At the same time a remarkable mental revolution was taking place in Greece and Egypt, the natural homes of mythology; the University of Alexandria and the Academic Groves of Athens were fast sending to the right-about-face the old superstitions, much to the dismay of the priests and religious fanatics, who were driven to their wits’ end to know how to counteract this dangerous tendency of the age towards infidelity and science. The idea struck them of utilising for their purpose the new sect of religious reformers, who lived according to the teaching of the young socialist, Yahoshua; they boldly declared that this man was, when on earth, an incarnate deity, and proceeded to attribute to him all the miraculous performances that had been previously imputed to the sun-god Bacchus; and commenced forthwith to prepare their documentary evidences ready for the ignorant and credulous multitudes. A new sect of the Therapeut monks of Alexandria came into existence, called Eclectics, whose mission was to collect all that was good and useful in the religions of their neighbours, and commit them to manuscript for the use of their monasteries and the priestly class generally. It did not take long to fabricate a very imposing story of the young man Yahoshua, whom they now called Iesous (Ιησους, a name used by the Greeks to signify a hero personification of the sun-god Bacchus, the Phœnician Ιης), Greek being at that time the prevailing language of Lower Egypt. The performances of the ancient sun-gods of Egypt, Persia, Arabia, India, Greece, Phœnicia, and Italy were recalled to the minds of these Eclectic monks, by diligent search among their old musty MSS., and, after carefully and judiciously collating the fables, they were enabled to clothe their new Iesous, or Jesus, with all the leading characteristics of these various deities. He was born of a virgin at midnight between December 24th and December 25th, as were all the sun-gods: his birth, like that of Mithra and that of Krishna, was foretold: a star pointed out the place of his nativity, as in the case of Mithra: his birth-place was a manger in a stable, as in the case of Hercules; or, according to another account, a cave, as in the case of Mithra and Horus: he cured the sick, as did Æsculapius: he fasted in the wilderness, as did Buddha: he performed miracles, as did Bacchus, Hercules, and others: he turned water into wine, as did the Egyptian Bacchus, and as was done at the Bacchanalian orgies: he was crucified, as were also Krishna, Osiris, and Prometheus: he rose from the dead after having been in the grave three days and three nights, as did all the sun-gods: he descended to hell, as did all the sun-gods: he was called Saviour (Σωτηρ, Gr., and Saotès, Egyp.) and Lamb of God (_Agnus Dei_), as were all the sun-gods (Ζευς Σωτηρ, Mises Saotès, etc.); Amen, as was Jupiter Ammon (Ζευς Αμην); Christ, or the Anointed (χριστος), as was Osiris; Son of God, as were Plato’s Logos