Aphrodite, Diktynna, Here, Uasi, etc., in wild confusion and Dionysos-Uasar, the Great God, appeared no longer merely as the assistant torch-bearer, but as one of the first and most important of divinities. In later times, too, it would seem, especially considering the confused and contradictory accounts and opinions of the Fathers on the subject, that the ritual of various festivals, once distinct, became, as Paganism faded slowly before Christianity, blended and intermingled. Dionysos wholly joining Demeter, the two great divinities grown greater still by being identified rightly or wrongly with almost all the leading gods of the nations, made a last desperate stand against the conquering Galilaean at Eleusis, and were not finally subdued until more than fifty years after the death of Constantinus. The researches of the present day have revealed the mysteries of Aigyptos in almost all their varied intricacies. We know that they were psychical to the core, and represented in endless detail the eventful journey of the soul towards the Great God, terminating in its triumphant union with him. This idea of the pilgrimage of the soul finds expression in the later ages of Eleusis. Thus Bunsen remarks, 'It is easy to prove that the meaning and aim of the symbols was to shadow forth in a pious and reverent manner the progress of the soul in her pilgrimage through the finite. The real element of the mysteries consisted in the relations of the universe to the soul, more especially after death.'1 So the Neo-Platonik philosopher Sallustius, in his treatise Peri Theôn kai Kosmou, Concerning the Gods and the Existing State of Things, explains the rape of Persephone as signifying the descent of the soul; and we are informed that the Mysteries intimated obscurely by splendid visions the felicity of the soul here and hereafter when

1 God in History, ii. 73.

purified from the defilements of a material nature,'1 and adumbrated the future expansion of its 'splendid and winged powers.' 2 So, again, Sallustius, who was a friend of the Emperor Julianus, asserts that the intention of all mystic ceremonies is to conjoin us with the world and the gods.' This is the occult union of the purified and perfected Uasarian with Uasar. Leaving, therefore, the rest of the show, and referring the curious to the exposure of the ancient mysteries by Clemens, Arnobius, and others,5 let us glance at the later mystic manifestations of Dionysos, who appears in splendour to mortals.' So Themistios, writing in the fourth century of the Christian era, 'illustrates his father's exposition of the Aristotelic philosophy by the priest throwing open the propylaea of the temple of Eleusis; whereupon the statue of the Goddess, under a burst of light, appeared in full splendour, and the gloom and utter darkness in which the spectators have been enveloped were dispelled.' 'In all initiations and mysteries the gods exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in a variety of shapes; and sometimes an unfigured light of themselves is thrown forth to the view; sometimes this light is shaped according to a human form, and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape.'7 The approximation to divinity was only to be attained by a triumph over the carnal nature; and where this prevailed the soul was comparatively dead, and so Plotinos says that to be plunged in matter is to descend into Hades and then fall asleep.'8 Dionysos, like Uasar, had suffered, and had also triumphed in and over his sufferings; and,

like Uasar, he represented the Sun, and especially the nocturnal or subterranean Sun, Sol Inferus,1 who in the blessed regions of the West sinks to the Under-world, sailing in his mystic boat, the golden solar cup; for his nightly journey from the West to the East is accomplished in a golden cup, wrought by Hephaistos.' 4 So Stesichoros, B.C. 632-552, sings how Halios [Helios], Hyperion's son, went down into his golden cup and sailed away o'er ocean to the deep realms of night, to visit his beloved ones in the sacred laurel grove. And thus in the Kamic mysteries the soul of the Uasarian having descended into Kerneter, the Under-world, is struck with ecstasy at the magnificent appearance of the subterranean Sun, which he apostrophises in a long address: Hail, thou who hast come as the soul of souls reserved in the West! Hail, thou descending light formed in his disk! Thou hast traversed the heaven; thou hast followed above in yellow. The gods of the West give thee glory; they rejoice at thy perfections.'6 And as the Mystic at Eleusis had to withstand the daemons and spectres, which in later times illustrated the difficulties besetting the soul in its approach to the gods, so the Uasarian had to repel or satisfy the mystic crocodiles, vipers, avenging assessors, daemons of the gate, and other dread beings whom he encountered in his trying passage through the valley of the shadow of death. But as at last the Uasarian penetrated, despite all opposition, to the secret presence of the divine Uasar, so the Eleusinian Mystic was permitted to behold his divinity, and to see holy phantoms,'' and awful but ravishing

1 Cf. Macrob. Sat. i. 18; R. P. Knight, Worship of Priapus, 113; D'Hancarville, Arts de la Grèce, i. 233, 271-3.

2 Vide Cooper, Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt, 40-1.

3

Apollod. ii. 5; Paus. iii. 16.

99.

+ Mythol. of the Aryan Nations, ii.

5 Apud Athen. xi. 4.

6 Funereal Ritual, xv.

7 St. Croix, Recherches, i. 215. Lobeck charges 'Sancrucius' quem omnes gregatim sequuntur,' with

spectacles,'1 such as one of the last of the ancient philosophers described as follows: In a manifestation which must not be revealed, there is seen on the wall of the temple a mass of light, which appears at first at a very great distance. It is transformed, while unfolding itself, into a visage, evidently divine and supernatural, of an aspect severe, but with a touch of sweetness. Following the teachings of a mysterious religion, the Alexandrians honour it as Osiris or Adonis,'2 both of which, as we have seen, are identical with Dionysos, and with each other. At the close of the scene,' says Bunsen, 'the victorious god (Dionysos) was displayed as the Lord of the Spirit. The predominating idea of these conceptions was that of the soul as a divine, vital force, held captive here on earth and sorely tried; but the initiated were further taught to look forward to a final redemption and blessedness for the good and pious, and eternal torments after death for the wicked and unjust.' But this was a development; the original idea of Demeter, friend of the noble heroes of civilisation,' is far simpler. The Mystics having arrived at a joyful conclusion, for the Mysteries, by the name of whatever god they might be called, were invariably of a mixed nature, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy;' and having now become Epopts, were dismissed with a benediction and the words 'Konx Om Pax,' in the interpretation of which much ingenuity has been exercised. The Dionysiak mysteries relating

5

drawing at times upon his own imagination for Eleusinian detail (Aglaoph. i. 182); but if St. Croix occasionally errs a little in this direction, Lobeck is liable to an opposite fault of unbelief.

1 Christie, Disquisitions, 49. 2 Damaskios, apud Photios, Bibliotheka, cod. 242.

3 God in History, ii. 73. • Ibid. 69.

4

6

6

5 Faber, Dissertation on the Cabiri, ii. 337. A long exploded work, of great learning, absurd etymologies, and baseless theories.

6 Wilford (Asiatic Researches, vol. v.) identified them with Canscha-OmPacsha, words with which the Brahmans close their services (vide Ouvaroff, Essay on the Eleusinian Mysteries, 28. Nork. i. 7, apud Rev. G. W. Cox, Mythol. of the Aryan Na

to Zagreus and the Titanes, I shall notice subsequently.1

Seventh Day.-The Return. The initiated returned to Athenai, and merrily jested with those whom they met, especially at the bridge over the Kephissos. Sacred games also were held, the victors in which were rewarded with a measure of barley.

Eighth Day.-The Day of the Epidaurians. On which those who had been too late for the Greater Mysteries were initiated in the Lesser. It was so called from a tradition that Aisklepios once then arrived at Eleusis from Epidauros.

Ninth Day-The Day of Earthen Vessels. Two large earthen vessels were filled with wine, type of the animating principle, and were then upset, the wine being thus offered as a libation to the Infernal Divinities. One of these jars was placed towards the east, the other to the west; and they were emptied while certain mystic words were uttered. These have been made known to us by Proclos in the Timaeus of Plato. They were, viè, tokvîe, while the first of these was pronounced, they looked up to heaven; and casting their eyes downward to the earth, they pronounced the latter. By thus accosting each Epopt as a son, viè might be implied the heavenly origin of man; by TOKvie might be denoted regeneration.' 2

The four principal personages at Eleusis were the Hierophant, who is said by Eusebios to have been an impersonation of the Demiurge; the Dadouchos or Torchbearer, a type of the Sun or Helios-Dionysos; the Assistant at the Altar, who is said to have represented the Moon; and the Hierokerux or Sacred Herald, who was a type of Hermes. With respect to this last subtle

tions, ii. 126). Pococke, in his romance asserts the language is Tibetian,' and signifies salutation to the Three Holy Ones.' (India in Greece, 273, vide Lobeck's remarks and col

lection of authorities, Aglaoph. 775 et seq). The subject does not concern a Dionysiak enquiry.

1 Inf. IX. vi.

2 Christie, Disquisitions, 33.