What remains of the seventh tablet is clear enough. "2. They (the gods) made suitable the strong monsters. 3. They caused to come living creatures. . . . 4. Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, and creeping things of the field."

The TOWER OF BABEL tablets are in an imperfect condition. Professor Sayce remarks: "It is evident from the wording of the fragment that it was preceded by at least one tablet, describing the sin of the people in building the tower." The seven verses here given are not to be mistaken. "8 to 14. (Small) and great he confounded (on) the mound. Their walls all the day he founded; for their destruction (punishment) in the night . . . he did not leave a remainder. In his anger also (his) secret counsel also he pours out; (to) confound (their) speeches he set his face. He gave the command, he made strange their counsel."

In all the great mythologies some notions of a PARADISE and a FALL are invariably introduced: closely or remotely connected with these, a tree of life and a serpent are frequently to be met with. As yet, no Chaldean legend of the Fall has been discovered; but it is evident the Akkadians were well acquainted with the entire fable. We have a perfect representation on a very ancient Babylonian cylinder of the figures of a man and a woman, between whom is a tree bearing fruit, while behind the woman is an erect serpent. An abundance of bas-reliefs and seals are also extant, whereon the tree is guarded on both sides by winged cherubim. Several hymns and legends refer to the same subject. One fragment of a hymn tells how, "In Eridu a dark pine grew; in an illustrious place it was planted." Its miraculous properties are spoken of; and, as in Genesis, the approach to it is guarded by the flaming sword, here of Merodach. Allusion is made to a serpent, which embodies the evil principle, and is the same monster that Merodach fights on other occasions, as "the chaos of the deep," "the wicked serpent," and "the ser

pent of night." Merodach is here the exact counterpart of Michael as described in Revelation.

The Egyptian emblem of sin was Aphophis or Apap, "the giant serpent," frequently represented with a human head. Occasionally the god Horus, as Re the sun, is drawn killing the serpent with his spear. In Hindu mythology the serpent or principle of evil is overcome sometimes by Pavati, sometimes by Krishna.

The Zoroastrian account of Eden, or Paradise, runs parallel with that of Genesis. The first parents of man lived in innocence and happiness until tempted by Ahriman in the form of a serpent. They ate the fruit he offered, and at once became as wicked as himself. It is argued that, as this account is taken from the Bundehesh, it is of too late a date for the Hebrews to have adopted it from the Medo-Persians. But if the story is as old as the Akkadian age (and we know it to be so), neither Zoroastrians nor Hebrews need have originated it. Certainly the belief in Paradise existed long before the days of the Semites. "The Paradise," says Kalish, "is no exclusive feature of the earliest history of the Hebrews; most of the ancient nations have similar narrations about a happy abode, which care does not approach, &c. The Greeks believed that at an immense distance beyond the pillars of Hercules, on the borders of the earth, were the Islands of the Blessed, the Elysium abounding in every charm of life, and the garden of the Hesperides with their golden apples guarded by an ever-watchful serpent (Ladôn). But still more analogous is the legend of the Hindus, that in the sacred mountain Meru, which is perpetually clothed in the golden rays of the sun, and whose lofty summit reaches into heaven, no sinful man can exist; that it is guarded by dreadful dragons; that it is adorned with many celestial plants and trees, and is watered by four rivers, which thence separate and flow to the four chief directions. Equally striking is the resemblance to the belief of the Persians, who suppose that a

region of bliss and delight, the town Eriene Vedsho, or Heden, more beautiful than the whole rest of the world, traversed by a mighty river, was the original abode of the first men before they were tempted by Ahriman in the shape of a serpent to partake of the wonderful fruit of the forbidden tree Hom. And the books of the Chinese describe a garden near the gate of heaven where a perpetual zephyr breathes; it is irrigated by abundant springs, the noblest of which is the fountain of life,' and abounds in delightful trees, one of which bears fruit which have the power of preserving life. . . . In the Chinese traditions four rivers flow from the mountain Kuen-lun to the four quarters of the world. "1

In the Vishnu Purana the forbidden fruit are the apples of the Jambu tree. These apples are as big as elephants. They who drink of their juice "pass their days in content and health, being subject neither to perspirations, to foul odours, to decrepitude nor decay."2

The introduction of evil into the world through woman's agency, as told in the Grecian myth, is familiar to every one; and the likeness between Eve and Pandora has often been celebrated in verse as well as prose.3 Zeus, enraged with Prometheus, sends Pandora-the all-gifted-in charge of Hermes, to Epimetheus the foolish son of Japetos. Enraptured by her charms, Epimetheus, in spite of his brother Prometheus's warning, makes her his wife. their house is a jar which the brothers had been forbidden to open. Hitherto the injunction had been observed. But Pandora, whose prevailing attribute was

1 Historical and Critical Commentary on the Old Testament.

3 "Espoused Eve

In

2 See Colebrooke's translation, Asiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. 473.

More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods
Endowed with all their gifts, and oh! too like
In sad event, when to the unwise son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared
Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
Of him who had stole Jove's authentic fire."

-Paradise Lost.

curiosity, uncovered the jar, and its contents-every ill which could befall mankind-flew out. Terrified at the sight, she clapped on the lid in time to prevent the escape of Hope, which alone was left behind.

ness.

In his comments upon this myth M. Lenormant seems to think it natural that poetry should in all ages have signalised the baneful charms of woman.1 Possibly the experiences of the stronger sex (whose faults are not of the alluring kind) may have led man to impute some share of his misfortunes to a being whose strength is in her weakBut throughout these fables the uppermost thought is of lost virtue and lost happiness; of an age of innocence when man associated with the gods, and knew neither toil nor care. Such thoughts are the day-dreams of a halfforgotten childhood, when each sense tasted newly the intoxicating nectar of exuberant life. What else is the forbidden fruit or its rueful consequences than the indulgence of selfish passion, and the remorse that is of no avail ? The contrast between life's opening and its close tells too truly the sad story of decadence. In the dire passage from one goal to the other, man in all ages has probably had more to bless than blame in the partner of his troubles.

The hatred and reverence so universally inspired by the serpent cannot here be discussed. In the creation myths, however, the fact that the serpent is so frequently identified with the "chaos of the deep" and the "serpent of night "indicates the radical conception. To the superstitious minds of children and of savages darkness is full of indescribable terror. And the dispelling of darkness by the sun is typified by Apollo and the Python, by Re and Aphophis, by Hercules, Krishna, Merodach, and other mythical personages.

The connection of the serpent with the Jewish Satan, partly belongs to the legend of the Fall and partly to the

1 "L'influence fâcheuse qu'a exercée la civilisation sur le caractère faible, leger, volage, faux, ami de la

parure et du luxe, du sexe féminin est devenu la source de tous nos malheurs.”—Les Origines, &c.

passage already quoted from Revelation, both of which, as seen, have their parallels in Chaldean mythology. The Devil of the Christian epoch was an adaptation of the Zoroastrian Ahriman. The monotheism of Moses and of the greater prophets was averse from a spiritual dualism. But when the Jews brought back from their captivity the Zoroastrian doctrine of evil, they gradually developed the notion of a personal devil: the Founder of Christianity, accepting this belief as he probably found it, made it the corner-stone of his dogma of eternal punishment. At this epoch, however, the monodemonism of our days was not even in embryo. Devils swarmed innumerable. Every disease (as we shall have occasion to notice hereafter) was the work of demons. Deserts and solitary wildernesses were their places of resort. The horned devil, with hoofs and tail, is a creation of the Middle Ages: the explanation of it is to be found in the Biblical translation of the Hebrew Seirim into "devils." Seirim simply means "hairy ones;" and the he-goat being worshipped by the Egyptians, Moses was instructed by Jehovah to forbid the offering of sacrifices to these animals.

It is almost unnecessary to state that the "hell of the Christian Church had no affinity with the Hades of the Greek, any more than it had with the Hebrew Sheol (translated hell) in the Old Testament. The latter primarily signified little else than the German Hölle, a cavern or hole, in which the corpse was deposited. The association with death naturally caused it to be spoken of with horror; and imagination readily converted the grave into a dark abyss situated beneath the earth. From this to a place of torment the passage was sure and easy. But even in the New Testament the old sense is sometimes retained. When St. Peter, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, says, "that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption," the true meaning of hell is apparent from the context.

It is noteworthy that the conception of hell as "the