existence there, however, in ancient periods ftill farther proves the fimilarity of the aftronomical mythology of these two nations. The noviciate was now invefted with the candys, or large loose tunic, which, on every ancient picture of Mithra, is represented floating widely in the air from the shoulders of the god, while his rapid wings waft him impetuously through the expanfe of heaven. This tunic or mantle was the most beautiful and fplendid pageant in the world; having a purple ground, and being ftudded all over with innumerable ftars, the conftellations of both hemifpheres, like the robe worn by Ifis Omnia, and engraved in the first volume of the OEdipus Egyptiacus, after the description of that goddefs, as beheld in the pomp of her paraphernalia, by Apuleius, who had himself been initiated in the mysteries of Eleufis. He had likewise the paftoral staff, or crofier, fimilar to that of the brahmins, put into his hand, being allufive to the immediate influence of the fun in the affairs of agriculture.* Thus invefted and decorated with all the fymbols of the power and operations of his god, he was prepared for thofe greater and See Apuleius, vol. i. p. 13. more more tremendous myfteries, of which no authentic relations have reached pofterity, but in which both bulls and men are fuppofed to have been facrificed, and in which real lions, whence the mysteries were called leontica, and other animals, whofe figures covered the walls of the temple, are thought to have been introduced. The ill-omened raven fcreamed aloud its funeral note; the dreadful barkings of the dog Sirius reverberated through the cavern, vifæque canes ululare per umbras; the hiffings of envenomed ferpents, that is, the Draco and Serpentarius of the fphere, filled with terror the trembling audience; for there, if ever, in that fidereal metempfychofis, or paffage of the foul among the stars to its final abode, the мOKT of the brahmins, angues Triptolemi ftridebant; and there, if ever, were heard thofe dreadful thunderings and lightnings, the conflict of elements and warring clouds, which Mithra at his will could congregate or diffipate, and which the poet Claudian profeffedly alludes to as forming a part of the Eleufinian mysteries; myfteries of which Warburton ought to have known, that thofe of Mithra were the prototype, because the Perfians were a more ancient nation than the Greeks. Jam Jam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra møveri How much more applicable this description is to the stupendous exhibitions in the Mithratic temple than those of Eleufis must be evident to the reader, who reflects how much fublimer a character in antiquity was Mithra than Ceres; how much superior the deity, who rules the heavens, in which thunder is generated and lightning kindled, to the deity which prefides over the earth and its productions. In fact, in the rites of the former, the thunders alluded to were the awful tropical thunders, and bore immediate reference to a particular stage of the myftic exhibition; in those of the latter, they were principally used to swell the pomp of the ceremony, and elevate the grandeur of the goddefs. How close an imitation the Eleufinian myfteries were of the more ancient rites of Perfia will, I am of opinion, appear from what has been inserted in a preceding page, relative to the officiating characters who prefided in the former, and who were of an astronomical caft. Indeed, the general feature of fimila Claudian, p. 54. rity It rity between them is fo great, and both have fo manifeft a relation to thofe of India, that I hope the reader will pardon me if I wind up this account of the Perfian myfteries with felecting a few striking paffages from the first chapter of this Differtation, in which that fimilarity is moft particularly apparent. must be owned, indeed, that the Greek philofophers improved upon those instituted by their predeceffors by the profound morality which they inculcated in their mysteries; morality, which, after all, is far preferable and far more beneficial to man than the boldest flights of imagination in the inftitution of a wild system of a fabulous fidereal metempsychofis. Nothing can be conceived more folemn than the rites of initiation into the greater myfteries. of Eleufis, as described by Apuleius and Dion Chryfoftome, who had both gone through the awful ceremony: nothing more tremendous and appalling than the scenery exhibited before the eyes of the terrified afpirant. After entering the grand veftibule of the mystic shrine, he was led by the hierophant, amidst furrounding darkness and incumbent horrors, through all thofe extended ailes, winding avenues, and gloomy adyta, already mentioned as as equally belonging to the mystic temples of Egypt, Eleufis, and India. I have afferted before, that the Metempfychofis was one of the leading principia taught in those temples, and this first stage was intended to represent the toilfome wanderings of the benighted foul through the mazes of vice and error before initiation; or, in the words of an ancient writer, quoted by Warburton from Stobæus : " It was a rude and fearful march through night and darkness."* Prefently the ground began to rock beneath his feet, the whole temple trembled, and strange and dreadful voices were heard through the midnight filence. To these fucceeded other louder and more terrific noises, resembling thunder ; while quick and vivid flashes of lightning darted through the cavern, difplaying to his view many ghaftly fights and hideous spectres, emblematical of the various vices, diseases, infirmities, and calamities, incident in that state of terrestrial bondage from which his ftruggling foul was now going to emerge, as well as of the horrors and penal torments of the guilty in a future state. At this period, all the pageants of vulgar idolatry, all the train of gods, supernal and infernal, paffed in awful fucceffion before him, Sss See Divine Legation, vol. i. p. 235. |