ign
ideas has always been preponderant here; and the Epinomis, which contains
one of the oldest accounts of the theory of demons, as proved _supra_, n.
34, was influenced by the Semitic notions about genii, the ancestors of the
_djinns_ and the _welys_ of Islam.

If, as we believe, the text of Porphyry really sets forth the theology of
the magi, slightly modified by Platonic ideas based on popular beliefs of
the Greeks and perhaps of the barbarians, we shall be able to draw
interesting conclusions in regard to the mysteries of Mithra. For instance,
one of the principles developed is that the gods must not be honored by the
sacrifice of animated beings ([Greek: empsucha]), and that immolation of
victims should be reserved for the demons. The same idea is found in
Cornelius Labeo, (Aug., _Civ. Dei_, VIII, 13; see Arnobius, VII, 24), and
possibly it was the practice of the Mithra cult. Porphyry (II, 36) speaks
in this connection of rites and mysteries, but without divulging them, and
it is known that in the course of its history Mazdaism passed from the
bloody to the bloodless sacrifice (_Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 6).

40. Cf. Plutarch, _De defectu orac._, 10, p. 415 A:

[Greek: Emoi de dokousi pleionas lusai aporias hoi to ton daimonon genos en
mesoi thentes theon kai anthropon kai tropon tina ten koinonian hemon
sunagon eis tauto kai sunapton exeurontes; eite magon ton peri Zoroastren
ho logos outos esti, eite Thraikios]....

41. Cf. Minucius Felix, 26, Sec. 11: "Hostanes daemonas prodidit terrenos
vagos humanitatis inimicos." The pagan idea, that the air was peopled with
evil spirits against whom man had to struggle perpetually, persisted among
the Christians; cf. Ephes., ii. 2, vi. 12, see also Prudentius,
_Hamartigenia_, 514 ff.

42. Cf. Minucius Felix, _loc. cit._: "Magi non solum sciunt daemonas, sed
quidquid miraculi ludunt, per daemonas faciunt," etc. Cf. Aug., _Civ. Dei_,
X, 9 and _infra_, ch. VII, n. 76.

43. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, pp. 139 ff.

44. Theod. Mopsuest. ap. Photius, _Bibl._ 81. Cf. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I,
p. 8. {269}

45. Cf. Bousset, _Die Religion des Judentums im neutest. Zeitalter_, 1903,
pp. 483 ff.

46. Julian, _Caesares_, p. 336 C. The term [Greek: entolai] is the one also
used in the Greek Church for the commandments of the Lord.

47. Cf. _supra_, p. 36.

48. The remark is from Darmesteter, _Zend-Avesta_, II, p. 441.

49. Cf. Reinach, _op. cit._, [260], pp. 230 ff.

50. Farnel