{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64297/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64297","id":"gutenberg_64297","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64297","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Future life","Paganism -- Rome","Rome -- Religion"],"text":"AFTER LIFE IN ROMAN PAGANISM\n\n\n\n\n                            YALE UNIVERSITY\n                        MRS. HEPSA ELY SILLIMAN\n                           MEMORIAL LECTURES\n\n\n\n\n                       SILLIMAN MEMORIAL LECTURES\n\n                   PUBLISHED BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n\n\n  ELECTRICITY AND MATTER. _By_ JOSEPH JOHN THOMSON, D.SC., LL.D., PH.D.,\n    F.R.S., _Fellow of Trinity College and Cavendish Professor of\n    Experimental Physics, Cambridge University_. (_Fourth printing._)\n\n  THE INTEGRATIVE ACTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. _By_ CHARLES S.\n    SHERRINGTON, D.SC., M.D., HON. LL.D. TOR., F.R.S., _Holt Professor\n    of Physiology, University of Liverpool_. (_Sixth printing._)\n\n  RADIOACTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS. _By_ ERNEST RUTHERFORD, D.SC., LL.D.,\n    F.R.S., _Macdonald Professor of Physics, McGill University_.\n    (_Second printing._)\n\n  EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL APPLICATIONS OF THERMODYNAMICS TO\n    CHEMISTRY. _By_ DR. WALTER NERNST, _Professor and Director of the\n    Institute of Physical Chemistry in the University of Berlin_.\n\n  PROBLEMS OF GENETICS. _By_ WILLIAM BATESON, M.A., F.R.S., _Director of\n    the John Innes Horticultural Institution, Merton Park, Surrey,\n    England_. (_Second printing._)\n\n  STELLAR MOTIONS. With Special Reference to Motions Determined by Means\n    of the Spectrograph. _By_ WILLIAM WALLACE CAMPBELL, SC.D., LL.D.,\n    _Director of the Lick Observatory, University of California_.\n    (_Second printing._)\n\n  THEORIES OF SOLUTIONS. _By_ SVANTE ARRHENIUS, PH.D., SC.D., M.D.,\n    _Director of the Physico-Chemical Department of the Nobel Institute,\n    Stockholm, Sweden_. (_Third printing._)\n\n  IRRITABILITY. A Physiological Analysis of the General Effect of\n    Stimuli in Living Substances. _By_ MAX VERWORN, M.D., PH.D.,\n    _Professor at Bonn Physiological Institute_. (_Second printing._)\n\n  PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN GEOLOGY. _By_ WILLIAM NORTH RICE, FRANK D. ADAMS,\n    ARTHUR P. COLEMAN, CHARLES D. WALCOTT, WALDEMAR LINDGREN, FREDERICK\n    LESLIE RANSOME, AND WILLIAM D. MATTHEW. (_Second printing._)\n\n  THE PROBLEM OF VOLCANISM. _By_ JOSEPH PAXSON IDDINGS, PH.B., SC.D.\n    (_Second printing._)\n\n  ORGANISM AND ENVIRONMENT AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE PHYSIOLOGY OF\n    BREATHING. _By_ JOHN SCOTT HALDANE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., _Fellow of\n    New College, Oxford University_. (_Second printing._)\n\n  A CENTURY OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. With Special Reference to the\n    American Journal of Science 1818\u20131918. _By_ EDWARD SALISBURY DANA,\n    CHARLES SCHUCHERT, HERBERT E. GREGORY, JOSEPH BARRELL, GEORGE OTIS\n    SMITH, RICHARD SWANN LULL, LOUIS V. PIRSSON, WILLIAM E. FORD, R. B.\n    SOSMAN, HORACE L. WELLS, HARRY W. FOOTE, LEIGH PAGE, WESLEY R. COE,\n    AND GEORGE L. GOODALE.\n\n  THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN MEDICINE. _By_ SIR WILLIAM OSLER, BART., M.D.,\n    F.R.S. (_Second printing._)\n\n  RESPIRATION. _By_ J. S. HALDANE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., _Fellow of New\n    College, Oxford, Honorary Professor, Birmingham University_.\n\n  AFTER LIFE IN ROMAN PAGANISM. _By_ FRANZ CUMONT.\n\n\n\n\n                      AFTER LIFE IN ROMAN PAGANISM\n\n    LECTURES DELIVERED AT YALE UNIVERSITY ON THE SILLIMAN FOUNDATION\n\n\n                                   BY\n\n                              FRANZ CUMONT\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               NEW HAVEN\n                         YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n          LONDON \u00b7 HUMPHREY MILFORD \u00b7 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS\n                               MDCCCCXXII\n\n\n\n\n                          COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY\n                         YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n\n\n\n\n                              TO MY FRIEND\n                       GEORGE LINCOLN HENDRICKSON\n                               1888\u20131922\n\n\n\n\n                        THE SILLIMAN FOUNDATION\n\n\nIn the year 1883 a legacy of eighty thousand dollars was left to the\nPresident and Fellows of Yale College in the city of New Haven, to be\nheld in trust, as a gift from her children, in memory of their beloved\nand honored mother, Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman.\n\nOn this foundation Yale College was requested and directed to establish\nan annual course of lectures designed to illustrate the presence and\nprovidence, the wisdom and goodness of God, as manifested in the natural\nand moral world. These were to be designated as the Mrs. Hepsa Ely\nSilliman Memorial Lectures. It was the belief of the testator that any\norderly presentation of the facts of nature or history contributed to\nthe end of this foundation more effectively than any attempt to\nemphasize the elements of doctrine or of creed; and he therefore\nprovided that lectures on dogmatic or polemical theology should be\nexcluded from the scope of this foundation, and that the subjects should\nbe selected, rather, from the domains of natural science and history,\ngiving special prominence to astronomy, chemistry, geology, and anatomy.\n\nIt was further directed that each annual course should be made the basis\nof a volume to form part of a series constituting a memorial to Mrs.\nSilliman. The memorial fund came into the possession of the Corporation\nof Yale University in the year 1901; and the present volume constitutes\nthe sixteenth of the series of memorial lectures.\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nAt the invitation of the President of Yale University and of Professor\nRussell H. Chittenden, chairman of the committee in charge of the\nSilliman Foundation, the lectures which are here presented to a wider\npublic were delivered in New Haven during the month of March of the year\n1921. It was the wish of the committee that I should speak upon some\nsubject from the history of religion. I chose therefore as my theme a\nmatter which had occupied my attention for many years, viz., the ideas\ncurrent in Roman paganism concerning the lot of the soul after death.\nThe argument has been treated more than once by distinguished scholars\nand notably\u2014to mention only an English book\u2014by Mrs. Arthur Strong in her\nrecent work \u201cApotheosis and After Life,\u201d a study characterised by\npenetrating interpretation, especially of archaeological monuments. But\nwe do not yet possess for the Roman imperial epoch a counterpart to\nRohde\u2019s classical volume, \u201cPsyche,\u201d for the earlier Greek period, that\nis, a work in which the whole evolution of Roman belief and speculation\nregarding a future life is set forth. These lectures cannot claim to\nfill this gap. They may however be looked upon as a sketch of the\ndesired investigation, in which, though without the detailed citation of\nsupporting evidence, an attempt at least has been made to trace the\nbroad outlines of the subject in all its magnitude.\n\nThe lectures are printed in the form in which they were delivered. The\nnecessity of making each one intelligible to an audience which was not\nalways the same, has made inevitable some repetitions. Cross references\nhave been added, where the same topics are treated in different\nconnections. However, in a book intended primarily for the general\nreader, the scholarly apparatus has been reduced to a minimum and as a\nrule indicates only the source of passages quoted in the text.\n\nMy acknowledgment is due to Miss Helen Douglas Irvine, who with skill\nand intelligent understanding of the subject translated into English the\nFrench text of these lectures. I wish also to express my gratitude to my\nfriends, Professor George Lincoln Hendrickson, who took upon himself the\ntedious task of reading the manuscript and the proofs of this book and\nto whom I am indebted for many valuable suggestions both in matter and\nin form, and Professor Grant Showerman, who obligingly consented to\nrevise the last chapters before they were printed.\n\n  Rome, September, 1922.\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n  PREFACE. P. xi.\n\n  HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. General view of the subject, 1\u2014The ancient\n    beliefs: after life in the tomb, 3\u2014in the nether world,\n    4\u2014Philosophical criticism, 5\u2014Academic and Peripatetic schools,\n    6\u2014Epicureans, 7\u2014Stoics, 12\u2014Scepticism at the end of the Republic,\n    16\u2014Earthly immortality, 19\u2014Rebirth of Pythagorism, 20\u2014Its teaching,\n    24\u2014Posidonius, 27\u2014Cicero, 31\u2014Diffusion of the mysteries, 33\u2014Hermetic\n    writings and Chaldean oracles, 38\u2014Plutarch, 39\u2014The second and third\n    centuries, 39\u2014Neo-Platonism, 40\u2014Conclusion, 43.\n\n  I. AFTER LIFE IN THE TOMB. Survival of primitive beliefs, 44\u2014After\n    life of the body, 45\u2014The tomb \u201ceternal house,\u201d 48\u2014Food for the dead,\n    50\u2014Sacrifices, 51\u2014Funeral meals, 52\u2014Gardens, 56\u2014Connection of the\n    dead with the living, 57\u2014The aerial souls, 59\u2014Beneficent, 60\u2014or\n    Malevolent, 63\u2014Souls of the unburied, 64\u2014Become ghosts, 67.\n\n  II. THE NETHER WORLD. Belief in the nether world, 70\u2014After life\n    prolongation of earthly life, 72\u2014Greek doctrines introduced into\n    Italy, 73\u2014Philosophical criticism, 76\u2014Hades transported to this\n    life, 78\u2014Distinction of \u201csoul\u201d and shade, 79\u2014Hades is the lower\n    hemisphere, 79\u2014Hades in the air, 81\u2014Scepticism, 83\u2014Persistence of\n    old tradition in literature and art, 84\u2014Ancient beliefs maintained\n    in the people, 86\u2014Neo-Platonists, 87\u2014Persian dualism, 89.\n\n  III. CELESTIAL IMMORTALITY. Widespread beliefs that souls rise to the\n    stars, 91\u2014Unknown in ancient Greece, 94\u2014Pythagorism, 95\u2014Lunar\n    immortality, 96\u2014Solar immortality, 100\u2014Combination of both,\n    102\u2014Stellar immortality, 103\u2014Combined with the other doctrines:\n    three stages, 106\u2014Passage through the planetary spheres, 107\u2014Souls\n    rise above the stars, 108.\n\n  IV. THE WINNING OF IMMORTALITY. Ancient conception of immortality,\n    110\u2014Eminent men gods on earth, 111\u2014Immortality of the few,\n    114\u2014Mysteries claim to procure \u201cdeification,\u201d 116\u2014Lustrations,\n    118\u2014Unctions, 119\u2014Ritual banquets, 120\u2014The _gnosis_,\n    121\u2014Identification with a particular god, 122\u2014Illumination by the\n    astral divinities, 123\u2014Philosophy also leads to union with God, 124.\n\n  V. UNTIMELY DEATH. Children not admitted to the Elysian Fields,\n    128\u2014Those who die violent deaths, 129\u2014Influence of astrology,\n    131\u2014Pythagorism, 132\u2014Magic, 134\u2014Philosophical reaction, 136\u2014Children\n    initiated, 138\u2014Their souls rise to heaven, 139\u2014Different categories\n    of _biothanati_, 141\u2014Soldiers slain in battle, 142\u2014Suicides,\n    143\u2014Executed criminals, 145\u2014Persistence of ancient beliefs, 146.\n\n  VI. THE JOURNEY TO THE BEYOND. Journey to the nether world, 148\u2014The\n    Pythagorean Y, 150\u2014The two roads, 152\u2014How the dead reach heaven,\n    153\u2014On foot, by means of a ladder, 153\u2014In a boat, 154\u2014On horseback,\n    155\u2014In a chariot, 156\u2014As a bird, 157\u2014Carried by an eagle, 158\u2014Solar\n    attraction, 160\u2014Physical theory, 161\u2014The air peopled with demons,\n    162\u2014The gates of the planetary spheres, 162\u2014Guide of the souls,\n    163\u2014Physical character of the dead, 164\u2014The shade and the soul,\n    167\u2014Distinction of soul and reason, 168\u2014Neo-Platonic \u201cvehicle,\u201d 169.\n\n  VII. THE SUFFERINGS OF HELL AND METEMPSYCHOSIS. Origin in Homer,\n    170\u2014Orphic theology, 171\u2014Resemblance to penal law, 172\u2014Apocryphal\n    gospel of Peter, 173\u2014Oriental influence, 174\u2014Fire of hell,\n    175\u2014Metempsychosis, its animistic basis, 177\u2014Origin in Greece,\n    177\u2014Souls passing continuously through different kinds of beings,\n    179\u2014Reincarnation a punishment, 180\u2014\u201cPalingenesis\u201d or uncontinuous\n    reincarnation, 182\u2014Transmigration from man to man, 183\u2014Purification\n    of the soul in the air, 184\u2014by water and fire, 185\u2014Purgatory in the\n    atmosphere, 186\u2014The purified spirit remains in heaven, 187.\n\n  VIII. THE FELICITY OF THE BLESSED. Rest in the tomb, 190\u2014in the nether\n    world, 193\u2014in the light of heaven, 193\u2014Persistence of these ideas\n    among the Christians, 196\u2014Repast of the dead, 199\u2014Repast in the\n    nether world, 201\u2014The funeral banquet and the sacred meal of the\n    mysteries, 203\u2014Banquet in heaven, 205\u2014Persistence in Christianity,\n    206\u2014The sight of the god, 207\u2014In the astral cults, 208\u2014Communion of\n    man with the stars, 209\u2014Immortality a contemplation of the astral\n    gods, 210\u2014Astral mysticism, 211\u2014Ecstasy of the Neo-Platonists,\n    212\u2014Last conception of eternal bliss, 213.\n\n  INDEX. P. 215.\n\n\n\n\n                        HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe idea of death has perhaps never been more present to humanity than\nduring the years through which we have just passed. It has been the\ndaily companion of millions of men engaged in a murderous conflict; it\nhas haunted the even larger number who have trembled for the lives of\ntheir nearest and dearest; it is still constantly in the thoughts of the\nmany who nurse regret for those they loved. And doubtless also, the\nfaith or the hope has never more imposed itself, even on the\nunbelieving, that these countless multitudes, filled with moral force\nand generous passion, who have entered eternity, have not wholly\nperished, that the ardour which animated them was not extinguished when\ntheir limbs grew cold, that the spirit which impelled them to\nself-sacrifice was not dissipated with the atoms which formed their\nbodies.\n\nThese feelings were known to the ancients also, who gave to this very\nconviction the form suggested by their religion. Pericles[1] in his\nfuneral eulogy of the warriors who fell at the siege of Samos declared\nthat they who die for their country become like the immortal gods, and\nthat, invisible like them, they still scatter their benefits on us. The\nideas on immortality held in antiquity are often thus at once far from\nand near to our own\u2014_near_ because they correspond to aspirations which\nare not antique or modern, but human, _far_ because the Olympians now\nhave fallen into the deep gulf where lie dethroned deities. These ideas\nbecome more and more like the conceptions familiar to us as gradually\ntheir time grows later, and those generally admitted at the end of\npaganism are analogous to the doctrines accepted throughout the Middle\nAges.\n\nI flatter myself, therefore, that when I speak to you of the beliefs in\na future life held in Roman times I have chosen a subject which is not\nvery remote from us nor such as has no relation to our present thought\nor is capable of interesting only the learned.\n\nWe can here trace only the outlines of this vast subject. I am aware\nthat it is always imprudent to hazard moral generalisations: they are\nalways wrong somewhere. Above all, it is perilous to attempt to\ndetermine with a few words the infinite variety of individual creeds,\nfor nothing escapes historical observation more easily than the intimate\nconvictions of men, which they often hide even from those near them. In\nperiods of scepticism pious souls cling to old beliefs; the conservative\ncrowd remains faithful to ancestral traditions. When religion is\nresuming its empire, rationalistic minds resist the contagion of faith.\nIt is especially difficult to ascertain up to what point ideas adopted\nby intellectual circles succeeded in penetrating the deep masses of the\npeople. The epitaphs which have been preserved give us too scanty and\ntoo sparse evidence in this particular. Besides, in paganism a dogma\ndoes not necessarily exclude its opposite dogma: the two sometimes\npersist side by side in one mind as different possibilities, each of\nwhich is authorised by a respectable tradition. You will therefore make\nthe necessary reservations to such of my statements as are too absolute.\nI shall be able to point out here only the great spiritual currents\nwhich successively brought to Rome new ideas as to the Beyond, and to\nsketch the evolution undergone by the doctrines as to the lot and the\nabode of souls. You will not expect me to be precise as to the number of\nthe partisans of each of these doctrines in the various periods.\n\nAt least we can distinguish the principal phases of the religious\nmovement which caused imperial society to pass from incredulity to\ncertain forms of belief in immortality, forms at first somewhat crude\nbut afterwards loftier, and we can see where this movement led. The\nchange was a capital one and transformed for the ancients the whole\nconception of life. The axis about which morality revolved had to be\nshifted when ethics no longer sought, as in earlier Greek philosophy, to\nrealise the sovereign good on this earth but looked for it after death.\nThenceforth the activity of man aimed less at tangible realities,\nensuring well-being to the family or the city or the state, and more at\nattaining to the fulfilment of ideal hopes in a supernatural world. Our\nsojourn here below was conceived as a preparation for another existence,\nas a transitory trial which was to result in infinite felicity or\nsuffering. Thus the table of ethical values was turned upside down.\n\n\u201cAll our actions and all our thoughts,\u201d says Pascal, \u201cmust follow so\ndifferent a course if there are eternal possessions for which we may\nhope than if there are not, that it is impossible to take any directed\nand well-judged step except by regulating it in view of this point which\nought to be our ultimate goal.\u201d[2]\n\nWe will attempt first to sketch in a general introduction the historical\ntransformation which belief in the future life underwent between the\nRepublican period and the fall of paganism. Then, in three lectures, we\nwill examine more closely the various conceptions of the abode of the\ndead held under the Roman Empire, study in three others the conditions\nor the means which enable men to attain to immortality and in the last\ntwo set forth the lot of souls in the Beyond.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe cinerary vases of the prehistoric period are often modelled in the\nshape of huts: throughout, funeral sculpture follows the tradition that\nthe tomb should reproduce the dwelling, and until the end of antiquity\nit was designated, in the West as in the East, as the \u201ceternal house\u201d of\nhim who rested in it.\n\nThus a conception of the tomb which goes back to the remotest ages and\npersists through the centuries regards it as \u201cthe last dwelling\u201d of\nthose who have left us; and this expression has not yet gone out of use.\nIt was believed that a dead man continued to live, in the narrow space\ngranted him, a life which was groping, obscure, precarious, yet like\nthat he led on earth. Subject to the same needs, obliged to eat and to\ndrink, he expected those who had been nearest to him to appease his\nhunger and thirst. The utensils he had used, the things he had cared\nfor, were often deposited beside him so that he might pursue the\noccupations and enjoy the amusements which he had forsaken in the world.\nIf he were satisfied he would stay quietly in the furnished house\nprovided for him and would not seek to avenge himself on those whose\nneglect had caused him suffering. Funeral rites were originally inspired\nrather by fear than by love. They were precautions taken against the\nspirit of the dead rather than pious care bestowed in their interest.[3]\n\nFor the dead were powerful; their action was still felt; they were not\nimmured in the tomb or confined beneath the ground. Men saw them\nreappear in dreams, wearing their former aspect. They were descried\nduring shadowy vigils; their voices were heard and their movements\nnoted. Imagination conceived them such as they had once been;\nrecollection of them filled the memory and to think of such apparitions\nas idle or unreal seemed impossible. The dead subsisted, then, as\nnebulous, impalpable beings, perceived by the senses only exceptionally.\nHere the belief that their remains had not quite lost all feeling\nmingled with the equally primitive and universal belief that the soul is\na breath, exhaled with the last sigh. The vaporous shade, sometimes a\ndangerous but sometimes a succouring power, wandered by night in the\natmosphere and haunted the places which the living man had been used to\nfrequent. Except for some sceptical reasoners, all antiquity admitted\nthe reality of these phantoms. Century-old beliefs, maintained by\ntraditional rites, thus persisted, more or less definitely, in the\npopular mind, even after new forms of the future life were imagined.\nMany vestiges of these beliefs have survived until today.\n\nThe first transformation undergone by the primitive conception was to\nentertain the opinion that the dead who are deposited in the ground\ngather together in a great cavity inside the bowels of the earth.[4]\nThis belief in the nether world is found among most of the peoples of\nthe Mediterranean basin: the _Sheol_ of the Hebrews differs little from\nthe Homeric _Hades_ and the Italic _Inferi_.\n\nIt has been conjectured that the substitution of incineration for\ninhumation contributed to spreading this new manner of conceiving life\nbeyond the tomb: the shade could not remain attached to a handful of\nashes enclosed in a puny urn. It went, then, to join its fellows who had\ngone down into the dark dwelling where reigned the gods of a\nsubterranean kingdom. But as ghosts could leave their graves in order to\ntrouble or to help men, so the swarms of the infernal spirits rose to\nthe upper world through the natural openings of the earth, or through\nditches dug for the purpose of maintaining communication with them and\nconciliating them with offerings.\n\nThe Romans do not seem to have imagined survival in the infernal regions\nvery differently from the survival of the vague monotonous shades in\ntheir tombs. Their _Manes_ or _Lemures_ had no marked personality or\nclearly characterised individual features. The _Inferi_ were not, as in\nGreece, a stage for the enactment of a tragic drama; their inhabitants\nhad no original life, and in the lot dealt to them no idea of\nretribution can be discerned. In this matter it was the Hellenes who\nimposed their conceptions of Hades on the Italic peoples and gave them\nthose half mythical and half theological beliefs which Orphism had\nintroduced in their own religion. Hellenic influence was felt directly\nthrough the colonies of Greater Greece, indirectly through the\nEtruscans, whose funeral sculpture shows us that they had adopted all\nthe familiar figures of the Greek Hades\u2014Charon, Cerberus, the Furies,\nHermes Psychopompos and the others.[5]\n\nFrom the time when Latin literature had its beginnings and the Latin\ntheatre was born, we find writers taking pleasure in reproducing the\nHellenic fables of Tartarus and the Elysian Fields; and Plautus[6] can\nalready make one of his characters say that he has seen \u201cmany paintings\nrepresenting the pains of Acheron.\u201d This infernal mythology became an\ninexhaustible theme which gave matter to poetry and art until the end of\nantiquity and beyond it. We shall see, in later lectures, how the\nreligious traditions of the Greeks were subjected to various\ntransformations and interpretations.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut Greece did not introduce poetic beliefs only into Rome: she also\ncaused her philosophy to be adopted there from the second century\nonwards, and this philosophy tended to be destructive both of those\nbeliefs and of the old native faith in the Manes and in the Orcus.\nPolybius,[7] when speaking appreciatively of the religion of the Romans,\npraises them for having inculcated in the people a faith in numerous\nsuperstitious practices and tragic fictions. He considers this to be an\nexcellent way of keeping them to their duty by the fear of infernal\npunishment. Hence we gather that if the historian thought it well for\nthe people to believe in these inventions, then, in his opinion,\nenlightened persons, like his friends the Scipios, could see in them\nnothing but the stratagems of a prudent policy. But the scepticism of a\nnarrow circle of aristocrats could not be confined to it for long when\nGreek ideas were more widely propagated.\n\nGreek philosophy made an early attack on the ideas held as to a future\nlife. Even Democritus, the forerunner of Epicurus, spoke of \u201csome people\nwho ignore the dissolution of our mortal nature and, aware of the\nperversity of their life, pass their time in unrest and in fear and\nforge for themselves deceitful fables as to the time when follows their\nend.\u201d[8] It is true that in the fourth century Plato\u2019s idealism had\nsupplied, if not a strict proof of immortality, yet reasons for it\nsufficient to procure its acceptance by such as desired to be convinced.\nBut in the Alexandrian age, which was the surpassingly scientific period\nof Greek thought, there was a tendency to remove all metaphysical and\nmythical conceptions of the soul\u2019s destiny from the field of\ncontemplation. This was the period in which the Academy, Plato\u2019s own\nschool, unfaithful to its founder\u2019s doctrines, was led by men who, like\nCarneades, raised scepticism to a system and stated that man can reach\nno certainty. We know that when Carneades was sent to Rome as ambassador\nin 156 B. C. he made a great impression by maintaining that justice is a\nmatter of convention, and that he was consequently banished by the\nsenate as a danger to the state. But we need only read Cicero\u2019s works to\nlearn what a lasting influence his powerfully destructive dialectics\nhad.\n\nThe dogmatism of other sects was at this time hardly at all more\nfavourable to the traditional beliefs in another life.\n\nAristotle had thought that human reason alone persisted, and that the\nemotional and nutritive soul was destroyed with the body, but he left no\npersonality to this pure intelligence, deprived of all sensibility. He\ndefinitely denied that the \u201cblessed\u201d could be happy. With him begins a\nlong period during which Greek philosophy nearly ceased to speculate on\ndestiny beyond the grave. It was repugnant to Peripatetic philosophy to\nconcern itself with the existence of a soul which could be neither\nconceived nor defined by reason. Some of Aristotle\u2019s immediate\ndisciples, like Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus, or Straton of Lampsacus,\nthe pupil of Theophrastus, agreed in denying immortality altogether; and\nlater, in the time of the Severi, Alexander of Aphrodisias, the great\ncommentator of The Stagirite, undertook to prove that the entire soul,\nthat is the higher and the lower soul, had need of the body in order to\nbe active and perished with it, and that such was the veritable thought\nof the master. But profoundly as Peripateticism affected Greek thought,\ndirectly and indirectly, in practically discarding the future life, this\nwas not the philosophy which dominated minds towards the end of the\nRoman Republic. Other schools then had a much wider influence and made\nthis influence felt much more deeply on eschatological beliefs. These\nschools were Epicureanism and Stoicism.\n\nEpicurus took up again the doctrine of Democritus, and taught that the\nsoul, which was composed of atoms, was disintegrated at the moment of\ndeath, when it was no longer held together by its fleshly wrapping, and\nthat its transitory unity was then destroyed for ever. The vital breath,\nafter being expelled, was, he said, buffeted by the winds and dissolved\nin the air like mist or smoke, even before the body was decomposed. This\nwas so ancient a conception that Homer had made use of a like\ncomparison, and the idea that the violence of the wind can act on souls\nas a destructive force was familiar to Athenian children in Plato\u2019s\ntime.[9] But if the soul thus resolves itself, after death, into its\nelementary principles, how can phantoms come to frighten us in the\nwatches of the night or beloved beings visit us in our dreams? These\nsimulacra (\u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03b1) are for Epicurus no more than emanations of particles\nof an extreme tenuity, constantly issuing from bodies and keeping for\nsome time their form and appearance. They act on our senses as do colour\nand scent and awake in us the image of a vanished being.\n\nThus we are vowed to annihilation, but this lot is not one to be\ndreaded. Death, which is held to be the most horrible of ills, is in\nreality nothing of the sort, since the destruction of our organism\nabolishes all its sensibility. The time when we no longer exist is no\nmore painful for us than that when we had not yet our being. As Plato\ndeduced the persistence of the soul after death from its supposed\nprevious existence, so Epicurus drew an opposite conclusion from our\nignorance of our earlier life; and, according to him, the conviction\nthat we perish wholly can alone ensure our tranquillity of spirit by\ndelivering us from the fear of eternal torment.\n\nThere is no one of the master\u2019s doctrines on which his disciples insist\nwith more complacent assurance. They praise him for having freed men\nfrom the terrors of the Beyond; they thank him for having taught them\nnot to fear death; his philosophy appears to them as a liberator of\nsouls. Lucretius in his third book, of which eighteenth-century\nphilosophers delighted to celebrate the merits, claims, with a sort of\nexaltation, to drive from men\u2019s hearts \u201cthat dread of Acheron which\ntroubles human life to its inmost depths.\u201d[10] The sage sees all the\ncruel fictions, with which fable had peopled the kingdom of terrors,\nscattered abroad, and, when he has rid himself of the dismay which\nhaunts the common man, which casts a mournful veil over things and\nleaves no joy unmixed, he finds a blessed calm, the perfect quietude or\n\u201c_ataraxia_.\u201d\n\nThis doctrine, which Lucretius preached with the enthusiasm of a\nneophyte won to the true faith, had a profound reaction in Rome. Its\nadepts in Cicero\u2019s circle were numerous, including Cassius, the murderer\nof Caesar. Sallust goes so far as to make Caesar himself affirm, in full\nsenate, that death, the rest from torment, dispels the ills which\nafflict mankind, that beyond it there is neither joy nor sorrow.[11] Men\nof science, in particular, were attracted by these theories. In a\ncelebrated passage Pliny the Naturalist, after categorically declaring\nthat neither the soul nor the body has any more sensation after death\nthan before the day of birth, ends with a vehement apostrophe: \u201cUnhappy\none, what folly is thine who in death renewest life! Where will\ncreatures ever find rest if souls in heaven, if shades in the infernal\nregions, still have feeling? Through this complacent credulity we lose\ndeath, the greatest boon which belongs to our nature, and the sufferings\nof our last hour are doubled by the fear of what will follow after. If\nit be indeed sweet to live, for whom can it be so to have lived? How\nmuch easier and more certain is the belief which each man can draw from\nhis own experience, when he pictures his future tranquillity on the\npattern of that which preceded his birth!\u201d[12]\n\nEven Seneca in one of his tragedies, an early work, makes the chorus of\nTrojan women declaim a long profession of faith which is the purest\nEpicureanism.[13]\n\nThe invasion of the Roman world by the Oriental mysteries and\nsuperstitions in the second century caused the unbelievers to exalt\nEpicurus yet higher. The satirist Lucian, using almost the same\nexpressions as Lucretius, proclaims the truly sacred and divine\ncharacter of him who alone knew the good with the true, and who\ntransmitted it to his disciples, to whom he gave moral liberty.[14]\nBelievers everywhere looked upon him as a terrible blasphemer. The\nprophet Alexander of Abonotichos enjoined all who would obtain divine\ngraces to drive away with stones \u201catheists, Epicureans and Christians,\u201d\nand exclude them from his mysteries.[15] He ordered by an oracle that\nthe writings of him whom he called \u201cthe blind old man\u201d should be burnt.\nWhen mysticism and Platonism triumphed in the Roman world, Epicureanism\nceased to exist. It had disappeared in the middle of the fourth century,\nyet Julian the Apostate thought it advisable to include the writings of\nEpicurus among the books which were forbidden to the priests of his\nrevived paganism.[16]\n\nThus during several centuries this philosophy had won a multitude of\nfollowers. The inscriptions bear eloquent witness to this fact. The most\nremarkable of them is a long text which was set out on the wall of a\nportico in the little town of Oenoanda in Lycia. A worthy citizen,\nDiogenes by name, who seems to have lived under the Antonines, was a\nconvinced partisan of the doctrine of Epicurus; and feeling his end draw\nnear, he wished to engrave an exposition thereof on marble for the\npresent and future edification of his countrymen and of strangers. He\ndoes not fail to evince his contempt for death, at which, he says, he\nhas learnt to mock. \u201cI do not let myself be frightened by the Tityi and\nthe Tantali whom some represent in Hades; horror does not seize me when\nI think of the putrefaction of my body ... when the links which bind our\norganism are loosened, nothing further touches us.\u201d[17] These are ideas\nwhich we find reproduced everywhere, in various forms, for Epicureanism\ndid not only win convinced partisans in the most cultivated circles, but\nalso spread in the lowest strata of the population, as is proved by\nepitaphs expressing unbelief in an after life. Some do not go beyond a\nshort profession of faith, \u201cWe are mortal; we are not immortal.\u201d[18] One\nmaxim is repeated so often that it is sometimes expressed only by\ninitials, \u201cI was not; I was; I am not; I do not care.\u201d[19] So man goes\nback to nothingness whence he went forth. It has been remarked that this\nepigraphic formula was engraved especially on the tombs of slaves, who\nhad slight reason for attachment to life. Gladiators also adopted the\nsentence: these wretched men, who were to prove their indifference to\ndeath in the arena, were taught that it marked the destruction of\nfeeling and the term of their suffering.\n\nThe same thought is sometimes expressed less brutally, almost\ntouchingly. Thus a comedian, who has spouted many verses and tramped\nmany roads, voices in his epitaph the conviction that life is a loan,\nlike a part in a play: \u201cMy mouth no longer gives out any sound; the\nnoise of applause no longer reaches me; I paid my debt to nature and\nhave departed. All this is but dust.\u201d[20] Another actor, who recited\nHomer\u2019s verses in the festivals, tells us that he \u201claughs at illusions\nand slumbers softly,\u201d returning to the Epicurean comparison of death\nwith an unconscious sleep which has no awakening.[21]\n\nSome wordier unbelievers felt the need of enlarging on their\nnegations.[22] \u201cThere is no boat of Hades, no ferryman Charon, no Aeacus\nas doorkeeper, no dog Cerberus. All we, whom death sends down to the\nearth, become bones and ashes and no more.... Offer not perfumes and\ngarlands to my stele: it is but a stone; burn no fire: the expenditure\nis vain. If thou have a gift, give it me while I live. If thou givest to\nmy ashes to drink, thou wilt make mud: and the dead will not drink....\nWhen thou scatterest earth on my remains, say that I have again become\nas I was when I was not.\u201d This last thought occurs frequently. Thus on a\nRoman tomb we read: \u201cWe are and we were nothing. See, reader, how\nswiftly we mortals go back from nothingness to nothingness.\u201d[23]\n\nSometimes these dead adopt a joking tone which is almost macabre. Thus a\nfreedman, merry to the grave, boasts of the amenities of his new state:\n\u201cWhat remains of man, my bones, rests sweetly here. I no longer have the\nfear of sudden starvation; I am exempt from attacks of gout; my body is\nno longer pledged for my rent; and I enjoy free and perpetual\nhospitality.\u201d[24]\n\nOften a grosser Epicureanism recommends that we make profit of our\nearthly passage since the fatal term deprives us for ever of the\npleasures which are the sovereign good. \u201cEs bibe lude veni\u201d\u2014\u201cEat, drink,\nplay, come hither\u201d\u2014is advice which is several times repeated.[25] Not\nuncommonly, variations occur, inspired by the famous epitaph which was\non the alleged tomb of Sardanapalus and is resumed in the admonition:\n\u201cIndulge in voluptuousness, for only this pleasure wilt thou carry away\nwith thee\u201d; or as it is expressed in the Epistle to the Corinthians,\n\u201cLet us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.\u201d[26] So we read on a stone\nfound near Beneventum: \u201cWhat I have eaten and what I have drunk; that is\nall that belongs to me.\u201d[27] A well-known distich states that \u201cBaths,\nwine, and love impair our bodies, but baths, wine, and love make\nlife\u201d;[28] and a veteran of the army had advice based on his own example\nengraved on his tomb, \u201cWhile I lived, I drank willingly; drink, ye who\nlive.\u201d[29] The exhortation to enjoy a life soon to be interrupted by\ndeath is a traditional theme which has lent itself to many developments\nin ancient and modern poetry. It is the formula which resumes the wisdom\nof the popular Epicureanism. Some silver goblets, found in Boscoreale\nnear Pompeii,[30] show us philosophers and poets among skeletons, and\ninscriptions urging them to rejoice while they live, since no man is\ncertain of the morrow. Epicurus appears in person, his hand stretching\ntowards a cake on a table; and between his legs is a little pig lifting\nhis feet and snout to the cake to take his share of it. Above the cake\nare the Greek words, \u03a4\u039f \u03a4\u0395\u039b\u039f\u03a3 \u0397\u0394\u039f\u039d\u0397, \u201cThe supreme end is pleasure.\u201d\nHorace, when he advises us to live from day to day without poisoning the\npassing hour with hopes or fears for the future, speaks of himself,\njestingly, as a fat \u201chog of Epicurus\u2019 herd.\u201d[31] It was thus that the\nvulgar interpreted the precepts of him who had in reality preached\nmoderation and renunciation as the means of reaching true happiness.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf Epicureanism chose its ground as the passionate adversary of\nreligious beliefs, the other great system which shared its dominance of\nminds in Rome, Stoicism, sought, on the contrary, to reconcile these\nbeliefs with its theories. But the allegorical interpretations which\nStoicism suggested, led, indirectly, to nearly the same result as a\ncomplete negation, for when it changed the meaning of the ancient myths\nit really destroyed the traditions which it sought to preserve. This is\ntrue in particular of its ideas as to the future life.\n\nIt will be remembered that man is for the Stoics a microcosm, who\nreproduces in his person the constitution of the universe. The entire\nmass of the world is conceived by them as animated by a divine Fire, a\nfirst principle which evokes the succession of natural phenomena. An\nuninterrupted chain of causes, ordered by this supreme reason,\nnecessarily determines the course of events and irresistibly governs the\nexistence of the great All. This cosmic life is conceived as formed of\nan infinite series of exactly similar cycles: the four elements are\nperiodically reabsorbed into the purest of their number, which is the\nFire of intelligence, and then, after the general conflagration, are\nonce more dissociated.\n\nIn the same way our organism lives, moves and thinks because it is\nanimated by a detached particle of this fiery principle which penetrates\neverything. As this principle reaches to the limits of the universe, so\nour soul occupies the whole body in which it lodges. The pantheism of\nthe Porch conceives as material both God and the reason which rules us,\nthe reason which is, in the emphatic words of Epictetus,[32] \u201ca fragment\nof God.\u201d It is defined as a hot breath (\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1\u1ff6\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2, _anima\ninflammata_); it is like the purest part of the air which maintains life\nby respiration, or the ardent ether which feeds the stars. This\nindividual soul maintains and preserves man, as the soul of the world,\nby connecting its various parts, saves it from disintegration. But on\nboth sides this action is only temporary; souls cannot escape the fatal\nlot imposed on the whole of which they are but a tiny portion. At the\nend of each cosmic period the universal conflagration (\u1f10\u03ba\u03c0\u03cd\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2) will\ncause them to return to the divine home whence all of them came\nforth.[33] But if the new cycle, making its new beginning, is to\nreproduce exactly that which preceded it, a \u201cpalingenesis\u201d will one day\ngive to the same souls, endowed with the same qualities, the same\nexistence in the same bodies formed of the same elements.\n\nThis is the maximum limit of the immortality which the materialistic\npantheism of the Stoic philosophy could concede. Nor did all the doctors\nagree in granting it. The variations of the school on a point which\nseems to us of capital importance are most remarkable. While Cleanthes\ndid indeed admit that all souls thus subsisted after their brief passage\non earth for thousands of years and until the final _ekpyrosis_, for\nChrysippus only the souls of the sages had part in this restricted\nimmortality. In order to win it they must temper their strength by\nresisting the passions. The weak, who had let themselves be conquered in\nthe struggle of this life, fell in the Beyond also.[34] At the most they\nobtained a short period of after life. The brevity or the absence of\nthis other existence was the chastisement of their weakness.\n\nThus, almost the same moral consequences and incitements to good could\nbe drawn from a conditional and diminished immortality, as from the\ngeneral eternity of pains and rewards which other thinkers taught. But\nthe Stoics were not unanimous in adopting these doctrines. We do not\nclearly perceive how far they agreed in admitting that the soul,\ndeprived of corporeal organs, was endowed with feeling and, in\nparticular, kept an individual conscience connected with that possessed\non earth. It is certain that a definitely negative tendency showed\nitself in Rome among the sectaries of Zeno. Panaetius, the friend of the\nScipios, and one of the writers who did most to win the Romans over to\nthe ideas of the Porch, here dissociated himself from his masters and\nabsolutely denied personal survival.[35] This attitude was subsequently\nthat of many Roman Stoics of those who represented the school\u2019s\ntradition most purely. The master of the poet Persius, Cornutus, of whom\na short work remains to us, declared that the soul died with the body,\nimmediately.[36] Similarly, at a later date, Epictetus and Marcus\nAurelius, although they sometimes seem to admit the possibility of\nsurvival, certainly incline rather to believe that souls are\ndisintegrated and return to the elemental mass whence they were formed.\nEven Seneca, who is more swayed by other tendencies and whose wavering\nthought does not always remain consistent nor perspicuous, is not\nconvinced of the truth of immortality. It is no more to him than a\nbeautiful hope.\n\nHow is it that Stoicism thus hesitated at a point on which the whole\nconception of human life seems to us to depend? It was that\neschatological theories had in reality only a secondary value in this\nsystem, of which the essential part was not affected by their\nvariability. True Stoicism placed the realisation of its ideal in this\nworld. For it the aim of our existence here below was not preparation\nfor death but the conquest of perfect virtue, which freed him who had\nattained to it from the passions and thus conferred on him independence\nand felicity. Man could, of himself, reach a complete beatitude which\nwas not impaired by the limits placed to his duration. The sage, a\nblissful being, was a god on earth: heaven could give him nothing more.\nTherefore for these philosophers the answer to the question, \u201cWhat\nbecomes of us after death?\u201d did not depend on moral considerations as it\ngenerally does for us. For them it rather followed on physical theories.\n\nIf these theories allow of different solutions of the problem of\nimmortality, they agree on one point\u2014the impossibility that the soul, if\nit is to last longer than we, should go down into the depths of the\nearth; for the soul was, as we have said, conceived as an ardent breath;\nthat is to say, as formed of the two elements, air and fire, which have\nthe property of rising to the heights. Its very nature prevented its\ndescent: \u201cit is impossible to conceive that it is borne downwards.\u201d[37]\nThus all the vulgar notions as to Hades were in contradiction with Stoic\npsychology, a point to which we will return in treating of the nether\nworld.[38] These philosophers do indeed speak of Hades but, faithful to\ntheir habits, while they use traditional terms they give them a new\nmeaning. \u201cThe descent into Hades\u201d is for them simply the departing from\nlife, the transference of the soul to new surroundings. Thus Epictetus,\nwho uses this expression (\u03ba\u03ac\u03b8\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f0c\u03b9\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5), clearly states in another\npassage, \u201cThere is no Hades, no Acheron, no Cocytus, no Pyriphlegethon,\nbut all is filled with gods and demons.\u201d[39] These gods and demons were,\nhowever, no more than personifications of the forces of nature.[40]\n\nThe true Stoic doctrine is, then, that souls, when they leave the\ncorpse, subsist in the atmosphere and especially in its highest part\nwhich touches the circle of the moon.[41] But after a longer or less\ninterval of time they, like the flesh and the bones, are decomposed and\ndissolve into the elements which formed them.\n\nThis thought, like Epicurean nihilism, often appears in epitaphs, and\nshows how Stoic ideas had spread among the people. Thus on a tombstone\nfound in Moesia we read first the mournful statement that there is\nneither love nor friendship among the dead and that the corpse lies like\na stone sunk into the ground. Then the dead man adds:[42] \u201cI was once\ncomposed of earth, water and airy breath (\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1), but I perished, and\nhere I rest, having rendered all to the All. Such is each man\u2019s lot.\nWhat of it? There, whence my body came, did it return, when it was\ndissolved.\u201d Sometimes there is more insistence on the notion that this\ncosmic breath, in which ours is gathered up, is the godhead who fills\nand rules the world. So in this epitaph: \u201cThe holy spirit which thou\ndidst bear has escaped from thy body. That body remains here and is like\nthe earth; the spirit pursues the revolving heavens; the spirit moves\nall; the spirit is nought else than God.\u201d[43] Elsewhere we find the\nfollowing brief formula, which sums up the same idea: \u201cThe ashes have my\nbody; the sacred air has borne away my soul.\u201d[44] Very characteristic is\nan inscription inspired by verses of a Greek poet, on the tomb of a\nRoman woman: \u201cHere I lie dead and I am ashes; these ashes are earth. If\nthe earth be a goddess, I too am a goddess and am not dead.\u201d[45]\n\nThese verses express the same great thought in various forms: death is\ndisappearance into the depths of divine nature. It is not for the\npreservation of an ephemeral personality that we must hope. Our soul, a\nfleeting energy detached from the All, must enter again into the All as\nmust our body: both are absorbed by God,\n\n           \u201cWhen that which drew from out the boundless deep\n                 Turns again home.\u201d[46]\n\nThe fiery breath of our intelligence is gathered, as are the matter and\nthe humours of our organism, into the inexhaustible reservoir which\nproduced them, as one day the earth and the heavens will be gathered\nthither also. All must be engulfed in one whole, must lose itself in one\nforgetfulness. When man has reached the term of his fate, he faints into\nthe one power which forms and leads the universe, just as the tired\nstars will be extinguished in it, when their days shall be accomplished.\nResistance to the supreme law is vain and painful; rebellion against the\nirresistible order of things is impious. The great virtue taught by\nStoicism is that of submission to the fatality which guides the world,\nof joyous acceptance of the inevitable. Philosophic literature and the\nepitaphs present to us, repeatedly and in a thousand forms, the idea\nthat we cannot strive against omnipotent necessity, that the rule of\nthis rigid master must be borne without tears or recriminations. The\nwise man, who destroys within himself desire of any happenings, enjoys\neven during this existence divine calm in the midst of tribulations, but\nthose whom the vicissitudes of life drive or attract, who let illusions\nseduce or grieve them, will at last obtain remission of their troubles\nwhen they reach the tranquil haven of death. This thought is expressed\nby a distich which often recurs on tombs, in Greek and in Latin. \u201cI have\nfled, escaped. Farewell, Hope and Fortune. I have nothing more to do\nwith you. Make others your sport.\u201d[47]\n\nStoic determinism found support in the astrology which originated in\nBabylonia and was transplanted to Egypt, and which spread in the\nGraeco-Latin world from the second century B. C. onwards, propagating\nits mechanical and fatalistic conception of the universe. According to\nthis pseudo-science, all physical phenomena depended absolutely, like\nthe character and acts of men, on the revolutions of the celestial\nbodies. Thus all the forces of nature and the very energy of\nintelligence acted in accordance with an inflexible necessity. Hence\nworship had no object and prayer no effect. In this way the sidereal\ndivination, which had grown up in the temples of the East, ended in\nGreece, among certain of its adepts, in a negation of the very basis of\nreligion.[48] It is noteworthy that in the writings left to us there is\nhardly an allusion to the immortality of the soul. When they speak of\nwhat comes after death there is question only of funerals and posthumous\nglory. We never find in them a promise to the unfortunate, weighed down\nby misadventure and infirmities, of consolation or compensation in the\nBeyond. The systematic astrology of the Greeks limits its horizon to\nthis world, although traces of the belief in Hades subsist in its\nvocabulary and its predictions and although this same astral divination\ninspired in the mysteries certain eschatological theories, as we shall\nsee later.[49]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe rationalistic and scientific period of Hellenic thought which began,\nas we have said, with Aristotle, filled the Hellenistic period and\ncontinued until the century of Augustus. Towards the end of the Roman\nRepublic faith in the future life was reduced to a minimum and the\nscepticism or indifference of the Alexandrians was carried into Italy.\nThe mocking verses of an epigram of Callimachus, a man of learning as\nwell as a poet, is well known.[50] \u201cCharidas, what is there down below?\nDeep darkness. But what of the journeys upwards? All lies. And Pluto? A\nfable. Then we are lost.\u201d Catullus was to say as much, less lightly,\nwith a deeper feeling. \u201cSuns can set and rise again, but we, when our\nbrief light is extinguished, must sleep for an eternal night.\u201d[51] The\nreligions belief in retribution in the Beyond was shaken, as all the\nothers were, not only in literary and philosophic circles but among a\nlarge section of the population. The old tales of the Elysian Fields and\nTartarus no longer found credence, as convincing testimony will show\nus.[52] Those who sought to preserve them could do so only by using a\ndaring symbol which altered their character. But the idea of conscious\nsurvival after death was itself no longer looked upon as sure. Many who\ndid not go so far as to deny it brutally were firmly agnostic. When we\nturn over the pages of the thick volumes of the _Corpus inscriptionum_,\nwe are struck by the small number of the epitaphs which express the hope\nof immortality. The impression received is quite the contrary of that\ngiven by going through our own graveyards or surveying the collections\nof Christian epitaphs of antiquity. On by far the larger number of the\ntombs the survival of the soul was neither affirmed nor denied; it was\nnot mentioned otherwise than by the banal formula _Dis Manibus_\u2014so\nbereft of meaning that even some Christians made use of it. Or else the\nauthors of funereal inscriptions, like the contemporary writers, used\ncareful phrases which showed their mental hesitations: \u201cIf the Manes\nstill perceive anything.... If any feeling subsist after death.... If\nthere be reward for the righteous beneath the ground.\u201d[53] Such doubting\npropositions are most frequent. The same indecision made people return\nto an alternative presented by Plato in the _Apology_,[54] before his\nideas had evolved, and repeat that death is \u201can end or a passage,\u201d\u2014_mors\naut finis aut transitus_,\u2014and no choice is made between the two\npossibilities: the question is left open. The future life was generally\nregarded as a consoling metaphysical conception, a mere hypothesis\nsupported by some thinkers, a religious hope but not an article of\nfaith. The lofty conclusion which ends Agricola\u2019s eulogy will be\nremembered. \u201cIf,\u201d says Tacitus, \u201cthere be an abode of the spirits of\nvirtuous men, if, as sages have taught, great souls be not extinguished\nwith the body, rest in peace.\u201d But side by side with the supposition\nthus hazarded, the historian expresses the assurance that Agricola will\nreceive another reward for his merits. All that his contemporaries have\nloved and admired in his character will cause the fame of his deeds to\nlive in men\u2019s memory through the eternity of ages.\n\nWe here see how the perplexity in which men struggled, when they thought\nof psychic survival, gave earthly immortality a greater value in the\neyes of the ancients. It was for many of them the essential point\nbecause it alone was certain. Not to fall into the abyss of\nforgetfulness seemed a sufficient reward for virtue. \u201cDeath is to be\nfeared by those for whom everything is extinguished with their life, not\nby those whose renown cannot perish.\u201d[55] That the commemoration of our\nmerits may not cease when the short time of our passage here below has\nended, but may be prolonged for as long as the sequence of future\ngenerations lasts\u2014this is the deep desire which stimulates virtue and\nexcites to effort. Cicero, when celebrating in the _Pro Archia_[56] the\nbenefits wrought by the love of glory,\u2014from which he was by no means\nexempt himself,\u2014remarks shrewdly that even philosophers, who claim to\nshow its vanity, are careful to place their names at the beginning of\ntheir books, thus showing the worth they attach to that which they\nexhort others to despise. Even more than today, the hope of a durable\nrenown, the anxiety that their fellows should be busy about them even\nafter their departure, the preoccupation lest their life should not be\nfavourably judged by public opinion, haunted many men, secretly or\navowedly dominated their thought and directed their actions. Even those\nwho had played only a modest part in the world and had made themselves\nknown only to a narrow circle, sought to render their memory\nunforgettable by building strong tombs for themselves along the great\nroads. Epitaphs often begin with the formula _Memoriae aeternae_, \u201cTo\nthe eternal memory,\u201d which we have inherited, although the idea it\nrepresents no longer has for most of us any but a very relative value.\n\nIn antiquity it was first connected with the old belief in a communion\nof sentiments and an exchange of services between the deceased and their\ndescendants who celebrated the funeral cult. When the firm belief in the\npower of the shades to feel and act ceased to exist, offerings were made\nwith another intention: survivors liked to think that he who had gone\nhad not entirely perished as long as his remembrance subsisted in the\nhearts of those who had cherished him and the minds of those who had\nlearnt his praises. In some way, he rose from the grave in the image\nmade of him by the successors of those who had known him. Epicurus\nhimself stipulated in his will that the day of his birth should be\ncommemorated every month,[57] and under the Roman Empire his disciples\nwere still piously celebrating this recurring feast. Thus this deep\ninstinct of preservation, which impels human beings to desire survival,\nshowed itself even in him who contributed most of all to destroy faith\nin immortality.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is always with difficulty that men resign themselves to dying wholly.\nEven when reason admits, nay when it desires, annihilation, the\nsubconscious self protests against it; our personality is impelled by\nits very essence to crave the persistence of its self. Besides, the\nfeelings of survivors rebel against the pain of an unending separation,\nthe definite loss of all affections. In the troubled times which marked\nthe end of the Roman Republic, at a moment when changing fortune\nperiodically turned all the conditions of existence upside down, there\ngrew up a stronger aspiration to a better future, a search, to use the\nwords of the ancients, for a sure haven, in which man, tossed by the\nstorms of life, might find quiet. Thus in the first century B. C. the\nbirth was seen, or rather the rebirth, of a mystic movement which\nclaimed to give by direct communication with God the certainties which\nreason could not supply. The chief preoccupation of philosophers began\nto be those capital questions as to the origin and end of man which the\nschools of the earlier period had neglected as unanswerable. It was\nabove all the Neo-Pythagoreans who gave up pure rationalism, and thus\nbrought Roman thought to admit new forms of immortality.\n\nWhen the scientific school of the old Pythagorism came to an end in\nItaly in the fourth century, the sect perpetuated itself obscurely in\nmysterious conventicles, a sort of freemasonry of which the influence in\nthe Hellenistic period is difficult to measure or circumscribe. It again\ntook on new power in Alexandria under the Ptolemies. In this metropolis,\nin which all the currents of Europe and Asia were mingled, Pythagorism\nadmitted at this time many ideas foreign to the teaching of the old\nmaster of Samos. This teaching seems not to have set forth a rigid,\nlogically constructed theology, and the points of contact with the\nbeliefs of the East, which its ideas supplied, favoured an accommodating\nsyncretism. Pythagoras was said to have had Plato as a disciple, and\nPlato was venerated almost as much as the teacher he followed. The\npowerful structure of Stoic pantheism did not fail to exercise an\nascendancy over the theorists of the school. This school had been, from\nits origin, in touch with the Orphic mysteries and those of Dionysos and\nit remained so, but it was also subject to the more remote influence of\nBabylonian and Egyptian religions, and particularly of those Chaldean\ndoctrines which the Greeks had learnt to know after Alexander\u2019s\nconquest.\n\nThis vast eclecticism, open to all novelties, did not bring about a\nbreak with the past. Theology succeeded in effecting a reconciliation\nwith all, even the rudest and most absurd traditions of fable, by an\ningenious system of moral allegories. \u201cDivine\u201d Homer thus became a\nmaster of piety and wisdom, and mythology a collection of edifying\nstories. Demonology made it possible to justify all the traditional\npractices of the cult, as well as magic and divination: everything which\nseemed incompatible with the new idea of the divinity was ascribed to\nlower powers. Thus the Pythagoreans could take up the position not of\nadversaries or reformers but of interpreters of the ancestral religion.\nThey claimed that they remained faithful to the wisdom of the sages who,\nat the dawn of civilisation, had received a divine revelation, which had\nbeen transmitted first to Pythagoras and then to Plato. They felt so\nsure that they were expressing the thought of these masters, whose\nauthority made law, that they did not hesitate to subscribe the\nvenerated names, by a pious fraud, to their own writings. Nowhere did\napocryphal literature have a more luxuriant efflorescence than in these\ncircles.\n\nWhen the sect was introduced into Rome it sought, according to its wont,\nto connect itself with old local traditions, and without much difficulty\nit succeeded. The national pride of the conquerors of Greece could, with\nsome complacency, regard it as Italic. Pythagoras passed for the teacher\nof King Numa, the religious legislator of the city. Ennius had expressed\nthis philosopher\u2019s doctrine in his poems, and altogether, from the time\nof the ancient republic onwards, the half mythical moralist of Greater\nGreece enjoyed singular consideration in Rome.[58]\n\nBut the first to give new life to the Pythagorean school, which had died\nin Italy centuries before, was, according to Cicero, his friend, the\nsenator Nigidius Figulus, a curious representative of the scientific\nreligiosity which characterised the sect. This Roman magistrate, a man\nof singular erudition, was bitten with all the occult sciences. A\ngrammarian, a naturalist and a theologian, he was also an astrologer and\nmagician and, on occasion, a wonder-worker. He did not confine himself\nto theory but gathered about him a club of the initiate, of whom we\ncannot say whether they were most attracted by scientific curiosity, by\naustere morals or by mystic practices. Vatinius, the relative and friend\nof Caesar, and, probably, the spiritualist Appius Claudius Pulcher were\nthe most prominent of this circle of converts.\n\nIt is significant that at much the same time the historian Castor of\nRhodes claimed to interpret Roman usages by Pythagorism,[59] and the\nstories establishing a connection between the Roman state and the\nreformers of Greater Greece were multiplied. In the Augustan age a\nworldly poet like Ovid[60] thought it permissible to introduce into his\n_Metamorphoses_, where no digression of the sort was to be looked for, a\nlong speech of Pythagoras explaining vegetarianism and transmigration. A\nlittle later Antonius Diogenes, the romancer, found in the same\nphilosophy inspiration for his fantastic pictures of the lot of\nsouls.[61] All this goes to show how powerfully seductive the new sect\nproved to be as soon as it was revived in Rome.\n\nBut it did not lack enemies. Public malignity did not spare these\nmysterious theosophists who met in subterranean crypts. They were blamed\nfor neglecting the national cult, which had ensured the greatness of the\ncity, in order to indulge in condemned practices or even to commit\nabominable crimes. It was a more serious matter that their secret\ngatherings also excited the suspicion of the authorities, and that the\npartakers were prosecuted as persons who dealt in magic, which was\npunishable by law. The little Pythagorean church seems not to have been\nable to maintain itself in the capital for long. In Seneca\u2019s time it was\ndead.[62]\n\nBut Pythagorism continued to find adepts in the empire and soon returned\nto Rome. Under Domitian, Apollonius of Tyana made the East resound with\nhis preaching and miracles, and although thrown into prison by this\nemperor he was in favour with his successors. Under the Antonines, the\nfalse prophet Alexander of Abonotichos, unmasked by Lucian, claimed to\nbe a new incarnation of the sage of Samos, whose wisdom he pretended to\nreveal in his mysteries. The literary tradition of the sect maintained\nitself until the third century, when it was absorbed by Neo-Platonism.\nIn a period of syncretism, the originality of this philosophy resided\nless in its doctrine than in its observances, and when its conventicles\nwere dissolved, it easily merged itself in the school which professed to\ncontinue it. During its long life Pythagorism had indeed had a powerful\ninfluence, not only on the system of Plato and Plotinus, but also on the\nOriental cults which spread under the empire. It had supplied the first\ntype of the learned mysteries in which knowledge (\u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2) is at once the\ncondition and the end of sanctification.[63] Possibly it even penetrated\ninto Gaul at an early date, by way of Marseilles, and was thus known to\nthe Druids.\n\nIt would certainly be a mistake to look upon Pythagorism as a pure\nphilosophy, like Epicureanism and Stoicism. Its sectaries formed a\nchurch rather than a school, a religious order, not an academy of\nsciences. From a recent discovery in Rome, if my interpretation of the\nmonument is right,[64] we have learnt that the Pythagoreans met in\nunderground basilicas, constructed on the model of Plato\u2019s cavern, in\nwhich, according to the great idealist, the chained men see only the\nshades of the higher realities.[65] A foundation sacrifice, that of a\ndog and a young pig, was made before this basilica was constructed. Its\nstucco decoration is borrowed almost entirely from Greek mythology or\nthe ceremonies of the mysteries. Secret rites and varied purifications\nhad to be accomplished in it; hymns accompanied by sacred music were\nsung; and from a chair within the apse the doctors gave esoteric\nteaching to the faithful. They taught them the symbols in which the\ntruths of faith and the precepts of conduct, formerly revealed by\nPythagoras and the other sages, were handed down in enigmatic form.\nThese remote disciples interpreted all the myths of the past, and\nespecially the Homeric poems, by psychological or eschatological\nallegories. They laid down, as definite commandments, a rule of strict\nobservance which included all the acts of daily life. At dawn, after he\nhad offered a sacrifice to the rising Sun, the pious man must decide on\nthe way in which his day was to be employed. Every evening he must make\na threefold examination of conscience, and, if he had been guilty of any\nsin of omission or commission, must make an act of contrition. He was\nobliged to follow a purely vegetarian diet and to practise many\nabstinences, to make repeated prayers, to meditate lengthily. This\naustere and circumstantial system of morals would ensure happiness and\nwisdom on earth and salvation in the Beyond.\n\nAll the Neo-Pythagoreans agree in stating that the human soul is related\nto God and therefore immortal. Many, like the Stoics, look upon it as a\nparcel of the ether, an effluvium of burning and luminous fluid which\nfills the celestial spaces and shines in the divine stars. Others, who\nare nearer to Plato, believe it to be immaterial and define it as a\nnumber in movement. Always, generation is regarded as a fall and a\ndanger for the soul. Enclosed in the body as in a tomb, it runs the risk\nof corruption, even of perishing. Earthly existence is a hard voyage on\nthe stormy waters of matter, which are perpetually rolling and surging.\nThus a fundamental pessimism looked upon life here below as a trial and\na chastisement; a radical dualism placed the body in opposition to the\ndivine essence residing in it. The constant care of the sage was to keep\nhis soul from pollution by its contact with the flesh. He abstained from\nmeat and other foods which might corrupt it; a series of tabus protected\nit against all contagion. Ritual purifications restored to it its purity\n(\u1f01\u03b3\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1) which was continually threatened. The unwearying exercise of\nvirtue, the scrupulous practice of piety preserved its original nature.\nMusic, which caused it to vibrate in harmony with the universe, and\nscience, which lifted it towards divine things, prepared its ascension\nto heaven. Meditation was a silent prayer, which placed reason in\ncommunication with the powers on high. Seized by love for the eternal\nbeauties, it rose in its transports even in this life to God, identified\nitself with Him and so rendered itself worthy of a blessed\nimmortality.[66]\n\nWhen the death determined by destiny occurred, the soul escaped from the\nbody in which it was captive but kept its bodily form and appearance,\nand this simulacrum (\u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd) appeared to men in dreams and after\nevocations. According to some Pythagoreans, this subtle form was\ndistinct from the soul (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae), which ascended immediately to the higher\nspheres. Others believed that, like a light garment, it wrapped the\nsoul, which was for some time constrained to dwell here below.[67] After\nthis shade had remained beside the body or somewhere near the tomb for a\ncertain number of days, it rose in the atmosphere in which contended\nwinds, water and fire, and was purified by the elements. This zone, the\nlowest circle of the world, was what fable had called hell (_Inferi_),\nand it was of this passage from one circle to that next it that poets\nspoke when they told of the Styx and Charon\u2019s boat.[68] When the soul\nhad been purified it was borne, uplifted by the winds, to the sphere of\nthe moon. Here lay the boundary of life and death, the limit which\ndivided the residence of the immortals, where all was harmony and\npurity, from the corrupt and troubled empire of generation. Thus the\nluminary of the night was the first dwelling of the Blessed, and there\nlay the Elysian Fields of the poets, Proserpina\u2019s kingdom where rest the\nshades. And the Fortunate Islands, of which the ancients sung, were no\nother than the sun and the moon, celestial lands bathed by the waters of\nthe ether.[69]\n\nThe shade remained in the moon or was dissolved there, and pure reason\nrose to the sun whence it came forth, or even reached the summit of the\nheavens where reigned the Most High. A helpful escort, called by\nmythology Hermes the Soul-Guide, or _psychopompos_, led the elect to\nthese Olympian peaks. There they regained their true country, and as\nbirth had been to them a death, so their death was their rebirth. They\nenjoyed the contemplation of the luminous gods. They were rapt by the\nravishing tune of the harmony of the spheres, that divine melody of\nwhich earthly music is but a feeble echo.[70]\n\nSome souls were kept on the banks of the Styx and could not cross it: in\nother words, they were constrained to remain on the earth. The dead who\nhad not had religious burial must linger beside their neglected bodies\nfor a hundred years, the normal span of a human life, before they were\nadmitted to the place of purgation, where they would sojourn for ten\ntimes that period.[71] In the same way those who had died young or whose\ndays had been cut short by violence would not enter the purgatory before\nthe due term of their life.[72] But especially the souls of the criminal\nand the impious were thus condemned to wander, restless and in pain,\nthrough the lower air, which they filled with their multitude. It was\nthese demoniac spirits who returned as dismal phantoms to frighten the\nliving, who were evoked by wizards and who revealed the future in\noracles. Demonology accounted for all the aberrations of magic and\ndivination. These spirits rose to the aerial purgatory after they had\nfor long years tormented and been tormented, but they could not reach\nthe moon, which repelled them; they were condemned to reincarnation in\nnew bodies, either of men or of beasts, and were once again delivered to\nthe fury of the passions. These passions are the Erinyes, of whom poets\nsung, that in Tartarus they burnt criminals with their torches and\nscourged them with their whips. For there was no subterranean hell:\nHades was in the air or on our earth, and the infernal sufferings\ndescribed by mythology were the various tortures inflicted on the souls\ncondemned to transmigration.[73]\n\nThis religious philosophy, which, by a symbolism transforming the\nmeaning of the traditional beliefs, reconciled these with men\u2019s\nintelligence, did more than any other to revive faith in immortality.\nMany enlightened men, like Cicero and Cato, had sought consolation for\nthe misfortunes of this world and a hope for the Beyond in reading\nPlato, but Plato\u2019s proof of immortality could convince only those\nalready convinced.[74] Pythagorism, on the other hand, offered to\nrestless souls a certainty founded on a revelation made to ancient\nsages, and it satisfied at once the Roman love for order and rule, and\nthe human love for the marvellous and the mysterious. The evidence of\nthe effect of this philosophy is still recognisable, although it often\nhas not been recognised, in the compositions decorating many sepulchral\nmonuments and in the wording of several epitaphs. A tombstone found at\nPhiladelphia in Lydia is particularly curious.[75] It bears a\nrepresentation of the Y symbol, that is, of the diverging roads between\nwhich man must choose when he leaves childhood behind him. On the one\nside earthly travail leads the virtuous man to eternal rest; on the\nother softness and debauchery bring the vicious man to a gulf into which\nhe falls. A metrical epitaph, found at Pisaurum (Pesaro), hints covertly\nat the ideas of the school. This commemorates a child who, in spite of\nhis youth, had learnt the dogmas of Pythagoras and read \u201cthe pious\nverses of Homer\u201d as well as the philosophers, and had studied in Euclid\nthe sacred science of numbers. His soul, runs the inscription,[76] \u201cgoes\nforward through the gloomy stars of deep Tartarus towards the waters of\nAcheron,\u201d a sentence which can be understood only on the supposition\nthat Tartarus and Acheron had for the author a figurative meaning and\nlay in the depths not of the earth but of the sky.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe belief in a celestial immortality which was thus propagated by the\nhalf philosophical, half religious sect of the Pythagoreans was to find\na powerful interpreter in a thinker who had a predominant influence over\nhis contemporaries and the succeeding generation\u2014in Posidonius. We know\nlittle of his life. Born at Apamea in Syria, about the year 135, he\nearly left his native country, of which he seems to have kept a poor\nopinion, and as a young student in Athens he attended the lectures of\nthe older Stoic Panaetius. The universal curiosity which was to make him\na scholar of encyclopaedic knowledge soon impelled him to take long\njourneys, in which he even reached the shores of the Atlantic and\nstudied the tides of the ocean. Upon his return he opened a school in\nthe free city of Rhodes and there numbered Cicero among his hearers.\nWhen he died at the age of eighty-four the prestige he enjoyed both in\nthe Roman world and among the Greeks was immense. He owed his\nintellectual ascendancy as much to the marvellous variety of the\nknowledge which he displayed, as philosopher, astronomer, historian,\ngeographer and naturalist, as to his copious, harmonious and highly\ncoloured style.\n\nA theologian rather than a logician, a scholar rather than a critic, he\ndid not construct an original metaphysical system comparable to those of\nthe great founders of schools. But Posidonius was the most prominent\nrepresentative of that syncretism which, as we have seen, showed itself\nin the Pythagoreans before his day and which reigned in the world about\nhim, because men were weary of the sterile discussions of opposing\nthinkers. He gave the support of his authority and his eloquence to the\neclecticism which reconciled the principles of the ancient Greek\nschools. Moreover, his Syrian origin led him to combine these doctrines\nwith the religious ideas of the East, which had with astrology given the\nHellenes a new conception of man and of the gods.[77]\n\nIt is exactly here that Posidonius is important from the point of view\nof our subject: his tendencies represent a direct reaction against the\nscepticism of his master Panaetius, who denied both the survival of the\nsoul[78] and the possibility of divination. Posidonius introduced into\nStoicism momentous ideas derived at once from Pythagorism and from\nEastern cults, and sought to establish them firmly by connecting them\nwith a system of the world, which his vast intelligence had sought to\nunderstand in all its aspects. His faith in immortality is strictly\nrelated to his cosmography and receives support from his physics.\n\nIt was this system of the world which was, thanks to Ptolemy\u2019s\nauthority, to perpetuate itself on the whole until the time of\nCopernicus. We will here give a broad outline of its essential features,\nbecause the eschatological doctrines were to remain for centuries\nconnected with it. The terrestrial globe was held to be suspended,\nmotionless, in the centre of the universe, surrounded by an atmosphere\nformed of the three other elements and reaching to the moon. That part\nof the atmosphere which was near the earth was thickened and darkened by\nheavy vapours rising from the soil and the waters. Above, there moved a\npurer and lighter air which, as it neared the sky, was warmed by contact\nwith the higher fires. Still higher were ranged the concentric spheres\nof the seven planets, wrapped in ether, a subtle and ardent fluid\u2014first\nthe moon, which still received and gave back the exhalations of the\nearth,[79] then Mercury and Venus, the two companions of the sun in his\ndaily course. The fourth place, that is, the middle point of the\nsuperimposed heavens, was occupied by the luminary of the day,\u2014here\nPosidonius forsakes Plato and follows the Chaldeans,\u2014the burning heart\nof the world, the intelligent light which is the source of our\nminds.[80] Above the sun moved the three higher planets\u2014Mars, Jupiter\nand Saturn. And these seven wandering stars were surrounded by the\nsphere of the fixed stars, which were animated by constant and uniform\nmovement. That sphere marked the world\u2019s boundary: beyond it there was\nonly void or the ether.\n\nThe universe, as this philosophy imagined it, had therefore well-defined\nlimits: when men raised their eyes to the constellations of the\nfirmament, they thought they perceived its end. The depths of the sky\nwere not then unfathomable; he who sank his gaze in them was not seized\nwith giddiness at the abysses nor bewildered by inconceivable\nmagnitudes, and was not tempted to cry with Pascal:[81] \u201cThe eternal\nsilence of these boundless spaces affrights me.\u201d Nor was the universe\nthen a multiplicity of heavenly bodies moving to an unknown goal and\nperpetually transformed, transitory manifestations of an energy\ndeveloped for undiscoverable ends. The conception formed of the world\nwas static, not dynamic. It was a machine of which the wheels turned\naccording to immutable laws, an organism of which all the parts were\nunited by reciprocal sympathy as they acted and reacted on each other.\n\nThis organism was alive, penetrated throughout by the same essence as\nthe soul which maintains our life and thought. This soul was an igneous\nbreath of which the moral corruption was conceived quite materially.\nWhen it gave itself up to the desires of the senses, to corporeal\npassions, its substance thickened and was troubled, and the mud of this\npollution adhered to it like a crust. When the soul left the body at the\ntime of death, it became a spirit like the multitude of demons who\npeopled the atmosphere. But its lot varied in accordance with its\ncondition. If it were laden with matter, its weight condemned it to\nfloat in the densest air, the damp-charged gas which immediately\nsurrounded the earth, and its very composition then caused it to\nreincarnate itself in new bodies.[82] But if it had remained free from\nall alloy its lightness caused it to pass immediately through this\nheavier layer of air and bore it to the higher spaces. It stopped in\nthis ascension when, within the ether which was about the moon, it found\nitself in surroundings like its own substance. Some elect beings, the\ndivine spirits of the sages, kept such purity that they rose through the\nether as far as the highest astral spheres. In this system the doctrine\nof immortality is seen to be closely knit up with cosmography.\n\nIf Posidonius has largely borrowed these ideas from the platonising\nPythagorism of his period, he forsook this philosophy on an essential\npoint. As a Stoic he did not admit the transcendency of God. For him,\nGod was immanent in the universe; the seat of the directing reason of\nthe world (\u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd) was the sphere of the fixed stars, which embraced\nall other spheres and determined their revolutions. There too, at the\nsummit of the world but not outside it, the spirits of the blessed\ngathered; from these high peaks they delighted to observe earthly\nhappenings; and when a pious soul tried to rise to them, these\nsuccouring heroes, like our saints, could lend their aid and protection.\n\nThis philosophy did not draw its power of persuasion only from its\nlogical consistency, which satisfied reason, but it also made a strong\nappeal to feeling. Posidonius caused a broad stream of mystical ideas,\nundoubtedly derived from the beliefs developed by the astral religions\nof the East, to flow into the arid bed of a Stoicism which had become\nscholastic. For him, reason was not enclosed in the body, even when it\nsojourned here below; it escaped from it to pass with marvellous\nswiftness from the depths of the sea to the ends of the earth and the\ntop of the heavens; it flew through all nature, learning to know\nphysical laws and to admire the divine order ever more and more. Above\nall it could never weary of the sight of the glowing constellations and\ntheir harmonious movements. It felt with emotion, as it gave itself up\nto contemplating them, its kinship with the celestial fires; it entered\ninto communion with the higher gods. In enthusiastic terms, echoed by\nhis imitators, Posidonius described the ecstasy which seized him who\nleft the earth, who felt himself transported to the midst of the sacred\nchorus of the stars and who followed their rhythmic evolutions. In these\ntransports, the soul did not only win to infinite power, but also\nreceived from heaven the revelation of the nature and cause of the\ncelestial revolutions. Thus even in this life it had a foretaste of the\nbeatitude which would belong to it after death when reason, rid of the\nweak organs of the senses, would directly perceive all the splendours of\nthe divine world and would know its mysteries completely.[83]\n\nThis theology attributed to man a power such as to satisfy his proudest\nfeelings. It did not regard him as a tiny animalcule who had appeared on\na small planet lost in immensity, nor did it, when he scrutinised the\nheavens, crush him with a sense of his own pettiness as compared with\nbodies whose greatness surpassed the limits of his imagination. It made\nman king of creation, placed him in the centre of a still limited world\nof which the proportions were not so vast that he could not travel all\nover his domain. If he could tear himself from the domination of his\nbody, he became capable of communicating with the visible gods who were\nalmost within his reach and whom he might hope to equal after his\npassage here below. He knew himself to be united to them by an identity\nof nature which alone explained how he understood them.\n\n           \u201cQuis caelum possit, nisi caeli munere, nosse\n           Et reperire deum, nisi qui pars ipse Dei est?\u201d[84]\n\n\u201cWho could know heaven save by heavenly grace, or find God if he were\nnot himself a part of God?\u201d\u2014words of the Roman poet who echoes\nPosidonius\u2019 teaching.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is easy to understand that such ideas were readily adopted at a time\nwhen human minds, tired of inconclusive disputes, despaired of ever\nreaching truth by their own strength. The astral mysticism eloquently\npreached by Posidonius was to influence all the later Stoicism. Seneca\nin particular, in the numerous passages in which he speaks of the misery\nand baseness of life in the body and celebrates the felicity of the pure\nsouls who live among the stars, shows the imprint of the philosopher of\nApamea. And this philosopher also exerted a far-reaching action beyond\nthe narrow circle of the school. The erudition of the antiquarian Varro,\nthe poems of Virgil and Manilius and the biblical exegesis of Philo the\nJew, all drew on him for inspiration. But the author in whom we can best\ndiscern his influence is his pupil Cicero, the abundance of whose\nwritings allows us to follow the evolution of his thought, which is\ncharacteristic of the whole society of his time.\n\nIt is beyond doubt that Cicero was an agnostic for the greater part of\nhis life. His mind found satisfaction in the scepticism of the New\nAcademy, or rather he adopted towards the future life the received\nattitude of the world in which he lived, where the problem of the soul\u2019s\norigin and destiny was regarded as not only insoluble but also idle, as\nunworthy to absorb the minds of men who should devote their energies to\nthe service of the state. The question of the cult to be rendered to the\nManes had been settled once for all by the ancient pontifical law. Old\nRome distrusted speculations as to the Beyond because they dangerously\ndiverted thought from actual realities. But Cicero, by his study of the\nwritings of his master Posidonius and by his intercourse with the\nsenator Nigidius Figulus, a fervent adept of Pythagorism,[85] had been\nbrought into contact with the stream of mystical ideas which was\nbeginning to flow through the West. Gradually, as he grew older and life\nbrought him disappointments, his thought was more attracted to religious\nideas.[86] In 54, when he had given up political life, he composed the\n_Republic_, an imitation of Plato\u2019s work on the same subject. As Plato\nhad introduced the myth of Er the Armenian at the end of his work, so\nhis Roman imitator concludes with the puzzling picture of \u201cScipio\u2019s\nDream,\u201d where the destroyer of Carthage receives the revelations of the\nconqueror of Zama. The hero, from the height of the celestial spheres,\nexpounds that doctrine of astral immortality which was common to the\nPythagoreans and to Posidonius. It is given as yet only as a dream, a\nvision the truth of which is in no way guaranteed. But in 45 B. C.\nCicero suffered a cruel loss in the death of his only daughter Tullia.\nHis grief persuaded him that this beloved being still lived among the\ngods. Even while he accused himself of unreasonable weakness, he ordered\nthat not a tomb but a chapel (_fanum_), consecrating her apotheosis,\nshould be raised to this young woman. The letters he wrote at this time\nto Atticus, from the shores of the Pomptine Marshes, in the solitude of\nAstura, apprise us of his most intimate feelings. He gave vent to his\nsorrow in writing a _Consolatio_, and in its preserved fragments we see\nhim strangely impressed by the Pythagorean doctrines: he speaks of the\nsoul, exempt from all matter, as celestial and divine and therefore\neternal, of the soul\u2019s life here below as a penalty inflicted on it\nbecause it is born to expiate anterior crimes (_scelerum luendorum\ncausa_).\n\nCicero\u2019s sensitive spirit, troubled by the perplexing problem of our\ndestiny, did not turn to the old discredited beliefs but to the new\nconceptions which a mystical philosophy had brought from the East.\n_Hortensius_ and the _Tusculans_, written in this period of his life,\nshow us the empire which the Neo-Stoicism of his master and the\nNeo-Pythagorism of his fellow-senator then exercised over his mind,\nsaddened and disillusioned as he was, and show us too how he sought\nconsolation for the private and public ills which were overwhelming him\nin the luminous doctrine of a blissful survival.\n\nThis spiritual evolution is an image of the great change which was about\nto take place in the Roman world.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nStoic philosophy, although its maxims had been popularised by education\nand literature, was almost as incapable of exercising a wide influence\non the deep masses of the people as the esoteric theosophy revealed in\nthe aristocratic conventicles of the Pythagoreans. The urban \u201cplebs,\u201d to\nwhich slavery and trade had given a strong admixture of Eastern blood,\nand the peasants of the rural districts, where the gaps caused by\ndepopulation were filled up by a foreign labour supply, were beginning\nat the end of the Republican period to hear new dogmas preached, dogmas\nwhich were winning an ever increasing number of believers. The ancient\nnational cults of Greece and Rome aimed above all at ensuring civic\norder and earthly welfare, and paid small regard to the spiritual\nperfection of individuals and their eternal future. But now exotic cults\nclaimed to reveal the secret of immortality to their adepts.[87] The\nOriental mysteries, propagated in the West, united in the promise of\nsecuring holiness in this life and felicity in the next, while they\nimparted to their initiates the knowledge of certain rites and required\nsubmission to certain precepts. Instead of the fluctuating and\ndisputable beliefs of philosophers as to destiny in the Beyond, these\nreligions gave certainty founded on divine revelation and on the faith\nof countless generations attached to them. The truth, which the\nmysticism of the thinkers looked to find in direct communication with\nheaven, was here warranted by a venerable tradition and by the daily\nmanifestations of the gods adored. The belief in life beyond the grave,\nwhich had in ancient paganism been so vague and melancholy, was\ntransformed into confident hope in a definite beatitude. Participation\nin the occult ceremonies of the sect was an infallible means of finding\nsalvation. A society that was weary of doubt received these promises\neagerly, and the old beliefs of the East combined with an eclectic\nphilosophy to give a new eschatology to the Roman Empire.\n\nThe salvation ensured by the mysteries was conceived as identification\nwith the god venerated in them. By virtue of this union the initiate was\nreborn, like this god, to new life after he had perished, or, like him,\nescaped from the fatal law of death which weighs on humanity. He was\n\u201cdeified\u201d or \u201cimmortalised,\u201d after he had taken part, as actor, in a\nliturgical drama reproducing the myth of the god whose lot was thus\nassimilated to his own. Purifications, lustrations and unctions,\nparticipation in a sacred banquet, revelations, apparitions and\necstasies\u2014a complicated series of ceremonies and instructions helped to\nbring about this metamorphosis of the faithful whom a higher power\nabsorbed or penetrated with its energy. We shall return to this\nsacramental operation which made pious souls equal to the divinity.[88]\n\nThere is another point on which, in the course of this historical\nintroduction, we must dwell a little longer, namely, the evolution\nundergone by the conception of the Beyond taught in the different\nmysteries and the share of philosophy in the transformation. For if in\nthe various sects the liturgy was usually preserved with scrupulous\nfidelity, its theological interpretation varied considerably as time\npassed. In paganism much doctrinal liberty was always combined with\nrespect for rites.\n\nSome of the mysteries often gave in their beginnings a rather coarse\nidea of the future life, and the pleasures which might be enjoyed\ntherein were very material. The ancient Greek conception, going back to\nOrphism, was, as we have seen, that of a subterranean kingdom divided\ninto two contrasted parts\u2014Tartarus where the wicked, plunged in a dark\nslough or subjected to other pains, suffering the chastisement of their\nfaults, on the one side; on the other, the Elysian Fields, those\nflowered, luminous meadows, gay with song and dance, in which the\nblessed pursued their favourite occupations, whether they were allowed\nto dwell there for ever, or whether they awaited there the hour fixed\nfor their rebirth on earth.[89] This eschatology, which had become the\ncommon possession of the Hellenes, was certainly that of the mysteries\nof Greece and in particular of the mysteries of Eleusis. But these\nmysteries were never more than local religions: however numerous were\nthe initiates attracted by their renown, they were bound to the soil\nwhere they were born. Thus their influence was very limited in the Roman\nperiod and cannot be compared with that of the universal cults which\nwere propagated throughout the Mediterranean world. As for Orphism,\nwhich was never connected with any one temple, it is doubtful whether it\nstill constituted an actual sect, and if it did, it certainly spread\nover a very narrow field. Its influence was perpetuated chiefly because\nit was absorbed by Pythagorism.\n\nAmong the mysteries propagated in the West, the most ancient were those\nof the Thraco-Phrygian gods, Dionysos and Sabazios, who were indeed\nlooked upon as identical. We know that in 186 B. C. a _senatus\nconsultum_ forbade the celebration of the Bacchanalia in Italy, and in\n139 some sectaries of Jupiter Sabazius, who identified this god with the\nJahve-Sabaoth of the Jews, were expelled from Rome by the praetor at the\nsame time as the \u201cChaldeans.\u201d The cult practised by the votaries of\nBacchus or Liber Pater, whose confraternities were maintained until the\nend of paganism, differed profoundly from the Dionysos worship of\nancient Greece: a number of Oriental elements had been introduced into\nit; in particular, the relations between Dionysos and Osiris, which go\nback to a very remote period, had become singularly close in Egypt.\nHowever, many reliefs on tombstones and the celebrated paintings found\nin the catacombs of Praetextatus prove that the cults of the\nThraco-Phrygian gods remained faithful to the old idea of a future life.\nThe shade went down into the bowels of the earth, never again to leave\nthem. If judged worthy, it took part in an eternal banquet, of which the\ninitiate received a foretaste on earth, in the feasts of the mysteries.\nSacred drunkenness, a divine exaltation, was the pledge of the joyous\nintoxication which the god of wine would grant in Hades to the faithful\nwho had united themselves to him.[90]\n\nIn 205, towards the end of the second Punic war, the cult of Cybele, the\nGreat Mother of the Gods, and of Attis, her associate, was transported\nfrom Pessinus in Phrygia and officially adopted by the Roman people. The\ngreat feasts of this religion were celebrated in March about the equinox\nand commemorated the death and resurrection of Attis, the emblem of\nvegetation, which, after it has withered, flowers again in the spring.\nThe faithful associated their own destiny with the lot of their god:\nlike him they would be reborn to a new life after they had died. Their\ndoctrines on this point were certainly transformed as time passed, for\nno Oriental cult which spread in the West underwent more evolution,\nsince none was more fundamentally barbarous when it came from Asia.\nOriginally, Cybele was the goddess of the dead, because Mother Earth\nreceives them into her bosom. Every Phrygian tomb is a sanctuary and its\nepitaph a dedication: often the graves are consecrated to the goddess\nand bear her image or that of the lion, her substitute. Often too the\ntombstone has the shape of a door, the door of the subterranean world\nwhither the dead descend. The belief seems to have been held that the\ndeceased were absorbed in the Great Mother who had given them birth, and\nthat they thus participated in her divinity. She brought forth corn and\ngrapes for men and thus sustained them day by day, and the bread and\nwine, taken in the meal which was the essential act of the initiation,\nwould ensure immortality to those who were of the mystery. \u201cThou givest\nus the food of life with unfailing constancy,\u201d says a prayer, \u201cand when\nour soul departs we will take refuge in thee. Thus all that thou givest,\nalways falls to thee again.\u201d[91]\n\nTowards the end of the Republic the mysteries of Isis and Serapis, which\nhad come from Alexandria and had already spread through the south of\nItaly, established themselves in Rome and maintained themselves there in\nspite of opposition from the senate. Under the Empire, the Egyptian\nreligion displayed all the pomp of its liturgy in magnificent temples\nand had a number of votaries in every province. The cult of Osiris, of\nwhich that of Serapis was a form, was originally a cult of the fields,\nlike that of Attis, and the great feast which its adherents celebrated\nin autumn recalls the Phrygian spring feasts. The death of Osiris, whose\nbody had been torn to pieces by Seth, was mourned; and when Isis had\nfound the scattered fragments of the corpse, joined them together and\nreanimated it, noisy rejoicing followed the lamentation. Like the\ninitiates of Cybele and Attis, those of Isis and Serapis were associated\nwith the passion and resurrection of their god. And, in the same way,\nthe oldest conception of immortality in these mysteries was that the\ndeparted went down into the infernal regions, where a man became another\nSerapis, a woman another Isis, which is to say that they were\nassimilated to the gods who had granted them salvation.[92] This is why\non numerous funeral reliefs the dead man, who has become a hero and is\nshown lying on a couch, bears on his head the bushel (_modius_) which is\nthe attribute of Serapis. In consequence, however, of the identification\nof this god with Dionysos, the joys beyond the grave are also\nrepresented as a feast in the Elysian Fields at which the great master\nof banquets presides.[93]\n\nAll these mysteries conceive immortality as a descent of the dead into\nHades. For them, the kingdom of the dead lies in the bosom of the earth.\nThose who have been initiated will there enjoy a felicity made up of\npurely material pleasures, or they will be identified with the powers\nwho reign over the nether world and will have part in their divine life.\nIt will be noticed how closely this last conception approached to that\nof ancient Stoicism, according to which the various parts of the human\norganism, dissociated by death, were to regain their integrity in the\ndivine elements of the universe.\n\nQuite another doctrine was propagated by the Syrian cults and the\nPersian mysteries of Mithras, which spread in the West in the first\ncentury of our era. These religions taught that the soul of the just man\ndoes not go below the ground but rises to the sky, there to enjoy divine\nbliss in the midst of the stars in the eternal light. Only the wicked\nwere condemned to roam the earth\u2019s surface, or were dragged by the\ndemons into the dusky depths in which the spirit of evil reigned.\nOpinions differed as to the region of heaven in which the souls of the\nelect dwelt. The \u201cChaldeans,\u201d who looked upon the sun as the master and\nthe intelligence of the universe, made him the author of human reason,\nwhich returned to him after it had left the body, while for the priests\nof Mithras the spirit rose, by way of the planetary spheres, to the\nsummit of the heavens. We will have to examine later the different forms\nof astral immortality.[94] But you will already have noticed how nearly\nthis immortality, as formulated by the Iranian and Semitic sects,\napproximated to the doctrine taught by Pythagorism and adopted by\nNeo-Stoicism.\n\nThis meeting of the two doctrines was not an effect of chance. The idea\nthat souls are related to the celestial fires, whence they descend at\nbirth and whither they reascend at death, had probably been borrowed by\nthe ancient Pythagoreans from the astral religions of the East. Recent\nresearch seems to have established the fact of its Chaldeo-Persian\norigin. But the Greek philosophers, according to their wont, defined and\ndeveloped this idea in an original way. In the Hellenistic period, when\nthey adopted astrology, they were subject for the second time to the\nascendancy of the scientific religion of the \u201cChaldeans\u201d; and, in their\nturn, they reacted on the Oriental cults when these spread in the\nGraeco-Roman world. We have sure evidence that the mysteries of Mithras\nwere, in particular, strongly affected by the influence of the\nPythagorean sect, which was itself organised like a kind of mystery. In\na more general way, philosophy introduced into the mysteries ethical\nideas and, instead of the purely ritualistic or rather magical means of\nsalvation, some moral requirements became necessary to earn immortality.\n\nThere is here a mass of actions and reactions of which the details\nescape us; but we can form some idea of such a syncretism from the\nremains of the theological writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus,\nfrom the writings, that is, which are supposed to contain the\nrevelations of the Egyptian god Thot. This professedly Egyptian wisdom\nincludes a number of ideas and definitions which are characteristic of\nPosidonius and Neo-Pythagorism. The Greek and the Egyptian elements are\nso closely associated in it that it is very difficult to separate the\none from the other. We find another example of the same mixture in the\n\u201cChaldaic Oracles,\u201d which were probably composed about the year 200 of\nour era and which became one of the sacred books of Neo-Platonism.\nUnlike the Hermetic writings, this collection of verses does indeed seem\nto have belonged to a sect practising an actual cult: its greater part\nis taken up with mythology, and the fantastic mysticism of the East is\nmore prominent here than in the Hermetic lore, but the mind of the\ncompiler of these revelations was also penetrated by the ideas which the\nGreek masters had widely circulated.\n\nThe tenet of astral immortality, which philosophy shared with the cults\nemanating from Syria and Persia, imposed itself on the ancient world. It\nis curious to notice how it was introduced into the theology of the very\nmysteries to which it was at first foreign: Attis ended by becoming a\nsolar god, and thenceforward it was in the heights of heaven that Cybele\nwas united to the souls she had prevented from wandering in darkness and\nhad saved from hell. The priests of the Alexandrian divinities were\nsimilarly to explain that the dead had not their dwelling in the\ninterior of our globe, but that the \u201csubterranean\u201d (\u1f51\u03c0\u03cc\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2) kingdom of\nSerapis was situated beneath the earth, that is, in the lower hemisphere\nof heaven, bounded by the line of the horizon.[95]\n\nAccording as the Oriental religions were more largely propagated, faith\nin a new eschatology spread gradually among the people; and although\nmemories and survivals of the old belief in the life of the dead in the\ngrave and the shade\u2019s descent into the infernal depths may have\nlingered, the doctrine which predominated henceforward was that of\ncelestial immortality.\n\nThe distance separating the age of Augustus from that of the Flavians on\nthis point can be measured by reading Plutarch\u2019s moral works (about 120\nA. D.). A constant preoccupation with religious matters, and in\nparticular a learned curiosity as to the cults of the East, shows itself\nin this Greek of Chaeronea, living in a country which, in its pride in\nits own past, had more than any other resisted the invasion of\nexoticism. Further, the eclectic philosopher likes to insert in his\ndissertations myths in which, after the fashion of Plato, he expounds\nthe lot of souls in the Beyond and their struggle to rise heavenwards.\nAn attempt has been made to prove\u2014wrongly, I think\u2014that he is here\ninspired by Posidonius. These apocalyptic visions, which claim to reveal\ntruths previously ignored, are not taken from that well-known writer;\nthey have a religious imprint which betrays sacerdotal influence, and\nthe philosophic ideas they contain are those which were part of the\ncommon wisdom of the Pythagoreans and the mysteries.\n\nThere doubtless still were in the second century Stoics, like the\nEmperor Marcus Aurelius, for whom the future life was a mere hypothesis,\nor at most a hope (p. 14), as well as sceptics, like Lucian of Samosata,\nwhose irony mocked all beliefs. But gradually their number diminished\nand the echo of their voices grew feebler. Faith in survival deepened as\npresent life came to seem a burden harder and harder to bear. The\npessimistic idea that birth is a chastisement and that the true life is\nnot that passed on earth, imposed itself in proportion to the growth of\npublic and private ills and to the aggravation of the empire\u2019s social\nand moral decline. In the period of violence and devastation which\noccurred in the third century, there was so much undeserved suffering,\nthere were so many unjust failures and unpunished crimes, that men took\nrefuge in the expectation of a better life in which all the iniquity of\nthis world would be retrieved. No earthly hope then brightened life. The\ntyranny of a corrupt bureaucracy stifled every attempt at political\nprogress. Science seemed exhausted and no longer discovered unknown\ntruths; art was struck with sterility of invention and reproduced\nheavily the creations of the past. An increasing impoverishment and a\ngeneral insecurity constantly discouraged the spirit of enterprise. The\nidea spread that humanity was smitten by incurable decay, that society\nwas on the road to dissolution and the end of the world was impending.\nAll these causes of discouragement and pessimism must be remembered in\norder to understand the dominance of the old idea, then so often\nrepeated, that a bitter necessity constrains the spirit of man to\nenclose itself in matter, and that death is a liberation which delivers\nit from its carnal prison. In the heavy atmosphere of a period of\noppression and powerlessness, the despondent souls of men aspired with\nineffable ardour to the radiant spaces of heaven.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe mental evolution of Roman society was complete when Neo-Platonism\ntook upon itself the office of directing minds. The powerful mysticism\nof Plotinus (205\u2013262 A. D.) opened up the path which Greek philosophy\nwas to follow until the world of antiquity reached its end. We shall not\nundertake to notice in this place the discrepancies of the latest\nteachers who theorised about the destiny of souls. In the course of\nthese lectures we shall have occasion to quote some of the opinions of\nPorphyry, the chief disciple of Plotinus, and of his successor\nJamblichus, who was, like himself, a Syrian. We will here do no more\nthan indicate broadly what distinguished the theories of this school\nfrom those which had hitherto been dominant.\n\nThe system generally accepted, by the mysteries as by philosophy, was a\npantheism according to which divine energy was immanent in the universe\nand had its home in the celestial spheres. The souls, conceived as\nmaterial, could in consequence rise to the stars but did not leave the\nworld. The Neo-Pythagoreans themselves had not had a very firmly\nestablished doctrine on this point: while some of them stated that\nreason was incorporeal, others, as we have seen (p. 24), admitted with\nthe Stoics that it was an igneous substance. It is true that even in\npaganism the appearance can be discerned of the belief in a Most High\n(\u1f5d\u03c8\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2) or an unknown god \u1f0c\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, whom some people supposed to dwell\nabove the starry heavens, beyond the limits of the world, and towards\nwhom pious spirits could rise. The revivers of Platonic idealism\nasserted the transcendence of God and the spirituality of the soul more\nstrongly and clearly. A whole chapter of the _Enneades_ of Plotinus is\ntaken up with refuting those who held the soul to be material.[96] As a\nprinciple of life and movement, it is stated to be immortal by its very\nessence, so that if it kept its purity perfect, it would find after its\npassage here below eternal felicity in the intelligible world.\n\nThe Neo-Platonists preserved the idea, which had previously been\nadmitted, that this intellectual essence comes down to earth through the\nplanetary spheres and the atmosphere, and that as it sinks in the\nluminous ether and the damp air, it becomes laden with particles of the\nelements through which it passes. It surrounds itself with a garment or,\nas it is sometimes called, with a vehicle (\u1f44\u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1) which thickens as it\ngradually draws near us.[97] This subtle body, the seat of the passions\nand of feeling, is intermediary between the spiritual principle which\nhas issued from God and the flesh in which it is to enclose itself, and\nfor certain philosophers it survives death and accompanies the soul to\nthe Beyond, at least if the soul, not being free from earthly admixture,\ncannot wholly leave the world of sense, and therefore rises only to the\nplanetary circle or to that of the fixed stars.\n\nWhen the soul has suffered even more from the taint to which its contact\nwith matter, the source of evil, exposes it, it is doomed to reincarnate\nitself in a new body and again to undergo the trial of this life. When\nit has become incurably corrupt and burdened with evil, it goes down\ninto the depths of Hades.\n\nFollowing Plato, Plotinus and his successors have adopted the\nPythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis. They have even developed it, as\nwe shall see,[98] together with the whole pessimistic and ascetic\nconception of life, the conception which looks at birth as a pain and a\nfall, a temporary subjection to a body from which emancipation must be\nsought. It is only after this liberation that the soul can reach perfect\nwisdom; it must no longer be troubled by the senses if it is to attain\nto the end of existence, to union with God.\n\nThis union can be realised even during this life in moments of ecstasy,\nin which the soul rises above thought and gives itself up entirely to\nlove for the ineffable Unity in which it is absorbed. Like many other\nmystics, Plotinus disdains the ceremonies of positive cults: they were\nsuperfluous to the sage who could of himself enter into communion with\nthe supreme Being. But even his disciple Porphyry conceded a greater\nvalue to rites and initiations. If they were powerless to lead the\npartakers of mysteries to the highest degree of perfection, their effect\nyet was to render men worthy to live among the visible gods who people\nheaven.[99] But only philosophical wisdom could rise to the intelligible\nworld and the Unknowable.\n\nThe principle of a mystical relation between man and the divinity was to\nlead Neo-Platonism to more and more reverence for religious traditions.\nFor it was held that in the past the revelation of truth had been\ngranted by Heaven not only to divine Plato and the sages of Greece, but\nto all the founders of barbarous cults and authors of sacred writings.\nThey all communicated profound teaching, which they sometimes hid\nbeneath the veil of allegory. Inspired by the symbolism of the\nPythagoreans, the last representatives of Greek philosophy claimed to\nrediscover the whole of Platonic metaphysics and the Platonic doctrine\nof immortality in the myths and rites of paganism. The speeches of\nJulian the Apostate on the Sun-King and the Mother of the Gods are\ncharacteristic examples of this bold exegesis, destitute of all critical\nand even all common sense, which was adopted by the last champions of\nthe old beliefs.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese aberrations of Neo-Platonic thought must not hide the school\u2019s\nhistorical importance from us, any more than the excesses of the\nsuperstitious theurgy which invaded it. When it revived Plato\u2019s\nidealism, it produced a lasting change in the eschatological ideas which\nprevailed in paganism, and it deeply influenced even the Christian\ndoctrines of immortality held since the fourth century. This will be\nbetter seen, we hope, in the course of these lectures.[100] It may be\nsaid that the conception of the lot of souls which reigned at the end of\nantiquity persisted on the whole through the Middle Ages\u2014the immaterial\nspirits of the just rising through the planetary spheres to the Supreme\nBeing enthroned above the zone of the fixed stars; the posthumous\npurification of those whom life has sullied in a purgatory intermediary\nbetween heaven and hell; the descent of the wicked into the depths of\nthe earth where they suffered eternal chastisement. This threefold\ndivision of the universe and of souls was largely accepted at the time\nof the Empire\u2019s decline by pagans and by Christians, and after long\ncenturies it was again to find magnificent expression in Dante\u2019s \u201cDivine\nComedy.\u201d Before it could be destroyed astronomy had to destroy the whole\ncosmography of Posidonius and Ptolemy on which it was based. When the\nearth ceased to be the centre of the universe, the one fixed point in\nthe midst of the moving circles of the skies, and became a tiny planet\nturning round another heavenly body, which itself moved in the immensity\nof space, among an infinity of similar stars, the na\u00efve conception\nformed by the ancients of the journey of souls in a well-enclosed world\ncould no longer be maintained. The progress of science discredited the\nconvenient solution bequeathed to scholasticism by antiquity, and left\nus in the presence of a mystery of which the pagan mysteries never had\neven a suspicion.\n\n\n\n\n                                   I\n\n                         AFTER LIFE IN THE TOMB\n\n\nWhen Cicero in his _Tusculans_[101] first touches on the question of the\nimmortality of the soul, he begins by citing in its support the fact\nthat belief in it has existed since earliest antiquity. He states that\nunless the first Romans were convinced that man was not reduced to\nnought, when he left this life, and that all feeling was not\nextinguished in death, there could be no explanation of the rules of the\nold pontifical law as to funerals and burials, rules the violation of\nwhich was regarded as an inexpiable crime. This remark is that of a very\njudicious observer. There subsist in the funeral rites of all peoples,\nin the ceremony of mourning established by the religious law or by\ntradition, customs which derive from archaic conceptions of life beyond\nthe tomb and which are still followed although their original meaning is\nno longer understood. Modern learning has sometimes successfully sought\nto elucidate them, borrowing light from the practices of savage peoples\nand from European folk-lore. We will not enter the domain of these\nresearches, for since our special purpose here is to expound the ideas\nas to immortality held in later times, we have to consider only the\nbeliefs which were still alive in that period. A false interpretation\nsupplied by a philosopher may have more historical value for us than the\ntrue explanation of an institution which had lost its meaning.\n\nBut even among the ideas which were neither obliterated nor discredited,\nconceptions which originated at very different dates have to be\ndistinguished.\n\nThe doctrines of paganism, like the soil of our planet, are formed of\nsuperimposed strata. When we dig into them we discover successive layers\nunder the upper deposits of recent alluvia. Nothing was suddenly\ndestroyed in ancient religions; their transformations were never\nrevolutionary. Faith in the past was not entirely abolished when new\nways of believing were formed. Contradictory opinions could exist side\nby side for a long time without any shock being caused by their\ndisagreement; and it was only little by little and slowly that argument\nexcluded one way of thinking to give place to the other, while there\nwere always hardy survivals left, both in thought and in customs. Thus\nthe beliefs as to the future life which were current under the Roman\nEmpire present a singular mixture, coarse ideas going back to the\nprehistoric period mingling with theories imported into Italy at a late\ndate.\n\nWe will today examine the oldest of all the ways of considering survival\nin the Beyond: life in the tomb.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nEthnology has proved that among all peoples the belief that the dead\ncontinue to live in the tomb has reigned, and sometimes still reigns.\nThe primitive man, disconcerted by death, cannot persuade himself that\nthe being who moved, felt, willed, as he does, can be suddenly deprived\nof all his faculties. The most ancient and the crudest idea is that the\ncorpse itself keeps some obscure sensitiveness which it cannot manifest.\nIt is imagined to be in a state like sleep. The vital energy which\nanimated the body is still attached to it and cannot exist without it.\nThis belief was so powerful in Egypt that it inspired a whole section of\nthe funeral ritual and called forth the infinite care that was taken to\npreserve mummies. Even in the West it survived vaguely, and traces of it\nmight still be discovered today. Lucretius combats this invincible\nillusion of men who, even while they affirm that death extinguishes all\nfeeling, keep a secret uneasiness as to the suffering which their mortal\nremains may undergo and are frightened by the idea that their bodies may\nbe eaten by worms or carnivorous animals. They cannot separate\nthemselves from this prone body, which they believe is still their self.\nWhy, continues the poet, would it be more painful to be the prey of wild\nbeasts than to be burnt by the flame of the pyre, to freeze lying on the\nicy slab of the grave or to be crushed by the weight of heaped-up\nearth?[102] This very fear that the earth may weigh heavily on those who\nare deposited in the grave shows itself among many peoples who inter\ntheir dead, and was expressed in Rome by a formula so very usual that it\nwas recalled in epitaphs by initials only: \u201c_S(it) t(ibi) t(erra)\nl(evis)_,\u201d \u201cMay earth be light for thee.\u201d Until the Empire Stoic\nphilosophers could be found who upheld that the soul endures only for\nthe time for which the body is preserved.[103]\n\nBut experience proved that the corpse decomposed rapidly in the soil,\nall that remained of it being a skeleton bereft of the organs of\nsensation. When the custom of incineration, followed in Italy from the\nprehistoric period, became practically general in Rome, the destruction\nof the body took place regularly before the eyes of those present. Thus\nmen reached the belief that those near and dear to them, whom they\nsometimes saw again in their dreams or seemed to feel beside them, who\nwere kept alive at least in memory, differed from the beings of flesh\nand bones whom they had known. From those material individuals subtle\nelements detached themselves, filled with a mysterious force which\nsubsisted when the human organism had crumbled to dust or been reduced\nto ashes. It was this same principle which temporarily departed from\npersons who lost consciousness in a faint or a lethargy. If this light\nessence did not leave a dying man at the moment of his death\u2014whether or\nnot it could escape from his body immediately was indeed uncertain\u2014it\nwas set free by the funeral fire,[104] but it still inhabited the tomb\nin which his remains rested. The idea that it was somehow attached to\nhis remains had taken root in men\u2019s minds, and even literature bears\nwitness to the persistence of this deeply implanted popular belief.\nPropertius,[105] when cursing a woman, desires that \u201cher Manes may not\nbe able to settle near her ashes.\u201d And at Liternum in Campania, where\nScipio Africanus caused himself to be buried because, as he said, he did\nnot wish to leave even his bones to his ungrateful country, the grotto\nwas shown where he rested and where, so men believed,[106] \u201ca serpent\nkept guard over his Manes.\u201d\n\nThis primitive conception of the persistence of a latent life in the\ncold and rigid corpse or of its passage to a vaporous being like the\nbody, is connected with the belief that the dead retain all the needs\nand feelings which were previously theirs. The funeral cult, celebrated\nat the tomb, is born of this belief. It proceeds from fear as much as\nfrom piety, for the dead are prone to resentment and quick in vengeance.\nThe unknown force which inhabits them, the mysterious power which causes\nthem to act, inspired great awe. If the natural course of their\nexistence had been interrupted, especially if they had died before their\ntime, they were suspected of being victims of some mischievous\nenchantment; their sickness was looked upon as an invasion of maleficent\nspirits provoked by spells. The wrath of those who had thus been torn\nfrom their homes and their wonted way of life was to be dreaded. Loud\noutbursts of grief followed by prolonged manifestations of mourning must\nprove to them, in the first place, that they were truly lamented and\nthat no attempt had been made to get rid of them. Then, in their new\nabode to which they were conveyed, they must be ensured a bearable\nexistence, in order that they might remain therein quietly and not\ntrouble their families nor punish, by some intrusion, those who\nneglected them. Solicitude for the beloved, the desire to prevent their\nsuffering, the hope of obtaining their protection, partly account for\nthe origin and maintenance of these practices, but they were above all\ninspired by the terror which spirits called forth, as is proved by the\nfact that they were the same for all the departed without distinction,\nfor those who had been loved and those who had been hated.\n\nThe tomb is the house of the dead. This is an idea common to the whole\nancient world, going back in Italy beyond the foundation of Rome. The\nprehistoric cemeteries of the first iron age have yielded a number of\ncinerary urns exactly reproducing the various types of huts which\nsheltered the tribes who then peopled the peninsula. The burial places\nof the Etruscans are often on the plan of their dwellings, and Roman\nepitaphs leave no doubt as to the persistence of the conviction that the\ndead inhabit the tomb. The diffusion of Oriental cults revived archaic\nbeliefs on this point as on many others. The name \u201ceternal house\u201d\n(_domus aeterna_), borrowed from the Egyptians and the Semites, often\noccurs in funeral inscriptions of the imperial period.[107] One text\neven specifies that this is \u201cthe eternal house in which future life must\nbe passed.\u201d[108] The tomb is thus no mere passage through which the soul\ngoes on its way to another region of the world; it is a lasting\nresidence. \u201cThis,\u201d says an inscription, \u201cis our certain dwelling, the\none which we must inhabit.\u201d[109] In the _Aeneid_, a cenotaph is raised\nto Polydorus, whose body had been lost, and his \u201csoul\u201d is installed\nthere by a funeral ceremony,[110] for the shade which has no sepulchre\nwanders, as we shall see, about the earth. But when a fine monument is\ngiven to a dead man, he is happy to be able to offer hospitality there\nto passers-by and invites them to stay on their way. Sometimes he is\nimagined as in a bedchamber, where he sleeps an endless sleep,[111] but\nthis is not the primitive nor the dominant idea. This idea, on the\ncontrary, was that his rest was at least not unbroken, since he had many\nrequirements. It was necessary not only to ensure him a roof but also to\nprovide for his support, for he had the same needs and tastes beneath\nthe ground as he had upon it. Therefore the clothes which covered him,\nthe jewels which adorned him, the earthen or bronze vessels which decked\nhis table, the lamps which afforded him light, would be placed beside\nhim. If he were a warrior he would be given the arms he bore, if a\ncraftsman the tools he used; a woman would have the articles necessary\nto her toilet, a child the toys which amused him; and the amulets, by\nthe help of which all that was maleficent would be kept away, were not\nforgotten. \u201cIt is against common sense,\u201d says Trimalchio in Petronius\u2019\nromance,[112] \u201cto deck the house of the living and not to give the same\ncare to the house which we must inhabit for a longer time.\u201d In fact, the\nlarger number of the articles of furniture and household use preserved\nin our museums come from tombs, which, in the climate of Egypt, have\nsometimes been able to yield up to us, intact, some precious volume\nintended for a mummy\u2019s bedside book.\n\nBut the tombs have kept for us only a small part of the offerings made\nto those who were leaving this world, for often their wardrobe and\nimplements were delivered with them to the flame of the pyre in the\nbelief that somehow they would find them again in the Beyond. Lucian\nrelates that a husband loved his wife so dearly that at her death he\ncaused all the ornaments and the clothes which she liked to wear to be\nburied with her. But seven days after her death, as, stretched on a\ncouch, he was silently reading Plato\u2019s _Phaedo_, seeking therein solace\nfor his grief, his wife appeared, seated herself beside him, and\nreproached him for not having added to his offering one of her gilt\nslippers which had been left behind a chest. The husband found it there,\nand hastened to burn it in order that the poor woman might no longer\nremain half barefooted.[113]\n\nAbove all, the dead must be offered food, for the shade, like the human\nbody which it replaces, needs nourishment for its subsistence. Its\nfeeble and precarious life is quickened and prolonged only if it be\nconstantly sustained. The dead are hungry; above all they are thirsty.\nThose whose humours have dried, whose mouths have withered, are tortured\nby the need to refresh their parched lips. It therefore is not enough to\nplace in the tombs the drinks and dishes, the remains of which have\noften been found beside skeletons; by periodic sacrifices the Manes must\nbe supplied with fresh food also. If they are left without nourishment\nthey languish, weak as a fasting man, almost unconscious, and in the end\nthey would actually die of starvation. This is why the flesh of victims\nwas, in funeral sacrifices, wholly destroyed by fire, none of it being\nreserved for those present. People always retained the conviction that\nthe offerings burnt on the altar or the libations poured into the grave\nwere consumed by him for whom they were intended. Often there is in the\ntombstone a circular cavity, the bottom of which is pierced with holes;\nthe liquid poured into it went through the perforated slab and was led\nby a tube to the urn which held the calcinated bones. It is\ncomprehensible that an unbeliever protested against this practice in his\nepitaph. \u201cBy wetting my ashes with wine thou wilt make mud,\u201d he says,\n\u201cand I shall not drink, when I am dead.\u201d[114] But how many other texts\nthere are which show the persistence of the ancient ideas! \u201cPasser-by,\u201d\nsays a Roman inscription, \u201cthe bones of a man pray thee not to soil the\nmonument which covers them; but if thou be benevolent pour wine into the\ncup, drink and give me thereof.\u201d[115]\n\nIf the dead ask for fresh water, with which to quench their insatiable\nthirst, they are above all eager for the warm blood of victims. This\nsacrifice to the dead was at first often a human sacrifice of slaves or\nprisoners, and barbarous immolations of this kind had not entirely\ndisappeared even in the historic period. When, after the taking of\nPerugia, Octavius, on the Ides of March (that is, on the anniversary of\nthe slaying of Julius Caesar), caused three hundred notables of the town\nto be slaughtered on Caesar\u2019s altar,[116] this collective murder,\ninspired by political hatred, perpetuated an old religious tradition.\nFights of gladiators, whose blood drenched the soil, originally formed\npart of the funeral ceremonies by which the last duty was paid to the\nremains of an illustrious personage. It is said that these sacrifices\nwere intended to provide him who had gone to the other world with\nservants and companions, as the offering of a horse gave him a steed, or\nelse that, in case of violent death, they were meant to appease the\nshade of a victim who claimed vengeance. And doubtless these ideas,\nwhich correspond to conceptions already evolved, contributed to keeping\nthis cruel custom in force. But originally the object of this sacrifice,\nas of the sacrifice of animals, was essentially to ensure the duration\nof the undefinable something which still inhabited the tomb.\n\nAmong all the peoples of antiquity the blood was looked upon as the seat\nof life;[117] the vapour which rose from the warm red liquid, flowing\nfrom a wound, was the soul escaping therewith from the body; and\ntherefore when blood was sprinkled on the soil which covered the remains\nof a relative or a friend, a new vitality was given to his shade. With\nthe same motive women were wont to scratch their faces with their nails\nin sign of mourning.[118] This ancient conviction that fresh blood was\nindispensable to the dead, was maintained in some countries with\nsurprising tenacity. In Syria, as late as the seventh century of our\nera, Christians insisted, in spite of episcopal objurgations, on\nimmolating bulls and sheep on tombs, and in Armenia, where these\npractices were sanctioned by the national clergy, the faithful remained\npersuaded that the dead found no happiness in the other life unless the\nblood of victims had been made to flow for them on the days fixed by\ntradition.[119]\n\nOther libations performed in the funeral rites of the Greeks, as of the\nRomans, were intended to produce the same effect, the libations, namely,\nof wine, milk and honey. The use of wine has been explained as that of a\nsubstitute for blood, as wine is red. Servius even interprets the purple\nflowers which Aeneas threw on the tomb of his father Anchises by the\nsame association of ideas, as an \u201cimitation of blood in which is the\nseat of life.\u201d[120] Many proofs could be cited of the fact that wine has\noften taken the place of the liquid which flows in our veins, but its\nuse in connection with the dead can be explained also by its own virtue.\nIt is the marvellous liquid which gives divine drunkenness and which in\nthe mysteries ensures immortality to such as are, thanks to this sacred\ndraught, possessed by Bacchus.[121] In the same way it vivifies the\nManes to whom it is poured out. Similarly _melikraton_, a mixture of\nmilk and honey, is the food of the gods, and when the dead absorb it,\nthey too become immortal.\n\nSuch is the first meaning of these offerings, one which was never quite\nforgotten. Their object is the infusion of new vigour into the enfeebled\nshades who slumber in the tomb. This intention can also be discerned in\nthe fact that the same offerings are used in magic, which often\npreserved ideas abolished or superseded in religion. In order to evoke\nthe phantoms, the necromancers dug a ditch and poured blood, wine, milk\nand honey into it. These liquids had an exciting effect on the spirits\nof the dead, arousing them from their torpor, and the wizard took\nadvantage of it to question them.\n\nPrecautions lest the dead should ever suffer from lack of nourishment\nwere multiplied. In order that they might be fed on other days than\nthose of sacrifices, all over the ancient world it was customary to\nplace food on their tombs\u2014eggs, bread, beans, lentils, salt, flour, with\nwine. Hungry vagrants did not always respect their offerings but would\nhelp themselves to the proffered viands.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe institution which is most characterised by the persistence of the\nancient ideas of life in the tomb is however that of the funeral\nbanquets. These family repasts, which had previously been celebrated\namong the Etruscans, took place in Rome on the grave immediately after\nthe funeral (_silicernium_) and were repeated on the ninth day following\n(_cena novemdialis_). In Greece and in the East the ceremony took place\nthrice, on the third, ninth and thirtieth or on the third, seventh and\nfortieth day. Everywhere it was subsequently renewed every year on the\nanniversary of the death and on several other fixed dates, as on that of\nthe _Rosalia_ in May, on which it was customary to decorate the tombs\nwith roses. Memorial monuments of some importance are often found to\ninclude, beside the burial chamber, a dining-room (_triclinium_) and\neven a kitchen (_culina_). The importance attached to these meals is\nproved by several wills which have been preserved, and which make\nconsiderable endowments to ensure their perpetuity. For instance, at\nRavenna a son bequeaths a sum of money to a college on condition that\nits members annually scatter roses on his father\u2019s grave and feast there\non the Ides of July.[122] When Aurelius Vitalio had built at Praeneste a\nfamily tomb, surmounted by a room with a terrace, he wrote a letter in\nincorrect Latin to the brothers of the society to which he belonged: \u201cI\nask you, my companions, to refresh yourselves here without\nquarrelling.\u201d[123] An African settled in Rome similarly writes to his\nrelatives and friends, \u201cCome here in good health for the feast, and\nrejoice together.\u201d[124] And in Gaul a will commands that the burial\nvault be furnished and receive a bed with coverings and cushions for the\nguests who have to meet on the memorial days.[125]\n\nThese funeral repasts go back to a prehistoric antiquity. They are found\nin India and in Persia as well as among the European peoples. They are\ndoubtless as ancient as wedding and festal banquets. Among the Egyptians\nand the Etruscans it was even customary to place the representation of a\nperpetual feast on the walls of a tomb in order to secure to the dead\nperson the relief it gave. The shade of a guest might well be pleased\nwith the likeness of dishes.\n\nIt was believed that at funeral feasts the Manes of ancestors came to\nsit among the guests and enjoyed with them the abundance of the food and\nwines. Lucian tells of repasts of this kind, which he witnessed in\nEgypt, at which the dried mummy was invited to eat and drink at the\ntable of his kin.[126] In Greece, even in the Roman period, those\npresent at the feast used to summon the dead to it by name. An epitaph\nof Narbonne jokingly expresses the vulgar idea as to the participation\nof the deceased in the banquet: \u201cI drink and drink again, in this\nmonument,\u201d says the dead man, \u201cthe more eagerly because I am obliged to\nsleep and to dwell here.\u201d[127]\n\nNothing is further from our spiritual ideas as to the holiness of\ngraveyards than the conviviality occasioned by the cult of the departed;\namong the guests crowned with flowers, the drinks went round\n(_circumpotatio_) and soon produced a noisy intoxication. Do not think\nthis was an abuse due to a relaxation of morals and which came into\nbeing in later times. The character of these funeral banquets was such\nfrom the beginning, and such it has remained down to modern times in\nmany countries. You all know the practice of the Irish \u201cwake\u201d which has\nbeen preserved even in the United States.\n\nFor it was long believed that the dead had their part in the merriness\nand inebriation of the companions at table and were thus consoled for\nthe sadness of their lot. \u201cThou callest,\u201d says Tertullian,[128] \u201cthe\ndead careless (_securos_) when thou goest to the tombs with food and\ndelicacies, but thy real purpose is to make offerings to thyself, and\nthou returnest home tipsy.\u201d And indeed, as we shall see,[129] these\nfeasts were no longer of profit to the dead only but to the living also,\nbecause there came to be a confusion between them and the Bacchic\ncommunions in which wine was a drink of immortality.\n\nNo religious ceremony was more universally performed in the most diverse\nregions of the Empire than this cult of the grave. At every hour of\nevery day families met in some tomb to celebrate there an anniversary by\neating the funeral meal. Peoples remained strongly attached to practices\nthe omission of which would have seemed to them dangerous as well as\nimpious, for the spirits of the dead were powerful and vindictive.\n\nIt is therefore not surprising that these practices persisted in the\nChristian era in spite of the efforts of the clergy to suppress them.\nSt. Augustine reprimands those who, like pagans, \u201cdrink intemperately\nabove the dead\u201d\u2014these are his words\u2014\u201cand who, while serving meals to\ncorpses, bury themselves with these buried bodies, making a religion of\ntheir greed and their drunkenness.\u201d[130]\n\nIn the East, however, ecclesiastical authority tolerated a custom which\nit could not uproot, contenting itself with forbidding the abuse of wine\nand recommending a moderation the absence of which might often be\ndeplored. Ecclesiastical authority also insisted that a part of the\nfeast should be given to the poor, thus giving a charitable character to\nthe old pagan practice.[131] Therefore in many countries, and especially\nin Greece and in the Balkans, the habit has survived to this day, not\nonly of placing food on tombs, but also of eating there on certain\nanniversaries, with the idea that the dead in some mysterious way share\nand enjoy the meal.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn Rome, in historical times, the funeral repast might be taken not at\nthe tomb but in the house. Among the feasts celebrated by the\nconfraternities in honour of some dead benefactor, on the dates fixed by\nhis last will, many were held in the meeting-place of the guild. But the\nbelief continued in the real presence of him whose \u201cspirit was\nhonoured,\u201d[132] and whose statue or picture often adorned the banqueting\nhall.\n\nFrom the earliest period, the spirit of the dead was indeed not regarded\nas inseparable from his remains or as a recluse cloistered in the tomb.\nHe dwelt there but could issue thence, although for long it was believed\nthat he could not go far away but remained in the neighbourhood of the\nburial place. He was brought back to it by the necessity of taking food,\nwhich was no less indispensable to him than to men. He returned,\ntherefore, to it, as a dweller returns to his home, to repair his\nenergies and to rest. This idea that the soul wandered around its\n\u201ceternal house\u201d often caused pains to be taken to surround this house\nwith a garden. Sometimes such a garden was planted with a practical\nobject: it was a vineyard, an orchard or a rose-garden which supplied\nthe wine, fruit or flowers necessary for the offerings to the dead.[133]\nBut elsewhere a mere pleasure-garden, with shady groves, bowers,\npavilions and sparkling fountains, surrounded the burial place. The care\nwhich the living took to fix, by their will, its extent and its planting\nis a measure of the intensity of their conviction that their shade would\ntake pleasure in refreshing itself in this quiet haunt. There, about the\ntomb, it would enjoy the delights which would afterwards be transported\nto the Elysian Fields, as we shall see later.\n\nThe cult of the grave has not ceased in these days; the ancient rites\nhave not been discontinued. Tombstones are still surrounded with\nflowers; they are decked with wreaths; in Italy lamps are kept burning\nover them. But the reasons which established these customs have\ndisappeared; for us they are no more than a way of betokening our care\nfor the beloved, of piously showing our intimate feelings by outward\nsigns and marking the duration of our regrets and our memories. They are\nsurvivals which have lost all the concrete and real meaning which they\nhad in the far-off days when men believed that a being like themselves\nsojourned in the place in which bones or ashes were deposited.\n\nThe dead were not then cut off from the society of the living; the\nconnection between them and their surroundings was not broken; the\ncontinuity between the hour which preceded and that which followed their\ndecease was not interrupted. It has often been remarked that in this\nrespect ancient ideas were profoundly different from ours. Those lost to\nsight did not then cease to partake of the life of their families; they\nremained in communication with their friends and their kin, who met\ntogether in their new dwelling, and an effort was made to render their\nisolation less hard to bear by bringing them into touch with many\npeople. Our dead rest in peaceful and remote graveyards where no noise\nor din may trouble the tranquil mood of afflicted visitors. The Romans\nplaced their dead along the great roads, near the gates of towns, where\nthere was press of passers-by and the rolling of chariot-wheels. Their\nwish was not, when they buried them beside the most frequented highways,\nto recall their destiny to mortals, although philosophers have thus\nexplained the custom.[134] On the contrary, they wanted to cause those\nwho were no more to forget their own destiny. \u201cI see,\u201d says an\nepitaph,[135] \u201cand I gaze upon all who go and come from and to the\ncity.\u201d \u201cLollius has been placed,\u201d we read elsewhere,[136] \u201cby the side\nof the road in order that all passers-by may say to him, \u2018Good day,\nLollius.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe inscriptions in which the dead speak, addressing those who stop\nbefore their monuments, are innumerable. They console such as continue\nto love them, thank those who are still busy on their behalf and express\nwishes for their happiness, or else they impart to their successors the\nwisdom acquired by experience of life. Often they take part with them in\na dialogue, answering their greetings and wishes: \u201cMay the earth be\nlight on thee!\u201d\u2014\u201cFare thou well in the upper world\u201d;[137] or else: \u201cHail\nFabianus.\u201d\u2014\u201cMay the gods grant you their benefits, my friends, and may\nthe gods be propitious to you, travellers, and to you who stop by\nFabianus! Go and come safe and sound! May you who crown me with garlands\nor throw me flowers, live for many years!\u201d[138]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThus throughout antiquity, in spite of the evolution of ideas as to the\nfuture life, the persuasion always remained invincible that the spirits\nof the dead moved about among men. These disincarnate intelligences,\nwhich were, however, provided with light and swift bodies, did not let\nthemselves be imprisoned in the tomb. They fluttered unceasingly around\nliving beings, causing them to feel the effects of their presence. There\nis here, mingled with the primitive idea that a mysterious being, like\nit in appearance, has its place in the ground beside the buried corpse,\nthe other and equally ancient idea that the soul is a breath exhaled by\nthe dead at the moment when they expire. To breathe is the first act\nwhich marks the life of a newly born infant and to cease to breathe is\nthe first sign which betokens the extinction of life. Primitive people\ntherefore naturally thought that the principle which animated the body\nwas a breath, which entered it at birth and left it at death. The very\nname which denotes the vivifying essence is in most languages witness to\nthe general predominance of this conception. \u03a8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae in Greek is connected\nwith \u03c8\u03cd\u03c7\u03c9, \u201cto blow\u201d; the Latin _animus_ or _anima_ corresponds to\n\u1f04\u03bd\u03b5\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, \u201cwind,\u201d and in the Semitic languages _nefe\u0161\u0331_ and _rua\u1e25_ have a\nsimilar meaning. At the moment in which man expired, his soul escaped\nthrough his mouth and floated in the ambient air. The Pythagoreans, when\nthey taught that \u201cthe air is full of souls,\u201d[139] were conforming to an\nold belief which is not Greek only but universal. When Virgil[140] shows\nus Dido\u2019s sister, at the time of the queen\u2019s suicide, receiving the last\nbreath which floats on her dying lips, he is lending a Roman custom to\nthe Carthaginians, the custom of the last kiss which, according to a\nwidely held belief, could catch on its way the soul which was escaping\ninto the atmosphere.\n\nThis soul was often imagined as a bird in flight and we will see\nelsewhere the conclusions drawn from this na\u00efve conception.[141] Here we\nwish merely to indicate how the idea of the aerial soul was combined\nwith that of the spirit inhabiting the tomb. This shade or simulacrum of\nthose who were no longer of this world, but who still existed, since\nthey showed themselves to the living in their previous guise, was a body\nlike the wind\u2014intangible, invisible, save when it thickened like clouds\nor smoke. A multitude of these vaporous beings, innumerable as past\ngenerations, moved unceasingly on the earth\u2019s surface, and, above all,\nroamed around the tombs, where they were retained by their attachment to\ntheir bodies. Whether, like the Greeks, men identified them with the\n\u201cdemons,\u201d or, like the Romans, called them \u201cManes gods,\u201d \u201c_genii_\u201d or\n\u201c_lemures_,\u201d or by other names, the unanimous opinion was that their\npower was superior to that of mankind and that they caused it to be felt\nby a constant intervention in the affairs of human society.\n\nIt was generally held that if the required cult were not rendered them,\nthey would punish this neglect with wrath, but that they showed their\nbenevolence to those who deserved it by zeal in serving them.[142] The\ndead were capable, like the living, of gratitude as well as of\nresentment. The greater had been their power in this world, the more\nconsiderable it remained in the other, and the more advantage there was\nin securing their protection or even their co-operation.\n\nServius reports the existence of the singular belief that souls had to\nswear to Pluto never to help those they had left behind them on earth to\nescape from their destiny.[143] Such was, then, the extent of their\nsupposed power. But all the dead were not, like some of the heroes who\nhad become the equals of the gods, capable of performing prodigious\ndeeds. Many, gifted with less force, were concerned with lesser\ninterests; they did no more than protect their family, the domestic\nhearth and the neighbouring field, and render small daily services.\n\u201cFarewell, Donata, thou who wast pious and just,\u201d says an epitaph,\n\u201cguard all thy kin.\u201d[144]\n\nThe idea that the ancestors become the tutelary spirits of their\ndescendants who were faithful to their duty to them, goes back to the\nremotest antiquity and probably lies at the foundation of the cult of\nthe Lares.[145] But the field of action of these genii was multiple,\nsince they were a multitude, and their functions underwent a further\ndevelopment when they were considered to be the equivalents of the\ndemons of the Greeks. \u201cThe souls of the dead,\u201d Maximus of Tyre[146]\ntells us, \u201cmingle with all kinds of men, with every destiny, thought and\npursuit of man; they support the good, succour the oppressed and punish\nthe criminal.\u201d Plotinus, recalling the universal custom of paying cult\nto those who have gone, adds: \u201cMany souls which belonged to men do not\ncease to do good to men when they have left the body. They come to their\naid especially in granting them revelations.\u201d[147]\n\nThe wish is therefore entertained to see in dreams those who have left\nan empty place in the family dwelling or the marriage couch. A woman\nwhom a murder has separated from her young husband prays the most holy\nManes to be indulgent to him and to allow her to see him again during\nthe hours of the night.[148] But it was not only in dreams that men\nhoped to descry again those who were lost to sight. \u201cIf tears are of any\navail,\u201d says another epitaph, \u201cshow thyself by apparitions\n(_visis_).\u201d[149] Is it a question here also of nocturnal apparitions?\nPerhaps; but the belief that the spirits of the dead returned to the\nearth and made themselves visible to people who were wide awake met with\nvery little incredulity among the ancients. It was not only the common\nman who accepted it; most thinkers upheld this opinion. Lucian[150]\nshows us a meeting of philosophers in which no one doubts \u201cthat there\nare demons and phantoms and that the souls of the dead do wander on\nearth and show themselves to whom they please.\u201d A single fact will\nsuffice to prove how general was this conviction. The sober historian\nDio Cassius[151] relates that in his time, more precisely in the year\n220 A. D., a demon (who was evidently a flesh and blood impostor)\nappeared in the Danubian countries in the form of Alexander the Great.\nHe was followed by four hundred Bacchantes carrying the thyrsus and the\nnebris. This troop went through all Thracia without doing any harm to\nthe inhabitants, who hastened to give them shelter and food, and not a\nsingle official dared oppose their passage. Arrived near Chalcedon, the\npseudo-Alexander made a strange sacrifice one night, burying a wooden\nhorse, and thereupon immediately disappeared.\n\nLike modern spiritualists, the ancients saw in these apparitions an\nirrefutable proof of the after life. \u201cThou who doubtest the existence of\nthe Manes,\u201d we read on the tomb of two young girls, \u201cinvoke us after\nmaking a vow and thou wilt understand.\u201d[152] Revelations were indeed to\nbe expected of the wisdom of the disincarnate souls. In spite,\ntherefore, of the laws forbidding magic, necromancy never ceased to be\npractised. By a nocturnal sacrifice, analogous to that offered on tombs\n(p. 52) and by the virtue of their incantations, the wizards obliged the\ndead to appear before them and answer their questions. The poets and\nromancers liked to introduce in their works descriptions of the\natrocious ceremonies which were intended to give momentary life even to\na corpse and cause it to pronounce oracles.\n\nThe dead in these scenes often appear as restive and even hostile beings\nwho were forced to such actions by the power of witchcraft. The dominant\nfeeling among all peoples is indeed that the dead are unhappy and\ntherefore malevolent. They were believed to be excessively sensitive:\ngreat care must be taken to do nothing to offend them. If their rights\nwere overlooked, if they were forgotten, they showed their wrath by\nsending illnesses and scourges to the guilty. This unpleasant and\nsometimes cruel, even ferocious character of the Manes is very marked in\nRome, perhaps in consequence of the influence of the Etruscans or the\nbeliefs concerning after life. A legend had it that the ceremonies of\nthe _Parentalia_ having on one occasion been omitted, the plaintive\nghosts scattered about the town and the fields and caused many\ndeaths.[153] What we know of the rites performed at the _Lemuria_ and at\nfunerals shows that they tended to protect the house against the spirits\nhaunting it and to rid it of them. \u201cThe dead are welcome neither to the\ngods nor to men,\u201d says an old Latin inscription.[154] To the family\n_Lares_ who protected a household, the _larvae_ were opposed, the\nwandering phantoms who spread terror and evil. \u201cSpare thy mother, thy\nfather and thy sister,\u201d we read on a tomb, \u201cin order that after me they\nmay celebrate the traditional rites for thee.\u201d[155] This hostile\ncharacter attributed to inhabitants of the tombs explains the custom of\nplacing in them leaden tablets on which curses were written calling down\nthe most frightful ills on enemies. A large number of these _tabellae\ndefixionum_ in Greek and Latin have been found and they prove the\nfrequency of this practice, which has perhaps an Oriental origin.[156]\nBut the _devotio_ to the Manes gods is an old Roman ceremony, which\nproceeds from the idea that they endeavour to tear the living from the\nearth and draw them to themselves.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere is one class of the dead which is peculiarly noxious, those namely\nwho have not been buried. The ideas connected with them are so\ncharacteristic of the oldest conception of immortality that these \u1f04\u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9\n_insepulti_ deserve to detain us for a few moments.\n\nFrom the most ancient times the beliefs reigned among all the peoples of\nantiquity that the souls of those who are deprived of burial find no\nrest in the other life. If they have no \u201ceternal house\u201d they are like\nhomeless vagabonds. But the fact that the dead had been buried did not\nsuffice; their burial must also have been performed according to the\ntraditional rites. Perhaps the liturgical formulas were supposed to have\npower to keep the shade in the tomb, as other incantations could summon\nit thence. Above all, however, it was believed, as we have already\nstated, that when the dead had not obtained the offerings to which they\nhad the right, they suffered and that their unquiet spirits fluttered\nnear the corpse and wandered upon the surface of the earth and the\nwaters, taking vengeance on men for the ills men had inflicted on them.\n\nThe denial of interment was thought to be the source of infinite torment\nfor the dead as for the living, and to throw earth on abandoned corpses\nwas a pious duty. The pontiffs, who believed the sight of a corpse made\nthem unclean, might not for all that leave it unburied if they happened\nto find one on their way. To bury the dead has remained a work of mercy\nin the Church, and in Rome a confraternity still exists which brings in\nfrom far away the dead found lying in the desert Campagna. The pain\nrepresented by lack of burial was the worst chastisement called down by\nimprecations on enemies on whom vengeance was desired. Among believers\nit gave rise to an anxiety comparable with that which the refusal of the\nlast sacrament now causes to Roman Catholics. In the Greek cities, as in\nRome, the law often condemned to it those who had committed suicide or\nhad been executed, hoping thus to divert desperate and outrageous men\nfrom their fatal design by the apprehension of a wretched lot in the\nBeyond.[157] Sometimes the law merely laid down that the guilty must not\nbe interred in the soil of their country, an almost equally terrible\npenalty, since it cut them off from the family cult, by which their\ndescendants could give satisfaction to their Manes. When, therefore,\nthrough some accident, a traveller or soldier died abroad or was\nshipwrecked at sea, his body was, when possible, brought back to his\ncountry, or, if this could not be done, a cenotaph was raised to him,\nand his soul was summoned aloud to come and inhabit the dwelling\nprepared for it. When cremation became general in Rome, the old\npontifical law invented another subterfuge which allowed the ancient\nrites to be accomplished: a finger was cut from the body before it was\ncarried to the pyre, and earth was thrown three times on this \u201cresected\nbone\u201d (_os resectum_).\n\nAgainst these ancient beliefs, which were the source of so much anguish\nand so many superstitions, the philosophers fought energetically. First\nthe Cynics and then the Epicureans and the Stoics endeavoured to show\ntheir absurdity. They are fond of quoting the answer of Theodore the\nAtheist to Lysimachus who was threatening him with death without\nburial\u2014\u201cWhat matters it whether I rot on the earth or under it?\u201d Since\nthe corpse was unconscious and without any sensibility, it was indeed of\nno consequence whether it were burnt or buried, eaten by worms or by\ncrows. Why should it be a misfortune to die abroad? Only the living had\na country; the whole earth was the dwelling of the dead. If such cares\ntroubled men they were the victims of the invincible illusion that the\nbody retained capacity to feel even beyond the grave.\n\nThe very frequency with which these commonplaces of the school are\nrepeated shows how tenacious were the prejudices which they attempted to\neradicate. Here, as in other connections, the renewal of Pythagorism\nsupervened at the end of the Republic to favour the persistence of the\nold beliefs. A doctrine, to which Plato alludes,[158] taught that souls\nwhich had not been appeased by funeral rites, had to wander for a\nhundred years, the normal term of a human life. Confined in the air near\nthe earth, they remained subject to the power of magicians. Especially\nif the wizards had been able to obtain possession of some portion of the\ncorpse, whence the soul could not entirely detach itself, they gained\ninfluence over it and could constrain its obedience. When this century\nof suffering had elapsed, these souls were admitted to a place of\npurification, where they sojourned ten times longer, and when these\nthousand years had passed they returned to reincarnate themselves in new\nbodies. We will see in another lecture[159] that the Pythagoreans\nenunciated analogous theories as to the lot of children swept off before\ntheir time and of men who died a violent death.\n\nVirgil describing the descent of Aeneas into the infernal regions\nrecalls these Pythagorean speculations when he shows us the miserable\ncrowd of the unburied shades fluttering for a hundred years on the bank\nof the Styx before they obtained from Charon their passage to its other\nshore.[160]\n\nFavoured by these new tendencies of philosophy, the unreasoning\napprehension inspired by omission of burial subsisted under the Empire,\nnot only among the ignorant many, but also in the most enlightened\nclasses. This fear explains why everyone took extreme care to have a\ntomb built for himself and to ensure, if he could, that funeral\nceremonies were celebrated in it, why many epitaphs threaten with\njudicial penalties and divine punishments the sacrilegious offenders who\nshould violate the grave, and why such a number of popular colleges were\nfounded, of which the principal object was to secure decent obsequies to\ntheir members. The rules of the _cultores_ of Diana and Antino\u00fcs at\nLanuvium stipulate that when a slave dies and his master maliciously\nrefuses to deliver his body for burial, a \u201c_funus imaginarium_\u201d be made\nfor him, that is, that the ceremony be celebrated over a figure\nrepresenting the dead man and wearing his mask.[161] From this\n\u201cimaginary\u201d burial effects were expected as beneficent as those results\nare maleficent which a wizard anticipated when he fettered and pierced a\nwaxen doll to work a charm.\n\nFrom the stories of the gravest writers we perceive what lot was\nbelieved to threaten the unfortunate who were burnt or interred without\nthe rites being observed. After Caligula\u2019s murder his corpse was hastily\nshovelled into the ground in a garden on the Esquiline (_horti\nLamiani_), but then the keepers of this park were terrified by\napparitions until the imperial victim\u2019s sisters caused his body to be\nexhumed, and buried it in accordance with the sacred rules.[162] Pliny\nthe Younger in one of his letters seriously relates a story which seems\nto have been often repeated, for we find it, little changed, in\nLucian.[163] There was in Athens a haunted house which remained empty,\nno one daring to live in it because several of its tenants had died of\nfright. In the silence of the night a noise was heard as of clanking\niron; then a horrible spectre moved forward in the shape of an emaciated\nold man, bearded and hairy, rattling the chains which were about his\nfeet and legs. A philosopher dared to take this house, and he settled\nhimself there one evening, resolved to keep himself awake by working.\nThe ghost appeared to him, came towards him with its usual clatter,\nsigned to him to follow and disappeared in the courtyard. When daylight\ncame, a hole was dug in the place where the phantom had vanished, and a\nskeleton in fetters was found. The bones were taken up and burned\naccording to the rites, and thereafter nothing troubled the quiet of the\nhouse. Lucian, in his version of this ghost story, specifies the\nphilosopher as a Pythagorean and shows him repelling the apparition by\nthe virtue of his spells. The Pythagoreans were indeed often\nnecromancers, convinced defenders of spiritualism, in which, as we have\nsaid (p. 62), they sought an immediate proof of the immortality of the\nsoul, and by their doctrines they contributed to keeping alive the\nsuperstitious fear attached to omission of burial.\n\nBut they were no more than theorists as to a belief which was widespread\nand which the invasion of Oriental magic was to revive. The\ncurse-tablets often evoke, together with other demons, \u201cthose who are\ndeprived of a sacred tomb\u201d (\u1f04\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1fb6\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u1fc6\u03c2).[164] They associate\nthem with those who have died before their time or by a violent\ndeath.[165] Heliodorus[166] the romancer, a priest of Emesa in Syria,\nwho probably lived in the third century, pictures for us a very\ncharacteristic scene: a child has been killed; a wizard takes its body,\nplaces it between two fires, and performs a complicated operation over\nit, in order to restore it to life by his incantations and to obtain a\nprediction of the future. \u201cThou forcest me to rise again and to speak,\u201d\nthe child complains, \u201ctaking no thought for my funeral and thus\npreventing me from mingling with the other dead.\u201d For the shades of the\nnether world rejected one who had been left unburied.[167]\n\nThese ancient beliefs, which the East shared with the West, were, more\nor less modified, to survive the downfall of paganism. If the Christians\nof the first centuries no longer feared that they would go to join the\nshades who wandered on the bank of the Styx, they were still pursued by\nthe superstitious dread that they would have no part in the resurrection\nof the flesh if their bodies did not rest in the grave.[168] Nay, the\nterrors of former ages still haunt the Greeks of today. The people\nremain persuaded that those who have not had a religious funeral return\nto wander on the earth, and that, changed to bloody vampires, they\npunish men, and in particular their kin, for their neglect.[169] A\nnomocanon of the Byzantine Church orders that if the body of a ghost be\nfound intact, when disinterred, its maleficent power thus being proved,\nit be burnt and a funeral service with an offering of meats be\nafterwards celebrated for its soul. This is exactly what was done in\nantiquity in order to appease the dead who had not been buried according\nto the rite, _rite conditi_.\n\n\n\n\n                                   II\n\n                            THE NETHER WORLD\n\n\nAmong most peoples the primitive idea of an after life in the grave was\nenlarged into the conception of a common existence of the dead in the\ndepths of the earth. The dead man does not stay confined in the narrow\ndwelling in which he rests; he goes down into vast caverns which extend\nbeneath the crust of the soil we tread. These immense hollows are\npeopled by a multitude of shades who have left the tomb. Thus the tomb\nbecomes the antechamber of the true dwelling of the spirits who have\ndeparted; its door is the gate of Hades itself. Through the tomb, the\ngreat company of the beings who have been plunged in the darkness of the\ninfernal regions remains in communication with those who still sojourn\nin our upper world. The libations and offerings made by the survivors on\nthe grave descend to this gloomy _hypogeum_ and there feed and rejoice\nthose for whom they are intended. Until the time of the Roman Empire,\nnay, to the end of antiquity, the common man believed in this\nwonder.[170] To attempt to define the means by which it was brought\nabout would be vain. These were beliefs which went back so far and were\nso deeply rooted in the mind of the people that men accepted them\nwithout seeking to explain them.\n\nIn Rome, the idea that the spirits of the dead inhabit a common dwelling\nin the nether world existed from the time when the city had its\nbeginnings. It kept in religion a coarsely na\u00efve form which proves how\narchaic it was. According to a rite borrowed by the Romans from the\nEtruscans, a pit was dug in the centre of the city, when the latter\u2019s\nfoundations were laid, in order to make the _Inferi_ communicate with\nthe upper world. First fruits and other gifts were thrown into the pit,\nas well as a clod of the earth of the settlers\u2019 native country. Thus\nthey restored their broken contact with the Manes of their ancestors. In\nall probability this hole was formed of a vertical pit ending in a\nchamber with an arched roof curved like the heaven\u2014hence the name\n_mundus_ given to it. The key of the vault of this lower cellar was\nformed of a stone, the _lapis Manalis_, which could be raised in order\nto let the spirits pass. Three times a year, on the twenty-fourth of\nAugust, the fifth of October and the eighth of November, this ceremony\ntook place: the door of hell was opened and the dead had free access to\nthe atmosphere. These days were therefore sacred, _religiosi_, and all\nbusiness was suspended on them.\n\nRecently the _mundus_ of the ancient _Roma Quadrata_ was believed to\nhave been discovered during excavations of the Palatine, but the\nunderground space in question is probably only a silo or a cistern.\nOther pits used for the cult of the dead existed elsewhere in the city.\nIt has recently been suggested that the altar of the god Consus, which\nwas hidden in a ditch in the middle of the Circus Maximus and uncovered\nduring the races, was one of these mouths of hell and like that shown in\nrepresentations of the funeral games of the Etruscans.[171]\n\nBut on certain days the souls of the dead rose to the earth\u2019s surface of\nthemselves, although nothing had been done to make their coming thither\neasier, and they then had to be appeased by sacrifices. This was what\nhappened from the thirteenth to the twenty-first of February, during the\n_Parentalia_, when the souls of ancestors were honoured, and on the\nninth, the eleventh and the thirteenth of May, the dates of the\n_Lemuria_, on which, at midnight, according to a prescribed ceremonial,\nthe father of the family nine times threw black beans to the _Lemures_\nto keep them away from the house.\n\n_Lemures_ and _Manes_ are used only in the plural: these words stand for\nthe vague conceptions formed of the shades of the dead who dwelt beneath\nthe ground. These were a nameless crowd, hardly individualised, not\ndistinguishable from the fleeting phantoms who fluttered about the\ntombs. The Romans were a people of little imagination, and their\ninfernal mythology remained rudimentary until the time when they\nborrowed from the Greeks the picturesque stories about the adventures of\ntravellers to Hades and the blessings and misfortunes which there\nawaited them.\n\nOriginally no idea of retribution was attached to this descent of the\ndead into the infernal regions; it was neither their merits nor their\ndemerits which determined their condition. On the contrary, the\ninequalities of human society were perpetuated: a nobleman kept a higher\nrank than that of his servants; each man in some sort continued his\noccupations, even preserved his tastes and his passions. Existence in\nthe Beyond was conceived as a mere prolongation of earthly life. It is\nto this idea, which was generally entertained, that the old custom\ncorresponds of placing in the grave the implements and other objects\nwhich a dead man was in the habit of using. We have already touched on\nthis point in speaking of life in the tomb (p. 49), but the things\ndeposited beside the corpse were not only those which could be used by\nthe dweller of the \u201ceternal house.\u201d If he were a powerful lord his\nchariot, his horses and his arms would be buried with him;[172] a hunter\nwould be supplied in the other world with his spears and his nets;[173]\na craftsman with the tools of his trade; a woman with the objects which\nenabled her to spin and to weave. These funeral customs were more than a\ntradition, followed without reference to the reasons inspiring it. Among\nthe Greeks, as among the Romans, the idea survives persistently, in\npoetic descriptions of the Elysian Fields, that each man will there keep\nthe character and retain the habits which distinguished him before his\ndeath. Virgil, taking his inspiration from Pindar, shows us the blessed\noccupied by the contests of the palestra, by song and poetry and by\nchariot races; for, he tells us, the passion which the dead had in life\nfor arms and for horses still pursues them when they have been buried in\nthe earth.[174] Ovid[175] sketches with rapid touches an analogous\npicture. \u201cThe shades,\u201d he says, \u201cwander bloodless, bodiless, boneless;\nsome gather in the forum, others follow their trades, imitating their\nformer way of life.\u201d And this is no fancy due to the poet\u2019s imagination.\nAn awkward epitaph of a young, probably Syrian, slave[176] tells us that\nhe is glad still to be able to discharge his service zealously in the\nretired place where dwells the god of the infernal abode. In these\ninstances we find, in spite of the transformation undergone by\neschatological ideas as a whole, a survival of the old conception of the\ndestiny of the dead.\n\nWe have not to seek far to discover how this transformation took place.\nIt was provoked by the desire to subject souls to different treatment\naccording to their deserts, and to distribute them in distinct\ncompartments in which they would be rewarded or punished in accordance\nwith their past works. It was much prior to the Roman period, going back\nto the distant age at which Orphic theology, with its sanctions beyond\nthe grave, modified Homeric tradition and popular religion in Greece. In\nthe West the doctrine which imposed itself with the Hellenic\ncivilisation on peoples of foreign race was ready-made. It spread\nthrough the south of Italy by way of the colonies of Greater Greece in\nwhich Pythagorism came to its full power. It is in this country that\nsome of the Orphic tablets intended as guides to the dead in their\njourney through the infernal realm have been discovered in the\ntombs;[177] and the great amphorae of a later date, bearing\nrepresentations of scenes of Hades, which were also found in southern\nItaly, show the importance which continued to be attached there to the\nidea of the future life. In Campania, Lake Avernus was even regarded as\none of the entrances to the nether world, through which Ulysses and\nAeneas had descended.\n\nThe Greek doctrines were also introduced among the Etruscans and\ncombined with the beliefs of this people as to an underworld in which\nthe Manes of the dead were threatened by horrible demons and protected\nby beneficent genii. This Greek influence and its alliance with the\nnative traditions appear in Etruria in a great number of funeral\nmonuments on which we find represented many figures which, according to\nmythology, peopled the kingdom of Pluto. One of the most significant is\nthe fine sarcophagus, discovered a few years ago at Torre San Severo\nnear Bolsena, which seems to date from the third century B. C.[178] The\ntwo long sides hold corresponding reliefs, the one showing Achilles\u2019\nsacrifice of the Trojan prisoners on the grave of Patroclus, the other\nthe sacrifice of Polyxena, last of Priam\u2019s daughters, on the tomb of\nAchilles. These scenes, borrowed from the Greek epic poetry, are placed\nbetween two Etruscan demons, winged figures which bear serpents and are\nmale on one side and female on the other. The small sides are decorated\nby two scenes from the Odyssey, the myth of Circe changing the\ncompanions of Ulysses into animals\u2014perhaps an allusion to\nmetempsychosis\u2014and Tiresias\u2019 evocation of the shades of the dead, the\nElysian Fields being curiously indicated. This instance\u2014and many others\nmight be cited\u2014shows how closely the Hellenic legends of Hades had been\nintermingled with Etruscan demonology.\n\nThis Greek conception of the infernal regions, which literature and art\nwere to popularise and perpetuate even after credence had ceased to be\ngiven to it, remains familiar to us. Taken altogether and in the large,\nit is that of a kingdom imagined as an imitation of the cities of our\nworld, in which, however, there reigns such a rigorous justice as is on\nour poor earth no more than a dream of minds morally disposed. This\nunderground state, of which the frontier is defended by an unbridged\nriver, the Styx, is governed by powerful rulers, Pluto and Proserpina.\nIt has its judges, Minos, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus; its executioners, the\nErinyes or Furies; and its prison, Tartarus, surrounded by high walls.\nThis jail, in which the guilty, laden with chains, suffer the torments\nenacted in Greece by the penal laws or others more atrocious,[179] is\ndistinctly contrasted with the abode of the good citizens who freely\nenjoy in delightful gardens all the pleasures which make the joy of\nhuman beings.\n\nBooks treating of the \u201cDescent into Hades,\u201d of which a considerable\nnumber were in circulation, and the poets\u2019 descriptions embroidered\nvarious patterns around this central design. There was a whole\nmythological and theological efflorescence which peopled with more and\nmore numerous figures the fantastic kingdom occupying the great cavern\nof the earth. Infinite variations were imagined on a traditional theme,\nof which, however, even certain details were preserved from age to age\nwith a surprising fidelity. Lucian in his satirical description of\nCharon and his boat reproduces types fixed in the sixth century before\nour era, for, as has been observed, his picture is in exact agreement\nwith the recently discovered fragment of a black-figured vase.[180]\n\nAlthough in our sources infernal topography is occasionally somewhat\nconfused, certain essential features, which we will here merely\nindicate, can be recognised in it. We will return to them one after the\nother, and speak of them in greater detail, in later lectures. When the\nsouls, or rather the shades, descend to the depths of the earth, they\nreach first a provisional abode where they await a decision as to their\nlot, an intermediate region through which all of them pass but in which\nsome are kept for a considerable time.[181] They then cross the Styx,\nand a road which is also common to all of them leads them to the court\nwhich determines their lot.[182] This judging of the dead is foreign to\nHomeric poetry: the idea of it was perhaps borrowed by Greece from\nEgypt, but from ancient Orphism onwards it was an essential element of\ninfernal eschatology. Infallible judges, from whom no fault is hid,\ndivide into two companies the multitude of the souls appearing before\nthem. The guilty are constrained to take the road to the left which\nleads to dark Tartarus, crossing its surrounding river of fire, the\nPyriphlegethon. There those who have committed inexpiable crimes are\ncondemned to eternal chastisement.[183] But the road to the right leads\nthe pious souls to the Elysian Fields where, among flowered meadows and\nwrapped in soft light, they obtain the reward of their virtues, whether,\nhaving attained to perfection, they are able to dwell for ever with the\nheroes, or whether, being less pure, they are obliged to return later to\nthe earth in order to reincarnate themselves in new bodies after they\nhave drunk the water of Lethe and lost the memory of their previous\nexistence.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe philosophical criticism of the Greeks had early attacked these\ntraditional beliefs, but such negative attitude became more definite\namong the thinkers of the surpassingly rationalistic period which came\nafter Aristotle.[184] The Peripatetics, who admitted at most the\nsurvival of reason, rejected in consequence all the myths dealing with\nthe descent of the shades into the kingdom of Pluto. The Epicureans were\neven more radical, for, as we have seen (p. 7), they condemned the soul\nto dissolution at the moment of death, thus destroying the very\nfoundation of the belief in Hades. Their campaign against stories in\nwhich they saw only the lugubrious inventions of priests and poets, was\none of the capital points of their polemics against popular religion,\nand they flattered themselves that by destroying faith in the pains of\nTartarus they freed mankind from vain terrors which obsessed its minds\nand poisoned its joys. The Stoics, we know (p. 13), taught that the soul\nis a burning breath of the same nature as the ether and as the stars\nwhich shine in the sky. As to whether this ardent fluid was lost after\ndeath in the universal fire, or kept its individuality until the final\nconflagration of the world, the doctrine of the Porch varied. But one\nthing was certain: the fiery nature of the soul must prevent it from\ngoing down into the underground and impel it to rise to higher spheres.\nIf it were weighed down by its contact with the body and laden with\nmatter, it might float for some time in the dense air surrounding the\nearth but could never descend into its depths.[185] The impossibility of\nadmitting literally the truth of the stories as to the infernal realm\nwas thus proved.\n\nThe same psychological doctrine as to the soul\u2019s kinship with the fire\nof the heavenly bodies was admitted in the Alexandrian age by the sect\nwhich paid one and the same veneration to Pythagoras and to Plato and\nwas thus more attached than any other to belief in immortality. It gave\nin, to some extent, to contemporary rationalism and was brought to\nmodify its ideas as to life beyond the grave. Ancient Pythagorism, the\nheir of Orphism, made much of the sufferings reserved for sinners in the\ninfernal abysses. A book attributed to Periktione still shows the\ndaughter who has despised her parents as condemned to suffer, beneath\nthe earth and in the company of the impious, the eternal evil inflicted\nby \u201cDike and the gods of down below.\u201d[186] But in the first century\nbefore our era the pseudo-Timaeus of Locri declares that such tales are\nfictions\u2014salutary, it is true\u2014imagined by Homer in order to divert from\nevil those to whom truth alone was not a sufficient guide.[187] The only\npenalty which can overtake the sinning soul is, according to these\nNeo-Pythagoreans, metempsychosis, which forces it to reincarnate itself\nin a fleshly prison.[188]\n\nThis doctrine of transmigration claims to transport hell to earth and to\nexplain, as moral allegories, all the fables which the poets had\ninvented.[189] The _Inferi_ are nothing else than the dwellings of our\nglobe, which is the lowest of the nine circles of the world. The true\nHades is the wicked man\u2019s life in which he is tortured by his vices. The\nrivers of hell\u2014Cocytus, Acheron, Pyriphlegethon and Styx\u2014are anger,\nremorse, sadness and hate, which cause man to suffer. The Furies are the\npassions, scourging him with whips and burning him with torches; and\nsimilarly an ingenious interpretation is given to each of the pains\nsuffered by Tantalus, Sisyphus, the Dana\u00efdes and the others.[190]\n\nThis exegesis led finally to an absolute denial of the existence of\nhell, but such radical scepticism was in too flagrant contradiction to\nthe old beliefs to be willingly accepted by the minds which remained\nattached to them. Hence arose attempts to bring these beliefs into\nharmony with the psychology generally admitted.\n\nA first theory, to which we will have to return when speaking of the\nnature of the surviving souls,[191] seems to have been invented in\nAlexandria and to have been inspired by Egyptian religion.[192] The\nauthors who first allude to it, one Greek and one Roman, are\ncontemporaries who wrote about the year 200 B. C., the critic\nAristarchus and the poet Ennius, but the transmission of the doctrine\ncan be traced through literary traditions down to the end of antiquity.\nIt divides the human composite not into two but into three parts\u2014the\nbody, the soul and the shade. The body is destroyed beneath the earth;\nthe soul, which is a particle of the divine ether, rises after death\ntowards its place of origin; but a form (\u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd) of subtle matter\ndetaches itself from the corpse, and it is this semblance (_simulacrum_)\nor shade (_umbra_) which goes down to the infernal regions. The\nexistence of these regions could thus be maintained, but they were no\nlonger held to receive the celestial principle which gave intelligence.\n\nOthers allowed that it was impossible that the earth should contain\nsubterranean caverns large enough to hold Tartarus, the Elysian Fields\nand the infinite multitude of the dead. But they explained that the word\nsubterranean (\u1f51\u03c0\u03cc\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2) had been misunderstood, that it denoted not the\nbowels of the earth but the lower half of the terrestrial globe, the\nsouthern hemisphere, which was unknown to the ancients, or even the\nwhole celestial hemisphere, curved below this globe which hung\nmotionless in the centre of the universe.[193] This hemisphere is always\ninvisible,\u2014so the ancients might say,\u2014which is exactly the sense of the\nword Hades (= \u1f00\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u03ae\u03c2). The Axiochos, an apocryphal work attributed to\nPlato, was first to reveal this doctrine, claiming that it had been\ncommunicated to Socrates by the Mage Gobryes. It was in reality borrowed\nby the Greeks of the Alexandrian age from the astral theology of the\nSemitic peoples. According to this theology the world is divided into\ntwo halves by the line of the horizon; the upper hemisphere is the\ndomain of the living and the higher gods, the lower that of the dead and\nthe infernal gods. Descent to it and ascent from it are by way of two\ngates, situated west and east, where the sun appears and disappears. The\nmarshes of the Acheron, the river Styx, and Charon and his boat are\nconstellations which the souls cross when they have passed through the\n\u201cgate of Hades.\u201d\n\nThe ancient Greeks had placed the Islands of the Blessed, whither the\nheroes were borne by the favour of the gods, somewhere far away in the\nocean. These islands were now supposed to lie in the Antipodes, in the\nunknown half of the earth. All the poets\u2019 stories of the fragrant and\nmelodious gardens of this abode of delights were applied to these\nmarvellous countries which no sailor had ever reached.[194] On the other\nhand, Tartarus was placed at the bottom of the celestial abysses, near\nthe lowest point of the lower hemisphere, that is, diametrically\nopposite to Olympus, the dwelling of the gods, who were throned on the\nsummit of the starry vault. It was into this sombre gulf that the wicked\nwere flung; there yawned the bottomless pit in which the demons of the\ndusky world inflicted eternal torture on the guilty.\n\nThis theory claimed to bring the ancient Hellenic beliefs into agreement\nwith the cosmography of astronomers, but this cosmography itself\nundermined the foundations of the system, in so far as it refuted the\nhypothesis of a physical opposition between the two halves of the\nuniverse. It was observed that a single sky revolved about our earth;\nthat the same atmosphere, composed of the same elements, enveloped it\nentirely; that every part of it was, in turn, equally in the light and\nin the shade. Therefore physical phenomena must be identical over the\nwhole surface of our globe; the climate of the Antipodes must be like\nthat of our lands; if the Antipodes were peopled, it was by races like\nthose of men and the beasts. Their inhabitants therefore were not the\ndead but living beings. The marvels of the Fortunate Isles did not exist\nand there was no reason for regarding the lower rather than the upper\npart of the heavens as the vast reservoir of souls.\n\nThe doctrine which placed the subterranean kingdom of Pluto and\nProserpina on the other side of the earth and in the other celestial\nhemisphere, made a poor resistance to this criticism of the Alexandrian\ngeographers. If it did not entirely disappear, if its transmission can\nbe followed down to the end of antiquity and even to the Middle Ages, it\nnever was so widespread nor so active as another doctrine claiming to\nreconcile the beliefs of the past with accepted science.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis bold doctrine transported the whole subterranean world above the\nearth\u2019s surface. We shall see, in the next lecture, on celestial\nimmortality (p. 96), that the Pythagoreans conceived the idea of placing\nthe Elysian Fields in the moon, and that the Fortunate Isles were\nsimilarly explained by them as being the sun and the moon bathed by the\nfluid of the ether. The _Inferi_ were thus the lower space, that is, the\nspace extending between the sphere of the moon, which was the limit of\nthe world of the gods, and our globe, which was the centre of the cosmic\nsystem. In the _Inferi_ the souls which had to suffer the chastisement\nof their faults were kept prisoners; they could not win to the stars but\nwandered plaintively on the earth\u2019s surface and especially about their\nown tombs, and then rose through the atmosphere in which, little by\nlittle, they were purified by the elements. Allegorical interpretations\nfound a place for the infernal rivers in this new topography of the\nBeyond: Acheron was explained as being the air, the Pyriphlegethon as\nthe zone of hail and fire, and the meanderings of the Styx became the\ncircles of the universe. We shall have occasion to return to the passage\nof the soul through this aerial purgatory and its ascension to the\nElysian Fields of the sky.[195]\n\nThis cosmological interpretation of the tales referring to Hades had a\nmore powerful influence than the moral allegory which did too much\nviolence to tradition in claiming to make our earthly life the\nmythological hell. The doctrine that the _Inferi_ were in the atmosphere\nwas adopted by Stoicism at least from the time of Posidonius and was\ntherefore widely believed from the end of the Roman Republic onwards.\nEven the mysteries, which first kept alive the belief in a subterranean\nkingdom of the infernal gods, did not escape the influence of these new\nideas and were brought to adapt their esoteric teaching to them.[196]\n\nThe transformation of ancestral beliefs by this theology cannot today be\nbetter apprehended than from the sixth book of the Aeneid. Virgil, when\nhe relates the descent of Aeneas into the abode of the shades, is\ninspired by the _Nekyia_ of the Odyssey and other poetic tales. He\nremains apparently faithful to mythological and literary tradition,\nretaining the conventional decoration, the unvarying geography of the\ninfernal kingdom; but he does not admit the literal truth of these\nbeliefs of an earlier time; he is aware of the figurative sense given by\nthe philosophers to the old fables of Hades. At the risk of seeming to\ncontradict himself, he recalls this learned eschatology\u2014the\npurification, the ascension and the transmigration of souls\u2014in\nconnection with what might have been no more than the story of a\nmarvellous journey to the country of the dead. The unity of the\nconception and the composition is the less seriously compromised because\nit was believed that the ancient poets themselves had wished to indicate\nthese truths in their verses under the veil of allegory. The descent to\nthe nether world has therefore a much loftier bearing in Virgil than a\nmere embellishment. It is the expression of a conviction or at least a\nhope, not only a brilliant fiction based on an old poetic theme.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nHowever, the symbolical interpretations of the pagan theologians who\nrespected tradition and the purely negative criticism of the sceptics\nled finally to a common result, to the destruction, namely, of the\nancient beliefs, even when it was claimed that they were being saved.\nWhether the souls were held captive in the other hemisphere or in the\natmosphere, or whether they were condemned to reincarnation in a body,\nHades was transformed either to the lower sky, the air or the earth, and\nthe early conception of a subterranean world, whither the dead who had\nbeen laid in the grave descended, was abolished. There are abundant\ntexts to prove that from the end of the Roman Republic this belief had\nlost its grip on many minds. Cicero[197] claims that there was not an\nold woman left foolish enough to fear the deep dwellings of Orcus and\nthe gloomy regions peopled by the livid dead. \u201cNo one is childish\nenough,\u201d Seneca repeats,[198] \u201cto fear Cerberus and the phantoms which\nappear in the form of skeletons.\u201d \u201cThat there are Manes,\u201d says\nJuvenal,[199] \u201ca subterranean kingdom, a ferryman armed with a pole, and\nblack frogs in the gulfs of the Styx, that so many thousands of men can\ncross the dark water in a single boat,\u201d these are things in which\neveryone had ceased to believe except very young children. Pliny[200]\nbrings forward a paradoxical argument, that, had there been infernal\nregions, the zeal of the miners who had dug deep galleries in the ground\nwould have pierced their boundaries; and even the devout Plutarch, when\nhe comes to speak of the punishments reserved by mythology for the\nwicked, sees in them only nurses\u2019 tales to frighten babies.[201]\n\nThe multiplicity of this testimony and its precision allow no doubt that\nnot only the educated classes but a large portion of the population\nrejected the fables as to the nether world. These fables were in any\ncase a foreign importation in the Latin world. Moralists, while they\nceased to believe in them for themselves, sometimes pretended to retain\nthem in order to inspire the people with salutary fear, but Tartarus had\nlost much of its terror for those it should have kept from ill-doing.\n\nIs this to say that these ideas no longer found credence anywhere? A\nfaith which has long dominated minds disappears hardly and leaves\npersistent traces behind it in customs and feeling. Thus we find that,\nmore or less everywhere, the practice was perpetuated of placing in the\nmouth of the corpse a piece of money which served, it was said, to pay\nCharon for the crossing of the Styx.[202] Excavators have found these\ncoins in many Roman tombs. But they are doubtless evidence of no more\nthan a traditional rite which men performed without attaching a definite\nmeaning to it.\n\nMoreover, the metrical epitaphs continue to speak of the Elysian Fields\nand of Tartarus, of Styx and of Acheron; they complain of the cruelty of\nPluto who bears away mortals before their time, or of the Parcae or\nFates who cut the thread of their days; they mention the avenging\nFuries, the sufferings of Tantalus, Sisyphus and Ixion. But these are no\nmore than ready-made formulas of poetical language, literary\nreminiscences or traditional metaphors. Yet sometimes this infernal\nmythology is curiously developed. Thus a long inscription on a Roman\ntomb describes a young man descending from the ether in order to\nannounce to those near and dear to him that he has become a celestial\nhero and has not to go to Pluto\u2019s kingdom. \u201cI shall not wend mournfully\nto the floods of Tartarus; I shall not cross the waters of Acheron as a\nshade, nor shall I propel the dusky boat with my oar; I shall not fear\nCharon with his face of terror, nor shall old Minos pass sentence on me;\nI shall not wander in the abode of gloom nor be held prisoner on the\nbank of the fatal waters.\u201d[203] This epitaph dates from the century of\nAugustus, but did its author, any more than the writers of that time,\nbelieve in the reality of the beings with which he peoples Hades? He\ndecorates his language with a literary ornament which Christian poetry\nwas later to inherit. This poetry did not hesitate to employ these pagan\ncommonplaces, which had passed from hand to hand until they were so worn\nout that their first meaning had been effaced. The Renaissance and the\nage of modern classicism were again to use and to abuse them.\n\nThe sculpture of tombs continued in the same way often to reproduce the\nancient models. Sarcophagi sometimes show us the dead man led by Hermes,\nguide of souls, and coming into the presence of Pluto and\nProserpina.[204] We also see on funeral monuments Charon in his boat,\nthe typical sufferings of Tantalus, whose eager lips cannot reach the\nflowing water, Ixion turning on his wheel, Sisyphus labouring under the\nweight of his rock and, above all, the Dana\u00efdes eternally pouring water\ninto a perforated vase.[205] But it is probable that these traditional\nfigures were repeated without any very strong faith being held as to the\nreal existence of the personages which they represented; indeed it was\nproposed only to show them as symbols which had to be interpreted\nallegorically.\n\nIf we had no other evidence than funeral poetry and art of the\npersistence of the beliefs of the past, the testimony would have to be\naccepted very cautiously. But other more convincing proofs assure us\nthat popular faith clung, with characteristic tenacity, to the ancient\nconception of the _Inferi_. Without believing precisely in the strange\ntortures inflicted on the wicked heroes of mythology, the man in the\nstreet was still vaguely persuaded that the souls went down from the\ntomb to some deep places where they received rewards and punishments.\nSuetonius[206] relates that when the death of Tiberius became known in\nRome the people \u201cprayed Mother Earth and the Manes gods to give the dead\nman no other dwelling than that of the impious.\u201d The Oriental slaves\nbrought the same convictions from their countries like many other old\nbeliefs which had faded away in the West. The romancer Heliodorus, a\nSyrian priest, shows us in his novel his heroine invoking \u201cthe demons\nwho on the earth and under the earth watch over and punish unrighteous\nmen,\u201d[207] her prayer being that, after the iniquitous death which\nthreatened her, they might receive her. The same conviction appears in\nthe funeral inscriptions of the East. Thus an epitaph of Elaiousa in\nCilicia[208] adjures \u201cthe heavenly god, the Sun, the Moon and the\nsubterranean gods who receive us.\u201d The common idea was that a dead man\ncan be excluded from the dwelling of the shades and condemned to wander\nmiserably on the earth. In the same way the thought is often expressed\nin the magic papyri of Egypt that the deceased were plunged into the\ndark gulfs underground and there became demons whom the wizard called\nup, when he summoned them by his incantations. Even in Greece, where\nrationalistic criticism had penetrated far deeper among the people,\nPlutarch, while he reports that few people were still really afraid of\nCerberus, the lot of the Dana\u00efdes and other bugbears of Hades, adds,\nhowever, that for fear of such pains recourse was had to purifications\nand initiations.[209]\n\nThis belief in the existence of Hades, maintained in the lower strata of\nthe population in spite of the inroads made on it and of its partial\nsupersession by other doctrines, was to acquire new strength from the\nrebirth of Platonism, which looked upon the writings of the \u201cdivine\u201d\nmaster as inspired. In several passages Plato spoke with so much\nprecision of the dwelling of the souls in the bowels of the earth that\neven the subtlety of his later interpreters found difficulty in giving\nanother meaning to his text, although the attempt was made by some of\nthem. Therefore effort was directed to defending the doctrine of the\ninfallible sage by refuting the objections raised against it by his\nadversaries. The Stoics had held, as we have seen (p. 77), that the\nsoul, being a \u201cfiery breath,\u201d had a natural tendency to rise in the air\nand could not sink into the ground. But Porphyry[210] objected that in\nlowering itself from heaven towards our world it had become impregnate\nwith the atmospheric damp and thus had grown heavier, and that if during\nits passage in the body it became laden with the clay of a sensual life,\nif it wrapped itself in a material cloak, its density came to be such\nthat it was dragged down into the dusky abysses of the earth. \u201cIt is\ntrue,\u201d says Proclus,[211] \u201cthat the soul by force of its nature aspires\nto rise to the place which is its natural abode, but when passions have\ninvaded it they weigh it down and the savage instincts which develop in\nit attract it to the place to which they properly belong, that is, the\nearth.\u201d According to Proclus,[212] who claims to interpret Plato\nfaithfully, the soul after death is judged somewhere between the sky and\nour globe; if it be declared worthy it enjoys a life of blessedness in\nthe celestial spheres; if, on the other hand, it deserve penalties, it\nis sent to a place beneath the ground. Elsewhere, defining his\nthought,[213] he affirms that the various parts of Hades and the\nsubterranean courts and the rivers of whose existence Homer and Plato\nappraise us, should not be regarded as vain imaginations or fabulous\nmarvels. As the souls which go to heaven are distributed among several\nand different resting-places, so we must believe that for souls still in\nneed of chastisement and purification underground dwellings, whither\npenetrate numerous effluvia of the super-terrestrial elements, are\nthrown open. It is these effluvia that are called \u201crivers\u201d or\n\u201ccurrents.\u201d Here too various classes of demons hold empire, some of them\navengers, some chastisers, some purifiers and some executioners. Into\nthis abode, the farthest from that of the gods, the sun\u2019s rays do not\npenetrate. It is filled with all the disorder of matter. Therein is the\nprison, guarded by demons who ensure justice, of the guilty souls hidden\nbeneath the earth.\n\nIt is not by their faithfulness to Plato\u2019s doctrine, which in truth they\nalter, but by the mere logic of their system that the last Greek\nphilosophers are led to admit what their predecessors rejected.\nSometimes, more or less unconsciously, they were under a religious\ninfluence. The Platonist Celsus believed in the eternal pains of hell\nbut invoked only the authority of \u201cmystagogues and theologians\u201d in\nsupport of this article of faith.[214] The opposition between the\nobscure retreats of the Manes and the bright dwellings of Olympus is\nold, and naturally became prominent as the belief spread, first that\nheroes, and afterwards that all virtuous spirits, rose to the eternal\nspaces.[215] But the religion which formulated the strictly consequent\ndoctrine of an absolute antithesis between the luminous kingdom where\nthe divinities and the beneficent genii were seated, and the dark domain\nof the Spirit of Evil and his perverse demons, was Persian Mazdeism. The\nresplendent heights where the gods had their thrones were to be after\ndeath the abode of those who had served piously. On the other hand,\nthose who had contributed to increase evil on the earth, were to be\nflung into the murky abysses in which Ahriman reigned. Iranian dualism\nimposed this eschatological conception on a section of Alexandrian\nJudaism; it was admitted by many Pythagoreans, then by the gnostic sects\nand later by Manicheism. But above all it was widely propagated under\nthe Roman Empire by the mysteries of Mithras. We find then put forth the\ndoctrine that the demons are divided into two armies, incessantly at war\nwith each other, one good and one evil. The good army is subject to\ncelestial powers and comes down to earth to give succour and support to\nthe faithful. The evil army obeys an anti-god (\u1f00\u03bd\u03c4\u03af\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2) and issues from\nthe bowels of the earth in order to scatter misery, sin and death among\nmen.[216] The souls of the dead become like one or the other of these\ntwo opposing classes of demons. When they are virtuous and pure they\nrise to the luminous ether where dwell the divine spirits. If, on the\ncontrary, they are vicious and defiled they go down into the underground\ndepths where the Prince of Darkness commands; like the maleficent demons\nwho people this hell they suffer and cause to suffer.\n\nIt was at this compromise that paganism stopped when it reached the term\nof its evolution. Oriental dualism imposed on it its final formula. It\nno longer admitted, like the ancients, that all the dead must go down\nfrom the grave into immense hollows dug in the bowels of the earth, and\nit no longer made the Elysian Fields and Tartarus two contiguous domains\nof the kingdom of Pluto. Nor did it transport them both, side by side,\nas the pagan theologians of the beginning of our era would have done, to\nthe atmosphere and the starry spheres. It separated them radically,\ncutting the abode of the souls into two halves, of which it placed one\nin the luminous sky and the other in subterranean darkness. This was\nalso the conception which, after some hesitation, became generally\naccepted by the Church, and which for long centuries was to remain the\ncommon faith of all Christendom.\n\n\n\n\n                                  III\n\n                         CELESTIAL IMMORTALITY\n\n\nThe astral religion which became predominant in the Roman Empire may be\nconsidered as an intermediary, a connecting link, between the old\nanthropomorphic paganism and the Christian faith. Instead of moral\u2014or,\nif you prefer, immoral\u2014beings, stronger than man but subject to all the\npassions of man, it taught the adoration of the heavenly powers who act\non nature, and so led mankind to the worship of the Power who is beyond\nthe heavens. This influence of the astral cults of the East can be\nclearly perceived in the evolution of the ideas as to future life, and\nthis above all constitutes the historical importance of the subject\nwhich I venture to treat in this lecture.\n\nBeliefs which are spread among many peoples of the world relate the\nimmortality of the soul to the heavenly bodies. It was for long na\u00efvely\nimagined that a new sun was created every evening, or at least every\nwinter, and a new moon born each month, and traces of this primitive\nidea survived in the religion of antiquity and persist even in our\nmodern speech. But when it was realised that the same celestial\nluminaries reappeared and resumed their ardour after their fires had\ndied and they had ceased to shine, that the stars which were lit at\nsunset were those which had been extinguished at dawn, their lot was\nrelated to that of man, destined like them to be reborn, after death, to\na new life. Various savage tribes thus associate the heavenly bodies,\nand especially the moon, with the resurrection of the dead. The wan\ncircle which sheds its vague light in the darkness of night causes\nphantoms to appear to haunt vigils and dreams, and is therefore the\npower which presides over life beyond the tomb. Among the Greeks of the\nmost ancient period Hecate was at one and the same time the goddess of\nthe moon, the summoner of ghosts and the queen of the infernal realm. In\nthe East astrological ideas mingled with this mythology. It was taught\nthat the moon\u2019s cold and damp rays corrupted the flesh of the dead and\nthus detached from it the soul which finally abandoned the corpse. The\nSyrians, at the critical times in which the moonbeams exercised a more\nactive influence on this separation, offered sacrifices on tombs, and\nthe threefold commemoration of the dead on the third, the seventh and\nthe fortieth day in a part of the Eastern Church had its earliest origin\nin these offerings of the sidereal cults.[217]\n\nThere was also a very widely held belief, which has survived in European\nfolk-lore, that each man has his star in the sky. This star is dazzling\nif his lot be brilliant, pale if his state of life be humble. It is lit\nat his birth and falls when he dies. The fall of a shooting star\ntherefore denotes a person\u2019s death. This popular idea existed in\nantiquity. Pliny the Naturalist reports it, although he denies its\ntruth,[218] and it was again combated in the fifth century by Eusebius\nof Alexandria. \u201cWere there then only two stars in the time of Adam and\nEve,\u201d asks the bishop, \u201cand only eight after the Flood when Noah and\nseven other persons alone were saved in the Ark?\u201d[219] The formulas of\nepitaphs and the very usages of language show how current was the belief\nthat each man was, as we still say, born under a good or an evil star.\n_Astrosus_ was the Latin equivalent of our _unlucky_. This doctrine of a\nrudimentary astrology was incorporated in the general system of learned\ngenethlialogy. Although this latter attributed a predominant influence\nto the planets and the signs of the zodiac, it also taught, in\naccordance with popular opinion, that each of the most brilliant stars\n(\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76 \u1f00\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03b5\u03c2) ensures riches, power and glory to the newly born\nchild, if it be in a favourable position at his birth.[220]\n\nBut side by side with this general conception of a relation between the\nlife of the stars and that of men, a much more precise idea is met with\nfrom the first. The soul was, as we shall see,[221] often conceived by\nthe ancients as a bird preparing for flight. Where would it alight when\nit had passed through the air except on the heavenly bodies which were\nstill imagined as quite near the earth? The paintings on an Egyptian\ntomb of a late period, found at Athribis, show us the soul of the dead\nman fluttering with those others like him in the midst of the\nconstellations.[222]\n\nThe belief was widely spread that the spirits of the dead went to\ninhabit the moon. In the East this faith retained a very crude form\nwhich certainly went back to a most primitive paganism. We find it in\nIndia as well as in Manicheism, which arose in Mesopotamia in the third\ncentury, but which admitted many ancient traditions into its doctrine.\n\u201cAll who leave the earth,\u201d says an Upanishad, \u201cgo to the moon, which is\nswollen by their breath during the first half of the month.\u201d The\nManicheans similarly affirmed that when the moon was in the crescent its\ncircumference was swelled by souls, conceived as luminous, which it drew\nup from the earth, and that when it was waning it transferred these\nsouls to the sun. Using an idea much earlier than his time,[223] Mani\nalso stated that the boat of the moon, which plied in the sky, received\na load of souls which every month it transferred to the sun\u2019s larger\nvessel. The association established in Syro-Punic religions between the\nmoon and the idea of immortality is marked by the abundance in Africa of\nfuneral monuments bearing the symbol of the crescent, either alone or\nassociated with the circle of the sun and the star of Venus.[224] These\nastral symbols are identical with those already used by the Babylonians.\nBut it is not only among the Semitic peoples that we find the crescent\non tombs, either alone or accompanied by other figures: it is of\nfrequent occurrence, notably in Celtic countries. Possibly the Druids\nplaced in the moon the other world where men pursued an existence\nuninterrupted by death.\n\nAs for the sun, the idea most commonly accepted was that the dead\naccompanied him on his course and went down with him in the west to an\nunderground world. There, during the night, this enfeebled heavenly body\nrecovered his strength, and there the dead too were revived. The power\nof this faith in ancient Egypt is known: the souls embarked on the boat\nof Ra, and with him, after they had accomplished the circle of the\nheavens, went down through a crevice of the earth or beyond the ocean.\nThis was the first origin of the r\u00f4le of \u201cpsychopomp\u201d which we shall\nfind attributed to the solar god.\n\nFinally many peoples believed that souls, after plying through air and\nspace, inhabited the sky in the form of brilliant stars. The multitude\nof the stars scintillating in the firmament was that of the innumerable\nspirits who had left the world. They pressed in a dense crowd,\nespecially in the long luminous track of the Milky Way, which was, _par\nexcellence_, the dwelling of the dead. Other traditions saw in this band\nacross the sky the highroad which the dead travelled to gain the summit\nof the world.[225] A vestige of this ingenuous conception is retained in\nthe very name, \u201cMilky Way.\u201d\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese ideas as to the lot of the soul after death, which were spread\namong a number of different peoples, may also have existed in primitive\nGreece but we have no proof that they were current there. As the\nHellenes granted to the stars only a restricted and secondary place in\ntheir anthropomorphic religion, so in early times they had no belief, or\nscarcely any, in the ascent of souls to the starry sky. This doctrine\nwas entirely strange even to the earliest Ionian thinkers. Recent\nresearch has made it more and more probable that these conceptions were\nintroduced into Greece from the East, where astrolatry was\npredominant.[226] Pausanias[227] claimed to know that the Chaldeans and\nthe Magi of India were the first to assert that the human soul is\nimmortal, and that they convinced the Hellenes, and in particular Plato,\nof this doctrine. Such an affirmation, in this form, is certainly false,\nbut it contains an element of truth. The tenet of astral immortality is\nancient in the East: it probably took form in Babylon about the sixth\ncentury, when Persian Mazdeism, which believed that the righteous were\nlifted up to the luminous dwelling of the gods, came into contact with\nthe sidereal religion of the Chaldeans. It was propagated in Greece\nespecially by the Pythagoreans, for whom the soul had a celestial\norigin, being, as we have seen (p. 24), a fiery principle, a particle of\nthe ether which lights the divine fires of heaven. This spark, which\ndescended at birth in the body, which it heated and animated, reascended\nafter death to the upper regions, whence it had come forth. Aristophanes\nin his _Peace_[228] greets the apparition of a new star, that of the\nPythagorean poet, Ion of Chios, who had recently died, asking ironically\nif it be not true that \u201cwhen someone dies he becomes like the stars in\nthe air.\u201d This is the most ancient precisely dated mention of stellar\nimmortality (421 B. C.), and it cannot be doubted that the doctrine was\nthat of Ion himself. Plato received it from the Pythagoreans and makes\nvery clear allusions to it.\n\nThe fundamental idea on which it rests, the idea that the psychic\nessence is the same as the fire of the heavenly bodies, is at the root\nof all oriental astrology, which claims to explain by astral influence\nthe formation of character. This idea of a relationship (\u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1)\nbetween the soul and the stars does not in Greece belong to the old\nbasic popular beliefs. It was introduced thither by the philosophers,\nwho, as we shall see, drew from it very important theological\nconclusions. According to them, it was owing to this identity of nature\nthat the soul was capable of knowing the gods and of aspiring to join\nthem.[229] This doctrine took on new power when astrology succeeded in\nimposing itself on the Alexandrian world, and it is significant that we\nfind it clearly formulated by an adept of this pseudo-science, the\nfamous Hipparchus, in the second century before our era. \u201cHipparchus,\u201d\nsays Pliny,[230] \u201cwill never receive all the praise he deserves, since\nno one has better established the relation between man and the stars, or\nshown more clearly that our souls are particles of the heavenly fire.\u201d\nPythagorism and Stoicism, and after them the Syrian and Persian\nmysteries, were to popularise this conception throughout the ancient\nworld. In certain regions, as in Gaul, it undoubtedly found pre-existing\nnative beliefs with which it combined, and in religion and among\ntheologians it assumed multiple forms. We shall try to distinguish its\nchief aspects, dealing successively with lunar, solar and stellar\nimmortality.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Pythagoreans, perhaps transforming a belief of the Greek people as\nto Selene\u2019s r\u00f4le, but more probably inspired by Oriental speculations,\nheld that souls, when they had been purified by air, went to dwell in\nthe moon. To the question, \u201cWhat are the Isles of the Blessed?\u201d the\northodox doctrine of the sect answered, \u201cThe sun and the moon.\u201d[231] For\nthem the heavenly bodies were moving islands washed by a luminous fluid,\nwhich their swift motion caused to sound about them. These thinkers, who\ndebated all the scientific hypotheses, accepted the plurality of worlds.\nThe heavenly bodies were other earths surrounded by air and rolling in\nthe boundless ether. The moon in particular was designated as the\n\u201cethereal\u201d or \u201cOlympic earth,\u201d and in the moon lay the Elysian Fields,\nthe meadows of Hades, in which the shades of the heroes rested.\nPythagoras himself, promoted to the rank of an immortal spirit, rejoiced\nthere among the sages. Persephone, assimilated to Artemis, reigned over\nthis kingdom. Did not the moon, like her, transfer itself alternately\nabove and below the earth? The planets were this huntress\u2019s hounds\nwhich, ever in chase, were scouring the fields of space around her in\nevery direction.\n\nThe authors of Pythagorean apocalypses peopled the mountains and valleys\nof the moon with fantastic animals, stronger than ours, and with strange\nplants, more vigorous than those of our globe. The inhabitants of the\nmoon, fed on the vapours of the atmosphere, were not liable to human\nneeds. In his \u201cTrue Histories,\u201d Lucian[232] parodied these mad\nimaginings with comic exaggeration and ludicrous obscenity.\n\nA curious fragment of Castor of Rhodes gives an instance of an\nunexpected application of these beliefs.[233] This historian, who lived\nat the end of the Republic, had the idea of interpreting Roman customs\nby the Pythagorean doctrines which Nigidius Figulus and his circle of\ntheosophists had brought back into fashion (p. 22). In particular he\nexplained by this method the ivory _lunulae_ (crescents) which decorated\nthe senators\u2019 shoes. They recalled, he says, that noble souls inhabited\nthe moon after death and trod on its soil.\n\nThe eclectic Stoics of the same period, and especially Posidonius of\nApamea, gave this lunar eschatology a place in their system, and\nundertook to justify it by the physical doctrines of the Porch.\nAccording to them, souls, which are a burning breath, rose through the\nair towards the fires of the sky, in virtue of their lightness.[234]\nWhen they reached the upper zone, they found in the ether about the moon\nsurroundings like their own essence and remained there in equilibrium.\nConceived as material and as circular in form, they were, like the\nheavenly bodies, nourished by the exhalations which arose from the soil\nand the waters. These innumerable globes of a fire endowed with\nintelligence formed an animated chorus about the divine luminary of\nnight. The Elysian Fields did not, in this theory, lie in the moon\nitself, which was no longer an earth inhabited by fantastic beings, but\nin the pure air _about_ the moon whither penetrated only souls no less\npure. This idea was to last until the end of paganism, although other\neschatological doctrines then met with more favour. The emperor Julian\nin the beginning of his satire on the Caesars describes them as invited\nto a banquet held, as was proper, on a lower level than the feast of the\ngods, who met at the summit of heaven. \u201cIt seemed fitting,\u201d he\nsays,[235] \u201cthat the emperors should dine in the upper air just below\nthe moon. The lightness of the bodies with which they had been invested\nand also the revolutions of the moon sustained them.\u201d\n\nThe zone of the moon, the lowest of the seven planetary spheres, in\nwhich the serene ether touches our own foggy atmosphere, is the frontier\nbetween the world of the gods and that of men, the border between\nimmortality and the generated, the line of demarcation between the life\nof blessedness and the death which our earthly existence really is.\nAristotle had already noted the distinction between the two halves of\nthe universe, the one active and the other passive, the heavens formed\nof unalterable ether and subject neither to progress nor to corruption,\nand our sublunary world composed of four elements, our world in which\nall is born, is transformed and dies. Neo-Pythagoreans and Neo-Stoics\nliked, in insisting on this opposition, to show the contrast between the\nsplendour and the darkness, the serenity and the trouble, the constancy\nand the mutability, the truth and the error, the happiness and the\nmisery, the peace and the war, which reigned respectively in the\ndwelling of the gods and in the abode of men, whither souls descending\nto earth penetrated so soon as they had crossed the circle of the moon.\nIn imitation of Plato[236] this sublunary world is shown as a dark cave\nin which the captive souls, plunged in obscurity, aspire to see again\nthe light from on high.\n\nThe funeral monuments of the imperial period have retained numerous\ntraces of these beliefs. As we have already said (p. 94), the crescent\noften appears on them, either alone or together with other symbols.\nOther tombstones are still more expressive. A Roman relief, preserved in\nCopenhagen, is particularly characteristic: the bust of a little girl\nappears on it placed on a large crescent and surrounded by seven\nstars.[237] On this an inscription recently found at Didyma might serve\nas a commentary: \u201cStanding before this tomb, look at young Chor\u00f4, virgin\ndaughter of Diognetos. Hades has placed her in the seventh circle,\u201d[238]\nthat is, in the circle of the moon, which is the lowest of the seven\nplanets.\n\nWe see that philosophy and physics had united to transform the old\nbelief in the ascent of souls to the moon. The intervention of theories\nclaiming to explain the systems of the world is still more marked in the\nother doctrines of astral immortality. It was this blending which made\nthem strong enough to impose themselves on the minds of men. By their\nagreement with contemporary science, they satisfied reason and faith at\nthe same time. But as all this theology really rested on a wrong\ncosmography, its lot was bound up with that of a false conception of the\nuniverse, and the two fell together.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe first of these doctrines appears to us the most reasonable because\nit is founded on the primordial r\u00f4le of the sun in our world. It was\nborn in the East when the Chaldean priests deprived the moon of the\npre-eminence originally ascribed to it, and recognised the unequalled\nimportance of the sun in the cosmic system.[239] These astronomical\ntheologians deduced from this recognition a theory which includes\nsomething like an anticipation of universal gravitation, and which was\nto prove seductive both by its greatness and by its logic. It spread\nthrough the ancient world in the second and first centuries B. C. There\nare some signs that the Pythagoreans, who were much addicted to the\nstudy of the heavenly bodies, were the first to adopt it, and with the\npropagation of Oriental astrology it obtained a wide diffusion in the\nWest.\n\nThe sun, placed in the fourth rank or the middle of the planetary\nspheres,[240] like a king surrounded by his guards, was believed\nalternately to attract and repel the other celestial bodies by the force\nof his heat, and to regulate their harmonious movements as the\ncoryphaeus directed the evolutions of a chorus. But since the stars were\nlooked upon as the authors of all the physical and moral phenomena of\nthe earth, he who determined the complicated play of their revolutions\nwas the arbiter of destinies, the master of all nature. Placed at the\ncentre of the great cosmic organism, he animated it to its utmost\nlimits, and was often called the \u201cheart of the world\u201d whither its heat\nradiated.\n\nBut this well-ordered universe could not be directed by a blind force,\nand therefore the sun was an \u201cintelligent light\u201d (\u03c6\u1ff6\u03c2 \u03bd\u03bf\u03b5\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd). The pagan\ntheologians looked upon him as the directive reason of the world (_mens\nmundi et temperatio_). The Pythagoreans saw in him Apollo Musagetes, the\nleader of the chorus of the Muses, who were placed in the nine circles\nof the world and whose accord produced the harmony of the spheres. Thus\nhe became the creator of individual reason and director of the human\nmicrocosm. The author of generation, he presided over the birth of\nsouls, while bodies developed under the influence of the moon. The\nradiant sun constantly sent down sparkles from his flaming circle to the\nbeings he animated. The vital principle which nourished men\u2019s material\nenvelope and caused its growth was lunar, but the sun produced reason.\n\nInversely, when death had dissolved the elements which formed the human\ncomposite, when the soul had left the carnal prison which enclosed it,\nthe sun once more drew it to himself. As his ardent heat caused vapours\nand clouds to rise from the earth and the seas, so he brought back to\nhimself the invisible essence which animated the body. He exercised on\nthe earth both a physical and a psychical attraction. Human reason\nreascended to its original source and returned to its divine home. The\nrays of the god were the vehicles of souls when they rose aloft to the\nhigher regions.[241] He was the anagogue (\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2) who withdrew\nspirits from matter which soiled them.\n\nJust as he sent the planets away from him and brought them back by a\nseries of emissions and absorptions, so he caused his burning effluvia\nto descend to the beings whom he called to life, and so he gathered them\nafter their death that they might rise to him once more. Thus a cycle of\nmigrations caused souls to circulate between the sky and the earth, as\nthe stars alternately drew away from and returned to the radiant focus,\nheart and spirit of the Great All, which called forth and directed their\neternal revolutions. It is easy to understand how this coherent and, it\nmay be said, magnificent theology, founded on the discoveries of ancient\nastronomy at its zenith, imposed on Roman paganism the cult of the\ninvincible Sun, the master of all nature, the creator and saviour of\nman.\n\nA mass of literary evidence and a number of figured monuments prove how\npowerful became, under the Roman Empire, the belief that the sun was the\ngod of the dead. Old mythological traditions combined with Chaldean\ntheology and were propagated with the Eastern religions. It was imagined\nthat the deceased, and in particular the emperors, were borne to heaven\non the chariot of Helios, or that the eagle, the king of the birds and\nthe servant of the sovereign sun, carried off their souls to bear them\nto his master. Elsewhere it was the griffin of Apollo or the solar\nphoenix who was the bearer of the dead or the symbol of immortality. A\nfuneral altar of Rome even bears the characteristic inscription, \u201c_Sol\nme rapuit_,\u201d \u201cthe Sun has seized me up.\u201d[242]\n\nYou will probably ask how men succeeded in reconciling this solar\nimmortality with the doctrine which made the moon the abode of the dead.\nThe Greeks, following the Orientals, had been able to make a lunar-solar\ncalendar, and they also constructed an eschatology in which the two\ngreat heavenly bodies both played part. They were the two divinities\nwhose help the priests promised to \u201cthose who were about to die.\u201d[243]\nThis eschatology is founded on the astrological idea that the moon\npresides over physical life, over the formation and decomposition of\nbodies, but that the sun is the author of intellectual life and the\nmaster of reason. The doctrine also includes the belief we have already\nexplained elsewhere,[244] that when souls leave the earth, they are\nstill surrounded by a subtle fluid which retains the appearance of the\npersons whom they formerly animated. The pagan theologians thus admitted\nthat the souls which came down to earth assumed in the sphere of the\nmoon and in the atmosphere these aerial bodies which were regarded as\nthe seat of the vital principle. Inversely, when they rose again to\nheaven, the function of the moon was to dissolve and to receive these\nlight envelopes, as on earth its damp rays provoked the corruption of\nthe corpse. The soul, thus becoming pure reason (\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2), ascended to the\nsun, the source of all intelligence. According to others the formation\nof the soul\u2019s integument was begun and its reabsorption was completed in\nthe planetary spheres, and this is why the Neo-Platonist Jamblichus[245]\nplaced the Hades of mythology between the sun and the moon. These\ntheories are not the product of pure philosophical speculations, but\nhave their roots in the old astral religion of the Semites. The\nmysteries of Mithras, the Chaldaic oracles, and above all Manicheism\nshared the belief in a lunar-solar immortality of which the source\ncertainly goes back to the tenets of the \u201cChaldean\u201d priests.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nSolar immortality is a learned doctrine, the fruit of the astronomical\ntheories which made the king-star the centre and the master of the\nuniverse. It was such as to find acceptance with theologians and\nphilosophers and to be spread by the Oriental mysteries. But it never\nsucceeded in eliminating or overshadowing the old popular idea that the\nsouls of the dead dwell in the midst of the glittering constellations. A\ntrace of the double conception is found in the Stoic school. For certain\nof the masters of this school the directing reason of the world, the\n(\u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd), has its principal seat in the sun, for others in the\nsphere of the fixed stars. In the same way the poets, Lucan addressing\nNero, and Statius addressing Domitian, hesitatingly ask if these\nemperors will ride in the flaming chariot of Phoebus or if they will\nassume Jupiter\u2019s sceptre in the highest heaven.[246] The\nNeo-Pythagoreans admitted that souls could rise to the Most High (\u03b5\u1f30\u03c2\n\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f5d\u03c8\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd), that is to say, to the supreme God who was enthroned at\nthe summit of the world.[247] It was, moreover, very anciently held\namong the Greeks that Olympus was in the outer circle enveloping the\nworld, and until the end of antiquity we find the Elysian Fields were\ntransported to the zone of the constellations and in particular to the\nMilky Way. This is, for instance, the doctrine of Cicero as shown in the\ndream of Scipio.\n\nSo the old popular idea that the soul became a star, which in Greece was\naccepted by the ancient Pythagoreans, still subsisted. According to\nmythology this was the happy lot reserved for heroes. We have whole\nbooks which tell us how these heroes at the end of their career were\ntransformed to brilliant stars in reward for their exploits.\n\u201cCatasterism\u201d draws a moral conclusion from ancient tales. Hercules,\nCastor and Pollux, Perseus and Andromeda and many others had deserved\nsuch metamorphosis. It did not therefore seem bold to assign to the\neminent men of the present the same destiny as to the great figures of\nthe past, and no one was shocked by the supposition that their divine\nspirits might be added to the number of the \u201cvisible gods.\u201d This was, in\nparticular, a lot worthy of the princes who had deserved apotheosis. At\nthe death of Caesar a comet appeared. It was thought to be the\ndictator\u2019s soul which had been received among the Immortals, and\nOvid[248] does not hesitate to show us Venus descending, invisible, into\nthe senate, snatching this soul from the pierced body and bearing it\naloft to the sky. There Venus feels the soul become inflamed and sees it\nescape from her breast to fly beyond the moon and turn into a trailing\ncomet. Hadrian, in his grief for the death of Antinous, let himself be\npersuaded that a star had just appeared which was the deified soul of\nhis favourite.[249] But as in Greece \u201cheroification\u201d was finally awarded\nby the will of families to every one of their members whose loss they\nmourned, so \u201ccatasterism\u201d was in the end accorded to deceased persons of\nvery moderate deserts. \u201cNearly the whole heaven,\u201d says Cicero, \u201cis\nfilled with mankind.\u201d[250] In an inscription of Amorgos[251] a young\nman, carried off by the Fates at the age of twenty, thus addresses his\nmother: \u201cWeep not; for of what use is weeping? Rather venerate me, for I\nam now a divine star which shows itself at sunset.\u201d And at Miletus[252]\na child of eight years old, whom Hermes has led to Olympus, contemplates\nthe ether and shines in the midst of the stars, \u201crising every evening to\nthe horn of the Goat. By the favour of the gods he protects the young\nboys who were his playfellows in the rude palaestrae.\u201d\n\nEpitaphs so precise in expression are exceptional. On the other hand,\nnumerous epigraphic and literary texts declare that the soul of some\ndead person has risen to the stars to live there with the Immortals, but\nleave the position of this soul undetermined. It is stated to have flown\ntowards the vast sky, to have been received by the ether, to be living\nat the summit of the world and following the revolutions of the\ncelestial armies. But the place where the blessed thus come together,\nthat one of the upper spheres in which their meeting takes place, is\nleft uncertain. Their dwelling was known to be somewhere very high above\nus, but men did not willingly venture to fix its exact situation.\n\nThe heathen theologians wished however to bring order and precision into\nthis astral eschatology. As they had combined the doctrines of lunar and\nsolar immortality, so they attempted to bring both into agreement with\nstellar immortality. When Lucian in the beginning of his \u201cIcaromenippus\u201d\nshows us his hero passing over three thousand stadia from the earth to\nthe moon, where he makes a first halt, rising thence five hundred\nparasangs to the sun, and then ascending from the sun to heaven,\nJupiter\u2019s citadel, through the space travelled in a full day by an eagle\nin rapid flight, he is giving us a humorous parody of the journey which\nsome men ascribed to souls. This idea that the soul thus rises to\nParadise by three stages was widely entertained in the East, and it was\nnotably held by Mazdeism. A trace of this belief seems to linger in the\npassage of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians in which Saint Paul\ntells that he has been lifted \u201cto the third heaven.\u201d[253]\n\nThe Platonists sometimes adopted the same conception and combined it\nwith psychological ideas, a development of those we recalled in\nconnection with solar immortality (p. 103). It was held that when the\nsoul came down to earth it first received an ethereal garment of almost\nimmaterial purity; then, imagination being added to reason, a solar\nfluid surrounded it; then a lunar integument made it subject to the\npassions; and finally a carnal body was the cause of its ignorance of\ndivine truths and of its blind foolishness. It successively lost with\nthese wrappings the inclinations or faculties which were bound with\nthem, when after death it went back again to the place of its\norigin.[254]\n\nThe conception of the triple ascension of souls rested fundamentally on\na rudimentary astronomy, for it confused the five planets with the fixed\nstars, discriminating from both only the sun and the moon. But for long\nthe system which divided the heavens into seven superimposed spheres,\nenveloped by an eighth sphere which was the limit of the universe, had\nimposed itself not only on the learned but also on the authors of pagan\napocalypses. The eschatological doctrine which triumphed at the end of\npaganism is in agreement with this theory, generally admitted by the\nscience of the period. This doctrine is certainly of Chaldeo-Persian\norigin, and was spread in the first century especially by the mysteries\nof Mithras.[255] Then, in the second century, the Pythagorean Numenius\nintroduced it into philosophic speculation. Man\u2019s soul was held to\ndescend from the height of heaven to this sublunary world, passing\nthrough the planetary spheres, and thus at its birth it acquired the\ndispositions and the qualities peculiar to each of these stars. After\ndeath it went back to its celestial home by the same path. Then as it\ntraversed the zones of the sky, it divested itself of the passions and\nfaculties which it had acquired during its descent to earth, as it were\nof garments. To the moon it surrendered its vital and alimentary energy,\nto Mercury its cupidity, to Venus its amorous desires, to the sun its\nintellectual capacities, to Mars its warlike ardour, to Jupiter its\nambitious dreams, to Saturn its slothful tendencies. It was naked,\ndisencumbered of all sensibility, when it reached the eighth heaven,\nthere to enjoy, as a sublime essence, in the eternal light where lived\nthe gods, bliss without end.\n\nIn the mysteries of Mithras a ladder composed of seven different metals\nserved as a symbol of this passage of souls through the spheres,\nastrology placing each of the planets in relation with one of these\nmetals, lead with Saturn, gold with the sun, silver with the moon and so\non.[256]\n\nBut in opposition to this pantheism which, while identifying God with\nthe universe, placed the chief home of divine energy in the celestial\nspheres and particularly in the highest of them, the sectaries of\nPlato transported the supreme Power beyond the limits of the world and\nmade of him a Being no longer immanent, but transcendent and distinct\nfrom all matter. This conception became more and more predominant in\npagan theology as Stoicism lost influence in favour of Neo-Platonism.\nThis God, \u201cultramundane and incorporeal, father and architect\u201d of\ncreation,[257] had his seat, it was thought, in the infinite light\nwhich extended beyond the starry spheres. Religion called him\nsometimes the Most High (\u1f5d\u03c8\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2), sometimes Jupiter, but gave him at\nthe same time the epithets \u201cUppermost,\u201d \u201cInsuperable\u201d (_summus_,\n_exsuperantissimus_).[258] It was this celestial Father whom the elect\nsouls aspired to join, but only those who had attained to perfection\nsucceeded in doing so, as we shall see in our last lecture. The others\nstayed, in accordance with their degree of purity, in a lower zone of\nthe successive stages formed by the atmosphere, by the planetary\ncircles, and by the heaven of the fixed stars, which were the \u201cvisible\ngods,\u201d opposed to the spiritual world.[259]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis was the last conception of paganism and on the whole it was to\nimpose itself on men for many centuries. Judaism had already made\nconcessions to the astronomical theories of the \u201cChaldeans,\u201d and had\nborrowed from them the idea of seven stories of heavens, an idea which\nwe find developed in particular in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. It also\nbelonged to Christianity almost from the beginning, and the gnostics\ngave it a large place in their speculations. But especially Origen, who\nborrowed it directly from the Greek philosophers, lent the authority of\nhis name to the doctrines of astral eschatology. According to him,\nsouls, after they have sojourned in Paradise, which he imagined as a\nremote place of earth where they learn terrestrial truths, rise to the\nzone of the air and there understand the nature of the beings who people\nthis element. But if they are free from all material weight, they cross\nthe atmosphere rapidly and reach \u201cthe dwellings of the heavens,\u201d that\nis, the celestial spheres. There they grasp the nature of the stars and\nthe causes of their movements. Finally, when they have made such\nprogress that they have become pure intelligences, they are admitted to\ncontemplate the reasonable essences face to face and see invisible\nthings, enjoying their perfection. Although Origen was condemned by the\nChurch, his ideas were not abolished. Since the Christian lore adopted\nthe ancient conception of the world\u2019s structure, as formulated by\nPtolemy, it had necessarily to admit that souls traversed the planetary\ncircles in order to reach that \u201csupermundane light\u201d in which they found\nperfect beatitude. Dante\u2019s Paradise, with its choirs of angels and its\nclasses of the blessed, distributed among the superimposed spheres of\nthe heavens, is a magnificent testimony to the strength of the tradition\nwhich antiquity bequeathed to the Middle Ages. Before this tradition\ncould be destroyed, Galileo and Copernicus had to ruin Ptolemy\u2019s system\nand open up to the imagination the infinite spaces of a limitless\nuniverse.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IV\n\n                       THE WINNING OF IMMORTALITY\n\n\nA fundamental difference distinguishes the conception of immortality as\nit appears in the religion of the Roman Empire from our modern ideas.\nImmortality, as we conceive of it, follows on the very nature which we\nascribe to the human soul. It is affirmed by some, denied by others, in\naccordance with the character which each one attributes to the principle\nof conscious thought, but whenever credence is given to it, it is\ngenerally supposed to be absolute, eternal, universal. For the ancients,\non the other hand, immortality was no more than conditional: it might\nnot be perpetual and it might not belong to all men. According to the\nPlatonists the soul, an incorruptible essence, a principle of life and\nmovement, survived necessarily;[260] according to the Epicureans, being\ncomposed of atoms, it was dissolved at the moment of death.[261] But\nbetween these extreme opinions of the philosophers, the religion of the\npeople remained faithful to the old belief that the shade must be\nnourished with offerings and sacrifices, that if it lacked sustenance it\nwas condemned to waste away miserably. This conception, like not a few\nothers which were fading away in the West, was revived when the\nOrientals imposed on the Roman world their more primitive and sometimes\nvery crude beliefs. The normal destiny of the soul was therefore to\nsurvive the body for a certain time, then in its turn to disappear. A\nsecond death (\u03b4\u03b5\u03cd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2) completed the work of the first which\ngave the corpse over to corruption. The spiritual essence which had\nabandoned the body was annihilated after it. Such was the inevitable\nnecessity imposed on mankind. Immortality was a privilege of divinity.\nThe man who was exempted from the common lot of his kind was therefore\nthe equal of the gods; he had risen above his perishable condition to\nacquire the everlasting youth of the Olympians, the unlimited duration\nof the stars which travel the heavens, the eternity of the Supreme\nBeing.\n\nIf he became a god after his death it was sometimes because he had been\none ever since his birth. For men were not all born equal: if each of\nthem possessed the _psyche_ which nourished and animated the body, yet\nall men did not equally receive the divine effluence (\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1) which gave\nreason. This reason, which distinguished man from the beasts, was akin\nto the fires of the stars; it established between man and heaven a\ncommunity of nature (\u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1) which alone made it possible for him to\nacquire a knowledge of divinity,[262] the \u201cgnosis\u201d of God and of the\nworld which He animated. This special grace also exempted him who\nobtained it from the passions and weaknesses to which the inclinations\nof the flesh exposed him. It made him pious, temperate and chaste: he\nwas holy (_sanctus_).[263] It communicated to him a lucidity and power\nlacking to the common run of mortals. He penetrated the secrets of\nnature and commanded the elements; he received revelations and was\ncapable of prophetic divination. Inversely, every exceptional quality\nwas regarded as superhuman; every extraordinary act seemed a miracle.\nThe most enlightened spoke merely of celestial inspiration. \u201c_Nemo\nmagnus vir sine quodam adflatu divino_,\u201d said Cicero.[264] The many saw\nin these privileged beings earthly incarnations of all the Olympians.\nFrom the moment of their appearance on the earth these men were really\ngods; their soul kept its higher nature in all its purity; it would\nindubitably return after death to its place of origin. Such are the\nleading ideas which explain the belief in the immortality of the heroes.\n\nAmong those who escaped the common law of death because they were\ndivine, first of all, were the kings. In all times kings have been\nlooked upon as of superior essence to the rest of mankind, and the\nancient East approximated them or made them equal to the heavenly\npowers. The Hellenistic realms, in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, raised the\ncult of the monarch to the rank of a state institution; and the Caesars\ninherited this homage, which was rendered to them by their subjects even\nin their lifetime, first in the East and then throughout the Empire. The\npowerful chief who delivered his state from the scourge of invasion and\nensured it peace and welfare, accomplished a work which seemed to be\nbeyond the ability of man, and he was adored as a present god (\u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u1f74\u03c2\n\u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, _praesens numen_), a saviour (\u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1). Sometimes the god incarnate\nin him was specified; and he was looked upon as a manifestation of Zeus,\nApollo, or another. Very ancient but still active beliefs gave him the\npower to command nature as well as men. If the fields were fertile, if\nthe flocks and herds had increased, these were benefits received from\nthe godlike sovereign. No miracle was beyond his accomplishment. He was\nthe providence of his people, having indeed the power of foreseeing and\nforetelling the future. According to Manilius,[265] it was to kings,\nwhose lofty thoughts reached the heights of the sky, that nature first\nrevealed her mysteries. The pagan theologians affirmed, indeed, that the\nsouls of kings came from a higher place than those of other men, and\nthat these august personages borrowed more from heaven than the common\ncrowd of mortals.[266] And thus, death had no sooner carried them off\nfrom the earth than their souls once again rose to the stars, who\nwelcomed them as their equals (_sideribus recepti_). It was thought that\nan eagle or the chariot of the sun bore them away.[267] It may seem\nstrange that the senate should deliberate as to whether or not a\ndeceased emperor deserved apotheosis, and should refuse or accord him\nofficial canonisation. But this act is in conformity with all the ideas\nwe have described, since the monarch\u2019s benefits and victories were the\nproof of his divine origin, and since, if he had committed crimes and\ncaused misfortunes, he was thus shown to be in no respect a god.\n\nIn the remote ages of ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs were the first whom\nOsiris consented to identify with himself, or whom their father Ra bore\naway in the solar boat, but little by little the rites practised in\norder to ensure eternity to the sovereign were extended to the magnates\nsurrounding him. Thus immortality was a kind of posthumous nobility\nbestowed on the great servants of the state, or usurped by them, long\nbefore the rest of the people obtained it. In Greece, also, kings were\nthe first to be the objects of a cult as protecting heroes, but after\nthem other classes of eminent men received the same title and the same\nadoration, in particular the founder of a city, its lawmaker who had\ngiven it a constitution and the warrior who had victoriously defended\nit. In the same way as fabulous demigods, Castor and Pollux or Hercules,\nhad in heaven become brilliant stars as a reward for their earthly\ndeeds, they also were public benefactors who by their works and their\nvirtues had shown themselves worthy of the same \u201ccatasterism.\u201d These\nideas passed to Rome with the Stoic philosophy. After having given a\nlist of those who had triumphed in the wars of the Republic, Cicero lays\ndown as a fact that not one of them could have attained so far without\nthe help of God;[268] and elsewhere he states more explicitly:[269] \u201cTo\nall who have saved, succoured or aggrandized their country, a fixed\nplace in which they shall enjoy everlasting bliss is assigned in heaven,\nfor it is from heaven that they who guide and guard cities have\ndescended, thither to reascend.\u201d The ex-consul Cicero claimed apotheosis\nfor the great men of the state: this was the republican transformation\nof the doctrine of the divinity of kings.\n\nPagan theology was to give much wider extension to this doctrine. In a\ncurious passage Hermes Trismegistus[270] explains that there are royal,\nthat is to say divine, souls of different kinds, for there is a royalty\nof the spirit, a royalty of art, a royalty of science, and even a\nroyalty of bodily strength. All exceptional men were godly, and it was\nnot to be admitted that the sacred energy which animated them was\nextinguished with them.\n\nPious priests, like kings, were judged, or rather judged themselves, to\nbe worthy of immortality. Who could more justly deserve a share in the\nfelicity of the gods than those who on the earth had lived in their\ncompany and known their designs? He who had thus been in communication\nwith the godhead and learnt his secrets was raised above the condition\nof humanity. This sacred knowledge, this gift of prophecy, this\n\u201cgnosis,\u201d which was inseparable from piety, transformed him who had\nobtained it, set him free even in life from the condemnation of fate;\nand after death he went to the immortals whose confidant he had been\nhere below.\n\nThe philosophers and theologians who treated of the nature of the Divine\nBeing shared the blessed lot of the priests and soothsayers who\ninterpreted His will. Their doctrine came to them by inspiration from on\nhigh, or at least so they readily believed. Their intelligence, which\nwas lit by a divine ray, penetrated the world\u2019s mysteries and subjected\nit to their will. _Philosophus_ became a synonym for thaumaturge. Even\nin this life the superior mind of the philosophers allowed them to\nescape the necessities by which other men were oppressed, and this\nreason returned after death to the source of all intelligence.\n\nBut all knowledge came from God. It was He who gave light to the wise\nman, absorbed in austere research, and caused him to discover truth. It\nwas He too who inspired the poet, who worked in him when enthusiasm\ncarried him away; He likewise who gave to the artist the faculty of\napprehending and expressing beauty, to the musician the power to recall\nby his chords the sublime harmony of the celestial spheres. All who gave\nthemselves up to works of the intellect had a part in the godhead. They\nwere purified by the high pursuit of spiritual joy and freed thereby\nfrom the passions of the body and the oppression of matter. For this\nreason the Muses are frequently represented on tombs; beautiful\nsarcophagi are decorated with the figures of the nine sisters. Thanks to\nthese goddesses, mortals were delivered from earthly misery and led back\ntowards the sacred light of the heavens.\n\nThus the spirits of all men distinguished above their fellows were one\nday to find themselves gathered together in the dwelling-place of the\nheroes. This conception made the future life a reward for eminent\nservice rendered to the state or humanity. Its origin certainly went\nvery far back: it is found among primitive peoples, in reference to the\nfamous warriors of the tribes, and it never ceased to be accepted in\nancient Greece. But towards the end of the Roman Republic it was more\ngenerally admitted than ever before. It was in harmony with the\nconstitution of an aristocratic society in which it seemed that even\nposthumous honours should be reserved for the elect. Some modern\nthinkers and poets have shared the ancient feeling which inspired it.\nCarducci, who disliked the critics of Milan, thought that they might\nwell perish wholly, but that the great spirits like Dante, whom he\ninterpreted,\u2014and doubtless also this interpreter himself,\u2014were\nsaved.[271] Matthew Arnold also in an admirable sonnet strongly defends\nthe faith in a limited immortality. Let me recall to you the last\nverses:\n\n             \u201cAnd will not then the immortal armies scorn\n             The world\u2019s poor routed leavings? or will they\n             Who fail\u2019d under the heat of this life\u2019s day\n             Support the fervours of the heavenly morn?\n             No! The energy of life may be\n             Kept on after the grave, but not begun,\n             And he who flagg\u2019d not in earthly strife,\n             From strength to strength advancing\u2014only he,\n             His soul well-knit and all his battles won,\n             Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.\u201d\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut this proud doctrine vowed to final destruction the mass of humble\nmen, the multitude of the miserable, that is to say, those who, because\nthey endured most in this world, must most aspire to seek in another the\nhappiness which was here denied them and the retribution which should\nrepair the injustice of their earthly lot. This doctrine of the\nimmortality of the few made low station in life a misfortune which was\nprolonged beyond the grave. To the immense company of the wretched, who\nsuffered without consolation, the religions of the East brought a\n\u201cbetter hope,\u201d the assurance that by certain secret rites the mystic,\nwhatever his rank, whether senator or slave, might obtain salvation. The\nvirtue of the liturgical ceremonies made him equal to the immortals\n(\u1f00\u03c0\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd). This was the secret of the rapid spread of these exotic\ncults in the Latin world.\n\nEvery day the stars disappear beneath the horizon to reappear in the\neast on the morrow; every month a new moon succeeds the moon whose light\nhas waned; every year the sun is reborn to new strength after his fires\nhave died away; every winter vegetation withers to bloom again in the\nspring. The gods of nature\u2014Attis, Osiris, Adonis\u2014also rose again after\nthey had been slain; the gods of the stars resumed their glowing ardour\nafter darkness had overwhelmed them. Their essential quality was to be\nfor ever \u201cliving\u201d or \u201cunconquered\u201d (_invicti_). Their career was a\nperpetual triumph over death. The struggle implied was, under the\ninfluence of dualism, recognised to be an unceasing battle between two\npowers disputing possession of the world. Thus the mystic who had become\ngod, who had part in the divine energy, also acquired the power to\nconquer death. Oriental religions looked upon earthly existence as a\nfight from which the just man issued victorious. Immortality was a\ntriumph won over the powers of evil, of which the most implacable was\ndeath. The souls of the elect were crowned like athletes and soldiers;\ntheir wreath was the \u201ccrown of life,\u201d often represented on funeral\nmonuments.[272] The Greeks sometimes, and the Etruscans frequently, had\npersonified death as a horrible monster who frightened those whom he\napproached. But the idea of making death into the adversary of mankind,\nfrom whose empire pious and strong souls might escape, spread only with\nthe reception of the Oriental beliefs.\n\nThis mythological conception of salvation was combined in the mysteries\nwith another, which was more scientific, that of fatalism, which was the\nchief dogma imposed by astrology on the Roman world. Death is for man\nthe most inevitable and the hardest necessity. _Fatum_ often denotes the\nunalterable term of life; and this end, which diviners could foresee but\ncould not delay, ought, according to the law of our kind, to overtake\nthe soul as well as the body. But the Oriental cults never ceased to\nclaim that the celestial powers who escaped the rule of Destiny, which\nextends only to the sublunary world, were also able to withdraw thence\ntheir faithful followers. As the emperor was not subject to Fate because\nhe was god, so he who had been initiated and had acquired the same\nquality was, as a funeral inscription expressed it, \u201cexempt from the lot\nof death.\u201d[273] Those who had taken part in the occult ceremonies of the\nsect and were instructed in its esoteric doctrines were alone able to\nprolong their existence beyond the term fixed by the stars at their\nbirth. By the virtue of these rites pious souls were withdrawn from this\nfate-ridden earth and were led, enfranchised from their servitude, to a\ndivine world.\n\nThus those who had acceded to a religious initiation obtained eternal\nlife, like the great men whose celestial origin had predestined them\nthereto. By what rites was wrought this \u201cdeification\u201d (\u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03b8\u03ad\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2), or\nrather this \u201cimmortalisation\u201d (\u1f00\u03c0\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2)?\n\nThe soul, enclosed in the body, was by its very contact with matter\nexposed to pollution, \u201cas pure and clear water poured into the bottom of\na muddy well is troubled.\u201d[274] The mysteries never conceived the soul\nas absolutely immaterial: it was a subtle and light essence, but one\ncoarsened and weighed down by sin, which thus altered its divine nature\nand caused its decomposition and loss.[275] In order therefore that\nimmortality might be ensured to the soul, it must be cleansed of its\nstains. The pagan religions employed a whole set of ablutions and\npurifications for restoring his first integrity to the mystic. He could\nwash in consecrated water in accordance with certain prescribed forms.\nThis was in reality a magic rite: the cleanliness of the body wrought by\nsympathy a veritable disinfection of the inner spirit, the water\nclearing off its taints or expelling the evil demons which caused\npollution. Or else the initiate sprinkled himself with or drank the\nblood either of a slaughtered victim or of the priests themselves. These\nrites arose from the belief that the fluid which flows in our veins is a\nvivifying principle, able to communicate new existence.[276] The man who\nhad received baptism by blood in the _taurobolium_ was reborn for\neternity (_in aeternum renatus_),[277] and when, foul and repulsive, he\nleft the sacred ditch, he was adored as a god by those present.\nElsewhere purifications by air and fire were found united to that by\nwater, so that the different elements all had part in the\npurgation.[278] All these cathartic ceremonies had the effect of\nregenerating him who submitted to them, delivering him from the\ndomination of the body, making him a pure spirit, and rendering him fit\nto live an immaculate and incorruptible life.\n\nA similar belief in a transference to the soul of bodily effects\npartially explains why unctions were still employed in the liturgy of\nthe mysteries. By rubbing himself with perfumed oil the wrestler in the\npalaestra and the bather after the perspiration of the sweating-room\nstrengthened their limbs and rendered them supple. Ancient medical\nscience deals at great length with the propitious action of numerous\nointments, and by their means magic worked not only sudden cures but\nalso prodigious metamorphoses. The aromatic unguents, which had\nmarvellous antiseptic qualities, served to ensure the conservation of an\nembalmed corpse. Similarly, in the cult of the mysteries, unctions gave\nthe soul an increase of spiritual force and made it capable of\nprolonging its existence for ever. As rubbing with unctuous substances\nwas a practice of the thermae, so it was of the temples after the\nliturgical bath. In the anointing of kings and the ordination of priests\nthey communicated to man a divine character and higher faculties, and\nthis idea has been preserved down to modern times. But, above all, as\nointments preserved mortal remains from putrefaction, so the consecrated\noil and honey became a means by which the soul was rendered\nincorruptible and immortality was bestowed upon it.\n\nThe most efficacious means of communicating with the godhead which the\nmysteries offered was, however, that of participation in the ritual\nbanquets. These banquets are found in various forms in all these\nreligious communities. We have seen that among the votaries of Dionysos\nhis feasts, in which the consecrated wine was drunk, gave a foretaste of\nthe joys reserved for the initiate in the Elysian Fields.[279]\nDrunkenness, which frees from care, which awakens unsuspected forces in\nman, was looked upon as divine possession, as the indwelling of a god in\nthe heart of the Bacchantes. Wine thus became _par excellence_ the drink\nof immortality, which flowed for the sacred guests in the meals of the\nsecret conventicles. The heady liquid not only gave vigour of body and\nwisdom of mind, but also strength to fight the evil spirits and to\ntriumph over death.\n\nSometimes honey, which was according to the ancients the food of the\nblessed, was offered to the neophyte and made him the equal of the\nOlympians. Elsewhere bread consecrated by appropriate formulae was held\nto produce the same effects.\n\nBut still another conception is discernible in the feasts of the\nmysteries and mingles with the first: it is thought that the god himself\nis eaten when some sacred animal is consumed. This idea goes back to the\nmost primitive savagery, as is seen in the rite of \u201comophagy\u201d in which\ncertain votaries of Bacchus fiercely tore the raw flesh of a bull with\ntheir teeth and devoured it. Undoubtedly there was originally a belief\nthat the strength of the sacrificed animal was thus acquired, like the\nsuperstition of the native African hunters who eat a slain lion\u2019s heart\nin order to gain his courage. Similarly, if a victim be regarded as\ndivine, to consume it is to participate in its divinity. \u201cThose,\u201d says\nPorphyry,[280] \u201cwho wish to receive into themselves the soul of\nprophetic animals absorb their principal vital organs, such as the\nhearts of crows, moles or hawks, and thus they become able to speak\noracles, like a god.\u201d Similarly, the Syrians ate the fish of Atargatis,\na forbidden food which was, however, provided for the initiate after a\nsacrifice; and those who partook of these mystic repasts were not, like\nthe rest of men, vowed to death, but were saved by the goddess.[281]\n\nAll means of attaining to godliness were not so crude as these. An\nimportant part of the mysteries was the instruction which gave the\nsacred lore, the \u201cgnosis.\u201d This \u201cgnosis\u201d included the whole of religious\nlearning, that is to say, it was the knowledge of rites as well as of\ntheological and moral truths. It taught above all the origin and the end\nof man, but it covered all the works of God, and, inasmuch as it\nexplained creation, it formed a system of the world and a theory of\nnature. In fact the world, being wholly penetrated by a divine energy,\nwas itself a part of God. The close alliance which exists between\nphilosophy and the mysteries, and which is revealed to us especially in\nthe Pythagorean and Hermetic literature,[282] is shown in the value thus\ngiven to science. This science, which in the East had always been\nsacerdotal, was not looked upon as a conquest of reason but as the\nrevelation of a god. Illumined by this god, the initiate entered into\ncommunication with him, and consequently himself became divine and was\nwithdrawn from the power of Fate. \u201cThey who possess the knowledge\n(\u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2) have deification as their happy end,\u201d said Hermes\nTrismegistus.[283]\n\nThe highest degree of this \u201cgnosis\u201d is the sight of the godhead himself,\nor to use the Greek word, \u201cepoptism.\u201d By artifice or illusion\napparitions were evoked and \u201cepiphanies\u201d produced.[284] A whole system\nof fastings and macerations placed the mystic in a fit state to attain\nto ecstasy. In the temple of Isis the faithful devotee merged himself\n\u201cwith inexpressible delight\u201d[285] in the silent adoration of the sacred\nimages, and when the rites had been accomplished and he felt himself\ntransported beyond the confines of the world, he contemplated the gods\nof heaven and hell face to face. He who had had the vision of this\nineffable beauty was himself transfigured for ever. His soul, filled\nwith the divine splendour, must when its earthly captivity had ended\nlive eternally in contemplation of the radiant beings who had admitted\nit to their company.[286]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe mysteries have thus a number of processes, some material and some\nspiritual, for producing the union with god which is the source of\nimmortality. This union is first conceived as effected with the\nparticular god honoured by a sect. As this god has died and has risen\nagain, so the mystic dies to be reborn, and the liturgy even marks by\nits ceremonies the death of the former man and his return to a glorious\nlife.\n\nThe fervent disciple to whom the god has united himself suffers a\nmetamorphosis and takes on divine qualities. In magic this process is\nsometimes very grossly indicated: \u201cCome into me, Hermes,\u201d says a\npapyrus,[287] \u201cas children do into women\u2019s wombs, ... I know thee,\nHermes, and thou knowest me; I am thou and thou art I.\u201d The old Egyptian\ndoctrine of the identification with Osiris, which goes back to the age\nof the Pharaohs, was never given up in the Alexandrian mysteries, and\nthe whole doctrine of immortality rested on it. As on the earth the\ninitiate who piously observed sacred precepts received in his bosom the\ngodhead, so after death the faithful became a Serapis if a man, an Isis\nif a woman. This beatification seems to have been conceived sometimes as\nan absorption into the heart of the divinity, sometimes as a\nmultiplication of the divinity, who left to the deceased his own\npersonality.\n\nIt was above all from Egypt that apotheosis in the form of a particular\ndivinity spread first in the Hellenistic and then in the Roman world. As\nthe Pharaohs became Osiris on the earth and after their death, so among\nthe Ptolemies such names as Isis-Arsino\u00eb and others similar are found,\nand the emperors were adored even in their lifetime as epiphanies of\nApollo, Zeus or Helios.[288] Their subjects could obtain a lot as happy\nas that of the sovereigns. The mystics of Dionysos were early made\ndivine, in imitation of those of Serapis, and became as many emanations\nof Bacchus; and finally under the empire a cult was rendered to the dead\nunder such titles as Mars, Hercules, Venus, Diana and other Olympians.\n\nConceptions less in conflict with reason were taught by the astral cults\nof the Semitic East. The celestial powers here were higher, more\ndistant, less anthropomorphic, and it was not imagined that a man could\nassume their form. Here the action of the god on the mystic recalled\nthat of the stars in nature: it was regarded as an effluence, fallen\nfrom the ether, which penetrated the initiate, as an energy which filled\nhim, as a luminous ray which lit his mind. Virtue from on high entered\ninto the neophyte and transformed him into a being like the divinities\nof heaven.[289] He was glorified (\u03b4\u03bf\u03be\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03af\u03c2) as a conqueror who had\ntriumphed over demons and smitten down death; he was illuminated\n(\u03c6\u03c9\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03af\u03c2) and penetrated by a supernatural light which disclosed to\nhim all truth; he was sanctified (\u1f01\u03b3\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03af\u03c2) and acquired unfailing\nvirtue; he was exalted (\u1f51\u03c8\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9), that is to say his soul rose in\nrapture to the stars. Glory, splendour, light, purity, knowledge: all\nthese ideas were confounded until they became almost synonymous and\ntogether denoted the transfiguration which was undergone by the soul\ncalled to rise to ethereal regions, even on this earth and while it was\nstill joined to the body.\n\nBut this divine action, which tended to become purely spiritual, was\noriginally much more material. A very coarse substratum to the\ntheological ideas is still apparent in the texts which mention them.\nMagic, which was addressed to the credulity of simple men, did not\nconceal it at all. Here the ascension of the spirit appeared as a\njourney to heaven. By appropriate formulae and processes the sorcerers\npretended to secure immortality for their adepts, making them fly, body\nand soul, through the higher spheres to reach the dwelling of the\ngods.[290]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn short, the initiate of the mysteries believed that they found in them\na warrant of immortality. By the virtue of the rites their souls were\nunited to their god; thus they became themselves divine, and were\nensured an everlasting life. Inevitably, every Oriental religion\naffirmed that it held the only sacred tradition leading surely to\neternal felicity. Outside the sect there was no certain salvation. But\nphilosophy always opposed these claims. Philosophy, too, thought itself\nable to lead through wisdom to happiness in this world and in the next,\nand there was rivalry between it and the positive cults, as soon as it\ntook on a religious character and set up religious claims. The\nNeo-Pythagoreans who formed esoteric communities opposed their\npurifications and initiations to those of the mysteries. But the\neschatological doctrine, of which Posidonius was, if not the author, at\nleast the powerful promoter, and which was to be taken up again and\ntransformed by the Neo-Platonists, exempted the wise man from any\nobligation to religious observances as ensuring his immortality. He was\nno longer in need of sacraments and sacrifices, but could by his own\nunaided force become a pure intelligence, win the complete mastery of\nhimself by reason, and thereafter be certain of raising himself to the\ngodhead.\n\nAt the most, certain thinkers granted a \u201cpropaedeutic\u201d or preparatory\nvalue to ritual observances, and saw in them a means of predisposing the\nsoul to ecstasy, but the mystic philosophers, of whom Plotinus\nrepresents the purest type, discarded for themselves all religious\npractices. Their proud doctrine places man alone face to face with\nGod.[291] Or else, like Porphyry, they admit that sacred ceremonies can\npurify the spiritual or pneumatic soul but not its highest part, the\nintellectual soul; that they can raise it to the region of the stars but\nnot bring it back to the Supreme Being. The late pagan philosophy\nasserts constantly and forcibly that the wise man\u2019s reason is able by\nitself, or rather through a celestial grace, without the intervention of\nany liturgy, to ensure its own return to its divine source. \u201cAs,\u201d says\nPorphyry, \u201che who is the priest of a particular god knows how to\nconsecrate his statues, celebrate orgies, perform initiations and\nlustrations, so the true philosopher, who is the priest of the universal\nGod, knows how to make His sacred images and to carry out His\npurifications and all the processes which will unite him to this\nGod.\u201d[292]\n\nPhilosophers were therefore the priests of the world. Their functions\nwere parallel to those of the actual priests but higher. They tended\nmore and more to form a sacerdotal order which was separated from the\nrest of human society by its customs and its way of life. Like the\nmysteries they taught that piety, temperance and continence were the\nindispensable conditions of obtaining true knowledge. This \u201cgnosis\u201d was\nno longer a traditional theology revealed in the shadow of the\nsanctuary, but a scientific truth perceived by a grace-illumined reason.\nThe philosopher took no part in the ceremonies of a complicated ritual,\nbut his prayer was the silent supplication of his intelligence seeking\nto understand creation. He did not become absorbed in the contemplation\nof idols but in the sight of the divine world and in particular of the\nstarry heavens. The end which this lonely cult strove to attain was\nanalogous to that sought by others in the conventicles of the initiate\u2014a\ndivine revelation which would give to the perfect wise man superhuman\npower, which would make him a prophet, sometimes a wonder-worker; and\nafter death, already a god on earth, he went to live in the company of\nthe gods on high.\n\nThe lifting of the reason to heaven, source of all intelligence, was\nthus the pledge of astral immortality, as the liturgical banquet was of\nthe celestial feast. As physical drunkenness, being divine possession,\nwas a prelude to the joy of the eternal repast, so spiritual ecstasy was\nthe sign of future deification.[293]\n\nThe ancients found impassioned words to depict this communion of man\nwith the starry heavens, and to express the divine love which\ntransported the soul into radiant space.[294] In the splendour of night\nthe spirit was intoxicated with the glow shed on it by the fires above.\nLike the possessed and the Corybantes in the delirium of their orgies,\nit abandoned itself to ecstasy, which set it free from its fleshly\nwrappings and lifted it up to the region of the everlasting stars. Borne\non the wings of enthusiasm it sprang to the midst of this sacred chorus\nand followed its harmonious movements. Reason, illumined by the divine\nfires which surrounded it, understood the laws of nature and the secrets\nof destiny. It then partook of the life of the light-flashing beings\nwhich from the earth it saw glittering in the radiance of the ether;\nbefore the fated term of death it had part in their wisdom and received\ntheir revelations in a stream of light which dazzled even the eye of\nreason. This sublime rapture was an ephemeral foretaste of the endless\nfelicity reserved for the sage when, after his death, rising to the\ncelestial spheres, he penetrated all their mysteries.[295]\n\n\n\n\n                                   V\n\n                             UNTIMELY DEATH\n\n\nIn the last lecture we endeavoured to show that in the ancient world\nimmortality was at first conceived as being precarious and conditional,\nand that only the heroes, the exceptional men, who were in truth gods on\nearth, obtained apotheosis after their death. We afterwards saw that the\nmysteries extended the promise of eternal salvation to all the initiate,\nwho by virtue of the rites were made equal to the gods, and finally that\nthe philosophers contested the necessity of sacred ceremonies and\naffirmed that human reason by its own unaided power could win union with\nGod.\n\nWe will now consider in more detail what lot was reserved for a special\nclass of the dead, those whose life had been interrupted by an untimely\nend, and how in their case philosophy modified the old traditional\nbeliefs.\n\nIf we turn over collections of ancient inscriptions we find, as when we\ngo through our own cemeteries, a number of epitaphs in which the grief\ncaused by the early death of a friend or relative is expressed. But in\nantiquity this sorrow was called forth not alone by regret for a loved\nbeing, too soon lost to sight, and by painful disappointment because of\nthe irreparable ruin of the hopes to which his youth had given rise.\nAlong with these human feelings, which are of all time and all\nsocieties, there were mingled in antiquity ideas which caused the loss\nof those who died before their time to seem more fearful and bitter.\n\nVirgil\u2019s celebrated lines, in which he describes the descent of Aeneas\nto Hades, will be remembered:[296]\n\n             \u201cContinuo auditae voces, vagitus et ingens,\n             Infantumque animae flentes in limine primo,\n             Quos dulcis vitae exsortes et ab ubere raptos\n             Abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo.\u201d\n\n\u201cEver were heard, on the outermost threshold, voices, a great wailing,\nthe weeping souls of infants bereft of sweet life and torn from the\nbreast, whom the ill-omened day swept off and whelmed in bitter death.\u201d\n\nIn an eschatological myth of Plutarch,[297] the traveller beyond the\ngrave also sees a deep abyss, in which moan the plaintive voices of a\nmultitude of children who had died at the moment of their birth and were\nunable to rise to heaven. It has been shown that the Latin poet and the\nGreek philosopher are here interpreters of an old Pythagorean belief, to\nwhich Plato alludes:[298] children who died young, like persons who met\nwith violent deaths, the \u1f04\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b2\u03b9\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9, found no rest in the\nother life, but their souls wandered on the earth for the number of\nyears for which their life would normally have lasted. The souls of the\nshipwrecked who perished at sea roamed the surface of the waters and\nsailors believed that they were incarnated in the seagulls.[299]\n\nHow did this belief in the miserable lot of innocent children arise? Its\norigin should probably be sought in that fear of death which haunts all\nprimitive peoples, and it developed owing to the frequency in antiquity\nof infanticide by abandoning or \u201cexposing\u201d newly born infants. Remorse\nprovoked terror. This conclusion is especially suggested because the\nfate of those who died prematurely was approximated to the lot of those\nwho died violent deaths. Beings who had been prevented from completing\nthe natural span of life were feared; their shades were conceived as\nbeing unquiet and in pain, because it was believed that they could\nreturn to disquiet and pain the living. The idea was entertained that a\nspirit brutally separated from the body came to hold it in horror and\ndid not consent to inhabit the tomb until a reconciliation had been\ndisobtained by expiatory ceremonies. Being grievously disincarnated, the\nsoul became harmful. Souls, said the ancients, whom a cruel and untimely\nend has violently or unjustly torn from their bodies, themselves tend to\nbe violent and unjust in order that they may avenge the wrong they have\nsuffered.[300] It is no rare thing to find evidence in the inscriptions\nof a suspicion that a person cut off in the flower of his years has been\nthe victim of some foul play; the curse of Heaven is called down on the\nhead of his assumed murderer. The Sun, who discovers hidden crimes, is\noften invoked in Roman epitaphs against this unknown offender:[301]\n\u201cTowards the Most High god, who watches over everything, and Helios and\nNemesis, Arsino\u00eb, dead before her time, lifts up her hands; if any one\nprepared poison for her or rejoices in her end, pursue him,\u201d says an\ninscription of Alexandria. But the victim was himself believed to be\ncapable of vengeance. It seemed incredible that one still full of\nstrength and life should be entirely blotted out and that the energy\nwhich had animated him should also have disappeared suddenly, and the\nreprisals of this mysterious power were apprehended. This spirit pursued\nabove all the murderer and, more generally, those who had given it cause\nfor complaint. It showed itself to them in the form of terrifying\nmonsters which tormented them. \u201cAs soon as I shall have expired, doomed\nto death by you,\u201d says the child in Horace whom the witches sacrificed,\n\u201cI will haunt your nights like a Fury, I will tear your faces with my\nhooked nails, as the Manes gods can, and weighing on your unquiet hearts\nI will take sleep from your affrighted eyes.\u201d[302] Suetonius[303]\nrelates that after the death of Agrippina, Nero was, on his own\nconfession, often troubled by the vision of her spectre and attempted to\ncalm her spirit by a sacrifice and an evocation which he caused his\nmagicians to make. The same historian gravely recounts that the house in\nwhich Caligula was murdered was every night haunted by dreadful\napparitions until the time when it was destroyed by fire.[304] A\nscholiast defines the _lemures_ as \u201cthe wandering shades of men who died\nbefore their normal time and are hence redoubtable.\u201d[305] Even today\npopular belief in many countries attributes a maleficent power to the\nspirits of those who have died a violent death.\n\nThese disquieting superstitions acquired new force through the teachings\nof astrology, which by incorporating them in its system gave them a\ndoctrinal foundation. Astrology spread the belief, which was and is\ncommon to all ancient and modern peoples of the East, that each soul has\na predetermined number of years to spend on earth. The _mathematici_\nmultiplied calculations and methods in order to be able to predict the\ninstant of death predetermined by the horoscope. \u201cThis is the great work\nof astrology, held by its adepts to be its most difficult and by its\nenemies to be its most dangerous and blameworthy operation.\u201d[306] But by\nan internal contradiction this pseudo-science admitted that the natural\nend could be hastened by the intervention of a murderous star\n(\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03ad\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2): Saturn and Mars can in certain positions call forth sudden\ndeath by accident, killing, execution. A fragment attributed to\nAristotle asserts that a Syrian mage predicted to Socrates that he would\nmeet such a fate.[307] Sometimes the maleficent planets tear a nursing\nchild from its mother\u2019s breast before a single revolution of the sun has\nbeen accomplished. All astrological treatises devote chapters to these\n\u201cunfed\u201d children (\u1f04\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9) and also to the _biothanati_ whose life has\nbeen interrupted by misfortunes of any kind. Petosiris was even\nconcerned to discover\u2014Ptolemy declared such preoccupation to be\nridiculous[308]\u2014what the stars reserved until the end of their life for\nthose who had gone through only a portion of it. The texts which have\nbeen preserved\u2014and often expurgated\u2014by the Byzantines give no more than\na bare indication of astral influences on the lot of men. In antiquity\nother more religious and more mystical works doubtless existed in which\nthe inauspicious action of the murderous star, still affecting after\ndeath the souls torn from their mortal wrappings, was shown.\n\nPythagorism, which was closely connected with astrology, took possession\nof these ideas and adapted them to its speculations. According to this\nphilosophy one and the same harmony presided over all physical phenomena\nand was, like music, subject to laws of number. These laws therefore\nwere at work during pregnancy, and a complicated arithmetic was employed\nto show by a multiplication of days that a child might be born after\nseven or nine months with power to live, but not after eight, for such\nwas the strange doctrine of the sect. Thus gestation became a melody in\nwhich abortion was a false note.\n\nNature was said to be like an artist who sometimes breaks an instrument\nof which he overstretches the chords, and sometimes leaves them too\nslack and can produce no tune. Now, these harmonic laws necessarily\ndetermined not only the formation but also the end of man: \u201cThere is a\nfixed relation of determined numbers which unites souls to bodies,\u201d says\na philosopher, \u201cand while it subsists, the body continues to be animate,\nbut so soon as it fails, the hidden energy which maintained this union\nis dissolved, and this is what we call destiny and the fatal time of\nlife.\u201d[309] When the term fixed by nature is reached, the soul departs\nwithout effort from the body in which it can no longer exercise its\noffice. But when the soul is violently ejected from the body and the\nlink connecting them is broken by an external force, it is troubled and\nis afflicted by an ill which will cause it pain in the Beyond.\n\nThese ideas had sunk deep into the popular mind. The distinction between\nan end in conformity with nature and one unexpectedly provoked by\nextraneous intervention is often expressed in literature as well as in\ninscriptions. Thus the epitaph of a young woman of twenty-eight, who was\nbelieved to have been the victim of witchcraft, states that \u201cher spirit\nwas torn from her by violence rather than returned to nature,\u201d[310]\nwhich had lent it to her; the Manes or the celestial gods will be the\navengers of this crime. Still more frequently an opposition is found\nbetween an early death and _Fatum_. The hour of death is determined at\nthe moment of birth:\n\n         \u201cNascentes morimur; finisque ab origine pendet.\u201d[311]\n\n\u201cAt the moment we are born, we die; and our end is fixed from our\nbeginning.\u201d He who reaches this term fixed for his life ends \u201con his\nday\u201d (_suo die_); otherwise he dies \u201cbefore his day\u201d (_ante diem_).[312]\nThe vulgar belief was that the intervention of a human or divine will\ncould oppose the fated course of things and abridge the normal duration\nof existence. Often the expression occurs of a belief that a demon or,\nwhat is more remarkable, an evil god has carried off innocent children\nor young men whose life has thus been shortened.[313] But pagan theology\nundertook the task of re-establishing the order of nature thus disturbed\nby fortuitous accidents and by individual and unregulated interferences.\nThe breaking of the laws of the universe was only apparent: a soul might\nby mischance or by a malevolent act be suddenly severed from its body,\nbut, remaining obedient to Fate, it had thereafter to linger on earth\nuntil its appointed time was accomplished.\n\nIts lot was supposed to be analogous to that of the unfortunate who had\nbeen deprived of burial (\u1f04\u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9, _insepulti_) of whom we spoke in our\nfirst lecture.[314] It circled about the corpse, which it could not\nabandon, or fluttered here and there near the place of burial or on the\nspot where the body which it had occupied had been assailed. Excluded\nfrom the abode of the shades these wandering souls flitted near the\nearth or on the surface of the waters, miserable and plaintive. The fear\nof never being able to penetrate into the kingdom of blessed shades\nseems to have inspired the following prayer, which occurs in a metrical\nepitaph of Capri:[315]\n\n\u201cYou who dwell in the country of Styx, beneficent demons, receive me too\ninto Hades, me the unfortunate who was not borne away in accordance with\nthe judgment of the Fates, but by a hasty and violent death provoked by\nunjust anger.\u201d\n\nThese brutally disincarnated souls became like the swift and harmful\nspirits with which the air was filled: like them they belonged to the\ntrain of Hecate, the goddess of enchantment, and like them were subject\nto the power of magicians. At Lesbos, Gello, a young virgin carried off\nbefore her time, became a phantom which killed children and caused\npremature deaths.[316] The leaden tablets, which were slipped into tombs\nin order to injure an enemy, and the magic papyri of Egypt bear a large\nnumber of incantations in which these mischievous demons are invoked. In\nthe same way a series of conjurations, dating from the third century and\nfound in the island of Cyprus, appeal to the spirits of the dead thrown\nin the common ditch, \u201cwho have met their death by violence, or before\ntheir time, or who have been deprived of burial.\u201d[317] In general the\nsacrifice of newly born children, and the use of their vital organs and\nbones, was, and not without reason, a most frequent charge against\nsorcerers. Formulas preserved on papyrus recommend as powerful means to\nwork a charm \u201ca baby\u2019s heart, the blood of a dead maiden, and the\ncarrion of a dog.\u201d[318] Witches were believed to steal children in order\nto use the entrails in their occult operations, a ritualistic murder\nanalogous to that attributed by popular belief, in some countries, to\nthe Jews. Cicero, Horace in an epode, Petronius in his romance,[319] and\nother authors bear witness to the extent to which this opinion was\nentertained. The epitaph of a young slave of Livia, wife of Drusus,\nrelates his misfortune. Before he was four years old he was cut off by\nthe cruel hand, the \u201cblack hand\u201d of a witch, who practised her noxious\nart everywhere. \u201cGuard well your children, ye parents,\u201d adds the\nepitaph.[320]\n\nLikewise the murder of adults and the use made of objects which had\nbelonged to executed or murdered persons is frequently mentioned. The\nwonder-workers believed that by practising with the bodies of this class\nof the dead, or with objects they had used, they became masters of their\nwandering souls and made them serve their designs. The nails of a\ncrucified criminal, the bloodsoaked linen of a gladiator, were\nefficacious amulets.[321] Faith is still kept nowadays in the rope which\nhas hanged a man.[322] The books which circulated under the name of\nHostanes the Persian, Nectabis the Egyptian and other illustrious\nwizards dealt with evocations of \u1f04\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 and \u03b2\u03b9\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9.[323]\n\nThus a logical series of beliefs was pushed to its extreme consequence.\nAt the moment of birth Fate fixed for each man the length of his career;\nif this were interrupted, the soul had to complete it in suffering, near\nthe earth, and became a demon which lent its aid to diviners and\nsorcerers. This doctrine, supported by astrology and Oriental magic,\nimposed itself on many minds. Plato, who had found it among the\nPythagoreans, alludes to it, and Posidonius seems to have dealt with it\nmore at length in his treatise \u201cOn Divination\u201d (\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u03bc\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u1fc6\u03c2),[324]\nalthough we cannot tell in how far he supported it. But it encountered\nthe objections of other Greek philosophers. The reproach made to this\ntheory was that it left out of account morality and merited retribution,\nand brought together, as subject to the same misfortune, criminals\ncondemned to capital punishment and children whose age had kept them\nfrom all sin. Feeling and reason at the same time protested against the\ncruel doctrine which vowed indifferently the innocent and the guilty to\nlong torture. When accident or illness caused the death of a beloved\nson, could his parents make up their mind to believe that he would\nsuffer undeserved chastisement? A distinction had to be made between\ncategories of persons, and to this task the pagan theologians applied\nthemselves. Let us follow them in their undertaking.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe \u1f04\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 are those who die \u201cout of season,\u201d that is to say, in the wide\nsense of the word, those whose existence ends abnormally, but more\nparticularly those who die young, who die prematurely. They include the\n\u1f00\u03bd\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9, those who have received no name, who have not, that is,\nreached the ninth or tenth day of life, the \u1f04\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9, _non nutriti_, or\nbabes who are still being fed at the breast or, according to the\nastrologers, are not yet a year old, and the \u1f04\u03b3\u03b1\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9, the _innupti_, who\nhave died before the age of marriage and have therefore left no\nposterity to render them funeral rites.\n\nNone of these children and adolescents deserved, in the opinion of the\nsages, any chastisement. The Pythagoreans placed the age of reason, at\nwhich man is capable of choosing between good and evil and may be made\nresponsible for his faults, as late as sixteen, that is, the age of\npuberty. Until that age the \u201cnaked\u201d soul, without virtue as without\nvice, was exempt from all merit and demerit which would later attach to\nit. We know the unhappy lot to which, according to these philosophers,\nthey were doomed. But other theologians considered that these souls,\nwhich had not been weighted by a long contact with matter, should fly\nmore easily to celestial heights. Unsullied by earthly pollution, their\npurity allowed them to rise without difficulty to a better life in a\nhappier abiding-place.[325]\n\nIt is hard to determine to what degree these moral ideas had penetrated\nthe popular mind. The reaction against a superstitious belief often led\nto pure negation. Those who held that death put an end to all\nsensibility, were content to affirm that the child they wept had gone\ndown into everlasting night, and that nothing was left of him but dust\nand ashes. Certain epitaphs hope that, if his Manes still have some\nfeeling, his bones may rest quietly in the tomb. But mother\u2019s love was\nnot to be satisfied with this negative assurance or to resign itself to\nanxious doubting. The people kept an unreasoning fear of the evils which\nawaited the \u1f04\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9, and of those which might be expected from them. Some\nalso believed that an ancestral fault\u2014such as was, according to the\nOrphic doctrine, the murder of Zagreus, by the Titans\u2014made all humanity\nguilty from birth, and that this hereditary sin had to be effaced by\npurifications.[326] Religion offered a remedy for the ill to which, to\nspeak with Lucretius, it had itself lent persuasion. The custom of\ninitiating children to the mysteries which was, at least at Eleusis,\noriginally connected with the family or gentile cult, became a means of\npreserving them from the fatal lot which threatened them and of ensuring\ntheir happiness in the other life. Thus _pueri_ and _puellae_ are found\nadmitted at the most tender age among the adepts of the secret cults,\nboth Greek and Oriental, perhaps even consecrated from birth to the\ngodhead. They are imagined as partaking in the Beyond of the joys which\nthese cults promised to those whose salvation they ensured. A child who\nhas taken part in a ceremony of Bacchus lives endowed with eternal youth\nin the Elysian Fields in the midst of Satyrs.[327] Others continue the\ngames proper to their years in another life, or if they have reached the\nage of first love they still sport with young Eros. Above all, however,\nthe influence of the astral cults, added to that of philosophy, brought\nabout an admission that innocent creatures ascended to the starry\nheavens. An epitaph of Thasos[328] speaks of a virgin, flower-bearer\n(\u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03bf\u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2) probably of Demeter and Kora, who was carried off at the age\nof thirteen by the inexorable Fates, but who, \u201cliving among the stars,\nby the will of the immortals, has taken her place in the sacred abode of\nthe blessed.\u201d At Amorgos, a child of eight was, we are assured, led by\nHermes to Olympus, shone in the ether, and would henceforth protect the\nyoung wrestlers who emulated him in the palaestra. Even the precise spot\nin which he twinkled was fixed, the horn of the constellation of the\nGoat\u2014an appropriate place for this little fighter.[329] Curiously, an\nepitaph of Africa, which repeats Virgil\u2019s very expression (p. 129),\nstates, in contradiction to the poet, that a baby, \u201ccut off on the\nthreshold of life,\u201d has not gone to the Manes but to the stars of\nheaven,[330] and a relief of Copenhagen shows the bust of a little girl\nwithin a large crescent surrounded by seven stars, thus indicating that\nshe has risen towards the moon, the abode of blessed souls.[331]\n\nExamples of these premature apotheoses might be multiplied. I shall\nmerely show, by a characteristic case, how it was possible for old\npopular beliefs to be combined with the new astral doctrine. The\nancients attributed to the rustic nymphs the strange powers which the\nGreek peasant today recognises in beings which he still designates as\nthe Nereids.[332] Sometimes these fantastical goddesses possess\nthemselves of the spirit of men and change them into seers or maniacs\n\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03cc\u03bb\u03b7\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9; sometimes their fancy is caught by handsome youths whom\nthey carry off and oblige to live with them. But above all they love\npretty children and steal them from their parents, not to harm them but\nin order that they may take part in their own divine pastimes. Doubtless\nit was at first to mountain caverns, near limpid springs, in the depths\nof tufted woods, that they bore him whom they made their little\nplayfellow. Such were the archaic beliefs of the country folk. But the\nmysteries of Bacchus taught that an innocent child, thus rapt from the\nearth, mingled in the train of the Naiads in the flowery meadows of the\nElysian Fields;[333] and when Paradise was transferred to the sky it was\nin the \u201cimmortal dwelling-place of the ether\u201d that the nymphs, we are\ntold, placed a little girl whose charm had seduced them.[334]\n\nTransported thus to heaven, these loved beings were transformed by the\ntenderness of their relatives into protectors of the family in which\ntheir memory survived, or of the friends who shared regret for them.\nWhether they were called \u201cheroes\u201d in Greek, or as elsewhere \u201cgods,\u201d[335]\nthey were always conceived as guardian powers who acknowledged by\nbenefits the worship rendered them. Thus in the middle of the second\ncentury the _familia_ of a proconsul of Asia, C. Julius Quadratus,\nhonoured a child of eight years as a hero, at the prayer of his father\nand mother;[336] and at Smyrna the parents of a dearly loved child of\nfour, raised to this baby as their tutelary god, a tomb on which an\nepitaph described in detail all his illnesses.[337]\n\nThese sentimental illusions are eternal. Nothing is more frequently seen\non tombstones in our own Catholic cemeteries than such invocations as\n\u201cDear angel in heaven, pray for us,\u201d or even a figure of a winged baby\nflying away among winged cherubs. This faith is perhaps touching, but\nits orthodoxy is doubtful. For the doctors of the Church, except Origen,\nhave, I think, never adopted the doctrine of Philo the Jew that human\nsouls can be transformed into angelic spirits. But in the oldest\nChristian epitaphs the conviction is already expressed that, since\nchildren are without sin, they will be transported by angels to the\ndwelling of the saints and there intercede for their parents. \u201cThou hast\nbeen received, my daughter, among the pious souls, because thy life was\npure from all fault, for thy youth ever sought only innocent play,\u201d[338]\nsays a metrical epitaph, once under the portico of St. Peter\u2019s. And\nanother and older epitaph is as follows, \u201cEusebius, a child without sin\nbecause of his age, admitted to the abode of the saints, rests there in\npeace.\u201d[339] Still others end with the words \u201cPray for us,\u201d \u201c_Pete pro\nnobis_.\u201d\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThus little by little in antiquity the conviction gained strength and\nbecame predominant that, as Menander said with another meaning, whom the\ngods love die young.[340] As to individuals whose days were cut short by\na violent blow, they were not uniformly in the same case. The theorists\nhere distinguished among different categories of the _biothanati_.[341]\nThe classification seems to have originated with the astrologists who\nclaimed to enumerate, in accordance with the position of Mars and\nSaturn, all the kinds of death reserved for victims of these murderous\nplanets, and to foretell whether these unfortunates were to be drowned,\nburnt, poisoned, hanged, beheaded, crucified, impaled, crushed to death,\nthrown to the beasts, or given over to yet more atrocious tortures. But\nthe moralists here also made a point of separating the innocent from the\nguilty. Only the guilty were to suffer after death and only their souls\nwere to become demons. For, side by side with those who had deserved\ncapital punishment for their crimes, or who administered death to\nthemselves, were others cut off by a fatal accident, perhaps even killed\nwhile performing a sacred duty.\n\nSuch was the case of soldiers slain in battle. Logic ordered the\ntheologians to place them among the _biothanati_, and so they are, for\ninstance, in Virgil\u2019s sixth book of the Aeneid.[342] But death on the\nfield of honour could not be a source of infinite ills for them, and it\nwas generally admitted that, on the contrary, their courage opened for\nthem the gates of heaven.\n\n                    \u201cVirtus recludens immeritis mori\n                    Caelum,\u201d\n\nas Horace says.[343] The Greek theory of the divinity of the heroes here\ncomes to temper the severity of an unreasonable and dangerous doctrine.\nAccording to Josephus,[344] Titus, when haranguing his soldiers,\npromised immortality to such as fell bravely, and condemned the others\nto destruction. \u201cWho does not know,\u201d he asked, \u201cthat valiant souls,\ndelivered from the flesh by the sword in battle, will inhabit the purest\nof ethereal elements, and, fixed in the midst of the stars, will make\nthemselves manifest to their descendants as good genii and benevolent\nheroes? On the other hand, souls which are extinguished when their body\nis sick, vanish, even if they are free from all stain and defilement,\ninto subterranean darkness and are buried in deep oblivion.\u201d In the\nmilitary monarchies of the Hellenistic East, as in the Roman Empire,\neternal life was certainly promised to those who had perished arms in\nhand, faithful to their military duty. We know that the same belief was\ntransmitted to Islam: a Mussulman who dies in battle \u201cin the way of\nAllah\u201d is a martyr (_shah\u00eed_) to whom the joys of Paradise are assured.\nThe Jews, who had been reluctant to admit such ideas before, from the\ntime of the Maccabees onwards associated with warriors those who\nsacrificed themselves in order to be faithful to their persecuted\nreligion, and to these especially they promised a glorious immortality.\nFaith in this celestial reward was later to cause the Christians, who\nwon the martyr\u2019s crown, to face all sufferings.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe treatment which the gods reserved for another class of _biothanati_\nwas more uncertain. In the Greek cities, as in Rome, moral reproof and\nposthumous penalties were anciently attached to suicide. The old\npontifical law refused ritualistic burial to persons who had hanged\nthemselves; and instead of funeral sacrifices it prescribed for these\ndead merely the hanging up of small images (_oscilla_) consecrated to\ntheir Manes,[345]\u2014probably a magical, \u201csympathetic\u201d rite, which was\nintended to purify their wandering souls by air, as other souls were\npurified by water and fire. The horrible appearance of men who died by\nstrangulation had given rise to the belief that the breath of life had\nvainly sought to issue from their tightly closed throats.[346] A rich\ninhabitant of Sarsina in Umbria granted land for a graveyard to his\nfellow citizens, but excluded from the benefit of his gift those who had\nhired themselves as gladiators, had died by the rope by their own hand,\nor had followed an infamous calling.[347] This association shows how\nloathsome this kind of death was. Funeral colleges founded under the\nEmpire introduced into their rules a clause stipulating that if anybody\nhad for any motive whatsoever put himself to death, he should lose his\nright to burial.[348] This provision seems to have been inspired less by\nthe fear that fraud would be practised on this society of mutual\ninsurance against supreme abandonment, than by the conviction that\nfuneral honours cannot deflect the curse which weighs on the suicide and\nrenders his company undesirable for other dead.\n\nBut there was against popular opinion and religion, which attached an\nidea of infamy to self-murder, a philosophical reaction which, among the\nStoics, led to an entirely contrary moral judgment. The powerful sect of\nthe Porch caused the doctrine to prevail that suicide was in certain\ncases commendable. It saw in this end the supreme guarantee of the wise\nman\u2019s freedom, and praised those who by voluntary death had withdrawn\nfrom an intolerable life. Cato of Utica, who killed himself lest he\nshould survive liberty, was held to be the wise man\u2019s ideal, and as\nworthy of apotheosis as Hercules. He himself, who is shown to us by the\nhistorians as reading and rereading Plato\u2019s _Phaedo_ before he pierced\nhimself with his sword,[349] certainly hoped for the immortality of\nheroic souls. Here, as on other points, the Neo-Pythagoreans, and the\nNeo-Platonists after them, brought the minds of men back to the old\nreligious beliefs. Plotinus, yielding to the opinion which still\nprevailed in his time, still authorises suicide in certain cases, but we\nknow that his exhortations dissuaded his pupil Porphyry from putting an\nend to his days, when he was seized with a disgust for life. This latter\nphilosopher afterwards resolutely opposed the Stoic doctrine. Although\nthe soul, said the Pythagoreans and Platonists, is enclosed in the body\nas in a prison, in order to suffer chastisement, it is forbidden by God\nto escape therefrom by its own act. If it do so escape, it incurs from\nthe masters of its fate infinitely harder penalties. It must await the\nhour willed by these masters, and then it can rejoice in the deliverance\nwhich it obtains at the term of old age. If it itself break the link\nwhich joins it to the body, far from ridding itself of servitude, it\nremains chained to the corpse, for necessarily it is subject to passion\nat the moment of death and thus contracts impure desires. The only\nliberation worthy of the wise man is that of the soul which still dwells\nin the body but succeeds in freeing itself from all fleshly leanings and\nin thus rising, by the force of reason, from earth to heaven.[350]\n\nThe prohibition of voluntary death anticipating the hour fixed by\nProvidence for each man, was strengthened and enforced everywhere by the\nChristian Church.\n\nWith yet more cause did those who had been condemned to capital\npunishment seem to deserve posthumous torment and the pains reserved for\nthe impious. These maleficent spirits, transformed to demons, continued\nto work harm to the human race. The odium which attached to the word\n_biothanati_ ended by concentrating itself on these two classes\u2014those\nwho had committed suicide and those who had been executed. The horror\nwhich both inspired was marked by the withholding of honourable burial.\nEven in pagan times, sacred or civil law in many places denied funeral\nhonours to children who died young, and to suicides\u2014in order, says a\ntext,[351] that those who had not feared death might fear something\nafter death\u2014and, above all, to criminals, whose corpses were not\ndeposited in a tomb but were thrown without any ceremony into a common\nditch (\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ac\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd). In Rome persons executed in prison were dragged\nwith a hook through the streets to the Tiber, where they were flung into\nthe water. There was in the fact that they were deprived of funeral\nrites a second reason, besides their guilt, for their suffering in the\nBeyond.[352] Families and friends of the condemned endeavoured therefore\nto spare them this fearful penalty, and could obtain from the\nmagistrates the surrender of their bodies to them. But the authorities\noften refused this supreme consolation to Christians who wished to pay\nthis last duty to their martyred brothers. By scattering abroad the\nashes of martyrs the pagans hoped to prevent their graves from becoming\nthe sites of cults.\n\nThe denial of a religious funeral was also from the earliest time\nonwards ordered by Church discipline and sanctioned by the Councils in\nthe case of suicides, and was similarly extended, in virtue of the law\nin force, to malefactors. In the Middle Ages the corpses of criminals\nwere still to be seen carried to a shameful charnel-place in Byzantium.\nFor instance, the chronologist Theophanes[353] relates indignantly that\nin 764 the iconoclastic Emperor Constantine Copronymus caused the arrest\nof a hermit of Bithynia, who supported the cult of the images. The\nemperor\u2019s guards tied a cord round the monk\u2019s foot and dragged him from\nthe praetorium to the cemetery, where, after cutting him to pieces, they\nflung his remains into the ditch of the _biothanati_. Curiously this\nword, _biothanati_, was derisively applied to the Christians themselves,\neither because they adored a crucified Saviour, or in mockery of the\nmartyrs, who believed that through death by execution they earned a\nglorious immortality. The poet Commodianus returns this insult by\napplying the term to the pagans, whose way of life condemned them to\neverlasting flames.[354] The opprobrious word remained in use until the\nMiddle Ages, when it denoted all whose crimes deserved capital\npunishment, so that the final meaning of _biothanatus_ was gallows-bird,\ngallows-food.[355]\n\nIf the meaning of the word _biothanati_ was thus restricted in the Latin\nworld, the old ideas which it called forth have had a singular vitality\nin folk-lore, especially among the Greeks. The Greeks believe even today\nthat such as perish by a sudden and violent death became\n_vrykolakes_.[356] Their bodies can again be reanimated, can leave the\ngrave, and can travel through space with extreme rapidity as vampires\nand become so maleficent that mere contact with them causes loss of\nlife. Suicides and victims of unavenged murders are particularly\nfearful. It was the custom as late as the eighteenth century to open the\ngrave of a dead man suspected of being a _vrykolakas_, and if his body\nhad escaped corruption, thus proving his supposed character, it was cut\ninto pieces or burnt in order to prevent it from doing further harm. So\nlively did the belief remain that the _biothanatus_ could not detach\nhimself from his body, and that his existence, which had been too soon\ninterrupted, was prolonged in the tomb.\n\n\n\n\n                                   VI\n\n                       THE JOURNEY TO THE BEYOND\n\n\nAs soon as belief took shape in an underground kingdom where gathered\nthe shades which were separated from the body and from the grave, the\nidea also arose of a perilous journey which the soul must make in order\nto win to this distant abode. Such an idea is common to many peoples of\nthe world. In California, the Mojave Indians are said to believe that\nthe departed have to find their way through a complicated maze in search\nof the happy hunting grounds, which only the good souls can reach, while\nthe wicked wander painfully and endlessly. We know what minutely\ndetailed rules are contained in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, rules to\nwhich the deceased had to conform in order that they might travel safely\nto the Fields of the Blessed. The Orphic tablets, discovered in tombs in\nItaly,[357] have preserved fragments of another guide to the Beyond. For\ninstance, the tablet of Petelia, which goes back to the second or\nperhaps the third century B. C., begins thus: \u201cThou shalt find to the\nleft of the house of Hades a well-spring, and by the side thereof\nstanding a white cypress. To this well-spring approach not near. But\nthou shalt find another by the lake of Memory, cold water flowing forth,\nand there are Guardians before it. Say \u2018I am a child of Earth and of\nStarry Heaven. But my race is of Heaven (alone). This ye know\nyourselves. And so I am parched with thirst and I perish. Give me\nquickly the cold water flowing from the lake of Memory.\u2019 And of\nthemselves they will give thee to drink from the holy well-spring; and\nthereafter among the other heroes thou shalt have lordship....\u201d[358]\n\nThese instructions, which accompanied the member of the sect to his\ngrave,\u2014he bore them about his neck like an amulet,\u2014were supposed to\nenable him to keep from straying in his posthumous wanderings and help\nhim to accomplish exactly all the acts necessary for his salvation. They\nwere a sort of liturgy of the other side of the grave which would ensure\neternal happiness to the faithful. \u201cCourage (\u03b5\u1f50\u03c8\u03cd\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9); be valiant\n(\u03b8\u03ac\u03c1\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9); no man is immortal on earth,\u201d such is the exhortation\nfrequently expressed in epitaphs. It probably reproduces a ritualistic\nformula intended to sustain the shade which had to blaze its path in the\nBeyond.\n\nThe Etruscans also had _libri Acheruntici_, books of Acheron which were\nattributed to the sage Tages and which treated of the fate of the dead.\nThese made known, in particular, what were the rites by which souls\ncould be transformed into gods (_di animales_). Their very title betrays\na Greek teaching, and there are reasons for believing that the teaching\nof the Pythagoreans was not without influence on their composition.[359]\nIt is hardly doubtful that they were concerned with the path which the\nManes of human beings must follow in order to go down into the infernal\nregions. The Etruscan _stelae_ and cinerary urns often show this journey\nto Hades: sometimes the dead are placed, like heroes, in a war chariot;\nsometimes in a cart protected by a canopy and exactly copied from the\npeasants\u2019 carts; and often nothing would indicate that these travellers\nare but shades, were not the significance of the scene defined by the\npresence of some deity of the nether world, like Charon. The great\nsarcophagus of Vulci in the Boston Museum bears a fine representation of\nthis type, where the character of the travellers is shown by a winged\nFury standing behind their carriage.\n\nThus the idea that the dead have to tramp a long road descending into\nthe depths of the earth before they reach their last abode, was accepted\nin Italy as in Greece from a very ancient period. How did men imagine\nthis road? Their conception of it is connected with a whole group of\nPythagorean doctrines which go back to a remote age.\n\nThe old poetry of Hesiod already speaks of two roads of life, a short\nand easy road which is that of vice, and the path of virtue, which is at\nfirst steep and rugged but becomes less hard as soon as the top of the\nslope is reached. Everyone knows the use which the sophist Prodicus\nmakes of this ancient comparison in the famous myth of Hercules at the\ncrossroads.[360] In it, two women appear to the youthful hero, and one\nseeks to draw him to the path of deceitful pleasures while the other\nsucceeds in conducting him to the path of austere labours which leads to\ntrue happiness. This same conception, which is transmitted through the\nwhole of antiquity, inspired the Pythagoreans with the symbol of the\nletter Y, formed of a vertical spike topped by two divergent branches.\nThe spike is the road common to all men until they have reached the age\nof reason and responsibility. Subsequently they must choose between the\nright and the left branches. The former, say these moralists, is steep\nand rough and at first requires strenuous effort, but when those who\nclimb it have gained its summit they obtain a well-deserved rest. The\nother road is at first level and pleasant, but it leads to harsh rocks\nand ends in a precipice over which the wretched man who has followed it\nis hurled. This symbol was popular in antiquity as well as in the Middle\nAges, a fact of which a curious proof, additional to those in the texts,\nhas lately been found. This is a relief, accompanied by an inscription,\ndating from the first century of our era, which has been discovered at\nPhiladelphia in Lydia.[361] It decorated, as the epitaph shows, the tomb\nof a Pythagorean, and it is divided into compartments by mouldings in\nthe form of the letter Y. Below, to the right, a child is seen, in the\ncare of a woman who is designated as Virtue (\u1f08\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae); above, a ploughman,\ndriving his plough, stands for the hard and persevering labour of the\ngood man, who, still higher, lies on a couch before a table like the\nguest at a \u201cfuneral banquet\u201d because he has obtained the reward of his\ntoil. On the left side there is also, below, a woman with a child, but\nshe stands for wantonness (\u1f08\u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b5\u03af\u03b1); above her a figure is indolently\nlying on a bed; and still further above, the same figure is seen falling\ninto a gulf, head downwards, in chastisement of his vices.\n\nThese na\u00efve scenes decorated, as we have said, a burial place. Many\nother tombs are not so elaborate, but express the same symbolism by\nopposing the hard labour of man, represented on the lower part of the\nstele, to the rest which this same man enjoys on the upper part of the\nstone, that is, in heaven.[362] The symbol of the Y was early applied to\nthe future life by the Pythagoreans, who transferred the roads\nrepresenting the courses of the moral and the immoral life to Hades.\nTheir stories of the descent to the nether world depicted the journey of\nthe dead in the same way, and it is still thus described in the sixth\nbook of the Aeneid. The dead first follow a common road; and those whose\nlot is still undetermined wait in this first abode, just as on earth\nchildren are not yet separate at the uncertain age at which they have\nnot yet made their decision for virtue or for vice. At the crossroads of\nearthly existence the choice must be made; at the crossroad of the\ninfernal regions (\u03c4\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2) the judges of souls are seated,[363] and send\nto the right those who have by their merits made themselves worthy to\nenter the Elysian Fields, while they drive to the left the wicked who\nare to be hurled into Tartarus. For in both worlds \u201cright\u201d is to the\nPythagorean, as to the soothsayers, synonymous with \u201cgood,\u201d and \u201cleft\u201d\nsynonymous with \u201cevil.\u201d\n\nThe original conception was necessarily transformed and explained\nsymbolically when the abode of virtuous souls was transported to heaven.\nThe stories of the ancients were no longer taken in their literal sense,\nbut an allegorical meaning, allowing them to be brought into harmony\nwith the new beliefs, was given to them. Henceforward one of the two\nroads leads to the higher regions, the road, namely, of the Blessed\n(\u1f41\u03b4\u1f78\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03ac\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd) or of the gods. The other, the path of men, is that which\nafter long windings brings back to earth the impure souls who accomplish\nthe cycle of their migrations and must be reincarnated in new bodies.\n\nA passage of Cicero\u2019s _Tusculans_,[364] which is directly inspired by\nthe _Phaedo_ of Plato, is instructive as to the transformation which\nideas underwent. \u201cThere are,\u201d it says, \u201ctwo roads and two courses for\nsouls which issue from the body. The souls which are sullied with human\nvice and have abandoned themselves to passions ... follow a crooked path\nwhich leads them away from the dwelling of the gods; but for the souls\nwhich have kept their innocence and purity and have, while in human\nbodies, imitated the life of the gods, there is an easy return to the\nbeings from whose abode they descended to the earth.\u201d In the same way\nVirgil, as we have said elsewhere,[365] is apparently faithful to the\ntraditional topography of Hades, but does not regard it as really\nsituated in the underground. There were even attempts to fix precisely\nthe itinerary which souls had to follow in the upper spheres. Seneca\npleasantly ridicules these beliefs in his satire on the apotheosis of\nClaudius, affirming that emperors went to heaven by the Appian Way. The\nMilky Way, originally regarded as the path of the sun, remained,\naccording to an opinion which persisted until the end of antiquity, the\nroad by which gods and heroes rose to the zenith.[366] It was said to\ncut the zodiac in the tropical signs of Cancer and Capricorn, and it was\nthere that those gates opened by which souls went down from heaven to\nearth and rose from earth to heaven.[367] The former of these gates was\ncalled the Gate of Men, the other the Gate of Gods.\n\nWe will return later (p. 162) to the theories which assign different\ndwellings in the starry spheres to pure spirits and tell of their\npassing through the celestial gates. We would merely note that the\nallegory of the two roads, of which one is the road of God and heaven\nand eternal life and the other that of Satan, hell and death, is found\nin the most ancient Christian literature, and is justifiably likened by\nLactantius[368] to the Pythagorean Y, which is at the origin of all the\nlater symbolism.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut when the idea of a journey to the underworld had been transformed\ninto that of a journey to heaven, how was the power of the dead to reach\nthe upper spheres explained? What force or what vehicle raised them\nthither? Originally they made use of all the means of locomotion. They\nwent on foot, in a ship, in a carriage, on horseback, and even had\nrecourse to aviation.\n\nAmong the ancient Egyptians the firmament was conceived as being so\nclose to the mountains of the earth that it was possible to get up to it\nwith the aid of a ladder. The early texts of the Pyramids describe the\ngods helping the king to climb the last rungs of the ladder, when he\nascended to their high dwelling. Such ideas are found elsewhere, among\nthe Chinese as well as in Europe. We are told that a priest-king of a\npeople of Thrace joined tall wooden ladders together in order that he\nmight go to Hera to complain of his unruly subjects.[369] Although the\nstars had been relegated to an infinite distance in space, the ladder\nstill survived in Roman paganism as an amulet and as a symbol. Many\npeople continued to place in tombs a small bronze ladder, which recalled\nthe na\u00efve beliefs of distant ages. This means of attaining to the upper\nworld has been given to the dead man in several graves of the Rhine\nborder. In the mysteries of Mithras a ladder of seven steps, made of\nseven different metals, still symbolised the passage of the soul across\nthe planetary spheres.[370] Philo, and after him Origen,[371]\ninterpreted Jacob\u2019s ladder as the air through which the disincarnate\nsouls ascended and descended; and the patriarch\u2019s dream in the symbolism\nof the Middle Ages was still considered as a pledge of the ladder of\nsalvation leading the elect to heaven. A na\u00efve miniature of the\nillustrated manuscripts of St. John Climacus\u2014one of them is preserved in\nthe Freer collection\u2014shows monks climbing the heavenly ladder of virtues\nand welcomed at the top by Christ or by an angel, while winged demons\ntry to pull them down and make them fall into the jaws of a dragon\nbelow, which represents hell.[372] On the other hand, even in antiquity\nthe emblem of the ladder had been adopted by magic,[373] which retained\nit throughout the centuries, and to this day little ladders are sold in\nNaples as charms against the _jettatura_ or evil eye.\n\nIn Egypt the souls also travelled to the dwelling of the gods in the\nboat of Ra, the solar deity. This idea does not seem to have passed into\nthe mysteries of Isis in the West but in the East it was retained by the\nManicheans. The moon and the sun were the ships which plied through the\nheavenly spaces carrying the luminous spirits.[374] For the Greeks it\nwas to the Islands of the Blest, situated somewhere in the distant\nocean, that ships transported the dead. This crossing of the sea,\npeopled by monsters of the deep, was one of the favourite subjects of\nthe decorators of Roman sarcophagi. But under the Empire the Fortunate\nIslands, we know,[375] were often explained as being the moon and the\nsun, washed by the ether, and it was therefore to the moon that the bark\nof salvation had to bear souls across the stormy waters of matter. The\nStyx had become a celestial or aerial river; Charon, with the help of\nthe winds, caused pious souls to pass not to the subterranean world but\nto the heavenly dwelling of heroes.[376] The bark which should bear the\nBlessed to the abode of delight, where they would live together, is\noften represented in funeral sculpture,[377] and continued to be in\nChristian art, the symbol of a happy passage to the shores of Paradise.\nEpitaphs sometimes cause the passer-by to wish the dead \u201c\u0395\u1f50\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6,\u201d \u201cA\nhappy voyage!\u201d[378]\n\nThe Etruscan tombs often show the dead man on horseback on the road of\nthe underworld, and in early Greek tombs terra cotta shoes and horses\nhave been discovered which were intended to make easier the long and\ndangerous journey to the country whence there is no return. But in order\nthat a rider may win to heaven his horse must be provided with strong\nwings. Primitively these wings were probably intended to indicate only\nthe swiftness of this mythical steed.[379] But in Roman times they\nundoubtedly meant that it could fly up to the sky. The great Paris\ncameo, said to represent the apotheosis of Augustus, shows a prince of\nhis house, Germanicus or perhaps Marcellus, thus borne away by a winged\ncourser.[380] There is a similar representation on a coin which\ncommemorates the apotheosis of an empress, probably Faustina. The same\nPegasus, who probably has nothing in common with Bellerophon\u2019s steed,\nappears again on a fragment of a relief recently discovered in England\nat Corstopitum (Corbridge-on-Tyne).[381] He is carrying off a personage,\nprobably an emperor, who wears the _paludamentum_ or military cloak and\nhas his head bound with a radiate crown, on either side of whom are the\nDioscuri, the symbols of the two celestial hemispheres. The dead are\nmounted on Pegasus because he was brought into relation with the Sun,\nwho is the creator and saviour of souls.\n\nFor the same reason, because he was the sacred animal of Apollo, the\ngryphon served this purpose. Thus in the medallion which decorates the\nstucco vault of a tomb on the Latin Way this winged monster carries on\nhis strong back a veiled figure, covered with a long garment, who can be\nno other than the shade of the dead man wrapped in the shroud.[382]\n\nThroughout antiquity, however, the departed travelled most frequently in\na chariot, which had in the Roman period become the chariot of the\nSun-god.[383] The idea that the divine charioteer drives a team across\nthe heavenly field existed in very early times in Babylon and Syria, as\nwell as in Persia and in Greece. \u201cThe horses of fire and the chariot of\nfire\u201d which carried up the prophet Elijah in a whirlwind[384] are very\nprobably the horses and the chariot of the Sun. In the same way when\nMithras\u2019 mission on earth was fulfilled, he was conveyed in the chariot\nof Helios to the celestial spheres over the ocean, as we see on the\nreliefs found in his temples, and the happy lot which the hero had won\nfor himself he granted also to his followers. The emperors in particular\nwere commonly reputed to become companions of the Sun-god after death,\nas they had been under his protection in life, and to drive with him up\nto the summit of the eternal vaults. According to a papyrus recently\nfound in Egypt,[385] Phoebus, when informing the people of the death of\nTrajan and the accession of Hadrian, stated in set terms, \u201cI have just\nrisen with Trajan on a car drawn by white horses, and I come to you, O\npeople, to announce that a new prince, Hadrian, has made all things\nsubject to him, by his virtue and by the fortune of his divine father.\u201d\nThe writers and the figured monuments show us other deified rulers\nwinning to heaven in a similar way. At the very end of paganism an\noracle, addressing Julian the Apostate, predicted that he would be\n\u201cconducted to Olympus in a flaming chariot shaken by stormy whirlwinds,\nand would reach the paternal palace of ethereal light.\u201d[386] It was not\nonly princes who were privileged to be drawn by the swift team of the\nroyal star. The chariot appears on tombs of very humble persons to\nsuggest their lot in after life.[387]\n\nYet more rapid was another method of mounting up to the stars. Among all\nthe peoples of the eastern Mediterranean basin the idea was anciently\nspread that the essence or the spirit which animates man escapes from\nthe body in the shape of a bird, especially a bird of prey, for in order\nnot to perish this soul must feed on blood, the principle of life. The\ngravestones and funeral vases of Greece give us a large number of\nrepresentations of the bird-soul.[388] In the Roman period vestiges of\nthis conception persisted. In Syria an eagle with spread wings occupies\non tombs the place filled elsewhere by the portrait of the dead\nman.[389] Magic had retained this ancient belief with not a few others,\nfor superstition picks up many ideas that have dropped out with the\nprogress of religion. Sorcerers asserted that they could cause wings to\ngrow from the backs of their dupes, so as to enable them to soar up to\nheaven. One of the marvels which miracle-mongers most frequently boasted\nof working was that of ascending into the air. The phenomena of\nlevitation are said to be produced at all periods. When writers tell us\nthat the pure soul \u201cflies away\u201d to the sky on swift wings, the\nexpression, which since Plato[390] has been often repeated, and is still\nin use nowadays, is no mere metaphor but rather a traditional\nexpression, first taken in its material sense and preserved in language,\nultimately acquiring a figurative meaning. A late epigram composed on\nPlato\u2019s burial place[391] says: \u201cEagle, why art thou perched above this\ntomb and why dost thou look at the gods\u2019 starry dwelling?\u2014I am the image\nof Plato\u2019s soul who has flown away to Olympus. The earth of Attica holds\nhis earth-born body.\u201d Lucian in his Icaromenippus ridiculed the claims\nof the philosophers, showing Menippus attaching wings to his shoulders\nin order that he might take his flight to the stars and thus learn the\nsecrets of the world.\n\nThe original idea of the bird-soul was transformed into that of the soul\nlifted aloft by a bird. It was in Syria that this change took\nplace.[392] A widely held belief in the Roman period was that the soul\nwas carried away by an eagle, which in Syria was the bird of the sun.\nThe sun being conceived as a winged disk which flew through the\ncelestial spaces could easily be connected with an eagle. The king of\nbirds was the servant or the incarnation of the star-king, to whom he\nbore his precious burden. This is why an eagle, preparing for flight and\nholding the crown of victory, is a usual motif of sepulchral decoration\nat Hierapolis and throughout northern Syria. The powerful bird of prey\nlifted not with his claws, as he did Ganymede, but on his back, mortals\nwho rose to heaven. This soul-bearing eagle passed to Italy with the\nceremonial of the apotheosis. At the funeral rites of emperors at Rome\nthere was always fastened to the top of the pyre, on which the corpse\nwas to be consumed, an eagle which was supposed to bear aloft the\nmonarch\u2019s soul, and art frequently represents the busts of the Caesars\nresting on an eagle in the act of taking flight, by way of suggesting\ntheir apotheosis. The eagle, which is the bird of the Baals, solar gods,\ncarries to his master those who have been his servants and\nrepresentatives in the world below. This kind of aviation was not\npeculiar to monarchs. The eagle often has this meaning in funeral art. I\nwill instance a stele, found in Rome and preserved in the museum of\nCopenhagen.[393] On this a young man, draped in a toga, is comfortably\nseated on an eagle, which is rising to the sky; to his right a winged\nchild, bearing a torch, seems to point out the way to him. It is\nPhosphorus, the morning star, whom Roman art often represented in this\nform, before the chariot of the Sun. An altar recalls the cult of which\nthe dead man will henceforth be the object on earth, and a wreath on the\npediment stands for the victory which he has won over death.\n\nAll these supposed methods of reaching heaven are most primitive: they\nstart from the supposition that a _load_ has to be lifted up; they\nhardly imply a separation of body and soul; and they are antecedent to\nthe distinctions which philosophers established between different parts\nof man\u2019s being. They are religious survivals of very ancient conceptions\nwhich only vulgar minds still interpreted literally. These mechanical\nmeans of raising oneself to the starry vault carry us back to an\nextremely low stage of beliefs. Hence theologians no longer accepted\nthem save as symbols. Other doctrines of a more advanced character were\ndeveloped and these constituted the true teaching of the great Oriental\nmysteries, just as they had secured the adhesion of thinking men. They\nconnected the ascent of the soul after death with physical and ethical\ntheories and thus caused sidereal immortality to enter into the order of\nthe universe.[394]\n\nThe first of these theories was that of _solar attraction_. We have\nalready described the doctrine, certainly of eastern origin, that the\nsun by a series of emissions and absorptions projected souls onto the\nearth and drew them back to itself.[395] This unceasing action of the\nresplendent luminary of day was exercised through the force of its\nrays,[396] and very old Greek ideas here mingled with the \u201cChaldean\u201d\ntheory. The Pythagoreans already believed that the glittering particles\nof dust which danced ceaselessly in a sunbeam (\u03be\u03cd\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1) were souls\ndescending from the ether borne on the wings of light. The air, they\nsaid, was \u201cfull of souls,\u201d we might say \u201cof germs\u201d or \u201cmicrobes.\u201d[397]\nThey added that this sunbeam, passing through the air and through water\ndown to the depths of the sea, gave life to all things below.[398] This\nidea persisted under the Roman Empire in the theology of the mysteries.\nSouls descended upon the earth and reascended after death towards the\nsky, thanks to the slanting rays of the sun which served as the means of\ntransport. The sun is the \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2, \u201che who brings up from below.\u201d On\nMithraic reliefs one of the seven rays which surround the head of Sol\nInvictus (\u03b8\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f11\u03c0\u03c4\u03ac\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2) is seen disproportionately prolonged towards\nthe dying Bull, in order to awake the new life that is to spring from\nthe death of the cosmogonic animal. \u201cThe Sun,\u201d says the Emperor Julian,\n\u201cby the invisible, immaterial, divine and pure essence which dwells in\nits rays, attracts and raises the blessed souls.\u201d[399]\n\nIn this theory it is to the power of the Sun, the great cosmic divinity,\nthat the ascension of the soul is due. According to another doctrine the\ncause of this ascension is the physical nature of the soul.\n\nThis latter doctrine is set forth with great precision by Cicero in the\nTusculan Disputations, and by Sextus Empiricus, doubtless after\nPosidonius.[400] The soul is a fiery breath, that is to say, its\nsubstance is the lightest of the four elements which compose our\nuniverse. It necessarily therefore has a tendency to rise, for it is\nwarmer and more subtle than the gross and dense air which encircles the\nearth. It will the more easily cleave this heavy atmosphere since\nnothing moves more rapidly than a spirit. It must therefore in its\ncontinuous ascent pass through that zone of sky where gather the clouds\nand the rain and where blow the winds,[401] and which by reason of\nexhalations from the earth is moist and misty. When finally it reaches\nthe spaces filled by an air which is rarefied and warmed by the sun, it\nfinds elements similar to its own substance and, ceasing to ascend, is\nmaintained in equilibrium.[402] Henceforth it dwells in these regions\nwhich are its natural home, continually vivified by the same principles\nas those that feed the everlasting fires of the stars.\n\nWe shall presently see how the Platonists modified this Stoic doctrine,\nand substituted that of the \u201cvehicle\u201d (\u1f44\u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1) of souls.\n\nThese theories made it easier than the first one had done to establish a\nfirm connection between ethical beliefs concerning future destiny and\nphysical theories about the constitution of the universe and the nature\nof man. The soul is never conceived by these theologians as purely\nspiritual or immaterial, but when it abandons itself to the passions it\nbecomes gross; its substance grows more corporeal; and then it is too\nheavy to rise to the stars and gain the spheres of light.[403] Its mere\ndensity will compel it to float in our mephitic atmosphere until it has\nbeen purified and consequently lightened. Thus the door is opened to all\ndoctrines concerning punishment beyond the grave. We shall show in\nanother lecture[404] how the soul was to be purified by passing through\nthe elements which moved in sublunary space\u2014air, water and fire.\n\nBut, side by side with physical ideas, mythological beliefs always\nretained their sway. According to the common creed, the air was peopled\nwith troops of perverse and subtle demons. They were, it was thought,\nthe guilty souls whose faults condemned them to wander perpetually near\nthe surface of the earth. They took pleasure in inflicting a thousand\ntortures on their fellow souls, when these, by their impiety, were left\ndefenceless against them. But succouring powers protected the good\nagainst these perverse spirits. Thus the atmosphere became the scene of\nan unceasing struggle between demons of every kind, a struggle in which\nthe salvation of the soul was at stake.\n\nThe dangers to which the soul was exposed did not always end when, after\nhaving crossed the most dangerous zone of the air, it reached the\nmoon.[405] Those who believed that souls must pass through the planetary\nspheres conceived these as pierced by a gate guarded by a commander\n(\u1f04\u03c1\u03c7\u03c9\u03bd) or, as they were also called, by toll gatherers (\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1). The\nmystics claimed to supply their initiates with the passwords which\ncaused the incorruptible keepers to yield. They taught prayers or\nincantations which rendered hostile powers propitious; by \u201cseals\u201d and\nunctions they made their followers immune against the blows of such\nenemies. These instructions, which were previously given to the dead in\norder to facilitate their descent to the nether world (p. 148), now\nserved to make the ascent to heaven easy. In this matter the magicians\nemulated the priests, even claiming to show to their clients the way\nleading to heaven during life. The papyrus of Paris, wrongly called the\n\u201cMithraic Liturgy,\u201d[406] affords the most characteristic example of this\nsuperstitious literature.\n\nBut, above all, the secret cults claimed to supply the soul with a guide\nto lead it during its risky journey through the whirlwinds of air, water\nand fire and the moving spheres of heaven. Plato in the _Phaedo_ had\nalready spoken of this demon leader (\u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03ce\u03bd) of the dead,[407] and the\nsame word is applied to the \u201cpsychopompos,\u201d whether demon, angel or god,\nnot only by Neo-Platonist philosophers but also in epitaphs. Thus the\nfuneral inscription of a sailor, who died at Marseilles,[408] says:\n\u201cAmong the dead there are two companies; one moves upon the earth, the\nother in the ether among the choruses of stars. I belong to the latter,\nfor I have obtained a god for my guide.\u201d This divine escort of souls\nfrequently retains the name of Hermes in conformity with the old\nmythology, for Hermes is the Psychopompos who leads the shades to their\nsubterranean abode and moreover summons them and brings them back, in\nanother migration, to the earth. An epigram belonging to the first\ncentury of our era apostrophises the deceased with these words: \u201cHermes\nof the winged feet, taking thee by the hand, has conducted thee to\nOlympus and made thee to shine among the stars.\u201d[409] But often the r\u00f4le\nof escort devolved on the Sun himself. We have seen (p. 157) that at the\nend of paganism the star-king is figured as carrying mortals in his\nflying chariot; and the emperor Julian, at the end of his satire on the\nCaesars, represents himself as addressed by Hermes, who states that in\ncausing him to know Mithras he rendered propitious to him this\nleader-god (\u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03bd), who will enable him to leave the earth with\nthe hope of a better lot.\n\nIn these beliefs we see persisting to the end of paganism the old\nconception that heroes could be carried off to heaven, body and\nsoul.[410] It was never entirely given up by popular faith, and appears\nnotably in ideas as to the apotheosis of the emperors, although learned\ntheology rose in arms against it and affirmed that nothing terrestrial\ncould be admitted into the ethereal spheres. Antinous and Apollonius of\nTyana are thus said to have been borne away and to have continued\nwithout interruption the life they had begun on earth.[411]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe are thus brought to ask ourselves how, at the very time when the\nconception of the journey of the dead was being transformed, the idea\nentertained as to the physical character of the dead also underwent a\nchange. Let us, in conclusion, seek briefly to trace the course of this\nevolution.\n\nOriginally, as we said at the beginning of these lectures, two beliefs\nas to life beyond the grave existed together. On the one hand, the\nillusion was kept that the corpse which lay in the grave continued in\nsome obscure way to live, feel and nourish itself there. Side by side\nwith this simple faith the idea was maintained that the soul is a\nbreath, emitted by the dying man, which floats in the atmosphere and\nwhich reproduces, when it makes itself visible in dreams and apparitions\nor in remembrance, the outward appearance of the person from whom it\nissued.[412]\n\nThese two conceptions of life beyond the grave are combined in the\nnature with which the inhabitants of the infernal regions are credited,\nand give these fantastic beings a character full of contradictions.\nCicero justly remarks that acts are attributed to them which would be\nconceivable only if they had bodies. Thus they are supposed to speak,\nalthough they have neither tongue, palate, throats nor lungs.[413] The\ncommon belief was indeed that the shades fed, even in their deep abode,\non the offerings made on their burial places; and the pains which might\nbe inflicted on them presupposed that they had retained the sensibility\nand needs of men; while the pleasures accorded to them in the Elysian\nFields were in part very material\u2014to participate in a banquet was an\nessential part of them.[414]\n\nHence, when the dead showed themselves, they were sometimes given the\nappearance not of the living being but of the corpse: it was the body,\nas it was when buried, which issued from the entrails of the earth.\nEnnius, when he showed Homer appearing to him in a dream, said that the\nshades were \u201cof prodigious paleness,\u201d[415] and the idea is often\nexpressed that ghosts are bloodless in colour. Not only are their faces\nwan: their mouths are mute; they are the _taciti_, the silent Manes.\nMuch more, it is sometimes in the form of skeletons that they return to\nterrify men. The most usual way of figuring the soul in funeral\nsculpture is to show a person completely wrapped, save for his face, in\na long garment, the shroud in which his body was buried.[416]\n\nBut on the other hand, side by side with this more or less unconscious\nbelief as to a survival of the body, the soul continued to be regarded\nas a light breath. The beings who peopled the infernal regions were\nimagined as almost immaterial forms. They were called \u201cshades\u201d (\u03c3\u03ba\u03b9\u03b1\u03af,\n_umbrae_) or \u201cimages\u201d (\u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03b1, _simulacra_). The former term implies,\nbesides the idea of a subtle essence, the notion that the inhabitants of\nthe dusky spaces underground were black, and this is in fact the colour\noften given to them. It is also the colour of the victims offered them\nand of the mourning garments worn in their honour. These sombre\nphantoms, which passed unnoticed in the darkness of night, returned\nafter the sunset to haunt the houses of men, and this is why the\n_Inferi_ or beings of the nether world are above all appeased by\nnocturnal sacrifices.\n\nThe words \u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd, _simulacrum_, _imago_, especially express the\ncomplete resemblance of the dead to the living. Are not the beings who\nreturn to talk with us in dreams exactly like the persons we have known?\nThis tenuous image was compared to the reflection seen on limpid waters\nor on the polished surface of metal.[417] Both alike reproduced the\nfeatures and colour and imitated the movements of those whom they\nfaithfully expressed. This is why magicians often made use of mirrors in\norder to evoke the spirits of the departed.[418] As to the nature of\nthese _simulacra_, the ancients agree in declaring them to be material,\nfor how otherwise could they convey sensual impressions? But their\nsubstance is of an extreme subtlety. They are forms which are corporeal\nbut empty, flimsy, impalpable, often of such rarity that they remain\ninvisible. They are compared to the wind, for the wind is the air in\nmotion, to a vapour, to a smoke which escapes so soon as its restraint\nis attempted.\n\nThis shade, formed of a light fluid, has a form which is necessarily\nmalleable and yielding. The fact is thus explained that souls can take\non various appearances and sometimes let themselves be seen as terrible\nmonsters, especially if they are the souls of criminals who have become\nmaleficent spirits.[419] Heroes, on the contrary, whose virtue has\nenabled them to be borne to heaven, appear to be of more than natural\nstature when they descend from the ether; they are surrounded by a\nradiant nimbus, and their resplendent beauty strikes with admiration\nthose who perceive them.\n\nBut here the ancients were faced with the question as to whether that\npart of the human composition which won to heaven was the same as that\nwhich descended to the infernal regions.\n\nAs to this puzzling question there arose in the Alexandrian period a\ntheory unknown to ancient Greece,\u2014we have already touched on this\npoint[420]\u2014the theory that man is formed not of two elements but of\nthree, namely, the soul (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae, _anima_), the shade (\u03c3\u03ba\u03b9\u03ac, \u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd,\n_umbra_, _simulacrum_) and the body (\u03c3\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b1, _corpus_). This doctrine\nclaimed to be justified by a passage in Homer, in fact an interpolation,\nas to the apotheosis of Hercules, but it was manifestly borrowed from\nEgyptian religion by the Pythagoreans of Alexandria. For Egyptian\nreligion is \u201cpolypsychic\u201d and distinguishes different kinds of souls. So\nthe _ka_ or \u201cDouble\u201d has been explained as a living and coloured\nprojection of the individual whom it reproduced feature by feature,\nwhich inhabited the tomb, but could leave it and return to it as freely\nas a man to his house. The _ba\u00ef_, on the other hand, is thought to be a\nmore refined matter which enclosed a portion of the celestial fire and\nwhich departed to another world. Certain Alexandrian Pythagoreans\ntherefore admitted that when the soul was not entirely purified, it\nremained joined to its idolon in the infernal regions, which were for\nthem situated in the atmosphere, but they held that when it had entirely\nfreed itself from matter it rose towards the ether, and left only the\n_idolon_ in the neighbourhood of the earth.[421]\n\nThis theory was to be variously transformed, but it is at the foundation\nof all the subsequent development of the doctrines as to the return of\nthe soul to heaven. The triple division most usually adopted is not the\none I have just cited but the division into reason (\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 or \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1),\nsoul (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae) and body. What becomes in this case of the image (\u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd)?\nThe theologians assimilated it to the irrational soul or \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae, as\nopposed to the higher understanding. This image thus became the seat not\nonly of vegetative and unconscious life\u2014a theory which would be in\nconformity with the Homeric sense of the word\u2014but also of sensitive and\nemotional life. This soul or shade at first remained united to the\n_nous_, which it surrounded with its vaporous envelope. Even after it\nhad left the earthly body, reason was still imprisoned in an aerial\nbody: the two dwelt in the infernal regions, that is, in sublunary\nspace, until they had been purified by the elements. They then, as we\nhave seen elsewhere,[422] left the atmospheric Hades in order to be\nadmitted into the Elysian Fields, that is to say, into the moon. There\nthe thin veils in which reason was still wrapped were dissolved. Reason,\na sublime essence, rose again towards the sun and the higher spheres.\n\nSo the shades of the old mythology had become a garment of which reason\nrid itself, when it left this lower world to attain to its celestial\nhome. But the theologians disputed at length on the origin of this\npsychic integument. When it was admitted that the passions and emotions\nwere due to the action of the planets, the \u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd, being conceived, as\nwe have said, to be the seat of sensitive life, had necessarily to be\nformed in the seven spheres, through which the soul passed as it\ndescended to earth, and to be decomposed when it passed through them\nagain in its ascension.[423] This is the doctrine supported by the\nNeo-Platonists. They merely apply a new name to this cloak of reason,\nthat of vehicle (\u1f44\u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1), which is at first synonymous with \u03b5\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd as\nthis word was last accepted. Plato in his myths had several times spoken\nof the chariot (\u1f44\u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1) in which souls ascended, especially in the famous\npassage of the Phaedrus, where he depicted them as trying to follow the\ncourse of the gods towards the summit of heaven,[424] and above all in\nthe Timaeus, where he says that God, having made men equal in number to\nthe stars, caused them to mount on these stars as on a chariot.[425]\nThis vehicle was, according to the philosopher\u2019s late interpreters, an\nethereal envelope, analogous to the \u201castral body\u201d of modern\ntheosophists, which grew thicker and thicker by the accession of new\nelements, as the soul was gradually lowered to the earth;[426] and it\nwas by the composition of these elements that the temperament of the\nnewly born child was determined. This luminous body was attracted after\ndeath by stars of the same nature as those whence it derived its origin,\nand in particular by the sun, and it thus acquired a force of ascension\nwhich once again bore divine reason to the highest point of the heavens.\nWe will not lay stress on the speculation of the last masters of the\nschool, such as Jamblichus or Proclus, who imagined, on the subject of\nthis subtle matter, yet more subtle distinctions and transformed the\nformer conception of the \u201cvehicle.\u201d It is enough that we have shown how\nthe old belief in the shades who peopled Hades was modified, when it\ncame to be thought that souls travelled in the air and among the\nconstellations, until at last the Platonist theory of the psychic\nvehicle was reached.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VII\n\n               THE SUFFERINGS OF HELL AND METEMPSYCHOSIS\n\n\nHow did belief in the sufferings of hell develop? of what elements was\nit formed? through what vicissitudes has it passed?\u2014these are questions\nwhich it is difficult to answer precisely, for the reason that the pains\nreserved for the impious in the Beyond were in the Greco-Latin world\ntaught especially by mystic sects, who placed them in contrast to the\nbliss granted to the initiate. It is possible, however, to note the\ngenesis and general evolution of the opinions on this point which\nreigned in the Roman Empire.\n\nAlready in the Odyssey three who are surpassingly guilty detach\nthemselves from the grey crowd of the shades who lead an uncertain life\nin Hades\u2014Tityus, Tantalus and Sisyphus.[427] All three committed grave\nassaults on the gods, who in revenge condemned them to eternal torture:\nthe gigantic body of Tityus is unceasingly gnawed by vultures; Tantalus\nis plunged in a pond the water of which flees from his eager lips, while\nabove him is a tree of which the fruit escapes from his hand as he\nwishes to seize it; Sisyphus unendingly rolls to the top of a hill a\nrock which always tumbles back down the slope. These souls, in order\nthat their suffering may be more cruelly felt, have in Hades a vitality\nbeyond that of the common run of the dead, who are pale, flimsy, half\nanimate phantoms.[428]\n\nTo this Homeric triad of sufferers especially chastised by the divinity,\nfurther unhappy souls, whom an inexpiable crime had vowed to everlasting\npains, were afterwards added: Ixion turning on the wheel to which he was\nfixed, Theseus and Pirithous enchained, the Dana\u00efdes carrying water in a\nleaking vessel, and others. Thus was formed a group of legendary\npersonalities whose crimes and punishments came to be the traditional\nthemes of every description and representation of Tartarus in poetry and\nart until the downfall of paganism.\n\nBut these convicted souls were no longer conceived, as they were by\nHomer, to be exceptional offenders on whom the gods avenged a personal\ninsult. They had come to be the prototypes of men who, for like faults,\nwould be similarly chastised, the terrible examples of the lot which\ndivine wrath reserved for all who provoked it. They were explained as\nthe incarnations of the different passions and vices, the\nrepresentatives of the various classes of sinners on each of which a\ndetermined punishment was inflicted.\n\nThe first authors of this new conception seem to have been the Orphic\nand Pythagorean theologians. Homer names only one class of criminals\nwhom the Erinyes torture beneath the ground, the perjurers. But here\nagain the motive of the punishment is a direct provocation of the gods;\nby the formula of execration which ended their oath, the perjurers had\nsurrendered themselves to divine vengeance, if they broke their faith;\nand this is why a place apart among the sufferers of the underworld was\nalways kept for them.\n\nThe Orphics, who were the first to separate in the underworld the region\nof Tartarus from the Elysian Fields, were also innovators as regarded\nthe character of these contrasting dwelling-places. Notably, there was\namong their books a Descent into Hades (\u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f0d\u03b9\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5), which\ndescribed its joys and pains. If the blessed were admitted to the\nflowery meadows where they enjoyed the delight of a perpetual feast, the\nprofane, those who had not been purified by the rites of the sect, were\nplunged in darkness and mire, which was either intended to recall the\nmoral uncleanness of all who had not taken part in the cathartic\nceremonies, or else implied that these shades were figured like the\npenitents who, seated in the mud of the road, proclaimed their sins to\npassers-by.[429]\n\nOrphism conceived the suffering undergone beyond the tomb as an\nexpiation. The soul which had not been able on earth to keep itself from\nthe pollution of matter and to escape from the passions, thus found\nagain the qualities which it had lost. After a fixed term, it returned\nto another life wherein it had another chance to render itself worthy of\nthe lot of the Blessed\u2014we shall speak presently of this transmigration.\nMoreover, the intercession of the living in favour of the dead, the\nsacrifices offered up on their behalf, could, according to the Orphics,\ndeliver them from their pains.\n\nBut the Orphics taught also that side by side with those who thus\npurified themselves in infernal regions before returning to earth, there\nwere others, more guilty, who were vowed to eternal punishment. The old\nHomeric belief was thus taken up and developed. The evil souls, whose\nways nothing could mend, were immured for ever in the underground\nprison, where they became the companions of the great criminals whom\nmythology plunged in Tartarus. This capital distinction between the two\nclasses of the inhabitants of hell, those condemned for a time and those\ncondemned in perpetuity, was transmitted down to Virgil and appears\ndistinctly in the Aeneid.\n\nInfernal justice is a court of appeal from earthly justice. Like the\nCity,[430] Hades has its tribunal, but the judges who sit there are\ninfallible; it has its laws which are unremittingly applied to whoever\nhas broken those of his country; it has its executioners, responsible\nfor carrying out its sentences\u2014the Furies, and later the demons.\nSimilarly, the pains of Hades are always conceived as an imitation of\nthose which were every day inflicted on criminals. The guilty were bound\nin unbreakable chains, as in the prisons; the Erinyes struck them with\ntheir whips, as they were flogged at the order of the magistrates;\nfierce monsters bit them, as their bodies were thrown to the beasts or\ndevoured by them in an infamous charnel-place. The old custom of\nretaliation continued to be followed in the other world, where the dead\nwere treated as in life they had treated their victims.[431] Elsewhere\nwe can recognise an imitation of the torments inflicted on the accused,\nwho were subjected to torture to make them confess their fault.\n\nPenal law enacted a determined punishment for every kind of offence; the\nlaw which ruled in Hades had similarly to inflict particular pains for\neach kind of fault. This logical deduction led to a new development of\npenalties beyond the grave. As gradually the moralists and criminalists\ndetailed and classified the breaches of divine and human law, so the\nauthors of apocalypses multiplied the categories of those who suffered\nin the nether world. They imagined the most fearful tortures, in order\nto frighten sinners and drive them to seek in some religious\npurification a means of escape from so terrible a lot. In a myth which\nPlutarch has introduced into his book on the belated vengeance of the\ngods,[432] he shows us hypocrites, who have hidden their wretchedness\nunder the appearance of virtue, obliged to reverse their entrails so\nthat the inner side of them may be seen, haters who devour each other,\nand misers plunged into and plucked out from lakes of burning gold, icy\nlead and jagged iron.\n\nThe text which describes these sufferings of the other world in greatest\ndetail is the fragment of the apocryphal apocalypse of Peter, which was\nfound in Egypt some thirty years ago and dates at least from the second\ncentury of our era. The vision of hell here opposed to that of heaven is\nlike a first sketch for the tragic picture of the dwelling of the damned\nwhich Dante was to draw in his Inferno. The fragment enumerates a long\nseries of criminals who are punished by black-robed angels and receive\nthe treatment appropriate to the nature of their faults. Blasphemers are\nhanged by the tongue; the mouths of false witnesses are filled with\nfire; the rich who have been merciless to the poor roll, clothed in\nrags, on sharp and burning pebbles. Other tortures are like the sports\nof macabre fancy: thus adulterers are hanged by the feet, their heads\nplunged in burning mud; murderers are flung into a cave filled with\nserpents that bite them, the shades of their victims watching their\nanguish.\n\nA learned philologist[433] has undertaken to prove that this repulsive\npicture of the dwelling of the damned had its origin in the Orphic\nbooks. If, however, he refers to ancient, genuine Orphism, he is\ncertainly mistaken. The light fantasy of the ancient Greeks never laid\nheavy stress on the horrors of Tartarus; their luminous genius took no\npleasure in describing these dark atrocities.[434] There is no evidence\nthat they ever formulated, point by point, a penal code which applied in\nthe kingdom of Pluto. The Romans, whose legal mind might have led them\nto do so, were kept from such aberrations by their lack of imagination.\nTheir infernal mythology remained rudimentary: even Virgil, who is the\ninterpreter of the Hellenic tradition, never alluded except in passing\nto the infinitely diverse forms of crimes and their punishments.[435]\nThe Etruscans peopled the infernal regions with awful monsters: they\ngave Charon and the Erinyes a wild semblance which recalls the devils of\nthe Middle Ages, but we never find them drawing up an inventory of the\nbreaches of the moral law in order that a punishment might be applied to\neach of these.\n\nEverything points to the conclusion that this infernal theology\ndeveloped in the East. The Egyptians described at length in the \u201cBook of\nthe Dead\u201d the pains of those who despised the precepts of Osiris, and\nillustrated these sufferings with pictures. The only pagan writing in\nwhich we find a classification of sinners and of their torments,\nanalogous to that contained in the revelation of the apocryphal gospel\nof Peter, is the Mazdean \u201cBook of Arta Viraf,\u201d which, although of late\ndate, has antecedents which certainly go back very far. The Persian\nreligion, which more than any other brings the Spirit of Evil and his\nhordes of demons into relief, was certainly not unconnected with the\ndevelopment of infernal eschatology, even in the West, as is indicated\nby the fact that these demons succeeded the Furies as executors of the\ndivine sentences. It was under the influence of these exotic religions\nthat the descriptions were propagated of refined tortures, terrifying to\nthe adepts of the conventicles in which they were revealed. The\nmysteries which spread under the Roman Empire accentuated the contrast\nbetween the delights of heaven and the sufferings of hell. These\nesoteric sects gave birth to the literature which was to be perpetuated\nthrough the Middle Ages, and inspire numbers of visionaries, poets and\nartists. Certain authors of treatises on demonology in antiquity must\nhave revelled in inventing unheard-of atrocities, as later the\nhagiographers took pleasure in describing the inconceivable torments\ninflicted on martyrs.\n\nAmong all the forms of punishment that by fire predominates. The idea\nthat the Erinyes burnt the damned with their torches is ancient, and the\nPyriphlegethon is an igneous river surrounding Tartarus. Certain authors\nwent beyond this. Lucian in his \u201cTrue Histories\u201d describes the island of\nthe impious as an immense brazier whence rise sulphurous and pitchy\nflames. Thus was born into the world in the Greco-Roman period a\ndoctrine which was to survive its fall and last to modern times. The\nancients certainly connected this infernal fire with the treatment\ninflicted on those condemned to be burnt alive; but this exceptional\npunishment could not inspire an eschatological conception which included\nall the dead. The opinion has been advanced that the choice of fire was\ndue to the belief that this element purifies.[436] Fire would have been\nat first the means of destroying, in the Beyond as in this world, the\nuncleanliness of souls, before it became the instrument of their eternal\ntorture. But a scientific theory seems here to have influenced religious\nfaith. The physicians admitted the existence of an incandescent mass in\nthe interior of the earth, which produced volcanic eruptions and hot\nsprings. As Tartarus was situated in the uttermost depths of the\nunderworld, it was conceived as a vast brazier in which the sulphur and\nbitumen vomited by the volcanoes were boiling for the punishment of\nsinners.[437]\n\nBut this adaptation of the pains of Tartarus to contemporary physics\ncould not save them from philosophical criticism. While the pagan\npriests, to the terror of credulous minds, imagined more and more\ninhuman punishments for the guilty souls, the reaction of reason against\nthese cruel inventions necessarily gathered strength. We have seen\nelsewhere how the polemics of philosophers forcibly attacked these\nlife-poisoning beliefs and succeeded in a great measure in destroying\nthem.[438] Even those who did not deny the future life rejected these\nfables of hell. There was an attempt to save the principle of posthumous\nretribution by replacing the doctrine of chastisement in Hades by that\nof the metempsychosis. We now will try, while considering this theory of\ntransmigration in its various aspects, to show how such substitution was\neffected.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe mind of savages does not, like our science, distinguish between\nthree kingdoms of nature. It supposes the same energy to animate all the\nbeings who surround us, all of whom are taken to be like ourselves. The\nprimitives often attribute human or even divine intelligence to beasts;\nand the belief is found throughout the two hemispheres that the spirits\nof the dead can incarnate themselves in animals and even lodge in\nplants. Men refrain from the slaughter or gathering of certain species,\nfrom eating their flesh or fruit, for fear of hurting a chief or\nrelative who has gone to inhabit them. This animistic basis is common to\na number of different peoples and is at the foundation of the system of\nmetempsychosis.\n\nBut that which makes the grandeur of this theory, which won countless\nadepts throughout the centuries and the world, is that it transformed\nthis na\u00efve idea, which had no moral bearing, into a doctrine of\nretribution and liberation. To come back to the earth, to imprison\nitself in a body which soiled and tortured it, became a punishment\ninflicted on the guilty soul. The soul could not attain to supreme\nfelicity until it had purified itself by long suffering and had\ngradually, through a cycle of rebirths, freed itself from carnal\npassions.\n\nIt is infinitely probable that this doctrine of reincarnation in the\nbodies of animals was in Greece a foreign importation. Herodotus thought\nthat it came from Egypt,[439] but it does not seem to have existed in\nthat country in ancient times in the form of a regular succession of\ntransmigrations. On the other hand, Greek metempsychosis shows a\nresemblance, striking even in details, to one of the fundamental\nconceptions of the religious thought of India, that of _sams\u00e2ra_, which\nwas accepted as a dogma there long before the birth of Buddhism. The\nmost probable opinion is that this idea made its way across the Persian\nEmpire and thus reached the Orphics and Pythagoreans. It is, however,\nnot unlikely that, like Babylonian astrology, Hindu eschatology was\npropagated as far as Egypt at a comparatively recent date, that is,\nabout the sixth century B. C., and that the information given by the\nfather of history may be at least partly correct, Egypt having served as\nan intermediary between India and Greece.\n\nWe have not, however, to discuss here this problem of the origins of\nmetempsychosis, nor to follow the development of the doctrine in ancient\nGreek philosophy. In the period with which we are concerned, it had\nalready long been traditional in the Pythagorean and Platonic schools,\nit was not only a philosophical theory but also a tenet admitted by\nseveral religions. We can leave unanswered the questions of whether, as\nthe ancients affirm, the Druids believed in it, being in this particular\ndisciples of Pythagoras, and of whether the Etruscans were persuaded to\nit by the teaching of the philosopher of Croton. It is, however, certain\nthat transmigration was in the East an article of widely held belief. We\nfind it accepted by the mysteries of Mithras and by Manicheism, and it\nsurvives to our own day in Syria among the sects of the Druses,[440] the\nYezidis and the Nosa\u00efris.[441]\n\nWhat was its form in the Roman period, and how was it brought into\nharmony with traditional or acquired ideas as to the future life?\n\nThe descent of the soul from heaven to earth is a fall; the body is a\ngrave in which this soul is buried, a prison in which it is captive.\nThese old Pythagorean doctrines were unceasingly renewed and repeated\ndown to the end of antiquity. But the Orphic idea that this degradation\nwas the chastisement for an original sin, the consequence of a crime\ncommitted by the Titans, who were the authors of our race, and that this\nhereditary taint of guilt had to be atoned for by their descendants, was\neither entirely forgotten or else, at the least, hardly regarded. The\nequally ancient conception that a bitter and cruel necessity constrained\nsouls to incarnate themselves, was, on the contrary, emphasised in\nconsequence of the spread of astrological fatalism. Their alternate\ndescent and ascent was conceived as governed by a cosmic law, like the\nprogress and regress of the planets.[442] The cycle of eternal\ngeneration (\u03ba\u03cd\u03ba\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2) which is eternal, like the revolutions of\nthe heavenly bodies, causes mind to circulate through matter which it\nanimates.\n\nThis transmigration could be conceived in various ways. A first theory,\nin which the influence of Stoic pantheism can be recognised, lays stress\non the identity of individual souls with the universal soul, of which\nthey are particles. One single divine principle awakens life in all\nnature. It passes from being to being, quickening their various forms,\nand that which is said to be death is no more than a migration. The\nnumber of the souls that people the earth is determined from the\nbeginning; they change their dwellings but not their essence. Hardly has\nthe human soul left one body before it enters another. This continuous\ntravelling causes it to go through all the degrees of the animal\nhierarchy. It will pass, successively, into a bird, a quadruped, a fish,\na reptile, and then return to man. This is why it is impious to devour\nthe flesh of our \u201clower brothers\u201d and why the sage must practise\nvegetarianism. Some thinkers, however, drawing logical conclusions from\nthe admitted premises, asserted that the life of the vegetable kingdom\nderived from the same migration as that of the animal kingdom and that\nthe soul of man could enclose itself in plants. It was to this teaching\nthat Seneca alluded when he gave the name of _Apocolocyntosis_,\n\u201cTransformation to a Pumpkin,\u201d to his satire on the apotheosis of the\nemperor Claudius.\n\nThis eschatological doctrine had in reality nothing in common with\nmorality. If an uninterrupted chain unites the existence of all species,\nif life propagates itself fatally from man to the lower beings, this\nnecessity seems to exclude all hope of posthumous reward. In order to\nbring the need of a retribution in after life into agreement with the\nbelief in the fatal circle of migrations, it was stated that the good\nentered the souls of peaceful and tame animals, the wicked those of wild\nbeasts. This is why Alexander of Abonotichos predicted to a devotee that\nhe would be in after life first a camel, then a horse, and end by being\na great prophet like himself.[443] Hermes Trismegistus even claimed to\nknow that the just became eagles among birds, lions among quadrupeds,\ndragons among reptiles, dolphins among fish.[444] But the lot even of\nthese privileged souls might not seem very enviable. The moralists,\ntherefore, relaxed the rigour of the system and exempted noble spirits\nfrom bestial degradation. All souls were no longer condemned to dwell in\nthe bodies of animals, but only those whose low inclinations had\nassimilated them to brutes. They inhabited the species which best\nconformed to their instincts. Thus debauchees became hogs in another\nlife; cowards and sluggards, fish; the light-minded and frivolous,\nbirds.[445] The pagan theologians ingeniously and laboriously\ninterpreted the story of Circe\u2019s changing the companions of Ulysses into\nbeasts as an allegory of metempsychosis. _Circe_ became the _circle_ of\nthe reincarnations which were undergone by those who emptied the magic\ncup of pleasure, and whence the wise Ulysses escaped, thanks to Hermes,\nthat is, to reason which instructed him.[446]\n\nTransmigration thus became less an inevitable law of nature than a\npunishment of the guilty. But this punishment did not overtake only\nthose who were reborn in animal shape. All physical defects and moral\ntaints, which afflict man from his entry into the world, were the\nconsequence of his crimes in an earlier life. The old Pythagoreans\ncombined the doctrine of the metempsychosis with that of the pains\nreserved for the wicked in a hell beneath the earth. But we have seen\nhow the belief in the tortures of Hades was combated until it yielded\nand was discredited.[447] Metempsychosis dared to do without these\nincredible subterranean tortures and thereby acquired a new importance.\nIt supplied the means of maintaining the dogma of posthumous retribution\nwithout imposing a blind faith in the foolish fables of the poets: souls\nwere held to pass immediately from one body to another without leaving\nthe earth, rising or sinking in the scale of beings in accordance with\ntheir merits or demerits. Thus Hades becomes our corporeal life in which\nwe expiate the faults of a previous life. The Furies are the passions\nwhich strike us with their whips and burn us with their torches.[448]\nThe ingeniousness of the theologians found an explanation for each of\nthe tortures described by the old mythology. Tantalus threatened by the\nrock is the man obsessed by the fear of heavenly wrath; Tityus, whose\nentrails are devoured by vultures, is the lover whose heart is gnawed by\ncare; Sisyphus rolling his rock becomes the ambitious man who exhausts\nhimself with vain efforts; the Dana\u00efdes carrying water in a leaking\nvessel, which empties as it is filled, are the insatiable souls who give\nthemselves up to pleasure and never have enough of enjoyment. Even the\nold precepts of the Pythagorean school were twisted from their ordinary\nmeaning and became symbols of this eschatology. A popular tabu, admitted\nby the sect, was formulated in the sentence, \u201cIf thou leave thy\ndwelling, turn not round lest the Erinyes pursue thee.\u201d The first\nmeaning of this prohibition, which is known to the folk-lore of many\nplaces, is that to turn round as one leaves one\u2019s house is to run the\nrisk of being assailed by the spirits who haunt the threshold. But the\ndoctors of Neo-Pythagorism did not thus understand the saying. For them,\nthe dwelling was the body, the Erinyes the passions: when souls left the\nbody they must not return thither or the passions would attach\nthemselves to them and make them their victims.[449]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nHere, however, we touch on another form of metempsychosis. The ancients\nmake a distinction between the doctrine of reincarnation or\n\u201creincorporation\u201d (translating exactly the Greek word \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5\u03bd\u03c3\u03c9\u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2),\nand rebirth or palingenesis (\u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1). This latter word is not here\ntaken in the Stoic sense of the eternal return of things, a series of\ncosmic cycles in which the same phenomena are exactly reproduced.[450]\nIt is used to designate a transmigration separated by intervals, a\nprocess which is not continuous. In the first kind of metempsychosis\nthere is, properly speaking, no rebirth, for the soul does not leave the\nearth, but there unceasingly accomplishes its circular journey through\nthe living world. On the contrary, according to the second theory, it\ndoes not immediately resume possession of a body. It remains\ndisincarnate for a long period of years\u2014for Virgil as for Plato the\nnumber is one thousand\u2014and thus leads a double existence of which its\npassages to this world take up only the lesser part. It is not even\nfatally constrained to redescend to the earth: if it has kept itself\nfree from all corporeal defilement, it will soar to heaven and dwell\nthere for ever.\n\nBut if, during his sojourn on the earth, man has given himself up to the\npleasures of the senses, his soul becomes attached to his body. At first\nit cannot separate itself from the corpse, around which it circles,\nplaintively regretting the joys it has lost. It desires again to enter\nthe flesh which was the instrument of its voluptuousness; it seeks a\ndwelling which will allow it to continue the sensual habits which have\nbecome its second nature. And so, when the time is accomplished, it is\nseized with an irresistible love for the body in which it is to enclose\nitself again; a fascination, like a magic charm, draws it to this object\nof its desires, which is to cause its misery. The fatality driving it to\nincarnation and suffering is not here an inevitable law of the universe\nbut an inner necessity, a destiny which it has made for itself. The\ncosmic _Ananke_ has become psychic.\n\nThus every vicious tendency contracted by the soul during its abode in\nthis world has for this soul consequences which their long duration\nmakes more momentous. If virtue enables it to rise upward at each new\nbirth and to acquire, as the ages revolve, an ever increasing\nperfection, perversion of character produces effects which are\ncalamitous not only in this life but also in several other lives through\nthe centuries. Moral laws are no less infallible than physical laws.\nRight or wrong, every act has to be paid for with harm or benefit in the\nlong chain of incarnations. By his acquired disposition, man determines\nhis future throughout a sequence of generations; the evil he suffers is\nto be imputed not to the creator but to himself. A bust of Plato found\nat Tivoli and now preserved in San Francisco[451] has graven on it the\nfollowing sentence of the Master as to the lot of immortal souls: \u201cThe\nfault is the chooser\u2019s; God is without fault\u201d\u2014\u0391\u1f30\u03c4\u03af\u03b1 \u1f11\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9, \u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2\n\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03c4\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2.\n\nThe very fact of birth was a pain for the soul, since it tore it from\nits celestial home and plunged it into a soiled and troubled world;\nconsequently it was not necessary for the soul\u2019s chastisement that it\nshould descend into the body of animals. Indeed, certain thinkers\nrejected this kind of metempsychosis: a reasonable spirit could not,\nthey held, dwell in a being deprived of reason. Transmigration occurred\ntherefore exclusively from man to man and from beast to beast. Such was\nthe opinion defended by Porphyry and Jamblichus, who, in order to\ndispose of the texts of Plato which were contrary to this theory, upheld\nthat he spoke figuratively, and that his \u201casses,\u201d his \u201cwolves\u201d and his\n\u201clions\u201d signified persons who resembled these beasts in ignorance or\nferocity.[452]\n\nIt is seen that this metempsychosis was getting far away from that which\nhad its origin in the primitive beliefs. The \u201ccycle of generation\u201d was\nno longer conceived as a flux of life circulating throughout the variety\nof the animate beings peopling the earth, but as the descent and the\nascent of a psychic essence, passing alternately from heaven to earth\nand from earth to heaven.\n\nIt is to these doctrines that Virgil alludes when in the Aeneid he shows\nus, gathered in a remote place of the Elysian Fields, the shades whom\nafter a thousand years a god calls to come in a great troop to the river\nLethe, there to drink the forgetfulness of the past, whereby \u201cthey begin\nagain to wish to return to the body.\u201d[453]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut the poet also gives us precious hints as to the lot reserved for the\nsoul in the interval between its incarnations. For palingenesis, unlike\nthe doctrine of perpetual reincorporation, left a place for chastisement\nin the infernal regions. These were however situated, as we have seen,\nfor the Pythagoreans and Posidonius, whom Virgil interpreted, not on\nearth but in the air. It was there that the soul had to purify itself\nfrom the stains acquired while it was in touch with the flesh. This\npollution, we know,[454] was conceived in a very material form. The\ntexts speak of a thickening of the subtle substance of which the soul is\nformed, of concretions encrusting it, of indelible marks with which the\nvices stain it. When the soul left the corpse, of which it kept the\nform, it first, as we have seen, floated in the ambient air. When it was\nnot weighed down by the matter with which it had become impregnated, the\nbreath of the atmosphere raised it gently and, gradually warming it,\nbore it to the heavens, and this is why the Winds are often represented\non tombstones.[455] But these Winds, fierce divinities, could also cause\nthe soul to expiate its faults bitterly. If it had lost its purity and\nlightness, the whirlwinds drew it into their vortex, the storms rolled\nand buffeted it, thus violently tearing away the crust which had become\nattached to it. The souls were thus freed from defilements contracted\nduring life just as linen hung in the air is bleached and loses all\nodour.\n\nTheir passage through the air did not complete their purification. In\nthe East the idea was old that above the firmament was found the great\nreservoir of the waters which fell to the ground as rain. Beyond, a\nburning zone must extend, where the heavenly bodies were lit, and a\nriver of fire, identified with the Pyriphlegethon of the Greeks, was\nimagined. These old mythological ideas were brought into relation with\nStoic physics: above the region of the winds stretched that of the\nclouds, in which the rain, the snow and the hail were formed, and higher\nstill there was the burning air, in which the lightning flashed and\nwhich touched the starry spheres. The souls must blaze a path through\nthese obstacles. After being tossed and blown about by the winds, they\nwere drenched by rain and plunged into the gulf of the upper waters.\nThey reached at last the fires of heaven, of which the heat scorched\nthem. Not till they had undergone this threefold trial, in the course of\nwhich they had passed through countless years of expiation, did they at\nlength find peace in the serenity of the luminous ether.[456]\n\nVirgil,[457] in the passage already quoted, alludes to this doctrine\nwhen, in speaking of the souls, he says:\n\n                        \u201c... Aliae panduntur inanes\n              Suspensae ad ventos, aliis sub gurgite vasto\n              Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni.\u201d\n\n\u201cSome are exposed, hung lightly to the winds; as to others, the crime\ninfecting them is washed away in a deep gulf or burnt by fire.\u201d\n\nIn an eschatological myth, which Plutarch[458] borrows from Demetrius of\nTarsus, he shows us guilty souls who seek to reach the moon and who do\nnot arrive thither, but are hunted and buffeted as by swelling billows,\nand others who have reached the goal, but are rejected and plunged from\non high into the abyss. Similarly, Hermes Trismegistus depicts souls\nflung from the height of heaven into the depths of the atmosphere and\ndelivered to the storms and whirlwinds of warring air, water and fire.\nTheir eternal punishment is to be tossed and carried in different\ndirections by the cosmic waves which roll unceasingly between earth and\nheaven.[459]\n\nThe passage of souls through the elements is represented symbolically on\na funeral monument almost contemporary with the verses of Virgil, which\nwas discovered near Scarbantia in Pannonia.[460] Above the portraits of\nthe deceased, there appear first in the spandrels of this _cippus_ two\nbusts of the winds facing each other. Higher up, on the architrave, are\ntwo Tritons, and on each side of a trident two dolphins, which evidently\nrepresent the idea of the watery element. Finally, at the top of the\nstone, in the pediment, we see two lions. The lion, for physical and\nastrological reasons, was considered as the symbol of fire, the igneous\nprinciple.\n\nWe have seen[461] that for the doctrine which placed the limit of the\ndwelling of the gods and the elect in the zone of the moon, another was\nsubstituted according to which the souls, in order to regain the purity\nof their original nature, had to traverse the spheres of the planets to\nreach the heaven of fixed stars. The trials of purgatory had to be\nprolonged up to the entry into the dwelling of the blessed. The idea\nwas, therefore, conceived of attributing each of the planets to one of\nthe elements. The moon was the ethereal earth, Mercury the water, Venus\nthe air, the sun the fire: and inversely, Mars was the fire, Jupiter the\nair, Saturn the water, and the sphere of the stars the celestial earth,\nin which lay the Elysian Fields. Thus the soul, in order to be saved,\nhad to be reborn three times in virtue of a triple passage through the\nfour elements.[462]\n\nThis last doctrine, which is connected with astrological speculations,\nseems to have had only a limited vogue and to have been of ephemeral\nduration. On the other hand, the idea of a purgatory situated in the\natmosphere between our earth and the moon, a place in which souls were\npurified not only by fire but also by air and water, was long to survive\nthe fall of paganism and to be propagated through the Middle Ages in the\nWest as in the East. For Dante, purgatory still occupied a fiery zone\nstretched between the terrestrial and the celestial circles.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nWas the soul which, after a long expiation, had reached the Elysian\nFields and the sphere of the stars, always to descend thence, seized\nwith a blind love for the body, and to pass again through the trials of\nanother earthly life? No, the ancient Orphics already flattered\nthemselves that by their cathartic rites they obtained for the soul an\nescape from the fatal cycle of generation and regaining of heaven for\never. The Pythagoreans inherited this doctrine, which they kept until\nthe Roman period. In spite of the contrary opinion of certain thinkers,\npagan philosophers and priests generally taught that after pilgrimages,\nmore or less long, after a succession of deaths and rebirths, the\npurified spirits returned to dwell for ever in their celestial country.\nIt was to this goal that the mysteries promised to lead their initiate;\nthis was the end which the sages flattered themselves that they attained\nby their virtue.\n\nIt will be understood that such a hope, combined with the suppression of\neternal damnation in Hades, led necessarily to the doctrine of the\neventual salvation of all souls. We know this system especially through\nOrigen, but he merely reproduced a theory to which the evolution of\npagan ideas had led.\n\nWe have seen that metempsychosis helped the philosophers to shake, if\nnot to ruin, the belief in infernal punishment. But this belief again\nhad power towards the end of antiquity, when the dualist sects which\nwere the outcome of Persian Mazdeism were propagated and when Plato\nbecame the supreme authority in philosophy. We touched on this point, in\nanother lecture,[463] when we showed how the idea of a demons\u2019 prison in\nthe bosom of the earth triumphed.\n\nThus, when the Roman world was in its decline, men came back to the old\nthreefold distinction of the Orphics and the Pythagoreans. The very\nguilty, who cannot be corrected, are hurled into Tartarus, where they\nsuffer for ever the punishment of their incurable wickedness. Souls less\ncorrupt are subjected to purification, either by passing through the\nelements or by undergoing successive reincarnations, and thus they\nregain their original nature before they are readmitted to their first\ndwelling. Finally, the most perfect souls, those of the wise who have\nfreed themselves from the domination of the body and have not let\nthemselves be contaminated by matter, and those of the pious faithful,\nto whom religious lustrations have given back their purity or whom\ninitiations to the mysteries have made equal to the gods, at once rise\nagain to the celestial spheres.\n\nIn the next lecture we shall speak of the rewards reserved for them in\nthe dwelling of the blessed.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VIII\n\n                      THE FELICITY OF THE BLESSED\n\n\nWe have seen how the evolution of religious faith caused the\ndwelling-place of the dead to move from the tomb to the nether world and\nfrom the nether world to the heavens. When the abode of souls was\nchanged, all the ideas attached to the future life had to be transposed.\nIn this lecture we shall endeavour to make clear how the opinions which\nwere held as to the felicity of the blessed were thus transformed. We\nshall take up again matter which we have already touched upon in another\nconnection and try to show the successive changes undergone by three\nmanners of conceiving happiness in after life: the repose of the dead,\nthe repast of the dead, and the sight of God.\n\nThe most ancient and originally the simplest of these conceptions was\nthat of the repose of the dead. We know[464] that the dead who had not\nbeen buried in accordance with the rites were believed to find no rest\nin the tomb. A corpse had to be committed to the earth with traditional\nceremonies in order that the spirit which animated it might have quiet.\nIf this spirit were not subsequently nourished by offerings and\nsacrifices, it left its burial place and roamed the earth\u2019s surface like\nan animal driven by hunger. The shades inhabiting the tombs could also\nbe evoked by necromancers and such disturbance broke in upon their rest\nmost unpleasantly.\n\nThese archaic ideas were so deeply implanted in the popular mind that\nother beliefs never expelled them, but supervened and existed side by\nside with them without causing their disappearance.\n\nOn tombs of the imperial period formulas like the following are often\nread: \u201c_Hic requiescit_,\u201d \u201cHere rests,\u201d \u201c_Quieti aeternae_,\u201d \u201cFor\neternal rest\u201d\u2014inscriptions which could be interpreted figuratively; but\nother wishes can only be taken to have a material sense, such as: \u201c_Ossa\nquiescant_,\u201d \u201cMay his bones rest,\u201d and \u201c_Molliter ossa cubent_,\u201d \u201cMay\nthe bones lie softly.\u201d Poetry has preserved a number of similar phrases.\nTibullus expresses the following wish for a loved woman: \u201cMay thy\nslender form rest well beneath the soft earth.\u201d[465]\n\nThe rest which the exact accomplishment of the rites gave to the dead\nwas not physical only but moral also. The dead were _securi_\u2014the word is\nproperly applied to them\u2014that is, they were exempt from care. Doubtless\nthe care from which they were delivered by the cult of the grave, was\nfirst that of suffering from hunger and thirst,[466] but the \u201ceternal\nsecurity\u201d (_securitas aeterna_)[467] they enjoyed was also the absence\nof all the fears and anxieties which haunt humanity.\n\nWhen philosophy claimed to free souls from the superstitions of the\npast, it did not destroy the old conception of rest in the tomb but\ncleansed it from all material alloy. If it be doubtful whether anything\nof man survives, it is at least certain that death marks the abolition\nof the pains of this world and the end of its troubles. _Mors laborum et\nmiseriarum quies_, is Cicero\u2019s definition.[468] Death restores us to\nthat state of tranquillity in which we were before our birth.[469] The\n\u201ceternal home\u201d which shelters the remains of man is the silent temple in\nwhich he no longer has anything to fear from nature or from his fellows.\n\nThe Epicureans who made _ataraxia_ their ideal of life, the Stoics who\nfound theirs in impassivity (\u1f00\u03c0\u03ac\u03b8\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1), could see in the anaesthesia of\ndeath the supreme realisation of such absence of emotion and passion.\nThe corpse lies as softly on its last bed as a man plunged in a deep and\nquiet sleep. The burial place is indeed often consecrated to _Somno\naeterno_.[470] This idea is expressed in a thousand forms in literature\nand in epitaphs. A poor grammarian of Como, who doubtless had had little\nreason to congratulate himself on life, caused two lines of verse to be\nengraved on his tomb:[471] \u201cI fled the miseries of sickness and the\ngreat ills of life; I am now delivered from all its pains and enjoy a\npeaceful calm.\u201d On an African grave there are the following words:\n\u201cAfter bearing a heavy burden and after manifold toils, he speaks no\nmore, content with the silent dwelling in which he rests.\u201d[472] We read\nelsewhere, \u201cLife was a pain, death prepared me rest.\u201d[473] The sentiment\nexpressed by these inscriptions and many more like them is no mere\nreflection of the teaching of philosophers who denied the future life:\nit is profoundly human. The melodious but melancholy apostrophe of\nLeconte de Lisle is well known:\n\n         \u201cEt toi, divine mort, ou tout rentre et s\u2019efface,\n           Accueille tes enfants dans ton sein \u00e9toil\u00e9;\n         Affranchis nous du temps, du nombre et de l\u2019espace\n           Et rends nous le repos que la vie a troubl\u00e9.\u201d\n\n         \u201cO Death divine, at whose recall,\n         Returneth all\n           To fade in thy embrace,\n         Gather thy children to thy bosom starred,\n           Free us from time, from number and from space,\n         And give us back the rest that life has marred.\u201d[474]\n\nIn the midst of all the tribulation of our tormented existence, to how\nmany minds, even those which have the strongest religious conviction,\nhave not the immobility and insensibility of those who are no more\nsometimes seemed like a deliverance? In antiquity also, this aspiration\ntowards the moment when man will obtain remission of all his travail\ndoes not necessarily imply the belief that there is no hope beyond the\ncold sleep of the grave. This yearning mingles with faith in immortality\nand is transformed with it.\n\nWhen it was believed that the dead went down into the depths of the\nearth where lay the infernal kingdom, another meaning was given to their\nrest. The funeral eulogy of a noble woman who towards the end of the\nRepublican period saved the life of her husband, who had been\nproscribed, ends with the na\u00efve words: \u201cI pray that the gods thy Manes\nmay grant thee rest and thus protect thee.\u201d[475] The shades of the\nkinsmen of the dead must receive their souls in the subterranean\nworld[476] and thus ensure their welfare. The road which must be\ntravelled before the abode of the elect was reached was long and beset\nwith dangers. The Book of the Dead in Egypt, the Orphic tablets in\nGreece, were guides to the Beyond which taught the dead not to stray\nfrom the right path and to avoid the various dangers threatening\nthem.[477] Many of them, the impious who had to expiate their misdeeds\nand the unfortunate to whom funeral duties had not been rendered,\nwandered wretchedly on the banks of the Styx, vainly longing to enter\nthe \u201cpeaceful abode\u201d of the Elysian Fields.[478] There, lying in the\ncool shade, the blessed enjoyed a felicity exempt from all care. Serene\nquiet in a sweet idleness cheered by joyous relaxation and wise\nconversation\u2014such was the ideal which some mysteries[479] opposed to the\nweary agitations of earthly life and to the long sufferings of the\nsinful and vagabond soul. For the adepts of these doctrines the _secura\nquies_ applied to the repose of the nether world, and this conception of\nbeatitude beyond the grave is found to persist until the end of\npaganism.[480]\n\nBut we have seen that another doctrine triumphed in the Roman period,\nthe doctrine that souls rise to the skies to live there eternally among\nthe stars. In this great metamorphosis of eschatological beliefs what\nbecame of the idea of the repose of the dead? The question deserves to\nbe more closely investigated, for the transformation had lasting\nconsequences of which the ultimate effects can be felt even today.\n\nThe Pythagoreans were, as we have seen,[481] the first to promulgate the\ndoctrine of celestial immortality in Greece and Italy. One of the\nallegories familiar to the teaching of the sect connected human destiny\nwith the old myth of Hercules at the crossroads. The Greek letter Y, of\nwhich the stem divides midway into two, was in the school the symbol of\nthis comparison\u2014we have already alluded to it elsewhere.[482] When man\nreaches the age of reason two paths are open to him. One is smooth and\neasy but ends in an abyss: this is the way of pleasure. The other is at\nfirst rough and jagged\u2014it is the hard road of virtue\u2014but he who climbs\nto the summit of its slope can there _rest_ deliciously from his\nweariness. Funeral reliefs represent this contrast na\u00efvely: at the\nbottom of the stele the dead man is often seen accomplishing the labours\nof his career; at the top of the stone he is shown stretched at his ease\non a couch.\n\nThe meaning of the allegory is immediately apparent: the _quieta sedes_\nin which deserving souls are received, has become the sky. How was this\nidea developed?\n\nHomer[483] had already described Olympus as \u201cthe immovable seat of the\ngods which is neither shaken by the winds, nor wet by the rains, nor\ntouched by the snow, but is bright with a cloudless light.\u201d The\nEpicureans applied these lines of the poet to the serene dwelling where\nnothing occurred to modify the perpetual peace enjoyed by the gods.[484]\nAnd the founder of Stoicism had already taught that the pious souls,\nseparated from the guilty, inhabited \u201ctranquil and delectable\u201d\nregions.[485] Both called this dwelling of the gods or the elect by the\nsame name\u2014_sedes quietae_.\n\nWe must here remember the distinction, established by the philosophers\nand often repeated, between the sublunary circle and the celestial\nspheres.[486] Above, the world of the eternal gods; below, the world of\ngeneration and corruption. There the pure ether always kept the same\nserenity; here the struggle of the elements called forth unceasing\nagitation and transformation. On one side reigned peace and harmony, on\nthe other war and discord. The zone of the moon was the boundary between\nthe two contrasted parts of the world, and \u201cthe limit between life and\ndeath.\u201d[487] It was when they had crossed it, that the souls entered the\n_quietae sedes_ of the Blessed.\n\nThe very ancient idea of a fearful journey which the dead had to make in\norder to reach Pluto\u2019s subterranean kingdom was transferred to the space\nlying between the earth and the moon, for this was the region of the\nuniverse to which the name of nether world (_Inferi_)[488] was\nhenceforth applied. As we have seen in the previous lecture,[489] when\nthe soul, escaping from the body, was laden with material dross, it was\ntossed about for many centuries before it could again win to the ether.\nShaken by the winds, swept to and fro by the opposing elements of air,\nwater and fire, it had to endure a long torture before it was cleansed\nof the sin which weighed it down. When at length it was freed of every\nfleshly taint, it escaped from inward trouble also, from the pains and\nthe passions provoked by its union with the body. \u201cThen,\u201d says Seneca,\n\u201cit tends to return to the place whence it has been sent down; there\neternal quiet awaits it when it passes from the confused and gross to\nthe clear and pure.\u201d[490] In the same way certain Neo-Platonists taught\nthat souls which had lived well, rose to the celestial heights and\nrested there amid the stars. Even in this life the ecstasy, which gave\nthem anticipated enjoyment of the future bliss, is described by them as\na transport in which reason attains to absolute stability or equipoise,\nescapes from all movement and rests in the Supreme Being.[491] Peace in\nthe celestial light: such is the highest form which the repose of the\ndead assumed in paganism.[492]\n\nThe various ideas which we have just analysed\u2014those of the repose in the\ngrave, the repose in the infernal regions and the repose in\nheaven\u2014followed parallel courses during the centuries and in part passed\nfrom antiquity to the Middle Ages. But the distinction between them is\nnot always clear. Even in paganism they were intermingled and in the\ncourse of time they were gradually confused. In no class of beliefs is\nthe force of tradition greater than in those which centre in death, and\nthe Christian peoples clung tenaciously to articles of faith which Jews\nand pagans had shared before them.\n\nWe have seen[493] that the masses did not easily give up their belief\nthat the dead continued, in or about the tomb, a vegetating and\nuncertain life. Extreme importance was still attached to burial because\nthe more or less unconscious conviction persisted that the soul\u2019s rest\ndepended on that of the body. The dread of ghosts was still the\ninspiration for some ceremonies performed over the remains of the dead.\nNay, a new apprehension was added to this, namely, the fear lest the\ndead whose bodies were torn from the tomb should have no part in the\nresurrection of the flesh.[494] The formula, \u201c_Hic requiescit_,\u201d \u201cHere\nrests\u2014,\u201d was transferred from pagan to Christian epigraphy, and the rest\nmen wished to the departed was first the rest of the corpse, which was\npeacefully to await the Day of Judgment in its last dwelling.\n\nThese were doubtless vulgar prejudices rather than dogmas recognised by\northodoxy, yet they did not remain without influence on the teaching of\nthe doctors of the Church. For instance, Saint Ambrose[495] enlarges on\nthe thought, probably borrowed from some philosopher, that death is good\nbecause in it the body, source of our uneasiness, our troubles and our\nvices, rests, calmed for ever, while the virtuous soul rises to heaven.\nAfter the travail of existence the dead rest as man rests on the Sabbath\nday, and this was, it was explained, the reason why the seventh day was\nthe day of the commemoration of the departed.\n\nThe idea of rest in the infernal regions has left no deep traces on the\nChristian faith, for which the subterranean world became the abode of\nthe wicked. It was, however, somewhere in the bowels of the earth that\nthe dwelling of the righteous who lived before the Redemption was\ncommonly placed, sometimes also that of children who died unbaptised.\nThey found there according to the Pelagians a \u201cplace of repose and\nsalvation\u201d outside the kingdom of heaven.[496]\n\nBut in Roman times the idea of peace in the celestial light was dominant\namong the Jews and Christians as among the pagans. Thus the Book of\nEnoch shows us the prophet carried off in a whirlwind to the heights\nwhence he perceived \u201cthe beds where the just rest\u201d amid the saints.[497]\nWe can here point out exactly the most important of the literary\nintermediaries through whom this conception was transmitted from\npaganism to Judaism and from Judaism to Christianity. Towards the end of\nthe first century A. D., amid the desolation which followed on the\ndestruction of the Temple, a pious Jew, somewhere in the East, composed\nand ascribed to the venerable authorship of Esdras an apocalypse which\nenjoyed singular popularity until the time of its rejection by the\nChurch as apocryphal. The visionary who set it down combines a number of\npagan reminiscences with biblical ideas. He promises eternal felicity to\nthe just, and asks himself what will be the lot of souls between the\ntime of their death and the end of the world. Will they be at rest or\nwill they be tortured? And the angel who inspires him answers that when\nthe vital breath has left the body to go again to adore the glory of the\nMost High, the soul which has violated the divine law will not enter the\ncelestial dwellings but will \u201cwander amidst torments, for ever suffering\nand saddened on seven paths.\u201d But the soul which has walked in the way\nof God \u201cwill rest in seven orders of rewards.\u201d[498] The sixth of these\nis the order in which its face begins to shine like the sun and in which\nit becomes incorruptible, like the stars; the seventh is that in which\nit wins to the sight of God.\n\nThese are conceptions and even expressions which belong to astral\nimmortality, and the Jewish author, like the pagans before him,\neverywhere contrasts the state of agitation filled with anguish reserved\nfor the guilty with the blessed tranquillity which is the reward of a\npious life.[499] The description of the celestial dwelling which Saint\nAmbrose borrowed from the pseudo-Esdras is singularly like that given by\nthe philosophers of the earlier period: a place in which there is no\ncloud, no thunder, no lightning, no violence of winds, neither darkness\nnor sunset, neither summer nor winter to vary the seasons, where no cold\nis met with, nor hail, nor rain. But the Christian doctor, like the\nJewish visionary, adds a new feature: there will be no more sun nor moon\nnor stars; the light of God will shine alone.[500]\n\nThe idea of repose in the eternal light was, thanks to the apocalypse of\nthe supposed Esdras, to become one of those most frequently expressed by\nepitaphs and ritual. It was from this apocryphal work that the Roman\nliturgy borrowed the form of a prayer introduced into the office of the\ndead at least as early as the seventh century and still sung in the\nfuneral service\u2014_Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine et lux perpetua luceat\neis_. \u201cLord, give them eternal rest and may perpetual light shine upon\nthem.\u201d\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe idea of the repast of the dead evolved, like that of their repose,\nas the conception of life beyond the tomb was gradually transformed, and\nit finally assumed a far higher significance than that originally\nattributed to it.\n\nAccording to a belief found everywhere, the dead, as we know,[501]\nneeded nourishment if they were not to suffer from hunger. Hence the\nobligation to make libations and sacrifices on the tomb and to deposit\nfood and drink there. The neglect of these sacred duties entailed\nconsequences fearful to him who failed to fulfil them, just as their\nexact observance ensured him the good will of the spirits of the dead.\n\nThe custom of holding banquets which united the members of a family\nbeside a grave at a funeral or on certain consecrated days, was\nconnected with this belief. This custom was no mere rendering of an\nhonour to one who had gone, no unmixed manifestation of piety or\naffection. The motive for these ceremonies was much more concrete. As we\nhave stated elsewhere,[502] men were persuaded that the spirit of him\nwho lay beneath the ground was present at the meal, took its place\nbeside its kin and rejoiced with them. Therefore its share was set aside\nfor it, and by consecrated formulas it was invited to drink and eat.\nMoreover the guests themselves ate copiously and drank deeply, convinced\nthat the noisy conviviality of the feast was a source of joy and\nrefreshment to the shade in the gloom of its sepulchral existence.\nSometimes the dinner took place in a room within the tomb, specially set\naside for such meetings, sometimes in one of the gardens which men\ndelighted to make around the \u201ceternal house\u201d of the dead[503] and to\nwhich inscriptions sometimes give the name of \u201cparadise\u201d\n(\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2).[504]\n\nThese are customs and ideas which are found everywhere from the time\nwhen history had its origin, practices and ideas to which under the\nRoman Empire the people still clung, and which even partially survived\nthe conversion of the masses to Christianity, although the Church\ncondemned them as pagan. Until the end of antiquity and even in the\nMiddle Ages, banquets, at which wine flowed abundantly, were still held\non anniversaries by kinsfolk and friends near the remains of those they\nloved.[505]\n\nWhen, however, the conception of survival in the tomb was superseded or\novershadowed by that of survival in the nether world, the repast of the\ndead was also transferred thither. Henceforth it was in the Elysian\nFields that pious souls could take their place at the table of the\nBlessed. The Orphics were the first to introduce into Greece this new\nidea, which was, however, no more than the development of a pre-Hellenic\nbelief, and it spread through the mysteries of Dionysos[506] to every\npart of the ancient world: the ritualistic repasts in which the initiate\ntook part, the drunkenness which exalted their whole being, were for the\nadepts of this cult at once a foretaste and a warrant of the happiness\nreserved for them in that eternal feast of the subterranean world in\nwhich a sweet intoxication would rejoice their soul. That forgetfulness\nof all cares which the divine liquor gave was connected with Lethe, the\nwater of which, according to mythology, souls drank that they might lose\nall memory of their former life.\n\nAn immense number of reliefs, scattered throughout the whole extent of\nthe Roman Empire, bear witness to the popularity of the belief in this\nform of immortality. The dead man who has been made a hero and whose\nfamily comes to make sacrifices to him is stretched on a couch and lifts\nthe _rhyton_ which holds the heady drink of Bacchus, while before him,\non a little table, dishes are placed. These banquets took place, as we\nhave said, in the Elysian Fields, and the idea of the repast thus met\nand combined with the idea of rest. The Blessed were imagined as lying\non a soft bed of flowered grass, taking part in a perpetual feast, to\nthe accompaniment of music and songs. Lucian in his \u201cTrue\nHistories\u201d[507] describes, with ironical exaggeration, the joys of these\nguests who are stretched comfortably among the flowers of a fragrant\nmeadow in the shade of leafy trees, and who gather, instead of fruit,\ncrystal goblets, which fill with wine as soon as they are placed on the\ntable.\n\nIn spite of the mockery of sceptics these beliefs still had some\nfaithful partisans even at the end of paganism. A picture discovered in\nthe catacomb of Praetextatus shows us a priest of the Thraco-Phrygian\ngod Sabazios celebrating a mystic banquet with six of his fellows, and\nanother fresco represents the introduction of a veiled woman into the\ngarden of delights, where she has been judged worthy of being received\nat the table of virtuous souls.[508]\n\nSometimes in the reliefs of the \u201cfuneral banquet\u201d the dead are seen\nwearing on their head the bushel (_modius_) of Serapis, with whom, after\na virtuous life, they have been identified. This indicates a confusion,\nto which much other testimony bears witness, between the Bacchic\nmysteries and the cult of the Alexandrian god.[509] Serapis is the great\nmaster of the feast (\u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03b9\u03ac\u03c1\u03c7\u03b7\u03c2),[510] the host who must in the nether\nworld entertain those faithful to him. Thus the eschatological beliefs\nof the Nile Valley mingled with those of Greece. In the country of\nburning sun, where a straying traveller runs the risk of dying of thirst\non the arid stretches of sand, the hope expressed above all others for\nhim who accomplishes the great pilgrimage to the abode of the infernal\ndivinities, is that he may find wherewith to quench his consuming\nthirst. \u201cMay Osiris give thee fresh water\u201d is a wish which the votaries\nof the Egyptian god often inscribed on their tombs. Thus the repast in\nthe other world was to be above all a refreshment (_refrigerium_). The\nword passed into Christian language to denote both earthly \u201c_agape_\u201d or\nsacred meal and the bliss of the other world, and even today the Roman\nChurch prays for the spiritual \u201crefreshment\u201d of the dead.[511]\n\nWe touch here on a question which is not yet completely elucidated, that\nof the relation established between the funeral banquet and the\nsalvation of those who took part in it.\n\nIn Rome from the end of the Republic onwards this banquet, amid the\ngeneral decline of faith in immortality, was increasingly detached from\nthe tomb and became a guild or domestic ceremony. The tendency was to\nreduce it to the repast of a family or confraternity, to the\nperpetuation among men of the memory of him whose features were\npreserved by a statue or picture. But the funeral cult acquired new\nmeaning with the spread of Oriental religions. It did not cease to be\nuseful to the dead who were its object, to whose subsistence in the\nbeyond and safe arrival in the Elysian Fields it was still thought to be\nnecessary. The offerings of the living sustained them on their dangerous\nand hard journey thither; the food and drink restored them on the long\nroad they had to travel before they reached the place of everlasting\nrefreshment.\n\nBut the funeral repast was also salutary to those who offered it, and\nnot only because it ensured to them the good will of a spirit or demon\ncapable of protecting them. This banquet, at which wine flowed\nprofusely, was like the \u201corgies\u201d of the Bacchic and Oriental mysteries,\nand the resemblance is partly explained by an identity of kind.\n\nThe ritual of the gods whose death and resurrection were\ncommemorated\u2014Bacchus, Osiris, Attis, Adonis\u2014was probably a development\nof the funeral ritual, and the banquet of initiation was thus related to\nthe banquet at the grave. On the one hand, it was believed that by a\nmystic union with the god, men could share his blessed lot after the\ntransient trial of a death like his.[512] On the other hand, it was with\na dead man that a repast was taken, but with one who also, in some sort,\nhad become a god, who had preceded the diners into the other world and\nawaited them there. \u201cLive happy and pour out wine to our Manes,\u201d says a\nLatin epitaph of Syria, engraved beneath a scene of libation,\n\u201crecollecting that one day you will be with us.\u201d[513]\n\nAccording to an opinion which often found expression, the shades\nthemselves rejected whoever did not deserve to enter the abode of the\nBlessed, but willingly received the pious soul which had always\nfulfilled its duty towards them.[514] For admission to this club of\nposthumous diners a members vote was necessary. Thus the funeral banquet\ntook on the character of a mystic banquet; that is, it came to be\nconceived as a prelibation of the banquet at which the elect feasted in\nthe other world. The wish which the guests made to each other\u2014\u201cDrink and\nlive!\u201d\u2014became an allusion, no more to this earthly life, but to that\nother existence in which they would participate in the felicity of him\nwho had gone before them and who would help them to rejoin him therein.\nThe following advice, repeated elsewhere in various forms, is found on\nthe tomb of a priest of Sabazios: \u201cDrink, eat, jest and come to me ...\nthat is what you will carry away with you\u201d (_hoc tecum feres_).[515]\nThis is not to be understood here as an Epicurean invitation to enjoy\nlife because all else is vain,[516] but a veiled expression of faith in\nthe efficacy for the salvation of the initiate attributed to the joyous\nbanquets which gathered men about a tomb.\n\nThe connection between the beliefs of the mysteries and the hopes\nattached to the funeral cult became more intimate as immortality brought\nthe spirits of the dead nearer the celestial divinities. The idea that\nsome few privileged mortals win admission to the banquet of the gods is\nvery ancient. An inscription of Sendjerli in Syria, which goes back to\nthe eighth century before our era, orders sacrifices to be made in order\nthat the soul of King Panamu \u201cmay eat and drink with the god\nHadad,\u201d[517] and Greek mythology told that certain heroes, such as\nHeracles, who had been carried off to heaven, had there become the table\ncompanions of the gods. Horace states that Augustus, borne to the\nethereal summits, will there rest between Hercules and Pollux, \u201cdrinking\nnectar with his rosy lips.\u201d[518] But we have seen elsewhere that\napotheosis, or deification, which was at first the privilege of an\naristocracy, became the common lot of all pious souls,[519] and that the\nElysian Fields were transferred from the depths of the infernal realm to\nthe upper spheres of the world. The repast of the Blessed was thus\ntransported to heaven.[520] This removal to the region of the stars\nseems to have been first made in the astral religion of Syria, but it\nwas commonly accepted in western paganism. This is why in funeral\nreliefs of the Roman period, in which the dead are shown banqueting,\nsuch representations are placed in the upper part of the stele, above\nthe scenes of earthly life which fill the lower portion of the stone.\nThe emperor Julian is giving us a mocking picture of this repast of the\nheroes, when in one of his satires he shows us the shades of the Caesars\nat table immediately beneath the moon, in the highest zone of the\natmospheres\u2014in accordance with the ideas of the Stoics.[521] Men readily\nfashioned the heroes who tasted the joys of Olympus on the pattern of\nthe celestial divinities\u2014resplendent with light, clothed in garments of\ndazzling whiteness, their heads crowned with rays or surrounded by a\nluminous nimbus, singing, as in a Greek symposium, melodious hymns.\n\nThe philosophers of course gave a symbolical interpretation of the\nintoxication of the souls which took part in the feast, explaining it as\nthe ravishing of reason penetrated by divine intelligence. We will\nreturn to their doctrines presently.\n\nThe Jews of the Alexandrian period shared the belief in the celestial\nbanquet with the Syrian paganism and transmitted it to the Christians.\nThe Paradise of the elect was often conceived as a shady garden where\ntables were set out at which immortal guests passed their time in\nendless joy. Thus, not to mention better-known texts, Aphraates, a\nSyriac author of the first half of the fourth century, depicts the\nfelicity of the Blessed, clothed in light, who are admitted to the\ndivine table and are there fed with food which never fails. \u201cThere the\nair is pleasant and serene, a brilliant light shines, trees grow of\nwhich the fruit ripens perpetually, of which the leaves never fall, and\nbeneath these shades, which give out a sweet fragrance, the souls eat\nthis fruit and are never satiated.\u201d[522]\n\nThe representation of this feast of Paradise recurs several times in the\npaintings of the catacombs, but in them the wine is poured out by Peace\n(_Eirene_) and Charity (_Agape_). An allegorical explanation gave a\nspiritual meaning to the food and drink consumed by the elect. But the\nold idea which was at the root of all the later development, the idea of\na material repast in which the dead participated, did not disappear from\npopular faith when the conception that souls rose to the sky was\nadopted, and in many countries it has not been obliterated even\ntoday.[523]\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nEven in the pagan period, as we have said, enlightened minds accepted\nthe old descriptions of joyous feasts in fresh meadows only in a\nfigurative sense. A less coarse conception of immortality suffered them\nto be looked upon only as symbols or metaphors. This conception of\ncelestial beatitude originated not in the cult of the dead but in the\ncult of the gods. It was at first as material as preceding conceptions,\nbut it became purified as the idea of psychic survival was\nspiritualised.\n\nWe have seen in another lecture[524] that the \u201csight of the god\u201d who was\nadored was the highest degree of initiation. Theurgy flattered itself\nthat it could evoke divine apparitions at will. These visions have been\ndescribed to us by those who claimed to have been favoured with\nthem.[525] Their character and their effects have moreover been analysed\nin detail in the treatise of Jamblichus, _On the Mysteries_. The\nimpression most immediately produced by these epiphanies was a boundless\nadmiration for their splendour. The incomparable beauty with which the\ngods were radiant, the supernatural light in which they were wrapped,\nhad such an effect on men that they could hardly bear the effulgence and\nnearly lost consciousness, but their souls were flooded with unspeakable\njoy and purified for ever.\n\nTo this ineffable delight of a heart possessed of divine love there was\nadded the highest revelation for the intelligence.[526] Must not the\ninfallible \u201cgnosis\u201d be that which was the result of instruction received\ndirectly from the mouth of a celestial power which had come down to\nearth?\n\nThe devotees who had obtained the signal favour of this resplendent\nvision, were thenceforth united to the deity who had manifested himself\nto them, and were certain to share his immortal life. The fugitive\npleasure which they had felt on earth would become a bliss without end\nin the kingdom of the dead. There they would see face to face the god\nwho protected them and learn from him all that had remained hidden from\nthem in this life.\n\nThese ideas, half religious, half magical, are very ancient, especially\nin Egypt, but they were transformed by astrolatry. Here the celestial\npowers had not to be summoned by prayer or invoked by incantations in\norder that they might come and converse with the faithful, but were\nperpetually visible and offered themselves, day and night, to the\nveneration of humanity.\n\nHenceforth the knowledge of divine things was no longer to be\ncommunicated by the words which the initiate believed that he heard in\nthe silence of the sanctuary. It was revealed by a mysterious\ninspiration to him who had deserved it by a fervent observation of the\nheavens.[527] Thus by an illumination of the intelligence the astral\npowers unveiled their will and the secrets of their movements to their\nattentive servants. Here below this knowledge was always imperfect and\nfragmentary, but it would be completed in another world, when reason\nonce more would rise aloft to the starry spaces whence it had descended.\n\nThis eschatological doctrine, which made astronomy the source of virtue\nand of immortality, could only be developed by a clergy devoted to the\nstudy of that science. Its first authors were doubtless the \u201cChaldeans,\u201d\nwho transmitted it to Greece with their theories as to the divisions of\nthe sky and the heavenly bodies. The most ancient writing in which this\nOriental influence asserts itself clearly is the _Epinomis_, probably a\nwork of the astronomer Philip of Opus, a disciple of Plato. Let us\nlisten to his own words:[528]\n\n  \u201cWhen man perceives the harmony of the sky and the immovable order\n  of its revolutions, he is first filled with joy and struck with\n  admiration. Then the passion is born in him to learn about them all\n  that it is possible for his mortal nature to know, for he is\n  persuaded that he will thus lead the best and happiest existence and\n  will go after his death to the places suited to virtue. Then being\n  veritably and really initiate, pure reason taking part in the only\n  wisdom, he will spend the rest of his time in contemplation of what\n  is most beautiful among all visible things.\u201d\n\nThis passage shows clearly the manner in which astrolatry modified\nancient ideas as to the sight of a god, the reverential wonder felt in\nhis presence by the faithful, the truth communicated to them and the\nimmortality which completed their initiation. The doctrine of an\nintellectual reward for the Blessed was to attract scholars who in this\nworld gave themselves up to study. Spiritual activity, which emancipates\nfrom material care and gives man nobility and virtue, seemed to them to\nbe the only occupation worthy of the elect. If the theory that the\nBlessed would after death find this activity in the midst of the divine\nstars, is probably of \u201cChaldean\u201d origin, it was developed by the Greek\nphilosophers and in particular by Posidonius. It was also admitted into\nthe Roman mysteries, which, being penetrated by the spirit of Oriental\ntheologies, claimed to supply their adepts with a complete explanation\nof the universe.\n\nWe have already alluded to this system in speaking of astral\nmysticism.[529] Nature herself has destined man to gaze upon the skies.\nOther animals are bent to the earth; he proudly lifts his head to the\nstars. His eye, a tiny mirror in which immensity is reflected, the\nsoul\u2019s door, open to the infinite, follows the evolutions of the\nheavenly bodies from here below. By their splendour they make men marvel\nand by their majesty compel them to veneration. Their complicated\nmovements, ruled by an immovable rhythm, are inconceivable unless they\nare endowed with infallible reason.\n\nThe observation of the sky is not only an inexhaustible source of\naesthetic emotion. It also causes the soul, a detached parcel of the\nfires of the ether, to enter into communion with the gods which shine in\nthe firmament. Possessed with the desire to know them, this soul\nreceives their revelations. They instruct it as to their nature; thanks\nto them, it understands the phenomena produced in the cosmic organism.\nThus scientific curiosity is also conceived as a yearning for God. The\nlove of truth leads to holiness more surely than initiations and\npriests.\n\nOf the numerous passages in which these ideas are expressed I will\nrecall one which is well known but is not always well understood.[530]\nVirgil in his _Georgics_ tells us what he looks to receive from the\nsweet Muses whom he serves, being \u201cstruck with a great love for them.\u201d\nNot, as one would expect, poetic inspiration but physical science. The\nMuses are to point out to him the paths of the stars in the sky, to\nexplain to him the reasons for eclipses, tides and earthquakes and the\nvariations in the length of the day. \u201cHappy is he,\u201d the poet concludes,\n\u201cwho can know the causes of things, who treads underfoot all fear and\ninexorable fate and vain rumours as to greedy Acheron.\u201d[531] There is,\nin spite of a reminiscence of Lucretius, nothing Epicurean in the idea\nhere expressed. The man who has won knowledge of Nature, which is\ndivine, escapes the common lot and does not fear death because a\nglorious immortality is reserved for him.\n\nFor these joys which the acquisition of wisdom gives here below,\npartially and intermittently, are in the other life bestowed with\nabsolute fulness and prolonged for ever. Reason, set free from corporeal\norgans, attains to an infinite perceptive power and can satisfy the\ninsatiable desire of knowledge which is innate within reason itself. The\nBlessed souls will thus be able at once to delight in the marvellous\nspectacle of the world and to obtain perfect understanding thereof. They\nwill not weary of following the rhythmic evolutions of the chorus of\nstars of which they form part, of noting the causes and the rules which\ndetermine their movements. From the height of their celestial\nobservatory they will also perceive the phenomena of our globe and the\nactions of men. Nothing which happens in nature or in human society will\nbe hidden from them. This speculative life (\u03b2\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2) is the only\none on earth or in heaven which is worthy of the sage.\n\nTo observe the course of the stars throughout eternity may appear to us\na desperately monotonous occupation, a rather unenviable beatitude. For\nthe stars, shorn of their divinity, are for us no more than gaseous or\nsolid bodies circulating in space, and we analyse with the spectroscope\ntheir chemical composition. But the ancients felt otherwise: they\ndescribe with singular eloquence the \u201ccosmic emotion\u201d which seized them\nas they contemplated their southern skies\u2014their soul was ravished, borne\non the wings of enthusiasm into the midst of the dazzling gods which\nfrom the earth had been descried throbbing in the radiance of the ether.\nThese mystic transports were compared by them to Dionysiac intoxication;\nan \u201cabstemious drunkenness\u201d[532] raised man to the stars and kindled in\nhim an impassioned ardour for divine knowledge. And as the exaltation\nproduced by the vapours of wine gave to the mystics of Bacchus a\nforetaste of the joyous inebriation promised to them in the Elysian\nbanquet, so the ecstasy which uplifted him who contemplated the\ncelestial gods caused him to feel the happiness of another life while he\nwas yet here below.[533]\n\n\u201cI know,\u201d says an epigram of Ptolemy himself,[534] \u201cI know that I am\nmortal, born for a day, but when I follow the serried crowd of the stars\nin their circular course my feet touch the earth no longer: I go to Zeus\nhimself and sate myself with ambrosia, the food of the gods.\u201d\n\nIn the same way the intoxication produced by music, the divine\npossession which purified man by detaching him from material cares,\ncaused him to taste for an instant the felicity which would fill his\nwhole being when he should harken to the sweet harmony produced by the\nrotation of the spheres, the celestial concert which the ears of mortals\nare incapable of hearing, as their eyes cannot bear the brilliance of\nthe sun. Men\u2019s instruments could cause the perception of only a weak\necho of these delightful chords, but they awoke in the soul a passionate\ndesire for heaven, where the unspeakable joy produced by the cosmic\nsymphony would be felt.\n\nThe beatitude of the elect, as conceived by astral immortality, was a\nmagnified projection to heaven of the joys which a religion of the\nerudite held to be most worthy of virtuous spirits. When pagan theology\ntransported the abode of the most favoured souls outside the boundaries\nof the universe to a world beyond the senses,[535] the happiness of\nthese souls could no longer consist solely in the sight and the hearing\nof the motion of the spheres. This entirely material conception of\nfelicity in the Beyond had to be spiritualised. The ecstasy of Plotinus\ndoes not stop short at the visible gods of the firmament; in it the soul\nis transported beyond even the world of ideas and reaches, in an upward\nrush of love, the divine unity in which it merges, ridding itself of all\nconsciousness and all form. This is the supreme goal which none can\nattain after death save him who has conquered perfect purity. But the\naristocratic intellectualism of this philosophy reserved this union with\nthe first Principle for an _\u00e9lite_ of sages. Paganism in its decline\nbelieved in a hierarchy of souls ascending to the divinity, in a scale\nof merit corresponding to various degrees of rewards: the majority lived\namong the stars and, divine like them, helped them to govern the\nearth\u2014we already know their blessed lot; others who were more perfect\nentered the intelligible cosmos[536] and their happiness, as it was\nimagined, is but a more exalted counterpart of the joys attributed to\nthe former class. They were plunged in immovable contemplation of pure\nIdeas; forgetting earthly things, they were wholly absorbed by this\nintense activity of thought which was to them an inexpressible joy.\nMoreover, being set free from the bonds of their flesh and of their\nindividuality, they could embrace in a single glance all the separate\nintelligences which together formed the divine _Nous_, and thus had a\nsimultaneous intuition of everything, the direct comprehension of the\nultimate reason of things.\n\nBeatific vision of the splendour of God, immediate perception of all\ntruth, mystic love for an ineffable Beauty\u2014these were sublime\nspeculations which were to be unendingly reproduced and developed after\nthe fall of paganism. Unavailing efforts to represent a state\ninconceivable to any human imagination, they expressed the ardent\nyearning of religious souls towards an ideal of perfection and felicity.\nBut this high religious spirituality had gradually broken away from\nsomewhat coarse beliefs which had little by little been purified. The\nrapture which transported Plotinus to those summits where reason,\nbewildered as in a swoon, forsakes even thought in order to lose itself\nwithin a principle which is above all definition, is directly connected\nwith the ecstasy which in the temples of Egypt came upon the devotee\nwho, like the philosopher, conversed \u201calone with the lone god,\u201d[537]\nwhom the priest had evoked, and believed that in this vision he found a\nguarantee of eternal happiness.\n\n\n\n\n                                 INDEX\n\n\n Ablutions, 118;\n   _cf._ \u201cLustration\u201d\n\n Absorption in God, 36 s., 42, 122\n\n Acheron, 5, 8, 15, 27, 78, 80 s., 84 s., 149, 210\n\n Achilles, 74\n\n Adonis, 116, 203\n\n Aeacus, 10, 75\n\n Aeneid, 48, 82 s., 151;\n   Aeneas, 74, 128;\n   _cf._ \u201cVirgil\u201d\n\n Africa, 93, 120, 139, 192\n\n Age of reason, 137\n\n Agricola, 18\n\n Agrippina, 131\n\n Ahriman, 89;\n   _cf._ \u201cSpirit of Evil\u201d\n\n Air full of souls, 26, 59, 160;\n   purifies, 119, 143, 186;\n     _cf._ Winds;\n   Aerial bodies, 103, 168;\n     _cf._ \u201c\u0395\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u201d\n\n Alexander of Abonotichos, 9, 23, 180\n\n Alexander of Aphrodisias, 6\n\n Alexander the Great, 62\n\n Alexandria, 17, 20, 79, 96;\n   cults, 36, 39;\n   _cf._ \u201cIsis,\u201d \u201cSerapis\u201d\n\n Allegorical interpretations, 12, 21, 24, 42, 78 ss., 82, 86, 152, 180,\n    195, 206\n\n Amorgos, 105\n\n Andromeda, 104\n\n Angels, 140\n\n _Anima_, 59, 167;\n   _cf._ \u201cSoul\u201d\n\n _Ante diem_ (death), 133\n\n Antinous, 105, 164\n\n Antipodes, 80 s.\n\n Antonius Diogenes, 22\n\n Aphraates, 206\n\n Apocalypse of Peter, 173\n\n _Apocolocyntosis_, 179\n\n Apollo, 112, 123, 156;\n   Musagetes, 101\n\n Apollonius of Tyana, 23, 164\n\n Apotheosis of heroes, 32, 205;\n   of emperors, 102, 112 s., 156, 164;\n   of Claudius, 179;\n   of great men, 114 s.;\n   in mysteries, 118 ss.;\n   of children, 138 ss.\n\n Appius Claudius Pulcher, 22\n\n Apuleius, 108, n. 41\n\n Aristarchus, 79\n\n Aristophanes, 95\n\n Aristotle, 6, 17, 77, 98, 131;\n   _cf._ \u201cPeripatetic\u201d\n\n Armenia, 52\n\n Arnold (Matthew), 116\n\n Asia Minor, 112;\n   _cf._ \u201cCybele\u201d\n\n Astral body, 169\n\n Astrolatry, 123, 207;\n   _cf._ \u201cStars\u201d\n\n Astrology, 17, 28, 92 s., 96, 100, 102, 117, 187\n\n Ataraxia, 8, 191\n\n Atargatis, 121\n\n Athribis, 93\n\n Atmosphere, 25, 81, 162, 168;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Attis, 35 ss., 39, 116, 203\n\n Augustus, 156\n\n Avernus, 74\n\n Axiochos, 79\n\n\n Babylonia, 94, 156;\n   _cf._ \u201cChaldeans\u201d\n\n Bacchus, 52, 120, 138 s., 202, 211;\n   Bacchantes, 62;\n   _cf._ \u201cDionysos\u201d\n\n Banquet; funeral, 53 ss., 200 ss.;\n   ritual, 120 ss., 203 s.;\n   eternal, 35, 151, 201 ss.;\n   of the gods, 204\n\n _Biothanati_, 26, 129 ss., 141 ss.\n\n Bird (soul), 59, 157 s.\n\n Black hand, 135\n\n Black souls, 166\n\n Blood poured on tombs, 51;\n   seat of life, 51, 118;\n   in mysteries, 113, 201 ss.\n\n Boats (sun and moon), 92, 113, 154 s.;\n   carry souls, 155;\n     _cf._ \u201cCharon\u201d\n\n Body carried to heaven, 159, 164;\n     _cf._ 165, 167;\n   soul attached to body, 182 s.;\n     _cf._ 44 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cCorpse\u201d\n\n Book of the Dead, 148, 175, 193;\n   of Enoch, 108, 198;\n   of Arta Viraf, 175\n\n Boscoreale (goblets), 11\n\n Bread, 120\n\n Buddhism, 177\n\n Burial necessary, 64 ss., 197;\n   refused, 65, 143, 145 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201c_Insepulti_\u201d\n\n Byzantines, 132, 146\n\n\n Caesar (Julius), 8, 51, 104\n\n Calendar, 102\n\n California, 148\n\n Caligula, 67, 131\n\n Callimachus, 17\n\n Cameo of Paris, 156\n\n Cancer and Capricorn, 153\n\n Carducci, 115\n\n Carneades, 6\n\n Castor and Pollux, 104, 113, 205;\n   _cf._ \u201cDioscuri\u201d\n\n Castor of Rhodes, 22, 97\n\n Catacombs, 202, 206\n\n Catasterism, 104, 113;\n   _cf._ \u201cStars\u201d\n\n Cato of Utica, 26, 144\n\n Catullus, 17\n\n Celsus, 88\n\n Celts, see \u201cDruids,\u201d \u201cGaul\u201d\n\n _Cena novemdialis_, 53\n\n Cenotaph, 65;\n   _cf._ 48\n\n Cerberus, 10, 83, 87\n\n Chaldaic oracles, 38, 103\n\n Chaldeans, 28, 35, 37 s., 95, 100 ss., 107 s., 160, 208 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cBabylonia\u201d\n\n Chariot of the sun, 102, 113, 156 s.\n\n Charon, 85, 149, 174;\n   Charon\u2019s boat, 10, 25, 66, 75, 80, 155\n\n Children sacrificed, 135;\n   games in other life, 138 s.;\n   unbaptised, 198;\n   _cf._ \u201cUntimely death,\u201d \u201cApotheosis\u201d\n\n Christians, pagan customs of, 52, 55 s., 119, 145 s., 200;\n   beliefs, 68 s., 90, 92, 108, 140 s., 143, 153, 187, 196 ss.;\n   _biothanati_, 146\n\n Chrysippus, 13\n\n Church, see \u201cChristians\u201d\n\n Cicero, 19, 26 s., 31 ss., 44, 83, 104 s., 111, 113, 135, 152, 161, 165\n\n Circe, 74, 180\n\n _Circumpotatio_, 55\n\n Claudius, 152, 179\n\n Cleanthes, 13\n\n Cocytus, 78\n\n Colleges (funeral), 67, 143\n\n Comet, 104;\n   _cf._ \u201cStar\u201d\n\n Commodianus, 146\n\n Como, 192\n\n Conflagration of the world, 12 ss.\n\n Consus, 71\n\n Contemplation of stars, 209;\n   _cf._ \u201cSight of God\u201d\n\n Copernicus, 28, 109\n\n Corinthians (Epistle to), 11, 106\n\n Cornutus, 14\n\n Corpse (life of), 45, 164;\n   _cf._ \u201cBody\u201d\n\n Corstopitum, 156\n\n Crescent (symbol), 93, 97, 99\n\n Crown of life, 117\n\n Curse-tablets, see \u201c_Defixiones_\u201d\n\n Cybele, 35 ss., 39\n\n Cynics, 65\n\n Cyprus, 135\n\n\n Dana\u00efdes, 85, 87, 171, 181\n\n Dante, 43, 109, 174, 187\n\n Dead; food of, 50;\n   partake of banquets, 54 s.;\n   communicate with living, 58 s.;\n   feared, 47;\n   malevolent, 63 s.;\n   tutelary spirits, 60 s.;\n   keep character of living, 73;\n   received by shades or not, 68, 86, 193;\n   physical character of, 165 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cGhosts,\u201d \u201cSoul,\u201d \u201cSpirits\u201d\n\n Death, sleep, 10, 45, 192;\n   not to be feared, 7 ss., 19;\n   second d., 110;\n   untimely d., 128 ss.;\n   represented as a monster, 117\n\n _Defixiones_, 63, 68, 134\n\n Deification, 34, 111 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cApotheosis\u201d\n\n Demetrius of Tarsus, 186\n\n Democritus, 5, 7\n\n Demons, 26, 29, 60, 62, 80, 86 s., 88 s., 133, 136, 145, 154, 162, 172,\n    175\n\n Destiny, see \u201cFatalism\u201d\n\n _Devotio_, 63\n\n _Di animales_, 149\n\n Dido, 59\n\n Didyma, 99\n\n Dio Cassius, 62\n\n Dionysos (mysteries), 35, 120, 123, 201 s., 211;\n   _cf._ \u201cBacchus\u201d\n\n Dioscuri, 156;\n   _cf._ \u201cCastor\u201d\n\n Dolphins, 180\n\n Domitian, 103\n\n Druids, 23, 94, 178\n\n Druses, 178\n\n Dualism, 24, 89, 117, 188\n\n\n Eagle carries souls, 102, 113, 157 ss.\n\n Earth (Mother), 36, 86;\n   _cf._ \u201cCybele,\u201d \u201cMoon\u201d\n\n Eclecticism, 21, 27\n\n Ecstasy, 42, 121, 126, 196\n\n Egypt, 48 s., 54, 86, 112, 134, 157, 173, 177 s.;\n   Egyptian religion, 45, 76, 79, 94, 113, 122 s., 148, 153, 167, 175,\n      202, 207, 213;\n     in Rome, 36 ss.\n\n Elements purify the soul, 25, 81, 119, 185 ss., 196, 201\n\n Eleusis, 34, 138;\n   _cf._ \u201cMysteries\u201d\n\n Elijah, 156\n\n Elysian fields, 34, 73, 76, 79, 84, 120, 138 s., 151, 165, 171 ss.,\n    184, 193 s.;\n   in the moon, 25, 81 s., 97;\n   about the moon, 98;\n   among the stars, 104, 187;\n   represented, 74;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Emperors, divinity of, 112 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cApotheosis\u201d\n   not subject to fate, 117;\n     _cf._ \u201cKings\u201d\n\n Ennius, 21, 79, 165\n\n Enoch, 108, 198\n\n Epictetus, 12, 14\n\n Epicurus, 7 ss., 20;\n   Epicureans, 65, 77, 110, 195, 204, 210\n\n Epinomis, 208\n\n Epiphanies of gods, 121, 123\n\n Epoptism, 121;\n   _cf._ \u201cSight of god\u201d\n\n Erinyes, 26, 75, 78, 173 ss., 181 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cFuries\u201d\n\n Eros, 138\n\n Esdras, 198\n\n Eternal house (tomb), 3, 48;\n   eternal rest, 196, 199;\n   eternal pains, 76, 88, 172;\n   eternal banquet, see \u201cBanquet\u201d\n\n Etruscans, 5, 53 s., 63, 71, 74 s., 117, 149 s., 155, 174, 178\n\n Eusebius of Alexandria, 92\n\n Evil eye, 154\n\n Evil, Spirit of, see \u201cSpirit\u201d\n\n Executed criminals, 145;\n   _cf._ \u201c_Biothanati_\u201d\n\n\n Fatalism, 117, 133 s., 136, 179, 183\n\n Fates, 84, 134, 138\n\n _Fatum_, 133\n\n Faustina, 156\n\n Fire, stoic, 12 ss.;\n   heavenly, 28, 185;\n     _cf._ \u201cStars;\u201d\n   of hell, 175 s.;\n   purifies, 119, 176, 185 ss.;\n     _cf._ \u201cPyriphlegeton\u201d\n\n Fish, sacred, 121\n\n Food of the dead, 50 s., 56\n\n Fortunate islands, see \u201cIslands\u201d\n\n Freer collection, 154\n\n Funeral cult, 47 ss.;\n   funeral banquet, see \u201cBanquet,\u201d \u201cSculpture\u201d\n\n\n Galileo, 109\n\n Ganymede, 159\n\n Garden of tombs, 57, 200\n\n Gates, of Hades, 70, 80;\n   of heaven, 153, 162 s.\n\n Gaul, 23;\n   _cf._ \u201cDruids\u201d\n\n Gello, 134\n\n _Genii_, 60, 142\n\n Germanicus, 156\n\n Ghosts, 4, 7, 62 s., 67 s., 83, 91, 130 s., 134, 165, 197\n\n Gladiators, 51, 136\n\n Gnosis (sacred lore), 23, 111, 114, 121 ss., 125, 207 ss.\n\n Goat Star, 105\n\n Gobryes, 79\n\n God immanent, 30;\n   _cf._ \u201cWorld;\u201d\n   transcendent, 41;\n   identification with g., 34, 107 s.;\n     _cf._ \u201cSoul;\u201d\n   sight of God, 121, 207;\n   visible gods (stars), 31, 104, 108;\n     _cf._ \u201cEpiphanies;\u201d\n   sage, god on earth, 14, 111 s.;\n   evil god, 133;\n   god eaten in mysteries, 120\n\n Greek beliefs, 5, 61, 69, 72 ss., 79, 87, 95, 102, 105, 113, 115, 117,\n    146 s., 155, 157, 174, 177;\n   mysteries, 34 s.;\n     _cf._ \u201cDionysos,\u201d \u201cEleusis;\u201d\n   funeral cult, 53 s., 56\n\n Guide of souls, see \u201cPsychopomp\u201d\n\n\n Hadad, 205\n\n Hades, Greek, 4 s., 72, 134, 148, 170;\n   stoic, 14;\n   Pythagorean, 26, 78, 81, 181;\n   Neo-Platonic, 41, 88;\n   mysteries, 37;\n   descent into H., 148 ss., 171;\n   on earth, 78, 181 s.;\n   in the air, 168;\n     _cf._ \u201cAtmosphere;\u201d\n   between sun and moon, 103;\n   _cf._ \u201cGate,\u201d \u201c_Inferi_,\u201d \u201cTartarus,\u201d \u201cNether world\u201d\n\n Hadrian, 104, 157\n\n Hanged, 143;\n   rope amulet, 136\n\n Harmony of spheres, 25, 101, 115, 212\n\n Heavens, three, 106;\n   eight, 106 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cImmortality,\u201d \u201cPlanets\u201d\n\n Hecate, 92, 134\n\n Heliodorus of Emesa, 68, 86\n\n Helios, 123, 130;\n   _cf._ \u201cSun\u201d\n\n Hell dragon, 154;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Hemispheres opposed, 80 s.\n\n Hercules, 104, 113, 123, 144, 167, 205;\n   at crossroads, 150, 194\n\n Hermes, 180;\n   soul-guide, 25, 85, 105, 138, 163;\n   (Thot), 122\n\n Hermes Trismegistus, 38, 114, 121, 180, 186\n\n Herodotus, 177\n\n Heroes, 113 ss., 140, 142, 149, 167, 204 s.\n\n Hesiod, 150\n\n _Hic requiescit_, 191, 197\n\n Hierapolis, 159\n\n Hipparchus, 96\n\n Honey, 52, 119 s.\n\n Horace, 12, 130, 142, 205\n\n Horse carries souls, 155 s.\n\n Hostanes, 136\n\n Hypsistos (Most High), 41, 104, 108, 130\n\n\n Icaromenippus, 106\n\n _Imago_, 166\n\n Immortality, earthly, 19 s.;\n   celestial, 25 ss., 29, 32, 37, 91 ss., 138;\n   lunar, 96 ss.;\n     _cf._ \u201cMoon;\u201d\n   solar, 100 ss.;\n     _cf._ \u201cSun;\u201d\n   stellar, 103 ss.;\n     _cf._ \u201cStars;\u201d\n   conception of i., 110;\n   privilege of divinity, 111;\n   i. of the few, see \u201cHeroes\u201d\n\n Incineration, 46\n\n India, 54, 93, 95, 177\n\n Infants (death of), 128 ss.\n\n _Inferi_, 4, 25, 71, 78, 81, 86, 166, 195;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades,\u201d \u201cNether world\u201d\n\n _Innupti_, 137\n\n _Insepulti_, 25, 64 ss., 145;\n   rejected by shades, 68, 86, 193\n\n Intoxication, 126, 205, 211 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cWine\u201d\n\n _Invicti_ (stars), 117\n\n Ion of Chios, 95\n\n Irish wake, 55\n\n Isis, 36 s., 121, 123, 154\n\n Islands of the Blessed, 25, 80 s., 96, 155;\n   of impious, 175\n\n Ixion, 84 s., 171\n\n\n Jacob\u2019s ladder, 154\n\n Jamblichus, 40, 103, 169, 184, 207\n\n Jews, 35, 89, 108, 135, 142, 197 ss., 206;\n   _cf._ \u201cPhilo\u201d\n\n John Climacus, 154\n\n Josephus, 142\n\n Journey to Hades, 148 ss.;\n   to heaven, 152 ss.\n\n Judaism, see \u201cJews\u201d\n\n Judgment of the dead, 76, 88, 151, 172 s.\n\n Julian the Apostate, 9, 42, 98, 157, 161, 164, 205\n\n Julius Caesar, see \u201cCaesar\u201d\n\n Jupiter, 106;\n   _summus exsuperantissimus_, 108;\n   star, 107, 187\n\n\n Katoptromanteia, 166, n. 62\n\n Kings immortal, 112;\n   anointing of k., 119;\n   _cf._ \u201cEmperors\u201d\n\n Kiss (last), 59\n\n\n Lactantius, 153\n\n Ladder, 153 ss.\n\n _Larvae_, 63\n\n _Lemures_, 4, 60, 72, 131;\n   _Lemuria_, 63, 71\n\n Lesbos, 134\n\n Lethe, 76, 184, 201\n\n Libations on tombs, 50 ss., 204\n\n _Libri Acheruntici_, 149\n\n Lion, 187\n\n Liternum, 47\n\n Livia, wife of Drusus, 135\n\n Lucan, 103\n\n Lucian of Samosata, 8, 23, 39, 49, 54, 62, 67, 75, 97, 106, 175, 201\n\n Lucretius, 7, 45 s., 138, 210\n\n _Lunula_, 97\n\n Lustrations, 118\n\n Lysimachus, 65\n\n\n Maccabees, 142\n\n Macrobius, 132 s.\n\n Magi, 79, 95\n\n Magic, 22, 26, 52, 67, 118, 119, 124, 130 s., 133 ss., 143, 154, 158,\n    163, 166;\n   magic papyri, 86, 134 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cNecromancy\u201d\n\n _Manalis lapis_, 71\n\n Manes, 4, 18, 32, 47, 54, 60 ss., 72, 86, 93, passim\n\n Manicheans, 93, 103, 154, 178\n\n Manilius, 31, 112, 133\n\n Marcellus, 156\n\n Marcus Aurelius, 14, 39\n\n Mars, 123;\n   star, 107, 131, 141, 187\n\n Marseilles, 163\n\n Martyrs, 143, 145\n\n Maximus of Tyre, 61\n\n Mazdeans, 89, 95, 175, 188;\n   _cf._ \u201cPersia\u201d\n\n Meals, see \u201cBanquets\u201d\n\n _Melikraton_, 52\n\n _Memoriae aeternae_, 19\n\n Memory, Lake of, 148\n\n Menander, 141\n\n Mercury (star), 107, 187;\n   _cf._ \u201cHermes\u201d\n\n Metempsychosis, 26, 41 s., 74, 78, 82 s., 172, 177 ss.;\n   in beasts, 179 s., 183;\n   in plants, 179;\n   punishment, 180\n\n Miletus, 105\n\n Milk, 52\n\n Milky Way, 94, 104, 152 s.\n\n Minos, 75, 85\n\n Mirrors in magic, 166\n\n Mithras, 37 s., 89, 103, 106, 154, 156, 164, 178;\n   _cf._ 163\n\n Mojave Indians, 148\n\n Money (in mouth of dead), 84\n\n Monsters, see \u201cDeath\u201d, \u201cSouls\u201d\n\n Monteleone (chariot), 155, n. 23\n\n Moon, 28, 29, 86;\n   new moon, 91;\n   m. and resurrection, 91 s.;\n   abode of souls, 25 s., 93 s., 96 s., 186, 195;\n   dissolves souls, 168;\n   limit of heaven, 25, 98 s.;\n   Olympic earth, 97;\n     _cf._ 187;\n   rules physical life, 102, 107;\n     _cf._ \u201cBoat\u201d\n\n Mother of gods, 35 ss.\n\n Mourning, 47, 51\n\n Muses, 101, 115, 210\n\n Music, 24, 132;\n   _cf._ \u201cHarmony of spheres\u201d\n\n Mussulman, 142\n\n Mysteries, Greek, 34 s., 138;\n   _cf._ \u201cDionysos,\u201d \u201cEleusis;\u201d\n   oriental, 33 ss., 96, 116 ss., 138, 160;\n   m. and philosophy, 38, 124 ss.;\n   transformed, 38 s., 82;\n   children initiated, 138\n\n Mysticism, astral, 30, 126, 208 ss.;\n   Neo-Platonic, 42, 125\n\n\n Naiads, 139\n\n Necromancy, 53, 62, 66, 68, 190\n\n Nectabis, 136\n\n _Nekyia_, 82\n\n Nemesis, 130\n\n Neo-Platonists, 40, 87 s., 106, 110, 124, 144, 163, 169, 196\n\n Neo-Pythagoreans, see \u201cPythagoreans\u201d\n\n Nereids, 139\n\n Nero, 103, 131\n\n Nether world, 70 ss.;\n   imitation of city, 75, 172 s.;\n   lower hemisphere, 79;\n   in the air, 81;\n     _cf._ \u201cAtmosphere;\u201d\n   scepticism about n.w., 18, 83 s.;\n   faith in n.w. preserved, 36 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades,\u201d \u201c_Inferi_\u201d\n\n New York (Museum), 155, n. 23\n\n Nigidius Figulus, 22, 32, 97\n\n _Non nutriti_, 137\n\n Nosa\u00efris, 178\n\n _Nous_, 103, 168, 213\n\n Numa, 21\n\n Number (Pythagorean), 132\n\n Numenius, 107\n\n Nymphs, 140\n\n\n Octavius, 51\n\n Oenoanda, 9\n\n Oil, 119\n\n Olympus, 80, 88, 104 s., 157, 163, 195;\n   Olympic earth, 97;\n     _cf._ 187\n\n Omophagy, 120\n\n Orcus, 83;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Oriental mysteries, 33 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cMysteries;\u201d\n   Or. religions, 117, 203, 209\n\n Origen, 108 s., 140, 154, 188\n\n Orphism, 5, 21, 34 s., 73 s., 77, 138, 148 s., 171 s., 174, 177 ss.,\n    187 s., 193, 201\n\n Oscilla, 143\n\n Osiris, 35, 113, 116, 122 s., 202 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cSerapis\u201d\n\n _Os resectum_, 65;\n   _ossa quiescant_, 191\n\n Ovid, 22, 73, 104\n\n\n Pains of hell, 170 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cFire,\u201d \u201cEternal\u201d\n\n Paintings, 93;\n   _cf._ catacombs, 202, 206\n\n Palingenesis, 13, 182 ss.\n\n Panaetius, 13, 27 s.\n\n Panamu (king), 205\n\n Pannonia, 186\n\n Papyri, 157;\n   _cf._ \u201cMagic\u201d\n\n Paradise, 200, 205\n\n Parcae, 84\n\n _Parentalia_, 63, 71\n\n Pascal, 2, 30\n\n Pausanias, 95\n\n Pegasus, 156\n\n Pericles, 1\n\n Periktione, 78\n\n Peripatetic school, 6, 77;\n   _cf._ \u201cAristotle\u201d\n\n Persia, 54, 89, 95 s., 107, 156, 175, 177;\n   _cf._ \u201cMazdeans,\u201d \u201cMithras\u201d\n\n Pessimism, 24, 39, 41\n\n Petelia tablet, 148\n\n Peter, apocalypse of, 173\n\n Petosiris, 132\n\n Petronius, 49, 135\n\n Phantoms, see \u201cGhosts\u201d\n\n Pharaohs, 113, 123;\n   _cf._ \u201cEgypt\u201d\n\n Philadelphia, 151\n\n Philip of Opus, 208\n\n Philo the Jew, 31, 140, 154\n\n Philosophy, 5 ss.;\n   and mysteries, 38, 121;\n   philosophers immortal, 114, 124;\n   priests of the world, 125;\n   wonder-workers, 114;\n   _cf._ \u201cEpicureans,\u201d \u201cNeo-Platonists,\u201d \u201cPythagoreans,\u201d \u201cStoics\u201d\n\n Phoebus, 157;\n   _cf._ \u201cSun\u201d\n\n Phosphorus, 159\n\n Phrygian cult, 35 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cSabazios\u201d\n\n Pindar, 73\n\n Pirithous, 171\n\n Planets, 28, 168, 179, 209;\n   planetary spheres, 103, 106 ss., 154, 187\n\n Plato, 6, 7, 18, 23, 26, 28, 32, 39, 42, 66, 77, 87 ss., 95, 99, 107,\n    129, 136, 158, 169, 178, 182 ss., 188;\n   Plato\u2019s cavern, 23, 99;\n   _Phaedo_, 49, 79, 144, 152, 163;\n   _cf._ \u201cAxiochos,\u201d \u201cNeo-Platonists\u201d\n\n Plautus, 5\n\n Pliny the Elder, 8, 83, 92, 96;\n   the Younger, 67\n\n Plotinus, 23, 40 ss., 61, 125, 144, 212 s.\n\n Plutarch, 39, 83, 87, 129, 173, 186\n\n Pluto, 75, 84 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Pneuma, see \u201c\u03a0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1\u201d\n\n Polybius, 5\n\n Pontiffs, 65;\n   _cf._ 44\n\n Porch, see \u201cStoics\u201d\n\n Porphyry, 40, 42, 87, 120, 125, 144, 184\n\n Posidonius of Apamea, 27 ss., 32, 39, 43, 82, 98, 124, 136, 161, 184\n\n _Praesens numen_, 112\n\n Praetextatus (catacombs), 202\n\n Prayer (silent), 24, 122, 126\n\n Priests immortal, 114;\n   anointed, 119;\n   _cf._ \u201cPhilosophers\u201d\n\n Proclus, 87 s., 169\n\n Prodicus, 150\n\n Propertius, 47\n\n Proserpina, 25, 75, 95, 97\n\n Psyche, 25, 59\n\n Psychopomp, 94, 163;\n   _cf._ \u201cHermes,\u201d \u201cSun\u201d\n\n Ptolemies, 123;\n   _cf._ \u201cAlexandria\u201d\n\n Ptolemy\u2019s system, 28, 43, 109;\n   astrology, 132;\n   epigram, 211\n\n Punic cults, 93;\n   _cf._ 59;\n   _cf._ \u201cAfrica\u201d\n\n Purgatory, 26, 82, 161 s., 185 ss.\n\n Purification of the soul, 118;\n   _cf._ \u201cPurgatory\u201d, \u201cLustrations\u201d\n\n Pyre, 49, 159\n\n Pyriphlegethon, 15, 76, 78, 81, 175, 185\n\n Pythagoras, 20 ss., 97\n\n Pythagoreans, 20 ss., 27, 32, 35, 38 ss., 59, 66, 68, 74, 77 s., 81, 95\n    s., 99 s., 104, 107, 121, 124, 129, 132 ss., 136 s., 144, 149 ss.,\n    160, 167, 171, 177 ss., 181, 188, 194\n\n\n _Quies aeterna_, 191\n\n _Quietae sedes_, 195\n\n\n Ra, 94, 113, 154\n\n Rays of the sun, 160;\n   _cf._ \u201cSun\u201d\n\n Reason rises to the sun, 103, 168;\n   _cf._ \u201cNous\u201d\n\n _Refrigerium_, 202\n\n Reincarnation, 26, 29;\n   _cf._ \u201cMetempsychosis\u201d\n\n Repast, see \u201cBanquet\u201d\n\n Repose of the dead, 190 ss.;\n   in the Elysian Fields, 193 s.;\n   in heaven, 195 ss.\n\n Rest, see \u201cRepose,\u201d \u201c_Quies_\u201d\n\n Resurrection of the flesh, 197\n\n Retaliation, 173\n\n Retribution, 72, 172 ss., 177 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cJudgment\u201d\n\n Revelation, 207;\n   _cf._ \u201cGnosis\u201d\n\n Rhadamanthus, 75\n\n Rhine, 154\n\n Right and left, 152\n\n Rites not needed, 125 ss.\n\n Roads (two), 150 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cMilky Way\u201d\n\n Rosalia, 53;\n   _cf._ 57\n\n Royal souls, 114;\n   _cf._ \u201cKings\u201d\n\n\n Sabazios, 35, 202, 204\n\n Sacrifices for the dead, 50 ss.\n\n Sage, god on earth, 14, 111 ss.\n\n Sallust, 8\n\n Salvation in mysteries, 34 ss.\n\n Samos, 1\n\n _Sanctus_, 111\n\n San Francisco (museum), 183\n\n Sarcophagi, 74, 85, 115, 149, 155;\n   _cf._ \u201cSculpture\u201d\n\n Saturn, 107, 131, 141, 187\n\n Satyrs, 138\n\n Scarbantia, 186\n\n Scepticism, 17 ss., 28, 31\n\n Science deifies, 208 ss.;\n   _cf._ \u201cGnosis\u201d\n\n Scipio\u2019s tomb, 47;\n   Scipio\u2019s dream, 32, 104\n\n Sculpture (funeral), 85, 86, 117, 149, 151, 155 ss., 159, 165, 185 s.,\n    194, 201, 205;\n   _cf._ \u201cPaintings,\u201d \u201cSarcophagi\u201d\n\n Sea (death at), 129\n\n Seals, 163\n\n _Securi_ (dead), 55, 191;\n   _secura quies_, 194\n\n Selene, 96 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201cMoon\u201d\n\n Semites, 48, 79, 93 s., 103, 123;\n   _cf._ \u201cSyrians\u201d\n\n Sendjerli, 204\n\n Seneca, 8, 14, 22, 31, 83, 152, 179, 196\n\n Serapis, 36 s., 39, 122 s., 202;\n   _cf._ \u201cOsiris\u201d\n\n Servius, 60, passim\n\n Sextus Empiricus, 161\n\n Shade, 165 ss.;\n   and soul, 79;\n   shades receive or reject dead, 68, 86, n. 39, 134, 193, 204;\n   _cf._ \u201c\u0395\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd,\u201d \u201cUmbra\u201d\n\n _Shah\u00eed_, 142\n\n _Sheol_, 4\n\n Ship, see \u201cBoat\u201d\n\n _Sideribus recepti_, 113\n\n Sight of god, 121, 207;\n   _cf._ \u201cGnosis\u201d\n\n _Silicernium_, 53\n\n _Simulacrum_, 166 s.;\n   _cf._ \u201c\u0395\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u201d\n\n Sisiphus, 78, 84, 170, 181\n\n _Sit tibi terra levis_, 46\n\n Sleep of death, 10, 45, 49, 192\n\n Smyrna, 140\n\n Socrates, 131\n\n Solar attraction, 160;\n   _cf._ \u201cRays,\u201d \u201cSun\u201d\n\n Soldiers slain in battle, 142\n\n _Somno aeterno_, 192\n\n Soul a breath, 4, 7, 59, 164;\n   burning breath, 13 s., 24, 29, 87, 98, 161;\n   number, 24;\n   circular, 98;\n   a bird, 59, 93, 157 s.;\n   not immaterial, 118, 162;\n   physical nature, 164 ss.;\n   principle of movement, 110;\n   soul and shade, 79;\n     _cf._ \u201c\u0395\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd;\u201d\n   pollution, 29, 118, 162, 185;\n   division, 168;\n   related to God, 12, 111;\n   union with God, 42, 122 s.;\n   becomes star, 92 s.;\n   journey, 148 ss.;\n   triple ascension, 106;\n   passage through planets, 107;\n   garments of s., 106 ss.;\n   hierarchy of souls, 108 s., 213;\n   how represented, 165, 167;\n   _cf._ \u201cGhost,\u201d \u201cShade,\u201d \u201cSpirit,\u201d \u201cStars\u201d\n\n Spirit of Evil, 89, 175;\n   _cf._ \u201cAhriman\u201d\n\n Spirits of the dead, 46 s., 56 s.;\n   of murdered, 130;\n   _cf._ \u201cSoul\u201d\n\n Stars and souls, 92 s., 94, 103 ss.;\n   shooting s., 92;\n   _invicti_, 117;\n   _cf._ \u201cComet\u201d\n\n Statius, 103\n\n Stele, see \u201cSculpture\u201d\n\n Stoics, 12 ss., 21, 30 s., 33, 39, 46, 65, 77, 82, 87, 96, 98 s., 103,\n    113, 144, 179, 182, 195\n\n Styx, 25, 75 s., 78, 80 s., 83 s., 134, 155, 193\n\n Sublunary world, see \u201cWorld\u201d\n\n Suetonius, 86, 130\n\n Suicide, 143 ss.\n\n Sun-god, 24, 86, 130;\n   _cf._ \u201cHelios,\u201d \u201cPhoebus,\u201d \u201cRa;\u201d\n   and emperors, 157;\n   and eagle, 158;\n   psychopomp, 164;\n   star, 28, 100 s.;\n   new sun, 91;\n   heart of the world, 100;\n   reason of the world, 101, 107;\n   sun and souls, 94, 156 ss.;\n     _cf._ \u201cBoat,\u201d \u201cChariot\u201d\n\n _Suo die_, 133\n\n Syncretism, see \u201cEclecticism\u201d\n\n Syria, 28, 40, 52, 73, 86, 92, 112, 131, 156 ss., 176, n. 11, 204 ss.;\n   Syrian cults, 37, 93, 96, 120 s.\n\n\n _Taciti_ (Manes), 165\n\n Tacitus, 18\n\n Tages, 149\n\n Tantalus, 9, 78, 84 s., 170, 181\n\n Tartarus, 26, 27, 34, 75 s., 77, 79 s., 84 s., 171 ss., 175 s., 188;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n Taurobolium, 119\n\n Tertullian, 55\n\n Theodore the Atheist, 65\n\n Theophanes, 146\n\n Theseus, 171\n\n Tiberius, 86\n\n Tibullus, 191\n\n Timaeus of Locri, 78\n\n Tiresias, 74\n\n Titans, 178\n\n Titus, 142\n\n Tityus, 9, 170, 181\n\n Tivoli, 183\n\n Tomb, a dwelling, 3, 46 ss., 56;\n   furniture, 49 s., 72;\n   garden, 57, 200;\n   placed on roads, 58;\n   antechamber of nether world, 70;\n   tombstone, see \u201cSculpture,\u201d \u201cSarcophagi\u201d\n\n Torre San Severo (sarcophagus), 74\n\n Trajan, 157\n\n Transmigration, see \u201cMetempsychosis\u201d\n\n Tritons, 186\n\n\n Ulysses, 74, 180\n\n _Umbra_, 79, 166 s.\n\n Unburied, 64;\n   _cf._ \u201c_Insepulti_\u201d\n\n Unctions, 119, 163\n\n Untimely death, 128 ss., 136 ss.\n\n\n Varro, 31\n\n Vatinius, 22\n\n Vegetarianism, 179\n\n Vehicle of souls, 61, 169\n\n Venus\u2014star, 94, 107;\n   goddess, 104, 123, 187\n\n Violation of tombs, 67 s.\n\n Virgil, 31, 59, 66, 73, 82 s., 128 s., 139, 142, 152, 172, 174, 182,\n    184, 186, 210\n\n\n Warriors, see \u201cSoldiers\u201d\n\n Washing, see \u201cAblutions\u201d\n\n Water, heavenly, 185;\n   libation of w., 51;\n     _cf._ 202;\n   purification by w., see \u201cElements,\u201d \u201cLustration\u201d\n\n Winds, 25, 60, 155, 161, 166, 185\n\n Wine, 35, 52, 120, 203 ss., 211\n\n Wizards, see \u201cMagic\u201d\n\n World\u2014system of, 28, 99 s., 121;\n   divine, 12, 29 s., 126;\n   sublunary world, 99, 107, 117, 168, 195;\n     _cf._ \u201cMoon\u201d\n\n\n Y symbol, 26, 150 s., 194\n\n Yezidis, 178\n\n\n Zagreus, 138\n\n Zeno, 195\n\n Zeus, 112, 123;\n   _cf._ \u201cJupiter\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              GREEK WORDS\n\n\n \u1f0c\u03b3\u03b1\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9, 137\n\n \u1f09\u03b3\u03b9\u03ac\u03b6\u03c9, 123\n\n \u1f09\u03b3\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1, 24\n\n \u1f0c\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, 41\n\n \u1f08\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u03ae\u03c2, (= Hades), 79\n\n \u0391\u1f30\u03c4\u03af\u03b1 \u1f10\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9, 183\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03b5\u03cd\u03c2, 101, 160\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03ad\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, 131\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03b1\u03af\u03c4\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, 183\n\n \u1f0c\u03bd\u03b5\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, 59\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03b8\u03bf\u03c6\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, 138\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03c4\u03af\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2, 89\n\n \u1f08\u03bd\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9, 137\n\n \u1f08\u03c0\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, 116, 118\n\n \u1f08\u03c0\u03ac\u03b8\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1, 191\n\n \u1f08\u03c0\u03bf\u03b8\u03ad\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, 118;\n   _cf._ \u201cApotheosis\u201d\n\n \u1f0c\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u1fc6\u03c2, 68\n\n \u1f08\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae, 151\n\n \u1f0c\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2, 162\n\n \u1f08\u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b5\u03af\u03b1, 151\n\n \u1f08\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03be\u03af\u03b1, 8\n\n \u1f0c\u03c4\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9, 64;\n   _cf._ \u201c_Insepulti_\u201d\n\n \u1f0c\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9, 132, 137\n\n \u1f0c\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9, 129, 136 s.\n\n\n \u0392\u03b9\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9, 129, 141 ss.\n\n \u0392\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2, 211\n\n\n \u0393\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 (\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6), 23, 121 ss., 125, 207 ss.\n\n\n \u0394\u03bf\u03be\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, 123\n\n\n \u0395\u1f34\u03b4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd, 7, 24, 79, 166 s.\n\n \u1f18\u03ba\u03c0\u03cd\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, 13 s.\n\n \u1f18\u03c0\u03b9\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u1f74\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, 112\n\n \u1f19\u03c0\u03c4\u03ac\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, 160\n\n \u0395\u1f50\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u1fd6, 155\n\n \u0395\u1f50\u03c8\u03cd\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9, 149\n\n\n \u1f29\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd, 30, 103\n\n \u1f29\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u1f7c\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2, 163 s.\n\n\n \u0398\u03ac\u03c1\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9, 149\n\n\n \u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u03ac\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f0d\u03b9\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5, 171;\n   _cf._ \u201cHades\u201d\n\n \u039a\u03cd\u03ba\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2, 179\n\n\n \u039c\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5\u03bd\u03c3\u03c9\u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, 182\n\n\n \u039d\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, 168;\n   _cf._ 103, 213\n\n \u039d\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03cc\u03bb\u03b7\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9, 139\n\n\n \u039e\u03cd\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, 160\n\n\n \u1f49\u03b4\u1f78\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03ac\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd, 152\n\n \u1f4c\u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1, 41, 161, 169\n\n\n \u03a0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b9\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1, 182\n\n \u03a0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2, 200\n\n \u03a0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1, 111, 168\n\n \u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03ac\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, 145\n\n\n \u03a3\u03ba\u03b9\u03ac, 166 s.\n\n \u03a3\u03c5\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1, 96, 111\n\n \u03a3\u03c5\u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03b9\u03ac\u03c1\u03c7\u03b7\u03c2, 202\n\n \u03a3\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b1, 167\n\n \u03a3\u03c9\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1, 112\n\n\n \u03a4\u03b5\u03bb\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1, 163\n\n \u03a4\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2, 151\n\n\n \u03a5, 26, 150 s., 194\n\n \u1f5d\u03c8\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, 41;\n   _cf._ \u201cHypsistos\u201d\n\n \u1f59\u03c8\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, 123\n\n\n \u03a6\u03c9\u03c4\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, 123\n\n\n \u03a8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae, 25, 59, 167;\n   _cf._ \u201cPsyche\u201d\n\n\n                PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  Plut., _Pericl._, 8.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  _Pens\u00e9es_, III, 194 (t. II, p. 103, ed. Brunschvigg).\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  See Lecture I, \u201cLife in the Tomb.\u201d\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  See Lecture II, \u201cThe Nether World.\u201d\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 73.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  Plautus, _Capt._, V, 4, 1.\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  Polyb., VI, 56, 12.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  Diels, _Fragm. Vorsokratiker_^3, II, p. 121, fr. 297.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  Homer, _Il._, \u03a8, 100; Plato, _Phaed._, 77 D; _cf._ Rohde, _Psyche_,\n  II^4, p. 264, n. 2.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n  III, 38:\n\n             \u201cEt metus ille foras praeceps Acheruntis agendus\n             Funditus humanam qui vitam turbat ab imo.\u201d\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n  Sall., _Cat._, 51, 20.\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n  Pliny, _H. N._, VII, 55, \u00a7 190.\n\nFootnote 13:\n\n  Seneca, _Troades_, 382 ss.\n\nFootnote 14:\n\n  Lucian, _Alex._, c. 61; c. 47.\n\nFootnote 15:\n\n  Lucian, _ibid._, c. 38; c. 44; c. 47.\n\nFootnote 16:\n\n  Julian, _Epist._, 89 (p. 747, 23, ed. Bidez-Cumont).\n\nFootnote 17:\n\n  Cousin, _Bull. corr. hell._, XVI, 1897; _cf._ Usener, _Rhein. Mus._,\n  N. F., XLVII, p. 428.\n\nFootnote 18:\n\n  CIL, XI, 856 = B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigraphica_, 191.\n\nFootnote 19:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscript. selectae_, 8162 ss.; _cf._ _Recueil des\n  inscriptions du Pont_, 110: \u201cNon fui, fui, non sum, non curo.\u201d\n\nFootnote 20:\n\n  _Recueil_, 143.\n\nFootnote 21:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture VIII, p. 192.\n\nFootnote 22:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 646.\n\nFootnote 23:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1495 = CIL, VI, 26003:\n\n             \u201cNil sumus et fuimus. Mortales respice, lector,\n             In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus.\u201d\n\nFootnote 24:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1247 = CIL, VI, 7193:\n\n             \u201cQuod superest homini requiescunt dulciter ossa,\n             Nec sum sollicitus ne subito esuriam.\n             Et podagram careo, nec sum pensionibus arra\n             Et gratis aeterno perfruor hospitio.\u201d\n\nFootnote 25:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _op. cit._, 1500.\n\nFootnote 26:\n\n  I _Cor._ 15. 32.\n\nFootnote 27:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _op. cit._, 187: \u201cQuod comedi et ebibi tantum meum est.\u201d\n  _Cf._ _ibid._, 244: \u201cQuod edi, bibi, mecum habeo, quod reliqui,\n  perdidi.\u201d\n\nFootnote 28:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _op. cit._, 1499; Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8157:\n\n             \u201cBalnea, vina, venus corrumpunt corpora nostra,\n             Sed vitam faciunt balnea, vina, venus.\u201d\n\nFootnote 29:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _op. cit._, 243: \u201cDum vixi, bibi libenter; bibite vos qui\n  vivitis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 30:\n\n  H\u00e9ron de Villefosse, _Le tr\u00e9sor de Boscoreale_, in _Monuments Piot_,\n  V, Paris, 1899.\n\nFootnote 31:\n\n  _Epist._, I, 4, 16.\n\nFootnote 32:\n\n  Epict., _Diss._, I, 14, 6; II, 8, 11 (\u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c0\u03b1\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6).\n\nFootnote 33:\n\n  _Cf._, _e.g._, Sen., _Consol. Marc._, end.\n\nFootnote 34:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 115 s.\n\nFootnote 35:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 79.\n\nFootnote 36:\n\n  Stob., _Ecl._, I, 384, Wachsmuth.\n\nFootnote 37:\n\n  Sextus Empiricus, _Adv. Math._, IX, 71: \u039f\u1f50\u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u1f70\u03c2 \u1f14\u03bd\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\n  \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u1fc6\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9 \u03c6\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2. _Cf._ Cic., _Tusc._, I, 16, 37; 17, 40.\n\nFootnote 38:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture II, p. 77.\n\nFootnote 39:\n\n  Epictetus, III, 13, 15; _cf._ II, 6, 18.\n\nFootnote 40:\n\n  Bonh\u00f6fer, _Epictet. und die Stoa_, 1890, p. 65.\n\nFootnote 41:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture III, p. 98.\n\nFootnote 42:\n\n  _Arch. Epigr. Mitt. aus Oesterreich_, VI, 1882, p. 60; _cf._\n  Epictetus, _l. c._\n\nFootnote 43:\n\n  CIL, XIII, 8371, at Cologne.\n\nFootnote 44:\n\n  CIL, III, 6384: \u201cCorpus habent cineres, animam sacer abstulit aer.\u201d\n\nFootnote 45:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8168; B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1532; _cf._\n  974:\n\n           \u201cMortua heic ego sum et sum cinis, is cinis terrast,\n           Sein est terra dea, ego sum dea, mortua non sum.\u201d\n\nFootnote 46:\n\n  Tennyson, _Crossing the Bar_.\n\nFootnote 47:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1498:\n\n                  \u201cEvasi effugi; Spes et Fortuna valete;\n                  Nil mihi vobiscum. Ludificate alios.\u201d\n\n  _Cf._ B\u00fccheler, 409, 9; 434; _Anthol. Pal._, IX, 49; 172; Vettius\n  Valens, V, 9 (p. 219, 26, Kroll).\n\nFootnote 48:\n\n  See my _Oriental religions_, p. 180; 276, n. 51 s.\n\nFootnote 49:\n\n  See Lecture III, pp. 96, 107; VII, p. 176.\n\nFootnote 50:\n\n  Callim., _Epigr._, 15, 3:\n\n            \u1f68 \u03a7\u03b1\u03c1\u03af\u03b4\u03b1 \u03c4\u03af \u03c4\u1f70 \u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03b8\u03b5;\u2014\u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u1f7a \u03c3\u03ba\u03cc\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\u2014\u0391\u1f31 \u03b4\u2019 \u1f04\u03bd\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u03af;\n            \u03a8\u03b5\u1fe6\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2\u2014\u1f49 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03a0\u03bb\u03bf\u03cd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd;\u2014\u039c\u1fe6\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2\u2014\u1f08\u03c0\u03c9\u03bb\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03b8\u03b1\n\nFootnote 51:\n\n  Cat., V, 4:\n\n                   \u201cSoles occidere et redire possunt;\n                   Nobis quum semel occidit brevis lux,\n                   Nox est perpetua una dormienda.\u201d\n\nFootnote 52:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture II, p. 83, and VII, p. 181.\n\nFootnote 53:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 180, 1147, 1190, 1339, etc.\n\nFootnote 54:\n\n  Plato, _Apol._, 40c\u201341c.\n\nFootnote 55:\n\n  Cic., _Parad. Stoic._, II, 18: \u201cMors est terribilis iis quorum cum\n  vita omnia exstinguntur, non iis quorum laus emori non potest.\u201d\n\nFootnote 56:\n\n  Cic., _Pro Archia_, 11, 26; _cf._ _Tusc._, I, 15, 34.\n\nFootnote 57:\n\n  Diog. Laert., X, 16 = fragm. 217 Usener; _cf._ Plin., _H. N._, XXXV,\n  5.\n\nFootnote 58:\n\n  Furtw\u00e4ngler, _Die antiken Gemmen_, III, 1900, 257 ss.\n\nFootnote 59:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 97.\n\nFootnote 60:\n\n  Ovid, _Metam._, XV, 60 ss.\n\nFootnote 61:\n\n  Rohde, _Der Griech. Roman_^2, p. 270 s.\n\nFootnote 62:\n\n  Sen., _Quaest. nat._, VII, 32, 2.\n\nFootnote 63:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 121.\n\nFootnote 64:\n\n  _Revue arch\u00e9ologique_, 1918, VIII, p. 52 ss.\n\nFootnote 65:\n\n  Plato, _Republ._, VII, p. 514.\n\nFootnote 66:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, p. 209 ss.\n\nFootnote 67:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 167; _cf._ III, p. 103.\n\nFootnote 68:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 81.\n\nFootnote 69:\n\n  See, for all this, Lecture III, p. 96 s.; _cf._ VIII, p. 195.\n\nFootnote 70:\n\n  See Lecture VIII, p. 212.\n\nFootnote 71:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 66.\n\nFootnote 72:\n\n  See Lecture V, p. 133.\n\nFootnote 73:\n\n  See Lecture III, pp. 73, 81; VII, p. 181 s.\n\nFootnote 74:\n\n  _Cf._ Cic., _Tusc._, I, 11, 24.\n\nFootnote 75:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 151.\n\nFootnote 76:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 434.\n\nFootnote 77:\n\n  _Cf._ my _Astrology and Religion_, 1912, p. 83 ss.\n\nFootnote 78:\n\n  See above, p. 13.\n\nFootnote 79:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 98.\n\nFootnote 80:\n\n  See below, Lecture III, p. 100 ss.\n\nFootnote 81:\n\n  Pascal, _Pens\u00e9es_, III, 206 (t. II, p. 127, Brunschvigg): \u201cLe silence\n  \u00e9ternel de ces espaces infinis m\u2019effraie.\u201d\n\nFootnote 82:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 98; VI, p. 161 s.; VII, p. 184.\n\nFootnote 83:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 127; VIII, p. 210.\n\nFootnote 84:\n\n  Manilius, II, 115.\n\nFootnote 85:\n\n  See above, p. 22.\n\nFootnote 86:\n\n  Lehrs, _Popul\u00e4re Aufs\u00e4tze aus dem Altertum_, 1875, p. 349 ss.; Fowler,\n  _Religious Experience of the Roman People_, p. 382 ss.\n\nFootnote 87:\n\n  _Cf._ my _Oriental religions in Roman paganism_, Chicago, 1911, p. 39\n  ss.\n\nFootnote 88:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 118 ss.\n\nFootnote 89:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 76; VII, p. 171.\n\nFootnote 90:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 120; VIII, p. 204.\n\nFootnote 91:\n\n     \u201cAlimenta vitae tribuis perpetua fide,\n     Et cum recesserit anima in te refugiemus,\n     Ita, quicquid tribuis, in te cuncta recidunt.\u201d\n                               (_Anthol. Lat._, ed. Riese, I, p. 27.)\n\nFootnote 92:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 122.\n\nFootnote 93:\n\n  See Lecture VIII, p. 202.\n\nFootnote 94:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 96 ss.\n\nFootnote 95:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 79.\n\nFootnote 96:\n\n  _Enn._, IV, 7.\n\nFootnote 97:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 106; VI, p. 169.\n\nFootnote 98:\n\n  See Lecture VII, p. 184 ss.\n\nFootnote 99:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 108; VIII, p. 212.\n\nFootnote 100:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 90; IV, p. 109; VIII, p. 196 ss., 206.\n\nFootnote 101:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 12, \u00a727.\n\nFootnote 102:\n\n  Lucretius, III, 890 ss.\n\nFootnote 103:\n\n  Servius, _Aen._, III, 68.\n\nFootnote 104:\n\n  Servius, _ibid._\n\nFootnote 105:\n\n  Propertius, IV, 5, 3: \u201cNec sedeant cineri Manes.\u201d _Cf._ Lucan, IX, 2.\n\nFootnote 106:\n\n  Pliny, _H. N._, XVI, 44, \u00a7234; _cf._ Livy, XXXVIII, 53.\n\nFootnote 107:\n\n  _Cf._ my _Oriental religions_, p. 240.\n\nFootnote 108:\n\n  CIL, I, 1108: \u201cDomum aeternam ubi aevum degerent.\u201d\n\nFootnote 109:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1555: \u201cHaec certa est domus, haec est\n  colenda nobis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 110:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, III, 67: \u201cAnimam sepulcro condimus.\u201d _Cf._ Pliny,\n  _Epist._, III, 27, 12: \u201cRite conditis Manibus.\u201d\n\nFootnote 111:\n\n  See above, Introd., p. 10; Lecture VIII, p. 192.\n\nFootnote 112:\n\n  Petronius, 71: \u201cValde enim falsum vivo quidem domos cultas esse, non\n  curari eam ubi diutius nobis habitandum est.\u201d\n\nFootnote 113:\n\n  Lucian, _Philopseudes_, 27; _cf._ Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8379, l. 50\n  ss.\n\nFootnote 114:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 646 = Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8156; _cf._\n  Lucian, _De luctu_, 19.\n\nFootnote 115:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 838 = Dessau, _op. cit._, 8204.\n\nFootnote 116:\n\n  Sueton., _Aug._, 15.\n\nFootnote 117:\n\n  _Cf._ p. 52, n. 20, and Lecture IV, p. 118.\n\nFootnote 118:\n\n  Servius, _Aen._, III, 67.\n\nFootnote 119:\n\n  _Cf._ _Comptes rendus Acad. des Inscr._, 1918, p. 284 s.\n\nFootnote 120:\n\n  Servius, _Aen._, V, 79: \u201cAd sanguinis imitationem, in quo est sedes\n  animae.\u201d _Cf._ II, 532.\n\nFootnote 121:\n\n  See above, Introd., p. 35, and Lecture VIII, p. 204.\n\nFootnote 122:\n\n  CIL, XI, 132 = Dessau, 7235.\n\nFootnote 123:\n\n  CIL, XIV, 3323 = Dessau, 8090: \u201cHoc peto aego a bobis unibersis\n  sodalibus ut sene bile refrigeretis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 124:\n\n  CIL, VI, 26554 = Dessau, 8139.\n\nFootnote 125:\n\n  Dessau, 8379.\n\nFootnote 126:\n\n  Lucian, _De luctu_, 37.\n\nFootnote 127:\n\n  Dessau, 8154 = CIL, XII, 5102 = B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 788:\n\n              \u201c[Eo] cupidius perpoto in monumento meo,\n              Quod dormiendum et permanendum heic est mihi.\u201d\n\nFootnote 128:\n\n  _De testim. animae_, 4.\n\nFootnote 129:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, p. 203 s.\n\nFootnote 130:\n\n  Augustine, _De mor. eccles._, 34: \u201cQui luxuriosissime super mortuos\n  bibant et epulas cadaveribus exhibentes super sepultos se ipsos\n  sepeliant et voracitates ebrietatesque suas deputent religioni.\u201d\n\nFootnote 131:\n\n  _Constitutiones Apostol._, VIII, 42.\n\nFootnote 132:\n\n  Dessau, 8375: \u201cColant spiritum meum.\u201d\n\nFootnote 133:\n\n  _Cf._ Petronius, 71: \u201cOmne genus poma volo sint circa cineres meos et\n  vinearum largiter\u201d; Dessau, 8342 ss.; below, Lecture VIII, p. 200.\n\nFootnote 134:\n\n  Varro, _Lingu. Lat._, VI, 49 (45).\n\nFootnote 135:\n\n  _Arch. Epigr. Mitt. aus Oesterreich_, X, 1886, p. 64.\n\nFootnote 136:\n\n  Dessau, 6746.\n\nFootnote 137:\n\n  _Ibid._, 8130.\n\nFootnote 138:\n\n  _Ibid._, 1967; _cf._ 8139.\n\nFootnote 139:\n\n  Diog. Laert., VIII, 32; _cf._ Servius, _Aen._, III, 63; Lecture VI, p.\n  160.\n\nFootnote 140:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, IV, 685.\n\nFootnote 141:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 157.\n\nFootnote 142:\n\n  _Cf._ Porph., _De abstin._, II, 37.\n\nFootnote 143:\n\n  Servius, _Georg._, I, 277; _cf._ Dessau, 8006.\n\nFootnote 144:\n\n  CIL, VIII, 2803_a_: \u201cDonata, pia, iusta, vale, serva tuos omnes.\u201d\n\nFootnote 145:\n\n  Margaret Waites, _American journ. of archaeol._, 1920, 242 ss.\n\nFootnote 146:\n\n  Maxim. Tyr., _Diss._, IX (XV), 6.\n\nFootnote 147:\n\n  Plotinus, _Enn._, IV, 7, 20.\n\nFootnote 148:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8006. \u201cManus mala\u201d means probably a murder\n  produced by witchcraft; _cf._ _ibid._, 8522; Lecture V, p. 135.\n\nFootnote 149:\n\n  CIL, II, 4427: \u201cLacrimae si prosunt, visis te ostende videri.\u201d\n\nFootnote 150:\n\n  Lucian, _Philopseudes_, 29.\n\nFootnote 151:\n\n  Dio Cassius, LXXIX, 18.\n\nFootnote 152:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8201_a_: \u201cTu qui legis et dubitas Manes esse,\n  sponsione facta invoca nos et intelleges.\u201d\n\nFootnote 153:\n\n  Ovid, _Fast._, II, 546.\n\nFootnote 154:\n\n  CIL, I, 818 = VI, 10407^e = Dessau, 8749: \u201cMortuus nec ad deos nec ad\n  homines acceptus est.\u201d _Cf._ CIL, X, 8249.\n\nFootnote 155:\n\n  CIL, VI, 12072: \u201cParce matrem tuam et patrem et sororem tuam Marinam,\n  ut possint tibi facere post me sollemnia.\u201d\n\nFootnote 156:\n\n  Audollent, _Defixionum tabellae_, 1904.\n\nFootnote 157:\n\n  See below, Lecture V, pp. 143, 145.\n\nFootnote 158:\n\n  Plato, _Republ._, X, 615 A B; _cf._ Norden, _Aeneis Buch VI_, p. 10.\n\nFootnote 159:\n\n  See Lecture V, p. 134.\n\nFootnote 160:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, VI, 325 ss: \u201cInops inhumataque turba.... Centum errant\n  annos volitantque haec litora circum.\u201d\n\nFootnote 161:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 7213 = CIL, XIV, 2112, II, 4.\n\nFootnote 162:\n\n  Sueton., _Calig._, 59; _cf._ Plautus, _Mostell._, III, 2.\n\nFootnote 163:\n\n  Pliny, _Epist._, VII, 27; Lucian, _Philopseudes_, 31.\n\nFootnote 164:\n\n  Audollent, _Defixionum tabellae_, 27, l. 18; _cf._ 22 ss.\n\nFootnote 165:\n\n  See Lecture V, p. 135.\n\nFootnote 166:\n\n  Heliodorus, _Aeth._, VI, 15.\n\nFootnote 167:\n\n  See Lecture VIII, p. 193.\n\nFootnote 168:\n\n  Leblant, _\u00c9pigraphie chr\u00e9tienne de la Gaule_, 1890, 52 ss.\n\nFootnote 169:\n\n  Lawson, _Modern Greek folk-lore_, 1910, p. 403.\n\nFootnote 170:\n\n  Lucian, _De luctu_, 9.\n\nFootnote 171:\n\n  Piganiol, _Revue d\u2019histoire et de litt. religieuses_, VI, 1920, p. 335\n  ss.\n\nFootnote 172:\n\n  _Cf._ Lucian, _De luctu_, 14.\n\nFootnote 173:\n\n  _Cf._ Dessau, 8379.\n\nFootnote 174:\n\n  _Aen._, VI, 653 ss.\n\nFootnote 175:\n\n  Ovid, _Metam._, IV, 443 ss.\n\nFootnote 176:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1186:\n\n                \u201cSed in secessum numinis infernae domus\n                Oficiosus tandem ministerio laetatur suo.\u201d\n\nFootnote 177:\n\n  See below, Lecture VI, p. 148.\n\nFootnote 178:\n\n  _Monumenti Antichi_, XXIV, 1917, pp. 5\u2013116.\n\nFootnote 179:\n\n  See below, Lecture VII, p. 172 s.\n\nFootnote 180:\n\n  Furtw\u00e4ngler, _Archiv f\u00fcr Religionswissenschaft_, VIII, 1905, p. 191\n  ss.\n\nFootnote 181:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 66.\n\nFootnote 182:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 151.\n\nFootnote 183:\n\n  See below, Lecture VII, p. 172 ss.\n\nFootnote 184:\n\n  See Introd., p. 6.\n\nFootnote 185:\n\n  See Introd., p. 29.\n\nFootnote 186:\n\n  Mullach, _Fragm. phil. Graec._, II, p. 33.\n\nFootnote 187:\n\n  Tim. Locr., _De anim. mundi_, 17, p. 104 D; _cf._ Schmekel, _Mittlere\n  Stoa_, 1892, p. 435.\n\nFootnote 188:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture VII, p. 178 ss.\n\nFootnote 189:\n\n  _Cf._ on this doctrine _Revue de philologie_, XLIV, 1920, p. 230 ss.\n\nFootnote 190:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture VII, p. 181.\n\nFootnote 191:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 167.\n\nFootnote 192:\n\n  _Cf._ _Rev. philol._, _l. c._, p. 237 ss.\n\nFootnote 193:\n\n  On this doctrine see _Comptes rendus Acad. Inscriptions_, 1920, p. 272\n  ss.\n\nFootnote 194:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture VI, p. 155.\n\nFootnote 195:\n\n  See Lecture VII, p. 185; _cf._ VI, p. 161 s.\n\nFootnote 196:\n\n  See Introd., p. 38 s.\n\nFootnote 197:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 21, 48; _cf._ I, 6, 10; _Nat. deor._, II, 2, 5.\n\nFootnote 198:\n\n  Sen., _Epist._, 24, 18.\n\nFootnote 199:\n\n  Juvenal, _Sat._, II, 149 ss.\n\nFootnote 200:\n\n  Pliny, _H. N._, II, 63, \u00a7158.\n\nFootnote 201:\n\n  Plutarch, _Non posse suaviter vivi sec. Epic._, 27, p. 1105.\n\nFootnote 202:\n\n  _Cf._ Lucian, _De luctu_, 10.\n\nFootnote 203:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, 1109, v. 19\u201324:\n\n              \u201cNon ego Tartareas penetrabo tristis ad undas,\n              Non Acheronteis transvehar umbra vadis,\n              Non ego caeruleam remo pulsabo carinam,\n              Nec te terribilem fronte timebo Charon,\n              Nec Minos mihi iura dabit grandaevus et atris\n              Non errabo locis nec cohibebor aquis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 204:\n\n  See, for instance, _Jahresh. Instit. Wien_, XVII, 1914, p. 133 ss.; or\n  _Hermes_, XXXVII, 1902, p. 121 ss.\n\nFootnote 205:\n\n  _Cf._ Jahn, _Darstellungen der Unterwelt auf Sarkophagen_, in _Ber.\n  Gesellschaft Wiss. Leipsig_, 1856, p. 267 ss.; Reinach, _R\u00e9pertoire\n  des reliefs_, III, 391; Berger, _Revue arch\u00e9ol._, 3^e serie, XXVI,\n  1895, p. 71 ss.\n\nFootnote 206:\n\n  Sueton., _Tiberius_, 75, 1: \u201cTerram matrem deosque Manes orarent, ne\n  mortuo sedem ullam nisi inter impios darent.\u201d\n\nFootnote 207:\n\n  Heliodorus, _Aeth._, VIII, 9, p. 231, 10, Bekker.\n\nFootnote 208:\n\n  _Jahresh. Instit. Wien_, XVIII, 1915, Beiblatt., p. 45.\n\nFootnote 209:\n\n  Plutarch, _Non posse suaviter vivi sec. Epic._, 27, p. 1105.\n\nFootnote 210:\n\n  Porph., _Sent._, 29 (p. 13, Mommert).\n\nFootnote 211:\n\n  Proclus, _In Remp. Plat._, II, p. 126, 10 ss., Kroll.\n\nFootnote 212:\n\n  Proclus, _ibid._, II, p. 131, 20 ss.\n\nFootnote 213:\n\n  Proclus, _In Remp. Plat._, I, 121, 23 ss., Kroll.\n\nFootnote 214:\n\n  Orig., _Contra Celsum_, VIII, 48 s.\n\nFootnote 215:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 113 ss.\n\nFootnote 216:\n\n  Porph., _De abstin._, 38 ss.; _cf._ Bousset, _Archiv f\u00fcr\n  Religionswiss._, XVIII, 1915, p. 134 ss., and Andres in _Realencycl._,\n  Supplementband, III, 315.\n\nFootnote 217:\n\n  _Cf._ _Comptes rendus Acad. Inscriptions_, 1918, p. 278 ss.\n\nFootnote 218:\n\n  Pliny, _H. N._, II, 8, \u00a7 28.\n\nFootnote 219:\n\n  Eusebius Alex., in _Patr. Graeca_, LXXXVI, 1, p. 453.\n\nFootnote 220:\n\n  _Cat. codd. astrol. Graec_, V, pars. 1, p. 196 ss.\n\nFootnote 221:\n\n  See below, Lecture VI, p. 357.\n\nFootnote 222:\n\n  Flinders Petrie, _Athribis_, London, 1908 (52 A. D.).\n\nFootnote 223:\n\n  _Cf._ below, Lecture VI, p. 154.\n\nFootnote 224:\n\n  Toutain, _Revue des \u00e9tudes anciennes_, XIII, 1911, p. 166 ss.; _cf._\n  _ibid._, p. 379 s.\n\nFootnote 225:\n\n  See below, p. 104, and Lecture VI, p. 153.\n\nFootnote 226:\n\n  E. Pfeiffer, _Studien zum antiken Sternglauben_, 1916, p. 113 ss.\n\nFootnote 227:\n\n  Pausanias, IV, 32, 4.\n\nFootnote 228:\n\n  Aristophanes, _Peace_, 832 ss.\n\nFootnote 229:\n\n  See below, Lecture IV, p. 111; _cf._ Introd., p. 24.\n\nFootnote 230:\n\n  Pliny, _H. N._, II, 26, \u00a7 95.\n\nFootnote 231:\n\n  Jamblich., _Vit. Pyth._, XVIII, 82 = Diels, _Vorsokratiker_, I^3, p.\n  358, 18; _cf._ Plut., _De genio Socr._, 22, p. 590 C; Hierocles, _In\n  Aur. carm._, end.\n\nFootnote 232:\n\n  Lucian, _Verae hist._, I, 10 ss.\n\nFootnote 233:\n\n  Castor, fragm. 24 and 25, M\u00fcller.\n\nFootnote 234:\n\n  See Introd., p. 29, and Lecture VI, p. 162.\n\nFootnote 235:\n\n  Julian, _Caes._, p. 307 c.\n\nFootnote 236:\n\n  Plato, _Rep._, VII, p. 514.\n\nFootnote 237:\n\n  Reproduced in my _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, 1917, p. 87; _cf._ below, p. 139.\n\nFootnote 238:\n\n  Wiegand, in _Abhandl. Akad. Berlin_, 1908. _Bericht_, VI, p. 46:\n\n                 \u03a3\u03c4\u1f70\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03cc\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5 \u03c4\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u03ad\u03c1\u03ba\u03b5 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u1f04\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03bf\u03bd\n                 \u03ba\u03cc\u03c1\u03b7\u03bd \u0394\u03b9\u03bf\u03b3\u03bd\u03ae\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf \u03bd\u03b7\u03c0\u03af\u03b7\u03bd \u03a7\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd,\n                 \u1f25\u03bd \u03b8\u1fc6\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd \u1f0d\u03b9\u03b4\u03b7\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03ba\u03cd\u03ba\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f11\u03b2\u03b4\u03cc\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2....\n\nFootnote 239:\n\n  See _La th\u00e9ologie solaire du paganisme romain_ in _M\u00e9m. sav. \u00e9trangers\n  Acad. Inscr._, XII, 1909, p. 449 ss.\n\nFootnote 240:\n\n  _Cf._ Introd., p. 28.\n\nFootnote 241:\n\n  See below, Lecture VI, p. 160.\n\nFootnote 242:\n\n  CIL, VI, 29954; see below, Lecture VI, p. 157 ss.\n\nFootnote 243:\n\n  Commodian, VIII, 10: \u201cSacerdotes ... numina qui dicunt aliquid\n  morituro prodesse.\u201d\n\nFootnote 244:\n\n  See Introd., p. 24 s.; _cf._ below, Lecture VI, p. 167.\n\nFootnote 245:\n\n  Lydus, _De mensib._, IV, 149 (p. 167, 25, W\u00fcnsch.).\n\nFootnote 246:\n\n  Lucan, _Phars._, I, 45; Statius, _Theb._, I, 27; _cf._ my _\u00c9tudes\n  syriennes_, 1917, p. 97 s.\n\nFootnote 247:\n\n  Diog. Laert., VIII, 31.\n\nFootnote 248:\n\n  Ovid, _Metam._, XV, 840 ss.; _cf._ 749.\n\nFootnote 249:\n\n  Cassius, Dio, LXIX, 11, 4.\n\nFootnote 250:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 12, 28: \u201cTotum prope caelum nonne humano generi\n  completum est?\u201d\n\nFootnote 251:\n\n  _Revue de philologie_, XXXIII, 1909, p. 6 = IG, XII, 7, 123.\n\nFootnote 252:\n\n  _Revue de phil._, _ibid._; _cf._ Lecture V, p. 139.\n\nFootnote 253:\n\n  II _Cor._ 12, 2.\n\nFootnote 254:\n\n  Porph., _Sent._, 292 (p. 14, Mommert); Proclus, _In Remp._, I, p. 152,\n  17, Kroll; _In Tim._, III, p. 234, 25, Diehl.\n\nFootnote 255:\n\n  _Cf._ my _Mysteries of Mithras_, Chicago, 1903, p. 145; below, Lecture\n  VI, p. 169; VII, p. 187.\n\nFootnote 256:\n\n  Origen, _Contra Celsum_, VI, 21; _cf._ _Monum. myst\u00e8res de Mithra_, I,\n  p. 118.\n\nFootnote 257:\n\n  Apuleius, _De dogm. Plat._, I, 11.\n\nFootnote 258:\n\n  _Archiv f\u00fcr Religionsw._, IX, 1906, p. 323 ss.\n\nFootnote 259:\n\n  See, _e.g._, Plotin., III, 4, 6; _cf._ Lecture VIII, p. 213.\n\nFootnote 260:\n\n  See above, Introd., pp. 6, 41.\n\nFootnote 261:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 7.\n\nFootnote 262:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 96.\n\nFootnote 263:\n\n  Link, _De vocis \u201cSanctus\u201d usu pagano_, K\u00f6nigsberg, 1910.\n\nFootnote 264:\n\n  Cic., _De natura deor._, II, 66, \u00a7 167.\n\nFootnote 265:\n\n  Manilius, I, 41; _cf._ Boll, _Aus der Offenbarung Iohannis_, 1914, p.\n  136 ss.\n\nFootnote 266:\n\n  Pseudo-Ecphant. ap Stob., _Anth._, IV, 7, 64 (IV, p. 272 ss.,\n  Wachsmuth); Hermes Trism. ap. Stob., _Ecl._, I, 49, 45 (I, p. 407, W).\n\nFootnote 267:\n\n  See below, Lecture VI, p. 156 ss.\n\nFootnote 268:\n\n  Cic., _Nat. deorum_, II, 66, \u00a7 165.\n\nFootnote 269:\n\n  _Somn. Scipionis_, 3; _cf._ _Pro Sestio_, 68, \u00a7 143.\n\nFootnote 270:\n\n  Hermes Trismeg. ap. Stob., _Ecl._, I, 49, 69 (I, p. 466, Wachsmuth).\n\nFootnote 271:\n\n  Maurice Muret, _Les contemporains \u00e9trangers_, Paris, I, p. 30.\n\nFootnote 272:\n\n  See my _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 63 ss.\n\nFootnote 273:\n\n  CIL, VI, 1779 = B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 111, 23: \u201c(Me) sorte mortis\n  eximens in templa ducis....\u201d\n\nFootnote 274:\n\n  Pseudo-Lysis ap. Jamblich., _Vit. Pyth._, 17, \u00a7 77.\n\nFootnote 275:\n\n  See Introd., p. 29; Lecture VII, p. 184 s.\n\nFootnote 276:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture I, p. 51.\n\nFootnote 277:\n\n  CIL, VI, 510 = Dessau, 4152.\n\nFootnote 278:\n\n  Servius, _Aen._, VI, 741.\n\nFootnote 279:\n\n  See Introd., p. 35; _cf._ Lecture VIII, p. 204.\n\nFootnote 280:\n\n  Porph., _De abstin._, II, 48.\n\nFootnote 281:\n\n  _Cf._ _Comptes rendus Acad. Inscriptions_, 1917, p. 281 ss.\n\nFootnote 282:\n\n  See above, Introd., p. 37.\n\nFootnote 283:\n\n  Hermes Trismeg., _Poimandres_, I, 26: \u03a4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03cc \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f78 \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2\n  \u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f10\u03c3\u03c7\u03b7\u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03b8\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9.\n\nFootnote 284:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, 207.\n\nFootnote 285:\n\n  Apuleius, _Metam._, XI, 24: \u201cInexplicabili voluptate divini simulacri\n  perfruebar.\u201d\n\nFootnote 286:\n\n  See _Oriental religions_, p. 100, and below, Lecture VIII, p. 210 ss.\n\nFootnote 287:\n\n  Papyr. of London, CXXII, 1 ss.; _cf._ Reitzenstein, _Poimandres_, p.\n  20.\n\nFootnote 288:\n\n  Riewald, _De imperatorum Romanorum cum certis dis aequatione_, Halle,\n  1912.\n\nFootnote 289:\n\n  _Cf._ Gillis Wetter, _Die \u201cVerherrlichung,\u201d in Beitr\u00e4ge zur\n  Relig.-Wissenschaft_, II, 1914.\n\nFootnote 290:\n\n  See below, Lecture VI, p. 158.\n\nFootnote 291:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, p. 212.\n\nFootnote 292:\n\n  Porph., _De Abstin._, II, 49.\n\nFootnote 293:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, pp. 201, 207, 211.\n\nFootnote 294:\n\n  See my _Mysticisme astral dans l\u2019antiquit\u00e9_ in _Bulletins de l\u2019Acad.\n  de Belgique_, 1909, p. 264 ss.\n\nFootnote 295:\n\n  See Lecture VIII, p. 210 ss.\n\nFootnote 296:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, VI, 426 ss.\n\nFootnote 297:\n\n  Plut., _De genio Socratis_, 22, p. 590 F.\n\nFootnote 298:\n\n  Plato, _Republ._, p. 615 C; _cf._ Norden, _Aeneis Buch VI_, 1903, pp.\n  11, 27.\n\nFootnote 299:\n\n  Achill. Tat., V, 16.\n\nFootnote 300:\n\n  Tertull., _De anima_, 57.\n\nFootnote 301:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8497 ss.; _cf._ _Recueil des inscriptions du\n  Pont_, 9, 258.\n\nFootnote 302:\n\n  Horace, _Epod._, 5, 92; _cf._ Livy, III, 58, 11.\n\nFootnote 303:\n\n  Sueton., _Nero_, 34, 4.\n\nFootnote 304:\n\n  Sueton., _Calig._, 59.\n\nFootnote 305:\n\n  Porph., _Epist._, II, 2, 209: \u201cNocturnas Lemures: umbras vagantes\n  hominum ante diem mortuorum et ideo metuendas.\u201d\n\nFootnote 306:\n\n  Bouch\u00e9-Leclercq, _Astrologie grecque_, p. 404.\n\nFootnote 307:\n\n  Diog. Laert., II, 5, \u00a745; _cf._ Lamprid., _Heliog._, 33, 2:\n  \u201cPraedictum eidem erat a sacerdotibus Syris biothanatum se futurum.\u201d\n\nFootnote 308:\n\n  Ptolem., _Tetrabibl._, III, 10 (p. 127, ed. 1553).\n\nFootnote 309:\n\n  Macrob., _Somn. Scip._, I, 13, 1, probably after Numenius (_Revue des\n  \u00e9tudes grecques_, XXXII, 1921, p. 119 s.).\n\nFootnote 310:\n\n  CIL, VIII, 2756 = B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1604.\n\nFootnote 311:\n\n  Manilius, IV, 16.\n\nFootnote 312:\n\n  _Cf._ Schulze, _Sitzungsb. Akad. Berlin_, 1912, p. 691 ss.\n\nFootnote 313:\n\n  Demon: Kaibel, _Epigr. Gr._, 566, 4; 569, 3, etc.\u2014Evil god: Dessau,\n  8498; _cf._ 9093: \u201cCui (_sic_) dii nefandi parvulo contra votum\n  genitorum vita privaverunt.\u201d\n\nFootnote 314:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 66 ss.\n\nFootnote 315:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 624.\n\nFootnote 316:\n\n  Rohde, _Psyche_, II^4, p. 411; _cf._ Perdrizet, _Negotium\n  perambulans_, 1922, p. 19 ss.\n\nFootnote 317:\n\n  Audollent, _Defixionum tabellae_, 1904, p. 40, n^r, 22 ss.; see above,\n  Lecture I, p. 68.\n\nFootnote 318:\n\n  Wessely, _Griech. Zauberpap. aus Paris_ in _Denkschr. Akad. Wien_,\n  XXXVI, 1888, p. 85, l. 2577 ss., p. 86, l. 2645 ss.\n\nFootnote 319:\n\n  Cic., _In Vatin._, 6, 14; Horace, _Ep._, 5; Petronius, 63, 8.\n\nFootnote 320:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 987:\n\n                \u201cEripuit me saga manus crudelis ubique,\n                Cum manet in terris et nocet arte sua.\n                Vos vestros natos concustodite, parentes.\u201d\n\n  _Cf._ Petronius, _l. c._, and Lecture II, p. 61, n. 48.\n\nFootnote 321:\n\n  Alex. Trall., I, 15, pp. 565, 567, Puschman.\n\nFootnote 322:\n\n  _Cf._ Pliny, XXVIII, 12, \u00a7 49.\n\nFootnote 323:\n\n  Tertull., _De anima_, 57.\n\nFootnote 324:\n\n  Norden, _Aeneis Buch VI_, p. 41.\n\nFootnote 325:\n\n  Sen., _Dial._, VI, 23, 1; Plut., _Cons. ad uxorem_, 11; _cf._ Dessau,\n  8481 ss.\n\nFootnote 326:\n\n  See below, Lecture VII, p. 178.\n\nFootnote 327:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1233.\n\nFootnote 328:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 324.\n\nFootnote 329:\n\n  Haussoullier, _Revue de philologie_, XXIII, 1909, p. 6; see above,\n  Lecture III, p. 105.\n\nFootnote 330:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 569: \u201cVitaeque e limine raptus.... Non tamen\n  ad Manes sed caeli ad sidera pergis.\u201d _Cf._ _ibid._, 569, 611.\n\nFootnote 331:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 99.\n\nFootnote 332:\n\n  Rohde, _Psyche_, II^4, p. 374, n. 2; Lawson, _Modern Greek folk-lore_,\n  1910 p. 140 ss.; _cf._ Dessau, 8748.\n\nFootnote 333:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1233; _cf._ Statius, _Silv._, II, 6, 100.\n\nFootnote 334:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 570, 571; _cf._ CIL, VI, 29195 = Dessau,\n  8482: \u201cUlpius Firmus, anima bona superis reddita, raptus a Nymphis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 335:\n\n  _Cf._ Anderson, _Journ. hell. stud._, XIX, 1899, p. 127, n^r, 142, and\n  below, note 42.\n\nFootnote 336:\n\n  Cagnat, _Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pertin._, IV, 1377.\n\nFootnote 337:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 314.\n\nFootnote 338:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1439; _cf._ 1400:\n\n                \u201cVos equidem nati caelestia regna videtis\n                Quos rapuit parvos praecipitata dies.\u201d\n\nFootnote 339:\n\n  Cabrol et Leclercq, _Reliquiae liturgicae vetustissimae_, I, 1912,\n  n^r, 2917; _cf._ 2974; 3153.\n\nFootnote 340:\n\n  Menander\u2019s verse, \u201c\u1f4b\u03bd \u03bf\u1f31 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1f76 \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03b8\u03bd\u03ae\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9 \u03bd\u03ad\u03bf\u03c2,\u201d is indeed\n  translated into Latin in a Roman epitaph (Dessau, 8481).\n\nFootnote 341:\n\n  In Greek, \u03b2\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 is a popular form for \u03b2\u03b9\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2. In Latin\n  _biaeothanatus_ is found only in Tertull., _De Anima_, 57,\n  _biothanatus_ everywhere else.\n\nFootnote 342:\n\n  _Aen._, VI, 477 ss.\n\nFootnote 343:\n\n  Horace, _Od._, III, 2, 21; _cf._ Introd., p. 13; Lecture IV, p. 113.\n\nFootnote 344:\n\n  Joseph., _Bell. Iud._, VI, 5, \u00a7 47.\n\nFootnote 345:\n\n  Servius, _Aen._, XII, 603.\n\nFootnote 346:\n\n  Pliny, _N. H._, II, 63, \u00a7 156.\n\nFootnote 347:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 7846: \u201cExtra auctorateis et quei sibei [la]queo\n  manu attulissent et quei quaestum spurcum professi essent.\u201d\n\nFootnote 348:\n\n  _Ibid._, 7212, II, 5.\n\nFootnote 349:\n\n  Plut., _Cato_, 68.\n\nFootnote 350:\n\n  _Cf._ _Revue des \u00e9tudes grecques_, XXXII, 1921, p. 113 ss.\n\nFootnote 351:\n\n  Sen., _Controv._, VIII, 4, end.\n\nFootnote 352:\n\n  See above, Lecture I, p. 64 ss.\n\nFootnote 353:\n\n  Theophanes, _Chronicon_, p. 437, 3 ss., De Boor.\n\nFootnote 354:\n\n  Commodianus, I, 14, 8.\n\nFootnote 355:\n\n  Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s. v.\n\nFootnote 356:\n\n  Lawson, _Modern Greek folk-lore_, 1910, p. 408 ss.\n\nFootnote 357:\n\n  See above, Lecture II, p. 74.\n\nFootnote 358:\n\n  Transl. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion_, 1903,\n  p. 660.\n\nFootnote 359:\n\n  Thulin, _Etruskische Disciplin_, III, 1909, p. 58 ss.\n\nFootnote 360:\n\n  Xenoph., _Memorab._, II, 1, 21; _cf._ Hesiod, _Op. et dies_, 287 ss.\n\nFootnote 361:\n\n  Brinkmann, _Rheinisches Museum_, LXVI, 1911, p. 622 ss.\n\nFootnote 362:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, p. 205.\n\nFootnote 363:\n\n  See Lecture II, p. 76.\n\nFootnote 364:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 30, 72.\n\nFootnote 365:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 82.\n\nFootnote 366:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 94.\n\nFootnote 367:\n\n  _Cf._ _Comptes rendus Acad. Inscr._, 1920, p. 277.\n\nFootnote 368:\n\n  Lactantius, _Inst._, VI, 3 s.\n\nFootnote 369:\n\n  Polyaen., VII, 22.\n\nFootnote 370:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 107; _Monum. myst\u00e8res de Mithra_, I, p. 118 s.;\n  II, p. 525.\n\nFootnote 371:\n\n  Philo, _De somniis_, I, 22; Origen, _Contra Celsum_, VI, 21.\n\nFootnote 372:\n\n  Charles R. Morey, _East Christian paintings in the Freer collection_,\n  New York, 1914, p. 17 ss.\n\nFootnote 373:\n\n  Ladder among other magical emblems on terra cotta discs found at\n  Taranto; _cf._ _Revue arch\u00e9ologique_, V, 1917, p. 102.\n\nFootnote 374:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 93.\n\nFootnote 375:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 96.\n\nFootnote 376:\n\n  _Cf._ _Revue de philologie_, XLIV, 1920, p. 75.\n\nFootnote 377:\n\n  _Cf._ Joseph Keil, _Jahresh. Instituts Wien_, XVII, 1914, pp. 138,\n  142, n. 13; Bormann, _Bericht des Vereins Carnuntum_, 1908\u20131911, p.\n  330, where _Itala felix_ applies not to the ship but to the dead\n  woman.\n\nFootnote 378:\n\n  For instance, Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8031.\n\nFootnote 379:\n\n  _Cf._ my _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, 1917, p. 99, n. 1. So on the beautiful\n  chariot of Monteleone in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (sixth\n  century B. C.).\n\nFootnote 380:\n\n  _Cf._ my _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 91 s.\n\nFootnote 381:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 92, fig. 41.\n\nFootnote 382:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 94, fig. 42; _cf._ below, p. 165.\n\nFootnote 383:\n\n  _Cf._ _ibid._, p. 95 s.\n\nFootnote 384:\n\n  II _Reg._, 2, 11.\n\nFootnote 385:\n\n  Kornemann, _Klio_, VII, p. 278; _cf._ _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 98, n. 3.\n\nFootnote 386:\n\n  Eunap., _Hist._, fr. 26 (F. H. G. IV, 25; _cf._ _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p.\n  104).\n\nFootnote 387:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 102.\n\nFootnote 388:\n\n  Weichert, _Der Seelenvogel in der alten Literatur und Kunst_, Leipzig,\n  1902; see above, Lecture III, p. 93.\n\nFootnote 389:\n\n  _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 38 ss.\n\nFootnote 390:\n\n  _Phaedr._, p. 246 C.\n\nFootnote 391:\n\n  _Anth. Pal._, VII, 62 = Diog. Laert., III, 44; _cf._ _\u00c9tudes\n  syriennes_, p. 88:\n\n              \u0391\u1f30\u03b5\u03c4\u03ad \u03c4\u03af\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5 \u03b2\u03ad\u03b2\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u1f72\u03c1 \u03c4\u03ac\u03c6\u03bf\u03bd; \u1f22 \u03c4\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u03b5\u1f30\u03c0\u03ad,\n                \u1f00\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03ad\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bf\u1f36\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03ad\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2;\u2014\n              \u03a8\u03c5\u03c7\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u1f76 \u03a0\u03bb\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c0\u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f4c\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\n                \u03b5\u1f30\u03ba\u03ce\u03bd\u00b7 \u03c3\u1ff6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b3\u1fc6 \u03b3\u03b7\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u1f72\u03c2 \u1f08\u03c4\u03b8\u1f76\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9.\n\nFootnote 392:\n\n  _Cf._ _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 57 ss.\n\nFootnote 393:\n\n  _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, 1917, p. 87, fig. 39.\n\nFootnote 394:\n\n  See Introd., p. 28.\n\nFootnote 395:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 100.\n\nFootnote 396:\n\n  _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 106 s.; _cf._ Lecture III, p. 101.\n\nFootnote 397:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 59.\n\nFootnote 398:\n\n  Diog. Laert., VIII, 1, 27.\n\nFootnote 399:\n\n  Jul., _Or._, V, p. 172 C.\n\nFootnote 400:\n\n  Cic., _Tusc._, I, 42 ss.; Sextus Empir., _Adv. Math._, IX, 71, 4;\n  _cf._ above, Introd., p. 29.\n\nFootnote 401:\n\n  Winds and souls, see below, Lecture VII, p. 185.\n\nFootnote 402:\n\n  See below, Lecture VII, p. 186; _cf._ Lecture II, p. 81.\n\nFootnote 403:\n\n  See Introd., p. 29; _cf._ Lecture VII, p. 185.\n\nFootnote 404:\n\n  See below, Lecture VII, p. 185.\n\nFootnote 405:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 93, and p. 96 s.\n\nFootnote 406:\n\n  Dieterich, _Eine Mithrasliturgie_^2, 1910.\n\nFootnote 407:\n\n  Plato, _Phaedo_, p. 107 D, 108 B.\n\nFootnote 408:\n\n  Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 650 = _Inscr. Sic. Ital._, 2461.\n\nFootnote 409:\n\n  Haussoullier, _Revue de philologie_, XXIII, 1909, p. 6; _cf._ Lecture\n  III, p. 105.\n\nFootnote 410:\n\n  See above, Lecture IV, p. 112.\n\nFootnote 411:\n\n  _Cf._ Rohde, _Psyche_, II^4, p. 376 s.\n\nFootnote 412:\n\n  See above, Lecture I, p. 45 ss., 59 ss.\n\nFootnote 413:\n\n  _Cf._ Cic., _Tusc._, I, 16, 37.\n\nFootnote 414:\n\n  See below, Lecture VIII, p. 199 ss.\n\nFootnote 415:\n\n  Lucretius, I, 124: \u201cSimulacra modis pallentia miris.\u201d\n\nFootnote 416:\n\n  See, for instance, above, p. 156.\n\nFootnote 417:\n\n  _Cf._ Proclus, _In Rempubl._, I, p. 290, 10 ss., Kroll.\n\nFootnote 418:\n\n  On this _katoptromanteia_, _cf._ _Revue arch\u00e9ologique_, V, 1917, p.\n  105 ss.; Ganschinietz in _Realencycl._, s. v.\n\nFootnote 419:\n\n  See above, Lecture V, p. 130.\n\nFootnote 420:\n\n  See above, Lecture II, p. 79.\n\nFootnote 421:\n\n  _Cf._ _Revue de philologie_, XLIV, 1920, p. 237 ss.\n\nFootnote 422:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 103.\n\nFootnote 423:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture III, p. 107.\n\nFootnote 424:\n\n  Plato, _Phaedr._, 247 B; _cf._ _Phaedo_, p. 113 D.\n\nFootnote 425:\n\n  _Timaeus_, p. 41 D E.\n\nFootnote 426:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 106 s., and Introd., p. 41; _cf._ p. 24.\n\nFootnote 427:\n\n  _Odyssey_, XI, 576 s.\n\nFootnote 428:\n\n  _Cf._ Rohde, _Psyche_, I^4, p. 61 ss.\n\nFootnote 429:\n\n  _Cf._ Plut., _De superst._, 7, p. 168 D.\n\nFootnote 430:\n\n  _Cf._ above, Lecture II, p. 75.\n\nFootnote 431:\n\n  _Cf._ Dieterich, _Nekyia_, p. 206 ss.\n\nFootnote 432:\n\n  Plut., _De sera num. vind._, p. 567 B.\n\nFootnote 433:\n\n  Dieterich, _Nekyia_, 1893 (2^d ed. 1913).\n\nFootnote 434:\n\n  Even the devout Plutarch rejects them as superstitious imaginations;\n  _cf._ _De superst._, 167 A.\n\nFootnote 435:\n\n  _Aen._, VI, 625\u2013628.\n\nFootnote 436:\n\n  Dieterich, _op. cit._, p. 197 ss.\n\nFootnote 437:\n\n  Punishment by fire is mentioned for the first time in Philodemos, \u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76\n  \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd, XIX, 16 ss. Philodemos being a Syrian, it is not unlikely that\n  this tenet is of Oriental origin. _Cf._ Diels, _Abhandl. Akad.\n  Berlin_, 1916, p. 80, n. 3.\n\nFootnote 438:\n\n  See above, Introd., pp. 8, 17 s., and Lecture II, p. 83.\n\nFootnote 439:\n\n  Herodotus, II, 123.\n\nFootnote 440:\n\n  The Druses have even preserved the ancient doctrine that the number of\n  souls is always the same in the world. _Cf._ Silvestre de Sacy,\n  _Religion des Druses_, 1838, II, p. 459.\n\nFootnote 441:\n\n  Dussaud, _Les Nosa\u00efris_, Paris, 1900, p. 120 ss.\n\nFootnote 442:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 101.\n\nFootnote 443:\n\n  _Cf._ Lucian, _Alex._, 43.\n\nFootnote 444:\n\n  Hermes Trismeg. ap. Stob., _Ecl._, I, 49, p. 398, 16 ss., Wachsmuth.\n\nFootnote 445:\n\n  Tim. Locr., p. 104 E.\n\nFootnote 446:\n\n  Ps.-Plut., _Vita Homeri_, 126; Porph. ap. Stob., _Ecl._, I, 49, 60, p.\n  445, Wachsmuth.\n\nFootnote 447:\n\n  See above, p. 176.\n\nFootnote 448:\n\n  See above, Lecture II, p. 78.\n\nFootnote 449:\n\n  _Cf._ _Revue de philologie_, XLIV, 1921, p. 232 ss.\n\nFootnote 450:\n\n  Above, Introd., p. 13.\n\nFootnote 451:\n\n  Museum of the University of California; Kaibel, _Inscr. Sicil. et\n  Ital._, 12, 1196. The sentence is taken from _Republ._, X, 617 C.\n\nFootnote 452:\n\n  Porph., _De regressu anim._, fr. 11, Bidez = Aug., _Civ. Dei_, X, 30;\n  Jamblich. ap. Nemes., _De nat. hom._, 2; _cf._ Zeller, _Philos. Gr._,\n  V^4, p. 713.\n\nFootnote 453:\n\n     \u201cHas omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos,\n     Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno,\n     Scilicet immemores super ut convexa revisant,\n     Rursus et incipiant in corpore velle reverti.\u201d\n                                                 _Aen._, VI, 749\u2013753.\n\nFootnote 454:\n\n  See above, Lecture VI, p. 162, and Introd., p. 29.\n\nFootnote 455:\n\n  _\u00c9tudes syriennes_, p. 70.\n\nFootnote 456:\n\n  See Lecture VI, p. 161; _cf._ below, Lecture VIII, p. 196.\n\nFootnote 457:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, VI, 740 ss.\n\nFootnote 458:\n\n  Plut., _De facie lunae_, p. 943 B.\n\nFootnote 459:\n\n  Ps. Apul., _Asclep._, 28.\n\nFootnote 460:\n\n  _Jahresh. Institut Wien_, XII, 1910, p. 213.\n\nFootnote 461:\n\n  See above, Lecture III, p. 107.\n\nFootnote 462:\n\n  Macrob., _Comm. Somn. Scip._, I, 11, 8; Proclus, _In Tim._, II, 48, 15\n  ss., Diehl.\n\nFootnote 463:\n\n  Lecture II, p. 87 ss.\n\nFootnote 464:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 64 ss.\n\nFootnote 465:\n\n  Tibullus, II, 6, 30: \u201cSic bene sub tenera parva quiescat humo.\u201d\n\nFootnote 466:\n\n  Tertull., _De testimonio animae_, 4.\n\nFootnote 467:\n\n  _Securitati aeternae_; _cf._ Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8025 ss., 8149.\n\nFootnote 468:\n\n  Cic., _Catil._, IV, 7; _cf._ _Tusc._, I, 11, 25; 49, 118.\n\nFootnote 469:\n\n  Sen., _Dial._, VI, 19, 5.\n\nFootnote 470:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8024 and note; _cf._ Cic., _Tusc._, I, 41, 97;\n  and Introd., p. 10.\n\nFootnote 471:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1274:\n\n                \u201cMorborum vitia et vitae mala maxima fugi.\n                Nunc careo poenis, pace fruor placida.\u201d\n\nFootnote 472:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _ibid._, 573:\n\n             \u201cQui post tantum onus, multos crebrosque labores\n             Nunc silet et tacito contentus sede quiescit.\u201d\n\nFootnote 473:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _ibid._, 507: \u201cPoena fuit vita, requies mihi morte parata\n  est.\u201d\n\nFootnote 474:\n\n  Transl. by J. C. Anderson (in my _Astrology and Religion_, p. 171).\n\nFootnote 475:\n\n  Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 8393, 79: \u201cTe di Manes tui ut quietam patiantur\n  atque ita tueantur opto.\u201d\n\nFootnote 476:\n\n  See above, Lecture I, p. 68; II, p. 86, n. 39; V, p. 134.\n\nFootnote 477:\n\n  See above, Lecture VI, p. 143.\n\nFootnote 478:\n\n  Virg., _Aen._, VI, 705: \u201cDomos placidas.\u201d\n\nFootnote 479:\n\n  See Introd., p. 34 ss.\n\nFootnote 480:\n\n  _Comptes rendus Acad. Inscr._, 1912, p. 151 ss.; _cf._ B\u00fccheler,\n  _Carm. epigr._, 513.\n\nFootnote 481:\n\n  Lecture III, p. 95.\n\nFootnote 482:\n\n  Lecture VI, p. 150.\n\nFootnote 483:\n\n  _Odyssey_, VI, 42 ss.\n\nFootnote 484:\n\n  Lucretius, III, 18 ss.\n\nFootnote 485:\n\n  Zeno, fr. 147 (von Arnim, _Fragm. Stoicorum_, I, p. 40): \u201cZeno docuit\n  sedes piorum ab impiis esse discretas et illos quidem quietas ac\n  delectabiles habitare regiones.\u201d\n\nFootnote 486:\n\n  See Introd., p. 25; Lecture III, p. 96.\n\nFootnote 487:\n\n  Macrob., _Somn. Scip._, I, 11, 6: \u201cVitae mortisque confinium.\u201d\n\nFootnote 488:\n\n  See above, Lecture II, p. 81 s.\n\nFootnote 489:\n\n  See Lecture VII, p. 185 s.\n\nFootnote 490:\n\n  Sen., _Consol. Marc._, 24, 5: \u201c(Animus) nititur illo unde demissus\n  est; ibi illum aeterna requies manet e confusis crassisque pura et\n  liquida visentem.\u201d\n\nFootnote 491:\n\n  Plotin., IX, 8, 9, p. 768 A; IX, 8, 11, p. 770 C.\n\nFootnote 492:\n\n  _Cf._ Aug., _Serm._, CCLX (P.L. XXXVIII, 1132, 38): \u201cDixerunt\n  Platonici ... animas, ire ad superna caelorum et requiescere ibi in\n  stellis et luminibus istis conspicuis.\u201d\n\nFootnote 493:\n\n  Lecture I, p. 45 ss.\n\nFootnote 494:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 69.\n\nFootnote 495:\n\n  St. Ambrose, _De bono mortis_, 9; _cf._ Kaibel, _Inscr. Sic. It._,\n  2117.\n\nFootnote 496:\n\n  Aug., _De anima_, II, 12.\n\nFootnote 497:\n\n  _Book of Enoch_, 39.\n\nFootnote 498:\n\n  IV _Esdr._, VII, 91: \u201cRequiescent per septem ordines\u201d; _cf._ VII, 95\n  (p. 131 ss., Violet).\n\nFootnote 499:\n\n  IV _Esdr._, VII, 36, 38 (p. 146, Violet).\n\nFootnote 500:\n\n  Ambrose, _De bono mortis_, 12, \u00a7 53 (P.L., XIV, 154); _cf._ IV\n  _Esdr._, VII, 39.\n\nFootnote 501:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 50.\n\nFootnote 502:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 54.\n\nFootnote 503:\n\n  _Ibid._, p. 57.\n\nFootnote 504:\n\n  Calder, _Journal of Roman Studies_, 1912, p. 254.\n\nFootnote 505:\n\n  See above, Lecture I, p. 55 ss.\n\nFootnote 506:\n\n  See Introd., p. 35; Lecture IV, p. 126.\n\nFootnote 507:\n\n  Lucian, _Verae hist._, II, 14.\n\nFootnote 508:\n\n  Best reproduction, Wilpert, _Pitture delle Catacombe Romane_, II,\n  132\u2013133.\n\nFootnote 509:\n\n  See above, Introd., pp. 35, 37.\n\nFootnote 510:\n\n  Aelius Arist., XLV (VIII), 27 (p. 360, Keil).\n\nFootnote 511:\n\n  See my _Oriental Religions_, Chap. IV, end.\n\nFootnote 512:\n\n  See Lecture IV, p. 122; Introd., p. 34.\n\nFootnote 513:\n\n  CIL, III, 14165.\n\nFootnote 514:\n\n  See Lecture I, p. 68; II, p. 86; V, p. 134.\n\nFootnote 515:\n\n  B\u00fccheler, _Carm. epigr._, 1317 = CIL, VI, 142; _cf._ Plato, _Phaedo_,\n  p. 107D.\n\nFootnote 516:\n\n  As it is elsewhere; _cf._ Introd., p. 11.\n\nFootnote 517:\n\n  Lagrange, _Religions s\u00e9mitiques_^2, 1905, p. 493.\n\nFootnote 518:\n\n  Horace, _Od._, III, 3, 12.\n\nFootnote 519:\n\n  Lecture IV, p. 113 s., 116 ss.\n\nFootnote 520:\n\n  See, for instance, Kaibel, _Epigr. Graeca_, 312, 13.\n\nFootnote 521:\n\n  Julian, _Caesares_, p. 307 C; _cf._ Introd., p. 29; Lecture III, p.\n  98.\n\nFootnote 522:\n\n  _Patrologia Orientalis_, I, p. 1014.\n\nFootnote 523:\n\n  See above, Lecture I, p. 55 s.\n\nFootnote 524:\n\n  Lecture IV, p. 121.\n\nFootnote 525:\n\n  For instance, by the physician Thessalus (under Nero); _cf._ _Cat.\n  codd. astrol._, VIII, 3, p. 137; VIII, 4, p. 257.\n\nFootnote 526:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture IV, pp. 121, 125 s.\n\nFootnote 527:\n\n  See above, Lecture IV, p. 126.\n\nFootnote 528:\n\n  P. 896 C; _cf._ p. 992 B.\n\nFootnote 529:\n\n  See above, Lecture IV, p. 126.\n\nFootnote 530:\n\n  The true interpretation has been given by Bevan, _Stoics and\n  Sceptics_, 1913, p. 112 s.\n\nFootnote 531:\n\n  _Georg._, II, 489 ss.:\n\n            \u201cFelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,\n            Atque metus omnis et inexorabile Fatum\n            Subiecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.\u201d\n\nFootnote 532:\n\n  \u039d\u03b7\u03c6\u03ac\u03bb\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bc\u03ad\u03b8\u03b7, Philo., probably after Posidonius.\n\nFootnote 533:\n\n  _Cf._ Lecture IV, p. 126.\n\nFootnote 534:\n\n  _Anthol. Palatina_, IX, 577:\n\n            \u039f\u1f36\u03b4\u2019 \u1f45\u03c4\u03b9 \u03b8\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03c6\u03ac\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u2019 \u1f45\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd \u1f04\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd\n              \u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03cd\u03c9 \u03c0\u03c5\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd\u1f70\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bc\u03c6\u03b9\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f15\u03bb\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2\n            \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba\u03b5\u03c4\u2019 \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c8\u03b1\u03cd\u03c9 \u03b3\u03b1\u03af\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u1f76\u03bd, \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u2019 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7\n              \u0396\u03b1\u03bd\u1f76 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03c4\u03c1\u03b5\u03c6\u03ad\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03af\u03bc\u03c0\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f00\u03bc\u03b2\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03af\u03b7\u03c2.\n\nFootnote 535:\n\n  See Introd., p. 4.\n\nFootnote 536:\n\n  See Lecture III, p. 108.\n\nFootnote 537:\n\n  \u039c\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u1ff3. The expression had been used by religion before being\n  taken over by philosophy. _Cf._ _Le culte \u00e9gyptien et le mysticisme de\n  Plotin_, in _Monuments Piot_, XXV, 1922, p. 78 ss.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. P. 137, changed \u1f04\u03bd\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9 to \u1f00\u03bd\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9.\n 2. P. 137, changed \u1f04\u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9 to \u1f04\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03b9.\n 3. P. 225, changed \u1f09\u03b3\u03b9\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf to \u1f09\u03b3\u03b9\u03ac\u03b6\u03c9.\n 4. P. 225, changed \u03b5\u1f34\u03c2 to \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2.\n 5. [391], changed \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03b5\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 to \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03ad\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2.\n 6. [534], changed \u039f\u1fd6\u03b4\u2019 to \u039f\u1f36\u03b4\u2019.\n 7. [534], changed \u1f00\u03bc\u03c6\u03b9\u03b4\u03c1\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f13\u03bb\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2 to \u1f00\u03bc\u03c6\u03b9\u03b4\u03c1\u03cc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f15\u03bb\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2.\n 8. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.\n 9. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.\n10. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at\n      the end of the last chapter.\n11. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n12. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript\n      character, e.g. M^r.","title":"After Life in Roman Paganism","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":80289}