decide between these alternatives is a matter of no importance for Pauline criticism, but of real importance in Greek history and literature. Do we feel in these lines the spirit of Hellenic philosophy about 500 B.C., or have we a fragment of a late rhetorical exercise in the name of the ancient philosopher? This question is decided by a glance at the passage of Callimachus, which shows the tone in which literature, about 270 B.C., spoke of the same religious facts. In the Hymn to Zeus (vv. 8-11), Callimachus says:

They say that thou, O Zeus, wast born in [Cretan] Ida's mountains, and that thou wast born in Arcadia. Which, O Father, spoke falsely? The Cretans are always liars; and this we know, for thy tomb, O King, the Cretans fashioned; but thou didst not die, for thou existest always.'

Compare the words of Callimachus with Epimenides. A hundred trains of thought open before the reader of the latter, but we here mention only one. Minos, the nominal speaker, reveals Epimenides describing his own experiences and lifework, just as Solon did in his poems. Part of his work was to do away with the Oriental tone in the religious ritual of Crete (as at Athens), to restrain the enthusiastic devotion of the worshippers, and to substitute the Hellenic tone of moderation for the vehement passion of Oriental ritual. The poet saw the celebration year by year of a festival in which the god died his annual death, and was mourned with Oriental devotion and vehemence. Then the worshippers found that the god was not dead, but was rising again to life; and the tone of the festival changed from unrestrained mourning to unrestrained rejoicing, and concluded with ritual banquet in which the emotional strain of the vehement mourning was followed by an exhibition of gluttony and drunkenness. The devotees were 'noxious beasts' who lied about a dead god and mourned over his death, and feasted gluttonously in a rite which had no religious value.

Totally different is the spirit of Callimachus's lines. In the introduction to his Hymn he is speaking about traditional things. He is an antiquarian poet, not religious reformer; he is not describing what he has seen; he is not filled with indignation against

worshippers who are misconceiving and outraging the god; hence he tones down the indignation which boil in Epimenides's denunciation of Cretan falsehood, the supreme falsehood that the god died. The whole effect of the introduction to the Hymn depends on its appea to older literature and to authority; and excellent authority asserts that what Callimachus knew was the passage of Epimenides which Paul quotes. Paul coule be confident that his Athenian auditors would understand the exordium of his speech and catch the reference to famous incident in early Athenian history and the quotation from a Cretan poet who was closely connected with Athens. Epimenides places the reader in Crete He sees before him the facts that he describes, and look upon them in the spirit of a religious reformer, filled with indignation at what was done. A composition o a later age, bearing the name of the older poet, would not produce such an impression; these lines are witness's testimony.*

To the older Græco-Anatolian conception of the god as living and dying with the life of the year ther succeeded the developed conception of the Olympia gods as ever young and strong and beautiful. Accordin to that older view the divine life was the prototype an model for human life in all its relations; just as ma dies, so also the god dies; and, if the god dies, he has grave to which he is annually consigned. Epimenide expresses the horror with which Hellenism regarded suc a hateful idea as the grave of a god. 'Thou dost no die; ever thou livest and art strong; for thou art th source and the basis and the strength of human life This is the true spirit of Hellenism. We know that th high and holy one lives and is permanent, because w derive life and being from him; and we infer from ou own consciousness that the god to whom we owe our lif must be eternal and permanent, the living god. Ther is nothing here of the Semitic direct perception of th divine nature. The Hellene is conscious of himself, an infers from himself what is the nature of god. Further

*The retranslation from Syriac into Greek, especially Mr. Cooke neglects the Syriac tenses, prefers the tenses of Callimachus, and loses th directness of the witness.

the Cretans were religious liars, who deceived themselves annually in their vehement mourning for a dead god, and then found compensation in excessive enjoyment of food and drink.* Unrestrained ritual like this Epimenides detested; gorging oneself with food and drink brings no religious gain.

This passage of Epimenides made a deep impression on Paul. It recurs to his memory in various circumstances. Writing to Crete he quotes this Cretan poet; when he thinks of the altar raised by Epimenides he quotes the same passage. He trusts to the Athenians recognising it as a striking sentence, which sums up in brief the purpose of the poem. There is one other place, where perhaps Paul remembered these words. In writing to the Corinthians (1, xi. 21 seq.) he rebukes them for making the assembly of God a place to eat and drink, and even to drink to intoxication. The thought is similar, but there is no resemblance in the expression. Paul was in the last degree unlikely to intrude on the lofty plane of Christian thought expressed in that chapter any reference to pagan philosophical or religious literature; there was before his mind a picture of the scenes which were thought suitable at the pagan festivals, for every pagan brotherhood or society was united in the worship of some god, and each festival ended with a common meal where duty required and enjoined free indulgence; but Epimenides, who was in place at Athens, was out of place when Paul was writing to Corinthians about the nature of the Eucharist.

* Prof. Harris holds that the food which was eaten was the raw flesh of a living victim, torn by the worshippers. But the theory that Greek worshippers about 500 B.c. ate such a meal is a mere fancy. Raw flesh at an annual rite would never tempt into gluttony people accustomed to live on cooked food, for it is distasteful. The word which St Paul quotes describes admirably the Cretan festival, but is wholly unsuitable to raw flesh and a living victim.

Art. 8.-THE
CAMP.

PSYCHOLOGY OF AN INTERNMENT

THE history of Ruhleben Civil Internment Camp is the history of a British Colony under foreign control. We were turned in there, in 1914, like cattle, with no kind of preparation made for us; but, unlike cattle, we were not content with our surroundings, and never ceased attempting to improve them. While I was in Ruhleben I remember reading, in a German paper, an account of an English Internment Camp for Germans, written by one of the repatriated prisoners. He drew an awful picture of the camp, and described how the poor Germans sat down and bemoaned their fate and could only keep their spirits up by singing German patriotic songs. That was not the sort of thing that happened at Ruhleben. In the first place we were not allowed to sing patriotic songs, and in the second place we had no desire to do so. British patriotism shows itself in a different way; with us it showed itself in a determination not to bemoan our lot, but to laugh at it and at the same time to improve it.

No sooner had we arrived there than energetic spirits began to organise things with a view to devising some means of passing away our time. One of the first organisations to start was the Debating Society, and it continued to meet regularly up to the end, in spite of the fact that we were never allowed to debate any subject that remotely bore upon the war or current politics. The debates were very well attended throughout, there being at times as many as four hundred people in the audience. The meetings took place, as did all our public gatherings, in the grand-stand, which was at first used as a barrack but was afterwards condemned as being unfit for human habitation. Before we got the use of the grand-stand, the debates took place in odd corners of the loft, or in the stable corridors.

Concerts, or rather sing-songs, were started as soon as we arrived, and it was not much later that the first play was put into rehearsal; but, by the time it came off, we had obtained the use of the grand-stand, and so were saved the difficulty of performing it in a barrack corridor. As we began to get things more organised, the musicians

sent out for their instruments, and the Musical Society began its most creditable history. We were fortunate in having among our number many really first-class musicians; and some of the most delightful concerts I have ever heard were given in Ruhleben. There must have been many there who were introduced to really good music for the first time, and who, by constantly hearing it, have had their taste cultivated as it would probably never have been but for Ruhleben.

As we had many professional musicians, so also we had a few professional actors and stage-managers. It was owing to their efforts that, bit by bit, our Theatre (the grand-stand) ceased to be amateur and became almost professional. Of course by far the larger number of those who acted had never acted before, but there was so keen a spirit in the management of the Theatre, and people put so much energy into the rehearsals and acting, that the quality of the performances was really remarkable. Members of the American and Dutch Embassies, who occasionally attended, were surprised at what was done. We had some really remarkable 'girls' on the stage, one or two of the men taking ladies' parts with wonderful skill. Such plays as 'Romance,' 'The Witness for the Defence,' 'Within the Law' and La Flambe,' in each of which the play hangs almost entirely upon the leading lady, were performed with great success. But perhaps the most remarkable performances of all were the musical operas. Most of the Gilbert and Sullivan plays were performed; and these were naturally big undertakings, as so many female voices were required. These plays were our greatest successes, and ran for two or three weeks in succession. We were going to attempt The Marriage of Figaro,' which was already in rehearsal, when the producer was eleased to Holland, and, as nobody else could be found o take on so arduous a task, the play was dropped.

One of the greatest activities of the Camp was the Camp School. It was started very early in our internent, though it was not till much later that, one of he stables being condemned as unfit to live in, we were able to get permanent space for the educational forts of the Camp. The Camp School resembled a mediæval University more than anything else, for one