(1) But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the way to felicity, and show you in what the essence of it is placed .” For from this the truth will be discovered, and at the same time all the doubts may be easily dissolved. I say, therefore, that the more divine intelligible man, who was formerly united to the Gods by the vision of them, afterwards entered into another soul, which is coadapted to the human form, and through this became fettered with the bonds of necessity and fate. Hence it is requisite to consider how he may be liberated from these bonds. There is, therefore, no other dissolution of them than the knowledge of the Gods. For to know scientifically the good is the idea of felicity; just as the oblivion of good, and deception about evil, happen to be the idea of evil. The former, therefore, is present with divinity; but the latter, which is an inferior destiny, is inseparable from the mortal nature.

(22) Wherefore, my son, thou shouldst give praise to God and pray that thou mayst have thy mind Good Mind. It is, then, to a better state the soul doth pass; it cannot to a worse. Further there is an intercourse of souls; those of the gods have intercourse with those of men, and those of men with souls of creatures which possess no reason. The higher, further, have in charge the lower; the gods look after men, men after animals irrational, while God hath charge of all; for He is higher than them all and all are less than He. Cosmos is subject, then, to God, man to the Cosmos, and irrationals to man. But God is o'er them all, and God contains them all. God's rays, to use a figure, are His energies; the Cosmos's are natures, the arts and sciences are man's. The energies act through the Cosmos, thence through the nature-rays of Cosmos upon man; the nature-rays [act] through the elements, man [acteth] through the sciences and arts.

INITIATIONS ATTEND Musæus to my sacred song, And learn what rites to sacrifice belong. Jove I invoke, the earth, and solar light, The moon's pure splendor, and the stars of night; Thee Neptune, ruler of the sea profound, Dark-hair'd, whose waves begirt the solid ground; Ceres abundant, and of lovely mien, And Proserpine infernal Pluto's queen The huntress Dian, and bright Phœbus rays, Far-darting God, the theme of Delphic praise; And Bacchus, honour'd by the heav'nly choir, And raging Mars, and Vulcan god of fire; The mighty pow'r who rose from foam to light, And Pluto potent in the realms of night; With Hebe young, and Hercules the strong, And you to whom the cares of births belong: Justice and Piety august I call, And much-fam'd nymphs, and Pan the god of all. To Juno sacred, and to Mem'ry fair, And the chaste Muses I address my pray'r; The various year, the Graces, and the Hours, Fair-hair'd Latona, and Dione's pow'rs; Armed Curetes, household Gods I call, With those who spring from Jove the king of all: Th' Idæan Gods, the angel of the skies, And righteous Themis, with sagacious eyes; With ancient night, and day-light I implore, And Faith, and Justice dealing right adore; Saturn and Rhea, and great Thetis too, Hid in a veil of bright celestial blue: I call great Ocean, and the beauteous train Of nymphs, who dwell in chambers of the main; Atlas the strong, and ever in its prime, Vig'rous Eternity, and endless Time; The Stygian pool, and placid Gods beside, And various Genii, that o'er men preside; Illustrious Providence, the noble train Of dæmon forms, who fill th' ætherial plain; Or live in air, in water, earth, or fire, Or deep beneath the solid ground retire. Bacchus and Semele the friends of all, And white Leucothea of the sea I call; Palæmon bounteous, and Adrastria great, And sweet-tongu'd Victory, with success elate; Great Esculapius, skill'd to cure disease, And dread Minerva, whom fierce battles please; Thunders and winds in mighty columns pent, With dreadful roaring struggling hard for vent; Attis, the mother of the pow'rs on high, And fair Adonis, never doom'd to die, End and beginning he is all to all, These with propitious aid I gently call; And to my holy sacrifice invite, The pow'r who reigns in deepest hell and night; I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, Of earthly, wat'ry, and celestial frame, Sepulchral, in a saffron veil array'd, Pleas'd with dark ghosts that wander thro' the shade; Persian, unconquerable huntress hail! 59 The world's key-bearer never doom'd to fail On the rough rock to wander thee delights, Leader and nurse be present to our rites Propitious grant our just desires success, Accept our homage, and the incense bless.

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE and MANNA. HEAR golden Titan, whose eternal eye With broad survey, illumines all the sky. Self-born, unwearied in diffusing light, And to all eyes the mirrour of delight: Lord of the seasons, with thy fiery car And leaping coursers, beaming light from far: With thy right hand the source of morning light, 7 And with thy left the father of the night. Agile and vig'rous, venerable Sun, Fiery and bright around the heav'ns you run. Foe to the wicked, but the good man's guide, O'er all his steps propitious you preside: With various founding, golden lyre, 'tis mine To fill the world with harmony divine. Father of ages, guide of prosp'rous deeds, The world's commander, borne by lucid steeds, Immortal Jove, all-searching, bearing light, 17 Source of existence, pure and fiery bright Bearer of fruit, almighty lord of years, Agil and warm, whom ev'ry pow'r reveres. Great eye of Nature and the starry skies, Doom'd with immortal flames to set and rise Dispensing justice, lover of the stream, The world's great despot, and o'er all supreme. Faithful defender, and the eye of right, Of steeds the ruler, and of life the light: With founding whip four fiery steeds you guide, When in the car of day you glorious ride. Propitious on these mystic labours shine, And bless thy suppliants with a life divine.

The FUMIGATION from MANNA. HEAR me, O Goddess! whose emerging ray Leads on the broad refulgence of the day; Blushing Aurora, whose celestial light Beams on the world with red'ning splendours bright: Angel of Titan, whom with constant round, Thy orient beams recall from night profound: Labour of ev'ry kind to lead is thine, Of mortal life the minister divine. Mankind in thee eternally delight, And none presumes to shun thy beauteous sight. Soon as thy splendours break the bands of rest, And eyes unclose with pleasing sleep oppress'd; Men, reptiles, birds, and beasts, with gen'ral voice, And all the nations of the deep, rejoice; For all the culture of our life is thine. Come, blessed pow'r! and to these rites incline: Thy holy light increase, and unconfin'd Diffuse its radiance on thy mystic's mind. Next: LXXVIII: To Themis Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXXVI: To Mnemosyne, or the G... Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXXVIII: To Themis » Sacred Texts | Classics

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. THEE, mighty-ruling, Dæmon dread, I call, Mild Jove, life-giving, and the source of all: Great Jove, much-wand'ring, terrible and strong, To whom revenge and tortures dire belong. Mankind from thee, in plenteous wealth abound, When in their dwellings joyful thou art found; Or pass thro' life afflicted and distress'd, The needful means of bliss by thee supprest. 'Tis thine alone endu'd with boundless might, To keep the keys of sorrow and delight. O holy, blessed father, hear my pray'r, Disperse the seeds of life-consuming care; With fav'ring mind the sacred rites attend, And grant my days a glorious, blessed end. Next: LXXIII: To Leucothea Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXXI. To Fortune Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXXIII: To Leucothea » Sacred Texts | Classics

(4) The heavens your movements do initiate, I say not all; but granting that I say it, Light has been given you for good and evil, And free volition; which, if some fatigue In the first battles with the heavens it suffers, Afterwards conquers all, if well 'tis nurtured. To greater force and to a better nature, Though free, ye subject are, and that creates The mind in you the heavens have not in charge. Hence, if the present world doth go astray, In you the cause is, be it sought in you; And I therein will now be thy true spy. Forth from the hand of Him, who fondles it Before it is, like to a little girl Weeping and laughing in her childish sport, Issues the simple soul, that nothing knows, Save that, proceeding from a joyous Maker, Gladly it turns to that which gives it pleasure. Of trivial good at first it tastes the savour; Is cheated by it, and runs after it, If guide or rein turn not aside its love. Hence it behoved laws for a rein to place, Behoved a king to have, who at the least Of the true city should discern the tower.

(3) And know that the transgression which rebuts By direct opposition any sin Together with it here its verdure dries. Therefore if I have been among that folk Which mourns its avarice, to purify me, For its opposite has this befallen me." "Now when thou sangest the relentless weapons Of the twofold affliction of Jocasta," The singer of the Songs Bucolic said, "From that which Clio there with thee preludes, It does not seem that yet had made thee faithful That faith without which no good works suffice. If this be so, what candles or what sun Scattered thy darkness so that thou didst trim Thy sails behind the Fisherman thereafter?" And he to him: "Thou first directedst me Towards Parnassus, in its grots to drink, And first concerning God didst me enlighten. Thou didst as he who walketh in the night, Who bears his light behind, which helps him not, But wary makes the persons after him, When thou didst say: 'The age renews itself, Justice returns, and man's primeval time, And a new progeny descends from heaven.'

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. HERMES, draw near, and to my pray'r incline, Angel of Jove, and Maia's son divine; Studious of contests, ruler of mankind, With heart almighty, and a prudent mind. Celestial messenger, of various skill, Whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill: With winged feet, 'tis thine thro' air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse: Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine, In arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine: With pow'r endu'd all language to explain, Of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain. Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God; Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, And in necessities to mortals kind: Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, Be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear; Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, Give graceful speech, and me memory's increase. Next: XXVIII: To Proserpine Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: XXVI: To The Mother of the Gods Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: XXVIII: To Proserpine » Sacred Texts | Classics

(1) Let us then, in the next place, consider the opposing arguments, what they are, and what reason they possess. And if we should discuss some things a little more abundantly, in consequence of speaking freely and at leisure, it is requisite that you should promptly attend to, and endure what, we say. For it is necessary that great labour should be bestowed on the greatest disciplines, and that they should be accurately explored for a long time, if you intend to know them perfectly. Do you, therefore, conformably to the present hypothesis, propose the arguments which occasion the doubt, and I will answer you. Say then, “ it very much perplexes me to understand how superior beings, when invoked, are commanded by those that invoke them, as if they were their inferiors .” But I will unfold to you the whole division, which is worthy of regard, concerning the powers that are invoked; from which you will be able clearly to define what is possible and what is impossible, in the subjects of your investigation. For the Gods, indeed, and the natures that are more excellent than we, through the wish of what is beautiful, and from an unenvying and exuberant fulness of good, benevolently impart to those that are worthy, such things as are fit for them, commiserating the labours of sacerdotal men, but being delighted with those that they have begotten, nourished, and instructed. But the middle genera are the inspective guardians of judgment.

The FUMIGATION from STORAX. O Father Jove, who shak'st with fiery light The world deep-sounding from thy lofty height: From thee, proceeds th' ætherial lightning's blaze, Flashing around intolerable rays. Thy sacred thunders shake the blest abodes, The shining regions of th' immortal Gods: Thy pow'r divine, the flaming lightning shrouds, With dark investiture, in fluid clouds. 'Tis thine to brandish thunders strong and dire, To scatter storms, and dreadful darts of fire; With roaring flames involving all around, And bolts of thunder of tremendous sound. Thy rapid dart can raise the hair upright, And shake the heart of man with wild afright. Sudden, unconquer'd, holy, thund'ring God, 'With noise unbounded, flying all abroad; With all-devouring force, entire and strong, Horrid, untam'd, thou roll'st the flames along. Rapid, ætherial bolt, descending fire, The earth all-parent, trembles at thy ire; The sea all-shining; and each beast that hears The sound terrific, with dread horror fears: When Nature's face is bright with flashing fire, And in the heavens resound thy thunders dire. Thy thunders white, the azure garments tear, And burst the veil of all surrounding air. O Jove, all-blessed, may thy wrath severe, Hurl'd in the bosom of the deep appear, And on the tops of mountains be reveal'd, For thy strong arm is not from us conceal'd. Propitious to these sacred rites incline, And crown my wishes with a life divine: Add royal health, and gentle peace beside, With equal reason, for my constant guide. Next: XIX: To Jove, as the Author of Lightning Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: XVII: To Pluto Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: XIX: To Jove, as the Author o... » Sacred Texts | Classics

(2) So, then, although it may do good to few alone, ’tis proper to develope and explain this thesis:—wherefore Divinity hath deigned to share His science and intelligence with men alone. Give ear, accordingly! When God, [our] Sire and Lord, made man, after the Gods, out of an equal mixture of a less pure cosmic part and a divine,—it [naturally] came to pass the imperfections of the cosmic part remained commingled with [our] frames, and other ones [as well], by reason of the food and sustenance we have out of necessity in common with all lives ; by reason of which things it needs must be that the desires, and passions, and other vices, of the mind should occupy the souls of human kind.

The FUMIGATION from MANNA. BLEST Pæan, come, propitious to my pray'r, Illustrious pow'r, whom Memphian tribes revere, Slayer of Tityus, and the God of health, Lycorian Phœbus, fruitful source of wealth . Spermatic, golden-lyr'd, the field from thee Receives it's constant, rich fertility. Titanic, Grunian, Smynthian, thee I sing, 7 Python-destroying, hallow'd, Delphian king: Rural, light-bearer, and the Muse's head, Noble and lovely, arm'd with arrows dread: Far-darting, Bacchian, two-fold, and divine, 11 Pow'r far diffused, and course oblique is thine. O, Delian king, whose light-producing eye Views all within, and all beneath the sky: Whose locks are gold, whose oracles are sure, Who, omens good reveal'st, and precepts pure: Hear me entreating for the human kind, Hear, and be present with benignant mind; For thou survey'st this boundless æther all, And ev'ry part of this terrestrial ball Abundant, blessed; and thy piercing sight, Extends beneath the gloomy, silent night; Beyond the darkness, starry-ey'd, profound, The stable roots, deep fix'd by thee are found. The world's wide bounds, all-flourishing are thine, Thyself all the source and end divine: 'Tis thine all Nature's music to inspire, With various-sounding, harmonising lyre; Now the last string thou tun'ft to sweet accord, 29 Divinely warbling now the highest chord; Th' immortal golden lyre, now touch'd by thee, Responsive yields a Dorian melody. All Nature's tribes to thee their diff'rence owe, And changing seasons from thy music flow Hence, mix'd by thee in equal parts, advance Summer and Winter in alternate dance; This claims the highest, that the lowest string, The Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring . Hence by mankind, Pan-royal, two-horn'd nam'd, 39 Emitting whistling winds thro' Syrinx fam'd; Since to thy care, the figur'd seal's consign'd, 41 Which stamps the world with forms of ev'ry kind. Hear me, blest pow'r, and in these rites rejoice, And save thy mystics with a suppliant voice.

(10) This is why Zeus, although the oldest of the gods and their sovereign, advances first towards that vision, followed by gods and demigods and such souls as are of strength to see. That Being appears before them from some unseen place and rising loftily over them pours its light upon all things, so that all gleams in its radiance; it upholds some beings, and they see; the lower are dazzled and turn away, unfit to gaze upon that sun, the trouble falling the more heavily on those most remote.

Of those looking upon that Being and its content, and able to see, all take something but not all the same vision always: intently gazing, one sees the fount and principle of Justice, another is filled with the sight of Moral Wisdom, the original of that quality as found, sometimes at least, among men, copied by them in their degree from the divine virtue which, covering all the expanse, so to speak, of the Intellectual Realm is seen, last attainment of all, by those who have known already many splendid visions.

The gods see, each singly and all as one. So, too, the souls; they see all There in right of being sprung, themselves, of that universe and therefore including all from beginning to end and having their existence There if only by that phase which belongs inherently to the Divine, though often too they are There entire, those of them that have not incurred separation.

This vision Zeus takes, and it is for such of us, also, as share his love and appropriate our part in the Beauty There, the final object of all seeing, the entire beauty upon all things; for all There sheds radiance, and floods those that have found their way thither so that they too become beautiful; thus it will often happen that men climbing heights where the soil has taken a yellow glow will themselves appear so, borrowing colour from the place on which they move. The colour flowering on that other height we speak of is Beauty; or rather all There is light and beauty, through and through, for the beauty is no mere bloom upon the surface.

To those that do not see entire, the immediate impression is alone taken into account; but those drunken with this wine, filled with the nectar, all their soul penetrated by this beauty, cannot remain mere gazers: no longer is there a spectator outside gazing on an outside spectacle; the clear-eyed hold the vision within themselves, though, for the most part, they have no idea that it is within but look towards it as to something beyond them and see it as an object of vision caught by a direction of the will.

All that one sees as a spectacle is still external; one must bring the vision within and see no longer in that mode of separation but as we know ourselves; thus a man filled with a god- possessed by Apollo or by one of the Muses- need no longer look outside for his vision of the divine being; it is but finding the strength to see divinity within.

(21) Hermes: But not unheedfully, my son. Tat: Aye. What I behold in mind, that do I say. To thee, thou Parent of my Bringing into Birth, as unto God I, Tat, send reasonable offerings. o God and Father, thou art the Lord, thou art the Mind. Receive from me oblations reasonable as thou would'st wish; for by thy Will all things have been perfected. Hermes: Send thou oblation, son, acceptable to God, the Sire of all; but add, my son, too, "through the Word" (Logos). Tat: I give thee, father, thanks for showing me to sing such hymns.

(3) That which Timaeus argues of the soul Doth not resemble that which here is seen, Because it seems that as he speaks he thinks. He says the soul unto its star returns, Believing it to have been severed thence Whenever nature gave it as a form. Perhaps his doctrine is of other guise Than the words sound, and possibly may be With meaning that is not to be derided. If he doth mean that to these wheels return The honour of their influence and the blame, Perhaps his bow doth hit upon some truth. This principle ill understood once warped The whole world nearly, till it went astray Invoking Jove and Mercury and Mars. The other doubt which doth disquiet thee Less venom has, for its malevolence Could never lead thee otherwhere from me. That as unjust our justice should appear In eyes of mortals, is an argument Of faith, and not of sin heretical. But still, that your perception may be able To thoroughly penetrate this verity, As thou desirest, I will satisfy thee.

The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Magnanimous, unconquer'd, boistrous Mars, In darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars Fierce and untam'd, whose mighty pow'r can make The strongest walls from their foundations shake: Mortal destroying king, defil'd with gore, Pleas'd with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar: Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight, And the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife, Whose works with woe, embitter human life; To lovely Venus, and to Bacchus yield, To Ceres give the weapons of the field; Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin'd, And give abundance, with benignant mind. Footnotes 196:* This deity, according to Proclus, in Repub. p. 388. perpetually discerns and nourishes, and constantly excites the contrarieties of the universe, that the world may exist perfect and entire from its parts. But he requires the assistance of Venus, that he may insert order and harmony into things contrary and discordant. Next: LXV: To Vulcan Sacred Texts | Classics « Previous: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXIII: To Law Index Next: The Initiations of Orpheus: LXV: To Vulcan » Fierce and untam'd, whose mighty pow'r can make The strongest walls from their foundations shake: Mortal destroying king, defil'd with gore, Pleas'd with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar: Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight, And the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife, Whose works with woe, embitter human life; To lovely Venus, and to Bacchus yield, To Ceres give the weapons of the field; Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin'd, And give abundance, with benignant mind.

(1) It now remains, in the last place, that we should speak concerning felicity, about which you make various inquiries, first of all proposing objections, afterwards doubting, and then interrogating. Adducing, therefore, all that is said by you, we shall answer it appropriately. You inquire, then, “ whether there is not some other latent way to felicity .” But how, in that path which recedes from the Gods, is it probable there can be an ascent to felicity? For if the essence and perfection of all good are comprehended in the Gods, and the first and ancient power of them is with us priests, and if by those who similarly adhere to more excellent natures, and genuinely obtain a union with them, the beginning and end of all good is earnestly pursued; if this be the case, here the contemplation of truth, and the possession of intellectual science are to be found. And a knowledge of the Gods is accompanied with a conversion to, and the knowledge of, ourselves.

(17) Let every nature of the World receive the utterance of my hymn! Open thou Earth! Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me. Stir not, ye Trees! I am about to hymn creation's Lord, both All and One. Ye Heavens open and ye Winds stay still; [and] let God's deathless Sphere receive my word (logos)! For I will sing the praise of Him who founded all; who fixed the Earth, and hung up Heaven, and gave command that Ocean should afford sweet water [to the Earth], to both those parts that are inhabited and those that are not, for the support and use of every man; who made the Fire to shine for gods and men for every act. Let us together all give praise to Him, sublime above the Heavens, of every nature Lord! 'Tis He who is the Eye of Mind; may He accept the praise of these my Powers!

(19) That he might cause the gods to dwell in the habitation of their hearts' desire