Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anc^
Virgil makes the former do the usual office of the latter in conducting to the abodes of the dead . t So that a golden bough , we see , was an important implement , and of very complicated intention in the administration of the mysteries . iEneas is now directed by the Sibyl , after certain preparatory sacrifices of a lamb to Nox the mother of the furies , and of a heifer to Proserpine , to march boldly forward with his drawn sword ; and
is thus conducted by her to the mouth of a cavern , the approach to the regions of Proserpine . This first part of his journey , and his progress through the abodes of misery , represent the lesser mysteries . With regard indeed to this revelation of Virgil ' s , it may be observed that had it been as penal in Rome as _ it was in Greece , he would scarcely have ventured on this part of his poem ; indeed even in Home , there seem to have been different opinions about it , as we find in Horace , lib . iii . Od . ii .
26—" Vetabo , qui Cereris sacrum ¦ Vulgarit arcana , sub isdem Sit trabibus , fragilemve mecum Solvat pliaselon . " * He therefore does it in a covert manner ; and , conscious of the imputed impiety of bringing them to open day , stops short in his
narrative , and breaks out into this solemn apology ( 1 . 264 ) : ~ u quibus imperium est animarum , umbrseque silentes , Si mihi fas audita loqui , sit nnmine vestro Pandere res alta terra , et caligine mersas . "f At the beginning of the journey his guide had advised 7 Eneas to summon all his courage , as being about to undergo the severest trials
of fortitude . These trials were of two kinds , the encountering real labour and difficulties , and the being exposed , to false and imaginary terrors . Virgil describes the first of these as passing through ( at the entrance ) an assemblage of personified griefs , cares , diseases , old age , fear ^ famine , poverty , toil , death-like sleep , discord , and war ; the
second as encountering the shadowy forms of Centaurs , the hundredhanded Briareus , the snakes of Lerna , the flaming Ohimaera , Gorgons , Harpies , and Geryon ' s three-bodied shade . Into the " mysteries of Mithras , " it was said that no one could be initiated till he had passed gradually through the probationary labours , of which there were eighty degrees , from less to greater ;
f " Tu pias Icctis animas reponis Sedibus , virgaquo levem coerces Aurea turbam . " Hokat . lib . i . Od . x . ( to Mercury ) , 17-19 . " Thou conductest the souls of tho pious to tho abodes of happiness , and with thy golden rod restrainest the shadowy throng . "
* I" will not suffer him who shall divulge the sacred rites of the mysterious Ceres to be under the same roof , or to sail in the same vessel with me . " f " 0 ye gods , who reign over the spirits of the dead , and ye silent shades , if it may be permitted to me to declare what I have heard , assist me , I pray , with your spirit , in divulging the secrets of the deep earth and darkness / '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Anc^
Virgil makes the former do the usual office of the latter in conducting to the abodes of the dead . t So that a golden bough , we see , was an important implement , and of very complicated intention in the administration of the mysteries . iEneas is now directed by the Sibyl , after certain preparatory sacrifices of a lamb to Nox the mother of the furies , and of a heifer to Proserpine , to march boldly forward with his drawn sword ; and
is thus conducted by her to the mouth of a cavern , the approach to the regions of Proserpine . This first part of his journey , and his progress through the abodes of misery , represent the lesser mysteries . With regard indeed to this revelation of Virgil ' s , it may be observed that had it been as penal in Rome as _ it was in Greece , he would scarcely have ventured on this part of his poem ; indeed even in Home , there seem to have been different opinions about it , as we find in Horace , lib . iii . Od . ii .
26—" Vetabo , qui Cereris sacrum ¦ Vulgarit arcana , sub isdem Sit trabibus , fragilemve mecum Solvat pliaselon . " * He therefore does it in a covert manner ; and , conscious of the imputed impiety of bringing them to open day , stops short in his
narrative , and breaks out into this solemn apology ( 1 . 264 ) : ~ u quibus imperium est animarum , umbrseque silentes , Si mihi fas audita loqui , sit nnmine vestro Pandere res alta terra , et caligine mersas . "f At the beginning of the journey his guide had advised 7 Eneas to summon all his courage , as being about to undergo the severest trials
of fortitude . These trials were of two kinds , the encountering real labour and difficulties , and the being exposed , to false and imaginary terrors . Virgil describes the first of these as passing through ( at the entrance ) an assemblage of personified griefs , cares , diseases , old age , fear ^ famine , poverty , toil , death-like sleep , discord , and war ; the
second as encountering the shadowy forms of Centaurs , the hundredhanded Briareus , the snakes of Lerna , the flaming Ohimaera , Gorgons , Harpies , and Geryon ' s three-bodied shade . Into the " mysteries of Mithras , " it was said that no one could be initiated till he had passed gradually through the probationary labours , of which there were eighty degrees , from less to greater ;
f " Tu pias Icctis animas reponis Sedibus , virgaquo levem coerces Aurea turbam . " Hokat . lib . i . Od . x . ( to Mercury ) , 17-19 . " Thou conductest the souls of tho pious to tho abodes of happiness , and with thy golden rod restrainest the shadowy throng . "
* I" will not suffer him who shall divulge the sacred rites of the mysterious Ceres to be under the same roof , or to sail in the same vessel with me . " f " 0 ye gods , who reign over the spirits of the dead , and ye silent shades , if it may be permitted to me to declare what I have heard , assist me , I pray , with your spirit , in divulging the secrets of the deep earth and darkness / '