258 THE RKV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, D.D._, ON MITHUAISM. 



the mother's xirfjiiiitjj nothing is said, hut the very contrary is 

 implied. In the same way we nowhere find any account of 

 Mithra s death or resurrection. Until proof is forthcoming that 

 tiie whole of the legend of Attis was taken up by the Mithraists, 

 we have no right to assume that this was accepted by them. [N'or, 

 •even were this shown to be the case, would it be necessary to 

 •do more than repeat what has already been written about the 

 Attis legend by various scholars. A modern writer has 

 endeavoured to prove that Mitlira was supposed to have died, 

 been buried in a rock ton:ib, and come to life again.* The only 

 proof he can give is a passage from a Christian writer, Jul. 

 Firmicus Maternus : but this writer not only does not mention 

 Mithra at all in this passage, but does not even say anything of 

 eitlier a rock-tomb or a resurrection. The context, moreover, shows 

 that he is describing the interment of Osiris.f It is unsafe 



a,ttributes to Orniazd the procreative part to he played by Zoroaster in both 

 the Avesta and in later Persian accounts {vide above, p. 255, note ft). 



In such matters it is hardly wise to attach too much importance to late 

 foreign and hostile writers, like Eznik, wlien we have the original 

 authorities to which to refer. Moreover this example should warn us not 

 to trust to the complete accuracy of similar statements in other writers of 

 ancient times whose works show that they had not made a careful study 

 of Mithraism. 



^ Mr. J. M. Eobertson, Pagan C/irists, pp. 317, 318, 323 of 2nd Ed. 



t Maternus (writing" about a.d. 344, according to Migne, note on 

 cap. 30) says : "Nocte quadeni simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur, et 

 per numerosdigestis fletibus plangitur . . . Tunc a sacerdote omnium 

 qui flebant fauces unguntur : quibus perunctis, sacerdos hoc lento 

 murmure susurrat, 



Oai>/)e2-€^ jLiv(T7ac tou deou aeawa/uK-vov, 

 ilaiaL ^((tf} yiu7i^ eic irovivi/ aicrrjpia. 



. . . Dei tui mors nota est, vita non comparet, nec de resurrectione 

 <eius divinum aliquando respondit oraeulum. . . . Idolum sepelis, 

 idolum phingis, idohim de sepultura profers, et miser, cum haec feceris, 

 ^audes. Tu deum tuum liberas, tu iacentia lapidis membra componis, tu 

 insensibile corrigis saxum" (De krrore, cap. xxiii (al. xxii)). This passage 

 evidently refers to (hiris, not to Mithra (Mr. Robertson), nor to Attis 

 {Dr. Frazer). Careful study of the words used (for instance, Bel tui mors 

 nota est, true of Osiris, not of Mithra) shows that they suit Osiris' case 

 and not Mithra's. The OappetTe reminds us that the " motto of the Isiac 

 faith, inscribed on many tombs, was evxj^vxci" (Dill, Roman Society from 

 Nero to Marcus Anreliiis, p. 575), with the same signiticance, and the 

 Oeou (Tc(nc(T/uet'ov suits the case of Osiris admirably, since Isis had to 

 collect the scattered fragments of his body, torn in pieces by Typhon 

 (Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, capp. 2, 13, 18) and bury them. This 

 she did. It may be worth while calling attention to the fact that 

 the Egyptians did not believe Osiris to have risen from the dead ( Vide 

 my Mythic Ckrists and the True, pp. 55-57). 



