into the life of man, that, really becoming man, by more intercourse they might convict those who had acted ungratefully towards Him, and might subject every one to adequate punishment. Then, therefore, their petition was granted, they metamorphosed themselves into every nature; for, being of a more god-like substance, they are able easily to assume any form. So they became precious stones, and goodly pearl, and the most beauteous purple, and choice gold, and all matter that is held in most esteem. And they fell into the hands of some, and into the bosoms of others, and suffered themselves to be stolen by them. They also changed themselves into beasts and reptiles and fishes and birds, and into whatsoever they pleased. These things, also the poets among yourselves, by reason of fearlessness, sing, as they befell, attributing to one the many and diverse doings of all."
Clementine Homilies, VIII, 12.
(Then, "having assumed these forms, they convicted as covetous those who stole them, and changed themselves into the nature of man, in order that, living holily, and showing the possibility of so living they might subject the ungrateful to punishment." However, "having become in all respects men, they also became subject to masculine infirmities and fell.")
Does it not seem as though we had here a survival of Animism—a state of mind frequent among savages, children and animals in which an inanimate object which moves without visible cause or manifests in any peculiar way is thought to be alive. A horse is often terrified by a piece of paper blown in front of him, evidently he takes it for a live creature. Savages speak of the sun and moon as living individuals because of their apparently voluntary journeys through the sky; [among] the Kukis of Southern Asia * * * * * if a man was killed by a fall from a tree, his relatives would take their revenge by cutting the tree down, scattering it in chips. A modern King of Cochin, China, when one of his ships sailed badly, used to put it in the pillory as he would any other criminal. (Bastian, Oestl., Asein, Vol. 1, p. 51.) In classical times, the stories
