“ 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; endeavouring to confute, not according to opinion, but according to essence, and proceeding through all these dialectical energies with an unshaken reason;—he who cannot accomplish this, would you not say, that he neither knows the good itself, nor any thing which is properly denominated good? ”

“ But it is by no means wonderful that men who have not the smallest conception of the true nature of the gods; who have persuaded themselves that they were only dead men deified; and who measure the understandings of the ancients by their own, should be led to fabricate a system so improbable and absurd.
But that this tradition was accompanied with a vision of the causes from which the soul descended, is evident from the express testimony, in the first place, of Apuleius, who thus describes his initiation into the mysteries. ”

“ But we speculate fables physically when we speak concerning the energies 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 employ fables in an animastic mode, when we contemplate the energies of soul; because the intellections of our souls, though by a discursive energy they run into other things, yet abide in their parents. ”

“ Indeed if these wise men believed in a future state of retribution, and at the same time considered a connection with body as the death of the soul, it necessarily follows, that the soul’s punishment and subsistence hereafter is nothing more than a continuation of its state at present, and a transmigration, as it were, from sleep to sleep, and from dream to dream. ”

“ Lastly, fables are material, such as the Egyptians ignorantly employ, considering and calling corporeal natures divinities: such as Iris, 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 mad men; 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. ”

“ Thou rollest the heavens round the steady poles, dost illuminate the sun, govern the world, and tread on the dark realms of Tartarus. The Stars move responsive to thy command, the gods rejoice in thy divinity, the hours and seasons return by thy appointment, and the elements reverence thy decree." For all this easily follows, if we consider it as addressed to the fontal deity of nature, subsisting in the Demiurgus, and which is the exemplar of that nature which flourishes in the lunar orb, and throughout the material world, and from which the deity itself of the moon originally proceeds. ”

“ And while the soul is in a state of servitude to the body, she lives confined, as it were, in bonds, through the dominion of this Titanical life. We may observe farther concerning these shows of the lesser mysteries, that as they were intended to represent the condition of the soul while subservient to the body, we shall find that a liberation from this servitude, through the cathartic virtues, was what the wisdom of the ancients intended to signify by the descent of Hercules, Ulysses, &c., into Hades, and their speedy return from its dark abodes. ”

“ Is it not obvious, from the preceding explanation, that by Avernus in this place, and the dark gates of Pluto, we must understand a corporeal nature, the descent into which is indeed at all times obvious and easy, but to recall our steps, and ascend into the upper regions, or, in other words, to separate the soul from the body by the cathartic virtues, is indeed a mighty work, and a laborious task? ”

“ And is it not equally dubious and wonderful why those who have been unjustly condemned to death in one period of existence should be punished in another? And as to suicides, Plato in his Phædo says, that the prohibition of this crime in the απορρητα is a profound doctrine, and not easy to be understood. Indeed the true cause why the two first of these characters are in Hades, can only be obtained from regarding a prior state of existence, in surveying which, the latent justice of punishment will be manifestly revealed ”

“ In the first place, then, that the shows of the greater mysteries occultly signified the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when separated from the contagion of body, is evident from what has been demonstrated in the former part of this discourse: for if he who in the present life is in subjection to his irrational part is truly in Hades, he who is superior to its dominion is likewise an inhabitant of a place totally different from Hades. If Hades therefore is the region of punishment and misery, the purified soul must reside in the regions of bliss ”

“ For the sources of the soul’s existence are also the principles from which it fell; and these, as we may learn from the Timæus of Plato, are Jupiter, or the Demiurgus, the mundane soul, and the junior or mundane gods.—Now, of these, the mundane intellect, which, according to the ancient theology, is Bacchus, is principally celebrated by the poet, and this because the soul is particularly distributed into generation Dionysiacally, as is evident from the preceding extracts from Olympiodorus ”

“ But let us attend to the assertions of these divine men concerning the soul’s conjunction with a material nature. And to begin with the obscure and profound Heraclitus, speaking of souls unembodied: "We live," says he, "their death, and we die their life." ”

“ 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. But of these species of fables, such as are theological belong to philosophers; the physical and animastic to poets; but the mixt to initiatory rites; (τελεταις) since the intention of all mystic ceremonies is to conjoin us with the world and the gods. ”

“ And as to the 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, as long as the sun himself shall continue to illuminate the world. ”

“ Warburton, that Theseus was a living character, who once entered into the Eleusinian mysteries by force, for which he was imprisoned upon earth, and afterwards damned in the infernal realms. For if this was the case, why is not Hercules also represented as in punishment? and this with much greater reason, since he actually dragged Cerberus from Hades; whereas the fabulous descent of Theseus was attended with no real, but only intentional, mischief—Not to mention that Virgil appears to be the only writer of antiquity who condemns this hero to an eternity of pain. ”

“ In consequence of this, it is absurd in the highest degree to imagine that such men would compose fables from the contemplation of shadows only, without regarding the splendid originals from which these dark phantoms were produced:—not to mention that their harmonizing so much more perfectly with intellectual explications is an indisputable proof that they were derived from an intellectual source. ”

“ Polit. p. 382. "Hercules being purified by sacred initiations, and enjoying undefiled fruits, obtained at length a perfect establishment among the gods:" that is, well knowing the dreadful condition of his soul while in captivity to a corporeal nature, and purifying himself according to the cathartic virtues, of which certain purifications in the mystic ceremonies were symbolic, he at length fled from the bondage of matter, and ascended beyond the reach of her hands. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By the blessed being confined to no particular habitation, the liberal condition of their existence is plainly implied; since they are entirely free from all material restraint, and purified from all inclination to the dark and cold tenement of body. ”

“ And the third sort, or suicides, though apparently separated from body, have only exchanged one place for another of a similar nature; since a conduct of this kind, according to the arcana of divine philosophy, instead of separating the soul from body, only restores it to a condition perfectly correspondent to its former inclinations and habits, lamentations and woes. ”

“ At the same time it is proper to observe, that the whole business of initiation was distributed into five parts, as we are informed by Theo of Smyrna, in Mathemat. p. 18, who thus elegantly compares philosophy to these mystic rites: "Again," says he, "philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred ceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are five parts of initiation: the first of which is previous purgation; for neither are the mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive them ”

“ Η κατα τας ηθικας και φυσικας αρετας, ων συμβολον, η του διονυσου βασιλεια, διο και σπαραττεται, διοτι ουκ αντακολουθουσιν αλληλαις αι αρεται. And thus far Olympiodorus; in which passages it is necessary to observe, that as the Titans are the ultimate artificers of things, and the most proximate to their fabrications, men are said to be composed from their fragments, because the human soul has a partial life capable of proceeding to the most extreme division united with its proper nature. ”

“ Hence they asserted that prudent men, who earnestly employed themselves in divine concerns, were above all others in a vigilant state. But that imprudent men, who pursued objects of a different nature, being laid asleep, as it were, were only engaged in the delusions of dreams: and that if they happened to die in this sleep, before they were roused, they would be afflicted with similar and still sharper visions in a future state. ”

“ For in this fable the banquet denotes the supermundane 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. ”

“ For a few only, the favourites of heaven, that is, born with the true philosophic genius, and whom ardent virtue has elevated to divine contemplations, have been enabled to accomplish the arduous design. ”

“ The persons described are, as is well known, first, the souls of infants snatched away by untimely ends; secondly, such as are condemned to death unjustly; and thirdly, those who, weary of their lives, become guilty of suicide. ”

“ But he considers the binding of the head, and coronation, as analogous to the power which any one receives from his instructors, of leading others to the same contemplation. And the fifth gradation is, the most perfect felicity arising from hence, and, according to Plato, an assimilation to divinity, as far as is possible to mankind." But though εποπτεια, or inspection, principally characterized the greater mysteries, yet this was likewise accompanied with μυησις, or initiation, as will be evident in the course of this inquiry. ”

“ But, prior to Plotinus, Plato, in the seventh book of his Republic, asserts, that such as are unable in the present life to perceive the idea of the good, will descend to Hades after death, and fall asleep in its dark abodes. Ος αν μη εχη διορισασθαι τω λογω, απο των αλλων παντων αφελων την του αγαθου ιδεαν, και ωσπερ εν μαχη δια παντων ελεγχων διεξιων, μη κατα δοξαν αλλα κατ' ουσιαν προθυμουμενος ελεγχειν, εν πασι τουτοις απτωτι τω λογω διαπορευηται, ουτε αυτο το αγαθον ουδεν φησεις ειδεναι τον ουτως εχοντα, ουτε αλλο αγαθον ουδεν ”

“ And the latter part of the proposition may be easily inferred, from the passage already cited from the Phædrus of Plato, in which he compares initiation and inspection to the blessed vision of intelligible natures; an employment which can alone belong to the energies of contemplative virtue. But the whole of this is rendered indisputable by the following remarkable testimony of Olympiodorus, in his excellent MS. Commentary on the Phædo of Plato. "In the sacred rites," says he, "popular purifications are in the first place brought forth, and after these such as are more arcane. ”

“ Γινεται γαρ πανταπασιν εν τω της ανομοιοτητος τοπω, ενθα δυς εις αυτην εις βορβορον σκοτεινον εσται πεσων.—αποθνησκει ουν, ως ψυχη αν θανοι· και ο θανατος αυτη, και ετι εν τω σωματι βεβαπτισμενη, εν υλη εστι καταδυναι, και πλησθηναι αυτης. και εξελθουσης εκει κεισθαι, εως αναδραμη και αφελη πως την οψιν εκ του βορβορου. και τουτο εστι το εν αδου ελθοντα επικαταδαρθειν. Here the reader may observe that the obscure doctrine of the mysteries mentioned by Plato in the Phædo, that the unpurified soul in a future state lies merged in mire, is beautifully explained ”

“ The second sort, too, who are condemned to death unjustly, must be supposed to represent the souls of men who, though innocent of one crime for which they were wrongfully punished, have, notwithstanding, been guilty of many crimes, for which they are receiving proper chastisement in Hades, i. ”

“ This must not be understood as if the soul in the regions of felicity retained any affection for material concerns, or was engaged in the trifling pursuits of a corporeal life; but that when separated from generation, she is constantly engaged in intellectual employments ”