of blood,
have all
their
origin in
savagery,
and they
naturally
appealed
to peoples
in whom
the savage
instincts
were still
strong.
Their true
character
was indeed
often
disguised
under a
decent
veil of
allegorical
or
philosophical
interpretation,
which
probably
sufficed
to impose
upon the
rapt and
enthusiastic
worshippers,
reconciling
even the
more
cultivated
of them to
things
which
otherwise
must have
filled
them with
horror and
disgust.
The
religion
of the
