A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries

possible. "Lastly," says he, "that I may comprehend the opinion of the ancient theologists on the state of the soul after death in a few words: they considered, as we have elsewhere asserted, things divine as the only realities, and that all others were only the images and shadows of truth. Hence, they asserted that prudent men, who earnestly employed themselves in divine concerns, were above all others in a vigilant state. But that imprudent men, who pursued objects of a different nature—being laid asleep, as it were—were only engaged in the delusions of dreams; and that if they happened to die in this sleep before they were roused, they would be afflicted with similar and still sharper visions in a future state. And that as he who in this life pursued realities would, after death,