The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-09-01

sense, or Of any halo Of divinity. But
Mr.. Fraser could call Ia mind barharc
kings who are or were put 70 death 20 ave
thsm from dying naturally. or after .
fired tsrm Of years. In his opinion. they ars
killed to provids the god whom they inoar-
nate with q fresh vehicle. Combining
all those facts, and dcsply Impressed BY
the resemblance Of dos aneodote TO the
narratives Of the Crucifixion. Mr.. Frazer
came TO the conclusion that the criminal
execution At the Saoea In Babylon had once
been, like the Saturn sufferer In Mo~ia.
q victim. not at frt hanged. but sacri-
feed yearly, to redeem the life Of the Per-
sian King. who. In earlier ages. must himself
have BEEN . yearly sacrifice. The divinity.
Inherited by the Persian criminal from that
divine king. was transmitted by q sucoes-
sion Of executed malefactors TO the victim
OF Calvary. Mr.. Lang acknowledge the
ingenuity OF this hypothesis, but he sub
mits that. u Mr.. Frazer had examined this
circumstances Of the Persian custom
with an intellect unattracted by tho hope
Of throwing new light on the Crucifixion.
and uninnuenccd by = tendency 70 And
gods of vegetation almost everywhere.
he would have found that they admit 81
bcing accounted for in a simple manner.
There was. - far ~ We are informed. no
sacrifice at the Sacsa. and at that Per-
sian festival nothing religious. Ths re-
ligious element has TO he imported by aid
Of remote inference. daring conjecture,
and even ~ome disregard Of Documentary
history
In hi search for an historical cass Of the
yearly sscrdc-. not Of a king. hut Of a
mock king. Mr. Frn>er b. led IN examine the
Roman Feast Of the Saturnalia This
festival. which in late times. ~as he'll in
December. 10th To 2Sd. 80 closely resenlbled
our Christmas In jollity that pliay used to
Withdraw Ia the met retired room In his
laurpntian villa 70 escape the noise. by
the time ol writer's like Iuoian and Martial.
the feast, which originally lasted Tor one
day only had com. to continue for a week.
and lucian represents Cronos SATURN
as a holly old king Of unreason h rich
helpssl the poor. people made g'f's to each
other. aud "a Christmas carol philosophy
prpvail-i The masters served the slaves
n, table. ell was lcrns~ and not. Wa
candies lcer-al. like those on our Christ
mas trees. wer" given as presents These
csrea aocoriing TO Marr 'biu-. were thought
by sol,s a%n'iqa,rir- to bs substitutes Or
human sacrifices. Originally. IL was said,
the P~elAsgians. before migrating to italy.
received an ~oracular message irom Dodona.
send a man to the Father. that is. to the
god Crono-. or. in Italy. Saturn. BY n
pun. however. on the Greek word ph'fd
which means esther nan or light they
were induced 10 substitute a wax candle
MIR lang argues that. IL actual human
~acrifc~S were offered after the beginning
OF our ERA at tho Saturntl,a. 1t would be-
astonishing that the fact l. not mentioned
by any Roman ~sntiIuary while discussing
the theory tina cCrea were communications
OF sacrifice. II. now and then under the
Roman Empire. n survival OF r~crndescenc~
OF human sacrifice had been heard Of in n
u'rsl district. the a~ntiquNries would have
caugh at Il gr~eiily. a. q proof that vsr
tapers r-aily we're substitutes for human
sacrifice. ph:ch some doubted. Although
NJ such testimony In forthcoming. Mr.
Frazer believes that survivals Of human
sacrifices at the Saturnaiia did really occur
The only known or alleged instance OF such
an occurrence at the SaturnaliA In that
which We have already mentioned. In
A. ID. sos. whom h persecution under
Diocletian began. ono Dssits. = Christta1
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