yte was the oath of
fidelity to the flag taken by the recruits. Christ was the "emperor," the
commander-in-chief, of his disciples, who formed cohorts triumphing under
his command over the demons; the apostates were deserters; the sanctuaries,
camps; the pious practices, drills and sentry-duty, and so on.

If we consider that the gospel preached peace, that for a long time the
Christians felt a repugnance to military service, where their faith was
threatened, we are tempted to admit _a priori_ an influence of the
belligerent cult of Mithra upon Christian thought. {xx}

But this is not the case. The theme of the _militia Christi_ appears in the
oldest ecclesiastical authors, in the epistles of St. Clement and even in
those of St. Paul. It is impossible to admit an imitation of the Mithraic
mysteries then, because at that period they had no importance whatever.

But if we extend our researches to the history of that notion, we shall
find that, at least under the empire, the mystics of Isis were also
regarded as forming sacred cohorts enlisted in the service of the goddess,
that previously in the Stoic philosophy human existence was frequently
likened to a campaign, and that even the astrologers called the man who
submitted to destiny and renounced all revolt a "soldier of fate."[6]

This conception of life, especially of religious life, was therefore very
popular from the beginning of our era. It was manifestly prior both to
Christianity and to Mithraism. It developed in the military monarchies of
the Asiatic Diadochi. Here the soldier was no longer a citizen defending
his country, but in most instances a volunteer bound by a sacred vow to the
person of his king. In the martial states that fought for the heritage of
the Achemenides this personal devotion dominated or displaced all national
feeling. We know the oaths taken by those subjects to their deified
kings.[7] They agreed to defend and uphold them even at the cost of their
own lives, and always to have the same friends and the same enemies as
they; they dedicated to them not only their actions and words, but their
very thoughts. Their duty was a complete abandonment of their personality
in favor of those monarchs who were held the equals of the gods. The sacred
_militia_ of the mysteries was nothing but this civic {xxi} morality viewed
from the religious standpoint. It confounded loyalty with piety.

As we see, the researches into the doctrines or practices common