Part 32 (1/2)

”Let altars burn and incense pour, please Jove Minerva eke; The potent Prince though nature frail, his favor you must seek, For Jove from heaven to earth him sent, lo! Alexander king, As G.o.d he comes the earth to rule, and just laws for to bring.”[127:4]

_Ptolemy_, who was one of Alexander's generals in his Eastern campaigns, and into whose hands Egypt fell at the death of Alexander, was also believed to have been of divine origin. At the siege of Rhodes, Ptolemy had been of such signal service to its citizens that in grat.i.tude they paid _divine honors_ to him, and saluted him with the t.i.tle of _Soter_, _i. e._, Saviour. By that designation, ”_Ptolemy Soter_,” he is distinguished from the succeeding kings of the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt.[127:5]

_Cyrus_, King of Persia, was believed to have been of _divine origin_; he was called the ”_Christ_,” or the ”_Anointed_ of G.o.d,” and G.o.d's messenger.[127:6]

_Plato_, born at Athens 429 B. C., was believed to have been the son of G.o.d by a _pure virgin_, called Perictione.[127:7]

The reputed father of Plato (Aris) was admonished in a dream to respect the person of his wife until after the birth of the child of which she was then pregnant by a G.o.d.[127:8]

Prof. Draper, speaking of Plato, says:

”The Egyptian disciples of Plato would have looked with anger on those who rejected the legend that Perictione, the mother of that great philosopher, a pure virgin, had suffered an immaculate conception through the influences of (the G.o.d) Apollo, _and that the G.o.d had declared to Aris, to whom she was betrothed, the parentage of the child_.”[128:1]

Here we have the legend of the angel appearing to Joseph--to whom Mary was betrothed--believed in by the disciples of Plato for centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the only difference being that the virgin's name was Perictione instead of Mary, and the confiding husband's name Aris instead of Joseph. We have another similar case.

The mother of _Apollonius_ (B. C. 41) was informed by a G.o.d, who appeared to her, _that he himself should be born of her_.[128:2] In the course of time she gave birth to Apollonius, who became a great religious teacher, and performer of miracles.[128:3]

_Pythagoras_, born about 570 B. C., had divine honors paid him. His mother is said to have become impregnated through a _spectre_, or Holy Ghost. His father--or foster-father--was also informed that his wife should bring forth a son, who should be a benefactor to mankind.[128:4]

_aesculapius_, the great performer of miracles,[128:5] was supposed to be the son of a G.o.d and a worldly mother, Coronis. The Messenians, who consulted the oracle at Delphi to know where aesculapius was born, and of what parents, were informed that a G.o.d was his father, Coronis his mother, and that their son was born at Epidaurus.

Coronis, to conceal her pregnancy from her father, went to Epidaurus, where she was delivered of a son, whom she exposed on a mountain.

Aristhenes, a goat-herd, going in search of a goat and a dog missing from his fold, discovered the child, whom he would have carried to his home, had he not, upon approaching to lift him from the earth, _perceived his head encircled with fiery rays, which made him believe the child was divine_. The voice of fame soon published the birth of a miraculous infant, upon which the people flocked from all quarters _to behold this heaven-born child_.[128:6]

Being honored as a G.o.d in Phenicia and Egypt, his wors.h.i.+p pa.s.sed into Greece and Rome.[128:7]

_Simon the Samaritan_, surnamed ”_Magus_” or the ”Magician,” who was contemporary with Jesus, was believed to be a _G.o.d_. In Rome, where he performed wonderful miracles, he was honored as a G.o.d, and his picture placed among the G.o.ds.[129:1]

Justin Martyr, quoted by Eusebius, tells us that Simon Magus attained great honor among the Romans. That he was believed to be a _G.o.d_, and that he was wors.h.i.+ped as such. Between two bridges upon the River Tibris, was to be seen this inscription: ”Simoni Deo Sancto,” _i. e._ ”To Simon the Holy G.o.d.”[129:2]

It was customary with all the heroes of the northern nations (Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders), to speak of themselves as sprung from their supreme deity, _Odin_. The historians of those times, that is to say, the poets, never failed to bestow the same honor on all those whose praises they sang; and thus they multiplied the descendants of Odin as much as they found convenient. The first-begotten son of Odin was Thor, whom the Eddas call the most valiant of his sons. ”Baldur the Good,” the ”Beneficent Saviour,” was the son of the Supreme Odin and the G.o.ddess Frigga, whose wors.h.i.+p was transferred to that of the Virgin Mary.[129:3]

In the mythological systems of _America_, a virgin-born G.o.d was not less clearly recognized than in those of the Old World. Among the savage tribes his origin and character were, for obvious reasons, much confused; but among the more advanced nations he occupied a well-defined position. Among the nations of Anahuac, he bore the name of _Quetzalcoatle_, and was regarded with the highest veneration.

For ages before the landing of Columbus on its sh.o.r.es, the inhabitants of ancient Mexico wors.h.i.+ped a ”Saviour”--as they called him--(_Quetzalcoatle_) who was _born of a pure virgin_.[129:4] _A messenger from heaven announced to his mother that she should bear a son without connection with man._[129:5] Lord Kingsborough tells us that the annunciation of the _virgin Sochiquetzal_, mother of Quetzalcoatle,--who was styled the ”_Queen of Heaven_”[129:6]--was the subject of a Mexican hieroglyph.[129:7]

The emba.s.sador was sent from heaven to this virgin, who had two sisters, Tzochitlique and Conatlique. ”These three being alone in the house, two of them, on perceiving the emba.s.sador from heaven, died of fright, Sochiquetzal remaining alive, to whom the amba.s.sador announced that it was the will of G.o.d that she should conceive a son.”[130:1] She therefore, according to the prediction, ”conceived a son, _without connection with man_, who was called Quetzalcoatle.”[130:2]

Dr. Daniel Brinton, in his ”Myths of the New World,” says:

”The Central figure of Toltec mythology is _Quetzalcoatle_.

Not an author on ancient Mexico, but has something to say about the glorious days when he ruled over the land. No one denies him to have been a G.o.d. _He was born of a virgin_ in the land of _Tula_ or _Tlopallan_.”[130:3]

The Mayas of _Yucatan_ had a virgin-born G.o.d, corresponding entirely with Quetzalcoatle, if he was not the same under a different name, a conjecture very well sustained by the evident relations.h.i.+p between the Mexican and Mayan mythologies. He was named _Zama_, and was the only-begotten son of their supreme G.o.d, Kinchahan.[130:4]

The _Muyscas_ of Columbia had a similar hero-G.o.d. According to their traditionary history, he bore the name of _Bochica_. He was the incarnation of the Great Father, whose sovereignty and paternal care he emblematized.[130:5]

The inhabitants of _Nicaragua_ called their princ.i.p.al G.o.d Thomathoyo; and said that he had a _son_, who came down to earth, whose name was Theotbilahe, and that he was their general instructor.[130:6]

We find a corresponding character in the traditionary history of _Peru_.