No idea is, however, more prominent in most of the shapes which CHAP,
the myth connected with the Lin^a and Yoni have assumed than that '^ -^
an and
of a mysterious knowledge ; nor has any feature m the ancient world Semitic
attracted more attention than the great Mysteries in which a knowledge mysteries, hidden from the profane was supposed to be imparted to the initiated.
Is the knowledge to which the myths refer the sum and substance of
the knowledge conveyed in the mysteries ? That it has been and is
so throughout India, no one probably will deny or dispute. The
wailing of the Hebrew women at the death of Tammuz, the death and
resurrection of Osiris, the adoration of the Babylonian IMylitta, the
Sacti ministers of Hindu temples, the cross and crescent of Isis, the
rites of the Jewish altar of Baal-Peor, wholly preclude all doubt of the
real nature of the great festivals and mysteries of Phenicians, Jews,
Assyrians, Eg)'ptians, and Hindus. Have we any reason for suppos-
ing that the case was essentially different in more western countries,
and that the mysteries of the Hellenic tribes were not substantially
identical with those of other Aryan and Semitic tribes ? It may be
doubted whether the Greek mysteries were ever used for the exposi-
tion of theological doctrines differing from the popular creed, or
even whether any recondite doctrine, religious or philosophical, was
attached to the mysteries, or contained in the holy stories of any
priesthood of the ancient world. If by this recondite teaching be
meant doctrines relating to the nature of God and the Divine govern-
ment of the world, the judgments of historians like Thirlwall and
Grote may perhaps be in accordance with fact ; but it can scarcely
be denied that the thoughts aroused by the recognition of the differ-
ence between man and woman are among the most mysterious
stirrings of the human heart, and that a philosophy which professed
to reconcile the natural impulses of the worshippers with the sense
of right and duty would carry with it a strange and almost irresistible
fascination. The Corinthian Aphrodite had her Hierodouloi, the
pure Gerairai ministered to the goddess of the Parthenon, and
the altar of the Latin Vesta was tended by her chosen virgins. A
system which could justify these inconsistencies in the eyes of the
initiated, and lead them to discern different forms of the same
sacrifice in the purity of the one and the abandonment of the other,
might well be said to be based on a recondite, though not a wholesome,
Boots or Cinderella. The treasure is finger is the ring of Gyges. — Plato, a lamp in which burns a liquid which Foiit. 359. If it does not make himself is not oil; with the possession of it are invisible, the -isibility of the minister bound up wealth, happiness, and splen- of the ring depends upon the way in dour: it is, in short, the Sangreal. The which it is handled, this being in both ring which the magician places on his stories the same.
