31. Harnack (_Ausbreitung des Christentums_, II, p. 271) sees in this exclusion of the Hellenic world a prime cause of the weakness of the Mithra worship in its struggle against Christianity. The mysteries of Mithra met the Greek culture with the culture of Persia, superior in some respects. But if it was capable of attracting the Roman mind by its moral qualities, it was too Asiatic, on the whole, to be accepted without repugnance by the Occidentals. The same was true of Manicheism. 32. _CIL_, III, 4413; cf. _Mon. myst. Mithra_, I, p. 281. 33. Cf. the bibliography at the head of the notes for this chapter. 34. As Plato grew older he believed that he could not explain the evils of this world without admitting the existence of an "evil soul of the world" (Zeller, _Philos. der Griechen_, II, p. 973, p. 981, n. 1). But this late conception, opposed as it is to his entire system, is probably due to the influence of Oriental dualism. It is found in the Epinomis (Zeller, _ibid._, p. 1042, n. 4), where the influence of "Chaldean" theories is undeniable; cf. Bidez, _Revue de Philologie_, XXIX, 1905, p. 319. 35. Plutarch, _De Iside_, 46 ff.; cf. Zeller, _Philos. der Griechen_, V, p. 188; Eisele, _Zur Demonologie des Plutarch_ (_Archiv fuer Gesch. der Philos._, XVII), 1903, p. 283 f.--Cf. _infra_, n. 40. {266} 36. Arnobius, who was indebted to Cornelius Labeo for some exact information on the doctrines of the magi, says (IV, 12, p. 150, 12, Reifferscheid): "Magi suis in accitionibus memorant antitheos saepius obrepere pro accitis, esse autem hos quosdam materiis ex crassioribus spiritus qui deos se fingant, nesciosque mendaciis et simulationibus ludant." Lactantius, the pupil of Arnobius, used the same word in speaking of Satan that a Mazdean would have used in referring to Ahriman (_Inst. divin._, II, 9, 13, p. 144, 13, Brandt): "Nox quam pravo illi antitheo dicimus attributam"; he is the _aemulus Dei_.--Heliodorus who has made use in his _Aethiopica_ of data taken from the Mazdean beliefs (see _Monuments relatifs aux mysteres de Mithra_, volume I, p. 336, n. 2) uses the Greek word in the same sense, (IV, 7, p. 105, 27, Bekker ed.): [Greek: Antitheos tis eoiken empodizein ten praxin].--The Ps.-Iamblichus, _De myster._, III, 31, Sec. 15, likewise speaks of [Greek: daimones ponerous hous de kai kalousin antitheous]. Finally the magical papyri also knew of the existence of these deceiving spirits (Wessely, _Denksch. Akad. Wien_, XLII, p. 42, v. 702: [Greek: Pempson moi ton alethinon Asklepion dicha tinos antitheou planodaimonos]).