of the Hebrew Jové or Yové or Iové, chief of the Eloi band (Mark xv., 34), and the Jové, Yové, leové, or Iové, the Iupiter of the Romans, than this opening of the story of the Flood. Jupiter was the Sun God of the Romans, as were Dionysos and Bacchus of the Greeks, and sun gods grow old and die at the winter solstice, and are born again as a glorycrowned babe after lying in the tomb forty hours. Rome forced the Christian story on Europe.

There are Greek coins in existence showing the old bald decrepit Bacchus falling into the sea on one side, and on the other the new-born babe Bacchus being born of a dolphin; in fact, coming out of the dolphin's mouth (delphys womb) or ark, with the bright sun's rays crowning his young head. In many mythologies the sun did not die, but he begat annual sons who lived a year, representing the father sun, and, being gods, could not really die, but were re-united with the father as in the Christian mythological dogma. But the Romans gave a name to many of these minor gods, till they became so numerous that the hierarchy of heaven was overcrowded.

Now, all these were claimed as God," Jové, and as they were all

sons of

passed

over" or crossed over the Equator, or crucified on the cross of the heavens, to produce Summer (paradise), the early Christians were hampered in their teaching about the crucifixing of another Son of God. When the true explanation was given by scholars they were called "Atheists," because they explained away the "Immortal Gods." Justin Martyr gave this plausible explanation to his " devout children" in his "Apology "

"It having reached the devil's ears that the prophets had foretold the coming of Christ, "Son of God, he set the heathen poets to bring forward a great many who should be called Sons of Jové. The devil laying his scheme in this, to get men to imagine that

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the true history of Christ was of the same 'character as the prodigious fables related of the sons of Jové."

How close was the parallel Justin goes on to show. "By declaring the Logos the first begotten of God, our Master Jesus Christ, to be born of a Virgin without any human mixture, we Christians say no more in this, "than that you pagans say of those whom you style Sons of Jove."

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As Jove's marriage was that of the Sun, and with the earth as the female, annually in

spring, these annual marriages were naturally with the "daughters of men," and Jove's sons were Sons of God.

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The Hebrew story goes on, "And the Sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair," exactly as with Jupiter's lovely earth maidens, Leda, Danae, Europa, Semele, Latona, Antiope, and all the rest, who are used to name all the most delightfully beautiful nude statues carved by the great sculptors. "There were giants in those days." Then the writer bethinks himself that the heroes were not necessarily "giants," but were strong men (as giants are sometimes weak), so he says no more about giants, and goes on to say: "And also after that, when the sons of god

came in unto the daughters of men and they "bare children to them, the same became

mighty men, which were of old men of renown," an exact description of the sons of the Roman Jové. We have, for instance, Hercules, son of Jupiter and Alcmene; Perseus, son of Jupiter and Danae; Mercury, son of Jupiter and Maia, the Hindoo Queen of Heaven and our Mary; and the twins, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter and Leda, to whom he appeared as a swan, as shown in Michael Angelo's masterly if somewhat too realistic