Demonology and devil-lore . ill fill their treasures. Had there been an order of female rabbins the story ofLilith might have borne obvious modifications, and shemight have appeared as a heroine anxious to rescue hersex from slavery to man. As it is the immemorial pre-rogative of man to lay all blame upon woman, that beingpart of the hereditary following of Adam, it is not wonder-ful that Lilith was in due time made responsible for thetemptation of Eve. She was supposed tohave beguiled the Serpent on guard atthe gate of Eden to lend her his form fora time, after which theory the curse onthe se
Demonology and devil-lore . ill fill their treasures. Had there been an order of female rabbins the story ofLilith might have borne obvious modifications, and shemight have appeared as a heroine anxious to rescue hersex from slavery to man. As it is the immemorial pre-rogative of man to lay all blame upon woman, that beingpart of the hereditary following of Adam, it is not wonder-ful that Lilith was in due time made responsible for thetemptation of Eve. She was supposed tohave beguiled the Serpent on guard atthe gate of Eden to lend her his form fora time, after which theory the curse onthe serpent might mean the binding ofLilith for ever in that form. This wouldappear to have originated the notion men-tioned in Comestor (Hist. Schol., I2thcent.), that while the serpent was yet erectit had a virgins head. The accompany- Fig. I-—Lilith AND Eve , . - (Mediavai missal), ing example IS from a very early mis-sal in the possession of Sir Joseph Hooker, of whichI could not discover the date or history, but the theory. LILITHS BEAUTY. • 97 is traceable in the eighth century. In this picture wehave an early example of those which have since becomefamiliar in old Bibles. Pietro dOrvieto painted this ser-pent-woman in his finest fresco, at Pisa. Perhaps in noother picture has the genius of Michael Angelo been morefelicitous than in that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,in which Lilith is portrayed. In this picture (Fig. 2)the marvellous beauty of his first wife appears to haveawakened the enthusiasm of Adam; and, indeed, it is quitedemonologydevill00conw2
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