Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

SltcljaicVOL. I.ELEUSINIAN AND BACCHIC MYSTERIES.

THEELEUSINIANANDBACCHIC MYSTERIES.A DISSERTATION.BYTHOMAS TAYLOR,rOTLE," ETC., ETC.EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, EMENDATIONS, AND GLOSSARY,BYALEXANDER WILDER, M. D.Ei/ rat? TEAETAI2 Ka$ap<retg riyovvTai. /cat Treptppayrrjptacat a-yi Krjaot, a T<ai> fv aTroppTjTot? Spuifjifviav,Kat XT;? TOV ffftov /aerovCTta? yvfjLi acrfJLaTa fiaiv.PKOCI.US :Manutcript Commentary upon Plato,1. Alribiadet.WITH 85ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. L. BAWSON.FOURTH EDITION.*NEW-YORK :J. W. BOUTON, 8 WEST 28TH STREET.1891.

Copyright, 1891, byJ. W. BOUTON.THE DEVINNE PRESS.

TO MY OLD FRIEND2&crnarti<)uaritcl)THE GREATEST BOOKSELLER OF ANCIENTOR MODERN TIMEStolttnte la regpectfttllp fcefcicatetoBY THE PUBLISHER

Bacchic Ceremonies.

Bacchus ami Nymphs.Pluto, Proserpina, and Furies.

EleusinianPriestesses.Bacchante and Faun.Faun and Bacchus.

CONTENTS.FABLE is LOVE S WORLD, POEM BY SCHILLER .. 9INTRODUCTION 11SECTION I., ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES 31SECTION II., BACCHIC MYSTERIES 187HYMN TO MINERVA 224APPENDIX 229ORPHIC HYMNS 238HYMN OF CLEANTHES 239GLOSSARY 241LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .... 248

Kleusiiiian Mysteries.

"Bacchus.Tis not merelyThe human being s pride that peoples spaceWith life and mystical predominance,Since likewise for the stricken heart of LoveThis visible nature, and this common worldIs all too narrow ; yea, a deeper importLurks in the legend told my infant yearsThat lies upon that truth, we live to learn,For fable is Love s world, his home, his birthplace ;Delightedly he dwells mong fays and talismans,And spirits, and delightedly believesDivinities, being himself divine.The intelligible forms of ancient poets,The fair humanities of Old Religion,The Power, the Beauty, and the Majesty,That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain,Or forests by slow stream, or pebbly spring,Or chasms or wat ry depths ;all these have vanished.They live no longer in the faith of Reason,But still the heart doth need a language; stillDoth the old instinct bring back the old names."SCHILLER : The Piccolomini, Act. ii. Scene 4.9

Apollo ami Muses.

Prometheus.INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION.IN offering to the public a new edition of Mr. ThomasTaylor s admirable treatise upon the Eleusinianto insert a fewand Bacchic Mysteries, it isproperwords of explanation. These observances once represented the spiritual life of Greece, and were consideredfor two thousand years and more the appointed meansfor regeneration through an interior union with theDivine Essence. However absurd, or even offensivethey may seem to us, we should therefore hesitate longhands on whatbefore we venture to lay desecratingothers have esteemed holy. We can learn a valuablelesson in this regard from the Grecian and Romanwriters, who had learned to treat the popular religiousrites with mirth, but always considered the EleusinianMysteries with the deepest reverence.It isignorance which leads to profanation. Menridicule what they do not properly understand. Alcibiadeswas drunk when he ventured to touch what his11

"""12 Introduction.countrymen deemed sacred. The undercurrent of thisworld is set toward one goal; and inside of humancredulity call it human weakness,ifyou pleaseis a power almost infinite, a holy faith capable ofapprehending the supremest truths of all Existence.The veriest dreams of life, pertaining as they do tothe minor mystery of death,"have in them more thanexternal fact can reach or explain ;and Myth, however much she isproved to be a child of Earth, isalsoreceived among men as the child of Heaven. TheCinder-Wench of the ashes will become the Cinderellaof the Palace, and be wedded to the King s Son.The instant that we attempt to analyze, the sensible,palpable facts upon which so many tryto build disappear beneath the surface, like a foundation laid uponquicksand. In the deepest reflections," says a distinguished writer, all that we call external is only thematerial basis upon which our dreams are built and;the sleep that surrounds life swallows up life, allbut a dim wreck of matter, floating this way and that,and forever evanishing from sight.Complete the analysis,and we lose even the shadow of the externalPresent, and only the Past and the Future are leftus as our sure inheritance. This is the first initiation,the vailing [muesis] of the eyes to the external.But as epoptce, by the synthesis of this Past and Futurein a living nature, we obtain a higher, an idealPresent, comprehending within itself all that can bereal for us within us or without.This is the second

Introduction. 13initiation in which is unvailed to us the Present as anew birth from our own life. Thus the great problemof Idealism is symbolically solved in the *Eleusinia."These were the most celebrated of all the sacredorgies, and were called, by way of eminence, TheMysteries. Although exhibiting apparentlythe features of an Eastern origin, they were evidently copiedfrom the rites of Isis in Egypt, an idea of which, moreor lesscorrect, may be found in The Metamorphoses ofApuleius and The Epicurean by Thomas Moore.Everyact, rite, and person engaged in them was symbolical ;and the individual revealing them was put to deathwithout mercy. So also was any uninitiated person whohappened to be present. Persons of all ages and bothsexes were initiated;and neglect in this respect, as inthe case of Socrates, was regarded as impious andatheistical. It was required of all candidates thattheyshould be firstadmitted at the Mik-ra or LesserMysteries of Agrae, by a process of fasting called purification, after which they were styled mystce, or initiates. A year later, they might enter the higher degree.In this they learned the aporrheta, or secret meaning ofthe rites, and were thenceforth denominated ephori, orepoptcB. To some of the interior mysteries, however,only a very select number obtained admission. Fromthese were taken all the ministers of holy rites. TheHierophant who presided was bound to celibacy, andrequiredto devote his entire life to his sacred office.* Atlantic Monthly, vol. iv. September, 1859.

"14 Introduction.He had three assistants,crier,and the minister at the altar.the torch-bearer, the l&erux orThere were also abasileus or king, who was an archon of Athens, fourcurators, elected by suff rage, and ten to offer sacrifices.The sacred Orgies were celebrated on every fifthyear jand began on the 15th of the month Boedromiarior September.The first day was styled the agurmos orassembly, because the worshipers then convened. Thesecond was the day of purification, called also alademystai, from the "proclamation To the : sea, initiatedones!" The third day was the day of sacrifices; forwhich purpose were offered a mullet and barley froma field in Eleusis. The officiating persons were forbidden to taste of eitherthe offering was for Achtheia(the sorrowing one, Demeter) alone. On the fourthday was a solemn procession. The kalathos or sacredbasket was borne, followed by women, cistcein which were sesamum, carded wool, salt,or chestspomegranates, poppies, also thyrsi, a serpent, boughs of ivy,cakes, etc. The fifth day was denominated the day oftorches. In the evening were torchlight processionsand much tumult.The sixth was a great occasion. The statue oflacchus, the son of Zeus and Demeter, was broughtfrom Athens, by the lacchogoroi, all crowned withmyrtle.In the way was heard only an uproar of singing and the beating of brazen kettles, as the votariesdanced and ran along. The image was borne throughthe sacred Gate, along the sacred way, halting by the

Introduction. 17sacred fig-tree (all sacred, mark you, from Eleusinianassociations), where the procession rests, and thenmoves on to the bridge over the Cephissus, where againit rests, and where the expression of the wildest griefgives place to the trifling farce,even as Demeter, inthe midst of her grief, smiled at the levity of lambein the palace of Celeus. Through the mystical entrance we enter Eleusis. On the seventh day gamesare celebrated ;and to the victor is given a measureof barley, as it were a gift direct from the hand ofthe goddess. The eighth is sacred to ^Esculapius, theDivine Physician, who heals all diseases;evening isperformed the initiatory ritual.and in the"Let us enter the mystic temple and be initiated,though it must be supposed that, a year ago, we wereinitiated into the Lesser Mysteries at Agra3. We musthave beqn mystce(vailed), before we can become epoptce(seers); in plain English, we must have shut oureyes to all else before we can behold the mysteries.Crowned with myrtle, we enter with the other initiatesinto the vestibule of the temple,Hierophant within will soon open our eyes.blind as yet, but the"But first, for here we must do nothing rashly,first we must wash in this holy water;for it is withpure hands and a pure heart that we are bidden toenterthe most sacred enclosure [(umovixos tfijxos, mustiliossekos}.Then, led into the presence of the Hierophant,** In the Oriental countries the designation IflS Peter (an interpreter), appears to have been the title of this personage ;and

"18 Introduction.he reads to us, from a book of stone [tfSTp&jjuux, petroma],things which we must not divulge on pain ofdeath.Let it suffice that they fit the place and the occasion ;and though you might laugh at them, if they werespoken outside, still you seem very far from that moodnow, as you hear the words of the old man (for old hehe always was), and look upon the revealed symbols.And very far, indeed, are you from ridicule, whenDemeter seals, by her own peculiar utterance and signals, by vivid coruscations of light, and cloud piledupon cloud, allthat we have seen and heard from hersacred priest; and then, finally, the light of a serenewonder fills the temple, and we see the pureElysium, and hear the chorus of the Blessed;fields ofthen,not merely by external seeming or philosophic interpretation, but in real fact, does the Hierophant becomethe Creator [<5r]|xoupyo, demiourgos]things;the Sun is buthis torch-bearer,and revealer -of allthe Moon hisattendant at the altar, and Hermes his mystic herald*[xyjpuf, kerux]. But the final word has been uttered*Conx Om pax? The rite is consummated, and we areepoptce forever !Those who are curious to know the mython whichthe petroma consisted, notably enough, of two tablets of stone.There is in these facts some reminder of the peculiar circumstances of the Mosaic Law which was so preserved ;and also ofthe claim of the Pope to be the successor of Peter, the hierophantor interpreter of the Christian religion.* PORPHYRY.

In"Introduction. 19"the mystical drama "of the Eleusinia is founded willfind it in any Classical Dictionary, as well as in thesepages. It is only pertinent here to give some ida ofthe meaning. That it was regarded as profound isevident from the peculiar rites, and the obligations imposed on every initiated person.to observe them.It was a reproach notSocrates was accused of atheism, ordisrespect to the gods, for having never been initiated.*Any person accidentally guilty of homicide, or of anycrime, or convicted of witchcraft, was excluded. Thesecret doctrines, it is supposed, were the same as areexpressed in the celebrated Hymn of Cleanthes. Thephilosopher Isocrates thus bears testimony : She"[Demeter] gave us two giftsthat are the most excellent ; fruits, that we may not live like beasts ;and thatinitiationthose who have part in which have sweeterhope, both as regards the close of life and for all."eternity like manner, Pindar also declares "Happy:is he who has beheld them, and descends into the Underworld: he knows the end, he knows the origin of life."The Bacchic Orgies were said to have been instituted,* Ancient Symbol-Worship, page 12, note. "Socrates was notinitiated, yet after drinking the hemloek, he addressed Crito:*We owe a cock to ^Esculapius. This was the peculiar offeringmade by initiates (now called kerknophori) on the eve of the lastday, and he thus symbolically asserted that he was about to receive the great apocalypse.""See, also, Progress of Religious Ideas," by LYDIA MARIA CHILD,vol. ii. p. 308 ;and Discourses on the Worship of Prtopus? byRICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT.

20 Introduction.or more probably reformed by Orpheus, a mythicalpersonage, supposed to have flourished in Thrace.*The Orphic associations dedicated themselves to theworship of Bacchus, in which they hoped to find thegratification of an ardent longing after the worthy andelevating influences of a religious life. The worshipersdid not indulge in unrestrained pleasure and franticenthusiasm, but rather aimed at an ascetic purity of* EURIPIDES: Rliaesus. "Orpheus showed forth the rites ofthe hidden Mysteries."PLATO :Protagoras.but the men who proposedit"The art of a sophist or sage is ancient,in ancient times, fearing the odiumattached to it, sought to conceal it,and vailed it over, some underthe garb of poetry, as Homer, Hesiod, and Simonides :and othersunder that of the Mysteries and prophetic manias, such as Orpheus,Musseus, and their followers."Herodotus takes a different view ii. 49.of Amytheon," he says,"Melampus, the son"introduced into Greece the name ofDionysus (Bacchus), the ceremonial of his worship, and the procession of the phallus. He did not, however, so completely apprehend the whole doctrine as to be able to communicate itentirely but various sages, since his time, have carried out his:teaching to greater perfection. Still it is certain that Melampusintroduced the phallus, and that the Greeks learnt from him theceremonies which they now practice.I therefore maintain thatMelampus, who was a sage, and had acquired the art of divination, haying become acquainted with ,the worship of Dionysusthrough knowledge derived from Egypt, introduced it into Greece,with a few slight changes, at the same time that he brought invarious other practices. For I can by no means allow that it is bymere coincidence that the Bacchic ceremonies in Greece are sonearly the same as the Egyptian."

Etruscan Kleusiuiaii Ceremonies.

Introduction. 23life and manners. The worship of Dionysus was thecenter of their ideas, and the starting-point of allspeculations uponthe world and human nature. Theytheirbelieved that human souls were confined in the body asin a prison, a condition which was denominated genesisor generation; from which Dionysus would liberatethem. Their sufferings, the stages by which theypassed to a higher form of existence, their katharsisor purification, and their enlightenment constituted thethemes of the Orphic writers.All this was representedin the legend which constituted the groundwork of themystical rites.Dionysus-Zagreus was the son of Zeus, whom he hadbegotten in the form of a dragon or serpent, upon theperson of Kore or Persephoneia, considered by someto have been identical with Ceres or Demeter, and byothers to have been her daughter. The former idea ismore probably the more correct. Ceres or Demeterwas called Kore at Cnidos.She is called Phersephattain a fragment by Psellus, and is also styled a Fury.The divine child, an avatar or incarnation of Zeus, wasdenominated Zagreus, or Chakra (Sanscrit) as beingdestined to universal dominion. But at the instigationof Hera* the Titans conspired to murder him. Ac-*Hera, generally regarded as the Greek title of Juno, is not thedefinite name of any goddess, but was used by ancient writers asa designation only. It signifies domina or lady, and appears to beof Sanscrit origin. It is applied to Ceres or Demeter, and otherdivinities.

24 Introduction.cordingly, one day while he was contemplating a mirror,* they set upon him, disguised under a coating ofplaster, and tore him into seven parts. Athena, however, rescued from them his heart, which was swallowedby Zeus, and so returned into the paternal substance,to be generated anew. He was thus destined to beagain born, to succeed to universal rule, establish thereign of happiness, and release all souls from thedominion of death.The hypothesis of Mr. Taylor is the same as wasmaintained by the philosopher Porphyry,Mysteriesthat theconstitute an illustration of the Platonic*The mirror was a part of the symbolism of the Thesmophoria,and was used in the search for Atmu, the Hidden One, evidentlythe same as Tammuz, Adonis, and Atys. See Exodus xxxviii. 8 ;I Samuel ii. 22 ;and Ezekiel viii. 14. But despite the assertion ofHerodotus and others that the Bacchic Mysteries were in realityEgyptian, there exists strong probability that they came originallyfrom India, and were Sivaic or Buddhistical. Core-Persephoneiawas but the goddess Parasu-pani or Bhavani, the patroness of theThugs, called also Goree ;and Zagreus is from Cholera, a countryextending from ocean to ocean. If this is a Turanian or TartarStory, we can easily recognize theby lama-priests :"Horns" as the crescent wornand translating god-names as merely sacerdotaldesignations, assume the whole legend to be based on a taleLama Succession and transmigration.ofThe Titans would then bethe Daityas of India, who were opposed to the faith of the northern tribes ;and the title Dionysus but signify the god or chiefpriestof Nysa, or Mount Meru. Thewhole story of Orpheus, theinstitutor or rather the reformer of the Bacchic rites, has a Hinduring all through.

"Introduction. 25philosophy. At first sight, this may be hard to believe ;but we must know that no pageant could hold place solong, without an under-meaning. Indeed, Herodotusasserts thatthe rites called Orphic and Bacchic are inreality Egyptian and Pythagorean."*The influence ofthe doctrines of Pythagoras upon the Platonic systemis generally acknowledged. It isonly important inthat case to understand the great philosopher correctly ;and we have a key to the doctrines and symbolism ofthe Mysteries.The first initiations of the Eleusinia were calledTeletce or terminations, as denoting that the imperfectand rudimentary period of generated life was endedand purged off;and the candidate was denominated amysta, a vailed or liberated person. The GreaterMysteries completed the work;the candidate was morefully instructed and disciplined, becoming an epoptaor seer.He was now regarded as havingarcane principles of life.received theThis was also the end soughtby philosophy. The soul was believed to be of composite nature,world,linked on the one side to the eternalemanating from God, and so partakingvinity. On the other hand,of Diit was also allied to thephenomenal or external world, and so liable to besubjected to passion, lust, and the bondageof evils.This condition is denominated generation ;and is supposed to be a kind of death to the higher form of life.Evil is inherent in this condition;and the soul dwells*HERODOTUS: ii. 81.

26 Introduction..in the body as in a prison or a grave.In this state, andprevious to the discipline of education and the mystical initiation, the rational or intellectual element, whichPaul denominates the spiritual, is asleep. The earthlifeis a dream rather than a reality. Yet it haslongings for a higher and nobler form of life,and itsaffinities are on high."All men yearn after God,"says Homer.The object of Plato is to present to us thefact that there are in the soul certain ideas or principles, innate and connatural, which are not derivedfrom without, but are anterior to all experience, andare developed and brought toview, but not producedby experience. These ideas are the most vital of alltruths, and the purpose of instruction and disciplineis to make the individual conscious of them andwilling to be led and inspired bythem. The soulis purified or separated from evils by knowledge,truth, expiations, sufferings, and prayers. Our lifeis a discipline and preparation for another state ofbeing ;and resemblance to God is the highest motiveof action.**Many of the early Christian writers were deeply imbued withthe Eclectic or Platonic doctrines.almost identical.The very forms of speech wereOne of the four Gospels, bearing the title"according to John,"was the evident product of a Platonist, andhardly seems in a considerable degree Jewish or historical. Theepistles ascribed to Paul evince a great familiarity with the Eclectic philosophy and the peculiar symbolism of the Mysteries, aswell as with the Mithraic notions that had penetrated andpermeated the religious ideas of the western countries.

"Introduction, 27Proclns does not hesitate to identify the theologicaldoctrines with the mystical dogmas of the Orphicsystem. He says: What Orpheus delivered in hiddenallegories,Pythagorasinto the Orphic Mysteries;learned when he was initiatedand Plato next received aperfect knowledge of them from the Orphean andPythagorean writings."Mr. Taylor s peculiar style has been the subject ofrepeated criticism and his translations are not;acceptedby classical scholars. Yet they have met with favor atthe hands of men capable of profound and reconditethinking and it must be conceded that he was endowed5with a superior qualification, that of an intuitive perception of the interior meaning of the subjects whichhe considered. Others may have known more Greek,but he knew more Plato. He devoted his time andmeans for the elucidation and dissemination of the doctrines of the divine philosopher ;English not only his writings,and has rendered intobut also the works ofother authors, who affected the teachings of the greatmaster, that have escaped destruction at the hand ofMoslem and Christian bigots.For this labor we cannot be too grateful.The present treatise has allwhich characterize the translations.the peculiaritiesof styleculties of these we have endeavored to obviatewhich will, we trust, be not unacceptableThe principaldiffiThe book has been for some time out of print;a laborto readers.and nolater writer has endeavored to it.replace There are

28 Introduction.manywho still cherisha regard, almost amounting toveneration, for the author; and we hope that this reproduction of his admirable explanation of the nature andobject of the Mysteries will prove to them a welcomeundertaking. There is an increasing interest in philosophical, mystical, and other antique literature, whichwill, we believe, render our labor of some value to aclass of readers whose sympathy, good-will, and fellowship we would gladly possess and cherish. If we haveadded to their enjoyment, we shall be doubly gratified.A. W.Vemts aiul Proserpina in Hades.

Rape of Proserpina.ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AUTHOR S EDITION.AS there is nothing more celebrated than the Mys---^- teries of the ancients, so there is perhaps nothingwhich has hitherto been less solidly known. Of thetruth of this observation, the liberal reader will, I persuade myself, be fully convinced, from an attentiveperusal of the following sheets;in which the secretmeaning of the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteriesfolded, from authority the most respectable, and froma philosophy of all others the most venerable andaugust. The authority, indeed, is principally derivedfrom manuscript writings, which are, of course, in theis unpossession of but a few; but its respectability is nomore lessened by its concealment, than the value of aAnd as to thediamond when secluded from the light.philosophy, by whose assistance these Mysteries are developed, it is coeval with the universe itself ; and, however its continuity may be broken by opposing systems,it will make its appearance at different periods of time, aslong as the sun himself shall continue to illuminate the29

30 Advertisement.world.It has, indeed, and may hereafter, be violently assaulted by delusive opinions but the;opposition will bejust as imbecile as that of the waves of the sea against atemple built on a rock, which majestically pours themback,Broken and vanquish d, foaming to the main.Pallas, Venus, and Diaiia.

THE ELEUSINIAN AND BACCHICDionysus as God of the Sun.DR.SECTION I.WARBURTON, in his DivineLegation.of Moses, has ingeniouslyproved, that the sixth book of Virgil s^Eneid represents some of the dramaticexhibitions of the Eleusinian Mysteries;but, at the same time, has utterly failedin attempting to unfold their latent meaning, and obscure though important end.By the assistance, however, of the Platonic philosophy, I have been enabled tocorrect his errors, and to vindicate thewisdom * of antiquity from his aspersions* The profounder esoteric doctrines of the ancients weredenominated icisdo-m, and afterward philosophy, and also the gnosisor knowledge.They related to the human soul, its divine parent-31

""32 Eleusmian andby a genuine account of this sublimeinstitution; of which the following observations are designed as a comprehensiveview.In the first place, then, I shall presentthe reader with two superior authorities,who perfectly demonstrate that a part ofthe shows (or dramas) consisted in arepresentation of the infernal regions; authorities which, though of the last consequence, were unknown to Dr. Warburtonhimself. The first of these is no less aperson than the immortal Pindar, in afragment preserved by Clemens Alexandrinus: AXXa %ai IltvSapoc ^spi TCOV sv EXso-(jLoar/jpwov Xsycov siricpspei. OXptoc, oattssec uftoO-ovta, ocosvfi. 6.TsXsotav, ot5sv 3s Scoc So-covap/av."*a But Pindar, speaking of the EleusinianMysteries, says : Blessed is he who, havingage, its supposed degradation from its high estate by becoming"connected with generation or the physical world, its onwardprogress and restoration to God by regenerations, popularly supposed to be transmigrations, etc. A. W.*Stromata, book iii.

"Bacchic Mysteries. 33seen those common concerns in the underworld, knows both the end of life and itsdivine origin from Jupiter." The other ofthese is from Proclus in his Commentaryon Plato s Politicals, who, speaking concerning the sacerdotal and symbolical mythology, observes, that from this mythologyPlato himself establishes many of his ownsince in the Phcedo hepeculiar doctrines,venerates, with a becoming silence, theassertion delivered in the arcane discourses,that men are placed in the bodyas in aprison, secured by a guard, and testifies,according to the mystic ceremonies, the different allotments of purified and unpurifiedsouls in Hades, their several conditions,and the three-forked path from the peculiarplaces where they were ; and this was shownaccording to traditionary institutions; everypart of which is fidl of a symbolical representation, as in a dream, and of a description ivhich treated of the ascending anddescending ways, of the tragedies of Dionysus (Bacchus or Zagreus), the crimes ofthe Titans, the three ways in Hades, and

34 Eleusinian andthe wandering of everything of a similarkind.""ArjXoi5s sv >cu8(ovi TOV TS svOWCppOTQTOlC ASyO(J.SVOV, COC SVTIVICfpOOpCjl SGJJISV61av&payjroi, aty-fl TYJ TrpsirooaT] as^ov,(lege xai xTCOV dca^opcov XTJ^axafl-aptooioSooc a^ro TWV ooauov xcct TCOV (lege ocacta t(ov),rca cpty.tov ^-SGJJKOV Ts%|iatpo[JLvoc.adiraviatcov iuapa Tavo8covrcov Xyo(j.va)v ? xat TCOV sv ojSoo TpioScov,xat TCOV TOCOOKOVHaving premised thus much, I now proceed to prove that the dramatic spectacles ofthe Lesser Mysteries f were designed by theancient theologists, their founders, to signifyoccultly the condition of the unpurified soul*Commentary on the Statesman of Plato, page 374.t The Lesser Mysteries were celebrated at Agree and the;persons there initiated were denominated -Mysttc. Only such couldbe received at the sacred rites at Eleusis.

Bacchic Mysteries. 35invested with an earthly body, and enveloped in a material and physical nature ;or,in other words, to signify that such a soul inthe present lifemight be said to die, as faras it is possible for a soul to die, and thaton the dissolution of the present body, whilein this state of impurity, it would experiencea death stillmore permanent and profound.That the soul, indeed, till purified by philosophy,* suffers death through its union withthe body was obvious to the philologistMacrobius, who, not penetrating the secretmeaning of the ancients, concluded fromhence that they signified nothing more thanthe present body, by their descriptions ofthe infernal abodes.But this is manifestlyabsurd ;since it is universally agreed, thatall the ancient theological poets and philosophersinculcated the doctrine of a futurestate of rewards and punishments in themost full and decisive terms; at the sametime occultly intimating that the death ofthe soul was nothing more than a profoundunion with the ruinous bonds of the body.* Philosophy here relates to discipline of the life.

36 Eleusinian andIndeed,if these wise men believed in afuture state of retribution, and at the sametime considered a connection with the bodyas death of the soul, it necessarily follows,that the soul s punishment and existencehereafter are nothing more than a continuation of its stateat present, and a transmigration, as it were, from sleep to sleep, andfrom dream to dream. But let us attendto the assertions of these divine men concerningnature.the soul s union with a materialAnd to begin with the obscure andprofound Heracleitus, speaking of soulsunembodied: "We live their death, and wedie their life."Z(o[isv TOV xscvo>v ftava-cov,Tcih 7jyva|iv Ss TOV sxsivcov J3:ov.And Empedocles,deprecating the condition termedugeneration," beautifully says of her:The aspect changing with destruction dread.She makes the living pass into the dead..Exvsxpa stAnd again, lamenting his connection withthis corporeal world, he pathetically exclaims :

""Bacchic Mysteries. 37For this I weep, for this indulge ray woe,That e er my soul such novel realms should know.KXauaa TE xai xcuxuaa, towv aoovqfoa ycopov.Plato, too, it is well known, considered thebody as the sepulchre of the soul, and inthe Cratylus concurs with the doctrine ofOrpheus, that the soul is punished throughits union with body. This was likewise theopinion of the celebrated Pythagorean, Philolaus,as is evident from the following remarkablepassage in the Doric dialect, preserved by Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromat.bookiii.MapiupsovTa3s *ai 01 rca/.asv a(o[j-ati TOIXTCI)-usfta^at." . c.The ancienttheologists and priests * also testify that thesoul is united with the bodyas if for thesake of punishment ; f and so is buried inbody as in a sepulchre." And, lastly, Py-* Greek |xavTsi? manleis more properly prophets, those filled"by the prophetic mania or entheasm.t More correctly The soul is yoked to the body as if by wayof punishment," as culprits were fastened to others or even tocorpses. See PauVs Epistle to the Romans, vii, 25.

""38 Eleusinian andthagoras himself confirms the above sentiments, when he beautifully observes, according to Clemens in the same book, thatwhatever we see when awake is death ; andwhen asleep, a dream." flavo^c saw,But that the mysteries occultly signified this sublime truth, that the soul bybeing merged in matter resides among thedead both here and hereafter, though it follows by a necessary sequence from the preceding observations, yet it is indisputably confirmed, by the testimony of the great andtruly divine Plotinus, in Ennead I.,When the soul," says he,book viii."has descended intogeneration (from its first divine condition)she partakes of evil, and is carried a greatway into a state the opposite of herfirstpurity and integrity, to ~beentirelymerged in which, isnothing more than tofall into dark mire." And again, soon after :The soul therefore dies as much as it is possible for the soul to die :and the death to heris, while baptized or immersed in the present

JBacchic Mysteries. 39body, to descend into matter,* and be ivhollysubjected~byit ; and after departing thenceto lie there till it shall arise and turnits face away from the abhorrent filth.This is what is meant by the falling asleepin Hades, of those who have come there" \* Greek oXfj, matter supposed to contain all the principles thenegative of life, order, and goodness.tThis passagedoubtless alludes to the ancient and beautifulstory of Cupid and Psyche, in which Psyche is said to fall asleepin Hades ;and this through rashly attempting to behold corporealbeauty and the observation of Plotinus will enable the profound:and contemplative reader to unfold the greater part of the mysteries contained in this elegant fable. But, prior to Plotinus,Plato, in the seventh book of his Republic,asserts that such asare unable in the present life to apprehend the idea of the good,will descend to Hades after death, and fall asleep in its darkabodes.fO^ av \vf\ syg o^op .aasO-a . TO> XOY>,V too aY a ^"wsav, y.a ( .u>j7ipltov, fts v.ata oo^av aXXa v.rxt ooo:coro Ttov ocXXu>v/s V, ev Tiaoi TOUTOIC aitttoT . T(OXOY<O ota~opOY]taODTS aot.,ouosv ;aXX siouosv cpYjGci?e .Ssvai TOV OUT(O^ syovta, GOT* aXXo aY aTCY]ei5u>Xoo TIVO^ etpaTCTSTa 1 ., ^^xa: TOV vov (B.ovovttpOKoXoo /ta, v.a: uTtvioiovTa, icp .vY 50 ^1* 5 -^ aoo jicpotspov acpixo/xsvov ttXsto?ui. e. He who is nots-waTaoapfl-avsiv able, by the exercise;of his reason, to define the idea of the good, separatingit from allother objects, and piercing, as in a battle, through every kindof argument ; endeavoring to confute, not according to opinion,but according to essence, and proceeding through all these dialectical energies with an unshaken reason; he who can notev

>40 Bacchic Mysteries.Ftvo[AV(p 3s TJ [xetoXiqtJjicaotou. Ftrpveiai yaTCavtairaatv sv T(p T7] avo{xoiOT;^svfta o iaur/jvCpoppopovouv,<>o/7]av%ac 6 ftavaTos aong,xctt STI sv TCOpe(3oMruia{isv)Q,sv 6Xrj sati xatadovat,taurrjc. Kac esXftouoir)avaSpajJLTg xai arpsXiQjrco/, toy poppopoo. Kai TODTO eat* TO svsX^ovTot sTcixaia Sap^siv. Here theaccomplish this, would you not say,that he neither knows thegood itself, nor anything which is properly denominated good?And would you not assert that such a one, when he apprehendsany certain image of reality, apprehends it rather through themedium of opinion than of science that in the; present life heis sunk in sleep, and conversant with the delusion of dreams;and that before he is roused to a vigilant state he will descendto Hades, and be overwhelmed with a sleepperfectly profound."Henry Davis translates this passage more critically:"Is notthe case the same with reference to the good ?logically define it, abstracting the idea of tJte goodWhoever can notfrom allothers, and taking, as in a fight, one opposing argument afteranother, and can not proceed with unfailing proofs, eager to resthis case, not -on the ground of opinion, but of true being, such aone knows nothing of the good itself, nor of any good whatever ;and should he have attained to any knowledge of tlte good, wemust say that he has attained it by opinion, not by science(eTC .aTYjpivj) ; that he is sleeping and dreaming away his presentlife ;and before he is roused will descend to Hades, and therebe profoundly and perfectly laid asleep." vii. 14.

"Those"reader mayBacchic Mysteries. 4Sobserve that the obscure doctrine of the Mysteries mentioned by Platoin the Phcedo, that the unpurifiedfuture state lies immerged in mire,fully explained;soul in ais beautiat the same time that ourassertion concerning their secret meaningis not less substantially confirmed.* ^In asimilar manner the same divine philosopher,in his book on the Beautiful, Ennead, L, bookvi., explains the fable of Narcissus as an emblem of one who rushes to the contemplation of sensible (phenomenal) forms as ifthey were perfect realities, when at thesame time they are nothing more than likebeautiful images appearing in water, fallacious and vain. / "Hence,"says he,as Narcissus, by catching at the shadow, plungedhimself in the stream and disappeared, sohe who is captivated by beautiful bodies,and does not depart from their embrace,is precipitated, not with his body, but with*Phceclo, 38.who instituted the Mysteries for us appear to have intimated that whoever shall arrive in Hades unpurifiedand not initiated shall lie in mud but he who arrives there;purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods. For there aremany bearers of the wand or thyrsus, but few who are inspired."

"44 Eleusinian andsoul, into a darkness profound and repugnant to intellect(the higher soul),* throughwhich, remaining blind both here and inHades, he associates with shadows." TovSYJ Tporcov 6 S/OJJLSVOC 7(ov xaXcovi TY Ssv>sv q:o j |JiV(ov, %ai v-a^jvsaiLfarther confirms our exposition isAnd what stillthat matter was considered by the Egyptians as acertain mire or mud. "Thesays Simplicius,Egyptians,"called matter, which theysymbolically denominated water, the dregsor sediment of the first life; matter being,as it were, a certain mire or mud.fAtoTYJV ^c, rcpoynjc C>^c, r^v 68a>pyov,otov cXov Tiva ooaav. So that from all*Intellect, Greek vooc, wow, is the higher faculty, of the mind.It is substantially the same as the pneuma, or spirit, treated of inthe New Testament; and hence the term "intellectual,"as usedin Mr. Taylor s translation of the Platonic writers, may bepretty safely read as spiritual, by those familiar with the Christian cultus. A. W.tPhysics of Aristotle.

"Bacchic Mysteries. 45that has been said we may safely concludewith Fichms, whose words are as express toour purpose as possible."thatLastly," says he,I may comprehend the opinion of theancient theologists, on the state of the soulafter death, in a few words :they considered,as we have elsewhere asserted, things divineas the only realities, and that all otherswere only the images and shadows oftmth. Hence they asserted that prudentmen, who earnestly employed themselves indivine concerns, were above all others in avigilant state. But that imprudent [/.without foresight] men, who pursued objectsof a different nature, being laid asleep, as itwere, were only engaged in the delusionsof dreams; and that if they happened todie in this sleep, before they were roused,they would be afflicted with similar andstill more dazzling visions in a future state.And that as he who in this life pursuedrealities, would, after death, enjoy the highest truth, so he who pursued deceptionswould hereafter be tormented with fallaciesand delusions in the extreme : as the onee.

46 Eleusinian andwould be delighted with true objects ofenjoyment, so the other would be tormented with delusive semblances of reality." Denique ut priscorum theologorumsententiam de statu animae post mortempaucis comprehendam : sola clivina (ut aliasdiximus) arbitrantur res veras existere, rehquaesse rerum verarum imagines atqueumbras. Ideo prudentes homines, qui divinisincumbunt, pra3 ceteris vigilare. Imprudentesautem, qui sectantur alia, insomniisomnino quasi dormientes Hindi, ac si inhoc somno priusquam expergefacti fuerintmoriantur similibus post discessum et acrioribusvisionibus angi. Et sicut eum quiin vita veris incubuit, post mortem summaveritate potiri, sic eum qui falsa sectatusest, fallacia extrema torqueri, ut ille rebusveris oblectetur, hie falsis vexetur simulachris."*But notwithstanding this important truthwas obscurely hinted by the Lesser Mysteries, we must not suppose that it was gen-* FICINUS : De Immwtal. Anim. book xviii.

Bacchic Mysteries. 47erally known even to the initiated personsthemselves : for as individuals of almostall descriptions were admitted to these rites,it would have been a ridiculous prostitutionto disclose to the multitude a theory so abstracted and sublime.* It was sufficient toinstruct these in the doctrine of a futurestateof rewards and punishments, and inthe means of returning to the principlesfrom which they originally fell : for this*We observe in the New Testament a like disposition on the partof Jesus and Paul to classify their doctrines as esoteric and exoteric, "the Mysteries of the kingdom of God" for the apostles,and "parables"for the multitude. "Wespeak wisdom," saysPaul,""among them that are perfect(or initiated), etc.1 Corinthians, ii. Also Jesus declares "It : is given to you to know theMysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given ;therefore I speak to them in parables : because they seeing, seenot, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand."Matthew xiii., 11-13. He also justified the withholding of thehigher and interior knowledge from the untaught and ill-disposed,in the memorable Sermon on the Mount. Matthew vii. :"Giveye not that which is sacred to the dogs,Neither cast ye your pearls to the swine ;For the swine will tread them under their feetAnd the dogs will turn and rend you."This same division of the Christians into neophytes and perfect,appears to have been kept up for centuries and; Godfrey Higginsasserts that it is maintained in the Roman Church. A. W.

48 Eleusinian andlast piece of information was, according toPlato in the Phtedo, the ultimate design ofthe Mysteries and the former is necessarily;inferred from the present discourse. Hencethe reason whyit was obvious to none butthe Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers,who derived their theology from Orpheushimself,* the original founder of these sacredinstitutions;and why we meet with no information in this particular in any writerprior to Plotinus as he was the first; who,having penetrated the profound interior wisdom of antiquity, delivered it to posteritywithout the concealments of mystic symbolsand fabulous narratives//VIEGIL NOT A PLATONIST.Hence too, I think, we may infer, withthe greatest probability, that this reconditemeaning of the Mysteries was not known/HERODOTUS, ii.51, 8L*"What Orpheus delivered in hidden allegories Pythagoraslearned when he was initiated into the Orphic Mysteries ;andPlato next received a knowledge ofthem from the Orphic andPythagorean writings."f

Bacchic Mysteries. 49even to Virgil himself, who has so elegantlydescribed their external form ;for notwithstandingthe traces of Platonism which areto be found in the jEnei-d, nothing of anygreat depth occurs throughout the whole,except what a superficial reading of Platoand the dramas of the Mysteries might easilyafford. But this is not perceived by modernreaders, who, entirely unskilled themselves inPlatonism, and fascinated by the charms ofhis poetry, imagine him to be deeply knowingin a subject with which he was most likelybut slightly acquainted.This opinion is stillfarther strengthened by consideringthat thedoctrine delivered in his Eclogues is perfectlyEpicurean, which was the fashionable philosophy of the Augustan age and that there;is no trace of Platonism in any other part ofhis works but the present book, which, containing a representation of the Mysteries,was necessarily obliged to display some ofthe principal tenets of this philosophy, sofar as they illustratedand made a part ofthese mystic exhibitions. However, on thesupposition that this book presents us with

50 Eleusinian anda faithful view of some part of these sacredrites, and this accompanied with the utmostelegance, harmony, and purity of versification, it ought to be considered as an invaluable relic of antiquity, and a precious monument of venerable mysticism, reconditewisdom, and theological information.* Thiswill be sufficiently evident from what hasbeen already delivered, by considering someof the beautiful descriptions of this book intheir natural order; at the same time thatthe descriptions themselves will corroboratethe present elucidations.In the first place, then, when he says,-facilis descensus Averno.Noctes atque dies patet atra janua ditis :Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras,Hoc opus, hie labor est. Pauci quos tequus amavitJupiter, aut ardens evexit ad sethera virtus,Dis geniti potuere.Tenent media omnia silvre,Cocytusque sinu labens, cireumvenit atro 1* Ancient Symbol-Worship, page 11, note.t Davidson s Translation." Easy is the path that leads down tohell ; grim Pluto s gate stands open night and day: "but to retraceone s steps, and escape to the upper regions, this is a work, this isa task. Some few, whom favoring Jove loved, or illustrious virtue

Bacchic Mysteries. 51is it not obvious, from the preceding explanation, that by Avernus, in this place, andthe dark gates of Pluto, we must understanda corporeal or external nature, the descentinto which is, indeed, at all times obviousand easy, but to recall our steps, and ascendinto the upper regions, or, in other words,toseparate the soul from the body by thepurifying discipline, is indeed a mighty work,and a laborious task ? For a few only, the favorites of heaven, that is, born with the truephilosophic genius,* and whom ardent virtuehas elevated to a disposition and capacity fordivine contemplation, have been enabled toBut whenaccomplish the arduous design.he says that all the middle regions arecovered with woods, this likewise plainly intimates a material nature ;the word silva, asis well known, being used by ancient writersto signify matter, and implies nothing morethan that the passage leadingto the barathadvancedto heaven, the sons of the gods, have effected it.Woods cover all the intervening space, and Cocytus, gliding withhis black, winding flood, surrounds it."*I.e., a disposition to investigate for the purpose of elicitingtruth, and reducing it to practice.

52 Eleusinian andmm [abyss] of body, L e. into profounddarkness and oblivion, is through the medium of a material nature ;and this mediumis surrounded by the black bosom of Cocytus,*that is, by bitter weeping and lamentations, the necessary consequence of the soul sunion with a nature entirely foreign to herown. So that the poet in this particular perfectly corresponds with Empedocles in theline we have cited above, where he exclaims,alluding to this union,For this I weep, for this indulge my icoe,That e er my soul such novel realms should know.In the next place, he thus describes thecave, through which -/Eneas descended tothe infernal regions:Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu,Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, memorumque tenebris :Quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantesTendere iterpennis: talis sese halitus atrisFaucieus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat:Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Aornum 1* Cocytus, lamentation, a river in the Underworld,t Davidson sTranslation."There was a cave profound andhideous, with wide yawning mouth, stony, fenced by a black lake,

Bacchic Mysteries. 53Does it not afford a beautiful representationof a corporeal nature, of which a cave, defended with a black lake, and dark woods,is an obvious emblem ? For it occultly reminds us of the ever-flowing and obscurecondition of such a nature, which may besaidTo roll incessant with impetuous speed,Like some dark river, into Matter s sea.Nor is it with less propriety denominatedAormis, i. e. destitute of birds, or a wingednature ;for on account of its native sluggishness and inactivity, and its merged condiandthe gloom of woods ;over which none of the flying kind wereable to wing their way unhurt ;such exhalations issuing from itsgrim jaws ascended to the vaulted skies ;for which reason theGreeks called the place by the name of Aornos" (without birds)."Jacob Bryant says: All fountains were esteemed sacred, butespecially those which had any preternatural quality and aboundedwith exhalations.proceeded from these effluvia ;It was an universal notion that a divine energyand that the persons who residedin their vicinity were gifted with a prophetic quality. . . . TheAmmonians styled such fountains Ain Omplie, or fountains of theouacle ; ojrf YJ, omplic, signifyingthe voice of God. These termsthe Greeks contracted to NojJUfnq, numpJie, a nymph."AncientMythology, vol. i. p. 276.The Delphic oracle was above a fissure, gounous or bocca inferiore,of the earth, and the pythoness inhaled the vapors. A. W.

"54 Eleusinian andtion, being situated in the outmost extremityof things, it is perfectly debile and languid,incapable of ascending into the regions ofreality, and exchanging its obscure and degraded station for one every way splendidand divine. The propriety too of sacrificing,previous to his entrance, to Night and Earth,is obvious, as both these are emblems of acorporeal nature.In the verses which immediately follow,Ecce autem, primi sub limina soils et ortus,Sub pedibus mugire solum, et juga caepta movereSilvarum, visaque canes ululare per umbram,*Adventante deawe may perceive an evident allusion to theearthquakes, etc., attending the descent ofthe soul into body, mentioned by Plato inthe tenth book of his Republic ;f since the*now, at the first beams and rising of the sun, the earth"So,under the feet begins to rumble, the wooded hills to quake, anddogs were seen howling through the shade, as the goddess camehither\Republic. x, 16. / After they were laid asleep, and midnightwas approaching, there was thunder and earthquake ;and theywere thence on a sudden carried upward, some one way, andsome another, approaching to the region of generationlike stars."

Bacchic Mysteries. 55lapse of the soul, as we shall see more fullyhereafter, was one of the important truthswhich these Mysteries were intended to reveal. And the howling dogs are symbolsof material * demons, who are thus denominated by the Magian Oracles of Zoroaster,on account of their ferocious and malevolentdispositions, ever baneful to the felicity ofthe human soul. And hence Matter herselfis represented by Synesius in his first Hymn,with great propriety and beauty, as barkingat the soul with devouring rage: for thus hesings, addressing himself to the Deity :Maxap 6c T:(3opov 6Xa<;Which may be thus paraphrased :Blessed ! thrice blessed !who, with winged speed,From Hyle s t dread voracious barking flies,* Material demons are a lower grade of spiritual essences thatare capable of assuming forms which make them perceptible bythe physical senses. A. W.\Hyle or Matter. All evil incident to human life, as is hereshown, was supposed to originate from the connection of the soulto material substance, the latter being regarded as the receptacle

"56 Ehminian andAnd, leaving Earth s obscurity behind,By a light leap, directs his steps to thee.And that material demons actually appeared to the initiated previousvisions of the gods themselves,to the lucidis evidentfrom the following passage of Proclus inhis manuscript Commentary on the firstAlcibiades: sv TGUCa:rorcovayaihov etc"^v 6Xv]v -TupoxaXoDjJisvat./. e.In the most interior sanctities of the Mysteries, before the presence of the god, therushing forms of earthly demons appear, andcall the attention from the immaculate goodto matter." And Pletho (on the Oracles),expressly asserts, that these spectres appeared in the shape of dogs.After this, ^Eneas is described as proceeding to the infernal regions, through profoundnight and darkness :Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram,Perque domos Ditis vacuas, et inania regna.of everything evil. But why the soul is thus immerged and punished is nowhere explained. A. W.

Bacchic Mysteries. 57Quale per incertam lunam sub luce malignaEst iter in silvis : ubi cselum condidit umbraJupiter,et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem.*And this with the greatest propriety; forthe Mysteries, as is well known, were celebrated by night ;and in the Republic ofPlato, as cited above, souls are described asfalling into the estate of generation at midnight; this period being peculiarly accommodated to the darkness and oblivion of acorporeal nature ;and to this circumstancethe nocturnal celebration of the Mysteriesdoubtless alluded.In the next place, the following vividdescription presents itself to our view:Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus OreiLuctus, et ultrices posuere cubilia Curse :Pallentesque habitant morbi, tristisque senectus,Et Metus, et mala suada Fames, ac turpis egestas;* "They went along, amid the gloom under the solitary night,through the shade, and through the desolate halls, and emptyrealms of Dis [Pluto or Hades]. Such is a journey in the woodsbeneath the unsteady moon with her niggard light, when Jupiterhas enveloped the sky in shade, and the black Night has takenfrom all objectstheir color."

58 Eleusinian andTerribiles visu formae ; Lethumque Laborque ;Turn consanguineus Lethi Sopor et mala mentisGaudia, mortiferiimqiie adverse in limine bellumFerreique Eumenidum thalami et Discordia demens,Vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.In medio ramos annosaque brachia panditUlmus opaea ingens:quam sedem somnia vulgoVana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent.Multaque praeterea variarurn monstra ferarum :Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllgeque biformes,Et centumgeminus Briareus, ac bellua Lernaa,Horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimasra,Gorgones Harpyiaaque, et formo tricorporis umbras.*And surely it is impossible to draw a morelively pictureof the maladies with which a* "Before the entrance itself, and in the first jaws of Hell, Griefand vengeful Cares have placed their couches ;pale Diseases inhabit there, and sad Old Age, and Fear, and Want, evil goddessof persuasion, and unsightly Poverty forms terrible to contemplate! and there, too, are Death and Toil; then Sleep, akin toDeath, and evil Delights of mind and; upon the opposite thresholdareseen death-bringing War, and the iron marriage-couches ofthe Furies, and raving Discord, with her viper-hair bound withgory wreaths. In the midst, an Elm dark and huge expands itsboughs and aged limbs; making an abode which vain Dreams aresaid to haunt, and under whose every leaf they dwell.these, are many monstrous apparitions of various wild beasts.Besides allCentaurs harbor at the gates, and double-formed Scyllas, the hunThedred-fold Briareus, the Snake of Lerna, hissing dreadfully, andChimasra armed with flames, the Gorgous and the Harpies,the shades of three-bodied form."and

Bacchic Mysteries. 59material nature is connected ;of the soul sdormant condition through its union withbody and of the various mental diseases to;which, through such a conjunction, it becomes unavoidably subject for this ;description contains a threefold division ; representing, in the first place, the external evil withwhich this material region is replete in the;second place, intimating that the life of thesoul when merged in the body is nothing buta dream; and, in the third place,under the disguise of multiform and terrific monsters, exhibiting the various vices of our irrational andsensuous part. Hence Empedocles, in perfectconformity with the first part of this description, calls this material abode, or the realmsof generation, atsprcsa /a> 4oov,* a "joylessregion"11Where slaughter, rage, and countless ills reside;EvO-a<povo?is XOTO? TS xai aXXuw eBvsa xfjpwvand into which those who fall,* This and the other citations from Empedoclesare to be foundin the book of Hierocles on The Golden Verses of Pythagoras.

60 Bacchic Mysteries."Through Ate s meads and dreadful darkness stray."Y]aazooa .v.And hence he justly says to such a soul,thatu She flies from deity and heav nly light,To serve mad Discord in the realms of night."Where too we may observe that the Discordiademens of Virgil is an exact translation ofthe Neixst [j.aivo|Jtsv(p of Empedocles.In the lines, too, which immediately succeed, the sorroivs and mournful miseriesattending the soul s union with a materialnature, are beautifully described.Hinc via, Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas ;Turbidus hie caeno vastaque voragine gurges-<Estuat,atque omnem Cocyto eructat arenam.*And when Charon calls out to ^Eneas to* "Here is the way which leads to the surging billows of Hell[Acheron] here an;abyss turbid boils up with loathsome mud andvast whirlpools; and vomits all its quicksand into Cocytus."

7JC V \ i. ; t v */ i~,v\ \>Jupiter and Calisto.Diaua aud Calisto.

"Bacchic Mysteries. 63desist from entering any farther, and tellshim,Here to reside delusive shades delight;"Fornought dwells here but sleep and drowsy night."Umbrarum hie locus est, Somni Noctisque soporaenothingcan more aptly express the condition of the dark regions of body, into whichthe soul, when descending, meets with nothing but shadows and drowsy night and:by persisting in her course, is at length lulledinto profound sleep, and becomes a true inhabitant of the phantom-abodes of the dead.having now passed over the Stygian lake, meets with the three-headed monster Cerberus,* the guardian of these infernalabodes :Tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumqueInform! limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.*The presence of Cerberus in Grecian and Roman descriptionsof the Underworld shows that the ideas of the poets and mythologistswere derived, not only from Egypt, but from the Brahmansof the far East. Yama, the lord of the Underworld, is attendedby his dog Karbaru, the spotted, styled also Trikasa,the threeheaded.

"64 Eleusinian andCerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauciPersonat, adverse recubans immanis in antro.*ViByCerberus we must understand the discriminative part of the soul, of which a dog,on account of its sagacity, is an emblem and;the three heads signify the triple distinctionof this part, into the intellective [or intuitional], cogitative [or rational], and opinionativepowers./ With respect f to the threekinds of personsdescribed as situated on theborders of the infernal realms, the poetdoubtless intended by this enumeration torepresent tous the three most remarkable* "At length across the river safe, the prophetess and the man,he lands upon the slimy strand, upon the blue sedge. Huge Cerberus makes these realms [of death] resound with barking from histhreefold throat, as he lies stretched at prodigious length in theopposite cave."tin the second edition these terms are changed to dianoieticand doxastic, words which we cannot adopt, as they are notaccepted English terms. The no-us, intellect or spirit, pertainsto the higher or intuitional part of the mind; the dianoia orunderstanding to the reasoning faculty, and the doxa, or opinionformingpower, to the faculty of investigation. Plotinus, accepting this theory of mind, says: Knowledge has three degreesopinion, science, and illumination. The means or instrument ofthe first is reception ;of the second, dialectic ;of the third, intuition." A. W.

Bacchic Mysteries. 65characters, who, though not apparently deserving of punishment, are yeteach of themsimilarly immerged in matter, and consequently require a similar degree of purification. The persons described are, as is wellknown, first, the souls of infants snatchedaway by untimely ends; secondly,such asare condemned to death unjustly ;ly, those who, weary of their lives, becomeguilty of suicide. And with respect to thefirst of these, or infants, their connectionwith a material nature is obvious.ond sort, too, who are condemned toand, thirdThe secdeathunjustly, must be supposed to represent thesouls of men who, though innocent ofonecrime for which they were wrongfully punished, have, notwithstanding, been guilty ofmany crimes, for which they are receivingproper chastisement in Hades, i. e. througha profound union with a material nature.*And the third sort, or suicides, though ap-*Hades, the Underworld, supposed by classical students to bethe region or estate of departed souls, it will have been noticed, isregarded by Mr. Taylor and other Platonists, as the human body,which they consider to be the grave and place of punishment ofthe soul. A. W.

66 Eleusinian andparently separated from the body, have onlyexchanged one place for another of similarnature ;since conduct of this kind, accordingtothe arcana of divine philosophy, insteadof separating the soul from its body, onlyrestores it to a condition perfectly correspondent to its former inclinations and habits,lamentations and woes:* But if we examinethis affair more profoundly, we shall findthat these three characters are justly placedin the same situation, because the reason ofpunishment is in each equally obscure.Foris it not a just matter of doubt why thesouls of infants should be punished ? Andis it not equally dubious and wonderful whythose who have been unjustly condemned todeath in one period of existenceshould bepunished in another? And as to suicides,Plato in his Plicedo says that the prohibitionof this crime in the aTCOppv^a (aporrheta)*isa profound doctrine, and not easy to be* Aporrheta, the arcane or confidential disclosures made to thecandidate undergoing initiation. In the Eleusinia, these weremade by the Hierophant, and enforced by him from theBookof Interpretation, said to have consisted of two tablets of stone.This was the pctroma, a name usually derived from petra, a rock,

"TheBacchic Mysteries. 67understood.* Indeed, the true cause whythe two first of these characters are in Hades,can only be ascertained from the fact of a priorstate of existence, in surveying which, thelatent justice of punishmentfestly revealed ;will be manithe apparent inconsistenciesin the administration of Providence fullyreconciled; and the doubts concerning thewisdom of its proceedings entirely dissolved.And as to the last of these, or suicides, sincethe reason of their punishment, and why anaction of this kind is in general highlyatrocious, is extremely mystical and obscure,the following solution of this difficulty will,no doubt, be gratefully received by the Platonic reader, as the whole of it is no whereelse to be found but in manuscript.Olymorpossibly from "ins, peter, an interpreter. See //. Corinthians,xii. 6-8. A. W.*Plicedo, 16.instruction in the doctrine givenin theMysteries, that we human beings are in a kind of prison, andthat we ought not to free ourselves from it or seek to escape,appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to apprehend. The gods take care of us, and we are theirs."Plotinus, it will be remembered, perceived bythe interiorfaculty that Porphyry contemplated suicide, and admonishedhim accordingly. A. W.

68 Eleusinian andpiodorus, then, a most learned and excellentcommentator on Plato, in his commentary011 that part of the Phcedo where Platospeaks of the prohibitionof suicide in thearguaporrheta, observes as foliows : The /"ment which Plato employs in this placeagainst suicide is derived from the Orphicmythology, in which four kingdoms arecelebrated ;the first of Uranus [Ouranos](Heaven), whom Kronos or Saturn assaulted, cutting off the genitals of hisfather.* But after Saturn, Zeus or Jupitersucceeded to the government of the world,having hurled his father into Tartarus. Andafter Jupiter,Dionysus or Bacchus rose tolight, who, according to report, was, throughthe insidious treachery of Hera or Juno, tornin pieces by the Titans, by whom he was surrounded, and who afterwards tasted his flesh :but Jupiter, enraged at the deed, hurled histhunder at the guilty offenders and consumedthem to ashes. Hence a certain matter be-*In the Hindu mythology, from which this symbolism isevidently derived, a deity deprived thus of the lingam or phallus, parted with his divine authority.

Bacchic Mysteries. 69ing formed from the ashes or sooty vaporof the smoke ascending from their burningbodies,out of this mankind were produced.It is unlawful, therefore, to destroy ourselves,not as the words of Plato seem to import,because we are in the body, as in prison,secured by a guard (for this is evident,and Plato would not have called such anassertion arcane), but because our body isDioiiysiacal,*or of the nature of Bacchus:for we are a part of him,since we arecomposed from the ashes, or sootyvapor of the Titans who tasted hisflesh. Socrates, therefore, as if fearful ofdisclosing the arcane part of this narration, relates nothing more of the fablethan that we are placed as in a prisonsecured by a guard :but the interpreters relate the fable openly.",Kai s;it TO(bpavoo,TOIOOTOV.TO>QapawOp<piiuapa8iSovtai. IlpaycTj [xsv, YJTJV6Kpovoc 8ie8ea co, exi:|xa>vai8ota TOO TraTo^. Ms-caSYJTOVKpovov,*From Dionysus, the Greek name of Bacchus, and usually sotranslated.i

"70 Eleusinian andepaotXeooev zaTaTapTapcoaac TOV Tuarepat.EtTa TOV Aia 8isieotto 6 Atovoao^, 6vcpaat %ar eirtpooXiQV TTJ<;cHpac too? rcspt omooaTuotparuetv,*at TCDV aap^cov aotoy. Kat TOOTOU^ opyca^sc^ 6 Zsoc,ac s% TYJC atftaXiqc"^vatjtcov avaSofl-svicov ^ aotcov, 6X7]^Ytv vjjia^ saoto jc, GO/ OTCsv TCVCv ?TI,5C[J->%ai 00% avpjx-ov S^SYS, aXX 5 Git oo SetOos a)^ TOO acojxaToc StovootaxooTJ[J.(OV*(JtepG^ Y a Pa^ to J SGJJLSV, etYe sx tr^Ttiavcov aoY%et(JLefl-a Y yaa l JLS~vcov TCOV aap^wv TOOTOO. rO (isv oov Scoxpa-TYJCepYCpTOOfTCOppTjTOV SctT-VO^, TOO [JLO^OO.TupoaTtO-jiat TOO co^ sv Ttvt cppooparOt 5s s^TjY^Tai ^GV (lo^ov JipGartiJ-eaotvea)fl-ev. After this he beautifully observes,That these four governments signifythe different gradations of virtues, according to which our soul contains the symbolsof all the qualities, both contemplative andpurifying, social and ethical; for it either

Bacchic Mysteries. 71operates according to the theoretic or contemplative virtues, the model of which is thegovernment of Uranus or Heaven, that wemay begin from on high; and on this account Uranus (Heaven) is so called TrapaTOO TO. avo) opcfv,from beholding the thingsabove : Or it lives purely, the exemplar ofwhich is the Kronian or Saturnian kingdom ;and on this account Kronos is named asKoro-nous, one who perceives through himself. Hence he is said to devour his ownthe conversion of himoffspring,signifyingself into his own substance : or it operatesaccording to the social virtues, the symbol of which is the government of Jupiter.Hence, Jupiter is styled the Demiurgus,as operating about secondary things: orit operates according to both the ethicaland physical virtues, the symbol of whichis the kingdom of Bacchus; and on thisaccount is fabled to be torn in pieces bythe Titans, because the virtues are not cutoff by "Jeach other. ACVOTTOVTOII(lege caviT-TovTca) 5s Tooc Sta^spooc pa&jiooc TCOV a 4os-TCOV

72 Bacchic Mysteries.T(DVapsicov,TCOV TO iyc/iptta~a ia etopYjTucac svepysta>vtoy7] oopavoo paotXsta, cva av(ol>sva, 8to %at oupavoc sipT^at icapa toyta avw opcjLV.CH xa^aptc%a>c C^? ^ irapa-8siyt JLa /) Kpovsia ^aoiXsta, 8co %at Kpovoc sipTjtaioiov 6ttopovc j^ TL^ cov Sea TO SCCOTOVopav.Aio %at xaTairivsiv Ta ocxsiaysvvvj-(jLata XsysTQti, co^ aotoc Tcpo^ saycovrH xctTct Tac TCoXiTixac (bvcpcov.Aio? k3aatXsca, 810 %at SYjjicoDpyo; 6 Zsoc,^ 7Tpi Ta Ss jTspa svspycov.eHAcovoooo paocXsta, Sco %at a zcctpaTcs cai, Scoit00% avraitoXoyS-ODaiv aXXYjXatc atAnd thus far Olympiodorus ;ctpstat.in which passages it is necessary to observe, that as theTitans are the artificers of things, and standnext in order to their creations, men aresaid to be composed from theirfragments,because the human soul has a partial lifecapable of proceeding tothe most extremedivision united with its proper nature.Andwhile the soul is in a state of servitude to

Eleusinian Mysteries.

Bacchic Mysteries. 75the body, she lives confined, as it were, inbonds, throughthe dominion of this Titan-ical life."Wemay observe farther concerningthese dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries, that as they were intended to represent the condition of the soul whilesubservient to the body, we shall find thata liberation from this servitude, through thepurifying disciplines, potencies that separatefrom evil, was what the wisdom of the ancients intended to signify by the descent ofHercules, Ulysses, etc., into Hades, and theirspeedy return from its dark abodes."Hence,"says Proclus, u Hercules being purified bysacred initiations, obtained atlength a perfect establishment among the gods:"*is, well knowingthatthe dreadful condition ofhis soul while in captivity to a corporealnature, and purifying himself by practicethe cleansing virtues, of which certain purifications in the mystic ceremonies were symbolical, he at length was freed from thebondage of matter, and ascended beyond herCommentary on the Statesman of Plato, 382.jp>.of

""76 Eleusinian andreach. On this account, it is said of him,that"He dragg d the three-mouth d dog to "upper day ;intimating that by temperance, continence,and the other virtues, he drew upwards theintuitional, rational, and opinionative part ofthe soul.v And as to Theseus, who is represented as suffering eternal punishment inHades, we must consider him too a& anallegorical character, of which Proclus, in theabove-cited admirable work, gives the following beautiful explanation Theseus and:Pirithous," says he, are fabled to have abducted Helen, and descended to the infernalregions, i. e. they were lovers both of mentaland visible beauty. Afterward one of these(Theseus), on account of his magnanimity,was liberated by Hercules from Hades but;the other (Pirithous) remained there, because he could not attain the difficult heightof divine contemplation." This account, indeed, of Theseus can by no means be reconciled with Virgil s :Infelixsedet, aeternumque sedebit,Theseus.**"There sits, and forever shall sit, the unhappy Theseus."

Bacchic Mysteries. 77Nor do I see how Virgil can be reconciledwith himself, who, a little before this, represents him as liberated from Hades. Theconjecture, therefore, of Hygimis is mostprobable, that Virgil in this particular committed an oversight, which, had he lived, hewould doubtless have detected, and amended.This is at least much more probable than theopinion of Dr. Warburton, that Theseus wasa living character, who once entered into theEleusinian Mysteries by force, for which hewas imprisoned upon earth, and afterwardpunished in the infernal realms. For if thiswas the case, why is not Hercules alsorepresented as in punishment? and thiswith much greater reason, since he actuallydragged Cerberus from Hades ;whereas thefabulous descent of Theseus was attendedwith no real, but only intentional, mischief.Not to mention that Virgil appears to bethe only writer of antiquity who condemnsthis hero to ,an eternity of pain.Nor is the secret meaningof the fablesconcerning the punishment of impure souls

"78 Eleusinian andless impressive and profound, as the following extract from the manuscript commentaryof Olympiodorus on the Gorgias of Plato willabundantly affirm ": Ulysses," says he,descending into Hades, saw, among others,Sisyphus, and Tityus, and Tantalus. Tityushe saw lying on the earth, and a vulture devouring his liver; the liver signifying thathe lived solely according to the principle ofcupidity in his nature, and through this wasindeed internally prudent ;but the earthsignifies that his disposition was sordid.ButSisyphus, living under the dominion of ambition and anger, was employed in continuallyrolling a stoneperpetually descended again ;up an eminence, because itits descent implying the vicious government of himself ;and his rolling the stone, the hard, refractory,and, as it were, rebounding condition of hislife. And, lastly,bythe side ofhe saw Tantalus extendeda lake, and that there was atree before him, with abundance of fruit onits branches, which he desired to gather, butit vanished from his view ;and this indeedindicates, that he lived under the dominion

Bacchic Mysteries. 79of phantasy ;and in vain attempting tobut his hanging over the lake,drink, implies theelusive, humid, and rapidly-gliding conditionof such a life."cf5oo ?ot3s TOVe() OSooasus ttoiTsXihov sic,Scao^ov,*ca TOV Trcoov,TOV TavTcdov. Kai TOV [JLSV Tttoov, s^cY7jt$yy^. To (JLSVoovKctjlSVOV, 7,aC Ott TO YjTTapr^Tiap ar^acvscOLOTGOOTC. xara TOjpovttCeto.eH 5syvj avjixaivst TOOC^TOO rppovYjjxa.3s Sia jcpos,%ata TOTtjJLOV,%at i)-y|10CC C^^CtC SXUAIS TOVvca: TraXtv xaiscpspsv, ^sc5s Tcspiawcapsc, o %a%co ^oXcTfjo{j.voc. Au^ov 5sy\)-ovtovTov s TavTaXov stSsv sv Xtjxv (legexai OTC svsv3pocc vjaav oircopac, %aiTp jyav, *aiarpavst<; syivovTO afTOOTO5csavjjiatvsc TYJV xata <paviaaiavavjiiavscTOoXtafl-vjpov%atoircopat.TTOva Tuo^a jojisvov.So that according to the wisdom of the ancients, and themost sublime philosophy, the misery whicha soul endures in the present life,when giving itself up to the dominion of the irrational

80 Eleusinian andpart, is nothing more than the commencement,as itwere,will experiencesame in kind thoughof that torment which ithereafter : a torment thedifferent in degree,asit will be much more dreadful, vehement,and extended.And by the above specimen,the reader may perceive how infinitely superior the explanation which the Platonic philosophy affords of these fables ,is to the frigidand trifling interpretations 6f Bacon andother modern mythologists ;who are ableindeed to point out their correspondence tosomething in the natural or moral world, because such is the wonderful connection ofthings, that all things sympathize with all,but are at the same time ignorant that thesefables were composed by men divinely wise,who framed them after the model of thehighest originals, from the contemplation ofreal and permanent being, and not from regarding the delusive and fluctuating objectsof sense. This, indeed,will be evident toevery ingenuous mind, from reflecting thatthese wise men universally considered Hellor death as commencing in the present life

Bacchic Mysteries. 81(as we have already abundantly proved), andthat, consequently, sense is nothing morethan the energy of the dormant soul, and aperception, as it were, of the delusions ofdreams. In consequence of this, it is absurd in the highest degree to imagine thatsuch men would compose fables from thecontemplation of shadows only, without refrom whichgarding the splendid originalsthese dark phantoms were produced :to mention that their harmonizingmore perfectly with intellectualnotso muchexplicationsis an indisputable proof that they were derived from an intellectual [noetic] source.And thus much for the dramatic showsof the Lesser Mysteries, or the first part ofthese sacred institutions, which was properlydenominated TS/.C-CT] \telete, the closing up]and [rj7]acmuesis [the initiation], as containing certain perfective rites, symbolical exhibitions and the imparting and reception ofsacred doctrines, previous to the beholding ofthe most splendid visions, or STCOTCTSIOI\epopteia,seership]. For thus the gradation of

"82 Bacchic Mysteries.the Mysteries is disposed by Proclus inTheology of Plato, book iy. The perfectiverite [TsAstYj, tel-ete],"der the initiation [|jiu7]ai,says he, "precedes in ormuesis], and initiation, the final apocalypse, epopteia."yap, TJ [xsv TS^STTJ TTJC |iuas(oc, aonrj sAt the same time it is proper toobserve that the whole business of initiationwas distributed into five parts, as we areinformed by Theon of Smyrna,in Mathematica,who thus elegantly compares philosophyto these mystic rites ": Again," says he,u philosophy may be called the initiation intotruesacred ceremonies, and the instructionin genuine Mysteries;for there are fiveparts of initiation : the first of which is theprevious purification ;for neither are theMysteries communicated to all who arewilling to receive them ;but there are certain persons who are prevented by the voiceof the crier [xvjpoi, Jcerux], such as thosewho possess impure hands and an inarticulate voice ;since it is necessarythat suchas are not expelled from the Mysteries* Theology of Plato, book iv. p. 220.

Bacchic Mysteries. 85should first be refined by certain purifications : but after purification, the reception ofthe sacred rites succeeds. The third part isdenominated epopteia, or reception.* Andthe fourth, which is the end and design of therevelation, is [the investiture] the binding ofthe head and fixing of the crowns. The initiated person is, by this means, authorizedto communicate to others the sacred ritesin which he has been instructed ;whetherafter this he becomes a torch-bearer, or anhierophant of the Mysteries, or sustains someother part of the sacerdotal office. But thefifth, which is produced from all these, isfriendship and interior communion withGod, and the enjoyment of that felicitywhich arises from intimate converse withdivine beings. Similar to this is the communication of political instruction; for, inthe first place, a certain purification precedes,*Theon appears to regard the final apocalypse or epopteia, likeE. Pococke to whose views allusion is made elsewhere. This"writer says The initiated were styled : ebaptoi,"and adds in afoot-note "Avaptoi, literally obtaining or getting." Accordingto this the epopteia would imply the final reception of the interiordoctrines. A. W.

86 Eleminian andor else an exercise in proper mathematicaldiscipline from early youth. For thus Empedoclesasserts, that it is necessaryto bepurified from sordid concerns, by drawingfrom five fountains, with a vessel of indissoluble brass : but Plato, that purificationis to be derived from the five mathematicaldisciplines, namely from arithmetic, geometry, stereometry, music, and astronomy ;butthe philosophical instruction in theorems,logical, political, and physical, is similar toinitiation. But he (that is, Plato) denominates sTCoircsia [or the revealing], a contemplation of things which are apprehended intuitively, absolute truths, and ideas.But heconsiders the binding of the head, and coronation, as analogous to the authority which anyone receives from his instructors, of leadingothers to the same contemplation. And thefifth gradation is, the most perfect felicityarising from hence, and, according to Plato,an assimilation to divinity, as far as is possible to mankind." But though eiroTrceia,or the rendition of the arcane ideas, principally characterized the Greater Mysteries, yet

Bacchic Mysteries. 87this was likewise accompanied with the |u>7]-oic, or initiation,course of this inquiry.as will be evident in theBut let us now proceed to the doctrine ofthe Greater :Mysteries and here I shall endeavor to prove that as the dramatic showsof the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified themiseries of the soul while in subjection tobody, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions,thefelicity of the soul both here and hereafter,when purified from the defilements of amaterial nature, and constantly elevated tothe realitiesof intellectual [spiritual] vision.Hence, as the ultimate design of the Mysteries, according to Plato, was to lead us backto the principles from which we descended,that is, to a perfect enjoyment of intellectual[spiritual]good, the imparting of these principles was doubtless one part of the doctrinecontained in the arcoppTj-ct, aporrfyeta, or secret discourses ;*and the different purifica-* The apostle Paul apparently alludes to the disclosing of theMystical doctrines to the epopts or seers, in his Second Epistleto the Corinthians, xii. 3, 4: "I knew a certain man, whether in

88 Eleusinian andtions exhibited in these rites, in conjunctionwith initiation and the epopteia were symbolsof the gradation of virtues requisite to thisreascent of the soul. And hence, too, if thisbe the case, a representation of the descent ofthe soul [from its former heavenly estate]must certainly form no inconsiderable part ofthese mystic shows all which the;followingobservations will, I do not doubt, abundantlyevince.In the first place, then, that the shows ofthe Greater Mysteries occultly signified thefelicity of the soulboth here and hereafter,when separated from the contact and influence of the body, is evident from what hasbeen demonstrated in the former part of thisdiscourse : for if he who in the present life isin subjection to his irrational part is trulyin Hades, lie who is superior to its dominionis likewise an Inhabitant of a place totallydifferent fromHades.* If Hades thereforebody or outside of body, I know not: God knoweth, who wasrapt into paradise, and heard appf]TO p-r^ata, things ineffable,which it is not lawful for a man to repeat."*PAUL, Epistle to the PJiilippians, iii. 20: "Our citizenship isin the heavens."

"Bacchic Mysteries. 89is the region or condition of punishment andmisery, the purifiedsoul must reside in theregions of bliss ;in a life and condition ofpurity and contemplation in the present life,and eiitheastically,* animated by the divine* Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. xxxii. p. 195. "Thosewho have professed to teach their fellow-mortals new truths concerning immortality, have based their authority on direct divineinspiration. Numa, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Swedenborg, allclaimed communication with higher spirits ; they were what theGreeks called cntlicast immersed in God a striking wordwhich Byron introduced into our tongue." Carpenter describesthe condition as an automatic action of the brain.The inspiredideas arise in the mind suddenly, spontaneously, but very vividly,at some time when thinking of some other topic.defines genius asthe automatic activity of theguished from the effort of the will,Francis Galtonmind, as distinthe ideas coming by inspiration." This action, says the editor of the Eeporter, is largelyfavored by a condition approaching mental disorder atleast byone remote from the ordinary working day habits of thought.Fasting, prolonged intense mental action, great and unusual commotion of mind, will produce it ; and, indeed, these extraordinarydisplays seem to have been so preceded. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, all began their careers by fasting, and visions of devils followed by angels. The candidates in the Eleusinian Mysteriesalso saw visions and apparitions,while engaged in the mysticorgies. We do not, however, accept the materialistic view of thissubject. The cases are entheasHc ; and although hysteria andother disorders of the sympathetic system sometimes imitate thephenomena, we believe with Plato and Plotinus, that the higherfaculty, intellect or "intuition as we prefer to call it, the noetic partof our nature, is the faculty actually at work. "Byreflection,

"90 Eleminian andenergy, in the next. This being admitted,let us proceed to consider the descriptionwhich Virgil gives us of these fortunateabodes, and the latent signification whichit contains. ^Eneas and his guide, then, having passed through Hades, and seen at a distance Tartarus, or ithe utmost profundity ofa material nature, they next advance to theElysian fields:Devenere locus laetos, et amsena viretaFortuuatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas.Largior hie campos aatker et lumine vestitPurpureo ; solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.*Now the secret meaning of these joyfulplaces is thus beautifully unfolded by Olympiodorusin his manuscript Commentary onthe Gorgias of Plato. "It is necessary toknow,"says he,that the fortunate islandsare said to be raised above the sea; andself-knowledge, and intellectual discipline, the soul can be raisedto the vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty that is, tothe vision of God." This is the epopteia. A. W.* "They came to the blissful regions,and delightful green retreats, and happy abodes in the fortunate groves. A freer andpurer sky here clothes the fields with a purple light ; they recognize their own sun, their own stars."

Bacchic Mysteries. 91hence a condition of being, which transcendsthis corporeal life and generated existence, isdenominated the islands of the blessed ;butthese are the same with the Elysian fields.And on this account Hercules is said tohave accomplished his last labor in the Hesperian regions ; signifying by this, that havingvanquished a dark and earthly life he afterward lived in day, that is, in truth and light."Asi s siSsvai GTC at vr^aoavco^spco ooaat. TTJV oovao j^ otaXo^ac. Taozov 8sTO 7}Xootov lusSwv. Aia TOI TOD-CO 7,ac 6Hpax-Xr^c tsXeoTGttov afl-Xov sv TOI^ soirsptot^y^ovcovav:i vcar^ycovcaaTO TOV^LGV,vcat XOCTCOV sv r^ispa,sv a/^O-sca icai ^(o-^ ^. go that he whoas muchin the present state vanquishesas possible a corporeal life, through thepractice of the purifying virtues, passes inreality into the Fortunate Islands of the soul,and lives surrounded with the bright splendors of truth and wisdom proceeding fromthe sun of good.

92 Bacchic Mysteries.The poet, indescribing the employmentsof the blessed, says:Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris:Contendunt ludo, et fulva luctantur arena :Pars pedibus plaudunt choreas, et carmina dieunt.Nee non Threicius longa cum veste sacerdosObloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum :lamque eadem digitis, jam pectine pulsat eburno.Hie genus antiquum Teucri, puleherrima proles,Magnanimi heroes,nati melioribus annis,Illusque, Assaracusque, et Trojse Dardanus auctor.Arma procul, currusque virum miratur inanis.Stant terra defixas hastoa, passimque solutiPer campum pascuntur equi.Quae gratia curruumArmorumque fuit vivis, quse cura nitentisPascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos.Conspicit, ecce alios, dextra laavaque per herbamVescentis, leetumque choro Pseana canentis,Inter odoratum lauri nemus : unde super nePlurimus Eridani per silvam volvitur amnis.** "Some exercise their limbs upon the grassy field, contend inplay and wrestle on the yellow sand; some dance on the groundand utter songs. The priestly Thracian, likewise, in his longrobe [Orpheus] responds in melodious numbers to the sevendistinguished notes ;and now strikes them with his fingers, nowwith the ivory quill. Here are also the ancient race of Teucer,a most illustrious progeny, noble heroes, born in happier years,II, Assarac, and Dardan, the founder of Troy. yEneas lookingfrom afar, admires the arms and empty war-cars of the heroes.There stood spears fixed in the ground, and scattered over theplain horses are feeding. The same taste which when alive

Eleusiiiiaii Mysteries.

Bacchic Mysteries. 95This must not be understood as if the soulin the regions of felicity retained any affection for material concerns, or was engaged inthe trifling pursuits of the everyday corporeal life but that when; separated fromgeneration, and the world s life, she is constantly engaged in employments proper to thehigher spiritual nature ;either in divine contests of the most exalted wisdom in ; formingthe responsive dance of refined imaginations; in tuning the sacred lyre of mysticpiety to strains of divine fury and ineffabledelight in; giving free scope to the splendidand winged powers of the soul; or innourishing the higher intellect with the substantial banquets of intelligible [spiritual]food. Nor is it without reason that theriver Eridanus isrepresented as flowingthrough these delightful abodes; and is atthese men had for chariots and arms, the same passion for rearing glossy steeds, follow them reposing beneath the earth. Lo !also he views others, on the right and left, feasting on the grass,and singing in chorus the joyful paeon, amid a fragrant grove oflaurel; whence from above the greatest river Eridanus rollsthrough the woods."A peeon was chanted to Apollo at Delphi every seventh day.

96 Eleusinian andthe same time denominated phirimus (greatest), because a great part of it was absorbedin the earth without emerging from thence :for a river is the symbol of life, and consequently signifies in this place the intellectualor spiritual life, proceeding from on high, thatis,lificfrom divinity itself, and gliding with proenergy through the hidden and profoundrecesses of the sou^.In the following lines he says :Nulli certa domus. Lucis habitamus opacis,Biparumque toros, et prata recentia rivisIncolinms.*By the blessed not being confined to a particular habitation, is implied that they areperfectly free in all things ; being entirelyfree from all material restraint, and purifiedfrom all inclination incident to the darkand cold tenement of the body. The shadyof thegroves are symbols of the retiring* "No one of us has a fixed abode. We inhabit the dark groves,and occupy couches on the river-banks, and meadows fresh withlittle rivulets."

Bacchic Mysteries. 97soul to the depth of her essence, and there,by energy solely divine, establishing herselfin the ineffable principle of things.* Andthe meadows are symbols of that prolificpower of the gods through which all thevariety of reasons, animals, and forms wasproduced, and which is here the refreshing pasturesoul.and retreat of the liberatedBut that the communication of the knowledge of the principles from which the souldescended formed a part of the sacred Mysteries is evident from Virgil ;and that thiswas accompanied with a vision of these principles or gods, is no less certain, from thetestimony of Plato, Apuleius, and Proclus.The first part of this assertion is evinced bythe following beautiful lines :* PLATO: Republic, vi. 5. "He who possesses the love of trueknowledge is naturally carried in his aspirations to the real principle of being and his love knows no;reposetill it shall have beenunited with the essence of each object through that part of the soul,which is akin to the Permanent and Essential ;and so, the divineconjunction having evolved interior knowledge and truth, theknowledge of being iswon."

"The98 Eleusinian andPrincipio casluni ac terras, camposque liquentesLucentemque globum luuse, Titaniaque astraSpiritus intus alit, totumque infusa per artusMens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.Inde hominum peeudumque genus, vitseque volantum,Et qu8B marmoreo fert monstra sub sequore pontus.Igneus est ollis vigor, et cselestis origoSeminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant,Terrenique hebetant artus, moribundaque membra.Hinc metuunt cupiuntque:dolent, gaudentque : neque aurasDespiciunt clausa tenebris et carcere caeco.*For the sources of the soul sexistence arealso the principles from which it fell; andthese, as we maylearn from theTimmis ofPlato, are the Demiurgus, the mundane soul,and the junior or mundane gods.f Now, of* "First of all the interior spirit sustains the heaven and earthand watery plains, the illuminated orb of the moon, and the Titanianstars ;and the Mind, diffused through all the members, givesenergy to the whole frame, and mingles with the vast body [of theuniverse]. Thence proceed the race of men and beasts, the vitalsouls of birds and the brutes which the Ocean breeds beneathits smooth surface. In them all is a potency like fire, and acelestial origin as to the rudimentary principles, so far as theyare not clogged by noxious bodies. They are deadened by earthlyforms and members subject to death ;hence they fear and desire,grieve and rejoice ;nor do they, thus enclosed in darkness andthe gloomy prison,t Timceus.xliv.behold the heavenly air."Deity (Demiurgus) himself formed thedivine; and then delivered over to his celestial offspring [the

""Bacchic Mysteries. 99these, the mundane intellect, which, according to the ancient theology, is representedby Bacchus, is principally celebrated by thepoet, and this because the soul is particularly distributed into generation, after themanner of Dionysus or Bacchus, as is evidentfrom the preceding extracts from Olympiodorus: and is still more abundantly confirmedby the following curious passage from thesame author, in his comment on the Phcedo ofPlato.The soul,"says he,descends Corically[or after the manner of Proserpine]into generation,* but is distributed into generation Dionysiacally,f and she is bound inbody PrometheiacallyJ and Titanically:shefrees herself therefore from its bonds by exercising the strength of Hercules; but shesubordinate or generated gods], the task of creating themortal.These subordinate deities, copying the example of their parent,and receiving from his hands the immortal principles of the humansoul, fashioned after this the mortal body, which they consignedto the soul as a vehicle, and in which they placed also anotherkind of a soul, which is mortal, and is the seat of violent and fatalpassions."* That is to say, as if dying. Kore was a name of Proserpina.t /. e. as if divided into pieces.\ I. e. Chained fast.

100 JEleusinian andiscollected into one through the assistanceof Apollo and the savior Minerva, by philosophical discipline of mind and heart purifying the f nature." Cht y.opi-x.oK (isv BIC, yevsatv7) <j>u/7]Aiovooiatt(jo s(j-spiCs catTTJC Ysveosaxr npoti/qftetcoc 5s, *ai Trca-TCOaa^onr Ausi JJ.EVoovT(O ovtc tpiXooo<poi)oa.The poet, however,intimates the other causes of the soul s existence, when he says,Igneus est ollis vigor, et ccelestis origo*Seminibuswhich evidently alludes to the solving ofsouls into generation,! mentioned in theTimceus. And from hence the reader will* "There is then a certain fiery potency, and a celestial originas to theand divine life.rudimentary principles."I. e. Restored to wholenesstl Corinthians, xv. 42-44. "So also is the anastasis of thedead. It is sown in corruption [the material body] ;it is raisedin incorruption : it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: itis sown in weakness;it is raised in power : it is sown a psychical"body ;it is raised a spiritual body."

"Bacchic Mysteries. 101easily perceive the extreme ridiculousness ofDr. Warburton s system, that the grand secretof the Mysteries consisted in exposing theerrors of Polytheism, and in teaching thedoctrine of the unity, or the existence of onedeity alone.For he might as well have said,that the great secret consisted in teaching aman how, by writing notes on the works ofa poet, he might become a bishop ! But itis byno means wonderful that men whohave not the smallest conception of the truenature of the gods; who have persuadedthemselves that they were only dead mendeified; and who measure the understandings of the ancients by their own, should beled to fabricate a system so improbable andabsurd.But that this instruction was accompaniedwith a vision of the source from which thesoul proceeded, isevident from the expresstestimony, in the first place, of Apuleius,who thus describes his initiation into theMysteries. Accessi confinium mortis; etcalcato Proserpina limine, per omnia vectuselementa remeavi. Nocte media vidi solem

102 , Eleusinian andcandido coruscantem lumine, deos inferos, etdeos superos. Access! coram, et adoravi de*proximo." That is,"Iapproached theconfines of death : and having trodden onthe threshold of Proserpina returned, hayingbeen carried through all the elements. Inthe depths of midnight I saw the sun glittering with a splendid light, together with theinfernal and :supernal gods and to thesedivinities approaching near, I paid the tributeof devout adoration." And this is no lessevidently implied by Plato, who thus describes the felicity of the holy soul prior toits descent, in a beautiful allusion to thearcane visions of the Mysteries. KaAXocTO"YJVi8stvXaji/rcpov, ois auv soSaijiovi/opa) |jia%apiav c^iv TS %at ftsav STCOJJ.SVOI {Asia|j.v Aioc i?]|Xtc,aXXot 8s (isr aXXou ^-scov,TS %ai STsXoo.vTO TsXsicov YJV ^Sjit^ XsystvpwotaTTjv YJV opyiaCojASV oXo%)^pot [isvOVTSC, %at a^afl-st^ xaxcov oaa YJ JJLOLCsv 6atsp(pXpovcp 67Ujivsv. OXpxX^pas Teat dirXasooacjiova cpaajiata JJLOG^JJISVOIvc v aoyYj xafl-apqjLThe Golden Ass. xi. p. 239 (BoJin).

"Bacchic Mysteries. 103t, TOUTOU6 vovYJ oo)|xaOVO(X7.CO[J.SV OaTpSOU TpOTTOVOSThat is, But it was then lawful to survey the most splendid beauty, whenwe obtained, together with that blessed choir,this happy vision and contemplation. Andwe indeed enjoyed this blessed spectacle together with Jupiter but others in ;conjunction with some other god at the same time;being initiated in those Mysteries, which itis lawful to call the most blessed of allMysteries. And these divine Orgies* werecelebrated by us, while we possessed theproper integrity of our nature, we werefreed from the molestations of evil whichotherwise await us in a future period of time.Likewise, in consequence of this divineinitiation, we became spectators of entire,simple, immovable, and blessed visions, resident in a pure light and were ourselves;pure and immaculate, being liberated fromthis surrounding vestment, which we denominate body,and to which we are now bound* The peculiar rites of the Mysteries were indifferently termedOrgies or Labors, teletai or finishings, and initiations.

"well-known104 Bacchic Mysteries.like an oyster to its shell."*Upon thisbeautiful passage Proclus observes, u That theinitiation and epopteia [the vailing and therevealing] are symbols of ineffable silence,and of union with mystical natures, throughintelligible visions, f Kat yap TJ [locate, xai YJ* Phcedrus, 64.t PROCLUS :Theology of Plato, book iv. The following readingis suggested:"The initiation and final disclosing are a symbolof the Ineffable Silence, and of the enosis, or being at one anden rapport with themystical verities through manifestations intuitively comprehended."The jxofjsis, muesis, or initiation is denned by E. Pococke asrelating to theBuddhist Moksha, final and eternalhappiness, the liberation of the soul from the body and its exemption from further transmigration." For all mystce therefore therewas a certain welcome to the abodes of the blessed. The termcTioTTtEia, epopteia, applied to the last scene of initiation, he derives from the Sanscrit, evaptoi, an obtaining; the epopt beingregarded as having secured for himself or herself divine bliss.It is more usual, however, to treat these terms as pure Greek;and to render the muesis as initiation and to derive epopteia fromsrcoircojjiai. According to this etymology an epopt is a seer orclairvoyant, one who knows the interior wisdom. The terms inspector and superintendent do not, to me, at all express the idea,and I am inclined, in fact, to suppose with Mr. Pococke, that theMysteries came from the East, and from that to deduce that thetechnical words and expressions are other than Greek.Plotinus, speaking of this enosis or oneness, lays down a spiritualdiscipline analogous to that of the "Mystic Orgies Purify your:soul from all undue hope and fear about earthly things ; mortify

Eleusiniau Mysteries. Etruscan.

Bacchic Mysteries. 107ou(j.[3oXov, xcaVCTJTCOVT(ov EVCOOECOC. Now, from all this, it may beinferred, that the most sublime part of theETCOTutsta [epopteici] or final revealing, consisted in beholding the godsvested with a resplendent light ;themselves in* and thatthis was symbolical of those transportingvisions, which the virtuous soul will constantly enjoy in a future state and of which;it is able to gain some ravishing glimpses,even while connected with the cumbrousvestment of the body.fthe body, deny self, affections as well as appetites, and the innereye will "begin to exercise its clear and solemn vision."In thereduction of your soul to its simplest principles, the divine germ,you attain this oneness. We stand then in the immediate presence of God, who shines out from the profound depths of thesoul." -A. W.* APULEIUS : The Golden Ass. xi. The candidate was instructedby the hierophant, and permitted to look within the cista or chest,which contained the mystic serpent, the phallus, egg, and grainssacred to Demeter. As the epopt was reverent, or otherwise, henow "knew himself" by the sentiments aroused. Plato and Alcibiadesgazed with emotions wide apart. A. W.t PLOTINUS : Letter to Flaccus."It is only now and then thatwe can enjoy the elevation made possible for us, above the limitsof the body and the world. I myself have realized it but threetimes as yet, and Porphyry hitherto not once."

108 Bacchic Mysteries.But that this was actually the case, isevident from the following unequivocal testimony of Proclus : Ev arcof$sorcoXXa 3ssc <paivov~arxai TOTS [xsvTOV aoKov icpopepXiQtai cptoc,TOTS 5s s^ av-TOTS os sec.u lnallthe initiations and Mysteries, the gods exhibit many forms of themselves, and appearin a variety of shapes and sometimes, in:deed, a formless light * of themselves is heldforth to the view ;sometimes this light isaccording to a human form, and sometimesitproceeds into a different shape." t Thisassertion of divine visions in the Mysteries,Porphyry afterward declared that he witnessed four times,when near him, the soul or""intellectof Plotinus thus raised upto the First and Sovereign Good;also that he himself was onlyonce so elevated to the enosis or union with God, so as to haveglimpses of the eternal world. This did not occur till he wassixty-eight years of age. A. W.* /. e. a luminous appearance without any denned form or shapeof an object.tCommentary upon the Republic of Plato, page 380.

Cupids, Satyr, aiid statue of Priapus.

Bacchic Mysteries. Illis clearly confirmed by Plotiiius.* And, inshort, that magical evocation formed a partof the sacerdotal office in the Mysteries, andthat this was universally believed by allantiquity, longbefore the era of the latterPlatonists,f is plain from the testimony ofHippocrates, or at least Democritus, in hisTreatise de Morbo Sacro.l For speaking ofthose who attempt to cure this disease bymagic,he observes : siyap oeXvjvYjvTS xaQaipscv,*ai TJ/.IOV acpaviCstv, X C JL(ova T 7>ac J ~!Xaaaav arpovov %ai y7]v, %ai r aXXa TOCipoira ^av:a eictSe^ovrat eitKJcao&ai, SITSsx TEAETQN, SCTS 7,aL s$ aXXvj^ tivoc y|X/,rr^ ^paatv ococ TS stvai oc Ta^ta Sovrs^ 5 ja(5ccv |ioi ys 5o%ooaL x. L /. e.u For ifthey profess themselves able to drawdown the moon, to obscure the sun, to produce stormy and pleasant weather, as likewise showers of rain, and heats, and to renderthe sea and earth barren, and to accomplish*Entiead, i. book 6; and ix. book 9.t Plotinus, Porphyry, lamblichus, Proclus, Longinus, and theirassociates.t Epilepsy.

"""112 Eleusinian andevery thing else of this kind whether;theyderive this knowledge from the Mysteries, orfrom some other mental effort or meditation,they appear to me to be impious, from thestudy of such concerns." From all which iseasy to see, how egregiously Dr. Warburtonwas mistaken, when, in page 231 of his DivineLegation, he asserts, that the light beheldin the Mysteries, was nothing more than anilluminated image which the priests hadthoroughlypurified."But he is likewise no less mistaken, intransferring the injunction given in one ofthe Magic Oracles of Zoroaster, to the business of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and in perverting the meaning of the Oracle s admonition. For thus the Oracle speaks :Xsov]*;aoioirrovOu yap ypY)xs .voo? as pXerceiv rcpiv ccojxa isThat is,Invoke not the self-repealing imageof Nature, for you must not behold thesethings before your body has received thethatinitiation."Upon which he observes,

"Bacchic Mysteries. 113the self-revealing image was only a diffusiveshining light, as the name partly declares." *But this is a piece of gross ignorance, fromwhich he might have been freed by an attentive perusal of Proclus on the Timcens ofPlato :ries we learn,for in these truly divine Commentathat the moonf isthe causeof nature to mortals, and the self-revealingimage of the fountain of nature."aiTca iocs d-VTjTOtc TV]? <poGcoc,EeXTO aotoxcovojaa nrjc xrjatac <puaea>s.If the reader isdesirous of knowing what we are to understand by the fountain of nature of which themoon is the image, let him attend to the following information, derived from a long anddeep study of the ancient theology :for fromhence I have learned, that there are manydivine fountains contained in the essence ofthe demiurgus of the world ;and that amongthese there are three of a very distinguishedrank, namely, the fountain of souls, or Juno,the fountain of virtues, or Minerva and* Divine Legation, p. 231.t /. e. The Mother-Goddess, Isis or Demeter, symbolized asSelene or the Moon.

"114 Elemiwian andthe fountain of nature, or Diana. This lastfountain too immediately depends on thevivifying goddess Rhea; and was assumedby the Demiurgus among the rest, as necessary to the prolific* reproduction of himself.And this information will enable us besidesto explain the meaning of the following passages in Apuleius, which, from not beingunderstood, have induced the moderns tobelieve that Apuleius acknowledged but onedeity alone. The first of these passages isin the beginning of the eleventh book of hisMetamorphoses, in which the divinity of themoon is represented as addressing him inthis sublime manner : En adsum tuis commota,Luci, precibus, rerum Natura parens,elementorum omnium domina, seculorumprogenies initialis, summa numinum, reginaManium, prima caelitum, Deorum Dearumquefacies uniformis: quse cseli luminosaculmina, maris salubria flamina, inferorum deploratasilentia nutibus meis dispenso: cujusnumen unicum, multiformi specie, ritu vario,nomine multijugo totus veneratur orbis. Meprimigenii Phryges Pessinunticarn nominant

"Deum matrem.Cecropiam Minervam ;ilhnc fluctuantes CypriiPaphiam Venerem :Bacchic Mysteries. 115Hinc Autochthones AtticiCretes sagittif eriDictynnam Dianam ;Siculi trilingues StygiamProserpinam Eleusinii vetustam Beam;Cererem: Junonem alii, alii Bellonam, aliiHecaten, Rhamnusiam alii.Et qui nascentisdei Solis inchoantibus radiis illustrantur,^Ethiopes, Ariique, priscaque doctriiia pollentes^Egyptii caerimoniis me prorsus propriispercolentes appellant vero nomine reginamIsidem." That is, Behold, Lucius, movedwith thy supplications, I am present; I,who am Nature, the parent of things, mistress of allthe elements, initial progeny ofthe ages, the highest of the divinities, queenof departed spirits,the first of the celestials, of gods and goddesses the sole likenessof all :who rule by my nod the luminousheights of the heavens, the salubrious breezesof the sea, and the woful silences of the infernal regions, and whose divinity, in itselfbut one, is venerated by all the earth, inmany characters, various rites,and differentappellations. Hence the primitive Phry-

""116 Bacchic Mysteries.gians call me Pessinuntica, the mother ofthe gods the Attic;Autochthons, CecropianMinerva ;the wave-surrounded Cyprians,Paphian Venus ;Dictynnian Diana;the arrow-bearing Cretans,the three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpina ;and the inhabitants of Eleusis, the ancient goddess Ceres.Some, again, have invoked me as Juno, othersas Bellona, others as Hecate, and others asEhamiiusia : and those who are enlightenedby the emerging rays of the rising sun, the^Ethiopians, and Aryans, and likewise theEgyptians powerful in ancient learning, whoreverence my divinity with ceremonies perfectly proper, call me by my true appellationQueen Isis."And, again, in another place ofthe same book, he says of the moon :TeSuperi colunt, observant Inferi : tu rotasorbem, luminas Solem, regis mundum, calcasTartarum. Tibi respondent sidera, gaudentnumina, redeunt tempora, serviunt elementa,etc." That is, The supernal gods reverencethee, and those in the realms beneath attentively do homage to thy divinity. Thoudost make the universe revolve, illuminate

Bacchic Mysteries. 119the sun, govern the world, and tread on Tartarus. The stars answer thee, the gods rejoice, the hours and seasons return by thyappointment, and the elements serve thee."For all this easily follows, if we consider it asaddressed to the fountain-deity of nature,subsisting in the Demiurgus, and which isthe exemplar of that nature which flourishesin the lunar orb, and throughout the material world, and from which the deity itselfof the moon originally proceeds. Hence, asthis fountain immediately depends on thelife-giving goddess Rhea, the reason is obvious, why it was formerly worshiped as themother of the gods and as all the mundane:are contained in the super-mundane gods,the other appellations are to be considered asnames of the several mundane divinities produced by this fountain, and in whose essencethey are likewise contained.But to proceed with our inquiry, I shall,in the next place, prove that the differentpurifications exhibited in these rites,in conjunction with initiation and the epopteiawere symbols of the gradation of disciplines

120 Eleusinian andAndrequisite to the reascent of the soul.*the first part, indeed, of this propositionrespecting the purifications, immediately follows from the testimony of Plato in the passage already adduced, in which he assertsthat the ultimate design of the Mysteries wasto lead us back to the principles from whichwe originally fell. For if the Mysteries weresymbolical, as is universally acknowledged,this must likewise be true of the purifications as a part of the Mysteries ;and as inward purity, of which the external is symbolical, can only be obtained by the exerciseof the virtues, itevidently follows that thepurifications were symbols of the purifyingmoral virtues. And the latter part of theproposition may be easily inferred, from thepassage alreadycited from the Phcedrus ofPlato, in which he compares initiationandthe epopteia to the blessed vision of thehigher intelligible natures; an employmentwhich can alone belong to the exercise ofcontemplation. But the whole of this isrendered indisputable by the following re-*/. e. to its former divine condition.

"Bacchic Mysteries.121markable testimony of Olympiodorus, in hisexcellent manuscript Commentary on thePhcedo of Plato.* "In the sacred rites," sayshe,popular purificationsare in the firstplace brought forth, and after these such asare more arcane. But, in the third place,collections of various things into one are received ;after which follows inspection. ^Theethical and political virtues therefore areanalogous to the apparent purifications ;thecathartic virtues which banish all externalimpressions, correspond tothe more arcanepurifications.^ The theoretical energies aboutintelligibles, are analogous to the collections ;and the contraction of these energies into an*We have taken the liberty to present the following version ofthis passage, as more correctly expressing the sense of the original : "At the holy places are first the public purifications. Withthese the more arcane exercises follow ;and after those the obligations are (aostassi;)taken, and the initiations follow, endingwith the epoptic disclosures. So, as will be seen, the moral andsocial (political) virtues are analogous to the public purifications ;the purifying virtues in their turn, which take the place of alltheexternal matters, correspond to the more arcane disciplines ;contemplative exercises concerning things to be known intuitively to the taking of the obligations ; the including of them asan undivided whole, to the initiations ;and the simple ocular viewof simple objects to the epoptic revelations."

122 Eleusinian andindivisible nature, corresponds to initiation.And the simple self-inspection of simpleforms, is analogous to epoptic vision, ".ysvTOItspoic /jfoovco (J-svC0itat itav8iQ(iot xafl-apasi.Ei~a STTI Taorai owcoppirjtotspaf (XSTCC 5sc* sv TsXsi 5s STTOTUTSIOLI. AvaXo-TOIVOV at {J,V Tjfl-txat%at iroXiTtxai apstac,TOC^ s[x?pavai xafl-apiJio^.At 5soaat aicooxeoaCovcat Tuavia Ta S^TG^AtTCspc ta voTjiats svspyscac tac^ aoaTaasaiv. At 5s T^TOajxspLaiovtat^At 5s aTuXat TCOV dirXwv siocov aoio kaisTuoTCTetatc. And here I can not refrain fromnoticing, with indignation mingled with pity,the ignorance and arrogance of modern critics, who pretend that this distribution of thevirtues is entirely the invention of the latterPlatonists, and without any foundation in thewritings of Plato.* And among the supporters of such ignorance, I am sorry to find* The writings of Augustin handed Neo-Platonism down to posterity as the original and esoteric doctrine of the first followersof Plato. He enumerates the causes which led, in his opinion, tothe negative position assumed by the Academics, and to the con-

Bacchic Mysteries. 123Fabricius, in his prolegomena to the life ofProclus. For nothing can be more obviousto everyreader of Plato than that in hisLaivs he treats of the social and politicalvirtues ;in his Phcedo, and seventh book ofthe Republic, of the purifying; and in hisTliceatetus, of the contemplativerand sublimervirtues. This observation is, indeed,so obvious, in the Phcedo, with respect to thepurifying virtues, that no one but a verbalcritic could read this dialogue and be insensible to its truth : for Socrates in the verybeginning expressly asserts that it is thebusiness of philosophers to study to die, andto be themselves dead,* and yet at the sametime reprobates suicide. What then can suchcealment of their real opinions. He describes Plotinus as a resuscitated Plato. Against the Academics,iii. 17-20.*Phcedo, 21. KivSovsoooai *( r/ P oao: wf/wow.v op&cog arctojAsvoi<p.Xo30-p-.a<; XsXY]{hvca ta? aUouc, or. OD^V aXXo auto-. eittrrjSeooooivYJ aTcoftvrjaxeiv is vcai isftvavai. I. e. For as many as rightly applythemselves to philosophy seem to have left others ignorant, thatthey themselves aim at nothing else than to die and to be dead."Elsewhere (31) Socrates says While we live, we shall ap:proach nearest to intuitive knowledge,if we hold no communionwith the body, except, what absolute necessity requires, nor sufferourselves to be pervaded by its nature, but purify ourselves fromit until God himself shall release us."

124 Eleusiriian anda death mean but symbolical or philosophicaldeath I And what is this but the true exercise of the virtues which purify ? Butthese poor men read only superficially, orfor the sake of displaying some criticalacumen in verbal emendations ;and yet withsuch despicable preparations for philosophical discussion, they have the impudence tooppose their puerileconceptions to the decisions of men of elevated genius and profound investigation, who, happily freed fromthe danger and drudgery of learning anyforeign language,* directed all their attentionwithout restraint to the acquisition of themost exalted truth.\It only now remains that we prove, in thelast place, that a representation of the descentof the soul formed no inconsiderable part ofthese mystic shows.This, indeed,is doubt-* It is to be regretted, nevertheless, that our author had notrisked the "danger and drudgery" of learning Greek, so as tohave rendered fuller justice to his subject, and been of greaterservice to his readers. We are conscious that those who are toolearned in verbal criticism are prone to overlook the real purportof the text. A. W.

Bacchic Mysteries.125less occultly intimated by Virgil, when speaking of the souls of the blessed in Elysium, headds,Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos,Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno :Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,Rursus et incipiaiit in corpore velle reverti.*But openly by Apuleius in the followingprayer which Psyche addresses to Ceres:Per ego te frugiferam tuam dextram istamdeprecor, per Isetificas messium cserimonias,per tacita sacra cistarum, et per famulorumtuorum draconumpinnata curricula, et glebae.Siculse fulcamina, et currum rapacem,et terramtenacem,et illuminarum Proserpinsenuptiarum demeacula, et csetera quae silentiotegit Eleusis, Atticae sacrarium ; miserandsePsyches animse, supplicis tuae, subsiste.f Thatbeseech thee, by thy fruit-bearing rightis, "I* "All these, after they have passed away a thousand years, aresummoned by the divine one in great array, to the Letheean river.In this way they become forgetful of their former earth-life, andrevisit the vaulted realms of the world, willing again to returninto bodies."t APULEIUS: The Golden Ass. (Story of Cupid and Psyche),book vi.

"126 Bacchic Mysteries.hand, by the joyful ceremonies of harvest, bythe occult sacred rites of thy cistee,* and bythe winged car of thy attending dragons, andthe furrows of the Sicilian soil,and the rapacious chariot (or car of the ravisher), andthe dark descending ceremonies attending themarriage of Proserpina, and the ascendingrites which accompanied the lighted returnof thy daughter, and ly other arcanawhich Eleusis the Attic sanctuary concealsin profound silence, relieve the sorrows ofthy wretched suppliant:Psyche. For theabduction of Proserpina signifies the descentof the soul, as is evident from the passagepreviously adduced from Olympiodorus, inwhich he says the soul descends Corically ; fand this is confirmed by the authority of thephilosopher Sallust, who observes, That theabduction of Proserpina is fabled to havetaken place about the opposite equinoctial;and bythis the descent of souls [intoearth-* Chests or baskets, made of osiers, in which were enclosed themystical images and utensils which the uninitiated were not permitted to behold.1 7. e. as to death ; analogously to the descent of Kore"-Persephoneto the Underworld.

Ceres lends her ear to Triptolemus.Proserpiiia aiid Pluto.Jupiter augry.

Bacchic Mysteries. 129life] is implied." Flspt youv rqv evavnav cavj-7) TTJS Kop7] dpirayv] [AoftoXoysiTai ysvs3-6 STJ xaftoSoc sa-i twv (J/o/CDV.*And asthe abduction of Proserpina was exhibited inthe dramatic representations of the Mysteries, as is clear from Apuleius, it indisputably follows, that this represented the descentof the soul, and its union with the dark tenement of the body.descent of the soul, and itsIndeed, if the ascent andcondition whileconnected with a material nature, were represented in the dramatic shows of the Mysteries, it is evident that this was implied bythe rape of Proserpina. And the formerpart of this assertion is manifest from Apuleius, when describing his initiation, he says,in the passage already adduced : "Iapproached the confines of death, and havingtrodden on the threshold of Proserpina,/ returned, having been carried through allthe elements" And as to the latter part, ithas been amply proved, from the highestauthority,course.in the first division of this dis*De Diis et Mundo, p. 251.

""130 EleMsinian andNor must the reader be disturbed on finding that, according to Porphyry, as cited byEusebius,* the fable of Proserpina alludes toseed placed in the ground ;for this is likewise true of the fable, considered accordingto its material explanation. But it will beproper on this occasion to rise a little higher,and consider the various species of fables,according to their philosophical arrangement ;since by this means the present subject will receive an additional elucidation,and the wisdom of the ancient authors offables will be vindicated from the unjustaspersions of ignorant declaimers. I shallpresent the reader, therefore, with the following interesting division of fables, fromthe elegant book of the Platonic philosopher Sallust,Of fables,"on the gods and the universe.says he,some are theological,others physical, others animastic (or relatingto soul), others material, and lastly, othersmixed from these. Fables are theologicalwhich relate to nothing corporeal, but contemplate the very essences of the gods ;* Evang. Prcepar. book iii.chap. 2.such as

Bacchic Mysteries. 131the fable which asserts that Saturn devouredhis children :for it insinuates nothing morethan the nature of an intellectual (or intuitional) god ;into itself.since every such intellect returnsWe regard fables physically whenwe speak concerning the operations of thegods about the world as when;consideringSaturn the same as Time, and calling theparts of time the children of the universe, weassert that the children are devoured by theirparent.But we utter fables in a spiritualmode, when we contemplate the operationsbecause the intellections of ourof the soul ;souls, though by a discursive energy they goforth into other things, yet abide in theirparents.Lastly, fables are material, such asthe Egyptians ignorantly employ, considering and calling corporeal natures divinities :such as Isis, earth, Osiris, humidity, Typhon,heator, again, denominating Saturn water,Adonis, fruits, and Bacchus, wine.And, indeed, to assert that these are dedicated to thegods, in the same manner as herbs, stones, andanimals, is the part of wise men but to call;them gods is alone the province of fools and

132 Eleusinian andmadmen;unless we speak in the same manner as when, from established custom, we callthe orb of the sun and its rays the sun itself.But we may perceive the mixed kind offables, as well in many other particulars, aswhen they relate that Discord, at a banquetof the gods, threw a golden apple, and thata dispute about itarising among the goddesses, they were sent by Jupiter to take thejudgment of Paris, who, charmed with thebeauty of Venus, gave her the apple in preference to the rest. For in this fable thebanquet denotes the super-mundane powersof the gods and on this account;they subsist in conjunction with each other :but thegolden apple denotes the world, which, onaccount of its composition from contrarynatures, is not improperly said to be thrownby Discord, or strife. But again, since different gifts are imparted to the world by different gods, they appear to contest with eachother for the apple. And a soul living according to sense (for this is Paris),not perceiving other powers in the universe, assertsthat the apple is alone the beauty of Venus.

Bacchic Mysteries.133But of these species of fables, such as aretheological belong to philosophersthe phys;ical and spiritual to poets but the mixed to;the first of the initiatory rites (teXstatc) ;since the intention of all mystic ceremoniesis to conjoin us with the world and theThus far the excellent Sallust : fromwhence it is evident,that the fable of Proserpina, as belonging to the Mysteries, isproperly of a mixed nature, or composedfrom all the four species of fables, the theological [spiritual or psychical],and material.But in order to understand this divinefable, it is requisite to know, that accordingto the arcana of the ancient theology, theCoric * order . (or the order belonging toProserpina) is twofold, one part of which issuper-mundane, subsisting with Jupiter, orthe Demiurgus, and thus associated with himestablishing one artificer of divisible natures;but the other is mundane, in which Proser-* Coric from KopYj, Kore, a name of Proserpina. The name isderived by E. Pococke from the Sanscrit Goure.

"134 Eleusinian andpina is said to be ravished by Pluto, and toanimate the extremities, of the universe."Hence," says Proclus,accordingto thestatement of theologists, who delivered tous the most holy Mysteries, she [Proserpina]abides on high in those dwellings of hermother which she preparedfor her in inaccessible places, exempt from the sensibleworld. But she likewise dwells beneathwith Pluto, administering terrestrial concerns, governing the recesses of the earth,supplying life to the extremities of the universe, and imparting soul to beings whichare rendered by her inanimate and dead."Kai yap TJTCOV ^-soXcycov cpY]jji7],TCOV ta^ dyicocarasYjjJLtvsv EXsoaivi uT(OV, aVO), [1V aOTYjV Vsv apaioic s^pTjjisvo^c^o^>^OLVTO^. Katco Ss(jtsTa nXcoTcovcc TCOV /^ovccov eirap/stv,TOOC TYJC YV]^ [Jl^ODC TlCTpO^DlV,%Ctts^atotc ^^ icavtoc?tote rcap saotcov.^ JHence we may easily perceive thatPROCLUS: Theology of Plato, p. 371.

"""Bacchic Mysteries. 135this fable is of the mixed kind, one part ofwhich relates to the super-mundane establishment of the secondary cause of life,* and theother to the procession or outgoingof lifeand soul to the farthest extremity of things.,/Let us therefore more attentively considerthe fable, in that part of it which is symbolical of the descent of souls ;in order towhich, it will be requisite to premise anabridgment of the arcane discourse, respectingthe wanderings of Ceres, as preserved byMinutius Felix. Proserpina," says he, thedaughter of Ceres by Jupiter, as she wasgathering tender flowers, in the new spring,was ravished from her delightful abodes byPluto ;and being carried from thencethrough thick woods, and over a length ofsea, was brought by Pluto into a cavern,the residence of departed spirits, over whomButshe afterward ruled with absolute sway.* Plotinus taught the existence of three hypostases in the DivineNature. There was the Demiurge, the God of Creation andProvidence ;the Second, the Intelligible, self-contained and immutable Source of life ;and above all, the One, who like theZervane Akercne of the Persians, is above allan Absolute LoveIntellect." A. W. fBeing, a pure will,

136 Bacchic Mysteries.JCeres, upon discovering the loss of her daughter, with lighted torches, and begirt with aserpent, wandered over the whole earth forthe purpose of finding her till she came toEleusis ;there she found her daughter, andalso taught to the Eleusinians the cultivationof corn."" Now in this fable Ceres represents1the evolution of that intuitional part of ournature which we properly denominate intellect* (or the unfolding of the intuitionalfacultyof the mind from its quietand collected condition in the world of thought) ;and Proserpina that living, self -moving, andanimating part which we call soul.But lestthis comparing of unfolded intellect to Ceresshould seem ridiculous to the reader, unacquainted with the Orphic theology, it is necessary to inform him that this goddess, fromher intimate union with Rhea, in conjunction with whom she produced Jupiter, is* Also denominated by Kant, Pure reason, and by Prof. Cocker,Intuitive reason.It was considered by Plato, as"not amenable tothe conditions of time and space, but in a particular sense, asdwelling in eternity :and therefore capable of beholding eternalrealities, and coming into communion with absolute beauty, andgoodness, and truth that is, with God, the Absolute Being."

Proserpina. Greek. Bacchus. India.Ceres. Roman. Demeter. Etruscan.

Bacchic Mysteries. 139evidently of a Saturnian and zoogonic, or intellectual and vivific rank ;and hence, as weare informed by the philosopher Sallust,amongthe mundane divinities she is thedeity of the planet Saturn.*So that in consequence of this, our intellect (or intuitivefaculty) in a descending state must aptlysymbolize with the divinity of Ceres. ButPluto signifies the whole of a materialnature ;since the empire of this god, according to Pythagoras, commences downwardfrom the Galaxy or milky way. And thecavern signifies the entrance, as it were, intothe profundities ofaccomplished bysuch a nature, which isthe soul s union with thisterrestrial body. But in order to underderstandperfectly the secret meaning of theother parts of this fable, it will be necessaryto give a more explicit detail of the particulars attending the abduction, from the beautiful poem of Claudian on this subject.From*Hence we may perceive the reason whyCeres as well as Saturn was denominated a legislative deity; and why illuminationswere used in the celebration of the Saturnalia, as well as in theEleusinian Mysteries.

140 Bacchic Mysteries.this elegant production we learn that Ceres,who was afraid lest some violence should beoffered to Proserpina, on account of her inimitable beauty, conveyed her privately toSicily,and concealed her in a house built onpurpose by theCyclopes,while she herselfdirects her course to the temple of Cybele,the mother of the gods.Here, then, we seethe first cause of the soul s descent, namely,the abandoning of a life wholly according tothe higher intellect, which is occultly signified by the separation of Proserpina fromCeres.Afterward, we are told that Jupiterinstructs Venus to go to this abode, and betray Proserpina from her retirement, thatPluto may be enabled to carry her away;and toprevent any suspicion in the virgin smind, he commands Diana and Pallas togoin company. The three goddesses arriving,find Proserpina at work on a scarf for hermother ;in which she had embroidered theprimitive chaos, and the formation of theworld. Now by Venus in this part of thenarration we must understand desire, whicheven in the celestialregions (for such is the

Venus, Diana, and Pallas visit Proserpina.

Bacchic Mysteries. 143residence of Proserpina till she is ravished byPhi to), begins silently and stealthily to creepinto the recesses of the soul. By Minervawe must conceive the rational power of thesold, and by Diana, nature, or the merelynatural and vegetable part of our composition ;both which are now ensnared throughthe allurements of desire. And lastly, theweb in which Proserpina had displayed allthe fair variety of the material world, beautifully representsillusive operations throughthe commencement of thewhich the soulbecomes ensnared with the beauty of imaginative forms. But let us for a while attendto the poet s elegant description of her employment and abode:Devenere locum, Cereris quo tecta iiitebantCyclopum firmata manu. Stant ardua ferroMgenia ;ferrati postes immensaque nectit:Claustra ehalybs. Nullum tanto sudore Pyracmon,Nee Steropes, construxit opus nee talibus unquam:Spiravere notis animae : nee flumine tantoIncoctum maduit lassa fornaee metallum.Atria vestit ebur :trabibus solidatur aenisCulmen, et in eelsas surgunt electra eolumnas.Ipsa domura tenero nmlcens Proserpina cantuIrrita texebat rediturae munera matri.Hie elementoruin seriein sedesque pateruas

144 Eleusinian andInsignibat aeu :veterem qua lege tumultumDiscrevit natura parens, et semina justisDiscessere locis :quidquid leve fertur in altum :In medium graviora cadunt : ineanduit tether :Egit flamma polum : fluxit mare : terra pependitNee color unus inest. Stellas accendit in auro.Ostro fundit aquos, attollit litora gemmis,Filaque mentitos jam jam caelantia fluctusArte tument.Credas illidi cautibus algam,Et raueum bibulis inserpere murmur arenis.Addit quinque plagas: mediam subtemine rubroObsessam fervore notat :squalebat adustusLimes, et assiduo sitiebant stamina sole.Vitales utrimque duas ;Temperies habitanda viris.quas mitis oberratTurn fine supremoTorpentes traxit geminas, brumaque perenniFsedat, et aaterno contristat frigore telas.Nee non et patrui pingit sacraria Ditis,Fatalesque sibi manes. Nee def uit omen.Prsescia nam subitis madtierunt fletibus ora.After this, Proserpina, forgetfulof her parent s commands, is represented as venturingfrom her retreat, through the treacherouspersuasions of Venus:Impulit Jonios pnemisso lumine fluctusNondum pura dies : tremulis vibravit in undisArdor, et errantes ludunt per caarula flammse.Jamque audax animi, fidaeque oblita parentis,Fraude Dionaaa riguos Proserpina saltus(Sic Parcaa voluere) petit.

"BacchicMysteries.And this with the greatest propriety: foroblivion necessarily follows a remission ofintellectual action, and isas necessarily attended with the allurements of desire.*Noris her dress less symbolical of the acting of*When the person turns the back upon his higher faculties, anddisregards the communications which he receives through themfrom the world of unseen realities, an oblivion ensues of theirexistence, and the person is next brought within the province andoperation of lower and worldly ambitions, such as a love of power,passion for riches, sensual pleasure, etc.or apostasy of the soul,This is a descent, fall,a separation from the sources of divinelife and ravishment into the region of moral death.In the Phwdrus, in the allegory of the Chariot and WingedSteeds, Plato represents the lower or inferior part of man s natureas dragging the soul down to the earth, and subjecting it to theslavery of corporealconditions. Out of these conditions therearise numerous evils, that disorder the mind and becloud the reason, for evil is inherent to the condition of finite and multiformbeing into which we have "fallen by our own The fault."present earthly life is a fall and a punishment. The soul is nowdwelling in"the grave which we call the In its body." incorporate state, and previous to the discipline of education, the rational"element is asleep."Life is more of a dream than a reality."Men are utterly the slaves of sense, the sport of phantoms and"illusions. We now resemble those captives chained in a subterraneous so cave," poetically described in the seventh book of TheRepublic; their backs are turned to the light, and consequentlythey see but the shadows of the objects which pass behind them,"and they attribute to these shadows a perfect Theirreality."sojourn upon earth is thus a dark imprisonment in the body, adreamy exile from their proper home."Cocker s Greek Philosophy.

146 Eleusinian andthe soul in such a state, principally accordingto the energies and promptings of imagination and nature. For thus her garments arebeautifully described by the poet :Quas inter Cereris proles, nunc gloria matris,Mox dolor, sequali tendit per gramina passu,Nee membris nee honore minor ; potuitquePallas, si clipeum, si ferret spicula, Plioebe.Collectae tereti nodantur jaspide vestes.Pectinis ingenio nunquam felicior artiContigit eventus.Nullse sic consona telgeFila, nee in tantum veri duxere figuram.Hie Hyperionis Solem de sernine nasciFecerat, et pariter, sed forma dispare lunam,Aurora? noctisque duces. Cunabula TethysPrrabet, et infantes gremio solatur anhelos,Caaruleusque sinus roseis radiatur alumnis.Invalidum dextro portat Titana lacertoNondum luce gravem, nee pubescentibus alteCristatum radiis :primo clementior aevoFingitur, et tenerum vagitu despuit ignem.LsBva parte soror vitrei libamina potatUberis, et parvo signatur tempora cornu.In which description the sun represents thephantasy, and the moon, nature, as is wellknown to every tyro in the Platonic philosophy. They are likewise, with great propriety, described in their infantine state : for

Bacchic Mysteries. 147these energies do not arrive to perfectionprevious to the sinking of the soul into thedark receptacle of matter. After this we behold her issuing on the plain with Minervaand Diana, and attended by a beauteoustrain of nymphs, who are evident symbols ofworld of generation,* and are, therefore, theproper companions of the soul about to fallinto its fluctuating realms.But the design of Proserpina, in venturingfrom her retreat, is beautifully significant ofher approaching descent: for she ramblesfrom home for the purpose of gatheringflowers ;and this in a lawn replete with themost enchanting variety, and exhaling themost delicious odors. This is a manifestimage of the soul operating principally according to the natural and external life, andso becoming effeminated and ensnaredthrough the delusive attractions of sensibleform. Minerva (the rational faculty in thisto thecase), likewise gives herself wholly*PORPHYRY: Cave of the Nymphs. In the. later Greek,signified a bride.

148 Eleusinian anddangerous employment, and abandons theproper characteristicsdestructive revels of desire.of her nature for theAll which isthus described with the utmost elegance by the poet :Forma loci superat flores :curvata tumoreParvo planities, et mollibus edita clivisCreverat in eollem.Vivo de pumice fontesRoscida mobilibus lambebant gramina rivis.Silvaque torrentes ramorum frigore solesTemperat, et medio brumam sibi vindicat aestu.Apta fretis abies, bellis accomoda cornus,Quercus amica Jovi, tumulos tectura cupressus,Ilex plena favis, venturi prosscia laurus.Fluctuat hie denso crispata cacumine buxus,Hie ederee serpunt, hie pampinus induit ulmos.Haud procul inde lacus (Pergum dixere Sicani)Panditur, et nemorum frondoso margine cinctusVicinis pallescit aquis: admittit in altumCernentes oculos, et late pervius humorDucit inoffensus liquido sub gurgite visus,Imaque perspicui prodit secreta profundi.Hue elapsa cohors gaudent per florea ruraHortarur Cytherea, legant. Nunc ite, sorores,Dum matutinis prsesudat solibus aer :Dum meus humectat flaventes Lucifer agros,Rotanti prasvectus equo.Carpit signa sui.Invasere cohors.Sic fata, dolorisVaries turn csetera saltusCredas examina fundiHyblseum raptura thymum, cum cerea reges

Bacchic Mysteries. 149Castra movent, fagique cava demissus ab alvoMellifer electis exercitus obstrepit herbis.Pratorum spoliatur honos. Hae lilia fuscisIntexit violis : hauc rnollis amaracus ornat :Hsec graditur stellata rosis ;haec alba ligustris.Te quoque flebilibus meerens, Hyacinthe, figuris,Narcissumque metunt, nunc inelita germina veris,Proestantes olirn pueros. Tu natus Amyclis :Hunc Helicon genuit. Te disci perculit error :Hunc fontis decepit amor. Te fronte retusaDeluis, hunc fracta Cephissus arundine luget.^JEstuat ante alias avido fervore legendiFrugifera3 spes una Deae. Nunc vimine textoRidentes calathos spoliis agrestibus implet:Nunc sociat flores, seseque ignara corouat.Augurium fatale tori. Quin ipsa tubarumArmorumque potens, dextram quafortia turbatAgmina ; qua stabiles portas et raeenia vellit,Jam levibus laxat studiis, hastamque reponit,Insolitisque docet galeam mitescere sertis.Ferratus lascivit apex, horrorque recessitMartius, et cristse pacato fulgure vernant.Nee quBB Parthenium canibus scrutatur odorem,Aspernata choros, libertatemque comarumInjecta tantum voluit frenare corona.But there is a circumstance relative to thenarcissus which must not be passed over insilence : I mean its being, according to Ovid,the metamorphosis of a youth who fell avictim to the love of his own corporealform; the secret meaning of which most

150 Bacchic Mysteries.admirably accords with the rape ofProserpina, which, according to Homer, was theimmediate consequence of gathering thiswonderful flower.* vFor by Narcissus fallingin love with his shadow in the limpid streamwe may behold an exquisitely apt representation of a soul vehemently gazingon theflowing condition of a material body, and inconseqiience of this, becoming enamoredwith a corporeal life, which is nothing morethan the delusive image of the true man, orthe rational and immortal soul. Hence, byan immoderate attachment to this unsubstantialmockery and gliding semblance of thereal soul, such an one becomes, at length,wholly changed,as far as is possibleto hisnature, into a vegetive condition of being,into a beautiful but transient flower, that is,into a corporeal life,or a life totally consist-* HOMER: Hymn to Ceres. "We were plucking the pleasantflowers, the beauteous crocus, and the Iris, and hyacinth, and thenarcissus, which, like the crocus, the wide earth produced. I wasplucking them with joy, when the earth yawned beneath, and outleaped the Strong King, the Many-Eeceiver, and went bearing me,grieving much, beneath the earth in h.is golden chariot, and Icriedaloud."

Proserpina gathering Flowers.Pluto carrying off Proserpina.

Bacchic Mysteries. 153ing in the mere operationsof nature. Proserpina, therefore, or the soul, at the veryinstant of her descent into matter, is, withthe utmost propriety, represented as eagerlyengaged in plucking this fatal flower ;forher faculties at this period are entirely occupied with a life divided about the fluctuating condition of bodyJAfter this, Pluto, forcing his passagethrough the earth, seizes on Proserpina,and carries her away with him, notwithstanding the resistance of Minerva andDiana. They, indeed, are forbid by Jupiter,who in this place signifies Fate, to attempther deliverance. By this resistance of Minerva and Diana no more is signified thanthat the lapse of the soul into a materialnature is contrary to the genuinewish andproper condition, as well of the corporeal lifedepending on her essence,as of her true andrational nature. Well, therefore, may thesoul, in such a situation, pathetically exclaimwith Proserpina :

154 Bacchic Mysteries.O male dileeti flores, despectaque matris*Consilia : O Veneris deprensse serius artes !But, according to Minutius Felix, Proserpinawas carried by Pluto through thick woods,and over a length of sea, and brought into acavern, the residence of the dead : where bywoods a material nature is plainly implied, aswe have already observed in the first part ofthis discourse; and where the reader maylikewise observe the agreement of the description in this particular with that of Virgilin the descent of his hero :Tenent media omnia silvceCoeytusque sinuque labens, circumvenit atro.tIn these words the woods are expresslymentioned; and the ocean has an evidentagreement with Cocytus, signifying the outflowing condition of a material nature, andthe sorrows and sufferings attending its connection with the soul.*Oh flowers fatally dear, and the mother s cautions despised:Oh cruel artsof cunning Venus!t Woods cover all the middle " space and Cocytus gliding on,surrounds it with his dusky bosom."

Bacchic Mysteries. 157Pluto hurries Proserpina into the infernalregions in other words, the soul is sunk:into the profound depth and darkness of amaterial nature. A description of her marriage next succeeds, her union with the darktenement of the body :Jam suus inferno proeesserat Hesperus orbiDueitur in thalamum virgo. Stat pronuba juxtaStellaiites Nox picta sinus, tangensque cubileOmina perpetuo genitalia federe sancit.Night is with great beauty and propriety introduced as standing by the nuptial couch,and confirming the oblivious league. Forthe soul through her union with a materialbody becomes an inhabitant of darkness, andsubject to the empire of night in conse;quence of which she dwells wholly with delusive phantoms, and till she breaks herfetters is deprived of the intuitive perception of that which is real and true.In the next place, we are presented withthe following beautiful and pathetic description of Proserpina appearing in a dream to

158 Eleusinian andCeres, and bewailing her captive and miserable condition :Sed tune ipsa, sui jam non ambagibus ullisNuntia, materna facies ingesta sopori.Namque videbatur tenebroso obtecta recessuCarceris, et saevis Proserpina vincta catenis,Non qualem roseis nuper convallibus ^tneeSuspexere Deae.Squalebat pulchrior auroCsesaries, et nox oculorum infecerat ignes.Exhaustusque gelu pallet rubor.Ille superbiFlammeus oris honos, et non cessura pruinisMembra colorantur picei ealigine regni.Ergo hanc ut dubio vix tandem agnoscere visuEvaluit :cujus tot paenae criminis ? inquit.Unde haec informis macies ?In me saevitiae est?Cui tanta facultasRigid! cur vincula ferriVix aptanda feris molles meruere lacerti ?Tu, mea tu proles ? An vana fallimur umbra ?Such, indeed, is the wretched situation ofthe soul when profoundly merged in a corporeal nature. She not only becomes captiveand fettered, but loses all her original splendor ;she is defiled with the impurity of matter ;and the sharpness of her rational sightis blunted and dimmed through the thickdarkness of a material night. The readermay observe how Proserpina, being represented as confined in the dark recess of a

Bacchic Mysteries. 159prison, and bound with fetters, confirms theexplanationof the fable herebolical of the descent of the soul ;given as symfor such,as we have already largely proved, is thecondition of the soul from its union with thebody, according to the uniform testimony ofthe most ancient philosophers and priests.*After this, the wanderings of Ceres for thediscovery of Proserpina commence. She isdescribed, by Minutius Felix, as begirt witha serpent, and bearing two lighted torches inher hands ;but by Claudian, instead of beinggirt with a serpent, she commences hersearch by night in a car drawn by dragons.But the meaning of the allegory is the samein each ;for both a serpent and a dragon areemblems of a divisible life subjectto transitions and changes, with which, in this case,our intellectual (and diviner) part becomesconnected : since as these animals put offtheir skins, and become young again, so* Mantels, jAaviEi?, not Ispsi?.The term is more commonly translated prophets, and actually signifies persons gifted with divineinsight, through being in an entheastic condition, called also maniaor divine fury.

160 Bacchic Mysteries.the divisible life of the soul, falling intogeneration, is rejuvenizedcareer.tifully representgoingsin its subsequentBut what emblem can more beauthe evolutions and outof an intellectual nature into theregions of sense than the wanderings ofCeres by the light of torches through thedarkness of night, and continuing the pursuituntil she proceeds into the depths of Hadesitself ?For the intellectual part of the soul,*when it verges towards body, enkindles, indeed, a lightin its darkreceptacle,but becomes itself situated in obscurity: and, asProclus somewhere divinely observes, themortal nature by this means participates ofthe divine intellect, but the intellectual partis drawn down to death. The tears and lamentations too, of Ceres, in her course, are symbolical both of the providential operations ofXV * "The soul is a composite nature, is on one side linked to theeternal world, its essence being generated of that .ineffable element which constitutes the real, the immutable, and the permanent. It is a beam of the eternal Sun, a spark of the Divinity, anemanation from God. On the other hand, it is linked to the phenomenal or sensible world, its emotive part being formed of thatwhich is relative and phenomenal." Cocker.\/

Bacchic Mysteries. 163intellect about a mortal nature, and the miseries with which such operations are (withrespect to imperfect souls like ours) attended.Nor is it without reason that lacchus, orBacchus, is celebrated by Orpheus as thecompanion of her search : for Bacchus is theevident symbol of the imperfect energies ofintellect, and its scattering into the obscureand lamentable dominions of sense.But our explanation will receive additionalstrength from considering that these sacredrites occupied the space of nine days in theircelebration; and this, doubtless, because,according to Homer,* this goddess did notdiscover the residence of her daughter tillthe expiration of that period. For the soul,in falling from her original and divine abodein the heavens, passed through eight spheres,* "Hymn to Ceres. For nine days did holy Demeter perambulatethe earth . . and when the ninth shining morn had come, Hecatemet her, bringingnews."Apuleius also explains that at the initiation into the Mysteriesof Isis the candidate was enjoined to abstain from luxurious foodfor ten days, from the flesh of animals, and from wine.book xi. p. 239 (Bohn).Golden Ass,

164 Eleusinian andnamely, the fixed or inerratic sphere, andthe seven planets, assuming a different body,and employing different faculties in each ;and becomes connected with the sublunaryworld and a terrene body, as the ninth, andmost abject gradation of her descent.Hencethe first day of initiation into these mysticrites was called agurmos, i. e. according toHesychius, ekklesia et rcav TO aysLpojisvov,an assembly, and all collecting together :and this with the greatest propriety ; for,according to Pythagoras, "the people ofdreams are souls collected together in theGralaxy.*ATJJIO^s ovcipcovy,aat f }tr/ai,a aovayeaftai cpvpiv eic, TOViiav.f And from this partsouls first begin to descend. Afterof the heavensthis, thesoul falls from the tropic of Cancer into theplanet Saturn ;and to this the second dayof initiation was consecrated, which theycalled AXaSs [loatat, ["to the sea, ye initiated ones !"]because, says Meursius, on that*Only persons taking a view solely external will suppose thegalaxy to be literally the milky belt of stars in the sky.t Cave of the Nymphs.

Bacchic Mysteries. 165day the crier was accustomed to admonishthe mystae to betake themselves to the sea.Now the meaning of this will be easilyunderstood, by considering that, according tothe arcana of the ancient theology, as may belearned from Proclus, * the whole planetarysystem is under the dominion of Neptune;and this too is confirmed by MartianusCapella, who describes the several planetsas so many streams.fallsHence when the soulinto the planet Saturn, which Capellacompares to a river voluminous, sluggish,and cold, she then first merges herself intofluctuating matter, though purer than thatof a sublunary nature, and of which water isan ancient and significant symbol. Besides,the sea is an emblem of purity, as is evidentfrom the Orphic hymn to Ocean, inwhich thatdeity is called ftscov ayvtojia jisyioTGv, tlieonagnisma megiston, i. e. the greatest purifier ofthe gods : and Saturn, as we have alreadyobserved, is pure [intuitive] intellect. Andwhat still more confirms this observation is,that Pythagoras, as we are informed by Por-* Theology of Plato, book vi.

166 Bacchic Mysteries.phyry, in his life of that philosopher, symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. But theeighth day of initiation, which is symbolicalof the falling of the soul into the lunarorb,* was celebrated by the candidates by arepeated initiation and second sacred rites ;because the soul in this situation is about tobid adieu to every thing of a celestial nature ;to sink into a perfect oblivion of her divineorigin and pristine felicity ;and to rush profoundly into the region of dissimilitude,!ignorance, and error. And lastly, on theninth day, when the soul falls into the sublunary world and becomes united with a terrestrial body, a libation was performed, suchas is usual in sacred rites.Here the initiates,filling two earthen vessels of broad and spacious bottoms, which were called irA7]{j.o)(oac,plemokhoai, and xoToXoanoi, Jcotuluskoi, theformer of these words denoting vessels of aconical shape, and the latter small bowls or* The Moon typified the mother of gods and men. The souldescending into the lunar orb thus came near the scenes of earthlyexistence, where the life which is transmitted by generation hasopportunity to involve it about.t The condition most unlike the former divine estate.

Goddess Night.Three Graces.

Bacchic Mysteries. 169cups sacred to Bacchus, they placed onetowards the east, and the other towards thewest. And the first of these was doubtless,according to the interpretation of Proclus,sacred to the earth, and symbolical of thesoul proceeding from an orbicular figure,divine form, into a conical defluxion and terrene situation :or* but the other was sacred tothe soul, and symbolical of its celestial origin;since our intellect is the legitimate progenyof Bacchus.nified by the positionsels; for, accordingAnd this too was occultly sigof the earthen vesto a mundane distribution of the divinities, the eastern center ofthe universe, which is analogous to fire,belongs to Jupiter, who likewise governs thefixed and inerratic sphere ;and the westernto Pluto, who governs the earth, becausethe west is allied to earth on account ofits dark and nocturnal nature.f ./Again, accordingto Clemens Alexandrinus,the following confession was made by*An orbicular figure symbolized the maternal, and a cone themasculine divine Energy,t PROCLUS: Theology of Plato, book vi. c. 10.

"170 Eleusinian andthe new initiate in these sacred rites, in answer to the interrogations of the Hierophant :"I have fasted; I have drank the Cyceon;*I have taken out of the Cista, and placedwhat I have taken out into the Calathus;and alternately I have taken out of the Calathus and put into the Cista."KcfaTt TOEXsuoivuov {Jtoar^puov. Ev^atcoaa*tov ttuxstovcr sXa^ov en xiarqc, spyaoaqv.etc KaXaftov, %ac sx xaXafl-oo eiBut as this pertains to a circumstance attending the wanderings of Ceres,which formed the most mystic and emblematical part of the ceremonies, itis necessaryto adduce the following arcane narration,summarily collected from the writings ofArnobius : The goddess Ceres, when searching through the earth for her daughter, in thecourse of her wanderings arrived at theboundaries of Eleusis, in the Attic region, aplace which was then inhabited by a peoplecalled Autochthones, or descended from the*HOMER: Hymn to Ceres. "To her Metaneira gave a cup ofsweet wine, but she refused it ;but bade her to mix wheat andwater with pounded pennyroyal. Having made the mixture, shegave it to the goddess."

Bacchic Mysteries. 171earth, whose names were as follows : Bauboand Triptoleinus ; Dysaules, a goatherd Eu-;bulus, a keeper of swine ;and Eumolpus, ashepherd, from whom the race of the Eumolpidsedescended, and the illustrious name ofand who afterwardCecropidse was derived ;flourished as bearers of the caduceus, hierophants,and criers belongingto the sacredrites. Baubo, therefore, who was of thefemale sex, received Ceres, wearied withcomplicated evils, as her guest, and endeavored to soothe her sorrows by obsequiousaiid flattering attendance. For this purposeshe entreated her to pay attention to the refreshment of her body, and placed before hera mixed potion to assuage the vehemence ofher thirst. But the sorrowful goddess wasaverse from her solicitations, and rejected thefriendly officiousness of the hospitable dame.The matron, however, who was not easily repulsed, still continued her entreaties, whichwere as obstinately resisted by Ceres, whopersevered in her refusal with unshaken perBut whensistency and invincible firmness.Baubo had thus often exerted her endeavors

172 Bacchic Mysteries.to appease the sorrows of Ceres, but withoutany effect, she, at length, changed her arts,and determined to try if she could not exhilarate, by prodigies (or out-of-the-way expedients),a mind which she was not able toallure by earnest endeavors. For this purpose she uncovered that part of her body bywhich the female sex produces children andderives the appellation of woman.* This shecaused to assume a purer appearance, and asmoothness such as isparts of a stripling child.to the afflictedgoddess, and,those attempts which arefound in the privateShe then returnsin the midst ofusually employedto alleviate distress, she uncovers herself,and exhibits her secret parts; upon whichthe goddess fixed her eyes, and was divertedwith the novel method of mitigating the anguish of sorrow; and afterward, becomingmore cheerful through laughter, she assuagesher thirst with the mingled potion which shehad before despised."Thus far Arnobius;and the same narration is epitomized byClemens Alexandrinus, who is very indignant], gune, woman, from foovo?, goimos, Latin cunnus.

Cupid and Venus. Satyr and Goat. Baubo, Ceres, and Nymphs.

"Bacchic Mysteries. 175at the indecency as he conceives, in the story,and because it composedEleusinian rites.with the usual ignorance*the arcana of theIndeed as the simple father,of a Christianpriest, considered the fable literally, and asdesigned to promote indecency and lust, wecan not wonder at his ill-timed abuse. Butthe fact is, this narration belonged to theaTCoppYjTa, aporrheta, or arcane discourses, onaccount of its mystical meaning, and to prevent it from becoming the object of ignorantdeclamation, licentious perversion, and impious contempt. For the purity and excellence of these institutions is perpetuallyacknowledged even byDr. Warburton himself, who, in this instance, has dispersed, for amoment,zeal.fserves^the mists of delusion and intolerantBesides, as lamblichus beautifully obexhibitions of this kind in theMysteries were designed to free us from licen-* Uncandidness was more probably the fault of which Clementwas guilty.t Divine Legation of Moses, book ii.t The wisest and best men in the Pagan world are unanimous"in this, that the Mysteries were instituted pure, and proposed thenoblest ends by the worthiest means.

"176 Bacchic Mysteries.tious passions, by gratifying the sight,andat the same time vanquishing desire, throughthe awful sanctity with which these riteswere accompanied : for," says he,the properway of freeing ourselves from the passions is,first, to indulge them with moderation, bywhich means they become satisfied ; listen, asit were, to persuasion, and may thus be enThis doctrine is indeed sotirely removed."*rational, that it can never be objected to byany but quacks in philosophy and religion.For as he is nothing more than a quack inmedicine who endeavors to remove a latentbodilydisease before he has called it forthexternally, and by this means diminished itsfury so he is;nothing more than a pretenderin philosophy who attempts to remove thepassions by violent repression, instead ofmoderate compliance and gentle persuasion.But to return from this disgression, the following appears to be the secret meaning ofthis mystic discourse :The matron Baubomay be considered as a symbol of that pas-* Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.

Bacchic Mysteries. Illsive, womanish, and corporeal life throughwhich the soul becomes united with thisearthly body, and through which, beingfirst ensnared, it descended, and, as it were,was born into the world of generation, passing, by this means, from mature perfection,splendor and reality, into infancy, darkness,and error. Ceres, therefore, or the intellectual soul, in the course of her wanderings,that is, of her evolutions and goings-f orth intomatter, is at length captivated with the artsof Baubo, or a corporeal life, and forgets hersorrows, that is, imbibes oblivion of herwretched state in the mingled potion whichshe prepares : the mingled liquor being anobvious symbol of such a life, mixed and impure, and, on this account,atliable to corruption and death since ; every thing pureand unmixed is incorruptible and divine.And here it is necessary to caution thereader from imagining, that because, according to the fable, the wanderings of Cerescommence after the rape of Proserpina,hence the intuitive intellect descends subsequently to the soul, and separate from it.

178 Eleusinian andNothing more is meant by this circumstancethan that the diviner intellect, from the superior excellence of its nature, has in cause,though not in time, a priority to soul, andthat on this account a defection and revolt(and descent earthward from the heavenlycondition) commences, from the soul, andafterward takes place in the intellect, yetso that the former descends with the latterin inseparable attendance.>/IJFrom this explanation, then, of the fable,we may easily perceive the meaning of themystic confession, I have fasted; I havedrank a mingled potion, etc.; for by theformer part of the assertion, no more ismeant than that the higher intellect, previousto imbibing of oblivion through the deceptive arts of a corporeal life, abstains fromall material concerns, and does not mingleitself (as far as its nature is capable of suchabasement) with even the necessary delightsof the body. And as to the latter part, itdoubtless alludes to the descent of Proserpina to Hades, and her re-ascent to the

Bacchic Mysteries. 179abodes of her mother Ceres :that is, to theoutgoing and return of the soul, alternatelyfalling into generation, and ascending thenceinto the intelligible world, and becoming perfectlyrestored to her divine and intellectual nature. For the Cista contained themost arcane symbols of the Mysteries, intowhich it was unlawful for the profane tolook : and whatever were its contents,* welearn from the hymnof Callimachus toCeres, that they were formed from gold,which, from its incorruptibility,dent symbolof an immaterial nature. Andas to the Calathus, or basket, this,is an evias we aretold by Claudian, was filled with spoliis agres-which aretibus, the spoils or fruits of the field,manifest symbols of a life corporeal andearthly.So that the candidate, by confessing that he had taken from the Cista, andplaced what he had taken into the Calathus,*A golden serpent, an egg, and the phallus. The epopt looking upon these, was rapt with awe as contemplating in the symbols the deeper mysteries of all life, or being of a grosser temper,took a lascivious impression. Thus as a seer, he beheld with theeyes of sense or sentiment and the real;apocalypse was thereforethat made to himself of his own moral life and character. A. W.

"180 Eleminian andand the contrary, occultly acknowledged thedescent of his soul from a condition of beingsuper-material and immortal, into one material and mortal ;and that, on the contrary,by living according to the purity which theMysteries inculcated, he should re-ascend tothat perfection of his nature, from which hehad unhappily falien.* \* "Exiled from the true home of the spirit, imprisoned in thebody, disordered by passion, and beclouded by sense, the soul hasyet longings after that state of perfect knowledge, and purity, andbliss, in which it was first created. Itsaffinities are still on high.It yearns for a higher and nobler form of life. It essays to rise,but its eye is darkened by sense, its wings are besmeared by pas*sion and lust; it is borne downward until it falls upon andattaches itself to that which is material and sensual,and it flounders and grovels still amid the objects of sense. And now, Platoasks :How may the soul be delivered from the illusions of sense,the distempering influence of the body, and the disturbances ofpassion, which becloud its vision of the real, the good, and thetrue ?"Plato believed and hoped that this could be accomplished byphilosophy. This he regarded as a grand intellectual disciplinefor the purification of the soul.Bythis it was to be disenthralledfrom the bondage of sense, and raised into the empyrean of purethought, * where truth and reality shine forth. All souls have thefaculty of knowing, but it is only by reflection and self-knowledge,and intellectual discipline, that the soul can be raised to thevision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty that is, to thevision of God." COCKER :Christianity and Greek Philosophy, x.pp. 351-2.

Bacchic Mysteries.181It only now remains that we consider thelast part of this fabulous narration, or arcanediscourse, it is said, that after the goddessCeres, on arriving at Eleusis, had discoveredher daughter, she instructed the Eleusiniansin the planting of corn: or, according toClaudian, the search of Ceres for her daughter, through the goddess, instructing in theart of tiUage as she went, proved the occasionof a universal benefit to mankind. Now thesecret meaning of this will be obvious, byconsidering that the descent of the superiorintellect into the realms of generated existence becomes, indeed, the greatest benefitand ornament which a material nature iscapable of receiving for without this parti:cipation of intellect in the lowest departmentof corporeal life, nothing but the irrationalsoul* and a brutal life would subsist in itsdark and fluctuating abode, the body] As theart of tillage, therefore, and particularly thegrowing of corn, becomes the greatest possi-*It is linked to the phenomenal or sensible world, its emotivepart (m^tixov) being formed of what is relative and Ph<nornenal."

^">w182 Eleusinian andble benefit to our sensible life, no symbol canmore aptly represent the unparalleled advantages arising from the evolution and procession of intellect with its divine nature intoa corporeal life, than the good resulting fromagriculture and corn :for whatever of horridand dismal can be conceived in night, supposing it to be perpetually destitute of thefriendly illuminations of the moon and stars,such, and infinitely more dreadful, would bethe condition of an earthly nature, if deprived of the beneficent irradiations [icpoooc]and supervening benefits of the divinerlife.And thismuch for an explanation of theEleusinian Mysteries, or the history of Ceresand Proserpina ;in which it must be remembered that as this fable, according to theexcellent observation of Sallust already adduced, is of the mixed kind, though thedescent of the soul was doubtless principallyalluded to by these sacred rites, yet theylikewise occultly signified, agreeable to thenature of the fable, the descending of divinity

into the sublunaryview the fable in thisBacchic Mysteries. 183world. But when wewe must be car eftil not to confoundpart of its meaning,the natureof a partial intellect like ours with the one universal and divine. As everything subsistingabout the gods is divine,therefore intellectin the highest degree, and next to this soul,and hence wanderings and abductions, lamentations and tears, can here only signifythe participations and providential operations of these in inferior natures ;and thisin such a manner as not to derogate fromthe dignity, or impair the perfection,divine principle thus imparted.that the preceding expositionof theI only add,will enableus to perceive the meaning and beauty ofthe following representation of the rape ofProserpina, from the Heliacan tables of HieronymusAleander.* Here, first of all, webehold Ceres in a car drawn by two dragons, and afterwards, Diana and Minerva,with an inverted calathus at their feet, andpointing out to Cerespina, who isher daughter Proserhurried away by*KIRCHER : Obcliscus PampliUiuSj page 227.Pluto in his

"184 Eleusinian andcar, and is in the attitude of one strugglingto be free. Hercules is likewise representedwith his club, in the attitude of opposing theviolence of Pluto : and last of all, Jupiter isrepresented extending his hand, as if willingto assist Proserpina in escaping from theembraces of Pluto. I shall therefore conclude this section with the following remarkable passage from Plutarch, which will notonly confirm, but be itselfcorroborated bythe preceding exposition. Git |j.svouv YJTua-Xaia -patoXoyta,%at rcap EXXvjoi xat BapjBapois,Xoyoc YJV rpo^ttcc sXxsxaXDjXjisyota luoXXa 8f atviYiiaTcov xat 67rovoLO)vxporpo?, %at (JL jarr^pca)5Y]c SsoXoyia. Ta TS Xa-Xoo|jiva TCOV aty(0(jiV(ov actrpsarspa TOC^ TuoX-Xoic /ovca. Kat Ta oiywjjisva KOV XaXoo|isva>vpa. AvjXov sail, pergit, sv Ts^sac, %at tocc iYoxtiaxot^ xaiAoyo^. MaXtata s of irspc ta^ TsXsaajioc, %at ta SpcojJisva ao|j.poXcx(ocsv tvotav.* . e.The ancient physiology,! both* PLUTARCH: Euseb.t/. e.Exposition of the laws and operations of Nature.

Bacchic Mysteries. 185of the Greeks and the Barbarians, was nothing else than a discourse on natural subjects,involved or veiled in fables, concealing manythings through enigmas and under -meanings,and also a theology taught, in which, afterthe manner of the Mysteries,* the thingsspoken were clearer to the multitude thanthose delivered in silence, and the thingsdelivered in silence were more subject toinvestigation than what was spoken. Thisis manifest from the Orphic verses, and theEgyptian and Phrygian discourses.But theorgies of initiations, and the symbolical ceremonies of sacred rites especially, exhibit theunderstanding had of them by the ancients.";, mystery-like.

Psyche Asleep in Hades.

"River Goddesses.SECTION II.Dionysiacal sacred rites institutedTHEby Orpheus,* depended on the following arcane narration, part of which has beenalready related in the preceding section,and the rest may be found in a variety ofauthors. Dionysus, or Bacchus [Zagreus],while he was yet a boy, was engaged by theTitans, through the stratagems of Juno, in avariety of sports, with which that period of* Whether Orpheus was an actual living person has been questioned by Aristotle ;but Herodotus, Pindar, and other writers,mention him. Although the Orphic system is asserted to havecome from Egypt, the internal evidence favors the opinion that itwas derived from India, and that its basis is the Buddhistic philosophy. The Orphic associations of Greece were ascetic, contrasting markedly with the frenzies, enthusiasm, and license of thepopular rites. The Thracians had numerous Hindu customs.The name Kor6 is Sanscrit; and Zeus may be the Dyaus ofHindu story. His visit to the chamber of Kor6-Persephoneia(Parasu-pani) in the form of a dragon or naga, and the horns orcrescent on the head of the child, are Tartar or Buddhistic. The187

188 Eleusinian and//life is so vehemently allured ;and amongthe rest, he was particularly captivated withbeholding his image in a mirror ; during hisadmiration of which, he was miserably tornin pieces by the Titans; who, not contentwith this cruelty, first boiled his members inwater, and afterwards roasted them by thefire. But while they were tasting his fleshthus dressed, Jupiter, roused by the odor,and perceiving the cruelty of the deed,hurled his thunder at the Titans ;but committed the members ofBacchus to Apollo,his brother, that they might be properly interred. And this being performed, Dionysus (whose heart during his laceration wassnatched away by Pallas and preserved), bya new regeneration again emerged, andbeing restored to his pristine life and integnameZagreus is evidently Chakra, or ruler of the earth. TheHera who compassed his death is Aira, the wife of Buddha and;the Titans are the Daityas, or apostate tribes of India.The doctrine of metempsychosis is expressed by the swallowing of the heartof the murdered child, so as to reabsorb his soul, and bring himanew into existence as the son of Semele.of Bacchus have Hindu characteristics ;Indeed, all the storiesand his cultus is a partof the serpent worship of the ancients. The evidence appears tous unequivocal. A. W.

Bacchic Mysteries. 189the number ofrity, lie afterwards filled upthe gods.But in the mean time, from theexhalations arising from the ashes of theburning bodies of the Titans, mankind wereproduced. ^ Now,in order to understandproperly the secret of this narration,it isnecessary to repeat the observation alreadymade in the preceding chapter, u that allfables belonging to mystic ceremonies areof the mixed kind":and consequently thepresent fable, as well as that of Proserpina,must in one part have reference to the gods,and in the other to the human soul, as thefollowing exposition will abundantly evince :In the first place, then, by Dionysus, orBacchus, according to the highest conception of this deity, we understand the spiritualof the mundane soul; for there arepartvarious processions or avatars of this god,or Bacchuses, derived from his essence.Butby the Titans we must understand the mundane gods, of whom Bacchus is the highest ;by Jupiter, the Demiurgus,* or artificer of*Plotinus regarded the Demiurgus, or creator, as the god ofprovidence, thought, essence, and power. Above him was the

"190 Eleusinian andthe universe; by Apollo, the deityof theSun, who has both a mundane and superand by whom themundane establishment,universe is bound in symmetry and consent,through splendid reasons and harmonizingpower Minerva we must un;and, lastly, byderstand that original, intellectual, ruling,and providential deity, who guards and preserves all middle lives * in an immutablecondition, through intelligence and a selfsupportinglife, and by this means sustainsthem from the depredations and inroadsof matter. Again, by the infancy of Bacchus at the period of his laceration, thecondition of the intellectual nature is implied;since, according to the Orphic theology, souls, under the government of Saturn,or Kronos, who is pure intellect or spirituality, instead of proceeding, as now, from youthto age, advance in a retrograde progressionfrom age to youth, f The arts employed bydeity of"pure intellect/ and still higher The One. These threewere the hypostases.* Lives which are not conjoined with material bodies, nor yetelevated to the lofty state which is the true divine condition.tEmanuel Swedenborg says:They who are in heaven are

""Bacchic Mysteries. 191the Titans, in order to ensnare Dionysus, aresymbolical of those apparent and divisibleoperations of the mundane gods, throughwhich the participated intellect of Bacchusbecomes, as it were, torn in pieces ; and bythe mirror we must understand, in the language of Proclus, the inaptitude of the universe to receive the plenitude of intellectualor spiritual perfection ;but the symbolicalmeaning of his laceration, throughthe stratagems of Juno, and the consequent punishment of the Titans, is thus beautifullyunfolded by Olympiodorus, in his manuscriptCommentary on the Phcedo of Plato : Theform,"says he,of that which is universal isplucked off, torn in pieces, and scattered intogeneration; and Dionysus is the monad ofthe Titans. But his laceration is said totake place through the stratagems of Juno,continually advancing to the spring of life,and the more thousands of years they live, so much the more delightful and happy isthe spring to which they attain, and this to eternity with incrementsaccording to the progresses and degrees of love, of charity, and offaith.Women who have died old and worn out with age, yet havelived in faith on the Lord, in charity toward their neighbor, and inhappy conjugal love with a husband, after a succession of years,come more and more into the flower of youth and adolescence."

192 Eleusinian andbecause this goddess is the supervisingguardian of motion and *progression and;on this account, in the Iliad, she perpetuallyrouses and excites Jupiter to providentialaction about secondary concerns ; and, inanother respect, Dionysusisthe ephorus orsupervising guardian of generation, becausehe presides over life and death ;for he is theguardian or ephorus of life because of generation, and also of death because wine producesan enthusiastic condition. We become moreenthusiastic at the period of dying, as Proclusindicates in the example of Homer whobecame prophetic [(j.avuttO] at the time of hisdeath, f They likewise assert, that tragedyand comedy are assigned to Dionysus :comedy being the play or ludicrous representationof life; and tragedy having relation to theBy progression [upoooot;] is here signified the raying-out, orissuing forth of the soul ; having left the divine or pre-existentlife, and come forth toward the human.tSee also PLATO: Phcedrus, 43. "When I was about tocross the river, the divine and wonted signal was given me italways deters me from what I am about to doand I seemed tohear a voice from this very spot, which would not suffer me todepart before I had purified myself, as ifI had committed some

Bacchic Mysteries. 193passions and death. The comic writers,therefore, do not rightly call in question thetragedians as not rightly representing Bacchus, saying that such things did not happento Bacchus. But Jupiter is said to havehurled his thunder at the Titans ;the thunder signifying a conversion or changing :forfire naturally ascends ;and hence Jupiter,by this means, converts the Titans to hisown essence."Sicapastaito xaftoXooeiSos sv rjj ysvsast, jjiovae 8s Tctavcov 6 Atovo-TCpooSou.^ sv Tiglltaaie^avtotYjatvSieyopst TOV 8ta st^ TrpovoiavTCOVKoci ysvsascoc aXXco^ srpopos sattv 6SAcoxat isXs jTYjc. ZCOTJC jJ-sv yapxai TYJC ysvsaccoc, TsXsotTjc8sioTt svfl-ODOtav 6 ocvoc iroist. Kac Tuspi TT^V8soffense against the Deity.Now I am a prophet, though not a verygood one for the soul is in some measure :prophetic."See also SHAKSPERE :Henry IV. part 1."Oh I could prophesy,But that the earthy and cold hand of deathLies on my tongue."

194 Eleusinian andTrapfO[Jiy]p(pnpoy,Xo,tsXeorirjv %ac TTJVttco[j,a)cav iratyvtov O jaav TOO [3iovTpaya)5cav 5ia ta Tca^v], xat TTJV tsXey-TYJV.O jx,apa xaXco^ of ^(OJJLI^GC TOIC Tpay^otc(o^ \rr\ Atovoaiaxotc oootv, Xsyovoio o^5sv Taota Trpo^ TOV Atovuaov. Kspaovoc5s TO^TOCC 6 Zsu, TO^) -icspaDvoSTUia-cpocpsv TuopyapSTCC ta ava>oov aotoyc; Tupo^ saotov. N But bythe members of Dionysus being firstboiledin water by the Titans, and afterward roastedby the fire,the outgoingintellect into matter, and itsor distribution ofsubsequent returning from thence, is evidently implied :for water was considered by the Egyptians,as we have already observed, as the symbolof matter ;and fire is the natural symbol ofascending. The heart of Dionysus too, is,with the greatest propriety, said to be preserved by Minerva; for this goddessis theguardian of life, of which the heart is a symbol. So that this part of the fable plainlysignifies, that while intellectual or spiritual

Bacchic Mysteries. 195life is distributed into the universe, its principle is preserved entire by the guardianpower and providence of the Divine intelligence.And as Apollois the source of allunion and harmony, and as he is called byProclus, "the key-keeper of the fountain of* the reason is obviouslife,"why the members of Dionysus, which were buried by thisdeity, again emerged by a new generation,and were restored to their pristine integrityand life. But let it here be carefully observed, that renovation, when applied to thegods, is to be considered as secretly implyingthe rising of their proper light, and its consequent appearance toAnd thatsubordinate natures.punishment, when considered astaking place about beings of a nature superiorto mankind, signifies nothing more than asecondary providence over such beings whichisof a punishing character, and which subsists about souls that deteriorate. Hence,then, from what has been said, we mayeasily collect the ultimate design of the firstpart of this mystic fable for it; appears to be*Hymnto the Sun.

196 Bacchic Mysteries.no other than to representthe manner inwhich the form of the mundane intellect isdivided through the universe ;that such anintellect (and every one which is total) remains entire during its division into parts,and that the divided parts themselves arecontinually turned again to their source,with which they become finally united. Sothat illumination from the higher reason,while it proceeds into the dark and rebounding receptacle of matter, and invests its obscurity with the supervening ornaments ofdivine light, returns at the same time without interruption toof its descent.the source or principleLet us now consider the latter part of thefable, in which it is said that our souls wereformed from the vapors emanating from theashes of the burning bodies of the Titans;at the same time connectingit with theformer part of the fable, which is also applicable in a certain degree to the condition ofa partial intellect* like ours. In the first*Partial, as being parted from the Supreme Mind.

Etruscan Eleusinians.

Bacchic Mysteries. 199place, then, we are made up from fragments (says Olympiodoms), because, throughfalling into generation, our life has proceededinto the most distant and extreme division ;and from Titanic fragments,because theTitans are the ultimate artificers of things,*and stand immediately next to whatever isconstituted from them. But further, ourirrational life is Titanic, by which the rationaland higherlife is torn in pieces. Hence,when we disperse the Dionysus, or intuitiveintellectcontained in the secret recesses ofour nature, breaking in pieces the kindredand divine form of our essence, and whichcommunicates, as it were, both with thingssubordinate and supreme, then we becomeTitans (or apostates) ;but when we establishourselves in union with this Dionysiacal orkindred form, then we become Bacchuses, orperfect guardians and keeperstional life :spect we resemble, isof our irrafor Dionysus, whom in this rehimself an ephorus or*The Demiurge or Creator being superiorto matter in whichis concupiscence and all evil, the Titans who are not thus superiorare made the actual artificers.

200 Meusinian andguardian deity, dissolving at his pleasure thebonds by which the soul is united to thebody, since he is the cause of a parted life.But it is necessary that the passive or feminine nature of our irrational part, throughwhich we are bound in body, and which isnothing more than the resounding echo,as itwere, of soul, should suffer the punishmentincurred by descent ;aside the [divine]for when the soul castspeculiarity of her nature,she requires her own, but at the same time amultiform body, that she may again becomein need of a common form, which she haslost through Titanic dispersioninto matter.But in order to see the perfect resemblance between the manner in which oursouls descend and the dividing of the intuitive intellect by mundane natures, let thereader attend to the following admirablecitation from the manuscript Commentaryof Olympiodorus on the Phcedo .of Plato :"It is necessary, first of all, for the soul toplace a likeness of herself in the body. Thisis to ensoul the body. Secondly,it is neces-

Bacchic Mysteries. 201sary for her to sympathize with the image, asbeing of like idea. For every external formor substance is wrought into an identity withits interior substance, through an ingeneratedtendency thereto.In the third place, beingsituated in a divided nature, it is necessarythat she should be torn in pieces,and fallinto a last separation, till, through the actionof a life of purification, she shall raise herselffrom the dispersion, loose the bond of sympathy, and act as of herself without theexternal image, having become establishedaccording to the first-created life. The likethings are fabled in the example. For Dionysus or Bacchus because his image wasformed in a mirror, pursued it, and thusbecame distributed into everything. ButApollo collected him and brought him up;being a deity of purification, and the truesavior of Dionysus and on this account he;isstyled in the sacred hymns, Dionusites."rO~i Set TCpco-ccv oiroTCYjaat euiova TTJVsauTC j sv TO)aa)|jLrm.TOUTO yap sariaac TO aa)[ia. Asoispov 8s ooji/juaftstv T(J>kp, x-ata TTJV 6jJLOi8scav. Ilav yap stSoc

202 Eleusinian andsic, TTJV icpoc saoTO Taotor/jTa caTYJV.Tprcov sv T(pTOVav Sat TYJC xa*apttiQxiQC CWTJC ouvaystpatCCOTJV.airoTO^>7ra^ia^, icpo^exXXetat TT^V avsoaxopTutajio j, Xoavj s TOV osa-xctfl-3saoivjveotcooavC0tc ta 6[xota [xofl-eoetat, %at svCyap Acovoaoc,ore TOTO) SGOITTpO) TOOT(p (pG7UTO.etc co ^av ejJtsptafl-Tj.C5s AiroXXcovaystpst TS &mov %at avayst, xafl-apttxoc cov$-cO, %at TOO ACOVOGOO OCOTTJP OK aXtpfl-co^.Kat 8ia TOOTO ACOVOGOTTJC avojxsfcat. Hence,as the same author beautifully observes, thesoul revolves according to a mystic andmundane revolution : for flying from an indivisible and Dionysiacal life, and operatingaccording to a Titanic and revolting energy,she becomes bound in the body as in a prison.Hence, too, she abides in punishment andtakes care of her partial and secondaryconcerns; and being purified from Titanicdefilements, and collected into one, she be-

"comes a Bacchus ;Bacchic Mysteries. 203that is, she passes into theproper integrity of her nature according tothe divine principle ruling on high. From allwhich it evidently follows,that he who livesDionysiacally rests from labors and is freedfrom his bonds * ;that he leaves his prison,or rather his apostatizing life and that he;who does this is a philosopher purifying himselflife.from the contaminations of his earthlyBut farther from this account of Diothe truth of Plato snysus, we may perceivethat the design of the Mysteobservation,ries is to lead us back to the perfection fromwhich, as our beginning, we first made our descent." For in this perfection Dionysus himself subsists, establishing perfect souls inthe throne of his father ;that is,in the integrity of a life according to Jupiter. Sothat he who is perfect necessarily resideswith the gods, according to the design ofthose deities, who are the sources of consummate perfection to the soul. And lastly,*"We strive toward virtue by a strenuous use of the giftswhich God communicates ;but when God communicates himself,then we can be only passive we repose, we enjoy, but all operation ceases."

"204 Bacchic Mysteries.the Thyrsus itself, which was used in theBacchic procession, as it was a reed full ofknots, is an apt symbol of the diffusion of thehigher nature into the sensible world.Andagreeable to this, Olympiodorus on the Phcedoobserves,that the Thyrsus * is a symbol ofa forming anew of the material and partedsubstance from its scattered condition ;andthat on this account it is a Titanic plant.This it was customary to extend before Bacchus instead of his paternal scepter; andthrough this they called him down into ourpartial nature.sus-bearers ;in a Thyrsus or reed ;Indeed, the Titans are Thyrand Prometheus concealed fireafter which he is considered as bringing celestial light into generation, or leading the soul into the body, orcalling forth the divine illumination, thewhole being ungenerated, into generated existence.Hence Socrates calls the multitudeThyrsus-bearers Orphically, as living according to a Titanic life." f(hi 6 vap#Y^ oo|ji(3oXov*The word thyrsus, it will be seen, is here translated frompxh^,a rod or ferula.

Bacchic Mysteries. 207,oftsvTOcpuTov.Kac yapTCOAiovua(|>aoT(p, avcc TO J Traipty-oKac Taonrj icpoxaXouVtatOWTOV TOVet<;Kat [xevToi, %ai vap^r^ocpopooacvof Tttavsc, xat 6ITpOJJLTjfl-SOC,V Vapfl-7)%fXXSTUTI TO TTOp,IT TOoupavtov cpcoc etc ^v ysvsaiv x.aTaairtov, SITSei<; TOaco^a irpoaycov, SITS TTJV -8-stavvap$iq*oyopooc6Xv]v ayW7]Tov ouoav, soc TT^V ysvsacvTTpoxaXo jfisvo^.Ata 5s TOOTO, %ai 6 So>-Op-L^Tttavwta>cAnd thus mucli for the secret meaningof the fable, which formed a principal part ofthese mystic rites.Let us now proceed toconsider the signification of the symbols,which, according to Clemens Alexandrinus,belonged to the Bacchic ceremonies and;which are comprehended in the followingOrphic verses :Kcovo?, xa: xa ṛpojJi|3oc,rcai-p/ia y.r/p.iraiYO .aMf]Xa IE xpossa xaXa Trap 37tp .5ouv X .YU?pcovtov.That is,A wheel, a pine-nut, and the wanton plays,Which move and bend the limbs in various ways :

"208 Eleusinian andWith these th Hesperian golden-fruit combine,Which beauteous nymphs defend of voice divine.To all which Clemens adds saorc-cpov, esoptron,a mirror, TCOT-OC, pokos, a fleece of wool,and aatpayaXoc, astragalos, the ankle-bone.In the first place, then, with respect to thewheel, since Dionysus, as we have alreadyexplained, is the mundane intellect, and intellect isof an elevating and convertive nature, nothing can be a more apt symbol ofintellectual action than a wheel or sphere :besides,as the laceration and dismembermentof Dionysus signifies the going-forthof intellectual illumination into matter, and itsreturning at the same time to its source, thistoo will be aptly symbolized by a wheel.the second place, a pine-nut, fromitsInconicalshape, is a perspicuous symbol of the mannerin which intellectual or spiritual illuminationproceeds from its source and beginning intoa material nature. For the soul," says Macrobius,*u proceeding from a round figure,which is the only divine form, is extendedinto the form of a cone in going forth."* In Somnid Sciplonis, xii.

Bacchic Mysteries. 209And the same is true symbolically of thehigher intellect. And as to the wantonsports which bend the limbs, this evidentlyalludes to the Titanic arts, by which Dionysuswas allured, and occultly signifiesthe faculties of the mundane intellect, considered assubsisting according to an apparent anddivisible condition. But the Hesperiangolden-apples signify the pure and incorruptible nature of that intellect or Dionysus, whichis possessed by the world ;for a golden-apple,according to Sallust, is a symbol of the world ;and this doubtless, both on account of its external figure, and the incorruptible intellectwhich itcontains, and with the illuminationsof which it is externally adorned ;since gold,on account ofneverbeing subject to rust, aptlydenotes an incorruptible and immaterial nature. The mirror, which is the next symbol,we have already explained. And as to thefleece of wool, this is a symbol of laceration,or distribution of intellect, or Dionysus, intomatter; for the verb arcaparcco, sparatto,dilanio, which is used in the relation of theBacchic discerption, signifies to tear in pieces

210 Bacchic Mysteries.like wool : and hence Isidorus derives theLatin word lana, wool, from laniando, asvettus from vellendo. Nor must it pass unobserved, that Xfjvoc, in Greek, signifies wool,and XTJVO^,a wine-press.* And, indeed, thepressing of grapes isas evident a symbol ofdispersion as the tearing of wool ;and thiscircumstance was doubtless one principalreason why grapes were consecrated to Bacchus :for a grape, previous to its pressure,aptly represents that which is collected intoone ;and when it is pressed into juice, it noless aptly representsthe diffusion of thatwhich was before collected and entire.Andlastly, the aatpayaXoc, astragalos, or miklebone,as it is principallysubservient to theprogressive motion of animals, so it belongs,with great propriety, to the mystic symbolsof Bacchus; since it doubtless signifies thegoing forth of that deity into the departmentof physical existence : for nature, or thatdivisible life which subsists about the body,* The practice of punning, so common in all the old rites, ishere forcibly exhibited. It aided to conceal the symbolism andmislead uninitiated persons who might seek to ascertain thegenuine meaning.

Hercules Reclining.

"Bacchic Mysteries. 213and which is productive of seeds, immeon Bacchus. And hence wediately dependsare informed by Proclus, that the sexual partsof this god are denominated by theologists,Diana, who, says he, presides over the wholeof the generation into natural existence,leads forth into light all natural reasons, andextends a prolific power from on high evento the subterranean realms.*And hence wemay perceive the reason why, in the OrphicHymn to Nature, that goddessis described asturning round silent traces ivitJi the anklebonesof her feet". TCOU>Vlyyoc,And it is highly worthy our observation thatNature is celein this verse of the hymnbrated as Fortune, according to that description of the goddess in which she is represented as standing with her feet on a wheelwhich she continually turns round; as thefollowing verse from the same hymn abundantly confirms :Asvao) OTocaX .ff-0-oov oivsoooaa.t>juiaCommentary upon the Timceus,

"214 Eleusinian andThe sense of which is, moving with rapidmotion on an eternal wheel." Nor ought itto seem wonderful that Nature should becelebrated as Fortune; for Fortune in theOrphic hymn to that deity is invoked asDiana : and the moon, as we have observedin the preceding section, is the owcoircovaycdiJ.cc ^uascoc, the self-revealing emblem ofNature ; and indeed the apparent inconstancy of Fortune has an evident agreementwith the fluctuating condition in which thedominions of nature are perpetually involved.Itonly now remains that we explain thesecret meaning of the sacred dress withwhich the initiated in the Dionysiacal Mysteries were invested, in order to the 0povca{j.oc(thronismos, enthroning) taking place; orsitting in a solemn manner on a throne,about which it was customary for the otherinitiates to dance. But the particulars ofthishabit are thus described in the Orphicverses preserved by Macrobius :*Taota Y*rcavta tsXsiv Ispa OXTTJO^ iroxaaavta,cou TcXaitsivSaturnalia,i. 18.

<$ a37tto<;Bacchic Mysteries. 215. .ov axtivsaaiv.v.xspov (lege (po .vtxeov) icpottxtXovAotap orcspxh: Vcjipo .o rcava .oXoo elpo xa&a^AspjxaTCoXo-T .xtovO-rjpoc xaia os^ .ovAaxpcuv oaioaXstov JJ/.JUUJA bpoo tsIv.ia S r UTCspD-s vsjSp^]? ypuosovOT -sx TCspatouv FaiYji; cpasO-cov avopouawvov Oxeavoio,.rv j-pjTJ, ava o SpoocpMapjixaip-fl o .vvjotv eXiaoo/xsvy] xata xuxXov,IlpoaO-s fteoo. ZCOVY] 8 ap UTCO otcpvcov a^etpv]Tu>vOa .vsx ap iixsavoD xuxXo<;, jite"^ S-aujj.eia .osaO a ..That is,He who desires in pomp of sacred dressThe sun s resplendent body to express,Should first a vail assume of purple bright,Like fair white beams combin d with fiery light:On his right shoulder, next, a mule s broad hideWidely diversified with spotted prideShould hang, an image of the pole divine,And deedal stars, whose orbs eternal shine.A golden splendid zone, then, o er the vestHe next should throw, and bind it round his breast;In mighty token, how with golden light,The rising sun, from earth s last bounds and nightSudden emerges, and, with matchless force,Darts through old Ocean s billows in his course.A boundless splendor hence, enshrin d in dew,Plays on his whirlpools, glorious to the view ;While his circumfluent waters spread abroad,Full in the presence of the radiant god :

216 Eleusinian andBut Ocean s circle, like a zone of light,The sun s wide bosom girds,and charms the wond ring sight.In the first place, then, let us considerwhy this mystic dress belonging to Bacchusis to represent the sun. Now the reason ofthis will be evident from the following observations :according to the Orphic theology, the divine intellect of every planet isdenominated a Bacchus, who is characterizedin each by a different appellation;so thatthe intellect of the solar deity is called TrietericusBacchus. And in the second place,since the divinity of the sun, according tothe arcana of the ancient theology, has asuper-mundane as well as mundane establishment, and iswholly of an exaltingor intellectual nature ;hence considered as supermundane he must both produce and containthe mundane intellect, or Dionysus, in hisessence ;for all the mundane are containedin thesuper-mundane deities, by whom alsothey are produced. Hence Proclus, in hiselegant Hymn to the Sun, says :Ss xXoiov &J1V81Q001Aicovooaoio

""That is,Bacchic Mysteries. 217they celebrate thee in hymnsillustrious parent of Dionysus."as theAnd thirdly,it is through the subsistence of Dionysus inthe sun that that luminary derives its circularmotion, as is evident from the following Orphic verse, in which, speaking of the sun, itis said of him, thatOovsxrx fovs .tai *at 5 aTCS .pova fxaxpoHe is called Dionysus, because he is carriedwith a circular motion through the immenseheavens."ly-extendedAnd this with theas we havegreatest propriety, since intellect,already observed, is entirely of a transformingand elevating nature : so that from all this, itis sufficiently evident why the dress of Dionysus is represented as belonging to the sun.In the second place, the vail, resembling amixture of fiery light, is an obvious image ofthe solar fire. And as to the spotted muleskin,*which isens, this isto represent the starry heavnothing more than an image of* Nebris is also a fawn-skin. The Jewish high-priest wore oneat the great festivals.It is renderedIn India the robe of Indra is spotted.<;badger s skin"in the Bible.

"""218 Bacchic Mysteries.the moon ;this luminary, according to Procluson Hesiod, resembling the mixed natureof a mule ;becoming dark through her participation of earth, and deriving her properlight from the sun."Tv^ (isv s/ouaa[J.SV5s TO ocxscovO JV OlXSUDTOClTO oxo-So that the spotted hide signifiesattended with a multitude of stars: andhence, in the Orphic Hymn tothe moonthe Moon, thatdeity is celebrated "as shining surroundedwith beautiful stars:xcdoic aaTpoiac ppoooaa,and is likewise called aaTpappj, astrarche,orgMeew- o/^Ae stars."In the next place, the golden zone is thecircle of the Ocean, as the last verses plainlyevince. But, you will ask, what has therising of the sun through the ocean, from theboundaries of earth and night, to do with theadventures of Bacchus ?inpossible toI answer, that it isdevise a symbol more beautifully accommodated to the purpose : for, inthe first place, is not the ocean a properemblem of an earthly nature, whirling and

Bacchic Mysteries. 221stormy, and perpetually rolling without admitting any periods of repose And ?is notthe sun emerging from its boisterous deeps aperspicuous symbol of the higher spiritualnature, apparently rising from the dark andand conferfluctuating material receptacle,ring form and beauty on the sensible universe through its light ? I say apparentlyrising, for though the spiritual nature alwaysdiffuses itssplendor with invariable energy,yet it is not always perceived by the subjectsof its illuminations :besides, as psychical natures can only receive partially and fttintervals the benefits of the divine irradiation;hence fables regarding this temporal participation transfer,for the purposeof concealment and in conformity to the phenomena,the imperfectionsuch as are supreme.fore, of the rising sun,of subordinate natures toThis description, thereis a most beautifulsymbol of the new birth of Bacchus, which,as we have already observed, implies nothingmore than the rising of intellectual light, andits consequentorders of existence.manifestation to subordinate

222 Eleusinian andAnd thus much, for the mysteries of Bacchus, which, as well as those of Ceres, relatein one part to the descent of a partial intellect into matter, and its condition whileunited with the dark tenement of the body:but there appears to be this difference between the two, that in the fable of Ceres andProserpine the descent of the whole rationalsoul is considered ;and in that of Bacchusthe scattering and going forth of that supreme part alone ofour nature tvhich weproperty characterize ~bythe appellation ofintellect.* In the composition of each wemay discern the same traces of exalted wisdom and recondite theology ;of a theologythe most venerable for its antiquity, and themost admirable for its excellence and reality,I shall conclude this treatise by presentingthe reader with a valuable and most eleganthymn of Proclusf to Minerva, which I have* Greek, voo<;, nous, the Intuitive Reason, that faculty of themind that apprehends the Ineffable Truth.t That the following hymn was composed by Proclus, can notbe doubted by any one who is conversant with those already extant of this incomparable man, since the spirit and manner inboth is perfectly the same.

Bacchic Mysteries. 223discovered in the British Museum ;and theexistence of which appears to have beenhitherto utterly unknown.This hymnis tobe found among the Harleian Manuscripts,in a volume containing several of the Orphichymns, with which, through the ignorance oftranscriber, it is indiscriminately ranked, aswell as the other four hymns of Proclus,already printedin the BibliothecaFabricius. Unfortunately too,scribed in a character soGrceca ofit is tranobscure, and withsuch great inaccuracy, that, notwithstandingthe painsto its original purity,I have taken to restore the textI have been obliged toomit two lines, and part of a third, as beyondmy abilities to read or amend ; however, thegreatest, and doubtless the most importantwhich I nowpart, is fortunately intelligible,present to the reader s inspection, accompanied with some corrections, and an Englishparaphrased translation. The original ishighly elegant and pious,mythological particular,else to be found.and contains onewhich isno whereIt has likewise an evidentconnection with the preceding fable of Bac-

224 Eleusinian andchus, as will be obvious from the perusal;and on this account principallyit was inserted in the present discourse.AOHNAN.KAT0I jut.sua. s(ioyjo,o oioc, TSZO? */]sxTipoftopoooa, xai axpotarr,? arcoaeipa?ir cpspasw fArfaaO-sv*? o^p .fxo7iarr]p,*f t^VDGO O 5 6|HVOVTTOTV .aSUCppOVloocpivj? usTaaaaaKa: ^^ov .cov oajxaaaaaCH*Legef Leget Lege$ Lege|| Legeajj-uati XUTOO.

T". XcxXu^".Bacchic Mysteries. 225()uvo|J.a a3iu -v ocuxa<; s/i Go xa:KXovH ixeo YIcpao<;Y VOVAo<;^LOI oX^ov opfxovAo?^!>X"fiKaṛ0101 * a Yvov aTC eu .psiovosoao f IYJV xa .epcotw juicvoc; B S/XTCVEUOOV eptoti,Toaaar.ov, xa ṛ toiov, ooov yO-ov.tov auoA j^pVY] TCpO<: OXo]J.TCOV ? f]\^a TiaTpOS010IXaO-i |X .Xi)(o^of>X aaojJ.j3poT jJ.YjO/xaorj<; fPtY Sava .? TtotvaiaivXu>pxa: xupjuia Y^VEaoa,K .JJ.VOV V 8aTrsoia:v, 6ti Tog U/0|J.aiEtva .xai /xoi jxsiXis/.v ooai; UTTO^CC;.TO MINEEVA.DAUGHTER of aegis-bearing Jove, divine,Propitious to thy votaries prayer incline ;From thy great father s fount supremely bright,Like fire resounding, leaping into light.Shield-bearing goddess, hear, to whom belongA manly mind, and power to tame the strong!Oh, sprung from matchless might, with joyful mindAccept this hymn ;benevolent and kind !The holy gates of wisdom, by thy handAre wide unfolded ;and the daring bandOf earth-born giants, that in impious fightStrove with thy fire,were vanquished by thy might.Once by thy care, as sacred poets sing,The heart of Bacchus, swiftly-slaughtered king,*Lege aju.TCXaxY]|xa.tLege JULYS JUL acrr)<;.

226 Eleusinian andWas sav d in ^ther, when, with fury fired,The Titans fell against his life conspired ;And with relentless rage and thirst for gpre,Their hands his members into fragments tore :But ever watchful of thy father s will,Thy power preserved him from succeeding ill,Till from the secret counsels of his fire,And born from Semele through heavenly sire,Great Dionysus to the world at lengthAgain appeared with renovated strength.Once, too, thy warlike ax, with matchless sway,Lopped from their savage necks the heads awayOf furious beasts, and thus the pests destroyedWhich long all-seeing Hecate annoyed.By thee benevolent great Juno s mightWas roused, to furnish mortals with delight.And thro life s wide and various range, t is thineEach part to beautify with art divine :Invigorated hence by thee, we findA demiurgic impulse in the mind.Towers proudly raised, and for protection strong,To thee, dread guardian deity, belong,As proper symbols of thexalted heightThy series claims amidst the courts of light.Lands are beloved by thee, to learning prone,And Athens, Oh Athena, is thy own!Great goddess, hear ! and on my dark ned mindPour thy pure light in measure unconfined ;That sacred light, Oh all-protecting queen,Which beams eternal from thy face serene.My soul, while wand ring on the earth, inspireWith thy own blessed and impulsive fire :And from thy fables, mystic and divine,Give all her powers with holy light to shine.

Bacchic Mysteries.Give love, give wisdom, and a power to love,Incessant tending to the realms above ;Such as unconscious of base earth s controlGently attracts the vice-subduing soul :From night s dark region aids her to retire,And once more gain the palace of her sire.O all-propitious to my prayer incline !Nor let those horrid punishments be mineWhich guilty souls in Tartarus confine,With fetters fast ned to its brazen floors,And lock d by hell s tremendous iron doors.Hear me, and save (for power is all thine own)A soul desirous to be thine alone.*It is very remarkable in this hymn, thatthe exploits of Minerva relative to cuttingoff the heads of wild beasts with an ax, etc.,is mentioned by no writer whatever; norcan I find the least trace of a circumstanceeither in the history of Minerva or Hecateto which it alludes.f And from hence, I* If I should ever be able to publish a second edition of mytranslation of the hymns of Orpheus, I shall add to it a translationof all those hymns of Proclus, which are fortunately extant but;which are nothing more than the wreck of a great multitude whichhe composed.t IfMr. Taylor had been conversant with Hindu literature, hewould have perceived that these exploits of Minerva-Athene weretaken from the buffalo-sacrifice of Burga or Bhavani.The wholeDionysiac legend is but a rendering of the Sivaic and Buddhisticlegends into a Grecian dress. A. W.

228 Bacchic Mysteries.think, we may reasonablyconclude that itbelonged to the arcane Orphic narrationsconcerning these goddesses, which were consequently but rarely mentioned, and this butby a few, whose works, which might affordus some clearer information, are unfortunately lost. Musical Conference.

""Mre****<Venus Hieing from the Sea.APPENDIX.SINCE writing the above Dissertation, Ihave met with a curious Greek manuscript entitled : Of Psellus, ConcerningDcemons,* according to the opinion of theGreeks: TOO iFsXXoo Ttva Trspi ScaptovcovSo^aCo jacv EXXvjvsc In the course of whichhe describes the machinery of the EleusinianMysteries as follows : A Ss yT(OV, otov aoTiy-a ta EXsoaivia, TOVea [J.IYVJJJ.SVOVATJJJLTJ-%at TTJ8 jyaispsi7C(OC Y]TCVCOV*DflBmons, divinities, spirits ;a term formerly applied to allrational beings, good or bad, other than mortals.229

230 Appendix.(ov TC/,aytoc- Etta ya^kcc irt tig KopYjKat eicadoootv of TsXooivoc /,scpayov K(lege exepvo^opiqoa)67:0 TOVTicoxptvetat7.ai TacTOO. Kca(jL7j|jia icaO-atvojxevov ^rspt tote 5c5 j[j.occ*ott irsp6 Zs jc Stxac aTcoitvvo? TT^ pia^ TTQ AYj|i7]Tpi(lege Tpayoo) op/si<; aTuoTSjicav, T(J>jc ^atsx^sto, coaTusp STJ%atEm ^raatv at TOO Atovoaoo Ttjxat,%at i\%at ta iuoXoo[xcpaXa luoiuava, xat ot tcoSa^a-Ctco TsXoojisvot, 7,X7j8ovs<;TS %at [jLtfJiaXcovsc,%atTtc TJ/COV Xs^Tjc QsaTCcDTSto %at Ao)5a)vatovof<;poc, 8at{xovcov [xtfjLTj^aia. Erp YJ(lege YJ Baopco TOO^) {jLYjpooc avaaopo[iVY], %at6 yovattto^ %Ttc, OOTCOyap ovo[iaCooat TYJVat(o ata/ovo{JLVOt.Kat OOTCOC V ata/pco TYJVTXtY]v -naTaXoooatv. /. e. "The Mysteriesof these demons, such as the Eleusinia, consisted in representing the mythical narration of Jupiter mingling with Ceres and herdaughter Proserpina (Phersephatte). But as

"Appendix. 231venereal connections are in the initiation,* aVenus is represented rising from the sea, fromcertain moving sexual parts :afterwards thecelebrated marriage of Proserpina (withPluto) takes place; and those who areinitiated sing :Out of the drum I have eaten,Out of the cymbal I have drank,The mystic vase I have sustained,The bed I have entered.The pregnant throes likewise of Ceres [Deo]are represented :hence the supplications ofDeo are exhibited; the drinking of bile,and the heart-aches. After this, an effigywith the thighs of a goat makes its appearance, which is represented as suffering vehemently about the testicles because :Jupiter,as if to expiate the violence which he hadoffered to Ceres, is represented as cutting offthe testicles of a goat, and placing them onher bosom, as if they were his own. Butafter all this, the rites of Bacchus succeed; the Cista, and the cakes with manybosses, like those of a shield. Likewise the* I. e. a representation of them.

232 Appendix.mysteries of Sabazius, divinations, and themimalons or Bacchants ;a certain sound ofthe Thesprotian bason ;the Dodonaean brass ;another Corybas, and another Proserpina,representations of Demons. After these succeed the uncovering of the thighs of Baubo,and a woman s comb (kteis), for thus, througha sense of shame, they denominate the sexualpartsof a woman. Andthus, with scandalous exhibitions, they finish the initiation."From this curious passage, itappears thatthe Eleusinian Mysteries comprehended thoseof almost all the gods ;and this account willnot only throw light on the relation of theMysteries given by Clemens Alexandrinus,but likewise be elucidated by it in severalparticulars.I would willingly unfold to thereader the mystic meaning of the whole ofthis machinery, but this can not be accomplished by any one, without at least the possession of all the Platonic manuscripts whichare extant.infinitely prizeThis acquisition, which I wouldabove the wealth of the Indies, will, I hope, speedily and fortunately

Jupiter disguised as Diana, and Calisto.\cHercules, Deianeira and Nessus.

"Appendix. 235be mine, and then I shall be no less anxiousto communicate this arcane information,than the liberal reader will be to receive it.I shall only therefore observe, that the mutual communication of energies among thegods was called by ancient theologists tspoeyajioe, Idleros gamos, a sacred marriage ;concerning which Proclus, in the secondbook of his manuscript Commentary on theParmenides, admirablyremarks as follows:5s TTJV ttotvawav, TCOTS JJLSVsv ~ots oot/otopcoat $ot (of 8-soXoYOt)*at xaXooatyajiov Hpae %at ALO?, ODpctvow %ai FTJC, Kpo-*Tsac* ^OTS 5s TCOV T-aTaSssaispcov7,7.1 ,xccXo jat yoL^ov AweJroTS 5s *ai (iiraXtvtcovxpst[xsva, /.at Xsyo jai Aioc xai Kop7]cEtSvjT(OV Bscov aXXai |j.vsiatv afia a jaToc/a y-oivcovcac, aXXai 5s atta ^po a^tcovaXXat 5s at ^po^ ta [Jis^Kat 5st r/]v sx-aarr^ tStoir^a ^a^avostv %at (Ji-Taystv aiuo TCOV 8s(ov sirt za t5v) TTJV totaotYjv5ta^Xo7,^v. /. e.Theologists at one timeconsidered this communion of the gods indivinities co-ordinate with each other ;and

236 Appendix.then they called it the marriage of Jupiterand Juno, of Heaven and Earth [Uranos andGre],of Saturn and Rhea : but at anothertime, they considered it as subsisting between subordinate and superior divinities ;and then they called it the marriage of Jupiter and Ceres ;but at another time, on thecontrary, they beheld it as subsisting between superior and subordinate divinities;and then they called it the marriage of Jupiter and Kore. For in the gods there is onekind of communion between such as area co-ordinate nature ;subordinate and supreme ;ofanother between theand another againbetween the supreme and subordinate.Andit is necessary to understand the peculiarityof each, and to transfer a conjunction of thiskind from the godsto the communion ofideas with each other." And in Timceus,book i.,he observes :y,ca TO TTJV aor/jv (suppleftsav) sispoic YJTOV aoiov $-ov TcXsioat o^CsuyvoaO-at,Xa^occ &v * ^tw [jtuaTtxcav%at TCOV sv aicoppTjtotc Xeyojxevcov tspcov/. e. And that the same " goddess is conjoinedwith other gods, or the same god with manygoddesses, may be collected from the mystic

Appendix. 237discourses, and those marriages which arecalled in the Mysteries Sacred Marriages"Thus far the divine Proclus ;from the firstof which passages the reader may perceivehow adultery and rapes, as represented in themachinery of the Mysteries, are to be understood when applied to the gods; and thatthey mean nothing more than a communication of divine energies, either between a superior and subordinate, or subordinate andsuperior, divinity.I only add that the apparent indecency of these exhibitions was, as Ihave already observed, exclusive of its mysticmeaning, designed as a remedy for the passionsof the soul: and hence mystic ceremonieswere very properly called cotea, akea, medicines,bythe obscure and noble Heracleitus.** IAMBLICHUS : De Mysteriis.Sacrifice of a Pig.

Hercules Drunk.OKPHICHYMNS.I shall utter to whom it is lawful ;but let the doors be closed,Nevertheless, against all the profane.But do thou hear,Oh Musasus, for I will declare what is true. . . .He is the One, self -proceeding and from him all;things proceed,And in them he himself exerts his activity ;no mortalBeholds Him, but he beholds all.There is one royal body in which all things are enwombed,Fire and Water, Earth, ^JEther, Night and Day,And Counsel [Mette], the first producer, and delightful Love,For all these are contained in the great body of Zeus.Zeus, the mighty thunderer, is first ;Zeus is last ;Zeus is the head, Zeus the middle of all things ;From Zeus were all things produced. He is male, he is female ;Zeus is the depth of the earth, the height of the starry heavens ;238

Appendix. 239He is the breath of all things, the force of untamed fire ;The bottom of the sea ; Sun, Moon, and Stars ;Origin of all ; King of all ;One Power, one God, one Great Ruler.HYMN OF CLEANTHES.Greatest of the gods, God with many names,God ever-ruling, and ruling all things !Zeus, origin of Nature, governing the universe by law,All hail ! For it is right for mortals to address thee ;For we are thy offspring, and we alone of allThat live and creep on earth have the power of imitative speech.Therefore will I praise thee, and hymn forever thy power.Thee the wide heaven, which surrounds the earth, obeys:Following where thou wilt, willingly obeying thy law.Thou holdest at thy service, in thy mighty hands,The two-edged, flaming, immortal thunderbolt,Before whose flash all nature trembles.Thou rulest in the common reason, which goes through all,And appears mingled in all things, great or small,Which filling all nature, is king of all existences.Nor without thee, Oh Deity,* does anything happen in the world,From the divine ethereal pole to the great ocean,Except only the evil preferred by the senseless wicked.But thou also art able to bring to order that which is chaotic,Giving form to what is formless, and makingfriendly ;So reducing all variety to unity, and even making goodThus throughout nature is one great lawWhich only the wicked seek to disobey,Poor fools ! who long for happiness,But will not see nor hear the divine commands.* Greek, A .|JLOV, Demon.the discordantout of evil.

"240 Appendix.[In frenzy blind they stray away from good,By thirst of glory tempted, or sordid avarice,Or pleasures sensual and joys that fall.]But do thou, Oh Zeus, all-bestower, cloud-compeller!Ruler of thunder! guard men from sad error.Father !dispel the clouds of the soul, and let us followThe laws of thy great and just reign !That we may be honored, let us honor thee again,Chanting thy great deeds, as is proper for mortals,For nothing can be better for gods or menThan to adore with hymns the Universal King.** Rev. J. Freeman Clarke, whose version is here copied, rendersthis phrase"the law common to all." The Greek text reads:xo .vov as: vo4](uov ev o .x-fl D^vsw,"the term VOJAO?, nomos, orLaw, being used for King, as Love is for God. A. W.Proserpina Enthroned in Hades.

Nymphs and Centaurs.GLOSSARY.Aporrheta, Greek aTcop^ta The instructions given by thehierophant or interpreter in the Eleusinian Mysteries, not tobe disclosed on pain of death. There was said to be a synopsis of them in the petroma or two stone tablets,is said, were bound together in the form of a book.Apostatisewhich, itTo fall or descend, as the spiritual part of the soul issaid to descend from its divine home to the world of nature.Cathartic Purifying. The term was used by the Platonists andothers in connection with the ceremonies of purification before initiation, also to the corresponding performance of ritesand duties which renewed the moral life. The catharticvirtues were the duties and mode of living,which conducedto that end. The phrase is used but once or twice in thisedition.Cause The agent by which things are generated or produced.Circulation The peculiar spiral motion or progress by which thespiritualnature or"intellect" descended from the divineregion of the universe into the world of sense.Cogitative Eelating to the understanding: dianoetic.Conjecture, or Opinion A mental conception that can be changedby argument.A name of Ceres or Demeter, applied by the Orphic andlater writers to her daughter Persephon6 or Proserpina.was supposed to typify the spiritual241Shenature which was ab-

242 Glossary.Corecontinued.ducted by Hades or Pluto into the Underworld, the figuresignifying the apostasy or descent of the soul from the higherlife to the material body.Corically After the manner of Proserpina, *. e., as if descendinginto death from the supernal world.Daemon A designation of a certain class of divinities. Differentauthors employ the term differently.Hesiod regards them asthe souls of the men who lived in the Golden Age, -now acting as guardian or tutelary spirits. Socrates, in the Cratylus,"says that daemon is a term denoting wisdom, and that everygood man is daemonian, both while living and when dead, andis rightly called a daemon." His own attendant spirit thatcheeked him whenever he endeavored to do what he mightnot, was styled his Daemon, lamblichus places Daemons inthe second order of spiritual existence. Cleanthes,celebrated Hymn, styles Zeus 8a:|j.ov(daimori).in hisDemiurgus The creator. It was the title of the chief-magistratein several Grecian States, and in this work is applied to Zeusor Jupiter, or the Ruler of the Universe. The latter Platonists,and more especially the Gnostics, who regarded matteras constituting or containing the principle of Evil, sometimesapplied this term to the Evil Potency, who,affirmed, was the Hebrew God.some of themDistributed Reduced from a whole to parts and scattered. Thespiritual nature or intellect in its higher estate was regardedas a whole, but in descending to worldly conditions becameDivisibledivided into parts or perhaps characteristics.Made into parts or attributes, as the mind, intellect, orspiritual, first a whole, became thus distinguished in its descent.of life.This division was regarded as a fall into a lower planeEnergise, Greek U) "~EVp"fTo operate or work, especially toundergo disciplineof the heart and character.

Glossary. 243EnergyEternalOperation, activity.Existing through all past time, and still continuing.Faith The correct conception of a thing as it seems, fidelity.Freedom The ruling power of one s life ;a power over what pertains to one s self in life.FriendshipUnion of sentiment; a communion in doing well.Fury The peculiar mania, ardor, or enthusiasm which inspiredand actuated puophets, poets, interpreters of oracles, andothers ;also a title of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone"as the chastisers of the wicked,also of the Eumenides.Generation, Greek fsvssi? Generated existence, the mode oflife peculiar to this world, but which is equivalent to death,Goodso far as the pure intellect or spiritual nature is concerned ;the process by which the soul is separated from the higherform of existence, and brought into the conditions of lifeupon the earth. It was regarded as a punishment, and according to Mr. Taylor, was prefigured by the abduction ofProserpina. The soul is supposed to have pre-existed withGod as a pure intellect like him, but not actually identicalat one but not absolutely the same.That which is desired on its own account.Hades A name of Pluto ; the Underworld, the state or region ofdeparted souls, as understood by classic writers the; physicalnature, the corporeal existence, the condition of the soulwhile in the bodily life.Herald, Greek *Y]poThe crier at the Mysteries.Hierophant The interpreter who explained the purport of themystic doctrines and dramas to the candidates.Holiness, Greek ooior/js Attention to the honor due to God.Idea A principle in all minds underlying our cognitions of thesensible world.Imprudent Without foresight ; deprived of sagacity.Infernal regions Hades, the Underworld.Instruction A power to cure the soul.

"244 Glossary.Intellect, Greek voo<;Also rendered pure reason, and by ProfessorCocker, intuitive reason, and the rational soul ;the spiritualnature. The organ of self-evident, necessary, and universaltruth. In an immediate, direct, and intuitive manner,it takeshold on truth with absolute certainty. The reason, throughthe medium of ideas, holds communion with the world of realBeing. These ideas are the light which reveals the world ofunseen realities, as the sun reveals the world of sensible forms.The Idea of the good is the Sun of the Intelligible World ;it sheds on objects the light of truth, and gives to the soulthat knows the power of knowing. Under this light the eyeof reason apprehends the eternal world of being as truly, yetmore truly, than the eye of sense apprehends the world ofphenomena. This power the rational soul possesses by virtueof its having a nature kindred, or even homogeneous withthe Divinity. It was generated by the Divine Father, andlike him, it is in a certain sense eternal. Not that weare to understand Plato as teaching that the rational soul hadan independent and underived existence ;it was created orgenerated in eternity, and even now, in its incorporate state,is not amenable to the condition of time and space, but, in apeculiar sense, dwells in eternity : and therefore is capable ofbeholding eternal realities, and coming into communion withabsolute beauty, and goodness, and truth that is, with God,the Absolute Being." Christianity and Greek Philosophy, x.pp. 349, 350.Intellective Intuitive ; perceivable by spiritual insight.Intelligible Relating to the higher reason.Interpreter The hierophant or sacerdotal teacher who, on the lastday of the Eleusinia, explained the petroma or stone book tothe candidates, and unfolded the final meaning of the representations and symbols. In the Phoenician language he wascalled IDS? peter. Hence the petroma, consisting of twotablets of stone, was a pun on the designation, to imply the

Glossary. 245Interpreter continued.wisdom to be unfolded. It has been suggested by the Rev.JustMr. Hyslop, that the Pope derived his claim, as the successorof Peter, from his succession to the rank and function ofthe Hierophant of the Mysteries, and not from the celebratedApostle, who probably was never in Rome.Productive of justice.justice The harmony or perfect proportionalaction of all thepowers of the soul, and comprising equity, veracity, fidelity,usefulness, benevolence, and purity of mind, or holiness.Judgment A peremptory decision covering a disputed matter;also iavo .a, dianoia, or understanding.Knowledge A comprehension by the mind of fact not to be overthrown or modified by argument.LegislativeRegulating.Lesser Mysteries The TsXsia-., teletai, or ceremonies of purification, which were celebrated at Agree,prior to full initiationat Eleusis. Those initiated on this occasion were styledfXDorai, mysta, from pja>,muo, to vail; and their initiationwas called JJWY]G:C, muesis, or vailing, as expressive of beingvailed from the former life.Magic Persian mag, Sanscrit maha, great. Relating to the orderof the Magi of Persia and Assyria.Material daemons Spirits of a nature so gross as to be able toassume visible bodies like individuals still living on the Earth.MatterThe elements of the world, and especially of the humanbody, in which the idea of evil is contained and the soulincarcerated. Greek 6X-rj,Rule or Hyle.Mucsis, Greek fromfxov]0 .c, jxoto,to vail The last act in theLesser Mysteries, or -csXsTat, teletai, denoting the separating ofthe initiate from the former exotic life.Mysteries Sacred dramas performed at stated periods. Themost celebrated were those of Isis, Sabazius, Cybele, andEleusis.

246 Glossary.Mystic Relating to the Mysteries: a person initiated in theLesser Mysteries Greek jmuoTa..Occult Arcane; hidden; pertaining to the mystical sense.Orgies, Greek opyiM The peculiar rites of the Bacchic Mysteries.*Opinion A hypothesis or conjecture.Partial Divided, in parts, and not a whole.Philologist One pursuing literature.Philosopher One skilled in philosophy; one disciplined in a rightlife.Philosophise To investigate final causes ;to undergo disciplineof the life.PhilosophyThe aspiration of the soul after wisdom and truth,11Plato asserted philosophy to be the science of unconditionedbeing, and asserted that this was known to the soul by itsintuitive reason (intellect or spiritual instinct) which is theorgan of all philosophic insight. The reason perceives substance ;the understanding, only phenomena. Being (TO ov),which is the reality in all actuality, is in the ideas or thoughtsof God; and nothing exists (or appears outwardly), exceptby the force of this indwellingidea. The WOKD is the trueexpression of the nature of every object for each has its divine:and natural name, besides its accidental human appellation.Philosophy isthe recollection of what the soul has seen ofthings and their names." (J. FREEMAN CLARKE.)Plotinus A philosopher who lived in the Third Century, and revived the doctrines of Plato.Prudent Having foresight.Purgation, purification The introduction into the Teletce or LesserMysteries; a separation of the external principles from the soul.Punishment The curing of the soul of its errors.Prophet, Greek jxaviK; One possessing the prophetic mania, orinspiration.Priest Greekjmavu<;A prophet or inspired person, Ispso?asacerdotal person. *

"RevoltGlossary. 247A rolling away, the career of the soul in its descent fromthe pristine divine condition.Science The knowledge of universal, necessary, unchangeable,Showsand eternal ideas.The peculiar dramatic representations of the Mysteries.Telete, Greek TsXcTY]The finishing or consummation;Mysteries.Theologist A teacher of the literature relating to the gods.Theoretical Perceptive.Torch bearer A priest who bore a torch at the Mysteries.the LesserTitans The beings who made war against Kronos or Saturn. E.TitanicPococke identifies them with the Daityas of India, who resistedthe Brahmans.In the Orphic legend, they are described asslaying the child Bacchus-Zagreus.Relating to the nature of Titans.Transmigration The passage of the soul from one condition ofbeing to another. This has not any necessary reference toany rehabilitation in a corporeal nature, or body of flesh andblood. See I Corinthians, XV.Virtue A good mental condition; a stable disposition.Virtues Agencies, rites, influences. Cathartic Virtues Purifying ritesor influences.Wisdom The knowledge of things as they exist ;in truth."the approachto God as the substance of goodnessWorld The cosmos, the universe, as distinguished from the earthand human existence upon it.iEleusiuiau Priest and Assistants.

""Fortune and the Three Fates.LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.DRAWN FROM THE ANTIQUE BY A. L. RAWSON.A DESCRIPTION of the illustrationsto this volume properlyincludes the two or three theories of human life held by theancient Greeks, and the beautiful myth of Demeter and Proserpina, the most charming of all mythological fancies, andthe Orgies of Bacchus, which together supplied the motivesto the artists of the originals from which these drawingswere made.From them we learn that it was believed that the soul is apart of, or a spark from, the Great Soul of the Kosmos, the Central Sun of the intellectual universe, and therefore immortal ;has lived before, and will continue to live after this bodyprison is dissolved ;that the river Styx is between us andthe unseen world, and hence we have no recollection of anyformer state of existence 5and that the body is Hades, inwhich the soul is made to suffer for past misdeeds done in theunseen world.Poets and philosophers, tragedians and comedians, embellished the myth with a thousand fine fancies which were248

List of Illustrations. 249woven into the ritual of Eleusis, or were presented in thetheaters during the Bacchic festivals.The pictures include, beside the costumes of priests, priestesses, and their attendants, and of the fauns and satyrs, manyof the sacred vessels and implements used in celebrating theMysteries, in the orgies, and in the theaters, all of which weredrawn by the ancient artists from the objects represented,and their work has been carefully followed here.1. FRONTISPIECE. SACRIFICE TO CERES.PAGE.Denkmaler, sculptur.The goddess stands near a serpent-guarded altar, on which asheaf of grain is aflame. Worshipers attend, and Jupiterapproves. (See page 17.)2. DECORATING A STATUE OF BACCHUS 4Rom. Campana.The priest wears a lamb-skin skirt, the thyrsus is a naturalvine with grape clusters, and there are fruit and wine bearers.3. BACCHANTES WITH THYRSUS AND FLUTE 4Two fragments.Rom. Camp.4. SYMBOLICAL CEREMONY. Rom. Camp 4Torch and thyrsus bearers and faun.208 for reference to pine nut.See cut No. 40, and page5. BACCHUS AND NYMPHS 56. PLUTO, PROSERPINA, AND FURIES 5Galerie des Peintres.The Furies were said to be children of Pluto and Proserpina ;other accounts say of Nox and Acheron, and Acheron was a sonof Ceres without a father. (See page 65.)7. PRIESTESS WITH AMPHORA AND SACRED CAKE (j8. PRIESTESS WITH MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 69. FAUN KISSING BACCHANTE. Bourbon Mus10. FAUN AND BACCHUS. Bourbon Mus . 6

250 List of Illustrations.PAGE.11. ETRUSCAN VASE. Millingen 7See drawings on page 106.12. MERCURY PRESENTING A SOUL TO PLUTO 8Pict. Ant. Sep. Nasonum, pi. I, 8.13. MYSTIC RITES. Admiranda, tav. 17 814. ELEUSINIAN CEREMONY. Oest. Denk. Alt. Kunst, II., 8 815. BACCHIC FESTIVAL. Bartoli, Admiranda, 43 9Probably a stage scene. The characters are the king, who wasan archon of Athens; a thyrsus bearer, musician, wine andbearers, dancers, and Pluto and Proserpina. A boy removes the king s sandal. (See page 35.)16. APOLLO AND THE Mus^S. Florentine Museum 10The muses were the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne ;that is, of the god of the present instant, and of memory.Their office was, in part, to give information to any inquiringsoul, and to preside over the various arts and sciences. Theywere called by various names derived from the places wherethey were worshiped:Aganippides, Aonides, Castalides,Heliconiades, Lebetheides, Pierides, and others. Apollo wascalled Musagetes, as their leader and conductor. The palmtree, laurel, fountains on Helicon, Parnassus, Pindus, andother sacred mountains, were sacred to the muses.17. PROMETHEUS FORMS A WOMAN 11Visconti, Mm. Pio. Clem., IV v 34.Mercury, the messenger of the gods, brings a soul fromJupiter for the body made by Prometheus, and the three Fatesattend. The Athenians built an altar for the worship of Prometheus in the grove of the Academy.18. PROCESSION OF IACCHUS AND PHALLUS 16Montfaucon.From Athens to Eleusis, on the sixth day of the Eleusinia.The statue is made to play its part in a mystic ceremony, typifying the union of the sexes in generation. Attendant priestesses bear a basket of dried figs and a phallus, baskets of fruit,vases of wine, with clematis, and musical and sacrificial instruments. None but women and children were permitted to takepart in this ceremony. The wooden emblem of fecundity wasan object of supreme veneration, and the ceremony of placingand hooding it was assigned to the most highly respectedwoman in Athens, as a mark of honor. Lucian and Plutarch

19, 20,List of Illustrations. 251PAGE.say the phallus bearers at Rome carried images (phalloi) at thetop of long poles, and their bodies were stained with wine lees,and partly covered with a lamb-skin, their heads crowned witha wreath of ivy. (See page 14.)21. FROM ETRUSCAN VASES Florentine Museum. 22Human sacrifice may be indicated in the lower group.22. VENUS AND PROSERPINA IN HADES 28Galerie des Peintres.The myth relates that Venus gave Proserpina a pomegranateto eat in Hades, and so made her subject to the law which required her to remain four months of each year with Pluto inthe Underworld, for Venus is the goddess who presides overbirth and growth in all cases. Cerberus (see page 65) keepsguard, and one of the heads holds her garment, signifying thathis master is entitled to one-third of her time.23. RAPE OF PROSERPINA. CARRIED DOWN TO HADES(INVISIBILITY) Flor. Mus 29See note, p. 152.24. PALLAS, VENUS, AND DIANA CONSULTING 30Gal. des Peint.Jupiter ordered these divinities to excite desire in the heart ofProserpina as a means of leading her into the power of therichest of all monarchs, the one who most abounds in treasures.(See page 140.)25. DIONYSUS AS GOD OF THE SUN 31Pit. Ant. Ercolano.Dionysus Bacchus symbolizes the sun as god of the seasons ;rides on a panther, pours wine into a drinking-horn heldby a satyr, who also carries a wine skin bottle. The winged geniiof the seasons attend. Winter carries two geese and a cornucopia ; Spring holds in one hand the mystical cist, and in theother the mystic zone ;Summer bears a sickle and a sheafof grain ;and Autumn has a hare and a horn-of -plenty full offruits. Fauns, satyrs, boy-fauns, the usual attendants ofBacchus, play with goats and panthers between the legs of thelarger figures.26. HERSE AND MERCURY 42Pit. Ant. Ercolano.A fabled love match between the god and a daughter of Cecrops,the Egyptian who founded Athens, supplied the ritual forthe festivals Hersephoria, in which young girls of sevento eleven years, from the most noted families, dressed in

252 List of Illustrations.PAGE.white, carried the sacred vessels and implements used in theMysteries in procession. Cakes of a peculiar form were madefor the occasion.27. NARCISSUS SEES His IMAGE IN WATER 42P. Ovid. Naso.The son of Cephissus and Liriope, an Oceanid, was said to bevery beautiful. He sought to win the favor of the nymph ofthe fountain where he saw his face reflected, and failing, hedrowned himself in chagrin. The gods, unwilling to lose somuch beauty, changed him into the flower now known by hisname. (See page 150.)28. JUPITER AS DIANA, AND CALISTO. P. Ovid. Naso.. 62The supreme deity of the ancients, beside numerous marriages,was credited with many amours with both divinities and mortals. In some of those adventures he succeeded by using adisguise, as here in the form of the Queen of the StarryHeavens, when he surprised Calisto (Helice), a daughter ofLycaon, king of Arcadia, an attendant on Diana. The companions of that goddess were pledged to celibacy. Jupiter, inthe form of a swan, surprised Leda, who became mother of theDioscuri (twins).29. DIANA AND CALISTO. Ovid. Naso, Neder 62The fable says that when Diana and her nymphs were bathingthe swelling form of Calisto attracted attention. It was reported to the goddess, when she punished the maid by changing her into the form of a bear. She would have been torn inpieces by the hunter s dogs, but Jupiter interposed and translated her to the heavens, where she forms the constellationThe Great Bear. Juno was jealous of Jupiter, and requestedThetis to refuse the Great Bear permission to descend at nightbeneath the waves of ocean, and she, being also jealous ofPoseidon, complied, and therefore the dipper does not dip,but revolves close around the pole star.30. BACCHANTES AND FAUNS DANCING . . 74A stage ballet. Rom .Campana, 37.31. HERCULES, BULL, AND PRIESTESS. Eom. Camp 74Bacchic orgies.32. FRUIT AND THYRSUS BEARERS. Sour. Mus 8433. TORCH-BEARER AS APOLLO. Bourbon Mus 8434. ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Florence Mus. .94

"List of Illustrations. 253PAGE.35. ETRUSCAN MYSTIC CEREMONY. Rom. Camp 9436. ETRUSCAN ALTAR GROUP. Flor. Mus 106The mystic cist with serpent coiled around, the sacred oaks,baskets, drinking-horns, zones, festoon of branches and flowers,make very pretty and impressive accessories to two handsomepriestesses.37. ETRUSCAN BACCHANTES. Millingen 106These two groups were drawn from a vase (page 7) which isa very fine work of art. The drapery, decoration, symbols,accessories, and all the details of implements used in the celebration of the Mysteries are very carefully drawn on the vase,which is well preserved. This vase is a strong proof of theantiquity of the orgies, for the Etruscans, Tyrrheni, andTusci were ancient before the Romans began to build on theTiber.38. ETRUSCAN CEREMONY. Millingen 10639. SATYR, CUPID AND VENUS. Montfaucon ; Sculpture. 110Some Roman writers affirmed that the Satyr was a real animal,but science has dissipated that belief, and the monster hasbeen classed among the artificial attractions of the theaterwhere it belongs, and where it did a large share of duty in theMysteries. They were invented by the poets as an impersonation of the life that animates the branches of trees when thewind sweeps through them, moaning, whistling, or shriekingin the gale. They were said to be the chief attendants onBacchus, and to delight in revel and wine.40. CUPIDS, SATYR, AND STATUE OF PRIAPUS. Montfaucon 110Th^many suggestive emblems in this picture form an instructive group, symbolic of Nature s life-renewing power. Theancients adored this power under the emblems of the organsof generation. Many passages in the Bible denounce that worship, which is called the grove,"and usually was an uprightstone, or wooden pillar, plain or ornamented, as in Rome,where it beeam,e a statue to the waist, as seen in the engraving. The Palladium at Athens was a Greek form. TheDruzes of Mount Lebanon in Syria now dispense with emblems of wood and stone, and use the natural objects in theirmystic rites and ceremonies.41. APOLLO AND DAPHNE, Galerie des Peint 118The rising sun shines on the dew-drops, and warming them asthey hang on the leaves of the laurel tree, they disappear,

254 List of Illustrations.PAGE.leaving the tree ;and it is said by the poet that Apollo loves andseeks Daphne, striving to embrace her, when she flies and istransformed into a laurel tree at the instant she is embraced bythe sun-god.42. DIANA AND ENDYMION. Bourbon Mus 118Diana as the queen of the night loves Endymion, the settingsun. The lovers ever strive to meet, but inexorable fate as everprevents them from enjoying each other s society. The fairhuntress sometimes is permitted, as when she is the new moon,or in the first quarter, to approach near the place where herbeloved one lingers near the Hesperian gardens, and to followhim even to the Pillars of Hercules, but never to embrace him.The new moon, as soon as visible, sets near but not with the sun.Endymion reluctantly sinks behind the western horizon, andwould linger until the loved one can be folded in his arms,but his duty calls and he must turn his steps toward theElysian Fields to cheer the noble and good souls who awaithis presence, ever cheerful and benign. Diana follows closelyafter and is welcomed by the brave and beautiful inhabitantsof the Peaceful Islands, but while receiving their homage herlover hastens on toward the eastern gates, where the goldenfleece makes the morning sky resplendent.43. CERES AND THE CAR OF TRIPTOLEMUS 127P. Ovid. Naso, Neder.Triptolemus (the word means three plowings) was the founderof the Eleusinian Mysteries, and was presented by Ceres withher car drawn by winged dragons, in which he distributed seedgrain all over the world.44. PLUTO MARRIES PROSERPINA 127P. Ovid. Naso, Necler.Jupiter is said to have consented to request of Pluto that Proserpina might revisit her mother s dwelling, and the picture represents him as very earnest in his appeal to his brother. Sincethen the seed of grain has remained in the ground no longerthan four months;the other eight it is above, in the regions oflight. In the engraving a curtain is held up by bronze figures.This seems conclusive that it was a representation of a dramatic scene. (See pp. 159, 186.)45. PROSERPINA, ACCORDING TO THE GREEKS. Heck ... 13846. BACCHUS AFTER THE VISIT TO INDIA. Heck 13847. A ROMAN FIGURE OF CERES. Heck. .. 138

List of Illustrations. 255PAGE.48. DEMETER, FROM ETRUSCAN VASE. Heck 13849. VENUS, PALLAS, AND DIANA INSPECTING THENEEDLEWORK OF PROSERPINA. Galerie des feint . 14250. PROSERPINA EXPOSED TO PLUTO 152Ovid. Naso, Neder.There may have been a mild sarcasm in this artist s mind whenhe drew the maid as dallying with Cupid, and the richest monarch in all the earth in the distance, hastening toward her. Hesucceeded, as is shown in the next engraving.51. PLUTO CARRYING OFF PROSERPINA 152P. Ovid. Naso, Neder.Eternal change is the universal law. Proserpina must go downinto the Underworld that she may rise again into light and life.The seed must be planted under or into the soil that it mayhave a new birth and growth.52. PROSERPINA IN PLUTO S COURT. Montfaucon 156As a "personation she was the Apparent Brilliance"of allfruits and flowers.53. CERES IN HADES. Montfaucon 16254. BACCHUS, FAUNS, AND WINE JARS. Montfaucon .... 16855. TRAGIC ACTOR. Bourbon Museum 16856. A GROUP OF DEITIES. Heck 168Pan and Dionysus, Hygeia, Hermes, Dionysus and Faunus,and Silenus.57. NIGHT WITH HER STARRY CANOPY. Heck 16858. THE THREE GRACES. Heck .16859. CUPID ASLEEP IN THE ARMS OF VENUS 174Galerie des Peint.60. PRIZE DANCE BETWEEN A SATYR AND A GOAT 174Antichi.61. BAUBO AND CERES AT ELEUSIS. Galerie des Peint. 174See page 232.

"256 List of Illustrations.PAGE.62. PSYCHE ASLEEP IN HADES 186From the ruins of the Bath of Titus, Rome.See page 45.63. NYMPHS OF THE FOUR RIVERS IN HADES 187Tomb of the Nasons.It was easy for poets and inythographers, when they hadonce started the idea of a gloomy land watered with the riversof woe, to place Styx, the stream which makes men shudder, asthe boundary which separates it from the world of living men,and to lead through it the channels of Lethe, in which allthings are forgotten, of Kokytos, which echoes only withshrieks of pain, and of Pyryphlegethon, with its waves of fire."Acheron, in the early myths, was the only river of Hades.64. ETRUSCAN VASE GROUP. Millingen 19865. DANCERS, ETRUSCANS. Millin, ~LpL27 19866. GREEK CONVIVIAL SCENE. Millin tI pi. 38 19867. FAUN AND BACCHANTE. Bour. Mus 20668. THYRSUS-BEARER. Bourbon Museum 20669. BACCHANTE AND FAUN. Bour. Mus 206These three very graceful pictures were drawn from paintingson walls in Herculaneum.70. KING, TORCH, FRUIT, AND THYRSUS BEARER 21271. HERCULES RECLINING. Zoega, Bassirilievi, 70 212Here is an actual ceremony in which many actors took parts ;with an altar, flames, a torch, tripod, the kerux (crier), bacchantes, fauns, and other attendants on the celebration of theMysteries, including the role of an angel with wings.72. MARRIAGE (OR ADULTERY) OF MARS AND VENUS 220Montfaueon.See pages 231-237. If this is from a scene as played at theBacchic theaters, those dramas must have been very popular,and justly so. To those theaters, which were supported by thegovernment in Athens and in many other cities throughoutGreece, we owe the immortal works of ^Eschylus and Sophocles.

List of Illustrations. 257PAGE.73. MUSICAL CONFERENCE (EPITHALAMIUM) 228S. Bartoli, Admiranda, pi. 62.Written music was evidently used, for one of the company iswriting as if correcting the score, and writing with the lefthand.74. VENUS RISING FROM THE SEA. Ovid. Naso, Verburg. 229This goddess was called Venus Anadyomene, for the poets saidthe morning sunlight on the foam ofshe rose from the seathe sea on the shore of the island Cythera, or Cyprus, orwherever the poet may choose as the favored place for themanifestation of the generative power of nature, and whereverflowers show her footprints. The loves bear aloft her magicgirdle, which Juno borrowed as a means of winning backJupiter s affection. The rose and the myrtle were sacred toher. Her worship was the motive for building temples in Cythera and in Cyprus at Amathus, Idalium, Golgoi, and in manyother places. (See engravings 22, 39, and 49, and page 230. )75. JUPITER DISGUISED AS DIANA, AND CALISTO . . .234Ovid. Naso, Neder.The gods were said to have the power, and to practice assuming the form of any other of their train, or of any animal.In these disguises they are supposed to play tricks on eachother as here. Diana is the queen of the night sky, Calisto isone of her attendants, and many white clouds float over theblue ether (Jupiter), and are chased by the winds (as dogs).76. HERCULES, DEIANEIRA, AND NESSUS .. 234Ovid. Naso, Neder.The sun nears the end of the day s journey he is; aged andweary dark clouds obscure his face and obstruct his way, but;still Hercules loves beautiful things, and Deianeira, thefair daughter of the king of ^Stolia, retires with him into exile.At a ford the hero entrusts his bride to Nessus the Centaur, tocarry across the river. The ferryman made love to the lady,and Hercules resented the indiscretion, and wounded him byan arrow. Dying Nessus tells Deianeira to keep his blood as alove charm in case her husband should love another woman.Hercules did love another, named lole, and Deianeira dippedhis shirt in the blood of Nessus the crimson and scarletclouds of a splendid sunset are made glorious by the blood ofNessus, and Hercules is burnt on the funeral pyre of scarletand crimson sunset clouds.

.On258 List of Illustrations.PAGE.77. THE SACRIFICE. H erculaneum, IV., 13 23778. HERCULES DRUNK. Zoega^ Bassirilievi,tav. 67 23879. PROSERPINA ENTHRONED IN HADES. ArcMol. Zeit. 240The principle of growth rules the Underworld.80. BACCHANTE AND CENTAUR. Bourbon Mus ......... 24181. BACCHANTE AND CENTAURESS. Bourbon Mus 24182. ELEUSINIAN PRIEST AND ASSISTANTS 24783. THE FATES. Zoega, Bassiritievi, tav. 46 24884. SUPPER SCENE 25885. BACCHIC BULL. Antichi. .cover.Supper Scene.

-:-i

a>JUNE 1963UNIVERSITY OF TORONTOLIBRARY8to1a8O19dDO NOTREMOVETHECARDFROMTHISPOCKETEH