CHAPTER I

PRIMITIVE SYMBOLISM OF HISTORY

Allegory of the Earthly Paradise—The Edenic Pantacle—The Cherub—Folly of a great mind—Mysteries of Genesis—Children of Cain—Magical secrets of the Tower of Babel—Belphegor—The mediæval Sabbath—Decadence of the hierarchy—Philosophy of chance—Doctrine of Plato—An oracle of Apollo—Rationalism of Aristotle—The Cubic Stone—Summary of Neoplatonism 115

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