; but the reverse is the case--the (alleged) extinct forms -being comparatively modern in heroic legend. - -Mr. John Ruskin once remarked upon Turner's picture of the Dragon -guarding the Hesperides, that this conception so early as 1806, -when no Saurian skeleton was within the artist's reach, presented -a singular instance of the scientific imagination. As a coincidence -with such extinct forms Turner's dragon is surpassed by the monster on -which a witch rides in one of the engravings of Della Bella, published -in 1637. In that year, on the occasion of the marriage of the grand -duke Ferdinand II. in Florence, there was a masque d'Inferno, whose -representations were engraved by Della Bella, of which this is one, so -that it may be rather to some scenic artist than to the distinguished -imitator of Callot that we owe this grotesque form, which the late -Mr. Wright said 'might have been borrowed from some distant geological -period.' If so, the fact would present a curious coincidence with the -true history of Turner's Dragon; for after Mr. Ruskin had published -his remark about the scientific imagination represented in it, -an old friend of the artist declared that Turner himself had told -him that he copied that dragon from a Christmas spectacle in Drury -Lane theatre. But Turner had shown the truest scientific instinct -in repairing to the fossil-beds of human imagination, and drawing -thence the conventional form which never had existence save as the -structure of cumulative tradition. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE SERPENT. - - The beauty of the Serpent--Emerson on ideal forms--Michelet's - thoughts on the viper's head--Unique characters of the - Serpent--The monkey's horror of Snakes--The Serpent protected - by superstition--Human defencelessness against its subtle - powers--Dubufe's picture of the Fall of Man. - - -In the accompanying picture, a medal of the ancient city of Tyre, -two of the most beautiful forms of nature are brought together,--the -Serpent and the Egg. Mr. D. R. Hay has shown the endless extent to -which the oval arches have been reproduced in the ceramic arts of -antiquity; and the same sense of symmetry which made the Greek vase -a combination of Eggs prevails in the charm which the same graceful -outline possesses wherever suggested,--as in curves of the swan, -crescent of the moon, the elongated shell,--on which Aphrodite may well -be poised, since the same contours find their consummate expression -in the flowing lines attaining their repose in the perfect form of -woman. The Serpent--model of the 'line of grace and beauty'--has had -an even larger fascination for the eye of the artist and the poet. It -is the one active form in nature which cannot be ungraceful, and to -estimate the extent of its use in decoration is impossible, because -all undulating and coiling lines are necessarily serpent forms. But -in addition to the perfections of this form--which fulfil all the -ascent of forms in Swedenborg's mystical morphology, circular, spiral, -perpetual-circular, vortical, celestial--the Serpent bears on it, as -it were, gems of the underworld that seem to find their counterpart -in galaxies. - -One must conclude that Serpent-worship is mainly founded in fear. The -sacrifices offered to that animal are alone sufficient to prove -this. But as it is certain that the Serpent appears in symbolism -and poetry in many ways which have little or no relation to its -terrors, we may well doubt whether it may not have had a career in the -human imagination previous to either of the results of its reign of -terror,--worship and execration. It is the theory of Pestalozzi that -every child is born an artist, and through its pictorial sense must be -led on its first steps of education. The infant world displayed also -in its selection of sacred trees and animals a profound appreciation -of beauty. The myths in which the Serpent is represented as kakodemon -refer rather to its natural history than to its appearance; and even -when its natural history came to be observed, there was--there now -is--such a wide discrepancy between its physiology and its functions, -also between its intrinsic characters and their relation to man, -that we can only accept its various aspects in mythology without -attempting to trace their relative precedence in time. - -The past may in this case be best interpreted by the present. How -different now to wise and observant men are the suggestions of this -exceptional form in nature! - -Let us read a passage concerning it from Ralph Waldo Emerson:-- - -'In the old aphorism, nature is always self-similar. In the plant, -the eye or germinative point opens to a leaf, then to another leaf, -with a power of transforming the leaf into radicle, stamen, pistil, -petal, bract, sepal, or seed. The whole art of the plant is still to -repeat leaf on leaf without end, the more or less of heat, light, -moisture, and food, determining the form it shall assume. In the -animal, nature makes a vertebra, or a spine of vertebræ, and helps -herself still by a new spine, with a limited power of modifying its -form,--spine on spine, to the end of the world. A poetic anatomist, -in our own day, teaches that a snake being a horizontal line, and man -being an erect line, constitute a right angle; and between the lines -of this mystical quadrant, all animated beings find their place: -and he assumes the hair-worm, the span-worm, or the snake, as the -type or prediction of the spine. Manifestly, at the end of the spine, -nature puts out smaller spines, as arms; at the end of the arms, new -spines, as hands; at the other end she repeats the process, as legs -and feet. At the top of the column she puts out another spine, which -doubles or loops itself over, as a span-worm, into a ball, and forms -the skull, with extremities again: the hands being now the upper jaw, -the feet the lower jaw, the fingers and toes being represented this -time by upper and lower teeth. This new spine is destined to high -uses. It is a new man on the shoulders of the last.' [221] - -As one reads this it might be asked, How could its idealism be more -profoundly pictured for the eye than in the Serpent coiled round -the egg,--the seed out of which all these spines must branch out for -their protean variations? What refrains of ancient themes subtly sound -between the lines,--from the Serpent doomed to crawl on its belly in -the dust, to the Serpent that is lifted up! - -Now let us turn to the page of Jules Michelet, and read what the -Serpent signified to one mood of his sympathetic nature. - -'It was one of my saddest hours when, seeking in nature a refuge from -thoughts of the age, I for the first time encountered the head of -the viper. This occurred in a valuable museum of anatomical imitations. - -The head marvellously imitated and enormously enlarged, so as to -remind one of the tiger's and the jaguar's, exposed in its horrible -form a something still more horrible. You seized at once the delicate, -infinite, fearfully prescient precautions by which the deadly machine -is so potently armed. Not only is it provided with numerous keen-edged -teeth, not only are these teeth supplied with an ingenious reservoir -of poison which slays immediately, but their extreme fineness which -renders them liable to fracture is compensated by an advantage that -perhaps no other animal possesses, namely, a magazine of supernumerary -teeth, to supply at need the place of any accidentally broken. Oh, -what provisions for killing! What precautions that the victim shall -not escape! What love for this horrible creature! I stood by it -scandalised, if I may so speak, and with a sick soul. Nature, the great -mother, by whose side I had taken refuge, shocked me with a maternity -so cruelly impartial. Gloomily I walked away, bearing on my heart a -darker shadow than rested on the day itself, one of the sternest in -winter. I had come forth like a child; I returned home like an orphan, -feeling the notion of a Providence dying away within me.' [222] - -Many have so gone forth and so returned; some to say, 'There is no -God;' a few to say (as is reported of a living poet), 'I believe in -God, but am against him;' but some also to discern in the viper's -head Nature's ironclad, armed with her best science to defend the -advance of form to humanity along narrow passes. - -The primitive man was the child that went forth when his world was also -a child, and when the Serpent was still doing its part towards making -him and it a man. It was a long way from him to the dragon-slayer; but -it is much that he did not merely cower; he watched and observed, and -there is not one trait belonging to his deadly crawling contemporaries -that he did not note and spiritualise in such science as was possible -to him. - -The last-discovered of the topes in India represents -Serpent-worshippers gathered around their deity, holding their tongues -with finger and thumb. No living form in nature could be so fitly -regarded in that attitude. Not only is the Serpent normally silent, -but in its action it has 'the quiet of perfect motion.' The maximum of -force is shown in it, relatively to its size, along with the minimum -of friction and visible effort. Footless, wingless, as a star, its -swift gliding and darting is sometimes like the lightning whose forked -tongue it seemed to incarnate. The least touch of its ingenious tooth -is more destructive than the lion's jaw. What mystery in its longevity, -in its self-subsistence, in its self-renovation! Out of the dark it -comes arrayed in jewels, a crawling magazine of death in its ire, -in its unknown purposes able to renew its youth, and fable for man -imperishable life! Wonderful also are its mimicries. It sometimes -borrows colours of the earth on which it reposes, the trees on which it -hangs, now seems covered with eyes, and the 'spectacled snake' appeared -to have artificially added to its vision. Altogether it is unique -among natural forms, and its vast history in religious speculation -and mythology does credit to the observation of primitive man. - -Recent experiments have shown the monkeys stand in the greatest terror -of snakes. Such terror is more and more recognised as a survival in -the European man. The Serpent is almost the only animal which can -follow a monkey up a tree and there attack its young. Our arboreal -anthropoid progenitors could best have been developed in some place -naturally enclosed and fortified, as by precipices which quadrupeds -could not scale, but which apes might reach by swinging and leaping -from trees. But there could be no seclusion where the Serpent could -not follow. I am informed by the King of Bonny that in his region -of Africa the only serpent whose worship is fully maintained is the -Nomboh (Leaper), a small snake, white and glistening, whose bite is -fatal, and which, climbing into trees, springs thence upon its prey -beneath, and can travel far by leaping from branch to branch. The -first arboreal man who added a little to the natural defences of any -situation might stand in tradition as a god planting a garden; but even -he would not be supposed able to devise any absolute means of defence -against the subtlest of all the beasts. Among the three things Solomon -found too wonderful for him was 'the way of a serpent upon a rock' -(Prov. xxx. 19). This comparative superiority of the Serpent to any and -all devices and contrivances known to primitive men--whose proverbs -must have made most of Solomon's wisdom--would necessarily have its -effect upon the animal and mental nerves of our race in early times, -and the Serpent would find in his sanctity a condition favourable to -survival and multiplication. It is this fatal power of superstition -to change fancies into realities which we find still protecting the -Serpent in various countries. From being venerated as the arbiter of -life and death, it might thus actually become such in large districts -of country. In Dubufe's picture of the Fall of Man, the wrath of -Jehovah is represented by the lightning, which has shattered the tree -beneath which the offending pair are now crouching; beyond it Satan -is seen in human shape raising his arm in proud defiance against the -blackened sky. So would the Serpent appear. His victims were counted -by many thousands where the lightning laid low one. Transmitted along -the shuddering nerves of many generations came the confession of the -Son of Sirach, 'There is no head above the head of a serpent.' - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE WORM. - - An African Serpent-drama in America--The Veiled Serpent--The - Ark of the Covenant--Aaron's Rod--The Worm--An Episode - on the Dii Involuti--The Serapes--The Bambino at - Rome--Serpent-transformations. - - -On the eve of January 1, 1863,--that historic New Year's Day on -which President Lincoln proclaimed freedom to American slaves,--I was -present at a Watchnight held by negroes in a city of that country. In -opening the meeting the preacher said,--though in words whose eloquent -shortcomings I cannot reproduce:--'Brethren and sisters, the President -of the United States has promised that, if the Confederates do not -lay down their arms, he will free all their slaves to-morrow. They -have not laid down their arms. To-morrow will be the day of liberty -to the oppressed. But we all know that evil powers are around the -President. While we sit here they are trying to make him break his -word. But we have come together to watch, and see that he does not -break his word. Brethren, the bad influences around the President -to-night are stronger than any Copperheads. [223] The Old Serpent -is abroad to-night, with all his emissaries, in great power. His -wrath is great, because he knows his hour is near. He will be in this -church this evening. As midnight comes on we shall hear his rage. But, -brethren and sisters, don't be alarmed. Our prayers will prevail. His -head will be bruised. His back will be broken. He will go raging to -hell, and God Almighty's New Year will make the United States a true -land of freedom.' - -The sensation caused among the hundreds of negroes present by these -words was profound; they were frequently interrupted by cries of -'Glory!' and there were tears of joy. But the scene and excitement -which followed were indescribable. A few moments before midnight -the congregation were requested to kneel, which they did, and prayer -succeeded prayer with increasing fervour. Presently a loud, prolonged -hiss was heard. There were cries--'He's here! he's here!' Then came a -volley of hisses; they seemed to proceed from every part of the room, -hisses so entirely like those of huge serpents that the strongest -nerves were shaken; above them rose the preacher's prayer that -had become a wild incantation, and ecstatic ejaculations became so -universal that it was a marvel what voices were left to make the -hisses. Finally, from a neighbouring steeple the twelve strokes -of midnight sounded on the frosty air, and immediately the hisses -diminished, and presently died away altogether, and the New Year -that brought freedom to four millions of slaves was ushered in by -the jubilant chorus of all present singing a hymn of victory. - -Far had come those hisses and that song of victory, terminating the -dragon-drama of America. In them was the burden of Ezekiel: 'Son of -man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against -him and against all Egypt, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: -Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon -that lieth in the midst of the rivers ... I will put a hook in thy -jaws.' In them was the burden of Isaiah: 'In that day Jehovah with -his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the -piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent: he shall -slay the dragon that is in the sea.' In it was the cry of Zophar: -'His meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within -him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: -God shall cast them out of his belly.' And these Hebrew utterances, -again, were but the distant echoes of far earlier voices of those -African slaves still seen pictured with their chains on the ruined -walls of Egypt,--voices that gathered courage at last to announce the -never-ending struggle of man with Oppression, as that combat between -god and serpent which never had a nobler event than when the dying -hiss of Slavery was heard in America, and the victorious Sun rose -upon a New World of free and equal men. - -The Serpent thus exalted in America to a type of oppression is very -different from any snake that may this day be found worshipped as a -deity by the African in his native land. The swarthy snake-worshipper -in his migration took his god along with him in his chest or -basket--at once ark and altar--and in that hiding-place it underwent -transformations. He emerged as the protean emblem of both good and -evil. In a mythologic sense the serpent certainly held its tail in its -mouth. No civilisation has reached the end of its typical supremacy. - -Concerning the accompanying Eleusinian form (Fig. 24), Calmet -says:--'The mysterious trunk, coffer, or basket, may be justly -reckoned among the most remarkable and sacred instruments of worship, -which formed part of the processional ceremonies in the heathen -world. This was held so sacred that it was not publicly exposed to -view, or publicly opened, but was reserved for the inspection of the -initiated, the fully initiated only. Completely to explain this symbol -would require a dissertation; and, indeed, it has been considered, -more or less, by those who have written on the nature of the Ark of -the testimony among the Hebrews. Declining the inquiry at present, we -merely call the attention of the reader to what this mystical coffer -was supposed to contain--a serpent!' The French Benedictine who wrote -this passage, though his usual candour shames the casuistry of our own -time, found it necessary to conceal the Hebrew Ark: it was precisely -so that the occupant of the Ark was originally concealed; and though -St. John exorcised it from the Chalice its genius lingers in the Pyx, -before whose Host 'lifted up' the eyes of worshippers are lowered. - -The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. ix.), describing -the Tabernacle, says: 'After the second veil, the tabernacle which -is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the -ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was -the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the -tables of the covenant.' But this rod of Aaron, which, by budding, -had swallowed up all rival pretensions to the tribal priesthood, -was the same rod which had been changed to a serpent, and swallowed -up the rod-serpents of the sorcerers in Pharaoh's presence. So soft -and subtle is 'the way of a serpent upon a rock!' - -This veiling of the Serpent, significant of a great deal, is -characteristic even of the words used to name it. Of these I have -selected one to head this chapter, because it is one of the innumerable -veils which shielded this reptile's transformation from a particular -external danger to a demonic type. This general description of things -that wind about or turn (vermes, traced by some to the Sanskrit -root hvar, 'curved'), gradually came into use to express the demon -serpents. Dante and Milton call Satan a worm. No doubt among the two -hundred names for the Serpent, said to be mentioned in an Arabic work, -we should find parallels to this old adaptation of the word 'worm.' In -countries--as Germany and England--where no large serpents are found, -the popular imagination could not be impressed by merely saying that -Siegfried or Lambton had slain a snake. The tortuous character of -the snake was preserved, but, by that unconscious dexterity which so -often appears in the making of myths, it was expanded so as to include -a power of supernatural transformation. The Lambton worm comes out of -the well very small, but it afterwards coils in nine huge folds around -its hill. The hag-ridden daughter of the King of Northumberland, who - - - crept into a hole a worm - And out stept a fair ladye, - - -did but follow the legendary rule of the demonic serpent tribe. - -Why was the Serpent slipped into the Ark or coffer and hid behind -veils? To answer this will require here an episode. - -In the Etruscan theology and ceremonial the supreme power was lodged -with certain deities that were never seen. They were called the Dii -Involuti, the veiled gods. Not even the priests ever looked upon -them. When any dire calamity occurred, it was said these mysterious -deities had spoken their word in the council of the gods,--a word -always final and fatal. - -There have been fine theories on the subject, and the Etruscans -have been complimented for having high transcendental views of the -invisible nature of the Divine Being. But a more prosaic theory is -probably true. These gods were wrapped up because they were not fit to -be seen. The rude carvings of some savage tribe, they had been seen and -adored at first: temples had been built for them, and their priesthood -had grown powerful; but as art advanced and beautiful statues arose, -these rude designs could not bear the contrast, and the only way of -preserving reverence for them, and the institutions grown up around -them, was to hide them out of sight altogether. Then it could be said -they were so divinely beautiful that the senses would be overpowered -by them. - -There have been many veiled deities, and though their veils have -been rationalised, they are easily pierced. The inscription on the -temple of Isis at Sais was: 'I am that which has been, which is, -and which shall be, and no one has yet lifted the veil that hides -me.' Isis at this time had probably become a negro Madonna, like -that still worshipped in Spain as holiest of images, and called by -the same title, 'Our Immaculate Lady.' As the fair race and the dark -mingled in Egypt, the primitive Nubian complexion and features of -Isis could not inspire such reverence as more anciently, and before -her also a curtain was hung. The Ark of Moses carried this veil -into the wilderness, and concealed objects not attractive to look -at--probably two scrawled stones, some bones said to be those of -Joseph, a pot of so-called manna, and the staff said to have once -been a serpent and afterwards blossomed. Fashioned by a rude tribe, -the Ark was a fit thing to hide, and hidden it has been to this -day. When the veil of the Temple was rent,--allegorically at the -death of Christ, actually by Titus,--nothing of the kind was found; -and it would seem that the Jews must long have been worshipping before -a veil with emptiness behind it. Paul discovered that the veil said -to have covered the face of Moses when he descended from Sinai was a -myth; it meant that the people should not see to the end of what was -nevertheless transient. 'Their minds were blinded; for unto this day, -when Moses is read, that veil is on their heart.' - -Kircher says the Seraphs of Egypt were images without any eminency of -limbs, rolled as it were in swaddling clothes, partly made of stone, -partly of metal, wood, or shell. Similar images, he says, were called -by the Romans 'secret gods.' As an age of scepticism advanced, it was -sometimes necessary that these 'involuti' should be slightly revealed, -lest it should be said there was no god there at all. Such is the -case with the famous bambino of Aracoeli Church in Rome. This effigy, -said to have been carved by a pilgrim out of a tree on the Mount of -Olives, and painted by St. Luke while the pilgrim was sleeping, is now -kept in its ark, and visitors are allowed to see part of its painted -face. When the writer of this requested a sight of the whole form, or -of the head at any rate, the exhibiting priest was astounded at the -suggestion. No doubt he was right: the only wonder is that the face -is not hid also, for a more ingeniously ugly thing than the flat, -blackened, and rouged visage of the bambino it were difficult to -conceive. But it wears a very cunning veil nevertheless. The face is -set in marvellous brilliants, but these are of less effect in hiding -its ugliness than the vesture of mythology around it. The adjacent -walls are covered with pictures of the miracles it has performed, -and which have attracted to it such faith that it is said at one -time to have received more medical fees than all the physicians in -Rome together. Priests have discovered that a veil over the mind -is thicker than a veil on the god. Such is the popular veneration -for the bambino, that, in 1849, the Republicans thought it politic -to present the monks with the Pope's state coach to carry the idol -about. In the end it was proved that the Pope was securely seated -beside the bambino, and he presently emerged from behind his veil also. - -There came, then, a period when the Serpent crept behind the veil, -or lid of the ark, or into a chalice,--a very small worm, but yet -able to gnaw the staff of Solomon. No wisdom could be permitted to -rise above fear itself, though its special sources might be here and -there reduced or vanquished. The snake had taught man at last its arts -of war. Man had summoned to his aid the pig, and the ibis made havoc -among the reptiles; and some of that terror which is the parent of -that kind of devotion passed away. When it next emerged, it was in -twofold guise,--as Agathodemon and Kakodemon,--but in both forms as -the familiar of some higher being. It was as the genius of Minerva, -of Esculapius, of St. Euphemia. We have already seen him (Fig. 13) -as the genius of the Eleans, the Sosopolis, where also we see the -Serpent hurrying into his cavern, leaving the mother and child to -be worshipped in the temple of Lucina. In Christian symbolism the -Seraphim--'burning (sáraf) serpents'--veiled their faces and forms -beneath their huge wings, crossed in front, and so have been able to -become 'the eminent,' and to join in the praises of modern communities -at being delivered from just such imaginary fiery worms as themselves! - - - - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -APOPHIS. - - The Naturalistic Theory of Apophis--The Serpent of Time-- - Epic of the Worm--The Asp of Melite--Vanquishers of Time-- - Nachash-Beriach--The Serpent-Spy--Treading on Serpents. - - -The considerations advanced in the previous chapter enable us to -dismiss with facility many of the rationalistic interpretations which -have been advanced to explain the monstrous serpents of sacred books -by reference to imaginary species supposed to be now extinct. Flying -serpents, snakes many-headed, rain-bringing, woman-hating, &c., may be -suffered to survive as the fauna of bibliolatrous imaginations. Such -forms, however, are of such mythologic importance that it is necessary -to watch carefully against this method of realistic interpretation, -especially as there are many actual characteristics of serpents -sufficiently mysterious to conspire with it. A recent instance of -this literalism may here be noticed. - -Mr. W. R. Cooper [224] supposes the evil serpent of Egyptian Mythology -to have a real basis in 'a large and unidentified species of coluber, -of great strength and hideous longitude,' which 'was, even from the -earliest ages, associated as the representative of spiritual, and -occasionally physical evil, and was named Hof, Rehof, or Apophis,' -the 'destroyer, the enemy of the gods, and the devourer of the souls -of men.' That such a creature, he adds, 'once inhabited the Libyan -desert, we have the testimony of both Hanno the Carthaginian and Lucan -the Roman, and if it is now no longer an inhabitant of that region, -it is probably owing to the advance of civilisation having driven it -farther south.' - -Apart from the extreme improbability that African exploration should -have brought no rumours of such a monster if it existed, it may be said -concerning Mr. Cooper's theory: (1.) If, indeed, the references cited -were to a reptile now unknown, we might be led by mythologic analogy -to expect that it would have been revered beyond either the Asp or the -Cobra. In proportion to the fear has generally been the exaltation of -its objects. Primitive peoples have generally gathered courage to pour -invective upon evil monsters when--either from their non-existence -or rarity--there was least danger of its being practically resented -as a personal affront. (2.) The regular folds of Apophis on the -sarcophagus of Seti I. and elsewhere are so evidently mystical and -conventional that, apparently, they refer to a serpent-form only as -the guilloche on a wall may refer to sea-waves. Apophis (or Apap) -would have been a decorative artist to fold himself in such order. - -These impossible labyrinthine coils suggest Time, as the serpent -with its tail in its mouth signifies Eternity,--an evolution of the -same idea. This was the interpretation given by a careful scholar, -the late William Hickson, [225] to the procession of nine persons -depicted on the sarcophagus mentioned as bearing a serpent, each -holding a fold, all being regular enough for a frieze. 'The scene,' -says this author, 'appears to relate to the Last Judgment, for Osiris -is seen on his throne, passing sentence on a crowd before him; and -in the same tableaux are depicted the river that divides the living -from the dead, and the bridge of life. The death of the serpent may -possibly be intended to symbolise the end of time.' This idea of long -duration might be a general one relating to all time, or it might -refer to the duration of individual life; it involved naturally the -evils and agonies of life; but the fundamental conception is more -simple, and also more poetic, than even these implications, and it -means eternal waste and decay. One has need only to sit before a clock -to see Apophis: there coil upon coil winds the ever-moving monster, -whose tooth is remorseless, devouring little by little the strength -and majesty of man, and reducing his grandest achievements--even his -universe--to dust. Time is the undying Worm. - - - God having made me worm, I make you--smoke. - Though safe your nameless essence from my stroke, - Yet do I gnaw no less - Love in the heart, stars in the livid space,-- - God jealous,--making vacant thus your place,-- - And steal your witnesses. - - Since the star flames, man would be wrong to teach - That the grave's worm cannot such glory reach; - Naught real is save me. - Within the blue, as 'neath the marble slab I lie, - I bite at once the star within the sky, - The apple on the tree. - - To gnaw yon star is not more tough to me - Than hanging grapes on vines of Sicily; - I clip the rays that fall; - Eternity yields not to splendours brave. - Fly, ant, all creatures die, and nought can save - The constellations all. - - The starry ship, high in the ether sea, - Must split and wreck in the end: this thing shall be: - The broad-ringed Saturn toss - To ruin: Sirius, touched by me, decay, - As the small boat from Ithaca away - That steers to Kalymnos. [226] - - -The natural history of Apophis, so far as he has any, is probably -suggested in the following passage cited by Mr. Cooper from -Wilkinson:--'Ælian relates many strange stories of the asp, and the -respect paid to it by the Egyptians; but we may suppose that in his -sixteen species of asps other snakes were included. He also speaks -of a dragon which was sacred in the Egyptian Melite, and another -kind of snake called Paries or Paruas, dedicated to Æsculapius. The -serpent of Melite had priests and ministers, a table and bowl. It -was kept in a tower, and fed by the priests with cakes made of flour -and honey, which they placed there in a bowl. Having done this they -retired. The next day, on returning to the apartment, the food was -found to be eaten, and the same quantity was again put into the bowl, -for it was not lawful for any one to see the sacred reptile.' [227] - -It was in this concealment from the outward eye that the Serpent was -able to assume such monstrous proportions to the eye of imagination; -and, indeed, it is not beyond conjecture that this serpent of Melite, -coming in conflict with Osirian worship, was degraded and demonised -into that evil monster (Apophis) whom Horus slew to avenge his -destruction of Osiris (for he was often identified with Typhon). - -Though Horus cursed and slew this terrible demon-serpent, he reappears -in all Egyptian Mythology with undiminished strength, and all evil -powers were the brood of himself or Typhon, who were sometimes -described as brothers and sometimes as the same beings. From the -'Ritual of the Dead' we learn that it was the high privilege and task -of the heroic dead to be reconstructed and go forth to encounter -and subdue the agents of Apophis, who sent out to engage them the -crocodiles Seb, Hem, and Shui, and other crocodiles from north, south, -east, and west; the hero having conquered these, acquires their might, -and next prevails over the walking viper Ru; and so on with other -demons called 'precursors of Apophis,' until their prince himself is -encountered and slain, all the hero's guardian deities attending to -fix a knife in each of the monster's folds. These are the Vanquishers -of Time,--the immortal. - -In Apophis we find the Serpent fairly developed to a principle of -evil. He is an 'accuser of the sun;' the twelve gateways into Hades -are surmounted by his representatives, which the Sun must pass--twelve -hours of night. He is at once the 'Nachash beriach' and 'Nachash -aktalon'--the 'Cross-bar serpent' and the 'Tortuous serpent'--which we -meet with in Isa. xxvii. 1: 'In that day the Lord with his sore and -great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, -even leviathan that crooked serpent.' The marginal translation in the -English version is 'crossing like a bar,' instead of piercing, and the -Vulgate has serpens vectis. This refers to the moral function of the -serpent, as barring the way, or guarding the door. No doubt this is the -'crooked serpent' of Job xxvi. 13, for the astrological sense of it -does not invalidate the terrestrial significance. Imagination could -only project into the heavens what it had learned on earth. Bochart -in identifying 'Nachash-beriach' as 'the flying Serpent,' is quite -right: the Seraph, or winged Serpent, which barred the way to the tree -of life in Eden, and in some traditions was the treacherous guard -at the gate of the garden, and which bit Israel in the wilderness, -was this same protean Apophis. For such tasks, and to soar into the -celestial planisphere, the Serpent must needs have wings; and thus -it is already far on its way to become the flying Dragon. But in one -form, as the betrayer of man, it must lose its wings and crawl upon -the ground for ever. The Serpent is thus not so much agathodemon -and kakodemon in one form, as a principle of destructiveness which -is sometimes employed by the deity to punish his enemies, as Horus -employs fiery Kheti, but sometimes requires to be himself punished. - -There have been doubts whether the familiar derivation of ophis, -serpent, from ops, the eye, shall continue. Some connect the Greek -word with echis, but Curtius maintains that the old derivation from -ops is correct. [228] Even were this not the etymology, the popularity -of it would equally suggest the fact that this reptile was of old -supposed to kill with its glance; and it was also generally regarded -as gifted with præternatural vision. By a similar process to that -which developed avenging Furies out of the detective dawn--Erinyes -from Saranyu, Satan from Lucifer [229]--this subtle Spy might have -become also a retributive and finally a malignant power. The Furies -were portrayed bearing serpents in their hands, and each of these -might carry ideally the terrors of Apophis: Time also is a detective, -and the guilty heard it saying, 'Your sin will find you out.' - -Through many associations of this kind the Serpent became at an -early period an agent of ordeal. Any one handling it with impunity -was regarded as in league with it, or specially hedged about by the -deity whose 'hands formed the crooked serpent.' It may have been -as snake-charmers that Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh and -influenced his imagination; or, if the story be a myth, its existence -still shows that serpent performances would then have been regarded -as credentials of divine authentication. So when Paul was shipwrecked -on Malta, where a viper is said to have fastened on his hand, the -barbarians, having at first inferred that he was a murderer, 'whom -though he hath escaped the sea, yet Vengeance suffereth not to live,' -concluded he was a god when they found him unharmed. Innumerable -traditions preceded the words ascribed to Christ (Luke x. 19), -'Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, -and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means -hurt you.' It is instructive to compare this sentence attributed to -Christ with the notion of the barbarians concerning Paul's adventure, -whatever it may have been. Paul's familiarity with the Serpent seems -to them proof that he is a god. Such also is the idea represented -in Isa. xi. 8, 'The sucking child shall play on the hole of the -asp.' But the idea of treading on serpents marks a period more -nearly corresponding to that of the infant Hercules strangling -the serpents. Yet though these two conceptions--serpent-treading, -and serpent-slaying--approach each other, they are very different -in source and significance, both morally and historically. The word -used in Luke, pateiin, conveys the idea of walking over something in -majesty, not in hostility; it must be interpreted by the next sentence -(x. 20), 'Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are -subject unto you (ta pneumata hypotassetai).' The serpent-slayer -or dragon-slayer is not of Semitic origin. The awful supremacy of -Jehovah held all the powers of destruction chained to his hand; -and to ask man if he could draw out Leviathan with a hook was only -another form of reminding him of his own inferiority to the creator -and lord of Leviathan. How true the Semitic ideas running through the -Bible, and especially represented in the legend of Paul in Malta, -are to the barbarian nature is illustrated by an incident related -in Mr. Brinton's 'Myths of the New World.' The pious founder of the -Moravian Brotherhood, Count Zinzendorf, was visiting a missionary -station among the Shawnees in the Wyoming Valley, America. Recent -quarrels with the white people had so irritated the red men that they -resolved to make him their victim. After he had retired to his hut -several of the braves softly peered in. Count Zinzendorf was seated -before a fire, lost in perusal of the Scriptures; and while the -red men gazed they saw what he did not--a huge rattlesnake trailing -across his feet to gather itself in a coil before the comfortable -warmth of the fire. Immediately they forsook their murderous purpose, -and retired noiselessly, convinced that this was indeed a divine man. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE SERPENT IN INDIA. - - The Kankato na--The Vedic Serpents not worshipful--Ananta and - Sesha--The Healing Serpent--The guardian of treasures--Miss - Buckland's theory--Primitive rationalism--Underworld - plutocracy--Rain and lightning--Vritra--History of the word - 'Ahi'--The Adder--Zohák--A Teutonic Laokoon. - - -That Serpent-worship in India was developed by euphemism seems -sufficiently shown in the famous Vedic hymn called Kankato na, -recited as an antidote against all venom, of which the following is -a translation:-- - -'1. Some creature of little venom; some creature of great venom; -or some venomous aquatic reptile; creatures of two kinds, both -destructive of life, or poisonous, unseen creatures, have anointed -me with their poison. - -'2. The antidote coming to the bitten person destroys the unseen -venomous creatures; departing it destroys them; deprived of substance -it destroys them by its odour; being ground it pulverises them. - -'3. Blades of sara grass, of kusara, of darhba, of sairya, of munja, -of virana, all the haunt of unseen venomous creatures, have together -anointed me with their venom. - -'4. The cows had lain down in their stalls; the wild beasts had -retreated to their lairs; the senses of men were at rest; when the -unseen venomous creatures anointed me with their venom. - -'5. Or they may be discovered in the dark, as thieves in the dusk -of evening; for although they be unseen yet all are seen by them; -therefore, men be vigilant. - -'6. Heaven, serpents, is your father; Earth, your mother; Soma, your -brother; Aditi, your sister; unseen, all-seeing, abide in your holes; -enjoy your own good pleasure. - -'7. Those who move with their shoulders, those who move with their -bodies, those who sting with sharp fangs, those who are virulently -venomous; what do ye here, ye unseen, depart together far from us. - -'8. The all-seeing Sun rises in the East, the destroyer of the unseen, -driving away all the unseen venomous creatures, and all evil spirits. - -'9. The Sun has risen on high, destroying all the many poisons; -Aditya, the all-seeing, the destroyer of the unseen, rises for the -good of living beings. - -'10. I deposit the poison in the solar orb, like a leathern bottle -in the house of a vendor of spirits; verily that adorable Sun never -dies; nor through his favour shall we die of the venom; for, though -afar off, yet drawn by his coursers he will overtake the poison: -the science of antidotes converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia. - -'11. That insignificant little bird has swallowed thy venom; she does -not die; nor shall we die; for although afar off, yet, drawn by his -coursers, the Sun will overtake the poison: the science of antidotes -has converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia. - -'12. May the thrice-seven sparks of Agni consume the influence of -the venom; they verily do not perish; nor shall we die; for although -afar off, the Sun, drawn by his coursers, will overtake the poison: -the science of antidotes has converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia. - -'13. I recite the names of ninety and nine rivers, the destroyers -of poison: although afar off, the Sun, drawn by his coursers, will -overtake the poison: the science of antidotes will convert thee, -Poison, to ambrosia. - -'14. May the thrice-seven peahens, the seven-sister rivers, carry off, -O Body, thy poison, as maidens with pitchers carry away water. - -'15. May the insignificant mungoose carry off thy venom, Poison: if -not, I will crush the vile creature with a stone: so may the poison -depart from my body, and go to distant regions. - -'16. Hastening forth at the command of Agastya, thus spake the -mungoose: The venom of the scorpion is innocuous; Scorpion, thy venom -is innocuous.' [230] - -Though, in the sixth verse of this hymn, the serpents are said to -be born of Heaven and Earth, the context does not warrant the idea -that any homage to them is intended; they are associated with the -evil Rakshasas, the Sun and Agni being represented as their haters -and destroyers. The seven-sister rivers (streams of the sacred -Ganges) supply an antidote to their venom, and certain animals, -the partridge and the mungoose, are said, though insignificant, -to be their superiors. The science of antidotes alluded to is that -which Indra taught to Dadhyanch, who lost his head for communicating -it to the Aswins. It is notable, however, that in the Vedic period -there is nothing which represents the serpent as medicinal, unless by -a roundabout process we connect the expression in the Rig-Veda that -the wrath of the Maruts, or storm-gods, is 'as the ire of serpents,' -with the fact that their chief, Rudra, is celebrated as the bestower of -'healing herbs,' and they themselves solicited for 'medicaments.' This -would be stretching the sense of the hymns too far. It is quite -possible, however, that at a later day, when serpent-worship was fully -developed in India, what is said in the sixth verse of the hymn may -have been adduced to confirm the superstition. - -It seems clear, then, that at the time the Kankato na was written, -the serpent was regarded with simple abhorrence. And we may remember, -also, that even now, when the Indian cobra is revered as a Brahman -of the highest caste, there is a reminiscence of his previous ill -repute preserved in the common Hindu belief that a certain mark -on his head was left there by the heel of Vishnu, Lord of Life, -who trod on it when, in one of his avatars, he first stepped upon -the earth. Although in the later mythology we find Vishnu, in the -intervals between his avatars or incarnations, reposing on a serpent -(Sesha), this might originally have signified only his lordship over -it, though Sesha is also called Ananta, the Infinite. The idea of -the Infinite is a late one, however, and the symbolisation of it -by Sesha is consistent with a lower significance at first. In Hindu -popular fables the snake appears in its simple character. Such is the -fable of which so many variants are found, the most familiar in the -West being that of Bethgelert, and which is the thirteenth of the 4th -Hitopadesa. The Brahman having left his child alone, while he performs -a rite to his ancestors, on his return finds a pet mungoose (nakula) -smeared with blood. Supposing the mungoose has devoured his child, -he slays it, and then discovers that the poor animal had killed a -serpent which had crept upon the infant. In the Kankato na the word -interpreted by Sáyana as mungoose (Viverra Mungo, or ichneumon) is -not the same (nakula), but it evidently means some animal sufficiently -unimportant to cast contempt upon the Serpent. - -The universality of the Serpent as emblem of the healing art--found -as such among the Egyptians, Greeks, Germans, Aztecs, and natives -of Brazil--suggests that its longevity and power of casting its old -skin, apparently renewing its youth, may have been the basis of this -reputation. No doubt, also, they would have been men of scientific -tendencies and of close observation who first learned the snake's -susceptibilities to music, and how its poison might be drawn, or even -its fangs, and who so gained reputation as partakers of its supposed -powers. Through such primitive rationalism the Serpent might gain an -important alliance and climb to make the asp-crown of Isis as goddess -of health (the Thermuthis), to twine round the staff of Esculapius, -to be emblem of Hippocrates, and ultimately survive to be the sign of -the European leech, twining at last as a red stripe round the barber's -pole. The primitive zoologist and snake-charmer would not only, in all -likelihood, be a man cunning in the secrets of nature, but he would -study to meet as far as he could the popular demand for palliatives -and antidotes against snake-bites; all who escaped death after such -wounds would increase his credit as a practitioner; and even were his -mitigations necessarily few, his knowledge of the Serpent's habits -and of its varieties might be the source of valuable precautions. - -Such probable facts as these must, of course, be referred to a -period long anterior to the poetic serpent-symbolism of Egypt, -and the elaborate Serpent mythology of Greece and Scandinavia. How -simple ideas, having once gained popular prestige, may be caught up -by theologians, poets, metaphysicians, and quacks, and modified into -manifold forms, requires no proof in an age when we are witnessing the -rationalistic interpretations by which the cross, the sacraments, and -the other plain symbols are invested with all manner of philosophical -meanings. The Serpent having been adopted as the sign-post of Egyptian -and Assyrian doctors--and it may have been something of that kind -that was set up by Moses in the wilderness--would naturally become -the symbol of life, and after that it would do duty in any capacity -whatever. - -An ingenious anthropologist, Mr. C. Staniland Wake, [231] supposes the -Serpent in India to have been there also the symbol of præternatural -and occult knowledge. Possibly this may have been so to a limited -extent, and in post-Vedic times, but to me the accent of Hindu -serpent-mythology appears to be emphatically in the homage paid to -it as the guardian of the treasures. I may mention here also the -theory propounded by Miss A. W. Buckland in a paper submitted to the -Anthropological Institute in London, March 10, 1874, on 'The Serpent in -connection with Primitive Metallurgy.' In this learned monograph the -writer maintains that a connection may be observed between the early -serpent-worship and a knowledge of metals, and indeed that the Serpent -was the sign of Turanian metallurgists in the same way as I have -suggested that in Egypt and Assyria it was the sign of physicians. She -believes that the Serpent must have played some part in the original -discovery of the metals and precious stones by man, in recognition -of which that animal was first assumed as a totem and thence became -an emblem. She states that traditional and ornamentational evidences -show that the Turanian races were the first workers in metals, and -that they migrated westward, probably from India to Egypt and Chaldæa, -and thence to Europe, and even to America, bearing their art and its -sign; and that they fled before the Aryans, who had the further art -of smelting, and that the Aryan myths of serpent-slaying record the -overthrow of the Turanian serpent-worshippers. - -I cannot think that Miss Buckland has made out a case for crediting -nomadic Turanians with being the original metallurgists; though it -is not impossible that it may have been a Scythian tribe in Southern -India who gave its fame to 'the gold of Ophir,' which Max Müller has -shown to have been probably an Indian region. [232] But that these -early jewellers may have had the Serpent as their sign or emblem is -highly probable, and in explanation of it there seems little reason -to resort to the hypothesis of aid having been given by the Serpent -to man in his discovery of metals. Surely the jewelled decoration of -the serpent would in itself have been an obvious suggestion of it -as the emblem of gems. Where a reptile for some reasons associated -with the snake--the toad--had not the like bright spots, the cognate -superstition might arise that its jewel is concealed in its head. And, -finally, when these reptiles had been connected with gems, the eye -of either would easily receive added rays from manifold eye-beams -of superstition. - -We might also credit the primitive people with sufficient logical power -to understand why they should infer that an animal so wonderfully -and elaborately provided with deadliness as the Serpent should have -tasks of corresponding importance. The medicine which healed man -(therefore possibly gods), the treasures valued most by men (therefore -by anthropomorphic deities), the fruit of immortality (which the gods -might wish to monopolise),--might seem the supreme things of value, -which the supreme perfection of the serpent's fang might be created -to guard. This might be so in the heavens as well as in the world -or the underworld. The rainbow was called the 'Celestial Serpent' -in Persia, and the old notion that there is a bag of gold at the end -of it is known to many an English and American child. - -Whatever may have been the nature of the original suggestion, there -are definite reasons why, when the Serpent was caught up to be part -of combinations representing a Principle of Evil, his character as -guardian of treasures should become of great importance. Wealth is -the characteristic of the gods of the Hades, or unseen world beneath -the surface of the earth. - -In the vast Sinhalese demonology we find the highest class of demons -(dewatawas) described as resident in golden palaces, glittering with -gems, themselves with skins of golden hue, wearing cobras as ornaments, -their king, Wessamony seated on a gem-throne and wielding a golden -sword. Pluto is from the word for wealth (ploutos), as also is his -Latin name Dis (dives). For such are lords of all beneath the sod, -or the sea's surface. Therefore, it is important to observe, they own -all the seeds in the earth so long as they remain seeds. So soon as -they spring to flower, grain, fruitage, they belong not to the gods -of Hades but to man: an idea which originated the myth of Persephone, -and seems to survive in a school of extreme vegetarians, who refuse -to eat vegetables not ripened in the sun. - -These considerations may enable us the better to apprehend the -earlier characters of Ahi, the Throttler, and Vritra, the Coverer. As -guardians of such hidden treasures as metals and drugs the Serpent -might be baroneted and invoked to bestow favours; but those particular -serpents which by hiding away the cloud-cows withheld the rain, -or choked the rivers with drought, all to keep under-world garners -fat and those of the upper world lean, were to be combated. Against -them man invoked the celestial deities, reminding them that their own -altars must lack offerings if they did not vanquish these thievish -Binders and Concealers. - -The Serpent with its jewelled raiment, its self-renovating power, and -its matchless accomplishments for lurking, hiding, fatally striking, -was gradually associated with undulations of rivers and sea-waves on -the earth, with the Milky-way, with 'coverers' of the sky--night and -cloud--above all, with the darting, crooked, fork-tongued lightning. It -may have been the lightning that was the Amrita churned out of the -azure sea in the myth of the 'Mahábhárata,' when the gods and demons -turned the mountain with a huge serpent for cord (p. 59), meaning -the descent of fire, or its discovery; but other fair and fruitful -things emerged also,--the goddess of wine, the cow of plenty, the -tree of heaven. The inhabitants of Burmah still have a custom of -pulling at a rope to produce rain. A rain party and a drought party -tug against each other, the rain party being allowed the victory, -which, in the popular notion is generally followed by rain. I have -often seen snakes hung up after being killed to bring rain, in the -State of Virginia. For there also rain means wealth. It is there -believed also that, however much it may be crushed, a snake will -not die entirely until it thunders. These are distant echoes of the -Vedic sentences. 'Friend Vishnu,' says Indra, 'stride vastly; sky give -room for the thunderbolt to strike; let us slay Vritra and let loose -the waters.' 'When, Thunderer, thou didst by thy might slay Vritra, -who stopped up the streams, then thy dear steeds grew.' - -Vritra, though from the same root as Varuna (the sky), means at first -a coverer of the sky--cloud or darkness; hence eventually he becomes -the hider, the thief, who steals and conceals the bounties of heaven--a -rainless cloud, a suffocating night; and eventually Vritra coalesces -with the most fearful phantasm of the Aryan mind--the serpent Ahi. - -The Greek word for Adder, echis, is a modification of Ahi. Perhaps -there exists no more wonderful example of the unconscious idealism of -human nature than the history of the name of the great Throttler, as it -has been traced by Professor Max Müller. The Serpent was also called -ahi in Sanskrit, in Greece echis or echidna, in Latin anguis. The -root is ah in Sanskrit, or amh, which means to press together, -to choke, to throttle. It is a curious root this amh, and it still -lives in several modern words, In Latin it appears as ango, anxi, -anctum, to strangle; in angina, quinsy; in angor, suffocation. But -angor meant not only quinsy or compression of the neck: it assumed -a moral import, and signifies anguish or anxiety. The two adjectives -angustus, narrow, and anxius, uneasy, both came from the same root. In -Greek the root retained its natural and material meaning; in eggys, -near, and echis, serpent, throttler. But in Sanskrit it was chosen -with great truth as the proper name of sin. Evil no doubt presented -itself under various aspects to the human mind, and its names are -many; but none so expressive as those derived from our root amh, to -throttle. Amhas in Sanskrit means sin, but it does so only because -it meant originally throttling--the consciousness of sin being -like the grasp of the assassin on the throat of the victim. All -who have seen and contemplated the statue of Laokoon and his sons, -with the serpent coiled around them from head to foot, may realise -what those ancients felt and saw when they called sin amhas, or the -throttler. This amhas is the same as the Greek agos, sin. In Gothic -the same root has produced agis, in the sense of fear, and from the -same source we have awe, in awful, i.e., fearful, and ug in ugly. The -English anguish is from the French angoise, a corruption of the Latin -angustitæ, a strait. [233] In this wonderful history of a word, whose -biography, as Max Müller in his Hibbert Lectures said of Deva, might -fill a volume, may also be included our ogre, and also the German unke, -which means a 'frog' or 'toad,' but originally a 'snake'--especially -the little house-snake which plays a large part in Teutonic folklore, -and was supposed to bring good luck. [234] - -This euphemistic variant is, however, the only exception I can find -to the baleful branches into which the root ah has grown through -the world; one of its fearful fruits being the accompanying figure, -copied from one of the ornamental bosses of Wells Cathedral. - -The Adder demon has been universal. Herodotus relates that from a -monster, half-woman, half-serpent, sprang the Scythians, and the fable -has often been remembered in the history of the Turks. The 'Zohák' -of Firdusi is the Iranian form of Ahi. The name is the Arabicised form -of the 'Azhi Daháka' of the Avesta, the 'baneful serpent' vanquished -by Thraêtaono (Traitana of the Vedas), and this Iranian name again -(Dásaka) is Ahi. The name reappears in the Median Astyages. [235] Zohák -is represented as having two serpents growing out of his shoulders, -which the late Professor Wilson supposed might have been suggested by -a phrase in the Kankato na (ye ansyá ye angyáh) which he translates, -'Those who move with their shoulders, those who move with their -bodies,' which, however, may mean 'those produced on the shoulders, -biting with them,' and 'might furnish those who seek for analogies -between Iranian and Indian legends with a parallel in the story of -Zohák.' The legend alluded to is a favourite one in Persia, where it -is used to point a moral, as in the instruction of the learned Saib to -the Prince, his pupil. Saib related to the boy the story of King Zohák, -to whom a magician came, and, breathing on him, caused two serpents to -come forth from the region of his breast, and told him they would bring -him great glory and pleasure, provided he would feed these serpents -with the poorest of his subjects. This Zohák did; and he had great -pleasure and wealth until his subjects revolted and shut the King up -in a cavern where he became himself a prey to the two serpents. The -young Prince to whom this legend was related was filled with horror, -and begged Saib to tell him a pleasanter one. The teacher then related -that a young Sultan placed his confidence in an artful courtier -who filled his mind with false notions of greatness and happiness, -and introduced into his heart Pride and Voluptuousness. To those two -passions the young Sultan sacrificed the interests of his kingdom, -until his subjects banished him; but his Pride and Voluptuousness -remained in him, and, unable to gratify them in his exile, he died -of rage and despair. The prince-pupil said, 'I like this story better -than the other.' 'And yet,' said Saib, 'it is the same.' - -It is curious that this old Persian fable should have survived in -the witch-lore of America, and at last supplied Nathaniel Hawthorne -with the theme of one of his beautiful allegorical romances,--that, -namely, of the man with a snake in his bosom which ever threatened to -throttle him if he did not feed it. It came to the American fabulist -through many a mythical skin, so to say. One of the most beautiful it -has worn is a story which is still told by mothers to their children -in some districts of Germany. It relates that a little boy and girl -went into the fields to gather strawberries. After they had gathered -they met an aged woman, who asked for some of the fruit. The little -girl emptied her basket into the old woman's lap; but the boy clutched -his, and said he wanted his berries for himself. When they had passed -on the old woman called them back, and presented to each a little -box. The girl opened hers, and found in it two white caterpillars which -speedily became butterflies, then grew to be angels with golden wings, -and bore her away to Paradise. The boy opened his box, and from it -issued two tiny black worms; these swiftly swelled to huge serpents, -which, twining all about the boy's limbs, drew him away into the dark -forest; where this Teutonic Laokoon still remains to illustrate in -his helplessness the mighty power of little faults to grow into bad -habits and bind the whole man. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE BASILISK. - - The Serpent's gem--The Basilisk's eye--Basiliscus mitratus-- - House-snakes in Russia and Germany--King-snakes--Heraldic - dragon--Henry III.--Melusina--The Laidley Worm--Victorious - dragons--Pendragon--Merlin and Vortigern--Medicinal dragons. - - -A Dragoon once presented himself before Frederick the Great and offered -the king a small pebble, which, he said, had been cut from the head -of a king-snake, and would no doubt preserve the throne. Frederick -probably trusted more to dragoons than dragons, but he kept the little -curiosity, little knowing, perhaps, that it would be as prolific -of legends as the cock's egg, to which it is popularly traceable, -in cockatrices (whose name may have given rise to the cock-fables) -or basilisks. It has now taken its place in German folklore that -Frederick owed his greatness to a familiar kept near him in the form -of a basilisk. But there are few parts of the world where similar -legends might not spring up and coil round any famous reputation. An -Indian newspaper, the Lawrence Gazette, having mentioned that the -ex-king of Oudh is a collector of snakes, adds--'Perhaps he wishes to -become possessed of the precious jewel which some serpents are said -to contain, or of that species of snake by whose means, it is said, -a person can fly in the air.' Dr. Dennys, in whose work on Chinese -Folklore this is quoted, finds the same notion in China. In one -story a foreigner repeatedly tries to purchase a butcher's bench, -but the butcher refuses to sell it, suspecting there must be some -hidden value in the article; for this reason he puts the bench by, -and when the foreigner returns a year afterwards, learns from him -that lodged in the bench was a snake, kept alive by the blood soaking -through it, which held a precious gem in its mouth--quite worthless -after the snake was dead. Cursing his stupidity at having put the -bench out of use, the butcher cut it open and found the serpent dead, -holding in its mouth something like the eye of a dried fish. - -Here we have two items which may only be accidental, and yet, on the -other hand, possibly possess significance. The superior knowledge -about the serpent attributed to a 'foreigner' may indicate that such -stories in China are traditionally alien, imported with the Buddhists; -and the comparison of the dead gem to an eye may add a little to -the probabilities that this magical jewel, whether in head of toad or -serpent, is the reptile's eye as seen by the glamour of human eyes. The -eye of the basilisk is at once its wealth-producing, its fascinating, -and its paralysing talisman, though all these beliefs have their -various sources and their several representations in mythology. That -it was seen as a gem was due, as I think, to the jewelled skin of most -serpents, which gradually made them symbols of riches; that it was -believed able to fascinate may be attributed to the general principles -of illusion already considered; but its paralysing power, its evil -eye, connects it with a notion, found alike in Egypt and India, that -the serpent kills with its eye. Among Sanskrit words for serpent are -'drig-visha' and 'drishti-visha'--literally 'having poison in the eye.' - -While all serpents were lords and guardians of wealth, certain of -them were crested, or had small horns, which conveyed the idea of a -crowned and imperial snake, the basiliskos. Naturalists have recognised -this origin of the name by giving the same (Basiliscus mitratus) -to a genus of Iguanidæ, remarkable for a membranous crest not only -on the occiput but also along the back, which this lizard can raise -and depress at pleasure. But folklore, the science of the ignorant, -had established the same connection by alleging that the basilisk -is hatched from the egg of a black cock,--which was the peasant's -explanation of the word cockatrice. De Plancy traces one part of -the belief to a disease which causes the cock to produce a small -egg-like substance; but the resemblance between its comb and the -crests of serpent and frog [236] was the probable link between them; -while the ancient eminence of the cock as the bird of dawn relegated -the origin of the basilisk to a very exceptional member of the -family--a black cock in its seventh year. The useful fowl would seem, -however, to have suffered even so slightly mainly through a phonetic -misconception. The word 'cockatrice' is 'crocodile' transformed. We -have it in the Old French 'cocatrix,' which again is from the Spanish -'cocotriz,' meaning 'crocodile,'--krokodeilos; which Herodotus, by the -way, uses to denote a kind of lizard, and whose sanctity has extended -from the Nile to the Danube, where folklore declares that the skeleton -of the lizard presents an image of the passion of Christ, and it must -never be harmed. Thus 'cockatrice' has nothing to do with 'cock' or -'coq,' though possibly the coincidence of the sound has marred the -ancient fame of the 'Bird of Dawn.' Indeed black cocks have been so -generally slain on this account that they were for a long time rare, -and so the basilisks had a chance of becoming extinct. There were -fabulous creatures enough, however, to perpetuate the basilisk's -imaginary powers, some of which will be hereafter considered. We -may devote the remainder of this chapter to the consideration of a -variant of dragon-mythology, which must be cleared out of our way in -apprehending the Dragon. This is the agathodemonic or heraldic Dragon, -which has inherited the euphemistic characters of the treasure-guarding -and crowned serpent. - -In Slavonic legend the king-serpent plays a large part, and innumerable -stories relate the glories of some peasant child that, managing to -secure a tiny gem from his crown, while the reptilian monarch was -bathing, found the jewel daily surrounded with new treasures. This is -the same serpent which, gathering up the myths of lightning and of -comets, flies through many German legends as the red Drake, Kolbuk, -Alp, or Alberflecke, dropping gold when it is red, corn if blue, -and yielding vast services and powers to those who can magically -master it. The harmless serpents of Germany were universally invested -with agathodemonic functions, though they still bear the name that -relates them to Ahi, viz., unken. Of these household-snakes Grimm -and Simrock give much information. It is said that in fields and -houses they approach solitary children and drink milk from the dish -with them. On their heads they wear golden crowns, which they lay -down before drinking, and sometimes forget when they retire. They -watch over children in the cradle, and point out to their favourites -where treasures are hidden. To kill them brings misfortune. If the -parents surprise the snake with the child and kill it, the child -wastes away. Once the snake crept into the mouth of a pregnant woman, -and when the child was born the snake was found closely coiled around -its neck, and could only be untwined by a milk-bath; but it never left -the child's side, ate and slept with it, and never did it harm. If -such serpents left a house or farm, prosperity went with them. In -some regions it is said a male and female snake appear whenever the -master or mistress of the house is about to die, and the legends of -the Unken sometimes relapse into the original fear out of which they -grew. Indeed, their vengeance is everywhere much dreaded, while their -gratitude, especially for milk, is as imperishable as might be expected -from their ancestor's quarrel with Indra about the stolen cows. In the -Gesta Romanorum it is related that a milkmaid was regularly approached -at milking-time by a large snake to which she gave milk. The maid -having left her place, her successor found on the milking-stool a -golden crown, on which was inscribed 'In Gratitude.' The crown was -sent to the milkmaid who had gone, but from that time the snake was -never seen again. [237] - -In England serpents were mastered by the vows of a saintly -Christian. The Knight Bran in the Isle of Wight is said to have -picked up the cockatrice egg, to have been pursued by the serpents, -which he escaped by vowing to build St. Lawrence Church in that -island,--the egg having afterwards brought him endless wealth and -uniform success in combat. With the manifold fables concerning the -royal dragon would seem to blend traditions of the astrological, -celestial, and lightning serpents. But these would coincide with -a development arising from the terrestrial worms and their heroic -slayers. The demonic dragon with his terrible eye might discern -from afar the advent of his predestined destroyer. It might seek -to devour him in infancy. As the comet might be deemed a portent of -some powerful prince born on earth, so it might be a compliment to a -royal family, on the birth of a prince, to report that a dragon had -been seen. Nor would it be a long step from this office of the dragon -as the herald of greatness to placing that monster on banners. From -these banners would grow sagas of dragons encountered and slain. The -devices might thus multiply. Some process of this kind would account -for the entirely good reputation of the dragon in China and Japan, -where it is the emblem of all national grandeur. It would also appear -to underlie the proud titles of the Pythian Apollo and Bellerophon, -gained from the monsters they were said to have slain. The city of -Worms takes its name from the serpent instead of its slayer. [238] -Pendragon, in the past--and even our dragoon of the present--are -names in which the horrors of the monster become transformed in the -hero's fame. The dragon, says Mr. Hardwicke, was the standard of the -West Saxons, and of the English previous to the Norman Conquest. It -formed one of the supporters of the royal arms borne by all the -Tudor monarchs, with the exception of Queen Mary, who substituted the -eagle. Several of the Plantagenet kings and princes inscribed a figure -of the dragon on their banners and shields. Peter Langtoffe says, -at the battle of Lewis, fought in 1264, 'The king schewed forth his -schild, his dragon full austere.' Another authority says the said king -(Henry III.) ordered to be made 'a dragon in the manner of a banner, -of a certain red silk embroidered with gold; its tongue like a flaming -fire must always seem to be moving; its eyes must be made of sapphire, -or of some other stone suitable for that purpose.' [239] - -It will thus be seen that an influence has been introduced into -dragon-lore which has no relation whatever to the demon itself. This -will explain those variants of the legend of Melusina--the famous -woman-serpent--which invest her with romance. Melusina, whose -indiscreet husband glanced at her in forbidden hours, when she was in -her serpent shape, was long the glory of the Chateau de Lusignan, where -her cries announced the approaching death of her descendants. There is -a peasant family still dwelling in Fontainebleau Forest who claim to -be descended from Melusina; and possibly some instance of this kind -may have dropped like a seed into the memory of the author of 'Elsie -Venner' to reappear in one of the finest novels of our generation. The -corresponding sentiment is found surrounding the dragon in the familiar -British legend of the Laidley [240] Worm. The king of Northumberland -brought home a new Queen, who was also a sorceress, and being envious -of the beauty of her step-daughter, changed that poor princess into -the worm which devastated all Spindleton Heugh. For seven miles every -green thing was blighted by its venom, and seven cows had to yield -their daily supplies of milk. Meanwhile the king and his son mourned -the disappearance of the princess. The young prince fitted out a ship -to go and slay the dragon. The wicked Queen tries unsuccessfully to -prevent the expedition. The prince leaps from his ship into the shallow -sea, and wades to the rock around which the worm lay coiled. But as -he drew near the monster said to him: - - - Oh, quit thy sword, and bend thy bow, - And give me kisses three; - If I'm not won ere the sun goes down, - Won I shall never be. - - He quitted his sword and bent his bow, - He gave her kisses three; - She crept into a hole a worm, - But out stept a ladye. - - -In the end the prince managed to have the wicked Queen transformed -into a toad, which in memory thereof, as every Northumbrian boy knows, -spits fire to this day: but it is notable that the sorceress was not -transformed into a dragon, as the story would probably have run if the -dragon form had not already been detached from its original character, -and by many noble associations been rendered an honourable though -fearful shape for maidens like this princess and like Melusina. - -In the same direction point the legends which show dragons as sometimes -victorious over their heroic assailants. Geoffrey of Monmouth so -relates of King Morvidus of Northumbria, who encountered a dragon -that came from the Irish Sea, and was last seen disappearing in -the monster's jaws 'like a small fish.' A more famous instance is -that of Beowulf, whose Anglo-Saxon saga is summed up by Professor -Morley as follows:--'Afterward the broad land came under the sway of -Beowulf. He held it well for fifty winters, until in the dark night -a dragon, which in a stone mound watched a hoard of gold and cups, -won mastery. It was a hoard heaped up in sin, its lords were long -since dead; the last earl before dying hid it in the earth-cave, and -for three hundred winters the great scather held the cave, until some -man, finding by chance a rich cup, took it to his lord. Then the den -was searched while the worm slept; again and again when the dragon -awoke there had been theft. He found not the man but wasted the whole -land with fire; nightly the fiendish air-flyer made fire grow hateful -to the sight of men. Then it was told to Beowulf.... He sought out -the dragon's den and fought with him in awful strife. One wound the -poison-worm struck in the flesh of Beowulf.' Whereof Beowulf died. - -Equally significant is the legend that when King Arthur had embarked -at Southampton on his expedition against Rome, about midnight he -saw in a dream 'a bear flying in the air, at the noise of which all -the shores trembled; also a terrible dragon, flying from the west, -which enlightened the country with the brightness of its eyes. When -these two met they had a dreadful fight, but the dragon with its fiery -breath burned the bear which assaulted him, and threw him down scorched -to the earth.' This vision was taken to augur Arthur's victory. The -father of Arthur had already in a manner consecrated the symbol, being -named Uther Pendragon (dragon's head). On the death of his brother -Aurelius, it was told 'there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude -and brightness,' darting forth a ray, at the end of which was a globe -of fire, in form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays, -one of which seemed to stretch out itself towards the Irish Sea, -and ended in seven lesser rays.' Merlin interpreted this phenomenon -to mean that Uther would be made king and conquer various regions; -and after his first victory Uther had two golden dragons made, one -of which he presented to Winchester Cathedral, retaining the other -to attend him in his wars. - -In the legend of Merlin and Vortigern we find the Dragon so completely -developed into a merely warrior-like symbol that its moral character -has to be determined by its colour. As in the two armies of serpents -seen by Zoroaster, in Persian legends, which fought in the air, the -victory of the white over the black foreshowing the triumph of Ormuzd -over Ahriman, the tyranny of Vortigern is represented by a red dragon, -while Aurelius and Uther are the two heads of a white dragon. Merlin, -about to be buried alive, in pursuance of the astrologer's declaration -to Vortigern that so only would his ever-falling wall stand firm, -had revealed that the recurring disaster was caused by the struggle -of these two dragons underground. When the monsters were unearthed -they fought terribly, until the white one - - - Hent the red with all his might, - And to the ground he him cast, - And, with the fire of his blast, - Altogether brent the red, - That never of him was founden shred; - But dust upon the ground he lay. - - -The white dragon vanished and was seen no more; but the tyrant -Vortigern fulfilled the fate of the red dragon, being burnt in his -castle near Salisbury. These two dragons met again, however, as red -and white roses. - -Many developments corresponding to these might be cited. One indeed -bears a startling resemblance to our English legends. Of King Nuat -Meiamoun, whose conquest of Egypt is placed by G. Maspero about -B.C. 664-654, the Ethiopian 'Stele of the Dream' relates:--'His -Majesty beheld a dream in the night, two snakes, one to his right, -the other to his left, (and) when His Majesty awoke ... he said: -'Explain these things to me on the moment,' and lo! they explained -it to him, saying: 'Thou wilt have the Southern lands, and seize the -Northern, and the two crowns will be put on thy head, (for) there is -given unto thee the earth in all its width and its breadth.' These -two snakes were probably suggested by the uræi of the Egyptian diadem. - -Beyond the glory reflected upon a monster from his conqueror, -there would be reason why the alchemist and the wizard should -encourage that aspect of the dragon. The more perilous that Gorgon -whose blood Esculapius used, the more costly such medicament; while, -that the remedy may be advantageous, the monster must not be wholly -destructive. This is so with the now destructive now preservative -forces of nature, and how they may blend in the theories, and subserve -the interests, of pretenders is well shown in a German work on Alchemy -(1625) quoted by Mr. Hardwicke. 'There is a dragon lives in the forest, -who has no want of poison; when he sees the sun or fire he spits venom, -which flies about fearfully. No living animal can be cured of it; -even the basilisk does not equal him. He who can properly kill this -serpent has overcome all his danger. His colours increase in death; -physic is produced from his poison, which he entirely consumes, -and eats his own venomous tail. This must be accomplished by him, -in order to produce the noblest balm. Such great virtue as we will -point out herein that all the learned shall rejoice.' - -It will be readily understood that these traditions and fables would -combine to 'hedge about a king' by ascribing to him familiarity -with a monster so formidable to common people, and even investing -him with its attributes. The dragon's name, drakôn, derived from the -Sanskrit word for serpent (drig-visha), came to mean 'the thing that -sees.' While this gave rise to many legends of præternatural powers -of vision gained by tasting or bathing in a dragon's blood, as in -the poem of Siegfried; or from waters it guarded, as 'Eye Well,' -in which Guy's dragon dipped its tail to recover from wounds; the -Sanskrit sense of eye-poisoning was preserved in legends of occult -and dangerous powers possessed by kings,--one of the latest being the -potent evil eye popularly ascribed in Italy to the late Pius IX. But -these stories are endless; the legends adduced will show the sense -of all those which, if unexplained, might interfere with our clear -insight into the dragon itself, whose further analysis will prove it -to be wholly bad,--the concentrated terrors of nature. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE DRAGON'S EYE. - - The Eye of Evil--Turner's Dragons--Cloud-phantoms--Paradise and - the Snake--Prometheus and Jove--Art and Nature--Dragon forms: - Anglo-Saxon, Italian, Egyptian, Greek, German--The modern - conventional Dragon. - - -The etymologies of the words Dragon and Ophis given in the preceding -chapter, ideally the same, both refer to powers of the serpent which -it does not possess in nature,--the præternatural vision and the -glance that kills. The real nature of the snake is thus overlaid; -we have now to deal with the creation of another world. - -There are various conventionalised types of the Dragon, but through -them all one feature is constant,--the idealised serpent. Its presence -is the demonic or supernatural sign. The heroic dragon-slayer must not -be supposed to have wrestled with mere flesh and blood, in whatever -powerful form. The combat which immortalises him is waged with all -the pains and terrors of earth and heaven concentrated and combined -in one fearful form. - -Impossible and phantasmal as was this form in nature, its mystical -meaning in the human mind was terribly real. It was this Eye of -anti-human nature which filled man with dismay, and conjured up -the typical phantom. It was this Pain, purposed and purposing, the -Agony of far-searching vision, subtlest skill, silently creeping, -winged, adapted to meet his every device with a cleverer device, -which gradually impressed mankind with belief in a general principle -of antagonism to human happiness. - -It is only as a combination that any dragon form is miraculous. Every -constituent feature and factor of it is in nature, but here they are -rolled together in one pandemonic expression and terror. Yet no such -form loses its relations with nature: it is lightning and tempest, -fever-bearing malaria and fire, venom and fang, slime and jungle, -all the ferocities of the earth, air, and heavens, gathering to -their fatal artistic force, and waylaying man at every step in his -advance. In Turner's picture of Apollo slaying the Python there is -a marvellous suggestion of the natural conceptions from which the -dragon was evolved. The fearful folds of the monster, undulating -with mound and rock on which he lies, at points almost blend with -tangle of bushes and the jagged chaos amid which he stretches. The -hard, wild, cruel aspects of inanimate nature seem here and there -rankly swelling to horrible life, as yet but half-distinguishable -from the stony-hearted matrix; the crag begins to coil and quiver, -the jungle puts forth in claws; but above all appear the monstrous -EYES, in which the forces of pain, hardship, obstacle have at last -acquired purpose and direction. The god confronts them with eyes yet -keener; his arrow, feathered with eyebeams, has reached its mark, -straight between the monster's eyes; but there is no more anger in -his face than might mar the calm strength of a gardener clearing away -the stone and thicket that make the constituent parts of Python. - -If we turn now to the neighbouring picture in the National Gallery -by the same artist, the Hesperian Gardens and their Guard, we behold -the Dragon on his high crag outlining and vitalising not only the -edge of rock but also the sky it meets. His breath steams up into -cloud. The heavens also have their terrors, which take on eyes and -coils. On the line of the horizon were hung the pictures of the -primitive art-gallery. Imagination painted them with brush dipped -now in blackness of the storm, now in fires of the lightning or the -sunset, but the forms were born of experience, of earthly struggle, -defeat, and victory. - -As I write these words, I lay aside my pen to look across a little -lake amid the lonely hills of Wales to a sunset which is flooding the -sky with glory. Through the almost greenish sky the wind is bearing -fantastic clouds, that sometimes take the shape of chariots, in which -cloud-veiled forms are seated, and now great birds with variegated -plumage, all hastening as it were to some gathering-place of aerial -gods. Beneath a long bar of maroon-tint stretches a sea of yellow -light, on the hither side of which is set a garden of fleecy trees -touched with golden fruit. Amid them plays a fountain of changing -colours. On the left has stood, fast as a mountain range, a mass -of dark-blue cloud with uneven peaks; suddenly a pink faint glow -shines from behind that leaden mass, and next appears, sinuous with -its long indented top, the mighty folds of a fiery serpent. Nay, -its head is seen, its yawning lacertine jaws, its tinted crest. It -is sleepless Ladon on his high barrier keeping watch and ward over -the Hesperian garden. - -Juno set him there, but he is the son of Ge,--the earth. The tints of -heaven invest and transform, and in a sense create him; but he would -never have been born mythologically had it not been that in this world -stings hover near all sweetness, danger environs beauty, and, as Plato -said, 'Good things come hard.' The grace and lustre of the serpent -with his fatal fang preceded him, and all the perils that lurk beneath -things fair and fascinating. So far there is nothing essentially moral -or unmoral about him. This dragon is a shape designed by primitive -meteorology and metaphysics together. Man has asked what is so, and -this is the answer: he has not yet asked why it is so, whether it ought -to be so, and whether it may not be otherwise. The challenge has not -yet been given, the era of combat not yet arrived. The panoplied guard -and ally of gods as unmoral as himself has yet to be transformed under -the touch of the religious sentiment, and expelled from the heaven of -nobler deities as a dragon cast down, deformed, and degraded for ever. - -As thought goes on, such allies compromise their employers; the -creator's work reflects the creator's character; and after many -timorous ages we find the dragon-guarded deities going down with -their cruel defenders. It is not without significance that in the -Sanskrit dictionary the most ancient of all words for god, Asura, -has for its primary meaning 'demon' or 'devil:' the gods and dragons -united to churn the ocean for their own wealth, and in the end they -were tarred with one brush. I have already described in the beginning -of this work the degradation of deities, and need here barely recall -to the reader's memory the forces which operated to that result. The -bearing of that force upon the celestial or paradise-guarding Serpent -is summed up in one quatrain of Omar Khayyám:-- - - - O Thou who man of baser earth didst make, - And e'en in Paradise devised the Snake; - For all the sin wherewith the face of man - Is blackened, man's forgiveness give--and take! - - -The heart of humanity anticipated its logic by many ages, and, long -before the daring genius of the Persian poet wrote this immortal -epitaph on the divine allies of the Serpent, heroes had given battle -to the whole fraternity. Nay, in their place had arisen a new race -of gods, whose theoretical omnipotence was gladly surrendered in the -interest of their righteousness; and there was now war in heaven; -the dragon and his allies were cast down, and man was now free to -fight them as enemies of the gods as well as himself. Woe henceforth -to any gods suspected of taking sides with the dragon in this man's -life-and-death struggle with the ferocities of nature, and with his -own terrors reflected from them! The legend of Prometheus was their -unconsciously-given 'notice to quit,' though it waited many centuries -for its great interpreter. It is Goethe who alone has seen how pale -and weak grow Jove's fireworks before the thought-thunderbolts of -the artist, launched far beyond the limitations that chain him in -nature. Gods are even yet going down in many lands before the sublime -sentence of Prometheus:-- - - - Curtain thy heavens, thou Jove, with clouds and mist, - And, like a boy that moweth thistles down, - Unloose thy spleen on oaks and mountain-tops; - Yet canst thou not deprive me of my earth, - Nor of my hut, the which thou didst not build, - Nor of my hearth, whose little cheerful flame - Thou enviest me! - - I know not aught within the universe - More slight, more pitiful than you, ye gods! - Who nurse your majesty with scant supplies - Of offerings wrung from fear, and muttered prayers, - And needs must starve, were't not that babes and beggars - Are hope-besotted fools! - - When I was yet a child, and knew not whence - My being came, nor where to turn its powers, - Up to the sun I bent my wildered eye, - As though above, within its glorious orb, - There dwelt an ear to listen to my plaint, - A heart, like mine, to pity the oppressed. - - Who gave me succour - Against the Titans in their tyrannous might? - Who rescued me from death--from slavery? - Thou!--thou, my soul, burning with hallowed fire, - Thou hast thyself alone achieved it all! - Yet didst thou, in thy young simplicity, - Glow with misguided thankfulness to him - That slumbers on in idlenesse there above! - - I reverence thee? - Wherefore? Hast thou ever - Lightened the sorrows of the heavy laden? - Thou ever stretch thy hand to still the tears - Of the perplexed in spirit? - Was it not - Almighty Time, and ever-during Fate-- - My lords and thine--that shaped and fashioned me - Into the MAN I am? - - Belike it was thy dream - That I should hate life--fly to wastes and wilds, - For that the buds of visionary thought - Did not all ripen into goodly flowers? - - Here do I sit and mould - Men after mine own image-- - A race that may be like unto myself, - To suffer, weep; to enjoy, and to rejoice; - And, like myself, unheeding all of thee! - - -The myth of Prometheus reveals the very dam of all dragons,--the mere -terrorism of nature which paralysed the energies of man. Man's first -combat was to be with his own quailing heart. Apollo driving back the -Argives to their ships with the image of the Gorgon's head on Jove's -shield is Homer's picture of the fears that unnerved heroes:-- - - - Phoebus himself the rushing battle led; - A veil of clouds involved his radiant head: - High held before him, Jove's enormous shield - Portentous shone, and shaded all the field: - Vulcan to Jove th' immortal gift consigned, - To scatter hosts, and terrify mankind.... - Deep horror seizes ev'ry Grecian breast, - Their force is humbled, and their fear confest. - So flies a herd of oxen, scattered wide, - No swain to guard them, and no day to guide, - When two fell lions from the mountain come, - And spread the carnage thro' the shady gloom.... - The Grecians gaze around with wild despair, - Confused, and weary all their pow'rs with prayer. [241] - - -A generation whose fathers remembered the time when men educated -in universities regarded Franklin with his lightning-rod as -'heaven-defying,' can readily understand the legend of Vulcan--type of -the untamed force of fire--being sent to bind Prometheus, master of -fire. [242] How much fear of the forces of nature, as personified by -superstition, levelled against the first creative minds and hands the -epithets which Franklin heard, and which still fall upon the heads -of some scientific investigators! Storm, lightning, rock, ocean, -vulture,--these blend together with the intelligent cruelty of Jove -in the end; and behold, the Dragon! The terrors of nature, which -drive cowards to their knees, raise heroes to their height. Then -it is a flame of genius matched against mad thunderbolts. Whether -the jealous nature-god be Jehovah forbidding sculpture, demanding -an altar of unhewn stone, and refusing the fruits of Cain's garden, -or Zeus jealous of the artificer's flame, they are thrown into the -Opposition by the artist; and when the two next meet, he of the -thunderbolt with all his mob will be the Dragon, and Prometheus will -be the god, sending to its heart his arrow of light. - -The dragon forms which have become familiar to us through mediæval -and modern iconography are of comparatively little importance as -illustrating the social or spiritual conditions out of which they -grew, and of which they became emblems. They long ago ceased to be -descriptive, and in the rude periods or places a very few scratches -were sometimes enough to indicate the dragon; such mere suggestions -in the end allowing large freedom to subsequent designers in varying -original types. - -As to external form, the various shapes of the more primitive -dragons have been largely determined by the mythologic currents -amid which they have fallen, though their original basis in nature -may generally be traced. In the far North, where the legends of -swan-maidens, pigeon-maidens, and vampyres were paramount in the -Middle Ages, we find the bird-shaped dragon very common. Sometimes -the serpent-characteristics are pronounced, as in this ancient French -Swan-Dragon (Fig. 26); but, again, and especially in regions where -serpents are rare and comparatively innocuous, the serpent tail is -often conventionalised away, as in this initial V from the Cædmon -Manuscript, tenth century (Fig. 27), a fair example of the ornamental -Anglo-Saxon dragon. The cuttlefish seems to have suggested the -animalised form of the Hydra, which in turn helped to shape the Dragon -of the Apocalypse. Yet the Hydra in pictorial representation appears -to have been influenced by Assyrian ideas; for although the monster -had nine heads, it is often given seven (number of the Hathors, or -Fates) by the engravers, as in Fig. 6. The conflicts of Hercules with -the Hydra repeated that of Bel with Tiamat ('the Deep'), and had no -doubt its counterpart in that of Michael with the Dragon,--the finest -representation of which, perhaps, is the great fresco by Spinello -(fourteenth century) at Arezzo, a group from which is presented in -Fig. 28. In this case the wings represent those always attributed -in Semitic mythology to the Destroying Angel. The Egyptian Dragon, -of which the crocodile is the basis, at an early period entered -into christian symbolism, and gradually effaced most of the pagan -monsters. The crocodile and the alligator, besides being susceptible -of many horrible variations in pictorial treatment, were particularly -acceptable to the Christian propaganda, because of the sanctity -attached to them by African tribes,--a sanctity which continues to -this day in many parts of that country, where to kill one of these -reptiles is believed to superinduce dangerous inundations. In Semitic -traditions, also, Leviathan was generally identified as a demonic -crocodile, and the feat of destroying him was calculated to impress the -imaginations of all varieties of people in the Southern countries for -which Christianity struggled so long. This form contributed some of its -characters to the lacertine dragons which were so often painted in the -Middle Ages, with what effect may be gathered from the accompanying -design by Albert Durer (Fig. 29). In this loathsome creature, which -seeks to prevent deliverance of 'the spirits in prison,' we may remark -the sly and cruel eye: the præternatural vision of such monsters was -still strong in the traditions of the sixteenth century. In looking -at this lizard-guard at the mouth of hell we may realise that it -has been by some principle of psychological selection that the -reptilian kingdom gradually gained supremacy in these portrayals of -the repulsive. If we compare with Fig. 29 the well-known form of the -Chimæra (Fig. 30), most of us will be conscious of a sense of relief; -for though the reptilian form is present in the latter, it is but an -appendage--almost an ornament--to the lion. It is impossible to feel -any loathing towards this spirited Trisomatos, and one may recognise -in it a different animus from that which depicted the christian -dragon. One was meant to attest the boldness of the hero who dared -to assail it; the other was meant, in addition to that, to excite -hatred and horror of the monster assailed. We may, therefore, find a -very distinct line drawn between such forms as the Chimæra and such as -the Hydra, or our conventional Dragon. The hairy inhabitants of Lycia, -human or bestial, whom Bellerophon conquered, [243] were not meant to -be such an abstract expression of the evil principle in nature as the -Dragon, and while they are generalised, the elements included are also -limited. But the Dragon, with its claws, wings, scales, barbed and -coiling tail, its fiery breath, forked tongue, and frequent horns, -includes the organic, inorganic, the terrestrial and atmospheric, -and is the combination of harmful contrivances in nature. - -Nearly all of the Dragon forms, whatever their original types and their -region, are represented in the conventional monster of the European -stage, which meets the popular conception. This Dragon is a masterpiece -of the popular imagination, and it required many generations to give it -artistic shape. Every Christmas he appears in some London pantomime, -with aspect similar to that which he has worn for many ages. His body -is partly green, with memories of the sea and of slime, and partly -brown or dark, with lingering shadow of storm-clouds. The lightning -flames still in his red eyes, and flashes from his fire-breathing -mouth. The thunderbolt of Jove, the spear of Wodan, are in the barbed -point of his tail. His huge wings--batlike, spiked--sum up all the -mythical life of extinct Harpies and Vampyres. Spine of crocodile -is on his neck, tail of the serpent, and all the jagged ridges of -rocks and sharp thorns of jungles bristle around him, while the ice -of glaciers and brassy glitter of sunstrokes are in his scales. He is -ideal of all that is hard, obstructive, perilous, loathsome, horrible -in nature: every detail of him has been seen through and vanquished -by man, here or there, but in selection and combination they rise -again as principles, and conspire to form one great generalisation -of the forms of Pain--the sum of every creature's worst. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE COMBAT. - - The pre-Munchausenite world--The Colonial Dragon--Io's journey - --Medusa--British Dragons--The Communal Dragon--Savage Saviours - --A Mimac helper--The Brutal Dragon--Woman protected--The Saint - of the Mikados. - - -The realm of the Unknown has now, by exploration of our planet -and by science, been pretty well pressed into annexation with the -Unknowable. In early periods, however, unexplored lands and seas -existed only in the human imagination, and men appear to have included -them within the laws of analogy as slowly as their descendants so -included the planets. The monstrous forms with which superstition -now peoples regions of space that cannot be visited could then dwell -securely in parts of the world where their existence or non-existence -could not be verified. Science had not yet shown the simplicity and -unity underlying the superficial varieties of nature; and though -Rudolf Raspe appeared many times, and related the adventures of -his Baron Munchausen in many languages, it was only a hundred years -ago that he managed to raise a laugh over them. It has taken nearly -another hundred to reveal the humour of Munchausenisms that relate -to invisible and future worlds. - -The Dragon which now haunts the imagination of a few compulsory -voyagers beyond the grave originated in speculations concerning the -unseen shores of equally mythical realms, whose burning zones and -frozen seas had not yet been detached from this planet to make the -Inferno of another. In our section on Demonology we have considered -many of these imaginary forms in detail, limiting ourselves generally -to the more realistic embodiments of special obstacles. Just above that -formation comes the stratum in which we find the separate features -of the previous demonic fauna combining to forms which indicate the -new creative power which, as we have seen, makes nature over again -in its own image. - -Beginning thus on the physical plane, with a view of passing to the -social, political, and metaphysical arenas where man has successively -met his Dragons, we may first consider the combination of terrors -and perils, real and imaginary, which were confronted by the early -colonist. I will venture to call this the Colonial Dragon. - -This form may be represented by any of those forms against which -the Prometheus of Æschylus cautions Io on her way to the realm which -should be called Ionia. 'When thou shalt have crossed the stream that -bounds the continents to the rosy realms of the morning where the sun -sets forth, ... thou shalt reach beyond the roaring sea Cisthene's -Gorgonian plains, where dwell the Phorkides, ... and hard by are -their three winged sisters, the Snake-haired Gorgons, by mortals -abhorred, on whom none of human race can look and live.... Be on -thy guard against the Gryphons, sharp-fanged hounds of Jove that -never bark, and against the cavalry host of one-eyed Arimaspians, -dwelling on the gold-gushing fount, the stream of Pluto. Thou wilt -reach a distant land, a dark tribe, near to the fount of the sun, -where runs the river Æthiops.' [244] - -One who has looked upon Leonardo da Vinci's Medusa at Florence--one of -the finest interpretations of a mythologic subject ever painted--may -comprehend what to the early explorer and colonist were the -fascinations of those rumoured regions where nature was fair but -girt round with terrors. The Gorgon's head alone is given, with -its fearful tangle of serpent tresses; her face, even in its pain, -possesses the beauty that may veil a fatal power; from her mouth is -exhaled a vapour which in its outline has brought into life vampyre, -newt, toad, and loathsome nondescript creatures. Here is the malaria -of undrained coasts, the vermin of noxious nature. The source of -these must be destroyed before man can found his city; it is the -fiery poisonous breath of the Colonial Dragon. - -Most of the Dragon-myths of Great Britain appear to have been -importations of the Colonial monsters. Perhaps the most famous -of these in all Europe was the Chimæra, which came westward upon -coins, Bellerophon having become a national hero at Corinth--almost -superseding the god of war himself--and his effigy spread with -many migrations. Our conventional figure of St. George is still -Bellerophon, though the Dragon has been substituted for Chimæra,--a -change which christian tradition and national respect for the lion -rendered necessary (Fig. 31). Corresponding to this change in outward -representation, the monster-myths of Great Britain have been gradually -pressed into service as moral and religious lessons. The Lambton Worm -illustrates the duty of attending mass and sanctity of the sabbath; -the demon serpents of Ireland and Cornwall prove the potency of -holy exorcism; and this process of moralisation has extended, in the -case of the Boar, whose head graces the Christmas table at Queen's -College, Oxford, to an illustration of the value of Aristotelian -philosophy. It was with a volume of Aristotle that the monster was -slain, the mythologic affinities of the legend being quaintly preserved -in the item that it was thrust down the boar's throat. - -But these modifications are very transparent, the British legends -being mainly variants of one or two original myths which appear to have -grown out of the heraldic devices imported by ancient families. These -probably acquired realistic statement through the prowess and energy -of chieftains, and were exaggerated by their descendants, perhaps also -connected with some benefit to the community, in order to strengthen -the family tenure of its estates. For this kind of duty the Colonial -Dragon was the one usually imported by the family romancer or poet. The -multiplication of these fables is, indeed, sufficiently curious. It -looks as if there were some primitive agrarian sentiment which had -to be encountered by aid of appeals to exceptional warrant. The -family which could trace its title to an estate to an ancestor who -rescued the whole district, was careful to preserve some memorial -of the feat. On account of the interests concerned in old times we -should be guarded in receiving the rationalised interpretations of -such myths, which have become traditional in some localities. The -barbaric achievements of knights did not lose in the ballads of -minstrels any marvellous splendours, but gained many; and most of -these came from the south and east. The Dragon which Guy of Warwick -slew still retained traces of Chimæra; it had 'paws as a lion.' Sir -William Dugdale thought that this was a romanticised version of a real -combat which Guy fought with a Danish chief, A.C. 926. Similarly the -Dragon of Wantley has been reduced to a fraudulent barrister. - -The most characteristic of this class of legends is that of -Sockburn. Soon after the Norman conquest the Conyers family -received that manor by episcopal grant, the tradition being that -it was because Sir John Conyers, Knight, slew a huge Worm which had -devoured many people. The falchion with which this feat was achieved -is still preserved, and I believe it is still the custom, when a -new bishop visits that diocese, for the lord of Sockburn to present -this sword. The lord of the manor meets the bishop in the middle of -the river Tees, and says:--'My Lord Bishop, I here present you with -the falchion wherewith the Champion Conyers slew the Worm, Dragon, -or fiery flying Serpent, which destroyed man, woman, and child, in -memory of which the king then reigning gave him the manor of Sockburn -to hold by this tenure,--that upon the first entrance of every bishop -into the country this falchion should be presented.' The bishop -returns the sword and wishes the lord long enjoyment of the tenure, -which has been thus held since the year 1396. The family tradition -is that the Dragon was a Scotch intruder named Comyn, whom Conyers -compelled to kneel before the episcopal throne. The Conyers family -of Sockburn seem to have been at last overtaken by a Dragon which was -too much for them: the last knight was taken from a workhouse barely -in time not to die there. - -In the 'Memoirs of the Somervilles' we read that one of that family -acquired a parish by slaying a 'hydeous monster in forme of a -worme.' [245] - - - The wode Laird of Laristone - Slew the Worme of Worme's Glen, - And wan all Linton parochine. - - -It was 'in lenth 3 Scots yards, and somewhat bigger than an ordinary -man's leg, with a hede more proportionable to its lenth than its -greatness; its forme and collour (like) to our common muir adders.' - -This was a very moderate dragon compared with others, by slaying -which many knights won their spurs: this, for example, which Sir -Dygore killed in the fourteenth century-- - - - ----A Dragon great and grymme, - Full of fyre, and also of venymme: - With a wide throte and tuskes grete, - Uppon that knight fast gan he bete; - And as a Lionn then was his fete, - His tayle was long and ful unmete; - Between his hede and his tayle - Was xxii. fote withouten fayle; - His body was like a wine tonne, - He shone full bright ageynst the sunne; - His eyes were bright as any glasse, - His scales were hard as any brasse. - - -The familiar story of St. Patrick clearing the snakes out of Ireland, -and the Cornish version of it, in which the exorcist is St. Petrox, -presents some features which relate it to the colonist's combat -with his dragon, though it is more interesting in other aspects. The -Colonial Dragon includes the diseases, the wild beasts, the savages, -and all manner of obstructions which environ a new country. But -when these difficulties have been surmounted, the young settlement -has still its foes to contend with,--war-like invaders from without, -ambitious members within. We then find the Dragon taking on the form -of a public enemy, and his alleged slayer is representative of the -commune,--possibly in the end to transmit its more real devourer. Most -of the British Dragon-myths have expanded beyond the stage in which -they represent merely the struggles of immigrants with wild nature, -and include the further stage where they represent the formation of -the community. The growth of patriotism at length is measured by its -shadow. The Colonial is transformed to the Communal Dragon. Many -Dragon-myths are adaptations of the ancient symbolism to hostes -communes: such are the monsters described as desolating villages and -districts, until they are encountered by antagonists animated by public -spirit. Such antagonists are distinguishable from the heroes that go -forth to rescue the maiden in distress: their chief representative -in mythology is Herakles, most of whose labours reveal the man of -self-devotion redressing public wrongs, and raising the standard of -humanity as well as civilisation. - -The age of chivalry has its legend in the Centaurs and Cheiron. The -Hippo-centaurs are mounted savages: Cheiron is the true knight, -withstanding monsters in his own shape, saving Peleus from them, and -giving hospitality to the Argonauts. The mounted man was dragon to the -man on foot until he became the chevalier; then the demonic character -passed to the strategist who had no horse. It is curious enough to -find existing among the Mormons a murderous order calling themselves -Danites, or Destroying Angels, after the text of Gen. xlix. 17, -'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth -the horse's heel that his rider shall fall backward.' The Ritter, -however, so far as his Dragon was concerned, was as one winged, and -every horse a Pegasus when it bore him to decide the day between the -adder and its victim. It is remarkable that the Mormons should have -carried from the East a cruel superstition to find even among the Red -Men, who are disappearing before the western march of Saxon strength, -more gentle fables. - -Among the Mimacs, the aborigines of Nova Scotia, there is a legend -of a young hero named Keekwajoo, who, in seeking for a wife, is -befriended by a good sage named Glooscap, who warns him against -a powerful magician disguised as a beaver, and two demon sisters, -who will waylay him in the disguise of large weasels. The youth is -admonished to beat a certain drum as his canoe passes them, and he -is saved as Orpheus in passing Cerberus and Ulysses in sailing past -the Syrens. The weasels, hearing the music, aspire to wed the stars, -but find themselves in an indescribable nest at the top of a tall -white pine. [246] - -The chevalier encounters also the Brutal Dragon, whose victim is -Woman. From immemorial time man's captive, unable to hold her own -against brute force, she is at the mercy of all who are insensible to -the refined and passive powers. The rock-bound Andromeda, the pursued -Leto, or whatever fair maid it may be that the Dragon-slayer rescues, -may have begun mythologically as emblem of the Dawn, whose swallower is -the Night Cloud; but in the end she symbolises a brighter dawn,--that -of civility and magnanimity among men. - -It is a notable fact that far away in Japan we should find a -Dragon-myth which would appear to represent, with rare beauty, the -social evolution we have been considering. Their great mythological -Serpent, Yamati-no-orochi, that is, the serpent of eight heads and -tails, stretching over eight valleys, would pretty certainly represent -a river annually overflowing its banks. One is reminded by this monster -of the accounts given by Mencius of the difficulties with streams -which the Chinese had to surmount before they could make the Middle -States habitable. But this Colonial Dragon, in the further evolution -of the country, reappears as the Brutal Dragon. The admirable legend -relates that, while the rest of the world were using stone implements, -there came into the possession of Sosano-o-no-Mikoto (the Prince -of Sosano) a piece of iron which was wrought into a sword. That -maiden-sword of the world was fleshed to save a maiden from the jaws -of a monster. The prince descended from heaven to a bank of the river -Hino Kawa, and the country around seemed uninhabited; but presently -he saw a chopped stick floating down the stream, and concluded that -there must be beings dwelling farther up; so he travelled until he -came to a spot where he beheld an aged man and his wife (Asinaduti -and Tenaduti), with their beautiful daughter, Himé of Inada. The three -were weeping bitterly, and the prince was informed that Himé was the -last of their daughters, seven of whom had been devoured by a terrible -serpent. This serpent had eight heads, and the condition on which it -had ceased to desolate the district was that one of these eight maidens -should be brought annually to this spot to satisfy his voracity. The -last had now been brought to complete the dreadful compact. The -Japanese are careful to distinguish this serpent from a dragon, -with them an agathodemon. It had no feet, and its heads branched by -as many necks from a single body, this body being so large that it -stretched over eight valleys. It was covered with trees and moss, -and its belly was red as blood. The prince doubted if even with his -sword he could encounter such a monster, so he resorted to stratagem; -he obtained eight vast bowls, filled them with eight different kinds -of wine, and, having built a fence with the same number of openings, -set a bowl in each. The result may be imagined: the eight heads in -passing over the bowls paused, drank deep, and were soon in a state -of beastly intoxication. In this condition the heads were severed -from their neck, and the maiden saved to wed the first Mikado Prince. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE DRAGON-SLAYER. - - Demigods--Alcestis--Herakles--The Ghilghit Fiend--Incarnate - deliverer of Ghilghit--A Dardistan Madonna--The religion - of Atheism--Resuscitation of Dragons--St. George and his - Dragon--Emerson and Ruskin on George--Saintly allies of the Dragon. - - -Theology has pronounced Incarnation a mystery, but nothing is -simpler. The demigod is man's appeal from the gods. It may also -be, as Emerson says, that 'when the half-gods go the gods arrive,' -but it is equally true that their coming signals the departure of -deities which man had long invoked in vain. The great Heraklean myth -presents us the ideal of godlike force united to human sympathy. Ra -(the Sun) passing the twelve gates (Hours) of Hades (Night) [247] -is humanised in Herakles and his Twelve Labours. He is Son of Zeus -by a human mother--Alcmene--and his labours for human welfare, -as well as his miraculous conception, influenced Christianity. The -divine Man assailing the monsters of divine creation represents human -recognition of the fact that moral order in nature is co-extensive -with the control of mankind. One expression of this perception is -the Alcestis of Euripides, whose significance in relation to death -we have considered. [248] - -'Alcestis,' as I have written in another work, 'is one of the few -ancient Greek melodramas. The majority of dramas left us by the -poets of Greece turn upon religious themes, and usually they are -tragedies. It is evident that to them the popular religion around them -was itself a tragedy. Their heroes and heroines--such as Prometheus -and Macaria--were generally victims of the jealousy or caprice of the -gods; and though the poets display in their dramas the irresistible -power of the gods, they do so without reverence for that power, -and generally show the human victims to be more honourable than -the gods. But the 'Alcestis' of Euripides is not a tragedy; it ends -happily, and in the rescue of one of those victims of the gods. It -stands as about the first notice served on the gods that the human -heart had got tired of their high-handed proceedings, and they might -prepare to quit the thrones of a universe unless they could exhibit -more humanity.... Knowing that neither he nor any other deity can -legally resist the decree of another deity, Apollo is reduced to -hope for help from man. Human justice may save when divine justice -sacrifices. He prophesies to Death that although he may seize Alcestis, -a man will come who will conquer him, and deliver that woman from -the infernal realm.... Then Hercules comes on the scene. He has been -slaying lion and dragon, and he now resolves to conquer Death and -deliver Alcestis. This he does.' [249] - -In this pre-christian yet christian Passion Play, the part played by -the heart of woman is equally heroic with that which represents the -honour of man. So in the religion which followed there was an effort -to set beside the incarnate vanquisher of infernal powers the pierced -heart of Mary. But among all the legends of this character it were -difficult to find one more impressive than that which Dr. Leitner -found in Dardistan, and one which, despite its length, will repay a -careful perusal. This legend of the origin of the Ghilghit tribe and -government was told by a native. - -'Once upon a time there lived a race at Ghilghit whose origin is -uncertain. Whether they sprung from the soil or had immigrated from a -distant region is doubtful; so much is believed that they were Gayupí, -i.e., spontaneous, aborigines, unknown. Over them ruled a monarch who -was a descendant of the evil spirits, the Yatsh, who terrorised over -the world. His name was Shiribadatt, and he resided at a castle in -front of which was a course for the performance of the manly game of -Polo. His tastes were capricious, and in every one of his actions his -fiendish origin could be discerned. The natives bore his rule with -resignation, for what could they effect against a monarch at whose -command even magic aids were placed? However, the country was rendered -fertile, and round the capital bloomed attractive. The heavens, -or rather the virtuous Peris, at last grew tired of his tyranny, -for he had crowned his iniquities by indulging in a propensity for -cannibalism. This taste had been developed by an accident. One day -his cook brought him some mutton broth the like of which he had never -tasted. After much inquiry as to the nature of the food on which the -sheep had been brought up, it was eventually traced to an old woman, -its first owner. She stated that her child and the sheep were born -on the same day, and losing the former, she had consoled herself -by suckling the latter. This was a revelation to the tyrant. He -had discovered the secret of the palatability of the broth, and was -determined to have a never-ending supply of it. So he ordered that -his kitchen should be regularly provided with children of a tender -age, whose flesh, when converted into broth, would remind him of -the exquisite dish he had once so much relished. This cruel order was -carried out. The people of the country were dismayed at such a state of -things, and sought slightly to improve it by sacrificing, in the first -place, all orphans and children of neighbouring tribes. The tyrant, -however, was insatiable, and soon was his cruelty felt by many families -at Ghilghit, who were compelled to give up their children to slaughter. - -'Relief came at last. At the top of the mountain Ko, which it takes -a day to ascend, and which overlooks the village of Doyur, below -Ghilghit, on the other side of the river, appeared three figures. They -looked like men, but much more strong and handsome. In their arms they -carried bows and arrows, and turning their eyes in the direction of -Doyur, they perceived innumerable flocks of sheep and cattle grazing -on a prairie between that village and the foot of the mountain. The -three strangers were brothers, and none of them had been born at -the same time. It was their intention to make Azru Shemsher, the -youngest, Rajah of Ghilghit, and, in order to achieve their purpose, -they hit upon the following plan. On the already noticed prairie, -which is called Didingé, a sportive calf was gambolling towards -and away from its mother. It was the pride of its owner, and its -brilliant red colour could be seen from a distance. 'Let us see who -is the best marksman,' exclaimed the eldest, and, saying this, he shot -an arrow in the direction of the calf, but missed his aim. The second -brother also tried to hit it, but also failed. At last, Azru Shemsher, -who took a deep interest in the sport, shot his arrow, which pierced -the poor animal from side to side and killed it. The brothers, whilst -descending, congratulated Azru on his sportsmanship, and on arriving at -the spot where the calf was lying, proceeded to cut its throat and to -take out from its body the titbits, namely, the kidneys and the liver. - -'They then roasted these delicacies, and invited Azru to partake of -them first. He respectfully declined, on the ground of his youth, -but they urged him to do so, 'in order,' they said, 'to reward you -for such an excellent shot.' Scarcely had the meat touched the lips of -Azru than the brothers got up, and, vanishing into the air, called out, -'Brother! you have touched impure food, which Peris never should eat, -and we have made use of your ignorance of this law, because we want -to make you a human being [250] who shall rule over Ghilghit; remain, -therefore, at Doyur.' Azru, in deep grief at the separation, cried, -'Why remain at Doyur, unless it be to grind corn?' 'Then,' said the -brothers, 'go to Ghilghit.' 'Why,' was the reply, 'go to Ghilghit, -unless it be to work in the gardens?' 'No, no,' was the last and -consoling rejoinder; 'you will assuredly become the king of this -country, and deliver it from its merciless oppressor!' No more -was heard of the departing fairies, and Azru remained by himself, -endeavouring to gather consolation from the great mission which -had been bestowed on him. A villager met him, and, struck by his -appearance, offered him shelter in his house. Next morning he went -on the roof of his host's house, and calling out to him to come up, -pointed to the Ko mountain, on which, he said, he plainly discerned -a wild goat. The incredulous villager began to fear he had harboured -a maniac, if no worse character; but Azru shot off his arrow, and, -accompanied by the villager (who had assembled some friends for -protection, as he was afraid his young guest might be an associate -of robbers, and lead him into a trap), went in the direction of the -mountain. There, to be sure, at the very spot that was pointed out, -though many miles distant, was lying the wild goat, with Azru's arrow -transfixing its body. The astonished peasants at once hailed him as -their leader, but he exacted an oath of secrecy from them, for he had -come to deliver them from their tyrant, and would keep his incognito -till such time as his plans for the destruction of the monster would -be matured. - -'He then took leave of the hospitable people of Doyur, and went -to Ghilghit. On reaching this place, which is scarcely four miles -distant from Doyur, he amused himself by prowling about in the -gardens adjoining the royal residence. There he met one of the -female companions of Shiribadatt's daughter fetching water for -the princess. This lady was remarkably handsome, and of a sweet -disposition. The companion rushed back, and told the young lady to look -from over the ramparts of the castle at a wonderfully handsome young -man whom she had just met. The princess placed herself in a place -from which she could observe any one approaching the fort. Her maid -then returned, and induced Azru to come with her in the Polo ground, -in front of the castle; the princess was smitten with his beauty, and -at once fell in love with him. She then sent word to the young prince -to come and see her. When he was admitted into her presence he for a -long time denied being anything more than a common labourer. At last -he confessed to being a fairy's child, and the overjoyed princess -offered him her heart and hand. It may be mentioned here that the -tyrant Shiribadatt had a wonderful horse, which could cross a mile -at every jump, and which its rider had accustomed to jump both into -and out of the fort, over its walls. So regular were the leaps which -this famous animal could take that he invariably alighted at the -distance of a mile from the fort, and at the same place. On that -very day on which the princess had admitted young Azru into the fort -King Shiribadatt was out hunting, of which he was desperately fond, -and to which he used sometimes to devote a week or two at a time. - -'We must now return to Azru, whom we left conversing with the -princess. Azru remained silent when the lady confessed her love. Urged -to declare his sentiments, he said that he would not marry her unless -she bound herself to him by the most stringent oath; this she did, -and they became in the sight of God as if they were wedded man and -wife. He then announced that he had come to destroy her father, and -asked her to kill him herself. This she refused; but as she had sworn -to aid him in every way she could, he finally induced her to promise -that she would ask her father where his soul was. 'Refuse food,' said -Azru, 'for three or four days, and your father, who is devotedly fond -of you, will ask for the reason of your strange conduct; then say, -'Father, you are often staying away from me for several days at a -time, and I am getting distressed lest something should happen to -you; do reassure me by letting me know where your soul is, and let me -feel certain that your life is safe.' This the princess promised to -do, and when her father returned refused food for several days. The -anxious Shiribadatt made inquiries, to which she replied by making -the already named request. The tyrant was for a few moments thrown -into mute astonishment, and finally refused compliance with her -preposterous demand. The love-smitten lady went on starving herself, -till at last her father, fearful for his daughter's life, told her -not to fret herself about him as his soul was of snow, in the snows, -and that he could only perish by fire. The princess communicated this -information to her lover. Azru went back to Doyur and the villages -around, and assembled his faithful peasants. Them he asked to take -twigs of the fir-tree, bind them together, and light them; then to -proceed in a body with torches to the castle in a circle, keep close -together, and surround it on every side. He then went and dug out a -very deep hole, as deep as a well, in the place where Shiribadatt's -horse used to alight, and covered it with green boughs. The next -day he received information that the torches were ready. He at once -ordered the villagers gradually to draw near the fort in the manner -which he had already indicated. - -King Shiribadatt was then sitting in his castle; near him his -treacherous daughter, who was so soon to lose her parent. All at -once he exclaimed, 'I feel very close; go out, dearest, and see what -has happened.' The girl went out, and saw torches approaching from a -distance; but fancying it to be something connected with the plans of -her husband, she went back and said it was nothing. The torches came -nearer and nearer, and the tyrant became exceedingly restless. 'Air, -air,' he cried, 'I feel very ill; do see, daughter, what is the -matter.' The dutiful lady went, and returned with the same answer -as before. At last the torch-bearers had fairly surrounded the fort, -and Shiribadatt, with a presentiment of impending danger, rushed out -of the room, saying, 'that he felt he was dying.' He then ran to the -stables and mounted his favourite charger, and with one blow of the -whip made him jump over the wall of the castle. Faithful to its habit -the noble animal alighted at the same place, but, alas! only to find -itself engulfed in a treacherous pit. Before the king had time to -extricate himself the villagers had run up with their torches. 'Throw -them upon him,' cried Azru. With one accord all the blazing wood was -thrown upon Shiribadatt, who miserably perished.' - -Azru was then most enthusiastically proclaimed king, celebrated his -nuptials with the fair traitor, and, as sole tribute, exacted the -offering of one sheep annually, instead of the human child, from -every one of the natives. - -When Azru had safely ascended the throne he ordered the tyrant's place -to be levelled to the ground. The willing peasants, manufacturing -spades of iron, flocked to accomplish a grateful task, and sang whilst -demolishing his castle:-- - -'My nature is of a hard metal,' said Shiri and Badatt. 'Why hard? I, -Koto, the son of the peasant Dem Singh, am alone hardy; with this iron -spade I raze to the ground thy kingly house. Behold now, although -thou art of race accursed, of Shatsho Malika, I, Dem Singh's son, -am of a hard metal; for with this iron spade I level thy very palace; -look out! look out!' [251] - -An account of the Feast of Torches, instituted as a memorial of this -tradition, has already been given in another connection. [252] The -legend, the festival, and the song just quoted constitute a noble -human epic. That startling defiance of the icy-hearted god by the -human-hearted peasant, that brave cry of the long cowering wretch who -at last holds in his spade an iron weapon to wield against the hardness -of nature, are the sublime pæan of the Dragon-slayer. Look out, ye -snow-gods! Man's heart is there, and woman's heart; their courage, -plus the spade, can level your palaces; their love will melt you, -their arts and sciences kill you: so fatal may be torches! - -All great religions were born in this grand atheism. As the worship -of Herakles meant the downfall of Zeus, the worship of Christ meant -the overthrow of both Jove and Jehovah. Every race adores the epoch -when their fathers grew ashamed of their gods and identified them as -dragons--the supreme cruelties of nature--welcoming the man who first -rose from his knees and defied them. But in the end the Priests of the -Dragon manage to secure a compromise, and by labelling him with the -name of his slayer, manage to resuscitate and re-enthrone him. For, -as we shall presently see, the Dragon never really dies. - -Christianity did not fail to avail itself of the Dragon-slayer's -prestige, which had preceded it in Europe and in Africa. It could -not afford to offer for popular reverence saints less heroic than -pagan warriors and demigods. The old Dragon-myths, especially -those which made the fame of Herakles, were appropriated to invest -saintly forms. St. Michael, St. Andrew, St. Margaret, and many -another, were pictured subduing or treading on Dragons. Christ was -shown crushing the serpent Sin, spearing the dragon Death, or even -issuing from its impotent jaws, like Jason from the Dragon. [253] -But in this competition for the laurels of dead Dragon-slayers, and -fierce hostility to dragons already slain, the real Dragon was left -to revive and flourish in security, and in the end even inherited -the mantle and the palm of his own former conqueror. - -The miscarriage of canonisation in the case of St. George is a small -and merely curious thing in itself; but it is almost mystical in its -coincidence with the great miscarriage which brought the cross of -Christ to authorise the crucifixions of the men most like him for a -thousand years. - -Mr. John Ruskin has sharply challenged Ralph Waldo Emerson's -penetrating touch on the effigy that decorates the escutcheons of -England and Russia. 'George of Cappadocia,' says Emerson, 'born -at Epiphania in Cilicia, was a low parasite, who got a lucrative -contract to supply the army with bacon. A rogue and an informer, -he got rich and was forced to run from justice. He saved his money, -embraced Arianism, collected a library, and got promoted by a faction -to the episcopal throne of Alexandria. When Julian came, A.D. 361, -George was dragged to prison. The prison was burst open by the mob, -and George was lynched as he deserved. And this precious knave became -in good time Saint George of England, patron of chivalry, emblem of -victory and civility, and the pride of the best blood of the modern -world.' Whereon Emerson further remarks that 'nature trips us up when -we strut.' - -It is certainly rather hard for the founder of the St. George -Association to be told that his patron was no Dragon-slayer at all, -but the Dragon's ally. Mr. Ruskin may be right in contending that -whatever may have been the facts, they who made George patron saint -of England still meant their homage for a hero, or at any rate -not for a rogue; but he is unsatisfactory in his argument that our -St. George was another who died for his faith seventy years before -the bacon-contractor. Even if the Ruskin St. George, said to have -suffered under Diocletian, could be shown historical, his was a -very commonplace martyrdom compared with that of a bishop torn in -pieces by a 'pagan' mob. The distant christian nations would never -have listened to the pagan version of the story even had it reached -them. A bishop so martyred would have been the very man to give -their armies a watchword. The martyr was portrayed as a Dragon-slayer -only as a title might be added to the name of one knighted, or the -badge of an order set upon his breast; the heraldic device grew -into a variant of the common legend which suggests the origin of the -mythical George. 'The magician Athanasius, successively an opponent -of Christianity, a convert, and a martyr, is his chief antagonist; -and the city of Alexandria appears as the Empress Alexandria, the wife -of Diocletian, and herself a convert and a martyr.' This sentence -from Smith's 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography' tells more -than Professor Ruskin's seventeenth-century authority. The Dragon is -the same Athanasius whose creed sends forth its anathemas in churches -dedicated to the Arian canonised for having slain him! - -Though it be granted that they who made George of Cappadocia the -ideal hero of England really intended their homage for a martyr and -hero, it must equally be acknowledged that his halo was clearly drawn -from Dragon-fire. He was a man who had taken to the sword, and by it -perished; so much was known and announced in his canonisation. He -was honoured as 'the Victor' among the Greeks, therefore to-day -patron of Russia; as protector of Crusaders, therefore now patron of -England; thus is he saint of a war waged by the strong against the -weak, in interest of a church and priesthood against human freedom; -therefore George was taking the side of the Dragon against Christ, -restoring the priestly power he had assailed, and delivering up his -brave brothers in all history to be nailed to Christianity as a cross. - -Let George remain! Whether naming fashionable temples or engraved on -gold coins, the fictitious Dragon-slayer will remain the right saint -in the right place so long as the real Dragon-slayer is made to name -every power he hated, and to consecrate every lie in whose mouth he -darted his spear. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE DRAGON'S BREATH. - - Medusa--Phenomena of recurrence--The Brood of Echidna and their - survival--Behemoth and Leviathan--The Mouth of Hell--The Lambton - Worm--Ragnar--The Lambton Doom--The Worm's Orthodoxy--The Serpent, - Superstition, and Science. - - -Asura has already been mentioned as the most ancient Aryan name for -deity. The meaning of it is, the Breather. It has also been remarked -that in the course of time the word came to signify both the good -and the evil spirit. What this evil breath meant in nature is told -in Leonardo da Vinci's picture of the expiring Medusa, referred to -on p. 386, from whose breath noxious creatures are produced. It may -have been that the artist meant only to interpret the Gorgon as a -personification of the malarious vapours of nature and their organic -kindred; if so, he painted better than he knew, and has suggested -that fatal vitality of the evil power which raised it to its throne -as a principle coeternal with good. - -The phenomena of recurrence in things evil made for man the mystery -of iniquity. The darkness may be dispersed, but it returns; the storm -may clear away, but it gathers again; inundations, sickly seasons, -dog-days, Cain-winds, they go and return; the cancer is cut out and -grows again; the tyrant may be slain, tyranny survives. The serpent -slipping from one skin to another coils steadily into the symbol of -endlessness. In another expression it is the poisonous breath of -the Dragon. It is this breath that cannot be killed; the special -incarnations of it, any temporary brood of it, may be destroyed, -but the principle in nature which produces them cannot be exterminated. - -Dragon fables have this undertone to their brave strain. In the -Rig Veda (v. 32) it is said that when Indra slew Ahi, 'another more -powerful was generated.' Isaiah (xiv. 29) cries, 'Rejoice not thou, -whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: -for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his -fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.' Herakles struggles with the -giant robber, Antæus, only to find the demon's strength restored by -contact with the earth. He kills one head of the Hydra only to see two -grow in its place; and even when he has managed to burn away these, -the central head is found to be immortal, and he can only hide it -under a rock. That one is the self-multiplying principle of evil. The -vast brood of Echidna in mythology expresses the brood of evil in -nature. Echidna, daughter of Ge and Tartarus, Earth and Hell--phonetic -reappearance of Ahi--is half-serpent, half-woman, with black eyes, -fearful and bloodthirsty. She becomes the mother of fire-breathing -Typhon, buried beneath the earth by Jove's lightning when he aspired -to scale Olympus; of the Dragon that guarded the Hesperian garden; -of the Sphinx which puzzled and devoured; of three-headed Cerberus; -of the eagle that preyed on rock-bound Prometheus; of the Nemæan lion -which Herakles slew; of Chimæra; and of Scylla the monster whom Homer -describes sitting between two large rocks waylaying mariners on the -way from Italy to Sicily,--possessing twelve feet, six long necks -and mouths, each with three rows of rushing teeth. - -The Dragon that Cadmus slew also had terrible teeth; and it will be -remembered that when these teeth were sown they sprang up as armed -men. Like them, the ancient Dragon-myths were also sown, broadcast, in -the mental and moral fields, cleared and ploughed by a new theology, -and they sprang up as dogmas more hard and cruel than the ferocious -forces of nature which gave birth to their ancestral monsters. - -What the superstitious method of interpreting nature, forced as -it is to personify its painful as well as its pleasant phenomena, -inevitably results in, finds illustration in the two great lines of -tradition--the Aryan and the Semitic--which have converged to form -the christian mythology. - -The Hebrew personification, Jehovah, originating in a rude period, -became invested with many savage and immoral traditions; but when his -worshippers had reached a higher moral culture, national sentiment -had become too deeply involved with the sovereign majesty of their -deity for his alleged actions to be criticised, or his absolute -supremacy and omnipotence to be questioned, even to save his moral -character. Thus, the Rabbins appear to have been at their wits' -end to account for the existence of the two great monsters which -had got into their sacred records--from an early mythology--Behemoth -and Leviathan. Unwilling to admit that Jehovah had created foes to -his own kingdom, or that creatures which had become foes to it were -beyond his power to control, they worked out a theory that Behemoth -and Leviathan were made and preserved by special order of Jehovah to -execute his decrees at the Messianic Day of Judgment. They probably -corresponded at an earlier period with the gryphon, or grabber, and -the serpent which bit, guardians at the gate of paradise; but the -need of such guards, biters, and spies by the all-powerful all-seeing -Shaddai having been recognised, the monsters had to be rationalised -into accord with his character as a retributive ruler. Hence Behemoth -and Leviathan are represented as being fattened with the wicked, -who die in order to be the food of the righteous during the unsettled -times that follow the revelation of the Messiah! Behemoth is Jehovah's -'cattle on a thousand hills' (Ps. i. 10). In Pireque de Rabbi Eliezur -he is described as feeding daily upon a thousand mountains on which -the grass grows again every night; and the Jordan supplies him with -drink, as it is said in Job (xl. 23), 'he trusteth that he can draw up -Jordan into his mouth.' In the Talmud these monsters are divided into -two pairs, but are said to have been made barren lest their progeny -should destroy the earth. They are kept in the wilderness of Dendain, -the mythical abode of the descendants of Cain, east of Eden, for the -unique purpose mentioned. - -But now we may remark the steady progress of these monsters to -the bounds of their mythological habitat. There came a time when -Behemoth and Leviathan were hardly more presentable than other -personified horrors. They too must 'take the veil,'--a period in the -history of mythical, corresponding to extinction in that of actual, -monsters. The following passage in the Book of Enoch is believed by -Professor Drummond to be a later insertion, probably from the Book -of Noah, and as early as the middle of the first century:--'In that -day two monsters shall be divided; a female monster named Leviathan, -to dwell in the abyss of the sea, above the sources of the waters; -but the male is called Behemoth, which occupies with its breast a -desolate wilderness named Dendain, on the east of the garden where -the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather (Enoch) was -taken up, being the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord -of the spirits created. And I asked that other angel to show me the -might of these monsters, how they were separated in one day, and one -was set in the depth of the sea, the other on the firm land of the -wilderness. And he spoke to me, 'Thou son of man, thou desirest in -this to know what has been concealed.' And the other angel who went -with me, and showed me what is in concealment, spake, ... 'These two -monsters are prepared conformably to the greatness of God to be fed, -in order that the penal judgment of God may not be in vain.' [254] - -We may thus see that there were antecedents to the sentiment of -Aquinas,--'Beati in regno coelesti videbunt poenas damnatorum, -ut beatitudo illis magis complaceat.' Or, perhaps, one might say -rather to the logic of Aquinas; for though he saw that it would be -necessary for souls in bliss to be happy at vision of the damned or -else deficient in bliss, it is said he could hardly be happy from -thinking of the irreversible doom of Satan himself. It would appear -that only the followers of the Genevan who anticipated his god's hell -for Servetus managed to adapt their hearts to such logic, and glory -in the endless tortures of their fellow-creatures. - -An eloquent minister in New York, Octavius B. Frothingham, being -requested to write out his views on the 'question' of everlasting -damnation, began with the remark that he felt somewhat as a sportsman -suddenly called upon to hunt the Iguanodon. Really it is Behemoth and -Leviathan he was called to deal with. Leviathan transmitted from Jonah -to the Middle Ages the idea of 'the belly of Hell,' and Behemoth's -jaws expanded in the 'mouth of Hell' of the Miracle-plays; and their -utility, as described in the Book of Enoch, perhaps originated -the doctrine of souls tasting heavenly joys from the agonies of -others. The dogma of Hell has followed the course of its prototype -with precision. It has arrived at just that period when, as in the -case of Enoch's inquiring, the investigator finds it has taken the -veil. Theologians shake their heads, call it a terrible question, -write about free-will and sin, but only a few, of the fatuous sort, -confess belief in the old-fashioned Hell where the worm dieth not -and the fire is not quenched. - -Let us now take under consideration the outcome of the Aryan Dragon, -which has travelled far to meet Behemoth in the west. And it is -probable that we could not, with much seeking, find an example so -pregnant with instruction for our present inquiry as our little Durham -folk-tale of the Lambton Worm. - -This Worm is said to have been slain by Sir Lambton, crusader, and -ancestor of the Earls of Durham. This young Lambton was a wild fellow; -he was fond of fishing in the river Wear, which runs near Durham -Castle, and he had an especial taste for fishing there on Sunday -mornings. He was profane, and on Sundays, when the people were all -going to mass, they were often shocked by hearing the loud oaths -which Lambton uttered whenever he had no rise. One Sunday morning -something got hold of his hook, pulled strong, and he made sure of a -good trout; what was his disappointment when instead thereof he found -at the end of his line a tiny black worm. He tore it off with fierce -imprecations and threw it in a well near by. However, soon after this -the young man joined the crusaders and went off to the Holy Land, -where he distinguished himself by slaying many Saracens. - -But while he was off there things were going on badly around Durham -Castle. Some peasant passing that well into which the youth had cast -the tiny black worm looked into it, and beheld a creature that made him -shudder,--a diabolical big snake with nine ferocious eyes. A little -time only had elapsed before this creature had grown too large for -the well to hold it, and it came out and crawled on, making a path -of desolation, breakfasting on a village, until it came to a small -hill. Around that hill it coiled with nine coils, each weighty enough -to make a separate terrace. One may still see this hill with its nine -terraces, and be assured of the circumstances by peasants residing -near. Having taken up its headquarters on this hill, the nine-eyed -monster was in the habit of sallying forth every day and satisfying -his hunger by devouring the plumpest family he could find, until -at length the people consulted an oracle--some say a witch, others -again a priest--and were told that the monster would be satisfied -if it were given each day the milk of nine cows. So nine cows were -got together, and a plucky dairymaid was found to milk the cows and -carry it to the dragon. If a single gill of the milk was missing -the monster took a dire revenge upon the nearest village. This was -the unpleasant situation which young Lambton found when he returned -home from the crusades. He was now an altered man. He was no longer -given to fishing and profanity. He felt keenly that by raising the -demon out of the river Wear he had brought woe upon his neighbours, -and he resolved to engage the Worm in single combat. But he learned -that it had already been fought by several knights, and had slain -them, while no wounds received by itself availed anything, since, -if it were cut in twain, the pieces grew together again. The knight -then consulted the oracle, witch or priest, and was told that he could -prevail in the combat on certain conditions. He must provide himself -with special armour, all over which must be large razor-blades. He -must manage to entice the worm into the middle of the river Wear, -in whose waters the combat must take place. And, finally, he must -vow to slay as a sacrifice the first living thing he should meet -after his victory. These conditions having been fulfilled, the knight -entered the stream. The dragon, not having received his milk as usual -that morning, crawled from his hill seeking whom he might devour, -and seeing the knight in the river, went at him. Quickly he coiled -around the armour, but its big razors cut him into many sections; -and these sections could not piece themselves together again because -the current of the river washed them swiftly away. - -Now, observe how this dragon was pieced together mythologically. He is -a storm cloud. He begins smaller than a man's hand and swells to huge -dimensions; that characteristic of the howling storm was represented -in the howling wolf Fenris of Norse Mythology, who was a little pet, -a sort of lapdog for the gods at first, but when full grown broke the -chains that tied him to mountains, and was only fettered at last by -the thread finer than cobweb, which was really the sunbeam conquering -winter. Then, when this worm was cut in two, the parts came together -again. This feature of recurrence is especially characteristic of -Hydras. In the Egyptian 'Tale of Setnau,' Ptah-nefer-ka saw the -river-snake twice resume its form after he had killed it with his -sword,--he succeeded the third time by placing sand between the two -parts; and what returning floods taught the ancient scribe remained -to characterise the dragon encountered by Guy of Warwick, which -recovered from every wound by dipping its tail in the well it had -guarded. The Lernean Hydra had nine heads, the Lambton Worm nine -eyes and nine folds, and drank nine cows' milk. His fondness for -the milk of cows connects him straightly with the dragon Vritra, -whom Indra slew because he stole Indra's cows (that is, the good -clouds, whose milk is gentle rain, and do no harm), and shut them up -in a cavern to enjoy their milk himself. That is the oldest Dragon -fable on record, and it is said in the Rig-Veda that beneath Indra's -thunderbolt the monster broke up into pieces, and was washed away in a -current of water. Finally, in being destroyed at last by razor blades, -the dragon is connected with that slain by Ragnar, in whose armour the -sun-darts of Apollo had turned to icicles. In the 'Death-Song of Ragnar -Lodbrach,' preserved by Olaus Wormius, it is said that King Ella of -Northumberland having captured that terror of the North (8th cent.), -ordered him to be thrown into a pit of serpents. His surname, Lodbrach, -or Hair Breeches, had been given because of his method of slaying a -Worm which devastated Gothland, whose king had promised his daughter -to the man who should slay the same. Ragnar dressed himself in hairy -skins, and threw water over the hair, which, freezing, encased him in -an armour of ice. The Worm, unable to bite through this, was impaled by -Ragnar. Another version is that Ragnar killed two serpents which the -King of Gothland had set to guard his daughter, but which had grown -to such size that they terrified the country. It may be observed that -the Lambton story christianises the Ragnar legend, showing that to be -done in atonement for sin which in the other was done for love. The -Cornish legend of St. Petrox has also taken a hint from Ragnar, and -announces the rescue of christians from the serpent-pit in which the -pagan hero perished. The icicles reappear on the slayer of the dragon -of Wantley, represented by long spikes bristling from his armour. - -The Knight Lambton, remembering his vow to slay as a sacrifice the -first living thing he might meet after the combat, had arranged that -a dog should be placed where it would attract his eye. But it turned -out that his own father came rushing to him. As he could not kill -his father, he consulted the oracle again to know what would be the -penalty of non-fulfilment of his vow. It was that no representative -of the family should die in his bed for nine generations. The notion -is still found in that neighbourhood that no Earl of Durham has since -then died in his bed. The nine generations have long passed since -any crusading Lambton lived, but several peasants of the district -closed their narrative with, 'Strange to say, no Earl of Durham has -died in his bed!' At the castle I talked with a servant on the estate -while looking at the old statues of the knight, worm, and dairymaid, -all kept there, and he told me he had heard that the late Earl, as -death drew nigh, asked to sit up--insisted--and died in a chair. If -there be any truth in this, it would show that the family itself has -some morbid feeling about the legend which has been so long told them -with pride. The old well from which the little worm emerged a monster -is now much overgrown, but I was told that it was for a long time a -wishing-well, and the pins cast in by rustics may still be seen at -the bottom of it. - -Pins are the last offerings at the Worm's Well; 'wishes' its last -prayers; but where go now the coins and the prayers? To propitiate a -power and commute a doom resting upon much the same principles as those -represented in the Lambton legend. A community desolated because one -man is sinful miniatures a world's doom for Adam's sin. The demand of -a human sacrifice is more clear in the Sockburn story, where Conyers -offered up his only son to the Holy Ghost in the parish church before -engaging the Dragon, that being a condition of success prescribed by -the 'Oracle' or 'Sybil.' This claim of the infernal powers represented -by the Worm--many-eyed, all-seeing--cannot be set aside; Lambton's -filial love may resist it only to have it pass as the hereditary doom -of his family, representing an imputed sin. 'For I, the Lord thy God, -am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers on the children -unto the third and fourth generation.' - -There are processes of this kind in nature, hereditary evils, -transmitted diseases and disgraces, and afflictions of many -through the offences of one. But a fearful Nemesis follows the -deification and adoration of them. 'How can I be happy in heaven,' -said a tender-hearted lady to her clerical adviser, 'when I must -see others in hell?' 'You will be made to see that it is all for the -best.' 'If I am to be made so heartless, I prefer to go to hell.' This -genuine conversation reports the doom of all deities whose extension -is in dragons. Hell implies a Dragon as its representative and -ruler. Theology may induce the abject and cowardly to subject their -human hearts to the process of induration required for loyalty to such -powers, but in the end it makes atheism the only salvation of brave, -pure, and loving natures. The Dragons' breath has clouded the ancient -heavens and blighted the old gods; but the starry ideals they pursue -in vain. Behemoth has supplied sirloins to many priesthoods for a -long time, but he has at last become too tough even for their teeth, -and they feed him less carefully every year. Nay, he is encountered -now and then by his professional feeders, and has found even in -Westminster Abbey his Guy of Warwick. - - - Nor could this desp'rate champion daunt - A Dun Cow bigger than elephant; - But he, to prove his courage sterling, - Cut from her enormous side a sirloin. - - -The Worms--whether Semitic Leviathan or Aryan Dragon--are nearly -fossilised as to their ancient form. The sacrifice of Jephtha's -daughter to the one, and of young Conyers to the other, found -commutation in the case of man's rescue from Satan by Christ's descent -to Hades, and in the substitution of nine uneasy deaths for the -demanded parricide in the Lambton case; and the most direct 'survival' -of these may be found in any country lad trying to cure his warts by -providing a weed for them to adhere to. Their end in Art was in such -forms as this starveling creature of Callot's (Fig. 32), whose thin, -spectacled rider, tilting at St. Anthony, denotes as well the doom -of all powers, however lofty, whose majesty requires tali auxilio et -istis defensoribus. The Dragon passes and leaves a roar of laughter -behind him, in which even St. Anthony could now join. But Leviathan -and Lambton Worm have combined and merged their life in a Dogma; it -is a Dogma as remorseless and voracious as its prototype, and requires -to be fed with all the milk of human kindness, or it at once begins to -gnaw the foundations of Christendom itself. Christianity rests upon the -past work of the Worm in Paradise, and its present work in Hell. It -makes no real difference whether man's belief in a universe enmeshed -in serpent-coils be expressed in the Hindu's cowering adoration -of the venomous potentate, or the christian's imprecation upon it: -fundamentally it is serpent-worship in each case. Vishnu reposes on -his celestial Serpent; the god of Dogma maintains his government by -support of the infernal Serpent. Fear beheld him appearing in Durham to -vindicate the mass and the Sabbath; but the same fear still sees him -in the fiery world punishing Sabbath-breakers and blasphemers against -his Creator and chief. That fear built every cathedral in Christendom, -and they must crumble with the phantasm evoked for their creation. - -The Serpent in itself is a perfect type of all evil in nature. It is -irreconcilable with the reign of a perfectly good and omnipotent man -over the universe. No amount of casuistry can explain its co-existence -with anthropomorphic Love and Wisdom, as all acknowledge when a -parallel casuistry attempts to defend any other god than their own -from deeds that are, humanly considered, evil. It is just as easy to -defend the jealousy and cruelty of Jove, on the ground that his ways -are not as our ways, as it is to defend similar tempers in Jehovah. The -monster sent by one to devour Prometheus is ethically atwin with the -snake created by the other to bite the heel of man. - -Man is saved from the superstitious evolution of the venomous Serpent -into a Dragon by recognising its real evolution as seen by the eye -of Science. Science alone can tell the true story of the Serpent, -and justify its place in nature. It forbids man his superstitious -method of making a god in his own image, and his egotistic method -of judging nature according to his private likes and dislikes, his -convenience or inconvenience. Taught by Science man may, with a freedom -the barbarian cannot feel, exterminate the Serpent; with a freedom the -christian cannot know, he may see in that reptile the perfection of -that economy in nature which has ever defended the advancing forms of -life. It judges the good and evil of every form with reference to its -adaptation to its own purposes. Thus Science alone wields the spear -of Ithuriel, and beneath its touch every Dragon shrinks instantly to -its little shape in nature to be dealt with according to what it is. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -FATE. - - Dorè's 'Love and Fate'--Moira and Moiræ--The 'Fates' of Æschylus - --Divine absolutism surrendered--Jove and Typhon--Commutation of - the Demon's share--Popular fatalism--Theological fatalism--Fate - and Necessity--Deification of Will--Metaphysics, past and present. - - -Gustave Dorè has painted a picture of 'Love and Fate,' in which the -terrible hag is portrayed towering above the tender Eros, and while -the latter is extending the thread as far as he can, the wrinkled -hands of Destiny are the boundaries of his power, and the fatal shears -close upon the joy he has stretched to its inevitable limit. To the -ancient mind these two forms made the two great realms of the universe, -their powers meeting in the fruit with a worm at its core, in seeds -of death germinating amid the play of life, in all the limitations -of man. They are projected in myths of Elysium and Hades, Eden and -the Serpent, Heaven and Hell, and their manifold variants. - -Perhaps there is no one line of mythological development which more -clearly and impressively illustrates the forces under which grew the -idea of an evil principle, than the changes which the personification -of Fate underwent in Greece and Rome. The Moira, or Fate with Homer, -is only a secondary cause, if that, and simply carries out the -decrees of her father, Zeus. Zeus is the real Fate. Nevertheless, -while this is the Homeric theory or theology, there are intimations -(see chap. xxvii. part 4) that the real awe of men was already -transferred from Zeus to the Erinnyes. This foreshadows a change of -government. With Hesiod we find, instead of one, three Moiræ. They -are no longer offspring of Zeus, but, as it were, his Cabinet. They -do not act independently of him, but when, in pursuance of their just -counsels, Zeus issues decrees, the Moiræ administer them. Next we find -the Moiræ of Hesiod developed by other writers into final Recorders; -they write the decrees of Zeus on certain indestructible tablets, -after which they are irrevocable and inevitable. With Æschylus we -find the Moiræ developed into independent and supreme powers, above -Zeus himself. The chained Prometheus looks not to Zeus but to Fate -for his final liberation. - - - Chorus. Who, then, is the guide of Necessity? - - Prometheus. The tri-form Fates and the unforgetting Furies. - - Cho. Is Zeus, then, less powerful than they? - - Prom. At least 'tis certain he cannot escape his own doom. - - Cho. And what can be Zeus' doom but everlasting rule? - - Prom. This ye may not learn; press it not. - - Cho. Surely some solemn mystery thou hidest. - - Prom. Turn to some other theme: for this disclosure time has not - ripened: it must be veiled in deep mystery, for by the keeping of - this secret shall come my liberty from base chains and misery. - - -These great landmarks represent successive revolutions in the Olympian -government. Absolutism became burthensome: as irresponsible monarch, -Zeus became responsible for the woes of the world, and his priests were -satisfied to have an increasing share of that responsibility allotted -to his counsellors, until finally the whole of it is transferred. From -that time the countenance of Zeus, or Jupiter, shines out unclouded by -responsibility for human misfortunes and earthly evils; and, on the -other hand, the once beautiful Fates are proportionately blackened, -and they become hideous hags, the aged and lame crones of popular -belief in Greece and Rome, every line of whose ugliness would have -disfigured the face of Zeus had he not been subordinated to them. - -Moira means 'share,' and originally, perhaps, meant simply the -power that meted out to each his share of life, and of the pains -and pleasures woven in it till the term be reached. But as the Fates -gained more definite personality they began to be regarded as having -also a 'share' of their own. They came to typify all the dark and -formidable powers as to their inevitableness. No divine power could -set them aside, or more than temporarily subdue them. Fate measured -out her share to the remorseless Gorgon as well as to the fairest -god. But where destructive power was exercised in a way friendly to -man, the Fates are put somewhat in the background, and the feat is -claimed for some god. Such, in the 'Prometheus' of Æschylus, is the -spirit of the wonderful passage concerning Typhon, rendered with -tragic depth by Theodore Buckley:--'I commiserated too,' says the -rock-bound Prometheus, 'when I beheld the earth-born inmate of the -Cilician caverns, a tremendous prodigy, the hundred-headed impetuous -Typhon, overpowered by force; who withstood all the gods, hissing -slaughter from his hungry jaws, and from his eyes there flashed a -hideous glare as if he would perforce overthrow the sovereignty -of Jove. But the sleepless shaft of Jupiter came upon him, the -descending thunderbolt breathing forth flame which scared him out of -his presumptuous bravadoes; for having been smitten to his very soul -he was crumbled to a cinder, and thunder-blasted in his prowess. And -now, a hapless and paralysed form, is he lying hard by a narrow frith, -pressed down beneath the roots of Ætna. And, seated on the topmost -peaks, Vulcan forges the molten masses whence there shall burst forth -floods, devouring with full jaws the level fields of fruitful Sicily; -with rage such as this shall Typhon boil over in hot artillery of a -never glutted fire-breathing storm; albeit he hath been reduced to -ashes by the thunderbolt of Jupiter.' - -In this passage we see Jove invested with the glory of defeating -a great demon; but we also recognise the demon still under the -protection of Fate. Destiny must bear that burthen. So was it said -in the Apocalypse Satan should be loosed after being bound in the -Pit a thousand years; and so Mohammed declared Gog and Magog should -break loose with terror and destruction from the mountain-prison in -which Allah had cast them. The destructive Principle had its 'share' -as well as the creative and preservative Principles, and could not -be permanently deprived of it. Gradually the Fates of various regions -and names were identified with the deities, whose interests, gardens, -or treasures they guarded; and when some of these deities were degraded -their retainers were still more degraded, while in other cases deities -were enabled to maintain fair fame by fables of their being betrayed -and their good intentions frustrated by such subordinates. Thus we -find a certain notion of technical and official power investing such -figures as Satan, Ahriman, Iblis, and the Dragon, as if the upper -gods could not disown or reverse altogether the bad deeds done by -these commissioners. - -But the large though limited degree of control necessarily claimed for -the greatest and best gods had to be represented theologically. Hence -there was devised a system of Commutation. The Demon or Dragon, -though abusing his power, could not have it violently withdrawn, but -might be compelled to accept some sacrifice in lieu of the precise -object sought by his voracity. These substitutions are found in every -theological system, and to apply them to individuals constitutes the -raison d'être of every priesthood. In the progress towards civilisation -the substitutes diminish in value, and finally they become merely -nominal and ceremonial,--an effigy of a man instead of the man, -or wine instead of blood. At first the commutation was often in the -substitution of persons of lower for others of higher rank, as when -slaves or wives were, or are, sacrificed to assure paradise to the -master or husband. Thus, Death is allowed to take Alcestis instead -of Admetus. A higher degree of civilisation substitutes animals -for human victims. In keeping with this is the legend of Christ's -sending demons out of two men into a herd of swine: [255] which, -again, is referable to the same class of ideas as the legend that -followed concerning Jesus himself as a vicarious offering; mankind -in this case being the herd, as compared with the son of a god, and -the transfer of the Satanic power from the human race to himself, -for even a little time, being accepted in theology as an equivalent, -on account of the divine dignity of the being who descended into -hell. It was some time, however, before theology worked out this -theory as it now stands, the candid fathers having rejoiced in the -belief that the contract for commutation on its face implied that -Christ was to remain for ever in hell, Satan being outwitted in this. - -The ancient Babylonian charms often end with the refrain:--'May the -enchantment go forth and to its own dwelling-place betake itself,' -Every evil spirit was supposed to have an appropriate dwelling, -as in the case of Judas, into whom Satan entered, [256] and of whom -it is said he 'by transgression fell, that he might go to his own -place. [257] Very ingenious are some of the ancient speculations -concerning the habitations and congenial resorts of demons. In some -regions the colour of a disease on the skin is supposed to indicate -the tastes of the demon causing it; and the spells of exorcism end -by assigning him to something of the same hue. The demon of jaundice -is generally consigned to the yellow parrots, and inflammation to -the red or scarlet weeds. Their colours are respected. Humanity is -little considered in the Eastern formulas of this kind, and it is -pretty generally the case that in praying against plague or famine, -populations are often found selecting a tribe to which their trouble is -adjured to betake itself. 'May Nin-cigal,' says a Babylonian exorcism, -'turn her face towards another place; may the noxious spirit go -forth and seize another; may the female cherub and the female demon -settle upon his body; may the king of heaven preserve, may the king -of earth preserve!' - -So is it in regions and times which we generally think of as -semi-barbarous. But every now and then communities which fancy -themselves civilised and enlightened are brought face to face with -the popular fatalism in its pagan form, and are shocked thereat, not -remembering that it is equally the dogma of vicarious satisfaction -or atonement. A lady residing in the neighbourhood of the Traunsee, -Austria, informs me that recently two men were nearly drowned in -that lake, being rescued at the last moment and brought to life with -great difficulty. But this incident, instead of causing joy among -the neighbours of the men, excited their displeasure; and this not -because the rescued were at all unpopular, but because of a widespread -notion that the Destinies required two lives, that they would have to -be presently satisfied with two others, and that since the agonies of -the drowning men had passed into unconsciousness, it would have been -better to surrender the selected victims to their fate. At Elsinore, -in Denmark, when the sea moans it is said to 'want somebody,' and -it is generally the case that some story of a person just drowned -circulates afterwards. - -While the early mythological forms of the Fates diminish and pass away -as curious superstitions, they return in metaphysical disguises. They -gather their kindred in primitive sciences and cosmogonies, and -finding their old home swept free of pagan demons, and, garnished -with philosophic phrases, they enter as grave theories; but their -subtlety and their sting is with them, and the last state of the -house they occupy is worse than the first. - -Yes, worse: for all that man ever won of courage or moral freedom, -by conquering his dragons in detail, he surrenders again to the -phantom-forces they typified when he gives up his mind to belief in -a power not himself that makes for evil. The terrible conclusion that -Evil is a positive and imperishable Principle in the universe carries -in it the poisonous breath of every Dragon. It lurks in all theology -which represents the universe as an arena of struggle between good -and evil Principles, and human life as a war of the soul against the -flesh. It animates all the pious horrors which identify Materialism -with wickedness. It nestles in the mind which imagines a personal -deity opposed by any part of nature. It coils around every heart -which adores absolute sovereign Will, however apotheosised. - -All of these notions, most of all belief in a supreme arbitrary Will, -are modern disguises of Fate; and belief in Fate is the one thing -fatal to human culture and energy. The notion of Fate (fatum, the -word spoken) carries in it the conception of arbitrariness in the -universe, of power deliberately exerted without necessary reference -to the nature of things; and it is precisely opposed to that idea of -Necessity taught by Science, which is another name for the supremacy of -Law. Happily the notion of a universe held at the mercy of a personal -decree is suicidal in a world full of sorrows and agonies, which, -on such a theory, can only be traced to some individual caprice -or malevolence. However long abject fear may silence the lips of -the suffering, rebellion is in their hearts. Every blow inflicted, -directly or permissively, by mere Will, however omnipotent, every -agony that is consciously detached from universal organic necessity, -in order that it may be called 'providential,' can arouse no natural -feeling in man nobler than indignation. The feeling of a suitor in -a court of law, who knows that the adverse judgment that ruins him -has no root in the facts or the law, but proceeds from the prejudice -or whim of the judge, can be nowise different from that of a mother -who sees her son stricken down by death, and hears at his grave that -he was consumed by the wrath of a god who might have yielded to her -prayer, but refused it. The heart's protest may be throttled for a -time by the lingering coil of terror, but it is there, and christian -theologians will be as anxious to protect their deity from it, at -whatever cost to his sovereignty, as their predecessors who invented -the Cabinet of Women to relieve Jove from responsibility. - -Metaphysics--which appear to have developed into the art of -making things look true in words when their untruth in fact -has been detected--have indeed already set about the task just -predicted. Eminent divines are found writing about matter and spirit, -freedom and natural law, as solemnly as if all this discussion were -new, and had never been carried out to its inevitable results. They -can only put in christian or modern phraseology conclusions which have -been reached again and again in the history of human speculation. The -various schools of Buddhist and Vedantist philosophy have come by every -conceivable route to their fundamental unity of belief in God, Soul, -and Matter; in a pessimist visible nature, an ideal invisible nature, -and a human soul held in matter like a frog in a snake's mouth, but -able by certain mysterious, mostly metaphysical or verbal, tactics, -to gain release, and pass into a corresponding situation in the deity. - -'As a king, whose son had strayed away from him and lived in ignorance -of his father among the Veddahs (wild men), will, on discovering -his son, exclaim, 'Come to me, my darling son!' and make him a -participator of the happiness he himself enjoys, even so will the -Supreme God present himself before the soul when in distress--the -soul enmeshed in the net of the five Veddahs (senses), and, severing -that soul from Pâsam (Matter), assimilate it to himself, and bless -it at his holy feet.' - -It is too late for man to be interested in an 'omnipotent' Personality, -whose power is mysteriously limited at the precise point when it -is needed, and whose moral government is another name for man's own -control of nature. Nevertheless, this Oriental pessimism is the Pauline -theory of Matter, and it is the speculative protoplasm out of which -has been evolved, in many shapes, that personification which remains -for our consideration--the Devil. - - - - - - - - -PART IV. - -THE DEVIL. - - -CHAPTER I. - -DIABOLISM. - - Dragon and Devil distinguished--Dragons' wings--War in Heaven-- - Expulsion of Serpents--Dissolution of the Dragon--Theological - origin of the Devil--Ideal and actual--Devil Dogma--Debasement - of ideal persons--Transmigration of phantoms. - - -'We are all nothing other than Wills,' says St. Augustine; and he -adds that of the good and bad angels the nature is the same, the will -different. In harmony with this John Beaumont says, 'A good desire -of mind is a good God.' [1] To which all the mythology of Evil adds, -a bad desire of mind is a Devil. Every personification of an evil -Will looks beyond the outward phenomena of pain, and conceives a -heart that loves evil, a spirit that makes for wickedness. At this -point a new element altogether enters. The physical pain incidentally -represented by the Demon, generalised and organised into a principle -of harmfulness in the Dragon, begins now to pass under the shadow cast -by the ascending light of man's moral nature. Man becomes conscious of -moral and spiritual pains: they may be still imaginatively connected -with bodily agonies, but these drop out of the immediate conception, -disappear into a distant future, and are even replaced by the notion -of an evil symbolised by pleasure. - -The fundamental difference between either a Demon or Dragon and a -Devil may be recognised in this: we never find the former voluntarily -bestowing physical pleasure or happiness on man, whereas it is a -chief part of the notion of a Devil that he often confers earthly -favours in order to corrupt the moral nature. - -There are, indeed, apparent exceptions to this theorem presented -in the agatho-dragons which have already been considered in our -chapter on the Basilisk; but the reader will observe that there is -no intimation in such myths of any malign ulterior purpose in the -good omens brought by those exceptional monsters, and that they are -really forms of malevolent power whose afflictive intent is supposed -to have been vanquished by the superior might of the heroes or saints -to whose glory they are reluctantly compelled to become tributary. - -Undoubtedly the Dragon attended this moral and religious development of -man's inward nature very far, and still occupies, as at once prisoner -and gaoler in the underworld, a subordinate relation to it. In the long -process he has undergone certain transformations, and in particular -his attribute of wings, if not derived from the notion of his struggle -against holier beings, seems to have been largely enhanced thereby. The -exceptional wings given to serpents in Greek art, those, for instance, -which draw Demeter and Persephone in their chariot, are trifling as -compared with the fully-developed wings of our conventional Dragon of -the christian era. Such wings might have been developed occasionally -to denote the flying cloud, the fire-breathing storm, or explain how -some Ráhu was enabled to pursue the sun and moon and swallow them -temporarily in the phenomena of eclipse. But these wings grew to -more important dimensions when they were caught up into the Semitic -conception of winged genii and destroying angels, and associated with -an ambitious assault on heaven and its divine or angelic occupants. - -'There was war in Heaven,' says the Apocalypse. The traditional -descriptions of this war follow pretty closely, in dramatic details, -other and more ancient struggles which reflect man's encounters with -the hardships of nature. In those encounters man imagined the gods -descending earthward to mingle in the fray; but even where the struggle -mounted highest the scenery is mainly terrestrial and the issues those -of place and power, the dominion of visible Light established above -Darkness, or of a comparatively civilised over a savage race. The -wars between the Devas and Asuras in India, the Devs and Ahuras in -Persia, Buddha and the Nagas in Ceylon, Garúra and the Serpent-men -in the north of India, gods and Frost-giants in Scandinavia, still -concern man's relation to the fruits of the earth, to heat and frost, -to darkness or storm and sunshine. - -But some of these at length find versions which reveal their tendency -towards spiritualisation. The differences presented by one of these -legends which has survived among us in nearly its ancient form from -the same which remains in a partly mystical form will illustrate -the transitional phase. Thus, Garúra expelling the serpents from -his realm in India is not a saintly legend; this exterminator of -serpents is said to have compelled the reptile race to send him one -of their number daily that he might eat it, and the rationalised -tradition interprets this as the prince's cannibalism. The expulsion -of Nagas or serpents from Ceylon by Buddha, in order that he might -consecrate that island to the holy law, marks the pious accentuation -of the fable. The expulsion of snakes from Ireland by St. Patrick -is a legend conceived in the spirit of the curse pronounced upon the -serpent in Eden, but in this case the modern myth is the more primitive -morally, and more nearly represents the exploit of Garúra. St. Patrick -expels the snakes that he may make Ireland a paradise physically, -and establish his reputation as an apostle by fulfilling the signs -of one named by Christ; [2] and in this particular it slightly rises -above the Hindu story. In the case of the serpent cursed in Eden a -further moralisation of the conflict is shown. The serpent is not -present in Eden, as in the realms of Garúra and St. Patrick, for -purposes of physical devastation or pain, but to bestow a pleasure -on man with a view to success in a further issue between himself and -the deity. Yet in this Eden myth the ancient combat is not yet fairly -spiritualised; for the issue still relates, as in that between the -Devas and Asuras, to the possession of a magical fruit which by no -means confers sanctity. In the apocalyptic legend of the war in heaven, -[3] the legend has become fairly spiritualised. The issue is no longer -terrestrial, it is no longer for mere power; the Dragon is arrayed -against the woman and child, and against the spiritual 'salvation' -of mankind, of whom he is 'accuser' and 'deceiver.' - -Surely nobody could be 'deceived' by 'a great fiery-red Dragon, having -seven heads and ten horns'! In this vision the Dragon is pressed as far -as the form can go in the symbolisation of evil. To devour the child is -its legitimate work, but as 'accuser of the brethren before God day and -night' the monstrous shape were surely out of place by any mythologic -analogy; and one could hardly imagine such a physiognomy capable of -deceiving 'the whole world.' It is not wonderful, therefore, that the -Dragon's presence in heaven is only mentioned in connection with his -fall from it. It is significant that the wings are lost in this fall; -for while his 'angelic' relationship suggests the previous wings, -the woman is able to escape the fallen monster by the two wings given -her. [4] Wingless now, 'the old serpent' once more, the monster's -shape has no adaptation to the moral and religious struggle which -is to ensue. For his shape is a method, and it means the perfection -of brute force. That, indeed, also remains in the sequel of this -magnificent myth. As in the legend of the Hydra two heads spring up -in place of that which falls, so in this Christian legend out of the -overthrown monster, henceforth himself concealed, two arise from his -inspiration,--the seven-headed, ten-horned Beast who continues the work -of wrath and pain; but also a lamb-like Beast, with only two horns -(far less terrible), and able to deceive by his miracles, for he is -even able to call down fire from heaven. The ancient Serpent-dragon, -the expression of natural pain, thus goes to pieces. His older part -remains to work mischief and hurt; and the cry is uttered, 'Be merry, -ye heavens, and ye that tabernacle in them: woe to the earth and the -sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath because -he knows that he has a short time.' [5] But there is a lamb-like part -of him too, and his relation to the Dragon is only known by his voice. - -This subtle adaptation of the symbol of external pain to the -representation of the moral struggle, wherein the hostile power -may assume deceptive forms of beauty and pleasure, is only one -impressive illustration of the transfer of human conceptions of evil -from outward to inward nature. The transition is from a malevolent, -fatal, principle of harmfulness to the body to a malevolent, fatal, -principle of evil to the conscience. The Demon was natural; the -Dragon was both physical and metaphysical; the Devil was and is -theological. In the primitive Zoroastrian theology, where the Devil -first appears in clear definition, he is the opponent of the Good -Mind, and the combat between the two, Ormuzd and Ahriman, is the -spiritualisation of the combat between Light and Darkness, Pain and -Happiness, in the external world. As these visible antagonists were -supposed to be exactly balanced against each other, so are their -spiritual correlatives. The Two Minds are described as Twins. - -'Those old Spirits, who are twins, made known what is good and what is -evil in thoughts, words, and deeds. Those who are good distinguished -between the two; not so those who are evil-doers. - -'When these two Spirits came together they made first life and death, -so that there should be at last the most wretched life for the bad, -but for the good blessedness. - -'Of these two Spirits the evil one chose the worst deeds; the -kind Spirit, he whose garment is the immovable sky, chose what is -right.' [6] - -This metaphysical theory follows closely the primitive scientific -observations on which it is based; it is the cold of the cold, -the gloom of the darkness, the sting of death, translated into some -order for the intellect which, having passed through the Dragon, we -find appearing in this Persian Devil; and against his blackness the -glory of the personality from whom all good things proceed shines -out in a splendour no longer marred by association with the evil -side of nature. Ormuzd is celebrated as 'father of the pure world,' -who sustains 'the earth and the clouds that they do not fall,' and -'has made the kindly light and the darkness, the kindly sleep and the -awaking;' [7] at every step being suggested the father of the impure -world, the unkindly light, darkness or sleep. - -The ecstasy which attended man's first vision of an ideal life defied -the contradictory facts of outward and inward nature. So soon as he -had beheld a purer image of himself rising above his own animalism, -he must not only regard that animalism as an instigation of a devil, -but also the like of it in nature; and this conception will proceed -pari passu with the creation of pure deities in the image of that -higher self. There was as yet no philosophy demanding unity in the -Cosmos, or forbidding man to hold as accursed so much of nature as -did not obviously accord with his ideals. - -Mr. Edward B. Tylor has traced the growth of Animism from man's -shadow and his breathing; Sir John Lubbock has traced the influence of -dreams in forming around him a ghostly world; Mr. Herbert Spencer has -given an analysis of the probable processes by which this invisible -environment was shaped for the mental conception in accordance -with family and social conditions. But it is necessary that we -should here recognise the shadow that walked by the moral nature, -the breathings of religious aspiration, and the dreams which visited -a man whose moral sense was so generally at variance with his animal -desires. The code established for the common good, while necessarily -having a relation to every individual conscience, is a restriction -upon individual liberty. The conflict between selfishness and duty is -thus inaugurated; it continues in the struggle between the 'law in the -members and the law in the spirit,' which led Paul to beat his body -(hypopiaxomai) to keep it in subjection; it passes from the Latin -poet to the Englishman, who turns his experience to a rune-- - - - I see the right, and I approve it too; - Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue. - - -As the light which cast it was intense, even so intense was the shadow -it cast beneath all it could not penetrate. Passionate as was the -saintliest man's love of good, even so passionate was his spiritual -enemy's love of evil. High as was the azure vault that mingled with his -dreams of purity, so deep was the abyss beneath his lower nature. The -superficial equalities of phenomena, painful and pleasurable, to his -animal nature had cast the mould into which his theories of the inward -and the moral phenomena must be cast; and thus man--in an august -moment--surrendered himself to the dreadful conception of a supreme -Principle of Wickedness: wherever good was there stood its adversary; -wherever truth, there its denier; no light shone without the dark -presence that would quench it; innocence had its official accuser, -virtue its accomplished tempter, peace its breaker, faith its disturber -and mocker. Nay, to this impersonation was added the last feature -of fiendishness, a nature which found its supreme satisfaction in -ultimately torturing human beings for the sins instigated by himself. - -It is open to question how far any average of mankind really conceived -this theological dogma. Easy as it is to put into clear verbal -statement; readily as the analogies of nature supply arguments for -and illustrations of a balance between moral light and darkness, love -and hatred; yet is man limited in subjective conceptions to his own -possibilities, and it may almost be said that to genuinely believe in -an absolute Fiend a man would have to be potentially one himself. But -any human being, animated by causeless and purposeless desire to -inflict pain on others, would be universally regarded as insane, -much more one who would without motive corrupt as well as afflict. - -Even theological statements of the personality of Evil, and what that -implies, are rare. The following is brave enough to be put on record, -apart from its suggestiveness. - -'It cannot be denied that as there is an inspiration of holy love, -so is there an inspiration of hatred, or frantic pleasure, with which -men surrender themselves to the impulses of destructiveness; and when -the popular language speaks of possessions of Satan, of incarnate -devils, there lies at the bottom of this the grave truth that men, -by continued sinning, may pass the ordinary limit between human and -diabolic depravity, and lay open in themselves a deep abyss of hatred -which, without any mixture of self-interest, finds its gratification -in devastation and woe.' [8] - -On this it may be said that the popular commentary on cases of the -kind is contained in the very phrase alluded to, 'possession,'--the -implication being that such disinterested depravity is nowise possible -within the range of simple human experience,--and, in modern times, -'possessions' are treated in asylums. Morbid conditions, however, are -of such varied degrees that it is probable many have imagined a Being -in whom their worst impulses are unrestrained, and thus there have -been sufficient popular approximations to an imaginative conception -of a Devil to enable the theological dogma, which few can analyse, -to survive. - -It must not be supposed, however, that the moral and spiritual ideals, -to which allusion has just been made, are normally represented in the -various Devils which we have to consider. It is the characteristic of -personifications, whether celestial or infernal, to supersede gradually -the ideas out of which they spring. As in the fable of Agni, who is -said to have devoured his parents when he was born, a metaphor of fire -consuming the two sticks which produce it, religious history shows both -deities and devils, by the flame of personal devotion or hatred they -engender, burning up the ideas that originate them. When instead of -unconscious forces and inanimate laws working to results called good -and evil, men see great personal Wills engaged in personal conflict, -the universe becomes a government of combat; the stars of heaven, the -angels and the imps, men and women, the very plants and animals, are -caught up in the battle, to be marshalled on one side or the other; -and in the military spirit and fury of the struggle the spiritual -ideals become as insignificant beneath the phantom-hosts they evoked -as the violets and daisies which an army tramples in its march. There -is little difference at last between the moral characteristics of -the respective armies of Ormuzd and Ahriman, Michael and Satan; their -strategy and ferocity are the same. [9] Wherever the conception is that -of a universe divided into hostile camps, the appropriate passions are -kindled, and in the thick of the field, where Cruelty and Gentleness -met, is seen at last a horned Beast confronted by a horned Lamb. [10] -On both sides is exaltation of the horn. - -We need only look at the outcome of the gentle and lowly Jesus through -the exigencies of the church militant to see how potent are such -forces. Although lay Christians of ordinary education are accustomed -to rationalise their dogmas as well as they can, and dwell on the -loving and patient characteristics of Jesus, the horns which were -attached to the brow of him who said, 'Love your enemies' by ages of -Christian warfare remain still in the Christ of Theology, and they -are still depended on to overawe the 'sinner.' In an orthodox family -with which I have had some acquaintance, a little boy, who had used -naughty expressions of resentment towards a playmate was admonished -that he should be more like Christ, 'who never did any harm to his -enemies.' 'No,' answered the wrathful child, 'but he's a-going to.' - -As in Demonology we trace the struggles of man with external -obstructions, and the phantasms in which these were reflected until -they were understood or surmounted, we have now to consider the forms -which report human progression on a higher plane,--that of social, -moral, and religious evolution. Creations of a crude Theology, in its -attempt to interpret the moral sentiment, the Devils to which we now -turn our attention have multiplied as the various interests of mankind -have come into relations with their conscience. Every degree of ascent -of the moral nature has been marked by innumerable new shadows cast -athwart the mind and the life of man. Every new heaven of ideas -is followed by a new earth, but ere this conformity of things to -thoughts can take place struggles must come and the old demons will -be recalled for new service. As time goes on things new grow old; -the fresh issues pass away, their battlefields grow cold; then the -brood of superstition must flit away to the next field where carrion is -found. Foul and repulsive as are these vultures of the mind--organisms -of moral sewage--every one of them is a witness to the victories of -mankind over the evils they shadow, and to the steady advance of a -new earth which supplies them no habitat but the archæologist's page. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE SECOND BEST. - - Respect for the Devil--Primitive atheism--Idealisation--Birth of - new gods--New gods diabolised--Compromise between new gods and - old--Foreign deities degraded--Their utilisation. - - -A lady residing in Hampshire, England, recently said to a friend of -the present writer, both being mothers, 'Do you make your children -bow their heads whenever they mention the Devil's name? I do,' she -added solemnly,--'I think it's safer.' - -This instance of reverence for the Devil's name, occurring in a -respectable English family, may excite a smile; but if my reader has -perused the third and fourth chapters (Part I.) of this work, in which -it was necessary to state certain facts and principles which underlie -the phenomena of degradation in both Demonology and Devil-lore, he will -already know the high significance of nearly all the names which have -invested the personifications of evil; and he will not be surprised to -find their original sanctity, though lowered, sometimes, surviving in -such imaginary forms after the battles in which they were vanquished -have passed out of all contemporary interest. If, for example, instead -of the Devil, whose name is uttered with respect in the Hampshire -household, any theological bogey of our own time were there mentioned, -such as 'Atheist,' it might hardly receive such considerate treatment. - -The two chapters just referred to anticipate much that should be -considered at this point of our inquiry. It is only necessary here -to supplement them with a brief statement, and to some extent a -recapitulation, of the processes by which degraded deities are -preserved to continue through a structural development and fulfil -a necessary part in every theological scheme which includes the -conception of an eternal difference between good and evil. - -Every personification when it first appears expresses a higher -and larger view. When deities representing the physical needs of -mankind have failed, as they necessarily must, to meet those needs, -atheism follows, though it cannot for a long time find philosophical -expression. It is an atheism ad hoc, so to say, and works by -degrading particular gods instead of by constructing antitheistic -theories. Successive dynasties of deities arise and flourish in this -way, each representing a less arbitrary relation to nature,--peril -lying in that direction,--and a higher moral and spiritual ideal, -this being the stronghold of deities. It is obvious that it is far -easier to maintain the theory that prayers are heard and answered -by a deity if those prayers are limited to spiritual requests, than -when they are petitions for outward benefits. By giving over the -cruel and remorseless forces of nature to the Devil,--i.e., to this -or that personification of them who, as gods, had been appealed to -in vain to soften such forces,--the more spiritual god that follows -gains in security as well as beauty what he surrenders of empire and -omnipotence. This law, illustrated in our chapter on Fate, operates -with tremendous effect upon the conditions under which the old combat -is spiritualised. - -An eloquent preacher has said:--'Hawthorne's fine fancy of the youth -who ascribed heroic qualities to the stone face on the brow of a -cliff, thus converting the rocky profile into a man, and, by dint of -meditating on it with admiring awe, actually transferred to himself -the moral elements he worshipped, has been made fact a thousand times, -is made fact every day, by earnest spirits who by faithful longing -turn their visions into verities, and obtain live answers to their -petitions to shadows.' [11] - -However imaginary may be the benedictions so derived by the worshipper -from his image, they are most real as they redound to the glory -and power of the image. The crudest personification, gathering up -the sanctities of generations, associated with the holiest hopes, -the best emotions, the profoundest aspirations of human nature, -may be at length so identified with these sentiments that they all -seem absolutely dependent upon the image they invest. Every criticism -of such a personification then seems like a blow aimed at the moral -laws. If educated men are still found in Christendom discussing whether -morality can survive the overthrow of such personifications, and -whether life were worth living without them, we may readily understand -how in times when the social, ethical, and psychological sciences -did not exist at all, all that human beings valued seemed destined -to stand or fall with the Person supposed to be their only keystone. - -But no Personage, however highly throned, can arrest the sun and -moon, or the mind and life of humanity. With every advance in -physical or social conditions moral elements must be influenced; -every new combination involves a recast of experiences, and presently -of convictions. Henceforth the deified image can only remain as a -tyrant over the heart and brain which have created it,-- - - - Creatura a un tempo - E tiranno de l'uom, da cui soltanto - Ebbe nomi ed aspetti e regno e altari. [12] - - -This personification, thus 'at once man's creature and his tyrant,' is -objectively a name. But as it has been invested with all that has been -most sacred, it is inevitable that any name raised against it shall be -equally associated with all that has been considered basest. This also -must be personified, for the same reason that the good is personified; -and as names are chiefly hereditary, it pretty generally happens that -the title of some fallen and discredited deity is advanced to receive -the new anathema. But what else does he receive? The new ideas; the -growing ideals and the fresh enthusiasms are associated with some -fantastic shape with anathematised name evoked from the past, and -thus a portentous situation is reached. The worshippers of the new -image will not accept the bad name and its base associations; they -even grow strong enough to claim the name and altars of the existing -order, and give battle for the same. Then occurs the demoralisation, -literally speaking, of the older theology. The personification reduced -to struggle for its existence can no longer lay emphasis upon the -moral principles it had embodied, these being equally possessed by -their opponents; nay, its partisans manage to associate with their -holy Name so much bigotry and cruelty that the innovators are at length -willing to resign it. The personal loyalty, which is found to continue -after loyalty to principles has ceased, proceeds to degrade the virtues -once reverenced when they are found connected with a rival name. 'He -casteth out devils through Beelzebub' is a very ancient cry. It was -heard again when Tertullian said, 'Satan is God's ape.' St. Augustine -recognises the similarity between the observances of Christians and -pagans as proving the subtle imitativeness of the Devil; the phenomena -referred to are considered elsewhere, but, in the present connection, -it may be remarked that this readiness to regard the same sacrament -as supremely holy or supremely diabolical as it is celebrated in -honour of one name or another, accords closely with the reverence -or detestation of things more important than sacraments, as they -are, or are not, consecrated by what each theology deems official -sanction. When sects talk of 'mere morality' we may recognise in -the phrase the last faint war-cry of a god from whom the spiritual -ideal has passed away, and whose name even can survive only through -alliance with the new claimant of his altars. While the new gods were -being called devils the old ones were becoming such. - -The victory of the new ideal turns the old one to an idol. But we are -considering a phase of the world when superstition must invest the -new as well as the old, though in a weaker degree. A new religious -system prevails chiefly through its moral superiority to that it -supersedes; but when it has succeeded to the temples and altars -consecrated to previous divinities, when the ardour of battle is -over and conciliation becomes a policy as well as a virtue, the old -idol is likely to be treated with respect, and may not impossibly be -brought into friendly relation with its victorious adversary. He may -take his place as 'the second best,' to borrow Goethe's phrase, and be -assigned some function in the new theologic régime. Thus, behind the -simplicity of the Hampshire lady instructing her children to bow at -mention of the Devil's name, stretch the centuries in which Christian -divines have as warmly defended the existence of Satan as that of God -himself. With sufficient reason: that infernal being, some time God's -'ape' and rival, was necessarily developed into his present position -and office of agent and executioner under the divine government. He -is the great Second Best; and it is a strange hallucination to fancy -that, in an age of peaceful inquiry, any divine personification can -be maintained without this patient Goat, who bears blame for all -the faults of nature, and who relieves divine Love from the odium -of supplying that fear which is the mother of devotion,--at least in -the many millions of illogical eyes into which priests can still look -without laughing. - -Such, in brief outline, has been the interaction of moral and -intellectual forces operating within the limits of established systems, -and of the nations governed by them. But there are added factors, -intensifying the forces on each side, when alien are brought into -rivalry and collision with national deities. In such a contest, besides -the moral and spiritual sentiments and the household sanctities, which -have become intertwined with the internal deities, national pride is -also enlisted, and patriotism. But on the other side is enlisted the -charm of novelty, and the consciousness of fault and failure in the -home system. Every system imported to a foreign land leaves behind -its practical shortcomings, puts its best foot forward--namely, its -theoretical foot--and has the advantage of suggesting a way of escape -from the existing routine which has become oppressive. Napoleon I. said -that no people profoundly attached to the institutions of their country -can be conquered; but what people are attached to the priestly system -over them? That internal dissatisfaction which, in secular government, -gives welcome to a dashing Corsican or a Prince of Orange, has been -the means of introducing many an alien religion, and giving to many a -prophet the honour denied him in his own country. Buddha was a Hindu, -but the triumph of his religion is not in India; Zoroaster was a -Persian, but there are no Parsees in Persia; Christianity is hardly -a colonist even in the native land of Christ. - -These combinations and changes were not effected without fierce -controversies, ferocious wars, or persecutions, and the formation -of many devils. Nothing is more normal in ancient systems than the -belief that the gods of other nations are devils. The slaughter of -the priests of Baal corresponds with the development of their god -into Beelzebub. In proportion to the success of Olaf in crushing -the worshippers of Odin, their deity is steadily transformed to a -diabolical Wild Huntsman. But here also the forces of partial recovery, -which we have seen operating in the outcome of internal reform, -manifest themselves; the vanquished, and for a time outlawed deity, is, -in many cases, subsequently conciliated and given an inferior, and, -though hateful, a useful office in the new order. Sometimes, indeed, -as in the case of the Hindu destroyer Siva, it is found necessary -to assign a god, anathematised beyond all power of whitewash, to an -equal rank with the most virtuous deity. Political forces and the -exigencies of propagandism work many marvels of this kind, which will -meet us in the further stages of our investigation. - -Every superseded god who survives in subordination to another is pretty -sure to be developed into a Devil. Euphemism may tell pleasant fables -about him, priestcraft may find it useful to perpetuate belief in his -existence, but all the evils of the universe, which it is inconvenient -to explain, are gradually laid upon him, and sink him down, until -nothing is left of his former glory but a shining name. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -AHRIMAN: THE DIVINE DEVIL. - - Mr. Irving's impersonation of Superstition--Revolution against - pious privilege--Doctrine of 'merits'--Saintly immorality in - India--A Pantheon turned Inferno--Zendavesta on Good and Evil-- - Parsî Mythology--The Combat of Ahriman with Ormuzd--Optimism-- - Parsî Eschatology--Final Restoration of Ahriman. - - -Any one who has witnessed Mr. Henry Irving's scholarly and masterly -impersonation of the character of Louis XI. has had an opportunity of -recognising a phase of superstition which happily it were now difficult -to find off the stage. Nothing could exceed the fine realism with -which that artist brought before the spectator the perfected type of a -pretended religion from which all moral features have been eliminated -by such slow processes that the final success is unconsciously reached, -and the horrible result appears unchecked by even any affectation -of actual virtue. We see the king at sound of a bell pausing in his -instructions for a treacherous assassination to mumble his prayers, -and then instantly reverting to the villany over whose prospective -success he gloats. In the secrecy of his chamber no mask falls, for -there is no mask; the face of superstition and vice on which we look -is the real face which the ages of fanaticism have transmitted to him. - -Such a face has oftener been that of a nation than that of an -individual, for the healthy forces of life work amid the homes -and hearts of mankind long before their theories are reached and -influenced. Such a face it was against which the moral insurrection -which bears the name of Zoroaster arose, seeing it as physiognomy of -the Evil Mind, naming it Ahriman, and, in the name of the conscience, -aiming at it the blow which is still felt across the centuries. - -Ingenious theorists have accounted for the Iranian philosophy of -a universal war between Ormuzd (Ahuramazda) the Good, and Ahriman -(Angromainyus) the Evil, by vast and terrible climatic changes, -involving extremes of heat and cold, of which geologists find traces -about Old Iran, from which a colony of Aryans migrated to New Iran, -or Persia. But although physical conditions of this character may have -supplied many of the metaphors in which the conflict between Good and -Evil is described in the Avesta, there are other characteristics of -that ancient scripture which render it more probable that the early -colonisation of Persia was, like that of New England, the result of a -religious struggle. Some of the gods most adored in India reappear as -execrated demons in the religion of Zoroaster; the Hindu word for god -is the Parsî word for devil. These antagonisms are not merely verbal; -they are accompanied in the Avesta with the most furious denunciations -of theological opponents, whom it is not difficult to identify with -the priests and adherents of the Brahman religion. - -The spirit of the early scriptures of India leaves no room for -doubt as to the point at which this revolution began. It was against -pious Privilege. The saintly hierarchy of India were a caste quite -irresponsible to moral laws. The ancient gods, vague names for the -powers of nature, were strictly limited in their dispensations to -those of their priests; [13] and as to these priests the chief -necessities were ample offerings, sacrifices, and fulfilment of -the ceremonial ordinances in which their authority was organised, -these were the performances rewarded by a reciprocal recognition of -authority. To the image of this political régime, theology, always -facile, accommodated the regulations of the gods. The moral law can -only live by being supreme; and as it was not supreme in the Hindu -pantheon, it died out of it. The doctrine of 'merits,' invented by -priests purely for their own power, included nothing meritorious, -humanly considered; the merits consisted of costly sacrifices, -rich offerings to temples, tremendous penances for fictitious sins, -ingeniously devised to aggrandise the penances which disguised power, -and prolonged austerities that might be comfortably commuted by the -wealthy. When this doctrine had obtained general adherence, and was -represented by a terrestrial government corresponding to it, the -gods were necessarily subject to it. That were only to say that the -powers of nature were obedient to the 'merits' of privileged saints; -and from this it is an obvious inference that they are relieved from -moral laws binding on the vulgar. - -The legends which represent this phase of priestly dominion are -curiously mixed. It would appear that under the doctrine of 'merits' -the old gods declined. Such appears to be the intimation of the -stories which report the distress of the gods through the power -of human saints. The Rajah Ravana acquired such power that he was -said to have arrested the sun and moon, and so oppressed the gods -that they temporarily transformed themselves to monkeys in order -to destroy him. Though Viswámitra murders a saint, his merits are -such that the gods are in great alarm lest they become his menials; -and the completeness, with which moral considerations are left out -of the struggle on both sides is disclosed in the item that the gods -commissioned a nymph to seduce the saintly murderer, and so reduce a -little the force of his austerities. It will be remembered that the -ancient struggle of the Devas and Asuras was not owing to any moral -differences, but to an alleged unfair distribution of the ambrosia -produced by their joint labours in churning the ocean. The fact that -the gods cheated the demons on that occasion was never supposed to -affect the supremacy they acquired by the treachery; and it could, -therefore, cause no scandal when later legends reported that the demons -were occasionally able to take gods captive by the practice of these -wonderful 'merits' which were so independent of morals. One Asura -is said to have gained such power in this way that he subjugated the -gods, and so punished them that Siva, who had originally endowed that -demon, called into being Scanda, a war-god, to defend the tortured -deities. The most ludicrous part of all is that the gods themselves -were gradually reduced to the necessity of competing like others for -these tremendous powers; thus the Bhagavat Purana states that Brahma -was enabled to create the universe by previously undergoing penance -for sixteen thousand years. - -The legends just referred to are puranic, and consequently of much -later date than the revolution traceable in the Iranian religion; -but these later legends are normal growths from vedic roots. These -were the principles of ancient theology, and the foundation of -priestly government. In view of them we need not wonder that Hindu -theology devised no special devil; almost any of its gods might -answer the purposes of one. Nor need we be surprised that it had no -particular hell; any society organised by the sanctions of religion, -but irresponsible to its moral laws, would render it unnecessary to -look far for a hell. - -From this cosmological chaos the more intelligent Hindus were of -course liberated; but the degree to which the fearful training had -corrupted the moral tissues of those who had been subjected to it -was revealed in the bald principle of their philosophers, that the -superstition must continue to be imposed on the vulgar, whilst the -learned might turn all the gods into a scientific terminology. - -The first clear and truthful eye that touched that system would -transform it from a Heaven to an Inferno. So was it changed under -the eye of Zoroaster. That ancient pantheon which had become a refuge -for all the lies of the known world; whose gods were liars and their -supporters liars; was now turned into a realm of organised disorder, of -systematised wrong; a vast creation of wickedness, at whose centre sat -its creator and inspirer, the immoral god, the divine devil--Ahriman. - -It is indeed impossible to ascertain how far the revolt against the old -Brahmanic system was political. It is, of course, highly improbable -that any merely speculative system would excite a revolution; but at -the same time it must be remembered that, in early days, an importance -was generally attached to even abstract opinions such as we still -find among the superstitious who regard an atheistic sentiment as -worse than a theft. However this may have been, the Avesta does -not leave us in any doubt as to the main fact,--namely, that at a -certain time and place man came to a point where he had to confront -antagonism to fundamental moral principles, and that he found the -so-called gods against him. In the establishment of those principles -priests recognised their own disestablishment. What those moral laws -that had become necessary to society were is also made clear. 'We -worship the Pure, the Lord of Purity!' 'We honour the good spirit, -the good kingdom, the good law,--all that is good.' 'Evil doctrine -shall not again destroy the world.' 'Good is the thought, good the -word, good the deed, of the pure Zarathustra.' 'In the beginning -the two heavenly Ones spoke--the Good to the Evil--thus: Our souls, -doctrines, words, works, do not unite together.' These sentences are -from the oldest Gâthâs of the Avesta. - -The following is a very ancient Gâthâ:--'All your Devas (Hindu 'gods') -are only manifold children of the Evil Mind, and the great One who -worships the Saoma of lies and deceits; besides the treacherous acts -for which you are notorious in the Seven Regions of the earth. You have -invented all the evil that men speak and do, which is indeed pleasant -to the Devas, and is devoid of all goodness, and therefore perishes -before the insight of the truth of the wise. Thus you defraud men of -their good minds and of their immortality by your evil minds--as well -by those of the Devas as through that of the Evil Spirit--through -evil deeds and evil words, whereby the power of liars grows. - -'1. Come near, and listen to the wise sayings of the omniscient, -the songs in praise of the Living One, and the prayers of the Good -Spirit, the glorious truths whose origin is seen in the flames. - -'2. Listen, therefore, to the Earth spirit--Look at the flames with -reverent mind. Every one, man and woman, is to be distinguished -according to his belief. Ye ancient Powers, watch and be with us! - -'3. From the beginning there were two Spirits, each active in -itself. They are the good and the bad in thought, word, and -deed. Choose ye between them: do good, not evil! - -'4. And these two Spirits meet and create the first existence, -the earthy, that which is and that which is not, and the last, -the spiritual. The worst existence is for the liars, the best for -the truthful. - -'5. Of these two spirits choose ye one, either the lying, the worker -of Evil, or the true holiest spirit. Whoso chooses the first chooses -the hardest fate; whoso the last, honours Ahuramazda in faith and in -truth by his deeds. - -'6. Ye cannot serve both of these two. An evil spirit whom we will -destroy surprises those who deliberate, saying, Choose the Evil -Mind! Then do those spirits gather in troops to attack the two lives -of which the prophets prophesy. - -'7. And to this earthly life came Armaiti with earthly power to help -the truth, and the good disposition: she, the Eternal, created the -material world, but the Spirit is with thee, O Wise One! the first -of creations in time. - -'8. When any evil falls upon the spirit, thou, O Wise One, givest -temporal possessions and a good disposition; but him whose promises -are lies, and not truth, thou punishest.' - -Around the hymns of the Avesta gradually grew a theology and a -mythology which were destined to exert a powerful influence on -the world. These are contained in the Bundehesch. [14] Anterior to -all things and all beings was Zeruane-Akrene ('Boundless Time'), so -exalted that he can only be worshipped in silence. From him emanated -two Ferouers, spiritual types, which took form in two beings, Ormuzd -and Ahriman. These were equally pure; but Ahriman became jealous of his -first-born brother, Ormuzd. To punish Ahriman for his evil feeling, the -Supreme Being condemned him to 12,000 years' imprisonment in an empire -of rayless Darkness. During that period must rage the conflict between -Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. As Ormuzd had his pre-existing type -or Ferouer, so by a similar power--much the same as the Platonic Logos -or Word--he created the pure or spiritual world, by means of which the -empire of Ahriman should be overthrown. On the earth (still spiritual) -he raised the exceeding high mountain Albordj, Elburz (snow mountain), -[15] on whose summit he fixed his throne; whence he stretched the -bridge Chinevat, which, passing directly over Duzhak, the abyss of -Ahriman (or hell), reaches to the portal of Gorodman, or heaven. All -this was but a Ferouer world--a prototype of the material world. In -anticipation of its incorporation in a material creation, Ormuzd -(by emanations) created in his own image six Amshaspands, or agents, -of both sexes, to be models of perfection to lower spirits--and to -mankind, when they should be created--and offer up their prayers to -himself. The second series of emanations were the Izeds, benevolent -genii and guardians of the world, twenty-eight in number, of whom the -chief is Mithras, the Mediator. The third series of emanations were the -innumerable Ferouers of things and men--for each must have its soul, -which shall purify them in the day of resurrection. In antagonism to -all these, Ahriman produced an exactly similar host of dark and evil -powers. These Devas rise, rank on rank, to their Arch-Devs--each -of whom is chained to his planet--and their head is Ash-Mogh, the -'two-footed serpent of lies,' who seems to correspond to Mithras, -the divine Mediator. - -After a reign of 3000 years Ormuzd entered on the work of realising -his spiritual emanations in a material universe. He formed the sun -as commander-in-chief, the moon as his lieutenant, the planets as -captains of a great host--the stars--who were soldiers in his war -against Ahriman. The dog Sirius he set to watch at the bridge Chinevat -(the Milky Way), lest thereby Ahriman should scale the heavens. Ormuzd -then created earth and water, which Ahriman did not try to prevent, -knowing that darkness was inherent in these. But he struck a blow -when life was produced. This was in form of a Bull, and Ahriman -entered it and it perished; but on its destruction there came out -of its left shoulder the seed of all clean and gentle animals, and, -out of its right shoulder--Man. - -Ahriman had matched every creation thus far; but to make man was -beyond his power, and he had no recourse but to destroy him. However, -when the original man was destroyed, there sprang from his body a tree -which bore the first human pair, whom Ahriman, however, corrupted in -the manner elsewhere described. - -It is a very notable characteristic of this Iranian theology, that -although the forces of good and evil are co-extensive and formally -balanced, in potency they are not quite equal. The balance of force -is just a little on the side of the Good Spirit. And this advantage -appears in man. Zoroaster said, 'No earthly man with a hundredfold -strength does so much evil as Mithra with heavenly strength does good;' -and this thought reappears in the Parsî belief that the one part -of paradisiac purity, which man retained after his fall, balances -the ninety-nine parts won by Ahriman, and in the end will redeem -him. For this one divine ray preserved enables him to receive and -obey the Avesta, and to climb to heaven by the stairway of three -vast steps--pure thought, pure word, pure deed. The optimistic -essence of the mythology is further shown in the belief that every -destructive effort of Ahriman resulted in a larger benefit than Ormuzd -had created. The Bull (Life) destroyed, man and animal sprang into -being; the man destroyed, man and woman appeared. And so on to the -end. In the last quarter of the 12,000 years for which Ahriman was -condemned, he rises to greater power even than Ormuzd, and finally -he will, by a fiery comet, set the visible universe in conflagration; -but while this scheme is waxing to consummation Ormuzd will send his -holy Prophet Sosioch, who will convert mankind to the true law, [16] -so that when Ahriman's comet consumes the earth he will really be -purifying it. Through the vast stream of melted metals and minerals -the righteous shall pass, and to them it will be as a bath of warm -milk: the wicked in attempting to pass shall be swept into the abyss -of Duzhak; having then suffered three days and nights, they shall be -raised by Ormuzd refined and purified. Duzhak itself shall be purified -by this fire, and last of all Ahriman himself shall ascend to his -original purity and happiness. Then from the ashes of the former -world shall bloom a paradise that shall remain for ever. - -In this system it is notable that we find the monster serpent -of vedic mythology, Ahi, transformed into an infernal region, -Duzhak. The dragon, being a type of physical suffering, passes away -in Iranian as in the later Semitic mythology before the new form, -which represents the stings of conscience though it may be beneath -external pleasure. In this respect, therefore, Ahriman fulfils the -definition of a devil already given. In the Avesta he fulfils also -another condition essential to a devil, the love of evil in and for -itself. But in the later theology it will be observed that evil -in Ahriman is not organic. The war being over and its fury past, -the hostile chief is seen not so black as he had been painted; -the belief obtains that he does not actually love darkness and -evil. He was thrust into them as a punishment for his jealousy, -pride, and destructive ambition. And because that dark kingdom was a -punishment--therefore not congenial--it was at length (the danger past) -held to be disciplinary. Growing faith in the real supremacy of Good -discovers the immoral god to be an exaggerated anthropomorphic egoist; -this divine devil is a self-centred potentate who had attempted to -subordinate moral law and human welfare to his personal ascendancy. His -fate having sealed the sentence on all ambitions of that character, -humanity is able to pardon the individual offender, and find a hope -that Ahriman, having learned that no real satisfaction for a divine -nature can be found in mere power detached from rectitude, will join -in the harmony of love and loyalty at last. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -VISWÁMITRA: THE THEOCRATIC DEVIL. - - Priestcraft and Pessimism--An Aryan Tetzel and his Luther--Brahman - Frogs--Evolution of the sacerdotal Saint--Viswámitra the Accuser - of Virtue--The Tamil Passion-play 'Harischandra'--Ordeal of - Goblins--The Martyr of Truth--Virtue triumphant over ceremonial - 'merits'--Harischandra and Job. - - -Priestcraft in government means pessimism in the creed and despair in -the heart. Under sacerdotal rule in India it seemed paradise enough to -leave the world, and the only hell dreaded was a return to it. 'The -twice-born man,' says Manu, 'who shall without intermission have -passed the time of his studentship, shall ascend after death to the -most exalted of regions, and no more spring to birth again in this -lower world.' Some clause was necessary to keep the twice-born man -from suicide. Buddha invented a plan of suicide-in-life combined with -annihilation of the gods, which was driven out of India because it put -into the minds of the people the philosophy of the schools. Thought -could only be trusted among classes interested to conceal it. - -The power and authority of a priesthood can only be maintained on -the doctrine that man is 'saved' by the deeds of a ceremonial law; -any general belief that morality is more acceptable to gods than -ceremonies must be fatal to those occult and fictitious virtues which -hedge about every pious impostor. Sacerdotal power in India depended on -superstitions carefully fostered concerning the mystical properties of -a stimulating juice (soma), litanies, invocations, and benedictions -by priests; upon sacrifices to the gods, including their priests, -austerities, penances, pilgrimages, and the like; one characteristic -running through all the performances--their utter worthlessness to any -being in the universe except the priest. An artificial system of this -kind has to create its own materials, and evoke forces of evolution -from many regions of nature. It is a process requiring much more -than the wisdom of the serpent and more than its harmfulness; and -there is a bit of nature's irony in the fact that when the Brahman -Rishi gained supremacy, the Cobra was also worshipped as belonging -to precisely the same caste and sanctity. - -There are traces of long and fierce struggles preceding this -consummation. Even in the Vedic age--in the very dawn of religious -history--Tetzel appears with his indulgences and Luther confronts -him. The names they bore in ancient India were Viswámitra and -Vasishtha. Both of these were among the seven powerful Rishis who -made the hierarchy of India in the earliest age known to us. Both were -composers of some of the chief hymns of the Vedas, and their respective -hymns bear the stamp of the sacerdotal and the anti-sacerdotal parties -which contended before the priestly sway had reached its complete -triumph. Viswámitra was champion of the high priestly party and its -political pretensions. In the Rig-Veda there are forty hymns ascribed -to him and his family, nearly all of which celebrate the divine -virtues of Soma-juice and the Soma-sacrifice. As the exaltation of -the priestly caste in Israel was connected with a miracle, in which -the Jordan stopped flowing till the ark had been carried over, so -the rivers Sutledge and Reyah were said to have rested from their -course when Viswámitra wished to cross them in seeking the Soma. This -Rishi became identified in the Hindu mind for all time with political -priestcraft. On the other hand, Vasishtha became equally famous for -his hostility to that power, as well as for his profoundly religious -character,--the finest hymns of the Vedas, as to moral feeling, being -those that bear his name. The anti-sacerdotal spirit of Vasishtha is -especially revealed in a strange satirical hymn in which he ridicules -the ceremonial Bráhmans under the guise of a panegyric on frogs. In -this composition occur such verses as these:-- - -'Like Bráhmans at the Soma-sacrifice of Atirâtra, sitting round a -full pond and talking, you, O frogs, celebrate this day of the year -when the rainy season begins. - -'These Bráhmans, with their Soma, have had their say, performing the -annual rite. These Adhwaryus, sweating while they carry the hot pots, -pop out like hermits. - -'They have always observed the order of the gods as they are to -be worshipped in the twelvemonth; these men do not neglect their -season.... - -'Cow-noise gave, Goat-noise gave, the Brown gave, and the Green gave -us treasures. The frogs, who give us hundreds of cows, lengthened -our life in the rich autumn.' [17] - -Viswámitra and Vasishtha appear to have been powerful rivals in -seeking the confidence of King Sudás, and from their varying fortunes -came the tremendous feud between them which plays so large a part -in the traditions of India. The men were both priests, as are both -ritualists and broad-churchmen in the present day. They were borne -on the stream of mythologic evolution to representative regions -very different from any they could have contemplated. Vasishtha, -ennobled by the moral sentiment of ages, appears as the genius of -truth and justice, maintaining these as of more 'merit' than any -ceremonial perfections. The Bráhmans, whom he once ridiculed, were -glad enough in the end to make him their patron saint, though they -did not equally honour his principles. On the other hand, Viswámitra -became the type of that immoral divinity which received its Iranian -anathema in Ahriman. The murder he commits is nothing in a personage -whose Soma-celebrations have raised him so high above the trivialities -of morality. - -It is easy to see what must be the further development of such a -type as Viswámitra when he shall have passed from the guarded pages -of puranic tradition to the terrible simplicities of folklore. The -saint whose majesty is built on 'merits,' which have no relation -to what the humble deem virtues, naturally holds such virtues in -cynical contempt; naturally also he is indignant if any one dares -to suggest that the height he has reached by costly and prolonged -observances may be attained by poor and common people through the -practice of virtue. The next step is equally necessary. Since it is -hard to argue down the facts of human nature, Vasishtha is pretty -sure to have a strong, if sometimes silent, support for his heretical -theory of a priesthood representing virtue; consequently Viswámitra -will be reduced at length to deny the existence of virtue, and will -become the Accuser of those to whom virtues are attributed. Finally, -from the Accuser to the Tempter the transition is inevitable. The -public Accuser must try and make good his case, and if the facts do -not support it, he must create other facts which will, or else bear -the last brand of his tribe--Slanderer. - -Leaving out of sight all historical or probable facts concerning -Viswámitra and Vasishtha, but remembering the spirit of them, let us -read the great Passion-play of the East, in which their respective -parts are performed again as intervening ages have interpreted -them. The hero of this drama is an ancient king named Harischandra, -who, being childless, and consequently unable to gain immortality, -promised the god Varuna to sacrifice to him a son if one were granted -him. The son having been born, the father beseeches Varuna for respite, -which is granted again and again, but stands firmly by his promise, -although it is finally commuted. The repulsive features of the ancient -legend are eliminated in the drama, the promise now being for a vast -sum of money which the king cannot pay, but which Viswámitra would -tempt him to escape by a technical fiction. Sir Mutu Cumára Swámy, -whose translation I follow, presents many evidences of the near -relation in which this drama stands to the religious faith of the -people in Southern India and parts of Ceylon, where its representation -never fails to draw vast crowds from every part of the district in -which it may occur, the impression made by it being most profound. [18] - -We are first introduced to Harischandra, King of Ayòdiah (Oude), -in his palace, surrounded by every splendour, and by the devotion -of his prosperous people. His first word is an ascription to the -'God of gods.' His ministers come forward and recount the wealth -and welfare of the nation. The first Act witnesses the marriage of -Harischandra with the beautiful princess Chandravatí, and it closes -with the birth of a son. - -The second Act brings us into the presence of Indra in the Abode of -the Gods. The Chief enters the Audience Hall of his palace, where an -assembly of deities and sages has awaited him. These sages are holy men -who have acquired supernatural power by their tremendous austerities; -and of these the most august is Viswámitra. By the magnitude and -extent of his austerities he has gained a power beyond even that of -the Triad, and can reduce the worlds to cinders. All the gods court -his favour. As the Council proceeds, Indra addresses the sages--'Holy -men! as gifted with supernatural attributes, you roam the universe -with marvellous speed, there is no place unknown to you. I am curious -to learn who, in the present times, is the most virtuous sovereign on -the earth below. What chief of mortals is there who has never told a -lie--who has never swerved from the course of justice?' Vasishtha, -a powerful sage and family-priest of Harischandra, declares that -his royal disciple is such a man. But the more powerful Viswámitra -denounces Harischandra as cruel and a liar. The quarrel between the -two Rishis waxes fierce, until Indra puts a stop to it by deciding -that an experiment shall be made on Harischandra. Vasishtha agrees -that if his disciple can be shown to have told a lie, or can be made -to tell one, the fruit of his life-long austerities, and all the power -so gained, shall be added to Viswámitra; while the latter must present -his opponent with half of his 'merits' if Harischandra be not made -to swerve from the truth. Viswámitra is to employ any means whatever, -neither Indra or any other interfering. - -Viswámitra sets about his task of trying and tempting Harischandra by -informing that king that, in order to perform a sacrifice of special -importance, he has need of a mound of gold as high as a missile -slung by a man standing on an elephant's back. With the demand -of so sacred a being Harischandra has no hesitation in complying, -and is about to deliver the gold when Viswámitra requests him to be -custodian of the money for a time, but perform the customary ceremony -of transfer. Holding Harischandra's written promise to deliver the -gold whensoever demanded, Viswámitra retires with compliments. Then -wild beasts ravage Harischandra's territory; these being expelled, -a demon boar is sent, but is vanquished by the monarch. Viswámitra -then sends unchaste dancing-girls to tempt Harischandra; and when he -has ordered their removal, Viswámitra returns with them, and, feigning -rage, accuses him of slaying innocent beasts and of cruelty to the -girls. He declares that unless Harischandra yields to the Pariah -damsels, he himself shall be reduced to a Pariah slave. Harischandra -offers all his kingdom and possessions if the demand is withdrawn, -absolutely refusing to swerve from his virtue. This Viswámitra accepts, -is proclaimed sovereign of Ayòdiah, and the king goes forth a beggar -with his wife and child. But now, as these are departing, Viswámitra -demands that mound of gold which was to be paid when called for. In -vain Harischandra pleads that he has already delivered up all he -possesses, the gold included; the last concession is declared to -have nothing to do with the first. Yet Viswámitra says he will -be charitable; if Harischandra will simply declare that he never -pledged the gold, or, having done so, does not feel bound to pay it, -he will cancel that debt. 'Such a declaration I can never make,' -replies Harischandra. 'I owe thee the gold, and pay it I shall. Let a -messenger accompany me and leave me not till I have given him thy due.' - -From this time the efforts of Viswámitra are directed to induce -Harischandra to declare the money not due. Amid his heartbroken -people--who cry, 'Where are the gods? Can they tolerate this?'--he who -was just now the greatest and happiest monarch in the world goes forth -on the highway a wanderer with his Chandravatí and their son Devaráta -dressed in coarsest garments. His last royal deed is to set the crown -on his tempter's head. The people and officers follow, and beg his -permission to slay Viswámitra, but he rebukes them, and counsels -submission. Viswámitra orders a messenger, Nakshatra, to accompany -the three wretched ones, and inflict the severest sufferings on them -until the gold is paid, and amid each ordeal to offer Harischandra -all his former wealth and happiness if he will utter a falsehood. - -They come to a desert whose sands are so hot that the wife -faints. Harischandra bears his son in his arms, but in addition -is compelled to bear Nakshatra (the Bráhman and tormentor) on his -shoulders. They so pass amid snakes and scorpions, and receive -terrible stings; they pass through storm and flood, and yet vainly -does Nakshatra suggest the desired falsehood. - -Then follows the ordeal of Demons, which gives an interesting insight -into Tamil Demonology. One of the company exclaims--'How frightful -they look! Who can face them? They come in battalions, young and old, -small and great--all welcome us. They disport themselves with a wild -dance; flames shoot from their mouths; their feet touch not the earth; -they move in the air. Observe you the bleeding corpses of human -beings in their hands. They crunch them and feed on the flesh. The -place is one mass of gore and filth. Wolves and hyænas bark at them; -jackals and dogs follow them. They are near. May Siva protect us!' - -Nakshatra. How dreadful! Harischandra, what is this? Look! evil demons -stare at me--I tremble for my life. Protect me now, and I ask you no -more for the gold. - -Harischandra. Have no fear, Nakshatra. Come, place thyself in the -midst of us. - -Chief of the Goblins. Men! little men! human vermin! intrude ye thus -into my presence? Know that, save only the Bráhman standing in the -midst of you, you are all my prey to-night. - -Harischandra. Goblin! certainly thou art not an evil-doer, for thou -hast excepted this holy Bráhman. As for ourselves, we know that the -bodies which begin to exist upon earth must also cease to exist on -it. What matters it when death comes? If he spares us now he reserves -us only for another season. Good, kind demon! destroy us then together; -here we await our doom. - -Nakshatra. Harischandra! before you thus desert me, make the goblin -promise you that he will not hurt me. - -Harischandra. Thou hast no cause for alarm; thou art safe. - -Chief of the Goblins. Listen! I find that all four of you are very -thin; it is not worth my while to kill you. On examining closely, I -perceive that the young Bráhman is plump and fat as a wild boar. Give -him up to me--I want not the rest. - -Nakshatra. O Gods! O Harischandra! you are a great monarch! Have -mercy on me! Save me, save me! I will never trouble you for the gold, -but treat you considerately hereafter. - -Harischandra. Sir, thy life is safe, stand still. - -Nakshatra. Allow me, sirs, to come closer to you, and to hold you by -the hand (He grasps their hands.) - -Harischandra. King of the Goblins! I address thee in all sincerity; -thou wilt confer on us a great favour indeed by despatching us -speedily to the Judgment Hall of the God of Death. The Bráhman must -not be touched; devour us. - -The Goblin (grinding his teeth in great fury). What! dare you disobey -me? Will you not deliver the Bráhman? - -Harischandra. No, we cannot. We alone are thy victims. - -[Day breaks, and the goblins disappear.] - -Having thus withstood all temptation to harm his enemy, or to break -a promise he had given to treat him kindly, Harischandra is again -pressed for the gold or the lie, and, still holding out, an ordeal of -fire follows. Trusting the God of Fire will cease to afflict if one is -sacrificed, Harischandra prepares to enter the conflagration first, -and a pathetic contention occurs between him and his wife and son -as to which shall be sacrificed. In the end Harischandra rushes in, -but does not perish. - -Harischandra is hoping to reach the temple of Vis Wanàth [19] at Kasi -and invoke his aid to pay the gold. To the temple he comes only to -plead in vain, and Nakshatra tortures him with instruments. Finally -Harischandra, his wife and child, are sold as slaves to pay -the debt. But Viswámitra, invisibly present, only redoubles his -persecutions. Harischandra is subjected to the peculiar degradation -of having to burn dead bodies in a cemetery. Chandravatí and her son -are subjected to cruelties. The boy is one day sent to the forest, -is bitten by a snake, and dies. Chandravatí goes out in the night to -find the body. She repairs with it to the cemetery. In the darkness -she does not recognise her husband, the burner of the bodies, nor he -his wife. He has strictly promised his master that every fee shall be -paid, and reproaches the woman for coming in the darkness to avoid -payment. Chandravatí offers in payment a sacred chain which Siva -had thrown round her neck at birth, invisible to all but a perfect -man. Harischandra alone has ever seen it, and now recognises his -wife. But even now he will not perform the last rites over his dead -child unless the fee can be obtained as promised. Chandravatí goes -out into the city to beg the money, leaving Harischandra seated beside -the dead body of Devaráta. In the street she stumbles over the corpse -of another child, and takes it up; it proves to be the infant Prince, -who has been murdered. Chandravatí--arrested and dragged before the -king--in a state of frenzy declares she has killed the child. She is -condemned to death, and her husband must be her executioner. But the -last scene must be quoted nearly in full. - -Verakvoo (Harischandra's master, leading on Chandravatí). Slave! this -woman has been sentenced by our king to be executed without delay. Draw -your sword and cut her head off. (Exit.) - -Harischandra. I obey, master. (Draws the sword and approaches her.) - -Chandravatí (coming to consciousness again). My husband! What! do I -see thee again? I applaud thy resolution, my lord. Yes; let me die -by thy sword. Be not unnerved, but be prompt, and perform thy duty -unflinchingly. - -Harischandra. My beloved wife! the days allotted to you in -this world are numbered; you have run through the span of your -existence. Convicted as you are of this crime, there is no hope for -your life; I must presently fulfil my instructions. I can only allow -you a few seconds; pray to your tutelary deities, prepare yourself -to meet your doom. - -Viswámitra (who has suddenly appeared). Harischandra! what, are you -going to slaughter this poor woman? Wicked man, spare her! Tell a -lie even now and be restored to your former state! - -Harischandra. I pray, my lord, attempt not to beguile me from the path -of rectitude. Nothing shall shake my resolution; even though thou didst -offer to me the throne of Indra I would not tell a lie. Pollute not thy -sacred person by entering such unholy grounds. Depart! I dread not thy -wrath; I no longer court thy favour. Depart. (Viswámitra disappears.) - -My love! lo I am thy executioner; come, lay thy head gently on this -block with thy sweet face turned towards the east. Chandravatí, -my wife, be firm, be happy! The last moment of our sufferings has -at length come; for to sufferings too there is happily an end. Here -cease our woes, our griefs, our pleasures. Mark! yet awhile, and thou -wilt be as free as the vultures that now soar in the skies. - -This keen sabre will do its duty. Thou dead, thy husband dies too--this -self-same sword shall pierce my breast. First the child--then the -wife--last the husband--all victims of a sage's wrath. I the martyr of -Truth--thou and thy son martyrs for me, the martyr of Truth. Yes; let -us die cheerfully and bear our ills meekly. Yes; let all men perish, -let all gods cease to exist, let the stars that shine above grow dim, -let all seas be dried up, let all mountains be levelled to the ground, -let wars rage, blood flow in streams, let millions of millions of -Harischandras be thus persecuted; yet let Truth be maintained--let -Truth ride victorious over all--let Truth be the light--Truth the -guide--Truth alone the lasting solace of mortals and immortals. Die, -then, O goddess of Chastity! Die, at this the shrine of thy sister -goddess of Truth! - -[Strikes the neck of Chandravatí with great force; the sword, instead -of harming her, is transformed into a string of superb pearls, which -winds itself around her: the gods of heaven, all sages, and all kings -appear suddenly to the view of Harischandra.] - -Siva (the first of the gods). Harischandra, be ever blessed! You have -borne your severe trials most heroically, and have proved to all men -that virtue is of greater worth than all the vanities of a fleeting -world. Be you the model of mortals. Return to your land, resume your -authority, and rule your state. Devaráta, victim of Viswámitra's wrath, -rise! (He is restored to life.) - -Rise you, also, son of the King of Kasi, with whose murder you, -Chandravatí, were charged through the machinations of Viswámitra. (He -comes to life also.) - -Harischandra. All my misfortunes are of little consequence, since thou, -O God of gods, hast deigned to favour me with thy divine presence. No -longer care I for kingdom, or power, or glory. I value not children, or -wives, or relations. To thy service, to thy worship, to the redemption -of my erring soul, I devote myself uninterruptedly hereafter. Let me -not become the sport of men. The slave of a Pariah cannot become a -king; the slave-girl of a Bráhman cannot become a queen. When once the -milk has been drawn from the udder of a cow nothing can restore the -self-same milk to it. Our degradation, O God, is now beyond redemption. - -Viswámitra. I pray, O Siva, that thou wouldst pardon my folly. Anxious -to gain the wager laid by me before the gods, I have most mercilessly -tormented this virtuous king; yet he has proved himself the most -truthful of all earthly sovereigns, triumphing victoriously over -me and my efforts to divert him from his constancy. Harischandra, -king of kings! I crave your forgiveness. - -Verakvoo (throwing off his disguise). King Harischandra, think not -that I am a Pariah, for you behold in me even Yáma, the God of Death. - -Kalakanda (Chandravatí's cruel master, throwing off his -disguise). Queen! rest not in the belief that you were the slave -of a Bráhman. He to whom you devoted yourself am even I--the God of -Fire, Agni. - -Vasishtha. Harischandra, no disgrace attaches to thee nor to the Solar -race, of which thou art the incomparable gem. Even this cemetery -is in reality no cemetery: see! the illusion lasts not, and thou -beholdest here a holy grove the abode of hermits and ascetics. Like -the gold which has passed through successive crucibles, devoid of all -impurities, thou, O King of Ayòdiah, shinest in greater splendour than -even yon god of light now rising to our view on the orient hills. (It -is morning.) - -Siva. Harischandra, let not the world learn that Virtue is vanquished, -and that its enemy, Vice, has become the victor. Go, mount yon throne -again--proclaim to all that we, the gods, are the guardians of the -good and the true. Indra! chief of the gods, accompany this sovereign -with all your retinue, and recrown him emperor of Ayòdiah. May his -reign be long--may all bliss await him in the other world! - - - -The plot of this drama has probably done as much and as various duty -as any in the world. It has spread like a spiritual banyan, whose -branches, taking root, have swelled to such size that it is difficult -now to say which is the original trunk. It may even be that the only -root they all had in common is an invisible one in the human heart, -developed in its necessary struggles amid nature after the pure and -perfect life. - -But neither in the Book of Job, which we are yet to consider, nor in -any other variation of the theme, does it rise so high as in this drama -of Harischandra. In Job it represents man loyal to his deity amid the -terrible afflictions which that deity permits; but in Harischandra -it shows man loyal to a moral principle even against divine orders -to the contrary. Despite the hand of the licenser, and the priestly -manipulations, visible here and there in it--especially towards the -close--sacerdotalism stands confronted by its reaction at last, and -receives its sentence in the joy with which the Hindu sees the potent -Rishis with all their pretentious 'merits,' and the gods themselves, -kneeling at the feet of the man who stands by Truth. - -It is amusing to find the wincings of the priests through many -centuries embodied in a legend about Harischandra after he went to -heaven. It is related that he was induced by Nárada to relate his -actions with such unbecoming pride that he was lowered from Svarga -(heaven) one stage after each sentence; but having stopped in time, -and paid homage to the gods, he was placed with his capital in mid-air, -where eyes sacerdotally actinised may still see the aerial city at -certain times. The doctrine of 'merits' will no doubt be able for -some time yet to charge 'good deeds' with their own sin--pride; but, -after all, the priest must follow the people far enough to confess that -one must look upward to find the martyr of Truth. In what direction -one must look to find his accuser requires no further intimation than -the popular legend of Viswámitra. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -ELOHIM AND JEHOVAH. - - Deified power--Giants and Jehovah--Jehovah's manifesto--The various - Elohim--Two Jehovahs and two Tables--Contradictions--Detachment - of the Elohim from Jehovah. - - -The sacred books of the Hebrews bring us into the presence -of the gods (Elohim) supposed to have created all things out -of nothing--nature-gods--just as they are in transition to the -conception of a single Will and Personality. Though the plural is -used ('gods') a singular verb follows: the tendency is already to -that concentration which resulted in the enthronement of one supreme -sovereign--Jehovah. The long process of evolution which must have -preceded this conception is but slightly traceable in the Bible. It -is, however, written on the face of the whole world, and the same -process is going on now in its every phase. Whether with Gesenius -[20] we take the sense of the word Elohim to be 'the revered,' or, -with Fürst, [21] 'the mighty,' makes little difference; the fact -remains that the word is applied elsewhere to gods in general, -including such as were afterwards deemed false gods by the Jews; -and it is more important still that the actions ascribed to the -Elohim, who created the heavens and the earth, generally reflect -the powerful and un-moral forces of nature. The work of creation in -Genesis (i. and ii. 1-3) is that of giants without any moral quality -whatever. Whether or not we take in their obvious sense the words, -'Elohim created man in his own image, ... male and female created -he them,' there can be no question of the meaning of Gen. vi. 1, 2: -'The sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, -and they took to themselves for wives whomsoever they chose.' When -good and evil come to be spoken of, the name Jehovah [22] at once -appears. The Elohim appear again in the Flood, the wind that assuaged -it, the injunction to be fruitful and multiply, the cloud and rainbow; -and gradually the germs of a moral government begin to appear in their -assigning the violence of mankind as reason for the deluge, and in -the covenant with Noah. But even after the name Jehovah had generally -blended with, or even superseded, the other, we find Elohim often -used where strength and wonder-working are thought of--e.g., 'Thou -art the god that doest wonders' (Ps. lxxvii.). 'Thy way is in the sea, -and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.' - -Against the primitive nature-deities the personality and jealous -supremacy of Jehovah was defined. The golden calf built by Aaron was -called Elohim (plural, though there was but one calf). Solomon was -denounced for building altars to the same; and when Jeroboam built -altars to two calves, they are still so called. Other rivals--Dagon -(Judges xvi.), Astaroth, Chemosh, Milcom (1 Kings xi.)--are called -by the once-honoured name. The English Bible translates Elohim, God; -Jehovah, the Lord; Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God; and the critical -reader will find much that is significant in the varied use of these -names. Thus (Gen. xxii.) it is Elohim that demands the sacrifice -of Isaac, Jehovah that interferes to save him. At the same time, in -editing the story, it is plainly felt to be inadmissible that Abraham -should be supposed loyal to any other god than Jehovah; so Jehovah -adopts the sacrifice as meant for himself, and the place where the -ram was provided in place of Isaac is called Jehovah-Jireh. However, -when we can no longer distinguish the two antagonistic conceptions -by different names their actual incongruity is even more salient, -and, as we shall see, develops a surprising result. - -Jehovah inaugurates his reign by a manifesto against these giants, -the Elohim, for whom the special claim--clamorously asserted when -Aaron built the Golden Calf, and continued as the plea for the same -deity--was that they (Elohim) had brought Israel out of Egypt. 'I,' -cries Jehovah, 'am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the -land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: thou shalt have no other -gods but me;' and the first four commandments of the law are devoted -entirely to a declaration of his majesty, his power (claiming credit -for the creation), his jealous determination to punish his opponents -and reward his friends, to vindicate the slightest disrespect to his -name. The narrative of the Golden Calf was plainly connected with -Sinai in order to illustrate the first commandment. The punishment of -the believers in another divine emancipator, even though they had not -yet received the proclamation, must be signal. Jehovah is so enraged -that by his order human victims are offered up to the number of three -thousand, and even after that, it is said, Jehovah plagued Israel on -account of their Elohim-worship. In the same direction is the command -to keep holy the Sabbath day, because on it he rested from the work -of creation (Gen. xx.), or because on that day he delivered Israel -from Egypt (Deut. v.), the editors do not seem to remember exactly -which, but it is well enough to say both, for it is taking the two -picked laurels from the brow of Elohim and laying them on that of -Jehovah. In all of which it is observable that there is no moral -quality whatever. Nero might equally command the Romans to have no -other gods before himself, to speak his name with awe, to rest when -he stopped working. In the fifth commandment, arbitrarily ascribed to -the First Table, we have a transition to the moral code; though even -there the honour of parents is jealously associated with Jehovah's -greatness ('that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah -Elohim giveth thee'). The nature-gods were equal to that; for the -Elohim had begotten the giants who were 'in the earth in those days.' - -'Elohim spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah; and I -appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by (the name of) God -Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them' -(Exod. vi. 2, 3). - -The ancient gods--the Elohim--were, in the process of absorption -into the one great form, the repository of their several powers, -distinguishable; and though, for the most part, they bear names related -to the forces of nature, now and then they reflect the tendencies -to humanisation. Thus we have 'the most high god' (El-elyon--e.g., -Gen. xiv. 18); 'the everlasting-god' (El-elim, Gen. xxi. 33); 'the -jealous god' (El-kana, Exod. xx. 5); 'the mighty god, and terrible' -(El-gadol and nora, Deut. vii. 21); 'the living god' (El-chi, -Josh. iii. 10); 'the god of heaven' (El-shemim, Ps. cxxxvi. 26); -the 'god almighty' (El-shaddai, [23] Exod. vi. 2). These Elohim, -with each of whose names I have referred to an instance of its -characteristic use, became epithets, as the powers they represented -were more and more absorbed by the growing personality of Jehovah; but -these epithets were also characters, and their historic expressions -had also to undergo a process of slow and difficult digestion. The -all-devouring grandeur of Jehovah showed what it had fed on. Not only -all the honours, but many of the dishonours, of the primitive deities -adhered to the sovereign whose rule was no doubt inaugurated by their -disgrace and their barbarism. The costliness of the glory of divine -absolutism is again illustrated in the evolution of the premature -monotheism, which had for its figure-head the dread Jehovah, who, -as heir of the nature-gods, became responsible for the monstrosities -of a tribal demonolatry, thus being compelled to fill simultaneously -the rôles of the demon and the lawgiver. [24] - -The two tables of the law--one written by Jehovistic theology, the -other by the moral sense of mankind--ascribed to this dual deity, for -whom unity was so fiercely insisted on, may be read in their outcome -throughout the Bible. They are here briefly, in a few examples, -set forth side by side. - - -TABLE OF JEHOVAH I. TABLE OF JEHOVAH II. - -Exod. xxxiii. 27. 'Slay every Exod. xx. 13. 'Thou shalt not -man his brother, every man his kill.' -companion, and every man his -neighbour.' - -Num. xv. 32. 'While the children Exod. xx. 14. 'Thou shalt not -of Israel were in the wilderness, commit adultery.' -they found a man that gathered -sticks upon the Sabbath Day.... -And they put him in ward, because -it was not declared what should -be done to him. And the Lord said -unto Moses, The man shall be -surely put to death: all the -congregation shall stone him with -stones without the camp.' Neither -this nor the similar punishment -for blasphemy (Lev. xxiv.), were -executions of existing law. For a -fearful instance of murder -inflicted on the innocent, and -accepted as a human sacrifice by -Jehovah, see 2 Sam. xxi.; and for -the brutal murder of Shimei, who -denounced and resented the crime -which hung the seven sons of Saul -'before the Lord,' see 1 Kings ii. -But the examples are many. - -In the story of Abraham, Sarai, -and Hagar (Gen. xvi.), Lot and -his daughters (xix.), Abraham's -presentation of his wife to -Abimilech (xx.), the same done by -Isaac (xxvi.), Judah, Tamar -(xxxviii.), and other cases where -the grossest violations of the -seventh commandment go unrebuked -by Jehovah, while in constant -communication with the guilty -parties, we see how little the -second table was supported by -the first. - -The extortions, frauds, and Exod. xx. 15. 'Thou shalt not -thefts of Jacob (Gen. xxv., steal.' -xxvii., xxx.), which brought upon -him the unparalleled blessings of -Jehovah; the plundering of -Nabal's property by David and his -fellow-bandits; the smiting of -the robbed farmer by Jehovah and -the taking of his treacherous -wife by David (1 Sam. xxv.), are -narratives befitting a Bible of -footpads. - -Jehovah said, 'Who shall deceive Exod. xx. 16. 'Thou shalt not -Ahab?... And there came forth a bear false witness against thy -spirit, and stood before Jehovah, neighbour.' -and said, I will deceive him. And -Jehovah said, Wherewith? And he -said, I will go forth and be a -lying spirit in the mouth of all -these thy prophets. And he said, -Thou shalt deceive him, and -prevail also: go forth and do so. -Now, therefore, Jehovah hath put -a lying spirit in the mouth of -all these thy prophets, and -Jehovah hath spoken evil -concerning thee' (1 Kings xxii.). -See Ezek. xx. 25. - -Deut xx. 10-18, is a complete Exod. xx. 17. 'Thou shalt not -instruction for invasion, murder, covet they neighbour's wife, -rapine, eating the spoil of the thou shalt not covet thy -invaded, taking their wives, neighbour's wife, nor his -their cattle, &c., all such as man-servant, nor his maid- -might have been proclaimed by a servant, nor his ox, nor his -Supreme Bashi-Bazouk. ass, nor anything that is thy - neighbour's.' - - -Instances of this discrepancy might be largely multiplied. Any one who -cares to pursue the subject can trace the building upon the powerful -personal Jehovah of a religion of human sacrifices, anathemas, and -priestly despotism; while around the moral ruler and judge of the -same name, whose personality is more and more dispersed in pantheistic -ascriptions, there grows the common law, and then the more moral law -of equity, and the corresponding sentiments which gradually evolve -the idea of a parental deity. - -It is obvious that the more this second idea of the deity prevails, -the more he is regarded as 'merciful,' 'long-suffering,' 'a God -of truth and without iniquity, just and right,' 'delighting not in -sacrifice but mercifulness,' 'good to all,' and whose 'tender mercies -are over all his works,' and having 'no pleasure in the death of him -that dieth;' the less will it be possible to see in the very same -being the 'man of war,' 'god of battles,' the 'jealous,' 'angry,' -'fire-breathing' one, who 'visits the sins of the fathers upon the -children,' who laughs at the calamities of men and mocks when their -fear cometh. It is a structural necessity of the human mind that -these two shall be gradually detached the one from the other. From -one of the Jehovahs represented in parallel columns came the 'Father' -whom Christ adored: from the other came the Devil he abhorred. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE CONSUMING FIRE. - - The Shekinah--Jewish idols--Attributes of the fiery and - cruel Elohim compared with those of the Devil--The powers of - evil combined under a head--Continuity--The consuming fire - spiritualised. - - -That Abraham was a Fire-worshipper might be suspected from the -immemorial efforts of all Semitic authorities to relieve him of -traditional connection with that particular idolatry. When the good -and evil powers were being distinguished, we find the burning and -the bright aspects of Fire severally regarded. The sign of Jehovah's -covenant with Abram included both. 'It came to pass that when the sun -went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning -lamp that passed between those pieces' (of the sacrifice). In the -legend of Moses we have the glory resting on Sinai and the burning -bush, the bush which, it is specially remarked, was 'not consumed,' -an exceptional circumstance in honour of Moses. To these corresponded -the Urim and Thummim, marking the priest as source of light and -of judgment. In his favourable and adorable aspect Jehovah was the -Brightness of Fire. This was the Shekinah. In the Targum, Jonathan -Ben Uzziel to the Prophets, it is said: 'The mountains trembled -before the Lord; the mountains Tabor, Hermon, Carmel said one to the -other: Upon me the Shekinah will rest, and to me will it come. But -the Shekinah rested upon Mount Sinai, weakest and smallest of all the -mountains. This Sinai trembled and shook, and its smoke went up as the -smoke of an oven, because of the glory of the God of Israel which had -manifested itself upon it.' The Brightness [25] passed on to illumine -every event associated with the divine presence in Semitic mythology; -it was 'the glory of the Lord' shining from the Star of Bethlehem, -and the figure of the Transfiguration. - -The Consuming Fire also had its development. Among the spiritual -it was spiritualised. 'Who among us shall dwell with the Devouring -Fire?' cries Isaiah. 'Who among us shall dwell with the Everlasting -Burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly; he -that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from -holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, -and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.' It was by a prosaic route -that the Devouring Fire became the residence of the wicked. - -After Jeroboam (1 Kings xiii.) had built altars to the Elohim, -under form of Calves, a prophet came out of Judah to denounce the -idolatry. 'And he cried against the altar in the word of Jehovah, -and said, O altar, altar! thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a child shall -be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall -he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, -and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.' It was deemed so important -that this prophecy should be fulfilled in the letter, when it could -no longer be fulfilled in reality, that some centuries later Josiah -dug up the bones of the Elohistic priests and burned them upon their -long-ruined altars (2 Kings xxiii.). - -The incident is significant, both on account of the prophet's -personification of the altar, and the institution of a sort of Gehenna -in connection with it. The personification and the Gehenna became -much more complete as time went on. The Jews originally had no Devil, -as indeed had no races at first; and this for the obvious reason -that their so-called gods were quite equal to any moral evils that -were to be accounted for, as we have already seen they were adequate -to explain all physical evils. But the antagonists of the moral -Jehovah were recognised and personified with increasing clearness, -and were quite prepared for connection with any General who might be -theoretically proposed for their leadership. When the Jews came under -the influence of Persian theology the archfiend was elected, and all -the Elohim--Moloch, Dagon, Astarte, Chemosh, and the rest--took their -place under his rebellious ensign. - -The descriptions of the Devil in the Bible are mainly borrowed from -the early descriptions of the Elohim, and of Jehovah in his Elohistic -character. [26] In the subjoined parallels I follow the received -English version. - - -Gen. xxii. 1. 'God tempted Matt. iv. 1. 'Then was Jesus -Abraham.' led up into the wilderness - to be tempted of the devil.' - See also 1 Cor. vii. 5, 1 - Thes. iii. 5, James 1.13. - -Exod. v. 3. 'I (Jehovah) will John xiii. 2. 'The devil having -harden Pharaoh's heart;' v. 13, now put into the heart Judas -'He hardened Pharaoh's heart.' Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray - him.' - -1 Kings xxii. 23. 'Behold the John viii. 44. 'He (the devil) is -Lord hath put a lying spirit in a liar' ('and so is his father,' -the mouth of all these thy continues the sentence by right -prophets, and the Lord hath of translation). 1 Tim. iii. 2, -spoken evil concerning them.' 'slanderers' (diabolous). 2 Tim. -Ezek. xiv. 9. 'If the prophet be iii. 3, 'false accusers' -deceived when he hath spoken a (diabolo). Also Titus ii. 3, Von -thing, I the Lord have deceived Tischendorf translates -that prophet, and I will stretch 'calumniators.' -out my hand upon him, and will -destroy him from the midst of -my people.' - -Isa. xlv. 7. 'I make peace and Matt. xiii. 38. 'The tares are -create evil. I the Lord do all the children of the wickied -these things.' Amos iii. 6. one.' 1 John iii. 8. 'He that -'Shall there be evil in a city committeth sin is of the devil; -and the Lord hath not done it?' for the devil sinneth from the -1 Sam. xvi. 14. 'An evil spirit beginning.' -from the Lord troubled him' -(Saul). - -Exod. xii. 29. 'At midnight the John viii. 44. 'He (the devil) -Lord smote all the firstborn of was a murderer from the -Egypt.' Ver. 30. 'There was a beginning.' -great cry in Egypt; for there was -not a house where there was not -one dead.' Exod. xxxiii. 27. -'Thus saith the Lord God of -Israel, Put every man his sword -by his side, and go in and out -from gate to gate throughout the -camp, and slay every man his -brother, and every man his -companion, and every man his -neighbour.' - -Exod. vi. 9. 'Take thy rod and Rev. xii. 7, &c. 'There was war -cast it before Pharaoh and it in heaven: Michael and his angels -shall become a serpent.' Ver. 12. fought against the dragon.... And -'Aaron's rod swallowed up their the great dragon was cast out, -rods.' Num. xxi. 6. 'Jehovah sent that old serpent, called the -fiery serpents (Seraphim) among Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth -the people.' Ver. 8. 'And the the whole world.... Woe to the -Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a inhabiters of the earth and of -fiery serpent, and set it upon a the sea! for the devil has come -pole: and it shall come to pass, down to you, having great wrath.' -that every one that is bitten, -when he looketh upon it, shall -live.' (This serpent was -worshipped until destroyed by -Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii.) Compare -Jer. viii. 17, Ps. cxlviii., -'Praise ye the Lord from the -earth, ye dragons.' - -Gen. xix. 24. 'The Lord rained Matt. xxv. 41. 'Depart from me, -upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone ye cursed, into everlasting fire, -and fire from the Lord out of prepared for the devil and his -heaven.' Deut. iv. 24. 'The Lord angels.' Mark ix. 44. 'Where -thy God is a consuming fire.' Ps. their worm dieth not, and the -xi. 6. 'Upon the wicked he shall fire is not quenched.' Rev. xx. -rain snares, fire and brimstone.' 10. 'And the devil that -Ps. xviii. 8. 'There went up a deceiveth them was cast into the -smoke out of his nostrils.' Ps. lake of fire and brimstone.' In -xcvii. 3. 'A fire goeth before Rev. ix. Abaddon, or Apollyon, is -him, and burneth up his enemies represented as the king of the -round about.' Ezek. xxxviii. 19, scorpion tormentors; and the -&c. 'For in my jealousy, and in diabolical horses, with stinging -the fire of my wrath, have I serpent tails, are described as -spoken.... I will plead against killing with the smoke and -him with pestilence and with brimstone from their mouths. -blood, and I will rain upon him -... fire and brimstone.' Isa. -xxx. 33. 'Tophet is ordained of -old; yea, for the king is it -prepared: he hath made it deep -and wide; the pile thereof is -fire and much wood; the breath -of the Lord, like a stream of -brimstone, doth kindle it.' - - -In addition to the above passages may be cited a notable passage from -Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians (ii. 3). 'Let no man deceive you -by any means: for that day (of Christ) shall not come, except there -come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son -of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is -called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the -temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that, -when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what -withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of -iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he -be taken out of the way: and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom -the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy -with the brightness of his coming: even him whose coming is after the -working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and -with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; -because they received not the love of the truth, that they might -be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, -that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who -believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' - -This remarkable utterance shows how potent was the survival in the -mind of Paul of the old Elohist belief. Although the ancient deity, -who deceived prophets to their destruction, and sent forth lying -spirits with their strong delusions, was dethroned and outlawed, he was -still a powerful claimant of empire, haunting the temple, and setting -himself up therein as God. He will be consumed by Christ's breath when -the day of triumph comes; but meanwhile he is not only allowed great -power in the earth, but utilised by the true God, who even so far -cooperates with the false as to send on some men 'strong delusions' -('a working of error,' Von Tischendorf translates), in order that -they may believe the lie and be damned. Paul speaks of the 'mystery -of iniquity;' but it is not so very mysterious when we consider the -antecedents of his idea. The dark problem of the origin of evil, and -its continuance in the universe under the rule of a moral governor, -still threw its impenetrable shadow across the human mind. It was a -terrible reality, visible in the indifference or hostility with which -the new gospel was met on the part of the cultured and powerful; and it -could only then be explained as a mysterious provisional arrangement -connected with some divine purpose far away in the depths of the -universe. But the passage quoted from Thessalonians shows plainly -that all those early traditions about the divinely deceived prophets -and lying spirits, sent forth from Jehovah Elohim, had finally, in -Paul's time, become marshalled under a leader, a personal Man of Sin; -but this leader, while opposing Christ's kingdom, is in some mysterious -way a commissioner of God. - -We may remark here the beautiful continuity by which, through all -these shadows of terror and vapours of speculation, 'clouding the -glow of heaven,' [27] the unquenchable ideal from first to last is -steadily ascending. - -'One or three things,' says the Talmud, 'were before this world--Water, -Fire, and Wind. Water begat the Darkness, Fire begat Light, and -Wind begat the Spirit of Wisdom.' This had become the rationalistic -translation by a crude science of the primitive demons, once believed -to have created the heavens and the earth. In the process we find -the forces outlawed in their wild action, but becoming the choir of -God in their quiet action:-- - -1 Kings xix. 11-13. 'And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount -before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and -strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before -the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an -earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the -earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the -fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that -he wrapped his face in his mantle.' - -But man must have a philosophical as well as a moral development: the -human mind could not long endure this elemental anarchy. It asked, -If the Lord be not in the hurricane, the earthquake, the volcanic -flame, who is therein? This is the answer of the Targum: [28] - -'And he said, Arise and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And -God revealed himself: and before him a host of angels of the wind, -cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the Lord; but -not in the host of angels was the Shechinah. And after the host of -the angels of the wind came a host of angels of commotion; but not in -the host of the angels of commotion was the Shechinah of the Lord. And -after the angels of commotion came a host of angels of fire; but not -in the host of angels of fire was the Shechinah of the Lord. But after -the host of the angels of the fire came voices singing in silence. And -it was when Elijah heard this he hid his face in his mantle.' - -The moral sentiment takes another step in advance with the unknown but -artistic writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Moses had described -God as a 'consuming fire;' and 'the sight of the glory of the Lord -was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the -children of Israel' (Exod. xxiv. 17). When next we meet this phrase it -is with this writer, who seeks to supersede what Moses (traditionally) -built up. 'Whose voice,' he says, 'then shook the earth; but now he -hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but -also heaven. And this word, 'yet once more,' signifieth the removing -of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those -which cannot be shaken may remain.... For our God is a consuming fire.' - -'Our God also!' cries each great revolution that advances. His -consuming wrath is not now directed against man, but the errors -which are man's only enemies: the lightnings of the new Sinai, while -they enlighten the earth, smite the old heaven of human faith and -imagination, shrivelling it like a burnt scroll! - -In this nineteenth century, when the old heaven, amid which this -fiery pillar glowed, is again shaken, the ancient phrase has still -its meaning. The Russian Tourgenieff represents two friends who had -studied together in early life, then parted, accidentally meeting -once more for a single night. They compare notes as to what the long -intervening years have taught them; and one sums his experience in the -words--'I have burned what I used to worship, and worship what I used -to burn.' The novelist artfully reproduces for this age a sentence -associated with a crisis in the religious history of Europe. Clovis, -King of the Franks, invoked the God of his wife Clotilda to aid him -against the Germans, vowing to become a Christian if successful; and -when, after his victory, he was baptized at Rheims, St. Remy said to -him--'Bow thy head meekly, Sicambrian; burn what thou hast worshipped, -and worship what thou hast burned!' Clovis followed the Bishop's advice -in literal fashion, carrying fire and sword amid his old friends the -'Pagans' right zealously. But the era has come in which that which -Clovis' sword and St. Remy's theology set up for worship is being -consumed in its turn. Tourgenieff's youths are consuming the altar on -which their forerunners were consumed. And in this rekindled flame the -world now sees shrivelling the heavens once fresh, but now reflecting -the aggregate selfishness of mankind, the hells representing their -aggregate cowardice, and feeds its nobler faith with this vision of the -eternal fire which evermore consumes the false and refines the world. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -PARADISE AND THE SERPENT. - - Herakles and Athena in a holy picture--Human significance of - Eden--The legend in Genesis puzzling--Silence of later books - concerning it--Its Vedic elements--Its explanation--Episode of - the Mahábhárata--Scandinavian variant--The name of Adam--The - story re-read--Rabbinical interpretations. - - -Montfaucon has among his plates one (XX.) representing an antique -agate which he supposes to represent Zeus and Athena, but which -probably relates to the myth of Herakles and Athena in the garden of -Hesperides. The hero having penetrated this garden, slays the dragon -which guards its immortalising fruit, but when he has gathered this -fruit Athena takes it from him, lest man shall eat it and share the -immortality of the gods. In this design the two stand on either side of -the tree, around which a serpent is twined from root to branches. The -history which Montfaucon gives of the agate is of equal interest -with the design itself. It was found in an old French cathedral, -where it had long been preserved and shown as a holy picture of the -Temptation. It would appear also to have previously deceived some -rabbins, for on the border is written in Hebrew characters, much -more modern than the central figures, 'The woman saw that the tree -was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree -to be desired to make one wise.' - -This mystification about a design, concerning whose origin and design -there is now no doubt, is significant. The fable of Paradise and -the Serpent is itself more difficult to trace, so many have been the -races and religions which have framed it with their holy texts and -preserved it in their sacred precincts. In its essence, no doubt, -the story grows from a universal experience; in that aspect it is a -mystical rose that speaks all languages. When man first appears his -counterpart is a garden. The moral nature means order. The wild forces -of nature--the Elohim--build no fence, forbid no fruit. They say to -man as the supreme animal, Subdue the earth; every tree and herb shall -be your meat; every animal your slave; be fruitful and multiply. But -from the conflict the more real man emerges, and his sign is a garden -hedged in from the wilderness, and a separation between good and evil. - -The form in which the legend appears in the Book of Genesis presents -one side in which it is simple and natural. This has already been -suggested (vol. i. p. 330). But the legend of man defending his refuge -from wild beasts against the most subtle of them is here overlaid by -a myth in which it plays the least part. The mind which reads it by -such light as may be obtained only from biblical sources can hardly -fail to be newly puzzled at every step. So much, indeed, is confessed -in the endless and diverse theological theories which the story has -elicited. What is the meaning of the curse on the Serpent that it -should for ever crawl thereafter? Had it not crawled previously? Why -was the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil forbidden? Why, -when its fruit was tasted, should the Tree of Life have been for the -first time forbidden and jealously guarded? These riddles are nowhere -solved in the Bible, and have been left to the fanciful inventions -of theologians and the ingenuity of rabbins. Dr. Adam Clarke thought -the Serpent was an ape before his sin, and many rabbins concluded he -was camel-shaped; but the remaining enigmas have been fairly given up. - -The ancient Jews, they who wrote and compiled the Old Testament, more -candid than their modern descendants and our omniscient christians, -silently confessed their inability to make anything out of this -snake-story. From the third chapter of Genesis to the last verse of -Malachi the story is not once alluded to! Such a phenomenon would -have been impossible had this legend been indigenous with the Hebrew -race. It was clearly as a boulder among them which had floated from -regions little known to their earlier writers; after lying naked -through many ages, it became overgrown with rabbinical lichen and -moss, and, at the Christian era, while it seemed part of the Hebrew -landscape, it was exceptional enough to receive special reverence as -a holy stone. That it was made the corner-stone of Christian theology -may be to some extent explained by the principle of omne ignotum pro -mirifico. But the boulder itself can only be explained by tracing it -to the mythologic formation from which it crumbled. - -How would a Parsi explain the curse on a snake which condemned it to -crawl? He would easily give us evidence that at the time when most -of those Hebrew Scriptures were written, without allusion to such -a Serpent, the ancient Persians believed that Ahriman had tempted -the first man and woman through his evil mediator, his anointed son, -Ash-Mogh, 'the two-footed Serpent.' - -But let us pass beyond the Persian legend, carrying that and the -biblical story together, for submission to the criticism of a -Bráhman. He will tell us that this Ash-Mogh of the Parsi is merely -the ancient Aèshma-daéva of the Avesta, which in turn is Ahi, the -great Vedic Serpent-monster whom Indra 'prostrated beneath the feet' -of the stream he had obstructed--every stream having its deity. He -would remind us that the Vedas describe the earliest dragon-slayer, -Indra, as 'crushing the head' of his enemy, and that this figure of -the god with his heel on a Serpent's head has been familiar to his race -from time immemorial. And he would then tell us to read the Rig-Veda, -v. 32, and the Mahábhárata, and we would find all the elements of -the story told in Genesis. - -In the hymn referred to we find a graphic account of how, when Ahi -was sleeping on the waters he obstructed, Indra hurled at him his -thunderbolt. It says that when Indra had 'annihilated the weapon of -that mighty beast from him (Ahi), another, more powerful, conceiving -himself one and unmatched, was generated,' This 'wrath-born son,' -'a walker in darkness,' had managed to get hold of the sacred Soma, -the plant monopolised by the gods, and having drunk this juice, he -lay slumbering and 'enveloping the world,' and then 'fierce Indra -seized upon him,' and having previously discovered 'the vital part -of him who thought, himself invulnerable,' struck that incarnation -of many-formed Ahi, and he was 'made the lowest of all creatures'. - -But one who has perused the philological biography of Ahi already -given, vol. i. p. 357, will not suppose that this was the end of -him. We must now consider in further detail the great episode -of the Mahábhárata, to which reference has been made in other -connections. [29] During the Deluge the most precious treasure of -the gods, the Amrita, the ambrosia that rendered them immortal, was -lost, and the poem relates how the Devas and Asuras, otherwise gods -and serpents, together churned the ocean for it. There were two great -mountains,--Meru the golden and beautiful, adorned with healing plants, -pleasant streams and trees, unapproachable by the sinful, guarded -by serpents; Mandar, rocky, covered with rank vegetation, infested -by savage beasts. The first is the abode of the gods, the last of -demons. To find the submerged Amrita it was necessary to uproot Mandar -and use it to churn the ocean. This was done by calling on the King -Serpent Ananta, who called in the aid of another great serpent, Vásuki, -the latter being used as a rope coiling and uncoiling to whirl the -mountain. At last the Amrita appeared. But there also streamed forth -from the ocean bed a terrible stench and venom, which was spreading -through the universe when Siva swallowed it to save mankind,--the -drug having stained his throat blue, whence his epithet 'Blue Neck.' - -When the Asuras saw the Amrita, they claimed it; but one of the Devas, -Narya, assumed the form of a beautiful woman, and so fascinated them -that they forgot the Amrita for the moment, which the gods drank. One -of the Asuras, however, Ráhu, assumed the form of a god or Deva, and -began to drink. The immortalising nectar had not gone farther than -his throat when the sun and moon saw the deceit and discovered it to -Naraya, who cut off Ráhu's head. The head of Ráhu, being immortal, -bounded to the sky, where its efforts to devour the sun and moon, -which betrayed him, causes their eclipses. The tail (Ketu) also enjoys -immortality in a lower plane, and is the fatal planet which sends -diseases on mankind. A furious war between the gods and the Asuras -has been waged ever since. And since the Devas are the strongest, -it is not wonderful that it should have passed into the folklore -of the whole Aryan world that the evil host are for ever seeking to -recover by cunning the Amrita. The Serpents guarding the paradise of -the Devas have more than once, in a mythologic sense, been induced -to betray their trust and glide into the divine precincts to steal -the coveted draught. This is the Kvásir [30] of the Scandinavian -Mythology, which is the source of that poetic inspiration whose songs -have magical potency. The sacramental symbol of the Amrita in Hindu -Theology is the Soma juice, and this plant Indra is declared in the -Rig-Veda (i. 130) to have discovered "hidden, like the nestlings of -a bird, amidst a pile of rocks enclosed by bushes," where the dragon -Drought had concealed it. Indra, in the shape of a hawk, flew away -with it. In the Prose Edda the Frost Giant Suttung has concealed the -sacred juice, and it is kept by the maid Gunlauth in a cavern overgrown -with bushes. Bragi bored a hole through the rock. Odin in the shape -of a worm crept through the crevice; then resuming his godlike shape, -charmed the maid into permitting him to drink one draught out of the -three jars; and, having left no drop, in form of an eagle flew to -Asgard, and discharged in the jars the wonder-working liquid. Hence -poetry is called Odin's booty, and Odin's gift. - -Those who attentively compare these myths with the legend in Genesis -will not have any need to rest upon the doubtful etymology of 'Adam' -[31] to establish the Ayran origin of the latter. The Tree of the -knowledge of Good and Evil which made man 'as one of us' (the Elohim) -is the Soma of India, the Haoma of Persia, the kvásir of Scandinavia, -to which are ascribed the intelligence and powers of the gods, and -the ardent thoughts of their worshippers. The Tree of Immortality is -the Amrita, the only monopoly of the gods. 'The Lord God said, Behold -the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest -he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, -and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth the garden -of Eden to till the ground whence he had been taken. So he drove out -the man; and he placed on the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, -and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the -tree of life.' - -This flaming sword turning every way is independent of the cherub, -and takes the place of the serpent which had previously guarded the -Meru paradise, but is now an enemy no longer to be trusted. - -If the reader will now re-read the story in Genesis with the old names -restored, he will perceive that there is no puzzle at all in any part -of it:--'Now Ráhu [because he had stolen and tasted Soma] was more -subtle than any beast of the field which the Devas had made, and he -said to Adea Suktee, the first woman, Have the Devas said you shall -not eat of every tree in the garden? And she said unto Ráhu, We may -eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the Soma-plant, -which is in the middle of the garden, the Devas have said we shall -not eat or touch it on pain of death. Then Ráhu said to Adea, You -will not suffer death by tasting Soma [I have done so, and live]: -the Devas know that on the day when you taste it your eyes shall be -opened, and you will be equal to them in knowledge of good and evil -... [and you will be able at once to discover which tree it is that -bears the fruit which renders you immortal--the Amrita].... Adea took -of the Soma and did eat, and gave also unto Adima, her husband, and the -eyes of them both were opened.... And Indra, chief of the Devas, said -to Ráhu, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle -and above every beast of the field; [for they shall transmigrate, -their souls ascend through higher forms to be absorbed in the Creative -principle; but] upon thy belly shalt thou go [remaining transfixed in -the form you have assumed to try and obtain the Amrita]; and [instead -of the ambrosia you aimed at] you shall eat dirt through all your -existence.... And Indra said, Adima and Adea Suktee have [tasted Soma, -and] become as one of us Devas [so far as] to know good and evil; -and now, lest man put forth his hand [on our precious Amrita], and -take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever [giving -us another race of Asuras or Serpent-men to compete with].... Indra -and the Devas drove Adima out of Meru, and placed watch-dogs at the -east of the garden; and [a sinuous darting flame, precisely matched -to the now unchangeable form of Ráhu], a flaming sword which turned -every way, to keep the way of the Amrita from Adima and Asuras.' - -While the gods and serpents were churning the ocean for the Amrita, -all woes and troubles for mortals came up first. That ocean shrinks -in one region to the box of Pandora, in another to the fruit eaten by -Eve. How foreign such a notion is to the Hebrew theology is shown by -the fact that even while the curses are falling from the fatal fruit -on the earth and man, they are all said to have proceeded solely from -Jehovah, who is thus made to supplement the serpent's work. - -It will be seen that in the above version of the story in Genesis I -have left out various passages. These are in part such as must be more -fully treated in the succeeding chapter, and in part the Semitic mosses -which have grown upon the Aryan boulder. But even after the slight -treatment which is all I have space to devote to the comparative -study of the myth in this aspect, it may be safely affirmed that -the problems which we found insoluble by Hebrew correlatives no -longer exist if an Aryan origin be assumed. We know why the fruit -of knowledge was forbidden: because it endangered the further fruit -of immortality. We know how the Serpent might be condemned to crawl -for ever without absurdity: because he was of a serpent-race, able -to assume higher forms, and capable of transmigration, and of final -absorption. We know why the eating of the fruit brought so many woes: -it was followed by the stream of poison from the churned ocean which -accompanied the Amrita, and which would have destroyed the race of both -gods and men, had not Siva drank it up. If anything were required to -make the Aryan origin of the fable certain, it will be found in the -fact which will appear as we go on,--namely, that the rabbins of our -era, in explaining the legend which their fathers severely ignored, -did so by borrowing conceptions foreign to the original ideas of -their race,--notions about human transformation to animal shapes, -and about the Serpent (which Moses honoured), and mainly of a kind -travestying the Iranian folklore. Such contact with foreign races -for the first time gave the Jews any key to the legend which their -patriarchs and prophets were compelled to pass over in silence. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -EVE. - - The Fall of Man--Fall of gods--Giants--Prajápati and Ráhu--Woman - and Star-serpent in Persia--Meschia and Meschiane--Bráhman - legends of the creation of Man--The strength of Woman--Elohist - and Jehovist creations of Man--The Forbidden Fruit--Eve reappears - as Sara--Abraham surrenders his wife to Jehovah--The idea not - sensual--Abraham's circumcision--The evil name of Woman--Noah's - wife--The temptation of Abraham--Rabbinical legends concerning - Eve--Pandora--Sentiment of the Myth of Eve. - - -The insignificance of the Serpent of Eden in the scheme and teachings -of the Hebrew Bible is the more remarkable when it is considered that -the pessimistic view of human nature is therein fully represented. In -the story of the Temptation itself, there is, indeed, no such -generalisation as we find in the modern dogma of the Fall of Man; -but the elements of it are present in the early assumption that -the thoughts of man's heart run to evil continually,--which must -be an obvious fact everywhere while goodness is identified with -fictitious merits. There are also expressions suggesting a theory -of heredity, of a highly superstitious character,--the inheritance -being by force of the ancestral word or act, and without reference -to inherent qualities. Outward merits and demerits are transmitted -for reward and punishment to the third and fourth generation; but -the more common-sense view appears to have gradually superseded this, -as expressed in the proverb that the fathers ate sour grapes and the -children's teeth were on edge. - -In accounting for this condition of human nature, popular traditions -among the Jews always pointed rather to a fall of the gods than to -any such catastrophe to man. 'The sons of the Elohim (gods) saw the -daughters of men that they were beautiful, and they took to themselves -for wives whomsoever they chose.' 'There were giants in the earth in -those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto -the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became -mighty men, which were of old men of renown.' [32] These giants were -to the Semitic mind what the Ahis, Vritras, Sushnas and other monsters -were to the Aryan, or Titans to the Greek mind. They were not traced -to the Serpent, but to the wild nature-gods, the Elohim, and when -Jehovah appears it is to wage war against them. The strength of this -belief is illustrated in the ample accounts given in the Old Testament -of the Rephaim and their king Og, the Anakim and Goliath, the Emim, -the Zamzummim, and others, all of which gained full representation in -Hebrew folklore. The existence of these hostile beings was explained -by their fall from angelic estate. - -The Book of Enoch gives what was no doubt the popular understanding -of the fall of the angels and its results. Two hundred angels took -wives of the daughters of men, and their offspring were giants three -thousand yards in height. These giants having consumed the food -of mankind, began to devour men, whose cries were brought to the -attention of Jehovah by his angels. One angel was sent to warn Noah -of the Flood; another to bind Azazel in a dark place in the desert -till the Judgment Day; Gabriel was despatched to set the giants to -destroying one another; Michael was sent to bury the fallen angels -under the hills for seventy generations, till the Day of Judgment, when -they should be sent to the fiery abyss for ever. Then every evil work -should come to an end, and the plant of righteousness spring up. [33] - -Such exploits and successes on the part of the legal Deity against -outlaws, though they may be pitched high in heroic romance, are -found beside a theology based upon a reverse situation. Nothing is -more fundamental in the ancient Jewish system than the recognition -of an outside world given over to idolatry and wickedness, while -Jews are a small colony of the children of Israel and chosen of -Jehovah. Such a conception in primitive times is so natural, and -possibly may have been so essential to the constitution of nations, -that it is hardly useful to look for parallels. Though nearly all -races see in their traditional dawn an Age of Gold, a Happy Garden, -or some corresponding felicity, these are normally defined against -anterior chaos or surrounding ferocity. Every Eden has had its guards. - -When we come to legends which relate particularly to the way in -which the early felicity was lost, many facts offer themselves for -comparative study. And with regard to the myths of Eden and Eve, -we may remark what appears to have been a curious interchange of -legends between the Hebrews and Persians. The ancient doctrines of -India and Persia concerning Origins are largely, if not altogether, -astronomical. In the Genesis of India we see a golden egg floating -on a shoreless ocean; it divides to make the heaven above and earth -beneath; from it emerges Prajápati, who also falls in twain to make -the mortal and immortal substances; the parts of him again divide to -make men and women on earth, sun and moon in the sky. This is but one -version out of many, but all the legends about Prajápati converge -in making him a figure of Indian astronomy. In the Rig-Veda he is -Orion, and for ever lies with the three arrows in his belt which -Sirius shot at him because of his love for Aldebaran,--towards which -constellation he stretches. Now, in a sort of antithesis to this, -the evil Ráhu is also cut in twain, his upper and immortal part -pursuing and trying to eclipse the sun and moon, his tail (Ketu) -becoming the 9th planet, shedding evil influences on mankind. [34] -This tail, Ketu, is quite an independent monster, and we meet with -him in the Persian planisphere, where he rules the first of the six -mansions of Ahriman, and is the 'crooked serpent' mentioned in the -Book of Job. By referring to vol. i. p. 253, the reader will see that -this Star-serpent must stand as close to the woman with her child and -sheaf as September stands to October. But unquestionably the woman -was put there for honour and not disgrace; with her child and sheaf -she represented the fruitage of the year. - -There is nothing in Persian Mythology going to show that the woman -betrayed her mansion of fruitage--the golden year--to the Serpent -near her feet. In the Bundehesch we have the original man, Kaiomarts, -who is slain by Ahriman as Prajápati (Orion) was by Sirius; from his -dead form came Meschia and Meschiane, the first human pair. Ahriman -corrupts them by first giving them goats' milk, an evil influence -from Capricorn. After they had thus injured themselves he tempted -them with a fruit which robbed them of ninety-nine hundredths -of their happiness. In all this there is no indication that the -woman and man bore different relations to the calamity. But after a -time we find a Parsî postscript to this effect: 'The woman was the -first to sacrifice to the Devas.' This is the one item in the Parsî -Mythology which shows bias against woman, and as it is unsupported -by the narratives preceding it, we may suppose that it was derived -from some foreign country. - -That country could hardly have been India. There is a story in remote -districts of India which relates that the first woman was born out -of an expanding lotus on the Ganges, and was there received in his -paradise by the first man (Adima, or Manu). Having partaken of the -Soma, they were expelled, after first being granted their prayer to be -allowed a last draught from the Ganges; the effect of the holy water -being to prevent entire corruption, and secure immortality to their -souls. But nowhere in Indian legend or folklore do we find any special -dishonour put upon woman such as is described in the Hebrew story. - -Rather we find the reverse. Early in the last century, a traveller, -John Marshall, related stories of the creation which he says were -told him by the Brahmins, and others 'by the Brahmins of Persia.' [35] - -'Once on a time,' the Brahmins said, 'as (God) was set in eternity, -it came into his mind to make something, and immediately no sooner had -he thought the same, but that the same minute was a perfect beautiful -woman present immediately before him, which he called Adea Suktee, -that is, the first woman. Then this figure put into his mind the -figure of a man; which he had no sooner conceived in his mind, but -that he also started up, and represented himself before him; this he -called Manapuise, that is, the first man; then, upon a reflection of -these things, he resolved further to create several places for them -to abide in, and accordingly, assuming a subtil body, he breathed in -a minute the whole universe, and everything therein, from the least -to the greatest.' - -'The Brahmins of Persia tell certain long stories of a great Giant that -was led into a most delicate garden, which, upon certain conditions, -should be his own for ever. But one evening in a cool shade one of -the wicked Devatas, or spirits, came to him, and tempted him with vast -sums of gold, and all the most precious jewels that can be imagined; -but he courageously withstood that temptation, as not knowing what -value or use they were of: but at length this wicked Devata brought -to him a fair woman, who so charmed him that for her sake he most -willingly broke all his conditions, and thereupon was turned out.' - -In the first of these two stories the names given to the man and woman -are popular words derived from Sanskrit. In the second the Persian -characters are present, as in the use of Devatas to denote wicked -powers; but for the rest, this latter legend appears to me certainly -borrowed from the Jews so far as the woman is concerned. It was they -who first perceived any connection between Virgo in the sixth mansion -of Ormuzd, and Python in the seventh, and returned the Persians their -planisphere with a new gloss. Having adopted the Dragon's tail (Ketu) -for a little preliminary performance, the Hebrew system dismisses -that star-snake utterly; for it has already evolved a terrestrial -devil from its own inner consciousness. - -The name of that devil is--Woman. The diabolisation of woman in their -theology and tradition is not to be regarded as any indication that -the Hebrews anciently held women in dishonour; rather was it a tribute -to her powers of fascination such as the young man wrote to be placed -under the pillow of Darius--'Woman is strongest.' As Darius and his -council agreed that, next to truth, woman is strongest--stronger than -wine or than kings, so do the Hebrew fables testify by interweaving -her beauty and genius with every evil of the world. - -Between the Elohist and Jahvist accounts of the creation of man, -there are two differences of great importance. The Elohim are said to -have created man in their own image, male and female,--the word for -'created' being bará, literally meaning to carve out. Jehovah Elohim -is said to have formed man,--nothing being said about his own image, -or about male and female,--the word formed being yatsar'. The sense of -this word yatsar in this place (Gen. ii. 7) must be interpreted by what -follows: Jehovah is said to have formed man out of the aphar', which -the English version translates dust, but the Septuagint more correctly -sperma. The literal meaning is a finely volatilised substance, and in -Numbers xxiii. 10, it is used to represent the seed of Jacob. In the -Jehovistic creation it means that man was formed out of the seminal -principle of the earth combined with the breath of Jehovah; and the -legend closely resembles the account of the ancient Satapatha-Bráhmana, -which shows the creative power in sexual union with the fluid world -to produce the egg from which Prajápati was born, to be divided into -man and woman. - -These two accounts, therefore,--to wit, that in the first and that in -the second chapter of Genesis,--must be regarded as being of different -events, and not merely varying myths of the same event. The offspring -of Jehovah were 'living souls,' an expression not used in connection -with the created images of the giants or Elohim. The Elohist pair -roam about the world freely eating all fruits and herbs, possessing -nature generally, and, as male and female, encouraged to increase -and multiply; but Jehovah carefully separates his two children from -general nature, places them in a garden, forbids certain food, and -does not say a word about sex even, much less encourage its functions. - -Adam was formed simply to be the gardener of Eden; no other motive -is assigned. In proposing the creation of a being to be his helper -and companion, nothing is said about a new sex,--the word translated -'help-meet' (ézer) is masculine. Adam names the being made 'woman,' -(Vulg. Virago) only because she has been made out of man, but sex -is not even yet suggested. This is so marked that the compiler has -filled up what he considered an omission with (verse 24) a little -lecture on duty to wives. - -It is plain that the jealously-guarded ambrosia of Aryan gods has here -been adapted to signify the sexual relation. That is the fruit in the -midst of the garden which is reserved. The eating of it is immediately -associated with consciousness of nudity and shame. The curse upon -Eve is appropriate. Having taken a human husband, she is to be his -slave; she shall bring forth children in sorrow, and many of them -(Gen. iii. 16). Adam is to lose his position in Jehovah's garden, -and to toil in accursed ground, barren and thorny. - -Cast out thus into the wilderness, the human progeny as it increased -came in contact with the giant's progeny,--those created by the Elohim -(Gen. i.). When these had intermarried, Jehovah said that the fact -that the human side in such alliance had been originally vitalised -by his breath could not now render it immortal, because 'he (man) -also is flesh,' i.e., like the creatures of the nature-gods. After -two great struggles with these Titans, drowning most of them, hurling -down their tower and scattering them, Jehovah resolved upon a scheme -of vast importance, and one which casts a flood of light upon the -narrative just given. Jehovah's great aim is shown in the Abrahamic -covenant to be to found a family on earth, of which he can say, 'Thou -art my son; I have begotten thee.' Eve was meant to be the mother of -that family, but by yielding to her passion for the man meant only -to be her companion she had thwarted the purpose of Jehovah. But she -reappears again under the name of Sara; and from first to last the -sense of these records, however overlaid by later beliefs, is the -expansion, varying fortunes, and gradual spiritualisation of this -aspiration of a deity for a family of his own in the earth. - -Celsus said that the story of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost -is one in which Christians would find little 'mystery' if the names -were Danaë and Jupiter. The same may be said of the story of Sara and -Jehovah, of which that concerning Mary is a theological travesty. Sarai -(as she was called before her transfer to Jehovah, who then forbade -Abraham to call her 'My Princess,' but only 'Princess') was chosen -because she was childless. Abraham was paid a large recompense -for her surrender, and provision was made that he should have a -mistress, and by her a son. This natural son was to be renowned -and have great possessions; nominally Abraham was to be represented -by Sara's miraculously-conceived son, and to control his fortunes, -but the blood of the new race was to be purely divine in its origin, -so that every descendant of Isaac might be of Jehovah's family in -Abraham's household. - -Abraham twice gave over his wife to different kings who were -jealously punished by Jehovah for sins they only came near committing -unconsciously, while Abraham himself was not even rebuked for the sin -he did commit. The forbidden fruit was not eaten this time; and the -certificate and proof of the supernatural conception of Isaac were -made clear in Sarah's words--'God hath made me to laugh: all that hear -will laugh with me: who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should -have given children suck? for I have borne a son in his old age.' [36] - -It was the passionate nature and beauty of Woman which had thus far -made the difficulty. The forbidden fruit was 'pleasant to the eyes,' -and Eve ate it; and it was her 'voice' to which Adam had hearkened -rather than to that of Jehovah (Gen. iii. 17). And, again, it was -the easy virtue and extreme beauty of Sara (Gen. xii. 11, 14) which -endangered the new scheme. The rabbinical traditions are again on -this point very emphatic. It is related that when Abram came to -the border of Egypt he hid Sara in a chest, and was so taking her -into that country. The collector of customs charged that the chest -contained raiment, silks, gold, pearls, and Abram paid for all these; -but this only increased the official's suspicions, and he compelled -Abram to open the chest; when this was done and Sara rose up, the -whole land of Egypt was illumined by her splendour. [37] - -There is no reason for supposing that the ideas underlying the -relation which Jehovah meant to establish with Eve, and succeeded in -establishing with Sara, were of a merely sensual description. These -myths belong to the mental region of ancestor-worship, and the -fundamental conception is that of founding a family to reign over all -other families. Jehovah's interest is in Isaac rather than Sara, who, -after she has borne that patriarch, lapses out of the story almost -as completely as Eve. The idea is not, indeed, so theological as it -became in the Judaic-christian legend of the conception of Jesus -by Mary as spouse of the Deity; it was probably, however, largely -ethnical in the case of Eve, and national in that of Sara. - -It being considered of the utmost importance that all who claimed the -advantages in the Jewish commonwealth accruing only to the legal, -though nominal, 'children of Abraham,' should really be of divine -lineage, security must be had against Isaac having any full brother. It -might be that in after time some natural son of Sara might claim -to be the one born of divine parentage, might carry on the Jewish -commonwealth, slay the children of Jehovah by Sara, and so end the -divine lineage with the authority it carried. Careful precautions -having been taken that Ishmael should be an 'irreconcilable,' -there is reason to suspect that the position of Isaac as Jehovah's -'only-begotten son' was secured by means obscurely hinted in the -circumcision first undergone by Abraham, and made the sign of the -covenant. That circumcision, wheresoever it has survived, is the -relic of a more horrible practice of barbarian asceticism, is hardly -doubtful; that the original rite was believed to have been that by -which Abraham fulfilled his contract with Jehovah, appears to me -intimated in various passages of the narrative which have survived -editorial arrangement in accordance with another view. For instance, -the vast inducements offered Abraham, and the great horror that fell -on the patriarch, appear hardly explicable on the theory that nothing -was conceded on Abraham's side beyond the surrender of a wife whom -he had freely consigned to earthly monarchs. - -Though the suspicion just expressed as to the nature of Abraham's -circumcision may be doubted, it is not questionable that the rite of -circumcision bears a significance in rabbinical traditions and Jewish -usages which renders its initiation by Abraham at least a symbol of -marital renunciation. Thus, the custom of placing in a room where -the rite of circumcision was performed a pot of dust, was explained -by the rabbins to have reference to the dust which Jehovah declared -should be the serpent's food. [38] That circumcision should have been -traditionally associated with the temptation of Eve is a confirmation -of the interpretation which regards her (Eve) as the prototype of -Sara and the serpent as sexual desire. - -Although, if the original sense of Abraham's circumcision were what -has been suggested, it had been overlaid, when the Book of Genesis -in its present form was compiled, by different traditions, and that -patriarch is described as having married again and had other children, -the superior sanctity of Sara's son was preserved. Indeed, there would -seem to have continued for a long time a tradition that the Abrahamic -line and covenant were to be carried out by 'the seed of the woman' -alone, and the paternity of Jehovah. Like Sara, Rebekah is sterile, and -after her Rachel; the birth of Jacob and Esau from one, and of Joseph -and Benjamin from the other, being through the intervention of Jehovah. - -The great power of woman for good or evil, and the fact that it has -often been exercised with subtlety--the natural weapon of the weak in -dealing with the strong--are remarkably illustrated in the legends of -these female figures which appear in connection with the divine schemes -in the Book of Genesis. But even more the perils of woman's beauty -are illustrated, especially in Eve and Sara. There were particular and -obvious reasons why these representative women could not be degraded or -diabolised in their own names or history, even where their fascinations -tended to countervail the plans of Jehovah. The readiness with which -Sara promoted her husband's prostitution and consented to her own, -the treachery of Rebekah to her son Esau, could yet not induce Jewish -orthodoxy to give evil names to the Madonnas of their race; but the -inference made was expressed under other forms and names. It became -a settled superstition that wherever evil was going on, Woman was at -the bottom of it. Potiphar's wife, Jezebel, Vashti, and Delilah, were -among the many she-scape-goats on whom were laid the offences of their -august official predecessors who 'could do no wrong.' Even after Satan -has come upon the scene, and is engaged in tempting Job, it seems to -have been thought essential to the task that he should have an agent -beside the troubled man in the wife who bade him 'curse God and die.' - -It is impossible to say at just what period the rabbins made their -ingenious discovery that the devil and Woman entered the world at -the same time,--he coming out of the hole left by removal of the -rib from Adam before it was closed. This they found disclosed in the -fact that it is in Genesis iii. 21, describing the creation of Woman, -that there appears for the first time Samech--the serpent-letter S -(in Vajisgor). [39] But there were among them many legends of a -similar kind that leave one no wonder concerning the existence of -a thanksgiving taught boys that they have not been created women, -however much one may be scandalised at its continuance in the present -day. It was only in pursuance of this theory of Woman that there was -developed at a later day a female assistant of the Devil in another -design to foil the plans of Jehovah, from the Scriptual narrative of -which the female rôle is omitted. In the Scriptural legend of Noah -his wife is barely mentioned, and her name is not given, but from an -early period vague rumours to her discredit floated about, and these -gathered consistency in the Gnostic legend that it was through her -that Satan managed to get on board the Ark, as is elsewhere related -(Part IV. chap. xxvii.), and was so enabled to resuscitate antediluvial -violence in the drunken curses of Noah. Satan did this by working -upon both the curiosity and jealousy of Noraita, the name assigned -Noah's wife. - -It has been necessary to give at length the comparative view of the -myth of Eden in order that the reader may estimate the grounds upon -which rests a theory which has been submitted after much hesitation -concerning its sense. The 'phallic' theory by which it has become -the fashion to interpret so many of these old fables, appears -to me to have been done to death; yet I cannot come to any other -conclusion concerning the legend of Eve than that she represents -that passional nature of Woman which, before it was brought under -such rigid restraint, might easily be regarded as a weakness to any -tribe desirous of keeping itself separate from other tribes. The -oath exacted by Abraham of his servant that he should seek out a -wife from among his own people, and not among Canaanitish women, -is one example among many of this feeling, which, indeed, survives -among Jews at the present day. Such a sentiment might underlie the -stories of Eve and Sara--the one mingling the blood of the family -of Jehovah with mere human flesh, the other nearly confusing it -with aliens. As the idea of tribal sanctity and separateness became -strengthened by the further development of theocratic government, -such myths would take on forms representing Jehovah's jealousy in -defending his family line against the evil powers which sought to -confuse or destroy it. One such attempt appears to underlie the story -of the proposed sacrifice of Isaac. Although the account we have of -that proceeding in the Bible was written at a time when the Elohist -and Jahvist parties had compromised their rivalries to some extent, -and suggests the idea that Jehovah himself ordered the sacrifice in -order to try the faith of Abraham, enough of the primitive tradition -lingers in the narrative to make it probable that its original intent -was to relate how one of the superseded Elohim endeavoured to tempt -Abraham to sacrifice Sara's only son, and so subvert the aim of Jehovah -to perpetuate his seed. The God who 'tempted Abraham' is throughout -sharply distinguished from the Jehovah who sent his angel to prevent -the sacrifice and substitute an animal victim for Isaac. - -Although, as we have seen, Sara was spared degradation into a she-devil -in subsequent myths, because her body was preserved intact despite her -laxity of mind, such was not the case with Eve. The silence concerning -her preserved throughout the Bible after her fall is told was broken -by the ancient rabbins, and there arose multitudinous legends in -which her intimacies with devils are circumstantially reported. Her -first child, Cain, was generally believed to be the son of one of the -devils (Samaël) that consorted with her, and the world was said to be -peopled with gnomes and demons which she brought forth during that -130 years at the end of which it is stated that Adam begot a son in -his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth (Gen. v. 3). The -previous children were supposed to be not in purely human form, and -not to have been of Adam's paternity. Adam had during that time refused -to have any children, knowing that he would only rear inmates of hell. - -The legend of Eden has gone round the world doing various duty, -but nearly always associated with the introduction of moral evil -into the world. In the Lateran Museum at Rome there is a remarkable -bas-relief representing a nude man and woman offering sacrifice before -a serpent coiled around a tree, while an angel overthrows the altar -with his foot. This was probably designed as a fling at the Ophites, -and is very interesting as a survival from the ancient Aryan meaning -of the Serpent. But since the adaptation of the myth by the Semitic -race, it has generally emphasised the Tree of the Knowledge of Good -and Evil, instead of the Tree of Immortality (Amrita), which is the -chief point of interest in the Aryan myth. There are indeed traces of -a conflict with knowledge and scepticism in it which we shall have -to consider hereafter. The main popular association with it, the -introduction into the world of all the ills that flesh is heir to, -is perfectly consistent with the sense which has been attributed to -its early Hebrew form; for this includes the longing for maternity, -its temptations and its pains, and the sorrows and sins which are -obviously traceable to it. - -Some years ago, when the spectacular drama of 'Paradise' was performed -in Paris, the Temptation was effected by means of a mirror. Satan -glided behind the tree as a serpent, and then came forth as a -handsome man, and after uttering compliments that she could not -understand, presented Eve with a small oval mirror which explained them -all. Mlle. Abingdon as Eve displayed consummate art in her expression -of awakening self-admiration, of the longing for admiration from the -man before her, and the various stages of self-consciousness by which -she is brought under the Tempter's power. This idea of the mirror -was no doubt borrowed from the corresponding fable of Pandora. On -a vase (Etruscan) in the Hamilton Collection there is an admirable -representation of Pandora opening her box, from which all evils are -escaping. She is seated beneath a tree, around which a serpent is -coiled. Among the things which have come out of the box is this same -small oval mirror. In this variant, Hope, coming out last corresponds -with the prophecy that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's -head. The ancient Etruscan and the modern Parisian version are both -by the mirror finely connected with the sexual sense of the legend. - -The theological interpretation of the beautiful myth of Eden -represents a sort of spiritual vivisection; yet even as a dogma the -story preserves high testimony: when woman falls the human race falls -with her; when man rises above his inward or outward degradations -and recovers his Paradise, it is because his nature is refined by -the purity of woman, and his home sweetened by her heart. There is a -widespread superstition that every Serpent will single out a woman -from any number of people for its attack. In such dim way is felt -her gentle bruising of man's reptilian self. No wonder that woman is -excluded from those regions of life where man's policy is still to -crawl, eat dust, and bite the heel. - -It is, I suppose, the old Mystery of the Creation which left Coventry -its legend of a Good Eve (Godiva, whose name is written 'good Eve' -in a Conventry verse, 1494), whose nakedness should bring benefit to -man, as that of the first Eve brought him evil. The fig-leaf of Eve, -gathered no doubt from the tree whose forbidden fruit she had eaten, -has gradually grown so large as to cloak her mind and spirit as well -as her form. Her work must still be chiefly that of a spirit veiled -and ashamed. Her passions suppressed, her genius disbelieved, her -influence forced to seek hidden and often illegitimate channels, -Woman now outwardly represents a creation of man to suit his own -convenience. But the Serpent has also changed a great deal since -the days of Eve, and now, as Intelligence, has found out man in his -fool's-paradise, where he stolidly maintains that, with few exceptions, -it is good for man to be alone. But good women are remembering Godiva; -and realising that, the charms which have sometimes lowered man or -cost him dear may be made his salvation. It shall be so when Woman -can face with clear-eyed purity all the facts of nature, can cast -away the mental and moral swathing-clothes transmitted from Eden, -and put forth all her powers for the welfare of mankind,--a Good Eva, -whom Coventry Toms may call naked, but who is 'not ashamed' of the -garb of Innocence and Truth. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -LILITH. - - Madonnas--Adam's first wife--Her flight and doom--Creation of - devils--Lilith marries Samaël--Tree of Life--Lilith's part - in the Temptation--Her locks--Lamia--Bodeima--Meschia and - Meschiane--Amazons--Maternity--Rib-theory of Woman--Káli and - Durga--Captivity of Woman. - - -The attempt of the compilers of the Book of Genesis to amalgamate -the Elohist and Jehovist legends, ignoring the moral abyss that yawns -between them, led to some sufficiently curious results. One of these -it may be well enough to examine here, since, though later in form -than some other legends which remain to be considered, it is closely -connected in spirit with the ancient myth of Eden and illustrative -of it. - -The differences between the two creations of man and woman critically -examined in the previous chapter were fully recognised by the ancient -rabbins, and their speculations on the subject laid the basis for -the further legend that the woman created (Gen. i.) at the same time -with Adam, and therefore not possibly the woman formed from his rib, -was a first wife who turned out badly. - -To this first wife of Adam it was but natural to assign the name -of one of the many ancient goddesses who had been degraded into -demonesses. For the history of Mariolatry in the North of Europe has -been many times anticipated: the mother's tenderness and self-devotion, -the first smile of love upon social chaos, availed to give every race -its Madonna, whose popularity drew around her the fatal favours of -priestcraft, weighing her down at last to be a type of corruption. Even -the Semitic tribes, with their hard masculine deities, seem to have -once worshipped Alilat, whose name survives in Elohim and Allah. Among -these degraded Madonnas was Lilith, whose name has been found in a -Chaldean inscription, which says, when a country is at peace 'Lilith -(Lilatu) is not before them.' The name is from Assyr. lay'lâ, Hebrew -Lil (night), which already in Accadian meant 'sorcery.' It probably -personified, at first, the darkness that soothed children to slumber; -and though the word Lullaby has, with more ingenuity than accuracy, -been derived from Lilith Abi, the theory may suggest the path by -which the soft Southern night came to mean a nocturnal spectre. - -The only place where the name of Lilith occurs in the Bible is -Isa. xxxiv. 14, where the English version renders it 'screech-owl.' In -the Vulgate it is translated 'Lamia,' and in Luther's Bible, 'Kobold;' -Gesenius explains it as 'nocturna, night-spectre, ghost.' - -The rabbinical myths concerning Lilith, often passed over as puerile -fancies, appear to me pregnant with significance and beauty. Thus -Abraham Ecchelensis, giving a poor Arabic version of the legend, says, -'This fable has been transmitted to the Arabs from Jewish sources -by some converts of Mahomet from Cabbalism and Rabbinism, who have -transferred all the Jewish fooleries to the Arabs.' [40] But the -rabbinical legend grew very slowly, and relates to principles and facts -of social evolution whose force and meaning are not yet exhausted. - -Premising that the legend is here pieced together mainly from -Eisenmenger, [41] who at each mention of the subject gives ample -references to rabbinical authorities, I will relate it without further -references of my own. - -Lilith was said to have been created at the same time and in the same -way as Adam; and when the two met they instantly quarrelled about -the headship which both claimed. Adam began the first conversation -by asserting that he was to be her master. Lilith replied that she -had equal right to be chief. Adam insisting, Lilith uttered a certain -spell called Schem-hammphorasch--afterwards confided by a fallen angel -to one of 'the daughters of men' with whom he had an intrigue, and of -famous potency in Jewish folklore--the result of which was that she -obtained wings. Lilith then flew out of Eden and out of sight. [42] -Adam then cried in distress--'Master of the world, the woman whom thou -didst give me has flown away.' The Creator then sent three angels to -find Lilith and persuade her to return to the garden; but she declared -that it could be no paradise to her if she was to be the servant of -man. She remained hovering over the Red Sea, where the angels had -found her, while these returned with her inflexible resolution. And -she would not yield even after the angels had been sent again to -convey to her, as the alternative of not returning, the doom that -she should bear many children but these should all die in infancy. - -This penalty was so awful that Lilith was about to commit suicide -by drowning herself in the sea, when the three angels, moved by her -anguish, agreed that she should have the compensation of possessing -full power over all children after birth up to their eighth day; on -which she promised that she would never disturb any babes who were -under their (the angels') protection. Hence the charm (Camea) against -Lilith hung round the necks of Jewish children bore the names of these -three angels--Senói, Sansenói, and Sammangelóf. Lilith has special -power over all children born out of wedlock for whom she watches, -dressed in finest raiment; and she has especial power on the first -day of the month, and on the Sabbath evening. When a little child -laughs in its sleep it was believed that Lilith was with it, and the -babe must be struck on the nose three times, the words being thrice -repeated--'Away, cursed Lilith! thou hast no place here!' - -The divorce between Lilith and Adam being complete, the second Eve -(i.e., Mother) was now formed, and this time out of Adam's rib in -order that there might be no question of her dependence, and that the -embarrassing question of woman's rights might never be raised again. - -But about this time the Devils were also created. These beings were -the last of the six days' creation, but they were made so late in -the day that there was no daylight by which to fashion bodies for -them. The Creator was just putting them off with a promise that he -would make them bodies next day, when lo! the Sabbath--which was -for a long time personified--came and sat before him, to represent -the many evils which might result from the precedent he would set -by working even a little on the day whose sanctity had already been -promulgated. Under these circumstances the Creator told the Devils -that they must disperse and try to get bodies as they could find -them. On this account they have been compelled ever since to seek -carnal enjoyments by nestling in the hearts of human beings and -availing themselves of human senses and passions. - -These Devils as created were ethereal spirits; they had certain -atmospheric forms, but felt that they had been badly treated in not -having been provided with flesh and blood, and they were envious -of the carnal pleasures which human beings could enjoy. So long as -man and woman remained pure, the Devils could not take possession of -their bodies and enjoy such pleasures, and it was therefore of great -importance to them that the first human pair should be corrupted. At -the head of these Devils stood now a fallen angel--Samaël. Of this -archfiend more is said elsewhere; at this point it need only be said -that he had been an ideal flaming Serpent, leader of the Seraphim. He -was already burning with lust and envy, as he witnessed the pleasures -of Adam and Eve in Eden, when he found beautiful Lilith lamenting -her wrongs in loneliness. - -She became his wife. The name of Samaël by one interpretation signifies -'the Left'; and we may suppose that Lilith found him radical on -the question of female equality which she had raised in Eden. He -gave her a splendid kingdom where she was attended by 480 troops; -but all this could not compensate her for the loss of Eden,--she -seems never to have regretted parting with Adam,--and for the loss -of her children. She remained the Lady of Sorrow. Her great enemy was -Machalath who presided over 478 troops, and who was for ever dancing, -as Lilith was for ever sighing and weeping. It was long believed that -at certain times the voice of Lilith's grief could be heard in the air. - -Samaël found in Lilith a willing conspirator against Jehovah in -his plans for man and woman. The corruption of these two meant, to -the troops of Samaël, bringing their bodies down into a plane where -they might be entered by themselves (the Devils), not to mention at -present the manifold other motives by which they were actuated. It -may be remarked also that in the rabbinical traditions, after their -Aryan impregnation, there are traces of a desire of the Devils to -reach the Tree of Life. - -Truly a wondrous Tree! Around it, in its place at the east of -Eden, sang six hundred thousand lovely angels with happy hymns, -and it glorified the vast garden. It possessed five hundred thousand -different flavours and odours, which were wafted to the four sides -of the world by zephyrs from seven lustrous clouds that made its -canopy. Beneath it sat the disciples of Wisdom on resplendent seats, -screened from the blaze of sun, moon, and cloud-veiled from potency -of the stars (there was no night); and within were the joys referred -to in the verse (Prov. viii. 21), 'That I may cause those that love -me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.' - -Had there been an order of female rabbins the story of Lilith might -have borne obvious modifications, and she might have appeared as -a heroine anxious to rescue her sex from slavery to man. As it is -the immemorial prerogative of man to lay all blame upon woman, that -being part of the hereditary following of Adam, it is not wonderful -that Lilith was in due time made responsible for the temptation of -Eve. She was supposed to have beguiled the Serpent on guard at the -gate of Eden to lend her his form for a time, after which theory the -curse on the serpent might mean the binding of Lilith for ever in -that form. This would appear to have originated the notion mentioned -in Comestor (Hist. Schol., 12th cent.), that while the serpent was -yet erect it had a virgin's head. The accompanying example is from a -very early missal in the possession of Sir Joseph Hooker, of which I -could not discover the date or history, but the theory is traceable -in the eighth century. In this picture we have an early example of -those which have since become familiar in old Bibles. Pietro d'Orvieto -painted this serpent-woman in his finest fresco, at Pisa. Perhaps in -no other picture has the genius of Michæl Angelo been more felicitous -than in that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in which Lilith is -portrayed. In this picture (Fig. 2) the marvellous beauty of his first -wife appears to have awakened the enthusiasm of Adam; and, indeed, -it is quite in harmony with the earlier myth that Lilith should be -of greater beauty than Eve. - -An artist and poet of our own time (Rossetti) has by both of his arts -celebrated the fatal beauty of Lilith. His Lilith, bringing 'soft -sleep,' antedates, as I think, the fair devil of the Rabbins, but is -also the mediæval witch against whose beautiful locks Mephistopheles -warns Faust when she appears at the Walpurgis-night orgie. - - - The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where - Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent - And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare? - Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went - Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent, - And round his heart one strangling golden hair. - - -The potency of Lilith's tresses has probably its origin in the hairy -nature ascribed by the Rabbins to all demons (shedim), and found -fully represented in Esau. Perhaps the serpent-locks of Medusa had a -similar origin. Nay, there is a suggestion in Dante that these tresses -of Medusa may have once represented fascinating rather than horrible -serpents. As she approaches, Virgil is alarmed for his brother-poet: - - - 'Turn thyself back, and keep thy vision hid; - For, if the Gorgon show, and then behold, - 'Twould all be o'er with e'er returning up.' - So did the master say; and he himself - Turned me, and to my own hands trusted not, - But that with his too he should cover me. - O you that have a sane intelligence, - Look ye unto the doctrine which herein - Conceals itself 'neath the strange verses' veil. [43] - - -If this means that the security against evil is to veil the eyes from -it, Virgil's warning would be against a beautiful seducer, similar to -the warning given by Mephistopheles to Faust against the fatal charms -of Lilith. Since, however, even in the time of Homer, the Gorgon was -a popular symbol of terrors, the possibility of a survival in Dante's -mind of any more primitive association with Medusa is questionable. The -Pauline doctrine, that the glory of a woman is her hair, no doubt had -important antecedents: such glory might easily be degraded, and every -hair turn to a fatal 'binder,' like the one golden thread of Lilith -round the heart of her victim; or it might ensnare its owner. In -Treves Cathedral there is a curious old picture of a woman carried -to hell by her beautiful hair; one devil draws her by it, another is -seated on her back and drives her by locks of it as a bridle. - -In the later developments of the myth of Lilith she was, among -the Arabs, transformed to a Ghoul, but in rabbinical legend she -appears to have been influenced by the story of Lamia, whose name is -substituted for Lilith in the Vulgate. Like Lilith, Lamia was robbed -of her children, and was driven by despair to avenge herself on all -children. [44] The name of Lamia was long used to frighten Italian -children, as that of Lilith was by Hebrew nurses. - -It is possible that the part assigned to Lilith in the temptation -of Eve may have been suggested by ancient Egyptian sculptures, -which represent the Tree of Life in Amenti (Paradise) guarded by the -Serpent-goddess Nu. One of these in the British Museum represents -the Osirian on his journey to heaven, and his soul in form of a -human-headed bird, drinking the water of Life as poured out to them -from a jar by the goddess who coils around the sacred sycamore, her -woman's bust and face appearing amid the branches much like Lilith -in our old pictures. - -The Singhalese also have a kind of Lilith or Lamia whom they call -Bodrima, though she is not so much dreaded for the sake of children as -for her vindictive feelings towards men. She is the ghost of a woman -who died in childbirth and in great agony. She may be heard wailing -in the night, it is said, and if she meets any man will choke him -to death. When her wailing is heard men are careful to stay within -doors, but the women go forth with brooms in their hands and abuse -Bodrima with epithets. She fears women, especially when they carry -brooms. But the women have also some compassion for this poor ghost, -and often leave a lamp and some betel leaves where she may get some -warmth and comfort from them. If Bodrima be fired at, there may be -found, perhaps, a dead lizard near the spot in the morning. - -As protomartyr of female independence, Lilith suffered a fate not -unlike that of her sisters and successors in our own time who have -appealed from the legendary decision made in Eden: she became the -prototype of the 'strong-minded' and 'cold-hearted' woman, and -personification of the fatal fascination of the passionless. Her -special relation to children was gradually expanded, and she was -regarded as the perilous seducer of young men, each of her victims -perishing of unrequited passion. She was ever young, and always dressed -with great beauty. It would seem that the curse upon her for forsaking -Adam--that her children should die in infancy--was escaped in the -case of the children she had by Samaël. She was almost as prolific as -Echidna. Through all the latter rabbinical lore it is repeated, 'Samaël -is the fiery serpent, Lilith the crooked serpent,' and from their -union came Leviathan, Asmodeus, and indeed most of the famous devils. - -There is an ancient Persian legend of the first man and woman, Meschia -and Meschiane, that they for a long time lived happily together: -they hunted together, and discovered fire, and made an axe, and with -it built them a hut. But no sooner had they thus set up housekeeping -than they fought terribly, and, after wounding each other, parted. It -is not said which remained ruler of the hut, but we learn that after -fifty years of divorce they were reunited. - -These legends show the question of equality of the sexes to have -been a very serious one in early times. The story of Meschia and -Meschiane fairly represents primitive man living by the hunt; that -of Eden shows man entering on the work of agriculture. In neither -of these occupations would there be any reason why woman should be -so unequal as to set in motion the forces which have diminished her -physical stature and degraded her position. Women can still hunt and -fish, and they are quite man's equal in tilling the soil. [45] - -In all sex-mythology there are intimations that women were taken -captive. The proclamation of female subordination is made not only in -the legend of Eve's creation out of the man's rib, but in the emphasis -with which her name is declared to have been given her because she -was the Mother of all living. In the variously significant legends -of the Amazons they are said to have burned away their breasts that -they might use the bow: in the history of contemporary Amazons--such -as the female Areoi of Polynesia--the legend is interpreted in the -systematic slaughter of their children. In the hunt, Meschia might be -aided by Meschiane in many ways; in dressing the garden Adam might find -Lilith or Eve a 'help meet' for the work; but in the brutal régime of -war the child disables woman, and the affections of maternity render -her man's inferior in the work of butchery. Herakles wins great glory -by slaying Hyppolite; but the legends of her later reappearances--as -Libussa at Prague, &c.,--follow the less mythological story of the -Amazons given by Herodotus (IV. 112), who represents the Scythians -as gradually disarming them by sending out their youths to meet them -with dalliance instead of with weapons. The youths went off with -their captured captors, and from their union sprang the Sauromatæ, -among whom the men and women dressed alike, and fought and hunted -together. But of the real outcome of that truce and union Tennyson -can tell us more than Herodotus: in his Princess we see the woman -whom maternity and war have combined to produce, her independence -betrayed by the tenderness of her nature. The surrender, once secured, -was made permanent for ages by the sentiments and sympathies born of -the child's appeal for compassion. - -In primitive ages the child must in many cases have been a burthen -even to man in the struggle for existence; the population question -could hardly have failed to press its importance upon men, as it does -even upon certain animals; and it would be an especial interest to a -man not to have his hut overrun with offspring not his own,--turning -his fair labour into drudgery for their support, and so cursing the -earth for him. Thus, while Polyandry was giving rise to the obvious -complications under which it must ultimately disappear, it would be -natural that devils of lust should be invented to restrain the maternal -instinct. But as time went on the daughters of Eve would have taken -the story of her fall and hardships too much to heart. The pangs and -perils of childbirth were ever-present monitors whose warnings might -be followed too closely. The early Jewish laws bear distinct traces -of the necessity which had arrived for insisting on the command to -increase and multiply. Under these changed circumstances it would -be natural that the story of a recusant and passionless Eve should -arise and suffer the penalties undergone by Lilith,--the necessity -of bearing, as captive, a vast progeny against her will only to lose -them again, and to long for human children she did not bring forth -and could not cherish. The too passionate and the passionless woman -are successively warned in the origin and outcome of the myth. [46] - -It is a suggestive fact that the descendants of Adam should trace their -fall not to the independent Lilith, who asserted her equality at cost -of becoming the Devil's bride, but to the apparently submissive Eve -who stayed inside the garden. The serpent found out the guarded and -restrained woman as well as the free and defiant, and with much more -formidable results. For craft is the only weapon of the weak against -the strong. The submissiveness of the captive woman must have been -for a long time outward only. When Adam found himself among thorns -and briars he might have questioned whether much had been gained -by calling Eve his rib, when after all she really was a woman, and -prepared to take her intellectual rights from the Serpent if denied -her in legitimate ways. The question is, indeed, hardly out of date -yet when the genius of woman is compelled to act with subtlety and -reduced to exert its influence too often by intrigue. - -It is remarkable that we find something like a similar development to -the two wives of Adam in Hindu mythology also. Káli and Dúrga have the -same origin: the former is represented dancing on the prostrate form -of her 'lord and master,' and she becomes the demoness of violence, -the mother of the diabolical 'Calas' of Singhalese demonolatry. Dúrga -sacrificed herself for her husband's honour, and is now adored. The -counterpart of Dúrga-worship is the Zenana system. In countries where -the Zenana system has not survived, but some freedom has been gained -for woman, it is probable that Káli will presently not be thought of -as necessarily trampling on man, and Lilith not be regarded as the -Devil's wife because she will not submit to be the slave of man. When -man can make him a home and garden which shall not be a prison, and in -which knowledge is unforbidden fruit, Lilith will not have to seek her -liberty by revolution against his society, nor Eve hers by intrigue; -unfitness for co-operation with the ferocities of nature will leave -her a help meet for the rearing of children, and for the recovery -and culture of every garden, whether within or without the man who -now asserts over woman a lordship unnatural and unjust. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -WAR IN HEAVEN. - - The 'Other'--Tiamat, Bohu, 'the Deep'--Ra and Apophis--Hathors-- - Bel's combat--Revolt in Heaven--Lilith--Myth of the Devil at the - creation of Light. - - -In none of the ancient scriptures do we get back to any theory or -explanation of the origin of evil or of the enemies of the gods. In -a Persian text at Persepolis, of Darius I., Ahriman is called with -simplicity 'the Other' (Aniya), and 'the Hater' (Duvaisañt, Zend -thaisat), and that is about as much as we are really told about the -devils of any race. Their existence is taken for granted. The legends -of rebellion in heaven and of angels cast down and transformed to -devils may supply an easy explanation to our modern theologians, but -when we trace them to their origin we discover that to the ancients -they had no such significance. The angels were cast down to Pits -prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and before it, and -when they fell it was into the hands of already existing enemies eager -to torment them. Nevertheless these accounts of rebellious spirits -in heaven are of great importance and merit our careful consideration. - -It is remarkable that the Bible opens with an intimation of the -existence of this 'Other.' Its second verse speaks of a certain -'darkness upon the face of the deep.' The word used here is Bohu, -which is identified as the Assyrian Bahu, the Queen of Hades. In the -inscription of Shalmaneser the word is used for 'abyss of chaos.' [47] -Bahu is otherwise Gula, a form of Ishtar or Allat, 'Lady of the House -of Death,' and an epithet of the same female demon is Nin-cigal, -'Lady of the Mighty Earth.' The story of the Descent of Ishtar into -Hades, the realm of Nin-cigal, has already been told (p. 77); in -that version Ishtar is the same as Astarte, the Assyrian Venus. But -like the moon with which she was associated she waned and declined, -and the beautiful legend of her descent (like Persephone) into Hades -seems to have found a variant in the myth of Bel and the Dragon. There -she is a sea-monster and is called Tiamat (Thalatth of Berosus),--that -is, 'the Deep,' over which rests the darkness described in Genesis -i. 2. The process by which the moon would share the evil repute of -Tiamat is obvious. In the Babylonian belief the dry land rested upon -the abyss of watery chaos from which it was drawn. This underworld -ocean was shut in by gates. They were opened when the moon was created -to rule the night--therefore Prince of Darkness. The formation by Anu -of this Moon-god (Uru) from Tiamat, might even have been suggested -by the rising of the tides under his sway. The Babylonians represent -the Moon as having been created before the Sun, and he emerged from -'a boiling' in the abyss. 'At the beginning of the month, at the rising -of the night, his horns are breaking through to shine on heaven.' [48] -In the one Babylonian design, a seal in the British Museum, [49] which -seems referable to the legend of the Fall of Man, the male figure -has horns. It may have been that this male Moon (Uru) was supposed -to have been corrupted by some female emanation of Tiamat, and to -have fallen from a 'ruler of the night' to an ally of the night. This -female corrupter, who would correspond to Eve, might in this way have -become mistress of the Moon, and ultimately identified with it. - -Although the cause of the original conflict between the Abyss -beneath and the Heaven above is left by ancient inscriptions and -scriptures to imagination, it is not a very strained hypothesis that -ancient Chaos regarded the upper gods as aggressors on her domain -in the work of creation. 'When above,' runs the Babylonian legend, -'were not raised the heavens, and below on the earth a plant had not -grown ... the chaos (or water) Tiamat was the producing mother of the -whole of them.' 'The gods had not sprung up, any one of them.' [50] -Indeed in the legend of the conflict between Bel and the Dragon, -on the Babylonian cylinders, it appears that the god Sar addressed -her as wife, and said, 'The tribute to thy maternity shall be forced -upon them by thy weapons.' [51] The Sun and Moon would naturally be -drawn into any contest between Overworld (with Light) and Underworld -(with Darkness). - -Though Tiamat is called a Dragon, she was pictured by the Babylonians -only as a monstrous Griffin. In the Assyrian account of the fight -it will be seen that she is called a 'Serpent.' The link between -the two--Griffin and Serpent--will be found, I suspect, in Typhonic -influence on the fable. In a hymn to Amen-Ra (the Sun), copied about -fourteenth century b.c. from an earlier composition, as its translator, -Mr. Goodwin, supposes, we have the following:-- - - - The gods rejoice in his goodness who exalts those who are lowly: - Lord of the boat and barge, - They conduct thee through the firmament in peace. - Thy servants rejoice: - Beholding the overthrow of the wicked: - His limbs pierced with the sword: - Fire consumes him: - His soul and body are annihilated. - Naka (the serpent) saves his feet: - The gods rejoice: - The servants of the Sun are in peace. - - -The allusion in the second line indicates that this hymn relates to -the navigation of Ra through Hades, and the destruction of Apophis. - -We may read next the Accadian tablet (p. 256) which speaks of the -seven Hathors as neither male nor female, and as born in 'the Deep.' - -Another Accadian tablet, translated by Mr. Sayce, speaks of these -as the 'baleful seven destroyers;' as 'born in the mountain of the -sunset;' as being Incubi. It is significantly said:--'Among the -stars of heaven their watch they kept not, in watching was their -office.' Here is a primæval note of treachery. [52] - -We next come to a further phase, represented in a Cuneiform tablet, -which must be quoted at length:-- - - - Days of storm, Powers of Evil, - Rebellious spirits, who were born in the lower part of heaven, - They were workers of calamity. - - -(The lines giving the names and descriptions of the spirits are -here broken.) - - - The third was like a leopard, - The fourth was like a snake ... - The fifth was like a dog ... - The sixth was an enemy to heaven and its king. - The seventh was a destructive tempest. - These seven are the messengers of Anu [53] their king. - From place to place by turns they pass. - They are the dark storms in heaven, which into fire unite - themselves. - They are the destructive tempests, which on a fine day sudden - darkness cause. - With storms and meteors they rush. - Their rage ignites the thunderbolts of Im. [54] - From the right hand of the Thunderer they dart forth. - On the horizon of heaven like lightning they ... - Against high heaven, the dwelling-place of Anu the king, they - plotted evil, and had none to withstand them. - When Bel heard this news, he communed secretly with his own heart. - Then he took counsel with Hea the great Inventor (or Sage) of the - gods. - And they stationed the Moon, the Sun, and Ishtar to keep guard over - the approach to heaven. - Unto Anu, ruler of heaven, they told it. - And those three gods, his children, - To watch night and day unceasingly he commanded them. - When those seven evil spirits rushed upon the base of heaven, - And close in front of the Moon with fiery weapons advanced, - Then the noble Sun and Im the warrior side by side stood firm. - But Ishtar, with Anu the king, entered the exalted dwelling, and - hid themselves in the summit of heaven. - - -Column II. - - - Those evil spirits, the messengers of Anu their king ... - They have plotted evil ... - From mid-heaven like meteors they have rushed upon the earth. - Bel, who the noble Moon in eclipse - Saw from heaven, - Called aloud to Paku his messenger: - O my messenger Paku, carry my words to the Deep. [55] - Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed! - To Hea in the Deep repeat this! - Paku understood the words of his Lord. - Unto Hea in the Deep swiftly he went. - To the Lord, the great Inventor, the god Nukimmut, - Paku repeated the words of his Lord. - When Hea in the Deep heard these words, - He bit his lips, and tears bedewed his face. - Then he sent for his son Marduk to help him. - Go to my son Marduk, - Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed! - That eclipse has been seen in heaven! - They are seven, those evil spirits, and death they fear not! - They are seven, those evil spirits, who rush like a hurricane, - And fall like firebrands on the earth! - In front of the bright Moon with fiery weapons (they draw nigh); - But the noble Sun and Im the warrior (are withstanding them). - - -[The rest of the legend is lost.] - -Nukimmut is a name of Hea which occurs frequently: he was the good -genius of the earth, and his son Marduk was his incarnation--a Herakles -or Saviour. It will be noted that as yet Ishtar is in heaven. The -next Tablet, which shows the development of the myth, introduces us -to the great female dragon Tiamat herself, and her destroyer Bel. - - - ... And with it his right hand he armed. - His naming sword he raised in his hand. - He brandished his lightnings before him. - A curved scymitar he carried on his body. - And he made a sword to destroy the Dragon, - Which turned four ways; so that none could avoid its rapid blows. - It turned to the south, to the north, to the east, and to the west. - Near to his sabre he placed the bow of his father Anu. - He made a whirling thunderbolt, and a bolt with double flames, - impossible to extinguish. - And a quadruple bolt, and a septuple bolt, and a ... bolt of - crooked fire. - He took the thunderbolts which he had made, and there were seven - of them, - To be shot at the Dragon, and he put them into his quiver behind - him. - Then he raised his great sword, whose name was 'Lord of the Storm.' - He mounted his chariot, whose name was 'Destroyer of the Impious.' - He took his place, and lifted the four reins - In his hand. - - -[Bel now offers to the Dragon to decide their quarrel by single combat, -which the Dragon accepts. This agrees with the representations of -the combat on Babylonian cylinders in Mr. Smith's 'Chaldean Genesis,' -p. 62, etc.] - - - (Why seekest thou thus) to irritate me with blasphemies? - Let thy army withdraw: let thy chiefs stand aside: - Then I and thou (alone) we will do battle. - When the Dragon heard this. - Stand back! she said, and repeated her command. - Then the tempter rose watchfully on high. - Turning and twisting, she shifted her standing point, - She watched his lightnings, she provided for retreat. - The warrior angels sheathed their swords. - Then the Dragon attacked the just Prince of the gods. - Strongly they joined in the trial of battle, - The King drew his sword, and dealt rapid blows, - Then he took his whirling thunderbolt, and looked well behind - and before him: - And when the Dragon opened her mouth to swallow him, - He flung the bolt into her, before she could shut her lips. - The blazing lightning poured into her inside. - He pulled out her heart; her mouth he rent open; - He drew his (falchion), and cut open her belly. - He cut into her inside and extracted her heart; - He took vengeance on her, and destroyed her life. - When he knew she was dead he boasted over her. - After that the Dragon their leader was slain, - Her troops took to flight: her army was scattered abroad, - And the angels her allies, who had come to help her, - Retreated, grew quiet, and went away. - They fled from thence, fearing for their own lives, - And saved themselves, flying to places beyond pursuit. - He followed them, their weapons he broke up. - Broken they lay, and in great heaps they were captured. - A crowd of followers, full of astonishment, - Its remains lifted up, and on their shoulders hoisted. - And the eleven tribes pouring in after the battle - In great multitudes, coming to see, - Gazed at the monstrous serpent.... - - -In the fragment just quoted we have the 'flaming sword which turned -every way' (Gen. iii. 24). The seven distinct forms of evil are but -faintly remembered in the seven thunderbolts taken by Bel: they are -now all virtually gathered into the one form he combats, and are -thus on their way to form the seven-headed dragon of the Apocalypse, -where Michael replaces Bel. [56] 'The angels, her allies who had come -to help her,' are surely that 'third part of the stars of heaven' -which the apocalyptic dragon's tail drew to the earth in its fall -(Rev. xii. 4). Bel's dragon is also called a 'Tempter.' - -At length we reach the brief but clear account of the 'Revolt in -Heaven' found in a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, and -translated by Mr. Fox Talbot: [57]-- - - - The Divine Being spoke three times, the commencement of a psalm. - The god of holy songs, Lord of religion and worship - seated a thousand singers and musicians: and established a choral - band who to his hymn were to respond in multitudes.... - With a loud cry of contempt they broke up his holy song - spoiling, confusing, confounding his hymn of praise. - The god of the bright crown with a wish to summon his - adherents sounded a trumpet blast which would wake the dead, - which to those rebel angels prohibited return - he stopped their service, and sent them to the gods who were his - enemies. - In their room he created mankind. - The first who received life, dwelt along with him. - May he give them strength never to neglect his word, - following the serpent's voice, whom his hands had made. - And may the god of divine speech expel from his five thousand - that wicked thousand - who in the midst of his heavenly song had shouted evil blasphemies! - - -It will be observed that there were already hostile gods to whom -these riotous angels were sent. It is clear that in both the Egyptian -and Assyrian cosmogonies the upper gods had in their employ many -ferocious monsters. Thus in the Book of Hades, Horus addresses a -terrible serpent: 'My Kheti, great fire, of which this flame in -my eye is the emission, and of which my children guard the folds, -open thy mouth, draw wide thy jaws, launch thy flame against the -enemies of my father, burn their bodies, consume their souls!' [58] -Many such instances could be quoted. In this same book we find a great -serpent, Saa-Set, 'Guardian of the Earth.' Each of the twelve pylons -of Hades is surmounted by its serpent-guards--except one. What has -become of that one? In the last inscription but one, quoted in full, -it will be observed (third line from the last) that eleven (angel) -tribes came in after Bel's battle to inspect the slain dragon. The -twelfth had revolted. These, we may suppose, had listened to 'the -serpent's voice' mentioned in the last fragment quoted. - -We have thus distributed through these fragments all the elements -which, from Egyptian and Assyrian sources gathered around the legend -of the Serpent in Eden. The Tree of Knowledge and that of Life are -not included, and I have given elsewhere my reasons for believing -these to be importations from the ancient Aryan legend of the war -between the Devas and Asuras for the immortalising Amrita. - -In the last fragment quoted we have also a notable statement, that -mankind were created to fill the places that had been occupied by the -fallen angels. It is probable that this notion supplied the basis -of a class of legends of which Lilith is type. She whose place Eve -was created to fill was a serpent-woman, and the earliest mention -of her is in the exorcism already quoted, found at Nineveh. In all -probability she is but another form of Gula, the fallen Istar and -Queen of Hades; in which case her conspiracy with the serpent Samaël -would be the Darkness which was upon the face of Bahu, 'the Deep,' -in the second verse of the Bible. - -The Bible opens with the scene of the gods conquering the Dragon of -Darkness with Light. There is a rabbinical legend, that when Light -issued from under the throne of God, the Prince of Darkness asked the -Creator wherefore he had brought Light into existence? God answered -that it was in order that he might be driven back to his abode of -darkness. The evil one asked that he might see that; and entering -the stream of Light, he saw across time and the world, and beheld the -face of the Messiah. Then he fell upon his face and cried, 'This is -he who shall lay low in ruin me and all the inhabitants of hell!' - -What the Prince of Darkness saw was the vision of a race: beginning -with the words (Gen. i. 3, 4), 'God said, Let there be Light; and -there was Light; and God saw the Light that it was good; and God -divided between the Light and the Darkness;' ending with Rev. xx. 1, -2, 'And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the -bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on -the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound -him a thousand years.' - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -WAR ON EARTH. - - The Abode of Devils--Ketef--Disorder--Talmudic legends--The - restless Spirit--The Fall of Lucifer--Asteria, Hecate, Lilith--The - Dragon's triumph--A Gipsy legend--Cædmon's Poem of the Rebellious - Angels--Milton's version--The Puritans and Prince Rupert--Bel as - ally of the Dragon--A 'Mystery' in Marionettes--European Hells. - - -'Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them! Woe to the earth -and the sea! for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, -because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.' This passage from -the Book of Revelations is the refrain of many and much earlier -scriptures. The Assyrian accounts of the war in heaven, given in -the preceding chapter, by no means generally support the story that -the archdragon was slain by Bel. Even the one that does describe the -chief dragon's death leaves her comrades alive, and the balance of -testimony is largely in favour of the theory which prevailed, that the -rebellious angels were merely cast out of heaven, and went to swell -the ranks of the dark and fearful abode which from the beginning had -been peopled by the enemies of the gods. The nature of this abode is -described in various passages of the Bible, and in many traditions. - -'Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of -the land.' So said Jeremiah (i. 14), in pursuance of nearly universal -traditions as to the region of space in which demons and devils -had their abode. 'Hell is naked before him,' says Job (xxvi. 6), -'and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the north over -the empty place.' According to the Hebrew mythology this habitation -of demons was a realm of perpetual cold and midnight, which Jehovah, -in creating the world, purposely left chaotic; so it was prepared -for the Devil and his angels at the foundation of the world. - -Although this northern hell was a region of disorder, so far as the -people of Jehovah and the divine domain were concerned, they had -among themselves a strong military and aristocratic government. It -was disorder perfectly systematised. The anarchical atmosphere of -the region is reflected in the abnormal structures ascribed to the -many devils with whose traits Jewish and Arabic folklore is familiar, -and which are too numerous to be described here. Such a devil, for -instance, is Bedargon, 'hand-high,' with fifty heads and fifty-six -hearts, who cannot strike any one or be struck, instant death ensuing -to either party in such an attack. A more dangerous devil is Ketef, -identified as the 'terror from the chambers' alluded to by Jeremiah -(xxxii. 25), 'Bitter Pestilence.' His name is said to be from kataf, -'cut and split,' because he divides the course of the day; and those -who are interested to compare Hebrew and Hindu myths may find it -interesting to note the coincidences between Ketef and Ketu, the -cut-off tail of Ráhu, and source of pestilence. [59] Ketef reigns -neither in the dark or day, but between the two; his power over the -year is limited to the time between June 17 and July 9, during which -it was considered dangerous to flog children or let them go out after -four P.M. Ketef is calf-headed, and consists of hide, hair, and eyes; -he rolls like a cask; he has a terrible horn, but his chief terror -lies in an evil eye fixed in his heart which none can see without -instant death. The arch-fiend who reigns over the infernal host has -many Court Fools--probably meteors and comets--who lead men astray. - -All these devils have their regulations in their own domain, but, as -we have said, their laws mean disorder in that part of the universe -which belongs to the family of Jehovah. In flying about the world -they are limited to places which are still chaotic or waste. They -haunt such congenial spots as rocks and ruins, and frequent desert, -wilderness, dark mountains, and the ruins of human habitations. They -can take possession of a wandering star. - -There is a pretty Talmudic legend of a devil having once gone to sleep, -when some one, not seeing him of course, set down a cask of wine on -his ears. In leaping up the devil broke the cask, and being tried for -it, was condemned to repay the damage at a certain period. The period -having elapsed before the money was brought, the devil was asked the -cause of the delay. He replied that it was very difficult for devils -to obtain money, because men were careful to keep it locked or tied -up; and 'we have no power,' he said, 'to take from anything bound -or sealed up, nor can we take anything that is measured or counted; -we are permitted to take only what is free or common.' - -According to one legend the devils were specially angered, because -Jehovah, when he created man, gave him dominion over things in the -sea (Gen. i. 28), that being a realm of unrest and tempest which they -claimed as belonging to themselves. They were denied control of the -life that is in the sea, though permitted a large degree of power -over its waters. Over the winds their rule was supreme, and it was -only by reducing certain demons to slavery that Solomon was able to -ride in a wind-chariot. - -Out of these several realms of order and disorder in nature were -evolved the angels and the devils which were supposed to beset man. The -first man is said to have been like an angel. From the instant of -his creation there attended him two spirits, whom the rabbins found -shadowed out in the sentence, 'Jehovah-Elohim formed man of the dust -of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; -and man became a living soul' (Gen. ii. 7). This 'breath of life' -was a holy spirit, and stood on Adam's right; the 'living soul' was a -restless spirit on his left, which continually moved up and down. When -Adam had sinned, this restless spirit became a diabolical spirit, -and it has ever acted as mediator between man and the realm of anarchy. - -It has been mentioned that in the Assyrian legends of the Revolt in -Heaven we find no adequate intimation of the motive by which the rebels -were actuated. It is said they interrupted the heavenly song, that they -brought on an eclipse, that they afflicted human beings with disease; -but why they did all this is not stated. The motive of the serpent -in tempting Eve is not stated in Genesis. The theory which Cædmon -and Milton have made so familiar, that the dragons aspired to rival -Jehovah, and usurp the throne of Heaven, must, however, have been -already popular in the time of Isaiah. In his rhapsody concerning -the fall of Babylon, he takes his rhetoric from the story of Bel -and the Dragon, and turns a legend, as familiar to every Babylonian -as that of St. George and the Dragon now is to Englishmen, into an -illustration of their own doom. The invective is directed against -the King of Babylon, consequently the sex of the devil is changed; -but the most remarkable change is in the ascription to Lucifer of a -clear purpose to rival the Most High, and seize the throne of heaven. - -'Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming, -it stirreth up the (spirits of) the dead, even all the chief ones -(great goats) of the earth: it hath raised up from their thrones all -the kings of the nations (demon-begotten aliens). All these shall -say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like -unto us? Thy splendour is brought down to the underworld, and the -noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms -cover thee. How art thou fallen, O Lucifer (Daystar), son of the -morning! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the -nations! For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into (the -upper) heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars (archangels) -of God: I will sit (reign) also upon the mount of the congregation -(the assembly of the enemies of God) in the sides of the north. I will -ascend above the heights of the clouds (the thunder-throne of Jehovah); -I will be like the Most High. Yet shalt thou be brought down to hell, -to the sides of the pit.' [60] - -In this passage we mark the arena of the combat shifted from heaven -to earth. It is not the throne of heaven but that of the world at -which the fiends now aim. Nay, there is confession in every line of -the prophecy that the enemy of Jehovah has usurped his throne. Hell -has prevailed, and Lucifer is the Prince of this World. The celestial -success has not been maintained on earth. This would be the obvious -fact to a humiliated, oppressed, heavily-taxed people, who believed -themselves the one family on earth sprung from Jehovah, and their -masters the offspring of demons. This situation gave to the vague -traditions of a single combat between Bel and the Dragon, about an -eclipse or a riot, the significance which it retained ever afterward of -a mighty conflict on earth between the realms of Light and Darkness, -between which the Elohim had set a boundary-line (Gen. i. 4) in -the beginning. - -A similar situation returned when the Jews were under the sway of -Rome, and then all that had ever been said of Babylon was repeated -against Rome under the name of Edom. It recurred in the case of those -Jews who acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah: in the pomp and glory -of the Cæsars they beheld the triumph of the Powers of Darkness, -and the burthen of Isaiah against Lucifer was raised again in that -of the Apocalypse against the seven-headed Dragon. It is notable how -these writers left out of sight the myth of Eden so far as it did -not belong to their race. Isaiah does not say anything even of the -serpent. The Apocalypse says nothing of the two wonderful trees, and -the serpent appears only as a Dragon from whom the woman is escaping, -by whom she is not at all tempted. The shape of the Devil, and the -Combat with him, have always been determined by dangers and evils -that are actual, not such as are archæological. - -A gipsy near Edinburgh gave me his version of the combat between God -and Satan as follows. 'When God created the universe and all things -in it, Satan tried to create a rival universe. He managed to match -everything pretty well except man. There he failed; and God to punish -his pride cast him down to the earth and bound him with a chain. But -this chain was so long that Satan was able to move over the whole -face of the earth!' There had got into this wanderer's head some bit -of the Babylonian story, and it was mingled with Gnostic traditions -about Ildabaoth; but there was also a quaint suggestion in Satan's -long chain of the migration of this mythical combat not only round -the world, but through the ages. - -The early followers of Christ came before the glories of Paganism -with the legend that the lowly should inherit the earth. And though -they speedily surrendered to the rulers of the world in Rome, and made -themselves into a christian aristocracy, when they came into Northern -Europe the christians were again brought to confront with an humble -system the religion of thrones and warriors. St. Gatien celebrating -mass in a cavern beside the Loire, meant as much weakness in presence -of Paganism as the Huguenots felt twelve centuries later hiding in -the like caverns from St. Gatien's priestly successors. - -The burthen of Isaiah is heard again, and with realistic intensity, -in the seventh century, and in the north, with our patriarchial -poet Cædmon. - - - The All-powerful had - Angel-tribes, - Through might of hand, - The holy Lord, - Ten established, - In whom he trusted well - That they his service - Would follow, - Work his will; - Therefore gave he them wit, - And shaped them with his hands, - The holy Lord. - He had placed them so happily, - One he had made so powerful, - So mighty in his mind's thought, - He let him sway over so much, - Highest after himself in heaven's kingdom. - He had made him so fair, - So beauteous was his form in heaven, - That came to him from the Lord of hosts, - He was like to the light stars. - It was his to work the praise of the Lord, - It was his to hold dear his joys in heaven, - And to thank his Lord - For the reward that he had bestowed on him in that light; - Then had he let him long possess it; - But he turned it for himself to a worse thing, - Began to raise war upon him, - Against the highest Ruler of heaven, - Who sitteth in the holy seat. - Dear was he to our Lord, - But it might not be hidden from him - That his angel began - To be presumptuous, - Raised himself against his Master, - Sought speech of hate, - Words of pride towards him, - Would not serve God, - Said that his body was - Light and beauteous, - Fair and bright of hue: - He might not find in his mind - That he would God - In subjection, - His Lord, serve: - Seemed to himself - That he a power and force - Had greater - Than the holy God - Could have - Of adherents. - Many words spake - The angel of presumption: - Thought, through his own power, - How he for himself a stronger - Seat might make, - Higher in heaven: - Said that him his mind impelled, - That he west and north - Would begin to work, - Would prepare structures: - Said it to him seemed doubtful - That he to God would - Be a vassal. - 'Why shall I toil?' said he; - 'To me it is no whit needful. - To have a superior; - I can with my hands as many - Wonders work; - I have great power - To form - A diviner throne, - A higher in heaven. - Why shall I for his favour serve, - Bend to him in such vassalage? - I may be a god as he - Stand by me strong associates, - Who will not fail me in the strife, - Heroes stern of mood, - They have chosen me for chief, - Renowned warriors! - With such may one devise counsel, - With such capture his adherents; - They are my zealous friends, - Faithful in their thoughts; - I may be their chieftain, - Sway in this realm: - Thus to me it seemeth not right - That I in aught - Need cringe - To God for any good; - I will no longer be his vassal.' - When the All-powerful it - All had heard, - That his angel devised - Great presumption - To raise up against his Master, - And spake proud words - Foolishly against his Lord, - Then must he expiate the deed, - Share the work of war, - And for his punishment must have - Of all deadly ills the greatest. - So doth every man - Who against his Lord - Deviseth to war, - With crime against the great Ruler. - Then was the Mighty angry; - The highest Ruler of heaven - Hurled him from the lofty seat; - Hate had he gained at his Lord, - His favour he had lost, - Incensed with him was the Good in his mind, - Therefore must he seek the gulf - Of hard hell-torment, - For that he had warred with heaven's Ruler, - He rejected him then from his favour, - And cast him into hell, - Into the deep parts, - Where he became a devil: - The fiend with all his comrades - Fell then from heaven above, - Through as long as three nights and days, - The angels from heaven into hell; - And them all the Lord transformed to devils, - Because they his deed and word - Would not revere; - Therefore them in a worse light, - Under the earth beneath, - Almighty God - Had placed triumphless - In the swart hell; - There they have at even, - Immeasurably long, - Each of all the fiends, - A renewal of fire; - Then cometh ere dawn - The eastern wind, - Frost bitter-cold, - Ever fire or dart; - Some hard torment - They must have, - It was wrought for them in punishment, - Their world was changed: - For their sinful course - He filled hell - With the apostates. - - -Whether this spirited description was written by Cædmon, and whether -it is of his century, are questions unimportant to the present -inquiry. The poem represents a mediæval notion which long prevailed, -and which characterised the Mysteries, that Satan and his comrades -were humiliated from the highest angelic rank to a hell already -prepared and peopled with devils, and were there, and by those devils, -severely punished. One of the illuminations of the Cædmon manuscript, -preserved in the Bodleian Library, shows Satan undergoing his torment -(Fig. 3). He is bound over something like a gridiron, and four devils -are torturing him, the largest using a scourge with six prongs. His -face manifests great suffering. His form is mainly human, but his -bushy tail and animal feet indicate that he has been transformed to -a devil similar to those who chastise him. - -On Cædmon's foundation Milton built his gorgeous edifice. His -Satan is an ambitious and very English lord, in whom are reflected -the whole aristocracy of England in their hatred and contempt of -the holy Puritan Commonwealth, the Church of Christ as he deemed -it. The ages had brought round a similar situation to that which -confronted the Jews at Babylon, the early Christians of Rome, and -their missionaries among the proud pagan princes of the north. The -Church had long allied itself with the earlier Lucifers of the north, -and now represented the proud empire of a satanic aristocracy, and -the persecuted Nonconformists represented the authority of the King -of kings. In the English palace, and in the throne of Canterbury, -Milton saw his Beelzebub and his Satan. - - - Th' infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile, - Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived - The mother of mankind, what time his pride - Had cast him out from heav'n, with all his host - Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring - To set himself in glory above his peers - He trusted to have equall'd the Most High, - If he opposed; and with ambitious aim - Against the throne and monarchy of God - Raised impious war in heav'n, and battle proud, - With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power - Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, - With hideous ruin and combustion, down - To bottomless perdition, there to dwell - In adamantine chains and penal fire, - Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. [61] - - -This adaptation of the imagery of Isaiah concerning Lucifer has in -it all the thunder hurled by Cromwell against Charles. Even a Puritan -poet might not altogether repress admiration for the dash and daring -of a Prince Rupert, to which indeed even his prosaic co-religionists -paid the compliment of ascribing to it a diabolical source. [62] Not -amid conflicts that raged in ancient Syria broke forth such lines as-- - - - Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n. - - With rallied arms to try what may be yet - Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in hell. - - -The Bel whom Milton saw was Cromwell, and the Dragon that serpent -of English oppression which the Dictator is trampling on in a -well-known engraving of his time. In the history of the Reformation -the old legend did manifold duty again, as in the picture (Fig. 13) -by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach. - -It would seem that in the course of time Bel and the Dragon became -sufficiently close allies for their worshippers to feed and defend -them both with equal devotion, and for Daniel to explode them both in -carrying on the fight of his deity against the gods of Babylon. This -story of Bel is apocryphal as to the canon, but highly significant as -to the history we are now considering. Although the Jews maintained -their struggle against 'principalities and powers' long after it had -been a forlorn hope, and never surrendered, nor made alliance with the -Dragon, the same cannot be said of those who appropriated their title -of 'the chosen of God,' counterfeited their covenant, and travestied -their traditions. The alliance of Christianity and the Dragon has -not been nominal, but fearfully real. In fulfilling their mission of -'inheriting the earth,' the 'meek' called around them and pressed into -their service agents and weapons more diabolical than any with which -the Oriental imagination had peopled the abode of devils in the north. - -At a Fair in Tours (August 1878) I saw two exhibitions which were -impressive enough in the light they cast through history. One was -a shrunken and sufficiently grotesque production by puppets of the -Mediæval 'Mystery' of Hell. Nearly every old scheme and vision of -the underworld was represented in the scene. The three Judges sat -to hear each case. A devil rang a bell whenever any culprit appeared -at the gate. The accused was ushered in by a winged devil--Satan, the -Accuser--who, by the show-woman's lips, stated the charges against each -with an eager desire to make him or her out as wicked as possible. A -devil with pitchfork received the sentenced, and shoved them down into -a furnace. There was an array of brilliant dragons around, but they -appeared to have nothing to do beyond enjoying the spectacle. But this -exhibition which was styled 'Twenty minutes in Hell,' was poor and -faint beside the neighbouring exhibition of the real Hell, in which -Europe had been tortured for fifteen centuries. Some industrious -Germans had got together in one large room several hundreds of the -instruments of torture by which the nations of the West were persuaded -to embrace Christianity. Every limb, sinew, feature, bone, and nerve of -the human frame had suggested to christian inventiveness some ingenious -device by which it might be tortured. Wheels on which to break bones, -chairs of anguish, thumbscrews, the iron Virgin whose embrace pierced -through every vital part; the hunger-mask which renewed for Christ's -sake the exact torment of Tantalus; even the machine which bore the -very name of the enemy that was cast down--the Dragon's Head! By such -instrumentalities came those quasi-miraculous 'Triumphs of the Cross,' -of which so much has been said and sung! The most salient phenomenon -of christian history is the steady triumph of the Dragon. Misleader -and Deceiver to the last, he is quite willing to sprinkle his fork -and rack with holy water, to cross himself, to label his caldrons -'divine justice,' to write CHRIST upon his forehead; by so doing he -was able to spring his infernal engine on the best nations, and cow -the strongest hearts, till from their pallid lips were wrung the -'confessions of faith,' or the last cry of martyred truth. So was -he able to assault the pure heavens once more, to quench the stars -of human faith and hope, and generate a race of polite, learned, -and civilised hypocrites. But the ancient sunbeams are after him: -the mandate has again gone forth, 'Let there be light,' and the Light -that now breaks forth is not of that kind which respects the limit -of Darkness. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -STRIFE. - - Hebrew god of War--Samaël--The father's blessing and curse--Esau - --Edom--Jacob and the Phantom--The planet Mars--Tradesman and - Huntsman--'The Devil's Dream.' - - - Who is this that cometh from Edom, - In dyed garments from Bozrah? - This that is glorious in his apparel, - Travelling in the greatness of his strength? - I who promise deliverance, mighty to save. - Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, - And thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-vat? - I have trodden the wine-press alone; - And of the peoples there was none with me: - And I will tread them in mine anger, - And trample them in my fury; - And their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, - And I will stain all my raiment. - For the day of vengeance is in my heart, - And the year of mine avenged is come. - And I looked, and there was none to help; - And I wondered that there was none to uphold; - Therefore mine own arm gained me the victory, - And mine own fury, it upheld me. - And I will tread down the peoples in mine anger, - And make them drunk in my wrath, - And will bring down their strength to the earth. [63] - - -This is the picture of the god of War. Upon it the comment in Emek -Hammelech is: 'The colour of the godless Samaël and of all his princes -and lords has the aspect of red fire; and all their emanations are -red. Samaël is red, also his horse, his sword, his raiment, and the -ground beneath him, are red. In the future the Holy God shall wear -his raiment.' [64] Samaël is leader of the Opposition. He is the -Soul of the fiery planet Mars. He is the Creator and inspirer of -all Serpents. Azazel, demon of the Desert, is his First Lord. He was -the terrestrial Chief around whom the fallen angels gathered, and his -great power was acknowledged. All these characters the ancient Rabbins -found blended in his name. Simmé (dazzling), Sóme (blinding), Semól -(the left side), and Samhammaveth (deadly poison), were combined in -the terrible name of Samaël. He ruled over the sinister Left. When -Moses, in war with the Amalekites, raised his ten fingers, it was a -special invocation to the Ten Sephiroth, Divine Emanations, because -he knew the power which the Amalekites got from Samaël might turn his -own left hand against Israel. [65] The scapegoat was a sacrifice to -him through Azazel. - -Samaël is the mythologic expression and embodiment of the history of -Esau, afterward Edom. Jacob and Esau represented the sheep and the -goat, divided in the past and to be sundered for ever. As Jacob by -covering his flesh with goat-skins obtained his father's blessing due -to Esau, the Israelites wandering through the wilderness (near Edom's -forbidden domain) seemed to have faith that the offering of a goat -would convince his Viceroy Azazel that they were orthodox Edomites. The -redness of Samaël begins with the red pottage from which Esau was -called Edom. The English version does not give the emphasis with which -Esau is said to have called for the pottage--"the red! the red!" The -characteristics ascribed to Esau in the legend are merely a saga built -on the local names with which he was associated. 'Edom' means red, -and 'Seir' means hairy. It probably meant the 'Shaggy Mountains.' [66] - -It is interesting to observe the parting of the human and the -theological myths in this story. Jacob is the third person of a -patriarchal trinity,--Abraham the Heavenly Father, Isaac the Laugher -(the Sun), and Jacob the Impostor or Supplanter. As the moon supplants -the sun, takes hold of his heel, shines with his light, so does Jacob -supplant his elder brother; and all the deadliness ascribed to the -Moon, and other Third Persons of Trinities, was inherited by Jacob -until his name was changed by euphemism. As the impartial sun shines -for good and evil, the smile of Isaac, the Laugher, promised great -blessings to both of his sons. The human myth therefore represents -both of them gaining great power and wealth, and after a long feud -they are reconciled. This feature of the legend we shall consider -hereafter. Jehovah has another interest to be secured. He had -declared that one should serve the other; that they should be -cursed who cursed Jacob; and he said, 'Jacob have I loved, Esau -have I hated.' Jahvistic theology had here something more important -than two brothers to harmonise; namely a patriarch's blessing and -a god's curse. It was contrary to all orthodoxy that a man whom -Jehovah hated should possess the blessings of life; it was equally -unorthodox that a father's blessing should not carry with it every -advantage promised. It had to be recorded that Esau became powerful, -lived by his sword, and had great possessions. - -It had also to be recorded that 'Edom revolted from under the hand of -Judah and made a king unto themselves,' and that such independence -continued 'unto this day' (2 Kings viii. 20, 22). There was thus no -room for the exhibition of Jacob's superiority,--that is of Israel's -priority over Edom,--in this world; nor yet any room to carry out -Isaac's curse on all who cursed Jacob, and the saying: 'Jacob have -I loved, Esau have I hated, and laid his mountains and his heritage -waste for the dragons of the wilderness' (Mal. i.). - -Answers to such problems as these evolve themselves slowly -but inevitably. The agonised cry of the poor girl in Browning's -poem--'There may be heaven, there must be hell'--marks the direction in -which necessity led human speculation many ages before her. A future -had to be invented for the working out of the curse on Esau, who on -earth had to fulfil his father's blessing by enjoying power, wealth, -and independence of his brother. In that future his greatness while -living was repaid by his relegation to the desert and the rock with -the he-goat for his support. Esau was believed to have been changed -into a terrible hairy devil. [67] But still there followed him in his -phantasmal transformation a ghostly environment of his former power -and greatness; the boldest and holiest could not afford to despise -or set aside that 'share' which had been allotted him in the legend, -and could not be wholly set aside in the invisible world. - -Jacob's share began with a shrewd bargain with his imprudent -brother. Jacob by his cunning in the breeding of the streaked animals -(Gen. xxx.), by which he outwitted Laban, and other manoeuvres, was -really the cause of bringing on the race called after him that repute -for extortion, affixed to them in such figures as Shylock, which they -have found it so hard to live down. In becoming the great barterers -of the East, their obstacle was the plunderer sallying forth from -the mountain fastnesses or careering over the desert. These were the -traditional descendants of Esau, who gradually included the Ishmaelites -as well as the Edomites, afterwards merged in the Idumeans. But as -the tribal distinctions became lost, the ancient hostility survived -in the abstract form of this satan of Strife--Samaël. He came to -mean the spirit that stirs up antagonism between those who should be -brethren. He finally became, and among the more superstitious Jews -still is, instigator of the cruel persecutions which have so long -pursued their race, and the prejudices against them which survive -even in countries to whose wealth, learning, and arts they have -largely contributed. In Jewish countries Edom has long been a name -for the power of Rome and Romanism, somewhat in the same way as the -same are called 'Babylon' by some christians. Jacob, when passing -into the wilderness of Edom, wrestled with the invisible power of -Esau, or Samaël, and had not been able to prevail except with a lame -thigh,--a part which, in every animal, Israel thereafter held sacred -to the Opposing Power and abstained from eating. A rabbinical legend -represents Jacob as having been bitten by a serpent while he was -lingering about the boundary of Edom, and before his gift of goats -and other cattle had been offered to his brother. The fiery serpents -which afflicted Israel were universally attributed to Samaël, and -the raising of the Brazen Serpent for the homage of the people was an -instance of the uniform deference to Esau's power in his own domain -which was long inculcated. - -As I write, fiery Mars, near enough for the astronomer to detect -its moons, is a wondrous phenomenon in the sky. Beneath it fearful -famine is desolating three vast countries, war is raging between -two powerful nations, and civil strife is smiting another ere it has -fairly recovered from the wounds of a foreign struggle. The dismal -conditions seem to have so little root in political necessity that -one might almost be pardoned even now for dreaming that some subtle -influence has come among men from the red planet that has approached -the earth. How easy then must it have been in a similar conjunction of -earthly and celestial phenomena to have imagined Samaël, the planetary -Spectre, to be at work with his fatal fires! Whatever may have been -the occasion, the red light of Mars at an early period fixed upon that -planet the odium of all the burning, blighting, desert-producing powers -of which it was thought necessary to relieve the adorable Sun. It -was believed that all 'born under' that planet were quarrelsome. And -it was part of the popular Jewish belief in the ultimate triumph of -good over evil that under Mars the Messias was to be born. - -We may regard Esau-Samaël then as the Devil of Strife. His traditional -son Cain was like himself a 'murderer from the beginning;' [68] but in -that early period the conflict was between the nomad and the huntsman -on one side, on the other the agriculturist and the cattle-breeder, -who was never regarded as a noble figure among the Semitic tribes. In -the course of time some Semitic tribes became agriculturists, and among -them, in defiance of his archæological character, Samaël was saddled -with the evils that beset them. As an ox he brought rinderpest. But -his visible appearance was still more generally that of the raven, -the wild ass, the hog which brought scurvy; while in shape of a dog -he was so generally believed to bring deadly disease, that it would -seem as if 'hydrophobia' was specially attributed to him. - -In process of time benignant Peace dwelt more and more with the -agriculturists, but still among the Israelites the tradesman was -the 'coming man,' and to him peace was essential. The huntsman, of -the Esau clan, figures in many legends, of which the following is -translated from the Arabic by Lane:--There was a huntsman who from a -mountain cave brought some honey in his water-skin, which he offered -to an oilman; when the oilman opened the skin a drop of honey fell -which a bird ate; the oilman's cat sprang on the bird and killed it; -the huntsman's hound killed the cat; the oilman killed the dog; the -huntsman killed the oilman; and as the two men belonged to different -villages, their inhabitants rose against each other in battle, -'and there died of them a great multitude, the number of whom none -knoweth but God, whose name be exalted!' [69] - -Esau's character as a wild huntsman is referred to in another -chapter. It is as the genius of strife and nomadic war that he more -directly stands in contrast with his 'supplanter.' - -From the wild elemental demons of storm and tempest of the most -primitive age to this Devil of Strife, the human mind has associated -evil with unrest. 'The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot -rest.' Such is the burthen of the Japanese Oni throned in the heart -of the hurricane, of the wild huntsman issuing forth at the first -note of war, of Edom hating the victories of peace, living by the -sword. The prophecy that the Prince of Peace should be born under -the planet Mars is a strange and mystical suggestion. In a powerful -poem by Thomas Aird, 'The Devil's Dream,' the last fearful doom of -Satan's vision is imprisonment beneath a lake for ever still,--the -Spirit of Unrest condemned for ever to the realm of absolute stillness! - - - There all is solemn idleness: no music here, no jars, - Where Silence guards the coast, e'er thrill her everlasting bars. - No sun here shines on wanton isles; but o'er the burning sheet - A rim of restless halo shakes, which marks the internal heat; - As, in the days of beauteous earth, we see with dazzled sight - The red and setting sun o'erflow with rings of welling light. - - Oh! here in dread abeyance lurks of uncreated things - The last Lake of God's Wrath, where He His first great Enemy brings. - Deep in the bosom of the gulf the Fiend was made to stay, - Till, as it seemed, ten thousand years had o'er him rolled away; - In dreams he had extended life to bear the fiery space; - But all was passive, dull, and stern within his dwelling-place. - - Oh! for a blast of tenfold ire to rouse the giant surge, - Him from that flat fixed lethargy impetuously to urge! - Let him but rise, but ride upon the tempest-crested wave - Of fire enridged tumultuously, each angry thing he'd brave! - The strokes of Wrath, thick let them fall! a speed so glorious dread - Would bear him through, the clinging pains would strip from off - his head. - - The vision of this Last Stern Lake, oh! how it plagued his soul, - Type of that dull eternity that on him soon must roll, - When plans and issues all must cease that earlier care beguiled, - And never era more shall stand a landmark on the wild: - Nor failure nor success is there, nor busy hope nor fame, - But passive fixed endurance, all eternal and the same. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -BARBARIC ARISTOCRACY. - - Jacob, the 'Impostor'--The Barterer--Esau, the 'Warrior'--Barbarian - Dukes--Trade and War--Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau--Their - Ghosts--Legend of Iblis--Pagan Warriors of Europe--Russian - Hierarchy of Hell. - - -In the preceding chapter it was noted that there were two myths -wrapped up in the story of Jacob and Esau,--the one theological, -the other human. The former was there treated, the latter may be -considered here. Rabbinical theology has made the Jewish race adopt -as their founder that tricky patriarch whom Shylock adopted as his -model; but any censure on them for that comes with little grace -from christians who believe that they are still enjoying a covenant -which Jacob's extortions and treacheries were the divinely-adopted -means of confirming. It is high time that the Jewish people should -repudiate Jacob's proceedings, and if they do not give him his first -name ('Impostor') back again, at least withdraw from him the name -Israel. But it is still more important for mankind to study the phases -of their civilisation, and not attribute to any particular race the -spirit of a legend which represents an epoch of social development -throughout the world. - -When Rebekah asked Jehovah why her unborn babes struggled in her -womb, he answered, 'Two nations are in thy womb. One people shall -be stronger than the other people; the elder shall be subject to -the younger.' What peoples these were is described in the blessings -of Jacob on the two representatives when they had grown up to be, -the one red and hairy, a huntsman; the other a quiet man, dwelling -in tents and builder of cattle-booths. - -Jacob--cunning, extortionate, fraudulent in spirit even when -technically fair--is not a pleasing figure in the eyes of the -nineteenth century. But he does not belong to the nineteenth -century. His contest was with Esau. The very names of them belong -to mythology; they are not individual men; they are conflicting -tendencies and interests of a primitive period. They must be thought -of as Israel and Edom historically; morally, as the Barter principle -and the Bandit principle. - -High things begin low. Astronomy began as Astrology; and when Trade -began there must have been even more trickery about it than there -is now. Conceive of a world made up of nomadic tribes engaged in -perpetual warfare. It is a commerce of killing. If a tribe desires -the richer soil or larger possessions of another, the method is to -exterminate that other. But at last there rises a tribe either too -weak or too peaceful to exterminate, and it proposes to barter. It -challenges its neighbours to a contest of wits. They try to get the -advantage of each other in bargains; they haggle and cheat; and it -is not heroic at all, but it is the beginning of commerce and peace. - -But the Dukes of Edom as they are called will not enter into this -compact. They have not been used to it; they are always outwitted -at a bargain; just like those other red men in the West of America, -whose lands are bought with beads, and their territorial birthright -taken for a mess of pottage. They prefer to live by the hunt and by -the sword. Then between these two peoples is an eternal feud, with -an occasional truce, or, in biblical phrase, 'reconciliation.' - -Surrounded by a commercial civilisation, with its prosaic virtues and -its petty vices, we cannot help admiring much about the Duke of Edom, -non-producer though he be. Brave, impulsive, quick to forgive as to -resent; generous, as people can afford to be when they may give what -they never earned; his gallant qualities cast a certain meanness -over his grasping brother, the Israelite. It is a healthy sign in -youth to admire such qualities. The boy who delights in Robin Hood; -the youth who feels a stir of enthusiasm when he reads Schiller's -Robbers; the ennuyés of the clubs and the roughs, with unfulfilled -capacities for adventure in them, who admire 'the gallant Turk,' are -all lingering in the nomadic age. They do not think of things but -of persons. They are impressed by the barbaric dash. The splendour -of warriors hides trampled and decimated peasantries; their courage -can gild atrocities. Beside such captivating qualities and thrilling -scenes how poor and commonplace appear thrifty rusticity, and the -cautious, selfish, money-making tradesmen! - -But fine and heroic as the Duke of Edom may appear in the distance, -it is best to keep him at a distance. When Robin Hood reappeared on -Blackheath lately, his warmest admirers were satisfied to hear he was -securely lodged in gaol. The Jews had just the same sensations about -the Dukes of Edom. They saw that tribe near to, and lived in daily -dread of them. They were hirsute barbarians, dwelling amid mountain -fastnesses, and lording it over a vast territory. The weak tribe of -the plains had no sooner got together some herds and a little money, -than those dashing Edomites fell upon them and carried away their -savings and substance in a day. This made the bartering tribe all the -more dependent on their cunning. They had to match their wits against, -the world; and they have had to do the same to this day, when it is -a chief element of their survival that their thrift is of importance -to the business and finance of Europe. But in the myth it is shown -that Trade, timorous as it is in presence of the sword, may have a -magnanimity of its own. The Supplanter of Edom is haunted by the wrong -he has done his elder brother, and driven him to greater animosity. He -resolves to seek him, offer him gifts, and crave reconciliation. It is -easy to put an unfavourable construction upon his action, but it is not -necessary. The Supplanter, with droves of cattle, a large portion of -his possessions, passes out towards perilous Edom, unarmed, undefended, -except by his amicable intentions towards the powerful chieftain -he had wronged. At the border of the hostile kingdom he learns that -the chieftain is coming to meet him with four hundred men. He is now -seized, with a mighty spirit of Fear. He sends on the herdsmen with -the herds, and remains alone. During the watches of the night there -closes upon him this phantom of Fear, with its presage of Death. The -tricky tradesman has met his Conscience, and it is girt about with -Terror. But he feels that his nobler self is with it, and that he -will win. Finely has Charles Wesley told the story in his hymn:-- - - - Come, O thou traveller unknown, - Whom still I hold but cannot see! - My company before is gone - And I am left alone with thee: - With thee all night I mean to stay - And wrestle till the break of day. - - -'Confident in self-despair,' the Supplanter conquers his Fear; with -the dawn he travels onward alone to meet the man he had outraged -and his armed men, and to him says, 'I have appeared before thee as -though I had appeared before God, that thou mightest be favourable -to me.' The proud Duke is disarmed. The brothers embrace and weep -together. The chieftain declines the presents, and is only induced -to accept them as proof of his forgiveness. The Tradesman learns for -all time that his mere cleverness may bring a demon to his side in -the night, and that he never made so good a bargain as when he has -restored ill-gotten gains. The aristocrat and warrior returns to his -mountain, aware now that magnanimity and courage are not impossible -to quiet men living by merchandise. The hunting-ground must make way -now for the cattle-breeder. The sword must yield before the balances. - -Whatever may have been the tribes which in primitive times had -these encounters, and taught each other this lesson, they were long -since reconciled. But the ghosts of Israel and Edom, of Barter and -Plunder, fought on through long tribal histories. Israel represented -by the archangel Michael, and Edom by dragon Samaël, waged their -war. One characteristic of the opposing power has been already -considered. Samaël embodied Edom as the genius of Strife. He was the -especial Accuser of Israel, their Antichrist, so to say, as Michael -was their Advocate. But the name 'Edom' itself was retained as a kind -of personification of the barbaric military and lordly Devil. The -highwayman in epaulettes, the heroic spoiler, with his hairy hand -which Israel itself had imitated many a time in its gloves, were -summed up as 'Edom.' - -This personification is the more important since it has characterised -the more serious idea of Satan which prevails in the world. He is -mainly a moral conception, and means the pride and pomp of the world, -its natural wildness and ferocities, and the glory of them. The -Mussulman fable relates that when Allah created man, and placed him -in a garden, he called all the angels to worship this crowning work -of his hands. Iblis alone refused to worship Adam. The very idea of -a garden is hateful to the spirit of Nomadism. [70] Man the gardener -receives no reverence from the proud leader of the Seraphim. God -said unto him (Iblis), What hindered thee from worshipping Adam, -since I commanded thee? He answered, I am more excellent than he: -thou hast created me of (ethereal) fire, and hast created him of clay -(black mud). God said, Get thee down therefore from paradise, for it -is not fit that thou behave thyself proudly therein. [71] - -The earnestness and self-devotion of the northern pagans in their -resistance to Christianity impressed the finest minds in the Church -profoundly. Some of the Fathers even quoted the enthusiasm of those -whom they regarded as devotees of the Devil, to shame the apathy of -christians. The Church could show no martyr braver than Rand, down -whose throat St. Olaf made a viper creep, which gnawed through his -side; and Rand was an example of thousands. This gave many of the early -christians of the north a very serious view of the realm of Satan, -and of Satan himself as a great potentate. It was increased by their -discovery that the pagan kings--Satan's subjects--had moral codes and -law-courts, and energetically maintained justice. In this way there -grew up a more dignified idea of Hell. The grotesque imps receded -before the array of majestic devils, like Satan and Beelzebub; and -these were invested with a certain grandeur and barbaric pride. They -were regarded as rival monarchs who had refused to submit themselves to -Jehovah, but they were deemed worthy of heroic treatment. The traces of -this sentiment found in the ancient frescoes of Russia are of especial -importance. Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the Hierarchy of Hell -as they appear in some of these superb pictures. Satan is generally -depicted with similar dignity to the king of heaven, from whom he is -divided by a wall's depth, sometimes even resembling him in all but -complexion and hair (which is fire on Satan). There are frequent -instances, as in the accompanying figure (4), where, in careful -correspondence with the attitude of Christ on the Father's knees, -Satan supports the betrayer of Christ. Beside the king of Hell, -seated in its Mouth, are personages of distinction, some probably -representing those poets and sages of Greece and Rome, the prospect -of whose damnation filled some of the first christian Fathers with -such delight. - -In Spain, when a Bishop is about to baptize one of the European -Dukes of the Devil, he asks at the font what has become of his -ancestors, naming them--all heathen. 'They are all in hell!' replies -the Bishop. 'Then there will I follow them,' returns the Chief, and -thereafter by no persuasion can he be induced to fare otherwise than -to Hell. Gradually the Church made up its mind to ally itself with -this obstinate barbaric pride and ambition. It was willing to give -up anything whatever for a kingdom of this world, and to worship any -number of Princes of Darkness, if they would give unto the Bishops -such kingdoms, and the glory of them. They induced Esau to be baptized -by promise of their aid in his oppressions, and free indulgences to -all his passions; and then, by his help, they were able to lay before -weaker Esaus the christian alternatives--Be baptized or burnt! - -Not to have known how to conquer in bloodless victories the barbaric -Esaus of the world by a virtue more pure, a heroism more patient, -than theirs, and with that 'sweet reasonableness of Christ,' -which is the latest epitaph on his tomb among the rich; not to have -recognised the true nobility of the Dukes, and purified their pride -to self-reverence, their passion to moral courage, their daring and -freedom to a self-reliance at once gentle and manly; this was no doubt -the necessary failure of a dogmatic and irrational system. But it -is this which has made the christian Israel more of an impostor than -its prototype, in every country to which it came steadily developing -to a hypocritical imitator of the Esau whose birthright it stole -by baptism. It speedily lost his magnanimity, but never his sword, -which however it contrived to make at once meaner and more cruel -by twisting it into thumbscrews and the like. For many centuries -its voice has been, in a thin phonographic way, the voice of Jesus, -but the hands are the hands of Esau with Samaël's claw added. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -JOB AND THE DIVIDER. - - Hebrew Polytheism--Problem of Evil--Job's disbelief in a - future life--The Divider's realm--Salted Sacrifices--Theory - of Orthodoxy--Job's reasoning--His humour--Impartiality of - Fortune between the evil and good--Agnosticism of Job--Elihu's - eclecticism--Jehovah of the Whirlwind--Heresies of Job--Rabbinical - legend of Job--Universality of the legend. - - - Israel is a flourishing vine, - Which bringeth forth fruit to itself; - According to the increase of his fruit - He hath multiplied his altars; - According to the goodness of his land - He hath made goodly images. - Their heart is divided: now shall they be found guilty; - He will break down their altars, he will spoil their images. - - -These words of the prophet Hosea (x. 1, 2) foreshadow the devil which -the devout Jahvist saw growing steadily to enormous strength through -all the history of Israel. The germ of this enemy may be found in our -chapter on Fate; one of its earliest developments is indicated in the -account already given of the partition between Jacob and Esau, and the -superstition to which that led of a ghostly Antagonist, to whom a share -had been irreversibly pledged. From the principle thus adopted, there -grew a host of demons whom it was believed necessary to propitiate by -offering them their share. A divided universe had for its counterpart -a divided loyalty in the heart of the people. The growth of a belief -in the supremacy of one God was far from being a real monotheism; as -a matter of fact no primitive race has been monotheistic. In 2 Kings -xvii. it is stated as a belief of the Jews that some Assyrians who -had been imported into their territory (Samaria) were slain by lions -because they knew not 'the manner of the God of the land.' Spinoza -noticed the indications given in this and other narratives that -the Jews believed that gods whose worship was intolerable within -their own boundaries were yet adapted to other regions (Tractatus, -ii.). With this state of mind it is not wonderful that when the Jews -found themselves in those alien regions they apprehended that the -gods of those countries might also employ lions on such as knew not -their manner, but adhered to the worship of Jehovah too exclusively. - -Among the Jews grew up a more spiritual class of minds, whose feeling -towards the mongrel worship around them was that of abhorrence; but -these had a very difficult cause to maintain. The popular superstitions -were firmly rooted in the fact that terrible evils afflicted mankind, -and in the further fact that these did not spare the most pious. Nay, -it had for a long time been a growing belief that the bounties and -afflictions of nature, instead of following the direction promised by -the patriarchs,--rewarding the pious, punishing the wicked,--were -distributed in a reverse way. Dives and Lazarus seemed to have -their respective lots before any future paradise was devised for -their equalisation--as indeed is natural, since Dives attends to -his business, while Lazarus is investing his powers in Abraham's -bosom. Out of this experience there came at last the demand for a -life beyond the grave, without whose redress the pious began to deem -themselves of all men the most miserable. But before this heavenly -future became a matter of common belief, there were theories which -prepared, the way for it. It was held by the devout that the evils -which afflicted the righteous were Jehovah's tests of their loyalty -to him, and that in the end such trials would be repaid. And when -observation, following the theory, showed that they were not so -repaid, it was said the righteousness had been unreal, the devotee -was punished for hidden wickedness. When continued observation had -proved that this theory too was false, and that piety was not paid in -external bounties, either to the good man or his family, the solution -of a future settlement was arrived at. - -This simple process may be traced in various races, and in its -several phases. - -The most impressive presentation of the experiences under which the -primitive secular theory of rewards and punishments perished, and -that of an adjustment beyond the grave arose, is found in the Book -of Job. The solution here reached--a future reward in this life--is -an impossible one for anything more than an exceptional case. But -the Book of Job displays how beautiful such an instance would be, -showing afflictions to be temporary and destined to be followed by -compensations largely outweighing them. It was a tremendous statement -of the question--If a man die, shall he live again? Jehovah answered, -'Yes' out of the whirlwind, and raised Job out of the dust. But -for the millions who never rose from the dust that voice was heard -announcing their resurrection from a trial that pressed them even -into the grave. It is remarkable that Job's expression of faith that -his Vindicator would appear on earth, should have become the one text -of the Old Testament which has been adapted by christians to express -faith in immortality. Job strongly disowns that faith. - - - There is hope for a tree, - If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, - And that its tender branches will not fail; - Though its root may have grown old in the earth, - And though its trunk be dead upon the ground, - At the scent of water it will bud, - And put forth boughs, like a young plant. - But man dieth and is gone for ever! - - Yet I know that my Vindicator liveth, - And will stand up at length on the earth; - And though with my skin this body be wasted away, - Yet in my flesh shall I see God. - Yea, I shall see him my friend; - My eyes shall behold him no longer an adversary; - For this my soul panteth within me. [72] - - -The scenery and details of this drama are such as must have made -an impression upon the mind of the ancient Jews beyond what is now -possible for any existing people. In the first place, the locality -was the land of Uz, which Jeremiah (Lam. iv. 21) points out as part -of Edom, the territory traditionally ruled over by the great invisible -Accuser of Israel, who had succeeded to the portion of Esau, adversary -of their founder, Jacob. Job was within the perilous bounds. And -yet here, where scape-goats were offered to deprecate Samaël, and -where in ordinary sacrifices some item entered for the devil's share, -Job refused to pay any honour to the Power of the Place. He offered -burnt-offerings alone for himself and his sons, these being exclusively -given to Jehovah. [73] Even after his children and his possessions were -destroyed by this great adversary, Job offered his sacrifice without -even omitting the salt, which was the Oriental seal of an inviolable -compact between two, and which so especially recalled and consecrated -the covenant with Jehovah. [74] Among his twenty thousand animals, -Azazel's animal, the goat, is not even named. Job's distinction was -an absolute and unprecedented singleness of loyalty to Jehovah. - -This loyalty of a disciple even in the enemy's country is -made the subject of a sort of boast by Jehovah when the Accuser -enters. Postponing for the moment consideration of the character and -office of this Satan, we may observe here that the trial which he -challenges is merely a test of the sincerity of Job's allegiance -to Jehovah. The Accuser claims that it is all given for value -received. These possessions are taken away. - -This is but the framework around the philosophical poem in which all -theories of the world are personified in grand council. - -First of all Job (the Troubled) asks--Why? Orthodoxy answers. (Eliphaz -was the son of Esau (Samaël), and his name here means that he was -the Accuser in disguise. He, 'God's strength,' stands for the Law. It -affirms that God's ways are just, and consequently afflictions imply -previous sin.) Eliphaz repeats the question put by the Accuser in -heaven--'Was not thy fear of God thy hope?' And he brings Job to the -test of prayer, in which he has so long trusted. Eliphaz rests on -revelation; he has had a vision; and if his revelation be not true, -he challenges Job to disprove it by calling on God to answer him, or -else securing the advocacy of some one of the heavenly host. Eliphaz -says trouble does not spring out of the dust. - -Job's reply is to man and God--Point out the error! Grant my troubles -are divine arrows, what have I done to thee, O watcher of men! Am I -a sea-monster--and we imagine Job looking at his wasted limbs--that -the Almighty must take precautions and send spies against me? - -Then follows Bildad the Shuhite,--that is the 'contentious,' one -of the descendants of Keturah (Abraham's concubine), traditionally -supposed to be inimical to the legitimate Abrahamic line, and at a -later period identified as the Turks. Bildad, with invective rather -than argument, charges that Job's children had been slain for their -sins, and otherwise makes a personal application of Eliphaz's theology. - -Job declares that since God is so perfect, no man by such standard -could be proved just; that if he could prove himself just, the -argument would be settled by the stronger party in his own favour; -and therefore, liberated from all temptation to justify himself, he -affirms that the innocent and the guilty are dealt with much in the -same way. If it is a trial of strength between God and himself, he -yields. If it is a matter of reasoning, let the terrors be withdrawn, -and he will then be able to answer calmly. For the present, even if -he were righteous, he dare not lift up his head to so assert, while -the rod is upon him. - -Zophar 'the impudent' speaks. Here too, probably, is a disguise: -he is (says the LXX.) King of the Minæans, that is the Nomades, and -his designation 'the Naamathite,' of unknown significance, bears a -suspicious resemblance to Naamah, a mythologic wife of Samaël and -mother of several devils. Zophar is cynical. He laughs at Job for -even suggesting the notion of an argument between himself and God, -whose wisdom and ways are unsearchable. He (God) sees man's iniquity -even when it looks as if he did not. He is deeper than hell. What -can a man do but pray and acknowledge his sinfulness? - -But Job, even in his extremity, is healthy-hearted enough to laugh -too. He tells his three 'comforters' that no doubt Wisdom will die -with them. Nevertheless, he has heard similar remarks before, and he -is not prepared to renounce his conscience and common-sense on such -grounds. And now, indeed, Job rises to a higher strain. He has made -up his mind that after what has come upon him, he cares not if more -be added, and challenges the universe to name his offence. So long as -his transgression is 'sealed up in a bag,' he has a right to consider -it an invention. [75] - -Temanite Orthodoxy is shocked at all this. Eliphaz declares that -Job's assertion that innocent and guilty suffer alike makes the fear -of God a vain thing, and discourages prayer. 'With us are the aged -and hoary-headed.' (Job is a neologist.) Eliphaz paints human nature -in Calvinistic colours. - - - Behold, (God) putteth no trust in his ministering spirits, - And the heavens are not pure in his sight; - Much less abominable and polluted man, - Who drinketh iniquity as water! - - -The wise have related, and they got it from the fathers to whom -the land was given, and among whom no stranger was allowed to bring -his strange doctrines, that affliction is the sign and punishment -of wickedness. - -Job merely says he has heard enough of this, and finds no wise man -among them. He acknowledges that such reproaches add to his sorrows. He -would rather contend with God than with them, if he could. But he -sees a slight indication of divine favour in the remarkable unwisdom -of his revilers, and their failure to prove their point. - -Bildad draws a picture of what he considers would be the proper -environment of a wicked man, and it closely resembles the situation -of Job. - -But Job reminds him that he, Bildad, is not God. It is God that has -brought him so low, but God has been satisfied with his flesh. He -has not yet uttered any complaint as to his conduct; and so he, -Job, believes that his vindicator will yet appear to confront his -accusers--the men who are so glib when his afflictor is silent. [76] - -Zophar harps on the old string. Pretty much as some preachers -go on endlessly with their pictures of the terrors which haunted -the deathbeds of Voltaire and Paine, all the more because none are -present to relate the facts. Zophar recounts how men who seemed good, -but were not, were overtaken by asps and vipers and fires from heaven. - -But Job, on the other hand, has a curious catalogue of examples in -which the notoriously wicked have lived in wealth and gaiety. And -if it be said God pays such off in their children, Job denies the -justice of that. It is the offender, and not his child, who ought -to feel it. The prosperous and the bitter in soul alike lie down in -the dust at last, the good and the evil; and Job is quite content to -admit that he does not understand it. One thing he does understand: -'Your explanations are false.' - -But Eliphaz insists on Job having a dogma. If the orthodox dogma is -not true, put something in its place! Why are you afflicted? What is, -your theory? Is it because God was afraid of your greatness? It must be -as we say, and you have been defrauding and injuring people in secret. - -Job, having repeated his ardent desire to meet God face to face as -to his innocence, says he can only conclude that what befalls him and -others is what is 'appointed' for them. His terror indeed arises from -that: the good and the evil seem to be distributed without reference -to human conduct. How darkness conspires with the assassin! If God -were only a man, things might be different; but as it is, 'what he -desireth that he doeth,' and 'who can turn him?' - -Bildad falls back on his dogma of depravity. Man is a 'worm,' a -'reptile.' Job finds that for a worm Bildad is very familiar with the -divine secrets. If man is morally so weak he should be lowly in mind -also. God by his spirit hath garnished the heavens; his hand formed -the 'crooked serpent'-- - - - Lo! these are but the borders of his works; - How faint the whisper we have heard of him! - But the thunder of his power who can understand? - - -Job takes up the position of the agnostic, and the three 'Comforters' -are silenced. The argument has ended where it had to end. Job then -proceeds with sublime eloquence. A man may lose all outward things, but -no man or god can make him utter a lie, or take from him his integrity, -or his consciousness of it. Friends may reproach him, but he can see -that his own heart does not. That one superiority to the wicked he -can preserve. In reviewing his arguments Job is careful to say that -he does not maintain that good and evil men are on an equality. For -one thing, when the wicked man is in trouble he cannot find resource -in his innocence. 'Can he delight himself in the Almighty?' When such -die, their widows do not bewail them. Men do not befriend oppressors -when they come to want. Men hiss them. And with guilt in their heart -they feel their sorrows to be the arrows of God, sent in anger. In -all the realms of nature, therefore, amid its powers, splendours, -and precious things, man cannot find the wisdom which raises him -above misfortune, but only in his inward loyalty to the highest, -and freedom from moral evil. - -Then enters a fifth character, Elihu, whose plan is to mediate -between the old dogma and the new agnostic philosophy. He is Orthodoxy -rationalised. Elihu's name is suggestive of his ambiguity; it seems to -mean one whose 'God is He' and he comes from the tribe of Buz, whose -Hebrew meaning might almost be represented in that English word which, -with an added z, would best convey the windiness of his remarks. Buz -was the son of Milkah, the Moon, and his descendant so came fairly -by his theologic 'moonshine' of the kind which Carlyle has so well -described in his account of Coleridgean casuistry. Elihu means to be -fair to both sides! Elihu sees some truth in both sides! Eclectic -Elihu! Job is perfectly right in thinking he had not done anything -to merit his sufferings, but he did not know what snares were -around him, and how he might have done something wicked but for his -affliction. Moreover, God ruins people now and then just to show how -he can lift them up again. Job ought to have taken this for granted, -and then to have expressed it in the old abject phraseology, saying, -'I have received chastisement; I will offend no more! What I see not, -teach thou me!' (A truly Elihuic or 'contemptible' answer to Job's -sensible words, 'Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?' Why -administer the rod which enlightens as to the anger but not its cause, -or as to the way of amend?) In fact the casuistic Elihu casts no light -whatever on the situation. He simply overwhelms him with metaphors and -generalities about the divine justice and mercy, meant to hide this -new and dangerous solution which Job had discovered--namely, that -the old dogmatic theories of evil were proved false by experience, -and that a good man amid sorrow should admit his ignorance, but never -allow terror to wring from him the voice of guilt, nor the attempt -to propitiate divine wrath. - -When Jehovah appears on the scene, answering Job out of the whirlwind, -the tone is one of wrath, but the whole utterance is merely an -amplification of what Job had said--what we see and suffer are but -fringes of a Whole we cannot understand. The magnificence and wonder -of the universe celebrated in that voice of the whirlwind had to be -given the lame and impotent conclusion of Job 'abhorring himself,' -and 'repenting in dust and ashes.' The conventional Cerberus must -have his sop. But none the less does the great heart of this poem -reveal the soul that was not shaken or divided in prosperity or -adversity. The burnt-offering of his prosperous days, symbol of a -worship which refused to include the supposed powers of mischief, -was enjoined on Job's Comforters. They must bend to him as nearer God -than they. And in his high philosophy Job found what is symbolised in -the three daughters born to him: Jemima (the Dove, the voice of the -returning Spring); Kezia (Cassia, the sweet incense); Kerenhappuch -(the horn of beautiful colour, or decoration). - -From the Jewish point of view this triumph of Job represented a -tremendous heresy. The idea that afflictions could befall a man without -any reference to his conduct, and consequently not to be influenced -by the normal rites and sacrifices, is one fatal to a priesthood. If -evil may be referred in one case to what is going on far away among -gods in obscurities of the universe, and to some purpose beyond the -ken of all sages, it may so be referred in all cases, and though -burnt-offerings may be resorted to formally, they must cease when -their powerlessness is proved. Hence the Rabbins have taken the -side of Job's Comforters. They invented a legend that Job had been -a great magician in Egypt, and was one of those whose sorceries so -long prevented the escape of Israel. He was converted afterwards, -but it is hinted that his early wickedness required the retribution -he suffered. His name was to them the troubler troubled. - -Heretical also was the theory that man could get along without any -Angelolatry or Demon-worship. Job in his singleness of service, -fearing God alone, defying the Seraphim and Cherubim from Samaël -down to do their worst, was a perilous figure. The priests got no -part of any burnt-offering. The sin-offering was of almost sumptuary -importance. Hence the rabbinical theory, already noticed, that it -was through neglect of these expiations to the God of Sin that the -morally spotless Job came under the power of his plagues. - -But for precisely the same reasons the story of Job became -representative to the more spiritual class of minds of a genuine as -contrasted with a nominal monotheism, and the piety of the pure, the -undivided heart. Its meaning is so human that it is not necessary to -discuss the question of its connection with the story of Harischandra, -or whether its accent was caught from or by the legends of Zoroaster -and of Buddha, who passed unscathed through the ordeals of Ahriman -and Mara. It was repeated in the encounters of the infant Christ with -Herod, and of the adult Christ with Satan. It was repeated in the -unswerving loyalty of the patient Griselda to her husband. It is indeed -the heroic theme of many races and ages, and it everywhere points to -a period when the virtues of endurance and patience rose up to match -the agonies which fear and weakness had tried to propitiate,--when -man first learned to suffer and be strong. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -SATAN. - - Public Prosecutors--Satan as Accuser--English Devil-worshipper - --Conversion by Terror--Satan in the Old Testament--The trial - of Joshua--Sender of Plagues--Satan and Serpent--Portrait of - Satan--Scapegoat of Christendom--Catholic 'Sight of Hell'-- - The ally of Priesthoods. - - -There is nothing about the Satan of the Book of Job to indicate him -as a diabolical character. He appears as a respectable and powerful -personage among the sons of God who present themselves before Jehovah, -and his office is that of a public prosecutor. He goes to and fro -in the earth attending to his duties. He has received certificates -of character from A. Schultens, Herder, Eichorn, Dathe, Ilgen, who -proposed a new word for Satan in the prologue of Job, which would -make him a faithful but too suspicious servant of God. - -Such indeed he was deemed originally; but it is easy to see how the -degradation of such a figure must have begun. There is often a clamour -in England for the creation of Public Prosecutors; yet no doubt there -is good ground for the hesitation which its judicial heads feel in -advising such a step. The experience of countries in which Prosecuting -Attorneys exist is not such as to prove the institution one of unmixed -advantage. It is not in human nature for an official person not to make -the most of the duty intrusted to him, and the tendency is to raise -the interest he specially represents above that of justice itself. A -defeated prosecutor feels a certain stigma upon his reputation as much -as a defeated advocate, and it is doubtful whether it be safe that -the fame of any man should be in the least identified with personal -success where justice is trying to strike a true balance. The recent -performances of certain attorneys in England and America retained by -Societies for the Suppression of Vice strikingly illustrate the dangers -here alluded to. The necessity that such salaried social detectives -should perpetually parade before the community as purifiers of society -induces them to get up unreal cases where real ones cannot be easily -discovered. Thus they become Accusers, and from this it is an easy -step to become Slanderers; nor is it a very difficult one which may -make them instigators of the vices they profess to suppress. - -The first representations of Satan show him holding in his hand -the scales; but the latter show him trying slyly with hand or -foot to press down that side of the balance in which the evil -deeds of a soul are being weighed against the good. We need not -try to track archæologically this declension of a Prosecutor, by -increasing ardour in his office, through the stages of Accuser, -Adversary, Executioner, and at last Rival of the legitimate Rule, -and tempter of its subjects. The process is simple and familiar. I -have before me a little twopenny book, [77] which is said to have -a vast circulation, where one may trace the whole mental evolution -of Satan. The ancient Devil-worshipper who has reappeared with such -power in England tells us that he was the reputed son of a farmer, -who had to support a wife and eleven children on from 7s. to 9s. per -week, and who sent him for a short time to school. 'My schoolmistress -reproved me for something wrong, telling me that God Almighty took -notice of children's sins. This stuck to my conscience a great while; -and who this God Almighty could be I could not conjecture; and how he -could know my sins without asking my mother I could not conceive. At -that time there was a person named Godfrey, an exciseman, in the town, -a man of a stern and hard-favoured countenance, whom I took notice of -for having a stick covered with figures, and an ink-bottle hanging at -the button-hole of his coat. I imagined that man to be employed by -God Almighty to take notice and keep an account of children's sins; -and once I got into the market-house and watched him very narrowly, -and found that he was always in a hurry, by his walking so fast; and I -thought he had need to hurry, as he must have a deal to do to find out -all the sins of children!' This terror caused the little Huntington to -say his prayers. 'Punishment for sin I found was to be inflicted after -death, therefore I hated the churchyard, and would travel any distance -round rather than drag my guilty conscience over that enchanted spot.' - -The child is father to the man. When Huntington, S.S., grew up, it -was to record for the thousands who listened to him as a prophet his -many encounters with the devil. The Satan he believes in is an exact -counterpart of the stern, hard-favoured exciseman whom he had regarded -as God's employé. On one occasion he writes, 'Satan began to tempt me -violently that there was no God, but I reasoned against the belief of -that from my own experience of his dreadful wrath, saying, How can I -credit this suggestion, when (God's) wrath is already revealed in my -heart, and every curse in his book levelled at my head.' (That seems -his only evidence of God's existence--his wrath!) 'The Devil answered -that the Bible was false, and only wrote by cunning men to puzzle and -deceive people. 'There is no God,' said the adversary, 'nor is the -Bible true.' ... I asked, 'Who, then, made the world?' He replied, -'I did, and I made men too.' Satan, perceiving my rationality almost -gone, followed me up with another temptation; that as there was no -God I must come back to his work again, else when he had brought me -to hell he would punish me more than all the rest. I cried out, 'Oh, -what will become of me! what will become of me!' He answered that -there was no escape but by praying to him; and that he would show me -some lenity when he took me to hell. I went and sat in my tool-house -halting between two opinions; whether I should petition Satan, or -whether I should keep praying to God, until I could ascertain the -consequences. While I was thinking of bending my knees to such a -cursed being as Satan, an uncommon fear of God sprung up in my heart -to keep me from it.' - -In other words, Mr. Huntington wavered between the petitions 'Good -Lord! Good Devil!' The question whether it were more moral, more -holy, to worship the one than the other did not occur to him. He -only considers which is the strongest--which could do him the most -mischief--which, therefore, to fear the most; and when Satan has almost -convinced him in his own favour, he changes round to God. Why? Not -because of any superior goodness on God's part. He says, 'An uncommon -fear of God sprung up in my heart.' The greater terror won the day; -that is to say, of two demons he yielded to the stronger. Such an -experience, though that of one living in our own time, represents a -phase in the development of the relation between God and Satan which -would have appeared primitive to an Assyrian two thousand years -ago. The ethical antagonism of the two was then much more clearly -felt. But this bit of contemporary superstition may bring before us -the period when Satan, from having been a Nemesis or Retributive Agent -of the divine law, had become a mere personal rival of his superior. - -Satan, among the Jews, was at first a generic term for an adversary -lying in wait. It is probably the furtive suggestion at the root of -this Hebrew word which aided in its selection as the name for the -invisible adverse powers when they were especially distinguished. But -originally no special personage, much less any antagonist of Jehovah, -was signified by the word. Thus we read: 'And God's anger was kindled -because he (Balaam) went; and the angel of the Lord stood in the way -for a Satan against him.... And the ass saw the angel of the Lord -standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand.' [78] The eyes of -Balaam are presently opened, and the angel says, 'I went out to be a -Satan to thee because the way is perverse before me.' The Philistines -fear to take David with them to battle lest he should prove a Satan to -them, that is, an underhand enemy or traitor. [79] David called those -who wished to put Shimei to death Satans; [80] but in this case the -epithet would have been more applicable to himself for affecting to -protect the honest man for whose murder he treacherously provided. [81] - -That it was popularly used for adversary as distinct from evil appears -in Solomon's words, 'There is neither Satan nor evil occurrent.' [82] -Yet it is in connection with Solomon that we may note the entrance -of some of the materials for the mythology which afterwards invested -the name of Satan. It is said that, in anger at his idolatries, -'the Lord stirred up a Satan unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: -he was of the king's seed in Edom.' [83] Hadad, 'the Sharp,' bore -a name next to that of Esau himself for the redness of his wrath, -and, as we have seen in a former chapter, Edom was to the Jews the -land of 'bogeys.' 'Another Satan,' whom the Lord 'stirred up,' was -the Devastator, Prince Rezon, founder of the kingdom of Damascus, -of whom it is said, 'he was a Satan to Israel all the days of -Solomon.' [84] The human characteristics of supposed 'Scourges of -God' easily pass away. The name that becomes traditionally associated -with calamities whose agents were 'stirred up' by the Almighty is not -allowed the glory of its desolations. The word 'Satan,' twice used in -this chapter concerning Solomon's fall, probably gained here a long -step towards distinct personification as an eminent national enemy, -though there is no intimation of a power daring to oppose the will of -Jehovah. Nor, indeed, is there any such intimation anywhere in the -'canonical' books of the Old Testament. The writer of Psalm cix., -imprecating for his adversaries, says: 'Set thou a wicked man over -him; and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, -let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin.' In this there is -an indication of a special Satan, but he is supposed to be an agent -of Jehovah. In the catalogue of the curses invoked of the Lord, -we find the evils which were afterwards supposed to proceed only -from Satan. The only instance in the Old Testament in which there -is even a faint suggestion of hostility towards Satan on the part of -Jehovah is in Zechariah. Here we find the following remarkable words: -'And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of -Jehovah, and the Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And -Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; even Jehovah, -that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked -out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and -stood before the angel. And he answered and spake to those that stood -before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to -him he said, Lo, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, -and I will clothe thee with goodly raiment.' [85] - -Here we have a very fair study and sketch of that judicial trial of -the soul for which mainly the dogma of a resurrection after death -was invented. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments is not -one which a priesthood would invent or care for, so long as they -possessed unrestricted power to administer such in this life. It is -when an alien power steps in to supersede the priesthood--the Gallio -too indifferent whether ceremonial laws are carried out to permit the -full application of terrestrial cruelties--that the priest requires a -tribunal beyond the grave to execute his sentence. In this picture -of Zechariah we have this invisible Celestial Court. The Angel -of Judgment is in his seat. The Angel of Accusation is present to -prosecute. A poor filthy wretch appears for trial. What advocate can -he command? Where is Michael, the special advocate of Israel? He does -not recognise one of his clients in this poor Joshua in his rags. But -lo! suddenly Jehovah himself appears; reproves his own commissioned -Accuser; declares Joshua a brand plucked from the burning (Tophet); -orders a change of raiment, and, condoning his offences, takes him -into his own service. But in all this there is nothing to show general -antagonism between Jehovah and Satan, but the reverse. - -When we look into the Book of Job we find a Satan sufficiently -different from any and all of those mentioned under that name in other -parts of the Old Testament to justify the belief that he has been -mainly adapted from the traditions of other regions. The plagues and -afflictions which in Psalm cix. are invoked from Jehovah, even while -Satan is mentioned as near, are in the Book of Job ascribed to Satan -himself. Jehovah only permits Satan to inflict them with a proviso -against total destruction. Satan is here named as a personality in -a way not known elsewhere in the Old Testament, unless it be in 1 -Chron. xxi. 1, where Satan (the article being in this single case -absent) is said to have 'stood up against Israel, and provoked David -to number Israel.' But in this case the uniformity of the passage with -the others (excepting those in Job) is preserved by the same incident -being recorded in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, 'The anger of Jehovah was kindled -against Israel, and he (Jehovah) moved David against them to say, -Go number Israel and Judah.' - -It is clear that, in the Old Testament, it is in the Book of Job -alone that we find Satan as the powerful prince of an empire which -is distinct from that of Jehovah,--an empire of tempest, plague, and -fire,--though he presents himself before Jehovah, and awaits permission -to exert his power on a loyal subject of Jehovah. The formality of -a trial, so dear to the Semitic heart, is omitted in this case. And -these circumstances confirm the many other facts which prove this -drama to be largely of non-Semitic origin. It is tolerably clear that -the drama of Harischandra in India and that of Job were both developed -from the Sanskrit legends mentioned in our chapter on Viswámitra; and -it is certain that Aryan and Semitic elements are both represented in -the figure of Satan as he has passed into the theology of Christendom. - -Nor indeed has Satan since his importation into Jewish literature -in this new aspect, much as the Rabbins have made of him, ever -been assigned the same character among that people that has been -assigned him in Christendom. He has never replaced Samaël as their -Archfiend. Rabbins have, indeed, in later times associated him -with the Serpent which seduced Eve in Eden; but the absence of any -important reference to that story in the New Testament is significant -of the slight place it had in the Jewish mind long after the belief -in Satan had become popular. In fact, that essentially Aryan myth -little accorded with the ideas of strife and immorality which the -Jews had gradually associated with Samaël. In the narrative, as -it stands in Genesis, it is by no means the Serpent that makes the -worst appearance. It is Jehovah, whose word--that death shall follow -on the day the apple is eaten--is falsified by the result; and while -the Serpent is seen telling the truth, and guiding man to knowledge, -Jehovah is represented as animated by jealousy or even fear of man's -attainments. All of which is natural enough in an extremely primitive -myth of a combat between rival gods, but by no means possesses the -moral accent of the time and conditions amid which Jahvism certainly -originated. It is in the same unmoral plane as the contest of the -Devas and Asuras for the Amrita, in Hindu mythology, a contest of -physical force and wits. - -The real development of Satan among the Jews was from an accusing -to an opposing spirit, then to an agent of punishment--a hated -executioner. The fact that the figure here given (Fig. 5) was -identified by one so familiar with Semitic demonology as Calmet as a -representation of him, is extremely interesting. It was found among -representations of Cherubim, and on the back of one somewhat like -it is a formula of invocation against demons. The countenance is of -that severe beauty which the Greeks ascribed to Nemesis. Nemesis has -at her feet the wheel and rudder, symbols of her power to overtake -the evil-doer by land or sea; the feet of this figure are winged -for pursuit. He has four hands. In one he bears the lamp which, like -Lucifer, brings light on the deed of darkness. As to others, he answers -Baruch's description (Ep. 13, 14) of the Babylonian god, 'He hath a -sceptre in his hand like a man, like a judge of the kingdom--he hath -in his hand a sword and an axe.' He bears nicely-graduated implements -of punishment, from the lash that scourges to the axe that slays; and -his retributive powers are supplemented by the scorpion tail. At his -knees are signets; whomsoever he seals are sealed. He has the terrible -eyes which were believed able to read on every forehead a catalogue -of sins invisible to mortals, a power that made women careful of -their veils, and gave meaning to the formula 'Get thee behind me!' [86] - -Now this figure, which Calmet believed to be Satan, bears on its -reverse, 'The Everlasting Sun.' He is a god made up of Egyptian and -Magian forms, the head-plumes belonging to the one, the multiplied -wings to the other. Matter (Hist. Crit. de Gnost.) reproduces it, -and says that 'it differs so much from all else of the kind as to -prove it the work of an impostor.' But Professor C. W. King has a -(probably fifth century) gem in his collection evidently a rude copy -of this (reproduced in his 'Gnostics,' Pl. xi. 3), on the back of -which is 'Light of Lights;' and, in a note which I have from him, -he says that it sufficiently proves Matter wrong, and that this form -was primitive. In one gem of Professor King's (Pl. v. 1) the lamp -is also carried, and means the 'Light of Lights.' The inscription -beneath, within a coiled serpent, is in corrupt cuneiform characters, -long preserved by the Magi, though without understanding them. There -is little doubt, therefore, that the instinct of Calmet was right, -and that we have here an early form of the detective and retributive -Magian deity ultimately degraded to an accusing spirit, or Satan. - -Although the Jews did not identify Satan with their Scapegoat, yet -he has been veritably the Scapegoat among devils for two thousand -years. All the nightmares and phantasms that ever haunted the human -imagination have been packed upon him unto this day, when it is -almost as common to hear his name in India and China as in Europe and -America. In thus passing round the world, he has caught the varying -features of many fossilised demons: he has been horned, hoofed, -reptilian, quadrupedal, anthropoid, anthropomorphic, beautiful, ugly, -male, female; the whites painted him black, and the blacks, with -more reason, painted him white. Thus has Satan been made a miracle -of incongruities. Yet through all these protean shapes there has -persisted the original characteristic mentioned. He is prosecutor -and executioner under the divine government, though his office has -been debased by that mental confusion which, in the East, abhors the -burner of corpses, and, in the West, regards the public hangman with -contempt; the abhorrence, in the case of Satan, being intensified -by the supposition of an overfondness for his work, carried to the -extent of instigating the offences which will bring him victims. - -In a well-known English Roman Catholic book [87] of recent times, there -is this account of St. Francis' visit to hell in company with the Angel -Gabriel:--'St. Francis saw that, on the other side of (a certain) soul, -there was another devil to mock at and reproach it. He said, Remember -where you are, and where you will be for ever; how short the sin was, -how long the punishment. It is your own fault; when you committed that -mortal sin you knew how you would be punished. What a good bargain you -made to take the pains of eternity in exchange for the sin of a day, -an hour, a moment. You cry now for your sin, but your crying comes -too late. You liked bad company; you will find bad company enough -here. Your father was a drunkard, look at him there drinking red-hot -fire. You were too idle to go to mass on Sundays; be as idle as you -like now, for there is no mass to go to. You disobeyed your father, -but you dare not disobey him who is your father in hell.' - -This devil speaks as one carrying out the divine decrees. He -preaches. He utters from his chasuble of flame the sermons of Father -Furniss. And, no doubt, wherever belief in Satan is theological, this -is pretty much the form which he assumes before the mind (or what such -believers would call their mind, albeit really the mind of some Syrian -dead these two thousand years). But the Satan popularly personalised -was man's effort to imagine an enthusiasm of inhumanity. He is the -necessary appendage to a personalised Omnipotence, whose thoughts are -not as man's thoughts, but claim to coerce these. His degradation -reflects the heartlessness and the ingenuity of torture which must -always represent personal government with its catalogue of fictitious -crimes. Offences against mere Majesty, against iniquities framed in -law, must be doubly punished, the thing to be secured being doubly -weak. Under any theocratic government law and punishment would become -the types of diabolism. Satan thus has a twofold significance. He -reports what powerful priesthoods found to be the obstacles to their -authority; and he reports the character of the priestly despotisms -which aimed to obstruct human development. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM. - - Pharaoh and Herod--Zoroaster's mother--Ahriman's emissaries--Kansa - and Krishna--Emissaries of Kansa--Astyages and Cyrus--Zohák--Bel - and the Christian. - - -The Jews had already, when Christ appeared, formed the theory that -the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and his resistance to the departure -of Israel from Egypt, were due to diabolical sorcery. The belief -afterwards matured; that Edom (Esau or Samaël) was the instigator -of Roman aggression was steadily forming. The mental conditions -were therefore favourable to the growth of a belief in the Jewish -followers of Christ that the hostility to the religious movement -of their time was another effort on the part of Samaël to crush -the kingdom of God. Herod was not, indeed, called Satan or Samaël, -nor was Pharaoh; but the splendour and grandeur of this Idumean -(the realm of Esau), notwithstanding his oppressions and crimes, -had made him a fair representative to the people of the supernatural -power they dreaded. Under these circumstances it was a powerful appeal -to the sympathies of the Jewish people to invent in connection with -Herod a myth exactly similar to that associated with Pharaoh,--namely, -a conspiracy with sorcerers, and consequent massacre of all new-born -children. - -The myths which tell of divine babes supernaturally saved from royal -hostility are veritable myths, even where they occur so late in -time that historic names and places are given; for, of course, it is -impossible that by any natural means either Pharaoh or Herod should be -aware of the peculiar nature of any particular infant born in their -dominions. Such traditions, when thus presented in historical guise, -can only be explained by reference to corresponding fables written out -in simpler mythic form; while it is especially necessary to remember -that such corresponding narratives may be of independent ethnical -origin, and that the later in time may be more primitive spiritually. - -In the Legend of Zoroaster [88] his mother Dogdo, previous to his -birth, has a dream in which she sees a black cloud, which, like -the wing of some vast bird, hides the sun, and brings on frightful -darkness. This cloud rains down on her house terrible beasts with -sharp teeth,--tigers, lions, wolves, rhinoceroses, serpents. One -monster especially attacks her with great fury, and her unborn babe -speaks in reassuring terms. A great light rises and the beasts fall. A -beautiful youth appears, hurls a book at the Devas (Devils), and they -fly, with exception of three,--a wolf, a lion, and a tiger. These, -however, the youth drives away with a luminous horn. He then replaces -the holy infant in the womb, and says to the mother: 'Fear nothing! The -King of Heaven protects this infant. The earth waits for him. He is -the prophet whom Ormuzd sends to his people: his law will fill the -world with joy: he will make the lion and the lamb drink in the same -place. Fear not these ferocious beasts; why should he whom Ormuzd -preserves fear the enmity of the whole world?' With these words -the youth vanished, and Dogdo awoke. Repairing to an interpreter, -she was told that the Horn meant the grandeur of Ormuzd; the Book -was the Avesta; the three Beasts betokened three powerful enemies. - -Zoroaster was born laughing. This prodigy being noised abroad, the -Magicians became alarmed, and sought to slay the child. One of them -raised a sword to strike him, but his arm fell to the ground. The -Magicians bore the child to the desert, kindled a fire and threw him -into it, but his mother afterwards found him sleeping tranquilly and -unharmed in the flames. Next he was thrown in front of a drove of -cows and bulls, but the fiercest of the bulls stood carefully over -the child and protected him. The Magicians killed all the young of -a pack of wolves, and then cast the infant Zoroaster to them that -they might vent their rage upon him, but the mouths of the wolves -were shut. They abandoned the child on a lonely mountain, but two -ewes came and suckled him. - -Zoroaster's father respected the ministers of the Devas (Magi), -but his child rebuked him. Zoroaster walked on the water (crossing -a great river where was no bridge) on his way to Mount Iran where he -was to receive the Law. It was then he had the vision of the battle -between the two serpent armies,--the white and black adders, the -former, from the South, conquering the latter, which had come from -the North to destroy him. - -The Legend of the Infant Krishna is as follows:--The tyrant Kansa, -having given his sister Devaki in marriage to Vasudéva, as he was -returning from the wedding heard a voice declare, 'The eighth son of -Devaki is destined to be thy destroyer.' Alarmed at this, Kansa cast -his sister and her husband into a prison with seven iron doors, and -whenever a son was born he caused it to be instantly destroyed. When -Devaki became pregnant the eighth time, Brahma and Siva, with attending -Devas, appeared and sang: 'O favoured among women! in thy delivery all -nature shall have cause to exult! How ardently we long to behold that -face for the sake of which we have coursed round three worlds!' When -Krishna was born a chorus of celestial spirits saluted him; the room -was illumined with supernatural light. While Devaki was weeping at the -fatal decree of Kansa that her son should be destroyed, a voice was -heard by Vasudéva saying: 'Son of Yadu, carry this child to Gokul, -on the other side of the river Jumna, to Nauda, whose wife has just -given birth to a daughter. Leave him and bring the girl hither.' At -this the seven doors swung open, deep sleep fell on the guards, -and Vasudéva went forth with the holy infant in his arms. The river -Jumna was swollen, but the waters, having kissed the feet of Krishna, -retired on either side, opening a pathway. The great serpent of -Vishnu held its hood over this new incarnation of its Lord. Beside -sleeping Nauda and his wife the daughter was replaced by the son, -who was named Krishna, the Dark. - -When all this had happened a voice came to Kansa saying: 'The boy -destined to destroy thee is born, and is now living.' Whereupon Kansa -ordered all the male children in his kingdom to be destroyed. This -being ineffectual, the whereabouts of Krishna were discovered; but the -messenger who was sent to destroy the child beheld its image in the -water and adored it. The Rakshasas worked in the interest of Kansa. One -approached the divine child in shape of a monstrous bull whose head -he wrung off; and he so burned in the stomach of a crocodile which -had swallowed him that the monster cast him from his mouth unharmed. - -Finally, as a youth, Krishna, after living some time as a herdsman, -attacked the tyrant Kansa, tore the crown from his head, and dragged -him by his hair a long way; with the curious result that Kansa became -liberated from the three worlds, such virtue had long thinking about -the incarnate one, even in enmity! - -The divine beings represented in these legends find their complement -in the fabulous history of Cyrus; and the hostile powers which -sought their destruction are represented in demonology by the Persian -tyrant-devil Zohák. The name of Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus, -has been satisfactorily traced to Ashdahák, and Ajis Daháka, the -'biting snake.' The word thus connects him with Vedic Ahi and with -Iranian Zohák, the tyrant out of whose shoulders a magician evoked -two serpents which adhered to him and became at once his familiars and -the arms of his cruelty. As Astyages, the last king of Media, he had -a dream that the offspring of his daughter Mandane would reign over -Asia. He gave her in marriage to Cambyses, and when she bore a child -(Cyrus), committed it to his minister Harpagus to be slain. Harpagus, -however, moved with pity, gave it to a herdsman of Astyages, who -substituted for it a still-born child, and having so satisfied the -tyrant of its death, reared Cyrus as his own son. - -The luminous Horn of the Zoroastrian legend and the diabolism -of Zohák are both recalled in the Book of Daniel (viii.) in the -terrific struggle of the ram and the he-goat. The he-goat, ancient -symbol of hairy Esau, long idealised into the Invisible Foe of -Israel, had become associated also with Babylon and with Nimrod -its founder, the Semitic Zohák. But Bel, conqueror of the Dragon, -was the founder of Babylon, and to Jewish eyes the Dragon was his -familiar; to the Jews he represented the tyranny and idolatry of -Nimrod, the two serpents of Zohák. When Cyrus supplanted Astyages, -this was the idol he found the Babylonians worshipping until Daniel -destroyed it. And so, it would appear, came about the fact that to -the Jews the power of Christendom came to be represented as the Reign -of Bel. One can hardly wonder at that. If ever there were cruelty -and oppression passing beyond the limit of mere human capacities, it -has been recorded in the tragical history of Jewish sufferings. The -disbeliever in præternatural powers of evil can no less than others -recognise in this 'Bel and the Christian,' which the Jews substituted -for 'Bel and the Dragon,' the real archfiend--Superstition, turning -human hearts to stone when to stony gods they sacrifice their own -humanity and the welfare of mankind. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD. - - Temptations--Birth of Buddha--Mara--Temptation of power--Asceticism - and Luxury--Mara's menaces--Appearance of the Buddha's - Vindicator--Ahriman tempts Zoroaster--Satan and Christ--Criticism - of Strauss--Jewish traditions--Hunger--Variants. - - -The Devil, having shown Jesus all the kingdoms of this world, said, -'All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is -delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it,' The theory -thus announced is as a vast formation underlying many religions. As -every religion begins as an ideal, it must find itself in antagonism -to the world at large; and since the social and political world -are themselves, so long as they last, the outcome of nature, it is -inevitable that in primitive times the earth should be regarded as a -Satanic realm, and the divine world pictured elsewhere. A legitimate -result of this conclusion is asceticism, and belief in the wickedness -of earthly enjoyments. To men of great intellectual powers, generally -accompanied as they are with keen susceptibilities of enjoyment and -strong sympathies, the renunciation of this world must be as a living -burial. To men who, amid the corruptions of the world, feel within them -the power to strike in with effect, or who, seeing 'with how little -wisdom the world is governed,' are stirred by the sense of power, the -struggle against the temptation to lead in the kingdoms of this world -is necessarily severe. Thus simple is the sense of those temptations -which make the almost invariable ordeal of the traditional founders -of religions. As in earlier times the god won his spurs, so to say, -by conquering some monstrous beast, the saint or saviour must have -overcome some potent many-headed world, with gems for scales and -double-tongue, coiling round the earth, and thence, like Lilith's -golden hair, round the heart of all surrendered to its seductions. - -It is remarkable to note the contrast between the visible and -invisible worlds which surrounded the spiritual pilgrimage of Sakya -Muni to Buddhahood or enlightenment. At his birth there is no trace -of political hostility: the cruel Kansa, Herod, Magicians seeking to -destroy, are replaced by the affectionate force of a king trying to -retain his son. The universal traditions reach their happy height in -the ecstatic gospels of the Siamese. [89] The universe was illumined; -all jewels shown with unwonted lustre; the air was full of music; -all pain ceased; the blind saw, the deaf heard; the birds paused -in their flight; all trees and plants burst into bloom, and lotus -flowers appeared in every place. Not under the dominion of Mara [90] -was this beautiful world. But by turning from all its youth, health, -and life, to think only of its decrepitude, illness, and death, the -Prince Sakya Muni surrounded himself with another world in which Mara -had his share of power. I condense here the accounts of his encounters -with the Prince, who was on his way to be a hermit. - -When the Prince passed out at the palace gates, the king Mara, -knowing that the youth was passing beyond his evil power, determined -to prevent him. Descending from his abode and floating in the air, -Mara cried, 'Lord, thou art capable of such vast endurance, go not -forth to adopt a religious life, but return to thy kingdom, and in -seven days thou shalt become an emperor of the world, ruling over -the four great continents.' 'Take heed, O Mara!' replied the Prince; -'I also know that in seven days I might gain universal empire, but -I have no desire for such possessions. I know that the pursuit of -religion is better than the empire of the world. See how the world -is moved, and quakes with praise of this my entry on a religious -life! I shall attain the glorious omniscience, and shall teach the -wheel of the law, that all teachable beings may free themselves from -transmigratory existence. You, thinking only of the lusts of the flesh, -would force me to leave all beings to wander without guide into your -power. Avaunt! get thee away far from me!' - -Mara withdrew, but only to watch for another opportunity. It came when -the Prince had reduced himself to emaciation and agony by the severest -austerities. Then Mara presented himself, and pretending compassion, -said, 'Beware, O grand Being! Your state is pitiable to look on; you -are attenuated beyond measure, and your skin, that was of the colour of -gold, is dark and discoloured. You are practising this mortification -in vain. I can see that you will not live through it. You, who are a -Grand Being, had better give up this course, for be assured you will -derive much more advantage from sacrifices of fire and flowers.' Him -the Grand Being indignantly answered, 'Hearken, thou vile and wicked -Mara! Thy words suit not the time. Think not to deceive me, for I -heed thee not. Thou mayest mislead those who have no understanding, -but I, who have virtue, endurance, and intelligence, who know what -is good and what is evil, cannot be so misled. Thou, O Mara! hast -eight generals. Thy first is delight in the five lusts of the flesh, -which are the pleasures of appearance, sound, scent, flavour, and -touch. Thy second general is wrath, who takes the form of vexation, -indignation, and desire to injure. Thy third is concupiscence. Thy -fourth is desire. Thy fifth is impudence. Thy sixth is arrogance. Thy -seventh is doubt. And thine eighth is ingratitude. These are thy -generals, who cannot be escaped by those whose hearts are set on -honour and wealth. But I know that he who can contend with these thy -generals shall escape beyond all sorrow, and enjoy the most glorious -happiness. Therefore I have not ceased to practise mortification, -knowing that even were I to die whilst thus engaged, it would be a -most excellent thing.' - -It is added that Mara 'fled in confusion,' but the next incident -seems to show that his suggestion was not unheeded; for 'after he -had departed,' the Grand Being had his vision of the three-stringed -guitar--one string drawn too tightly, the second too loosely, the third -moderately--which last, somewhat in defiance of orchestral ideas, -alone gave sweet music, and taught him that moderation was better -than excess or laxity. By eating enough he gained that pristine -strength and beauty which offended the five Brahmans so that they -left him. The third and final effort of Mara immediately preceded -the Prince's attainment of the order of Buddha under the Bo-tree. He -now sent his three daughters, Raka (Love), Aradi (Anger), Tanha -(Desire). Beautifully bedecked they approached him, and Raka said, -'Lord, fearest thou not death?' But he drove her away. The two others -also he drove away as they had no charm of sufficient power to entice -him. Then Mara assembled his generals, and said, 'Listen, ye Maras, -that know not sorrow! Now shall I make war on the Prince, that man -without equal. I dare not attack him in face, but I will circumvent -him by approaching on the north side. Assume then all manner of shapes, -and use your mightiest powers, that he may flee in terror.' - -Having taken on fearful shapes, raising awful sounds, headed by -Mara himself, who had assumed immense size, and mounted his elephant -Girimaga, a thousand miles in height, they advanced; but they dare not -enter beneath the shade of the holy Bo-tree. They frightened away, -however, the Lord's guardian angels, and he was left alone. Then -seeing the army approaching from the north, he reflected, 'Long have I -devoted myself to a life of mortification, and now I am alone, without -a friend to aid me in this contest. Yet may I escape the Maras, -for the virtue of my transcendent merits will be my army.' 'Help -me,' he cried, 'ye thirty Barami! ye powers of accumulated merit, -ye powers of Almsgiving, Morality, Relinquishment, Wisdom, Fortitude, -Patience, Truth, Determination, Charity, and Equanimity, help me in -my fight with Mara!' The Lord was seated on his jewelled throne (the -same that had been formed of the grass on which he sat), and Mara -with his army exhausted every resource of terror--monstrous beasts, -rain of missiles and burning ashes, gales that blew down mountain -peaks--to inspire him with fear; but all in vain! Nay, the burning -ashes were changed to flowers as they fell. - -'Come down from thy throne,' shouted the evil-formed one; 'come down, -or I will cut thine heart into atoms!' The Lord replied, 'This jewelled -throne was created by the power of my merits, for I am he who will -teach all men the remedy for death, who will redeem all beings, -and set them free from the sorrows of circling existence.' - -Mara then claimed that the throne belonged to himself, and had been -created by his own merits; and on this armed himself with the Chakkra, -the irresistible weapon of Indra, and Wheel of the Law. Yet Buddha -answered, 'By the thirty virtues of transcendent merits, and the five -alms, I have obtained the throne. Thou, in saying that this throne -was created by thy merits, tellest an untruth, for indeed there is -no throne for a sinful, horrible being such as thou art.' - -Then furious Mara hurled the Chakkra, which clove mountains in its -course, but could not pass a canopy of flowers which rose over the -Lord's head. - -And now the great Being asked Mara for the witnesses of his acts of -merit by virtue of which he claimed the throne. In response, Mara's -generals all bore him witness. Then Mara challenged him, 'Tell me now, -where is the man that can bear witness for thee?' The Lord reflected, -'Truly here is no man to bear me witness, but I will call on the earth -itself, though it has neither spirit nor understanding, and it shall -be my witness.' Stretching forth his hand, he thus invoked the earth: -'O holy Earth! I who have attained the thirty powers of virtue, -and performed the five great alms, each time that I have performed a -great act have not failed to pour water on thee. Now that I have no -other witness, I call upon thee to give thy testimony!' - -The angel of the earth appeared in shape of a lovely woman, and -answered, 'O Being more excellent than angels or men! it is true -that, when you performed your great works, you ever poured water on -my hair.' And with these words she wrung her long hair, and from it -issued a stream, a torrent, a flood, in which Mara and his hosts were -overturned, their insignia destroyed, and King Mara put to flight, -amid the loud rejoicings of angels. - -Then the evil one and his generals were conquered not only in power but -in heart; and Mara, raising his thousand arms, paid reverence, saying, -'Homage to the Lord, who has subdued his body even as a charioteer -breaks his horses to his use! The Lord will become the omniscient -Buddha, the Teacher of angels, and Brahmas, and Yakkhas (demons), -and men. He will confound all Maras, and rescue men from the whirl -of transmigration!' - -The menacing powers depicted as assailing Sakya Muni appear only -around the infancy of Zoroaster. The interview of the latter with -Ahriman hardly amounts to a severe trial, but still the accent of -the chief temptation both of Buddha and Christ is in it, namely, -the promise of worldly empire. It was on one of those midnight -journeys through Heaven and Hell that Zoroaster saw Ahriman, and -delivered from his power 'one who had done both good and evil.' [91] -When Ahriman met Zoroaster's gaze, he cried, 'Quit thou the pure law; -cast it to the ground; thou wilt then be in the world all that thou -canst desire. Be not anxious about thy end. At least, do not destroy -my subjects, O pure Zoroaster, son of Poroscharp, who art born of -her thou hast borne!' Zoroaster answered, 'Wicked Majesty! it is for -thee and thy worshippers that Hell is prepared, but by the mercy of -God I shall bury your work with shame and ignominy.' - -In the account of Matthew, Satan begins his temptation of Jesus in -the same way and amid similar circumstances to those we find in the -Siamese legends of Buddha. It occurs in a wilderness, and the appeal -is to hunger. The temptation of Buddha, in which Mara promises the -empire of the world, is also repeated in the case of Satan and Jesus -(Fig. 6). The menaces, however, in this case, are relegated to the -infancy, and the lustful temptation is absent altogether. Mark has an -allusion to his being in the wilderness forty days 'with the beasts,' -which may mean that Satan 'drove' him into a region of danger to -inspire fear. In Luke we have the remarkable claim of Satan that -the authority over the world has been delivered to himself, and he -gives it to whom he will; which Jesus does not deny, as Buddha did -the similar claim of Mara. As in the case of Buddha, the temptation -of Jesus ends his fasting; angels bring him food (diêkonoun aytô -probably means that), and thenceforth he eats and drinks, to the -scandal of the ascetics. - -The essential addition in the case of Jesus is the notable temptation -to try and perform a crucial act. Satan quotes an accredited messianic -prophecy, and invites Jesus to test his claim to be the predicted -deliverer by casting himself from the pinnacle of the Temple, -and testing the promise that angels should protect the true Son -of God. Strauss, [92] as it appears to me, has not considered the -importance of this in connection with the general situation. 'Assent,' -he says, 'cannot be withheld from the canon that, to be credible, -the narrative must ascribe nothing to the devil inconsistent with his -established cunning. Now, the first temptation, appealing to hunger, -we grant, is not ill-conceived; if this were ineffectual, the devil, -as an artful tactician, should have had a yet more alluring temptation -at hand; but instead of this, we find him, in Matthew, proposing to -Jesus the neck-breaking feat of casting himself down from the pinnacle -of the Temple--a far less inviting miracle than the metamorphosis of -the stones. This proposition finding no acceptance, there follows, -as a crowning effort, a suggestion which, whatever might be the bribe, -every true Israelite would instantly reject with abhorrence--to fall -down and worship the devil.' - -Not so! The scapegoat was a perpetual act of worship to the Devil. In -this story of the temptation of Christ there enter some characteristic -elements of the temptation of Job. [93] Uz in the one case and the -wilderness in the other mean morally the same, the region ruled over -by Azazel. In both cases the trial is under divine direction. And -the trial is in both cases to secure a division of worship between -the good and evil powers, which was so universal in the East that -it was the test of exceptional piety if one did not swerve from -an unmixed sacrifice. Jesus is apparently abandoned by the God in -whom he trusted; he is 'driven' into a wilderness, and there kept -with the beasts and without food. The Devil alone comes to him; -exhibits his own miraculous power by bearing him through the air to -his own Mount Seir, and showing him the whole world in a moment of -time; and now says to him, as it were, 'Try your God! See if he will -even turn stones into bread to save his own son, to whom I offer the -kingdoms of the world!' Then bearing him into the 'holy hill' of his -own God--the pinnacle of the Temple--says, 'Try now a leap, and see -if he saves from being dashed to pieces, even in his own precincts, -his so trustful devotee, whom I have borne aloft so safely! Which, -then, has the greater power to protect, enrich, advance you,--he who -has left you out here to starve, so that you dare not trust yourself to -him, or I? Fall down then and worship me as your God, and all the world -is yours! It is the world you are to reign over: rule it in my name! - -When St. Anthony is tempted by the Devil in the form of a lean monk, -it was easy to see that the hermit was troubled with a vision of his -own emaciation. When the Devil appears to Luther under guise of a holy -monk, it is an obvious explanation that he was impressed by a memory -of the holy brothers who still remained in the Church, and who, while -they implored his return, pointed out the strength and influence he had -lost by secession. Equally simple are the moral elements in the story -of Christ's temptation. While a member of John's ascetic community, -for which 'though he was rich he became poor,' hunger, and such -anxiety about a living as victimises many a young thinker now, must -have assailed him. Later on his Devil meets him on the Temple, quotes -scripture, and warns him that his visionary God will not raise him so -high in the Church as the Prince of this World can. [94] And finally, -when dreams of a larger union, including Jews and Gentiles, visited -him, the power that might be gained by connivance with universal -idolatry would be reflected in the offer of the kingdoms of the world -in payment for the purity of his aims and singleness of his worship. - -That these trials of self-truthfulness and fidelity, occurring -at various phases of life, would be recognised, is certain. A -youth of high position, as Christ probably was, [95] or even one -with that great power over the people which all concede, was, in a -worldly sense, 'throwing away his prospects;' and this voice, real -in its time, would naturally be conventionalised. It would put on -the stock costume of devils and angels; and among Jewish christians -it would naturally be associated with the forty-days' fast of Moses -(Exod. xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9), and that of Elias (1 Kings xix. 8), -and the forty-years' trial of Israel in the wilderness. Among Greek -christians some traces of the legend of Herakles in his seclusion as -herdsman, or at the cross-roads between Vice and Virtue, might enter; -and it is not impossible that some touches might be added from the -Oriental myth which invested Buddha. - -However this may be, we may with certainty repair to the common -source of all such myths in the higher nature of man, and recognise -the power of a pure genius to overcome those temptations to a success -unworthy of itself. We may interpret all such legends with a clearness -proportioned to the sacrifices we have made for truth and ideal right; -and the endless perplexities of commentators and theologians about -the impossible outward details of the New Testament story are simple -confessions that the great spirit so tried is now made to label with -his name his own Tempter--namely, a Church grown powerful and wealthy, -which, as the Prince of this World, bribes the conscience and tempts -away the talent necessary to the progress of mankind. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -TRIAL OF THE GREAT. - - A 'Morality' at Tours--The 'St. Anthony' of Spagnoletto--Bunyan's - Pilgrim--Milton on Christ's Temptation--An Edinburgh saint and - Unitarian fiend--A haunted Jewess--Conversion by fever--Limit of - courage--Woman and sorcery--Luther and the Devil--The ink-spot at - Wartburg--Carlyle's interpretation--The cowled devil--Carlyle's - trial--In Rue St. Thomas d'Enfer--The Everlasting No--Devil of - Vauvert--The latter-day conflict--New conditions--The Victory of - Man--The Scholar and the World. - - -A representation of the Temptation of St. Anthony (marionettes), which -I witnessed at Tours (1878), had several points of significance. It -was the mediæval 'Morality' as diminished by centuries, and -conventionalised among those whom the centuries mould in ways and -for ends they know not. Amid a scenery of grotesque devils, rudely -copied from Callot, St. Anthony appeared, and was tempted in a way -that recalled the old pictures. There was the same fair Temptress, in -this case the wife of Satan, who warns her lord that his ugly devils -will be of no avail against Anthony, and that the whole affair should -be confided to her. She being repelled, the rest of the performance -consisted in the devils continually ringing the bell of the hermitage, -and finally setting fire to it. This conflagration was the supreme -torment of Anthony--and, sooth to say, it was a fairly comfortable -abode--who utters piteous prayers and is presently comforted by an -angel bringing him wreaths of evergreen. - -The prayers of the saint and the response of the angel were meant to -be seriously taken; but their pathos was generally met with pardonable -laughter by the crowd in the booth. Yet there was a pathos about it -all, if only this, that the only temptations thought of for a saint -were a sound and quiet house and a mistress. The bell-noise alone -remained from the great picture of Spagnoletto at Siena, where the -unsheltered old man raises his deprecating hand against the disturber, -but not his eyes from the book he reads. In Spagnoletto's picture -there are five large books, pen, ink, and hour-glass; but there is -neither hermitage to be burnt nor female charms to be resisted. - -But Spagnoletto, even in his time, was beholding the vision of -exceptional men in the past, whose hunger and thirst was for knowledge, -truth, and culture, and who sought these in solitude. Such men have -so long left the Church familiar to the French peasantry that any -representation of their temptations and trials would be out of place -among the marionettes. The bells which now disturb them are those -that sound from steeples. - -Another picture loomed up before my eyes over the puppet performance at -Tours, that which for Bunyan frescoed the walls of Bedford Gaol. There, -too, the old demons, giants, and devils took on grave and vast forms, -and reflected the trials of the Great Hearts who withstood the Popes -and Pagans, the armed political Apollyons and the Giant Despairs, -who could make prisons the hermitages of men born to be saviours of -the people. - -Such were the temptations that Milton knew; from his own heart -came the pigments with which he painted the trial of Christ in the -wilderness. 'Set women in his eye,' said Belial:-- - - - Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart - Of wisest Solomon, and made him build, - And made him bow to the gods of his wives. - To whom quick answer Satan thus returned. - Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st - All others by thyself.... - But he whom we attempt is wiser far - Than Solomon, of more exalted mind, - Made and set wholly on the accomplishment - Of greatest things.... - Therefore with manlier objects we must try - His constancy, with such as have more show - Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise; - Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked. [96] - - -The progressive ideas which Milton attributed to Satan have not -failed. That Celestial City which Bunyan found it so hard to reach -has now become a metropolis of wealth and fashion, and the trials -which once beset pilgrims toiling towards it are now transferred -to those who would pass beyond it to another city, seen from afar, -with temples of Reason and palaces of Justice. - -The old phantasms have shrunk to puppets. The trials by personal -devils are relegated to the regions of insanity and disease. It is -everywhere a dance of puppets though on a cerebral stage. A lady well -known in Edinburgh related to me a terrible experience she had with -the devil. She had invited some of her relations to visit her for some -days; but these relatives were Unitarians, and, after they had gone, -having entered the room which they had occupied, she was seized by -the devil, thrown on the floor, and her back so strained that she had -to keep her bed for some time. This was to her 'the Unitarian fiend' -of which the Wesleyan Hymn-Book sang so long; but even the Wesleyans -have now discarded the famous couplet, and there must be few who would -not recognise that the old lady at Edinburgh merely had a tottering -body representing a failing mind. - -I have just read a book in which a lady in America relates her trial -by the devil. This lady, in her girlhood, was of a christian family, -but she married a rabbi and was baptized into Judaism. After some years -of happy life a terrible compunction seized her; she imagined herself -lost for ever; she became ill. A christian (Baptist) minister and -his wife were the evil stars in her case, and with what terrors they -surrounded the poor Jewess may be gathered from the following extract. - -'She then left me--that dear friend left me alone to my God, and to -him I carried a lacerated and bleeding heart, and laid it at the foot -of the cross, as an atonement for the multiplied sins I had committed, -whether of ignorance or wilfulness; and how shall I proceed to portray -the heart-felt agonies of that night preceding my deliverance from -the shafts of Satan? Oh! this weight, this load of sin, this burden -so intolerable that it crushed me to the earth; for this was a -dark hour with me--the darkest; and I lay calm, to all appearance, -but with cold perspiration drenching me, nor could I close my eyes; -and these words again smote my ear, No redemption, no redemption; and -the tempter came, inviting me, with all his blandishment and power, -to follow him to his court of pleasure. My eyes were open; I certainly -saw him, dressed in the most phantastic shape. This was no illusion; -for he soon assumed the appearance of one of the gay throng I had -mingled with in former days, and beckoned me to follow. I was awake, -and seemed to lie on the brink of a chasm, and spirits were dancing -around me, and I made some slight outcry, and those dear girls watching -with me came to me, and looked at me. They said I looked at them but -could not speak, and they moistened my lips, and said I was nearly -gone; then I whispered, and they came and looked at me again, but -would not disturb me. It was well they did not; for the power of God -was over me, and angels were around me, and whispering spirits near, -and I whispered in sweet communion with them, as they surrounded me, -and, pointing to the throne of grace, said, 'Behold!' and I felt that -the glory of God was about to manifest itself; for a shout, as if a -choir of angels had tuned their golden harps, burst forth in, 'Glory -to God on high,' and died away in softest strains of melody. I lifted -up my eyes to heaven, and there, so near as to be almost within my -reach, the brightest vision of our Lord and Saviour stood before me, -enveloped with a light, ethereal mist, so bright and yet transparent -that his divine figure could be seen distinctly, and my eyes were -riveted upon him; for this bright vision seemed to touch my bed, -standing at the foot, so near, and he stretched forth his left hand -toward me, whilst with the right one he pointed to the throne of grace, -and a voice came, saying, 'Blessed are they who can see God; arise, -take up thy cross and follow me; for though thy sins be as scarlet -they shall be white as wool.' And with my eyes fixed on that bright -vision, I saw from the hand stretched toward me great drops of blood, -as if from each finger; for his blessed hand was spread open, as if -in prayer, and those drops fell distinctly, as if upon the earth; -and a misty light encircled me, and a voice again said, 'Take up thy -cross and follow me; for though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be -white as wool.' And angels were all around me, and I saw the throne -of heaven. And, oh! the sweet calm that stole over my senses. It -must have been a foretaste of heavenly bliss. How long I lay after -this beautiful vision I know not; but when I opened my eyes it was -early dawn, and I felt so happy and well. My young friends pressed -around my bedside, to know how I felt, and I said, 'I am well and so -happy.' They then said I was whispering with some one in my dreams -all night. I told them angels were with me; that I was not asleep, -and I had sweet communion with them, and would soon be well.' [97] - -That is what the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness comes to when -dislocated from its time and place, and, with its gathered ages of -fable, is imported at last to be an engine of torture sprung on the -nerves of a devout woman. This Jewess was divorced from her husband -by her Christianity; her child died a victim to precocious piety; -but what were home and affection in ruins compared with salvation -from that frightful devil seen in her holy delirium? - -History shows that it has always required unusual courage for a human -being to confront an enemy believed to be præternatural. This Jewess -would probably have been able to face a tiger for the sake of her -husband, but not that fantastic devil. Not long ago an English actor -was criticised because, in playing Hamlet, he cowered with fear on -seeing the ghost, all his sinews and joints seeming to give way; -but to me he appeared then the perfect type of what mankind have -always been when believing themselves in the presence of præternatural -powers. The limit of courage in human nature was passed when the foe -was one which no earthly power or weapon could reach. - -In old times, nearly all the sorcerers and witches were women; and -it may have been, in some part, because woman had more real courage -than man unarmed. Sorcery and witchcraft were but the so-called -pagan rites in their last degradation, and women were the last to -abandon the declining religion, just as they are the last to leave -the superstition which has followed it. Their sentiment and affection -were intertwined with it, and the threats of eternal torture by devils -which frightened men from the old faith to the new were less powerful -to shake the faith of women. When pagan priests became christians, -priestesses remained, to become sorceresses. The new faith had -gradually to win the love of the sex too used to martyrdom on earth -to fear it much in hell. And now, again, when knowledge clears away -the old terrors, and many men are growing indifferent to all religion, -because no longer frightened by it, we may expect the churches to be -increasingly kept up by women alone, simply because they went into them -more by attraction of saintly ideals than fear of diabolical menaces. - -Thomas Carlyle has selected Luther's boldness in the presence of what -he believed the Devil to illustrate his valour. 'His defiance of the -'Devils' in Worms,' says Carlyle, 'was not a mere boast, as the like -might be if spoken now. It was a faith of Luther's that there were -Devils, spiritual denizens of the Pit, continually besetting men. Many -times, in his writings, this turns up; and a most small sneer has -been grounded on it by some. In the room of the Wartburg, where he sat -translating the Bible, they still show you a black spot on the wall; -the strange memorial of one of these conflicts. Luther sat translating -one of the Psalms; he was worn down with long labour, with sickness, -abstinence from food; there rose before him some hideous indefinable -Image, which he took for the Evil One, to forbid his work; Luther -started up with fiend-defiance; flung his inkstand at the spectre, -and it disappeared! The spot still remains there; a curious monument -of several things. Any apothecary's apprentice can now tell us what we -are to think of this apparition, in a scientific sense; but the man's -heart that dare rise defiant, face to face, against Hell itself, can -give no higher proof of fearlessness. The thing he will quail before -exists not on this earth nor under it--fearless enough! 'The Devil -is aware,' writes he on one occasion, 'that this does not proceed -out of fear in me. I have seen and defied innumerable Devils. Duke -George,'--of Leipzig, a great enemy of his,--'Duke George is not equal -to one Devil,' far short of a Devil! 'If I had business at Leipzig, -I would ride into Leipzig, though it rained Duke Georges for nine -days running.' What a reservoir of Dukes to ride into!' [98] - -Although Luther's courage certainly appears in this, it is plain that -his Devil was much humanised as compared with the fearful phantoms -of an earlier time. Nobody would ever have tried an inkstand on the -Gorgons, Furies, Lucifers of ancient belief. In Luther's Bible the -Devil is pictured as a monk--a lean monk, such as he himself was only -too likely to become if he continued his rebellion against the Church -(Fig. 17). It was against a Devil liable to resistance by physical -force that he hurled his inkstand, and against whom he also hurled -the contents of his inkstand in those words which Richter said were -half-battles. - -Luther's Devil, in fact, represents one of the last phases in -the reduction of the Evil Power from a personified phantom with -which no man could cope, to that impersonal but all the more real -moral obstruction with which every man can cope--if only with -an inkstand. The horned monster with cowl, beads, and cross, is a -mere transparency, through which every brave heart may recognise the -practical power of wrong around him, the established error, disguised -as religion, which is able to tempt and threaten him. - -The temptations with menace described--those which, coming upon -the weak nerves of women, vanquished their reason and heart; that -which, in a healthy man, raised valour and power--may be taken as -side-lights for a corresponding experience in the life of a great -man now living--Carlyle himself. It was at a period of youth when, -amid the lonely hills of Scotland, he wandered out of harmony with the -world in which he lived. Consecrated by pious parents to the ministry, -he had inwardly renounced every dogma of the Church. With genius and -culture for high work, the world demanded of him low work. Friendless, -alone, poor, he sat eating his heart, probably with little else to -eat. Every Scotch parson he met unconsciously propounded to that youth -the question whether he could convert his heretical stone into bread, -or precipitate himself from the pinnacle of the Scotch Kirk without -bruises? Then it was he roamed in his mystical wilderness, until he -found himself in the gayest capital of the world, which, however, -on him had little to bestow but a further sense of loneliness. - -'Now, when I look back, it was a strange isolation I then lived -in. The men and women around me, even speaking with me, were but -Figures; I had practically forgotten that they were alive, that they -were not merely automatic. In the midst of their crowded streets and -assemblages, I walked solitary; and (except as it was my own heart, -not another's, that I kept devouring) savage also, as is the tiger in -his jungle. Some comfort it would have been, could I, like a Faust, -have fancied myself tempted and tormented of a Devil; for a Hell, -as I imagine, without Life, though only diabolic Life, were more -frightful: but in our age of Downpulling and Disbelief, the very Devil -has been pulled down--you cannot so much as believe in a Devil. To -me the Universe was all void of Life, of Purpose, of Volition, even -of Hostility: it was one huge, dead, immeasurable, Steam-engine, -rolling on, in its dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb. Oh, -the vast gloomy, solitary Golgotha, and Mill of Death! Why was the -Living banished thither, companionless, conscious? Why, if there is -no Devil; nay, unless the Devil is your God?' ... - -'From suicide a certain aftershine of Christianity withheld me.' ... - -'So had it lasted, as in bitter, protracted Death-agony, through -long years. The heart within me, unvisited by any heavenly dewdrop, -was smouldering in sulphurous, slow-consuming fire. Almost since -earliest memory I had shed no tear; or once only when I, murmuring -half-audibly, recited Faust's Deathsong, that wild Selig der den er -im Siegesglanze findet (Happy whom he finds in Battle's splendour), -and thought that of this last Friend even I was not forsaken, that -Destiny itself could not doom me not to die. Having no hope, neither -had I any definite fear, were it of Man or of Devil; nay, I often -felt as if it might be solacing could the Arch-Devil himself, though -in Tartarean terrors, rise to me that I might tell him a little of my -mind. And yet, strangely enough, I lived in a continual, indefinite, -pining fear; tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I knew not what; -it seemed as if all things in the Heavens above and the Earth beneath -would hurt me; as if the Heavens and the Earth were but boundless jaws -of a devouring monster, wherein I, palpitating, waited to be devoured. - -'Full of such humour, and perhaps the miserablest man in the whole -French Capital or Suburbs, was I, one sultry Dogday, after much -perambulation, toiling along the dirty little Rue Sainte Thomas -de l'Enfer, among civic rubbish enough, in a close atmosphere, and -over pavements hot as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace; whereby doubtless my -spirits were little cheered; when all at once there rose a Thought -in me, and I asked myself, 'What art thou afraid of? Wherefore, like -a coward, dost thou for ever pip and whimper, and go cowering and -trembling? Despicable biped! what is the sum-total of the worst that -lies before thee? Death? Well, Death; and say the pangs of Tophet too, -and all that the Devil or Man may, will, or can do against thee! Hast -thou not a heart; canst thou not suffer whatsoever it be; and, as a -Child of Freedom, though outcast, trample Tophet itself under thy feet, -while it consumes thee! Let it come, then; I will meet it and defy -it!' And as I so thought, there rushed like a stream of fire over my -whole soul; and I shook base Fear away from me for ever. I was strong, -of unknown strength; a spirit, almost a god. Ever from that time the -temper of my misery was changed: not Fear or whining Sorrow was it, -but Indignation and grim fire-eyed Defiance. - -'Thus had the Everlasting No pealed authoritatively through all the -recesses of my Being, of my Me; and then was it that my whole Me -stood up, in native God-created majesty and with emphasis recorded -its Protest. Such a Protest, the most important transaction in Life, -may that same Indignation and Defiance, in a psychological point of -view, be fitly called. The Everlasting No had said, 'Behold thou -art fatherless, outcast, and the Universe is mine (the Devil's);' -to which my whole Me now made answer, 'I am not thine, but Free, -and for ever hate thee!' - -'It is from this hour that I incline to date my spiritual New Birth, -or Baphometic fire-baptism; perhaps I directly thereupon began to be -a Man.' [99] - -Perhaps he who so uttered his Apage Satana did not recognise amid -what haunted Edom he wrestled with his Phantom. Saint Louis, having -invited the Carthusian monks to Paris, assigned them a habitation in -the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, near the ancient chateau of Vauvert, -a manor built by Robert (le Diable), but for a long time then -uninhabited, because infested by demons, which had, perhaps, been -false coiners. Fearful howls had been heard there, and spectres seen, -dragging chains; and, in particular, it was frequented by a fearful -green monster, serpent and man in one, with a long white beard, -wielding a huge club, with which he threatened all who passed that -way. This demon, in common belief, passed along the road to and -from the chateau in a fiery chariot, and twisted the neck of every -human being met on his way. He was called the Devil of Vauvert. The -Carthusians were not frightened by these stories, but asked Louis to -give them the Manor, which he did, with all its dependencies. After -that nothing more was heard of the Diable Vauvert or his imps. It -was but fair to the Demons who had assisted the friars in obtaining a -valuable property so cheaply that the street should thenceforth bear -the name of Rue d'Enfer, as it does. But the formidable genii of the -place haunted it still, and, in the course of time, the Carthusians -proved that they could use with effect all the terrors which the -Devils had left behind them. They represented a great money-coining -Christendom with which free-thinking Michaels had to contend, even -to the day when, as we have just read, one of the bravest of these -there encountered his Vauvert devil and laid him low for ever. - -I well remember that wretched street of St. Thomas leading into Hell -Street, as if the Parisian authorities, remembering that Thomas -was a doubter, meant to remind the wayfarer that whoso doubteth -is damned. Near by is the convent of St. Michael, who makes no war -on the neighbouring Rue Dragon. All names--mere idle names! Among -the thousands that crowd along them, how many pause to note the -quaintness of the names on the street-lamps, remaining there from -fossil fears and phantom battles long turned to fairy lore. Yet amid -them, on that sultry day, in one heart, was fought and won a battle -which summed up all their sense and value. Every Hell was conquered -then and there when Fear was conquered. There, when the lower Self -was cast down beneath the poised spear of a Free Mind, St. Michael at -last chained his dragon. There Luther's inkstand was not only hurled, -but hit its mark; there, 'Get thee behind me,' was said, and obeyed; -there Buddha brought the archfiend Mara to kneel at his feet. - -And it was by sole might of a Man. Therefore may this be emphasised -as the temptation and triumph which have for us to-day the meaning -of all others. - -A young man of intellectual power, seeing beyond all the conventional -errors around him, without means, feeling that ordinary work, however -honourable, would for him mean failure of his life--because failure -to contribute his larger truth to mankind--he finds the terrible -cost of his aim to be hunger, want, a life passed amid suspicion -and alienation, without sympathy, lonely, unloved--and, alas! with a -probability that all these losses may involve loss of just what they -are incurred for, the power to make good his truth. After giving up -love and joy, he may, after all, be unable to give living service -to his truth, but only a broken body and shed blood. Similar trials -in outer form have been encountered again and again; not only in -the great temptations and triumphs of sacred tradition, but perhaps -even more genuinely in the unknown lives of many pious people all -over the world, have hunger, want, suffering, been conquered by -faith. But rarely amid doubts. Rarely in the way of Saint Thomas, -in no fear of hell or devil, nor in any hope of reward in heaven, or -on earth; rarely indeed without any feeling of a God taking notice, -or belief in angels waiting near, have men or women triumphed utterly -over self. All history proves what man can sacrifice on earth for an -eternal weight of glory above. We know how cheerfully men and women -can sing at the stake, when they feel the fire consuming them to be -a chariot bearing them to heaven. We understand the valour of Luther -marching against his devils with his hymn, 'Ein feste Burg ist unser -Gott.' But it is important to know what man's high heart is capable of -without any of these encouragements or aids, what man's moral force -when he feels himself alone. For this must become an increasingly -momentous consideration. - -Already the educated youth of our time have followed the wanderer -of threescore years ago into that St. Thomas d'Enfer Street, which -may be morally translated as the point where man doubts every hell -he does not feel, and every creed he cannot prove. The old fears -and hopes are fading faster from the minds around us than from -their professions. There must be very few sane people now who are -restrained by fear of hell, or promises of future reward. What then -controls human passion and selfishness? For many, custom; for others, -hereditary good nature and good sense; for some, a sense of honour; -for multitudes, the fear of law and penalties. It is very difficult -indeed, amid these complex motives, to know how far simple human -nature, acting at its best, is capable of heroic endurance for truth, -and of pure passion for the right. This cannot be seen in those -who intellectually reject the creed of the majority, but conform to -its standards and pursue its worldly advantages. It must be seen, -if at all, in those who are radically severed from the conventional -aims of the world,--who seek not its wealth, nor its honours, decline -its proudest titles, defy its authority, share not its prospects for -time or eternity. It must be proved by those, the grandeur of whose -aims can change the splendours of Paris to a wilderness. These may -show what man, as man, is capable of, what may be his new birth, -and the religion of his simple manhood. What they think, say, and -do is not prescribed either by human or supernatural command; in -them you do not see what society thinks, or sects believe, or what -the populace applaud. You see the individual man building his moral -edifice, as genuinely as birds their nests, by law of his own moral -constitution. It is a great thing to know what those edifices are, -for so at last every man will have to build if he build at all. And if -noble lives cannot be so lived, we may be sure the career of the human -race will be downhill henceforth. For any unbiassed mind may judge -whether the tendency of thought and power lies toward or away from -the old hopes and fears on which the regime of the past was founded. - -A great and wise Teacher of our time, who shared with Carlyle his -lonely pilgrimage, has admonished his generation of the temptations -brought by talent,--selfish use of it for ambitious ends on the -one hand, or withdrawal into fruitless solitude on the other; and I -cannot forbear closing this chapter with his admonition to his young -countrymen forty years ago. [100] - -'Public and private avarice makes the air we breathe thick and fat. The -scholar is decent, indolent, complacent. See already the tragic -consequence. The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, -eats upon itself. There is no work for any but the decorous and the -complacent. Young men of the fairest promise, who begin life upon our -shores, inflated by the mountain winds, shined upon by all the stars of -God, find the earth below not in unison with these,--but are hindered -from action by the disgust which the principles on which business is -managed inspire and turn drudges, or die of disgust,--some of them -suicides. What is the remedy? They did not yet see, and thousands of -young men as hopeful, now crowding to the barriers for the career, -do not yet see, that if the single man plant himself indomitably on -his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to -him. Patience--patience;--with the shades of all the good and great -for company; and for solace, the perspective of your own infinite -life; and for work, the study and the communication of principles, -the making those instincts prevalent, the conversion of the world. Is -it not the chief disgrace in the world--not to be an unit; not to -be reckoned one character; not to yield that peculiar fruit which -each man was created to bear,--but to be reckoned in the gross, in -the hundred, in the thousand of the party, the section, to which we -belong; and our opinion predicted geographically, as the north or the -south? Not so, brothers and friends,--please God, ours shall not be -so. We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; -we will speak our own minds.' - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE MAN OF SIN. - - Hindu myth--Gnostic theories--Ophite scheme of - redemption--Rabbinical traditions of primitive man--Pauline - Pessimism--Law of death--Satan's ownership of man--Redemption of - the elect--Contemporary statements--Baptism--Exorcism--The 'new - man's' food--Eucharist--Herbert Spencer's explanation--Primitive - ideas--Legends of Adam and Seth--Adamites--A Mormon 'Mystery' - of initiation. - - -In a Hindu myth, Dhrubo, an infant devotee, passed much time in a -jungle, surrounded by ferocious beasts, in devotional exercises of -such extraordinary merit that Vishnu erected a new heaven for him -as the reward of his piety. Vishnu even left his own happy abode -to superintend the construction of this special heaven. In Hebrew -mythology the favourite son, the chosen people, is called out of -Egypt to dwell in a new home, a promised land, not in heaven but on -earth. The idea common to the two is that of a contrast between a -natural and a celestial environment,--a jungle and beasts, bondage -and distress; a new heaven, a land flowing with milk and honey,--and -the correspondence with these of the elect child, Dhrubo or Israel. - -The tendency of Christ's mind appears to have been rather in the Aryan -direction; he pointed his friends to a kingdom not of this world, -and to his Father's many mansions in heaven. But the Hebrew faith in a -messianic reign in this world was too strong for his dream; a new earth -was appended to the new heaven, and became gradually paramount, but -this new earth was represented only by the small society of believers -who made the body of Christ, the members in which his blood flowed. - -That great cauldron of confused superstitions and mysticisms which the -Roman Empire became after the overthrow of Jerusalem, formed a thick -scum which has passed under the vague name of Gnosticism. The primitive -notions of all races were contained in it, however, and they gathered -in the second and third centuries a certain consistency in the system -of the Ophites. In the beginning existed Bythos (the Depth); his first -emanation and consort is Ennoia (Thought); their first daughter is -Pneuma (Spirit), their second Sophia (Wisdom). Sophia's emanations are -two--one perfect, Christos; the other imperfect, Sophia-Achamoth,--who -respectively guide all that proceed from God and all that proceed -from Matter. Sophia, unable to act directly upon anything so gross -as Matter or unordered as Chaos, employs her imperfect daughter -Sophia-Achamoth for that purpose. But she, finding delight in imparting -life to inert Matter, became ambitious of creating in the abyss a -world for herself. To this end she produced the Demiurgus Ildabaoth -(otherwise Jehovah) to be creator of the material world. After this -Sophia-Achamoth shook off Matter, in which she had become entangled; -but Ildabaoth ('son of Darkness') proceeded to produce emanations -corresponding to those of Bythos in the upper universe. Among his -creations was Man, but his man was a soulless monster crawling on the -ground. Sophia-Achamoth managed to transfer to Man the small ray of -divine light which Ildabaoth had inherited from her. The 'primitive -Man' became thus a divine being. Ildabaoth, now entirely evil, was -enraged at having produced a being who had become superior to himself, -and his envy took shape in a serpent-formed Satan, Ophiomorphos. He -is the concentration of all that is most base in Matter, conjoined -with a spiritual intelligence. Their anti-Judaism led the Ophites to -identify Ildabaoth as Jehovah, and this serpent-son of his as Michael; -they also called him Samaël. Ildabaoth then also created the animal, -vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, with all their evils. Resolving -to confine man within his own lower domain, he forbade him to eat -of the Tree of Knowledge. To defeat his scheme, which had all been -evolved out of her own temporary fall, Sophia-Achamoth sent her own -genius, also in form of a serpent, Ophis, to induce Man to transgress -the tyrant's command. Eve supposing Ophis the same as Ophiomorphos, -regarded the prohibition against the fruit as withdrawn and readily -ate of it. Man thus became capable of understanding heavenly -mysteries, and Ildabaoth made haste to imprison him in the dungeon -of Matter. He also punished Ophis by making him eat dust, and this -heavenly serpent, contaminated by Matter, changed from Man's friend -to his foe. Sophia-Achamoth has always striven against these two -Serpents, who bind man to the body by corrupt desires; she supplied -mankind with divine light, through which they became sensible of -their nakedness--the misery of their condition. Ildabaoth's seductive -agents gained control over all the offspring of Adam except Seth, type -of the Spiritual Man. Sophia-Achamoth moved Bythos to send down her -perfect brother Christos to aid the Spiritual Race of Seth. Christos -descended through the seven planetary regions, assuming successively -forms related to each, and entered into the man Jesus at the moment -of his baptism. Ildabaoth, discovering him, stirred up the Jews to -put him to death; but Christos and Sophia, abandoning the material -body of Jesus on the cross, gave him one made of ether. Hence his -mother and disciples could not recognise him. He ascended to the -Middle Space, where he sits by the right hand of Ildabaoth, though -unperceived by the latter, and, putting forth efforts for purification -of mankind corresponding to those put forth by Ildabaoth for evil, -he is collecting all the Spiritual elements of the world into the -kingdom which is to overthrow that of the Enemy. [101] - -Notwithstanding the animosity shown by the Ophites towards the -Jews, most of the elements in their system are plagiarised from the -Jews. According to ancient rabbinical traditions, Adam and Eve, by -eating the fruit of the lowest region, fell through the six regions -to the seventh and lowest; they were there brought under control of -the previously fallen Samaël, who defiled them with his spittle. Their -nakedness consisted in their having lost a natural protection of which -only our finger-nails are left; others say they lost a covering of -hair. [102] The Jews also from of old contended that Seth was the -son of Adam, in whom returned the divine nature with which man was -originally endowed. We have, indeed, only to identify Ildabaoth with -Elohim instead of Jehovah to perceive that the Ophites were following -Jewish precedents in attributing the natural world to a fiend. The link -between, the two conceptions may be discovered in the writings of Paul. - -Paul's pessimistic conception of this world and of human nature was -radical, and it mainly formed the mould in which dogmatic Christianity -subsequently took shape. His general theology is a travesty of the -creation of the world and of man. All that work of Elohim was, by -implication, natural, that is to say, diabolical. The earth as then -created belonged to the Prince of this world, who was the author of -sin, and its consequence, death. In Adam all die. The natural man is -enmity against God; he is of the earth earthy; his father is the devil; -he cannot know spiritual things. All mankind are born spiritually -dead. Christ is a new and diviner Demiurgos, engaged in the work of -producing a new creation and a new man. For his purpose the old law, -circumcision or uncircumcision, are of no avail or importance, but a -new creature. His death is the symbol of man's death to the natural -world, his resurrection of man's rising into a new world which mere -flesh and blood cannot inherit. As God breathed into Adam's nostrils -the breath of life, the Spirit breathes upon the elect of Christ a -new mind and new heart. - -The 'new creature' must inhale an entirely new physical -atmosphere. When Paul speaks of 'the Prince of the Power of the Air,' -it must not be supposed that he is only metaphorical. On this, however, -we must dwell for a little. - -'The air,' writes Burton in his 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' 'The air -is not so full of flies in summer as it is at all times of invisible -devils. They counterfeit suns and moons, and sit on ships' masts. They -cause whirlwinds of a sudden, and tempestuous storms, which though our -meteorologists generally refer to natural causes, yet I am of Bodine's -mind, they are more often caused by those aerial devils in their -several quarters. Cardan gives much information concerning them. His -father had one of them, an aerial devil, bound to him for eight and -twenty years; as Agrippa's dog had a devil tied to his collar. Some -think that Paracelsus had one confined in his sword pommel. Others -wear them in rings;' and so the old man runs on, speculating about -the mysterious cobwebs collected in the ceiling of his brain. - -The atmosphere mentally breathed by Burton and his authorities was -indeed charged with invisible phantasms; and every one of them was in -its origin a genuine intellectual effort to interpret the phenomena -of nature. It is not wonderful that the ancients should have ascribed -to a diabolical source the subtle deaths that struck at them from -the air. A single breath of the invisible poison of the air might -lay low the strongest. Even after man had come to understand his -visible foes, the deadly animal or plant, he could only cower and -pray before the lurking power of miasma and infection, the power of -the air. The Tyndalls of a primitive time studied dust and disease, -and called the winged seeds of decay and death 'aerial devils,' and -prepared the way for Mephistopheles (devil of smells), as he in turn -for the bacterial demon of modern science. - -There were not wanting theologic explanations why these malignant -beings should find their dwelling-place in the air. They had been -driven out of heaven. The etherial realm above the air was reserved -for the good. Of the demons the Hindus say, 'Their feet touch not the -ground.' 'What man of virtue is there,' said Titus to his soldiers, -'who does not know that those souls which are severed from their -fleshy bodies in battles by the sword are received by the æther--that -purest of elements--and joined to that company which are placed among -the stars; that they become gods, dæmons, and propitious heroes, -and show themselves as such to their posterity afterwards?' [103] -Malignant spirits were believed to hold a more undisputed sway over -the atmosphere than over the earth, although our planet was mainly -in their power, and the subjects of the higher empire always a small -colony. [104] Moreover, there was a natural tendency of demons, which -originally represented earthly evils, when these were conquered by -human intelligence, to pass into the realm least accessible to science -or to control by man. The uncharted winds became their refuge. - -This belief was general among the Christian Fathers, [105] lasted a -very long time even among the educated, and is still the teaching -of the Roman Catholic Church, as any one may see by reading the -authorised work of Mgr. Gaume on 'Holy Water' (p. 305). So long as -it was admitted among thinking people that the mind was as competent -to build facts upon theory as theories on fact, a great deal might -be plausibly said for this atmospheric diabolarchy. In the days -when witchcraft was first called in question, Glanvil argued 'that -since this little Spot is so thickly peopled in every Atome of it, -'tis weakness to think that all the vast spaces Above and hollows -under Ground are desert and uninhabited,' and he anticipated that, -as microscopic science might reveal further populations in places -seemingly vacant, it would necessitate the belief that the regions of -the upper air are inhabited. [106] Other learned men concluded that -the spirits that lodge there are such as are clogged with earthly -elements; the baser sort; dwelling in cold air, they would like to -inhabit the more sheltered earth. In repayment for broth, and various -dietetic horrors proffered them by witches, they enable them to pass -freely through their realm--the air. - -Out of such intellectual atmosphere came Paul's sentence (Eph. ii. 2) -about 'the Prince of the Power of the Air.' It was a spiritualisation -of the existing aerial demonology. When Paul and his companions carried -their religious agitation into the centres of learning and wealth, -and brought the teachings of a Jew to confront the temples of Greece -and Rome, they found themselves unrelated to that great world. It had -another habit of mind and feeling, and the idea grew in him that it -was the spirits of the Satanic world counteracting the spirit sent on -earth from the divine world. This animated its fashions, philosophy, -science, and literature. He warns the Church at Ephesus that they -will need the whole armour of God, because they are wrestling not with -mere flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the world's darkness, -the evil spirits in high places--that is, in the Air. - -As heirs of this new nature and new world, with its new atmosphere, -purchased and endowed by Christ, the Pauline theory further -presupposes, that the natural man, having died, is buried with -Christ in baptism, rises with him, and is then sealed to him by the -Holy Ghost. For a little time such must still bear about them their -fleshy bodies, but soon Christ shall come, and these vile bodies -shall be changed into his likeness; meanwhile they must keep their -bodies in subjection, even as Paul did, by beating it black and blue -(hypôpiazô), and await their deliverance from the body of the dead -world they have left, but which so far is permitted to adhere to -them. This conception had to work itself out in myths and dogmas of -which Paul knew nothing. 'If any man come after me and hate not his -father and mother, and his own (natural) life also, he cannot be my -disciple.' The new race with which the new creation was in travail -was logically discovered to need a new Mother as well as a new -Father. Every natural mother was subjected to a stain that it might -be affirmed that only one mother was immaculate--she whose conception -was supernatural, not of the flesh. Marriage became an indulgence to -sin (whose purchase-money survives still in the marriage-fee). The -monastery and the nunnery represented this new ascetic kingdom; -that perilous word 'worldliness' was transmitted to be the source of -insanity and hypocrisy. - -Happily, the common sense and sentiment of mankind have so steadily -and successfully won back the outlawed interests of life and the -world, that it requires some research into ecclesiastical archæology -to comprehend the original significance of the symbols in which -it survives. The ancient rabbins limited the number of souls which -hang on Adam to 600,000, but the Christian theologians extended the -figures to include the human race. Probably even some orthodox people -may be scandalised at the idea of the fathers (Irenæus, for example), -that, at the Fall, the human race became Satan's rightful property, -did they see it in the picture copied by Buslaef, from an ancient -Russian Bible, in possession of Count Uvarof. Adam gives Satan -a written contract for himself and his descendants (Fig. 7). And -yet, according to a recent statement, the Rev. Mr. Simeon recently -preached a sermon in the Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, London, -'to prove that the ruler of the world is the devil. He stated that the -Creator of the world had given the control of the world to one of his -chief angels, Lucifer, who, however, had gone to grief, and done his -utmost to ruin the world. Since then the Creator and Lucifer had been -continually striving to checkmate each other. As Lucifer is still the -Prince of this world, it would seem that it is not he who has been -beaten yet.' [107] A popular preacher in America, Rev. Dr. Talmage, -states the case as follows:-- - -'I turn to the same old book, and I find out that the Son of Mary, -who was the Son of God, the darling of heaven, the champion of the -ages, by some called Lord, by some called Jesus, by others called -Christ, but this morning by us called by the three blessed titles, -Lord Jesus Christ, by one magnificent stroke made it possible for -us all to be saved. He not only told us that there was a hell, but -he went into it. He walked down the fiery steeps. He stepped off the -bottom rung of the long ladder of despair. He descended into hell. He -put his bare foot on the hottest coal of the fiercest furnace. - -'He explored the darkest den of eternal midnight, and then He came -forth lacerated and scarified, and bleeding and mauled by the hands -of infernal excruciation, to cry out to all the ages, 'I have paid -the price for all those who would make me their substitute. By my -piled-up groans, by my omnipotent agony, I demand the rescue of all -those who will give up sin and trust in me,' Mercy! mercy! mercy! But -how am I to get it? Cheap. It will not cost you as much as a loaf of -bread. Only a penny? No, no. Escape from hell, and all the harps, -and mansions, and thrones, and sunlit fields of heaven besides in -the bargain, 'without money, and without price.'' - -These preachers are only stating with creditable candour the -original significance of the sacraments and ceremonies which were -the physiognomy of that theory of 'a new creature.' Following various -ancient traditions, that life was produced out of water, that water -escaped the primal curse on nature, that devils hate and fear it -because of this and the saltness of so much of it, many religions -have used water for purification and exorcism. [108] Baptism is -based on the notion that every child is offspring of the Devil, -and possessed of his demon; the Fathers agreed that all unbaptized -babes, even the still-born, are lost; and up to the year 1550 every -infant was subjected at baptism to the exorcism, 'I command thee, -unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the -Holy Ghost, that thou come out, and depart from, these infants whom -our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, -to be made members of his body and of his holy congregation,' &c. - -A clergyman informed me that he knew of a case in which a man, -receiving back his child after christening, kissed it, and said, -'I never kissed it before, because I knew it was not a child of God; -but now that it is, I love it dearly.' But why not? Some even now teach -that a white angel follows the baptized, a black demon the unbaptized. - -The belief was wide-spread that unbaptized children were turned into -elves at death. In Iceland it is still told as a bit of folk-lore, -that when God visited Eve, she kept a large number of her children -out of sight, 'because they had not been washed,' and these children -were turned into elves, and became the progenitors of that uncanny -race. The Greek Church made so much of baptism, that there has been -developed an Eastern sect which claims John the Baptist as its founder, -making little of Christ, who baptized none; and to this day in Russia -the peasant regards it as almost essential to a right reception of -the benedictions of Sunday to have been under water on the previous -day--soap being sagaciously added. The Roman Catholic Church, following -the provision of the Council of Carthage, still sets a high value on -baptismal exorcism; and Calvin refers to a theological debate at the -Sorbonne in Paris, whether it would not be justifiable for a priest to -throw a child into a well rather than have it die unbaptized. Luther -preserved the Catholic form of exorcism; and, in some districts of -Germany, Protestants have still such faith in it, that, when either -a child or a domestic animal is suspected of being possessed, they -will send for the Romish priest to perform the rite of exorcism. - -Mr. Herbert Spencer has described the class of superstitions out of -which the sacrament of the Eucharist has grown. 'In some cases,' he -says, 'parts of the dead are swallowed by the living, who seek thus -to inspire themselves with the good qualities of the dead; and we saw -(§ 133) that the dead are supposed to be honoured by this act. The -implied notion was supposed to be associated with the further notion -that the nature of another being, inhering in all the fragments of -his body, inheres too in the unconsumed part of anything consumed -with his body; so that an operation wrought on the remnants of his -food becomes an operation wrought on the food swallowed, and therefore -on the swallower. Yet another implication is, that between those who -swallow different parts of the same food some community of nature is -established. Hence such beliefs as that ascribed by Bastian to some -negroes, who think that, 'on eating and drinking consecrated food, -they eat and drink the god himself'--such god being an ancestor, who -has taken his share. Various ceremonies among savages are prompted -by this conception; as, for instance, the choosing a totem. Among -the Mosquito Indians, 'the manner of obtaining this guardian was -to proceed to some secluded spot and offer up a sacrifice: with -the beast or bird which thereupon appeared, in dream or in reality, -a compact for life was made, by drawing blood from various parts of -the body.' This blood, supposed to be taken by the chosen animal, -connected the two, and the animal's life became so bound up with their -own that the death of one involved that of the other.' [109] And now -mark that, in these same regions, this idea reappears as a religious -observance. Sahagun and Herrera describe a ceremony of the Aztecs -called 'eating the god.' Mendieta, describing this ceremony, says, -'They had also a sort of eucharist.... They made a sort of small idols -of seeds, ... and ate them as the body or memory of their gods.' As -the seeds were cemented partly by the blood of sacrificed boys; -as their gods were cannibal gods; as Huitzilopochtli, whose worship -included this rite, was the god to whom human sacrifices were most -extensive; it is clear that the aim was to establish community with -gods by taking blood in common.' [110] - -When, a little time ago, a New Zealand chief showed his high -appreciation of a learned German by eating his eyes to improve his -own intellectual vision, the case seemed to some to call for more -and better protected missionaries; but the chief might find in the -sacramental communion of the missionaries the real principle of his -faith. The celebration of the 'Lord's Supper' when a Bishop is ordained -has only to be 'scratched,' as the proverb says, to reveal beneath -it the Indians choosing their episcopal totem. As Israel observed -the Passover--eating together of the lamb whose blood sprinkled on -their door-posts had marked those to be preserved from the Destroying -Angel in Egypt--they who believed that Jesus was Messias tasted the -body and blood of their Head, as indicating the elect out of a world -otherwise given over to the Destroyer spiritually, and finally to be -delivered up to him bodily. 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my -blood dwelleth in me and I in him.' These were to tread on serpents, -or handle them unharmed, as it is said Paul did. They were not really -to die, but to fall asleep, that they might be changed as a seed to -its flower, through literal resurrection from the earth. - -We should probably look in vain after any satisfactory vestiges of -the migration of the superstition concerning the mystical potency -of food. It is found fully developed in the ancient Hindu myth -of the struggle between the gods and demons for the Amrita, the -immortalising nectar, one stolen sip of which gave the monster Ráhu -the imperishable nature which no other of his order possesses. It -is found in corresponding myths concerning the gods of Asgard and of -Olympus. The fall of man in the Iranian legend was through a certain -milk given by Ahriman to the first pair, Meschia and Meschiane. In -Buddhist mythology, it was eating rice that corrupted the nature -of man. It was the process of incarnation in the Gilghit legend -(i. 398). The whole story of Persephone turns upon her having -eaten the seed of a pomegranate in Hades, by which she was bound to -that sphere. There is a myth very similar to that of Persephone in -Japan. There is a legend in the Scottish Highlands that a woman was -conveyed into the secret recesses of the 'men of peace'--the Daoine -Shi', euphemistic name of uncanny beings, who carry away mortals to -their subterranean apartments, where beautiful damsels tempt them to -eat of magnificent banquets. This woman on her arrival was recognised -by a former acquaintance, who, still retaining some portion of human -benevolence, warned her that, if she tasted anything whatsoever for a -certain space of time, she would be doomed to remain in that underworld -for ever. The woman having taken this counsel, was ultimately restored -to the society of mortals. It was added that, when the period named by -her unfortunate friend had elapsed, a disenchantment of this woman's -eyes took place, and the viands which had before seemed so tempting -she now discovered to consist only of the refuse of the earth. [111] - -The difficulty of tracing the ethnical origin of such legends as -these is much greater than that of tracing their common natural -origin. The effect of certain kinds of food upon the human system is -very marked, even apart from the notorious effects of the drinks made -from the vegetative world. The effects of mandrake, opium, tobacco, -various semi-poisonous fungi, the simplicity with which differences of -race might be explained by their vegetarian or carnivorous customs, -would be enough to suggest theories of the potency of food over the -body and soul of man such as even now have their value in scientific -speculation. - -The Jewish opinion that Seth was the offspring of the divine part of -Adam was the germ of a remarkable christian myth. Adam, when dying, -desired Seth to procure the oil of mercy (for his extreme unction) -from the angels guarding Paradise. Michael informs Seth that it -can only be obtained after the lapse of the ages intervening the -Fall and the Atonement. Seth received, however, a small branch of -the Tree of Knowledge, and was told that when it should bear fruit, -Adam would recover. Returning, Seth found Adam dead, and planted the -branch in his grave. It grew to a tree which Solomon had hewn down -for building the temple; but the workmen could not adapt it, threw it -aside, and it was used as a bridge over a lake. The Queen of Sheba, -about to cross this lake, beheld a vision of Christ on the cross, -and informed Solomon that when a certain person had been suspended -on that tree the fall of the Jewish nation would be near. Solomon in -alarm buried the wood deep in the earth, and the spot was covered by -the pool of Bethesda. Shortly before the crucifixion the tree floated -on that water, and ultimately, as the cross, bore its fruit. [112] - -In our old Russian picture (Fig. 8) Seth is shown offering a branch -of the Tree of Knowledge to his father Adam. That it should spring up -to be the Tree of Life is simply in obedience to Magian and Gnostic -theories, which generally turn on some scheme by which the Good turns -against the Evil Mind the point of his own weapon. These were the -influences which gave to christian doctrines on the subject their -perilous precision. The universal tradition was that Adam was the -first person liberated by Christ from hell; and this corresponded -with an equally wide belief that all who were saved by the death -of Christ and his descent into hell were at once raised into the -moral condition of Adam and Eve before the Fall,--to eat the food -and breathe the holy air of Paradise. - -An honest mirror was held up before this theology by the christian -Adamites. Their movement (second and third centuries) was a most -legitimate outcome of the Pauline and Johannine gospel. The author of -this so-called 'heresy,' Prodicus, really anticipated the Methodist -doctrine of 'sanctification,' and he was only consistent in admonishing -his followers that clothing was, in the Bible, the original badge -of carnal guilt and shame, and was no longer necessary for those -whom Christ had redeemed from the Fall and raised to the original -innocence of Adam and Eve. These believers, in the appropriate -climate of Northern Africa, had no difficulty in carrying out their -doctrine practically, and having named their churches 'Paradises,' -assembled in them quite naked. There is still a superstition in -the East that a snake will never attack one who is naked. The same -Adamite doctrine--a prelapsarian perfection symbolised by nudity--was -taught by John Picard in Bohemia, and a flourishing sect of 'Adamites' -arose there in the fifteenth century. The Slavonian Adamites of the -last century--and they are known to carry on their services still in -secret--not only dispense with clothing, but also with sacraments and -ceremonies, which are for the imperfect, not for the perfected. Again -and again has this logical result of the popular theology appeared, -and with increasingly gross circumstances, as the refined and -intelligent abandon except in name the corresponding dogmas. It is -an impressive fact that Paul's central doctrine of 'a new creature' -is now adopted with most realistic orthodoxy by the Mormons of Utah, -whose initiation consists of a dramatic performance on each candidate -of moulding the body out of clay, breathing in the nostrils, the -'deep sleep' presentation of an Eve to each Adam, the temptation, -fall, and redemption. The 'saints' thus made, unfortunately, seem -to have equally realistic ideas that the Gentiles are adherents of -the Prince of this world, and their sacramental bands have shown some -striking imitations of those events of history which, when not labelled -'Christian,' are pronounced barbarous. Now that the old dogmatic system -is being left more and more to the ignorant and vulgar to make over -into their own image and likeness, it may be hoped that elsewhere also -the error that libels and outrages nature will run to seed; for error, -like the aloe, has its period when it shoots up a high stem and--dies. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -THE HOLY GHOST. - - A Hanover relic--Mr. Atkinson on the Dove--The Dove in the Old - Testament--Ecclesiastical symbol--Judicial symbol--A vision of - St. Dunstan's--The witness of chastity--Dove and Serpent--The - unpardonable sin--Inexpiable sin among the Jews--Destructive - power of Jehovah--Potency of the breath--Third persons of - Trinities--Pentecost--Christian superstitions--Mr. Moody on the - sin against the Holy Ghost--Mysterious fear--Idols of the cave. - - -There is in the old town of Hanover, in Germany, a schoolhouse -in which, above the teacher's chair, there was anciently the -representation of a dove perched upon an iron branch or rod; and -beneath the inscription--'This shall lead you into all truth.' In the -course of time the dove fell down and was removed to the museum; but -there is still left before the children the rod, with the admonition -that it will lead them into all truth. This is about as much as for -a long time was left in the average christian mind of the symbolical -Dove, the Holy Ghost. Half of its primitive sense departed, and there -remained only an emblem of mysterious terror. More spiritual minds -have introduced into the modern world a conception of the Holy Ghost -as a life-giving influence or a spirit of love, but the ancient view -which regarded it as the Iron Rod of judgment and execution still -survives in the notion of the 'sin against the Holy Ghost.' - -Mr. Henry G. Atkinson writes as follows: [113]--'My old friend -Barry Cornwall, the fine poet, once said to me, 'My dear Atkinson, -can you tell me the meaning of the Holy Ghost; what can it possibly -mean?' 'Well,' I said, 'I suppose it means a pigeon. We have never -heard of it in any other form but that of the dove descending from -heaven to the Virgin Mary. Then we have the pretty fable of the dove -returning to the ark with the olive-branch, so that the Christian -religion may be called the Religion of the Pigeon. In the Greek Church -the pigeon is held sacred. St. Petersburgh is swarming with pigeons, -but they are never killed or disturbed. I knew a lady whose life -was made wretched in the belief that she had sinned the unpardonable -sin against the Holy Ghost, and neither priest nor physician could -persuade her out of the delusion, though in all other respects she -was quite sensible. She regarded herself as such a wretch that she -could not bear to see herself in the glass, and the looking-glasses -had all to be removed, and when she went to an hotel, her husband had -to go first and have the looking-glasses of the apartments covered -over. But what is the Holy Ghost--what is its office? Sitting with -Miss Martineau at her house at Ambleside one day, a German lady, who -spoke broken English, came in. She was a neighbour, and had a large -house and grounds, and kept fowls. 'Oh!' she said, quite excited, -'the beast has taken off another chicken (meaning the hawk). I saw -it myself. The wretch! it came down just like the Holy Ghost, and -snatched off the chicken.' How Miss Martineau did laugh; but I don't -know that this story throws much light upon the subject, since it -does but bring us back to the pigeon.' - -It would require a volume to explain fully all the problems suggested -in this brief note, but the more important facts may be condensed. - -It is difficult to show how far the natural characteristics and habits -of the dove are reflected in its wide-spread symbolism. Its plaintive -note and fondness for solitudes are indicated in the Psalmist's -aspiration, 'Oh that I had the wings of a dove, then would I fly -away and be at rest; lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in -the wilderness.' [114] It is not a difficult transition from this -association with the wilderness to investment with a relationship with -the demon of the wilderness--Azazel. So we find it in certain passages -in Jeremiah, where the word has been suppressed in the ordinary -English version. 'The land is desolate because of the fierceness -of the dove.' 'Let us go again to our own people to avoid the sword -of the dove.' 'They shall flee away every one for fear of the sword -of the dove.' [115] In India its lustres--blue and fiery--may have -connected it with azure-necked Siva. - -The far-seeing and wonderful character of the pigeon as a carrier -was well known to the ancients. On Egyptian bas-reliefs priests are -shown sending them with messages. They appear in the branches of the -oaks of Dodona, and in old Russian frescoes they sometimes perch on -the Tree of Knowledge in paradise. It is said that, in order to avail -himself of this universal symbolism, Mohammed trained a dove to perch -on his shoulder. As the raven was said to whisper secrets to Odin, -so the dove was often pictured at the ear of God. In Nôtre Dame de -Chartres, its beak is at the ear of Pope Gregory the Great. - -It passed--and did not have far to go--to be the familiar of kings. It -brought the chrism from heaven at the baptism of Clovis. White -doves came to bear the soul of Louis of Thuringia to heaven. The -dove surmounted the sceptre of Charlemagne. At the consecration of -the kings of France, after the ceremony of unction, white doves were -let loose in the church. At the consecration of a monarch in England, -a duke bears before the sovereign the sceptre with the dove. - -By association with both ecclesiastical and political sovereignty, -it came to represent very nearly the old fatal serpent power which -had lurked in all its transformations. When the Holy Ghost was -represented as a crowned man, the dove was pictured on his wrist like -that falcon with which the German lady, mentioned by Mr. Atkinson, -identified it. But in this connection its symbolism is more especially -referable to a passage in Isaiah: [116] 'There shall come forth a rod -out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; -and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom -and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of the -knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' The sanctity of the number -seven led to the partition of the last clause into three spirits, -making up the seven, which were: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, -Strength, Knowledge, Piety, Fear. In some of the representations -of these where each of the seven Doves is labelled with its name, -'Fear' is at the top of their arch, a Psalm having said, 'The fear -of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' When the knightly Order -of the Holy Ghost was created in 1352, it was aristocratic, and, -when reorganised by Henry III. of France in 1579, it was restricted -to magisterial and political personages. With them was the spirit of -Fear certainly; and the Order shows plainly what had long been the -ideas connected with the Holy Ghost. - -M. Didron finds this confirmed in the legends of every country, and -especially refers to a story of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, -in the tenth century. Three men, convicted of coining false money, had -been condemned to death. Immediately before the celebration of mass -on the day of Pentecost, the festival of the Holy Ghost, St. Dunstan -inquired whether justice had been done upon the three criminals: -he was informed in reply that the execution had been delayed on -account of the solemn feast of Pentecost then in celebration. 'It -shall not be thus,' cried the indignant archbishop, and gave orders -for the immediate execution of the guilty men. Several of those who -were present remonstrated against the cruelty of that order; it was -nevertheless obeyed. - -After the execution of the criminals, Dunstan washed his face, and -turned with a joyful countenance towards his oratory. 'I now hope,' -said he, 'that God will be pleased to accept the sacrifice I am about -to offer;' and in fact, during the celebration of mass, at the moment -when the Saint raised his hands to implore that God the Father would -be pleased to give peace to his Church, to guide, guard, and keep -it in unity throughout the world, 'a dove, as white as snow, was -seen to descend from heaven, and during the entire service remained -with wings extended, floating silently in air above the head of the -archbishop.' [117] - -The passionate sexual nature of the dove made it emblem of Aphrodite, -and it became spiritualised in its consecration to the Madonna. From -its relation to the falsely-accused Mary, there grew around the Dove -a special class of legends which show it attesting female innocence -or avenging it. The white dove said to have issued from the mouth -of Joan of Arc is one of many instances. There is still, I believe, -preserved in the Lyttleton family the picture painted by Dowager -Lady Lyttleton in 1780, in commemoration of the warning of death -given to Lord Lyttleton by the mother of two girls he had seduced, -the vision being attended by a fluttering dove. The original account -of his vision or dream, attributed to Lord Lyttleton, mentions only -'a bird.' When next told, it is that he 'heard a noise resembling the -fluttering of a dove,' and on looking to the window saw 'an unhappy -female whom he had seduced.' But the exigencies of orthodoxy are too -strong for original narratives. As the 'bird' attested an announcement -that on the third day (that too was gradually added) he would die, -it must have been a dove; and as the dove attends only the innocent, -it must have been the poor girl's mother that appeared. It was easy -to have the woman die at the precise hour of appearance. [118] When in -Chicago in 1875, I read in one of the morning papers a very particular -account of how a white dove flew into the chamber window of a young -unmarried woman in a neighbouring village, she having brought forth -a child, and solemnly declaring that she had never lost her virginity. - -In this history of the symbolism of the Dove the theological -development of the Holy Ghost has been outlined. We have seen -in the previous chapter that the Holy Spirit is in opposition to -the Natural Air,--repository of evils. The Dove symbolised this -aspect of it in hovering over the world emerging from its diluvial -baptism, and also over the typical new Adam (Jesus) coming from his -baptism. But in this it corresponds with the serpent-symbol of life -in Egyptian mythology brooding over the primal mundane egg (as in -Fig. 23, vol. i.). Nathaniel Hawthorne found a mystical meaning in -the beautiful group at Rome representing a girl pressing a dove to -her bosom while she is attacked by a serpent. But in their theological -aspects the Dove and the Serpent blend; they are at once related and -separated in Christ's words, 'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless -as doves;' but in the office of the Holy Ghost as representing a -divine Intelligence, and its consequent evolution as executor of -divine judgments, it fulfils in Christendom much the same part as -the Serpent in the more primitive mythologies. - -'Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven unto men,' said a legendary -Christ; [119] 'but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be -forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, -it will be forgiven him, but whosoever shall speak against the Holy -Ghost, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in that -to come.' In Mark [120] it is said, 'All things shall be forgiven -unto the sons of men, the sins and the blasphemies wherewith they -shall blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy -Ghost has never forgiveness, but will be guilty of everlasting sin; -(because they said, He has an unclean spirit).' When Christ uttered -these tremendous words, no disciple seems to have been startled, -or to have inquired into the nature of that sin, so much worse than -any offence against himself or the Father, which has since employed -so much theological speculation. - -In fact, they needed no explanation: it was an old story; -the unpardonable sin was a familiar feature of ancient Jewish -law. Therein the sin excluded from expiation was any presumptuous -language or action against Jehovah. It is easy to see why this was -so. Real offences, crimes against man or society, were certain of -punishment, through the common interest and need. But the honour -and interests of Jehovah, not being obvious or founded in nature, -required special and severe statutes. The less a thing is protected -by its intrinsic and practical importance, the more it must, if at -all, be artificially protected. This is illustrated in the story -of Eli and his two sons. These youths were guilty of the grossest -immoralities, but not a word was said against them, they being sons -of the High Priest, except a mild remonstrance from Eli himself. But -when on an occasion these youths tasted the part of the sacrificial -meat offered to Jehovah, the divine wrath was kindled. Eli, much more -terrified at this ceremonial than the moral offence, said to his sons, -'If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a -man sin against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him?' In protecting -his interests, Jehovah's destroying angel does not allude to any -other offence of Eli's sons except that against himself. But when the -priestly guardians of the divine interests came with their people under -the control of successive Gallios,--aliens who cared not for their -ceremonial law, and declined to permit the infliction of its penalties, -as England now forbids suttee in India,--the priests could only pass -sentences; execution of them had to be adjourned to a future world. - -The doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments is not one -which a priesthood would naturally prefer or invent. So long as a -priesthood possesses the power of life and death over the human body, -they would not, by suggesting future awards, risk the possibility -of a heresy arising to maintain Deorum injuria diis cura. But where -an alien jurisdiction has relegated to local deities the defence of -their own majesty, there must grow up the theory that such offences -as cannot be expiated on earth are unpardonable, and must, because -of the legal impunity with which they can be committed, be all the -more terribly avenged somewhere else. - -Under alien influences, also, the supreme and absolute government of -Jehovah had been divided, as is elsewhere described. He who originally -claimed the empire of both light and darkness, good and evil, when -his rivalry against other gods was on a question of power, had to be -relieved of responsibility for earthly evils when the moral sense -demanded dualism. Thus there grew up a separate personification of -the destructive power of Jehovah, which had been supposed to lodge -in his breath. The last breath of man obviously ends life; there is -nothing more simple in its natural germ than the association of the -first breath and the last with the Creative Spirit. [121] This potency -of the breath or spirit is found in many ancient regions. It is the -natural teaching of the destructive simoom, [122] or even of the annual -autumnal breath which strikes the foliage with death. Persia especially -abounded with superstitions of this character. By a sorcerer's breath -the two serpents were evoked from the breast of Zohák. Nizami has woven -the popular notion into his story of the two physicians who tried to -destroy each other; one of whom survived his rival's poisonous draught, -and killed that rival by making him smell a flower on which he had -breathed. [123] Such notions as these influenced powerfully the later -development of the idea of Jehovah, concerning whom it was said of old, -'With the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked;' 'the breath -of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle (Tophet).' - -Meanwhile in all the Trinitarian races which were to give form to -christian Mythology, destructiveness had generally (not invariably) -become the traditional rôle of the Third Person. [124] In Egypt there -were Osiris the Creator, Horus the Preserver, Typhon the Destroyer; -in Babylonia, Anu the Upper Air, Sin (Uri) the Moon, Samis the Sun. In -Assyria the Sun regains his place, and deadly influences were ascribed -to the Moon. In India, Brahma the Father, Vishnu the Saviour, Siva the -Destroyer; in Persia, Zeruâne-Akrane Infinite Time, Ormuzd the Good, -Ahriman the Evil; in Greece Zeus, Poseidôn, and Hadês, or Heaven, -Ocean, and Hell, were the first-born of Time. The Trinitarian form had -gradually crept in among the Jews, though their Jahvistic theology only -admitted its application to inferior deities--Cain, Abel, Seth; Moses, -Aaron, Hur; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. As time went on, these succeeded -the ideas of Jehovah, Messias, and Wisdom. But already the serpent -was the wisest of all the beasts of the field in Jewish mythology; -and the personified Wisdom was fully prepared to be identified with -Athene, the Greek Wisdom, who sprang armed from the head of Zeus -(the Air), and whose familiar was a serpent. - -On the other hand, however, the divine Breath had also its benign -significance. Siva ('the auspicious') inherited the character of Rudra -('roaring storm'), but it was rather supported later on by his wife -Káli. Athena though armed was the goddess of agriculture. The breath -of Elohim had given man life. 'I now draw in and now let forth,' -says Krishna; [125] 'I am generation and dissolution; I am death -and immortality.' 'Thou wilt fancy it the dawning zephyr of an early -spring,' says Sàdi; 'but it is the breath of Isa, or Jesus; for in -that fresh breath and verdure the dead earth is reviving.' [126] -'The voice of the turtle is heard in the land,' sings Solomon. - -When the Third Person of the Christian Trinity was constituted, -it inherited the fatality of all the previous Third Persons--the -Destroyers--while it veiled them in mystery. When the Holy Ghost -inspired the disciples the account is significant. [127] 'Suddenly -there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, -... and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, -and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy -Ghost.' This was on the Day of Pentecost, the harvest festival, when -the first-fruits were offered to the quickening Spirit or Breath of -nature; but the destructive feature is there also--the tongues are -cloven like those of serpents. The beneficent power was manifest at -the gate called Beautiful when the lame man was made to walk by Peter's -power; but its fatal power was with the same apostle, and when he said, -'Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?' instantly -Ananias fell down and gave up the ghost. [128] The spirit was carried, -it is said, in the breath of the apostles. Its awfulness had various -illustrations. Mary offered up two doves in token of her conception by -the Holy Ghost. Jesus is described as scourging from the temple those -that sold doves, and the allegory is repeated in Peter's denunciation -of Simon Magus, who offered money for the gift of the Holy Ghost. [129] - -In one of his sermons Mr. Moody said, 'Nearly every day we have -somebody coming into the inquiry-room very much discouraged and -disheartened and cast down, because they think they have committed -a sin against the Holy Ghost, and that there is no hope for -them.' Mr. Moody said he believed the sin was nearly impossible, but -he adds this remarkable statement, 'I don't remember of ever hearing -a man swear by the Holy Ghost except once, and then I looked upon -him expecting him to fall dead, and my blood ran cold when I heard -him.' But it is almost as rare to hear prayers addressed to the Holy -Ghost; and both phenomena--for praying and swearing are radically -related--are no doubt survivals of the ancient notions which I -have described. The forces of nature out of which the symbol grew, -the life that springs from death and grows by decay, is essentially -repeated again by those who adhere to the letter that kills, and -also by those who ascend with the spirit that makes alive. It is -probable that no more terrible form of the belief in a Devil survives -than this Holy Ghost Dogma, which, lurking in vagueness and mystery, -like the serpent of which it was born, passes by the self-righteous -to cast its shadows over the most sensitive and lowly minds, chiefly -those of pure women prone to exaggerate their least blemishes. - -In right reason the fatal Holy Ghost stands as the type of that Fear -by which priesthoods have been able to preserve their institutions -after the deities around whom they grew had become unpresentable, -and which could best be fostered beneath the veil of mystery. They -who love darkness rather than light because their deeds cannot bear -the light, veil their gods not to abolish them but to preserve -them. Calvinism is veiled, and Athanasianism, and Romanism; they -are all veiled idols, whose power lives by being hid in a mass of -philology and casuistry. So long as Christianity can persuade the -Pope and Dr. Martineau, Dean Stanley and Mr. Moody, Quakers, Shakers, -Jumpers, all to describe themselves alike as 'Christians,' its real -nature will be veiled, its institutions will cumber the ground, and -draw away the strength and intellect due to humanity; the indefinable -'infidel' will be a devil. This process has been going on for a long -time. The serpent-god, accursed by the human mind which grew superior -to it, has crept into its Ark; but its fang and venom linger with that -Bishop breathing on a priest, the priest breathing on a sick child, -and bears down side by side with science that atmosphere of mystery -in which creep all the old reptiles that throttle common sense and -send their virus through all the social frame. - -In demonology the Holy Ghost is not a Devil, but in it are reflected -the diabolisation of Culture and Progress and Art. It was these -'Devils' which compelled the gods to veil themselves through successive -ages, and to spiritualise their idols and dogmas to save their -institutions. The deities concealed have proved far more potent over -the popular imagination than when visible. The indefinable terrible -menace of the Holy Ghost was a consummate reply to that equally -indefinable spirit of loathing and contempt which rises among the -cultured and refined towards things that have become unreal, their -formalities and their cant. It is this ever-recurring necessity that -enables clergymen to denounce belief in Hell and a Devil in churches -which assuredly would never have been built but for the superstition -so denounced. The ancient beliefs and the present denunciation of them -are on the same thread,--the determination of a Church to survive and -hold its power at any and every cost. The jesuitical power to veil -the dogma is the most successful method of confronting the Spirit -of an Age, which in the eye of reason is the only holy spirit, but -which to ecclesiastical power struggling with enlightenment is the -only formidable Satan. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -ANTICHRIST. - - The Kali Age--Satan sifting Simon--Satan as Angel of - Light--Epithets of Antichrist--The Cæsars--Nero--Sacraments - imitated by Pagans--Satanic signs and wonders--Jerome - on Antichrist--Armillus--Al Dajjail--Luther on - Mohammed--'Mawmet'--Satan 'God's ape'--Mediæval notions--Witches - Sabbath--An Infernal Trinity--Serpent of Sins--Antichrist - Popes--Luther as Antichrist--Modern notions of Antichrist. - - -In the 'Padma Purana' it is recorded that when King Vena embraced -heretical doctrine and abjured the temples and sacrifices, the people -following him, seven powerful Rishis, high priests, visited him -and entreated him to return to their faith. They said, 'These acts, -O king, which thou art performing, are not of our holy traditions, -nor fit for our religion, but are such as shall be performed by -mankind at the entrance of Kali, the last and sinful age, when thy -new faith shall be received by all, and the service of the gods be -utterly relinquished.' King Vena, being thus in advance of his time, -was burned on the sacred grass, while a mantra was performed for him. - -This theory of Kali is curious as indicating a final triumph of the -enemies of the gods. In the Scandinavian theory of 'Ragnarok,' the -Twilight of the gods, there also seems to have been included no hope -of the future victory of the existing gods. In the Parsí faith we -first meet with the belief in a general catastrophe followed by the -supremacy and universal sway of good. This faith characterised the -later Hebrew prophecies, and is the spirit of Paul's brave saying, -'When all things shall be subjected unto him, then also shall the -Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that -God may be all in all.' - -When, however, theology and metaphysics advanced and modelled this -fiery lava of prophetic and apostolic ages into dogmatic shapes, -evil was accorded an equal duration with good. The conflict between -Christ and his foes was not to end with the conversion or destruction -of his foes, but his final coming as monarch of the world was to -witness the chaining up of the Archfiend in the Pit. - -Christ's own idea of Satan, assuming certain reported expressions to -have been really uttered by him, must have been that which regarded -him as a Tempter to evil, whose object was to test the reality of -faith. 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked you for himself, that he -might sift you as the wheat; but I made supplication for thee, that -thy faith fail not; and when once thou hast returned, confirm thy -brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, -both into prison and into death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, -a cock will not crow this day till thou wilt thrice deny that thou -knowest me.' [130] Such a sentiment could not convey to Jewish ears -a degraded notion of Satan, except as being a nocturnal spirit who -must cease his work at cock-crow. It is an adaptation of what Jehovah -himself was said to do, in the prophecy of Amos. 'I will not utterly -destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.... I will sift the house -of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, -yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.' [131] - -Paul, too, appears to have had some such conception of Satan, since he -speaks of an evil-doer as delivered up to Satan 'for the destruction -of the flesh that the spirit may be saved.' [132] There is, however, -in another passage an indication of the distinctness with which Paul -and his friends had conceived a fresh adaptation of Satan as obstacle -of their work. 'For such,' he says, 'are false apostles, deceitful -workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no -marvel: for Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. It is -no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves -as ministers of righteousness; whose end will be according to their -works.' [133] It may be noted here that Paul does not think of Satan -himself as transforming himself to a minister of righteousness, but of -Satan's ministers as doing so. It is one of a number of phrases in the -New Testament which reveal the working of a new movement towards an -expression of its own. Real and far-reaching religious revolutions in -history are distinguished from mere sectarian modifications, which they -sum up in nothing more than in their new phraseology. When Jehovah, -Messias, and Satan are gradually supplanted by Father, Christ, and -Antichrist (or Man of Sin, False Christ, Withholder (katechon), False -Prophet, Son of Perdition, Mystery of Iniquity, Lawless One), it is -plain that new elements are present, and new emergencies. These varied -phrases just quoted could not, indeed, crystallise for a long time into -any single name for the new Obstacle to the new life, for during the -same time the new life itself was too living, too various, to harden -in any definite shape or be marked with any special name. The only New -Testament writer who uses the word Antichrist is the so-called Apostle -John; and it is interesting to remark that it is by him connected -with a dogmatic statement of the nature of Christ and definition of -heresy. 'Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ is come in the flesh -is of God; and every spirit that confesses not Jesus is not of God: -and this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that -it comes; and now it is in the world already.' [134] This language, -characteristic of the middle and close of the second century, [135] -is in strong contrast with Paul's utterance in the first century, -describing the Man of Sin (or of lawlessness, the son of perdition), -as one 'who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, -or that is worshipped; so that he sat in the temple of God, showing -himself that he is God.' [136] Christ has not yet begun to supplant -God; to Paul he is the Son of God confronting the Son of Destruction, -the divine man opposed by the man of sin. When the nature of Christ -becomes the basis of a dogma, the man of sin is at once defined as -the opponent of that dogma. - -As this dogma struggled on to its consummation and victory, it -necessarily took the form of a triumph over the Cæsars, who were -proclaiming themselves gods, and demanding worship as such. The writer -of the second Epistle bearing Peter's name saw those christians who -yielded to such authority typified in Balaam, the erring prophet who -was opposed by the angel; [137] the writer of the Gospel of John saw -the traitor Judas as the 'son of perdition,' [138] representing Jesus -as praying that the rest of his disciples might be kept 'out of the -evil one;' and many similar expressions disclose the fact that, towards -the close of the second century, and throughout the third, the chief -obstacle of those who were just beginning to be called 'Christians' -was the temptation offered by Rome to the christians themselves to -betray their sect. It was still a danger to name the very imperial -gods who successively set themselves up to be worshipped at Rome, -but the pointing of the phrases is unmistakable long before the last -of the pagan emperors held the stirrup for the first christian Pontiff -to mount his horse. - -Nero had answered to the portrait of 'the son of perdition sitting -in the temple of God' perfectly. He aspired to the title 'King -of the Jews.' He solemnly assumed the name of Jupiter. He had his -temples and his priests, and shared divine honours with his mistress -Poppæa. Yet, when Nero and his glory had perished under those phials -of wrath described in the Apocalypse, a more exact image of the -insidious 'False Christ' appeared in Vespasian. His alleged miracles -('lying wonders'), and the reported prediction of his greatness -by a prophet on Mount Carmel, his oppression of the Jews, who had -to contribute the annual double drachma to support the temples and -gods which Vespasian had restored, altogether made this decorous and -popular emperor a more formidable enemy than the 'Beast' Nero whom -he succeeded. The virtues and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius still -increased the danger. Political conditions favoured all those who -were inclined to compromise, and to mingle the popular pagan and the -Jewish festivals, symbols, and ceremonies. In apocalyptic metaphor, -Vespasian and Aurelius are the two horns of the Lamb who spake like -the Dragon, i.e., Nero (Rev. xiii. 11). - -The beginnings of that mongrel of superstitions which at last gained -the name of Christianity were in the liberation, by decay of parts -and particles, of all those systems which Julius Cæsar had caged -together for mutual destruction. 'With new thrones rise new altars,' -says Byron's Sardanapalus; but it is still more true that, with new -thrones all altars crumble a little. At an early period the differences -between the believers in Christ and those they called idolaters -were mainly in name; and, with the increase of Gentile converts, -the adoption of the symbolism and practices of the old religions was -so universal that the quarrel was about originality. 'The Devil,' -says Tertullian, 'whose business it is to pervert the truth, mimics -the exact circumstances of the Divine Sacraments in the mysteries of -idols. He himself baptizes some, that is to say, his believers and -followers: he promises forgiveness of sins from the sacred fount, -and thus initiates them into the religion of Mithras; he thus marks -on the forehead his own soldiers: he then celebrates the oblation of -bread; he brings in the symbol of resurrection, and wins the crown -with the sword.' [139] - -What masses of fantastic nonsense it was possible to cram into -one brain was shown in the time of Nero, the brain being that of -Simon the Magician. Simon was, after all, a representative man; -he reappears in christian Gnosticism, and Peter, who denounced him, -reappears also in the phrenzy of Montanism. Take the followers of -this Sorcerer worshipping his image in the likeness of Jupiter, -the Moon, and Minerva; and Montanus with his wild women Priscilla -and Maximilla going about claiming to be inspired by the Holy Ghost -to re-establish Syrian orthodoxy and asceticism; and we have fair -specimens of the parties that glared at each other, and apostrophised -each other as children of Belial. They competed with each other by -pretended miracles. They both claimed the name of Christ, and all the -approved symbols and sacraments. The triumph of one party turned the -other into Antichrist. - -Thus in process of time, as one hydra-head fell only to be followed -by another, there was defined a Spirit common to and working through -them all--a new devil, whose special office was hostility to Christ, -and whose operations were through those who claimed to be christians -as well as through open enemies. - -As usual, when the phrases, born of real struggles, had lost their -meaning, they were handed up to the theologians to be made into -perpetual dogmas. Out of an immeasurable mass of theories and -speculations, we may regard the following passage from Jerome as -showing what had become the prevailing belief at the beginning of -the fifth century. 'Let us say that which all ecclesiastical writers -have handed down, viz., that at the end of the world, when the Roman -Empire is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings, who will divide -the Roman world among them; and there will arise an eleventh little -king who will subdue three of the ten kings, that is, the king of -Egypt, of Africa, and of Ethiopia; and on these having been slain, -the seven other kings will submit.' 'And behold,' he says, 'in the -ram were the eyes of a man'--this is that we may not suppose him to -be a devil or a dæmon, as some have thought, but a man in whom Satan -will dwell utterly and bodily--'and a mouth speaking great things;' -for he is the 'man of sin, the son of perdition, who sitteth in the -temple of God making himself as God.' [140] - -The 'Little Horn' of Daniel has proved a cornucopia of Antichrists. Not -only the christians but the Jews and the mussulmans have definite -beliefs on the subject. The rabbinical name for Antichrist is Armillus, -a word found in the Targum (Isa. xi. 4): 'By the word of his mouth -the wicked Armillus shall die.' There will be twelve signs of the -Messiah's coming--appearance of three apostate kings, terrible heat of -the sun, dew of blood, healing dew, the sun darkened for thirty days, -universal power of Rome with affliction for Jews, and the appearance -of the first Messias (Joseph's tribe), Nehemiah. The next and seventh -sign will be the appearance of Armillus, born of a marble statue in a -church at Rome. The Romans will accept him as their god, and the whole -world be subject to him. Nehemiah alone will refuse to worship him, -and for this will be slain, and the Jews suffer terrible things. The -eighth sign will be the appearance of the angel Michael with three -blasts of his trumpet--which shall call forth Elias, the forerunner, -and the true Messias (Ben David), and bring on the war with Armillus -who shall perish, and all christians with him. The ten tribes shall -be gathered into Paradise. Messias shall wed the fairest daughter of -their race, and when he dies his sons shall succeed him, and reign -in unbroken line over a beatified Israel. - -The mussulman modification of the notion of Antichrist is very -remarkable. They call him Al Dajjail, that is, the impostor. They say -that Mohammed told his follower Tamisri Al-Dari, that at the end of -the world Antichrist would enter Jerusalem seated on an ass; but that -Jesus will then make his second coming to encounter him. The Beast of -the Apocalypse will aid Antichrist, but Jesus will be joined by Imam -Mahadi, who has never died; together they will subdue Antichrist, -and thereafter the mussulmans and christians will for ever be united -in one religion. The Jews, however, will regard Antichrist as their -expected Messias. Antichrist will be blind of one eye, and deaf of -one ear. 'Unbeliever' will be written on his forehead. In that day -the sun will rise in the west. [141] - -The christians poorly requited this amicable theory of the mussulmans -by very extensively identifying Mohammed as Antichrist, at one -period. From that period came the English word mawmet (idol), -and mummery (idolatry), both of which, probably, are derived from -the name of the Arabian Prophet. Daniel's 'Little Horn' betokens, -according to Martin Luther, Mohammed. 'But what are the Little Horn's -Eyes? The Little Horn's Eyes,' says he, 'mean Mohammed's Alkoran, -or Law, wherewith he ruleth. In the which Law there is nought but -sheer human reason (eitel menschliche Vernunft).' ... 'For his Law,' -he reiterates, 'teaches nothing but that which human understanding and -reason may well like.' ... Wherefore 'Christ will come upon him with -fire and brimstone.' When he wrote this--in his 'army sermon' against -the Turks--in 1529, he had never seen a Koran. 'Brother Richard's' -(Predigerordens) Confutatio Alcoran, dated 1300, formed the exclusive -basis of his argument. But in Lent of 1540, he relates, a Latin -translation, though a very unsatisfactory one, fell into his hands, -and once more he returned to Brother Richard, and did his Refutation -into German, supplementing his version with brief but racy notes. This -Brother Richard had, according to his own account, gone in quest of -knowledge to 'Babylon, that beautiful city of the Saracens,' and at -Babylon he had learnt Arabic and been inured in the evil ways of the -Saracens. When he had safely returned to his native land he set about -combating the same. And this is his exordium:--'At the time of the -Emperor Heraclius there arose a man, yea, a Devil, and a first-born -child of Satan, ... who wallowed in ... and he was dealing in the Black -Art, and his name it was Machumet.' ... This work Luther made known to -his countrymen by translating and commenting, prefacing, and rounding -it off by an epilogue. True, his notes amount to little more but an -occasional 'Oh fie, for shame, you horrid Devil, you damned Mahomet,' -or 'O Satan, Satan, you shall pay for that,' or, 'That's it, Devils, -Saracens, Turks, it's all the same,' or, 'Here the Devil smells a rat,' -or briefly, 'O Pfui Dich, Teufel!' except when he modestly, with a -query, suggests whether those Assassins, who, according to his text, -are regularly educated to go out into the world in order to kill and -slay all Worldly Powers, may not, perchance, be the Gypsies or the -'Tattern' (Tartars); or when he breaks down with a 'Hic nescio quid -dicat translator.' His epilogue, however, is devoted to a special -disquisition as to whether Mohammed or the Pope be worse. And in the -twenty-second chapter of this disquisition he has arrived at the -final conclusion that, after all, the Pope is worse, and that he, -and not Mohammed, is the real 'Endechrist.' 'Wohlen,' he winds up, -'God grant us his grace, and punish both the Pope and Mohammed, -together with their devils. I have done my part as a true prophet -and teacher. Those who won't listen may leave it alone.' In similar -strains speaks the learned and gentle Melancthon. In an introductory -epistle to a reprint of that same Latin Koran which displeased Luther -so much, he finds fault with Mohammed, or rather, to use his own -words, he thinks that 'Mohammed is inspired by Satan,' because he -'does not explain what sin is,' and further, since he 'showeth not the -reason of human misery.' He agrees with Luther about the Little Horn: -though in another treatise he is rather inclined to see in Mohammed -both Gog and Magog. And 'Mohammed's sect,' he says, 'is altogether -made up (conflata) of blasphemy, robbery, and shameful lusts.' Nor -does it matter in the least what the Koran is all about. 'Even if -there were anything less scurrilous in the book, it need not concern -us any more than the portents of the Egyptians, who invoked snakes -and cats.... Were it not that partly this Mohammedan pest, and partly -the Pope's idolatry, have long been leading us straight to wreck and -ruin--may God have mercy upon some of us!' [142] - -'Mawmet' was used by Wicliffe for idol in his translation of the -New Testament, Acts vii. 41, 'And they made a calf in those days and -offered a sacrifice to the Mawmet' (idol). The word, though otherwise -derived by some, is probably a corruption of Mohammed. In the 'Mappa -Mundi' of the thirteenth century we find the representation of the -golden calf in the promontory of Sinai, with the superscription 'Mahum' -for Mohammed, whose name under various corruptions, such as Mahound, -Mawmet, &c., became a general byword in the mediæval languages for an -idol. In a missionary hymn of Wesley's Mohammed is apostrophised as-- - - - That Arab thief, as Satan bold, - Who quite destroyed Thy Asian fold; - - -and the Almighty is adjured to-- - - - The Unitarian fiend expel, - And chase his doctrine back to Hell. - - -In these days, when the very mention of the Devil raises a smile, -we can hardly realise the solemnity with which his work was once -viewed. When Goethe represents Mephistopheles as undertaking to -teach Faust's class in theology and dwells on his orthodoxy, it -is the refrain of the faith of many generations. The Devil was not -'God's Ape,' as Tertullian called him, in any comical way; not only -was his ceremonial believed to be modelled on that of God, but his -inspiration of his followers was believed to be quite as potent and -earnest. Tertullian was constrained to write in this strain--'Blush, -my Roman fellow-soldiers, even if ye are not to be judged by Christ, -but by any soldier of Mithras, who when he is undergoing initiation -in the cave, the very camp of the Powers of Darkness, when the wreath -is offered him (a sword being placed between as if in semblance of -martyrdom), and then about to be set on his head, he is warned to -put forth his hand and push the wreath away, transferring it to, -perchance, his shoulder, saying at the same time, My only crown is -Mithras. And thenceforth he never wears a wreath; and this is a mark -he has for a test, whenever tried as to his initiation, for he is -immediately proved to be a soldier of Mithras if he throws down the -wreath offered him, saying his crown is in his god. Let us therefore -acknowledge the craft of the Devil, who mimics certain things of -those that be divine, in order that he may confound and judge us by -the faith of his own followers.' - -This was written before the exaltation of Christianity under -Constantine. When the age of the martyrdom of the so-called pagans -came on, these formulæ became real, and the christians were still -more confounded by finding that the worshippers of the Devil, -as they thought them, could yield up their lives in many parts of -Europe as bravely for their faith as any christian had ever done. The -'Prince of this world' became thus an unmeaning phrase except for -the heretics. Christ had become the Prince of this world; and he was -opposed by religious devotees as earnest as any who had suffered under -Nero. The relation of the Opposition to the Devil was yet more closely -defined when it claimed the christian name for its schism or heresy, -and when it carried its loyalty to the Adversary of the Church to the -extent of suffering martyrdom. 'Tell me, holy father,' said Evervinus -to St. Bernard, concerning the Albigenses, 'how is this? They entered -to the stake and bore the torment of the fire not only with patience, -but with joy and gladness. I wish your explanation, how these members -of the Devil could persist in their heresy with a courage and constancy -scarcely to be found in the most religious of the faith of Christ?' - -Under these circumstances the personification of Antichrist had -a natural but still wonderful development. He was to be born of a -virgin, in Babylon, to be educated at Bethsaida and Chorazin, and to -make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, proclaiming himself the Son of -God. In the interview at Messina (1202) between Richard I. and the -Abbot Joachim of Floris, the king said, 'I thought that Antichrist -would be born at Antioch or in Babylon, and of the tribe of Dan, -and would reign in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, and would -walk in that land in which Christ walked, and would reign in it for -three years and a half, and would dispute against Elijah and Enoch, -and would kill them, and would afterwards die; and that after his -death God would give sixty days of repentance, in which those might -repent which should have erred from the way of truth, and have been -seduced by the preaching of Antichrist and his false prophets.' - -This belief was reflected in Western Europe in the belief that the -congregation of Witches assembled on their Sabbath (an institution -then included among paganisms) to celebrate grand mass to the Devil, -and that all the primitive temples were raised in honour of Satan. In -the Russian Church the correspondence between the good and evil powers, -following their primitive faith in the conflict between Byelbog and -Tchernibog (white god and black god), went to the curious extent of -picturing in hell a sort of infernal Trinity. The Father throned in -Heaven with the Son between his knees and the Dove beside or beneath -him, was replied to by a majestic Satan in hell, holding his Son -(Judas) on his knees, and the Serpent acting as counteragent of -the Dove. This singular arrangement may still be seen in many of -the pictures which cover the walls of the oldest Russian churches -(Fig. 9). The infernal god is not without a solemn majesty answering -to that of his great antagonist above. The Serpent of Sins proceeds -from the diabolical Father and Son, passing from beneath their throne -through one of the two mouths of Hell, and then winds upward, hungrily -opening its jaws near the terrible Balances where souls are weighed -(Fig. 10). Along its hideous length are seated at regular intervals -nine winged devils, representing probably antagonists of the nine -Sephiroth or Æons of the Gnostic theology. Each is armed with a hook -whereby the souls weighed and found wanting may be dragged. The -sins which these devils represent are labelled, generally on -rings around the serpent, and increase in heinousness towards the -head. It is a curious fact that the Sin nearest the head is marked -'Unmercifulness.' Strange and unconscious sarcasm on an Omnipotent -Deity under whose sway exists this elaboration of a scheme of sins -and tortures precisely corresponding to the scheme of virtues and joys! - -Truly said the Epistle of John, there be many Antichrists. If this -was true before the word Christianity had been formed, or the system -it names, what was the case afterwards? For centuries we find vast -systems denouncing each other as Antichrist. And ultimately, as a -subtle hardly-conscious heresy spread abroad, the great excommunicator -of antichrists itself, Rome, acquired that title, which it has -never shaken off since. The See of Rome did not first receive that -appellation from Protestants, but from its own chiefs. Gregory himself -(A.C. 590) started the idea by declaring that any man who held even -the shadow of such power as the Popes arrogated to themselves after -his time would be the forerunner of Antichrist. Arnulphus, Bishop -of Orleans, in an invective against John XV. at Rheims (A.C. 991), -intimated that a Pope destitute of charity was Antichrist. But the -stigma was at length fixed (twelfth century) by Amalrich of Bena -('Quia Papa esset Antichristus et Roma Babylon et ipse sedit in -Monte Oliveti, i.e., in pinguedine potestatis'); and also by the -Abbot Joachim (A.C. 1202). The theory of Richard I., as stated to -Joachim concerning Antichrist, has already been quoted. It was in the -presence of the Archbishops of Rouen and Auxerre, and the Bishop of -Bayonne, and represented their opinion and the common belief of the -time. But Joachim said the Second Apocalyptic Beast represented some -great prelate who will be like Simon Magus, and, as it were, universal -Pontiff, and that very Antichrist of whom St. Paul speaks. Hildebrand -was the first Pope to whom this ugly label was affixed, but the -career of Alexander VI. (Roderic Borgia) made it for ever irremovable -for the Protestant mind. There is in the British Museum a volume of -caricatures, dated 1545, in which occurs an ingenious representation -of Alexander VI. The Pope is first seen in his ceremonial robes; but -a leaf being raised, another figure is joined to the lower part of the -former, and there appears the papal devil, the cross in his hand being -changed to a pitchfork (Fig. 11). Attached to it is an explanation in -German giving the legend of the Pope's death. He was poisoned (1503) -by the cup he had prepared for another man. It was afterwards said -that he had secured the papacy by aid of the Devil. Having asked -how long he would reign, the Devil returned an equivocal answer; -and though Alexander understood that it was to be fifteen years, it -proved to be only eleven. When in 1520 Pope Leo X. issued his formal -bull against Luther, the reformer termed it 'the execrable bull of -Antichrist.' An Italian poem of the time having represented Luther -as the offspring of Megæra, the Germans returned the invective in a -form more likely to impress the popular mind; namely, in a caricature -(Fig. 12), representing the said Fury as nursing the Pope. This -caricature is also of date 1545, and with it were others showing -Alecto and Tisiphone acting in other capacities for the papal babe. - -The Lutherans had made the discovery that the number of the Apocalyptic -Beast, 666, put into Hebrew numeral letters, contained the words -Aberin Kadescha Papa (our holy father the Pope). The downfall of this -Antichrist was a favourite theme of pulpit eloquence, and also with -artists. A very spirited pamphlet was printed (1521), and illustrated -with designs by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach. It was entitled -Passional Christi und Antichristi. The fall of the papal Antichrist -(Fig. 13), has for its companion one of Christ washing the feet of -his disciples. - -But the Catholics could also make discoveries; and among many other -things they found that the word 'Luther' in Hebrew numerals also made -the number of the Beast. It was remembered that one of the earliest -predictions concerning Antichrist was that he would travesty the birth -of Christ from a virgin by being born of a nun by a Bishop. Luther's -marriage with the nun Catharine von Bora came sufficiently near the -prediction to be welcomed by his enemies. The source of his inspiration -as understood by Catholics is cleverly indicated in a caricature of -the period (Fig. 14). - -The theory that the Papacy represents Antichrist has so long been the -solemn belief of rebels against its authority, that it has become a -vulgarised article of Protestant faith. On the other hand, Catholics -appear to take a political and prospective view of Antichrist. Cardinal -Manning, in his pastoral following the election of Leo XIII., said: -'A tide of revolution has swept over all countries. Every people -in Europe is inwardly divided against itself, and the old society -of Christendom, with its laws, its sanctities, and its stability, -is giving way before the popular will, which has no law, or rather -which claims to be a law to itself. This is at least the forerunning -sign of the Lawless One, who in his own time shall be revealed.' - -Throughout the endless exchange of epithets, it has been made clear -that Antichrist is the reductio ad absurdum of the notion of a personal -Devil. From the day when the word was first coined, it has assumed -every variety of shape, has fitted with equal precision the most -contrarious things and persons; and the need of such a novel form -at one point or another in the progress of controversy is a satire -on the inadequacy of Satan and his ancient ministers. Bygone Devils -cannot represent new animosities. The ascent of every ecclesiastical -or theological system is traceable in massacres and martyrdoms; each -of these, whether on one side or the other, helps to develop a new -devil. The story of Antichrist shows devils in the making. Meantime, -to eyes that see how every system so built up must sacrifice a -virtue at every stage of its ascent, it will be sufficiently clear -that every powerful Church is Adversary of the religion it claims to -represent. Buddhism is Antibuddha; Islam is Antimohammed; Christianity -is Antichrist. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -THE PRIDE OF LIFE. - - The curse of Iblis--Samaël as Democrat--His vindication by - Christ and Paul--Asmodäus--History of the name--Aschmedai of the - Jews--Book of Tobit--Doré's 'Triumph of Christianity'--Aucassin - and Nicolette--Asmodeus in the convent--The Asmodeus of Le - Sage--Mephistopheles--Blake's 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell'--The - Devil and the artists--Sádi's Vision of Satan--Arts of the - Devil--Suspicion of beauty--Earthly and heavenly mansions--Deacon - versus Devil. - - -On the parapet of the external gallery of Nôtre Dame in Paris is the -carved form, of human size, represented in our figure (15). There is -in the face a remarkable expression of pride and satisfaction as he -looks forth on the gay city and contemplates all the wickedness in it, -but this satisfaction is curiously blended with a look of envy and -lust. His elegant head-dress gives him the pomp becoming the Asmodeus -presiding over the most brilliant capital in the world. - -His seat on the fine parapet is in contrast with the place assigned -him in Eastern traditions--ruins and desert places,--but otherwise he -fairly fulfilled, no doubt, early ideas in selecting his headquarters -at Paris. A mussulman legend says that when, after the Fall of Man, -Allah was mitigating the sentences he had pronounced, Iblis (who, -as the Koran relates, pleaded and obtained the deferment of his -consignment to Hell until the resurrection, and unlimited power over -sinners who do not accept the word of Allah) asked-- - -'Where shall I dwell in the meantime? - -'In ruins, tombs, and all other unclean places shunned by man. - -'What shall be my food? - -'All things slain in the name of idols. - -'How shall I quench my thirst? - -'With wine and intoxicating liquors. - -'What shall occupy my leisure hours? - -'Music, song, love-poetry, and dancing. - -'What is my watchword? - -'The curse of Allah until the day of judgment. - -'But how shall I contend with man, to whom thou hast granted two -guardian angels, and who has received thy revelation? - -'Thy progeny shall be more numerous than his,--for for every man that -is born, there shall come into the world seven evil spirits--but they -shall be powerless against the faithful.' - -Iblis with wine, song, and dance--the 'pride of life'--is also said -to have been aided in entering Paradise by the peacock, which he -flattered. [143] - -This fable, though later than the era of Mohammed in form, is as -ancient as the myth of Eden in substance. The germ of it is already -in the belief that Jehovah separated from the rest of the earth a -garden, and from the human world a family of his own, and from the -week a day of his own. The reply of the elect to the proud Gentile -aristocracy was an ascetic caste established by covenant with the -King of kings. This attitude of the pious caste turned the barbaric -aristocrats, in a sense, to democrats. Indeed Samaël, in whom the -execrated Dukes of Edom were ideally represented, might be almost -described as the Democratic Devil. According to an early Jewish -legend, Jehovah, having resolved to separate 'men' (i.e., Jews) -from 'swine' (i.e., idolaters, Gentiles), made circumcision the -seal on them as children of Abraham. There having been, however, -Jews who were necessarily never circumcised, their souls, it was -arranged, should pass at death into the forms of certain sacred -birds where they would be purified, and finally united to the elect -in Paradise. Now, Samaël, or Adam Belial as he was sometimes called, -is said to have appealed to the Creator that this arrangement should -include all races of beings. 'Lord of the world!' he said, 'we also -are of your creation. Thou art our father. As thou savest the souls -of Israel by transforming them that they may be brought back again -and made immortal, so also do unto us! Why shouldst thou regard the -seed of Abraham before us?' Jehovah answered, 'Have you done the same -that Abraham did, who recognised me from his childhood and went into -Chaldean fire for love of me? You have seen that I rescued him from -your hands, and from the fiery oven which had no power over him, -and yet you have not loved and worshipped me. Henceforth speak no -more of good or evil.' [144] - -The old rabbinical books which record this conversation do not report -Samaël's answer; nor is it necessary: that answer was given by Jesus -and Paul breaking down the partitions between Jew and Gentile. It was -quite another thing, however, to include the world morally. Jesus, -it would seem, aimed at this also; he came 'eating and drinking,' -and the orthodox said Samaël was in him. Personally, he declined to -substitute even the cosmopolitan rite of baptism for the discredited -national rite of circumcision. But Paul was of another mind. His -pharisaism was spiritualised and intensified in his new faith, to -which the great world was all an Adversary. - -It was a tremendous concession, this giving up of the gay and beautiful -world, with its mirth and amusements, its fine arts and romance--to -the Devil. Unswerving Nemesis has followed that wild theorem in many -forms, of which the most significant is Asmodeus. - -Asmodäus, or Aêshma-daêva of the Zend texts, the modern Persian Khasm, -is etymologically what Carlyle might call 'the god Wish;' aêsha -meaning 'wish,' from the Sanskrit root ish, 'to desire.' An almost -standing epithet of Aêshma is Khrvîdra, meaning apparently 'having a -hurtful weapon or lance.' He is occasionally mentioned immediately -after Anrô-mainyus (Ahriman); sometimes is expressly named as one -of his most prominent supporters. In the remarkable combat between -Ahuro-mazda (Ormuzd) and Anrô-mainyus, described in Zam. Y. 46, the -good deity summons to his aid Vohumano, Ashavahista, and Fire; while -the Evil One is aided by Akômano, Aêshma, and Aji-Daháka. [145] Here, -therefore, Aêshma appears as opposed to Ashavahista, 'supreme purity' -of the Lord of Fire. Aêshma is the spirit of the lower or impure Fire, -Lust and Wrath. A Sanskrit text styles him Kossa-deva, 'the god of -Wrath.' In Yaçna 27, 35, Sraosha, Aêshma's opponent, is invoked to -shield the faithful 'in both worlds from Death the Violent, from Aêshma -the Violent, from the hosts of Violence that raise aloft the terrible -banner--from the assaults of Aêshma that he makes along with Vídátu -('Divider, Destroyer'), the demon-created.' He is thus the leading -representative of dissolution, the fatal power of Ahriman. Ormuzd -is said to have created Sraosha to be the destroyer of 'Aêshma of -the fatal lance.' Sraosha ('the Hearer') is the moral vanquisher of -Aêshma, in distinction from Haoma, who is his chief opponent in the -physical domain. - -Such, following Windischmann, [146] is the origin of the devil -whom the apocryphal book of Tobit has made familiar in Europe as -Asmodeus. Aschmedai, as the Jews called him, appears in this story as -precisely that spirit described in the Avesta--the devil of Violence -and Lust, whose passion for Sara leads him to slay her seven husbands -on their wedding-night. The devils of Lust are considered elsewhere, -and Asmodeus among them; there is another aspect of him which here -concerns us. He is a fastidious devil. He will not have the object of -his passion liable to the embrace of any other. He cannot endure bad -smells, and that raised by the smoke of the fish-entrails burnt by -Tobit drives him 'into the utmost parts of Egypt, where the angel -bound him.' It is, however, of more importance to read the story -by the light of the general reputation of Aschmedai among the Jews -and Arabians. It was notably that of the devil represented in the -Moslem tradition at the beginning of this chapter. He is the Eastern -Don Giovanni and Lothario; he plies Noah and Solomon with wine, -and seduces their wives, and always aims high with his dashing -intrigues. He would have cried Amen to Luther's lines-- - - - Who loves not wine, woman, and song, - He lives a fool his whole life long. - - -Besides being an aristocrat, he is a scholar, the most learned Master -of Arts, educated in the great College of Hell, founded by Asa and -Asael, as elsewhere related. He was fond of gaming; and so fashionable -that Calmet believed his very name signifies fine dress. - -Now, the moral reflections in the Book of Tobit, and its casual -intimations concerning the position of the persons concerned, show -that they were Jewish captives of the humblest working class, whose -religion is of a type now found chiefly among the more ignorant -sectarians. Tobit's moral instructions to his son, 'In pride is -destruction and much trouble, and in lewdness is decay and much want,' -'Drink not wine to make thee drunken,' and his careful instructions -about finding wealth in the fear of God, are precisely such as would -shape a devil in the image of Asmodeus. Tobit's moral truisms are -made falsities by his puritanism: 'Prayer is good with fasting and -alms and righteousness;' 'but give nothing to the wicked;' 'If thou -serve God he will repay thee.' - -'Cakes and ale' do not cease to exist because Tobits are virtuous; -but unfortunately they may be raised from their subordinate to an -insubordinate place by the transfer of religious restraints to the -hands of Ignorance and Cant. Asmodeus, defined against Persian and -Jewish asceticism and hypocrisy, had his attractions for men of the -world. Through him the devil became perilously associated with wit, -gallantry, and the one creed of youth which is not at all consumptive-- - - - Grey is all Theory, - Green Life's golden-fruited tree! - - -Especially did Asmodeus represent the subordination of so-called -'religious' and tribal distinctions to secular considerations. As -Samaël had petitioned for an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant to -all the world and failed to secure it from Jehovah, Asmodeus proposed -to disregard the distinction. There is much in the Book of Tobit which -looks as if it were written especially with the intention of persuading -Jewish youth, tempted by Babylonians to marriage, that their lovers -might prove to be succubi or incubi. Tobit implores his son to marry -in his own tribe, and not take a 'strange woman.' Asmodeus was as -cosmopolitan as the god of Love himself, and many of his uglier early -characteristics were hidden out of sight by such later developments. - -Gustave Doré has painted in his vivid way the 'Triumph of -Christianity.' In it we see the angelic hosts with drawn swords -overthrowing the forms adored of paganism--hurling them headlong -into an abyss. So far as the battle and victory go, this is just -the conception which an early christian would have had of what took -place through the advent of Christ. It filled their souls with joy to -behold by Faith's vision those draped angels casting down undraped -goddesses; they would delight to imagine how the fall might break -the bones of those beautiful limbs. For they never thought of these -gods and goddesses as statues, but as real seductive devils; and when -these christians had brought over the arts, they often pictured the -black souls coming out of these fair idols as they fell. - -Doré may have tried to make the angels as beautiful as the goddesses, -but he has not succeeded. In this he has interpreted the heart behind -every deformity which was ever added to a pagan deity. The horror -of the monks was transparent homage. Why did they starve and scourge -their bodies, and roll them in thorns? Because not even by defacing -the beautiful images were they able to expel from their inward worship -the lovely ideals they represented. - -It is not difficult now to perceive that the old monks were consigning -the pagan ideals to imaginary and themselves to actual hells, in full -hope of thereby gaining permanent possession of the same beauty abjured -on earth. The loveliness of the world was transient. They grew morbid -about death; beneath the rosiest form they saw the skeleton. The -heavenly angels they longed for were Venuses and Apollos, with no -skeletons visible beneath their immortalised flesh. They never made -sacrifices for a disembodied heaven. The force of self-crucifixion -lay in the creed--'I believe in the resurrection of the body, and -the life everlasting.' - -The world could not generally be turned into a black procession at its -own funeral. In proportion to the conquests of Christianity must be its -progressive surrender to the unconquerable--to human nature. Aphrodite -and Eros, over whose deep graves nunneries and monasteries had been -built, were the first to revive, and the story, as Mr. Pater has told -it, is like some romantic version of Ishtar's Descent into Hades and -her resurrection. [147] While as yet the earth seemed frostbound, -long before the Renaissance, the song of the turtle was heard in the -ballad of Aucassin and Nicolette. The christian knight will marry the -beautiful Saracen, and to all priestly warnings that he will surely -go to hell, replies, 'What could I do in Paradise? I care only to go -where I can be with Nicolette. Who go to Paradise? Old priests, holy -cripples, dried-up monks, who pass their lives before altars. I much -prefer Hell, where go the brave, the gay, and beautiful. There will -be the players on harps, the classic poets and singers; and there I -shall not be parted from Nicolette!' - -Along with pretty Saracen maidens, or memories of them, were brought -back into Europe legends of Asmodeus. Aphrodite and Eros might disguise -themselves in his less known and less anathematised name, so that -he could manage to sing of his love for Sara, of Parsi for Jewess, -under the names of christian Aucassin and saracen Nicolette. In the -Eastern Church he reappeared also. There are beautiful old pictures -which show the smart cavalier, feather-in-cap, on the youth's left, -while on his right stands 'grey Theory' in the form of a long-bearded -friar. Such pictures, no doubt, taught for many a different lesson -from that intended--namely, that the beat of the heart is on the left. - -Where St. Benedict rolled himself in thorns for dreaming of his -(deserted) 'Nicolette,' St. Francis planted roses; and the Latin Church -had to recognise this evolution of seven centuries. They hid the thorns -in the courts of convents, and sold the roses to the outside world as -indulgences. But as Asmodeus had not respected the line between Jew -and Gentile in Nineveh, so he passed over that between priest, nun, -and worldling in the West. In the days of Witchcraft the Church was -scandalised by the rumour that the nuns of the Franciscan Convent of -Louviers had largely taken to sorcery, and were attending the terrible -'Witches' Sabbaths.' The nun most prominent in this affair was one -Madeleine Bavent. The priests announced that she had confessed that -she was borne away to the orgies by the demon Asmodeus, and that -he had induced her to profane the sacred host. It turned out that -the nuns had engaged in intrigues with the priests who had charge -of them--especially with Fathers David, Picard, and Boulé--but -Asmodeus was credited with the crime, and the nuns were punished -for it. Madeleine was condemned to life-long penance, and Picard -anticipated the fire by a suicide, in which he was said to have been -assisted by the devil. - -Following the rabbinical tradition which represented him as continually -passing from the high infernal College of Asa and Asael to the -earth to apply his arts of sorcery, Asmodeus gained a respectable -position in European literature through the romance of Le Sage ('Le -Diable Boiteux'), and his fame so gained did much to bring about -in France that friendly feeling for the Devil which has long been a -characteristic of French literature. A very large number of books, -periodicals, and journals in France have gained popularity through -the Devil's name. Asmodeus was, in fact, the Arch-bohemian. As such, -he largely influenced the conception of Mephistopheles as rendered by -Goethe--himself the Prince of Bohemians. The old horror of Asmodeus -for bad smells is insulted in the name Mephistopheles, and this devil -is many rolled into one; yet in many respects his kinship to Asmodeus -is revealed. All the dried starveling Anthonys and Benedicts are, -in a cultured way, present in the theologian and scholar Faust; -all the sweet ladies that haunted their seclusion became realistic -in Gretchen. She is the Nemesis of suppressed passions. - -One province of nature after another has been recovered from -Asceticism. In this case Ishtar has had to regain her apparel and -ornaments at successive portals that are centuries, and they are not -all recovered yet. But we have gone far enough, even in puritanised -England, to produce a 'madman' far-seeing enough to behold The -Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The case of Asmodeus is stated well, -albeit radically, by William Blake, in that proverb which was told -him by the devils, whom he alone of midnight travellers was shrewd -enough to consult: 'The pride of the peacock is the glory of God; -the lust of the goat is the bounty of God; the wrath of the lion is -the wisdom of God.' When that statement is improved, as it well may -be, it will be when those who represent religion shall have learned -that human like other nature is commanded by obedience. - -In this connection may be mentioned a class of legends indicating -the Devil's sensitiveness with regard to his personal appearance. The -anxiety of the priests and hermits to have him represented as hideous -was said to have been warmly resented by Satan, one of the most -striking being the legend of many versions concerning a Sacristan, -who was also an artist, who ornamented an abbey with a devil so ugly -that none could behold it without terror. It was believed he had by -inspiration secured an exact portrait of the archfiend. The Devil -appeared to the Sacristan, reproached him with having made him so -ugly, and threatened to punish him grievously if he did not make him -better looking. Although this menace was thrice repeated, the Sacristan -refused to comply. The Devil then tempted him into an intrigue with a -lady of the neighbourhood, and they eloped after robbing the abbey of -its treasure. But they were caught, and the Sacristan imprisoned. The -Devil then appears and offers to get him out of his trouble if he will -only destroy the ugly likeness, and make another and handsomer. The -Sacristan consented, and suddenly found himself in bed as if nothing -had happened, while the Devil in his image lay in chains. The Devil -when discovered vanished; the Sacristan got off on the theory that -crimes and all had been satanic juggles. But the Sacristan took care -to substitute a handsome devil for the ugly one. In another version -the Sacristan remained faithful to his original portraiture of the -Devil despite all menaces of the latter, who resolved to take a dire -revenge. While the artist was completing his ornamentation of the abbey -with an image of the Virgin, made as beautiful as the fiend near it was -ugly, the Devil broke the ladder on which he was working, and a fatal -fall was only prevented by the hand of the Madonna he had just made, -which was outstretched to sustain him. The accompanying picture of this -scene (Fig. 16) is from 'Queen Mary's Psalter' in the British Museum. - -Vasari relates that when Spinello of Arezzo, in his famous fresco of -the fall of the rebellious angels, had painted the hideous devil with -seven faces about his body, the fiend appeared to him in the same form, -and asked the artist where he had seen him in so frightful an aspect, -and why he had treated him so ignominiously. When Spinello awoke in -horror, he fell into a state of gloom, and soon after died. - -The Persian poet Sádi has a remarkable passage conceived in the spirit -of these legends, but more kindly. - - - I saw the demon in a dream, - But how unlike he seemed to be - To all of horrible we dream, - And all of fearful that we see. - His shape was like a cypress bough, - His eyes like those that Houris wear, - His face as beautiful as though - The rays of Paradise were there. - I near him came, and spoke--'Art thou,' - I said, 'indeed the Evil One? - No angel has so bright a brow, - Such yet no eye has looked upon. - Why should mankind make thee a jest, - When thou canst show a face like this? - Fair as the moon in splendour drest, - An eye of joy, a smile of bliss! - The painter draws thee vile to sight, - Our baths thy frightful form display; - They told me thou wert black as night, - Behold, thou art as fair as day!' - The lovely vision's ire awoke, - His voice was loud and proud his mien: - 'Believe not, friend!' 'twas thus he spoke, - 'That thou my likeness yet hast seen: - The pencil that my portrait made - Was guided by an envious foe; - In Paradise I man betrayed, - And he, from hatred, paints me so.' - - -Boehme relates that when Satan was asked the cause of God's enmity -to him and his consequent downfall, he replied, 'I wished to be an -artist.' There is in this quaint sentence a very true intimation of the -allurements which, in ancient times, the arts of the Gentile possessed -for the Jews and christian judaisers. Indeed, a similar feeling towards -the sensuous attractions of the Catholic and Ritualistic Churches is -not uncommon among the prosaic and puritanical sects whose younger -members are often thus charmed away from them. Dr. Donne preached a -sermon before Oliver Cromwell at Whitehall, in which he affirmed that -the Muses were damned spirits of devils; and the discussion on the -Drama which occurred at Sheffield Church Congress (1878), following -Dr. Bickerstith's opening discourse on 'the Devil and his wiles,' -shows that the Low Church wing cherishes much the same opinion as that -of Dr. Donne. The dread of the theatre among some sects amounts to -terror. The writer remembers the horror that spread through a large -Wesleyan circle, with which he was connected, when a distinguished -minister of that body, just returned from Europe, casually remarked -that 'the theatre at Rome seemed to be poorly supported.' The fearful -confession spread through the denomination, and it was understood that -the observant traveller had 'made shipwreck of faith.' The Methodist -instinct told true: the preacher became an accomplished Gentile. - -Music made its way but slowly in the Church, and the suspicion of it -still lingers among many sects. The Quakers took up the burthen of -Epiphanius who wrote against the flute-players, 'After the pattern -of the serpent's form has the flute been invented for the deceiving -of mankind. Observe the figure that the player makes in blowing his -flute. Does he not bend himself up and down to the right hand and -to the left, like unto the serpent? These forms hath the Devil used -to manifest his blasphemy against things heavenly, to destroy things -upon earth, to encompass the world, capturing right and left such as -lend an ear to his seductions.' The unregenerate birds that carol -all day, be it Sabbath or Fast, have taught the composer that his -best inspiration is from the Prince of the Air. Tartini wrote over a -hundred sonatas and as many concertos, but he rightly valued above -them all his 'Sonata del Diavolo.' Concerning this he wrote to the -astronomer Lalande:--'One night, in the year 1713, I dreamed that I -had made a compact with his Satanic Majesty, by which he was received -into my service. Everything succeeded to the utmost of my desires, and -my every wish was anticipated by my new domestic. I thought that, in -taking up my violin to practise, I jocosely asked him if he could play -on this instrument. He answered that he believed he was able to pick -out a tune; when, to my astonishment, he began a sonata, so strange, -and yet so beautiful, and executed in so masterly a manner, that in the -whole course of my life I had never heard anything so exquisite. So -great was my amazement that I could scarcely breathe. Awakened -by the violence of my feelings, I instantly seized my violin, in -the hope of being able to catch some part of the ravishing melody -which I had just heard, but all in vain. The piece which I composed -according to my scattered recollections is, it is true, the best I -ever produced. I have entitled it, 'Sonata del Diavolo;' but it is so -far inferior to that which had made so forcible an impression on me, -that I should have dashed my violin into a thousand pieces, and given -up music for ever in despair, had it been possible to deprive myself -of the enjoyments which I receive from it.' - -The fire and originality of Tartini's great work is a fine -example of that power which Timoleon called Automatia, and Goethe -the Dämonische,--'that which cannot be explained by reason or -understanding; it is not in my nature, but I am subject to it.' 'It -seems to play at will with all the elements of our being.' - -The Puritans brought upon England and America that relapse into the -ancient asceticism which was shown in the burning of great pictures -by Cromwell's Parliament. It is shown still in the jealousy with -which the puritanised mind in both countries views all that aims at -the simple decoration of life, and whose ministry is to the sense of -beauty. On that day of the week when England and New England hebraise, -as Matthew Arnold says, it is observable that the sabbatarian fury is -especially directed against everything which proposes to give simple -pleasure or satisfy the popular craving for beauty. Sabbatarianism -sees a great deal of hard work going on, but is not much troubled so -long as it is ugly and dismal work. It utters no cry at the thousands -of hands employed on Sunday railways, but is beside itself if one of -the trains takes excursionists to the seaside, and is frantic at the -thought of a comparatively few persons being employed on that day in -Museums and Art Galleries. It is a survival of the old feeling that -the Devil lurks about all beauty and pleasure. - -A money-making age has measurably dispersed the superstitions which -once connected the Devil with all great fortunes. For a long time, -and in many regions of the world, the Jews suffered grievously by -being supposed to get their wealth by the Devil's help. Their wealth -(largely the result of their not exchanging it for worldly enjoyments) -so often proved their misfortune, that it was easy to illustrate by -their case the monkish theory that devil's gifts turn to ashes. Princes -were indefatigable in relieving the Jews of such ashes, however. The -Lords of Triar, who possessed the mines of Glucksbrunn, were believed -to have been guided to them by a gold stag which often appeared to -them--of course the Devil. It is related that when St. Wolfram went -to convert the Frislanders, their king, Radbot, was prevented from -submitting to baptism by a diabolical deception. The Devil appeared -to him as an angel clothed in a garment woven of gold, on his head -a jewelled diadem, and said, 'Bravest of men! what has led thee to -depart from the Prince of thy gods? Do it not; be steadfast to thy -religion and thou shalt dwell in a house of gold which I will give -into thy possession to all eternity. Go to Wolfram to-morrow, ask -him about those bright dwellings he promises thee. If he cannot show -them, let both parties choose an ambassador; I will be their leader -and will show them the gold house I promise thee.' St. Wolfram being -unable to show Radbot the bright dwellings of Paradise, one of his -deacons was sent along with a representative of the king, and the -Devil (disguised as a traveller) took them to the house of gold, -which was of incredible size and splendour. The Deacon exclaimed, -'If this house be made by God it will stand for ever; if by the -Devil, it must vanish speedily.' Whereupon he crossed himself; the -house vanished, and the Deacon found himself with the Frislander in -a swamp. It took them three days to extricate themselves and return -to King Radbot, whom they found dead. - -The ascetic principle which branded the arts, interests, pursuits, -and pleasures of the world as belonging to the domain of Satan, -involved the fatal extreme of including among the outlawed realms all -secular learning. The scholar and man of science were also declared -to be inspired by the 'pride of life.' But this part of our subject -requires a separate chapter. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -THE CURSE ON KNOWLEDGE. - - A Bishop on intellect--The Bible on learning--The Serpent and - Seth--A Hebrew Renaissance--Spells--Shelley at Oxford-- - Book-burning--Japanese ink-devil--Book of Cyprianus--Devil's - Bible--Red letters--Dread of Science--Roger Bacon--Luther's - Devil--Lutherans and Science. - - -In Lucas van Leyden's picture of Satan tempting Christ (Fig. 6), -the fiend is represented in the garb of a University man of the -time. From his head falls a streamer which coils on the ground to a -serpent. From that serpent to the sceptical scholar demanding a miracle -the evolution is fully traceable. The Serpent, of old the 'seer,' -was in its Semitic adaptation a tempter to forbidden knowledge. This -was the earliest priestly outcry against 'godless education.' - -During the Shakespere tercentenary festival at Stratford-on-Avon, -the Bishop of St. Andrews declared that there is not a word in the -Bible warranting homage to Intellect, and such a boast beside the -grave of the most intellectual of Englishmen is in itself a survival -illustrating the tremendous curse hurled by jealous Jehovah on man's -first effort to obtain knowledge. That same Serpent of knowledge -has passed very far, and his curse has many times been repeated. In -the Accadian poem of the fatal Seven, as we have seen, it is said, -'In watching was their office;' and the Assyrian version says, -'Unto heaven that which was not seen they raised.' On the Babylonian -cylinders is inscribed the curse of the god of Intelligence (Hea) -upon man--'Wisdom and knowledge hostilely may they injure him.' [148] -The same Serpent twined round the staff of Æsculapius and whispered -those secrets which made the gods jealous, so that Jove killed the -learned Physician with a flash of lightning. Its teeth were sown when -Cadmus imported the alphabet into Greece; and when these alphabetical -dragon's-teeth had turned to type, the ancient curse was renewed in -legends which connected Fust with the Devil. - -The Hebrews are least among races responsible for the legend which -has drifted into Genesis. Nor was the Bishop's boast about their Bible -correct. The homage paid to Solomon was hardly on account of his moral -character. 'He spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, -even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of -beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.' [149] -While the curse on man for eating the fruit of knowledge is never -quoted in the Hebrew scriptures, there are many indications of their -devotion to knowledge; and their prophets even heard Jehovah saying, -'My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge.' It is not -wonderful, therefore, that we find among the Jews the gradual growth -of a legend concerning Seth, which may be regarded as a reply to the -curse on the Serpent. - -The apotheosis of Seth in rabbinical and mussulman mythology represents -a sort of Semitic Renaissance. As we have seen in a former chapter, -the Egyptians and Greeks identified Set with Typhon, but at the same -time that demon was associated with science. He is astronomically -located in Capricorn, the sphere of the hierophants in the Egyptian -Mysteries, and the mansion of the guardians of science. Thus he would -correspond with the Serpent, who, as adapted by the Hebrews in the -myth of Eden, whispers to Eve of divine knowledge. But, as detached -from Typho, Seth, while leaving behind the malignancy, carried away -the reputation for learning usually ascribed to devils. Thus, while we -have had to record so many instances of degraded deities, we may note -in Seth a converted devil. In the mussulman and rabbinical traditions -Seth is a voluminous author; he receives a library from heaven; he is -the originator of astronomy and of many arts; and, as an instructor in -cultivation, he restores many an acre which as Set he had blighted. In -the apocryphal Genesis he is represented as having been caught up to -heaven and shown the future destiny of mankind. Anastasius of Sinai -says that when God created Adam after his own image, he breathed -into him grace and illumination, and a ray of the Holy Spirit. But -when he had sinned this glory left him. Then he became the father of -Cain and Abel. But afterwards it is said Adam 'begat a son in his own -likeness, after his image, and called his name 'Seth,' which is not -said of Cain and Abel; and this means that Seth was begotten in the -likeness of unfallen man in paradise--Seth meaning 'Resurrection.' And -all those then living, when they saw how the face of Seth shone with -divine light, and heard him speak with divine wisdom, said, He is God; -therefore his sons were commonly called the sons of God. [150] - -That this 'Resurrection' of departed glory and wisdom was really, -as I have said, a Renaissance--a restoration of learning from the -curse put upon it in the story of the Serpent--is indicated by -its evolution in the Gnostic myth wherein Seth was made to avenge -Satan. He took under his special care the Tree of the Knowledge of -Good and Evil, and planted it in his father's grave (Fig. 8). Rabbins -carried their homage to Seth even to the extent of vindicating Saturn, -the most notorious of planets, and say that Abraham and the Prophets -were inspired by it. [151] The Dog (Jackal) was, in Egyptian symbols, -emblem of the Scribe; Sirius was the Dog-star domiciled with Saturn; -Seth was by them identified with Sirius, as the god of occult -and infernal knowledge. He was near relative of the serpent Sesha, -familiar of Æsculapius, and so easily connected with the subtlest of -the beasts in Eden which had crept in from the Iranian mythology. - -This reaction was instituted by scholars, who, in their necessarily -timid way of fable, may be said to have recovered the Tree of -Knowledge under guise of homage to Seth. It flourished, as we have seen -(chap. xi.), to the extent of finally raising the Serpent to be a god, -and lowering Jehovah who cursed him to a jealous devil! - -But the terror with which Jehovah is said to have been inspired when -he said, 'The man has become as one of us, to know good and evil,' -never failed to reappear among priesthoods when anything threatened -to remove the means of learning from under their control. The causes -of this are too many to be fully considered here; but the main cause -unquestionably was the tendency of learning to release men from -the sway of the priest. The primitive man of science would speedily -discover how many things existed of which his priest was ignorant, and -thus the germ of Scepticism would be planted. The man who possessed -the Sacred Books, in whole or in part, might become master of the -'spells' supposed to be contained in its words and sentences, and -might use them against the priests; or, at any rate, he might feel -independent of the ordinary apparatus of salvation. - -The anxiety of priests to keep fast hold of the keys of learning, -so that no secular son of Adam should become 'as one of them,' -coupled with the wonderful powers they professed ability to exercise, -powerfully stimulated the curiosity of intellectual men, and led -them to seek after this forbidden fruit in subtle ways, which -easily illustrated the story of the Serpent. The poet Shelley, -who was suspected at Oxford because of his fondness for chemistry, -recognised his mythological ancestry, and used to speak of 'my -cousin, the Serpent.' The joke was born of circumstances sufficiently -scandalous in the last generation to make the Oxonian of to-day blush; -but the like histories of earlier ages are so tragical that, when fully -known by the common people, they will change certain familiar badges -into brands of shame. While the cant goes on about the Church being -the protector of learning through the dark ages, the fact is that, -from the burning of valuable books at Ephesus by christian fanatics -(Acts xix. 19) to the present day, the Church has destroyed tenfold -more important works than it ever produced, and almost suffocated the -intellectual life of a thousand years. Amid the unbroken persecution -of the Jews by christian cruelty, which lasted from the early eleventh -century for five hundred years, untold numbers of manuscripts were -destroyed, which might have now been giving the world full and clear -knowledge concerning ages, for whose records archæological scholars -are painfully exploring the crumbled ruins of the East. Synagogues -were believed to be temples of Satan; they were plundered and razed -to the ground, and their precious archives strewed the streets of -many cities. On the 17th of June 1244 twenty-four cartloads of these -ancient MSS. were burned in Paris alone. "And all this by our holy -'protector of learning' through the Middle Ages! - -The Japanese have pictures of a famous magician who conjured up a -demon--vast, vague, and terrible--out of his inkstand. They call -it latterly 'emblem of a licentious press,' but, no doubt, it was -originally used to terrify the country generally concerning the -press. That Devil has also haunted the ecclesiastical imagination -in Europe. Nearly every book written without priestly command was -associated with the Devil, and there are several old books in Europe, -laboriously and honestly written, which to this day are invested with -popular superstitions reporting the denunciations with which they -were visited. For some centuries it has been believed in Denmark and -neighbouring countries that a strange and formidable book exists, -by means of which you can raise or lay the Devil. It is vulgarly -known as the Book of Cyprianus. The owner of it can neither sell, -bury, or burn it, and if he cannot get rid of it before his death, -he becomes the prey of the fiend. The only way of getting rid of it is -to find somebody who will accept it as a present, well knowing what it -is. Cyprianus is said to have been a clever and virtuous young student, -but he studied the black art in Norway, and came under the power of the -Devil, who compelled him to use his unholy learning to evil ends. This -grieved him sorely, and he wrote a book, in which he shows first, -how evil shall be done, and then how to counteract it. The book is -probably one which really exists or existed, and professed to teach -the art of sorcery, and likewise the charms against it. It consists -of three parts, severally called Cyprianus, Dr. Faust, and Jacob -Ramel. The two latter are written in cypher. It teaches everything -appertaining to 'signing,' conjuring, second sight, and all the -charms alluded to in Deuteronomy xviii. 10-12. The person possessing -Cyprianus' book is said never to be in need of money, and none can -harm him. The only way of getting rid of it is to put it away in a -secret place in a church along with a clerk's fee of four shillings. - -In Stockholm I saw the so-called Devil's Bible, the biggest book in -the world, in the Royal Library. It is literally as they describe it, -'gigas librorum': no single man can lift it from the floor. It was part -of the booty carried off by the Swedes after the surrender of Prague, -A.D. 1648. It contains three hundred parchment leaves, each one made of -an ass's hide, the cover being of oak planks, 1 1/2 inches thick. It -contains the Old and New Testaments; Josephi Flavii Antiquitates -Judaicæ; Isidori Episcopi L. XX. de diversis materiis; Confessio -peccatorum; and some other works. The last-named production is written -on black and dark brown ground with red and yellow letters. Here and -there sentences are marked 'hæc sunt suspecta,' 'superstitiosa,' -'prohibita.' One MS., which is headed, 'Experimentum de furto et -febribus', is a treatise in Monkish Latin on the exorcism of ghosts -and evil spirits, charms against thieves and sickness, and various -prescriptions in 'White Magic.' The age of the book is considerably -over three hundred years. The autograph of a German emperor is in it: -'Ferdinandus Imperator Romanorum, A.D. 1577.' The volume is known -in Sweden as Fan's Bibel (Devil's Bible). The legend says, that -a monk, suspected of black arts, who had been condemned to death, -begged for life, and his judge mockingly told him that he would be -pardoned only if he should produce next morning all the books here -found and in this vast size. The monk invoked the Devil's assistance, -and the ponderous volume was written in a single night. This Devil -must have been one who prided himself more on his literary powers -than his personal appearance; for the face and form said to be his -portrait, frontispiece of the volume, represent a most hideous ape, -green and hairy, with horrible curled tusks. It is, no doubt, the ape -Anerhahn of the Wagner legends; Burns's 'towzie tyke, black, grim, -and large.' [152] - -I noticed particularly in this old work the recurrence of deep red -letters and sentences similar to the ink which Fust used at the close -of his earliest printed volumes to give his name, with the place and -date of printing. Now Red is sacred in one direction as symbolising -the blood of Christ, but it is also the colour of Judas, who betrayed -that blood. Hence, while red letters might denote sacred days and -sentences in priestly calendars, they might be supposed mimicry -of such sanctities by 'God's Ape' if occurring in secular works or -books of magic. It is said that these red letters were especially -noted in Paris as indications of the diabolical origin of the works -so easily produced by Fust; and, though it is uncertain whether he -suffered imprisonment, the red lines with his name appear to have -been regarded as his signature in blood. - -For a long time every successive discovery of science, every invention -of material benefit to man, was believed by priest-ridden peoples -to have been secured by compact with the devil. The fate of the -artist Prometheus, fettered by jealous Jove, was repeated in each -who aspired to bring light to man, and some men of genius--such as -Cornelius Agrippa, and Paracelsus--appear to have been frightened away -from legitimate scientific research by the first connection of their -names with sorcery. They had before them the example of the greatest -scientific man of the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon, and knew how easily, -in the priestly whisper, the chemist's crucible grew to a wizard's -cauldron. The time may come when Oxford University will have learned -enough to build a true memorial of the grandest man who ever wrote -and taught within its walls. It would show Roger Bacon--rectifier -of the Julian Calendar, analyst of lenses, inventor of spectacles -and achromatic lenses, probable constructor of the first telescope, -demonstrator of the chemical action of air in combustion, inventor of -the mode of purifying saltpetre and crystallising it into gunpowder, -anticipator of the philosophical method with which his namesake is -credited--looking on a pile of his books for whose researches he had -paid two thousand French livres, to say nothing of a life's labour, -only to see them condemned by his University, their circulation -prohibited; and his sad gaze might be from the prison to which the -Council of Franciscans at Paris sentenced him whom Oxford gladly -delivered into their hands. He was condemned, says their historian -Wadding, 'propter novitates quasdam suspectas.' The suspected novelties -were crucibles, retorts, and lenses that made the stars look larger. So -was it with the Oxford six hundred years ago. Undeniably some progress -had been made even in the last generation, for Shelley was only -forbidden to study chemistry, and expelled for his metaphysics. But -now that it is claimed that Oxford is no longer partaker with them -that stoned investigators and thinkers from Bacon to Shelley, it would -be in order to build for its own great martyr of science a memorial, -that superstition may look on one whom it has pierced. - -Referring to Luther's inkstand thrown at the Devil, Dr. Zerffii, -in his lecture on the Devil, says, 'He (the devil) hates nothing -so much as writing or printer's ink.' But the truth of this remark -depends upon which of two devils be considered. It would hardly -apply to the Serpent who recommended the fruit of knowledge, or to -the University man in Lucas van Leyden's picture (Fig. 6). But if -we suppose the Devil of Luther's Bible (Fig. 17) to be the one at -which the inkstand was thrown, the criticism is correct. The two -pictures mentioned may be instructively compared. Luther's Devil -is the reply of the University to the Church. These are the two -devils--the priest and the scholar--who glared at each other in the -early sixteenth century. 'The Devil smelled the roast,' says Luther, -'that if the languages revived, his kingdom would get a hole which -he could not easily stop again.' And it must be admitted that some -of the monkish execrations of the time, indeed of many times since, -have an undertone of Jahvistic jealousy. 'These Knowers will become -as one of us.' It must also be admitted that the clerical instinct -told true: the University man held in him that sceptical devil who -is always the destroyer of the priest's paradise. These two devils -which struggled with each other through the sixteenth century still -wage their war in the arena of Protestantism. Many a Lutheran now -living may remember to have smiled when Hofmann's experiments in -discovering carbonic acid gas gained him repute for raising again -Mephosto; but perhaps they did not recognise Luther's devil when, -at the annual assembly of Lutheran Pastors in Berlin (Sept. 1877), he -reappeared as the Rev. Professor Grau, and said, 'Not a few listen to -those striving to combine Christ with Belial, to reconcile redeeming -truth with modern science and culture.' But though they who take the -name of Luther in vain may thus join hands with the Devil, at whom -the Reformer threw his inkstand, the combat will still go on, and the -University Belial do the brave work of Bel till beneath his feet lies -the dragon of Darkness whether disguised as Pope or Protestant. - -If the Church wishes to know precisely how far the roughness pardonable -in the past survives unpardonably in itself, let its clergy peruse -carefully the following translation by Mr. Leland of a poem by Heine; -and realise that the Devil portrayed in it is, by grace of its own -prelates, at present the most admired personage in every Court and -fashionable drawing-room in Christendom. - - - I called the Devil, and he came: - In blank amaze his form I scan. - He is not ugly, is not lame, - But a refined, accomplished man,-- - One in the very prime of life, - At home in every cabinet strife, - Who, as diplomatist, can tell - Church and State news extremely well. - He is somewhat pale--and no wonder either, - Since he studies Sanskrit and Hegel together. - His favourite poet is still Fonqué. - Of criticism he makes no mention, - Since all such matters unworthy attention - He leaves to his grandmother, Hecaté. - He praised my legal efforts, and said - That he also when younger some law had read, - Remarking that friendship like mine would be - An acquisition, and bowed to me,-- - Then asked if we had not met before, - At the Spanish Minister's soiree? - And, as I scanned his face once more, - I found I had known him for many a day. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -WITCHCRAFT. - - Minor gods--Saint and Satyr--Tutelaries--Spells--Early Christianity - and the poor--Its doctrine as to pagan deities--Mediæval - Devils--Devils on the stage--An Abbot's revelations--The fairer - deities--Oriental dreams and spirits--Calls for Nemesis--Lilith - and her children--Neoplatonicism--Astrology and Alchemy--Devil's - College--Shem-hammphorásch--Apollonius of Tyana--Faustus--Black Art - Schools--Compacts with the Devil--Blood-covenant--Spirit-seances in - old times--The Fairfax delusion--Origin of its devil--Witch, goat, - and cat--Confessions of Witches--Witchcraft in New England--Witch - trials--Salem demonology--Testing witches--Witch trials in - Sweden--Witch Sabbath--Mythological elements--Carriers--Scotch - Witches--The cauldron--Vervain--Rue--Invocation of Hecaté--Factors - of Witch persecution--Three centuries of massacre--Würzburg - horrors--Last victims--Modern Spiritualism. - - -St. Cyprian saw the devil in a flower. [153] That little vision may -report more than many more famous ones the consistency with which -the first christians had developed the doctrine that nature is the -incarnation of the Evil Spirit. It reports to us the sense of many -sounds and sights which were heard and seen by ears and eyes trained -for such and no other, all showing that the genii of nature and -beauty were vanishing from the earth. Over the Ægean sea were heard -lamentations and the voice, 'Great Pan is dead!' Augustus consults -the oracle of Apollo and receives reply-- - - - Me puer Hebræus, Divos Deus ipse gubernans, - Cedere sede jubet, tristremque redire sub orcum; - Aris ergo dehinc tacitis abscedito nostris. - - -But while the rage of these Fathers towards all the great gods and -goddesses, who in their grand temples represented 'the pride of life,' -was remorseless, they were comparatively indifferent to the belief or -disbelief of the lower classes in their small tutelary divinities. They -appear almost to have encouraged belief in these, perhaps appreciating -the advantages of the popular custom of giving generous offerings -to such personal and domestic patrons. At a very early period there -seems to have arisen an idea of converting these more plebeian spirits -into guardian angels with christian names. Thus Jerome relates in -his Life of the first Hermit Paul, that when St. Anthony was on his -way to visit that holy man, he encountered a Centaur who pointed -out the way; and next a human-like dwarf with horns, hooked fingers, -and feet like those of a goat. St. Anthony believing this to be an -apparition of the Devil, made the sign of the Cross; but the little -man, nowise troubled by this, respectfully approached the monk, -and having been asked who he was, answered: 'I am a mortal, and one -of those inhabitants of the Desert whom the Gentiles in their error -worship under the names of Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi: I am delegated -by my people to ask of thee to pray for us to our common God, who we -know has descended for the salvation of the world, and whose praises -resound in all the earth.' At this glorification of Christ St. Anthony -was transported with joy, and turning towards Alexandria he cried, -'Woe to thee, adulterous city, which adorest animals as gods!' - -Perhaps the evolution of these desert demons into good christians would -have gone on more rapidly and completely if the primitive theologians -had known as much of their history as comparative mythology has -disclosed to the modern world. St. Anthony was, however, fairly on -the track of them when he turned towards Alexandria. Egypt appears -to have been the especial centre from which were distributed through -the world the fetish guardians of provinces, towns, households and -individuals. Their Serapes reappear in the Teraphim of Laban, and many -of the forms they used reappear in the Penates, Lares, and genii of -Latin countries. All these in their several countries were originally -related to its ancient religion or mythology, but before the christian -era they were very much the same in Egypt, Greece, and Italy. They were -shaped in many different, but usually natural forms, such as serpents, -dogs, boys, and old men, though often some intimation was given of -their demonic character. They were so multiplied that even plants -and animals had their guardians. The anthropomorphic genii called the -Patrii, who were supposed to preside over provinces, were generally -represented bearing weapons with which they defended the regions of -which they were patrons. These were the Averrunci or Apotropæi. - -There are many interesting branches of this subject which cannot be -entered into here, and others have already been considered in the -foregoing parts of this work. It is sufficient for my present purpose -to remark, that, in the course of time, all the households of the world -had traditional guardians; these were generally represented in some -shape on amulets and talismans, on which were commonly inscribed the -verbal charms by which the patron could be summoned. In the process -of further time the amulets--especially such as were reproduced -by tribes migrating from the vicinity of good engravers--might -be marked only with the verbal charms; these again were, in the -end, frequently represented only by some word or name. This was the -'spell.' Imagination fails in the effort to conceive how many strata of -extinct deities had bequeathed to the ancient Egyptians those mystical -names whose exact utterance they believed would constrain each god so -named to appear and bind him to serve the invoker's purpose whether -good or evil. [154] This idea continued among the Jews and shaped -the commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God -in vain.' - -It was in these diminutive forms that great systems survived among -the common people. Amid natural convulsions ancient formations of -faith were broken into fragments; in the ebb and flow of time these -fragments were smoothed, as it were, into these talismanic pebbles. Yet -each of these conveyed all the virtue which had been derived from the -great and costly ceremonial system from which it originally crumbled; -the virtue of soothing the mind and calming the nerves of sufferers -with the feeling that, though they might have been assailed by -hostile powers, they had friendly powers too who were active in their -behalf--Vindicators, to recall Job's phrase--who at last would stand -by them to the end. In the further ebb and flow of generations the -mass of such charms are further pulverised into sand or into mud; but -not all of them: amid the mud will be found many surviving specimens, -and such mud of accumulated superstitions is always susceptible of -being remoulded after such lingering models, should occasion demand. - -Erasmus, in his 'Adages,' suggests that it was from these genii of -'the Gentiles' that the christians derived their notion of each person -being attended by two angels, a good and a bad. Probably he was but -half right. The peoples to whom he refers did not generally believe -that each man was attended by a bad spirit, a personal enemy. That was -an honour reserved for individuals particularly formidable to the evil -powers,--Adam, Jacob, Hercules, or Zoroaster. The one preternatural -power attending each ordinary individual defended him from the general -forces of evil. But it was Christianity which, in the gradual effort -to substitute patron-saints and guardian-angels of its own for the -pagan genii, turned the latter from friends to enemies, and their -protecting into assailing weapons. - -All the hereditary household gods of what is now called Christendom -were diabolised. But in order that the masses might turn from them -and invoke christian guardians, the Penates, Lares, and genii had to -be belittled on the one hand, and the superior power of the saints -and angels demonstrated. When Christianity had gained the throne of -political power, it was easy to show that the 'imps,' as the old -guardians were now called, could no longer protect their invokers -from christian punishment, or confer equal favours. - -Christianity conquered Europe by the sword, but at first that sword -was not wielded against the humble masses. It was wielded against -their proud oppressors. To the common people it brought glad tidings -of a new order, in which, under the banner of a crucified working-man -and his (alleged) peasant mother, all caste should disappear but that -of piety and charity. Christ eating with publicans and sinners and -healing the wayside cripples reappeared in St. Martin dividing his -embroidered cloak with a beggar--type of a new aristocracy. They -who worshipped the Crucified Peasant in the rock-cave of Tours -which St. Martin had consecrated, or in little St. Martin's Church -at Canterbury where Bertha was baptized, could not see the splendid -cathedrals now visible from them, built of their bones and cemented -with their blood. King Ethelbert surrendered the temple of his idol -to the consecration of Augustine, and his baptized subjects had no -difficulty in seeing the point of the ejected devil's talons on the -wall which he assailed when the first mass was therein celebrated. - -Glad tidings to the poor were these that the persecuted first -missionaries brought to Gaul, Britain, and Germany. But they did not -last. The christians and the pagan princes, like Herod and Pilate, -joined hands to crucify the European peasant, and he was reduced to -a worse serfdom than he had suffered before. Every humble home in -Europe was trampled in the mire in the name of Christ. The poor man's -wife and child, and all he possessed were victims of the workman of -Jerusalem turned destroyer of his brethren. Michelet has well traced -Witchcraft to the Despair of the Middle Ages. [155] The decay of -the old religions, which Christianity had made too rapid for it to -be complete, had left, as we have seen, all the trains laid for that -terrible explosion; and now its own hand of cruelty brought the torch -to ignite them. Let us, at risk of some iteration, consider some of -these combustible elements. - -In the first place the Church had recognised the existence of the -pagan gods and goddesses, not wishing to imbreed in the popular mind a -sceptical habit, and also having use for them to excite terror. Having -for this latter purpose carved and painted them as ugly and bestial, -it became further of importance that they should be represented as -stupid and comparatively impotent. Baptism could exorcise them, -and a crucifix put thousands of them to flight. This tuition was -not difficult. The peasantries of Europe had readily been induced -to associate the newly announced (christian) Devil with their most -mischievous demons. But we have already considered the forces under -which these demons had entered on their decline before they were -associated with Satan. Many conquered obstructions had rendered the -Demons which represented them ridiculous. Hence the 'Dummeteufel' of -so many German fables and of the mediæval miracle-plays. 'No greater -proof,' says Dr. Dasent, 'can be given of the small hold which the -christian Devil has taken of the Norse mind, than the heathen aspect -under which he constantly appears, and the ludicrous way in which -he is always outwitted.' [156] 'The Germans,' says Max Müller, -'indoctrinated with the idea of a real devil, the Semitic Satan -or Diabolus, treated him in the most good-humoured manner.' [157] -A fair idea of the insignificance he and his angels reached may be -gained from the accompanying picture (Fig. 18), with which a mediæval -Missal now in possession of Sir Joseph Hooker is illuminated. It could -not be expected that the masses would fear beings whom their priests -thus held up to ridicule. It is not difficult to imagine the process -of evolution by which the horns of such insignificant devils turned -to the asinine ears of such devils as this stall carving at Corbeil, -near Paris (Fig. 19), which represented the popular view of the mastery -obtained by witches over devils. It must be remembered also that this -power over devils was in accordance with the traditions concerning -Solomon, and the subserviency of Oriental demons generally to the -lamps or charms to which they were bound. - -What the popular christian devil had become in all the Northern -nations is sufficiently shown in the figure he presented in most -of the old miracle-plays and 'Moralities.' 'The Devill in his -fethers all ragged and rent,' [158] had horns, wide mouth, long -(sometimes up-turned) nose, red beard, cloven foot, and tail. He -was attended by a buffoon called Vice. 'And,' says Harsenet, 'it -was a pretty part in the old Church playes when the nimble Vice -would skip up nimbly like a Jackanapes into the Devil's necke, and -ride the Devil a course, and belabour him with a wooden dagger, -till he made him roar, whereat the people would laugh to see the -Devil so Vice-haunted.' [159] The two must have nearly resembled the -clown and his unhappy victim Pantaloon in our pantomimes, as to their -antics. It would seem that sometimes holy personages were caricatured -in the make-up of the stage-devil. Thus in 'Gammer Gurton's Needle' -we have this conversation:-- - - - GAMMER. But, Hodge, had he no horns to push? - - HODGE. As long as your two armes. Saw ye never fryer Rushe - Painted on cloth, with a side long cowe's tayle - And crooked cloven feet, and many a hooked nayle? - For all the world (if I should judge) should reckon him his brother; - Loke, even what face fryer Rushe had, the devil had such another. - - -In the scene of Christ's delivering souls from purgatory, the Devil -is represented as blowing lustily a horn to alarm his comrades, -and crying, 'Out, out, aronzt!' to the invader. He fights with a -three-pronged fork. He and his victims are painted black, [160] in -contrast with the souls of the saved, which are white. The hair was -considered very important. [161] When he went to battle, even his -fiery nature was sometimes represented in a way that must have been -more ludicrous than impressive. [162] - -The insignificance to which the priests had reduced the devil in the -plays, where they were usually the actors, reflected their own petty -routine of life. They could conceive of nothing more terrible than -their own mean mishaps and local obstructions. One great office of the -Devil was to tempt some friar to sleep when he should be at prayer, -[163] make another drink too much, or a third cast warm glances at -a village beauty. The Revelations of the Abbot Richalmus, written -seven hundred years ago, shows the Devil already far gone in his -process of diminution. The Devil here concentrates the energies -which once made the earth tremble on causing nausea to the Abbot, -and making the choir cough while he is preaching. 'When I sit down to -holy studies,' he says, 'the devils make me heavy with sleep. Then I -stretch my hands beyond my cuffs to give them a chill. Forthwith the -spirits prick me under my clothes like so many fleas, which causes me -to put my hands on them; and so they get warm again, and my reading -grows careless.' 'Come, just look at my lip; for twenty years has an -imp clung to it just to make it hang down.' It is ludicrous to find -that ancient characteristic of the gods of Death already adverted -to--their hatred of salt, the agent of preservation--descended from -being the sign of Job's constancy to Jehovah into a mere item of the -Abbot's appetite. 'When I am at dinner, and the devil has taken away my -appetite, as soon as I have tasted a little salt it comes back to me; -and if, shortly afterwards, I lose it again, I take some more salt, -and am once more an hungered.' [164] - -One dangerous element was the contempt into which, by many causes, -the infernal powers had been brought. But a more dangerous one lay in -another direction. Though the current phrases of the New Testament -and of the Fathers of the Church, declaring this world, its wealth, -loves, and pleasures, to be all the kingdom of Satan, had become cant -in the mouths of priests ruling over Europe, it had never been cant -to the humble peasantries. Although they had degraded many devils -imported by the priests, it had been in connection with the declining -terrors of their native demonologies. But above these degraded and -hated gnomes and elves, whose paternity had been transferred from -Soetere to Satan, there was an array of beautiful deities--gentle -gods and goddesses traditionally revered and loved as protectors of -the home and the family--which had never really lost their hold on the -common people. They might have shrunk before the aggressive victories -of the Saints into little Fairies, but their continued love for the -poor and the oppressed was the romance of every household. What did -these good fairies do? They sometimes loaded the lowly with wealth, -if summoned in just the right way; they sang secrets to them from -trees as little birds, they smoothed the course of love, clothed -ash-maidens in fine clothes, transported people through the air, -enabled them to render themselves invulnerable, or invisible, to get -out of prisons, to vanquish 'the powers that be,' whether 'ordained of -God' or not. Now all these were benefits which, by christian theory, -could only be conferred by that Prince of this World who ministered to -'the pride of life.' - -Into homes which the priest and his noble had stripped of happiness -and hope,--whose loving brides were for baptized Bluebeards, whose -hard earnings were taken as the price of salvation from devils whose -awfulness was departing,--there came from afar rumours of great wealth -and splendour conferred upon their worshippers by Eastern gods and -goddesses. The priests said all those were devils who would torture -their devotees eternally after death; yet it could not be denied -that the Moors had the secret of lustres and ornamentation, that -the heathen East was gorgeous, that all Christendom was dreaming of -the wealth of Ormus and of Ind. Granted that Satan had come westward -and northward, joined the scurvy crew of Loki, and become of little -importance; but what of Baal or Beelzebub, of Asmodeus, of the genii -who built Solomon's temple, of rich Pluto, of august Ahriman? Along -with stories of Oriental magnificence there spread through Christendom -names of many deities and demons; many of them beautiful names, too, -euphemism having generally managed to bestow melodious epithets alike -on deities feared and loved. In Faust's 'Miraculous Art and Book of -Marvels, or the Black Raven' (1469), the infernal heirarchy are thus -named:--King, Lucifer; Viceroy, Belial; Gubernatores, Satan, Beelzebub, -Astaroth, Pluto; Chief Princes, Aziel, Mephistopheles, Marbuel, Ariel, -Aniguel, Anisel, Barfael. Seductive meanings, too, corresponding to -these names, had filtered in some way from the high places they once -occupied into the minds of the people. Lucifer was a fallen star that -might rise again; Belial and Beelzebub were princes of the fire that -rendered possible the arts of man, and the Belfires never went out in -the cold North; Astarte meant beauty, and Pluto wealth; Aziel (Asael) -was President of the great College of occult arts, from whom Solomon -learned the secrets by which he made the jinni his slaves; Marbuel -was the artist and mechanic, sometimes believed to aid artisans who -produced work beyond ordinary human skill; Ariel was the fine spirit -of the air whose intelligence corresponded to that of the Holy Ghost -on the other side; Aniguel is the serpent of Paradise, generally -written Anisel; Anizazel is probably a fanciful relative of Azazel, -'the strong god;' and Barfael, who in a later Faust book is Barbuel, -is an orientalised form of the 'demon of the long beard' who holds -the secret of the philosopher's stone. - -In a later chapter the growth of favourable views of the devil is -considered. Some of the legends therein related may be instructively -read in connection with the development of Witchcraft. Many rumours -were spread abroad of kindly assistance brought by demons to persons in -distress. But even more than by hopes so awakened was the witch aided -by the burning desire of the people for vengeance. They wanted Zamiel -(Samaël) to help them to mould the bullet that would not miss its -mark. The Devil and all his angels had long been recognised by their -catechists as being utilised by the Deity to execute his vengeance -on the guilty; and to serfs in their agony that devil who would not -spare prince or priest was more desired than even the bestower of -favours to their starving minds and bodies. - -Under the long ages of war in Europe, absorbing the energies of men, -women had become the preservers of letters. The era of witchcraft in -Europe found that sex alone able to read and write, arts disesteemed -in men, among the peasantry at least. To them men turned when it had -become a priestly lesson that a few words were more potent than the -weapons of princes. Besides this, women were the chief sorcerers, -because they were the chief sufferers. In Alsace (1615), out of -seventy-five who perished as witches, sixty-two were women. The -famous Malleus Maleficorum, which did more evil than any work ever -published, derives femina from fide minus. Although in the Faust -legend Mephistopheles objects to marriage, many stories represent -diabolical weddings. Particular details were told of the marriage of -Satan with the daughter of a Sorceress at Egnischen (1585), on which -occasion the three towers of the castle there were said to have been -illuminated, and a splendid banquet spread, the favourite dish being -a ragout of bats. There was exquisite music, and a 'beautiful man' -blessed the nuptials. How many poor peasant girls must have had such -dreams as they looked up from their drudgery to the brilliant chateaux? - -In the illuminated manuscript known as 'Queen Mary's Psalter' (1553) -there is a picture of the Fall of Man (Fig. 20) which possesses -far-reaching significance. It is a modification of that idea, -which gained such wide currency in the Middle Ages, that it was -the serpent-woman Lilith who had tempted Adam to eat the forbidden -fruit. In this picture, while the beautiful face and ample hair -of Lilith are given, instead of the usual female bust she has the -body of a cat. This nocturnal animal, already sacred to Freyja, the -Teutonic Venus, whose chariot it drew, gained a new mythological -career in the North by the large number of Southern and Oriental -stones which related it to the lunar and amorous demonesses. When -the gods fled before the Titans, Diana, as Ovid relates, changed -herself to a cat, and as infernal Hecate that animal was still -beside her. If my reader will turn to vol. i. p. 130, some of the -vast number of myths which prepared the cat to take its place as -familiar of the witch may be found. Whether the artist had Lilith in -his mind or not, the illumination in 'Queen Mary's Psalter' represents -a remarkable association of myths. For Lilith was forerunner of the -mediæval mothers weeping for their children; her voice of perpetual -lamentation at the cruel fate allotted her by the combined tyranny -of God and man was heard on every sighing wind; and she was the -richly dressed bride of the Prince of Devils, ever seeking to tempt -youth. Such stories floated through the mind of the Middle Ages, -and this infernal Madonna is here seen in association with the cat, -beneath whose soft sparkling fur the goddess of Love and Beauty was -supposed to be still lurking near the fireside of many a miserable -home. Some fragrance of the mystical East was with this feline beauty, -and nothing can be more striking than the contrast which the ordinary -devils beside her present. Their unseductive ugliness and meanness is -placed out of sight of the pair tempted to seek the fruit of forbidden -knowledge. They inspire the man and woman in their evidently eager -grasping after the fruit, which here means the consultation of fair -fortune-tellers and witches to obtain that occult knowledge for which -speculative men are seeking in secret studies and laboratories. - -Those who have paid attention to the subject of Witchcraft need not -be reminded that its complexity and vastness would require a larger -volume than the present to deal with it satisfactorily. The present -study must be limited to a presentation of some of the facts which -induce the writer to believe that, beneath the phenomena, lay a -profound alienation from Christianity, and an effort to recall the -banished gods which it had superseded. - -The first christian church was mainly Jewish, and this is also to say -that it inherited the vast Angelolatry and the system of spells which -that tribe had brought from Babylon. To all this was now superadded -the accumulation of Assyrian and Egyptian lore which was re-edited -in the form of Neoplatonicism. This mongrel mass, constituted of -notions crumbled from many systems, acquired a certain consistency -in Gnosticism. The ancient Egyptians had colleges set apart for -astrological study, and for cultivation of the art of healing by -charms. Every month, decade, day of the year had its special guardian -in the heavens. The popular festivals were astronomic. To the priests -in the colleges were reserved study of the sacred books in which -the astrological secrets were contained, and whose authorship was -attributed to the god Thoth, inventor of writing, the Greek Hermes, -and, later, Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus. The zodiac is a memorial of -the influence which the stars were supposed to exert upon the human -body. Alchemy (the word is Egyptian, Kémi meaning 'black earth') -was also studied in connection with solar, lunar, and stellar -influences. The Alchemists dreamed of discovering the philosopher's -stone, which would change base metals to gold; and Diocletian, in -burning the Alchemists' books, believed that, in so doing, he would -deprive the Egyptians of their source of wealth. [165] - -Imported into Greece, these notions and their cult had a twofold -development. Among the Platonists they turned to a naturalistic -and allegorical Demonology; among the uncultivated they formed a -Diabolarchy, which gathered around the terrible lunar phantasm--Hecate. - -The astrological College of Egypt gave to the Jews their strange -idea of the high school maintained among the devils, already -referred to in connection with Asmodeus, who was one of its leading -professors. The rabbinical legend was, that two eminent angels, Asa -and Asael, remonstrated with the Creator on having formed man only -to give trouble. The Creator said they would have done the same as -man under similar circumstances; whereupon Asa and Asael proposed -that the experiment should be tried. They went to earth, and the -Creator's prediction was fulfilled: they were the first 'sons of God' -who fell in love with the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 2). They were -then embodied. In heaven they had been angels of especial knowledge in -divine arts, and they now used their spells to reascend. But their sin -rendered the spells powerless for that, so they repaired to the Dark -Mountains, and there established a great College of Sorcery. Among the -many distinguished graduates of this College were Job, Jethro, and -Bileam. It was believed that these three instructed the soothsayers -who attempted to rival the miracles of Moses before Pharaoh. Job -and Jethro were subsequently converted, but Bileam continued his -hostility to Israel, and remains a teacher in the College. Through -knowledge of the supreme spell--the Shem-hammphorásch, or real name -of God--Solomon was able to chain Professor Asmodeus, and wrest from -him the secret of the worm Schámir, by whose aid the Temple was built. - -Traditions of the learning of the Egyptians, and of the marvels -learned by Solomon from Asa and Asael by which he compelled demons to -serve him, and the impressive story of the Witch of Endor, powerfully -influenced the inquisitive minds of Europe. The fierce denunciations of -all studies of these arts of sorcery by the early Church would alone -reveal how prevalent they were. The wonderful story of Apollonius of -Tyana, [166] as told by Philostratus, was really a kind of gospel to -the more worldly-minded scholars. Some rabbins, following the outcry -against Jesus, 'He casteth out devils by Beelzebub,' circulated at an -early date the story that Jesus had derived his power to work miracles -from the spell Shem-hammphorásch, which he found on one of the stones -of the Temple where Solomon had left it. Though Eusebius cast doubt -upon them, the christians generally do not appear to have denied the -miracles of Apollonius, which precisely copy those of Jesus from the -miraculous birth to the ascension, but even to have quoted them as -an evidence of the possibility of miracles. Celsus having attributed -the miracles of Jesus to sorcery, and said that magic influenced -only the ignorant and immoral, Origen replies that, in order to -convince himself of the contrary, he has only to read the memoirs -of Apollonius by Mæragenes, who speaks of him as a philosopher and -magician, who repeatedly exercised his powers on philosophers. Arnobius -and the fathers of the fourth century generally believed in the -Apollonian thaumaturgy and attributed it to magic. Aldus Manutius -published the book of Philostratus in the fifteenth century, and the -degree to which the fascinating and marvellous stories concerning -Apollonius fired the European imagination just awaking under the -breath of the Renaissance, may be estimated by the fury with which -the 'magician' was anathematised by Pico della Mirandola, Jean Bodin, -and Baronius. The book and the controversy attracted much attention, -and while the priests still continued to charge Apollonius with being a -'magician,' they appear to have perceived that it would have been more -to the point, so far as their real peril was concerned, to have proved -him an impostor. Failing that, Dr. Faustus and his fellow-professors -in the 'black art' were left masters of the situation. The people -had to digest the facts admitted, that a Pagan had learned, by -initiations into the astrological schools of Egypt and India, the -means of healing the sick, raising the dead, flying through the air, -throwing off chains, opening locks, rendering himself invisible, -and discerning the future. - -There was a call for some kind of Apollonius, and Faustus arose. Side -by side flourished Luther and Faustus. To Roman Catholic eyes they -were twin sons of the Devil; [167] that they were characteristic -products of one moral age and force appears to me certain, even as -to-day the negations of Science and the revival of 'Spiritualism' -have a common root in radical disbelief of the hereditary dogmas -and forms of so-called religion. It is, however, not surprising that -Protestantism felt as much horror of its bastard brother as Science -has of the ghostly seances. Through the early sixteenth century we -can trace this strange Dr. Faustus ('auspicious,' he had chosen that -name) going about Germany, not omitting Erfurth, and talking in taverns -about his magic arts and powers. More is said of him in the following -chapter; it is sufficient to observe here, and it is the conclusion -of Professor Morley, who has sifted the history with his usual care, -that about him, as a centre of crystallisation, tales ascribed in -the first place to other conjurers arranged themselves, until he -became the popular ideal of one who sought to sound the depths of -this world's knowledge and enjoyments without help from the Church or -its God. The priests did not doubt that this could be done, nor did -the Protestants; they generally agreed that it could be accomplished -at cost of the soul. As angels of the good God must answer to the -formulas of invocation to those who had made a sacramental compact -with their Chief, so was it possible to share a sacrament of Satan, -and by certain invocations summon his infernal angels to obtain the -pleasures of this world of which he is Prince. A thousand years' -experience of the Church had left the poor ready to sign the compact -if they could secure some little earthly joy. As for Heaven, if it -were anything like what its ministers had provided for the poor on -earth, Hell might be preferable after all. - -Dr. Wuttke, while writing his recent work on German superstitions, was -surprised to learn that there still exist in France and in Wurtemberg -schools for teaching the Black Art. A priest in the last-named country -wrote him that a boy had confessed to having passed the lower grade of -such a school, but, scared by the horrid ceremonies, had pronounced -some holy words which destroyed the effect of the wicked practices, -and struck the assembled Devil-worshippers with consternation. The -boy said he had barely escaped with his life. I have myself passed an -evening at a school in London 'for the development of Spirit-mediums,' -and possibly Dr. Wuttke's correspondent would describe these also -as Devil-worshippers. No doubt all such circles might be traced -archæologically to that Sorcerers' College said by the rabbins to -have been kept by Asa and Asael. But what moral force preserved -them? They do but represent a turning of methods made familiar by -the Church to coax benefits from other supernatural powers in the -hope that they would be less dilatory than the Trinity in bestowing -their gifts. What is the difference between St. Wolfram's God and King -Radbot's Devil? The one offers a golden mansion on earth warranted to -last through eternity, the other a like mansion in the skies receivable -after death. The Saint agrees that if Radbot's Devil can build him such -a house the king would be quite right to worship the architect. The -question of the comparative moral merits of the two invisible Powers -is not mentioned. This legend, related in a preceding chapter, -is characteristic of the motives to which the priesthood appealed -through the Middle Ages. It is no wonder that the people began to -appeal to the gods of their traditional Radbots, nor that they should -have used the ceremonial and sacramental formulas around them. - -But to these were added other formulas borrowed from different -sources. The 'Compact with the Devil' had in it various elements. It -appears to have been a custom of the Odinistic religion for men to sign -acts of self-dedication to trusted deities, somewhat corresponding -to the votive tablets of Southern religion. It was a legend of -Odin that when dying he marked his arm with the point of a spear, -and this may have been imitated. In the 'Mysteries' of pagan and -christian systems blood played an important part--the human blood of -earlier times being symbolised by that of animals, and ultimately, -among christians, in wine of the Eucharist. The primitive history of -this blood-covenant is given in another chapter. Some astrological -formulas, and many of the deities invoked, spread through Europe with -the Jews. The actual, and quite as often fabulous, wealth of that -antichristian race was ascribed to Antichrist, and while christian -princes thought of such gold as legitimate spoil, the honest peasants -sought from their astrologers the transmitted 'key of Solomon,' in -virtue of which the demons served him. The famous 'Compact' therefore -was largely of christian-judaic origin, and only meant conveyance of -the soul in consideration of precisely the same treasures as those -promised by the Church to all whose names were written in the Lamb's -Book,--the only difference being in the period when redemption of -the respective issues of priest and astrologer should fall due. One -was payable during this life, the other after death. - -The ceremonial performances of Witchcraft have also always existed -in some form. What we are familiar with of late as Spirit-seances -are by no means new. More than a hundred years ago, Mr. Wesley and -various clergymen were sitting at a table in Cock Lane, asking the -spirit 'Fanny' to rap twice if she were 'in a state of progressive -happiness.' Nay, a hundred years before that (1661), Sir Thomas -Chamberlain and others, sitting in a haunted house at Tedworth, Wilts, -asked 'Satan, if the Drummer set thee to work, give three knocks, -and no more, which it did very distinctly, and stopped.' [168] We -also learn that, in another town and case (1654), 'a naked arm and -hand appeared and beat the floor.' It would not be difficult to go -further back and find that the dark circle of our Spiritualists with -much of its apparatus has existed continuously through the Middle -Ages. The dark seance which Goethe has represented in Faust, Part -II., at which the spirits of Helen and Paris are evoked, is a very -accurate picture of the 'materialisations' now exhibited by mediums, -more than forty years after its publication. These outer resemblances -are physiognomical. The seance of to-day has lost the darker features -of its mediæval prototype, because the Present has not a real and -temporal, but only a speculative and sentimental despair, and this is -the kind that possesses chiefly the well-to-do and idle classes. It is -not difficult to meet the eye of our everyday human nature amid those -frenzied periods when whole districts seemed afflicted with epidemic -madness, and look deep in that eye to the fathomless heart of humanity. - -In an old parish register of Fewston, Yorkshire, are the following -entries:--'1621. Anne, daughter of Edward Fairfax, baptized the 12th -June.' '1621. Edward Fairfax, Esq., a child named Anne, buried the -9th October.' Then in the History of Knaresborough we read of this -child, 'She was held to have died through witchcraft.' In what dreams -did that child, supposed to have been snatched away by diabolic -malice, return as a pure spirit uplifted in light, yet shadowed by -the anxiety and pain of the bereaved family! A medium is at hand, -one through whose mind and heart all the stormy electricities -of the time are playing. The most distinguished representative -of the Fairfax family is off fighting for Parliament against the -King. Edward Fairfax is a zealous Churchman. His eldest daughter, -Helen, aged twenty-one, is a parishioner of the Rev. Mr. Smithson, yet -she has come under the strong influence of a Nonconformist preacher, -Mr. Cook. The scholarly clergyman and his worldly Church on one side, -and the ignorant minister with his humble followers on the other, -are unconscious personifications of Vice and Virtue, while between -them poor Helen is no Heraklea. - -Nineteen days after the burial of her little sister Anne, as mentioned -above, Helen is found 'in a deadly trance.' After a little she begins -to speak, her words showing that she is, by imagination, 'in the church -at Leeds, hearing a sermon by Mr. Cook.' On November 3, as she lies on -her bed, Helen exclaims, 'A white cat hath been long upon me and drawn -my breath, and hath left in my mouth and throat so filthy a smell that -it doth poison me!' Next we have the following in the father's diary: -'Item. Upon Wednesday, the 14th of November, she saw a black dog by her -bedside, and, after a little sleep, she had an apparition of one like -a young gentleman, very brave, his apparel all laid with gold lace, -a hat with a golden band, and a ruff in fashion. He did salute her -with the same compliment as she said Sir Fernandino Fairfax useth when -he cometh to the house and saluteth her mother.... He said he was a -Prince, and would make her Queen of England and of all the world if -she would go with him. She refused, and said, 'In the name of God, -what art thou?' He presently did forbid her to name God; to which -she replied, 'Thou art no man if thou canst not abide the name of -God; but if thou be a man, come near, let me feel of thee;' which he -would not do, but said, 'It is no matter for feeling.' She proceeded, -'If thou wert a man, thou wouldst not deny to be felt; but thou art -the devil, and art but a shadow.' - -It is possible that Helen Fairfax had read in Shakspere's 'Lear,' -printed twelve years before, that - - - The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman; - Modo he's called, and Mahu. [169] - - -But the reader will remark how her vision anticipates that of Faust, -the transformation of the poodle to finely-dressed Mephistopheles. On -the next apparition a bit from Patmos is interpolated, the Devil -appearing as a beast with many horns; but the folklore of Yorkshire -prevails, and 'presently he was like a very little dog, and desired -her to open her mouth and let him come into her body, and then he -would rule all the world.' Lastly, he 'filled the room with fire.' - -In the account thus far we have the following items of ancient -mythology:--1, the Cat; 2, the Dog; 3, the Pride of Life (Asmodeus), -represented in the fine dress and manners of the fiend; 4, the -Prince of this World, offering its throne; 5, the Egyptian belief -in potency of the Name; 6, the Hunger-Demon, who dares not be felt, -because his back is hollow, and, though himself a shadow, casts none; -7, the disembodied devil of the rabbins, who seeks to enter a human -form, in order to enjoy the higher powers of which man is capable; -8, the fiend of fire. - -The period in which Helen Fairfax lived supplied forms for the -'materialisation' of these notions flitting from the ancient cemeteries -of theology. The gay and gallant Asmodeus had been transformed into a -goat under the ascetic eye of Europe; his mistress is a naked witch; -her familiar and slave is a cat. This is the conventionalised theologic -theory, as we find it in many examples, one of which is here shown -(Fig. 21), as copied from a stone panel at the entrance of Lyons -Cathedral. This is what Helen's visions end in. She and her younger -sister of seven years, and a young neighbour, a girl of twelve, who -have become infected with Helen's hysterics, identify six poor women -as witches, and Edward Fairfax would have secured their execution -had it not been for the clergyman Smithson. - -Cats played a large part in this as in other witch-trials. They -had long been regarded as an insurance of humble households. In -many regions still may be found beliefs that a three-coloured cat -protects against fire; a black cat cures epilepsy, protects gardens; -and in Bohemia a cat is the favourite bridal gift to procure a happy -wedded life. One who kills a cat has no luck for seven years. The -Yorkshire women called witches remembered these proverbs to their -cost. Among the cats regarded by the Fairfaxes as familiars of the -accused, some names are notable. One is called 'Gibbe.' This is the -Icelandic gabba, to 'delude,' and our gibber; it is the 'Gib' cat of -Reinicke Fuchs, and of the 'Romaunt of the Rose.' In 'Gammer Gurton' -we read, 'Hath no man gelded Gyb, her cat;' and in Henry IV. i. 2, -'I am as melancholy as a gib cat.' Another of the cats is called -Inges. That is, ignis, fire--Agni maintaining his reign of terror. - -Helen's devil hates the dissenter, and says, 'Cook is a lying villain,' -because Cook exorcises him with a psalm. On the other hand, the -devil praises the clergyman, but Helen breaks out with 'He is not -worthy to be a vicar who will bear with witches.' Amid the religious -controversies then exciting all households, mourning for his dead -child, humiliated by the suspicions of his best neighbours that -his daughter was guilty of deception, Edward Fairfax, Gentleman, -a scholar and author, lent an ear to the vulgar superstitions of -his neighbourhood. Could he have stood on the shoulders of Grimm, -he would have left us a very different narrative than that preserved -by the Philobiblion Society. [170] - -It is hardly possible to determine now the value of the alleged -confessions of witches. They were extorted by torture or by promises -of clemency (the latter rarely fulfilled); they were shaped by -cross-examiners rather than by their victims; and their worth is still -more impaired where, as is usual, they are not given in detail, but -recorded in 'substance,' the phraseology in such case reflecting the -priest's preconceived theory of witches and their orgies. It is to be -feared, for instance, that 'devil' is often written instead of some -name that might now be interesting. Nevertheless, there seems to be -ground for believing that in many cases there were seances held to -invoke supernatural powers. - -Among the vast number of trials and confessions, I have found none -more significant than the following. In February 1691 a daughter -and niece of Mr. Parris, minister in Salem (Massachusetts), girls of -ten or eleven years, and several other girls, complained of various -bodily torments, and as the physicians could find no cause for them, -they were pronounced bewitched. The Rev. Mr. Parris had once been -in business at the Barbadoes, and probably brought thence his two -slaves, Spanish Indians, man and wife. When the children were declared -bewitched, the Indian woman, Tituba, tried an experiment, probably with -fetishes familiar in the Barbadoes, to find out the witch. Whereupon -the children cried out against the Indian woman as appearing to them -and tormenting them. Tituba said her mistress, in her own country, -had taught her how to find out a witch, but denied being one herself; -but afterwards (urged, as she subsequently declared, by her master) -she confessed; and the marks of Spanish cruelty on her body were -assumed to be the Devil's wounds. The Rev. Mr. Parris in a calmer time -might have vindicated poor Tituba by taking for text of his sermon on -the subject Christ's saying about a house divided against itself, and -reminding the colony, which held public fast against Satan, that the -devil was too clever to cover his Salem agent with wounds; but instead -of that he preached on the words, 'Have I not chosen you twelve, and -one of you is a devil.' During this sermon a woman left the church; -she was sister of a woman who had also been accused by the children, -and, being offended by something Mr. Parris said, went out of meeting; -of course, also to prison. There were three other women involved with -Tituba, in whose fetish experiments a well-informed writer thinks the -Salem delusion began. [171] The examination before the Deputy-Governor -(Danforth) began at Salem, April 11, 1692, and there are several -notable points in it. Tituba's husband, the Indian John, cunningly -escaped by pretending to be one of the afflicted. He charged Goody -Proctor, and said, 'She brought the book to me.' No one asked what -book! Abigail Williams, also one of the accusers of Goody, was asked, -'Does she bring the book to you? A. Yes. Q. What would she have you do -with it? A. To write in it, and I shall be well.' Not a descriptive -word is demanded or given concerning this book. The examiners are -evidently well acquainted with it. In the alleged confessions preserved -in official reports, but not in the words of the accused, the nature -of the book is made clear. Thus Mary Osgood 'confesses that about -eleven years ago, when she was in a melancholy state and condition, -she used to walk abroad in her orchard, and, upon a certain time she -saw the appearance of a cat at the end of the house, which yet she -thought was a real cat. However, at that time it diverted her from -praying to God, and instead thereof she prayed to the Devil; about -which time she made a covenant with the Devil, who, as a black man, -came to her, and presented her a book, upon which she laid her finger, -and that left a red spot. And that upon her signing that book, the -devil told her that he was her god.' This is not unlikely to be a -paraphrase of some sermon on the infernal Book of Satan corresponding -to the Book of Life, the theory being too conventional for the court -to inquire about the mysterious volume. Equally well known was the -Antichrist theory which had long represented that avatar of Satan -as having organised a church. Thus we read:--'Abigail Williams, -did you see a company at Mr. Parris's house eat and drink? A. Yes, -sir; that was their sacrament. Q. What was it? A. They said it was -our blood.' 'Mary Walcot, have you seen a white man? A. Yes, sir, -a great many times. Q. What sort of man was he? A. A fine grave man, -and when he came he made all the witches to tremble.' When it is -remembered that Mary Osgood had described the Devil as 'a black man' -(all were thinking of the Indians), this Antiblackman suggests Christ -resisting Antichrist. Again, although nothing seems to have been said -in the court previously about baptism, one of the examiners asks 'Goody -Laccy how many years ago since they were baptized? A. Three or four -years ago I suppose. Q. Who baptized them? A. The old serpent. Q. How -did he do it? A. He dipped their heads in the water, saying they -were his, and that he had power over them; ... there were six (who) -baptized. Q. Name them. A. I think they were of the higher powers.' - -There are interspersed through the proceedings suggestions of mercy on -condition of confession, which, joined to these theoretical questions, -render it plain that the retractations which the so-called witches -made were true, and that in New England, at least, there was little -if any basis for the delusion beyond the experiment of the two Spanish -Indians. The terrible massacre of witches which occurred there was the -result of the decision of English judges and divines that witchcraft -is recognised in the Bible, and there assigned the death-penalty. - -It will be observed here that ancient mythology to Salem is chiefly -that of the Bible, modified by local conditions. White man and black -man represent Christ and Antichrist, and we have the same symbols on -both sides,--eucharists, baptisms, and names written in books. The -survivals from European folklore met with in the New England trials -are--the cat, the horse (rarely), and the dog. In one case a dog -suffered from the repute of being a witch, insomuch that some who -met him fell into fits; he was put to death. Riding through the air -continues, but the American witches ride upon a stick or pole. The -old-fashioned broom, the cloud-symbol of the Wild Huntsman, is -rarely mentioned. One thing, however, survives from England, at -least; the same sharp controversy that is reflected in the Fairfax -case. Cotton Mather tried one of the possessed with the Bible, the -'Assembly's Catechism,' his grandfather's 'Milk for Babes,' his -father's 'Remarkable Providence,' and a book to prove there were -witches. 'And when any of those were offered for her to read in, -she would be struck dead and fall into convulsions.' But when he -tried her with Popish and Quaker books, the English Prayer-Book, -and a book to prove there were no witches, the devil permitted her -to read these as long as she pleased. One is at a loss which most to -admire, the astuteness of the accused witch in bearing testimony to -the Puritan religion, or the phenomenon of its eminent representative -seeking a witness to it in the Father of lies. - -If now we travel towards the East we find the survivals growing -clearer, as in the West they become faint. - -In 1669 the people of the villages of Mohra and Elfdale in Sweden, -believing that they were troubled by witches, were visited by a royal -commission, the result of whose investigations was the execution of -twenty-three adults and fifteen children; running of the gauntlet by -thirty-six between the ages of nine and sixteen years; the lashing -on the hand of twenty children for three Sundays at the church-door, -and similar lashing of the aforesaid thirty-six once a week for a -year. Portions of the confessions of the witches are given below -from the Public Register as translated by Anthony Horneck, D.D., -and printed in London, anno 1700. I add a few words in brackets to -point out survivals. - -'We of the province of Elfdale do confess that we used to go to a -gravel-pit which lay hard by a cross-way (Hecate), and there we put -on a vest (Wolf-girdle) over our heads, and then danced round, and -after this ran to the cross-way, and called the Devil thrice, first -with a still voice, the second time somewhat louder, and the third -time very loud, with these words--Antecessor, come and carry us to -Blockula. Whereupon immediately he used to appear, but in different -habits; but for the most part we saw him in a grey coat and red and -blue stockings: he had a red beard (Barbarossa), a high-crowned hat -(Turn-cap), with linen of divers colours wrapt about it, and long -garters upon his stockings. - -'Then he asked us whether we would serve him with soul and body. If we -were content to do so, he set us upon a beast which he had there ready, -and carried us over churches and high walls; and after all we came -to a green meadow where Blockula lies. We must procure some scrapings -of altars, and filings of church clocks; and then he gives us a horn -with a salve in it, wherewith we do anoint ourselves (chrism); and a -saddle with a hammer (Thor's), and a wooden nail, thereby to fix the -saddle (Walkyr's); whereupon we call upon the Devil and away we go.' - -'For their journey, they said they made use of all sorts of -instruments, of beasts, of men, of spits, and posts, according as they -had opportunity: if they do ride upon goats (Azazel) and have many -children with them, that all may have room, they stick a spit into -the backside of the Goat, and then are anointed with the aforesaid -ointment. What the manner of their journey is, God only knows. Thus -much was made out, that if the children did at any time name the -names (Egyptian spells) of those that had carried them away, they -were again carried by force either to Blockula, or to the cross-way, -and there miserably beaten, insomuch that some of them died of it.' - -'A little girl of Elfdale confessed that, naming the name of Jesus -as she was carried away, she fell suddenly upon the ground, and got -a great hole in her side, which the Devil presently healed up again, -and away he carried her; and to this day the girl confessed she had -exceeding great pain in her side.' - -'They unanimously confessed that Blockula is situated in a delicate -large meadow, whereof you can see no end. The place or house they -met at had before it a gate painted with divers colours; through -this gate they went into a little meadow distinct from the other, -where the beasts went that they used to ride on; but the men whom -they made use of in their journey stood in the house by the gate in a -slumbering posture, sleeping against the wall (castle of Waldemar). In -a huge large room of this house, they said, there stood a very long -table, at which the witches did sit down; and that hard by this -room was another chamber where there were very lovely and delicate -beds. The first thing they must do at Blockula was, that they must -deny all, and devote themselves body and soul to the Devil, and -promise to serve him faithfully, and confirm all this with an oath -(initiation). Hereupon they cut their fingers (Odinism), and with -their blood write their name in his book (Revelations). They added -that he caused them to be baptized, too, by such priests as he had -there (Antichrist's Sacraments).' - -'And he, the Devil, bids them believe that the day of judgment will -come speedily, and therefore sets them on work to build a great house -of stone (Babel), promising that in that house he will preserve them -from God's fury, and cause them to enjoy the greatest delights and -pleasures (Moslem). But while they work exceeding hard at it, there -falls a great part of the wall down again.' - -'They said, they had seen sometimes a very great Devil like a Dragon, -with fire round about him, and bound with an iron chain (Apocalyptic), -and the Devil that converses with them tells them that if they confess -anything he will let that great Devil loose upon them, whereby all -Sweedeland shall come into great danger. - -'They added that the Devil had a church there, such another as in -the town of Mohra. When the Commissioners were coming he told the -Witches they should not fear them; for he would certainly kill them -all. And they confessed that some of them had attempted to murther -the Commissioners, but had not been able to effect it. - -'Some of the children talked much of a white Angel (Frigga as christian -tutelary), which used to forbid them what the Devil had bid them do, -and told them that those doings should not last long. What had been -done had been permitted because of the wickedness of the people. - -'Those of Elfdale confessed that the Devil used to play upon an -harp before them (Tannhauser), and afterwards to go with them that -he liked best into a chamber, when he committed venerous acts with -them (Asmodeus); and this indeed all confessed, that he had carnal -knowledge of them, and that the Devil had sons and daughters by them, -which he did marry together, and they ... brought forth toads and -serpents (Echidna). - -'After this they sat down to table, and those that the Devil esteemed -most were placed nearest to him; but the children must stand at the -door, where he himself gives them meat and drink (Sacrament). After -meals they went to dancing, and in the meanwhile swore and cursed -most dreadfully, and afterwards went to fighting one with another -(Valhalla). - -'They also confessed that the Devil gives them a beast about the -bigness and shape of a young cat (Hecate), which they call a carrier; -and that he gives them a bird as big as a raven (Odin's messenger), -but white; [172] and these two creatures they can send anywhere, and -wherever they come they take away all sorts of victuals they can get, -butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they -find, and carry it to the witch. What the bird brings they may keep -for themselves, but what the carrier brings they must reserve for the -Devil, and that is brought to Blockula, where he doth give them of it -so much as he thinks fit. They added likewise that these carriers fill -themselves so full sometimes, that they are forced to spue ('Odin's -booty') by the way, which spuing is found in several gardens, where -colworts grow, and not far from the houses of these witches. It is -of a yellow colour like gold, and is called butter of witches. - -'The Lords Commissioners were indeed very earnest, and took great pains -to persuade them to show some of their tricks, but to no purpose; -for they did all unanimously confess that since they had confessed -all, they found that all their witchcraft was gone, and that the -Devil at this time appeared to them very terrible, with claws on -his hands and feet, and with horns on his head, a long tail behind, -and showed to them a pit burning, with a hand put out; but the Devil -did thrust the person down again with an iron fork; and suggested to -the witches that if they continued in their confession, he would deal -with them in the same manner.' - -The ministers of both Elfdale and Mohra were the chief inciters of -this investigation, and both testified that they had suffered many -tortures in the night from the witches. One was taken by the throat -and so violently used that 'for some weeks he was not able to speak -or perform divine service.' - -We have in this narrative the official and clerical statement, and can -never know to what the victims really confessed. Blockula seems to be -a Swedish edition of Blocksberg, of old considered a great resort of -witches. But we may especially note the epithet by which the witches -are said to have first appealed to the Devil--Antecessor. Dr. Horneck -has not given us the Swedish term of which this is a translation, -but we may feel assured that it was not a phrase coined by the class -among whom reputed witches were found. In all probability it was a -learned phrase of the time for some supposed power which preceded -and was conquered by Christianity; and if we knew its significance it -might supply a clue to the reality with which the Commissioners were -dealing. There would seem to be strong probabilities that in Sweden -also, as elsewhere, there had been a revival of faith in the old -religion whose barbaric rites had still survived in a few holes and -corners where they were practised by night. The Antecessor was still -present to hold out promises where the Successor had broken all that -his sponsors had made when the populace accepted his baptism. This -probability is further suggested by the fact that some of these -uncanny events happened at Elfdale, a name which hints at a region of -especial sanctity under the old religion, and also by the statement -that the Devil had a church there, a sort of travesty of the village -church. About the same time we find John Fiene confessing in Scotland -that the Devil appeared to him in 'white raiment,' and it is also -testified that John heard 'the Devil preach in a kirk in the pulpit -in the night by candlelight, the candle burning blue.' [173] - -The names used by the Scotch witches are often suggestive of -pagan survivals. Thus in the trial at the Paisley Assizes, 1678, -concerning the alleged bewitching of Sir George Maxwell, Margaret -Jackson testified to giving up her soul by renouncing her baptism to -a devil named Locas (Loki?); another raised a tempest to impede the -king's voyage to Denmark by casting into the sea a cat, and crying -Hola (Hela?); and Agnes Sampson called the Devil to her in the shape -of a dog by saying, 'Elva (Elf?), come and speak to me!' - -It is necessary to pass by many of the indications contained in the -witch-trials that there had been an effort to recur to the pleasures -and powers traditionally associated with the pagan era of Europe, and -confirmed by the very denunciations of contemporary paganism with its -pomp and luxury by the priesthood. The promises held out by the 'Devil' -to Elfdale peasants and puritanised Helen Fairfax are unmistakable. But -it is necessary to remark also that the ceremonies by which, as was -clearly proved in various cases, the fortune-tellers or 'witches' -endeavoured to imitate the spells of Dr. Faustus were archæological. - -Around the cauldron, which was used in imitation of the Alchemists, -a rude Zodiac was marked, some alchemic signs being added; and -in the cauldron were placed ingredients concerning many of which -the accounts are confused. It is, however, certain that the chief -ingredients were plants which, precisely as in ancient Egypt, had -been gathered at certain phases of the moon, or seasons of the year, -or from some spot where the sun was supposed not to have shone on -it. It was clearly proved also that the plants chiefly used by the -sorceresses were rue and vervain. Vervain was sacred to the god of war -in Greece and Rome, and made the badge of ambassadors sent to make -treaties of peace. In Germany it was sacred to Thor, and he would -not strike with his lightning a house protected by it. The Druids -called it 'holy herb;' they gathered it when the dog-star rose, from -unsunned spots, and compensated the earth for the deprivation with -a sacrifice of honey. Its reputation was sufficient in Ben Jonson's -day for him to write-- - - - Bring your garlands, and with reverence place - The vervain on the altar. - - -The charm which vervain had for the mediæval peasant was that it -was believed, if it had first touched a Bel-fire, to snap iron; and, -if boiled with rue, made a liquid which, being poured on a gunflint, -made the shot as sure to take effect as any Freischütz could desire. - -Rue was supposed to have a potent effect on the eye, and to bestow -second sight. So sacred was it once in England that missionaries -sprinkled holy water from brushes made up of it, whence it was called -'herb of grace.' Milton represents Michael as purging Adam's eyes -with it. In the Tyrol it is believed to confer fine vision and used -with agrimony (flowers of Argos, the many-eyed); in Posen it is said -also to heal serpent-bites. By this route it came into the cauldron -of the wizard and witch. In Drayton's incantation it is said-- - - - Then sprinkles she the juice of rue, - With nine drops of the midnight dew - From lunary distilling. - - -This association of lunary, or moon-wort, once supposed to cure lunacy, -with rue is in harmony with the mythology of both. An old oracle, -said to have been revealed by Hecate herself, ran thus:--'From a -root of wild rue fashion and polish a statue; adorn it with household -lizards; grind myrrh, gum, and frankincense with the same reptiles, -and let the mixture stand in the air during the waning of a moon; -then address your vows in the following terms' (the formula is not -preserved). 'As many forms as I have, so many lizards let there be; -do these things exactly; you will build me an abode with branches of -laurel, and having addressed fervent prayers to the image, you will -see me in your sleep.' [174] - -Rue was thus consecrated as the very substance of Hecate, the mother -of all European witches. M. Maury supposes that it was because it was -a narcotic and caused hallucinations. Hallucinations were, no doubt, -the basis of belief in second sight. But whatever may be the cause, -rue was the plant of witchcraft; and Bishop Taylor speaks of its being -used by exorcists to try the devil, and thence deriving its appellation -'herb of grace.' More probably it was used to sprinkle holy water -because of a traditional sanctity. All narcotics were supposed to be -children of the night; and if, in addition, they were able to cause -hallucinations, they were supposed to be under more especial care of -the moon. - -After reading a large number of reports concerning the ordeals and -trials of witches, and also many of their alleged confessions, I have -arrived at the conclusion that there were certainly gatherings held -in secret places; that some of the ordinary ceremonies and prayers of -the Church were used, with names of traditional deities and Oriental -demons substituted for those of the Trinity and saints; that with -these were mingled some observances which had been preserved from -the ancient world by Gnostics, Astrologists, and Alchemists. That at -these gatherings there was sometimes direct devil-worship is probable, -but oftener the invocations were in other names, and it is for the -most part due to the legal reporters that the 'Devil' is so often -named. As to the 'confessions,' many, no doubt, admitted they had -gone to witches' Sabbaths who had been there only in feverish dreams, -as must have been the case of many young children and morbid pietists -who were executed; others confessed in hope of escape from charges -they could not answer; and others were weary of their lives. - -The writer of this well remembers, in a small Virginian village -(Falmouth), more than thirty years ago, the terrible persecutions to -which an old white woman named Nancy Calamese was subjected because -of her reputation as a witch. Rumours of lizards vomited by her poor -neighbours caused her to be dreaded by the ignorant; the negroes -were in terror of her; she hardly dared pass through the streets -for fear of being hooted by boys. One morning she waded into the -Rappahannock river and drowned herself, and many of her neighbours -regarded the suicide as her confession. Probably it was a similar -sort of confession to many that we read in the reports of witch trials. - -The retribution that followed was more ferocious than could have -visited mere attempts by the poor and ignorant to call up spirits -to their aid. Every now and then the prosecutions disclose the -well-known animus of heresy, persecution, and also the fury of -magistrates suspicious of conspiracies. In England, New England, -and France, particularly, an incipient rationalism was revealed -in the party called 'Saducees,' who tried to cast discredit on -the belief in witchcraft. This was recognised by Sir Mathew Hale -in England and Cotton Mather in New England, consequently by the -chief authorities of church and state in both countries, as an -attack on biblical infallibility, since it was said in the Bible, -'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' The leading wizards and -witches were probably also persons who had been known in connection -with the popular discontent and revolutionary feeling displayed in -so many of the vindictive conjurations which were brought to light. - -The horrors which attended the crushing out of this last revival -of paganism are such as recall the Bartholomew massacre and the -recent slaughter of Communists in Paris, so vividly that one can -hardly repress the suspicion that the same sort of mingled panic and -fanaticism were represented in them all. Dr. Réville has summed up the -fearful history of three hundred years as follows:--'In the single -year 1485, and in the district of Worms alone, eighty-five witches -were delivered to the flames. At Geneva, at Basle, at Hamburg, -at Ratisbon, at Vienna, and in a multitude of other towns, there -were executions of the same kind. At Hamburg, among other victims, -a physician was burnt alive, because he saved the life of a woman -who had been given up by the midwife. In Italy, during the year -1523, there were burnt in the diocese of Como alone more than two -hundred witches. This was after the new bull hurled at witchcraft -by Pope Adrian VI. In Spain it was still worse; there, in 1527, -two little girls, of from nine to eleven years of age, denounced a -host of witches, whom they pretended to detect by a mark in their -left eye. In England and Scotland political influence was brought to -bear upon sorcery; Mary Stuart was animated by a lively zeal against -witches. In France the Parliament of Paris happily removed business -of this kind from the ecclesiastical tribunals; and under Louis XI., -Charles VIII., and Louis XII. there were but few condemnations for -the practice of magic; but from the time of Francis I., and especially -from Henry II., the scourge reappeared. Jean Bodin, a man of sterling -worth in other respects, but stark mad upon the question of witchcraft, -communicated his mania to all classes of the nation. His contemporary -and disciple, Boguet, showed how that France swarmed with witches and -wizards. 'They increase and multiply on the land,' said he, 'even as do -the caterpillars in our gardens. Would that they were all got together -in a heap, so that a single fire might burn them all at once.' Savoy, -Flanders, the Jura Mountains, Lorraine, Béarn, Provence, and in almost -all parts of France, the frightful hecatombs were seen ablaze. In the -seventeenth century the witch-fever somewhat abated, though it burst -out here and there, centralising itself chiefly in the convents of -hysterical nuns. The terrible histories of the priests Gaufridy and -Urban Grandier are well known. In Germany, and particularly in its -southern parts, witch-burning was still more frequent. In one small -principality at least 242 persons were burnt between 1646 and 1651; -and, horribile dictu, in the official records of these executions, -we find that among those who suffered were children from one to six -years of age! In 1657 the witch-judge, Nicholas Remy, boasted of having -burnt 900 persons in fifteen years. It would even seem that it is to -the proceedings against sorcery that Germany owes the introduction -of torture as an ordinary mode of getting at the truth. Mr. Roskoff -reproduces a catalogue of the executions of witches and wizards in -the episcopal town of Würzburg, in Bavaria, up to the year 1629. In -1659 the number of those put to death for witchcraft amounted, in -this diocese, to 900. In the neighbouring bishopric of Bamberg at -least 600 were burnt. He enumerates thirty-one executions in all, -not counting some regarded by the compilers of the catalogue as not -important enough to mention. The number of victims at each execution -varies from two to seven. Many are distinguished by such surnames -as 'The Big Hunchback, The Sweetheart, The Bridge-keeper, The Old -Pork-woman,' &c. Among them appear people of all sorts and conditions, -actors, workmen, jugglers, town and village maidens, rich burghers, -nobles, students, magistrates even, and a fair number of priests. Many -are simply entered as 'a foreigner.' Here and there is added to the -name of the condemned person his age and a short notice. Among the -victims, for instance, of the twentieth execution figures 'Little -Barbara, the prettiest girl in Würzburg;' 'a student who could speak -all manner of languages, who was an excellent musician, vocaliter et -instrumentaliter;' 'the master of the hospice, a very learned man.' We -find, too, in this, gloomy account the cruel record of children burnt -for witchcraft; here a little girl of about nine or ten years of age, -with her baby sister, younger than herself (their mother was burnt a -little while afterwards); here boys of ten or eleven; again, a young -girl of fifteen; two children from the poorhouse; the little boy of -a councillor. The pen falls from one's hand in recapitulating such -monstrosities. Cannot those who would endow Catholicity with the -dogma of papal infallibility hearken, before giving their vote, -to the cries that rise before God, and which history re-echoes, -of those poor innocent ones whom pontifical bulls threw into -flames? The seventeenth century saw the rapid diminution of trials -and tortures. In one of his good moments, Louis XIV. mitigated greatly -the severity of this special legislation. For this he had to undergo -the remonstrances of the Parliament of Rouen, which believed society -would be ruined if those who dealt in sorcery were merely condemned to -perpetual confinement. The truth is, that belief in witchcraft was so -wide-spread, that from time to time even throughout the seventeenth -century there were isolated executions. One of the latest and most -notorious was that of Renata Saenger, superior of the convent of -Unterzell, near Würzburg (1748). At Landshut, in Bavaria, in 1756, -a young girl of thirteen years was convicted of impure intercourse -with the Devil, and put to death. Seville in 1781, and Glaris in 1783, -saw the last two known victims to this fatal superstition.' [175] - -The Reformation swept away in Northern countries, for the upper -classes, as many Christian saints and angels as priestcraft had -previously turned to enemies for the lower. The poor and ignorant -simply tried to evoke the same ideal spirit-guardians under the -pagan forms legendarily associated with a golden age. Witchcraft -was a pathetic appeal against a cruel present to a fair, however -visionary, past. But Protestantism has brought on famine of another -kind--famine of the heart. The saints of the Church have followed those -of paganism; and although one result of the process has been a vast -increase in enterprise, science, and wealth, man cannot live by these -alone. Modern spiritualism, which so many treat with a superciliousness -little creditable to a scientific age, is a cry of starved sentiment -and affections left hopeless under faded heavens, as full of pathetic -meaning as that which was wrung from serfs enticed into temples only -to find them dens of thieves. Desolate hearts take up the burthen -of desolate homes, and appeal to invisible powers for guidance; -and for attestation of hopes which science has blighted, ere poetry, -art, and philanthropy have changed these ashes into beauty. Because -these so-called spirits, evoked by mediums out of morbid nerves, -are really longed-for ideals, the darker features of witchcraft are -not called about them. That fearful movement was a wronged Medea -whose sorrows had made Hecate--to remember the dreadful phrase of -Euripides--'the chosen assistant dwelling in the inmost recesses of -her house.' Modern spiritualism is Rachel weeping for her children, -not to be comforted if they are not. But the madness of the one is -to be understood by the plaintive appeal of the other. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES. - - Mephisto and Mephitis--The Raven Book--Papal sorcery--Magic - seals--Mephistopheles as dog--George Sabellicus alias Faustus--The - Faust myth--Marlowe's Faust--Good and evil angels--El Magico - Prodigioso--Cyprian and Justina--Klinger's Faust--Satan's - sermon--Goethe's Mephistopheles--His German characters--Moral - scepticism--Devil's gifts--Helena--Redemption through Art--Defeat - of Mephistopheles. - - -The name Mephistopheles has in it, I think, the priest's shudder at -the fumes of the laboratory. Duntzer [176] finds that the original -form of the word was 'Mephostophiles,' and conjectures that it was a -bungling effort to put together three Greek words, to mean 'not loving -the light.' In this he has the support of Bayard Taylor, who also -thinks that it was so understood by Goethe. The transformation of it -was probably amid the dreaded gases with which the primitive chemist -surrounded himself. He who began by 'not loving the light' became the -familiar of men seeking light, and lover of their mephitic gases. The -ancient Romans had a mysterious divinity called Mephitis, whose grove -and temple were in the Esquiliæ, near a place it was thought fatal -to enter. She is thought to have been invoked against the mephitic -exhalations of the earth in the grove of Albunea. Sulphur springs also -were of old regarded as ebullitions from hell, and both Schwarz and -Roger Bacon particularly dealt in that kind of smell. Considering how -largely Asmodeus, as 'fine gentleman,' entered into the composition -of Mephistopheles, and how he flew from Nineveh to Egypt (Tobit) -to avoid a bad smell, it seems the irony of mythology that he should -turn up in Europe as a mephitic spirit. - -Mephistopheles is the embodiment of all that has been said in preceding -chapters of the ascetic's horror of nature and the pride of life, -and of the mediæval priest's curse on all learning he could not -monopolise. The Faust myth is merely his shadow cast on the earth, -the tracery of his terrible power as the Church would have the -people dread it. The early Raven Book at Dresden has the title:--' -† † † D. J. Fausti † † † Dreifacher Höllen-Zwung und Magische -(Geister-Commando) nebst den schwarzen Raaben. Romæ ad Arcanum -Pontificatus unter Papst Alexander VI. gedruckt. Anno (Christi) -MDI.' In proof of which claim there is a Preface purporting to be -a proclamation signed by the said Pope and Cardinal Piccolomini -concerning the secrets which the celebrated Dr. Faust had scattered -throughout Germany, commanding ut ad Arcanum Pontificatus mandentur et -sicut pupilla oculi in archivio Nostro serventur et custodiantur, atque -extra Valvas Vaticanas non imprimantur neque inde transportentur. Si -vero quiscunque temere contra agere ausus fuerit, Divinam maledictionem -latæ sententiæ ipso facto servatis Nobis Solis reservandis se -incursurum sciat. Ita mandamus et constituemus Virtute Apostolicæ -Ecclesiæ Jesu Christi sub poena Excommunicationis ut supra. Anno -secundo Vicariatus Nostri. Romæ Verbi incarnati Anno M.D.I. - -This is an impudent forgery, but it is an invention which, more than -anything actually issued from Rome, indicates the popular understanding -that the contention of the Church was not against the validity of -magic arts, but against their exercise by persons not authorised -by itself. It was, indeed, a tradition not combated by the priests, -that various ecclesiastics had possessed such powers, even Popes, as -John XXII., Gregory VII., and Clement V. The first Sylvester was said -to have a dragon at his command; John XXII. denounced his physicians -and courtiers for necromancy; and the whispers connecting the Vatican -with sorcery lasted long enough to attribute to the late Pius IX. a -power of the evil eye. Such awful potencies the Church wished to be -ascribed to itself alone. Faust is a legend invented to impress on -the popular mind the fate of all who sought knowledge in unauthorised -ways and for non-ecclesiastical ends. - -In the Raven Book just mentioned, there are provisions for calling up -spirits which, in their blending of christian with pagan formulas, -oddly resemble the solemn proceedings sometimes affected by our -spiritual mediums. The magician (Magister) had best be alone, but if -others are present, their number must be odd; he should deliberate -beforehand what business he wishes to transact with the spirits; he -must observe God's commandment; trust the Almighty's help; continue -his conjuration, though the spirits do not appear quickly, with -unwavering faith; mark a circle on parchment with a dove's blood; -within this circle write in Latin the names of the four quarters -of heaven; write around it the Hebrew letters of God's name, and -beneath it write Sadan; and standing in this circle he must repeat -the ninety-first Psalm. In addition there are seals in red and black, -various Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words, chiefly such as contain the -letters Q, W, X, Y, Z,--e.g., Yschyros, Theos, Zebaoth, Adonay. The -specimen (Fig. 22), which I copied from the book in Dresden, is there -called 'Sigillum Telschunhab.' The 'Black Raven' is pictured in the -book, and explained as the form in which the angel Raphael taught -Tobias to summon spirits. It is said also that the Magician must in -certain cases write with blood of a fish (Tobit again) or bat on -'maiden-parchment,'--this being explained as the skin of a goat, -but unpleasantly suggestive of a different origin. - -In this book, poorly printed, and apparently on a private press, -Mephistopheles is mentioned as one of the chief Princes of Hell. He -is described as a youth, adept in all arts and services, who brings -spirit-servants or familiars, and brings treasures from earth and -sea with speed. In the Frankfort Faust Book (1587), Mephistopheles -says, 'I am a spirit, and a flying spirit, potently ruling under -the heavens.' In the oldest legends he appears as a dog, that, as we -have seen, being the normal form of tutelary divinities, the symbol -of the Scribe in Egypt, guard of Hades, and psychopomp of various -mythologies. A dog appears following the family of Tobias. Manlius -reports Melancthon as saying, 'He (Faust) had a dog with him, which -was the Devil.' Johann Gast ('Sermones Conviviales') says he was -present at a dinner at Basle given by Faust, and adds: 'He had also -a dog and a horse with him, both of which, I believe, were devils, -for they were able to do everything. Some persons told me that the -dog frequently took the shape of a servant, and brought him food.' In -the old legends this dog is named Praestigiar. [177] - -As for the man Faust, he seems to have been personally the very -figure which the Church required, and had the friar, in whose guise -Mephistopheles appears, been his actual familiar, he could hardly -have done more to bring learning into disgrace. Born at the latter -part of the fifteenth century at Knittlingen, Wurtemberg, of poor -parents, the bequest of an uncle enabled him to study medicine at -Cracow University, and it seems plain that he devoted his learning and -abilities to the work of deluding the public. That he made money by his -'mediumship,' one can only infer from the activity with which he went -about Germany and advertised his 'powers.' It was at a time when high -prices were paid for charms, philtres, mandrake mannikins; and the -witchcraft excitement was not yet advanced enough to render dealing -in such things perilous. It seems that the Catholic clergy made haste -to use this impostor to point their moral against learning, and to -identify him as first-fruit of the Reformation; while the Reformers, -with equal zeal, hurled him back upon the papists as outcome of their -idolatries. Melancthon calls him 'an abominable beast, a sewer of -many devils.' The first mention of him is by Trithemius in a letter -of August 20, 1507, who speaks of him as 'a pretender to magic' -('Magister Georgius Sabellicus, Faustus Junior'), whom he met at -Gelnhaussen; and in another letter of the same year as at Kreuznach, -Conrad Mudt, friend of Luther and Melancthon, mentions (Oct. 3, 1513) -the visit to Erfurth of Georgius Faustus Hemitheus Hedebeyensis, 'a -braggart and a fool who affects magic,' whom he had 'heard talking in -a tavern,' and who had 'raised theologians against him.' In Vogel's -Annals of Leipzig (1714), kept in Auerbach's Cellar, is recorded -under date 1525 Dr. Johann Faust's visit to the Cellar. He appears -therefore to have already had aliases. The first clear account of him -is in the 'Index Sanitatis' of Dr. Philip Begardi (1539), who says: -'Since several years he has gone through all regions, provinces, and -kingdoms, made his name known to everybody, and is highly renowned -for his great skill, not alone in medicine, but also in chiromancy, -necromancy, physiognomy, visions in crystal, and the like other -arts. And also not only renowned, but written down and known as -an experienced master. Himself admitted, nor denied that it was -so, and that his name was Faustus, and called himself philosophum -philosophorum. But how many have complained to me that they were -deceived by him--verily a great number! But what matter?--hin ist hin.' - -These latter words may mean that Faust had just died. He must have -died about that time, and with little notice. The rapidity with which -a mythology began to grow around him is worthy of more attention than -the subject has received. In 1543 the protestant theologian Johann -Gast has ('Sermones Convivialium') stories of his diabolical dog and -horse, and of the Devil's taking him off, when his body turns itself -five times face downward. In 1587 Philip Camerarius speaks of him as -'a well-known magician who lived in the time of our fathers.' April -18, 1587, two students of the University of Tübingen were imprisoned -for writing a Comedy of Dr. Faustus: though it was not permitted to -make light of the story, it was thought a very proper one to utilise -for pious purposes, and in the autumn of the same year (1587) the -original form of the legend was published by Spiess in Frankfort. It -describes Faust as summoning the Devil at night, in a forest near -Wittenberg. The evil spirit visits him on three occasions in his -study, where on the third he gives his name as 'Mephostophiles,' -and the compact to serve him for twenty-four years for his soul is -signed. When Faust pierces his hand, the blood flows into the form -of the words O homo fuge! Mephistopheles first serves him as a monk, -and brings him fine garments, wine, and food. Many of the luxuries are -brought from the mansions of prelates, which shows the protestant bias -of the book; which is also shown in the objection the Devil makes to -Faust's marrying, because marriage is pleasing to God. Mephistopheles -changes himself to a winged horse, on which Faust is borne through -many countries, arriving at last at Rome. Faust passes three days, -invisible, in the Vatican, which supplies the author with another -opportunity to display papal luxury, as well as the impotence of -the Pope and his cardinals to exorcise the evil powers which take -their food and goblets when they are about to feast. On his further -aerial voyages Faust gets a glimpse of the garden of Eden; lives in -state in the Sultan's palace in the form of Mohammed; and at length -becomes a favourite in the Court of Charles V. at Innsbruck. Here he -evokes Alexander the Great and his wife. In roaming about Germany, -Faust diverts himself by swallowing a load of hay and horses, cutting -off heads and replacing them, making flowers bloom at Christmas, -drawing wine from a table, and calling Helen of Troy to appear to -some students. Helen becomes his mistress; by her he has a son, -Justus Faustus; but these disappear simultaneously with the dreadful -end of Dr. Faustus, who after a midnight storm is found only in the -fragments with which his room is strewn. - -Several of these legends are modifications of those current before -Faust's time. The book had such an immense success that new volumes -and versions on the same subject appeared not only in Germany but -in other parts of Europe,--a rhymed version in England, 1588; a -translation from the German in France, 1589; a Dutch translation, -1592; Christopher Marlowe's drama in 1604. - -In Marlowe's 'Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,' the mass of -legends of occult arts that had crystallised around a man thoroughly -representative of them was treated with the dignity due to a subject -amid whose moral and historic grandeur Faust is no longer the petty -personality he really was. He is precisely the character which the -Church had been creating for a thousand years, only suddenly changed -from other-worldly to worldly desires and aims. What he seeks is what -all the energy of civilisation seeks. - - - EVIL ANGEL. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art - Wherein all Nature's treasure is contained: - Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, - Lord and commander of these elements. - - FAUST. How am I glutted with conceit of this! - Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, - Resolve me of all ambiguities, - Perform what desperate enterprise I will? - I'll have them fly to India for gold, - Ransack the ocean for orient pearl, - And search all corners of the new-found world - For pleasant fruits and princely delicates; - I'll have them read me strange philosophy, - And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; - I'll have them wall all Germany with brass, - And make swift Rhine circle fair Wertenberg; - I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, - Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad. - - -For this he is willing to pay his soul, which Theology has so long -declared to be the price of mastering the world. - - - This word damnation terrifies not him, - For he confounds hell in Elysium: - His ghost be with the old philosophers! - - -The 'Good Angel' warns him: - - - O Faustus, lay that damned book aside, - And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul, - And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head! - Read, read the Scriptures:--that is blasphemy. - - -So, dying away amid the thunders of the Reformation, were heard the -echoes of the early christian voices which exulted in the eternal -tortures of the Greek poets and philosophers: the anathemas on Roger -Bacon, Socinus, Galileo; the outcries with which every great invention -has been met. We need only retouch the above extracts here and there -to make Faust's aspirations those of a saint. Let the gold be sought -in New Jerusalem, the pearl in its gates, the fruits in paradise, -the philosophy that of Athanasius, and no amount of selfish hunger -and thirst for them would grieve any 'Good Angel' he had ever heard of. - -The 'Good Angel' has not yet gained his wings who will tell him that -all he seeks is included in the task of humanity, but warn him that -the method by which he would gain it is just that by which he has -been instructed to seek gold and jasper of the New Jerusalem,--not -by fulfilling the conditions of them, but as the object of some -favouritism. Every human being who ever sought to obtain benefit -by prayers or praises that might win the good graces of a supposed -bestower of benefits, instead of by working for them, is but the Faust -of his side--be it supernal or infernal. Hocus-pocus and invocation, -blood-compacts and sacraments,--they are all the same in origin; -they are all mean attempts to obtain advantages beyond other people -without serving up to them or deserving them. To Beelzebub Faust will -'build an altar and a church;' but he had probably never entered a -church or knelt before an altar with any less selfishness. - -A strong Nemesis follows Self to see that its bounds are not overpassed -without retribution. Its satisfactions must be weighed in the balance -with its renunciations. And the inflexible law applies to intellect and -self-culture as much as to any other power of man. Mephistopheles is -'the kernel of the brute;' he is the intellect with mere canine hunger -for knowledge because of the power it brings. Or, falling on another -part of human nature, it is pride making itself abject for ostentation; -or it is passion selling love for lust. Re-enter Mephistopheles with -Devils, who give crowns and rich apparel to Faustus, dance, and then -depart. To the man who has received his intellectual and moral liberty -only to so spend it, Lucifer may well say, in Marlowe's words-- - - - Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just: - There's none but I have interest in the same. - - -Perhaps he might even better have suggested to Faust that his soul -was not of sufficient significance to warrant much anxiety. - -Something was gained when it was brought before the people in popular -dramas of Faust how little the Devil cared for the cross which had so -long been regarded as the all-sufficient weapon against him. [178] -Faust and Mephistopheles flourish in the Vatican despite all the -crosses raised to exorcise them. The confession of the cross which -once meant martyrdom of the confessor had now come to mean martyrdom -of the denier. Protestantism put its faith in Theology, Creeds, and -Orthodoxy. But Calderon de la Barca blended the legend of Faust with -the legendary temptation of St. Cyprian, and in 'El Magico Prodigioso' -we have, in impressive contrast, the powerlessness of the evil powers -over the heart of a pure woman, and its easy entrance into a mind fully -furnished with the soundest sentiments of theology. St. Cyprian had -been a worshipper of pagan deities [179] before his conversion, and -even after this he had once saved himself while other christians were -suffering martyrdom. It is possible that out of this may have grown the -legend of his having called his earlier deities--theoretically changed -to devils--to his aid; a trace of the legend being that magical 'Book -of Cyprianus' mentioned in another chapter. In his tract 'De Gratia -Dei' Cyprian says concerning his spiritual condition before conversion, -'I lay in darkness, and floating on the world's boisterous sea, -with no resting-place for my feet, ignorant of my proper life, and -estranged from truth and light.' Here is a metaphorical 'vasty deep' -from which the centuries could hardly fail to conjure up spirits, -one of them being the devil of Calderon's drama, who from a wrecked -ship walks Christ-like over the boisterous sea to find Cyprian on -the sea-shore. The drama opens with a scene which recalls the most -perilous of St. Anthony's temptations. According to Athanasius, the -Devil having utterly failed to conquer Anthony's virtue by charming -images, came to him in his proper black and ugly shape, and, candidly -confessing that he was the Devil, said he had been vanquished by -the saint's extraordinary sanctity. Anthony prevailed against the -spirit of pride thus awakened; but Calderon's Cyprian, though he -does not similarly recognise the Devil, becomes complacent at the -dialectical victory which the tempter concedes him. Cyprian having -argued the existence and supremacy of God, the Devil says, 'How can -I impugn so clear a consequence?' 'Do you regret my victory?' 'Who -but regrets a check in rivalry of wit?' He leaves, and Cyprian says, -'I never met a more learned person.' The Devil is equally satisfied, -knowing, no doubt, that gods worked out by the wits alone remain in -their abode of abstraction and do not interfere with the world of -sense. Calderon is artful enough to throw the trial of Cyprian back -into his pagan period, but the mirror is no less true in reflecting -for those who had eyes to see in it the weakness of theology. - -'Enter the Devil as a fine gentleman,' is the first sign of the -temptation in Calderon's drama--it is Asmodeus [180] again, and the -'pride of life' he first brings is the conceit of a clever theological -victory. So sufficient is the doorway so made for all other pride -to enter, that next time the devil needs no disguise, but has only -to offer him a painless victory over nature and the world, including -Justina, the object of his passion. - - - Wouldst thou that I work - A charm over this waste and savage wood, - This Babylon of crags and aged trees, - Filling its coverts with a horror - Thrilling and strange?... - I offer thee the fruit - Of years of toil in recompense; whate'er - Thy wildest dream presented to thy thought - As object of desire, shall be thine. [181] - - -Justina knows less about the philosophical god of Cyprian, and more -of the might of a chaste heart. To the Devil she says-- - - - Thought is not in my power, but action is: - I will not move my foot to follow thee. - - -The Devil is compelled to say at last-- - - - Woman, thou hast subdued me, - Only by not owning thyself subdued. - - -He is only able to bring a counterfeit of Justina to her lover. - -Like Goethe's Mephistopheles, Cyprian's devil is unable to perform -his exact engagements, and consequently does not win in the game. He -enables Cyprian to move mountains and conquer beasts, until he boasts -that he can excel his infernal teacher, but the Devil cannot bring -Justina. She has told Cyprian that she will love him in death. Cyprian -and she together abjure their paganism at Antioch, and meet in a -cell just before their martyrdom. Over their bodies lying dead on -the scaffold the Devil appears as a winged serpent, and says he is -compelled to announce that they have both ascended to heaven. He -descends into the earth. - -What the story of Faust and Mephistopheles had become in the popular -mind of Germany, when Goethe was raising it to be an immortal type of -the conditions under which genius and art can alone fulfil their task, -is well shown in the sensational tragedy written by his contemporary, -the playwright Klinger. The following extract from Klinger's 'Faust' -is not without a certain impressiveness. - -'Night covered the earth with its raven wing. Faust stood before -the awful spectacle of the body of his son suspended upon the -gallows. Madness parched his brain, and he exclaimed in the wild -tones of dispair: - -'Satan, let me but bury this unfortunate being, and then you may take -this life of mine, and I will descend into your infernal abode, where -I shall no more behold men in the flesh. I have learned to know them, -and I am disgusted with them, with their destiny, with the world, -and with life. My good action has drawn down unutterable woe upon my -head; I hope that my evil ones may have been productive of good. Thus -should it be in the mad confusion of earth. Take me hence; I wish -to become an inhabitant of thy dreary abode; I am tired of light, -compared with which the darkness in the infernal regions must be the -brightness of mid-day.' - -But Satan replied: 'Hold! not so fast--Faust; once I told thee that -thou alone shouldst be the arbiter of thy life, that thou alone -shouldst have power to break the hour-glass of thy existence; thou -hast done so, and the hour of my vengeance has come, the hour for -which I have sighed so long. Here now do I tear from thee thy mighty -wizard-wand, and chain thee within the narrow bounds which I draw -around thee. Here shalt thou stand and listen to me, and tremble; -I will draw forth the terrors of the dark past, and kill thee with -slow despair. - -'Thus will I exult over thee, and rejoice in my victory. Fool! thou -hast said that thou hast learned to know man! Where? How and when? Hast -thou ever considered his nature? Hast thou ever examined it, and -separated from it its foreign elements? Hast thou distinguished -between that which is offspring of the pure impulses of his heart, -and that which flows from an imagination corrupted by art? Hast thou -compared the wants and the vices of his nature with those which he -owes to society and prevailing corruption? Hast thou observed him in -his natural state, where each of his undisguised expressions mirrors -forth his inmost soul? No--thou hast looked upon the mask that society -wears, and hast mistaken it for the true lineaments of man; thou hast -only become acquainted with men who have consecrated their condition, -wealth, power, and talents to the service of corruption; who have -sacrificed their pure nature to your Idol--Illusion. Thou didst at -one time presume to show me the moral worth of man! and how didst -thou set about it! By leading me upon the broad highways of vice, -by bringing me to the courts of the mighty wholesale butchers of men, -to that of the coward tyrant of France, of the Usurper in England! Why -did we pass by the mansions of the good and the just? Was it for me, -Satan, to whom thou hast chosen to become a mentor, to point them out -to thee? No; thou wert led to the places thou didst haunt by the fame -of princes, by thy pride, by thy longing after dissipation. And what -hast thou seen there? The soul-seared tyrants of mankind, with their -satellites, wicked women and mercenary priests, who make religion a -tool by which to gain the object of their base passions. - -'Hast thou ever deigned to cast a glance at the oppressed, who, sighing -under his burden, consoles himself with the hope of an hereafter? Hast -thou ever sought for the dwelling of the virtuous friend of humanity, -for that of the noble sage, for that of the active and upright father -of a family? - -'But how would that have been possible? How couldst thou, the most -corrupt of thy race, have discovered the pure one, since thou hadst -not even the capacity to suspect his existence? - -'Proudly didst thou pass by the cottages of the pure and humble, -who live unacquainted with even the names of your artificial vices, -who earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, and who rejoice at -their last hour that they are permitted to exchange the mortal for the -immortal. It is true, hadst thou entered their abode, thou mightst -not have found thy foolish ideal of an heroic, extravagant virtue, -which is only the fanciful creation of your vices and your pride; -but thou wouldst have seen the man of a retiring modesty and noble -resignation, who in his obscurity excels in virtue and true grandeur -of soul your boasted heroes of field and cabinet. Thou sayest that -thou knowest man! Dost thou know thyself? Nay, deeper yet will I -enter into the secret places of thy heart, and fan with fierce blast -the flames which thou hast kindled there for thee. - -'Had I a thousand human tongues, and as many years to speak to thee, -they would be all insufficient to develop the consequences of thy -deeds and thy recklessness. The germ of wretchedness which thou -hast sown will continue its growth through centuries yet to come; -and future generations will curse thee as the author of their misery. - -'Behold, then, daring and reckless man, the importance of actions -that appear circumscribed to your mole vision! Who of you can say, -Time will obliterate the trace of my existence! Thou who knowest not -what beginning, what middle, and end are, hast dared to seize with -a bold hand the chain of fate, and hast attempted to gnaw its links, -notwithstanding that they were forged for eternity! - -'But now will I withdraw the veil from before thy eyes, and then--cast -the spectre despair into thy soul.' - -'Faust pressed his hands upon his face; the worm that never dieth -gnawed already on his heart.' - -The essence and sum of every devil are in the Mephistopheles of -Goethe. He is culture. - - - Culture, which smooth the whole world licks, - Also unto the Devil sticks. - - -He represents the intelligence which has learned the difference -between ideas and words, knows that two and two make four, and also how -convenient may be the dexterity that can neatly write them out five. - - - Of Metaphysics learn the use and beauty! - See that you most profoundly gain - What does not suit the human brain! - A splendid word to serve, you'll find - For what goes in--or won't go in--your mind. - - On words let your attention centre! - Then through the safest gate you'll enter - The temple halls of certainty. [182] - - -He knows, too, that the existing moment alone is of any advantage; -that theory is grey and life ever green; that he only gathers real -fruit who confides in himself. He is thus the perfectly evolved -intellect of man, fully in possession of all its implements, these -polished till they shine in all grace, subtlety, adequacy. Nature -shows no symbol of such power more complete than the gemmed serpent -with its exquisite adaptations,--freed from cumbersome prosaic feet, -equal to the winged by its flexible spine, every tooth artistic. - -From an ancient prison was this Ariel liberated by his Prospero, -whose wand was the Reformation, a spirit finely touched to fine -issues. But his wings cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. The ancient -heaven has faded before the clearer eye, but the starry ideals have -come nearer. The old hells have burnt out, but the animalism of man -couches all the more freely on his path, having broken every chain of -fear. Man still walks between the good and evil, on the hair-drawn -bridge of his moral nature. His faculties seem adapted with equal -precision to either side of his life, upper or under,--to Wisdom -or Cunning, Self-respect or Self-conceit, Prudence or Selfishness, -Lust or Love. - -Such is the seeming situation, but is it the reality? Goethe's 'Faust' -is the one clear answer which this question has received. - -In one sense Mephistopheles may be called a German devil. The -Christian soul of Germany was from the first a changeling. The ancient -Nature-worship of that race might have had its normal development in -the sciences, and alone with this intellectual evolution there must -have been formed a related religion able to preserve social order -through the honour of man. But the native soul of Germany was cut -out by the sword and replaced with a mongrel Hebrew-Latin soul. The -metaphorical terrors of tropical countries,--the deadly worms, the -burning and suffocating blasts and stenches, with which the mind of -those dwelling near them could familiarise itself when met with in -their scriptures, acquired exaggerated horrors when left to be pictured -by the terrorised imagination of races ignorant of their origin. It -is a long distance from Potsdam and Hyde Park to Zahara. Christianity -therefore blighted nature in the north by apparitions more fearful -than the southern world ever knew, and long after the pious there -could sing and dance, puritanical glooms hung over the Christians -of higher latitudes. When the progress of German culture began the -work of dissipating these idle terrors, the severity of the reaction -was proportioned to the intensity of the delusions. The long-famished -faculties rushed almost madly into their beautiful world, but without -the old reverence which had once knelt before its phenomena. That may -remain with a few, but the cynicism of the noisiest will be reflected -even upon the faces of the best. Goethe first had his attention drawn -to Spinoza by a portrait of him on a tract, in which his really noble -countenance was represented with a diabolical aspect. The orthodox had -made it, but they could only have done so by the careers of Faust, -Paracelsus, and their tribe. These too helped to conventionalise -Voltaire into a Mephistopheles. [183] - -Goethe was probably the first European man to carry out this scepticism -to its full results. He was the first who recognised that the moral -edifice based upon monastic theories must follow them; and he had in -his own life already questioned the right of the so-called morality to -its supreme if not tyrannous authority over man. Hereditary conscience, -passing through this fierce crucible, lay levigable before Goethe, to -be swept away into dust-hole or moulded into the image of reason. There -remained around the animal nature of a free man only a thread which -seemed as fine as that which held the monster Fenris. It was made -only of the sentiment of love and that of honour. But as Fenris -found the soft invisible thread stronger than chains, Faust proved -the tremendous sanctions that surround the finer instincts of man. - -Emancipated from grey theory, Faust rushes hungrily at the golden -fruit of life. The starved passions will have their satisfaction, -at whatever cost to poor Gretchen. The fruit turns to ashes on -his lips. The pleasure is not that of the thinking man, but of the -accomplished poodle he has taken for his guide. To no moment in that -intrigue can the suffrage of his whole nature say, 'Stay, thou art -fair!' That is the pact--it is the distinctive keynote of Goethe's -'Faust.' - - - Canst thou by falsehood or by flattery - Make me one moment with myself at peace, - Cheat me into tranquillity?--come then - And welcome life's last day. - Make me to the passing moment plead. - Fly not, O stay, thou art so fair! - Then will I gladly perish. - - -The pomp and power of the court, luxury and wealth, equally fail -to make the scholar at peace with himself. They are symbolised in -the paper money by which Mephistopheles replenished the imperial -exchequer. The only allusion to the printing-press, whose inventor -Fust had been somewhat associated with Faust, is to show its power -turned to the work of distributing irredeemable promises. - -At length one demand made by Faust makes Mephistopheles tremble. As a -mere court amusement he would have him raise Helen of Troy. Reluctant -that Faust should look upon the type of man's harmonious development, -yet bound to obey, Mephistopheles sends him to the Mothers,--the -healthy primal instincts and ideals of man which expressed themselves -in the fair forms of art. Corrupted by superstition of their own -worshippers, cursed by christianity, they 'have a Hades of their own,' -as Mephistopheles says, and he is unwilling to interfere with them. The -image appears, and the sense of Beauty is awakened in Faust. But he -is still a christian as to his method: his idea is that heaven must -be taken by storm, by chance, wish, prayer, any means except patient -fulfilment of the conditions by which it may be reached. Helen is -flower of the history and culture of Greece; and so lightly Faust -would pluck and wear it! - -Helen having vanished as he tried to clasp her, Faust has learned -his second lesson. When he next meets Helen it is not to seek -intellectual beauty as, in Gretchen's case, he had sought the sensuous -and sensual. He has fallen under a charm higher than that of either -Church or Mephistopheles; the divorce of ages between flesh and spirit, -the master-crime of superstition, from which all devils sprang, was -over for him from the moment that he sees the soul embodied and body -ensouled in the art-ideal of Greece. - -The redemption of Faust through Art is the gospel of the nineteenth -century. This is her vesture which Helen leaves him when she vanishes, -and which bears him as a cloud to the land he is to make beautiful. The -purest Art--Greek Art--is an expression of Humanity: it can as little -be turned to satisfy a self-culture unhumanised as to consist with a -superstition which insults nature. When Faust can meet with Helen, -and part without any more clutching, he is not hurled back to his -Gothic study and mocking devil any more: he is borne away until he -reaches the land where his thought and work are needed. Blindness -falls on him--or what Theology deems such: for it is metaphorical--it -means that he has descended from clouds to the world, and the actual -earth has eclipsed a possible immortality. - - - The sphere of Earth is known enough to me; - The view beyond is barred immortality: - A fool who there his blinking eyes directeth, - And o'er his clouds of peers a place expecteth! - Firm let him stand and look around him well! - This World means something to the capable; - Why needs he through Eternity to wend? - - -The eye for a fictitious world lost, leaves the vision for reality -clearer. In every hard chaotic object Faust can now detect a slumbering -beauty. The swamps and pools of the unrestrained sea, the oppressed -people, the barrenness and the flood, they are all paths to Helen--a -nobler Helen than Greece knew. When he has changed one scene of -Chaos into Order, and sees a free people tilling the happy earth, -then, indeed, he has realised the travail of his manhood, and -is satisfied. To a moment which Mephistopheles never brought him, -he cries 'Stay, thou art fair!' - -Mephistopheles now, as becomes a creation of the Theology of obtaining -what is not earned, calls up infernal troops to seize Faust's soul, -but the angels pelt them with roses. The roses sting them worse than -flames. The roses which Faust has evoked from briars are his defence: -they are symbols of man completing his nature by a self-culture -which finds its satisfaction in making some outward desert rejoice -and blossom like the rose. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -THE WILD HUNTSMAN. - - The Wild Hunt--Euphemisms--Schimmelreiter--Odinwald--Pied - Piper--Lyeshy--Waldemar's Hunt--Palne Hunter--King Abel's Hunt - --Lords of Glorup--Le Grand Veneur--Robert le Diable--Arthur-- - Hugo--Herne--Tregeagle--Der Freischütz--Elijah's chariot--Mahan - Bali--Déhak--Nimrod--Nimrod's defiance of Jehovah--His Tower-- - Robber Knights--The Devil in Leipzig--Olaf hunting pagans-- - Hunting-horns--Raven--Boar--Hounds--Horse--Dapplegrimm--Sleipnir - --Horseflesh--The mare Chetiya--Stags--St. Hubert--The White Lady - --Myths of Mother Rose--Wodan hunting St. Walpurga--Friar Eckhardt. - - -The most important remnant of the Odin myth is the universal legend of -the Wild Huntsman. The following variants are given by Wuttke. [184] -In Central and South Germany the Wild Hunt is commonly called -Wütenden Heere, i.e., Wodan's army or chase--called in the Middle -Ages, Wuotanges Heer. The hunter, generally supposed to be abroad -during the twelve nights after Christmas, is variously called Wand, -Waul, Wodejäger, Helljäger, Nightjäger, Hackelberg, Hackelberend -(man in armour), Fro Gode, Banditterich, Jenner. The most common -belief is that he is the spectre of a wicked lord or king who -sacrilegiously enjoyed the chase on Sundays and other holy days, -and who is condemned to expiate his sin by hunting till the day of -doom. He wears a broad-brimmed hat; is followed by dogs and other -animals, fiery, and often three-legged; and in his spectral train -are the souls of unbaptized children, huntsmen who have trodden down -grain, witches, and others--these being mounted on horses, goats, -and cocks, and sometimes headless, or with their entrails dragging -behind them. They rush with a fearful noise through the air, which -resounds with the cracking of whips, neighing of horses, barking of -dogs, and cries of ghostly huntsmen. The unlucky wight encountered -is caught up into the air, where his neck is wrung, or he is dropped -from a great height. In some regions, it is said, such must hunt until -relieved, but are not slain. The huntsman is a Nemesis on poachers or -trespassers in woods and forests. Sometimes the spectres have combats -with each other over battlefields. Their track is marked with bits -of horseflesh, human corpses, legs with shoes on. In some regions, -it is said, the huntsmen carry battle-axes, and cut down all who -come in their way. When the hunt is passing all dogs on earth become -still and quiet. In most regions there is some haunted gorge, hill, -or castle in which the train disappears. - -In Thuringia, it is said that, when the fearful noises of the spectral -hunt come very near, they change to ravishing music. In the same -euphemistic spirit some of the prognostications it brings are not evil: -generally, indeed, the apparition portends war, pestilence, and famine, -but frequently it announces a fruitful year. If, in passing a house, -one of the train dips his finger in the yeast, the staff of life will -never be wanting in that house. Whoever sees the chase will live long, -say the Bohemians; but he must not hail it, lest flesh and bones rain -upon him. - -In most regions, however, there is thought to be great danger in -proximity to the hunt. The perils are guarded against by prostration on -the earth face downward, praying meanwhile; by standing on a white -cloth (Bertha's linen), or wrapping the same around the head; by -putting the head between the spokes of a wheel; by placing palm leaves -on a table. The hunt may be observed securely from the cross-roads, -which it shuns, or by standing on a stump marked with three crosses--as -is often done by woodcutters in South Germany. - -Wodan also appears in the Schimmelreiter--headless rider on a white -horse, in Swabia called Bachreiter or Junker Jäkele. This apparition -sometimes drives a carriage drawn by four white (or black) horses, -usually headless. He is the terrible forest spectre Hoimann, a giant -in broad-brimmed hat, with moss and lichen for beard; he rides a -headless white horse through the air, and his wailing cry, 'Hoi, -hoi!' means that his reign is ended. He is the bugbear of children. - -In the Odinwald are the Riesenäule and Riesenaltar, with mystic marks -declaring them relics of a temple of Odin. Near Erbach is Castle -Rodenstein, the very fortress of the Wild Jäger, to which he passes -with his horrid train from the ruins of Schnellert. The village of -Reichelsheim has on file the affidavits of the people who heard him -just before the battles of Leipzig and Waterloo. Their theory is -that if the Jäger returns swiftly to Schnellert all will go well for -Germany; but if he tarry at Rodenstein 'tis an omen of evil. He was -reported near Frankfort in 1832; but it is notable that no mention -of him was made during the late Franco-German war. - -A somewhat later and rationalised variant relates that the wild -huntsman was Hackelberg, the Lord of Rodenstein, whose tomb--really -a Druidical stone--is shown at the castle, and said to be guarded -by hell-hounds. Hackelberg is of old his Brunswick name. It was the -Hackelberg Hill that opened to receive the children, which the Pied -Piper of Hamelin charmed away with his flute from that old town, -because the corporation would not pay him what they had promised -for ridding them of rats. It is easy to trace this Pied Piper, -who has become so familiar through Mr. Robert Browning's charming -poem, to the Odin of more blessed memory, who says in the Havamal, -'I know a song by which I soften and enchant my enemies, and render -their weapons of no effect.' - -This latter aspect of Odin, his command over vermin, connects him -with the Slavonic Lyeshy, or forest-demon of the Russias. The ancient -thunder-god of Russia, Perun, who rides in his storm-chariot through -the sky, has in the more christianised districts dropped his mantle -on Ilya (Elias); while in the greater number of Slavonic districts he -has held his original physical characters so remarkably that it has -been necessary to include him among demons. In Slavonian Folklore the -familiar myth of the wild huntsman is distributed--Vladimir the Great -fulfils one part of it by still holding high revel in the halls of -Kief, but he is no huntsman; Perun courses noisily through the air, but -he is rather benevolent than otherwise; the diabolical characteristics -of the superstition have fallen to the evil huntsmen (Lyeshies), -who keep the wild creatures as their flocks, the same as shepherds -their herds, and whom every huntsman must propitiate. The Lyeshy is -gigantic, wears a sheepskin, has one eye without eyebrow or eyelash, -horns, feet of a goat, is covered with green hair, and his finger-nails -are claws. He is special protector of the bears and wolves. - -In Denmark the same myth appears as King Volmer's Hunt. Waldemar was -so passionately fond of the chase that he said if the Lord would only -let him hunt for ever near Gurre (his castle in the north of Seeland), -he would not envy him his paradise. For this blasphemous wish he is -condemned to hunt between Burre and Gurre for ever. His cavalcade is -much like that already described. Volmer rides a snow-white charger, -preceded by a pack of coal-black hounds, and he carries his head -under his left arm. On St. John the women open gates for him. It -is believed that he is allowed brief repose at one and another of -his old seats, and it is said spectral servants are sometimes seen -preparing the ruined castle at Vordingborg for him, or at Waldemar's -Tower. A sceptical peasant resolved to pass the night in this tower. At -midnight the King entered, and, thanking him for looking after his -tower, gave him a gold piece which burned through his hand and fell -to the ground as a coal. On the other hand, Waldemar sometimes makes -peasants hold his dogs, and afterwards throws them coals which turn -out to be gold pieces. - -The Palnatoke or Palne Hunter appears mostly in the island of -Fuen. Every New Year's night he supplies himself with three horse-shoes -from some smithy, and the smith takes care that he may find them -ready for use on his anvil, as he always leaves three gold pieces in -their stead. If the shoes are not ready for him, he carries the anvil -off. In one instance he left an anvil on the top of a church tower, -and it caused the smith great trouble to get it down again. - -King Abel was interred after his death in St. Peter's Church in -Sleswig, but the fratricide could find no peace in his grave. His -ghost walked about in the night and disturbed the monks in their -devotions. The body was finally removed from the church, and -sunk in a foul bog near Gottorp. To keep him down effectively, a -pointed stake was drove through his body. The spot is still called -Königsgrabe. Notwithstanding this, he appears seated on a coal-black -charger, followed by a pack of black hounds with eyes and tongues of -fire. The gates are heard slamming and opening, and the shrieks and -yells are such that they appal the stoutest hearts. - -At the ancient capital of Fuen, Odense, said to have been built -by Odin, the myth has been reduced to a spectral Christmas-night -equipage, which issues from St. Canute's Church and passes to the -ancient manor-house of Glorup. It is a splendid carriage, drawn by -six black horses with fiery tongues, and in it are seated the Lords -of Glorup, famous for their cruelty to peasants, and now not able to -rest in the church where they were interred. It is of evil omen to -witness the spectacle: a man who watched for it was struck blind. - -In France Le Grand Veneur bears various names; he is King Arthur, -Saint Hubert, Hugo. His alleged appearances within historic times -have been so strongly attested that various attempts have been made -to give them rational explanations. Thus Charles VI. of France, -when going to war in Bretagne, is said to have been met by such a -spectre in the Forest of Mans, and became insane; he believed himself -to have been the victim of sorcery, as did many of his subjects. It -has been said that the King was met by a disguised emissary of the -Duc de Bretagne. More particular accounts are given of the apparition -of the Wild Huntsman to Henry IV. when he was hunting with the Comte -de Soissons in the Forest of Fontainebleau, an event commemorated by -'La Croix du Grand Veneur.' According to Matthieu, [185] both the King -and the Count heard the cries of the hunt, and when the Count went to -discover their origin, the terrible dark figure stood forth and cried, -'You wish to see me, then behold!' This incident has been explained -variously, as a project of assassination, or as the jest of two fellows -who, in 1596, were amusing Paris by their skill in imitating all -the sounds of a hunt. But such phantoms had too long hunted through -the imagination of the French peasantry for any explanation to be -required. Robert le Diable, wandering in Normandy till judgment-day, -and King Arthur, at an early date domesticated in France as a spectral -huntsman (the figure most popularly identified at the time with the -phantom seen by Henry IV.), are sufficient explanations. The ruins of -Arthur's Castle near Huelgoat, Finistère, were long believed to hide -enormous treasures, guarded by demons, who appear sometimes as fiery -lights (ignes fatuui), owls, buzzards, and ravens--one of the latter -being the form in which Arthur comes from his happy Vale of Avallon, -when he would vary its repose with a hunt. [186] - -A sufficiently curious interchange of such superstitions is represented -in the following extract from Surtees:--'Sir Anthon Bek, busshop of -Dureme in the tyme of King Eduarde, the son of King Henry, was the -maist prowd and masterfull busshop in all England, and it was com'only -said that he was the prowdest lord of Christienty. It chaunced that -emong other lewd persons, this sir Anthon entertained at his court -one Hugh de Pountchardon, that for his evill deeds and manifold -robberies had been driven out of the Inglische courte, and had come -from the southe to seek a little bread, and to live by staylinge. And -to this Hughe, whom also he imployed to good purpose in the warr of -Scotland, the busshop gave the land of Thikley, since of him called -Thikley-Puntchardon, and also made him his chiefe huntsman. And after, -this blake Hughe died afore the busshop; and efter that the busshop -chasid the wild hart in Galtres forest, and sodainly ther met with -him Hugh de Pontchardon, that was afore deid, on a wythe horse; and -the said Hughe loked earnestly on the busshop, and the busshop said -unto him, 'Hughe, what makethe thee here?' and he spake never word, -but lifte up his cloke, and then he showed sir Anton his ribbes set -with bones, and nothing more; and none other of the varlets saw him -but the busshop only; and ye said Hughe went his way, and sir Anton -toke corage, and cheered the dogges; and shortly efter he was made -Patriarque of Hierusalem, and he same nothing no moe; and this Hugh -is him that the silly people in Galtres doe call le Gros Veneur, -and he was seen twice efter that by simple folk, afore yat the forest -was felled in the tyme of Henry, father of King Henry yat now ys.' - -Upon this uncanny fellow fell the spectral mantle of Hugo -Capet; elsewhere as is probable, worn by nocturnal protestant -assemblies--Huguenots. - -The legend of the Wild Huntsman tinges many old English stories. Herne, -the Hunter, may be identified with him, and the demons, with ghostly -and headless wish-hounds, who still hunt evil-doers over Dartmoor on -stormy nights, are his relations. The withered look of horses grazing -on Penzance Common was once explained by their being ridden by demons, -and the fire-breathing horse has found its way by many weird routes -to the service of the Exciseman in the 'Ingoldsby Legends,' or that -of Earl Garrett, who rides round the Curragh of Kildare on a steed -whose inch-thick silver shoes must wear as thin as a cat's ear, -ere he fights the English and reigns over Ireland. The Teutonic myth -appears very plainly in the story of Tregeagle. This man, traced to -an old Cornish family, is said to have been one of the wickedest men -that ever lived; but though he had disposed of his soul to the Devil, -the evil one was baulked by the potency of St. Petroc. This, however, -was on condition of Tregeagle's labouring at the impossible task of -clearing the sand from Porthcurnow Cove, at which work he may still -be heard groaning when wind and wave are high. Whenever he tries -to snatch a moment's rest, the demon is at liberty to pursue him, -and they may be heard on stormy nights in hot pursuit of the poor -creature, whose bull-like roar passed into the Cornish proverb, -'to roar like Tregeagle.' - -On a pleasant Sunday evening in July 1868, I witnessed 'Der Freischütz' -in the newly-opened opera-house at Leipzig. Never elsewhere have I seen -such completeness and splendour in the weird effects of the infernal -scene in the Wolf's Glen. The 'White Lady' started forth at every step -of Rodolph's descent to the glen, warning him back. Zamiel, instead -of the fiery garb he once wore as Samaël, was arrayed in raiment -black as night; and when the magic bullet was moulded, the stage -swarmed with huge reptiles, fiery serpents crawled on the ground, -a dragon-drawn chariot, with wheels of fire, driven by a skeleton, -passed through the air; and the wild huntsman's chase, composed of -animals real to the eye and uttering their distinguishable cries, -hurried past. The animals represented were the horse, hound, boar, -stag, chamois, raven, bat, owl, and they rushed amid the wild blast -of horns. - -I could but marvel at the yet more strange and weird history of the -human imagination through which had flitted, from the varied regions -of a primitive world, the shapes combined in this apotheosis of -diablerie. Probably if Elijah in his fire-chariot, preached about -in the neighbouring church that morning, and this wild huntsman -careering in the opera, had looked closely at each other and at their -own history, they might have found a common ancestor in the mythical -Mahan Bali of India, the king whose austerities raised in power till -he excited the jealousy of the gods, until Vishnu crushed him with his -heel into the infernal regions, where he still exercises sovereignty, -and is permitted to issue forth for an annual career (at the Onam -festival), as described in Southey's 'Curse of Kehama.' And they -might probably both claim mythological relationship with Yami, lord of -death, who, as Jami, began in Persia the career of all warriors that -never died, but sometimes sleep till a magic horn shall awaken them, -sometimes dwell, like Jami himself and King Arthur, in happy isles, -and in other cases issue forth at certain periods for the chase or -for war--like Odin and Waldemar--with an infernal train. - -But how did these mighty princes and warriors become demon huntsmen? - -In the Persian 'Desatir' it is related that the animals contested -the superiority of man, the two orders of beings being represented by -their respective sages, and the last animal to speak opposed the claim -of his opponent that man attained elevation to the nature of angels, -with the remark, 'In his putting to death of animals and similar acts -man resembleth the beasts of prey, and not angels.' - -The prophet of the world then said, 'We deem it sinful to kill -harmless, but right to slay ravenous, animals. Were all ravenous -animals to enter into a compact not to kill harmless animals, we -would abstain from slaying them, and hold them dear as ourselves.' - -Upon this the wolf made a treaty with the ram, and the lion became -friend of the stag. No tyranny was left in the world, till man (Dehak) -broke the treaty and began to kill animals. In consequence of this, -none observed the treaty except the harmless animals. [187] - -This fable, from the Aryan side, may be regarded as showing the -reason of the evil repute which gathered around the name of Dehak -or Zohak. The eating of animal food was among our Aryan ancestors -probably the provisional commissariat of a people migrating from -their original habitat. The animals slain for food had all their -original consecration, and even the ferocious were largely invested -with awe. The woodcutters of Bengal invoke Kalrayu--an archer -tiger-mounted--to protect them against the wild beasts he (a form of -Siva) is supposed to exterminate; but while the exterminator of the -most dangerous animals may, albeit without warrant in the Shastr, -be respected in India, the huntsman is generally of evil repute. The -gentle Krishna was said to have been slain by an arrow from the bow -of Ungudu, a huntsman, who left the body to rot under a tree where -it fell, the bones being the sacred relics for which the image of -Jugernath at Orissa was constructed. [188] - -It is not known at what period the notion of transmigration arose, -but that must have made him appear cannibalistic who first hunted -and devoured animals. Such was the Persian Zohak (or Dehak). His -Babylonian form, Nimrod, represented also the character of Esau, -as huntsman; that is, the primitive enemy of the farmer, and of the -commerce in grains; the preserver of wildness, and consequently of -all those primitive aboriginal idolatries which linger in the heaths -(whence heathen) and country villages (whence pagans) long after -they have passed away from the centres of civilisation. Hunting is -essentially barbarous. The willingness of some huntsmen even now, -when this serious occupation of an early period has become a sport, -to sacrifice not only animal life to their pleasure, but also the -interests of labour and agriculture, renders it very easy for us to -understand the transformation of Nimrod into a demon. In the Hebrew -and Arabian legends concerning Nimrod, that 'mighty hunter' is shown -as related to the wild elements and their worshipper. When Abraham, -having broken the images of his father, was brought by Terah before -Nimrod, the King said, 'Let us worship the fire!' - -'Rather the water that quenches the fire,' said Abraham. - -'Well, the water.' - -'Rather the cloud that carries the water.' - -'Well, the cloud.' - -'Rather the wind that scatters the cloud.' - -'Well, the wind.' - -'Rather man, for he withstands the wind.' - -'Thou art a babbler,' said Nimrod. 'I worship the fire and will cast -thee into it.' - -When Abraham was cast into the fiery furnace by Nimrod, and on the -seventh day after was found sitting amid the roses of a garden, -the mighty hunter--hater of gardens--resolved on a daring hunt for -Abraham's God himself. He built a tower five thousand cubits high, but -finding heaven still far away, he attached a car to two half-starved -eagles, and by holding meat above them they flew upward, until Nimrod -heard a voice saying, 'Godless man, whither goest thou?' The audacious -man shot an arrow in the direction of the voice; the arrow returned -to him stained with blood, and Nimrod believed that he had wounded -Abraham's God. - -He who hunted the universe was destroyed by one of the weakest of -animated beings--a fly. In the aspiring fly which attacked Nimrod's -lip, and then nose, and finally devoured his brain, the Moslem and -Hebrew doctors saw the fittest end of one whose adventurous spirit -had not stopped to attack animals, man, Abraham, and Allah himself. - -But though, in one sense, destroyed, Nimrod, say various myths, may -be heard tumbling and groaning about the base of his tower of Babel, -where the confusion of tongues took place; and it might be added, -that they have, like the groan, a meaning irrespective of race or -language. Dehak and Nimrod have had their brothers in every race, which -has ever reached anything that may be called civilisation. It was the -barbaric Baron and the Robber Knight of the Middle Ages, living by -the hunt, who, before conversion, made for the Faithful Eckhardts of -the Church the chief impediment; they might then strike down the monk, -whose apparition has always been the legendary warning of the Demon's -approach. When the Eckhardts had baptized these knights, they had -already been transformed to the Devils which people the forests of -Germany, France, and England with their terrible spectres. The wild -fables of the East, telling of fell Demons coursing through the air, -whispered to the people at one ear, and the equally wild deeds of the -Robber Knights at the other. The Church had given the people one name -for all such phantasms--Devil--and it was a name representative of -the feelings of both priest and peasant, so long as the Robber Knights -were their common enemy. Jesus had to be a good deal modified before he -could become the model of this Teutonic Esau. It is after the tradition -of his old relation to huntsmen that the Devil has been so especially -connected in folklore with soldiers. In the 'Annals of Leipzig,' kept -in Auerbach's Cellar, famous for the flight of Mephisto and Faust -from its window on a wine-cask, I found two other instances in which -the Devil was reported as having appeared in that town. In one case -(1604), the fiend had tempted one Jeremy of Strasburg, a marksman, -to commit suicide, but that not succeeding, had desired him to go with -him to the neighbouring castle and enjoy some fruit. The marksman was -saved by help of a Dean. In 1633, during a period of excessive cold -and snow, the Devil induced a soldier to blaspheme. The marksman and -the soldier were, indeed, the usual victims of the Wild Huntsmen's -temptations; and it was for such that the unfailing magic bullets -were moulded in return for their impawned souls. - -How King Olaf--whose name lingers among us in 'Tooley Street,' so -famous for its Three Tailors! [189]--spread the Gospel through the -North after his baptism in England is well known. Whatever other hunt -may have been phantasmal, it was not Olaf's hunt of the heathen. To -put a pan of live coals under the belly of one, to force an adder -down the throat of another, to offer all men the alternatives of being -baptized or burnt, were the arguments which this apostle applied with -such energy that at last--but not until many brave martyrdoms--the -chief people were convinced. Olaf encountered Odin as if he had been a -living foe, and what is more, believed in the genuine existence of his -former God. Once, as Olaf and his friends believed, Odin appeared to -this devastator of his altars as a one-eyed man in broad-brimmed hat, -delighting the King in his hours of relaxation with that enchanting -conversation for which he was so famous. But he (Odin) tried secretly -to induce the cook to prepare for his royal master some fine meat -which he had poisoned. But Olaf said, 'Odin shall not deceive us,' -and ordered the tempting viand to be thrown away. Odin was god of -the barbarian Junkers, and the people rejoiced that he was driven -into holes and corners; his rites remained mainly among huntsmen, -and had to be kept very secret. In the Gulathings Lagen of Norway -it is ordered: 'Let the king and bishop, with all possible care, -search after those who exercise pagan rites, who use magic arts, who -adore the genii of particular places, of tombs, or rivers, and who, -after the manner of devils in travelling, are transported from place -to place through the air.' - -Under such very actual curses as these, the once sacred animals of -Odin, and all the associations of the hunt, were diabolised. Even -the hunting-horn was regarded as having something præternatural -about it. The howling blast when Odin consulteth Mimir's head [190] -was heard again in the Pied Piper's flute, and passed southward -to blend its note with the horn of Roland at Roncesvalles,--which -brought help from distances beyond the reach of any honest horn, -and even with the pipe of Pan. - -That the Edda described Odin as mounted on a mysterious horse, -as cherishing two wolves for pets, having a roasted boar for the -daily pièce de résistance of his table, and with a raven on either -shoulder, whispering to him the secret affairs of the earth, was -enough to settle the reputation of those animals in the creed of -christian priests. The Raven was, indeed, from of old endowed with -the holy awfulness of the christian dove, in the Norse Mythology. To -this day no Swede will kill a raven. The superstition concerning it -was strong enough to transmit even to Voltaire an involuntary shudder -at its croak. Odin was believed to have given the Raven the colour of -the night that it might the better spy out the deeds of darkness. Its -'natural theology' is, no doubt, given correctly by Robert Browning's -Caliban, who, when his speculations are interrupted by a thunderstorm, -supposes his soliloquy has been conveyed by the raven he sees flying -to his god Setebos. In many parts of Germany ravens are believed to -hold souls of the damned. If a raven's heart be secured it procures -an unerring shot. - -From an early date the Boar became an ensign of the prowess of the -gods, by which its head passed to be the device of so many barbaric -clans and ancient families in the Northern world. In Vedic Mythology -we find Indra taking the shape of a Wild Boar, also killing a demon -Boar, and giving Tritas the strength by which a similar monster is -slain. [191] According to another fable, while Brahma and Vishnu are -quarrelling as to which is the first-born, Siva interferes and cries, -'I am the first-born; nevertheless I will recognise as my superior -him who is able to see the summit of my head or the sole of my -feet.' Vishnu, transforming himself to a Boar, pierced the ground, -penetrated to the infernal regions, and then saw the feet of Siva, -who on his return saluted him as first-born of the gods. De Gubernatis -regards this fable as making the Boar emblem of the hidden Moon. [192] -He is hunted by the Sun. He guards the treasure of the demons which -Indra gains by slaying him. In Sicilian story, Zafarana, by throwing -three hog's bristles on embers, renews her husband's youth. In -Esthonian legend, a prince, by eating pork, acquires the faculty -of understanding the language of birds,--which may mean leading on -the spring with its songs of birds. But whether these particular -interpretations be true or not, there is no doubt that the Boar, -at an early period, became emblematic of the wild forces of nature, -and from being hunted by King Odin on earth passed to be his favourite -food in Valhalla, and a prominent figure in his spectral hunt. - -Enough has already been said of the Dog in several chapters of this -work to render it but natural that this animal should take his place -in any diabolical train. It was not as a 'hell-hound,' or descendant -of the guardians of Orcus, that he entered the spectral procession of -Odin, but as man's first animal assistant in the work of obtaining a -living from nature. It is the faithful friend of man who is demoralised -in Waldemar's Lystig, the spectre-hound of Peel Castle, the Manthe -Doog of the Isle of Man, the sky-dogs (Cwn wybir or aunwy) of Wales, -and Roscommon dog of Ireland. - -Of the Goat, the Dog, and some other diabolised animals, enough -has been said in previous pages. The nocturnal animals would be -as naturally caught up into the Wild Huntsman's train as belated -peasants. But it is necessary to dwell a little on the relations of -the Horse to this Wild Hunt. It was the Horse that made the primitive -king among men. - -'The Horse,' says Dasent, 'was a sacred animal among the Teutonic -tribes from the first moment of their appearance in history; and -Tacitus has related how, in the shade of those woods and groves which -served them for temples, white horses were fed at the public cost, -whose backs no mortal crossed, whose neighings and snortings were -carefully watched as auguries and omens, and who were thought to be -conscious of divine mysteries. In Persia, too, the classical reader -will remember how the neighing of a horse decided the choice for the -crown. Here in England, at any rate, we have only to think of Hengist -and Horsa, the twin heroes of the Anglo-Saxon migration--as the legend -ran--heroes whose name meant horse, and of the Vale of the White Horse, -in Berks, where the sacred form still gleams along the down, to be -reminded of the sacredness of the horse to our forefathers. The Eddas -are filled with the names of famous horses, and the Sagas contain many -stories of good steeds, in whom their owners trusted and believed as -sacred to this or that particular god. Such a horse is Dapplegrimm -in the Norse tales, who saves his master out of all his perils, and -brings him to all fortune, and is another example of that mysterious -connection with the higher powers which animals in all ages have been -supposed to possess.' - -It was believed that no warrior could approach Valhalla except on -horseback, and the steed was generally buried with his master. The -Scandinavian knight was accustomed to swear 'by the shoulder of a -horse and the edge of a sword.' Odin (the god) was believed to have -always near him the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, whose sire was the -wonderful Svaldilfari, who by night drew the enormous stones for the -fortress defending Valhalla from the frost-giants. On Sleipnir the -deity rode to the realm of Hela, when he evoked the spirit of the -deceased prophetess, Vala, with Runic incantations, to learn Baldur's -fate. This is the theme of the Veytamsvida, paraphrased by Gray in -his ode beginning-- - - - Up rose the king of men with speed, - And saddled straight his coal-black steed - - -The steed, however, was not black, but grey. Sleipnir was the foal of -a magically-created mare. The demon-mare (Mara) holds a prominent place -in Scandinavian superstition, besetting sleepers. In the Ynglinga Saga, -Vanland awakes from sleep, crying, 'Mara is treading on me!' His men -hasten to help him, but when they take hold of his head Mara treads -on his legs, and when they hold his legs she tramples on his head; -and so, says Thiodolf-- - - - Trampled to death, to Skyta's shore - The corpse his faithful followers bore; - And there they burnt, with heavy hearts, - The good chief, killed by witchcraft's arts. - - -All this is, of course, the origin of the common superstition of -the nightmare. The horse-shoe used against witches is from the same -region. We may learn here also the reason why hippophagy has been so -long unknown among us. Odin's boar has left his head on our Christmas -tables, but Olaf managed to rob us of the horse-flesh once eaten in -honour of that god. In the eleventh century he proclaimed the eating -of horse-flesh a test of paganism, as baptism was of Christianity, -and punished it with death, except in Iceland, where it was permitted -by an express stipulation on their embracing Christianity. To these -facts it may be added that originally the horse's head was lifted, -as the horse-shoe is now, for a charm against witches. When Wittekind -fought twenty years against Charlemagne, the ensign borne by his -Saxon followers was a horse's head raised on a pole. A white horse -on a yellow ground is to-day the Hanoverian banner, its origin being -undoubtedly Odinistic. - -The christian edict against the eating of horse-flesh had probably -a stronger motive than sentimental opposition to paganism. A Roman -emperor had held the stirrup for a christian pontiff to mount, -and something of the same kind occurred in the North. The Horse, -which had been a fire-breathing devil under Odin, became a steed of -the Sun under the baptized noble and the bishop. Henceforth we read -of coal-black and snow-white horses, as these are mounted in the -interest of the old religion or the new. - -It is very curious to observe how far and wide has gone religious -competition for possession of that living tower of strength--the -Horse. In ancient Ceylon we find the Buddhist immigrants winning over -the steed on which the aborigines were fortified. It was a white horse, -of course, that became their symbol of triumph. The old record says-- - -'A certain yakkhini (demoness) named Chetiya, having the form and -countenance of a mare, dwelt near the marsh of Tumbariungona. A -certain person in the prince's (Pandukabhayo) retinue having seen this -beautiful (creature), white with red legs, announced the circumstance -to the prince. The prince set out with a rope to secure her. She -seeing him approach from behind, losing her presence of mind from -fear, under the influence of his imposing appearance, fled without -(being able to exert the power she possessed of) rendering herself -invisible. He gave chase to the fugitive. She, persevering in her -flight, made the circuit of the marsh seven times. She made three -more circuits of the marsh, and then plunged into the river at the -Kachchhaka ferry. He did the same, and (in the river) seized her -by the tail, and (at the same time grasped) the leaf of a palmira -tree which the stream was carrying down. By his supernatural good -fortune this (leaf) became an enormous sword. Exclaiming, 'I put -thee to death!' he flourished the sword over her. 'Lord!' replied -she to him, 'subduing this kingdom for thee, I will confer it on -thee: spare me my life.' Seizing her by the throat, and with the -point of the sword boring her nostril, he secured her with his rope: -she (instantly) became tractable. Conducting her to the Dhumarakkho -mountain, he obtained a great accession of warlike power by making her -his battle-steed.' [193] The wonderful victories won by the prince, -aided by this magical mare, are related, and the tale ends with his -setting up 'within the royal palace itself the mare-faced yakkhini,' -and providing for her annually 'demon offerings.' - -Equally ambiguous with the Horse in this zoologic diablerie -is the Stag. In the Heraklean legends we find that hero's son, -Telephon, nursed by a hind in the woods; and on the other hand, -his third 'labour' was the capture of Artemis' gold-antlered stag, -which brought on him her wrath (it being 'her majesty's favourite -stag'). We have again the story of Actæon pursuing the stag too far -and suffering the fate he had prepared for it; and a reminiscence -of it in the 'Pentamerone,' when the demon Huoreo allures Canneloro -into the wood by taking the form of a beautiful hind. These complex -legends are reflected in Northern folklore also. Count Otto I. of -Altmark, while out hunting, slept under an oak and dreamed that he -was furiously attacked by a stag, which disappeared when he called -on the name of God. The Count built a monastery, which still stands, -with the oak's stump built into its altar. On the other hand, beside -the altar of a neighbouring church hang two large horns of a stag -said to have brought a lost child home on its back. Thus in the old -town of Steindal meet these contrary characters of the mystical stag, -of which it is not difficult to see that the evil one results from its -misfortune in being at once the huntsman's victim and scapegoat. [194] - -In the legend of St. Hubert we have the sign of Christ--risen -from his tomb among the rich Christians to share for a little the -crucifixion of their first missionaries in the North--to the huntsmen -of Europe. Hubert pursues the stag till it turns to face him, and -behold, between its antlers, the cross! It is a fable conceived in the -spirit of him who said to fishermen, 'Come with me and I will make you -fishers of men.' The effect was much the same in both cases. Hubert -kneels before the stag, and becomes a saint, as the fishermen left -their nets and became apostles. But, as the proverb says, when the -saint's day is over, farewell the saint. The fishermen's successors -caught men with iron hooks in their jaws; the successors of Hubert -hunted men and women so lustily that they never paused long enough -to see whether there might not be a cross on their forehead also. - -It was something, however, that the cross which Constantine could -only see in the sky could be seen by any eye on the forehead of a -harmless animal; and this not only because it marked the rising in -christian hearts of pity for the animals, but because what was done to -the flying stag was done to the peasant who could not fly, and more -terribly. The vision of Hubert came straight from the pagan heart of -Western and Northern Europe. In the Bible, from Genesis to Apocalypse, -no word is found clearly inculcating any duty to the animals. So -little, indeed, could the christians interpret the beautiful tales -of folklore concerning kindly beasts, out of which came the legend -of Hubert, that Hubert was made patron of huntsmen; and while, by -a popular development, Wodan was degraded to a devil, the baptized -sportsman rescued his chief occupation by ascribing its most dashing -legends to St. Martin and their inspiration to the Archangel Michael. - -It is now necessary to consider the light which the German heart cast -across the dark shadows of Wodan. This is to be discovered in the myth -of the White Lady. We have already seen, in the confessions of the -witches of Elfdale, in Sweden, that when they were gathering before -their formidable Devil, a certain White Spirit warned them back. The -children said she tried to keep them from entering the Devil's Church -at Blockula. This may not be worth much as a 'confession,' but it -sufficiently reports the theories prevailing in the popular mind of -Elfdale at that time. It is not doubtful now that this White Lady and -that Devil she opposed were, in pre-christian time, Wodan and his wife -Frigga. The humble people who had gladly given up the terrible huntsman -and warrior to be degraded into a Devil, and with him the barbaric -Nimrods who worshipped him, did not agree to a similar surrender -of their dear household goddess, known to them as Frigga, Holda, -Bertha, Mother Rose,--under all her epithets the Madonna of the North, -interceding between them and the hard king of Valhalla, ages before -they ever heard of a jealous Jehovah and a tender interceding Mary. - -Dr. Wuttke has collected many variants of the myths of Frigga, some -of which bear witness to the efforts of the Church to degrade her -also into a fiend. She is seen washing white clothes at fountains, -milking cows, spinning flax with a distaff, or combing her flaxen -hair. She was believed to be the divine ancestress of the human -race; many of the oldest families claimed descent from her, and -believed that this Ahnenfrau announced to them good fortune, or, -by her wailing, any misfortune coming to their families. She brought -evil only to those who spoke evil of her. If any one shoots at her -the ball enters his own heart. She appears to poor wandering folk, -especially children, and guides them to spots where they find heaps -of gold covered with the flower called 'Forget-me-not'--because her -gentle voice is heard requesting, as the only compensation, that the -flowers shall be replaced when the gold is removed. The primroses are -sacred to her, and often are the keys (thence called 'key-blossoms') -which unlock her treasures. The smallest tribute she repays,--even a -pebble consecrated to her. Every child ascending the Burgeiser Alp -places a stone on a certain heap of such, with the words, 'Here I -offer to the wild maidens.' These are Bertha's kindly fairies. (When -Frederika Bremer was with a picnic on the Hudson heights, which -Washington Irving had peopled with the Spirits he had brought from -the Rhine, she preferred to pour out her champagne as a libation to -the 'good spirits' of Germany and America.) The beautiful White Lady -wears a golden chain, and glittering keys at her belt; she appears at -mid-day or in strong moonlight. In regions where priestly influence -is strong she is said to be half-black, half-white, and to appear -sometimes as a serpent. She often helps the weary farmer to stack -his corn, and sorely-tasked Cinderellas in their toil. - -In pre-christian time this amiable goddess--called oftenest Bertha -(shining) and Mother Rose--was related to Wodan as the spring -and summer to the storms of winter, in which the Wild Huntsman's -procession no doubt originated. The Northman's experience of seed-time -and harvest was expressed in the myth of this sweet Rose hidden -through the winter's blight to rise again in summer. This myth has -many familiar variants, such as Aschenputtel and Sleeping Beauty; -but it was more particularly connected with the later legends of -the White Lady, as victim of the Wild Huntsman, by the stories of -transformed princesses delivered by youths. Rescue of the enchanted -princess is usually effected by three kisses, but she is compelled -to appear before the deliverer in some hideous aspect--as toad or -serpent; so that he is repelled or loses courage. This is the rose -hid under the ugliness of winter. - -When the storm-god Wodan was banished from nature altogether and -identified with the imported, and naturally inconceivable, Satan, he -was no more regarded as Frigga's rough lord, but as her remorseless -foe. She was popularly revered as St. Walpurga, the original May -Queen, and it was believed that happy and industrious children -might sometimes see her on May-day with long flowing flaxen hair, -fine shoes, distaff in hand, and a golden crown on her head. But for -the nine nights after May-day she was relentlessly pursued by the -Wild Huntsman and his mounted train. There is a picture by G. Watts -of the hunted lady of Bocaccio's tale, now in the Cosmopolitan Club -of London, which vividly reproduces the weird impressiveness of this -myth. The White Lady tries to hide from her pursuer in standing corn, -or gets herself bound up in a sheaf. The Wild Huntsman's wrath extends -to all her retinue,--moss maidens of the wood, or Holtzweibeln. The -same belief characterises Waldemar's hunt. It is a common legend in -Denmark that King Volmer rode up to some peasants, busy at harvest -on Sobjerg Hill, and, in reply to his question whether they had -seen any game, one of the men said--'Something rustled just now in -yonder standing corn.' The King rushed off, and presently a shot was -heard. The King reappeared with a mermaid lying across his horse, and -said as he passed, 'I have chased her a hundred years, and have her at -last.' He then rode into the hill. In this way Frigga and her little -people, hunted with the wild creatures, awakened sympathy for them. - -The holy friar. Eckhardt (who may be taken as a myth and type of the -Church ad hoc) gained his legendary fame by being supposed to go in -advance of the Wild Huntsman and warn villagers of his approach; but -as time went on and a compromise was effected between the hunting -Barons and the Church, on the basis that the sports and cruelties -should be paid for with indulgence-fees, Eckhardt had to turn his -attention rather to the White Lady. She was declared a Wild Huntress, -but the epithet slipped to other shoulders. The priests identified -her ultimately with Freija, or Frau Venus; and Eckhardt was the holy -hermit who warned young men against her sorceries in Venusberg and -elsewhere. But Eckhardt never prevailed against the popular love -of Mother Rose as he had against her pursuer; he only increased -the attractions of 'Frau Venus' beyond her deserts. In the end it -was as much as the Church could do to secure for Mary the mantle -of her elder sister's sanctity. Even then the earlier faith was not -eradicated. After the altars of Mary had fallen, Frigga had vitality -enough to hold her own as the White Witch who broke the Dark One's -spells. It was chiefly this helpful Mother-goddess to whom the wretched -were appealing when they were burnt for witchcraft. - -At Urselberg, Wurtemberg, there is a deep hole called the -'Nightmaidens' Retreat,' in which are piled the innumerable stones that -have been cast therein by persons desiring good luck on journeys. These -stones correspond to the bones of the 11,000 Virgins in St. Ursula's -Church at Cologne. The White Lady was sainted under her name of Ursel -(the glowing one), otherwise Horsel. Horselberg, near Eisenach, became -her haunt as Venus, the temptress of Tannhaüsers; Urselberg became her -retreat as the good fairy mother; but the attractions of herself and -her moss-maidens, which the Church wished to borrow, were taken on a -long voyage to Rome, and there transmuted to St. Ursula and her 11,000 -Virgins. These Saints of Cologne encountered their ancient mythical -pursuers--the Wild Huntsman's train--in those barbarian Huns who are -said to have slaughtered them all because they would not break their -vows of chastity. The legend is but a variant of Wodan's hunt after -the White Lady and her maidens. When it is remembered that before -her transformation by Christianity Ursula was the Huntsman's own -wife, Frigga, a quaint incident appears in the last meeting between -the two. After Wodan had been transformed to the Devil, he is said -to have made out the architectural plan for Cologne Cathedral, and -offered it to the architect in return for a bond for his soul; but, -having weakly allowed him to get possession of the document before -the bond was signed, the architect drew from under his gown a bone of -St. Ursula, from which the Devil fled in great terror. It was bone -of his bone; but after so many mythological vicissitudes Wodan and -his Horsel could hardly be expected to recognise each other at this -chance meeting in Cologne. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - -LE BON DIABLE. - - The Devil repainted--Satan a divine agent--St. Orain's - heresy--Primitive universalism--Father Sinistrari--Salvation of - demons--Mediæval sects--Aquinas--His prayer for Satan--Popular - antipathies--The Devil's gratitude--Devil defending - innocence--Devil against idle lords--The wicked ale-wife--Pious - offenders punished--Anachronistic Devils--Devils turn to - poems--Devil's good advice--Devil sticks to his word--His love - of justice--Charlemagne and the Serpent--Merlin--His prison of - Air--Mephistopheles in Heaven. - - -The phrase which heads this chapter is a favourite one in France. It -may have had a euphemistic origin, for the giants dreaded by primitive -Europeans were too formidable to be lightly spoken of. But within -most of the period concerning which we have definite knowledge such -phrases would more generally have expressed the half-contemptuous pity -with which these huge beings with weak intellects were regarded. The -Devil imported with Christianity was made over, as we have seen, -into the image of the Dummeteufel, or stupid good-natured giant, and -he is represented in many legends which show him giving his gifts and -services for payments of which he is constantly cheated. Le Bon Diable -in France is somewhat of this character, and is often taken as the -sign of tradesmen who wish to represent themselves as lavishing their -goods recklessly for inadequate compensation. But the large accession -of demons and devils from the East through Jewish and Moslem channels, -of a character far from stupid, gave a new sense to that phrase and -corresponding ones. There is no doubt that a very distinct reaction -in favour of the Devil arose in Europe, and one expressive of very -interesting facts and forces. The pleasant names given him by the -masses would alone indicate this,--Monsieur De Scelestat, Lord Voland, -Blümlin (floweret), Federspiel (gay-plumed), Maitre Bernard, Maitre -Parsin (Parisian). - -The Devil is not so black as he's painted. This proverb concerning the -long-outlawed Evil One has a respectable antiquity, and the feeling -underlying it has by no means been limited to the vulgar. Even the -devout George Herbert wrote-- - - - We paint the Devil black, yet he - Hath some good in him all agree. - - -Robert Burns naively appeals to Old Nick's better nature-- - - - But fare ye weel, auld Nickie-ben! - O wad ye tak a thought an' men'! - Ye aiblins might--I dinna ken-- - Still ha'e a stake; - I'm wae to think upon yon den, - E'en for your sake! - - -It is hard to destroy the natural sentiments of the human -heart. However much they may be overlaid by the transient exigencies -of a creed, their indestructible nature is pretty certain to reveal -itself. The most orthodox supporters of divine cruelty in their -own theology will cry out against it in another. The saint who is -quite satisfied that the everlasting torture of Satan or Judas is -justice, will look upon the doom of Prometheus as a sign of heathen -heartlessness; and the burning of one widow for a few moments on -her husband's pyre will stimulate merciful missionary ardour among -millions of christians whose creed passes the same poor victim to -endless torture, and half the human race with her. - -It is doubtful whether the general theological conception of the -functions of Satan is consistent with the belief that he is in a state -of suffering. As an agent of divine punishment he is a part of the -divine government; and it is even probable that had it not been for -the necessity of keeping up his office, theology itself would have -found some means of releasing him and his subordinates from hell, -and ultimately of restoring them to heaven and virtue. [195] - -It is a legend of the island Iona that when St. Columba attempted to -build a church there, the Devil--i.e., the same Druid magicians who -tried to prevent his landing there by tempests--threw down the stones -as often as they were piled up. An oracle declared that the church -could arise only after some holy man had been buried alive at the spot, -and the saint's friend Orain offered himself for the purpose. After -Orain had been buried, and the wall was rising securely, St. Columba -was seized with a strong desire to look upon the face of his poor -friend once more. The wall was pulled down, the body dug up; but -instead of Orain being found dead, he sat up and told the assembled -christians around him that he had been to the other world, and -discovered that they were in error about various things,--especially -about Hell, which really did not exist at all. Outraged by this heresy -the christians immediately covered up Orain again in good earnest. - -The resurrection of this primitive universalist of the seventh century, -and his burial again, may be regarded as typifying a dream of the -ultimate restoration of the universe to the divine sway which has -often given signs of life through christian history, though many times -buried. The germ of it is even in Paul's hope that at last 'God may be -all in all' (1 Cor. xv. 28). In Luke x. 17, also, it was related that -the seventy whom Jesus had sent out among the idol-worshipping Gentiles -'returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject -unto us through thy name.' These ideas are recalled in various legends, -such as that elsewhere related of the Satyr who came to St. Anthony to -ask his prayers for the salvation of his demonic tribe. On the strength -of Anthony's courteous treatment of that Satyr, the famous Consulteur -of the Inquisition, Father Sinistrari (seventeenth century), rested -much of his argument that demons were included in the atonement wrought -by Christ and might attain final beatitude. The Father affirmed that -this was implied in Christ's words, 'Other sheep I have which are not -of this flock: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; -and there shall be one fold and one shepherd' [196] (John x. 16). That -these words were generally supposed to refer to the inclusion of the -Gentile world was not accepted by Sinistrari as impairing his argument, -but the contrary. He maintained with great ingenuity that the salvation -of the Gentiles logically includes the salvation of their inspiring -demons, and that there would not be one fold if these aerial beings, -whose existence all authorities attested, were excluded. He even -intimates, though more timidly, that their father, Satan himself, -as a participator in the sin of Adam and sharer of his curse, may -be included in the general provision of the deity for the entire and -absolute removal of the curse throughout nature. - -Sinistrari's book was placed on the 'Index Expurgatorius' at Rome in -1709, 'donec corrigatur,' eight years after the author's death; it was -republished, 'correctus,' 1753. But the fact that such sentiments had -occupied many devout minds in the Church, and that they had reached -the dignity of a consistent and scholarly statement in theology, was -proved. The opinion grew out of deeper roots than New Testament phrases -or the Anthony fables. The Church had been for ages engaged in the vast -task of converting the Gentile world; in the course of that task it had -succeeded only by successive surrenders of the impossible principles -with which it had started. The Prince of this World had been baptized -afresh with every European throne ascended by the Church. Asmodeus -had triumphed in the sacramental inclusion of marriage; St. Francis -d'Assisi, preaching to the animals, represented innumerable pious -myths which had been impossible under the old belief in a universal -curse resting upon nature. The evolution of this tendency may be -traced through the entire history of the Church in such sects as the -Paulicians, Cathari, Bogomiles, and others, who, though they again -and again formulated anew the principle of an eternal Dualism, as -often revealed some further stage in the progressive advance of the -christianised mind towards a normal relation with nature. Thus the -Cathari maintained that only those beings who were created by the -evil principle would remain unrecovered; those who were created by -God, but seduced by the Adversary, would be saved after sufficient -expiation. The fallen angels, they believed, were passing through -earthly, in some cases animal, bodies to the true Church and to -heaven. Such views as these were not those of the learned, but of the -dissenting sects, and they prepared ignorant minds in many countries -for that revival of confidence in their banished deities which made -the cult of Witchcraft. - -St. Thomas Aquinas, the 'Angelical Doctor,' in his famous work -'Summa Theologiæ,' maintains that in the Resurrection the bodies of -the redeemed will rise with all their senses and organs, including -those of sex, active and refined. The authentic affirmation of that -doctrine in the thirteenth century was of a significance far beyond -the comprehension of the Church. Aquinas confused the lines between -flesh and spirit, especially by admitting sex into heaven. The Devil -could not be far behind. The true interpretation of his doctrine is to -be found in the legend that Aquinas passed a night in prayer for the -salvation and restoration of the Devil. This legend is the subject -of a modern poem so fraught with the spirit of the mediæval heart, -pining in its dogmatic prison, that I cannot forbear quoting it here:-- - - - All day Aquinas sat alone; - Compressed he sat and spoke no word, - As still as any man of stone, - In streets where never voice is heard; - With massive front and air antique - He sat, did neither move or speak, - For thought like his seemed words too weak. - - The shadows brown about him lay; - From sunrise till the sun went out, - Had sat alone that man of grey, - That marble man, hard crampt by doubt; - Some kingly problem had he found, - Some new belief not wholly sound, - Some hope that overleapt all bound. - - All day Aquinas sat alone, - No answer to his question came, - And now he rose with hollow groan, - And eyes that seemed half love, half flame. - On the bare floor he flung him down, - Pale marble face, half smile, half frown, - Brown shadow else, mid shadows brown. - - 'O God,' he said, 'it cannot be, - Thy Morning-star, with endless moan, - Should lift his fading orbs to thee, - And thou be happy on thy throne. - It were not kind, nay, Father, nay, - It were not just, O God, I say, - Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray! - - 'How can thy kingdom ever come, - While the fair angels howl below? - All holy voices would be dumb, - All loving eyes would fill with woe, - To think the lordliest Peer of Heaven, - The starry leader of the Seven, - Would never, never, be forgiven. - - 'Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray! - O Word that made thine angel speak! - Lord! let thy pitying tears have way; - Dear God! not man alone is weak. - What is created still must fall, - And fairest still we frailest call; - Will not Christ's blood avail for all? - - 'Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray! - O Father! think upon thy child; - Turn from thy own bright world away, - And look upon that dungeon wild. - O God! O Jesus! see how dark - That den of woe! O Saviour! mark - How angels weep, how groan! Hark, hark! - - 'He will not, will not do it more, - Restore him to his throne again; - Oh, open wide that dismal door - Which presses on the souls in pain. - So men and angels all will say, - 'Our God is good.' Oh, day by day, - Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray!' - - All night Aquinas knelt alone, - Alone with black and dreadful Night, - Until before his pleading moan - The darkness ebbed away in light. - Then rose the saint, and 'God,' said he, - 'If darkness change to light with thee, - The Devil may yet an angel be.' [197] - - -While this might be the feeling of devout philosophers whose minds -were beginning to form a conception of a Cosmos in which the idea -of a perpetual empire of Evil could find no place, the humble and -oppressed masses, as we have seen in the chapter on Witchcraft, -were familiarising their minds with the powers and glories of a -Satan in antagonism to the deities and saints of the Church. It was -not a penitent devil supplicating for pardon whom they desired, but -the veritable Prince of the World, to whom as well as to themselves -their Christian oppressors were odious. They invested the Powers which -the priests pronounced infernal with those humanly just and genial -qualities that had been discarded by ecclesiastical ambition. The -legends which must be interpreted in this sense are very numerous, -and a few of the most characteristic must suffice us here. The habit of -attributing every mishap to the Devil was rebuked in many legends. One -of these related that when a party were driving over a rough road -the waggon broke down and one of the company exclaimed, 'This is a -bit of the Devil's work!' A gentleman present said, 'It is a bit of -corporation work. I don't believe in saddling the Devil with all the -bad roads and bad axles.' Some time after, when this second speaker was -riding over the same road alone, an old gentleman in black met him, -and having thanked him for his defence of the Devil, presented him -with a casket of splendid jewels. Very numerous are legends of the -Devil's apparition to assist poor architects and mechanics unable -to complete their contracts, even carving beautiful church pillars -and the like for them, and this sometimes without receiving any -recompense. The Devil's apparition in defence of accused innocence is -a well-known feature of European folklore. On one occasion a soldier, -having stopped at a certain inn, confided to the innkeeper some money -he had for safe-keeping, and when he was about to leave the innkeeper -denied having received the deposit. The soldier battered down the door, -and the neighbours of the innkeeper, a prominent man in the town, -put him in prison, where he lay in prospect of suffering death for an -attempted burglary. The poor soldier, being a stranger without means, -was unable to obtain counsel to defend him. When the parties appeared -before the magistrate, a smart young lawyer, with blue hat and white -feathers, unknown in the town, volunteered to defend the soldier, -and related the whole story with such effect that the innkeeper in his -excitement cried, 'Devil take me if I have the money!' Instantly the -smart lawyer spread his wings, and, seizing the innkeeper, disappeared -with him through the roof of the court-room. The innkeeper's wife, -struck with horror, restored the money. In an Altmark version of -this story the Devil visits the prisoner during the previous night -and asks for his soul as fee, but the soldier refuses, saying he had -rather die. Despite this the Devil intervened. It was an old-time -custom in Denmark for courts to sit with an open window, in order -that the Devil might more easily fly away with the perjurer. - -Always a democrat, the Devil is said in many stories to have interfered -in favour of the peasant or serf against the noble. On one occasion he -relieved a certain district of all its arrogant and idle noblemen by -gathering them up in a sack and flying away with them; but unhappily, -as he was passing over the town of Friesack, his sack came in collision -with the church steeple, and through the hole so torn a large number -of noble lords fell into the town--which thence derived its name--and -there they remained to be patrons of the steeple and burthens on -the people. - -The Devil was universally regarded as a Nemesis on all publicans and -ale-wives who adulterated the beer they dealt out to the people, or -gave short measures. At Reetz, in Altmark, the legend of an ale-wife -with whom he flew away is connected with a stone on which they are said -to have rested, and the villagers see thereon prints of the Devil's -hoof and the woman's feet. This was a favourite theme of old English -legends. The accompanying Figure (23), one of the misereres in Ludlow -parish church, Shropshire, represents the end of a wicked ale-wife. A -devil on one side reads the long list of her shortcomings, and on the -other side hell-mouth is receiving other sinners. A devil with bagpipe -welcomes her arrival. She carries with her only her fraudulent measure -and the fashionable head-dress paid for out of its wicked gains. - -In a marionette performance which I witnessed at Tours, the accusations -brought against the tradesmen who cheated the people were such as to -make one wish that the services of some equally strict devil could -be secured by the authorities of all cities, to detect adulterators -and dealers in false weights and measures. The same retributive -agency, in the popular interest, was ascribed to the Devil in his -attitude towards misers. There being no law which could reach men -whose hoarded wealth brought no good to themselves or others, such -were deemed proper cases for the interposition of the Devil. There -is a significant contrast between the legends favoured by the Church -and those of popular origin. The former, made prominent in frescoes, -often show how, at the weighing of souls, the sinner is saved by a -saint or angel, or by some instance of service to the Church being -placed in the scale against the otherwise heavier record of evil -deeds. A characteristic legend is that which is the subject of the -frescoes in the portico of St. Lorenzo Church at Rome (thirteenth -century). St. Lawrence sees four devils passing his hermitage, and -learns from them that they are going for the soul of Henry II. In -the next scene, when the wicked Count is weighed, the scroll of his -evil deeds far outweighs that of his good actions, until the Saint -casts into the scale a chalice which the prince had once given to his -church. For that one act Henry's soul ascends to paradise amid the -mortification of the Devils. Though Charles Martel saved Europe from -Saracen sway, he once utilised episcopal revenues for relief of the -state; consequently a synod declares him damned, a saint sees him in -hell, a sulphurous dragon issues from his grave. On the other hand, -the popular idea of the fate of distinguished sinners may be found -hid under misereres, where kings sometimes appear in Hell, and in -the early picture-books which contained a half-christianised folklore. - -It has been observed that the early nature-deities, reflecting the -evil and good of nature, in part through the progress of human -thought and ideality, and through new ethnical rivalries, were -degraded into demons. They then represented the pains, obstructions, -and fears in nature. We have seen that as these apparent external -evils were vanquished or better understood, the demons passed -to the inward nature, and represented a new series of pains, -obstructions, and fears. But these, too, were in part vanquished, or -better understood. Still more, they so changed their forms that the -ancient demons-turned-devils were no longer sufficiently expressive -to represent them. Thus we find that the Jews, mohammedans, and -christians did not find their several special antagonists impressively -represented by either Satan, Iblis, or Beelzebub. Each, therefore, -personified its foe in accordance with later experiences--an Opponent -called Armillus, Aldajjail, Antichrist (all meaning the same thing), -in whom all other devils were merged. - -As to their spirit; but as to their forms they shrank in size and -importance, and did duty in small ways. We have seen how great dragons -were engaged in frightening boys who fished on Sundays, or oppressive -squires; how Satan presided over wine-casks, or was adapted to the -punishment of profanity; how hosts of once tremendous fiends turned -into the grotesque little forms which Callot, truly copying the popular -notions around him, painted as motley imps disturbing monks at their -prayers. Such diminutions of the devils correspond to a parallel -process among the gods and goddesses, by which they were changed to -'little people' or fairies. In both cases the transformation is an -expression of popular disbelief in their reality. - -But revivals took place. The fact of evil is permanent; and whenever -the old chains of fear, after long rusting, finally break, there -follows an insurrection against the social and moral order which -alarms the learned and the pious. These see again the instigations -of evil powers, and it takes form in the imagination of a Dante, -a Luther, a Milton. But when these new portraits of the Devil are -painted, it is with so much contemporary colouring that they do not -answer to the traditional devils preserved in folklore. Dante's Worm -does not resemble the serpent of fable, nor does Milton's Satan -answer to the feathered clown of Miracle Plays. Thus, behind the -actual evils which beset any time, there stands an array of grand -diabolical names, detached from present perils, on which the popular -fancy may work without really involving any theory of Absolute Evil -at all. Were starry Lucifer to be restored to his heavenly sphere, -he would be one great brand plucked from the burning, but the burning -might still go on. Theology itself had filled the world with other -devils by diabolising all the gods and goddesses of rival religions, -and the compassionate heart was thus left free to select such forms or -fair names as preserved some remnant of ancient majesty around them, -or some ray from their once divine halo, and pray or hope for their -pardon and salvation. Fallen foes, no longer able to harm, can hardly -fail to awaken pity and clemency. - -With the picture of Dives and Lazarus presented elsewhere -(vol. i. p. 281) may be instructively compared the accompanying -scene of a rich man's death-bed (Fig. 24), taken from 'Ars Moriendi,' -one of the early block-books. This picture is very remarkable from -the suggestion it contains of an opposition between a devil on the -dying man's right and the hideous dragon on his left. While the -dragon holds up a scroll, bidding him think of his treasure (Yntende -thesauro), the Devil suggests provision for his friends (Provideas -amicis). This devil seems to be a representative of the rich man's -relatives who stand near, and appears to be supported by his ugly -superior, who points towards hell as the penalty of not making such -provision as is suggested. There would appear to be in this picture -a vague distinction between the mere bestial fiend who tempts, and -the ugly but good-natured devil who punishes, and whom rich sinners -cannot escape by bequests to churches. - -One of the most notable signs of the appearance of 'the good Devil' -was the universal belief that he invariably stuck to his word. In -all European folklore there is no instance of his having broken a -promise. In this respect his reputation stands far higher than that -of the christians, seeing that it was a boast of the saints that, -following the example of their godhead, who outwitted Satan in the -bargain for man's redemption, they were continually cheating the -Devil by technical quibbles. There is a significant saying found -among Prussian and Danish peasants, that you may obtain a thing by -calling on Jesus, but if you would be sure of it you must call on -the Devil! The two parties were judged by their representatives. - -One of the earliest legendary compacts with the Devil was that made -by St. Theophilus in the sixth century; when he became alarmed and -penitent, the Virgin Mary managed to trick Satan out of the fatal -bond. The 'Golden Legend' of Jacobus de Voragine tells why Satan was -under the necessity of demanding in every case a bond signed with -blood. 'The christians,' said Satan, 'are cheats; they make all sorts -of promises so long as they want me, and then leave me in the lurch, -and reconcile themselves with Christ so soon as, by my help, they -have got what they want.' - -Even apart from the consideration of possessing the soul, the -ancient office of Satan as legal prosecutor of souls transmitted, -to the latest forms into which he was modified, this character for -justice. Many mediæval stories report his gratitude whenever he is -treated with justice, though some of these are disguised by connection -with other demonic forms. Such is the case with the following romance -concerning Charlemagne. - -When Charlemagne dwelt at Zurich, in the house commonly called 'Zum -Loch,' he had a column erected to which a bell was attached by a -rope. Any one that demanded justice could ring this bell when the -king was at his meals. It happened one day that the bell sounded, -but when the servants went to look no one was there. It continued -ringing, so the Emperor commanded them to go again and find out the -cause. They now remarked that an enormous serpent approached the rope -and pulled it. Terrified, they brought the news to the Emperor, who -immediately rose in order to administer justice to beast as well as -man. After the reptile had respectfully inclined before the emperor, -it led him to the banks of the river and showed him, sitting upon -its nest and eggs, an enormous toad. Charlemagne having examined -the case decided thus:--The toad was condemned to be burnt and -justice shown to the serpent. The verdict was no sooner given than -it was accomplished. A few days after the snake returned to court, -bowed low to the King, crept upon the table, took the cover from a -gold goblet standing there, dropped into it a precious stone, bowed -again and crept away. On the spot where the serpent's nest had been, -Charlemagne built a church called 'Wasserkelch.' The stone he gave -to his much-loved spouse. This stone possessed the power of making -the owner especially loved by the Emperor, so that when absent from -his queen he mourned and longed for her. She, well aware that if -it came into other hands the Emperor would soon forget her, put it -under her tongue in the hour of death. The queen was buried with -the stone, but Charlemagne could not separate himself from the body, -so had it exhumed, and for eighteen years carried it about with him -wherever he went. In the meantime, a courtier who had heard of the -secret virtue of the stone, searched the corpse, and at last found -the stone hidden under the tongue, and took it away and concealed it -on his own person. Immediately the Emperor's love for his wife turned -to the courtier, whom he now scarcely permitted out of his sight. At -Cologne the courtier in a fit of anger threw the stone into a hot -spring, and since then no one has succeeded in finding it. The love -the Emperor had for the knight ceased, but he felt himself wonderfully -attracted to the place where the stone lay hidden. On this spot he -founded Aix-la-Chapelle, his subsequent favourite place of residence. - -It is not wonderful that the tradition should arise at Aix, founded -by the human hero of this romance, that the plan of its cathedral -was supplied by the Devil; but it is characteristic there should be -associated with this legend an example of how he who as a serpent -was awarded justice by Charlemagne was cheated by the priests of -Aix. The Devil gave the design on condition that he was to have the -first who entered the completed cathedral, and a wolf was goaded into -the structure in fulfilment of the contract! - -In the ancient myth and romaunt of 'Merlin' may be found the mediæval -witness to the diabolised religion of Britain. The emasculated -saints of the South-east could not satisfy the vigorous race in the -North-west, and when its gods were outlawed as devils they brought -the chief of them back, as it were, had him duly baptized and set -about his old work in the form of Merlin! Here, side by side with the -ascetic Jesus, brought by Gatien and Augustin, was a Northern Christ, -son of an Arch-incubus, born of a Virgin, baptized in the shrunken -Jordan of a font, performing miracles, summoning dragons to his aid, -overcoming Death and Hell in his way, brought before his Pilate but -confounding him, throning and dethroning kings, and leading forth, on -the Day of Pentecost, an army whose knights are inspired by Guenever's -kisses in place of flaming tongues. How Merlin 'went about doing good,' -after the Northman's ideal of such work; how he saved the life of his -unwedded mother by proving that her child (himself) was begotten by -a devil without her knowledge; how, as a child, he exposed at once -the pretension of the magistrate to high birth and the laxity of his -lady and his parson; how he humiliated the priestly astrologers of -Vortigern, and prophesied the destruction of that usurper just as -it came to pass; how he served Uther during his seven years' reign, -and by enabling him to assume the shape of the Duke of Cornwall -and so enjoy the embraces of the Duchess Igerna, secured the birth -of Arthur and hope of the Sangréal; [198] how he defended Arthur's -legitimacy of birth and assisted him in causing illegitimate births; -and how at last he was bound by his own spells, wielded by Vivien, -in a prison of air where he now remains;--this was the great mediæval -gospel of a baptized christian Antichrist which superseded the imported -kingdom not of this world. - -Merlin was the Good Devil, but baptism was a fatal Vivien-spell to -him. He still dwells in all the air which is breathed by Anglo-Saxon -men,--an ever-expanding prison! Whether the Briton is transplanted in -America, India, or Africa, he still carries with him the Sermon on the -Mount as inspired by his baptized Prince of the Air, and his gospel -of the day is, 'If thine enemy hunger, starve him; if he thirst, give -him fire; if he hate you, heap melted lead on his head!' Such remains -the soul of the greatest race, under the fatal spell of a creed that -its barbarism needs only baptism to be made holiness and virtue. - -In the reign of George II., when Lord Bute and a Princess of easy -virtue were preying on England, and fanatical preachers were -directing their donkeys to heaven beside the conflagration of -John Bull's house, the eye of Hogarth at least (as is shown in our -Figure 25, from his 'Raree Show') was able to see what the baptized -Merlin had become in his realm of Air. The other worldly-Devil is -serpent-legged Hypocrisy. The Nineteenth Century has replaced Merlin -by Mephistopheles, the Devil who, despite a cloven foot, steps firmly -on earth, and means the power that wit and culture can bring against -the baptized giant Force. Him the gods fear not, even look upon with -satisfaction. In the 'Prologue in Heaven,' of Goethe's 'Faust,' the -Lord is even more gracious to Mephistopheles than the Jehovah of Job -was to Satan. 'The like of thee have never moved my hate,' he says-- - - - Man's active nature, flagging, seeks too soon the level; - Unqualified repose he learns to crave; - Whence, willingly, the comrade him I gave, - Who works, excites, and must create, as Devil. - - -This is but a more modern expression of the rabbinical fable, -already noted, that when the first man was formed there were beside -him two Spirits,--one on the right that remained quiescent, another -on the left who ever moved restlessly up and down. When the first -sin was committed, he of the left was changed to a devil. But he -still meant the progressive, inquiring nature of man. 'The Spirit I, -that evermore denies,' says the Mephistopheles of Goethe. How shall -man learn truth if he know not the Spirit that denies? How shall -he advance if he know not the Spirit of discontent? This restless -spirit gains through his ignorance a cloven hoof,--a divided movement, -sometimes right, sometimes wrong. From his selfishness it acquires -a double tongue. But both hoof and serpent-tongue are beneath the -evolutional power of experience; they shall be humanised to the foot -that marches firmly on earth, and the tongue that speaks truth; and, -the baptismal spell broken, Merlin shall descend, bringing to man's -aid all his sharp-eyed dragons transformed to beautiful Arts. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - -ANIMALISM. - - Celsus on Satan--Ferocities of inward nature--The Devil - of Lust--Celibacy--Blue Beards--Shudendozi--A lady in - distress--Bahirawa--The Black Prince--Madana Yaksenyo--Fair - fascinators--Devil of Jealousy--Eve's jealousy--Noah's wife--How - Satan entered the Ark--Shipwrights' Dirge--The Second Fall--The - Drunken curse--Solomon's Fall--Cellar Devils--Gluttony--The - Vatican haunted--Avarice--Animalised Devils--Man-shaped Animals. - - -'The christians,' said Celsus, 'dream of some antagonist to God--a -devil, whom they call Satanas, who thwarted God when he wished to -benefit mankind. The Son of God suffered death from Satanas, but -they tell us we are to defy him, and to bear the worst he can do; -Satanas will come again and work miracles, and pretend to be God, -but we are not to believe him. The Greeks tell of a war among the -gods; army against army, one led by Saturn, and one by Ophincus; of -challenges and battles; the vanquished falling into the ocean, the -victors reigning in heaven. In the Mysteries we have the rebellion -of the Titans, and the fables of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris. The -story of the Devil plotting against man is stranger than either of -these. The Son of God is injured by the Devil, and charges us to -fight against him at our peril. Why not punish the Devil instead of -threatening poor wretches whom he deceives?' [199] - -The christians comprehended as little as their critic that story -they brought, stranger than all the legends of besieged deities, of a -Devil plotting against man. Yet a little historic perspective makes -the situation simple: the gods had taken refuge in man, therefore -the attack was transferred to man. - -Priestly legends might describe the gods as victorious over the -Titans, the wild forces of nature, but the people, to their sorrow, -knew better; the priests, in dealing with the people, showed that -they also knew the victory to be on the other side. A careful writer -remarks:--'When these (Greek) divinities are in any case appealed to -with unusual seriousness, their nature-character reappears.... When -Poseidon hesitates to defer to the positive commands of Zeus -(Il. xix. 259), Iris reminds him that there are the Erinnyes to -be reckoned with (Il. xv. 204), and he gives in at once. [200] The -Erinnyes represent the steady supremacy of the laws and forces of -nature over all personifications of them. Under uniform experience -man had come to recognise his own moral autocracy in his world. He -looked for incarnations, and it was a hope born of an atheistic view -of external nature. This was the case not only with the evolution of -Greek religion, but in that of every religion. - -When man's hope was thus turned to rest upon man, he found that -all the Titans had followed him. Ophincus (Ophion) had passed -through Ophiomorphus to be a Man of Sin; and this not in one, but -by corresponding forms in every line of religious development. The -ferocities of outward nature appeared with all their force in man, and -renewed their power with the fine armoury of his intelligence. He must -here contend with tempests of passion, stony selfishness, and the whole -animal creation nestling in heart and brain, prowling still, though on -two feet. The theory of evolution is hardly a century old as science, -but it is an ancient doctrine of Religion. The fables of Pilpay and -Æsop represent an early recognition of 'survivals.' Recurrence to -original types was recognised as a mystical phenomenon in legends of -the bandit turned wolf, and other transformations. One of the oldest -doctrines of Eschatology is represented in the accompanying picture -(Fig. 26), from Thebes, of two dog-headed apes ferrying over to Hades -a gluttonous soul that has been weighed before Osiris, and assigned -his appropriate form. - -The devils of Lust are so innumerable that several volumes would be -required to enumerate the legends and superstitions connected with -them. But, fortunately for my reader and myself, these, more than -any other class of phantoms, are very slight modifications of the -same form. The innumerable phallic deities, the incubi and succubæ, -are monotonous as the waves of the ocean, which might fairly typify -the vast, restless, and stormy expanse of sexual nature to which -they belong. - -In 'The Golden Legend' there is a pleasant tale of a gentleman -who, having fallen into poverty, went into solitude, and was there -approached by a chevalier in black, mounted on a fine horse. This -knight having inquired the reason of the other's sadness, promised -him that, if he would return home, he would find at a certain place -vast sums of gold; but this was on condition that he should bring his -beautiful wife to that solitary spot in exactly a year's time. The -gentleman, having lived in greater splendour than ever during the -year, asked his wife to ride out with him on the appointed day. She -was very pious, and having prayed to the Virgin, accompanied her -husband to the spot. There the gentleman in black met them, but only -to tremble. 'Perfidious man!' he cried, 'is it thus you repay my -benefits? I asked you to bring your wife, and you have brought me -the Mother of God, who will send me back to hell!' The Devil having -vanished, the gentleman fell on his knees before the Virgin. He -returned home to find his wife sleeping quietly. - -Were we to follow this finely-mounted gentleman in black, we should be -carried by no uncertain steps back to those sons of God who took unto -themselves wives of the daughters of men, as told in Genesis; and if -we followed the Virgin, we should, by less certain but yet probable -steps, discover her prototype in Eve before her fall, virginal as -she was meant to remain so far as man was concerned. In the chapters -relating to the Eden myth and its personages, I have fully given my -reasons for believing that the story of Eve, the natural childlessness -of Sarah, and the immaculate conception by Mary, denote, as sea-rocks -sometimes mark the former outline of a coast, a primitive theory -of celibacy in connection with that of a divine or Holy Family. It -need only be added here that this impossible ideal in its practical -development was effectual in restraining the sexual passions of -mankind. Although the reckless proclamation of the wild nature-gods -(Elohim), 'Be fruitful and multiply,' has been accepted by christian -bibliolators as the command of Jehovah, and philanthropists are even -punished for suggesting means of withstanding the effects of nuptial -licentiousness, yet they are farther from even the letter of the Bible -than those protestant celibates, the American Shakers, who discard -the sexual relation altogether. The theory of the Shakers that the -functions of sex 'belong to a state of nature, and are inconsistent -with a state of grace,' as one of their members in Ohio stated it to -me, coincides closely with the rabbinical theory that Adam and Eve, -by their sin, fell to the lowest of seven earthly spheres, and thus -came within the influence of the incubi and succubæ, by their union -with whom the world was filled with the demonic races, or Gentiles. - -It is probable that the fencing-off of Eden, the founding of the -Abrahamic household and family, and the command against adultery, were -defined against that system of rape--or marriage by capture--which -prevailed among the 'sons of Elohim,' who saw the 'daughters of men -that they were fair,' and followed the law of their eyes. The older -rabbins were careful to preserve the distinction between the Bene -Elohim and the Ischim, and it ultimately amounted to that between -Jews and Gentiles. - -The suspicion of a devil lurking behind female beauty thus begins. The -devils love beauty, and the beauties love admiration. These are perils -in the constitution of the family. But there are other legends which -report the frequency with which woman was an unwilling victim of the -lustful Anakim or other powerful lords. Throughout the world are -found legends of beautiful virgins sacrificed to powerful demons -or deities. These are sometimes so realistic as to suggest the -possibility that the fair captives of savage chieftains may indeed -have been sometimes victims of their Ogre's voracity as well as his -lust. At any rate, cruelty and lust are nearly related. The Blue -Beard myth opens out horrible possibilities. - -One of the best-known legends in Japan is that concerning the -fiend Shudendozi, who derives his name from the two characteristics -of possessing the face of a child and being a heavy drinker. The -child-face is so emphasised in the stories that one may suspect either -that his fair victims were enticed to his stronghold by his air of -innocence, or else that there is some hint as to maternal longings -in the fable. - -At the beginning of the eleventh century, when Ichijo II. was Emperor, -lived the hero Yorimitsa. In those days the people of Kiyoto were -troubled by an evil spirit which abode near the Rasho Gate. One night, -when merry with his companions, Ichijo said, 'Who dare go and defy -the demon of the Rasho Gate, and set up a token that he has been -there?' 'That dare I,' answered Tsuma, who, having donned his mail, -rode out in the bleak night to the Rasho Gate. Having written his -name on the gate, returning, his horse shivers with fear, and a -huge hand coming out of the gate seized the knight's helmet. He -struggled in vain. He then cuts off the demon's arm, and the demon -flies howling. Tsuma takes the demon's arm home, and locks it in a -box. One night the demon, having the shape of Tsuma's aunt, came and -said, 'I pray you show me the arm of the fiend.' 'I will show it to -no man, and yet to thee will I show it,' replied he. When the box -is opened a black cloud enshrouds the aunt, and the demon disappears -with the arm. Thereafter he is more troublesome than ever. The demon -carried off the fairest virgins of Kiyoto, ravished and ate them, -no beauty being left in the city. The Emperor commands Yorimitsa to -destroy him. The hero, with four trusty knights and a great captain, -went to the hidden places of the mountains. They fell in with an -old man, who invited them into his dwelling, and gave them wine to -drink; and when they were going he presented them with wine. This -old man was a mountain-god. As they proceeded they met a beautiful -lady washing blood from garments in a valley, weeping bitterly. In -reply to their inquiries she said the demon had carried her off -and kept her to wash his clothes, meaning when weary of her to -eat her. 'I pray your lordships to help me!' The six heroes bid -her lead them to the ogre's cave. One hundred devils mounted guard -before it. The woman first went in and told him they had come. The -ogre called them in, meaning to eat them. Then they saw Shudendozi, -a monster with the face of a little child. They offered him wine, -which flew to his head: he becomes merry and sleeps, and his head is -cut off. The head leaps up and tries to bite Yorimitsa, but he had -on two helmets. When all the devils are slain, he brings the head -of Shudendozi to the Emperor. In a similar story of the same country -the lustful ogre by no means possesses Shudendozi's winning visage, -as may be seen by the popular representation of him (Fig. 27), with -a knight's hand grasping his throat. - -A Singhalese demon of like class is Bahirawa, who takes his name -from the hill of the same name, towering over Kandy, in which he -is supposed to reside. The legend runs that the astrologers told -a king whose queen was afflicted by successive miscarriages, that -she would never be delivered of a healthy child unless a virgin was -sacrificed annually on the top of this hill. This being done, several -children were borne to him. When his queen was advanced in years the -king discontinued this observance, and consequently many diseases -fell upon the royal family and the city, after which the annual -sacrifice was resumed, and continued until 1815, when the English -occupied Kandy. The method of the sacrifice was to bind a young girl -to a stake on the top of the hill with jungle-creepers. Beside her, -on an altar, were placed boiled rice and flowers; incantations were -uttered, and the girl left, to be generally found dead of fright in the -morning. An old woman, who in early years had undergone this ordeal, -survived, and her safety no doubt co-operated with English authority -to diminish the popular fear of Bahirawa, but still few natives would -be found courageous enough to ascend the hill at night. - -One of the lustful demons of Ceylon is Calu Cumara, that is, the Black -Prince. He is supposed to have seven different apparitions,--prince -of fire, of flowers, of groves, of graves, of eye-ointments, of -the smooth body, and of sexuality. The Saga says he was a Buddhist -priest, who by exceeding asceticism and accumulated merits had gained -the power to fly, but passion for a beautiful woman caused him to -fall. By disappointment in the love for which he had parted with so -much his heart was broken, and he became a demon. In this condition -he is for ever tortured by the passion of lustful desire, the only -satisfaction of which he can obtain being to afflict young and fair -women with illness. He is a very dainty demon, and can be soothed if -great care is taken in the offerings made to him, which consist of -rice of finest quality, plantains, sugar-cane, oranges, cocoa-nuts, -and cakes. He is of dark-blue complexion and his raiment black. - -In Singhalese demonolatry there are seven female demons of lust, -popularly called the Madana Yaksenyo. These sisters are--Cama (lust); -Cini (fire); Mohanee (ignorance); Rutti (pleasure); Cala (maturity); -Mal (flowers); Puspa (perfumes). They are the abettors of seduction, -and are invoked in the preparation of philtres. [201] - -'It were well,' said Jason to Medea, 'that the female race should -not exist; then would there not have been any evil among men.' [202] -The same sentiment is in Milton-- - - - Oh why did God, - Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven - With spirits masculine, create at last - This novelty on earth, this fair defect - Of nature, and not fill the world at once - With men, as angels, without feminine? [203] - - -Many traditions preceded this ungallant creed, some of which have -been referred to in our chapters on Lilith and Eve. Corresponding -to these are the stories related by Herodotus of the overthrow of -the kingdom of the Heraclidæ and freedom of the Greeks, through -the revenge of the Queen, 'the most beautiful of women,' upon her -husband Candaules for having contrived that Gyges should see her -naked. Candaules having been slain by Gyges at the instigation of the -Queen, and married her, the Fates decreed that their crime should be -punished on their fifth descendant. The overthrow was by Cyrus, and -it was associated with another woman, Mandane, daughter of the tyrant -Astyages, mother of Cyrus, who is thus, as the Madonna, to bruise -the head of the serpent who had crept into the Greek Paradise. [204] -The Greeks of Pontus also ascribed the origin of the Scythian race, -the scourge of all nations, to a serpent-woman, who, having stolen -away the mares which Herakles had captured from Gergon, refused to -restore them except on condition of having children by him. From the -union of Herakles with this 'half virgin, half viper,' sprang three -sons, of whom the youngest was Scythes. - -Not only are feminine seductiveness and liability to seduction -represented in the legends of female demons and devils, but quite as -much the jealousy of that sex. If the former were weaknesses which -might overthrow kingdoms, the latter was a species of animalism which -could devastate the home and society. Although jealousy is sometimes -regarded as venial, if not indeed a sign of true love, it is an outcome -of the animal nature. The Japanese have shown a true observation of -nature in portraying their female Oni (devil) of jealousy (Fig. 28) -with sharp erect horns and bristling hair. The raising 'of the -ornamental plumes by many birds during their courtship,' mentioned -by Mr. Darwin, is the more pleasing aspect of that emotion which, -blending with fear and rage, puffs out the lizard's throat, ruffles -the cock's neck, and raises the hair of the insane. [205] - -An ancient legend mingles jealousy with the myth of Eden at every -step. Rabbi Jarchi says that the serpent was jealous of Adam's -connubial felicity, and a passage in Josephus shows that this was an -ancient opinion. The jealousy of Adam's second wife felt by his first -(Lilith) was by many said to be the cause of her conspiracy with -the serpent. The most beautiful mediæval picture of her that I have -seen was in an illuminated Bible in Strasburg, in which, with all -her wealth of golden hair and her beauty, Lilith holds her mouth, -with a small rosy apple in it, towards Adam. Eve seems to snatch -it. Then there is an old story that when Eve had eaten the apple -she saw the angel of death, and urged Adam to eat the fruit also, -in order that he might not become a widower. - -It is remarkable that there should have sprung up a legend that Satan -made his second attack upon the race formed by Jehovah, and his plan -for perpetuating it on earth by means of a flirtation with Noah's -wife, and also by awakening her jealousy. The older legend concerning -Noah's wife is that mentioned by Tabari, which merely states that she -ridiculed the predictions of a deluge by her husband. So much might -have been suggested by the silence of the Bible concerning her. The -Moslem tradition that the Devil managed to get into the ark is also -ancient. He caught hold of the ass's tail just as it was about to -enter. The ass came on slowly, and Noah, becoming impatient, exclaimed, -'You cursed one, come in quick!' When Noah, seeing the Devil in the -ark, asked by what right he was there, the other said, 'By your order; -you said, "Accursed one, come in;" I am the accursed one!' This story, -which seems contrived to show that one may not be such an ass as he -looks, was superseded by the legend which represents Satan as having -been brought into the ark concealed under Noria's (or Noraita's) dress. - -The most remarkable legend of this kind is that found in the Eastern -Church, and which is shown in various mediæval designs in Russia. Satan -is shown, in an early sixteenth century picture belonging to Count -Uvarof (Fig. 29), offering Noah's wife a bunch of khmel (hops) with -which to brew kvas and make Noah drunk; for the story was that Noah -did not tell his wife that a deluge was coming, knowing that she -could not keep a secret. In the old version of the legend given by -Buslaef, 'after apocryphal tradition used by heretics,' Satan always -addresses Noah's wife as Eve, which indicates a theory. It was meant -to be considered as a second edition of the attack on the divine -plan begun in Eden, and revived in the temptation of Sara. Satan not -only taught this new Eve how to make kvas but also vodka (brandy); -and when he had awakened her jealousy about Noah's frequent absence, -he bade her substitute the brandy for the beer when her husband, -as usual, asked for the latter. When Noah was thus in his cups she -asked him where he went, and why he kept late hours. He revealed his -secret to his Eve, who disclosed it to Satan. The tempter appears -to have seduced her from Noah, and persuaded her to be dilatory when -entering the ark. When all the animals had gone in, and all the rest -of her family, Eve said, 'I have forgotten my pots and pans,' and went -to fetch them; next she said, 'I have forgotten my spoons and forks,' -and returned for them. All of this had been arranged by Satan in order -to make Noah curse; and he had just slipped under Eve's skirt when he -had the satisfaction of hearing the intended Adam of a baptized world -cry to his wife, 'Accursed one, come in!' Since Jehovah himself could -not prevent the carrying out of a patriarch's curse, Satan was thus -enabled to enter the ark, save himself from being drowned, and bring -mischief into the human world once more. - -This is substantially the same legend as that of the mediæval Morality -called 'Noah's Ark, or the Shipwright's Ancient Play or Dirge.' The -Devil says to Noah's wife:-- - - - Yes, hold thee still le dame, - And I shall tell thee how; - I swear thee by my crooked snout, - All that thy husband goes about - Is little to thy profit. - Yet shall I tell thee how - Thou shalt meet all his will; - Do as I shall bid thee now, - Thou shalt meet every deal. - Have here a drink full good - That is made of a mightful main, - Be he hath drunken a drink of this, - No longer shall he learn: - Believe, believe, my own dear dame, - I may no longer bide; - To ship when thou shalt sayre, - I shall be by thy side. - - -There are some intimations in the Slavonic version which look as if -it might have belonged to some Paulician or other half-gnostic theory -that the temptation of Noraita (Eve II.), and her alienation from -her husband, were meant to prevent the repopulation of the Earth. [206] - -The next attempt of the Devil, as agent of the Elohistic creation, -to ruin the race of man, introduces us to another form of animalism -which has had a large expression in Devil-lore. It is related in -rabbinical mythology that when, as is recorded in Gen. ix. 20, Noah -was planting a vineyard, the Devil (Asmodeus) came and proposed to -join him in the work. This having been agreed to, this evil partner -brought in succession a sheep, a lion, and a hog, and sacrificed -them on the spot. The result was that the wine when drunk first gave -the drinker the quality of a sheep, then that of a lion, and finally -that of a hog. [207] It was by this means that Noah was reduced to -swinish inebriation. There followed the curses on those around him, -which, however drunken, were those of a father, and reproduced on -the cleansed world all the dooms which had been pronounced in Eden. - -If the date of this legend could be made early enough, it would appear -to be a sort of revenge for this temptation of Noah to drunkenness -that Talmudic fable shows Asmodeus brought under bondage to Solomon, -and forced to work on the Temple, by means of wine. Asmodeus had -dug for himself a well, and planted beside it a tree, so making for -himself a pleasant spot for repose during his goings to and fro on -earth. But Solomon's messenger Benaja managed to cover this with a -tank which he filled with wine. Asmodeus, on his return, repeated -to himself the proverb, 'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, -and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise' (Prov. xx. 1); yet, -being very thirsty, he drank, fell asleep, and when he awoke found -himself loaded with chains. - -However, after working for a time for Solomon, he discovered that -king's weaknesses and played upon them. Solomon was so puffed up with -a sense of his power that he accepted a challenge from his slave -(Asmodeus) to show his superiority without the assistance of his -magic ring, and without keeping his competitor in bonds. No sooner -was Asmodeus free, and in possession of the ring, than he transported -Solomon four hundred miles away, where he remained for a long time -among the seductive beauties of the Courts of Naamah, Rahab, and -other she-devils. Meanwhile the Devil, assuming the form of Solomon, -sat on his throne, and became the darling of his Queen and concubines. - -The Devil of Wine and strong drink generally has a wide representation -in folklore. We find him in the bibulous Serpent of Japan, who first -loses his eight heads metaphorically, and then literally from the first -of Swords-men. The performances of Mephistopheles in Auerbach's Cellar -are commemorated in its old frescoes, and its motto: 'Live, drink, -carouse, remembering Faust and his punishment: it came slowly, but was -in ample measure.' Thuringian legends relate that the Devil tries to -stop the building of churches by casting down the stones, but this may -be stopped by the builders promising to erect a winehouse in the same -neighbourhood. An old English legend relates that a great man's cellar -was haunted by devils who drank up his wine. On one occasion a barrel -was marked with holy water, and the devil was found stuck fast on it. - -Gluttony, both in eating and drinking, has had its many -personifications. The characteristics of the Hunger demons are -travestied in such devils as these, only the diabolical, as -distinguished from the demonic element, appears in features of -luxuriousness. The contrast between the starveling saints of the -early Church and the well-fed friars of later times was a frequent -subject of caricature, as in the accompanying example (Fig. 30) from -the British Museum, fourteenth century (MS. Arundel), where a lean -devil is satisfying himself through a fattened friar. One of the most -significant features of the old legend of Faust is the persistence of -the animal character in which Mephistopheles appears. He is an ugly -dog--a fit emblem of the scholar's relapse into the canine temper which -flies at the world as at a bone he means to gnaw. Faust does not like -this genuine form, and bids the Devil change it. Mephistopheles then -takes the form of a Franciscan friar; but 'the kernel of the brute' -is in him still, and he at once loads Faust's table with luxuries and -wines from the cellars of the Archbishop of Salzburg and other rich -priests. The prelates are fond of their bone too. When Mephistopheles -and Faust find their way into the Vatican, it is to witness carousals -of the Pope and his Cardinals. They snatch from them their luxuries and -wine-goblets as they are about to enjoy them. Against these invisible -invaders the holy men bring their crucifixes and other powers of -exorcism; and it is all snarling and growling--canine priest against -puppy astrologer. Nor was it very different in the history of the -long contention between the two for the big bone of Christendom. - -The lust of Gold had its devils, and they were not different from -other types of animalism. This was especially the case with such -as represented money, extorted from the people to supply wealth to -dissolute princes and prelates. The giants of Antwerp represent the -power of the pagan monarchs who exacted tribute; but these were -replaced by such guardians of tribute-money as the Satyr of our -picture (Fig. 31), which Edward the Confessor saw seated on a barrel -of Danegeld, - - - Vit un déable saer desus - Le tresor, noir et hidus. - - -There are many good fables in European folklore with regard to the -miser's gold, and 'devil's money' generally, which exhibit a fine -instinct. A man carries home a package of such gold, and on opening it -there drop out, instead of money, paws and nails of cats, frogs, and -bears--the latter being an almost personal allusion to the Exchange. A -French miser's money-safe being opened, two frogs only were found. The -Devil could not get any other soul than the gold, and the cold-blooded -reptiles were left as a sign of the life that had been lived. - -In the legends of the swarms of devils which beset St. Anthony we -find them represented as genuine animals. Our Anglo-Saxon fathers, -however, were quite unable to appreciate the severity of the conflict -which man had to wage with the animal world in Southern countries and -in earlier times. Nor had their reverence for nature and its forms -been crushed out by the pessimist theory of the earth maintained by -Christianity. Gradually the representation of the animal tempters was -modified, and instead of real animal forms there were reported the -bearded bestialities which surrounded St. Guthlac and St. Godric. The -accompanying picture (Fig. 32) is a group from Breughel (1565), -representing the devils called around St. James by a magician. These -grotesque forms will repay study. If we should make a sketch of the -same kind, only surrounding the saint with the real animal shapes -most nearly resembling these nondescripts, it would cease to be a -diabolical scene. - -For beastliness is not a character of beasts; it is the arrest of -man. It is not the picturesque donkey in the meadow that is ridiculous, -but the donkey on two feet; not the bear of zoological gardens that -is offensive morally, but the rough, who cannot always be caged; it -is the two-legged calf, the snake pretending to be a man, the ape in -evening dress, who ever made the problem of evil at all formidable. It -was insoluble until men had discovered as Science that law of Evolution -which the ancient world knew as Ethics. - -A Hindu fable relates that the animals, in their migration, came to -an abyss they could not cross, and that the gods made man as a bridge -across it. Science and Reason confirm these ancient instincts of our -race. Man is that bridge stretching between the animal and the ideal -habitat by which, if the development be normal, all the passions pass -upward into educated powers. Any pause or impediment on that bridge -brings all the animals together to rend and tear the man who cannot -convey them across the abyss. A very slight arrest may reveal to a -man that he is a vehicle of intensified animalism. The lust of the -goat, the pride of the peacock, the wrath of the lion, beautiful in -their appropriate forms, become, in the guise of a man uncontrolled -by reason, the vices which used to be called possession, and really -are insanities. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - -THOUGHTS AND INTERPRETATIONS. - - -I lately heard the story of a pious negro woman whose faith in hell -was sorely tried by a sceptic who asked her how brimstone enough could -be found to burn all the wicked people in the world. After taking -some days for reflection, the old woman, when next challenged by the -sceptic, replied, that she had concluded that 'every man took his -own brimstone.' This humble saint was unconscious that her instinct -had reached the finest thought of Milton, whose Satan says 'Myself am -hell.' Marlowe's Mephistopheles also says, 'Where we are is hell.' And, -far back as the year 633, the holy man Fursey, who believed himself to -have been guided by an angel near the region of the damned, related -a vision much like the view of the African woman. There were four -fires--Falsehood, Covetousness, Discord, Injustice--which joined to -form one great flame. When this drew near, Fursey, in fear, said, -'Lord, behold the fire draws near me.' The angel answered, 'That -which you did not kindle shall not burn you.' - -Such association of any principle of justice, even in form so crude, -has become rare enough in Christendom to excite applause when it -appears, though the applause has about it that infusion of the -grotesque which one perceives when gallery-gods cheer the actor who -heroically declares that a man ought not to strike a woman. When we -go back to the atmosphere of Paganism we find that retribution had -among them a real meaning. Nothing can be in more remarkable contrast -than the disorderly characterless hell of Christendom, into which the -murderer and the man who confuses the Persons of the Godhead alike -burn everlastingly in most inappropriate fires, and the Hades of Egypt, -Greece, and Rome, where every punishment bears relation to the offence, -and is limited in duration to the degree of the offence. - -'The Egyptians,' says Herodotus (ii. 123), 'were the first who asserted -that the soul of man is immortal, and that when the body perishes it -enters into some other animal, constantly springing into existence; and -when it has passed through the different kinds of terrestrial, marine, -and aerial beings, it again enters into the body of a man that is born, -and that this revolution is made in three thousand years.' Probably -Plato imported from Egypt his fancy of the return of one dead to -relate the scenes of heaven and hell, Er the Armenian (Republic, -x. 614) suggesting an evolution of Rhampsinitus (Herod. ii. 122), -who descended to Hades alive, played dice with Ceres, and brought -back gold. The vision of Er represents a terrible hell, indeed, but -those punished were chiefly murderers and tyrants. They are punished -tenfold for every wrong they had committed. But when this punishment -is ended, each soul must return to the earth in such animal form -as he or she might select. The animals, too, had their choice. Er -saw that the choice was generally determined by the previous earthly -life,--many becoming animals because of some spite derived from their -experience. 'And not only did men pass into animals, but I must also -mention that there were animals tame and wild who changed into one -another, and into corresponding human natures, the good into the -gentle, the evil into the savage, in all sorts of combinations.' Sly -Plato! Such is his estimate of what men's selections of their paradises -are worth! - -Orpheus chose to be a swan, hating to be born of woman, because women -murdered him; Ajax became a lion and Agamemnon an eagle, because -they had suffered injustice from men; Atalanta would be an athlete, -and the jester Thersites a monkey; and Odysseus went about to find -the life of a private gentleman with nothing to do. If Plutarch's -friend Thespesius had pondered well this irony of Plato, he would -hardly have brought back from his visit to Hades the modification -that demons were provided to assign the animal forms in which souls -should be born again on earth. They could hardly have done for the -wicked anything worse than Plato shows them doing for themselves. But -the meaning of Plutarch is the same. Thespesius sees demons preparing -the body of a viper for Nero to be born into, since it was said the -young of that reptile destroy their mother at birth. - - - -Among the Persians the idea of future rewards and punishments exceeds -the exactness of the Koran--'Whoso hath done an atom of justice shall -behold it, and whoso hath done an atom of injustice shall behold -it.' The Persian Sufis will even subdivide the soul rather than that -any good act should go down with the larger gross of wickedness. Sádi -tells of a vision where a man was seen in hell, all except one foot, -which was twined with flowers. With all his wickedness the man had -with that foot shoved a bundle of hay within reach of a weary ox. - -But while Persian poets--Sufis, ennobling the old name -Sophist--preserved thus a good deal of the universalism of Parsaism, -a Mohammedanism hard as the Scythians who brought it turned the heart -of the people in that country to stone. In the Dresden Library there -is an illuminated Persian MS., thought to be seven hundred years -old, which has in it what may be regarded as a portrait of Ahriman -and Iblis combined. He is red, has a heavy beard and moustache, and -there is a long dragon's crest and mane on his head. He wears a green -and blue skirt about his loins. His tongue rolls thirstily between -his cruel teeth. He superintends a number of fish-like devils which -float in a lake of fire, and swallow the damned. Above this scene -are the glorified souls, including the Shah sitting cross-legged -on his rug, who look down on the tortures beneath with evident -satisfaction. Apparently this is the only amusement which relieves -the ennui of their heaven. - -If anything could make a rational man believe in a fiend-principle -in the universe it would be the suggestion of such pictures, -that men have existed who could conceive of happiness enjoyed in -view of such tortures as these. This and some similar pictures in -the East--for instance, that in the Temple of Horrors at Wuchang, -China--are absolutely rayless so far as any touch of humanity is -concerned. Are the Shah and his happy fellow-inspectors of tortures -really fiends? In the light of our present intelligence they may seem -so. Certainly no person of refined feeling could now expect to attain -any heaven while others were in hell. But it would be possible, if -persons could believe that many of those around them are not men and -women at all, but fiends in human shape. These ferocious Hells are -referable to a period when all who incurred the sentences of princes -or priests were seen as mere masks of devils; they were only ascribed -human flesh that they may suffer. The dogma of Hell was doomed from -the moment that the damned were supposed to be really human. - -Were those who killed the martyrs of heresy, for instance, to return -to the world and look upon those whom they pierced, they could never -recognise them. Were they to see the statues of Bruno, Huss, Cranmer, -Servetus, the names and forms would not recall to them the persons -they slew. They would be shocked if told that they had burned great -men, and would surely answer, 'Men? We burned no men. The Devil came -among us calling himself Huss, and we made short work with him; he -reappeared under several aliases--Bruno, Servetus, Spinoza, Voltaire: -sometimes we burned him, at other times managed to make him miserable, -thank God! But we were not hurting real men, we were saving them.' - -Around such ideas grew our yet uncivilised Codes of Law. In England, -anno 1878, men are refused as jury-men if they will not say, 'So help -me God!' on the ground that an atheist cannot have a conscience. Only -let him really be without conscience, and call himself a christian when -he is not, and courts receive the selfish liar with respect. The old -clause of the death-sentence--'instigated thereto by the Devil'--has -been dropped in the case of murderers, however; and that is some -gain. Torture by fire of the worst murderer for one day would not -be permitted in Christendom. Belief in hell-fire outlasts it for a -little among the ignorant. But what shall be said of the educated -who profess to believe it? - - - -The Venerable Bede relates that, in the year 696, a Northumbrian -gentleman, who had died in the beginning of the night, came to life -and health in the morning, and gave an account of what he had seen -overnight. He had witnessed the conventional tortures of the damned, -but adds--'Being thus on all sides enclosed with enemies and darkness, -and looking about on every side for assistance, there appeared to me, -on the way that I came, as it were, the brightness of a star shining -amidst the darkness, which increased by degrees,'--but we need not -go on to the anti-climax of this vision. - -This star rising above all such visions belongs to the vault of the -human Love, and it is visible through all the Ages of Darkness. It -cannot be quenched, and its fiery rays have burnt up mountains of -iniquity. - -'In the year 1322,' writes Flögel, after the 'Chronicon Sampetrinum -Erfurtense,' 'there was a play shown at Eisenach, which had a -tragical enough effect. Markgraf Friedrich of Misnia, Landgraf also -of Thuringia, having brought his tedious warfare to a conclusion, -and the country beginning now to revive under peace, his subjects -were busy repaying themselves for the past distresses by all manner -of diversions; to which end, apparently by the Sovereign's order, -a dramatic representation of the Ten Virgins was schemed, and at -Eisenach, in his presence, duly executed. This happened fifteen days -after Easter, by indulgence of the Preaching Friars. In the 'Chronicon -Sampetrinum' stands recorded that the play was enacted in the Bear -Garden (in horto ferarum) by the Clergy and their Scholars. But now, -when it came to pass that the Wise Virgins would give the foolish no -oil, and these latter were shut out from the Bridegroom, they began -to weep bitterly, and called on the Saints to intercede for them; -who however, even with Mary at their head, could effect nothing from -God; but the Foolish Virgins were all sentenced to damnation. Which -things the Landgraf seeing and hearing, he fell into a doubt, -and was very angry; and said 'What then is the Christian Faith, -if God will not take pity on us for intercession of Mary and all -the Saints?' In this anger he continued five days; and the learned -men could hardly enlighten him to understand the Gospel. Thereupon -he was struck with apoplexy, and became speechless and powerless; -in which sad state he continued, bedrid, two years and seven months, -and so died, being then fifty-five.' - -In telling the story Carlyle remarks that these 'Ten Virgins at -Eisenach are more fatal to warlike men than Æschylus' Furies at -Athens were to weak women.' Even so, until great-hearted men rose up -at Eisenach and elsewhere to begin the work destined to prove fatal -alike to heartless Virgins and Furies. That star of a warrior's -Compassion, hovering over the foolish Friars and their midnight -Gospel, beams far. The story reminds me of an incident related of -a mining district in California, where a rude theatre was erected, -and a company gave, as their first performance, Othello. When the -scene of Desdemona's suffocation approached, a stalwart miner leaped -on the stage, and pulling out his six-shooter, said to the Moor, -'You damned nigger! if you touch that woman I'll blow the top of your -head off!' A dozen roughs, clambering over the footlights, cried, -'Right Joe! we'll stand by you!' The manager met the emergency by -crying, 'Don't shoot, boys! This play was wrote by Bill Shakespear; -he's an old Californian, and it's all in fun!' Had this Moor proceeded -to roast Desdemona in fire with any verisimilitude, it is doubtful -if the manager could have saved him by an argument reminding the -miners that such was the divine way with sinners in the region to -which most of them were going. The top of that theologic hell's head -is not very safe in these days when human nature is unchained with -all its six-shooters, each liable to be touched off by fire from that -Star revolving in the sphere of Compassion. - - - -Day after day I gazed upon Michael Angelo's 'Last Judgment' in the -Sistine Chapel. The artist was in his sixtieth year when Pope Clement -VII. invited him to cover a wall sixty feet high and nearly as wide -with a picture of the Day of Wrath. In seven years he had finished -it. Clement was dead. Pope Paul IV. looked at it, and liked it not: -all he could see was a vast number of naked figures; so he said it -was not fit for the Sistine Chapel, and must be destroyed. One of -Michael Angelo's pupils saved it by draping some of the figures. Time -went on, and another Pope came who insisted on more drapery,--so the -work was disfigured again. However, popular ridicule saved this from -going very far, and so there remains the tremendous scene. But Popes -and Cardinals always disliked it. The first impression I received -from it was that of a complete representation of all the physical -powers belonging to organised life; though the forms are human, every -animal power is there, leaping, crouching, crawling,--every sinew, -joint, muscle, portrayed in completest tension and action. Then the -eye wanders from face to face, and every passion that ever crawled or -prowled in jungle or swamp is pictured. The most unpleasant expressions -seemed to me those of the martyrs. They came up from their graves, -each bringing the instrument by which he had suffered, and offering -it in witness against the poor wretches who came to be judged; and -there was a look of self-righteous satisfaction on their faces as -they witnessed the persecution of their persecutors. As for Christ, -he was like a fury, with hand uplifted against the doomed, his hair -wildly floating. The tortured people below are not in contrast with -the blessed above; they who are in heaven look rather more stupid -than the others, and rather pleased with the anguish they witness, -but not more saintly. But gradually the eye, having wandered over -the vast canvas, from the tortured Cardinal at the bottom up to the -furious Judge,--alights on a face which, once seen, is never to be -forgotten. Beautiful she is, that Mary beside the Judge, and more -beautiful for the pain that is on her face. She has drawn her drapery -to veil from her sight the anguish below; she has turned her face -from the Judge,--does not see her son in him; she looks not upon the -blessed,--for she, the gentle mother, is not in heaven; she cannot have -joy in sight of misery. In that one face of pure womanly sympathy--that -beauty transfigured in its compassionateness--the artist put his soul, -his religion. Mary's face quenches all the painted flames. They are at -once made impossible. The same universe could not produce both a hell -and that horror of it. The furious Jesus is changed to a phantasm; -he could never be born of such a mother. If the Popes had only wished -to hide the nakedness of their own dogmas they ought to have blotted -out Mary's face; for as it now stands the rest of the forms are but -shapes to show how all the wild forms and passions of human animalism -gather as a frame round that which is their consummate flower,--the -spirit of love enshrined in its perfect human expression. - -So was it that Michael Angelo could not serve two masters. Popes might -employ him, but he could not do the work they liked. 'The passive -master lent his hand to the vast soul that o'er him planned.' He -could not help it. The lover of beauty could not paint the Day of -Wrath without setting above it that face like a star which shines -through its unreality, burns up its ugliness, and leaves the picture -a magnificent interpretation of the forms of nature and hopes of the -world,--a cardinal hypocrite at the bottom, an ideal woman at the top. - - - -Exhausted by the too-much glory of the visions of Paradise which he had -seen, Dante came forth to the threshold opening on the world of human -life, from which he had parted for a space, and there sank down. As -he lay there angels caused lilies to grow beneath and around him, -and myrtle to rise and intertwine for a bower over him, and their -happy voices, wafted in low-toned hymns, brought soft sleep to his -overwrought senses. Long had he slumbered before the light of familiar -day stole once more into those deep eyes. The angels had departed. The -poet awoke to find himself alone, and with a sigh he said to himself, -'It is, then, all but a dream.' As he arose he saw before him a man -of noble mien and shining countenance, habited in an Eastern robe, -who returned his gaze with an interest equal to his own. Quickly the -eyes of Dante searched the ground beside the stranger to see if he -were shadowless: convinced thus that he was true flesh and blood, -the Florentine thus addressed him:-- - -'Pilgrim, for such thou seemest, may we meet in simple human -brotherhood? If, as thy garb suggests, thou comest from afar, perchance -the friendly greeting, even of one who in his native city is still -himself a pilgrim, may not be unwelcome. - -'Heart to heart be our kiss, my brother; yet must I journey without -delay to those who watch and wait for wondrous tidings that I bear. - -'Friend! I hear some meaning deeper than thy words. If 'twere but as -satisfying natural curiosity, answer not; but if thou bearest a burden -of tidings glad for all human-kind, speak! Who art thou? whence comest, -and with what message freighted? - -'Arda Viráf is the name I bear; from Persia have I come; but by what -strange paths have reached this spot know I not, save that through -splendours of worlds invisible to mortal sense I have journeyed, -nor encountered human form till I found thee slumbering on this spot. - -'Trebly then art thou my brother! I too have but now, as to my confused -sense it seems, emerged from that vast journey. Thou clearest from -me gathering doubts that those visions were illusive. Yet, as even -things we really see are often overlaid by images that lurk in the -eye, I pray thee tell me something thou hast seen, so that perchance -we may part with mutual confirmation of our vision. - -'That gladly will I do. When the Avesta had been destroyed, and the -sages of Iran disagreed as to the true religion, they agreed that -one should be chosen by lot to drink the sacred draught of Vishtasp, -that he might pass to the invisible world and bring intelligence -therefrom. On me the lot fell. Beside the fire that has never gone -out, surrounded by holy women who chanted our hymns, I drank the three -cups--Well Thought, Well Said, Well Done. Then as I slept there rose -before me a high stairway of three steps; on the first was written, -Well Thought; on the second, Well Said; on the third, Well Done. By -the first step I reached the realm where good thoughts are honoured: -there were the thinkers whose starlike radiance ever increased. They -offered no prayers, they chanted no liturgies. Above all was the -sphere of the liberal. The next step brought me to the circle of -great and truthful speakers: these walked in lofty splendour. The -third step brought me to the heaven of good actions. I saw the souls -of agriculturists surrounded by spirits of water and earth, trees and -cattle. The artisans were seated on embellished thrones. Sublime were -the seats of teachers, interceders, peace-makers; and the religious -walked in light and joy with which none are satiated. - -'Sawest thou the fairest of earth-born ladies--Beatrice? - -'I saw indeed a lady most fair. In a pleasant grove lay the form -of a man who had but then parted from earth. When he had awakened, -he walked through the grove and there met him this most beautiful -maiden. To her he said, 'Who art thou, so fair beyond all whom I -have seen in the land of the living?' To him she replied, 'O youth, -I am thy actions.' Can this be thy lady Beatrice? - -'But sawest thou no hell? no dire punishments? - -'Alas! sad scenes I witnessed, sufferers whose hell was that their -darkness was amid the abodes of splendour. Amid all that glow one newly -risen from earth walked shivering with cold, and there walked ever -by his side a hideous hag. On her he turned and said, 'Who art thou, -that ever movest beside me, thou that art monstrous beyond all that -I have seen on earth?' To him she replied, 'Man, I am thy actions.' - -'But who were those glorious ones thou sawest in Paradise? - -'Some of their names I did indeed learn--Zoroaster, Socrates, Plato, -Buddha, Confucius, Christ. - -'What do I hear! knowest thou that none of these save that last -holy one--whom methinks thou namest too lightly among men--were -baptized? Those have these eyes sorrowfully beheld in pain through -the mysterious justice of God. - -'Thinkest thou, then, thy own compassion deeper than the mercy of -Ormuzd? But, ah! now indeed I do remember. As I conversed with the -sages I had named, they related to me this strange event. By guidance -of one of their number, Virgil by name, there had come among them -from the earth a most powerful magician. He bore the name of Dante. By -mighty spells this being had cast them all into a sad circle which he -called Limbo, over whose gate he wrote, though with eyes full of tears, -'All hope abandon, ye who enter here!' Thus were they in great sorrow -and dismay. But, presently, as this strange Dante was about to pass -on, so they related, he looked upon the face of one among them so pure -and noble that though he had styled him 'pagan,' he could not bear to -abandon him there. This was Cato of Utica. Him this Dante led to the -door, and gave him liberty on condition that he would be warder of his -unbaptized brethren, and by no means let any of them escape. No sooner, -however, was this done than this magician beheld others who moved -his reverence,--among them Trajan and Ripheus,--and overcome by an -impulse of love, he opened a window in the side of Limbo, bidding them -emerge into light. He then waved his christian wand to close up this -aperture, and passed away, supposing that he had done so; but the limit -of that magician's power had been reached, the window was but veiled, -and after he had gone all these unbaptized ones passed out by that -way, and reascended to the glory they had enjoyed before this Dante -had brought his alien sorceries to bear upon them for a brief space. - -'Can this be true? Is it indeed so that all the sages and poets of -the world are now in equal rank whether or not they have been sealed -as members of Christ? - -'Brother, thy brow is overcast. What! can one so pure and high of -nature as thou desire that the gentle Christ, whom I saw embracing -the sages and prophets of other ages, should turn upon them with -hatred and bind them in gloom and pain like this Dante?' - -Thereupon, with a flood of tears, Dante fell at the feet of Arda Viráf, -and kissed the hem of his skirt. 'Purer is thy vision, O pilgrim, -than mine,' he said. 'I fear that I have but borne with me to the -invisible world the small prejudices of my little Church, which hath -taught me to limit the Love which I now see to be boundless. Thou who -hast learned from thy Zoroaster that the meaning of God is the end of -all evil, a universe climbing to its flower in joy, deign to take the -hand of thy servant and make him worthy to be thy friend,--with thee -henceforth to abandon the poor formulas which ignorance substitutes -for virtue, and ascend to the beautiful summits thou has visited by -the stairway of good thoughts, good words, good deeds.' - - - -In 1745 Swedenborg was a student of Natural Philosophy in London. In -the April of that year his 'revelations' began amid the smoke -and toil of the great metropolis. 'I was hungry and ate with great -appetite. Towards the end of the meal I remarked a kind of mist spread -before my eyes, and I saw the floor of my room covered with hideous -reptiles, such as serpents, toads, and the like. I was astonished, -having all my wits about me, being perfectly conscious. The darkness -attained its height and then passed away. I now saw a Man sitting -in the corner of the chamber. As I had thought myself alone, I was -greatly frightened when he said to me, 'Eat not as much.' - -In Swedenborg's Diary the incident is related more particularly. 'In -the middle of the day, at dinner, an Angel spoke to me, and told me -not to eat too much at table. Whilst he was with me, there plainly -appeared to me a kind of vapour steaming from the pores of my body. It -was a most visible watery vapour, and fell downwards to the ground -upon the carpet, where it collected and turned into divers vermin, -which were gathered together under the table, and in a moment went -off with a pop or noise. A fiery light appeared within them, and a -sound was heard, pronouncing that all the vermin that could possibly -be generated by unseemly appetite were thus cast out of my body, -and burnt up, and that I was now cleansed from them. Hence we may -know what luxury and the like have for their bosom contents.' - -Continuing the first account Swedenborg said, 'The following -night the same Man appeared to me again. I was this time not at -all alarmed. The Man said, 'I am God, the Lord, the Creator, and -Redeemer of the world. I have chosen thee to unfold to men the -spiritual sense of the Holy Scripture. I will myself dictate to -thee what thou shalt write.' The same night the world of spirits, -hell and heaven, were convincingly opened to me, where I found many -persons of my acquaintance of all conditions. From that day forth I -gave up all worldly learning, and laboured only in spiritual things, -according to what the Lord commanded me to write.' - -He 'gave up all worldly learning,' shut his intellectual eyes, -and sank under all the nightmares which his first vision saw burnt -up as vermin. After his fiftieth year, says Emerson, he falls into -jealousy of his intellect, makes war on it, and the violence is -instantly avenged. But the portrait of the blinded mystic as drawn -by the clear seer is too impressive an illustration to be omitted here. - -'A vampyre sits in the seat of the prophet and turns with gloomy -appetite to the images of pain. Indeed, a bird does not more readily -weave its nest or a mole bore in the ground than this seer of the -souls substructs a new hell and pit, each more abominable than the -last, round every new crew of offenders. He was let down through a -column that seemed of brass, but it was formed of angelic spirits, -that he might descend safely amongst the unhappy, and witness -the vastation of souls; and heard there, for a long continuance, -their lamentations; he saw their tormentors, who increase and strain -pangs to infinity; he saw the hell of the jugglers, the hell of the -assassins, the hell of the lascivious; the hell of robbers, who kill -and boil men; the infernal tun of the deceitful; the excrementitious -hells; the hell of the revengful, whose faces resembled a round, -broad cake, and their arms rotate like a wheel.... The universe, in -his poem, suffers under a magnetic sleep, and only reflects the mind -of the magnetiser.... Swedenborg and Behmon both failed by attaching -themselves to the christian symbol, instead of to the moral sentiment, -which carries innumerable christianities, humanities, divinities, in -its bosom.... Another dogma, growing out of this pernicious theologic -limitation, is this Inferno. Swedenborg has devils. Evil, according -to old philosophers, is good in the making. That pure malignity can -exist, is the extreme proposition of unbelief.... To what a painful -perversion had Gothic theology arrived, that Swedenborg admitted no -conversion for evil spirits! But the divine effort is never relaxed; -the carrion in the sun will convert itself to grass and flowers; -and man, though in brothels, or jails, or on gibbets, is on his way -to all that is good and true.' - -But even the Hell of Swedenborg is not free from the soft potency -of our star. It is almost painful, indeed, to see its spiritual -ray mingling with the fiery fever-shapes which Swedenborg meets -on his way through the column of brass,--made, had he known it, -not of angels but of savage scriptures. 'I gave up all worldly -learning'--he says: but it did not give him up all at once. 'They -(the damned) suffer ineffable torments; but it was permitted to -relieve or console them with a certain degree of hope, so that they -should not entirely despair. For they said they believed the torment -would be eternal. They were relieved or consoled by saying that God -Messiah is merciful, and that in His Word we read that 'the prisoners -will be sent forth from the pit' (Zech. ix. 2). Swedenborg reports -that God Messiah appeared to these spirits, and even embraced and -kissed one who had been raised from 'the greatest torment.' He says, -'Punishment for the sake of punishment is the punishment of a devil,' -and affirms that all punishment is 'to take away evils or to induce a -faculty of doing good.' These utterances are in his Diary, and were -written before he had got to the bottom of his Calvinistic column; -but even in the 'Arcana Celestia' there is a gleam:--'Such is the -equilibrium of all things in another life that evil punishes itself, -and unless it were removed by punishments the evil spirits must -necessarily be kept in some hell to eternity.' - -Reductio ad absurdum! And yet Swedenborgians insist upon the dogma of -everlasting punishments; to sustain which they appeal from Swedenborg -half-sober to Swedenborg mentally drunk. - - - -In the Library at Dresden there is a series of old pictures said to be -Mexican, and which I was told had been purchased from a Jew in Vienna, -containing devils mainly of serpent characters blended with those of -humanity. One was a fantastic serpent with human head, sharp snoutish -nose, many eyes, slight wings, and tongue lolling out. Another had a -human head and reptilian tail. A third is human except for the double -tongue darting out. A fourth has issuing from the back of his head a -serpent whose large dragon head is swallowing a human embryo. Whatever -tribe it was that originated these pictures must have had very strong -impressions of the survival of the serpent in some men. - -I was reminded of the picture of the serpent swallowing the human -embryo while looking at the wall-pictures in Russian churches -representing the conventional serpent with devils nestling at intervals -along its body, as represented in our Figure (10). Professor Buslaef -gave me the right archæology of this, no doubt, but the devils -themselves, as I gazed, seemed to intimate another theory with their -fair forms. They might have been winged angels but for their hair -of flame and cruel hooks. They seemed to say, 'We were the ancient -embryo-gods of the human imagination, but the serpent swallowed us. He -swallowed us successively as one after another we availed ourselves -of his cunning in our priesthoods; as we brought his cruel coils to -crush those who dared to outgrow our cult; as we imitated his fang in -the deadliness with which we bit the heel of every advancing thinker; -as, when worsted in our struggle against reason, we took to the double -tongue, praising with one fork the virtues which we poisoned with the -other. Now we are degraded with him for ever, bound to him by these -rings, labelled with the sins we have committed.' - - - -It was by a true experience that the ancients so generally took -nocturnal animals to be types of diabolism. Corresponding to them -are the sleepless activities of morally unawakened men. The animal is -a sleeping man. Its passions and instincts are acted out in what to -rational man would be dreams. In dreams, especially when influenced -by disease, a man may mentally relapse very far, and pass through -kennels and styes, which are such even when somewhat decorated by -shreds of the familiar human environment. The nocturnal form of -intellect is cunning; the obscuration of religion is superstition; -the dark shadow that falls on love turns it to lust. These wolves -and bats, on which no ideal has dawned, do not prowl or flit through -man in their natural forms: in the half-awake consciousness, whose -starlight attends man amid his darkness, their misty outlines swell, -and in the feverish unenlightened conscience they become phantasms of -his animalism--werewolves, vampyres. The awakening of reason in any -animal is through all the phases of cerebral and social evolution. A -wise man said to his son who was afraid to enter the dark, 'Go on, -child; you will never see anything worse than yourself.' - - - -The hare-lip, which we sometimes see in the human face, is there -an arrested development. Every lip is at some embryonic period a -hare-lip. The development of man's visible part has gone on much longer -than his intellectual and moral evolution, and abnormalities in it are -rare in comparison with the number of survivals from the animal world -in his temper, his faith, and his manners. Criminals are men living out -their arrested moral developments. They who regard them as instigated -by a devil are those whose arrest is mental. The eye of reason will -deal with both all the more effectively, because with as little wrath -as a surgeon feels towards the hare-lip he endeavours to humanise. - - - -It is an impressive fact that the great and reverent mind of Spinoza, -in pondering the problem of Evil and the theology which ascribed -it to a Devil, was unconsciously led to anticipate by more than a -century the first (modern) scientific suggestions of the principle -of Evolution. In his early treatise, 'De Deo et Homine,' occurs this -short but momentous chapter-- - -'De Diabolis. If the Devil be an Entity contrary in all respects to -God, having nothing of God in his nature, there can be nothing in -common with God. - -'Is he assumed to be a thinking Entity, as some will have it, who never -wills and never does any good, and who sets himself in opposition to -God on all occasions, he would assuredly be a very wretched being, -and, could prayers do anything for him, his amendment were much to -be implored. - -'But let us ask whether so miserable an object could exist even for an -instant; and, the question put, we see at once that it could not; for -from the perfection of a thing proceeds its power of continuance: the -more of the Essential and Divine a thing possesses, the more enduring -it is. But how could the Devil, having no trace of perfection in him, -exist at all? Add to this, that the stability or duration of a thinking -thing depends entirely on its love of and union with God, and that -the opposite of this state in every particular being presumed in the -Devil, it is obviously impossible that there can be any such being. - -'And then there is indeed no necessity to presume the existence of a -Devil; for the causes of hate, envy, anger, and all such passions are -readily enough to be discovered; and there is no occasion for resort -to fiction to account for the evils they engender.' - -In the course of his correspondence with the most learned men of -his time, Spinoza was severely questioned concerning his views upon -human wickedness, the disobedience of Adam, and so forth. He said--to -abridge his answers--If there be any essential or positive evil in men, -God is the author and continuer of that evil. But what is called evil -in them is their degree of imperfection as compared with those more -perfect. Adam, in the abstract, is a man eating an apple. That is -not in itself an evil action. Acts condemned in man are often admired -in animals,--as the jealousy of doves,--and regarded as evidence of -their perfection. Although man must restrain the forces of nature and -direct them to his purposes, it is a superstition to suppose that God -is angry against such forces. It is an error in man to identify his -little inconveniences as obstacles to God. Let him withdraw himself -from the consideration and nothing is found evil. Whatever exists, -exists by reason of its perfection for its own ends,--which may or -may not be those of men. - -Spinoza's aphorism, 'From the perfection of a thing proceeds its power -of continuance,' is the earliest modern statement of the doctrine now -called 'survival of the fittest.' The notion of a Devil involves the -solecism of a being surviving through its unfitness for survival. - - - -Spinoza was Copernicus of the moral Cosmos. The great German who -discovered to men that their little planet was not the one centre and -single care of nature, led the human mind out of a closet and gave -it a universe. But dogma still clung to the closet; where indeed -each sect still remains, holding its little interest to be the aim -of the solar system, and all outside it to be part of a countless -host, marshalled by a Prince of Evil, whose eternal war is waged -against that formidable pulpiteer whose sermon is sending dismay -through pandemonium. But for rational men all that is ended, and its -decline began when Spinoza warned men against looking at the moral -universe from the pin-hole of their egotism. That closet-creation, -whose laws were seen now acting now suspended to suit the affairs of -men, disappeared, and man was led to adore the All. - - - -It is a small thing that man can bruise the serpent's head, if its -fang still carries its venom so deep in his reason as to blacken -all nature with a sense of triumphant malevolence. To the eye of -judicial man, instructed to decide every case without bribe of his -own interest as a rival animal, the serpent's fang is one of the most -perfect adaptations of means to ends in nature. Were a corresponding -perfection in every human mind, the world would fulfil the mystical -dream of the East, which gave one name to the serpents that bit them -in the wilderness and seraphim singing round the eternal throne. - - - -'Cursed be the Hebrew who shall either eat pork, or permit his son to -be instructed in the learning of the Greeks.' So says the Talmud, with -a voice transmitted from the 'kingdom of priests' (Exod. xix. 6). From -the altar of 'unhewn stone' came the curse upon Art, and upon the -race that represented culture raising its tool upon the rudeness -of nature. That curse of the Talmud recoiled fearfully. The Jewish -priesthood had their son in Peter with his vision of clean and unclean -animals, and the command, 'Slay and eat!' Uninstructed is this heir -of priestly Judaism 'in the learning of the Greeks,' consequently -his way of converting Gentiles--the herd of swine, the goyim--is to -convert them into christian protoplasm. 'Slay and eat,' became the -cry of the elect, and their first victim was the paternal Jew who -taught them that pork and Greek learning belonged to the same category. - - - -But there was another Jewish nation not composed of priests. While -the priestly kingdom is typified in Jonah announcing the destruction -of Nineveh, who, because the great city still goes on, reproaches -Jehovah, the nation of the poets has now its Jehovah II. who sees the -humiliation of the tribal priesthood as a withered gourd compared -with the arts, wealth, and human interests of a Gentile city. 'The -Lord repented.' The first Gospel to the Gentiles is in that gentle -thought for the uncircumcised Ninevites. But it was reached too -late. When it gained expression in Christ welcoming Greeks, and seeing -in stones possible 'children of Abraham;' in Paul acknowledging debt -to barbarians and taking his texts from Greek altars or poets; the -evolution of the ideal element in Hebrew religion had gained much. But -historic combinations raised the judaisers to a throne, and all the -narrowness of their priesthood was re-enacted as Christianity. - - - -The column of brass in whose hollow centre the fine brain of Swedenborg -was imprisoned is a fit similitude of the christian formula. The -whole moral attitude of Christianity towards nature is represented in -his first vision. The beginning of his spiritual career is announced -by the evaporation of his animal nature in the form of vermin. The -christian hell is present, and these animal parts are burnt up. Among -those burnt-up powers of Swedenborg, one of the serpents must have been -his intellect. 'From that day forth I gave up all worldly learning.' - -Here we have the ideal christian caught up to his paradise even while -his outward shape is visible. But what if we were all to become like -that? Suppose all the animal powers and desires were to evaporate out -of mankind and to be burnt up! Were that to occur to-day the effect -on the morrow would be but faintly told in that which would be caused -by sudden evaporations of steam from all the engines of the world. We -may imagine a band of philanthropists, sorely disturbed by the number -of accidents incidental to steam-locomotion, who should conspire -to go at daybreak to all the engine-houses and stations in England, -and, just as the engines were about to start for their work, should -quench their fires, let off their steam, and break their works. That -would be but a brief paralysis of the work of one country; but what -would be the result if the animal nature of man and its desires, -the works and trades that minister to the 'pomps and vanities,' -all worldly aims and joys, should be burnt up in fires of fanaticism! - -Yet to that fatal aim Christianity gave itself,--so contrary to that -great heart in which was mirrored the beautiful world, its lilies -and little children, and where love shed its beams on the just -and the unjust! The organising principle of Christianity was that -which crucified Jesus and took his tomb for corner-stone of a system -modelled after what he hated. Its central purpose was to effect a -divorce between the moral and the animal nature of man. One is called -flesh and the other spirit; one was the child of God, the other the -child of the Devil. It rent asunder that which was really one; its -whole history, so long as it was in earnest, was the fanatical effort -to keep asunder by violence those two halves ever seeking harmony; -its history since its falsity was exposed has been the hypocrisy of -professing in word what is impossible in deed. - - - -Beside the christian vision of Swedenborg, in which the judaic -priest's curse on swinish Greek learning found apotheosis, let us set -the vision of a Jewish seer in whom the humanity that spared Nineveh -found expression. The seer is Philo,--name rightly belonging to that -pure mind in which the starry ideals of his Semitic race embraced -the sensuous beauty which alone could give them life. Philo (Præm. et -Poenis, sec. 15-20) describes as the first joy of the redeemed earth -the termination of the war between man and animal. That war will end, -he says, 'when the wild beasts in the soul have been tamed. Then -the most ferocious animals will submit to man; scorpions will lose -their stings, and serpents their poison. And, in consequence of the -suppression of that older war between man and beast, the war between -man and man shall also end.' - -Here we emerge from Swedenborg's brass column, we pass beyond Peter's -sword called 'Slay-and-eat,' we leave behind the Talmud's curse on -swine and learning: we rise to the clear vision of Hebrew prophecy -which beheld lion and lamb lying down together, a child leading the -wild forces subdued by culture. - - - -'Why not God kill Debbil?' asked Man Friday. It is a question which -not even Psychology has answered, why no Theology has yet suggested -the death of the Devil in the past, or prophesied more than chains -for him in the future. No doubt the need of a 'hangman's whip to -haud the wretch in order' may partly account for it; but with this -may have combined a cause of which it is pleasanter to think--Devils -being animal passions in excess, even the ascetic recoils from their -destruction, with an instinct like that which restrains rats from -gnawing holes through the ship's bottom. - - - -In Goethe's 'Faust' we read, Doch das Antike find' ich zu lebendig. It -is a criticism on the nudity of the Greek forms that appear in the -classical Walpurgis Night. But the authority is not good: it is -Mephistopheles who is disgusted with sight of the human form, and he -says they ought in modern fashion to be plastered over. His sentiments -have prevailed at the Vatican, where the antique statues and the great -pictures of Michael Angelo bear witness to the prurient prudery of the -papal mind. 'Devils are our sins in perspective,' says George Herbert. - - - -Herodotus (ii. 47) says, 'The Egyptians consider the pig to be an -impure beast, and therefore if a man, in passing by a pig, should touch -him only with his garments, he forthwith goes to the river and plunges -in; and, in the next place, swineherds, although native Egyptians, are -the only men who are not allowed to enter any of their temples.' The -Egyptians, he says, do not sacrifice the goat; 'and, indeed, their -painters and sculptors represent Pan with the face and legs of a -goat, as the Grecians do; not that they imagine this to be his real -form, for they think him like other gods; but why they represent -him in this way I had rather not mention.' We need not feel the same -prudery. The Egyptians rightly regarded the symbol of sexual desire, -on whose healthy exercise the perpetuation of life depended, as a very -different kind of animalism from that symbolised in the pig's love of -refuse and garbage. Their association of the goat with Pan--the lusty -vigour of nature--was the natural preface to the arts of Greece in -which the wild forces were taught their first lesson--Temperance. Pan -becomes musical. The vigour and vitality of human nature find in the -full but not excessive proportions of Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis, -and others of the bright array, the harmony which Pan with his pipe -preludes. The Greek statue is soul embodied and body ensouled. - - - -Two men had I the happiness to know in my youth, into whose faces I -looked up and saw the throne of Genius illumined by Purity. One of -them, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote, 'If beauty, softness, and faith in -female forms have their own influence, vices even, in a slight degree, -are thought to improve the expression.' The other, Arthur Hugh Clough, -wrote, 'What we all love is good touched up with evil.' Here are two -brave flowers, of which one grew out of the thorny stem of Puritanism, -the other from the monastic root of Oxford. The 'vices' which could -improve the expression, even for the pure eyes of Emerson, are those -which represent the struggle of human nature to exist in truth, -albeit in misdirection and reaction, amid pious hypocrisies. The -Oxonian scholar had seen enough of the conventionalised characterless -'good' to long for some sign of life and freedom, even though it must -come as a touch of 'evil.' To the artist, nature is never seen in -petrifaction; it is really as well as literally a becoming. The evil -he sees is 'good in the making:' what others call vices are voices -in the wilderness preparing the way of the highest. - - - -'God and the Devil make the whole of Religion,' said Nicoli--speaking, -perhaps, better than he knew. The culture of the world has shown -that the sometime opposed realms of human interest, so personified, -are equally essential. It is through this experience that the Devil -has gained such ample vindication from the poets--as in Rapisardi's -'Lucifero,' a veritable 'bringer of Light,' and Cranch's 'Satan.' From -the latter work ('Satan: A Libretto.' Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1874), -which should be more widely known, I quote some lines. Satan says-- - - - I symbolise the wild and deep - And unregenerated wastes of life, - Dark with transmitted tendencies of race - And blind mischance; all crude mistakes of will - And tendency unbalanced by due weight - Of favouring circumstance; all passion blown - By wandering winds; all surplusage of force - Piled up for use, but slipping from its base - Of law and order. - - -This is the very realm in which the poet and the artist find their -pure-veined quarries, whence arise the forms transfigured in their -vision. - - - -To evoke Helena, Faust, as we have seen, must repair to the -Mothers. But who may these be? They shine from Goethe's page in such -opalescent tints one cannot transfix their sense. They seemed to me -just now the primal conditions, by fulfilling which anything might be -attained, without which, nothing. But now (yet perhaps the difference -is not great) I see the Mothers to be the ancient healthy instincts -and ideals of our race. These took shape in forms of art, whose -evolution had been man's harmony with himself. Christianity, borrowing -thunder of one god, hammer of another, shattered them--shattered our -Mothers! And now learned travellers go about in many lands saying, -'Saw ye my beloved?' Amid cities ruined and buried we are trying to -recover them, fitting limb to limb--so carefully! as if half-conscious -that we are piecing together again the fragments of our own humanity. - - - -'The Devil: Does he Exist, and what does he Do?' Such is the title of -a recent work by Father Delaporte, Professor of Dogma in the Faculty -of Bordeaux. He gives specific directions for exorcism of devils by -means of holy water, the sign of the cross, and other charms. 'These -measures,' says one of his American critics, 'may answer very well -against the French Devil; but our American Beelzebub is a potentate -that goeth not forth on any such hints.' Father Delaporte would -hardly contend that the use of cross and holy water for a thousand -years has been effectual in dislodging the European Beelzebub. - -On the whole, I am inclined to prefer the method of the Africans of -the Guinea Coast. They believe in a particularly hideous devil, but -say that the only defence they require against him is a mirror. If any -one will keep a mirror beside him, the Devil must see himself in it, -and he at once rushes away in terror of his own ugliness. - -No monster ever conjured up by imagination is more hideous than a -rational being transformed to a beast. Just that is every human being -who has brought his nobler powers down to be slaves of his animal -nature. No eye could look upon that fearful sight unmoved. All man -needs is a true mirror in which his own animalism may see itself. We -cannot borrow for this purpose the arts of Greece, nor the fairy -ideals of Germany, nor the emasculated saints of Christendom. These -were but fragments of the man who has been created by combination of -their powers, and their several ideals are broken bits that cannot -reflect the whole being of man in its proportions or disproportions. - -The higher nature of man, polished by culture of all his faculties, -can alone be the faithful mirror before his lower. The clearness of -this mirror in the individual heart depends mainly on the civilisation -and knowledge surrounding it. The discovered law turns once plausible -theories to falsehoods; a noble literature transmutes once popular -books to trash. When Art interprets the realities of nature, when -it shows how much beauty and purity our human nature is capable of, -it holds a mirror before all deformities. At a theatre in the city of -London, I witnessed the performance of an actor who, in the course -of his part, struck a child. He was complimented by a hurricane of -hisses from the crowded gallery. Had those 'gods' up there never -struck children? Possibly. Yet here each had a mirror before him and -recoiled from his worst self. A clergyman relates that, while looking -at pictures in the Bethnal Green Museum, he overheard a poor woman, -who had been gazing on a Madonna, say, 'If I had such a child as -that I believe I could be a good woman.' Who can say what even that -one glance at her life in the ideal reflector may be worth to that -wanderer amid the miseries and temptations of London! - - - -It is not easy for those who have seen what is high and holy to give -their hearts to what is base and unholy. It is as natural for human -nature to love virtue as to love any other beauty. External beauty -is visible to all, and all desire it: the interior beauty is not -visible to superficial glances, but the admiration shown even for its -counterfeits shows how natural it is to admire virtue. But in order -that the charm of this moral beauty may be felt by human nature it -must be related to that nature--real. It must not be some childish -ideal which answers to no need of the man of to-day; not something -imported from a time and place where it had meaning and force to -others where it has none. - -When dogmas surviving from the primitive world are brought to behold -themselves in the mirror held up by Science, they cry out, 'That is not -my face! You are caricaturing my beliefs!' This recoil of Superstition -from its own ugliness is the victory of Religion. What priests bewail -as disbelief is faith fleeing from its deformities. Ignorant devotion -proves its need of Science by its terrors of the same, which are like -those of the horse at first sight of its best friend, bearer of its -burthens--the locomotive. - - - -Religion, like every other high feature of human nature, has its animal -counterpart. The animalised religion is superstition. It has various -expressions,--the abjectness of one form, the ferocity of another, -the cunning of a third. It is unconscious of anything higher than -animalism. Its god is a very great animal preying on other animals, -which are laid on his altars; or pleased when smaller animals give -up their part of the earthly feast by starving their passions and -senses. Under the growth of civilisation and intelligence that pious -asceticism is revealed in its true form,--intensified animalism. The -asceticism of one age becomes the self-indulgence of another. The -two-footed animal having discovered that his god does not eat the -meat left for him, eats it himself. Learning that he gets as much -from his god by a wafer and a prayer, he offers these and retains -the gifts, treasures, and pleasures so commuted,--these, however, -being withdrawn from the direction of the higher nature by the fact -of being obtained through the conditions of the lower, and dependent -on their persistence. In process of time the forms and formulas of -religion, detached from all reality--such as no conceivable monarch -could desire--not only become senseless, but depend upon their -senselessness for continuance. They refuse to come at all within the -domain of reason or common-sense, and trust to mental torpor of the -masses, force of habit in the aggregate, self-interest in the wealthy -and powerful, bribes for thinkers and scholars. - - - -Animalism disguised as a religion must render the human religion, -able to raise passions into divine attributes of a perfect manhood, -impossible so long as it continues. That a human religion can ever -come by any process of evolution from a superstition which can only -exist by ministry to the baser motives is a delusion. The only hope of -society is that its independent minds may gain culture, and so surround -this unextinct monster with mirrors that it may perish through shame -at its manifold deformities. These are symbolised in the many-headed -phantasm which is the subject of this work. Demon, Dragon, and Devil -have long paralysed the finest powers of man, peopling nature with -horrors, the heart with fears, and causing the religious sentiment -itself to make actual in history the worst excesses it professed to -combat in its imaginary adversaries. My largest hope is that from -the dragon-guarded well where Truth is too much concealed she may -emerge far enough to bring her mirror before these phantoms of fear, -and with far-darting beams send them back to their caves in Chaos -and ancient Night. - - - -The battlements of the cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford, are -crowned with an array of figures representing virtues and vices, -with carved allegories of teaching and learning. Under the Governor's -window are the pelican feeding its young from its breast, and the lion, -denoting the tenderness and the strength of a Master of youth. There -follow the professions--the lawyer embracing his client, the physician -with his bottle, the divine as Moses with his tables of the Law. Next -are the slayers of Goliath and other mythical enemies. We come to more -real, albeit monstrous, enemies; to Gluttony in ecclesiastical dress, -with tongue lolling out; and low-browed Luxury without any vesture, -with a wide-mouthed animal-eared face on its belly, the same tongue -lolling out--as in our figures of Typhon and Kali. Drunkenness has -three animal heads--one of a degraded humanity, another a sheep, the -third a goose. Cruelty is a werewolf; a frog-faced Lamia represents -its mixture with Lust; and other vices are represented by other -monsters, chiefly dragons with griffin forms, until the last is -reached--the Devil, who is just opposite the Governor's symbols across -the quadrangle. - -So was represented, some centuries ago, the conflict of Ormuzd -and Ahriman, for the young soldiers who enlisted at Oxford for that -struggle. A certain amount of fancy has entered into the execution of -the figures; but, if this be carefully detached, the history which -I have attempted to tell in these volumes may be generally traced -in the Magdalen statues. Each represents some phase in the advance -of the world, when, under new emergencies, earlier symbols were -modified, recombined, and presently replaced by new shapes. It was -found inadequate to keep the scholar throwing stones at the mummy of -Goliath when by his side was living Gluttony in religious garb. The -scriptural symbols are gradually mixed with those of Greek and German -mythology, and by such contact with nature are able to generate forms, -whose lolling tongues, wide mouths, and other expressions, represent -with some realism the physiognomies of brutality let loose through -admission to human shape and power. - -It may be that, when they were set up, the young Oxonian passed -shuddering these terrible forms, dreaded these werewolves and -succubæ, and dreamed of going forth to impale dragons. But now the -sculptures excite only laughter or curiosity, when they are not -passed by without notice. Yet the old conflict between Light and -Darkness has not ceased. The ancient forms of it pass away; they -become grotesque. Such was necessarily the case where the excessive -mythological and fanciful elements introduced at one period fall upon -another period when they hide the meaning. Their obscurity, even for -antiquarians, marks how far away from those cold battlefields the -struggle they symbolised has passed. But it ceases not. Some scholars -who listen to the sweet vespers of Magdalen may think the conflict -over; if so, even poor brother Moody may enter the true kingdom before -them; for, when preaching in Baltimore last September, he said, 'Men -are possessed of devils just as much now as they ever were. The devil -of rum is as great as any that ever lived. Why cannot this one and -all others be cast out? Because there is sin in the christian camp.' - - - -The picture which closes this volume has been made for me by the artist -Hennessey, to record an incident which occurred at the door of Nôtre -Dame in Paris last summer. I had been examining an ugly devil there -treading down human forms into hell; but a dear friend looked higher, -and saw a bird brooding over its young on a nest supported by that -same horrible head. - -So, above the symbols of wrath in nature, Love still interweaves -heavenly tints with the mystery of life; beside the horns of pain -prepares melodies. - -Even so, also, over the animalism which deforms man, rises the animal -perfection which shames that; here ascending above the reign of -violence by a feather's force, and securing to that little creature -a tenderness that could best express the heart of a Christ, when it -would gather humanity under his wings. - -This same little scene at the cathedral door came before me again -as I saw the Oxonian youth, with their morning-faces, passing so -heedlessly those ancient sculptures at Magdalen. Over every happy -heart the same old love was brooding, in each nestling faculties -were trying to gain their wings. To what will they aspire, those -students moving so light-hearted amid the dead dragons and satans -of an extinct world? Do they think there are no more dragons to be -slain? Know they that saying, 'He descended into hell;' and that, -from Orpheus and Herakles to Mohammed and Swedenborg, this is the -burthen felt by those who would be saviours of men? - -It is not only loving birds that build their nests and rear their young -over the horns of forgotten fears, but, alas! the Harpies too! These, -which Dante saw nestling in still plants--once men who had wronged -themselves--rear successors above the aspirations that have ended in -'nothing but leaves.' The sculptures of Magdalen are incomplete. There -is a vacant side to the quadrangle, which, it is to be feared, awaits -the truer teaching that would fill it up with the real dragons which -no youth could heedlessly pass. Who can carve there the wrongs that -await their powers of redress? Who can set before them, with all -its baseness, the true emblem of pious fraud? When will they see in -any stone mirror the real shape of a double-tongued Culture--one fork -intoning litanies, another whispering contempt of them? The werewolves -of scholarly selfishness, the Lamias of christian casuistry, the subtle -intelligence that is fed by sages and heroes, but turns them to dust, -nay, to venom, because it dares not be human, still crawls--these -are yet to be revealed in all their horrors. Then will the old cry, -Sursum Corda, sound over the ancient symbols whereon scholars waste -their strength, by which they are conquered; and wings of courage shall -bear them with their arrows of light to rescue from Superstition the -holy places of Humanity. - - - - - - - - -NOTES TO VOLUME I - - -[1] Pausan. v. 14, 2. - -[2] Solin. Polyhistor, i. - -[3] Pliny, xxix. 6, 34, init. - -[4] Ezekiel xiv. 9. - -[5] As in the Bembine Tablet in the Bodleian Library. - -[6] See Sale's Koran, p. 281. - -[7] Pindar, Fragm., 270. - -[8] Tylor's 'Early Hist. of Mankind,' p. 358; 'Prim. Cult.,' -vol. ii. p. 230. - -[9] The Gascons of Labourd call the devil 'Seigneur Voland,' and some -revere him as a patron. - -[10] 'Myth. of the Aryan Nations,' vol. ii. p. 327. - -[11] 'Christian Iconography,' Bohn, p. 158. - -[12] 'Videbant faciem egredientis Moysis esse -cornutam.'--Vulg. Exod. xxxiv. 35. - -[13] 'Myths and Marvels of Astronomy.' By R. A. Proctor. Chatto & -Windus, 1878. - -[14] 'Scenes and Legends,' &c., p. 73. - -[15] 'Any Orientalist will appreciate the wonderful hotchpot of Hindu -and Arabic language and religion in the following details, noted down -among rude tribes of the Malay Peninsula. We hear of Jin Bumi, the -earth-god (Arabic jin = demon, Sanskrit bhümi = earth); incense is -burnt to Jewajewa (Sanskrit dewa = god), who intercedes with Pirman, -the supreme invisible deity above the sky (Brahma?); the Moslem -Allah Táala, with his wife Nabi Mahamad (Prophet Mohammed), appear in -the Hinduised characters of creator and destroyer of all things; and -while the spirits worshipped in stones are called by the Hindu term of -'dewa' or deity, Moslem conversion has so far influenced the mind of -the stone-worshipper that he will give to his sacred boulder the name -of Prophet Mohammed.'--Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' vol. ii. p. 230. - -[16] Yaçna, 32. - -[17] 'The Devil,' &c., from the French of the Rev. A. Réville, p. 5. - -[18] Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' vol. ii. p. 299. - -[19] 'The Gnostics,' &c., by C. W. King, M.A., p. 153. - -[20] Those who wish to examine this matter further will do well to -refer to Badger, 'Nestorians and their Rituals,' in which the whole -of the 'Eulogy' is translated; and to Layard, 'Ninevah and Babylon,' -in which there is a translation of the same by Hormuzd Rassam, the -King of Abyssinia's late prisoner. - -[21] The significance of the gargoyles on the churches built on the -foundations of pagan temples may be especially observed at York, where -the forms of various animals well known to Indo-Germanic mythology -appear. They are probably copies of earlier designs, surviving from -the days when the plan of Gregory for the conversion of temples -prevailed. 'The temples of the idols in that nation,' wrote the Pope, -A.C. 601, 'ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in -them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said -temples, let altars be erected and relics placed. For if those temples -are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship -of devils to the service of the true God.'--Bede, Eccl. Hist. ch. 30. - -[22] 'The Land of Charity,' by Rev. Samuel Mateer, p. 214. - -[23] London 'Times' Calcutta correspondence. - -[24] The Persian poet Sádi uses the phrase, 'The whale swallowed -Jonah,' as a familiar expression for sunset; which is in curious -coincidence with a Mimac (Nova Scotian) myth that the holy hero -Glooscap was carried to the happy Sunset Land in a whale. The story -of Jonah has indeed had interesting variants, one of them being -that legend of Oannes, the fish-god, emerging from the Red Sea to -teach Babylonians the arts (a saga of Dagon); but the phrase in the -Book of Jonah--'the belly of Hell'--had a prosaic significance for -the christian mind, and, in connection with speculations concerning -Behemoth and Leviathan, gave us the mediæval Mouth of Hell. - -[25] Tablet K 162 in the British Museum. See 'Records of the Past,' -i. 141. - -[26] London 'Times,' July 11, 1877. - -[27] 'Songs of the Russian People,' p. 409. - -[28] 'Primitive Culture.' - -[29] Cæsarius D'Heisterbach, Miracul. iii. - -[30] Lev. iii. 15. - -[31] Du Perron, 'Vie de Zoroastre.' - -[32] The principle similia similibus curantur is a very ancient one; -but though it may have originated in a euphemistic or propitiatory -aim, the homoeopathist may claim that it could hardly have lived -unless it had been found to have some practical advantages. - -[33] Sonnerat's 'Travels,' ii. 38. - -[34] Deutsch, 'Literary Remains,' p. 178. - -[35] Isa. lvii. 5; Ezek. xvi. 20; Jer. xix. 5. - -[36] The 'Jewish World.' - -[37] 'Observations on Popular Antiquities,' &c., by John Brand. With -the additions of Sir Henry Ellis. An entirely new and revised -edition. Chatto & Windus, 1877. See especially the chapter on 'Summer -Solstice,' p. 165. - -[38] 'Pyra, a bonefire, wherein men's bodyes were burned.'--Cooper's -Thesaurus. Probably from Fr. bon; Wedgewood gives Dan. baun, beacon. - -[39] See Chapter i. Compare Numbers xxxi. 23. - -[40] Numbers xix. 17. - -[41] Ibid. xix. 2, seq. - -[42] 'Folklore of China,' p. 121. - -[43] In Russia the pigeon, from being anciently consecrated to the -thunder god, has become emblem of the Holy Ghost, or celestial fire, -and as such the foe of earthly fire. Pigeons are trusted as insurers -against fire, and the flight of one through a house is regarded as -a kindly warning of conflagration. - -[44] Tablet K 162 in Brit. Mus. Tr. by H. F. Talbot in 'Records of -the Past.' - -[45] The Western Mail, March 12, 1874, contains a remarkable letter by -the Arch-Druid, in which he maintains that 'Jesus' is a derivation from -Hea or Hu, Light, and the Christian system a corruption of Bardism. - -[46] 'L'Enfer,' p. 5. - -[47] Dennys' 'Folklore of China,' p. 98. - -[48] Procopius, 'De Bello Gothico,' iv. 20. - -[49] 'Memorials of the Rev. R. S. Hawkes'. - -[50] 'La Magie chez les Chaldéens,' iii. - -[51] Lönnrot, 'Abhandlung über die Magische Medicin der Finnen.' - -[52] 'Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.' Nimmo, 1876. - -[53] 'Rig-Veda,' ii. 33. Tr. by Professor Evans of Michigan. - -[54] 'Rig-Veda,' i. 114. - -[55] 'Jour. Ceylon R. A. Soc.,' 1865-66. - -[56] Welcker, 'Griechische Götterlehre,' vol. i. p. 661. - -[57] Moffat, p. 257. - -[58] Livingstone, p. 124. - -[59] Pöppig, 'Reise in Chile,' vol. ii. p. 358. - -[60] Eyre, vol. ii. p. 362. - -[61] Tylor, 'Early Hist.,' p. 359. - -[62] So confirming the conjecture of Wachsmuth, in 'Das alte -Griechenland im neuen,' p. 23. Elias might also easily be associated -with the name Æolus. - -[63] 'Rig-Veda,' x. (Muir). - -[64] John iii. 8. - -[65] 'The Wheel of the Law,' by Henry Alabaster, Trübner & Co. - -[66] 'Rig-Veda,' v. 83 (Wilson). - -[67] 'Major's Tr.,' ii. 26. - -[68] Wierus' 'Pseudomonarchia Dæmon.' - -[69] 'Songs of the Russian People,' by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A. - -[70] Isa. xxii. 22. It is remarkable that (according to Callimachus) -Ceres bore a key on her shoulder. She kept the granary of the earth. - -[71] Rev. i. 18.; Matt. xvi. 19. - -[72] 'Journal N. C. B. R. A. S.,' 1853. - -[73] 'Folklore of China,' p. 124. The drum held by the imp in Fig. 3 -shows his relation to the thunder-god. In Japan the thunder-god -is represented as having five drums strung together. The wind-god -has a large bag of compressed air between his shoulders; and he has -steel claws, representing the keen and piercing wind. The Tartars in -Siberia believe that a potent demon may be evoked by beating a drum; -their sorcerers provide a tame bear, who starts upon the scene, and -from whom they pretend to get answers to questions. In Nova Scotian -superstition we find demons charmed by drums into quietude. In India -the temple-drum preserved such solemn associations even for the new -theistic sect, the Brahmo-Somaj, that it is said to be still beaten -as accompaniment to the organ sent to their chief church by their -English friends. - -[74] Although the Koran and other authorities, as already stated, have -associated the Jinn with etherial fire, Arabic folklore is nearer the -meaning of the word in assigning the name to all demons. The learned -Arabic lexicographer of Beirut, P. Bustani, says 'The Jinn is the -opposite of mankind, or it is whatever is veiled from the sense, -whether angel or devil.' - -[75] 'Cuneiform Ins.,' iv. 15. - -[76] Ib. ii. 27. - -[77] Job xli. - -[78] 'Records of the Past,' i. - -[79] Lenormant, 'La Magie.' - -[80] 'Records of the Past,' iii. 129. - -[81] The god of the Euphrates. - -[82] The Assyrian has 'of the high places.' - -[83] 'Records of the Past,' iii. 129, 130. - -[84] 'Henry IV.,' Part 1st, Act 2. 'Heart of Mid-Lothian,' xxv. An -interesting paper on this subject by Mr. Alexander Wilder appeared -in The Evolution, New York, December 16, 1877. - -[85] De Plancy. - -[86] An individual by this means saw his wife among the witches, so -detecting her unhallowed nature, which gave rise to a saying there -that husbands must not be star-gazing on St. Gerard's Eve. - -[87] London 'Times,' July 8, 1875. - -[88] This Protean type of both demon and devil must accompany us so -continually through this volume that but little need be said of it -in this chapter. - -[89] Canticles ii. 15. - -[90] De Gubernatis, II. viii. - -[91] 'Our Life in Japan' (Jephson and Elmhirst, 9th Regiment), -Chapman & Hall, 1869. - -[92] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877. - -[93] Rep. 488. - -[94] Literally, goat-song. More probably it has an astrological sense. - -[95] E.g., the demon Huorco in the 'Pentamerone.' - -[96] See De Gubernatis' 'Zoological Mythology,' which contains further -curious details on this subject. - -[97] 'Myths and Myth-makers.' Boston: Osgood & Co. - -[98] 'Zoological Mythology,' p. 64. - -[99] Koran, xviii. - -[100] Wagner. Behold him stop--upon his belly crawl.... The clever -scholar of the students, he! - -[101] 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.' London: Chatto & Windus. - -[102] 'Spirit of the Beasts of France,' ch. i. - -[103] 'Rigv.' i. 105, 18, 42, 2; 'Vendidad,' xix. 108. Quoted by De -Gubernatis ('Zoolog. Mythology,' ii. 142), to whose invaluable work -I am largely indebted in this chapter. - -[104] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 7. Trübner & Co. - -[105] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 108 seq. - -[106] Afanasief, v. 28. - -[107] Ibid., v. 27. - -[108] ii. 6 (De Gubernatis, ii. 117). - -[109] Rather the devil of lust than of cruelty, according to Du Cange: -"Occidunt ursum, occiditur diabolus, id est, temptator nostræ carnis." - -[110] De Plancy (Dict. Inf.), who also relates an amusing legend of -the bear who came to a German choir, as seen by a sleepy chorister as -he awoke; the naïve narrator of which adds, that this was the devil -sent to hold the singers to their duty! The Lives of the Saints abound -with legends of pious bears, such as that commemorated along with -St. Sergius in Troitska Lavra, near Moscow; and that which St. Gallus -was ungracious enough to banish from Switzerland after it had brought -him firewood in proof of its conversion. - -[111] Max Müller, 'Science of Language,' i. 275. - -[112] The term is now used very vaguely. Mr. Talboys Wheeler, -speaking of the 'Scythic Nagas' (Hist. of India, i. 147), says: -'In process of time these Nagas became identified with serpents, and -the result has been a strange confusion between serpents and human -beings.' In the 'Padma Purana' we read of 'serpent-like men.' (See my -'Sacred Anthology,' p. 263.) - -[113] 'Mahawanso' (Turnour), pp. 3, 6. - -[114] Ser. xxxiii. Hardly consistent with De Civ. Dei, xvi. 8. - -[115] 'Chips,' ii. - -[116] 'Sancti custos Soractis Apollo.'--Æn. xi. 785. - -[117] 'Treatise of Spirits,' by John Beaumont, Gent., London, 1705. - -[118] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877. - -[119] Wuttke, 'Volksaberglaube,' 402. Pliny (iv. 16) says: 'Albion -insula sic dicta ab albis rupibus quas mare alluit.' This etymon of -Albion from the white cliffs is very questionable; but, since Alb and -Elf are generally related, it might have suggested the notion about -English demons. Heine identifies the 'White Island,' or Pluto's realm -of Continental folklore, as England. - -[120] Richardson's 'Borderer's Fable-Book,' vi. 97. - -[121] Martin, Appendix to Report on 'Ossian,' p. 310. - -[122] 'Scenes and Legends,' p. 13. - -[123] Dr. James Browne's 'History of the Highlands,' p. 113. - -[124] 'North American Review,' January 1871. - -[125] Dennys, p. 81 et seq. - -[126] Ezekiel xxxix. - -[127] 'Rig-Veda,' iv. 175, 5 (Wilson). - -[128] Ibid., i. 133, 6. - -[129] 'Rig-Veda,' vi. 14. - -[130] 'The Nineteenth Century,' November 1877. Article: 'Sun-Spots -and Famines,' by Norman Lockyer and W. W. Hunter. - -[131] 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell,' by Tobias -Swinden, M.A., late Rector of Cuxton-in-Kent. 1727. - -[132] Carlyle, 'Past and Present,' i. 2. - -[133] 'Discoveries in Egypt,' &c. (Bentley.) 1852. - -[134] 'Legends of Old Testament Characters,' i. p. 83. - -[135] OEdip., 1. II. ii. See 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny,' -p. 699. - -[136] Compare Kali, Fig. 18. - -[137] Soc. of Heb. Literature's Publications. 2d Series. 'Legends -from the Midrash,' by Thomas Chenery (Trübner & Co.). The same legend -is referred to in the story of the Astrologer in Washington Irving's -'Alhambra.' - -[138] Faust, ii. Act 4 (Hayward's Translation). - -[139] 'Emerson's Poems. Monadnoc.' - -[140] 'Modern Painters,' Part V. 19. - -[141] Bel's mountain, 'House of the Beloved,' is called 'high place' -in Assyrian, and would be included in these curses ('Records of the -Past,' iii. 129). - -[142] Jer. xiii. 16. - -[143] 'Our Life in Japan.' By Jephson and Elmhirst. - -[144] Another derivation of Elf (Alf) is to connect it with Sanskrit -Alpa = little; so that the Elves are the Little Folk. Professor Buslaef -of Moscow suggests connection with the Greek Alphito, a spectre. See -pp. 160n. and 223. - -[145] Brinton, p. 85. - -[146] Ibid., p. 166. - -[147] 'Tales and Legends of the Tyrol.' (Chapman and Hall, 1874.) - -[148] Od. xii. 73; 235, &c. - -[149] London Daily Telegraph Correspondence. - -[150] John Sterling. - -[151] 'Rig-Veda,' ii. 15, 5. Wilson. 1854. - -[152] 'Du monstre qui m'avait tant ennuyé, il n'était plus question; -il était pour jamais réduit au silence. Il n'avait plus forme de -géant. Déjà en partie couvert de verdure, de mousse et de clématites -qui avaient grimpé sur la partie où j'avais cessé de passer, il n'était -plus laid; bientôt on ne le verrait plus du tout. Je me sentais si -heureux que je voulus lui pardonner, et, me tournant vers lui:--A -present, lui dis-je, tu dormiras tous tes jours et tous tes nuits sans -que je te dérange. Le mauvais esprit qui était en toi est vaincu, je -lui defends de revenir. Je t'en ai délivré en te forçant à devenir -utile à quelque chose; que la foudre t'épargne et que la neige te -soit légère! Il me sembla passer, le long de l'escarpement, comme un -grand soupir de résignation qui se perdit dans les hauteurs. Ce fut -la dernière fois que je l'entendais, et je ne l'ai jamais revu autre -qu'il n'est maintenant.' - -[153] Von Spix and Von Martin's 'Travels in Brazil,' p. 243. - -[154] 'Anatomy of Melancholy.' Fifteenth Edition, p. 124. - -[155] 'Les Dieux en Exile.' Heinrich Heine. Revue des Deux Mondes, -April, 1853. - -[156] 'Book of Songs.' Translated by Charles E. Leland. New York: -Henry Holt & Co. 1874. - -[157] Dennys. - -[158] Bleek, 'Hottentot Fables,' p. 58. - -[159] Baring-Gould, 'Curious Myths,' &c. - -[160] Ibid., ii. 299. - -[161] 'Shaski,' vi. 48. - -[162] Hugh Miller, 'Scenes and Legends,' p. 293. - -[163] 'The Mirror,' April 7, 1832. - -[164] 'The Origin of Civilisation,' &c. By Sir John Lubbock. - -[165] Hildebrand in Grimm's 'Wörterbuch.' - -[166] Wisdom of Solomon, xvii. What this impressive chapter says of -the delusions of the guilty are equally true of those of ignorance. -'They sleeping the same sleep that night ... were partly vexed with -monstrous apparitions, and partly fainted, their heart failing them -... whosoever there fell down was straitly kept, shut up in a prison -without iron bars.... Whether it were a whistling wind, or a melodious -noise of birds among the spreading branches, or a pleasing fall of -water running violently, or a terrible sound of stones cast down, -or a running that could not be seen of skipping beasts, or a roaring -voice of most savage wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the hollow -mountains: these things made them to swoon for fear. The whole world -shined with clear light ... over them only was spread a heavy night, -an image of that darkness which should afterward receive them: but -yet were they to themselves more grievous than that darkness.' - -[167] Bayard Taylor's 'Faust.' Walpurgis-night. - -[168] i. 228. - -[169] North American Review. March 1877. - -[170] In his very valuable work, 'Northmen in Cumberland and -Westmoreland.' Longmans. 1856. - -[171] 'Journal of Philology,' vi. No. II. On the Word Glamour and -the Legend of Glam, by Professor Cowell. - -[172] 2 Chron. xvi. 12; 2 Kings xx.; Mark v. 26; James v. 14; &c., -&c. The Catholic Church follows the prescription by St. James of prayer -and holy anointing for the sick only after medical aid--of which -Asa died when he preferred it to the Lord--has failed; i.e. extreme -unction. Castelar remarks that the Conclave which elected Pius -IX. sat in the Quirinal rather than the Vatican, 'because, while -it hoped for the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in every place, it -feared that in the palace par excellence divine inspirations would -not sufficiently counteract the effluvias of the fever.' The legal -prosecutions of the 'Peculiar People' for obeying the New Testament -command in case of sickness supply a notable example of the equal -hypocrisy of the protestant age. England has distributed the Bible -as a divine revelation in 150 different languages; and in London it -punishes a sect for obedience to one of its plainest directions. - -[173] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877. - -[174] 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny' (Longmans, 1872), p. 91. See -also Voltaire's Dictionary for an account of the sacred dances in -the Catholic Churches of Spain. - -[175] Deut. xxviii. 60. - -[176] 1 Sam. v. 6. - -[177] 1 Sam. xvi. 14. In chap. xviii. 10, this evil spirit is said -to have proceeded from Elohim, a difference indicating a further step -in that evolution of Jehovah into a moral ruler which is fully traced -in our chapter on 'Elohim and Jehovah.' - -[178] Boundesch, ii. pp. 158, 188. For an exhaustive treatment of the -astrological theories and pictures of the planispheres, see 'Mankind: -their Origin and Destiny' (Longmans, 1872). - -[179] 'Catastrophe Magnatum: or the Fall of Monarchie. A Caveat -to Magistrates, deduced from the Eclipse of the Sunne, March -29, 1652. With a probable Conjecture of the Determination of -the Effects.' By Nich. Culpeper, Gent., Stud. in Astrol. and -Phys. Dan. ii. 21, 22: He changeth the times and the seasons: he -removeth Kings, and setteth up Kings: he giveth wisdome to the Wise, -and knowledge to them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep -and secret things, he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light -dwelleth with him. London: Printed for T. Vere and Nath. Brooke, -in the Old Baily, and at the Angel in Cornhil, 1652.' - -[180] See the Dictionary of Böhtlingk and Roth. - -[181] Heb. ii. 14. - -[182] 1 Cor. v. 5; xi. 30. - -[183] 2 Cor. xii. 7. - -[184] 'Records of the Past,' iii. p. 136. Tr. by Mr. Fox Talbot. - -[185] Ibid., iii. p. 143. The refrain recalls the lines of Edgar -A. Poe:-- - - - They are neither man nor woman, - They are neither brute nor human, - They are ghouls! - - -[186] The Pahlavi Text has been prepared by Destur Jamaspji Asa, -and translated by Haug and West. Trübner, 1872. - -[187] Cf. fig. 9. - -[188] Larousse's 'Dict. Universel.' - -[189] 'Records,' &c., iii. p. 141. Marduk is the Chaldæan Hercules. - -[190] Micah vii. 19. - -[191] See the excellent article in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of -the R.A.S., by Dundris De Silva Gooneratnee Modliar (1865-66). With -regard to this sanctity of the number seven it may be remarked that -it has spread through the world with Christianity,--seven churches, -seven gifts of the Spirit, seven sins and virtues. It is easy therefore -to mistake orthodox doctrines for survivals. In the London 'Times' of -June 24, 1875, there was reported an inquest at Corsham, Wiltshire, -on the body of Miriam Woodham, who died under the prescriptions of -William Bigwood, herbalist. It was shown that he used pills made -of seven herbs. This was only shown to be a 'pagan survival' when -Bigwood stated that the herbs were 'governed by the sun.' - -[192] See p. 44. - -[193] 'Jour. Ceylon R. A. Soc.,' 1865-66. - -[194] This demoness is not to be connected with the Italian -Mania, probably of Etruscan origin, with which nurses frightened -children. This Mania, from an old word manus signifying 'good,' was, -from the relation of her name to Manes, supposed to be mother of -the Lares, whose revisitations of the earth were generally of ill -omen. According to an oracle which said heads should be offered for -the sake of heads, children were sacrificed to this household fiend -up to the time of Junius Brutus, who substituted poppy-heads. - -[195] Phædrus, i. 549. Cf. Ger. selig and silly. - -[196] 'Lect. on Language,' i. 435. - -[197] Ralston's 'Songs of the Russian People,' p. 230. - -[198] 'Sagen der Altmark.' Von A. Kuhn. Berlin, 1843. - -[199] Wake's 'Evolution of Morality,' i. 107. - -[200] 'The Aborigines of Australia' (1865), p. 15. - -[201] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. - -[202] Published by Mozley and Smith, 1878. - -[203] Max Müller. 'Lectures on Language,' ii. p. 562, et seq. - -[204] See the beautifully translated funereal hymn of the Veda in -Professor Whitney's 'Oriental and Linguistic Studies,' p. 52, etc. - -[205] 'The Avesta.' 'Oriental and Linguistic Studies,' p. 196. - -[206] 'Records of the Past,' i. 143. - -[207] Sale's 'Koran' (ed. 1836). See pp. 4, 339, 475. - -[208] 'Discoveries,' &c., p. 223. - -[209] 'Modern Painters,' Part V. xix. - -[210] The history of this tree which I use for a parable is told in the -Rev. Samuel Mateer's 'Land of Charity.' London: John Snow & Co. 1871. - -[211] 'Studies in the History of the Renaissance.' Macmillan & -Co. 1873. - -[212] Concerning which Mr. Wright says: 'It is taken from an oxybaphon -which was brought from the Continent to England, where it passed into -the collection of Mr. William Hope.... The Hyperborean Apollo himself -appears as a quack-doctor, on his temporary stage, covered by a sort -of roof, and approached by wooden steps. On the stage lies Apollo's -luggage, consisting of a bag, a bow, and his Scythian cap. Chiron -(ChIRÔN) is represented as labouring under the effects of age and -blindness, and supporting himself by the aid of a crooked staff, -as he repairs to the Delphian quack-doctor for relief. The figure -of the centaur is made to ascend by the aid of a companion, both -being furnished with the masks and other attributes of the comic -performers. Above are the mountains, and on them the nymphs of -Parnassus (NYMPhAI), who, like all the other actors in the scene, are -disguised with masks, and those of a very gross character.... Even a -pun is employed to heighten the drollery of the scene, for instead -of PYThIAS, the Pythian, placed over the head of the burlesque -Apollo, it seems evident that the artist had written PEIThIAS, the -consoler.'--'History of Caricature,' p. 18. But who is the leaf-crowned -figure, without mask, on the right hand? Was it some early Offenbach, -who found such representation of the gods welcome at Athens where -the attempt to produce our modern Offenbach's Belle Helène recently -caused a theatrical riot? - -[213] Wuttke. 'Volksaberglaube,' 18. - -[214] Schleicher, 'Litauische Märchen,' 141-145. Mr. Ralston's -translation abridged. - -[215] Of this latter kind of hungry werewolf a specimen still -occasionally revisits the glimpses of the moonshine which, for too -many minds, still replaces daylight. So recently as January 17, 1878, -one Kate Bedwell, a 'pedlar, was sentenced in the Marylebone Police -Court, London, to three months' hard labour for obtaining various -sums of money, amounting to 9s. 10d., by terrorism, from Eliza Rolf, -a cook. The pedlar came to the plaintiff's place of work and asked -her if she would like to have her fortune told. Eliza replied, 'No, -I know it; it is hard work or starving.' The fortune-teller asked her -next time if she would have her planet ruled; the other still said no; -but her nerves yielded when the 'Drud' told her 'she lived under three -stars, one good the others bad, and that she could disfigure her or -turn her into something else.' 'Thank God, she did not!' exclaimed -the poor woman in court. However, she seemed to have trusted rather -in her money than in any other providence for her immunity from an -unhappy transformation. But even into this rare depth of ignorance -enough light had penetrated to enable Eliza to cope with her werewolf -in the civilised way of haling her before a magistrate. When Fenris -gets three months with hard labour, he no doubt realises that he has -exceeded his mental habitat, and that the invisible cords have bound -him at last. - -[216] Elf has, indeed, been referred by some to the Sanskrit -alpa=little; but the balance of authority is in favour of the -derivation given in a former chapter. - -[217] Mannhardt, 'Götter,' 287. - -[218] Freia-Holda, the Teutonic goddess of Love. 'Cornhill Magazine,' -May, 1872. - -[219] 'Records of the Past,' vi. 124. - -[220] See Cooper's 'Serpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,' figs. 109 and -112. Serapis as a human-headed serpent is shown in the same essay -(from Sharpe), fig. 119. - -[221] 'Representative Men,' American edition of 1850, p. 108. - -[222] 'L'Oiseau,' par Jules Michelet. - -[223] A deadly Southern snake, coloured like the soil on which -it lurks, had become the current name for politicians who, while -professing loyalty to the Union, aided those who sought to overthrow -it. - -[224] See his learned and valuable treatise, 'The Serpent Myths of -Ancient Egypt.' Hardwicke, 1873. - -[225] 'Time and Faith,' i. 204. Groombridge, 1857. - -[226] 'The Epic of the Worm,' by Victor Hugo. Translated by Bayard -Taylor from 'La Légende des Siècles.' - -[227] Bruce relates of the Abyssinians that a serpent is commonly kept -in their houses to consult for an augury of good or evil. Butter and -honey are placed before it, of which if it partake, the omen is good; -if the serpent refuse to eat, some misfortune is sure to happen. This -custom seems to throw a light on the passage--'Butter and honey shall -he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good' -(Isa. vii. 15).--Time and Faith, i. 60. - -Compare the apocryphal tale of Bel and the Dragon. Bel was a healing -god of the Babylonians, and the Dragon whom he slew may have been -regarded in later times as his familiar - -[228] 'Principles of Greek Etymology,' ii. 63. English translation. - -[229] See pp. 8 and 20. - -[230] 'Rig-veda,' v. (Wilson). - -[231] In a paper on the 'Origin of Serpent-worship,' read before the -Anthropological Institute in London, December 17, 1872. - -[232] 'Science of Language,' i. 230. - -[233] 'Lectures on Language,' i. 435. - -[234] Grimm's 'Mythology,' p. 650 ff. Simrock, p. 440. - -[235] Roth, in the 'Journal of the German Oriental Society,' -vol. ii. p. 216 ff., has elucidated the whole myth. - -[236] I have in my possession a specimen of the horned frog of America, -and it is sufficiently curious. - -[237] Gesta Rom., cap. 68. Grimm's Myth., 650 ff. Simrock, p. 400. - -[238] Others derive the name from the ancient Borbetomagus. - -[239] Traditions, p. 44. - -[240] Loathely. - -[241] Pope's 'Homer,' Book xv. - -[242] See p. 59. - -[243] See p. 154. - -[244] Æsch. Prom. 790, &c. - -[245] Vol. i. p. 38. - -[246] 'North American Review,' January 1871. - -[247] 'Records of the Past,' x. 79. - -[248] Page 285. - -[249] 'Alcestis in England.' Printed by the South Place Society, -Finsbury, London. 1877. - -[250] Eating meat was the process of incarnation. - -[251] 'Results of a Tour in Dardistan, Kashmir,' &c., by Chevalier -Dr. G. W. Leitner, Lahore, vol. i. part iii. Trübner & Co. - -[252] Page 91. - -[253] In the Etruscan Museum at Rome there is a fine representation -of this. The old belief was that a dragon could only be attacked -successfully inside. - -[254] 'The Jewish Messiah,' &c. By James Drummond, B.A. Longmans & -Co. (1877). See in this valuable work chapter xxi. - -[255] Matt. viii. 30. - -[256] Luke xxiii. 3. - -[257] Acts i. 25. - - - - - - - - -NOTES TO VOLUME II - - -[1] 'Treatise of Spirits.' By John Beaumont, Gent. London, 1705. - -[2] Luke x. 19. - -[3] Rev. xii. - -[4] Rev. xii. cf. verses 4, 9 and 14. - -[5] Rev. xii. 12. - -[6] 'Zendavesta,' Yaçna xxx.; Max Müller, 'Science of Religion,' -p. 238. - -[7] Yaçna xliii. - -[8] 'Die Christliche Lehre von der Sünde.' Von Julius Müller, Breslau, -1844, i. 193. - -[9] 'Ormazd brought help to me; by the grace of Ormazd my troops -entirely defeated the rebel army and took Sitratachmes, and brought him -before me. Then I cut off his nose and his ears, and I scourged him. He -was kept chained at my door. All the kingdom beheld him. Afterwards I -crucified him at Arbela.' So says the tablet of Darius Hystaspes. But -what could Darius have done 'by the grace of Ahriman'? - -[10] Cf. Rev. v. 6 and xii. 15. - -[11] 'Prayer and Work.' By Octavius B. Frothingham. New York, 1877. - -[12] 'Lucifero, Poema di Mario Rapisardi.' Milano, 1877. - -[13] E quanto ebbe e mantiene a l'uom soltanto Il deve, a l'uom che -d'oqui sue destino O prospero, o maligno, arbitro e solo. - -'Whatever he (God) had, he owed to man alone, to man who, for good -or ill, is sole arbiter of his own fate.'--Rapisardi's Lucifero. - -[14] The following abridgment mainly follows that of James Freeman -Clarke in his 'Ten Great Religions.' - -[15] White or Snowy Mountain. Cf. Alp, Elf, &c. - -[16] 'Elias shall first come and restore all things.' - -[17] That this satirical hymn was admitted into the Rig-Veda shows -that these hymns were collected whilst they were still in the hands -of the ancient Hindu families as common property, and were not yet -the exclusive property of Bráhmans as a caste or association. Further -evidence of the same kind is given by a hymn in which the expression -occurs--'Do not be as lazy as a Bráhman.'--Mrs. Manning's Ancient and -Mediæval India, i. 77. In the same work some particulars are given of -the persons mentioned in this chapter. The Frog-satire is translated -by Max Müller, A. S. L., p. 494. - -[18] 'Arichandra, the Martyr of Truth: A Tamil Drama translated into -English by Mutu Coomâra Swâmy, Mudliar, Member of Her Majesty's -Legislative Council of Ceylon,' &c. London: Smith, Elder, & -Co. 1863. This drama, it must be constantly borne in mind, in nowise -represents the Vedic legend, told in the Aitereya-Bráhmana, vii. 13-18; -nor the puranic legend, told in the Merkandeya-Purána. I have altered -the spelling of the names to the Sanskrit forms, but otherwise follow -Sir M. C. S.'s translation. - -[19] Siva; the 'lord of the world,' and of wealth. Cf. Pluto, Dis, -Dives. - -[20] Thes. Heb., p. 94. - -[21] Heb. Handw., p. 90. - -[22] Or Jahveh. I prefer to use the best known term in a case where -the more exact spelling adds no significance. - -[23] This, the grandest of all the elohistic names, became the nearest -Hebrew word for devils--shedim. - -[24] Even his jealous command against rivals, i.e., 'graven images,' -had to be taken along with the story of Laban's images (Gen. xxxi.), -when, though 'God came to Laban,' the idolatry was not rebuked. - -[25] It is not certain, indeed, whether this Brightness may not have -been separately personified in the 'Eduth' (translated 'testimony' -in the English version, Exod. xvi. 34), before which the pot of manna -was laid. The word means 'brightness,' and Dr. Willis supposes it may -be connected with Adod, the Phoenician Sun-god (Pentateuch, p. 186). - -[26] It is important not to confuse Satan with the Devil, so far as the -Bible is concerned. Satan, as will be seen when we come to the special -treatment of him required, is by no means invariably diabolical. In -the Book of Job, for example, he appears in a character far removed -from hostility to Jehovah or goodness. - -[27] Name ist Schall und Rauch, Umnebelnd Himmelsgluth.--Goethe. - -[28] 'Targum to the Prophets,' Jonathan Ben Uzziel. See Deutsch's -'Literary Remains,' p. 379. - -[29] See pp. 46 and 255. The episode is in Mahábhárata, I. 15. - -[30] Related to the Slav Kvas, with which, in Russian folklore, -the Devil tried to circumvent Noah and his wife, as related in -chap. xxvii. part iv. - -[31] In Sanskrit Adima means 'the first;' in Hebrew Adam (given -almost always with the article) means 'the red,' and it is generally -derived from adamah, mould or soil. But Professor Max Müller (Science -of Religion, p. 320) says if the name Adima (used, by the way, in -India for the first man, as Adam is in England) is the same as Adam, -'we should be driven to admit that Adam was borrowed by the Jews from -the Hindus.' But even that mild case of 'driving' is unnecessary, -since the word, as Sale reminded the world, is used in the Persian -legend. It is probable that the Hebrews imported this word not knowing -its meaning, and as it resembled their word for mould, they added -the gloss that the first man was made of the dust or mould of the -ground. It is not contended that the Hebrews got their word directly -from the Hindu or Persian myth. Mr. George Smith discovered that Admi -or Adami was the name for the first men in Chaldean fragments. Sir -Henry Rawlinson points out that the ancient Babylonians recognised two -principle races,--the Adamu, or dark, and the Sarku, or light, race; -probably a distinction, remembered in the phrase of Genesis, between -the supposed sons of Adam and the sons of God. The dark race was the -one that fell. Mr. Herbert Spencer (Principles of Sociology, Appendix) -offers an ingenious suggestion that the prohibition of a certain sacred -fruit may have been the provision of a light race against a dark one, -as in Peru only the Yuca and his relatives were allowed to eat the -stimulating cuca. If this be true in the present case, it would still -only reflect an earlier tradition that the holy fruit was the rightful -possession of the deities who had won in the struggle for it. - -Nor is there wanting a survival from Indian tradition in the story -of Eve. Adam said, 'This now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my -flesh.' In the Manu Code (ix. 22) it is written: 'The bone of woman is -united with the bone of man, and her flesh with his flesh.' The Indian -Adam fell in twain, becoming male and female (Yama and Yami). Ewald -(Hist. of Israel, i. 1) has put this matter of the relation between -Hebrew and Hindu traditions, as it appears to me, beyond doubt. See -also Goldziher's Heb. Mythol., p. 326; and Professor King's Gnostics, -pp. 9, 10, where the historic conditions under which the importation -would naturally have occurred are succinctly set forth. Professor -King suggests that Parsî and Pharisee may be the same word. - -[32] Gen. vi. 1, 2, 4. - -[33] vi.-xi. pp. 3-6. See Drummond's 'Jewish Messiah,' p. 21. - -[34] See vol. i. p. 255. - -[35] Phil. Trans. Ab. from 1700-1720, Part iv. p. 173. - -[36] Gen. xxi. 6, 7. The English version has destroyed the sense by -supplying 'him' after 'borne.' Cf. also verses 1, 2. The rabbins -were fully aware of the importance of the statement that it was -Jehovah who 'opened the womb of Sara,' and supplemented it with -various traditions. It was related that when Isaac was born, the -kings of the earth refused to believe such a prodigy concerning even -a beauty of ninety years; whereupon the breasts of all their wives -were miraculously dried up, and they all had to bring their children -to Sara to be suckled. - -[37] Fortieth Parascha, fol. 37, col. 1. The solar--or more correctly, -so far as Sara is concerned, lunar--aspects of the legend of Abraham, -Sara, and Isaac, however important, do not affect the human nature with -which they are associated; nor is the special service to which they -are pressed in Jewish theology altered by the theory (should it prove -true) which derives these personages from Aryan mythology. There seems -to be some reason for supposing that Sara is a semiticised form of -Saranyú. The two stand in somewhat the same typical position. Saranyú, -daughter of Tvashtar ('the fashioner'), was mother of the first human -pair, Yama and Yami. Sara is the first mother of those born in a new -(covenanted) creation. Each is for a time concealed from mortals; -each leaves her husband an illegitimate representative. Saranyú gives -her lord Savarná ('substitute'), who by him brings forth Manu,--that -is 'Man,' but not the original perfect Man. Sara substitutes Hagar -('the fleeting'), and Ishmael is born, but not within the covenant. - -[38] Gen. iii. 14. Zerov. Hummor, fol. 8, col. 3. Parascha -Bereschith. It is said that, according to Prov. xxv. 21, if thy -enemy hunger thou must feed him; and hence dust must be placed for -the serpent when its power over man is weakened by circumcision. - -[39] Parascha Bereschith, fol. 12, col. 4. Eisenmenger, Entdeckes -Judenthum, ii. 409. - -[40] Hist. Arabûm. - -[41] Entdeckes Judenthum. - -[42] This legend may have been in the mind of the writer of the Book -of Revelations when (xii. 14) he describes the Woman who received -wings that she might escape the Serpent. Lilith's wings bore her to -the Serpent. - -[43] Inferno, ix. 56-64. - -[44] She was a Lybian Queen beloved by Zeus, whose children were -victims of Hera's jealousy. She was daughter of Belus, and it is -a notable coincidence, if no more, that in Gen. xxxvi. 'Bela' is -mentioned as a king of Edom, the domain of Samaël, who married Lilith. - -[45] The martial and hunting customs of the German women, as well -as their equality with men, may be traced in the vestiges of their -decline. Hexe (witch) is from hag (forest): the priestesses who carried -the Broom of Thor were called Hagdissen. Before the seventeenth -century the Hexe was called Drud or Trud (red folk, related to -the Lightning-god). But the famous female hunters and warriors of -Wodan, the Valkyries, were so called also; and the preservation of -the epithet (Trud) in the noble name Gertrude is a connecting link -between the German Amazons and the political power so long maintained -by women in the same country. Their office as priestesses probably -marks a step downward from their outdoor equality. By this route, -as priestesses of diabolised deities, they became witches; but many -folk-legends made these witches still great riders, and the Devil was -said to transform and ride them as dapplegrey mares. The chief charge -against the witches, that of carnal commerce with devils, is also -significant. Like Lilith, women became devils' brides whenever they -were not content with sitting at home with the distaff and the child. - -[46] Mr. W. B. Scott has painted a beautiful picture of Eve gazing up -with longing at a sweet babe in the tree, whose serpent coils beneath -she does not see. - -[47] 'Records of the Past,' iii. p. 83. See also i. p. 135. - -[48] 'Chaldean Genesis,' by George Smith, p. 70. - -[49] Copied in 'Chald. Gen.,' p. 91. As to the connection of this -design with the legend of Eden, see chap. vii. of this volume. - -[50] 'Chaldean Genesis,' pp. 62, 63. - -[51] Ib., 97. - -[52] 'Records of the Past,' ix. 141. - -[53] Anu was the ruler of the highest heaven. Meteors and lightnings -are similarly considered in Hebrew poetry as the messengers of the -Almighty. (Psalm civ. 4, 'Who maketh his ministers a flaming fire,' -quoted in Heb. i. 7.) - -[54] Im, the god of the sky, sometimes called Rimmon (the -Thunderer). He answers to the Jupiter Tonans of the Latins. - -[55] The abyss or ocean where the god Hea dwelt. - -[56] The late Mr. G. Smith says that the Chaldean dragon was -seven-headed. 'Chaldean Genesis,' p. 100. - -[57] 'Records of the Past,' vii. 123. - -[58] 'Records of the Past,' x. 127. - -[59] See i. pp. 46 and 255. Concerning Ketef see Eisenmenger, -ii. p. 435. - -[60] Isaiah xiv. It may appear as if in this personification of a -fallen star we have entered a different mythological region from that -represented by the Assyrian tablets; but it is not so. The demoniac -forms of Ishtar, Astarte, are fallen stars also. She appears in Greece -as Artemis Astrateia, whose worship Pausanias mentions as coming from -the East. Her development is through Asteria (Greek form of Ishtar), -in whose myth is hidden much valuable Babylonian lore. Asteria was said -to have thrown herself into the sea, and been changed into the island -called Asteria, from its having fallen like a star from heaven. Her -suicide was to escape from the embraces of Zeus, and her escape from -him in form of a quail, as well as her fate, may be instructively -compared with the story of Lilith, who flew out of Eden on wings -to escape from Adam, and made an effort to drown herself in the Red -Sea. The diabolisation of Asteria (the fallen star) was through her -daughter Hecate. Hecate was the female Titan who was the most potent -ally of the gods. Her rule was supreme under Zeus, and all the gifts -valued by mortals were believed to proceed from her; but she was -severely judicial, and rigidly withheld all blessings from such as -did not deserve them. Thus she was, as the searching eye of Zeus, a -star-spy upon earth. Such spies, as we have repeatedly had occasion -to mention in this work, are normally developed into devils. From -professional detectives they become accusers and instigators. Ishtar -of the Babylonians, Asteria of the Greeks, and the Day-star of the -Hebrews are male and female forms of the same personification: Hecate -with her torch (hekatos, 'far-shooting') and Lucifer ('light-bringer' -on the deeds of darkness) are the same in their degradation. - -[61] 'Paradise Lost,' i. 40-50. - -[62] And foremost rides Prince Rupert, darling of fortune and of war, -with his beautiful and thoughtful face of twenty-three, stern and -bronzed already, yet beardless and dimpled, his dark and passionate -eyes, his long love-locks drooping over costly embroidery, his graceful -scarlet cloak, his white-plumed hat, and his tall and stately form. His -high-born beauty is preserved to us for ever on the canvas of Vandyck, -and as the Italians have named the artist 'Il Pittore Cavalieresco,' -so will this subject of his skill remain for ever the ideal of Il -Cavaliere Pittoresco. And as he now rides at the head of this brilliant -array, his beautiful white dog bounds onward joyously beside him, -that quadruped renowned in the pamphlets of the time, whose snowy -skin has been stained by many a blood-drop in the desperate forays of -his master, but who has thus far escaped so safely that the Puritans -believe him a familiar spirit, and try to destroy him 'by poyson and -extempore prayer, which yet hurt him no more than the plague plaster -did Mr. Pym.' Failing in this, they pronounce the pretty creature to be -'a divell, not a very downright divell, but some Lapland ladye, once by -nature a handsome white ladye, now by art a handsome white dogge.'--A -Charge with Prince Rupert. Col. Higginson's 'Atlantic Essays.' - -[63] Isa. lxiii. 1-6. - -[64] Fol. 84, col. 1. - -[65] Maarecheth haëlahuth, fol. 257, col. 1. - -[66] Gesenius, Heb. Lexic. - -[67] Hairiness was a pretty general characteristic of devils; -hence, possibly, the epithet 'Old Harry,' i.e., hairy, applied to -the Devil. In 'Old Deccan Days,' p. 50, a Rakshasa is described as -hairy:--'Her hair hangs around her in a thick black tangle.' But the -beard has rarely been accorded to devils. - -[68] Buslaef has a beautiful mediæval picture of a devil inciting -Cain to hurl stones on his prostrate brother's form. - -[69] Forty-one Eastern Tales. - -[70] The contest between the agriculturist and the (nomadic) shepherd -is expressed in the legend that Cain and Abel divided the world between -them, the one taking possession of the movable and the other of the -immovable property. Cain said to his brother, 'The earth on which thou -standest is mine, then betake thyself to the air;' but Abel replied, -'The garments which thou wearest are mine, take them off.'--Midrash. - -[71] Sale's Koran, vii. Al Araf. Iblis, the Mussulman name for the -Devil, is probably a corruption of the word diabolus. - -[72] Noyes' Translation. - -[73] Eisenmenger, Entd. Jud. i. 836. - -[74] Job. i. 22, the literal rendering of which is, 'In all this Job -sinned not, nor gave God unsalted.' This translation I first heard -from Dr. A. P. Peabody, sometime President of Harvard University, from -whom I have a note in which he says:--'The word which I have rendered -gave is appropriate to a sacrifice. The word I have rendered unsalted -means so literally; and is in Job vi. 6 rendered unsavory. It may, -and sometimes does, denote folly, by a not unnatural metaphor; but in -that sense the word gave--an offertory word--is out of place.' Waltonus -(Bib. Polyg.) translates 'nec dedit insulsum Deo;' had he rendered -tiphlah by insalsum it would have been exact. The horror with which -demons and devils are supposed to regard salt is noticed, i. 288. - -[75] Gesenius so understands verse 17 of chap. xiv. - -[76] The much misunderstood and mistranslated passage, xix. 25-27 -(already quoted), is certainly referable to the wide-spread belief -that as against each man there was an Accusing Spirit, so for each -there was a Vindicating Spirit. These two stood respectively on the -right and left of the balances in which the good and evil actions of -each soul were weighed against each other, each trying to make his -side as heavy as possible. But as the accusations against him are -made by living men, and on earth, Job is not prepared to consider a -celestial acquittal beyond the grave as adequate. - -[77] 'The Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer.' By William Huntington, -S.S. This title is explained to be 'Sinner Saved,' otherwise one -might understand the letters to signify a Surviving Syrian. - -[78] Num. xxii. 22. - -[79] 1 Sam. xxix. 4. - -[80] 2 Sam. xix. 22. - -[81] 1 Kings ii. 9. - -[82] 1 Kings v. 4. - -[83] 1 Kings xi. 14. - -[84] 1 Kings xi. 25. - -[85] Zech. iii. - -[86] Cf. Rev. vii. 3. - -[87] 'The Sight of Hell,' prepared, as one of a 'Series of Books for -Children and Young Persons,' by the Rev. Father Furniss, C.S.S.R., -by authority of his Superiors. - -[88] M. Anquetil Du Perron's 'Zendavesta et Vie de Zoroastre.' - -[89] As given in Mr. Alabaster's 'The Wheel of the Law' (Trübner & -Co., 1871). In the Apocryphal Gospels, some of the signs of nature's -joy attending the birth of Buddha are reported at the birth of Mary -and that of Christ, as the pausing of birds in their flight, &c. Anna -is said to have conceived Mary under a tree, as Maia under a tree -brought forth Buddha. - -[90] 'Mara, or Man (Sanscrit Màra, death, god of love; by some authors -translated 'illusion,' as if it came from the Sanscrit Màya), the -angels of evil, desire, of love, death, &c. Though King Mara plays -the part of our Satan the tempter, he and his host were formerly -great givers of alms, which led to their being born in the highest -of the Deva heavens, called Paranimit Wasawatti, there to live more -than nine thousand million years, surrounded by all the luxuries of -sensuality. From this heaven the filthy one, as the Siamese describe -him, descends to the earth to tempt and excite to evil.'--Alabaster. - -[91] Some say Djemschid, others Guenschesp, a warrior sent to hell -for beating the fire. - -[92] Leben Jesu, ii. 54. The close resemblance between the trial -of Israel in the wilderness and this of Jesus is drawn in his own -masterly way. - -[93] A passage of the Pesikta (iii. 35) represents a conversation -between Jehovah and Satan with reference to Messias which bears a -resemblance to the prologue of Job. Satan said: Lord, permit me to -tempt Messias and his generation. 'To him the Lord said: You could -have no power over him. Satan again said: Permit me because I have -the power. God answered: If you persist longer in this, rather would -I destroy thee from the world, than that one soul of the generation -of Messias should be lost.' Though the rabbin might report the trial -declined, the Christian would claim it to have been endured. - -[94] In his fresco of the Temptation at the Vatican, Michael Angelo -has painted the Devil in the dress of a priest, standing with Jesus -on the Temple. - -[95] 'Idols and Ideals.' London: Trübner & Co. New York: Henry Holt & -Co. In the Essay on Christianity I have given my reasons for this -belief. - -[96] 'Paradise Regained,' ii. - -[97] 'Henry Luria; or, the Little Jewish Convert: being contained in -the Memoir of Mrs. S. T. Cohen, relict of the Rev. Dr. A. H. Cohen, -late Rabbi of the Synagogue in Richmond, Va.' 1860. - -[98] 'Heroes and Hero-worship,' iv. - -[99] 'Sartor Resartus.' London: Chapman & Hall, 1869, p. 160. - -[100] 'The American Scholar.' An Oration delivered before the Phi -Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge (Massachusetts), August 31, 1837. By -Ralph Waldo Emerson. - -[101] The relations of this system to those of various countries are -stated by Professor King in his work 'The Gnostics and their Remains.' - -[102] In the Architectural Museum, Westminster, there is an old -picture which possibly represents the hairy Adam. - -[103] Josephus; 'Wars of the Jews,' vi. 1. - -[104] Those who wish to pursue the subject may consult Plutarch, -Philo, Josephus, Diog. Laertius; also Eisenmenger, Wetstein, Elsner, -Doughtæi, Lightfoot, Sup. Relig., &c. - -[105] See 'Supernatural Religion,' vol. i. ch. 4 and 5, for ample -references concerning these superstitions among both Jews and -Christians. - -[106] 'Saducismus,' p. 53. - -[107] 'Eastern Morning News,' quoted in the 'National Reformer,' -December 17, 1877. - -[108] Much curious information is contained in the work already -referred to, 'L'Eau Benite au Dix-neuvième Siècle.' Par Monsignor -Gaume, Protonotaire Apostolique. Paris, 1866. It is there stated that -water escaped the curse; that salt produces fecundity; that devils -driven off temporarily by the cross are effectually dismissed by -holy water; that St. Vincent, interrupted by a storm while preaching, -dispersed it by throwing holy water at it; and he advises the use of -holy water against the latest devices of the devil--spirit-rapping. It -must not, however, be supposed that these notions are confined to -Catholics. Every element in the disquisition of Monsignor Gaume is -represented in the region where his church is most hated. Mr. James -Napier, in his recent book on Folklore, shows us the Scotch hastening -new-born babes to baptism lest they become 'changelings,' and the -true meaning of the rite is illustrated in a reminiscence of his -own childhood. He was supposed to be pining under an Evil Eye, and -the old woman, or 'skilly,' called in, carefully locked the door, -now unlocked by her patient, and proceeded as follows:-- 'A sixpence -was borrowed from a neighbour, a good fire was kept burning in the -grate, the door was locked, and I was placed upon a chair in front of -the fire. The operator, an old woman, took a tablespoon and filled -it with water. With the sixpence she then lifted as much salt as it -would carry, and both were put into the water in the spoon. The water -was then stirred with the forefinger till the salt was dissolved. Then -the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands were bathed with this -solution thrice, and after these bathings I was made to taste the -solution three times. The operator then drew her wet forefinger -across my brow--called scoring aboon the breath. The remaining -contents of the spoon she then cast right over the fire, into the -hinder part of the fire, saying as she did so, 'Guid preserve frae a' -skaith.' These were the first words permitted to be spoken during the -operation. I was then put in bed, and, in attestation of the charm, -recovered. To my knowledge this operation has been performed within -these forty years, and probably in many outlying country places it -is still practised. The origin of this superstition is probably to be -found in ancient fire-worship. The great blazing fire was evidently an -important element in the transaction; nor was this a solitary instance -in which regard was paid to the fire. I remember being taught that -it was unlucky to spit into the fire, some evil being likely shortly -after to befall those who did so. Crumbs left upon the table after -a meal were carefully gathered and put into the fire. The cuttings -from the nails and hair were also put into the fire. These freaks -certainly look like survivals of fire-worship.' It may be well here -to refer the reader to what has been said in vol. i. on Demons of -Fire. The Devil's fear of salt and consequently of water confirmed -the perhaps earlier apprehension of all fiery phantoms of that which -naturally quenches flame. - -[109] We here get a clue to the origin of various strange ceremonies by -which men bind themselves to one another. Michelet, in his 'Origines -du Droit Français,' writes: 'Boire le sang l'un de l'autre, c'etait -pour ainsi dire se faire même chair. Ce symbole si expressif se trouve -chez un grand nombre de peuples;' and he gives instances from various -ancient races. But, as we here see, this practice is not originally -adopted as a symbol (no practices begin as symbols), but is prompted -by the belief that a community of nature is thus established, and a -community of power over one another. - -[110] 'Principles of Sociology,' i. ch. xix. Origen says, that a -man eats and drinks with demons when he eats flesh and drinks wine -offered to idols. (Contra Cels. viii. 31.) - -[111] Dr. James Browne's 'History of the Highlands,' ed. 1855, i. 108. - -[112] 'Aurea Legenda.' The story, as intertwined with that of the -discovery of the true cross by the Empress Helena, was a fruitful -theme for artists. It has been painted in various versions by Angiolo -Gaddi in S. Croce at Florence, by Pietro della Francesca at Arezzo, -and in S. Croce in Ger. at Rome are frescoes celebrating Helena in a -chapel named from her, but into which persons of her sex are admitted -only once a year. - -[113] To the 'Secular Chronicle,' February 11, 1877. - -[114] Psalm lv. - -[115] Jer. xxv. 38; xlvi. 16; l. 16. - -[116] Isaiah xi. 2, 3. - -[117] The more fatal aspect of the dove has tended to invest the -pigeon, especially wild pigeons, which in Oldenburg, and many other -regions, are supposed to bode calamity and death if they fly round -a house. - -[118] Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's Memoirs. - -[119] Matt. xii. 31. - -[120] Mark iii. 28. - -[121] I have before me an account by a christian mother of the death -of her child, whom she had dedicated to the Lord before his birth, -in which she says, 'A full breath issued from his mouth like an -etherial flame, a slight quiver of the lip, and all was over.' - -[122] 'Serpent poison.' It is substantially the same word as the -demonic Samaël. The following is from Colonel Campbell's 'Travels,' -ii. p. 130:--'It was still the hot season of the year, and we were -to travel through that country over which the horrid wind I have -before mentioned sweeps its consuming blasts; it is called by the -Turks Samiel, is mentioned by the holy Job under the name of the East -wind, and extends its ravages all the way from the extreme end of the -Gulf of Cambaya up to Mosul; it carries along with it flakes of fire, -like threads of silk; instantly strikes dead those that breathe it, -and consumes them inwardly to ashes; the flesh soon becoming black -as a coal, and dropping off the bones. Philosophers consider it as -a kind of electric fire, proceeding from the sulphurous or nitrous -exhalations which are kindled by the agitations of the winds. The only -possible means of escape from its fatal effects is to fall flat on the -ground, and thereby prevent the drawing it in; to do this, however, -it is necessary first to see it, which is not always practicable.' - -[123] The 'Sacred Anthology,' p. 425. Nizami uses his fable to -illustrate the effect of even an innocent flower on one whom conscience -has made a coward. - -[124] Nothing is more natural than the Triad: the regions which may -be most simply distinguished are the Upper, Middle, and Lower. - -[125] Bhàgavàt-Gita. - -[126] Gulistan. - -[127] Acts ii. - -[128] Compare Gen. vi. 3. Jehovah said, 'My breath shall not always -abide in man.' - -[129] Among the many survivals in civilised countries of these notions -may be noticed the belief that, in order to be free from a spell it is -necessary to draw blood from the witch above the breath, i.e., mouth -and nostrils; to 'score aboon the breath' is a Scottish phrase. This -probably came by the 'pagan' route; but it meets its christian kith and -kin in the following story which I find in a (MS.) Memorial sent to the -House of Lords in 1869 by the Rev. Thomas Berney, Rector of Bracon Ash, -Diocese of Norwich:--'I was sent for in haste to privately baptize -a child thought to be dying, and belonging to parents who lived 'on -the Common' at Hockering. It indeed appeared to be very ill, and its -eyes were fixed, and remarkably clouded and dull. Having baptized, -I felt moved with a longing desire to be enabled to heal the child; -and I prayed very earnestly to the Lord God Almighty to give me faith -and strength to enable me to do so. And I put my hands on its head -and drew them down on to its arms; and then breathed on its head -three times, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I held -its arms and looked on it anxiously, its face became exceedingly -red and dark, and as the child gradually assumed a natural colour, -the eyes became clear again; and then it gently closed its eyes in -sleep. And I told the mother not to touch it any more till it awoke; -but to carry it up in the cradle as it was. The next morning I found -the child perfectly well. She had not touched it, except at four in -the morning to feed it, when it seemed dead asleep, and it did not -awake till ten o'clock.' This was written by an English Rector, and -dated from the Carlton Club! The italics are in the original MS. now -before me. The importance that no earthly hand should profanely touch -the body while the spirit was at work in it shows how completely -systematised is that insanity which consists of making a human mind -an arena for the survival of the unfittest. - -[130] Luke xxii. 31. - -[131] Amos ix. 8, 9. - -[132] 1 Cor. v. 5. - -[133] 2 Cor. xi. 13. - -[134] 1 John iv. 2, 3. - -[135] Polycarp, Ep. to Philippians, vii. - -[136] 2 Thess. ii. - -[137] 2 Peter ii. 15. - -[138] John xvii. 12. - -[139] 'But,' says Professor King (Gnostics, p. 52), 'a dispassionate -examiner will discover that these two zealous Fathers somewhat beg -the question in assuming that the Mithraic rites were invented as -counterfeits of the Christian Sacraments; the former having really been -in existence long before the promulgation of Christianity.' Whatever -may have been the incidents in the life of Christ connected with -such things, it is certainly true, as Professor King says, that these -'were afterwards invested with the mystic and supernatural virtues, -in a later age insisted upon as articles of faith, by succeeding -and unscrupulous missionaries, eager to outbid the attractions of -more ancient ceremonies of a cognate character.' In the porch of -the Church Bocca della Verita at Rome, there is, or was, a fresco of -Ceres shelling corn and Bacchus pressing grapes, from them falling -the elements of the Eucharist to a table below. This was described -to me by a friend, but when I went to see it in 1872, it had just -been whitewashed over! I called the attention of Signor Rosa to -this shameful proceeding, and he had then some hope that this very -interesting relic might be recovered. - -[140] Op. iv. 511. Col. Agrip. 1616. - -[141] For full details of all these superstitions see Eisenmenger -(Entd. Jud. li. Armillus); D'Herbelot (Bib. Orient. Daggiel); -Buxtorf (Lexicon, Armillus); Calmet, Antichrist; and on the same -word, Smith; also a valuable article in M'Clintock and Strong's -Cyc. Bib. Lit. (American). - -[142] Deutsch, 'Lit. Remains.' Islam. - -[143] Weil's 'Biblical Legends.' - -[144] Eisenmenger, ii. 60. - -[145] See vol. i. pp. 58 and 358. - -[146] 'Zoroastrische Studien,' pp. 138-147. With which comp. Spiegel, -Transl. of Avesta, III. xlvii. - -[147] 'Studies in the Hist. of the Renaissance.' Macmillan. - -[148] 'Chald. Genesis,' by George Smith, p. 84. - -[149] This text was engraved by Mrs. Rose Mary Crawshay on a tomb -she had erected in honour of her humble neighbour, Mr. Norbury, who -sought knowledge for its own sake. Few ancient scriptures could have -supplied an inscription so appropriate. - -[150] Mr. Baring-Gould, quoting this (from Anastasius Sinaita, Hodêgos, -ed. Gretser, Ingolst. 1606, p. 269), attributes this shining face of -Seth to his previous character as a Sun-god. ('Old Test. Legends,' -i. 84.) - -[151] King's 'Gnostics,' p. 53, n. - -[152] Tertullian's phrase, 'The Devil is God's Ape,' became popular at -one time, and the Ape-devil had frequent representation in art--as, -for instance, in Holbein's 'Crucifixion' (1477), now at Augsburg, -where a Devil with head of an ape, bat-wings, and flaming red legs -is carrying off the soul of the impenitent thief. The same subject -is found in the same gallery in an Altdorfer, where the Devil's face -is that of a gorilla. - -[153] S. Cyp. ap. Muratori, Script. it. i. 295, 545. The -Magicians used to call their mirrors after the name of this -flower-devil--Fiorone. M. Maury, 'La Magie,' 435 n. - -[154] This whole subject is treated, and with ample references, -in M. Maury's 'Magie,' p. 41, seq. - -[155] 'La Sorcière.' - -[156] Dasent's 'Norse Tales,' Introd. ciii. - -[157] 'Chips,' ii. - -[158] 'Chester Plays,' 1600. - -[159] 'Declaration of Popish Impostures,' 1603. - -[160] So Shakespere, 'The Devil damn thee black.' - -[161] In an account, 1568, we find:--'pay'd for iij li of heare -ijs vjd.' - -[162] The Directions for the 'Castle of Good Perseverance,' say: -'& he þt schal pley belyal, loke þt he have guñe powdr breñng in -pypysih's hands & i h's ers & i h's ars whãne he gothe to batayle.' - -[163] This notion was widespread. I have seen an ancient Russian -picture in which the Devil is dancing before a priest who has become -drowsy over his prayer-book. There was once a Moslem controversy -as to whether it was fair for pilgrims to keep themselves awake for -their prayers by chewing coffee-berries. - -[164] 'Liber Revelationum de Insidiis et Versutiis Dæmonum adversus -Homines.' See Reville's Review of Roskoff, 'The Devil,' p. 38. - -[165] See M. Maury's 'Magie,' p. 48. - -[166] The history has been well related by a little work by Dr. Albert -Réville: 'Apollonius of Tyana, the Pagan Christ.' Chatto & Windus. - -[167] Sinistrari names Luther as one of eleven persons whom he -enumerates as having been begotten by Incubi, 'Enfin, comme l'ecrit -Codens, cité par Maluenda, ce damné Hérésiarque, qui a nom Martin -Luther.'--'Démonialité,' 30. - -[168] Glanvil's 'Saducismus.' - -[169] King Lear, iii. 4. Asmodeus and Mohammed are, no doubt, corrupted -in these names, which are given as those of devils in Harsenet's -'Declaration of Popish Impostures.' - -[170] 'A Discourse of Witchcraft. As it was acted in the Family of -Mr. Edward Fairfax, of Fuystone, in the county of York, in the year -1621. Sibi parat malum, qui alteri parat.' - -[171] W. F. Poole, Librarian of Chicago, to whom I am indebted for -a copy of Governor Thomas Hutchinson's account of 'The Witchcraft -Delusion of 1692,' with his valuable notes on the same. - -[172] The delicacy with which these animals are alluded to rather -than directly named indicates that they had not lost their formidable -character in Elfdale so far as to be spoken of rashly. - -[173] Glanvil, 'Saducismus Triumphatus,' p. 170. - -[174] Porphyry, ap. Euseb. v. 12. The formula not preserved by -Eusebius is supposed by M. Maury ('Magie,' 56) to be that contained -in the 'Philosophumena,' attributed to Origen:--'Come, infernal, -terrestrial, and celestial Bombo! goddess of highways, of cross-roads, -thou who bearest the light, who travellest the night, enemy of the -day, friend and companion of darkness; thou rejoicing in the baying -of dogs and in shed blood, who wanderest amid shadows and over tombs; -thou who desirest blood and bearest terrors to mortals,--Gorgo, Mormo, -moon of a thousand forms, aid with a propitious eye our sacrifices!' - -[175] 'The Devil,' &c., p. 51. - -[176] Scheible's 'Kloster,' 5, 116. Zauberbücher. - -[177] Bayard Taylor's 'Faust,' note 45. See also his Appendix I. for -an excellent condensation of the Faust legend from the best German -sources. - -[178] Tertull. ad Marcion, iii. 18. S. Ignatii Episc. et Martyr ad -Phil. Ep. viii. 'The Prince of this world rejoices when any one denies -the cross, for he knows the confession of the cross to be his ruin.' - -[179] See his 'Acta,' by Simeon Metaphrastus. - -[180] I have been much struck by the resemblance between the dumpy -monkish dwarf, in the old wall-picture of Auerbach's Cellar, meant for -Mephistopheles, and the portrait of Asmodeus in the early editions -of 'Le Diable Boiteux.' But, as devils went in those days, they are -good-looking enough. - -[181] Shelley's Translation. - -[182] Bayard Taylor's Translation. Scene iv. - -[183] See Lavater's Physiognomy, Plates xix. and xx., in which -some artist has shown what variations can be made to order on an -intellectual and benevolent face. - -[184] 'Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart.' Von Dr. Adolf -Wuttke, Prof. der Theol. in Halle. Berlin: Verlag von Wiegand & -Grieben. 1869. - -[185] 'Histoire de France et des Choses Mémorables,' &c. - -[186] The universal myth of Sleepers,--christianised in the myth -of St. John, and of the Seven whose slumber is traceable as far -as Tours,--had a direct pagan development in Jami, Barbarossa, -Arthur, and their many variants. It is the legend of the Castle of -Sewingshields in Northumberland, that King Arthur, his queen and -court, remain there in a subterranean hall, entranced, until some one -should first blow a bugle-horn near the entrance hall, and then with -'the sword of the stone' cut a garter placed there beside it. But -none had ever heard where the entrance to this enchanted hall was, -till a farmer, fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the ruins -of the castle, and his clew fell and ran downwards through briars -into a deep subterranean passage. He cleared the portal of its weeds -and rubbish, and entering a vaulted passage, followed the clew. The -floor was infested with toads and lizards; and bats flitted fearfully -around him. At length his sinking courage was strengthened by a dim, -distant light, which, as he advanced, grew gradually brighter, till all -at once he entered a vast and vaulted hall, in the centre of which a -fire, without fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed with a -high and lambent flame, that showed all the carved walls and fretted -roof, and the monarch and his queen and court reposing around in a -theatre of thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond the fire, -lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of thirty couple of hounds; and -on a table before it the spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The -shepherd firmly grasped the sword, and as he drew it from its rusty -scabbard the eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to open, -and they rose till they sat upright. He cut the garter, and as -the sword was slowly sheathed the spell assumed its ancient power, -and they all gradually sank to rest; but not before the monarch had -lifted up his eyes and hands and exclaimed-- - - - O woe betide that evil day - On which this witless wight was born, - Who drew the sword--the garter cut, - But never blew the bugle horn. - - -Terror brought on loss of memory, and the shepherd was unable to give -any correct account of his adventure, or to find again the entrance -to the enchanted hall.--Hodgson's 'Northumberland.' - -[187] This great discussion between the animals and sages is given in -'The Sacred Anthology' (London: Trübner & Co. New York: Henry Holt & -Co.). It is a very ancient story, and was probably written down at -the beginning of the christian era. - -[188] It is a strange proof of the ignorance concerning Hindu religion -that Jugernath, raised in a sense for reprobation of cruelty to -man and beast, should have been made by a missionary myth a Western -proverb for human sacrifices! - -[189] St. Olaf = Stooley = Tooley. - -[190] High bloweth Heimdall His horn aloft; Odin consulteth Mimir's -head; The old ash yet standing Yggdrasill To its summit is shaken, -And loose breaks the giant.--Voluspa. - -[191] 'Rigveda,' x. 99. - -[192] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 8, 10, &c. - -[193] 'The Mahawanso.' Translated by the Hon. George Turnour, Ceylon, -1836, p. 69. - -[194] It was an ancient custom to offer a stag on the high altar of -Durham Abbey, the sacrifice being accompanied with winding of horns, on -Holy Rood Day, which suggests a form of propitiating the Wild Huntsman -in the hunting season. On the Cheviot Hills there is a chasm called -Hen Hole, 'in which there is frequently seen a snow egg at Midsummer, -and it is related that a party of hunters, while chasing a roe, -were beguiled into it by fairies, and could never again find their -way out.'--Richardson's 'Borderer's Table-Book,' vi 400. The Bridled -Devil of Durham Cathedral may be an allusion to the Wild Huntsman. - -[195] In the pre-petrified era of Theology this hope appears -to have visited the minds of some, Origen for instance. But by -many centuries of utilisation the Devil became so essential to the -throne of Christianity that theologians were more ready to spare God -from their system than Satan. 'Even the clever Madame de Staël,' -said Goethe, 'was greatly scandalised that I kept the Devil in -such good-humour. In the presence of God the Father, she insisted -upon it, he ought to be more grim and spiteful. What will she say -if she sees him promoted a step higher,--nay, perhaps, meets him in -heaven?' Though, in another conversation with Falk, Goethe intimates -that he had written a passage 'where the Devil himself receives grace -and mercy from God,' the artistic theory of his poem could permit -no nearer approach to this than those closing lines (Faust, II.) in -which Mephistopheles reproaches the 'case-hardened Devil' and himself -for their mismanagement. To the isolated, the not yet humanised, -intellect sensuality is evil when senseless, and its hell is folly. - -[196] 'Demonialite,' 60-62, &c. We may hope that this learned man, -during his tenure of office under the Inquisition, had some mercy -for the poor devils dragged before that tribunal. - -[197] 'Reverberations.' By W. M. W. Call, M.A., Cambridge. Second -Edition. Trübner & Co., 1876. - -[198] The Holy Grail was believed to have been fashioned from the -largest of all diamonds, lost from the crown of Satan as he fell -from Heaven. Guarded by angels until used at the Last Supper, it was -ultimately secured by Arthur's knight, Percival, and--such is the -irony of mythology--indirectly by the aid of Satan's own son, Merlin! - -[199] See Mr. J. A. Froude's article in 'Fraser's Magazine,' Feb. 1878, -'Origen and Celsus.' - -[200] Mr. W. W. Lloyd's 'Age of Pericles,' vol. ii. p. 202. - -[201] Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the R. A. S., 1865-6: Art. on -'Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon,' by Dundris de Silva Gooneratne -Modliar. - -[202] Euripides, 'Medea,' 574. - -[203] 'Paradise Lost,' x. 860. - -[204] Herodotus, 'Clio,' 7-14, 91. - -[205] 'Expression of the Emotions.' By Charles Darwin. London: Murray, -1872. Chapter IV. - -[206] The giving of Eve's name to Noah's wife is not the -only significant thing about this Russian tradition and its -picture. Long-bearded devils are nowhere normal except in the -representations by the Eastern Church of the monarch of Hell. By -referring to p. 253 of this volume the reader will observe the -influences which caused the infernal king to be represented as -counterpart of the Deity. As this tradition about Noah's wife is -suggestive of a Gnostic origin, it really looks as if the Devil in -it were meant to act the part which the Gnostics ascribed to Jehovah -himself (vol. ii. p. 207). The Devil is said in rabbinical legends to -have seduced the wives of Noah's sons; this legend seems to show that -his aim was to populate the post-diluvial world entirely with his own -progeny, in this being an Ildabaoth, or degraded edition of Jehovah -trying to establish his own family in the earth by the various means -related in vol. i. chap. 8. - -[207] 'Nischamath Chajim,' fol. 139, col. 2. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Demonology and Devil-lore, by Moncure Daniel Conway - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMONOLOGY AND DEVIL-LORE *** - -***** This file should be named 40686-8.txt or 40686-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/8/40686/ - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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