Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

"""Bacchic Mysteries. 135this fable is of the mixed kind, one part ofwhich relates to the super-mundane establishment of the secondary cause of life,* and theother to the procession or outgoingof lifeand soul to the farthest extremity of things.,/Let us therefore more attentively considerthe fable, in that part of it which is symbolical of the descent of souls ;in order towhich, it will be requisite to premise anabridgment of the arcane discourse, respectingthe wanderings of Ceres, as preserved byMinutius Felix. Proserpina," says he, thedaughter of Ceres by Jupiter, as she wasgathering tender flowers, in the new spring,was ravished from her delightful abodes byPluto ;and being carried from thencethrough thick woods, and over a length ofsea, was brought by Pluto into a cavern,the residence of departed spirits, over whomButshe afterward ruled with absolute sway.* Plotinus taught the existence of three hypostases in the DivineNature. There was the Demiurge, the God of Creation andProvidence ;the Second, the Intelligible, self-contained and immutable Source of life ;and above all, the One, who like theZervane Akercne of the Persians, is above allan Absolute LoveIntellect." A. W. fBeing, a pure will,