A

DISSERTATION,

&c. &c.

SECTION I.

DR. WARBURTON, in his Divine Legation of Moses, has ingeniously proved, that the sixth book of Virgil's Æneid represents some of the shews of the Eleusinian Mysteries; but, at the same time, has miserably failed in attempting to unfold their latent meaning, and obscure, though important, end. By the assistance, however, of the Platonic philosophy, I have been enabled to correct his errors, and to vindicate the wisdom of antiquity from his malevolent and ignorant aspersions, by a genuine account of this sublime institution; of which the following observations are designed as a comprehensive view.

In the first place, then, I shall present the reader with two remarkable authorities, and these perfectly demonstrative, in support of the assertion, that a part of the shews consisted in a representation of the infernal regions; authorities which, though of the last consequence, were unknown to Dr. Warburton himself. The first of these is from no less a person than the immortal Pindar, in a fragment preserved by Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromat. lib. 3. αλλα και Πίνδαρος περι των εν Ελευσινι μυστηρίων λεγων επιφέρει. Ολο

βιος, οστις ιδων εκείνα κοινα εις υποχθόνια, οι δεν μεν βιον τελευταν, οι δεν de dios doтov agxav." i. e. "But Pindar, speaking of the Eleusinian Mysteries, says, blessed is he who, on seeing those common concerns under the earth, knows both the end of life and the given empire of Jupiter." The other of these is from Proclus in his commentary on Plato's Politics, p. 372, who, speaking concerning the sacerdotal and symbolical mythology, observes, that from this mythology Plato himself establishes many of his own peculiar dogmata, "since in the Phædo he venerates, with a becoming silence, the assertion delivered in the arcane discourses, that men are placed in body as in a certain prison, secured by a guard, and testifies, according to the mystic ceremonies, the different allotments of pure and impure souls in Hades, their habits, and the triple path arising from their essences; and this according to paternal and sacred institutions; all which are full of a symbolical theory, and of the poetical descriptions concerning the ascent and descent of souls, of dionysiacal signs, the punishments of the Titans, the trivia and wanderings in Hades, and every thing of a similar kind.” Δηλοι δε εν φαιδωνι τον τε εν απορρήτοις λεγόμενον, ως εν τινι φρουρα εστ μεν οι ανθρωποι, σιγη τη πρεπούση σεβων, και τας τελετας μαρτυρομενος των διαφόρων λήξεων της ψυχης κεκαθαρμένης τε και ακαθαρτου εις αδου απιούσης, και τας τε σχέσεις αυ, και τας τριόδους απο των ουσιών και των πατρικών θεσμών τεκμαιρόμενος. ο δη της συμβολικής απαντα θεωρίας εστι μεστα, και των παρα τοις ποιηταις θρυλλουμένων ανοίων τε και καθόδων, των τε διονυσιακων συνθηματων, και των τιτανικων αμαρτηματων λεγομενών, και των εν αδου τριόδων, και της πλάνης, και των τοιούτων απαντων.

Having premised thus much, I now proceed to prove that the shews of the lesser mysteries were designed by the ancient theolo-gists, their founders, to signify occultly the condition of the impure soul invested with a terrene body, and merged in a material nature : or, in other words, to signify that such a soul in the present life might be said to die, as far as it is possible for soul to die; and that on the dissolution of the present body, while in a state of impurity, it would experience a death still more durable and profound. That the soul, indeed, till purified by philosophy, suffers death through its union with body, was obvious to the philologist Macrobius, who, not penetrating the secret depth of the antients, concluded from hence that they signified nothing more than the present body,

by their descriptions of the infernal abodes. But this is manifestly absurd; since it is universally agreed, that all the antient theological poets and philosophers inculcated the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments in the most full and decisive terms; at the same time occultly intimating that the death of the soul was nothing more than a profound union with the ruinous bonds of the body. Indeed if these wise men believed in a future state of retribution, and at the same time considered a connection with body as the death of the soul, it necessarily follows, that the soul's punishment and subsistence hereafter is nothing more than a continuation of its state at present, and a transmigration, as it were, from sleep to sleep, and from dream to dream. But let us attend to the assertions of these divine men concerning the soul's conjunction with a material nature. And to begin with the obscure and profound Heraclitus, speaking of souls unembodied: "We live," says he, "their death, and we die their life." ZwμEY TOY EXEIYWY θανατον, τεθνηκαμεν δε τον εκείνων βιον. And Empedocles, blaming generation, beautifully says of her:

The species changing with destruction dread,

She makes the living pass into the dead.

Εκ μεν γαρ ζωων ετίθει νεκρά, είδε αμείβων.

And again, lamenting his connexion with this corporeal world, he pathetically exclaims:

For this I weep, for this indulge my woe,

That e'er my soul such novel realms should know.

Κλαυσα τε και κωκυσα, ιδων ασυνήθεα χώρου.

Plato, too, it is well known, considered the body as the sepulchre of the soul; and in the Cratylus consents with the doctrine of Orpheus, that the soul is punished through its union with body. This was likewise the opinion of the celebrated Pythagorean, Philolaus, as is evident from the following remarkable passage in the Doric dialect, preserved by Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromat. lib. 3. p. 413. Μαρτυρεονται δε και οι παλαιοι θεολογοι τε και μαντεις, ως δια τινας τιμωρίας, αι ψυχα τω σωματι συνεζευκται, και καθαπερ εν σωματι τουτω τέθαπται. i. e. “ The antient theologists and priests also testify, that the soul is united with body for the sake of suffering punishment; and that it is buried in body as in a sepulchre." And lastly, Pythagoras himself confirms the above

sentiments, when he beautifully observes, according to Clemens in the same book, "that whatever we see when awake, is death; and when asleep, a dream.” θανατος εστιν, οκόσα εγερθέντες ορεομενο σκισα δε εύδοντες, υπνος.

But that the mysteries occultly signified this sublime truth, that the soul by being merged in matter resides among the dead both here and hereafter, though it follows by a necessary consequence from the preceding observations, yet it is indisputably confirmed, by the testimony of the great and truly divine Plotinus, in Ennead 1. lib. 8. p. 80. "When the soul," says he, " has descended into generation she participates of evil, and profoundly rushes into the region of dissimilitude, to be entirely merged in which, is nothing more than to fall into dark mire." And again, soon after; "The soul therefore dies through vice, as much as it is possible for the soul to die: and the death of the soul is, while merged, or baptized, as it were, in the present body, to descend into matter, and be filled with its impurity, and after departing from this body, to lye absorbed in its filth till it returns to a superior condition, and elevates its eye from the overwhelming mire. For to be plunged in matter, is to descend into Hades, and there fall asleep." I'ivoμLeva den μeta

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This passage doubtless alludes to the antient and beautiful story of Cupid and Psyche, in which Psyche is said to fall asleep in Hades; and this through rashly attempting to behold corporeal beauty: and the observation of Plotinus will enable the profound and contemplative reader to unfold the greater part of the mysteries contained in this elegant fable. But, prior to Plotinus, Plato, in the seventh book of his Republic, asserts, that such as are unable in the present life to perceive the idea of the good, will descend to Hades after death, and fall asleep in its dark abodes. Ος αν μη έχη διορίσασθαι τω λόγω, απο των άλλων παντων αφελων την του αγαθου ιδεαν, και ωσπερ εν μάχη δια παντων ελεγχων διεξε των, μη κατα δόξαν αλλα κατ' ουσίαν προθυμούμενος ελεγχειν, εν πάσι τούτοις απτωτι λόγω διαπορεύηται, ούτε αυτο το αγαθόν ουδεν φησεις ειδεναι τον ούτως έχοντα, ούτε αλλο αγαθον ουδεν, αλλ' ει πη ειδώλου τινος εφάπτεται, δόξη ουκ επιστημη εφάπτεσθαι ; και τον νυν βιον ονειροπολούντα, και υπνώττοντα, πριν ενθάδ' εξεργεσθαι, εις αδου προτερον αφικόμενον TEXEWS ETTINATαdagdaVELV; i. e. "He who is not able, by the exercise of his reason, to define the idea of the good, separating it from all other objects, and piercing as in a battle, through every kind of argument; endeavouring to confute, not according to opinion, but according to essence, and proceeding through all these dialectical energies with an unshaken reason ;-he who cannot accomplish this, would you not say, that he neither knows the good itself, nor any thing which is properly denominated good? And would you not assert, that such a one, when he apprehends any certain image of reality,

ληψις αύτου. Γίνεται γαρ πανταπασιν εν τω της ανομοιότητος τόπω, ενθο δυς εις αυτην εις βορβορον σκοτεινον εσται πεσων.-αποθνήσκει ουν, ως ψυχη αν θανοι και ο θάνατος αυτή, και ετι εν τω σωματι βεβαπτισμένη, ἔν υλη εστι καταδύναι, και πλησθηναι αυτής. και εξελθούσης εκει κεισθαι, έως αναδραμη και αφελη πως την οψιν εκ του βορβόρου. και τουτο εστι το εν αδόν ελθοντα επικαταδαρθειν. Here the reader may observe that the obscure doctrine of the mysteries mentioned by Plato in the Phædo, that the unpurified soul in a future state lies merged in mire, is beautifully explained; at the same time that our assertion concerning their secret meaning is no less solidly confirmed. In a similar manner the same divine philosopher, in his book on the beautiful, Ennead. r. lib. 6. explains the fable of Narcissus as an emblem of one who rushes to the contemplation of sensible forms as if they were perfect realities, when at the same time they are nothing more than like beautiful images appearing in water, fallacious and vain. "Hence," says he, "as Narcissus, by catching at the shadow, merged himself in the stream and disappeared, so he who is captivated by beautiful bodies, and does not depart from their embrace, is precipitated, not with his body, but with his soul, into a darkness profound and horrid to intellect, through which, be coming blind both here and in Hades, he converses with nothing but shadows." Τον αυτόν δη τρόπον ο εχόμενος των καλων σωμάτων, και μη αβιείς, ου τω σώματι, τη δε ψυχη καταδυσεται, εις σκοτεινά και ατερπητω να βαθη, ενθα τυφλος εν αδου μενων, και ενταύθα κακει σκίαις συνεστι. And what still farther confirms our exposition is, that matter was considered by the Egyptians as a certain mire or mud, "The Egyptians," says Simplicius, in Arist. Phys. p. 50, « called matter, (which they symbolically denominated water,) the dregs or sediment of the first life; matter being, as it were, a certain mire or mud.” Διο και Αιγύπτιοι την της πρωτης ζωης, ην υδωρ συμβολικως εκαλουν, υποσταθμην την υλην ελέγον, οιον ιλυν τινα ούσαν. So that from all that has been said we may safely conclude with Ficinus, whose words are as express to our purpose as possible. "Lastly," says he, "that I may comprehend the opinion of the antient theo

apprehends it rather through the medium of opinion than of science; that in the present life he is sunk in sleep, and conversant with the delusions of dreams; and that before he is roused to a vigilant state, he will descend to Hades, and be overwhelmed with a sleep perfectly profound,"