of Myrrha into the myrtle; of Melos into the apple tree; of
Attis into the pine; of Adonis into the rose tree; and in the springing
of the vine and grape from the blood of the Titans, the violet from the
blood of Attis, and the hyacinth from the blood of Hyacinthus.

Thus it was, during the long ages when mankind saw everywhere miracle
and nowhere law, that, in the evolution of religion and morality,
striking features in physical geography became connected with the idea
of divine retribution.(426)

(426) For the view taken in Greece and Rome of transformations into
trees and shrubs, see Botticher, Baumcultus der Hellenen, book i, chap.
xix; also Ovid, Metamorphoses, passim; also foregoing notes.

But, in the natural course of intellectual growth, thinking men began to
doubt the historical accuracy of these myths and legends--or, at least,
to doubt all save those of the theology in which they happened to be
born; and the next step was taken when they began to make comparisons
between the myths and legends of different neighbourhoods and countries:
so came into being the science of comparative mythology--a science sure
to be of vast value, because, despite many stumblings and vagaries,
it shows ever more and more how our religion and morality have been
gradually evolved, and gives a firm basis to a faith that higher planes
may yet be reached.

Such a science makes the sacred books of the world more and more
precious, in that it shows how they have been the necessary envelopes of
our highest spiritual sustenance; how even myths and legends apparently
the most puerile have been the natural husks and rinds and shells of our
best ideas; and how the atmosphere is created in which these husks and
rinds and shells in due time wither, shrivel, and fall away, so that the
fruit itself may be gathered to sustain a nobler religion and a purer
morality.

The coming in of Christianity contributed elements of inestimable value
in this evolution, and, at the centre of all, the thoughts, words, and
life of the Master. But when, in the darkness that followed the
downfall of the Roman Empire, there was developed a theology and a vast
ecclesiastical power to enforce it, the most interesting chapters in
this evolution of religion and morality were removed from the domain of
science.

So it came that for over eighteen hundred years it has been thought
natural and right to study and compare the myths and legends arising
east a