Besides, there was another reason why the Institutors of the Mysteries, who were LAWGIVERS, should be for secreting this truth. They themselves had the chief hand in the rise of vulgar Polytheism *. They contrived it for the sake of the State; and to keep the people in awe, under a greater veneration for their laws. This Polytheism, the poets had depraved, by inventing or recording vicious stories of the Gods and Heroes, which the Lawgivers were willing should be stifledt. And they were only such stories, that, in their opinion, (as may be seen in Plato) made Polytheism hurtful to the State.

Scævola, that most learned Pontifex, as St. Austin calls him, gives this very account of the matter, where he says, There were three Systems concerning the GODS, the Poetic, the Philosophic, and the Civil: the first, he says, was nugatory, and therefore hurtful to the virtue of the State: the second incongruous to public establishments, by creating disorder and confusion in the speculative opinions of the People; such

See the second Section of this Book,

↑ Plato has a remarkable passage to this purpose. Speaking, in the beginning of his twelfth book Of Laws, concerning theft, and fraud, and rapine, he takes notice of the popular stories told of Mercury, as if he delighted in such things, and patronized those who did; the philosopher says they are not true; and cautions men from being led away by such pretended examples. However, to make all sure, he takes up the method of the mysteries, and adds, that if, indeed, Mercury did, or encouraged such things, he was neither a God, nor of celestial original.—λon μèn xenμáɣwx, ἀνελεύθερον, ἁρπαγὴ δὲ, ἀναίσχυνον· τῶν Διὸς δὲ υἱεῶν ἐδεὶς ἔτε δόλοις, ἔτε βίᾳ χαίρων ἐπιλιτήδευκε τέτοιν ἐδέτερον· μηδεὶς ἂν ὑπὸ ποιητών, μηδ' ἄλλως ὑπὸ τινῶν μυθολόγων, πλημμελῶν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἐξαπατώμενα αναπειθέσθω. καὶ κλέπτων ἢ βιαζόμεθ, οἰἔσθω μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ποιεῖν, ἀλλ ̓ ἅπερ αὐτοὶ θεοὶ δρῶσιν· ἔτε γὰρ ἀληθὲς, ἔτ ̓ εἰκὸς ἀλλ ̓ ὅσις δρᾷ τοῦτον παρανόμως, ὅτε θεὸς ἔτες παῖς ἐσί ποτε θεῶν,

as

as the teaching them, promiscuously, that the Popular Gods were dead men deified. The directors of the third System therefore prevented the mischiefs of the first by such a partial communication of the second System, as was necessary for that purpose *.

That this account of the SECRET, in the greater Mysteries, is no precarious hypothesis, standing on mere conjecture, I shall now endeavour to shew,

First, from the clear evidence of Antiquity, which expressly informs us of these two particulars; That the ERRORS OF POLYTHEISM were detected, and the DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY was taught and explained in the Mysteries. But here it is to be observed, that when the Ancients speak of Mysteries indefinitely, they generally mean the greater.

It hath been shewn, that the Grecian and Asiatic Mysteries came originally from Egypt. Now of the EGYPTIAN, St. Austin giveth us this remarkable account." Of the same nature, too, are those things "which Alexander of Macedon wrote to his mother,

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as revealed unto him by one LEO †, chief Hiero"phant

* Relatum est in literis, doctissimum Pontificem Scævolam disputasse tria genera tradita Deorum; unum ‘a poetis, alterum a philosophis, tertium a principibus civitatis. Primum genus nugatorium dicit esse-Secundum non congruere civitatibus, quod habeant aliqua-quæ obsint populis nosse--Quæ sunt autem illą quæ prolata in multitudinem nocent? "Hæc, inquit; non esse "deos Herculem, Esculapium, Castorem, Pollucem: proditur enim a doctis, quod homines fuerint, & humana conditione de"fecerint."-Augustiu. De Civit. Dei, lib. iv. cap. 27. in initio.

It is not unlikely but this might be a name of office. Porphyry, in his fourth book Of Abstinence, § 16. Edit. Cantabr. 1655, 8vo, informs us, that the priests of the Mysteries of Mi

thras

phant of the Egyptian Mysteries: whereby it appeared, that not only such as Picus, and Faunus, " and Æneas, and Romulus, nay Hercules, and Æsculapius, and Bacchus the son of Semele, and Castor, and Pollux, and all others of the same rank, "had been advanced, from the condition of mortal

Men, into Gods; but that even those Deities of the "higher order, the Dii majorum gentium, those whom "Cicero, without naming, seems to hint at, in his "Tusculans, such as Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Neptune, "Vulcan, Vesta, and many others (whom Varro "endeavours to allegorize into the elements or parts "of the world) were, in truth, only deceased mortals. "But the Priest being under great fears and appre"hensions, while he was telling this, as conscious that "he was betraying the SECRET OF THE MYSTERIES, "begged of Alexander, when he found that he intend"ed to communicate it to his mother*, that he would "enjoin

thras were called Lions; the priestesses Lionesses; and the inferior, ministers, Ravens. Τὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ὀργίων μύτας, Λέονας καλεῖν· τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας· Λιαίνας. τοὺς δὲ ὑπηρετῶνας, Κόρακας: for there was a great conformity, in the practices and ceremonies of the several Mysteries, throughout the whole pagan world. And this conjecture is supported by a passage in Eunapius, which seems to say, that it was unlawful to reveal the name of the Hierophant. -Te di ̔Ιεροφάνῃ, κατ ̓ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ὅσις ἦν τὔνομα ἔ μοι θέμις λέγειν in Maximo, p. 74. Edit. Comelini, 8vo, 1616.-It looks as if the corruptions and debaucheries of some of the Mysteries, in later times, had made this further provision for secrecy.

* I suppose this communication to his Mother, might be with a purpose to let her understand, that he was no longer the dupe of her fine story of Jupiter's invasion, and the intrigue of his divine original. For Eratosthenes, according to Plutarch, Edit. Francof. fol. 1599. T. I. p. 665, E. says, that Olympias, when she brought Alexander on his way to the army, in his first military expedition, acquainted

16 enjoin her to burn the letter, as soon as she had read "it*."

To understand the concluding part, we are to know, that Cyprian (who has also preserved this curious anecdote) tells us, it was the dread of Alexander's power which extorted the secret from the hierophant t.

But

acquainted him, in private, with this secret of his birth: and exhorted him to behave himself as became the son of Jupiter Hammon. This, I suppose, Alexander might boast of to the Priest, and so the murder came out.

In eo genere sunt etiam illa-quæ Alexander Macedo scribit ad matrem, sibi a magno antistite sacrorum Ægyptiorum quodam LEONE patefacta: ubi non Picus & Faunus, & Æneas & Romulus, vel etiam Hercules & Esculapius, & Liber Semele natus, & Tyndaridæ fratres, & si quos alios ex mortalibus pro diis habent; sed ipsi etiam majorum gentium dii, quos Cicero in Tusculanis, tacitis nominibus, videtur attingere, Jupiter, Juno, Saturnus, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Vesta, & alii plurimi, quos Varro conatur ad mundi partes sive elementa transferre, homines fuisse produntur. Timeņs enim & ille quasi revelata mysteria, petens admonet Alexandrum, ut cum ea matri conscripta insinuaverit, flammis jubeat concremari, De Civit. Dei, lib. viii. cap. 5.

+ metu suæ potestatis proditum sibi de diis hominibus a saeerdote SECRETUM. De Idol. Ven. circa initium, But this is a mistake, at least it is expressed inaccurately. What was extorted by the dread of Alexander's power, was not the secret (which the initiated had a right to) but the Priest's consent that he should communicate the secret to another, which was contrary to the laws of the Mysteries. Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, Edit. Francof. fol. 1599, p. 680. E. appears to refer to this very Epistle of Alexander to his Mother, where he says,— Αλέξανδρος ἐν ἐπιτολῇ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα, φησὶν γεγονέναι τινὰς ἀὐλῶ μαιλείας ἀποῤῥήτες, ἃς ἐπανελθὼν φράσει πρὸς μόνην ἐκείνην. “ Alexander in the Epistle says that there were certain Oracular Mysteries imparted to him, which on his return he would communicate to her under the same seal of secrecy." For at this time the Mysteries foretold the future, as well as revealed the past,

But Tully brings the matter home to the ELEUSINIAN Mysteries themselves. "What (says he) is not "almost all Heaven, not to carry on this detail any "further, filled with the Human race? But if I should "search and examine Antiquity, and from those "things which the Grecian writers have delivered, go to the bottom of this affair, it would be found, that ❝even those very Gods themselves who are deemed "the Dii majorum gentium, had their original here "below; and ascended from hence into Heaven.

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Enquire, to whom those Sepulchres belong, which are so commonly shewn in Greece*. REMEMBER, "for you are initiated, WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN 66 TAUGHT IN THE MYSTERIES; YOU WILL THEN

66

AT LENGTH UNDERSTAND HOW FAR THIS MAT

66 TER MAY BE CARRIED." Indeed, he carries it further himself; for he tells us, in another place, that not only the Eleusinian Mysteries, but the Samothracian likewise, and the Lemnian, taught the error of Polytheism, agreeably to this system; which supposes all the Mysteries derived from the same original, and instituted for the same ends. "What think you (says "he) of those who assert, that valiant, or famous, or "powerful men have obtained divine honours after death; and that these are the very Gods, now be

• Alluding to that of Jupiter in Crete.

+ Quid? totum prope cœlum, ne plures persequar, nonne humana genere completum est? Si vero scrutari vetera, & ex his ea, quæ scriptores Græciæ prodiderunt, eruere coner; ipsi illi, majorum gentium Dii qui habentur, hinc a nobis profecti in cœlum reperiuntur. Quære, quorum demonstrantur sepulchra in Græcia : REMINISCERE, QUONIAM ES INITIATUS QUÆ TRADANTUR MYSTERIIS; TUM DENIQUE QUAM HOC LATE PATEAT, INTELLIGES.

Tusc. Disp. lib. i. cap. 12, 13. Edit. Ox, 4to. T, II. p. 243-See aote D, at the end of this Book.

come.