enote: First gleams of civilization]

Already Europe was preparing a repetition of those events of which Asia
from time immemorial has been the scene. Already among the nations
bordering on the Mediterranean, inhabitants of a pleasant climate, in
which life could be easily maintained--where the isothermal of January
is 41 deg. F., and of July 73-1/2 deg. F.--civilization was commencing.
There was an improving agriculture, an increasing commerce, and, the
necessary consequence thereof, germs of art, the accumulation of wealth.
The southern peninsulas were offering to the warlike chieftains of
middle Europe a tempting prize.

[Sidenote: and first religious opinions.]

Under such influences Europe may be considered as emerging from the
barbarian state. It had lost all recollection of its ancient relations
with India, which have only been disclosed to us by a study of the
vocabularies and grammar of its diverse tongues. Upon its indigenous
sorcery an Oriental star-worship had been ingrafted, the legends of
which had lost their significance. What had at first been feigned of the
heavenly bodies had now assumed an air of personality, and had become
attributed to heroes and gods.

The negro under the equinoctial line, the dwarfish Laplander beyond the
Arctic Circle--man everywhere, in his barbarous state, is a believer in
sorcery, witchcraft, enchantments; he is fascinated by the
incomprehensible. Any unexpected sound or sudden motion he refers to
invisible beings. Sleep and dreams, in which one-third of his life is
spent, assure him that there is a spiritual world. He multiplies these
unrealities; he gives to every grotto a genius; to every tree, spring,
river, mountain, a divinity.

[Sidenote: Localization of the invisible.]

Comparative theology, which depends on the law of continuous variation
of human thought, and is indeed one of its expressions, universally
proves that the moment man adopts the idea of an existence of invisible
beings, he recognizes the necessity of places for their residence, all
nations assigning them habitations beyond the boundaries of the earth. A
local heaven and a local hell are found in every mythology. In Greece,
as to heaven, there was a universal agreement that it was situated above
the blue sky; but as to hell, much difference of opinion prevailed.
There were many who thought that it was a deep abyss in the interior of
the earth, to which certain passages, such as the Acherusian cave i