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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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THE MYSTICAL HYMNS<br />

LXV.<br />

TO MARS 99.<br />

THE FUMIGATION FROM FRANKINCENSE.<br />

MAGNANIMOUS, unconquer'd, boist'rous Mars,<br />

In darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars ;<br />

Fierce and untam'd, whose mighty pow'r can make<br />

<strong>The</strong> strongest walls from their foundations shake :<br />

Mortal-destroying king, defil'd with gore,<br />

Pleas'd with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar.<br />

<strong>The</strong>e human blood 100, and swords, and spears delight,<br />

And the dire ruin <strong>of</strong> mad savage fight.<br />

99 "Mars, as we are informed by Proclus, in Plat.<br />

Repub. p. 388, is the source <strong>of</strong> division and motion, sepa-<br />

rating the contrarieties <strong>of</strong> the universe, which he also per-<br />

petually excites, and immutably preserves in order that the<br />

world may be perfect and filled with forms <strong>of</strong> every kind.<br />

Hence, also, he presides over war. But he requires the<br />

assistance <strong>of</strong> Venus, that he may insert order and harmony<br />

into things contrary and discordant.<br />

loo " <strong>The</strong> slaughter which is ascribed to Mars (says Her-<br />

mias, in Plat. Phsdr.) signifies a divulsion from matter<br />

through rapidly turning from it, and no longer energizing<br />

physically, but intellectually. For slaughter, when applied<br />

to the Gods, may be said to be an apostacy from secondary<br />

natures, just as slaughter in this terrestrial region signifies<br />

a privation <strong>of</strong> the present life."

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