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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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viii INTRODUCTION.<br />

them we are informed, "that what <strong>Orpheus</strong><br />

delivered mystically through arcane narra-<br />

tions, this Pythagoras learned when he cele-<br />

brated orgies in the Thracian Libethra, being<br />

initiated by Aglaophemus in the mystic wis-<br />

dom which <strong>Orpheus</strong> derived from his mother<br />

Calliope, in the mountain Pangaeus."<br />

This sublime theology, though it was scien-<br />

tifically disseminated by Plato, yet conform-<br />

ably to the custom <strong>of</strong> the most ancient philo-<br />

sophers, was delivered by him synoptically,<br />

and in such a way as to be inaccessible to<br />

the vulgar; but when, in consequence <strong>of</strong> the<br />

commencement <strong>of</strong> a degraded and barren pe-<br />

riod, this theology became corrupted through<br />

the negligence and confusion <strong>of</strong> its votaries,<br />

then such <strong>of</strong> his disciples as happened to<br />

live when it was thus degraded and deformed<br />

found it necessary to unfold it more fully, in<br />

order to prevent its becoming utterly extinct.<br />

<strong>The</strong> men by whom this arduous task was<br />

accomplished were the last <strong>of</strong> the disciples <strong>of</strong><br />

Plato ; men who, though they lived in a base<br />

p~rov Xoywv pvo~trws ~ ~ U ~ E ~ raura W K E IIvSayopas , pa-<br />

~ E opyiaobsis Y<br />

ev Aia~9pors sobs @paxborr, AyX~o#apov rehe-<br />

7as pesa~t8ov~os, qv mpk BEWV QO$LUY papa EaXXtoa~s 77s<br />

pvpos E TIVVC~~. Proclus in Tim. lib. v. p. 291.

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