the Trojan times, such as Agamemnon and Ulysses, had been initiated*.

A sixth and principal was, that AUGUSTUS, who was shadowed in the person of Æneas, had been initiated into the ELEUSINIAN Mysteries †.

While the Mysteries were confined to Egypt, their native country, and while the Grecian Lawgivers went thither to be initiated, as a kind of designation to their office, the ceremony would be naturally described, in terms highly allegorical. This was, in part, owing to the genius of the Egyptian manners; in part, to the humour of Travellers; but most of all, to the policy of Lawgivers; who, returning home, to civilize a barbarous people, by Laws and Arts, found it useful and necessary (in order to support their own characters, and to establish the fundamental principle of a FUTURE STATE) to represent that initiation, in which, was seen the condition of departed mortals in machinery, as AN ACTUAL DESCENT INTO HELL. This way of speaking was used by Orpheus, Bacchus, and others; and continued even after the Mysteries were introduced into Greece, as appears by the fables of Hercules, Castor, Pollux, and Theseus's descent into hell. But the allegory was generally so circumstanced, as to discover the truth concealed under it. So Orpheus is said to get to hell by the power of his harp :

Threïcia fretus cithara, fidibusque canoris :

* Αγαμέμνονα φασι μεμνημένον, ἐν ταραχῇ ὅλα πολλῇ κατὰ Τροίαν, δι ̓ ἀκατατασίαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, παῦσαι τὴν τάσιν, πορφυρίδα ἔχοντα – Οδυσσέα φασὶ μεμνημένον ἐν Σαμοθρᾷκη χρήσασθαι τῷ mendéμry årlì ramas. Scholia Apollon. Rhod. Arg. lib. i. ver. 916. Οφρα δαένες

Αῤῥήκλες ἀγανησι τελεσφορίησι θεμίσας

+ Suet. Oct. c. xciii. See note [Y] at the end of this Book.

that

that is, in quality of Lawgiver; the harp being the known symbol of his laws, by which he humanized a rude and barbarous people. So again, in the lives of Hercules and Bacchus, we have the true history, and the fable founded on it, blended and recorded together. For we are told, that they were in fact initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries; and that it was just before their descent into Hell, as an aid and security in that desperate undertaking*. Which, in plain speech, was no more, than that they were initiated into the lesser Mysteries before they were admitted into the greater. The same may be said of what is told us of Theseus's adventure. Near Eleusis there was a Well, called Callichorus; and, adjoining to that, a stone, on which, as the tradition went, Ceres sat down, sad and weary, on her coming to Eleusis. Hence the stone was named Agelastus, the melancholy stonet. On which account it was deemed unlawful for the Initiated to sit thereon. "For Ceres (says Clemens) wandering "about in search of her daughter Proserpine, when "she came to Eleusis, grew weary, and sat down melancholy on the side of a well. So that, to this very "day, it is unlawful for the Initiated to sit down there, "lest they, who are now become perfect, should seem "to imitate her in her desolate condition." Now

૬૮

Kai

* Καὶ τὰς περὶ Ηρακλέα τε καὶ Διόνυσον, καλιόντας εἰς ᾅδε, · πρότερον λόγω ἐνθάδε μυηθῆναι, καὶ τὸ θάρσιο τῆς ἐκεῖσε πορείας παρὰ τῆς Ἐλευσινίας ἐναύσασθαι. Auctor Axiochi.

† Αγέλας Οι πέτρα. So Ovid:

Hic primum sedit gelido mœstissima saxo;

Illud Cecropidæ nunc quoque triste vocant.

† Αλωμένη γὰρ ἡ Δηὼ καλὰ ζήτησιν τῆς θυγαιρὸς τῆς κόρης, περὶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα, — αὐτοκάμνεῖ, καὶ φρέαιι ἐπικαθίζει λυπεμένη. Τέτο τοῖς μεμυημένοις ἀπαγορεύεθαι εἰσἔτι νῦν, ἵνα μὴ δοκοῖεν οἱ τελελεσμένον μιμεῖσθαι dugouern. Clemens Protrept. pag. 10. A. Edit. Sylburg.

H 2

let

let us see what they tell us concerning Theseus's descent into hell. "There is also a-stone (says the scholiast on Aristophanes) called by the Athenians, Agelastus ; on which, they say, Theseus sat when he was medi"tating his descent into hell. Hence the stone had "its name. Or, perhaps, because Ceres sat there, weeping, when she sought Proserpine *." All this seems plainly to intimate, that the descent of Theseus was his entrance into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Which entrance (as we shall see hereafter) was a fraudulent intrusion.

Both Euripides and Aristophanes seem to confirm our interpretation of these descents into hell. Euripides, in his Hercules furens, brings the hero, just come from hell, to succour his family, and destroy the tyrant Lycus. Juno, in revenge, persecutes him with the Furies; and he, in his transport, kills his wife and children, whom he mistakes for his enemies. When he comes to himself, he is comforted by his friend Theseus; who would excuse his excesses by the criminal examples of the Gods: a consideration which, as I have observed above, greatly encouraged the people in their irregularities; and was therefore obviated in the Mysteries, by the detection of the vulgar errors of polytheism. Now Euripides seems plainly enough to have told us what he thought of the fabulous descents into hell, by making Hercules reply, like one just come from the celebration of the Mysteries, and entrusted with the άóppla." The examples (says he) which you bring απόῤῥηλα. "of the Gods, are nothing to the purpose. I cannot

* Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ̓Αγέλας πέτρα καλεμένη παρὰ τοῖς ̓Αθηναίοις, ὅπε καθίσαι φασὶ Θησία μέλλοντα καλαβαίνειν εἰς ᾅδε· ὅθεν καὶ τένομα τῇ πέτρα ἢ ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐκάθισεν ἡ Δημήτηρ κλαίεσα, ὅταν ἐζήτει τὴν xógnv. Schol. Equit. Aristoph. 1. 782.

"think them guilty of the crimes imputed to them. I "cannot apprehend, how one God can be the sovereign "of another God.-A God, who is truly so, stands in "need of no one. Reject we then these idle fables, "which the poets teach concerning them." A secret, which we must suppose, Theseus (whose entrance into the Mysteries was only a fraudulent intrusion) had not yet learnt.

The comic poet, in his Frogs, tells us as plainly what he too understood to be the ancient heroes' descent into hell, by the equipage, which he gives to Bacchus, when he brings him in, enquiring the way of Hercules. It was the custom at the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, as we are told by the scholiast on the place, to have what was wanted in those rites, carried upon asses. Hence the proverb, Asinus portat mysteria: accordingly the poet introduces Bacchus, followed by his buffoon servant Xanthius, bearing a bundle in like manner, and riding on an ass. And, lest the meaning of this should be mistaken, Xanthius, on Hercules's telling Bacchus, that the inhabitants of Elysium were the Initiated, puts in, and says, "And "I am the ass carrying Mysteries." This was so broad a hint, that it seems to have awakened the old dreaming scholiast; who, when he comes to that place, where the Chorus of the Initiated appear, tells us, we are not to understand this scene as really lying in the ELYSIAN FIELDS, but in the ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES

*

Here then, as was the case in many other of the ancient fables, the pomp of expression betrayed willing

* ἰσέον δὲ, ὅτι εἰ καὶ διὰ τὰς ἐν ᾅδε μύσας φαίνεται λέγειν ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τὰς ἐν Ἐλευσῖν, ἐναῦθα καὶ ὑφίσατο ἡ σκηνὴ τὸ δράμαλο. in ver. 357.

H 3

posterity

let us see what they tell us concerning Theseus's desce into hell. "There is also a-stone (says the scholi "on Aristophanes) called by the Athenians, Agelastu

on which, they say, Theseus sat when he was me "tating his descent into hell. Hence the stone "its name. Or, perhaps, because Ceres sat the "weeping, when she sought Proserpine*." All seems plainly to intimate, that the descent of Thes was his entrance into the Eleusinian Mysteries. W entrance (as we shall see hereafter) was a fraudu intrusion.

Both Euripides and Aristophanes seem to con our interpretation of these descents into hell. Eurip in his Hercules furens, brings the hero, just come hell, to succour his family, and destroy the tyrant L Juno, in revenge, persecutes him with the Furies; he, in his transport, kills his wife and children, v he mistakes for his enemies. When he comes to self, he is comforted by his friend Theseus; who excuse his excesses by the criminal examples Gods: a consideration which, as I have obs above, greatly encouraged the people in their in larities; and was therefore obviated in the Mys by the detection of the vulgar errors of polyt Now Euripides seems plainly enough to have t what he thought of the fabulous descents into h making Hercules reply, like one just come fro celebration of the Mysteries, and entrusted wi απόῤῥηλα. "The examples (says he) which you "of the Gods, are nothing to the purpose. I

Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ̓Αγέλας πέτρα καλεμένη παρὰ τοῖς ὅπε καθίσαι φασὶ Θησία μέλλοντα καλαβαίνειν εἰς ᾅδε· ὅθεν τῇ πέτρᾳ ἡ ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐκάθισεν ἡ Δημήτης κλαίεσα, ὅταν xógnv. Schol. Equit. Aristoph. 1. 782.