CEEED CLASSIFICATION. 177 



and perhaps, to some extent, on the political forms of 

 government under which they live : above all by re- 

 membering that there is a gradual development in 

 supernatural ideas, the student of comparative religion 

 will be able to sift and classify with ease and clearness 

 dense masses of mythology. But he must understand 

 that the various stages overlap. Just as sailing vessels 

 and four-horse coaches are still used in this age of 

 steam, and as stone implements were still to be found 

 in use long after the age of iron had set in, so in the 

 early period of god belief, thing-worship still to a cer- 

 tain extent endured. In a treaty between Hannibal 

 and Philip of Macedonia, which Polybius preserved, 

 the contracting parties take oath with one another 

 " in the presence of Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo : in the 

 presence of the Deity of the Carthaginians and of 

 Hercules and of Iolaus ; in the presence of Mars, 

 Triton, and Neptune : in the presence of all the gods 

 who are with us in the camp ; and of the sun, the 

 moon, and the earth; the rivers, the lakes, and the 

 waters." In the time of Socrates the Athenians re- 

 garded the sun as an individual. Alexander, accord- 

 ing to Arrian, sacrificed not only to the gods of the 

 sea, but " the sea itself was honoured with his munifi- 

 cence." Even in Job, the purest of all monotheistic 

 works, the stars are supposed to be live creatures which 

 sing around the heavenly throne. 



Again, in those countries where two distinct classes 

 of men exist, the one intellectual and learned : 

 the other illiterate and degraded, there will be in 

 reality two religions though nominally there may be 

 only one. Among the ancient Sabseans the one class 

 adored spirits who inhabited the stars, the other class 

 adored the stars themselves. Among the worshippers 



M 



