l, _Evolution of Religion_, p. 127.

51. Mithra is _sanctus_ (_Mon. myst. Mithra_, II, p. 533), like the Syrian
gods; cf. _supra_, ch. V, n. 47.

52. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, pp. 309 ff. The eschatology of orthodox
Mazdaism has been expounded recently by Soederblom, _La vie future d'apres
le mazdeisme_, Paris, 1901.

53. Cf. _supra_, ch. IV, p. 100, ch. V, p. 126.

54. We have explained this theory above, p. 125. It was foreign to the
religion of Zoroaster and was introduced into the mysteries of Mithra with
the Chaldean astrology. Moreover, ancient mythological ideas were always
mixed with this learned theology. For instance, it was an old Oriental
belief that souls, being regarded as material, wore clothing (_Mon. myst.
Mithra_, I, p. 15, n. 5; Bousset, _Archiv fuer Religionswiss._, IV, 1901, p.
233, n. 2; _Rev. hist. des relig._, 1899, p. 243, and especially Boeklen,
_Die Verwandtschaft der juedisch-christlichen und der parsischen
Eschatologie_, Goettingen, 1902, pp. 61 ff.) Thence arose the notion
prevalent to the end of paganism, that the soul in passing through the
planetary spheres, took on the qualities of the stars "like successive
tunics." Porphyry, _De abstin._, I, 31: [Greek: Apoduteon ara tous pollous
hemin chitonas k. t. l.]; Macrobius, _Somnium Sc._, I, 11, Sec. 12: "In
singulis sphaeris aetherea obvolutione vestitur"; I, 12, Sec. 13: "Luminosi
corporis amicitur accessu"; Proclus, _In Tim._, I, 113, 8, Diehl ed.:
[Greek: Periballesthai chitonas], Procl., _Opera_, Cousin ed., p. 222:
"Exuendum autem nobis et tunicas quas descendentes induti sumus"; Kroll,
_De orac. Chaldaicis_, p. 51, n. 2: [Greek: Psuche hessamene noun]; Julian,
Or., II, p. 123, 22, (Hertlein). Cf. Wendland, _Die hellenistisch-roemische
Kultur_, p. 168 n. 1. Compare what {270} Hippolytus, _Philos._, V, I, says
of Isis (Ishtar?) in connection with the Naasenians. She is [Greek:
heptastolos], because nature also is covered with seven ethereal garments,
the seven heavens of the planets; see Ps.-Apul., _Asclepius_, 34 (p. 75, 2
Thomas): "Mundum sensibilem et, quae in eo sunt, omnia a superiore illo
mundo quasi ex vestimento esse contecta." I have insisted upon the
persistence of this idea, because it may help us to grasp the significance
attributed to a detail of the Mithra ritual in connection with which
Porphyry relates nothing but contradictory interpretations. The persons
initiated into the seven degrees were obliged to put on different