The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries

An engraving titled "Prometheus" depicting a scene from classical mythology. On the left are the three Fates: Clotho (labeled CLOTHO), Lachesis (LACHESIS) holding a spindle, and Atropos (ATROPOS) holding shears. In the center, Mercury (MERCURIVS) stands over a small reclining figure representing a soul (ANIMA). On the right, Prometheus (PROMETHEVS) is seated at a pedestal, sculpting a human figure (labeled MVLIER). Above the scene are various symbolic animals, including a bull (TAVRVS) and a donkey (ASINVS). The scene is framed on the right by a classical column.

INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION.

In offering to the public a new edition of Mr. Thomas Taylor's admirable treatise upon the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, it is proper to insert a few words of explanation. These observances once represented the spiritual life of Greece and were considered for two thousand years and more the appointed means for regeneration through an interior union with the Divine Essence. However absurd or even offensive they may seem to us, we should therefore hesitate long before we venture to lay desecrating hands on what others have esteemed holy. We can learn a valuable lesson in this regard from the Grecian and Roman writers, who had learned to treat the popular religious rites with mirth, but always considered the Eleusinian Mysteries with the deepest reverence.

It is ignorance which leads to profanation. Men ridicule what they do not properly understand. Alcibiades was drunk when he ventured to touch what his