Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

154 Bacchic Mysteries.O male dileeti flores, despectaque matris*Consilia : O Veneris deprensse serius artes !But, according to Minutius Felix, Proserpinawas carried by Pluto through thick woods,and over a length of sea, and brought into acavern, the residence of the dead : where bywoods a material nature is plainly implied, aswe have already observed in the first part ofthis discourse; and where the reader maylikewise observe the agreement of the description in this particular with that of Virgilin the descent of his hero :Tenent media omnia silvceCoeytusque sinuque labens, circumvenit atro.tIn these words the woods are expresslymentioned; and the ocean has an evidentagreement with Cocytus, signifying the outflowing condition of a material nature, andthe sorrows and sufferings attending its connection with the soul.*Oh flowers fatally dear, and the mother s cautions despised:Oh cruel artsof cunning Venus!t Woods cover all the middle " space and Cocytus gliding on,surrounds it with his dusky bosom."