[2] In the Contemporary Science Series, I. 92.


All this above-written on the Solar or Astronomical origins
of the myths does not of course imply that the Vegetational
origins must be denied or ignored. These latter
were doubtless the earliest, but there is no reason--
as said in the Introduction (ch. i)--why the two elements
should not to some extent have run side by side, or been
fused with each other. In fact it is quite clear that they
must have done so; and to separate them out too rigidly,
or treat them as antagonistic, is a mistake. The Cave or
Underworld in which the New Year is born is not only
the place of the Sun's winter retirement, but also the hidden
chamber beneath the Earth to which the dying Vegetation
goes, and from which it re-arises in Spring. The amours
of Adonis with Venus and Proserpine, the lovely goddesses
of the upper and under worlds, or of Attis with Cybele, the
blooming Earth-mother, are obvious vegetation-symbols; but
they do not exclude the interpretation that Adonis
(Adonai) may also figure as a Sun-god. The Zodiacal
constellations of Aries and Taurus (to which I shall return
presently) rule in heaven just when the Lamb and the Bull
are in evidence on the earth; and the yearly sacrifice of
those two animals and of the growing Corn for the good
of mankind runs parallel with the drama of the sky, as it
affects not only the said constellations but also Virgo (the
Earth-mother who bears the sheaf of corn in her hand).