This was an ingenious an ingenious solution, invented by the Egyptian Lawgivers, to remove all doubts concerning the moral attributes of God; and so, by adding a prior to a future state, to establish the firm belief of his Providence. For the Lawgiver well knew how precarious that belief was, while the moral attributes of God remained doubtful and uncertain. In cultivating the doctrine of a future life, it was taught, that the Initiated should be happier in that state than all other mortals: that while the souls of the profane, at their leaving the body, stuck fast in mire and filth, and remained in darkness, the souls of the Initiated winged their flight directly to the happy islands, and the habitations of the Gods t. This doctrine was as necessary for the support of the Mysteries, as the Mysteries were for the support of the doctrine. But now, lest it should be mistaken, that initiation alone, or any other means than a virtuous life, intitled men to this future happiness, the Mysteries openly proclaimed it as their chief business, to restore the soul to its original purity. "It 66 was the end and design of initiation," says Plato, "to restore the soul to that state, from whence it fell, as from its native seat of perfection." They * So Tully. Ex quibus humanæ vitæ erroribus & ærumnis sit, ut interdum veteres illi sive vates, sive in sacris INITIISQUE tradendis divinæ mentis interpretes, qui nos ob aliqua scelera suscepta in vitâ superiore, pœnarum luendarum caussa, natos esse dixerunt, aliquid vidisse videantur. Fragm. ex. lib. de Philosophia. + Plato in Phædone, p. 69. C. p. 81. A. t. I. Edit. Henr. Stephani-Aristides Eleusiniâ, t. I. p. 454. Edit Canteri, 8vo. & apud Stobæum, Serm. 119, &c. Schol. Arist. in Ranis. Diog. Laert. in vita Diog. Cynici. † Σκοπὸς τῶν τελετῶν ἐςιν, εἰς τέλος ἀνα[αγεῖν τὰς ψυχὰς ἐκεῖνο ἀφ ̓ ἔ τὴν πρώτην ἐποιήσαντο κάθοδον, ὡς ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς. Iu Phædone. contrived ved that every thing should tend to shew the Porphyry gives us some of those moral ts, which were inforced in the Mysteries, as "our their parents, to offer up fruits to the and to forbear cruelty towards animals †. For complishment of this purpose, it was required Aspirant to the Mysteries, that he should be ear and unblemished Character, and free even he suspicion of any notorious crime ‡. To at the truth of his Character, he was severely gated by the Priest or Hierophant, impressing the same sense of obligation to conceal nos is now done at the Roman Confessional §, it was, that when Nero, after the murder of his ς ὠφέλιμα γίνεται τὰ μυςήρια· ὕτως εἰς φανασίαν ἐρχόμεθα· ὅτι α καὶ ἐπανορθώσει το βίς καλεςάθη πάλα ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῶν Apud Arrian. Dissert. lib. iii. cap. 21. My reason for geis Palasian in this manner, was, because I imagined r, in this obscure expression, alluded to the custom in the of calling those who were initiated only in the lesser, ut those, in the greater, 'Eminla. τιμῶν, Θεὸς καρποῖς ἀγάλλειν, ζῶα μὴ σίνεσθαι. De Abst 22. Edit. Cant. 1655. 8vo. γὰρ τά τ ̓ ἄλλα καθαροῖς εἶναι τοῖς μύσαις ἐν κοινῷ προα[ορεύωσιν, Fęas tùr Luxur—vat. Libanius Decl. xix. p. 495. D. elli, fol. 1656. opears from the repartee which Plutarch records, in apophthegms of Lysander, Edit. Francof. 1599. t. II. when he went to be initiated into the Samothracian Ἐν δὲ Σαμοθράκη χρησηριαζομένῳ αὐτῷ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐκέλευσεν ἀνομώτατον ἔργον αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βίῳ πέπρακίαι; πότερον ἐν σε тете 2 his mother, took a journey into Greece, and had a mind to be present at the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the conscience of his parricide deterred him from attempting it. On the same account, the good emperor M. Antoninus, when he would purge himself to the world of the death of Avidius Cassius, chose to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries; it being notorious, that none were admitted into them, who laboured under the just suspicion of any heinous immorality. And Philostratus tells us, that Apollonius was desirous of being initiated in these Mysteries; but that the Hierophant refused to admit him, because he esteemed the Aspirant to be no better than a Magician: for the Eleusinian stood open to none who did not approach the Gods with a pure and holy worship. This was, originally, an indispensable condition of initiation, observed in common, by all the Mysteries; and instituted by Bacchus, or Osiris himself, the first inventer of them; who, as Diodorus tells us, initiated none but pious and virtuous men §. During the celebration of the Mys teries, τέτο κελεύσαντος ἢ τῶν θεῶν, τῦτο δεῖ ποιεῖν; ἐπηρώτησε. Φαμενόν δὲ, τῶν θεῶν, Σὺ τοίνυν, ἔφη, ἐκποδῶν μὲν κατάσηθι, κακείνοις ἐρῶ ἐὰν vrdárwila-Why initiation into these Mysteries is called, enquiring of the oracle, will be seen afterwards. * Peregrinatione quidem Græciæ, Eleusiniis sacris, quorum initiatione impii & scelerati voce præconis submoverentur, Sueton. Vita Neron. cap. 34. § 12. Edit. interesse non ausus est. Pitisci. Jul. Capit. Vita Ant. Phil. and Dion Cass. † Ο δὲ ἱεροφάνης ἐκ ἐβέλειο παρέχειν τὰ ἱερὰ, μὴ γὰρ ἂν ποτε μυῆσαι γόηλα μὴ δὲ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα ἀνοῖξαι ἀνθρώπῳ μὴ καθαρῷ τὰ Δαιμόνια. De Vita Apollonii Tyanensis, 1. iv. c. 18. Edit. Olearii, fol. § - καταδείξαι δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τελεῖὰς, καὶ μελαδῆναι τῶν μυσηρίων τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ δίκαιον βίον ἀσκῦσι. Lib. iii. p. 138. St. ed. they were enjoined the greatest sanctity, and st elevation of mind. "When you sacrifice or y (says Epictetus in Arrian) go with a prepared ity of mind, and with dispositions so previously ered, as are required of you when you approach ancient rites and Mysteries*." And Proclus s that the Mysteries and the Initiations drew ouls of men from a material, sensual, and human life, and joined them in communion he Gods t. Nor was a less degree of purity ed of the Initiated for their future conduct ‡ were obliged by solemn engagements to coma new life of strictest piety and virtue; into they were entered by a severe course of pe proper to purge the mind of its natural defileGregory Nazianzen tells us, that "no one be initiated into the Mysteries of Mithras, till ad undergone all sorts of mortifying trials, and approved himself holy and impassible §." The ration of all this made Tertullian say, that, Mysteries, "Truth herself took on every e, to oppose and combat Truth |." And St. "That the devil hurried away deluded souls Arrian. μετὰ θυσίας δὲ, καὶ μετ ̓ εὐχῶν, καὶ προηΓνευκότα, καὶ πρωδιακείμενον ὅτι ἱεροῖς προσελεύσεται καὶ ἱεροῖς παλαιοῖς. ib. iii. cap. 21. ε μυςήρια καὶ τὰς τελεῖὰς ἀνάγειν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνύλα καὶ θνηλοειδές ψυχὰς, καὶ συνάπλειν τοῖς θεοῖς. In Remp. Plat. lib. i. ῶν μυςηρίων ἀξεοθεὶς ἐδεόμην καὶ τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἀρίσης παιδεύσεως, pud Sopatrum, in Div. Quæst. δὲ δύνασθαι τελεῖσθαι τὰς τῇ Μίτρε τελεῖὰς, εἰ μὴ διὰ πασῶν των παρέλθοι, και δείξει ἑαυτὸν ἀπαθῆ καὶ ὅσιον. 1 Orat. cont. a adversus veritatem, de ipsa veritate constructa sunt. .47. to their destruction, when he promised to purify "them by those ceremonies, called INITIATIONS*." The initiated, under this discipline, and with these promises, were esteemed the only happy amongst men. Aristophanes, who speaks the sense of the people, makes them exult and triumph after this manner: "On us only does the sun dispense his blessings; we only receive pleasure from his beams: we, who are initiated, and perform towards citizens " and strangers all acts of piety and justice t." And Sophocles, to the same purpose, "LIFE, only is "to be had there: all other places are full of misery " and evil. Happy (says Euripides) is the man "who hath been initiated into the greater Mysteries, " and leads a life of piety and religion §." And the longer any one had been initiated, the more honourable was he deemed. It was even scandalous not to be initiated: and however virtuous the person otherwise appeared, he became suspicious to the people: As was the case of Socrates, and, in after Diabolum-animas deceptas illusasque præcipitasse-quum polliceretur purgationem animæ per eas, quas TEAETAE appellant. De Trinitate, lib. iv. c. 10. Η Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀξιτελής μύτης ἀτιμότερο. το πάλαι μύσε. Aristidis in Orat. περὶ παραφθέγματα. |