Turning to the Rig Veda we find "Hymns to Agni (the god of fire) and the Maruts (the storm gods)." "1. Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice for a draught of milk; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "2. No god, indeed, no mortal, is beyond the might of thee, the mighty one; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "3. Those who know of the great sky, the Visne Devas without guile; with those Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "4. The wild ones who sing their song, unconquerable by force; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "5. Those who are brilliant, of awful shape, powerful, and devourers of foes; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "6. They who in heaven are enthroned as gods, in the light of the firmament; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "7. They who shoot with their darts across the sea with might; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" "9. I pour out to thee for the early draught the sweet juice of Soma; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!" Another one says:--"O Agni, thou art the life, thou art the patron of man. In return for our prayers, bestow glory and riches on the father of a family who now addresses thee. Agni, thou art a wise protector and a father; to thee we owe life, we are of thy household." De Coulanges says:--"So the hearth-god was, as in Greece, a tutelary deity. Men asked of him abundance, and that the earth might be productive. He was prayed to for health, and that a man might long enjoy the light and arrive at old age like the sun at his setting. Even wisdom is demanded, and pardon for sin. For as in Greece the fire-god was essentially pure, so not only was the Brahmin forbidden to throw anything filthy into his fire, but he might not even warm his feet at it. The guilty man, also, as in Greece, might not approach his own hearth before he was purified from the stain he had contracted." Assuredly the Greeks did not borrow this religion from the Hindoos, nor the Hindoos from the Greeks; but Greeks, Italians, and Hindoos, belonged to one and the same race, and their ancestors at a very early period had lived together in Central Asia. There they had learnt this creed, and established their rites. When the tribes gradually moved further away from one another, they transported this religion with them, the one to the banks of the Ganges, and the others to the Mediterranean. Afterwards, some learnt to worship Brahma, others Zeus, and others again Janus; but all had preserved as a legacy the earlier religion which they had practised at the common cradle of the race.