as taken us long to reach the Sacred Mice of Greek religion, but we
are now in a position to approach their august divinity. We have seen
that the sun-worship superseded, without abolishing, the tribal
pacarissas in Peru, and that the huacas, or images, of the sacred animals
were admitted under the roof of the temple of the Sun. Now it is
recognised that the temples of the Sminthian Apollo contained images of
sacred mice among other animals, and our argument is that here, perhaps,
we have another example of the Peruvian religious evolution. Just as, in
Peru, the tribes adored 'vile and filthy' animals, just as the solar
worship of the Incas subordinated these, just as the huacas of the beasts
remained in the temples of the Peruvian Sun; so, we believe, the tribes
along the Mediterranean coasts had, at some very remote prehistoric
period, their animal pacarissas; these were subordinated to the religion
(to some extent solar) of Apollo; and the huacas, or animal idols,
survived in Apollo's temples.

* * * * *

If this theory be correct, we shall probably find the mouse, for example,
revered as a sacred animal in many places. This would necessarily
follow, if the marriage customs which we have described ever prevailed on
Greek soil, and scattered the mouse-name far and wide. {108a} Traces of
the Mouse families, and of adoration, if adoration there was of the
mouse, would linger on in the following shapes:--(1) Places would be
named from mice, and mice would be actually held sacred in themselves.
(2) The mouse-name would be given locally to the god who superseded the
mouse. (3) The figure of the mouse would be associated with the god, and
used as a badge, or a kind of crest, or local mark, in places where the
mouse has been a venerated animal. (4) Finally, myths would be told to
account for the sacredness of a creature so undignified.

Let us take these considerations in their order:--

(1) If there were local mice tribes, deriving their name from the
worshipful mouse, certain towns settled by these tribes would retain a
reverence for mice.

In Chrysa, a town of the Troad, according to Heraclides Ponticus, mice
were held sacred, the local name for mouse being [Greek]. Many places
bore this mouse-name, according to Strabo. {108b} This is precisely what
would have occurred had the Mouse totem, and the Mouse stock, been widely
distributed. {108c} The Scholiast {109a} mentions Sminthus as a place in
the Troad. S