“It has been before observed,” says he, “that the idolatrous religion which Mohsin Fani ascribes to the ancient Persians, bears no resemblance to the worship of the Hindoos: it seems nearest that which was followed by a sect of _Sabians_, who, we are told, _believed in God_, but _adored the planets_, whom _they deemed his vicegerents, that exercised an influence over all created things in the world_. This sect of Sabians were said to follow the _ancient_ Chaldeans, and to inherit their skill in astronomy, a science built upon the same foundation as the adoration of the planets.[214] And this leads us to remark, that the very title of the work from which Mohsin Fani gives an account of this worship, appears more like that of a treatise upon astrology, than upon religion. He calls it _Akheristan_, or _the region_ of the _stars_. It is, however, impossible to enter into any minute comparison of the religion he ascribes to the ancient Persians, and the sect of Sabians that have been noticed, _because we have only a very general account of the tenets of the latter_.” As to the _impossibility_ here complained of, it is obvious that _there is none_: whoever has digested even the early part of this essay will own it was but _ideal_. With this I should have contented myself, but that I feel called upon to correct another misconception, which the above may have produced. That Sabaism meant _idolatry_ in the way there insinuated, I utterly and altogether repudiate. It was the religion of the early Greeks before their degenerate mythology had loaded it with so many absurdities;[215] and that it was so, is evident from the term in their language, which expresses “to worship,” viz. σεβομαι, an evident derivation, from which is anglicised, Sabaism.[216] The object of this religion was the host of heaven, meaning the sun, moon, and stars. The names assigned to the reputed idols, viz. Uranus, _i.e._ Heaven, and Gea, _i.e._ Earth, with the energies of the sky and nature typified under the names of the “Cyclops” and “Giants,” incontrovertibly demonstrate the truth of this position. I have said that the name Cyclops, in this religious code, was meant to figure forth the energies of the atmosphere; I need but mention their denominations to establish my proof. They are “Steropes,” from στεροπη, lightning; Argues, from αργης, quick-flashing; and Brontes, from βροντη, thunder. Even the celebrated name of _Hercules_[217] himself, and the twelve labours poetically ascribed to him,--who, we must observe, many ages before the Tirynthian hero is fabled to have performed his wonders, or his mother Clymena to have been born, had temples raised to him in Phœnicia and Egypt, as well as at Cadiz and the Isle of Thasos,--are nothing more than a figurative denotation of the annual course of the solar luminary through the signs of the Zodiac.