ark,
jealous, and inimical power, personified by the serpent, which had taken
possession of it in the world's early days. In the same way we have in
the Indian myth the gods regaining the ambrosia from the Asouras or
demons that had stolen it. We may also observe that Hercules, the
conqueror of the dragon of the Hesperides, is also the liberator of
Prometheus, him who first, despite the divine prohibition, gathered
fire, the fruit of the celestial and cosmic tree.

[72] "Die Herabkunft des Feuers und die Goettertranks." Berlin, 1859.

[73] On the existence among the Babylonians of the idea of the cosmic
tree, see C. W. Mansell, _Gazette Archeologique_, 1878, p. 138.

Among the myths borrowed by the philosopher Pherecides, of Syros, from
the Phenician mysteries, was that of the winged-oak ([Greek: hupopteros
drus]), over which Zeus had spread a magnificent veil representing the
constellations, the earth and ocean. Here we manifestly have the cosmic
tree again.

[74] Mr. Fergusson's work, "Tree and Serpent Worship" (London, 1868), is
not quite free from this defect, the learned author having displayed
more erudition and ingenuity than critical faculty.

[75] "Bundehesh," xxxi. The serpent's form is also that given to
different secondary personifications of the evil principle, different
mythological beings created by Angromainyus to ravage the earth, and war
with the good, and with the true faith--such as Azhi-Dahaka (the serpent
that bites), conquered by Thraetaina, and the dragon Cruvara, slain by
the hero Kerecacpa.

POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN GREECE.

ATHENS, _August, 1879_.

If during this latter period of our national existence, which from every
point of view presents one of the most serious crises in our history,
all Europe finds itself agitated by constant commotions, Greece, which
more than any other European nation is interested in the various events
of the Eastern crisis, is truly under the power of a national paroxysm.
The serious modifications which have been accomplished in the state of
affairs in the East were of a nature to exert a great influence on
Greece, threatening each day to swallow up that country in the tempest.
Doubtless, it was impossible for Greece to remain indifferent at a time
when nations, but till lately unknown, were created by caprice or
interest, without themselves having any sentiment of their national
existence, and which now threaten her national and politic