264 THE REV. W. ST. CLAIE TISDALL, D.D., ON MITHEAISM. 



came to mean " the spirit," and are so used in the Bhagavad 

 Gita* and elsewhere. Pythagoras distinctly taught the doctrine 

 of transmigration, probably with the idea that the spirit would 

 thus get rid of its faults and imperfections. In Western 

 Mithraism the doctrine of the descentf of the human spirit 

 upon earth and the means by which it might escape and 

 reascend were t'xplained to those wlio became initiated into its 

 mysteries. These mysteries were celebrated in a natural or 

 artificial cavern,^ removed from the light of day. They are 

 said to have included a pretended human sacrifice,§ which the 

 Emperor Commodus, when being initiated, insisted on having 



1751 sqq.). Transmigration is taught in a very fully developed form in 

 Manu's Dharmasdstra, bk. xii, sll. 3-103, and elsewhere. 

 Cf. Bhagavad GUci, ii, 18 {sarinn) : 



" Antavanta ime deh4 nityasyokt^h sarlrinah," 

 (and for dehin) : Op. cit. ii, 13 : 



" Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara," 

 and ii, 22 : 



" Vas^iisi jtrnani yatha vihctya navani grihnati naro 'parani, 

 tatha sartrani vihaya jirnanyanyani sanyati navani dehl." 

 " Just as a man, having left worn-out garments, takes other new ones, 

 so the embodied soul (dehin), having left worn-out bodies, betakes itself 

 to other new ones." It is remarkable that the Egyptians thought the 

 " justified " soul could enter any material form it chose, and could change 

 those forms at will, like a garment {Sii^ycQ, Religions of Anc. Egypt and 

 Bab., pp. 102, 108). 



t Nonnus, though his account of the number of "punishments" or 

 painful tests which the Mithraic neophytes had to undergo may be 

 exaggerated, at least makes this clear. He (21^1/07^7/} ^laTopuov, § 6, 

 p. 109, .pio^eil hj T.<;ji.,L.t, p. 117) meutions vud^j'tois aud di a,3cuyis^ (see 

 note t, to p. 264, below). 



X Porphyry, De Antra Nymphariim (Ed. Ang. Nauck), cap. vi. : Ovtw 

 Kal HepfTai rrju €C9 Kariv KaOoSov ticv yjrvxi^v i^al ttoXlv e'^oSou 

 fiV(TTa^/iv<^fovuTe^ rekovcri tou ^varyv, eTrovo/udffai/re^ aTTijXaiov ([toi/J 

 Toirov ' jrpwra fxev, a>s (jyrjalv ¥tv^ov\o<s^ ZwpodaTpov av70(f)ve<? a7rr]\aiov 

 eV T0?9 TrXrjaiov opeai t^9 Hepffi'8o9 dvOrjpov Kal Trrjr^d^ cj(Ov dvieptvaav7o<i 

 el<i TifXTjv TOO Trdviuov TroirjTOv Kal TraTpo^ MiOpov^ eiKoua ^epov709 [[aVT/^J 

 -TOO ffTrrjXaiov too Koffjuov op 6 MiOpa^ ihrjfiiovp^(rja€j rwu Be eVjo? Kara 

 ^rvfJifieTpov's a7ro<7Ta<ret9 Gvfi(ioXa (pepovTWu rtbv KoafiLKWv aTOL'\elwv Kal 

 K\ifi(VTu}V * fxeTa tovtou tov ZivpoddTprju KpaTrjaavTO's Kal Trapa T019 

 aX\of9, aVTpiDV Kal aTrr^Xaiwv cit ovv avT0(pvwv eiTe ^eipoTToi^Ttvv 7ay 

 TeXera? diTohihovai. 



§ Eusebius quotes Porphyry, Philo, Dionysius, Diodorus, etc., to prove 

 that human sacrifices continued to be offered in the Roman Empire, until 

 the Emperor Hadrian's time {Praeparat. Evangelica, Lib. iv, 15 and 

 16). 



