Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

140 Bacchic Mysteries.this elegant production we learn that Ceres,who was afraid lest some violence should beoffered to Proserpina, on account of her inimitable beauty, conveyed her privately toSicily,and concealed her in a house built onpurpose by theCyclopes,while she herselfdirects her course to the temple of Cybele,the mother of the gods.Here, then, we seethe first cause of the soul s descent, namely,the abandoning of a life wholly according tothe higher intellect, which is occultly signified by the separation of Proserpina fromCeres.Afterward, we are told that Jupiterinstructs Venus to go to this abode, and betray Proserpina from her retirement, thatPluto may be enabled to carry her away;and toprevent any suspicion in the virgin smind, he commands Diana and Pallas togoin company. The three goddesses arriving,find Proserpina at work on a scarf for hermother ;in which she had embroidered theprimitive chaos, and the formation of theworld. Now by Venus in this part of thenarration we must understand desire, whicheven in the celestialregions (for such is the