cal theory, that was undoubtedly a development
of the former, taught that the soul descended to earth from the heights of
heaven by passing through the spheres of the seven planets. During its
passage it acquired the dispositions and qualities proper to each planet.
After death it returned to its original abode by the same route. To get
from one sphere to another, it had to pass a door guarded by a commandant
([Greek: archon]).[62] Only the souls of initiates knew the password that
made those incorruptible guardians yield, and under the conduct of a
psychopompus[63] they ascended safely from zone to zone. As the soul rose
it divested itself of the passions and qualities it had acquired on its
descent to the earth as though they were garments, and, free from
sensuality, it penetrated into the eighth heaven to enjoy everlasting
happiness as a subtle essence.

Perhaps this doctrine, undoubtedly of Babylonian origin, was not generally
accepted by the Syrian religions, as it was by the mysteries of Mithra, but
these religions, impregnated with astrology, certainly propagated the
belief that the souls of those worshipers that had led pious lives were
elevated to the heights of heaven, where an apotheosis made them the equals
of the luminous gods.[64] Under the empire this doctrine slowly supplanted
all others; the Elysian fields, which the votaries of Isis and Serapis
still located in {127} the depths of the earth, were transferred into the
ether bathing the fixed stars,[65] and the underworld was thereafter
reserved for the wicked who had not been allowed to pass through the
celestial gates.

The sublime regions occupied by the purified souls were also the abode of
the supreme god.[66] When it transformed the ideas on the destiny of man,
astrology also modified those relating to the nature of the divinity. In
this matter the Syrian religions were especially original; for even if the
Alexandrian mysteries offered man just as comforting prospects of
immortality as the eschatology of their rivals, they were backward in
building up a commensurate theology. To the Semitic races belongs the honor
of having reformed the ancient fetichism most thoroughly. Their base and
narrow conceptions of early times to which we can trace their existence,
broaden and rise until they form a kind of monotheism.

As we have seen, the Syrian tribes worshiped a god of lightning,[67] like
all primitive races. That god opened the reservoirs of the firm