the theosophical teaching, that a man can be thus specially helped only when his past actions have been such as to deserve this assistance, and that even then the help will be given through those who are comparatively near his own level, is free from this serious objection ; and it furthermore brings back to us the older and far grander conception of an unbroken ladder of living beings extending down from the logos himself to the very dust beneath our feet. in the east the existence of the invisible helpers has always been recognized, though the names given and the characteristics attributed to them naturally vary in different countries; and even in europe we have had the old greek stories of the constant interference of the gods in human affairs, and the roman legend that castor and pollux led the legions of the infant republic in the battle of lake regillus. nor did such a conception die out when the classical period ended, for these stories have their legitimate successors in mediaeval tales of saints who appeared at critical moments and turned the fortune of war in favour of the christian hosts