1
THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES.
8
iiiipluiited in
the lieart
ni'
man
iu
(except in a state of savagery)
all
ages and countries.
They
have been mimic representations of mythological incidents, joined with the giving
of amulets as preservatives against future danger, but as all ancient and all false religions are
of one
idea inherent in the human race, and possibly forming originally one
seem
to
corruptions
gre at
primitive creed, in these ceremonies
men must have
seen or have thought they saw, traces of
the teachings of a higher, purer, and more ancient faith.
According to Clemens Alexandrinus,
tlie verbal exidanations had reference to the myths represented, and this verbal instruction
was an obvious moral deduction from the mythological and allegorical stories represented, eg.,
those of Eleusis showed the benefits derived from agriculture, and this was further explained
iu words, the verbal
no doubt, varying from time to time. Yet we should do well
expositions,
remember that whatever the philosophers may have made of the popular divinities, the
to a certain extent at least,
priests' and hieropliants' idea of them must have always remained,
of the opinions and explanations of the classic writers ought
tlie same.
Hence, a good many
to be received with a wodicum of caution.
Something, however, was clearly taught or im"
That men retain the sense of pain and pleasure
jilied, for Plutarch, writing to his wife, says,
to
after death,"
^
and we are further
eternal punishment."
'^
Upon
told,
the whole,
"That the Mystagogues menaced the wicked with
Mysteries tended to
to come, but the question then arises, was this to be
it
seems
fairly certain tliat the
open up a comforting prospect iu the life
effected by means of a holier and purer religion, or were the Mysteries mere ceremonies,
giving an introduction to the society of the gods, that is, conferring, as it were, the right of
entree into a higher sphere.
All
we know
Greeks in particular, seems to favour the
of
Pagan
religions generally,
latter supposition.
Taken
and of that of the
as a wliole, the effect
was
probably good, as awakening and keeping alive a sense of reverence and immortality, yet the
Mysteries were not without their unfavourable points, for example, in substituting a ceremonial
moral probation, the utility of which was inculcated by all philosophers worthy of the
name, whilst the miscellaneous assemblies of both sexes in secrecy and darkness could not
Even the assemblage of one sex alone was mischievous,
fail to have had a prejudicial effect.
for that
for all experience
upon the
otlier,
proves that, within proper bounds, the presence of one acts as a restraint
so notorious a debauchee as Clodius, would scarcely have chosen the
and
festival of the Boyia
would lend
The
Dca
to
compass his
itself to facilitate his
rites
object,
had he not
felt
pretty certain that the occasion
purpose.
and ceremonies will now be considered.
An
outline of those observed at Eleusis
has been already given, and I shall proceed to supplement that sketch by some general
remarks. The leading feature of initiation was the dramatic symbolism which described the
This symbolism assumed forms which
meaning even to the uninitiated. But the revival of nature would be
inseparably associated with the thought of the life into which a human soul passes through
the gateway of death ; and iu a festival where everything was dramatic, the one truth or fact
revivification of the earth after the death of winter.
^^ould explain their
would be expressed
Dionysus or Bacchus
bj' signs
not less than the other.
The Eleusinian legend represented
as the son of Demeter, and in the great Diouysiac festival at Athens the
was solemnly carried in procession, as in like state the veiled ship or boat of Athene
phallus
was borne to the Acropolis. This ship or boat was represented by the mystic cists or chests,
'
Consol.
.Ill
I'xoivm.
-
Cclsus
jijiud Oiif;ineni, viii. 4S.