Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

""Bacchic Mysteries. 191the Titans, in order to ensnare Dionysus, aresymbolical of those apparent and divisibleoperations of the mundane gods, throughwhich the participated intellect of Bacchusbecomes, as it were, torn in pieces ; and bythe mirror we must understand, in the language of Proclus, the inaptitude of the universe to receive the plenitude of intellectualor spiritual perfection ;but the symbolicalmeaning of his laceration, throughthe stratagems of Juno, and the consequent punishment of the Titans, is thus beautifullyunfolded by Olympiodorus, in his manuscriptCommentary on the Phcedo of Plato : Theform,"says he,of that which is universal isplucked off, torn in pieces, and scattered intogeneration; and Dionysus is the monad ofthe Titans. But his laceration is said totake place through the stratagems of Juno,continually advancing to the spring of life,and the more thousands of years they live, so much the more delightful and happy isthe spring to which they attain, and this to eternity with incrementsaccording to the progresses and degrees of love, of charity, and offaith.Women who have died old and worn out with age, yet havelived in faith on the Lord, in charity toward their neighbor, and inhappy conjugal love with a husband, after a succession of years,come more and more into the flower of youth and adolescence."