The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

TWO
IV
THE INITIATORY RITES
important facts must be set down with
regard to the Mysteries : first, the general
custom of all Athenian citizens, and afterwards
of all Greeks generally, and eventually of many
foreigners, to seek admission into the Eleusinian
Mysteries in the only possible manner—viz. by
initiation ; and, second, the scrupulous care exer-
cised by the Eumolpides to ensure that only persons
duly qualified, of irreproachable—or, at any rate,
of circumspect, character passed the portals. In
the earlier days of the Mysteries it was a necessary
condition that the candidates for initiation should
be free-born Athenians, but in course of time this
rule was relaxed, until eventually strangers (as
residents outside Athens were called), ahens, slaves,
and even courtesans, were admitted, on condition
that they were introduced by a mystagogue, who
was, of course, an Athenian. An interesting inscrip-
tion was discovered a few years ago demonstrating
the fact that the public slaves of the city were initiated
at the public expense. From historical records we
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