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12. R E L I G I O U S G R O U P S<br />

Lissi-Caronna (1986) pi.9; a loose stucco polychrome and gilded head of Mithras was<br />

found in the same site (pl.l)).<br />

12.5h(vii) A line is lost after 12.5h(vi), but this passage seems to be in the<br />

mouth of Mithras. The notion of submission is basic to the cult: R. L. Gordon<br />

(1972) 106-7.<br />

Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) 204<br />

And to the end I have borne the greatest things of the gods on my shoulders.<br />

12.5h(viii) The following line may express a contrast between material<br />

pleasures and grim reality.<br />

Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) 206<br />

Sweet are the livers of birds, but care reigns. 5<br />

1. Merkelbach (1984) 99-100 offers a slightly different restoration of one word (fi[ceta] for<br />

fi[cata]) and a quitedifferent translation: 'Sweet are the figtrees, but care controls one who<br />

has lost his way', which he takes to refer ro a wandering of Mirhras in the wilderness.<br />

12.5h(ix) The spiritual 're-birth' took place at one stage in the hierarchy of<br />

initiation, perhaps to the Lion grade. This line and 12.5h(viii) might go<br />

together.<br />

Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) 207<br />

Him who is piously reborn and created by sweet things.<br />

Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) 211<br />

12.5h(x) Perhaps an exhortation to the initiates.<br />

You must all sustain clouded times through the rite.<br />

12.5h(xi) This is an astronomical line, presumably the first in a sequence on<br />

the zodiac which was probably repeated ritually, presumably in connection<br />

with Mithras' role as orderer (Betz (1968) 74-6; R. L. Gordon (1975) 240).<br />

Vermaseren and van Essen (1965) 213<br />

And here the Ram runs in front exactly on his course.<br />

318<br />

1. Some lists of zodiacal signs begin with Cancer, but starting with the Ram became com­<br />

mon: A. Le Boeffle on Germanicus, Phaenomena 532. For the connection between<br />

Mithras and Aries see 12.5g sect.24.<br />

12.5h(xii) This line used to be thought the only explicit mention of'salvation'<br />

in Mithraic texts, but the text is in doubt. Only the words for 'shed' and<br />

'blood' are certain; 'eternal' and 'you saved' are doubtful: Panciera (1979)<br />

103-5.

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