and Pollux desired to be initiated, they were first made citizens of Athens.* Nor were they admitted to the greater mysteries, but only to the less, which were sacred to Proserpine, and were instituted for this purpose, in order that the laws might not be violated by the admission of Hercules." They were not celebrated, like the former, in the month Boëdromion, at Eleusis (an Attic borough, from which Ceres was called Eleusinia), but at Agræ, a place near the river Ilissus, in the month Anthesterion. "In latter times, the lesser festival was used as a preparative to the greater; for no persons were initiated in the greater, unless they had been purified at the lesser. The manner of the purification was this: - having kept themselves chaste and unpolluted nine days, they came and offered sacrifices and prayers, wearing crowns and garlands of flowers, which were called opeρa, or upa. They had also, under their feet, Alos xwdiov, Jupiter's skin,' which was the skin of a victim offered to that God. The person that assisted them herein was called υδρανος, from ύδωρ, 'water,' which was used at most purifications; and they themselves were named μvora, or persons initiated. "About a year after, having sacrificed a sow to Ceres, they were admitted to the greater mysteries, the secret rites of which, some few excepted (being reserved for the priests alone), were frankly revealed to them; whence they were called sopor, # "Plut. in Thes." and TOTTα, 'inspectors.' The manner of initiation was thus the candidates, being crowned with myrtle, had admittance by night into a place called μvorixos onxos, the mystical temple,' which was an edifice so vast and capacious that the most ample theatre did scarce exceed it. At their entrance they purified themselves by washing their hands in holy water; and, at the same time, were admonished to present themselves with minds pure and undefiled, without which the external cleanness of the body would by no means be accepted. After this the holy mysteries were read to them out of a book called TETρwμa; which word is derived from ετρα, ' a stone,' because the book consisted of two stones fitly cemented together. Then the priest who initiated them, called popavτns, proposed certain questions, as whether they were fasting, &c.; to which they returned answers in a set form. This done, strange and amazing objects presented themselves. Sometimes the place they were in seemed to shake round them; sometimes it appeared bright and resplendent with light and radiant fire, and then again was covered with black darkness. Sometimes thunder and lightning, sometimes frightful noises and bellowings, sometimes terrible apparitions astonished the trembling spectators. The being present at these sights was called autovia, intuition.' After this they were dismissed with these words, ' κογξ, ομπαξ.””+ "See Meursius's treatise on this festival." + Some have supposed these words to answer to the " Procul, O procul, este profani," and to have that meaning in Sanscrit. If so, they were misapplied. 66 During that part of the ceremony called εποπτεια, inspection," the Gods themselves were supposed to appear to the initiated; and it was in order to discover if the candidates were sufficiently prepared for such a mark of their favour that these terrific preludes were instituted. Proclus thus describes them in his Commentary on Plato's Republic: "In all initiations and mysteries, the Gods exhibit themselves under many forms, and appear in a variety of shapes. Sometimes their unfigured light is held forth to the view; sometimes this light appears under a human form; and it sometimes assumes a different shape." In his commentary on the first Alcibiades, he also says, "In the most holy of the mysteries, before the God appears the impulsions of certain terrestrial dæmons become visible, alluring the initiated from undefiled goods to matter." Apuleius* * mentions the same extraordinary illusions, -"the sun being made to appear at midnight, glittering with white light;" and it is supposed that Ezekiel † alludes to similar scenes when speaking of the abominations committed by the idolatrous" ancients of the house of Israel in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery." The preliminary ordeals, through which candidates were obliged to pass, previous to admission into the Egyptian mysteries, were equally, if not more, severe; and it frequently happened that their lives. were exposed to great danger, as is said to have * Metam. lib. ii. 256. + Ezek. viii. 12. been the case with Pythagoras. But the reluctance of the Egyptians, particularly in the time of the Pharaohs, to admit strangers to these holy secrets, probably rendered his trial more severe even than that to which the Egyptians themselves were subjected; and it appears that, notwithstanding the earnest request made by Polycrates to Amasis to obtain this favour for the philosopher, many difficulties were thrown in the way by the priests, on his arrival in Egypt. Those of Heliopolis*, to whom he first presented the letters given him by Amasis, referred him to the college of Memphis, under the pretext of their seniority; and these again, on the same plea, recommended him to the priests of Thebes. Respect for the king forbade them to give a direct refusal; but they hoped, says Porphyry, to alarm him by representing the arduous task he had to perform, and the repugnance of the previous ceremonies to the feelings of the Greeks. It was not, therefore, without surprise that they beheld his willingness to submit to the trials they proposed; for though many foreigners were, in after times, admitted to the mysteries of Egypt, few had then obtained the indulgence, except Thales and Eumolpus. This prejudice of the Egyptians against the Greeks is perfectly consistent with the statement of Herodotus; and is shown by other writers to have continued even after the accession of the Ptolemies and the Roman conquest. "The garments t of those initiated into the Porphyr. de Vita Pythag. + Potter, p. 452. Eleusinian mysteries were accounted sacred, and of no less efficacy to avert evils than charms and incantations. They were therefore never cast off till completely worn out. Nor was it then usual to throw them away; but they were made into swaddling clothes for children, or consecrated to Ceres and Proserpine. "The chief person who attended at the initiation was called po avτns, the revealer of holy things.' He was a citizen of Athens, and held his office during life; though amongst the Celeans and Phliasians it was customary for him to resign his place every fourth year, at the time of the festival. He was obliged to devote himself wholly to divine service, and to live a chaste and single life; to which end it was usual for him to anoint himself with the juice of hemlock, which, by its extreme coldness, is said to extinguish in a great measure the natural heat. The hierophantes had three assistants; the first of whom was called, from his office, dadouxos, torch-bearer*,' and to him it was permitted to marry; the second was the npu, or herald;' the third ministered at the altar, and was for that reason named 。 ETI τῳ βωμῳ. The hierophantes is said to have been a type of the great Creator of all things, the dadouxos of the Sun, the xp of Mercury, and ο επι τω βωμῳ of the Moon. Επι * An inscription on one of the tombs of the Kings at Thebes was written by a “δαδουχος των αγιωτάτων Ελευσίνων μυστηρίων,” in the time of Constantine. This was about sixty years before those mysteries were |
