Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

"Bacchic Mysteries. 63desist from entering any farther, and tellshim,Here to reside delusive shades delight;"Fornought dwells here but sleep and drowsy night."Umbrarum hie locus est, Somni Noctisque soporaenothingcan more aptly express the condition of the dark regions of body, into whichthe soul, when descending, meets with nothing but shadows and drowsy night and:by persisting in her course, is at length lulledinto profound sleep, and becomes a true inhabitant of the phantom-abodes of the dead.having now passed over the Stygian lake, meets with the three-headed monster Cerberus,* the guardian of these infernalabodes :Tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumqueInform! limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.*The presence of Cerberus in Grecian and Roman descriptionsof the Underworld shows that the ideas of the poets and mythologistswere derived, not only from Egypt, but from the Brahmansof the far East. Yama, the lord of the Underworld, is attendedby his dog Karbaru, the spotted, styled also Trikasa,the threeheaded.