spectacles,'' such as one of the last of the ancient philosophers described as follows: In a manifestation which must not be revealed, there is seen on the wall of the temple a mass of light, which appears at first at a very great distance. It is transformed, while unfolding itself, into a visage, evidently divine and supernatural, of an aspect severe, but with a touch of sweetness. Following the teachings of a mysterious religion, the Alexandrians honour it as Osiris or Adonis,'2 both of which, as we have seen, are identical with Dionysos, and with each other. At the close of the scene,' says Bunsen, ‘the victorious god (Dionysos) was displayed as the Lord of the Spirit. The predominating idea of these conceptions was that of the soul as a divine, vital force, held captive here on earth and sorely tried; but the initiated were further taught to look forward to a final redemption and blessedness for the good and pious, and eternal torments after death for the wicked and unjust. But this was a development; the original idea of Demeter, noble heroes of civilisation,' is far simpler. The Mystics having arrived at a joyful conclusion, for the Mysteries, by the name of whatever god they might be called, were invariably of a mixed nature, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy;'5 and having now become Epopts, were dismissed with a benediction and the words 'Konx Om Pax,' in the interpretation of which much ingenuity has been exercised." The Dionysiak mysteries relating

drawing at times upon his own imagination for Eleusinian detail (Aglaoph. i. 182); but if St. Croix occasionally errs a little in this direction, Lobeck is liable to an opposite fault of unbelief.

Christie, Disquisitions, 49. 2 Damaskios, apud Photios, Bibliotheka, cod. 242.

3 God in History, ii. 73. ♦ Ibid. 69.

friend of the

5 Faber, Dissertation on the Cabiri, ii. 337. A long exploded work, of great learning, absurd etymologies, and baseless theories.

Wilford (Asiatic Researches, vol. v.) identified them with Canscha-OmPacsha, words with which the Brahmans close their services (vide Ouvaroff, Essay on the Eleusinian Mysteries, 28. - Nork. i. 7, apud Rev. G. W. Cox, Mythol. of the Aryan Na

to Zagreus and the Titanes, I shall notice subsequently.1

Seventh Day.-The Return. The initiated returned to Athenai, and merrily jested with those whom they met, especially at the bridge over the Kephissos. Sacred games also were held, the victors in which were rewarded with a measure of barley.

Eighth Day.-The Day of the Epidaurians. On which those who had been too late for the Greater Mysteries were initiated in the Lesser. It was so called from a tradition that Aisklepios once then arrived at Eleusis from Epidauros.

Ninth Day-The Day of Earthen Vessels. Two large earthen vessels were filled with wine, type of the animating principle, and were then upset, the wine being thus offered as a libation to the Infernal Divinities. One of these jars was placed towards the east, the other to the west; and they were emptied while certain mystic words were uttered. These have been made known to us by Proclos in the Timaeus of Plato. They were, viè, tokvîe, while the first of these was pronounced, they looked up to heaven; and casting their eyes downward to the earth, they pronounced the latter. By thus accosting each Epopt as a son, viè might be implied the heavenly origin of man; by Tokve might be denoted regeneration.' 2

The four principal personages at Eleusis were the Hierophant, who is said by Eusebios to have been an impersonation of the Demiurge; the Dadouchos or Torchbearer, a type of the Sun or Helios-Dionysos; the Assistant at the Altar, who is said to have represented the Moon; and the Hierokerux or Sacred Herald, who was a type of Hermes. With respect to this last subtle

tions, ii. 126). Pococke, in his romance asserts the language is Tibetian,' and signifies salutation to the Three Holy Ones.' (India in Greece, 273, vide Lobeck's remarks and col

lection of authorities, Aglaoph. 775 et seq). The subject does not concern a Dionysiak enquiry.

1 Inf. IX. vi.

2 Christie, Disquisitions, 33.

of

phased divinity, Professor Max Müller remarks; 'He is the herald of the gods; so is the twilight. He is the spy the night, VUKTòя опшπтηρ; he sends sleep and dreams; the bird of the morning, the Cock, stands by his side. Lastly, he is the guide of travellers, and particularly of the souls who travel on their last journey; he is the Psychopompos.' The officiating ministers at Eleusis,' observes Christie' were four in number, in imitation of those in Samothrace.'2 Without absolutely accepting this proposition, we may undoubtedly conclude that the two rituals were by no means unconnected; but it must be remembered that the Mysteries of Eleusis, however subsequently impregnated with Orientalism, were Aryan in origin, whilst those of Samothrake were Semitic. These latter I shall notice subsequently, when speaking of the introduction of the Bakchic cult into Hellas, for the principles of the Dionysiak Myth are to be found in full vigour in the secret Phoenician worship of Lemnos and Samothrake.' 4

SECTION III.

DIONYSOS AND THE DRAMA.

From the theatrical exhibitions of Eleusis we pass, by easy transition, to the stage of Athenai, and here again find Dionysos enthroned in the persons of his two daughters, Tragedy and Comedy, twin representations of his Janus character, and of the double aspect of life, either in the individual or in the abstract.5 The Drama

1 Lectures on the Science of Langunge, ii. 522; cf. Od. xxiv. i.; Ruskin, Queen of the Air, i. 25-9, where a subtle and elegant partial analysis of the concept of Hermes is given. 2 Disquisitions, 64.

3 Inf. X. i.

Bunsen, Egypt's Place, iv. 235.

5 It will be remembered that I am not speaking of the Hellenik Drama as such, critically, historically, or otherwise, but merely of it in its connection with the god from whose prolific being it sprung.

is That-which-is-done imitatively and representatively a definition equally true when applied to the drama of life and existence, or to a stage-play; inasmuch as all our actions are imitative and unoriginal, and also representative; and that doubly so, first, because in doing them we aim consciously or unconsciously after an ideal model : 1 and secondly, because in acting we become representatives of other actors, and embody more or less accurately their feelings and circumstances. Thus, in this latter sense, the kings and queens of tragedy and comedy form a parliament selected to their state and dignity by the universal suffrages of mankind, and so chosen because the electors of the world see themselves, i.e., their own feelings, aims, and possibilities reflected with surpassing merit in the individuals of their choice. Human feeling, using the expression in its widest sense as including the power of feeling after truth, makes man the astonishing creature that he is; 2 without it he would be a stone, or at best a plant, or as some have put it, a forked, straddling animal, with bandy legs.' The existence of this property of feeling alone renders the Drama specially so called possible, for plants and trees imitate nothing; we imitate them. And, therefore, the Drama is the expression of feeling in action; but feeling in action is Dionysos the kosmic Life-source, beaming, blushing, blooming, blowing, storming, raging, raving, bearing with him life and death. The Drama, then, in one aspect is but an anthropomorphic crystallisation of Dionysos the Wine-god, yes, the Wine-god, but his wine is not merely the typical juice of the grape, but rather the heat and life-blood that beats through all worlds. Well says Professor Ruskin,

Cf. Emerson, Essay x. Circles. 'The flying Perfect, around which the hands of man can never meet, at once the inspirer and condemner of every success.'

Y

2 'What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!' (Hamlet, II. ii.)

,2

'Wine, the Greeks, in their Bacchus, made, rightly, the type of all passion,'1 which noble word, including in its sweep a wide range of action from righteous anger to holy suffering, leads us to Tragedy, the eldest daughter of Dionysos, Lord of the Drama, herself often styled the Drama, inasmuch as in this world's history the tragic element is the stronger and prevailing one. Tragedy considered etymologically, and with reference to its historic origin, is a song accompanied by a satyrik dance, i.e., one performed by persons in the garb of Satyrs, and these songs in early Hellas were the choric, dithyrambic odes in honour of Dionysos; and so Aristoteles tells us that, Tragedy originated in a originated in a rude and unpremeditated manner from the leaders in the dithyrambic hymns.' The Chorus, who thus celebrated the god, 'bewailed the sorrows of Bacchus, or commemorated his wonderful birth, in spontaneous effusions, accompanied by suitable action, for which they trusted to the inspiration of the wine-cup.' 8 This Chorus at first was nothing more than a Comus, and one too of the wildest and most corybantic character. A crowd of worshippers, under the influence of wine, danced up to and around the blazing altar of Jupiter. They were probably led by a flute-player, and accompanied by the Phrygian tamborines and cymbals, which were used in the Cretan worship of Bacchus.' * Now it was as the kosmogonic Lord of life, and especially as the Sun-god, head of the animated creation and protagonistic principle of vitality, that Dionysos was honoured. Hence the changes and apparent sufferings both of Nature and of the Sun,5 when imitated and viewed anthropomorphically as the joys and sorrows of Dionysos, occasioned the mixed nature of the dithyrambic celebration, which

3

1 Unto this last,' 124.

2 Poet. iv.; vide inf. VIII. ii. Dithyramb.

6