dreams; that is, seem to see him, as the shade of Hector was seen by Æneas. In fomnis ecce ante oculos mæstissimus Hector And this, in diftinction to what she makes the other part of her prayer, to be really joined to him in the other world. But though the visions which issued from the ivory gate were unfubftantial, as being only representative; yet I make no question, but the ivory gate itself was real. It appears indeed, to be no other than that sumptuous door of the temple, through which the initiated came out, when the celebration was over. This temple was of an immense bigness, as appears from the words of Apuleius: Senex comissimus ducit me protinus ad ipsas fores ADIS AMPLISSIME *, Strabo is more particular. Next (fays he) is Eleufis, in which is the temple of the Eleufinian Ceres, and the mystic cell built by Ictinus, CAPABLE OF HOLDING AS LARGE A NUMBER AS A THEATRE †. But Vitruvius's description of it is still more curious : "ELEUSINE Cereris & Proferpinæ cellam IMMANI MAGNITUDINE Ictinus Dorico more, fine exterioribus columnis ad laxamentum ufus facrificiorum, pertexit. Eam autem postea, cum Demetrius Phalareus Athenis rerum potiretur, Philon ante templum in fronte columnis conftitutis Prostylon fecit. Ita aucto Vestibulo laxamentum initiantibus operisque fummam adjecit autoritatem ‡." And Ariftides thought this the most extraordinary circumstance in the whole affair. "But the thing most wonderful and divine was, that of all the public assemblies of Greece, this was the only one which was contained * Metam. 1. xi. † Lib. ix. Geog. † De Architect. Præf. ad 1. vii. within within the walls of one edifice *. Here was room, we see, and so purposely contrived, for all their SHEWS and REPRESENTATIONS. And now, having occafionally and by parts only, faid so much of these things, it will not be amiss, in conclufion, to give one general and concise idea of the whole. I suppose the substance of the celebration to be a kind of drama of thehistory of Ceres, which afforded opportunity to represent the three particulars, about which the mysteries were principally concerned. 1. The rife and establishment of civil society. 2. The doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments. 3. The error of polytheism, and the principle of the unity. The Goddess's legislation in Sicily and Attica, (at both which places she was said to civilize the favage manners of the inhabitants,) gave birth to the first t: Her search for her daughter Proferpine in hell, to the second; and her resentment against the gods for their permission of, or connivance at, the rape, to the third‡. But here let it be observed, that the secrets of the mysteries were unfolded both by words and actions: of which, Aristides gives the reason, "That the sounds and the fights might mutually assist each other in making an impression on the minds of the initiated." The error of polytheism therefore, was as well exposed by the dark wanderings in the fubterraneous passages, through which the initiated began his course; as by the information given * Eleufin. Orat. + Teque Ceres & Libera quarum SACRA-A quibus initia vitæ, atque victus, legum, morum, manfuetudinis, humanitatis exempla hominibus & civitatibus data, ac dispertita esse dicuntur. Cic. in Verr. V. c. 72. ‡ This circumstance Apollodorus informs us of; his words are these – Μαθᾶσα δὲ παρ ̓ ἐρμηνέων, ὅτι Πλέτων αὐτὴν ἥρπασεν, ΟΡΓΙΖΟΜΕΝΗ ΘΕΟΙΣ ΑΠΕΛΙΠΕΝ ΟΥΡΑΝΟΝ· ἐικασθεῖσα δὲ γυναικὶ, ἧκεν εἰς Ἐλευσῖνα. Bibl. L. I. c. 5. him by the hierophant: And the truth of the unity, as strongly illustrated by the ἄυτοπλον ἄγαλμα, the self-feen image *, the diffusive shining light; as by the hymn of Orpheus †, or this speech of Anchises. On the whole, if I be not greatly deceived, the view in which I place this famous episode not only clears up a number of difficulties, inexplicable on any other scheme, but likewife exceedingly ennobles, and gives a graceful heightening to, the whole poem. For now the episode is seen to be an essential part of the main subject; which is the erection of a civil policy, and a religion: For custom had made initiation into the mysteries a necessary preparative to that arduous undertaking. But there is no place in this admirable poem, even to the SHIELD OF ENEAS, which will not instruct us how confiderable a station the mysteries held in public life; and how necessary they were supposed to be to the full equipage of a hero, The ornaments on this shield confift of two principal parts or stories, very differently executed. The first a loose sketch of the foundation, and early fortunes of Rome; the second, a highly-finished picture of the victory at Actium. These so dissimilar pieces, seem to be as oddly connected; by a sudden jump into another world. "Hinc procul addit Tartareas etiam fedes, alta oftia Ditis; Secretosque pios; His dantem jura Catonem. L. IX. But there is more in this disposition than appears at first fight. The several parts make an uniform and con • Ωσαντως τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ΦΩΤΟΣ· Τὰ μὲν τῶν θεῶν ΑΓΑΛ ΜΑΤΑ φωτὸς πλέον ἀτράπλει. Jambl. de Myst. † See Div. Leg. B. II. Sect. 4. nected nected whole. The first of the two principal parts, we have observed, is a view of the foundation and first establishment of ancient Rome. Now Dionyfius of Hal. tells us, that this city was in nothing more excellent, or worthy of imitation, than in the genius of its national religion; which was so constructed as to be always ready to render service to the State. Hence Virgil, when he has brought us to the time that their civil establishment was perfectly secured by the flaughter and dispersion of the Gauls, ("Scutis protetti corpora longis,) goes on to the religious constitution : "Hic exultantes falios, nudosque lupercos, Now Strabo observes that the ancient Pagan religion consisted of two parts, the open and the fecret *. The open, Virgil has given us in the Salian and Lupercal rites. What remained was the secret; and this he gives us in an oblique description of the mysteries, where (as we have shewn) the scenes of a future state were exhibited to the initiated. TARTAREAS etiam fedes, alta oftia DITIS; And, as before, by Æneas's descent to the infernal shades, he meant an INITIATION into the mysteries; fo here by the view of Tartarus and Elysium, he means the CELEBRATION of them. * -Τὰς μὲν σὺν ἐνθεσιασμῶ, τὰς δὲ χωρις· καὶ ΤΑΣ ΜΕΝ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΩΣ, ΤΑΣ ΔΕ ΕΝ ΦΑΝΕΡΩ. - Strab. Geogr. 1. x. If it be asked, why Cato is put, as it were, in the place of Minos, and Catiline of Tityus, the answer will Jet us into another beauty. It is a fine insinuation that these foreign rites of Eleusis deserved to be naturalized at Rome; which was the opinion of Cicero before him *. Here it may not be improper to take notice of a common mistake, as old at least as Servius, that Cato the cenfor, and not Cato of Utica, is meant in this place. A low servile supposition, that the court-poet would not dare to celebrate this great patron of liberty, made the critics seek out for a Cato of a distant age, to brave Catiline in hell, when they might have seen it could be none but his great contemporary, who had before condemned him at Rome. And the circumstances in which the poet places them seem evidently to allude to the famous contention in full senate, between Cato and Cæfar, concerning the fate of Catiline's followers; whom Cato was for fending to the infernal regions, to receive their final doom from the judges of hell. To evade this sentence, Cæfar took occafion to laugh at the notion of a future state: As the other, for a contrary reason, set himself to support and defend it. The last line, "Secretofque pios; his dantem jura Catonem, was probably a compliment to Cato in his little senate at * In his book of Laws, in which he delivers a plan for the correction and improvement of the Roman conftitution, he declares against nocturnal rites, but with an exception for the Eleusinian; for which, he gives this reason Nam mihi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur ATHENÆ tuæ peperisse, atque in vita hominum attulisse, tum NIHIL MELIUS ILLIS MYSTERIIS, quibus ex agresti immanique vita exculti, AD HUMANITATEM, ET MITIGATI SUMUS: initiaque ut appellantur, ita revera principia vitæ cognovimus; neque folum, cum lætitia vivendi rationem accepimus, fed etiam cum spe meliore moriendi. De Leg. L. II. c. 14. Utica. |