Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

"Appendix. 231venereal connections are in the initiation,* aVenus is represented rising from the sea, fromcertain moving sexual parts :afterwards thecelebrated marriage of Proserpina (withPluto) takes place; and those who areinitiated sing :Out of the drum I have eaten,Out of the cymbal I have drank,The mystic vase I have sustained,The bed I have entered.The pregnant throes likewise of Ceres [Deo]are represented :hence the supplications ofDeo are exhibited; the drinking of bile,and the heart-aches. After this, an effigywith the thighs of a goat makes its appearance, which is represented as suffering vehemently about the testicles because :Jupiter,as if to expiate the violence which he hadoffered to Ceres, is represented as cutting offthe testicles of a goat, and placing them onher bosom, as if they were his own. Butafter all this, the rites of Bacchus succeed; the Cista, and the cakes with manybosses, like those of a shield. Likewise the* I. e. a representation of them.