NATURE 



513 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1890. 



THE GOLDEN BOUGH. 

 The Golden Bough : a Study in Comparative Religion. 

 By J. G. Frazer, M.A. In Two Volumes. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., 1890.) 



THE object of this book is to offer a probable explana- 

 tion of the priesthood of Nemi. The method 

 adopted is to show that such barbarous customs as those 

 associated with that priesthood were also carried on 

 elsewhere ; and " if we can detect the motives which led 

 to its institution ; if we can prove that these motives have 

 operated widely, perhaps universally, in human society, 

 producing in varied circumstances a variety of institutions 

 specifically different but generically alike ; if we can show, 

 lastly, that these very motives, with some of their deriva- 

 tive institutions, were actually at work in classical antiquity ; 

 then we may fairly infer that at a remoter age the same 

 motives gave birth to the priesthood of Nemi." 



The author, Mr. Frazer, informs us in his preface that 

 he has for some time been preparing a general work on 

 primitive superstition and religion. We are glad to learn 

 from the same source that his studies to this end have 

 been systematized, encouraged, and influenced by Mr. W. 

 Robertson Smith. The book shows from cover to cover 

 how important this influence has been, and how thorough 

 has been the work done ; it is a perfect mine of early 

 folk-lore, while the method of arrangement and the way 

 in which the facts are marshalled along the different lines 

 of inquiry, leaves nothing to be desired. 



It must be understood, however, that this is not the 

 general work to which we have referred above. It is an 

 excursus on a special point, an attempt to solve the 

 difficult problem connected with the hitherto unexplained 

 rule of the Arician priesthood. 



Having said thus much on the origin of the book, we 

 may next proceed to remark that in such a case as this 

 criticism pure and simple of the details is almost out of 

 the question. We prefer rather to lay before the readers 

 of Nature a summary of the various steps employed in 

 the argument, accompanied by references to those points 

 which we have found of special interest. 



The priesthood of Nemi is one of the most extraordinary 

 character, and has no parallel in classical antiquity. The 

 sacred grove and sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, or 

 Diana of the Wood, lay on the northern shore of the lake, 

 right under the steep cliffs on which stands the modern 

 village of Nemi. The lake and grove were sometimes 

 called the lake and grove of Aricia, but the town of Aricia 

 was distant three miles. There grew in this grove a certain 

 tree, around which there might almost always be seen a 

 strange figure prowling. The man carried a drawn sword, 

 and persistently looked about him as if he expected every 

 moment to be set upon by an enemy. He was the priest, 

 and also a murderer ; and " the man for whom he looked 

 was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood 

 in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary. A 

 candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office 

 by slaying the priest ; and having slain him he held office 

 till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier." 



The author begins by stating the few facts and theories 

 NO. 1 09 I, VOL. 42] 



bequeathed to us on the subject of the priesthood of 

 Nemi. The first questions that he attempts to answer 

 concern the title of this priest. Why was he called the 

 king of the wood ? Why was his office spoken of as a 

 kingdom ? To obtain an answer to the first question he 

 has to go into the details of the facts, legends, &c., re- 

 corded of primitive man, and to see whether there were 

 such beings as kings of rain, water, fire, &c., to match the 

 Arician king who bore the name of king of the wood. In 

 this search he brings out a wonderful array of interesting 

 facts as regards sympathetic magic, rain making, sunshine 

 making, controlling the wind, fighting the wind, &c.; and § 3, 

 which treats of incarnate gods, is full of examples, " drawn 

 from the beliefs and practices of rude peoples all over the 

 world, which may suffice to prove that the savage, whether 

 European or otherwise, fails to recognize those limitations 

 to his power over nature which seem so obvious to us." 



Having found instances of kings of rain, water, and 

 fire, the author next looks for a king of the wood. 

 Since the worship of trees played an important part 

 among the religious ideas of the Aryan race in Europe, 

 a king of the wood ought to be found closely connected 

 with tree worship, and so it happens. Innumerable in- 

 stances of this form of worship have been got together, 

 showing the way in which trees were looked upon at an 

 early stage of civilization. Men supposed that the trees 

 had souls, that tree spirits could give rain and sun, and 

 that the harvests were dependent on them. " In Sumatra, 

 so soon as a tree is felled, a young tree is planted on the 

 stump ; and some betel and a few small coins are also 

 placed on it. Here the purpose is unmistakable. The 

 spirit of the tree is offered a new home in the young tree 

 planted on the stump of the old one, and the offering of 

 betel and money is meant to compensate him for the 

 disturbance he has suffered." The may-pole of to-day 

 is only an emblem of the old form of tree-worship— a 

 survival of the belief in the fertilizing power of the tree 

 spirit. 



The author then discusses the manner in which the tree 

 spirit is " conceived and represented as detached from 

 the tree and clothed in human form, and even as em- 

 bodied in living men and women," a great number of ex- 

 amples being given. He also gives instances of the double 

 representation of the spirit of vegetation by a tree and a 

 living man. Before concluding this chapter, the question 

 is discussed as to whether these forms of tree-worship help 

 to explain the priesthood of Aricia. He believes they do. 

 "In the first place the attributes of Diana, the goddess 

 of the Arician grove, are those of a tree spirit or sylvan 

 deity. Her sanctuaries were in groves, indeed every 

 grove was her sanctuary, and she is often associated with 

 the wood-god Silvanus in inscriptions. . . . Like a tree 

 spirit, she helped. . . . She was the patroness of wild 

 animals. ..." He then goes on to suggest that the 

 king of the wood may have been, like the " king of May, 

 the grass king, and the like, an incarnation of the tree 

 spirit or spirit of vegetation, &c." 



The next chapter, consisting of a little over 100 pages, 

 deals with the peril of the soul. The royal and princely 

 taboos which kings had to undergo in order to uphold 

 their sacred character in the minds of their subjects are 

 first described, among which we may mention the follow- 

 ing. They were compelled to live in a state of seclusion. 



V. 



