Section I., Eleusinian Mysteries

p. 122 indivisible nature, corresponds to initiation. And the simple self-inspection of simple forms, is analogous to epoptic vision.” Ὁτι εν τοις ἱεροις ἡγουντο μεν αἱ πανδημοι καϑαρσεις. Ειτα επι ταυταις απορῥητοτεραι· μετα δε ταυτας συστασεις παρελαμβανοντο, και επι ταυταις μυησεις· εν τελει δε εποπτειαι. Αναλογουσι τοινυν αἱ μεν ηϑικαι και πολιτικαι αρεται, τοις εμφανεσι καϑαρμοις. Αἱ δε καϑαρτικαι ὁσαι αποσκευαζονται παντα τα ἑκτος τοις απορῥητοτεροις. Αἱ δε περι τα νοητα ϑεωρητικαι τε ενεργειαι ταις συστασεσιν. Αἱ δε τουτων συναιρεσεις εις το αμεριστον ταις μυησεσιν. Αἱ δε ἁπλαι των ἁπλων ειδων αυτοψιαι ταις εποπτειαις. And here I can not refrain from noticing, with indignation mingled with pity, the ignorance and arrogance of modern critics, who pretend that this distribution of the virtues is entirely the invention of the latter Platonists, and without any foundation in the writings of Plato. * And among the supporters of such ignorance, I am sorry to find p. 123 [paragraph continues] Fabricius, in his prolegomena to the life of Proclus. For nothing can be more obvious to every reader of Plato than that in his Laws he treats of the social and political virtues; in his Phædo, and seventh book of the Republic, of the purifying; and in his Thæatetus, of the contemplative and sublimer virtues. This observation is, indeed, so obvious, in the Phædo, with respect to the purifying virtues, that no one but a verbal critic could read this dialogue and be insensible to its truth: for Socrates in the very beginning expressly asserts that it is the business of philosophers to study to die, and to be themselves dead, * and yet at the same time reprobates suicide. What then can such

p. 124 a death mean but symbolical or philosophical death? And what is this but the true exercise of the virtues which purify? But these poor men read only superficially, or for the sake of displaying some critical acumen in verbal emendations; and yet with such despicable preparations for philosophical discussion, they have the impudence to oppose their puerile conceptions to the decisions of men of elevated genius and profound investigation, who, happily freed from the danger and drudgery of learning any foreign language, * directed all their attention without restraint to the acquisition of the most exalted truth. It only now remains that we prove, in the last place, that a representation of the descent of the soul formed no inconsiderable part of these mystic shows. This, indeed, is p. 125 doubtless occultly intimated by Virgil, when speaking of the souls of the blessed in Elysium, he adds, Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno: Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant, Rursus et incipiant in corpore velle reverti.* * “All these, after they have passed away a thousand years, are summoned by the divine one in great array, to the Lethæan river. In this way they become forgetful of their former earth-life, and revisit the vaulted realms of the world, willing again to return into bodies.” But openly by Apuleius in the following prayer which Psyché addresses to Ceres: Per ego te frugiferam tuam dextram istam deprecor, per lætificas messium cærimonias, per tacita sacra cistarum, et per famulorum tuorum draconum pinnata curricula, et glebæ. Siculæ fulcamina, et currum rapacem, et terram tenacem, et illuminarum Proserpinæ nuptiarum demeacula, et cætera quæ silentio tegit Eleusis, Atticæ sacrarium; miserandæ Psyches animæ, supplicis tuæ, subsiste. † That is, “I beseech thee, by thy fruit-bearing right

p. 126 hand, by the joyful ceremonies of harvest, by the occult sacred rites of thy cistæ, * and by the winged car of thy attending dragons, and the furrows of the Sicilian soil, and the rapacious chariot (or car of the ravisher), and the dark descending ceremonies attending the marriage of Proserpina, and the ascending rites which accompanied the lighted return of thy daughter, and by other arcana which Eleusis the Attic sanctuary conceals in profound silence, relieve the sorrows of thy wretched suppliant Psyché.” For the abduction of Proserpina signifies the descent of the soul, as is evident from the passage previously adduced from Olympiodorus, in which he says the soul descends Corically; † and this is confirmed by the authority of the philosopher Sallust, who observes, “That the abduction of Proserpina is fabled to have taken place about the opposite equinoctial; and by this the descent of souls [into earth-life] p. 127 p. 128 Ceres lends her ear to Triptolemus. Proserpina and Pluto. Jupiter angry. p. 129 is implied.” Περι γουν την εναντιαν ισημεριαν ἡ της Κορης ἁρπαγη μυϑολογειται γενεσϑαι, ὁ δη καϑοδος εστι των ψυχων. * And as the abduction of Proserpina was exhibited in the dramatic representations of the Mysteries, as is clear from Apuleius, it indisputably follows, that this represented the descent of the soul, and its union with the dark tenement of the body. Indeed, if the ascent and descent of the soul, and its condition while connected with a material nature, were represented in the dramatic shows of the Mysteries, it is evident that this was implied by the rape of Proserpina. And the former part of this assertion is manifest from Apuleius, when describing his initiation, he says, in the passage already adduced: “I approached the confines of death, and having trodden on the threshold of Proserpina, I returned, having been carried through all the elements.” And as to the latter part, it has been amply proved, from the highest authority, in the first division of this discourse.

p. 130 Nor must the reader be disturbed on finding that, according to Porphyry, as cited by Eusebius, * the fable of Proserpina alludes to seed placed in the ground; for this is likewise true of the fable, considered according to its material explanation. But it will be proper 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 of fables will be vindicated from the unjust aspersions of ignorant declaimers. I shall present the reader, therefore, with the following interesting division of fables, from the elegant book of the Platonic philosopher Sallust, on the gods and the universe. “Of fables,” says he, “some are theological, others physical, others animastic (or relating to soul), others material, and lastly, others mixed from these. Fables are theological which relate to nothing corporeal, but contemplate the very essences of the gods; such as p. 131 the fable which asserts that Saturn devoured his children: for it insinuates nothing more than the nature of an intellectual (or intuitional) god; since every such intellect returns into itself. We regard fables physically when we speak concerning the operations of the gods about the world; as when considering Saturn the same as Time, and calling the parts of time the children of the universe, we assert that the children are devoured by their parent. But we utter fables in a spiritual mode, when we contemplate the operations of the soul; because the intellections of our souls, though by a discursive energy they go forth into other things, yet abide in their parents. Lastly, fables are material, such as the Egyptians ignorantly employ, considering and calling corporeal natures divinities: such as Isis, earth, Osiris, humidity, Typhon, heat · or, again, denominating Saturn water, Adonis, fruits, and Bacchus, wine. And, indeed, to assert that these are dedicated to the gods, in the same manner as herbs, stones, and animals, is the part of wise men; but to call them gods is alone the province of fools and

p. 132 madmen; unless we speak in the same manner as when, from established custom, we call the orb of the sun and its rays the sun itself. But we may perceive the mixed kind of fables, as well in many other particulars, as when they relate that Discord, at a banquet of the gods, threw a golden apple, and that a dispute about it arising among the goddesses, they were sent by Jupiter to take the judgment of Paris, who, charmed with the beauty of Venus, gave her the apple in preference to the rest. For in this fable the banquet denotes the super-mundane powers of the gods; and on this account they subsist in conjunction with each other: but the golden apple denotes the world, which, on account of its composition from contrary natures, is not improperly said to be thrown by Discord, or strife. But again, since different gifts are imparted to the world by different gods, they appear to contest with each other for the apple. And a soul living according to sense (for this is Paris), not perceiving other powers in the universe, asserts that the apple is alone the beauty of Venus. p. 133 [paragraph continues] But of these species of fables, such as are theological belong to philosophers; the physical and spiritual to poets; but the mixed to the first of the initiatory rites (τελεταῖς); since the intention of all mystic ceremonies is to conjoin us with the world and the gods.” Thus far the excellent Sallust: from whence it is evident, that the fable of Proserpina, as belonging to the Mysteries, is properly of a mixed nature, or composed from all the four species of fables, the theological [spiritual or psychical], and material. But in order to understand this divine fable, it is requisite to know, that according to the arcana of the ancient theology, the Coric * order (or the order belonging to Proserpina) is twofold, one part of which is super-mundane, subsisting with Jupiter, or the Demiurgus, and thus associated with him establishing one artificer of divisible natures; but the other is mundane, in which Proserpina

p. 134 is said to be ravished by Pluto, and to animate the extremities of the universe. “Hence,” says Proclus, “according to the statement of theologists, who delivered to us the most holy Mysteries, she [Proserpina] abides on high in those dwellings of her mother which she prepared for her in inaccessible places, exempt from the sensible world. But she likewise dwells beneath with Pluto, administering terrestrial concerns, governing the recesses of the earth, supplying life to the extremities of the universe, and imparting soul to beings which are rendered by her inanimate and dead.” Και γαρ ἡ των ϑεολογων φημη, των τας ἁγιωτατας ἡμιν εν Ελευσινι τελετας παραδεδωκοτων, ανω, μεν αυτην εν τοις μητρος οικοις μενειν φησιν, ους ἡ μητηρ αυτη κατεσκευαζεν εν αβατοις εξηρημενους του παντος. Κατω δε μετα Πλουτωνος των χϑονιων επαρχειν, και τους της γης μυχους επιτροπευειν, και ζωην επορεγειν τοις εχατοις του παντος, και ψυχης μεταδιδοναι τοις παῤ εαυτων αψυχοις και νεχροις. * Hence we may easily perceive that p. 135 this fable is of the mixed kind, one part of which relates to the super-mundane establishment of the secondary cause of life, * and the other to the procession or outgoing of life and soul to the farthest extremity of things. Let us therefore more attentively consider the fable, in that part of it which is symbolical of the descent of souls; in order to which, it will be requisite to premise an abridgment of the arcane discourse, respecting the wanderings of Ceres, as preserved by Minutius Felix. “Proserpina,” says he, “the daughter of Ceres by Jupiter, as she was gathering tender flowers, in the new spring, was ravished from her delightful abodes by Pluto; and being carried from thence through thick woods, and over a length of sea, was brought by Pluto into a cavern, the residence of departed spirits, over whom she afterward ruled with absolute sway. But

p. 136 [paragraph continues] Ceres, upon discovering the loss of her daughter, with lighted torches, and begirt with a serpent, wandered over the whole earth for the purpose of finding her till she came to Eleusis; there she found her daughter, and also taught to the Eleusinians the cultivation of corn.” Now in this fable Ceres represents the evolution of that intuitional part of our nature which we properly denominate intellect * (or the unfolding of the intuitional faculty of the mind from its quiet and collected condition in the world of thought); and Proserpina that living, self-moving, and animating part which we call soul. But lest this comparing of unfolded intellect to Ceres should seem ridiculous to the reader, unacquainted with the Orphic theology, it is necessary to inform him that this goddess, from her intimate union with Rhea, in conjunction with whom she produced Jupiter, is p. 137 p. 138 Proserpina.—Greek. Bacchus.—India. Ceres.—Roman. Demeter.—Etruscan. p. 139 evidently of a Saturnian and zoogonic, or intellectual and vivific rank; and hence, as we are informed by the philosopher Sallust, among the mundane divinities she is the deity of the planet Saturn. * So that in consequence of this, our intellect (or intuitive faculty) in a descending state must aptly symbolize with the divinity of Ceres. But Pluto signifies the whole of a material nature; since the empire of this god, according to Pythagoras, commences downward from the Galaxy or milky way. And the cavern signifies the entrance, as it were, into the profundities of such a nature, which is accomplished by the soul’s union with this terrestrial body. But in order to understand perfectly the secret meaning of the other parts of this fable, it will be necessary to give a more explicit detail of the particulars attending the abduction, from the beautiful poem of Claudian on this subject. From

p. 140 this elegant production we learn that Ceres, who was afraid lest some violence should be offered to Proserpina, on account of her inimitable beauty, conveyed her privately to Sicily, and concealed her in a house built on purpose by the Cyclopes, while she herself directs her course to the temple of Cybelé, the mother of the gods. Here, then, we see the first cause of the soul’s descent, namely, the abandoning of a life wholly according to the higher intellect, which is occultly signified by, the separation of Proserpina from Ceres. Afterward, we are told that Jupiter instructs Venus to go to this abode, and betray Proserpina from her retirement, that Pluto may be enabled to carry her away; and to prevent any suspicion in the virgin’s mind, he commands Diana and Pallas to go in company. The three goddesses arriving, find Proserpina at work on a scarf for her mother; in which she had embroidered the primitive chaos, and the formation of the world. Now by Venus in this part of the narration we must understand desire, which even in the celestial regions (for such is the p. 141 p. 142 Venus, Diana, and Pallas visit Proserpina. p. 143 residence of Proserpina till she is ravished by Pluto), begins silently and stealthily to creep into the recesses of the soul. By Minerva we must conceive the rational power of the soul, and by Diana, nature, or the merely natural and vegetable part of our composition; both which are now ensnared through the allurements of desire. And lastly, the web in which Proserpina had displayed all the fair variety of the material world, beautifully represents the commencement of the illusive operations through which the soul becomes ensnared with the beauty of imaginative forms. But let us for a while attend to the poet’s elegant description of her employment and abode:

Devenere locum, Cereris quo tecta nitebant Cyclopum firmata manu. Stant ardua ferro Mænia; ferrati postes: immensaque nectit Claustra chalybs. Nullum tanto sudore Pyracmon, Nec Steropes, construxit opus: non talibus umquam Spiravere Notis animæ nec flumine tanto Incoctum maduit lassa cervice metallum. Atria cingit ebur: trabibus solidatur aenis Culmen et in celsas surgunt electra columnas. Ipsa domum tenero mulcens Proserpina cantu Irrita texebat redituræ munera matri. Hic elementorum seriem sedesque paternas p. 144 Insignibat acu: veterem qua lege tumultum Discrevit Natura parens et semina justis Discessere locis: quidquid leve, fertur in altum, In medium graviora cadunt, incanduit æther: Egit flamma polum: fluxit mare: terra pependit Nec color unus inest. Stellas accendit in auro, Ostro fundit aquos, attollit litora gemmis, Filaque mentitos jam jam cælantia fluctus Arte tument. Credas inlidi cautibus algam, Et raucum bibulis inserpere murmur arenis. Addit quinque plagas: mediam subtemine rubro Obsessam fervore notat: squalebat adustus Limes et assiduo sitiebant stamina sole. Vitales utrimque duas; quas mitis oberrat Temperies habitanda viris. Tum fine supremo Torpentes traxit geminas, brumaque perenni Fædat, et æterno contristat frigore telas. Nec non et patrui pingit sacraria Ditis, Fatalesque sibi manes. Nec defuit omen. Præscia nam subitis maduerunt fletibus ora. After this, Proserpina, forgetful of her parent’s commands, is represented as venturing from her retreat, through the treacherous persuasions of Venus:

After this, Proserpina, forgetful of her parent’s commands, is represented as venturing from her retreat, through the treacherous persuasions of Venus: Impulit Jonios præmisso lumine fluctus Nondum pura dies: tremulis vibravit in undis Ardor, et errantes ludunt per cærula flammæ. Jamque audax animi, fidæque oblita parentis, Fraude Dionæa riguos Proserpina saltus (Sic Parcæ voluere) petit.──── p. 145 And this with the greatest propriety: for oblivion necessarily follows a remission of intellectual action, and is as necessarily attended with the allurements of desire. * Nor is her dress less symbolical of the acting of p. 146 the soul in such a state, principally according to the energies and promptings of imagination and nature. For thus her garments are beautifully described by the poet: Quas inter Cereris proles, nunc gloria matris, Mox dolor, æquali tendit per gramina passu, Nec membris nec honore minor; potuitque Pallas, si clipeum, si ferret spicula, Phœbe. Collectæ tereti nodantur jaspide vestes. Pectinis ingenio nunquam felicior arti Contigit eventus. Nullæ sic consona telæ Fila, nec in tantum veri duxere figuram. Hic Hyperionis Solem de semine nasci Fecerat, et pariter, sed forma dispare lunam, Auroræ noctisque duces. Cunabula Tethys Præbet, et infantes gremio solatur anhelos, Cæruleusque sinus roseis radiatur alumnis. Invalidum dextro portat Titana lacerto Nondum luce gravem, nec pubescentibus alte

Nondum luce gravem, nec pubescentibus alte Cristatum radiis: primo clementior ævo Fingitur, et tenerum vagitu despuit ignem. Læva parte soror vitrei libamina potat Uberis, et parvo signatur tempora cornu. In which description the sun represents the phantasy, and the moon, nature, as is well known to every tyro in the Platonic philosophy. They are likewise, with great propriety, described in their infantine state: for p. 147 these energies do not arrive to perfection previous to the sinking of the soul into the dark receptacle of matter. After this we behold her issuing on the plain with Minerva and Diana, and attended by a beauteous train of nymphs, who are evident symbols of world of generation, * and are, therefore, the proper companions of the soul about to fall into its fluctuating realms. But the design of Proserpina, in venturing from her retreat, is beautifully significant of her approaching descent: for she rambles from home for the purpose of gathering flowers; and this in a lawn replete with the most enchanting variety, and exhaling the most delicious odors. This is a manifest image of the soul operating principally according to the natural and external life, and so becoming effeminated and ensnared through the delusive attractions of sensible form. Minerva (the rational faculty in this case), likewise gives herself wholly to the p. 148 dangerous employment, and abandons the proper characteristics of her nature for the destructive revels of desire.

dangerous employment, and abandons the proper characteristics of her nature for the destructive revels of desire. All which is thus described with the utmost elegance by the poet: Forma loci superat flores: curvata tumore Parvo planities, et mollibus edita clivis Creverat in collem. Vivo de pumice fontes Roscida mobilibus lambebant gramina rivis. Silvaque torrentes ramorum frigore soles Temperat, et medio brumam sibi vindicat æstu. Apta fretis abies, bellis accommoda cornus, Quercus amica Jovi, tumulos tectura cupressus, Ilex plena favis, venturi prœscia laurus. Fluctuat hic denso crispata cacumine buxus, Hic ederæ serpunt, hic pampinus induit ulmos. Haud procul inde lacus (Pergum dixere Sicani) Panditur, et nemorum frondoso margine cinctus Vicinis pallescit aquis: admittit in altum Cernentes oculos, et late pervius humor Ducit inoffensus liquido sub gurgite visus, Imaque perspicui prodit secreta profundi. Huc elapsa cohors gaudet per florida rura. Hortatur Cytherea, legant. Nunc ite, sorores, Dum matutinis præsudat solibus aer: Dum meus humectat flaventes Lucifer agros, Rotanti prævectus equo. Sic fata, doloris Carpit signa sui. Varios tum cætera saltus Invasere cohors. Credas examina fundi Hyblæum raptura thymum, cum cerea reges p. 149 Castra movent, fagique cava dimissus ab alvo Mellifer electis exercitus obstrepit herbis. Pratorum spoliatur honos. Hac lilia fuscis Intexit violis: hanc mollis amaracus ornat:

Intexit violis: hanc mollis amaracus ornat: Hæc graditur stellata rosis; haec alba ligustris. Te quoque, flebilibus mærens, Hyacinthe, figuris, Narcissumque metunt, nunc inclita germina veris, Prœstantes olim pueros. Tu natus Amyclis: Hunc Helicon genuit. Te disci perculit error: Hunc fontis decepit amor. Te fronte retusa Delius, hunc fracta Cephissus arundine luget. Æstuat ante alias avido fervore legendi Frugiferæ spes una Deæ. Nunc vimine texto Ridentes calathos spoliis agrestibus implet: Nunc sociat flores seseque ignara coronat. Augurium fatale tori. Quin ipsa tubarum Armorumque potens, dextram, qua fortia turbat Agmina, qua stabiles portas et mænia vellit, Jam levibus laxat studiis hastamque reponit, Insuetisque docet galeam mitescere sertis. Ferratus lascivit apex horrorque recessit Martius et cristæ pacato fulgure vernant. Nec quæ Parthenium canibus scrutatur odorem, Aspernata choros, libertatemque comarum Injecta tantum voluit frenare corona. But there is a circumstance relative to the narcissus which must not be passed over in silence: I mean its being, according to Ovid, the metamorphosis of a youth who fell a victim to the love of his own corporeal form; the secret meaning of which most p. 150 admirably accords with the rape of Proserpina, which, according to Homer, was the immediate consequence of gathering this wonderful flower. * For by Narcissus falling in love with his shadow in the limpid stream we may behold an exquisitely apt representation of a soul vehemently gazing on the flowing condition of a material body, and in consequence of this, becoming enamored with a corporeal life, which is nothing more than the delusive image of the true man, or the rational and immortal soul. Hence, by an immoderate attachment to this unsubstantial mockery and gliding semblance of the real soul, such an one becomes, at length, wholly changed, as far as is possible to his nature, into a vegetive condition of being, into a beautiful but transient flower, that is, into a corporeal life, or a life totally consisting

p. 151 p. 152 Proserpina gathering Flowers. Pluto carrying off Proserpina. p. 153 in the mere operations of nature. Proserpina, therefore, or the soul, at the very instant of her descent into matter, is, with the utmost propriety, represented as eagerly engaged in picking this fatal flower; for her faculties at this period are entirely occupied with a life divided about the fluctuating condition of body. After this, Pluto, forcing his passage through the earth, seizes on Proserpina, and carries her away with him, notwithstanding the resistance of Minerva and Diana. They, indeed, are forbid by Jupiter, who in this place signifies Fate, to attempt her deliverance. By this resistance of Minerva and Diana no more is signified than that the lapse of the soul into a material nature is contrary to the genuine wish and proper condition, as well of the corporeal life depending on her essence, as of her true and rational nature. Well, therefore, may the soul, in such a situation, pathetically exclaim with Proserpina: p. 154 O male dilecti flores, despectaque matris Consilia: O Veneris deprensæ serius artes!* * Oh flowers fatally dear, and the mother’s cautions despised: Oh cruel arts of cunning Venus! But, according to Minutius Felix, Proserpina was carried by Pluto through thick woods, and over a length of sea, and brought into a cavern, the residence of the dead: where by woods a material nature is plainly implied, as we have already observed in the first part of this discourse; and where the reader may likewise observe the agreement of the description in this particular with that of Virgil in the descent of his hero:

Tenent media omnia silvæ Cocytusque sinuque labens, circumvenit atro.† † “Woods cover all the middle space and Cocytus gliding on, surrounds it with his dusky bosom.” In these words the woods are expressly mentioned; and the ocean has an evident agreement with Cocytus, signifying the outflowing condition of a material nature, and the sorrows and sufferings attending its connection with the soul. p. 155 p. 156 Proserpina brought before Pluto in Hades. p. 157 Pluto hurries Proserpina into the infernal regions: in other words, the soul is sunk into the profound depth and darkness of a material nature. A description of her marriage next succeeds, her union with the dark tenement of the body: Jam suus inferno processerat Hesperus orbi Ducitur in thalamum virgo. Stat pronuba juxta Stellantes Nox pieta sinus, tangensque cubile Omina perpetuo genitalia federe sancit. Night is with great beauty and propriety introduced as standing by the nuptial couch, and confirming the oblivious league. For the soul through her union with a material body becomes an inhabitant of darkness, and subject to the empire of night; in consequence of which she dwells wholly with delusive phantoms, and till she breaks her fetters is deprived of the intuitive perception of that which is real and true. In the next place, we are presented with the following beautiful and pathetic description of Proserpina appearing in a dream to

In the next place, we are presented with the following beautiful and pathetic description of Proserpina appearing in a dream to p. 158 [paragraph continues] Ceres, and bewailing her captive and miserable condition: Sed tunc ipsa sui jam non ambagibus ullis Nuntia, materna facies ingesta sopori. Namque videbatur tenebroso obtecta recessu Carceris, et sævis Proserpina vincta catenis, Non qualem roseis nuper convallibus Ætnæ Suspexere Deæ. Squalebat pulchrior auro Cæsaries, et nox oculorum infecerat ignes. Exhaustusque gelu pallet rubor. Ille superbi Flammeus oris honos, et non cessura pruinis Membra colorantur picei caligine regni. Ergo hanc ut dubio vix tandem agnoscere visu Evaluit: cujus tot pænæ criminis? inquit. Unde hæc informis macies? Cui tanta facultas In me sævitiæ est? Rigidi cur vincula ferri Vix aptanda feris molles meruere lacerti? Tu, mea tu proles? An vana fallimur umbra? Such, indeed, is the wretched situation of the soul when profoundly merged in a corporeal nature. She not only becomes captive and fettered, but loses all her original splendor; she is defiled with the impurity of matter; and the sharpness of her rational sight is blunted and dimmed through the thick darkness of a material night. The reader may observe how Proserpina, being represented as confined in the dark recess of a p. 159 prison, and bound with fetters, confirms the explanation of the fable here given as symbolical of the descent of the soul; for such, as we have already largely proved, is the condition of the soul from its union with the body, according to the uniform testimony of the most ancient philosophers and priests. *

prison, and bound with fetters, confirms the explanation of the fable here given as symbolical of the descent of the soul; for such, as we have already largely proved, is the condition of the soul from its union with the body, according to the uniform testimony of the most ancient philosophers and priests. * After this, the wanderings of Ceres for the discovery of Proserpina commence. She is described, by Minutius Felix, as begirt with a serpent, and bearing two lighted torches in her hands; but by Claudian, instead of being girt with a serpent, she commences her search by night in a car drawn by dragons. But the meaning of the allegory is the same in each; for both a serpent and a dragon are emblems of a divisible life subject to transitions and changes, with which, in this case, our intellectual (and diviner) part becomes connected: since as these animals put off their skins, and become young again, so p. 160 the divisible life of the soul, falling into generation, is rejuvenized in its subsequent career. But what emblem can more beautifully represent the evolutions and outgoings of an intellectual nature into the regions of sense than the wanderings of Ceres by the light of torches through the darkness of night, and continuing the pursuit until she proceeds into the depths of Hades itself? For the intellectual part of the soul, * when it verges towards body, enkindles, indeed, a light in its dark receptacle, but becomes itself situated in obscurity: and, as Proclus somewhere divinely observes, the mortal nature by this means participates of the divine intellect, but the intellectual part is drawn down to death. The tears and lamentations too, of Ceres, in her course, are symbolical both of the providential operations of

p. 161 p. 162 Ceres before Pluto. p. 163 intellect about a mortal nature, and the miseries with which such operations are (with respect to imperfect souls like ours) attended. Nor is it without reason that Iacchus, or Bacchus, is celebrated by Orpheus as the companion of her search: for Bacchus is the evident symbol of the imperfect energies of intellect, and its scattering into the obscure and lamentable dominions of sense. But our explanation will receive additional strength from considering that these sacred rites occupied the space of nine days in their celebration; and this, doubtless, because, according to Homer, * this goddess did not discover the residence of her daughter till the expiration of that period. For the soul, in falling from her original and divine abode in the heavens, passed through eight spheres, p. 164 namely, the fixed or inerratic sphere, and the seven planets, assuming a different body, and employing different faculties in each; and becomes connected with the sublunary world and a terrene body, as the ninth, and most abject gradation of her descent. Hence the first day of initiation into these mystic rites was called agurmos, i. e. according to Hesychius, ekklesia et παν το αγειρομενον, an assembly, and all collecting together: and this with the greatest propriety; for, according to Pythagoras, “the people of dreams are souls collected together in the Galaxy. * Δημος δε ονειρων κατα Πυϑαγοραν αἱ ψυχαι, ἁς συναγεσϑαι φησιν εις τον γαλαξιαν. † And from this part of the heavens souls first begin to descend. After this, the soul falls from the tropic of Cancer into the planet Saturn; and to this the second day of initiation was consecrated, which they called Αλαδε μυσται, [“to the sea, ye initiated ones!”] because, says Meursius, on that

p. 165 day the crier was accustomed to admonish the mystæ to betake themselves to the sea. Now the meaning of this will be easily understood, by considering that, according to the arcana of the ancient theology, as may be learned from Proclus, * the whole planetary system is under the dominion of Neptune; and this too is confirmed by Martianus Capella, who describes the several planets as so many streams. Hence when the soul falls into the planet Saturn, which Capella compares to a river voluminous, sluggish, and cold, she then first merges herself into fluctuating matter, though purer than that of a sublunary nature, and of which water is an ancient and significant symbol. Besides, the sea is an emblem of purity, as is evident from the Orphic hymn to Ocean, in which that deity is called ϑεων αγνισμα μεγιστον, theon agnisma megiston, i. e. the greatest purifier of the gods: and Saturn, as we have already observed, is pure [intuitive] intellect. And what still more confirms this observation is, that Pythagoras, as we are informed by Porphyry, p. 166 in his life of that philosopher, symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. But the eighth day of initiation, which is symbolical of the falling of the soul into the lunar orb, * was celebrated by the candidates by a repeated initiation and second sacred rites; because the soul in this situation is about to bid adieu to every thing of a celestial nature; to sink into a perfect oblivion of her divine origin and pristine felicity; and to rush profoundly into the region of dissimilitude, † ignorance, and error. And lastly, on the ninth day, when the soul falls into the sublunary world and becomes united with a terrestrial body, a libation was performed, such as is usual in sacred rites. Here the initiates, filling two earthen vessels of broad and spacious bottoms, which were called πλημοχοαι, plemokhoai, and κοτυλυσκοι, kotuluskoi, the former of these words denoting vessels of a conical shape, and the latter small bowls or

p. 167 p. 168 Bacchus and Faun. Tragic Actor. Group of Greek Divinities. Goddess Night. Three Graces. p. 169 cups sacred to Bacchus, they placed one towards the east, and the other towards the west. And the first of these was doubtless, according to the interpretation of Proclus, sacred to the earth, and symbolical of the soul proceeding from an orbicular figure, or divine form, into a conical defluxion and terrene situation: * but the other was sacred to the soul, and symbolical of its celestial origin; since our intellect is the legitimate progeny of Bacchus. And this too was occultly signified by the position of the earthen vessels; for, according to a mundane distribution of the divinities, the eastern center of the universe, which is analogous to fire, belongs to Jupiter, who likewise governs the fixed and inerratic sphere; and the western to Pluto, who governs the earth, because the west is allied to earth on account of its dark and nocturnal nature. † Again, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, the following confession was made by p. 170 the 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 placed what I have taken out into the Calathus; and alternately I have taken out of the Calathus and put into the Cista.” Κᾳστι το συνϑημα Ελευσινιων μυστηριων. Ενηστωσα· επιον τον κυκεωνα· ελαβον εκ κιστης, εργασαμενοςαπεϑεμην εις καλαϑον, και εκ καλαϑου εις κιστην. But as this pertains to a circumstance attending the wanderings of Ceres, which formed the most mystic and emblematical part of the ceremonies, it is necessary to adduce the following arcane narration, summarily collected from the writings of Arnobius: “The goddess Ceres, when searching through the earth for her daughter, in the course of her wanderings arrived at the boundaries of Eleusis, in the Attic region, a place which was then inhabited by a people called Autochthones, or descended from the

p. 171 earth, whose names were as follows: Baubo and Triptolemus; Dysaules, a goatherd; Eubulus, a keeper of swine; and Eumolpus, a shepherd, from whom the race of the Eumolpidæ descended, and the illustrious name of Cecropidæ was derived; and who afterward flourished as bearers of the caduceus, hierophants, and criers belonging to the sacred rites. Baubo, therefore, who was of the female sex, received Ceres, wearied with complicated evils, as her guest, and endeavored to soothe her sorrows by obsequious and flattering attendance. For this purpose she entreated her to pay attention to the refreshment of her body, and placed before her a mixed potion to assuage the vehemence of her thirst. But the sorrowful goddess was averse from her solicitations, and rejected the friendly officiousness of the hospitable dame. The matron, however, who was not easily repulsed, still continued her entreaties, which were as obstinately resisted by Ceres, who persevered in her refusal with unshaken persistency and invincible firmness. But when Baubo had thus often exerted her endeavors p. 172 to appease the sorrows of Ceres, but without any 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 to allure by earnest endeavors. For this purpose she uncovered that part of her body by which the female sex produces children and derives the appellation of woman. * This she caused to assume a purer appearance, and a smoothness such as is found in the private parts of a stripling child. She then returns to the afflicted goddess, and, in the midst of those attempts which are usually employed to alleviate distress, she uncovers herself, and exhibits her secret parts; upon which the goddess fixed her eyes, and was diverted with the novel method of mitigating the anguish of sorrow; and afterward, becoming more cheerful through laughter, she assuages her thirst with the mingled potion which she had before despised.” Thus far Arnobius; and the same narration is epitomized by Clemens Alexandrinus, who is very indignant

p. 173 p. 174 Cupid and Venus. Satyr and Goat. Baubo, Ceres, and Nymphs. p. 175 at the indecency as he conceives, in the story, and because it composed the arcana of the Eleusinian rites. Indeed as the simple father, with the usual ignorance * of a Christian priest, considered the fable literally, and as designed to promote indecency and lust, we can not wonder at his ill-timed abuse. But the fact is, this narration belonged to the απορῥητα, aporrheta, or arcane discourses, on account of its mystical meaning, and to prevent it from becoming the object of ignorant declamation, licentious perversion, and impious contempt. For the purity and excellence of these institutions is perpetually acknowledged even by Dr. Warburton himself, who, in this instance, has dispersed, for a moment, the mists of delusion and intolerant zeal. † Besides, as Iamblichus beautifully observes, ‡ “exhibitions of this kind in the Mysteries were designed to free us from licentious p. 176 passions, by gratifying the sight, and at the same time vanquishing desire, through the awful sanctity with which these rites were accompanied: for,” says he, “the proper way of freeing ourselves from the passions is, first, to indulge them with moderation, by which means they become satisfied; listen, as it were, to persuasion, and may thus be entirely removed.” * This doctrine is indeed so rational, that it can never be objected to by any but quacks in philosophy and religion. For as he is nothing more than a quack in medicine who endeavors to remove a latent bodily disease before he has called it forth externally, and by this means diminished its fury; so he is nothing more than a pretender in philosophy who attempts to remove the passions by violent repression, instead of moderate compliance and gentle persuasion.

But to return from this disgression, the following appears to be the secret meaning of this mystic discourse: The matron Baubo may be considered as a symbol of that passive, p. 177 womanish, and corporeal life through which the soul becomes united with this earthly body, and through which, being at first 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-forth into matter, is at length captivated with the arts of Baubo, or a corporeal life, and forgets her sorrows, that is, imbibes oblivion of her wretched state in the mingled potion which she prepares: the mingled liquor being an obvious symbol of such a life, mixed and impure, and, on this account, liable to corruption and death; since every thing pure and unmixed is incorruptible and divine. And here it is necessary to caution the reader from imagining, that because, according to the fable, the wanderings of Ceres commence after the rape of Proserpina, hence the intuitive intellect descends subsequently to the soul, and separate from it. p. 178 [paragraph continues] Nothing more is meant by this circumstance than that the diviner intellect, from the superior excellence of its nature, has in cause, though not in time, a priority to soul, and that on this account a defection and revolt (and descent earthward from the heavenly condition) commences, from the soul, and afterward takes place in the intellect, yet so that the former descends with the latter in inseparable attendance.

From this explanation, then, of the fable, we may easily perceive the meaning of the mystic confession, I have fasted; I have drank a mingled potion, etc.; for by the former part of the assertion, no more is meant than that the higher intellect, previous to imbibing of oblivion through the deceptive arts of a corporeal life, abstains from all material concerns, and does not mingle itself (as far as its nature is capable of such abasement) with even the necessary delights of the body. And as to the latter part, it doubtless alludes to the descent of Proserpina to Hades, and her re-ascent to the p. 179 abodes of her mother Ceres: that is, to the outgoing and return of the soul, alternately falling into generation, and ascending thence into the intelligible world, and becoming perfectly restored to her divine and intellectual nature. For the Cista contained the most arcane symbols of the Mysteries, into which it was unlawful for the profane to look: and whatever were its contents, * we learn from the hymn of Callimachus to Ceres, that they were formed from gold, which, from its incorruptibility, is an evident symbol of an immaterial nature. And as to the Calathus, or basket, this, as we are told by Claudian, was filled with spoliis agrestibus, the spoils or fruits of the field, which are manifest symbols of a life corporeal and earthly. So that the candidate, by confessing that he had taken from the Cista, and placed what he had taken into the Calathus,

p. 180 and the contrary, occultly acknowledged the descent of his soul from a condition of being super-material and immortal, into one material and mortal; and that, on the contrary, by living according to the purity which the Mysteries inculcated, he should re-ascend to that perfection of his nature, from which he had unhappily fallen. * p. 181 It only now remains that we consider the last part of this fabulous narration, or arcane discourse. It is said, that after the goddess Ceres, on arriving at Eleusis, had discovered her daughter, she instructed the Eleusinians in the planting of corn: or, according to Claudian, the search of Ceres for her daughter, through the goddess, instructing in the art of tillage as she went, proved the occasion of a universal benefit to mankind. Now the secret meaning of this will be obvious, by considering that the descent of the superior intellect into the realms of generated existence becomes, indeed, the greatest benefit and ornament which a material nature is capable of receiving: for without this participation of intellect in the lowest department of corporeal life, nothing but the irrational soul * and a brutal life would subsist in its dark and fluctuating abode, the body. As the art of tillage, therefore, and particularly the growing of corn, becomes the greatest possible p. 182 benefit to our sensible life, no symbol can more aptly represent the unparalleled advantages arising from the evolution and procession of intellect with its divine nature into a corporeal life, than the good resulting from agriculture and corn: for whatever of horrid and dismal can be conceived in night, supposing it to be perpetually destitute of the friendly illuminations of the moon and stars, such, and infinitely more dreadful, would be the condition of an earthly nature, if deprived of the beneficent irradiations [προοδοι] and supervening benefits of the diviner life.

And this much for an explanation of the Eleusinian Mysteries, or the history of Ceres and Proserpina; in which it must be remembered that as this fable, according to the excellent observation of Sallust already adduced, is of the mixed kind, though the descent of the soul was doubtless principally alluded to by these sacred rites, yet they likewise occultly signified, agreeable to the nature of the fable, the descending of divinity p. 183 into the sublunary world. But when we view the fable in this part of its meaning, we must be careful not to confound the nature of a partial intellect like ours with the one universal and divine. As everything subsisting about the gods is divine, therefore intellect in the highest degree, and next to this soul, and hence wanderings and abductions, lamentations and tears, can here only signify the participations and providential operations of these in inferior natures; and this in such a manner as not to derogate from the dignity, or impair the perfection, of the divine principle thus imparted. I only add, that the preceding exposition will enable us to perceive the meaning and beauty of the following representation of the rape of Proserpina, from the Heliacan tables of Hieronymus Aleander. * Here, first of all, we behold Ceres in a car drawn by two dragons, and afterwards, Diana and Minerva, with an inverted calathus at their feet, and pointing out to Ceres her daughter Proserpina, who is hurried away by Pluto in his

p. 184 car, and is in the attitude of one struggling to be free. Hercules is likewise represented with his club, in the attitude of opposing the violence of Pluto: and last of all, Jupiter is represented extending his hand, as if willing to assist Proserpina in escaping from the embraces of Pluto. I shall therefore conclude this section with the following remarkable passage from Plutarch, which will not only confirm, but be itself corroborated by the preceding exposition. Ὁτι μεν ουν ἡ παλαια φυσιολογια, και παρ Ελλησι και Βαρβαροις, λογος ἡν φυςικος ελκεκαλυμμενος μυϑοις, τα πολλα δι’ αινιγματων και ὑπονοιων επικρυφος, και μυστηριωδης θεολογια. Τα τε λαλουμενα των σιγωμενων σαφεστερα τοις πολλοις εχοντα. Και τα σιγωμενα των λαλουμενων ὑποπτοτερα. Δηλον εστι, pergit, εν τοις Ορφικοις επεσι, και τοις Αιγυπτιακοις και Φρυγιοις λογοις. Μαλιστα δε οἱ περι τας τελετας οργιασμοι, και τα δρωμενα συμβολικως εν ταις ἱερουργιαις, την των παλαιων εμφαιναι διανοιαν. * i. e. “The ancient physiology, † both p. 185 of the Greeks and the Barbarians, was nothing else than a discourse on natural subjects, involved or veiled in fables, concealing many things through enigmas and under-meanings, and also a theology taught, in which, after the manner of the Mysteries, * the things spoken were clearer to the multitude than those delivered in silence, and the things delivered in silence were more subject to investigation than what was spoken. This is manifest from the Orphic verses, and the Egyptian and Phrygian discourses. But the orgies of initiations, and the symbolical ceremonies of sacred rites especially, exhibit the understanding had of them by the ancients.”

31:* The profounder esoteric doctrines of the ancients were denominated wisdom, and afterward philosophy, and also the gnosis or knowledge. They related to the human soul, its divine parentage, p. 32 its supposed degradation from its high estate by becoming connected with “generation” or the physical world, its onward progress and restoration to God by regenerations, popularly supposed to be transmigrations, etc.—A. W. 32:* Stromata, book iii. 34:* Commentary on the Statesman of Plato, page 374. 34:† The Lesser Mysteries were celebrated at Agræ; and the persons there initiated were denominated Mystæ: Only such could be received at the sacred rites at Eleusis. 35:* Philosophy here relates to discipline of the life. 37:* Greek μαντεις manteis—more properly prophets, those filled by the prophetic mania or eutheasm. 37:† More correctly—“The soul is yoked to the body as if by way of punishment,” as culprits were fastened to others or even to corpses. See Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, vii, 25. 39:* Greek ὑλη, matter supposed to contain all the principles the negative of life, order, and goodness. 39:† This passage doubtless alludes to the ancient and beautiful story of Cupid and Psyché, in which Psyché is said to fall asleep in Hades; and this through rashly attempting to behold corporeal beauty: 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 as are unable in the present life to apprehend the idea of the good, will descend to Hades after death, and fall asleep in its dark abodes. Ὁς αν μη εχῃ διορισασϑαι τῳ λογῳ, απο των αλλων παντων αφελων την του αγαϑου ιδεαν, και ωσπερ εν μαχῃ δια παντων ελεγχων διεξιων, με κατα δοξαν αλλα κατ’ ουσιαν προϑυμουμενος ελεγχειν, εν πασι τουτοις απτωτι τῳ λογῳ διαπορευηται, ουτε αυτο το αγαϑον ουδεν φησεις ειδεναι τον ουτως εχοντα, ουτε αλλο αγαϑον ουδεν; αλλ’ ει πη ειδωλου τινος εφαπτεται, δοξῃ ουκ επιστημῃ εφαπτεσϑαι; και τον νυν βιον ονειροπολουντα, και ὑπνωτοντα, πριν ενϑαδ’ εξεργεσϑαι; εις ᾁδου προτερον αφικομενον τελεως επικαταδαρϑανειν; i. e. “He who is not able, by the exercise of his reason, to define the idea of the good, separating it from all other objects, and piercing, as in a battle, through every kind of 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 not p. 40 accomplish this, would you not say, that he neither knows the good itself, nor anything which is properly denominated good? And would you not assert that such a one, when he apprehends any certain image of reality, apprehends it rather through the medium of opinion than of science; that in the present life he is sunk in sleep, and conversant with the delusion of dreams; and that before he is roused to a vigilant state he will descend to Hades, and be overwhelmed with a sleep perfectly profound.”

Henry Davis translates this passage more critically: “Is not the ease the same with reference to the good? Whoever can not logically define it, abstracting the idea of the good from all others, and taking, as in a fight, one opposing argument after another, and can not proceed with unfailing proofs, eager to rest his ease, not on the ground of opinion, but of true being,—such a one knows nothing of the good itself, nor of any good whatever; and should he have attained to any knowledge of the good, we must say that he has attained it by opinion, not by science (επιστημῃ); that he is sleeping and dreaming away his present life; and before he is roused will descend to Hades, and there be profoundly and perfectly laid asleep.” vii. 14. 43:* Phædo, 38. “Those who instituted the Mysteries for us appear to have intimated that whoever shall arrive in Hades unpurified and not initiated shall lie in mud; but he who arrives there purified and initiated shall dwell with the gods. For there are many bearers of the wand or thyrsus, but few who are inspired.” 44:* Intellect, Greek νους, nous, is the higher faculty of the mind. It is substantially the same as the pneuma, or spirit, treated of in the New Testament; and hence the term “intellectual,” as used in Mr. Taylor’s translation of the Platonic writers, may be pretty safely read as spiritual, by those familiar with the Christian cultus. A. W.

A. W. 44:† Physics of Aristotle. 46:* Ficinus: De Immortal. Anim. book xviii. 47:* We observe in the New Testament a like disposition on the part of 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. “We speak wisdom,” says Paul, “among them that are perfect” (or initiated), etc. 1 Corinthians, ii. Also Jesus declares: “It is given to you to know the Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given; therefore I speak to them in parables: because they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.”—Matthew xiii., 11-13. He also justified the withholding of the higher and interior knowledge from the untaught and ill-disposed, in the memorable Sermon on the Mount.—Matthew vii.: “Give ye not that which is sacred to the dogs, Neither cast ye your pearls to the swine; For the swine will tread them under their feet And 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 Higgins asserts that it is maintained in the Roman Church.—A. W. 48:* Herodotus, ii. 51, 81. “What Orpheus delivered in hidden allegories Pythagoras learned when he was initiated into the Orphic Mysteries; and Plato next received a knowledge of them from the Orphic and Pythagorean writings.”

“What Orpheus delivered in hidden allegories Pythagoras learned when he was initiated into the Orphic Mysteries; and Plato next received a knowledge of them from the Orphic and Pythagorean writings.” 50:* Ancient Symbol-Worship, page 11, note. 51:* I. e., a disposition to investigate for the purpose of eliciting truth, and reducing it to practice. 52:* Cocytus, lamentation, a river in the Underworld. 52:† Jacob Bryant says: “All fountains were esteemed sacred, but especially those which had any preternatural quality and abounded with exhalations. It was an universal notion that a divine energy proceeded from these effluvia; and that the persons who resided in their vicinity were gifted with a prophetic quality. . . . The Ammonians styled such fountains Ain Omphé, or fountains of the oracle; ομφη, omphé, signifying ‘the voice of God.’ These terms the Greeks contracted to Νυμφη, numphe, a nymph.”—Ancient Mythology, 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:† Republic. x, 16. “After they were laid asleep, and midnight was approaching, there was thunder and earthquake; and they were thence on a sudden carried upward, some one way, and some another, approaching to the region of generation like stars.” 55:* Material demons are a lower grade of spiritual essences that are capable of assuming forms which make them perceptible by the physical senses.—A. W.

55:* Material demons are a lower grade of spiritual essences that are capable of assuming forms which make them perceptible by the physical senses.—A. W. 55:† Hyle or Matter. All evil incident to human life, as is here shown, was supposed to originate from the connection of the soul to material substance, the latter being regarded as the receptacle p. 56 of everything evil. But why the soul is thus immerged and punished is nowhere explained.—A. W. 59:* This and the other citations from Empedocles are to be found in the book of Hierocles on The Golden Verses of Pythagoras. 63:* The presence of Cerberus in Grecian and Roman descriptions of the Underworld shows that the ideas of the poets and mythologists were derived, not only from Egypt, but from the Brahmans of the far East. Yama, the lord of the Underworld, is attended by his dog Karbaru, the spotted, styled also Trikasa, the three-headed. 64:† In the second edition these terms are changed to dianoietic and doxastic, words which we cannot adopt, as they are not accepted English terms. The nous, intellect or spirit, pertains to the higher or intuitional part of the mind; the dianoia or understanding to the reasoning faculty, and the doxa, or opinion-forming power, to the faculty of investigation.—Plotinus, accepting this theory of mind, says: “Knowledge has three degrees—opinion, science, and illumination. The means or instrument of the first is reception; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition.”—A. W.

65:* Hades, the Underworld, supposed by classical students to be the region or estate of departed souls, it will have been noticed, is regarded by Mr. Taylor and other Platonists, as the human body, which they consider to be the grave and place of punishment of the soul.—A. W. 66:* Aporrheta, the arcane or confidential disclosures made to the candidate undergoing initiation. In the Eleusinia, these were made by the Hierophant, and enforced by him from the Book of Interpretation, said to have consisted of two tablets of stone. This was the petroma, a name usually derived from petra, a rock, p. 67 or possibly from פתר, peter, an interpreter. See II. Corinthians, xii. 6-8.—A. W. 67:* Phædo, 16. “The instruction in the doctrine given in the Mysteries, that we human beings are in a kind of prison, and that 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 by the interior faculty that Porphyry contemplated suicide, and admonished him accordingly.—A. W. 68:* In the Hindu mythology, from which this symbolism is evidently derived, a deity deprived thus of the lingam or phallus, parted with his divine authority. 69:* From Dionysus, the Greek name of Bacchus, and usually so translated. 75:* Commentary on the Statesman of Plato, p. 382.

75:* Commentary on the Statesman of Plato, p. 382. 82:* Theology of Plato, book iv. p. 220. 85:* Theon appears to regard the final apocalypse or epopteia, like E. Pococke to whose views allusion is made elsewhere. This writer says: “The initiated were styled ebaptoi,” and adds in a foot-note—“Avaptoi, literally obtaining or getting.” According to this the epopteia would imply the final reception of the interior doctrines.—A. W. 87:* The apostle Paul apparently alludes to the disclosing of the Mystical doctrines to the epopts or seers, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, xii. 3, 4: “I knew a certain man,—whether in p. 88 body or outside of body, I know not: God knoweth,—who was rapt into paradise, and heard αρρητα ρηματα, things ineffable, which it is not lawful for a man to repeat.” 88:* Paul, Epistle to the Philippians, iii, 20: “Our citizenship is in the heavens.” 89:* Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. xxxii. p. 195. “Those who have professed to teach their fellow-mortals new truths concerning immortality, have based their authority on direct divine inspiration. Numa, Zoroaster, Mohammed, Swedenborg, all claimed communication with higher spirits; they were what the Greeks called entheast—‘immersed in God’—a striking word which Byron introduced into our tongue.” Carpenter describes the condition as an automatic action of the brain. The inspired ideas arise in the mind suddenly, spontaneously, but very vividly, at some time when thinking of some other topic. Francis Galton defines genius as “the automatic activity of the mind, as distinguished from the effort of the will,—the ideas coming by inspiration.” This action, says the editor of the Reporter, is largely favored by a condition approaching mental disorder—at least by one 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 extraordinary displays 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 Mysteries also saw visions and apparitions, while engaged in the mystic orgies. We do not, however, accept the materialistic view of this subject. The cases are entheastic; and although hysteria and other disorders of the sympathetic system sometimes imitate the phenomena, we believe with Plato and Plotinus, that the higher faculty, intellect or intuition as we prefer to call it, the noetic part of our nature, is the faculty actually at work. “By reflection, p. 90 self-knowledge, and intellectual discipline, the soul can be raised to the vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty—that is, to the vision of God.” This is the epopteia.—A. W.

97:* Plato: Republic, vi. 5. “He who possesses the love of true knowledge is naturally carried in his aspirations to the real principle of being; and his love knows no repose till it shall have been united with the essence of each object through that part of the soul, which is akin to the Permanent and Essential; and so, the divine conjunction having evolved interior knowledge and truth, the knowledge of being is won.” 98:† Timæus. xliv. “The Deity (Demiurgus) himself formed the divine; and then delivered over to his celestial offspring [the p. 99 subordinate or generated gods], the task of creating the mortal. These subordinate deities, copying the example of their parent, and receiving from his hands the immortal principles of the human soul, fashioned after this the mortal body, which they consigned to the soul as a vehicle, and in which they placed also another kind of a soul, which is mortal, and is the seat of violent and fatal passions.” 99:* That is to say, as if dying. Koré was a name of Proserpina. 99:† I. e. as if divided into pieces. 99:‡ I. e. Chained fast. 100:† l Corinthians, xv. 42-44. “So also is the anastasis of the dead. It is sown in corruption [the material body]; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a psychical body; it is raised a spiritual body.” 102:* The Golden Ass. xi. p. 239 (Bohn).

102:* The Golden Ass. xi. p. 239 (Bohn). 103:* The peculiar rites of the Mysteries were indifferently termed Orgies or Labors, teletai or finishings, and initiations. 104:* Phædrus, 64. 104:† Proclus: Theology of Plato, book iv. The following reading is suggested: “The initiation and final disclosing are a symbol of the Ineffable Silence, and of the enosis, or being at one and en rapport with the mystical verities through manifestations intuitively comprehended.” The μυησις, muesis, or initiation is defined by E. Pococke as relating to the “well-known Buddhist Moksha, final and eternal happiness, the liberation of the soul from the body and its exemption from further transmigration.” For all mystæ therefore there was a certain welcome to the abodes of the blessed. The term εποπτεια, epopteia, applied to the last scene of initiation, he derives from the Sanscrit, evaptoi, an obtaining; the epopt being regarded 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 from εποπτομαι. According to this etymology an epopt is a seer or clairvoyant, 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 the Mysteries came from the East, and from that to deduce that the technical words and expressions are other than Greek.

Plotinus, speaking of this enosis or oneness, lays down a spiritual discipline analogous to that of the Mystic Orgies: “Purify your soul from all undue hope and fear about earthly things; mortify p. 107 the body, deny self,—affections as well as appetites,—and the inner eye will begin to exercise its clear and solemn vision.” “In the reduction 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 the soul.”—A. W. 107:* Apuleius: The Golden Ass. xi. The candidate was instructed by the hierophant, and permitted to look within the cista or chest, which contained the mystic serpent, the phallus, egg, and grains sacred to Demeter. As the epopt was reverent, or otherwise, he now “knew himself” by the sentiments aroused. Plato and Alcibiades gazed with emotions wide apart.—A. W. 107:† Plotinus: Letter to Flaccus. “It is only now and then that we can enjoy the elevation made possible for us, above the limits of the body and the world. I myself have realized it but three times as yet, and Porphyry hitherto not once.” p. 108 Porphyry afterward declared that he witnessed four times, when near him, the soul or “intellect “of Plotinus thus raised up to the First and Sovereign Good; also that he himself was only once so elevated to the enosis or union with God, so as to have glimpses of the eternal world. This did not occur till he was sixty-eight years of age.—A. W.

Porphyry afterward declared that he witnessed four times, when near him, the soul or “intellect “of Plotinus thus raised up to the First and Sovereign Good; also that he himself was only once so elevated to the enosis or union with God, so as to have glimpses of the eternal world. This did not occur till he was sixty-eight years of age.—A. W. 108:* I. e. a luminous appearance without any defined form or shape of an object. 108:† Commentary upon the Republic of Plato, page 380. 111:* Ennead, i. book 6; and ix. book 9. 111:† Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Longinus, and their associates. 111:‡ Epilepsy. 113:* Divine Legation, p. 231. 113:† I. e. The Mother-Goddess, Isis or Demeter, symbolized as Selene or the Moon. 120:* I. e. to its former divine condition. 121:* We have taken the liberty to present the following version of this passage, as more correctly expressing the sense of the original: “At the holy places are first the public purifications. With these the more arcane exercises follow; and after those the obligations (συστασεις) are taken, and the initiations follow, ending with the epoptic disclosures. So, as will be seen, the moral and social (political) virtues are analogous to the public purifications; the purifying virtues in their turn, which take the place of all external matters, correspond to the more arcane disciplines; the contemplative exercises concerning things to be known intuitively to the taking of the obligations; the including of them as an undivided whole, to the initiations; and the simple ocular view of simple objects to the epoptic revelations.”

122:* The writings of Augustin handed Neo-Platonism down to posterity as the original and esoteric doctrine of the first followers of Plato. He enumerates the causes which led, in his opinion, to the negative position assumed by the Academics, and to the concealment of their real opinions. He describes Plotinus as a resuscitated Plato.—Against the Academics, iii. 17-20. 123:* Phædo, 21. Κινδυνευουσι γαρ ὁσοι τυγχανουσιν ορϑως απτομενοι φιλοσοφιας λεληϑεναι τας αλλους, ὁτι ουδεν αλλο αὑτοι επιτηδευουσιν ἡ αποϑνησκειν τε και τεϑναναι. I. e. For as many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy seem to have left others ignorant, that they themselves aim at nothing else than to die and to be dead. Elsewhere (31) Socrates says: “While we live, we shall approach nearest to intuitive knowledge, if we hold no communion with the body, except, what absolute necessity requires, nor suffer ourselves to be pervaded by its nature, but purify ourselves from it until God himself shall release us.” 124:* It is to be regretted, nevertheless, that our author had not risked the “danger and drudgery” of learning Greek, so as to have rendered fuller justice to his subject, and been of greater service to his readers. We are conscious that those who are too learned in verbal criticism are prone to overlook the real purport of the text.—A. W. 125:† Apuleius: The Golden Ass. (Story of Cupid and Psyche), book vi.

125:† Apuleius: The Golden Ass. (Story of Cupid and Psyche), book vi. 126:* Chests or baskets, made of osiers, in which were enclosed the mystical images and utensils which the uninitiated were not permitted to behold. 126:† I. e. as to death; analogously to the descent of Koré-Persephoné to the Underworld. 129:* De Diis et Mundo, p. 251. 130:* Evang. Præpar. book iii. chap. 2. 133:* Coric from Κορη, Koré, a name of Proserpina. The name is derived by E. Pococke from the Sanscrit Gourè. 134:* Proclus: Theology of Plato, p. 371. 135:* Plotinus taught the existence of three hypostases in the Divine Nature. There was the Demiurge, the God of Creation and Providence; the Second, the Intelligible, self-contained and immutable Source of life; and above all, the One, who like the Zervané Akerené of the Persians, is above all Being, a pure will, an Absolute Love—“Intellect.”—A. W. 136:* Also denominated by Kant, Pure reason, and by Prof. Cocker, Intuitive reason. It was considered by Plato, as “not amenable to the conditions of time and space, but in a particular sense, as dwelling in eternity: and therefore capable of beholding eternal realities, and coming into communion with absolute beauty, and goodness, and truth—that is, with God, the Absolute Being.” 139:* Hence we may perceive the reason why Ceres as well as Saturn was denominated a legislative deity; and why illuminations were used in the celebration of the Saturnalia, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries.