In the life of _Zoroaster_, the law-giver of the _Persians_, the common mythos is apparent. He was born in innocence, of an immaculate conception, of a ray of the Divine Reason. As soon as he was born the glory from his body enlightened the whole room.[123:6] Plato informs us that Zoroaster was said to be "the son of Oromasdes, which was the name the Persians gave to the Supreme God"[123:7]--therefore he was the _Son of God_. From the East we will turn to the West, and shall find that many of the ancient heroes of Grecian and Roman mythology were regarded as of divine origin, were represented as men, possessed of god-like form, strength and courage; were believed to have lived on earth in the remote, dim ages of the nation's history; to have been occupied in their life-time with thrilling adventures and extraordinary services in the cause of human civilization, and to have been after death in some cases translated to a life among the gods, and entitled to sacrifice and worship. In the hospitable Pantheon of the Greeks and Romans, a niche was always in readiness for every new divinity who could produce respectable credentials. The Christian Father Justin Martyr, says: "It having reached the Devil's ears that the prophets had foretold the coming of Christ (_the Son of God_), he set the _Heathen Poets_ to bring forward a great many who should be called _the sons of Jove_. The Devil laying his scheme in this, to get men to imagine that the _true_ history of Christ was of the same character as the _prodigious fables_ related of the sons of Jove." Among these "sons of Jove" may be mentioned the following: _Hercules_ was the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Alcmene, Queen of Thebes.[124:1] Zeus, the god of gods, spake of Hercules, his son, and said: "This day shall a child be born of the race of Perseus, who shall be the mightiest of the sons of men."[124:2] _Bacchus_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Semele, daughter of Kadmus, King of Thebes.[124:3] As Montfaucon says, "It is the son of Jupiter and Semele which the poets celebrate, and which the monuments represent."[124:4] Bacchus is made to say: "I, son of Deus, am come to this land of the Thebans, Bacchus, whom formerly Semele the daughter of Kadmus brings forth, being delivered by the lightning-bearing flame: _and having taken a mortal form_ instead of a god's, I have arrived at the fountains of Dirce and the water of Ismenus."[124:5] _Amphion_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Antiope, daughter of Nicetus, King of Bœotia.[124:6] _Prometheus_, whose name is derived from a Greek word signifying foresight and providence, was a deity who united the divine and human nature in one person, and was confessedly both man and god.[124:7] _Perseus_ was the son of Jupiter by the virgin Danae, daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos.[124:8] Divine honors were paid him, and a temple was erected to him in Athens.[124:9]