class, and to the larger and later Sicilian vases. These banquets, I apprehend, point to the ultimate object of the mysteries. Certain of these vessels are occasionally introduced into the subjects of the paintings themselves; and since allusions to Dionysiac revels are frequent upon them, the vessels deposited in tombs may with equal propriety be supposed to bear allusion to wine, as to oil, the former having been almost as much as the latter, of mystic import. In a very interesting pamphlet of Mr. Iorio, entitled Scheletri Cumani (the possession of which I owe to his politeness,) wherein he describes the contents of a tomb discovered at Cuma, which he had himself examined, the paintings on the walls of three distinct chambers are said to have represented,-1. A dance of three skeletons, -2. A scene in the Elysian fields, — and 3. A banquet. Supposing with this accomplished antiquary, that this had been the tomb of a celebrated dancer, and that these paintings alluded to her destiny after her death, I should say, that the third of them marked her admission, as a guest at the banquet represented, and not for the purpose of entertaining, by a display of her talent, the guests already there assembled. But even if this representation should be accepted in the lower sense, the scene may nevertheless be understood to exhibit the eventual happy state. - Let us hear what the Athenian comic poet hath advanced on this subject. In his Comedy of the Frogs, (for many serious expressions may be collected from among the ribaldry in which he indulged,) he has thus marked the happy end of a favorite dramatic poet: * ΗΡ. ̓Αγάθων δὲ πᾶσιν ; H. But where is Agatho? ΔΙ. ̓Απολιπών μ ̓ ἀποίχεται. The absence of painted fictilia from the Cuman sepulchre examined by Mr. Iorio, prevents me supposing that the deceased had enjoyed the benefit of initiation. But a similar degree of felicity with that which initiation, it was supposed, would have secured, seems to have been thus implied for her, by the benevolence of those who constructed and decorated the tomb. But if Eleusis be the quarter where a complete elucidation of these recondite subjects is to be obtained, let us proceed thither, and ascertain, in the first place, what one of the best informed among the ancients has made known respecting them. He presents indeed an appalling spectacle; but in prosecuting this enquiry, I trust I may be able to advance without indulging in improper curiosity, and that my researches will be directed to a laudable end. E CHAP. IV. An Exposure of the Mysteries by Clemens Alexandrinus.* "WHAT if I enumerate your mysteries? I will not make a jest of them, as Alcibiades is said to have done, but lay bare, in the words of truth, the impostures they envelope. And I will call upon the stage your gods, as you term them, to whom these mysteries belong, and exhibit them to the spectators such as they truly are in their lives and actions. The Bacchanals perform their orgies to Dionysus Manoles, and indulge their frenzy by devouring raw flesh. They crown themselves with serpents, while they solemnly divide the slaughtered kid, and howl out the name of Eua; that Eve, by whom came error, and its sequel, death. The mystic serpent is the symbol of the Bacchic orgies: now, according to the true Hebrew meaning of the word, if Eua be pronounced with the strong aspirate, Heva, it denotes a female serpent. "Ceres and Proserpine are now become a mystic drama, and Eleusis illustrates with torches the wanderings, the rape, and the grief, of the one and the other. And, in my opinion, we ought to deduce the words, orgies and mysteries, the one from ¿gys, the rage of Ceres against Jupiter, and the other from μúogs, the filthy catastrophe that befel Dionysus. Or, if you would rather derive this from one Mesuns of Attica, who perished in the chase, I will not envy you your having recourse to sepulchral terms and rites, to recommend your mysteries to public opinion. You * From the 3d chap. of the 2d book of Eusebius's Preparation for the Gospel. may consider these mysteries, too, in another sense, as Mytheria or savage rites, for the letters in the one word and the other nearly correspond. For, whatever may be the effect produced by other fables, such as these have degraded and rendered equally savage the wild Thracians, the silly Phrygians, and superstitious Greeks. Perish then the man who first prompted others to these absurdities! whether it was Dardanus, who taught the mysteries of Cybele, the mother of the gods, or Eetion, who founded the Samothracian orgies and initiatory rites, or that Phrygian Midas, who learnt them from Orpheus of Odrysa, and afterwards delivered the ingenious fraud to those who were influenced by him. For that islander, Cinyras of Cyprus, shall never make a convert of me, however he may dare to drag from under cover of the night the lascivious orgies of Venus, and expose them in open day; and however ambitious he may be to deify a compatriot strumpet. Others affirm, that Melampus the son of Amythaon brought the festivals of Ceres from Egypt into Greece, making her grief the subject of his hymns. I would term them all the wicked authors of atheistical fables, the fathers of a pernicious superstition, who, by introducing the mysteries, sowed the seeds of sin and perdition in human life and manners. Nay, but (having fair occasion) I will convince you that your orgies are full of lying wonders: and if ye be of the Initiated, the greater reason shall ye have to hold their accredited fables in derision. I will openly proclaim these hidden rites; for why should I blush to name what you are not ashamed to reverence? Well, then, that froth-sprung Cyprian of whom Cinyras is so fond, I mean that Venus who delights in obscene members, she sprung from such, even from those of which Uranus was deprived by amputation, which after excision offered violence to the waves. Her conduct betrays her origin. She is represented in your mysteries as the fruit of these marine pleasures; for a lump of salt is there the symbol of generation. The phallus instructs the Initiated in the arts of adultery, and the Mystæ present a piece of coin to her, as a paramour would to his mistress. The mysteries of Ceres consist in Jupiter having pleasurable connection with his mother Ceres, and in the anger of Ceres, respecting whom I know not whether I am henceforth to term her his mother or his wife. It is on this account she is said to have the name of Brimo assigned to her. Jupiter's methods of appeasing her are, a cup of gall, a tearing out of the heart, and other actions that are never spoken of. These are what the Phrygians celebrate as rites to Attys, Cybelle, and the Corybantes. There is a famous saying among them, that Jupiter castrated a goat, and threw what he had torn away from it into Ceres's bosom; thus figuratively implying the punishment he himself deserved for the violence she had suffered from him. The symbols of this initiation, when exposed at length, I know will excite your laughter, although from my damning arguments I fancy you will be little disposed to merriment. 'I have eaten out of the tambourine.' -'I have drunk out of the cymbal.''I have carried the mystic salver.'*--'I have slipt into the bed.' "Are not these symbols mere wantonness? These mysteries, are they not a farce? Need I produce the rest? Ceres becomes pregnant, Proserpine is reared, and then again, Jupiter, who begat her, has connection with his own daughter, Proserpine, notwithstanding his knowledge of her mother Ceres. He forgets his former profligacy, and embraces her in the form of a serpent, and is afterwards detected. The god, under this form received into the bosoms of the Initiated, is a symbol in the Sabazian Mysteries. Their drawing the serpent through their bosom is a proof of * 'Exepvopógnoa. The xépvos, according to Athenæus, was a dish of earthenware, having several cotylisci, or one-handled cups fastened upon it. Examples of it sometimes occur in collections of the painted Greek pottery. |