out; partly because the initiation is described as an actual descent into Hell; but principally because, when the rites of the Mysteries were performed, then Ceres and Proserpine were equally invoked; but when the Shews were represented, then Proserpine alone presided: but this book is only a representation of the Shews of the Mysteries. 2. The quality of this Golden Bough, with its " lento vimine," admirably describes the tender Branches of Myrtle. 3. The doves of Venus are made to direct Aeneas to the tree: “ Tum Maximus Heros "Maternas agnoscit aves." They fly to it, and rest upon it, as on an accustomed perch, belonging to the family: a place where they loved to be: for the Myrtle was consecrated to Venus, as every one knows. "Sedibus optatis gemina super arbore sidunt." But there is a greater propriety and beauty in this conduct, than appears at first view. For not only the Myrtle was dedicated to Proserpine as well as Venus, but the Ďoves likewise, as Porphyry informs usa. But the reader may ask, why is this Myrtle-branch represented to be of gold? Not merely for the sake of the marvellous, he may be assured. be assured. A Golden Bough was literally part of the sacred equipage in the Shews, a burthen which the Ass, who carried the Mysteries, we may be sure, was chiefly proud of. This branch was sometimes wreathed into a crown, and worn on the head; at other times, it was carried in the hand. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us (Strom. lib. 5. p. 568.) from Dionysius Thrax, the grammarian, that it was an Egyptian custom to hold a branch in the act of adoration. And of what kind these branches were, Apuleius tells us, in his description of a procession of the Initiated in the Mysteries of Isis: "Ibat "tertius, attollens Palmam Auro Subtiliter Foliatam, necnon "mercurialem etiam Caduceum." (Metam. lib. xi. p. 383.) The Golden Branch, then, and the Caduceus, were related. And accordingly Virgil makes the former do the usual office of the latter, in affording a free passage into the regions of the dead. Again, Apuleius, describing the fifth person in the procession, says, "Quintus auream vannum Aureis congestam Ramulis." Ibid. 4 Τῆς δὲ Φερεφάτης, παρὰ τὸ φέρβειν τὸν φάταν, φασὶν οι πολλοὶ τοὔνομα τῶν θεολόγων. jigòv vàg aùrns ʼn parla. Porph. de Abst. 1. 4. § 16. So that a Golden Bough, we see, was an important implement, and of very complicated intention in the Shews of the Mysteries. Aeneas having got this Bough, or being crowned with Myrtle, that being necessary, as is seen above, to initiation, "Sed non ante datur telluris operta subire, /The Poet tells us he carried it into the Sibyl's Grot: "Et vatis portat sub tecta Sibyllae." And this was to design initiation into the lesser Mysteries: for Dion Chrysostome tells us, this was done v innati μingỡ, in a little narrow chapel, as we must suppose the Sibyl's Grot to be. The initiated into these were called Músa. He is then led by the Sibyl, his Mystagogue, to the scene of the Descent: "His actis, propere exequitur praecepta Sibyllae. 66 Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris." His reception is thus described: "Sub pedibus mugire solum et juga coepta moveri How true a description this was of the opening of the Shews in the Mysteries, may be seen by the fine description which Claudian professedly and without disguise makes of the entrance into these tremendous rites, where he counterfeits the raptures and astonishment of one of the initiated, and throws himself, as it were, like the Sibyl into the midst of the scene. "Furens antro se immisit aperto." Thus he breaks out: "Gressus removete, Profani, Orat. 12. "Adventum testata Dei. Jam magnus ab imis "Ecce procul ternas Hecate variata figuras And how exactly both descriptions agree to the relations the ancient Greek writers have left us of these things, may be seen from the general view Dion Chrysostom gives us of initiation in these words: "Just so it is as when one leads a Greek or Bar"barian to be initiated in a certain mystic dome, excelling in "beauty and magnificence; where he sees many mystic sights, " and hears in the same manner a multitude of voices; where "darkness and light alternately affect his senses; and a thou"sand other uncommon things present themselves before him." The "visaeque canes ululare per umbram," is clearly explained by Pletho in his Scholia to the magic Oracles of Zoroaster: "It is the custom in the celebration of the Mysteries, "to present before many of the initiated, phantasms of a canine figure, and other monstrous shapes and appearances." 166 The PROCUL ô PROCUL ESTE PROFANI of the Sibyl, is a literal translation of the formulary used by the Mystagogue; at the opening of the Mysteries: ΕΚΑΣ, ΕΚΑΣ ΕΣΤΕ ΒΕΒΗΛΟΙ. The Sibyl then bids Aeneas arm himself with all his courage, as being to encounter most dreadful appearances: 66 Tuque invade viam, vaginâque eripe ferrum : "Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo." And we soon find the hero in a fright: Corripit hic subitâ trepidus formidine ferrum 66 And thus affected the antients represent the initiated, on his entrance into these rites. Entering now into the mystic "dome," says Themistius," he is filled with horror and amaze"ment. He is seized with solicitude, and a total perplexity. "He is unable to move a step forward, or how to begin right "the road that is to lead him to the place he aspires to. Till f De Raptu Proserp. sub initio. g Orat. 12. * Ειωθε τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν τελεμένων φαίνεσθαι κατα τὰς τελετὰς κυνώδη τινα, καὶ ἄλλως · ἀλλόκδια τὰς μορφὰς φάσματα. 66 "the Prophet (the Vates) or conductor laying open the vestibule "of the temple."-So Proclus: "As in the most holy Mysteries, before the Scene of the mystic Visions, there is a terror "infused over the minds of the initiated: so," &ck. And we presently see that which occasioned it; for Aeneas is now engaged amongst all the real and imaginary evils of life; all the diseases of mind and body; all the Terribiles visu formae," the Centaurs, Scyllae, Chimaera, Gorgons, and Harpies: and these are they which Pletho, in the place quoted above, calls ἀλλόκοτα τὰς μορφὰς φάσματα, as seen in the entrance of the Mysteries; and which Celsus tells us were presented likewise in the Bacchic rites'. These are said to be "Vestibulum ante ipsum," and Themistius tells us that that was the scene of all the terrors, τὰ προπύλαια τοῦ νεώ. On the opening of this scene, the Poet stops short in his Narration; and breaks out into this solemn Apology: “Dii, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes; "Et Chaos et Phlegethon loca nocte silentia late, "Sit mihi fas audita loqui: sit numine vestro "Pandere res altâ terrâ et caligine mersas. Conscious that he was about to engage in an impious kind of undertaking, such as revealing the Mysteries was generally esteemed to be: Claudian, in the Poem taken notice of before, who professes openly to treat of the Eleusinian Mysteries, at a time when they were in little veneration, yet in compliance to old custom, excuses his undertaking in the very same manner: "Dii, quibus in numerum, etc. "Vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum, Had the revealing the Mysteries been as penal at Rome, as it was in Greece, Virgil had never ventured on this part of his Poem. But yet it was esteemed an impiety"; he therefore i Orat. in Patrem. κ “Ώσπερ ἐν ταῖς αγιω]άταις τελεαῖς πρὸ τῶν μυσικῶν θεαμάτων ἔκπληξις τῶν μυσμένων, οὕτω. In Plat. Theol. 1. 3. c. 18. 1 Τοῖς ἐν ταῖς Βακχικαῖς τελε]αῖς τὰ φάσμα]α καὶ δείματα προεισάζεσι. Orig. cont. Cels. 1. 4. p. 167. n De Raptu Proserpinæ, 1. 1. sub init. Athenis initiatus [Augustus] cum postea Romae pro tribunali de privilegio sacerdotum Atticae Cereris cognosceret, et quaedam secretiora proponerentur, dimisso concilio et corona circumstantium, solus audiit disceptantes. Sueton. 1.2. Octav. Aug. c. 93. does it covertly, and makes this Apology to those who saw into his meaning. The hero and his guide now enter on their journey: "Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbras: This description puts me in mind of a passage in Lucian's Dialogue of the Tyrant. As a company made up of every condition of life, are voyaging together into the other world, Mycillus breaks out, and says: Bless us! how dark it is! "Where now is the fair Megillus? Who can tell here whether "Simmiche or Phyrna be the handsomer? Every thing is alike "and of the same colour; and no room for comparisons be"tween beauties. Nay my old cloak, which but now presented "to your eyes so irregular a figure, is become as honourable a "wear as his majesty's purple. For they are both vanished, "and retired together under the same cover. But my friend, "the Cynic, where are you? give me your hand: You are in"itiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Tell me now, do you "not think this very like the blind march they make there? "CY. Oh extremely: and see, here comes one of the Furies, "as I guess, by her equipage, with her torch, and her terrible "looks." They come now to the banks of Cocytus. Aeneas is surprised at the crowd of ghosts that hover round it, and appear impatient for a passage. He is told by his guide, that they are such, whose bodies have not had the rites of sepulture; and are therefore doomed to wander up and down for a hundred years, before they are permitted to cross it. "Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est: "Portitor ille, Charon; hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti. Nec ripas datur horrendas, nec rauca fluenta 66 Transportare prius, quam sedibus ossa quiêrunt. "Centum errant annos, volitantque haec litora circum. "Tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt." But we are not to think this old notion took its birth from the superstitious vulgar. The propagating it was one of the wisest contrivances of antient Legislation. And that it came from this forge, we have no reason to doubt, because it was originally Aegyptian. Those profound masters of wisdom, in • Luciani Cataplus. |