Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy
Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy
Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy
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"90 Eleminian <strong>and</strong>energy, in the next. This being admitted,let us proceed to consider the descriptionwhich Virgil gives us of these fortunateabodes, <strong>and</strong> the latent signification whichit contains. ^Eneas <strong>and</strong> his guide, then, having passed through Hades, <strong>and</strong> seen at a distance Tartarus, or ithe utmost profundity ofa material nature, they next advance to theElysian fields:Devenere locus laetos, et amsena viretaFortuuatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas.Largior hie campos aatker et lumine vestitPurpureo ; solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.*Now the secret meaning of these joyfulplaces is thus beautifully unfolded by Olympiodorusin his manuscript Commentary onthe Gorgias of Plato. "It is necessary toknow,"says he,that the fortunate isl<strong>and</strong>sare said to be raised above the sea; <strong>and</strong>self-knowledge, <strong>and</strong> intellectual discipline, the soul can be raisedto the vision of eternal truth, goodness, <strong>and</strong> beauty that is, tothe vision of God." This is the epopteia. A. W.* "They came to the blissful regions,<strong>and</strong> delightful green retreats, <strong>and</strong> happy abodes in the fortunate groves. A freer <strong>and</strong>purer sky here clothes the fields with a purple light ; they recognize their own sun, their own stars."
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