242 W. p. JAMES, ESQ. 



Etruscan account, if we can trust so late a writer as Suidas 

 (under Tvpprfvia), who wrote in the tenth century a.d. Ac- 

 cording to this, the world was created in six periods of a 

 thousand years each, in the following order: — (1) Heaven 

 and Earth; (2) Vault of heaven ; (3) Sea and other waters; 

 (4) Sun, moon, and stars; (5) Animals of air, water, and 

 land ; (6) Man. Coincidences with Genesis so remarkable 

 throw some suspicion on so late a report : it may be taken for 

 what it is worth. 



A similar doubt attaches to the Phoenician cosmology 

 given as Sanchoniathon's by a Greek translator, called Philo 

 of Byblos, who lived in the latter half of the first century a.d. 

 The very existence of the assumed Phoenician original is 

 disputed, but the work may still embody genuine Phoenician 

 myths. The legend runs : — At first there was a dark chaos ; 

 a wind blew over it, and so arose Desire or Longing. From 

 their union came the fruitful primeval slime which contained 

 the germs of all things : then the heaven was formed like an 

 egg, out of the broken shell of which came sun, moon, and 

 stars : then the air and sea, clouds and winds, thunder and 

 lightning. Waked by the roll of the thunder, primeval man 

 appeared. 



7. Hindoo Philosophy. — We now advance to tljose theories 

 of creation which seem to have arisen from speculation pure 

 and simple. The clearest type of these is the Hindoo, which 

 is a system of Emanation. It was not developed in its 

 fulness at once, but was preceded by a simpler Nature- 

 worship, in which honour was chiefly paid to the sky, sun, 

 clouds, and winds. 



The earliest form of the nascent philosophical system 

 appears in the later parts of the Vedas as follows : — " Let 

 us set forth the births of the gods in songs of praise and 

 thanksgiving. Brahman-aspati blew forth these births like a 

 smith. Li the first age of the gods. Being sprang out of Not- 

 Being. There was neither Being nor Not-Being, neither air 

 nor heaven overhead, neither death nor immortality, no divi- 

 sion of day or night ; darkness existed, and this universe was 

 indistinguishable waters. But the " that " (from which was 

 nothing different, and nothing was above it) breathed without 

 respiration, but self- supported. Then rose desire (kama) in 

 it ; this was the germ which by their wisdom the wise disco- 

 vered in their hearts as the link uniting Not-Being and 

 Being; this was the original creative seed. Who knows, 

 who can declare, whence has sprung this creation ? The gods 

 are subsequent to this ; who, then, knows whence it arose ? " 



