Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

222 Eleusinian andAnd thus much, for the mysteries of Bacchus, which, as well as those of Ceres, relatein one part to the descent of a partial intellect into matter, and its condition whileunited with the dark tenement of the body:but there appears to be this difference between the two, that in the fable of Ceres andProserpine the descent of the whole rationalsoul is considered ;and in that of Bacchusthe scattering and going forth of that supreme part alone ofour nature tvhich weproperty characterize ~bythe appellation ofintellect.* In the composition of each wemay discern the same traces of exalted wisdom and recondite theology ;of a theologythe most venerable for its antiquity, and themost admirable for its excellence and reality,I shall conclude this treatise by presentingthe reader with a valuable and most eleganthymn of Proclusf to Minerva, which I have* Greek, voo<;, nous, the Intuitive Reason, that faculty of themind that apprehends the Ineffable Truth.t That the following hymn was composed by Proclus, can notbe doubted by any one who is conversant with those already extant of this incomparable man, since the spirit and manner inboth is perfectly the same.