ally all things were in all
things, but that afterward they became separated. Euripides later in
life associated with Sokrates, and became doubtful regarding that
theory. He accordingly propounds the ancient doctrine by the mouth of
another, namely Melanippe, who says:

"This saying (myth) is not mine, but came from my mother,
that formerly Heaven and Earth were one shape; but when they
were separated from each other, they gave birth and brought
all things into the light, trees, birds, beasts, and the
fishes whom the sea feeds, and the race of mortals."

Thus we have met with the same idea of the original union, of a
separation, and of a subsequent reunion of Heaven and Earth in Greece,
in India, and in the Polynesian islands.

Let us now see how the poets of the Veda address these two beings,
Heaven and Earth.

They are mostly addressed in the dual, as two beings forming but one
concept. We meet, however, with verses which are addressed to the Earth
by herself, and which speak of her as "kind, without thorns, and
pleasant to dwell on,"[176] while there are clear traces in some of the
hymns that at one time Dyaus, the sky, was the supreme deity.[177] When
invoked together they are called D y a v a - p_ r i_ t h i v y a u,
from d y u, the sky, and p _r i_ t h i v i, the broad earth.

If we examine their epithets, we find that many of them reflect simply
the physical aspects of Heaven and Earth. Thus they are called u r u,
wide; u r u v y a _k_ a s, widely expanded, d u r e - a n t e, with
limits far apart, g a b h i r a, deep; g h _r i_ t a v a t, giving fat;
m a d h u d u g h a, yielding honey or dew; p a y a s v a t, full of
milk; b h u r i - r e t a s, rich in seed.

Another class of epithets represents them already as endowed with
certain human and superhuman qualities, such as a s a _s k_ a t, never
tiring, a _g_ a r a, not decaying, which brings us very near to immortal;
a d r u h, not injuring, or not deceiving, p r a _k_ e t a s, provident, and then
pita-mata, father and mother, devaputra, having the gods for their
sons, _r i_ t a - v_ r i_ d h and _r i_ t a v a t, protectors of the _Ri_ta, of what
is right, guardians of eternal laws.

Here you see what is so interesting in the Veda, the gradual advance
from the material to the spiritual, from the sensuous to the
supersensuous, from the human to the superhuman and the divine. Heaven
and Earth were seen, and, according to our notions, t