May 2, 1887.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



163 



have written. But nothing could well have been more 

 unlike Tacitus than to use a Greek adjective as a proper 

 name, if he had really known anything about the history 

 of the founder of Christianity. And if he did not know 

 anything, or knew so little, what value can his testimony 

 possess ? What even can it prove, if accepted ? 



* * * 



Writixg at this moment away from my books (in Florida, 

 far from any large library), 1 cannot state precisely how far 

 the version of the " Annals " discovered about the year 

 1505 in the Westphalian Abbey of C'orvey differs from 

 others. But it is hardly necessary to remind the reader that 

 we only know of the first five books of the " Annals " from 

 this version, published at Rome by Philip Beroaldus, in 

 1515, as nearly as I can recollect. 



* * * 



What would be said, I wonder, if the confidence with 

 which Paley accepts the statement found in Tacitus were 

 extended to the passage in which the Emperor Hadrian, 

 writing to Servianus (ad. 134), after speaking with some 

 contempt of Egypt and the Egyptians, says, '" The 

 worshippers of Serapis (in Egypt) are called Christians, 

 and those who are (consecrated) to the god Serapis call 

 themselves (I find) the Bishops of Christ." 



* * * 



Macrobius (Sat. i. 20) identifies Serapis with the sun. 

 There were two forms of the worship of Serapis, a circum- 

 stance which led Jablonsky (" Pantheon," vol. i.) to identify | 

 what lie regarded as the later form with the worship of the 

 sun in the winter signs of the zodiac. But he was probably 

 misled by the references in the Egyptian ritual to the 

 observances at the time of the sun's annual birth (assigned 

 to the date December 25, as the time when first the stay of 

 the sun's southward progi-ess was ascertained, and the 

 beginning of his return towards the equator recogni.sed). 

 The worship of Serapis found attractions for both Greeks 

 and Romans. But for some reasons it was regarded as 

 evil, insomuch that, tolerant though the Roman Senate was 

 in matters relating to religion, the worship of Egyptian gods 

 was forbidden, and orders were issued that the altars and 

 temples erected to them should be destroyed. Later the 

 worship of Isis and Serapis was permitted. This was about 

 a century before the time to which the passage attributed to 

 Tacitus relates. 



It may be mentioned here, as at least curious if not sig- 

 nificant, that Socrates the ecclesiastical historian (" Ecd. 

 Hibt." lib. 5, cb. xvii.), writes as follows respecting the 

 temple of Serapis : — 



" In this temple, now destroyed and everywhere rifled, 

 certain letters were found engraved in the stones — forming 

 a cross. The Christians and Gentiles who saw this, applied 

 it each to their own religion. The Christians asserted that 

 this cross symbolised the passion of Christ, and was the 

 emblem of their religion. The Gentiles affirmed that in 

 this symbol was presented something belonging in common 

 to Serapis and to Christ." 



The critic who has explained to me that the " Annals " 

 of Tacitus were written in Latin may now very properly 

 explain to me that Socrates was a philosopher who, as he 

 was born 469 yeai-s before the (.'hristian era, can hardly be 

 described as an ecclesiastical historian. However, the 

 Socrates I have quoted was born about nine centuries later. 

 Sozomen, about fifty years earlier, gave much the same 

 account of the Egyptian Serapis. His history ranges from 

 A.D. 32-1 to A.D. 439, that of Socrates from a.d. 30G to 

 A D. 439. 



That the cross on our modern hot-cross bun is of 

 Egyptian origin is of course known to all — see, however, 

 Bonwick's " Egyptian Belief," and Colenso on the Penta- 

 teuch, ifec. It is equally well known that originally this 

 symbol had no connection with Good Friday, but belonged 

 specially to every Friday, Friday being the day consecrated 

 to Freya, Venus, Isis, itc. 



* * * 



Here is rather an odd coincidence. I was beginning 

 to deal with the solution of the second of the problems 

 dealt with this month, when it occurred to me that the 

 work would be easier if I had a number of globes which I 

 could arrange as pyramids, either square based or triangular, 

 according to the requirements of the problem. As the 

 thought passed through my mind, I remembered that it was 

 very close to post time, and I went out to post some letters 

 I had written, thinking I would reason out a solution, or 

 rather the best form of presenting one, as I walked to the 

 post otfice and back. This was at Lake Weir in Florida. 

 As I crossed the threshold of the hotel, I saw a friend 

 approaching in a buggy, with whom I shook hands. He 

 had in his left hand a sack about half full ; and he said, 

 " Professor, I've brought you a few (?) oranges." I thanked 

 him, and after a short chat walked on to the post office — 

 not thinking of my problem, because I knew the oranges 

 would be just what 1 had wanted, and that I could study 

 the problem much better with them to build into pyramids 

 than without their aid. And so it proved. They were 

 better than globes, because when stood on the stalk side 

 they did not roll. I do not know what idea my friend had 

 formed of my orange-eating capacities, but he had brought 

 me enough to make two pyramids, one triangular, the other 

 square based, each of four oranges in the side, and this 

 after setting on one side all the smaller and all the larger 

 oranges, so that only oranges of medium size might be used. 

 Observe, also, that oranges were about in such profusion 

 that I could find no one to whom I could present any. 

 Moreover, I was to leave Lake Weir in two days, and my 

 valise was very closely packed already. As a mere matter 

 of fact, I may mention that I did not eat all those oranges. 



Popular Tales and Fictions. By W. A. Clouston, 

 (William Blackwood k Sons.) — Mr. Clouston has done good 

 service to folk-lore by the collection of the rich material 

 garnered in these handsome volumes. We can readily credit 

 that his chief difliculty in selection has arisen from the super- 

 abundance of that material, and the judgment which he has 

 shown leads us to hope that he will continue his laborious 

 but delightful work. His own modest assessment of it, and 

 general abstinence from theorising, will secure him readier 

 hearing for that which is added as comments upon, and 

 conclusions from, the data jiresented. Mr. Clouston feels his 

 way wisely, therefore cautiously, but, in so far as theories of 

 the origines of folk-tales lead him, he inclines to the school of 

 Benfey and Cosquin, which contends that for the most 

 part those tales arose in, and were diffused from, India. We 

 are as yet a very long way from the last word on this 

 matter. Story-telling thrives in the East, but it also thrives 

 wherever man has risen to the social state. 3Ioreovei-, if 

 we assume that the great body of folk-tale common to the 

 Indo-European races has its source in the old Aryan home, 

 we must remember that scholars are not agreed as to 

 whether that home was in Europe or Asia. Neither can 

 we tell how many older and foreign tributaries mingled 

 with the main stream of grotesque fancy and uncultured 



