torum (torus has the meaning of bed, pillow, concubine, bier) et ibi firmavit ascendendo conjugium: ubi cum sentiret anhelantem in suspiriis creaturam commercio pietatis se pro conjuge dedit ad pœnam et copulavit sibi perpetuo iure matronam."
This passage is perfectly clear. A similar death overtakes
the Syrian Melcarth, who, riding upon a sea horse,
was annually burned. Among the Greeks he is called
Melicertes, and was represented riding upon a dolphin.
The dolphin is also the steed of Arion. We have learned
to recognize previously the maternal significance of
dolphin, so that in the death of Melcarth we can once
more recognize the negatively expressed Hierosgamos
with the mother. (Compare Frazer "Golden Bough,"
IV, p. 87.) This figurative expression is of the greatest
teleological significance. Through its symbol it leads
that libido which inclines backward into the original,
primitive and impulsive upwards to the spiritual by investing
it with a mysterious but fruitful function. It is
superfluous to speak of the effect of this symbol upon
the unconscious of Occidental humanity. A glance over
history shows what creative forces were released in this
symbol.[54]
The comparison of the Mithraic and the Christian sacrifice plainly shows wherein lies the superiority of the Christian symbol; it is the frank admission that not only are the lower wishes to be sacrificed, but the whole personality. The Christian symbol demands complete devotion; it compels a veritable self-sacrifice to a higher purpose, while the Sacrificium Mithriacum, remaining fixed on a primitive symbolic stage, is contented with an
