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Article THE ANOIENT MTaT ← Page 3 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anoient Mtat
goddess ' s commands in his sleep , to prepare himself for initiation into those sacred rites to which he had so long been destined . Still , though leading the required life of chastity and self-clenial , and though anxious to be of the number of the initiated , he delayed , from reverential dread , to follow the bent of his inclination ; till one night he dreamed ( while ih the temporary abode which he had procured in the temple ) that the chief priest came to him , and presented to him a number of articles which his servant Candidus had brought
him from Thessaly He for a long time wondered what this vision might mean , especially as he was sure that he never had a servant so named . Still , the offering of the presents seemed to portend good . Thus he remained in doubt till the opening of the temple doors in the morning . Just as the priests had begun their morning devotions ,
ana had poured water drawn from a fountain within the sanctuary over the altar , from a chalice , some of his servants suddenly made their appearance with a white horse which had formerly belonged to him . The beast had been dragged about from place to place , and had been sold to many different persons , but Lucius identified him by a mark on his back . He then perceived the prescient wisdom of the goddess in the admonition which he had received , audits
coincidence , not only with the promises of gain which had been conveyed to him , but with the recovery of the white horse under the allegory of his servant Candidus . Considering moreover the benefits he was now receiving as a pledge of others to come , his mind became more intent on his object , and his desire to be received into the holy ministration daily increased .
Accordingly , he importuned the chief priest to initiate him into the mysteries of the "holy night ; " but he in reply checked his importunity , and exhorted him patiently to await the proper opportunity . The day of initiation , he said , as well as the name of the hierophant ^ appointed to perform the sacred rite , must be indicated by a sign and admonition from the goddess herself ; an event which
must be waited for with humility , and with such a demeanour , that avoiding precipitancy on the one hand , and contumacy on the other , the aspirant should be , when called on , neither too ready nor too dilatory . Not one of the initiated , said he , was there , of a mind so depraved , or so bent on his own destruction , as without the goddess ' s
special command to dare to undertake her ministry rashly and sacrilegiously , and thereby to commit an act , certain to bring on the perpetrator a deadly injury . For , the gates of the shades below , and the care of human life being in her hands , the ceremony of initiation into her mysteries was , as it were , the undergoing of a voluntary
death , with a precarious chance of resuscitation . Wherefore , the goddess had been accustomed to select for her special service persons standing as it were on the extreme verge ofthe existence they have nearly completed , who might , through her providence , be in a manner born again , and commence a new course of existence . Since Lucius therefore was evidently destined to become a happy member of her
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anoient Mtat
goddess ' s commands in his sleep , to prepare himself for initiation into those sacred rites to which he had so long been destined . Still , though leading the required life of chastity and self-clenial , and though anxious to be of the number of the initiated , he delayed , from reverential dread , to follow the bent of his inclination ; till one night he dreamed ( while ih the temporary abode which he had procured in the temple ) that the chief priest came to him , and presented to him a number of articles which his servant Candidus had brought
him from Thessaly He for a long time wondered what this vision might mean , especially as he was sure that he never had a servant so named . Still , the offering of the presents seemed to portend good . Thus he remained in doubt till the opening of the temple doors in the morning . Just as the priests had begun their morning devotions ,
ana had poured water drawn from a fountain within the sanctuary over the altar , from a chalice , some of his servants suddenly made their appearance with a white horse which had formerly belonged to him . The beast had been dragged about from place to place , and had been sold to many different persons , but Lucius identified him by a mark on his back . He then perceived the prescient wisdom of the goddess in the admonition which he had received , audits
coincidence , not only with the promises of gain which had been conveyed to him , but with the recovery of the white horse under the allegory of his servant Candidus . Considering moreover the benefits he was now receiving as a pledge of others to come , his mind became more intent on his object , and his desire to be received into the holy ministration daily increased .
Accordingly , he importuned the chief priest to initiate him into the mysteries of the "holy night ; " but he in reply checked his importunity , and exhorted him patiently to await the proper opportunity . The day of initiation , he said , as well as the name of the hierophant ^ appointed to perform the sacred rite , must be indicated by a sign and admonition from the goddess herself ; an event which
must be waited for with humility , and with such a demeanour , that avoiding precipitancy on the one hand , and contumacy on the other , the aspirant should be , when called on , neither too ready nor too dilatory . Not one of the initiated , said he , was there , of a mind so depraved , or so bent on his own destruction , as without the goddess ' s
special command to dare to undertake her ministry rashly and sacrilegiously , and thereby to commit an act , certain to bring on the perpetrator a deadly injury . For , the gates of the shades below , and the care of human life being in her hands , the ceremony of initiation into her mysteries was , as it were , the undergoing of a voluntary
death , with a precarious chance of resuscitation . Wherefore , the goddess had been accustomed to select for her special service persons standing as it were on the extreme verge ofthe existence they have nearly completed , who might , through her providence , be in a manner born again , and commence a new course of existence . Since Lucius therefore was evidently destined to become a happy member of her