the _dark cloud_, which, by harboring the _rays of the Sun_,
preventing its shining, and therefore, is apparently _attempting to
destroy it_. The Serpent is one of the chief mystic personifications of
the _Rig-Veda_, under the names of _Ahi_, _Suchna_, and others. They
represent the _Cloud_, the enemy of the _Sun_, keeping back the
fructifying rays. Indra struggles victoriously against him, and spreads
life on the earth, with the shining warmth of the Father of Life, the
Creator, _the Sun_.

Buddha, the Lord and Saviour, was described as a superhuman organ of
light, to whom a superhuman organ of darkness, Mara, the Evil Serpent,
was opposed. He, like _Christ_ Jesus, resisted the temptations of this
evil one, and is represented sitting on a serpent, as if its conqueror.
(See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 39.)

Crishna also overcame the evil one, and is represented "bruising the
head of the serpent," and standing upon it. (See vol. i. of Asiatic
Researches, and vol. ii. of Higgins' Anacalypsis.)

In Egyptian Mythology, one of the names of the god-_Sun_ was _Ra_. He
had an adversary who was called _Apap_, represented in the form of a
serpent. (See Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 109.)

Horus, the Egyptian incarnate god, the Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour,
is represented in Egyptian art as overcoming the Evil Serpent, and
standing triumphantly upon him. (See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 158,
and Monumental Christianity, p. 402.)

Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithras, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Indra, OEdipus,
Quetzalcoatle, and many other _Sun-gods_, overcame the Evil One, and are
represented in the above described manner. (See Cox's Tales of Ancient
Greece, p. xxvii. and Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p. 129. Baring-Gould's
Curious Myths, p. 256. Bulfinch's Age of Fable, p. 34. Bunsen's
Angel-Messiah, p. x., and Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi.
p. 176.)

[483:1] The crucifixion of the Sun-gods is simply the power of Darkness
triumphing over the "Lord of Light," and Winter overpowering the Summer.
It was at the _Winter_ solstice that the ancients wept for Tammuz, the
fair Adonis, and other Sun-gods, who were put to death by the boar,
slain by the thorn of winter. (See Cox: Aryan Mythology, vol. ii. p.
113.)

Other versions of the same myth tell us of Eurydike stung to death by
the hidden serpent, of Sifrit smitten by Hagene (the Thorn), of
Isfendiyar slain by the thorn or arrow of Rustem, of Achilleus
vulnerable only in the