Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

166 Bacchic Mysteries.phyry, in his life of that philosopher, symbolically called the sea a tear of Saturn. But theeighth day of initiation, which is symbolicalof the falling of the soul into the lunarorb,* was celebrated by the candidates by arepeated initiation and second sacred rites ;because the soul in this situation is about tobid adieu to every thing of a celestial nature ;to sink into a perfect oblivion of her divineorigin and pristine felicity ;and to rush profoundly into the region of dissimilitude,!ignorance, and error. And lastly, on theninth day, when the soul falls into the sublunary world and becomes united with a terrestrial body, a libation was performed, suchas is usual in sacred rites.Here the initiates,filling two earthen vessels of broad and spacious bottoms, which were called irA7]{j.o)(oac,plemokhoai, and xoToXoanoi, Jcotuluskoi, theformer of these words denoting vessels of aconical shape, and the latter small bowls or* The Moon typified the mother of gods and men. The souldescending into the lunar orb thus came near the scenes of earthlyexistence, where the life which is transmitted by generation hasopportunity to involve it about.t The condition most unlike the former divine estate.