The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

PERSIA. 159
trial before Mithra, and if its merits outweigh its
shortcomings
in the divine balance it is defended from
Ahriman s agents that seek to drag it into the infernal
abyss. Finally it is led into the ethereal regions where
Jupiter-Ormuzd reigns in eternal light.
The believers
in Mithra did not agree with the votaries of Serapis
who held that the souls of the just reside in the depths
of the earth. 53 To them that somber kingdom was
the domain of wrong-doers. The souls of the just
live in the boundless light that extends above the
stars, and by divesting themselves of all sensuality
and all lust in passing through the planetary spheres**
they become as pure as the gods whose company they
enter.
However, when the world came to an end the body
also was to share in that happiness because it was be
lieved as in Egypt that the whole person would enjoy
eternal life. After time had run its course Mithra
would raise all men from the dead, pouring
out a
marvelous beverage of immortality for the good, but
all evil doers would be annihilated by fire together
with Ahriman himself.
* * *
Of all the Oriental cults none was so severe a
Mithraism, none attained an equal moral elevation,
none could have had so strong a hold on mind and
heart. In many respects it gave its definite religious
formula to the pagan world and the influence of its
ideas remained long after the religion itself had come
to a violent end. Persian dualism introduced certain
principles into Europe that have never ceased to exert
an influence. Its whole history proves the thesis with
which we began, the power of resistance and of in-