stitution, did, it must be owned, in course of time, fearfully degenerate; and those very provisions made by the State, to enable the Mysteries to obtain the end of their establishment, became the very means of defeating it. For we can assign no surer CAUSE of the horrid abuses and corruptions of the Mysteries (besides time, which naturally and fatally depraves and vitiates all things) than the SEASON in which they were represented; and the profound SILENCE in which they were buried. For NIGHT gave opportunity to wicked men to attempt evil actions; and SECRECY, encouragement to perpetrate them; and the inviolable nature of that secrecy, which encouraged abuses, kept them from the Magistrate's knowledge so long, till it was too late to reform them. In a word, we must own, that these Mysteries, so powerful in their first institution for the promotion of VIRTUE and KNOWLEDGE became, in time, horribly subservient to the gratification of LUST and REVENGE t. Nor will this appear at all strange after what hath been said above. A like corruption, from the same cause, crept even into the CHURCH, during the purest ages of it. The primitive christians, in imitation, perhaps, of these pagan rites, or from the same kind of spirit, had a custom of celebrating VIGILS in the night; which, at first, were performed with all becoming sanctity: but, in a little time, they were so overrun with abuses, that it was necessary to abolish them. The account Bellarmine

*

Τὰ μυτήρια-ὅτι ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ καὶ ἐπανορθώσει τῷ βία καλεσάθη πάντα ταῦτα ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν.

+ Η γὰρ τεκνοφόνος ΤΕΛΕΤΑΣ, ἢ ΚΡΥΦΙΑ ΜΥΣΤΗΡΙΑ, ἡ ἐμμαγεῖς ἐξ ἄλλων θεσμών κώμες ἄγολες, Οὔτε βίας ἔτε γάμος καθαρὲς ἔτι φυλάσσεσιν, ἕτερον δ ̓ ἕτερον ἢ ΛΟΧΩΝ ΑΝΑΙΡΕΙ, Η ΝΟΘΕΥΩΝ OAYNA. Wisdom of Solomon, xiv. 23, 24,

པ

66

gives of the matter, is this: "Quoniam occasione "nocturnarum vigiliarum abusus quidam irrepere cœperant, vel potius flagitia non raro committi, placuit ecclesiæ nocturnos conventus & vigilias proprie dictas intermittere, ac solum in iisdem "diebus celebrare jejunia *." And the same remedy, Cicero † tells us, Diagondas the Theban was forced to t apply to the disorders of the Mysteries.

2. However, this was not the only, though it was the most powerful cause of the depravation of the Mysteries. Another doubtless was their being sometimes under the patronage of those Deities, who were supposed to inspire and preside over sensual passions, such as Bacchus, Venus, and Cupid; for these had all their Mysteries: And where was the wonder, if the Initiated should be sometimes inclined to give a loose to those vices, in which the patron God was supposed to delight? And in this case, the HIDDEN DOCTRINE came too late to put a stop to the disorder. However, it is remarkable, and confirms what hath been said concerning the origin of the Mysteries, and of their being invented to perpetuate the doctrine of a future state, that this doctrine continued to be taught even in the most debauched celebrations of the Mysteries of Cupid and Bacchus §. Nay, even that very flagitious ‡

* De Eccl. Triumph. lib. iii. cap. ult.

part

Atque omnia nocturna, ne nos duriores forte videamur, in media Græcia Diagondas Thebanus lege perpetua sustulit. De Legg. lib. ii. cap. 15. Edit. Ox. 4to. Tom. III. p. 149.

† Αγαθὸν μὲν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, τῆς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τελεῖῆς μετασχεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ ὁρῶ τοῖς ΕΡΩΤΟΣ ἐξΓιασαῖς καὶ μύσαις ἐν ᾅδε βελλίωνα μοῖραν ἦσαν. Plutarchus 'Eçalsx.

§ Κέλσο ελαί γε ἐπὶ θάμβει τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ταῦθ ̓ ἡμᾶς ποιεῖν, ἐχὶ δὲ τάληθῇ περὶ κολάσεων λέγοντας ἀναγκαίων τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσι διόπερ

ἐξομαῖοι

part of the mysterious rites when at worst, the carrying the ΚΤΕΙΣ and ΦΑΛΛΟΣ in procession, was introduced but under pretence of their being emblems* of the mystical regeneration and new life, into which the Initiated had engaged themselves to enter.

3. The last cause to which one may ascribe their corruption, was the Hicrophant's withdrawing the Mysteries from the care and inspection of the civil Magistrate; whose original Institution they were : and, therefore, in the purer ages of Greece, the depu

ties

ἐξομοῖοι ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἐν ταῖς ΒΑΚΧΙΚΑΙΣ τελεαῖς τὰ φάσματα καὶ δείματα goodyea. Orig. contra Celsum, lib. iv. p. 167. Sp.

* Καὶ γὰρ αἱ τελείαὶ, καὶ τὰ ὅρια, τὰ τέτων εἶχεν ΑΙΝΙΓΜΑΤΑ. τὴν κλέτα μὲν ἡ Ἐλευσίς, ἢ φαλλα[ωγία δὲ τὸν Φαλλόν. Theodoret, Therapeut. lib.i. Here the father uses the word aiviuala ironically, and in derision of the Pagans, who pretended, that these processions were mystical, symbolical, and enigmatical; otherwise he had used the word improperly; for the ls and pans could never be the airiypala of the pollutions committed by them: afua signifying the obscure imitation of a thing represented by a different image. So Tertullian against the Valentinians says, "Virile membrum totum esse MYSTERIUM." Jamblichus gives another reason for these things: διὰ τῦτο ἔν τε κωμῳδία και τραγωδια ἀλλότρια πάθη θεωρῶντες, ἴσαμεν τὰ οἰκεῖα πάθη, καὶ μελειώτερα ἀπεργαζό μεθα, καὶ ἀποκαθαίρομεν· ἔν τε τοῖς ἱεροῖς, θεάμασί τισι καὶ ἀκέσμασι τῶν αἰσχρῶν, ἀπολυόμεθα τῆς ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἀπ' αὐτῶν συμπιπλάσης βλάβης. De mysteriis, i. cap. 11. However, in common life, figuram pudendi virilis ad fascini omne genus expugnandum multum valere crederent. A superstition, which, without doubt, arose from its enigmatic station in the mysteries; and to this day keeps its hold amongst the common people in Italy.-On les portoit comme des préservatifs contre les charmes, les mauvais regards & les enchantements. Cette practique superstitieuse ne s'en est pas moins conservée jusqu'à present dans le bas Peuple du Royaume de Naples. L'on m'a fait voir plusieurs de ces Priapes, que des gens ont la simplicité de porter au bras ou sur la poitrine. Winkelman sur les decouvertes d'Herculaneum, p. 41.

ties of the States presided in them: and, so long, they were safe from notorious abuses. But in aftertimes it would happen, that a little priest, who had borne an inferior share in these rites, would leave his society and country, and set up for himself; and in a clandestine manner, without the allowance or knowledge of the Magistrate, institute and celebrate the Mysteries in private Conventicles. From rites so managed it is easy to believe, many enormities would arise. This was the original of those horrid impieties committed in the Mysteries of Bacchus at Rome; of which the historian Livy has given so circumstantial an account: for, in the beginning of his story, he tells us, the mischief was occasioned by one of these priests bringing the Mysteries into Etruria, on his own head, uncommissioned by his superiors in Greece, from whom he learnt them; and unauthorized by the State, into which he had introduced them, The words of Livy shew that the Mysteries were, in their own nature, a very different affair; and invented for the improvement of Knowledge and Virtue. "A Greek " of mean extraction (says he *) a little priest and

soothsayer, came first into Etruria, WITHOUT ANY $6 SKILL OR WISDOM IN MYSTERIOUS RITES, MANY 66 SORTS OF WHICH, THAT MOST IMPROVED PEOPLE CC HAVE BROUGHT IN AMONGST US, FOR THE "CULTURE AND PERFECTION BOTH OF MIND AND BODY ." It is farther observable, that this

priest

* Græcus ignobilis in Etruriam primum venit, NULLA CUM ARTE EARUM, QUAS MULTAS AD ANIMORUM CORPORUMQUE CULTUM NOBIS ERUDITISSIMA OMNIUM GENS INVEXIT, sed sacrificulus & vates. Hist. lib. xxxix.

What Livy means by the culture of the body, will be seen hereafter, when we come to speak of the probationary and toil

some

priest brought the Mysteries pure with him out of Greece, and that they received their corruption in Italy; for, as Hispala tells the story to the Consul, at first WOMEN only celebrated the Rites; till Paculla Minia Campana became priestess; who, on a sudden, as by order of the Gods, made a total alteration in the Ceremonies, and initiated her soNs; which gave occasion to all the debaucheries that followed *. The consequence of this discovery was the abolition of the Rites of Bacchus throughout Italy, by a decree of the Senate t.

However, it is very true, that in Greece itself the Mysteries became abominably abused: a proof of which

some trials undergone by those aspirants to the Mysteries, called the SOLDIERS OF MITHRAS.

*Hispala's confession will fully instruct the reader in the nature and degree of these corruptions." Tum Hispala originem sacrorum expromit. Primo sacrarium id fœminarum fuisse, nec quemquam virum eo admitti solitum.-Pacullam sacerdotem "omnia, tanquam Deûm monitis, immutâsse: nam & viros eam "primam suos filios initiasse : & nocturnum sacrum ex diurno, & 66 pro tribus in anno diebus quinos singulis mensibus dies initiorum "fecisse. Ex quo in promiscuo sacra sint, & permisti viri fœmi"nis, & noctis licentia accesserit; nihil ibi facinoris, nihil flagitii

prætermissum; plura virorum inter sese, quam fœminarum esse stupra. Si qui minus patientes dedecoris sint, & pigriores ad "facinus, pro victimis immolari: nihil nefas ducere. Hanc 66 summam inter eos religionem esse; viros velut mente capta cum jactatione fanatica corporis vaticinari-Raptos a Diis homines "dici, quos machinæ illigatos ex conspectu in abditos specus

abripiant; eos esse, qui aut conjurare, aut sociari facinoribus, "aut stuprum pati noluerint Multitudinem ingentem, alterum jam "prope populum esse: in his nobiles quosdam viros, fœminasque. "Biennio proximo institutum esse, ne quis major viginti annis "initiaretur; captari ætatis & erroris & stupri patientes."

+ See note [N] at the end of this Book.

See Clemens Alexandrinus, in his Admonitio ad Gentes.