Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

120 Eleusinian andAndrequisite to the reascent of the soul.*the first part, indeed, of this propositionrespecting the purifications, immediately follows from the testimony of Plato in the passage already adduced, in which he assertsthat the ultimate design of the Mysteries wasto lead us back to the principles from whichwe originally fell. For if the Mysteries weresymbolical, as is universally acknowledged,this must likewise be true of the purifications as a part of the Mysteries ;and as inward purity, of which the external is symbolical, can only be obtained by the exerciseof the virtues, itevidently follows that thepurifications were symbols of the purifyingmoral virtues. And the latter part of theproposition may be easily inferred, from thepassage alreadycited from the Phcedrus ofPlato, in which he compares initiationandthe epopteia to the blessed vision of thehigher intelligible natures; an employmentwhich can alone belong to the exercise ofcontemplation. But the whole of this isrendered indisputable by the following re-*/. e. to its former divine condition.