Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

Bacchic Mysteries. 75the body, she lives confined, as it were, inbonds, throughthe dominion of this Titan-ical life."Wemay observe farther concerningthese dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries, that as they were intended to represent the condition of the soul whilesubservient to the body, we shall find thata liberation from this servitude, through thepurifying disciplines, potencies that separatefrom evil, was what the wisdom of the ancients intended to signify by the descent ofHercules, Ulysses, etc., into Hades, and theirspeedy return from its dark abodes."Hence,"says Proclus, u Hercules being purified bysacred initiations, obtained atlength a perfect establishment among the gods:"*is, well knowingthatthe dreadful condition ofhis soul while in captivity to a corporealnature, and purifying himself by practicethe cleansing virtues, of which certain purifications in the mystic ceremonies were symbolical, he at length was freed from thebondage of matter, and ascended beyond herCommentary on the Statesman of Plato, 382.jp>.of