Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

Bacchic Mysteries. 189the number ofrity, lie afterwards filled upthe gods.But in the mean time, from theexhalations arising from the ashes of theburning bodies of the Titans, mankind wereproduced. ^ Now,in order to understandproperly the secret of this narration,it isnecessary to repeat the observation alreadymade in the preceding chapter, u that allfables belonging to mystic ceremonies areof the mixed kind":and consequently thepresent fable, as well as that of Proserpina,must in one part have reference to the gods,and in the other to the human soul, as thefollowing exposition will abundantly evince :In the first place, then, by Dionysus, orBacchus, according to the highest conception of this deity, we understand the spiritualof the mundane soul; for there arepartvarious processions or avatars of this god,or Bacchuses, derived from his essence.Butby the Titans we must understand the mundane gods, of whom Bacchus is the highest ;by Jupiter, the Demiurgus,* or artificer of*Plotinus regarded the Demiurgus, or creator, as the god ofprovidence, thought, essence, and power. Above him was the