A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries

that the unpurified soul in a future state lies merged in mire is beautifully explained; at the same time that our assertion concerning their secret meaning is no less solidly confirmed. In a similar manner, the same divine philosopher Referring to Plotinus., in his book on the Beautiful (Ennead 1, book 6), explains the fable of Narcissus as an emblem of one who rushes to the contemplation of sensible forms as if they were perfect realities, when at the same time they are nothing more than beautiful images appearing in water, fallacious and vain.

"Hence," says he, "as Narcissus, by catching at the shadow, merged himself in the stream and disappeared, so he who is captivated by beautiful bodies, and does not depart from their embrace, is precipitated—not with his body, but with his soul—into a darkness profound and horrid to intellect, through..."