st
suggestive. Priam, king of Troy, in the beginning of the Trojan war
committed his son Polydorus to the care of Polymester, king of Thrace,
and sent him a great sum of money. After Troy was taken the Thracian,
for the sake of the money, killed the young prince and privately buried
him. AEneas, coming into that country, and accidentally plucking up a
shrub that was near him on the side of the hill, discovered the
murdered body of Polydorus. Other legends of such accidental
discoveries of unknown graves haunted the olden time, and may have been
suggested by the story of Isis.

[41] _The Gods of the Egyptians_, by E.A.W. Budge; _La Place des
Victores_, by Austin Fryar, especially the colored plates.

[42] _Quests New and Old_, by G.R.S. Mead.

[43] _Pythagoras_, by Edouard Schure--a fascinating story of that great
thinker and teacher. The use of numbers by Pythagoras must not,
however, be confounded with the mystical, or rather fantastic,
mathematics of the Kabbalists of a later time.

[44] For a vivid account of the spread of the Mysteries of Isis and
Mithra over the Roman Empire, see _Roman Life from Nero to Aurelius_,
by Dill (bk. iv, chaps. v-vi). Franz Cumont is the great authority on
Mithra, and his _Mysteries of Mithra_ and _Oriental Religions_ trace
the origin and influence of that cult with accuracy, insight, and
charm. W.W. Reade, brother of Charles Reade the novelist, left a study
of _The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids_, finding in the
vestiges of Druidism "the Emblems of Masonry."

[45] Col. 2:8-19. See _Mysteries Pagan and Christian_, by C. Cheethan;
also _Monumental Christianity_, by Lundy, especially chapter on "The
Discipline of the Secret." For a full discussion of the attitude of St.
Paul, see _St. Paul and the Mystery-Religions_, by Kennedy, a work of
fine scholarship. That Christianity had its esoteric is plain--as it
was natural--from the writings of the Fathers, including Origen, Cyril,
Basil, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, and others. Chrysostom often uses
the word _initiation_ in respect of Christian teaching, while
Tertullian denounces the pagan mysteries as counterfeit imitations by
Satan of the Christian secret rites and teachings: "He also baptises
those who believe in him, and promises that they shall come forth,
cleansed of their sins." Other Christian writers were more tolerant,
finding in Christ the answer to the aspiration uttered in the
Mysteries; and therein, it may be, th