Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

"208 Eleusinian andWith these th Hesperian golden-fruit combine,Which beauteous nymphs defend of voice divine.To all which Clemens adds saorc-cpov, esoptron,a mirror, TCOT-OC, pokos, a fleece of wool,and aatpayaXoc, astragalos, the ankle-bone.In the first place, then, with respect to thewheel, since Dionysus, as we have alreadyexplained, is the mundane intellect, and intellect isof an elevating and convertive nature, nothing can be a more apt symbol ofintellectual action than a wheel or sphere :besides,as the laceration and dismembermentof Dionysus signifies the going-forthof intellectual illumination into matter, and itsreturning at the same time to its source, thistoo will be aptly symbolized by a wheel.the second place, a pine-nut, fromitsInconicalshape, is a perspicuous symbol of the mannerin which intellectual or spiritual illuminationproceeds from its source and beginning intoa material nature. For the soul," says Macrobius,*u proceeding from a round figure,which is the only divine form, is extendedinto the form of a cone in going forth."* In Somnid Sciplonis, xii.