BOOK I CH. xt § 119. 223

§ 18 to Democritus in § 19, Schwencke (p. 61) thinks that C. here departs from his author (as he often does where he wishes to enliven the discussion by a quotation) perhaps through a reminiscence of Z’usc. I 29 guaere quorum demonstrentur sepulcra in Graecia, reminiscere, quoniam es initiatus, quae tradantur mysteriis, where the tombs of the gods are also brought into juxtaposition with the mysteries. On the general subject of the mysteries, see Dillinger 1. c. 130—200, and Lobeck Aglaophamus.
sanctam illam et augustam. C. and Atticus were initiated, as we learn from Leg. 11 36, where the beneficial influence of the mysteries is thus spoken of: nam mthi cum multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenae tuae peperisse atque in vitam hominum attulisse, tum nihil melius ilis mys- teriis, quibus ex agresti immanique vita exculti ad humanitatem et mitigati sumus, initiaque ut appellantur, ita re vera principia vitae cognovimus, neque solum cum laetitia vivendi rationem accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliore moriendi; and in the preceding paragraph, discussing the prohibition of nocturnal worship, he asks quid ergo aget [acchus EHumolpidaeque nostri et augusta ula mysteria, si quidem sacra nocturna tollimus? On the special force of the word augustus see Ov. Fast. 1 609 sancta vocant augusta patres, augusta vocantur | templa sacerdotum rite dicata manu | ; it is joined, as here, with sanctus in It 62, 111 53.
ubi initiantur—ultimae. It is not known from whence this iambic line is taken. Orarwm is the Inclusive (partitive) Genitive after ultimae, which I take as Nom. Pl. agreeing with gentes, not (as Sch. apparently) as Gen. Sing. It is loosely added, like locoruwm, terrarum, &c., to define the meaning of wt. With regard to the admission to the mysteries, Isocrates Paneg. 42 mentions that barbarians were not allowed to be initiated, but the rule seems to have been relaxed in later times, as in the case of C.; indeed Lobeck considers that any one already initiated was at liberty to introduce a friend of whatever nationality (p. 28 foll.), so that the word pvotaywyos came to mean no more than cicerone, But the form of initia- tion was always required, the uninitiated could only enter the temple at the peril of their lives, as is shown by the fate of the two Acarnanians whose -death led to the war between Athens and Macedonia Bc, 200 (Liv. xxx1 14).
Samothraciam—Lemni: these islands together with Imbros were the seat of the Cabiric worship, on which see DUll. 1]. c. p. 164 foll., Lobeck Agl. p. 1109—1329, Preller Gr. Myth. 1 660—673. Herodotus 11 51 is the first who mentions the Samothracian mysteries. Preller thinks that these were not of much importance till after the Persian War, and that they were partly copied from the Eleusinia. Aristophanes (Pax 278) speaks of the Samothracian initiation as a safeguard in danger; especially at sea, as we learn from other sources, cf. V. D. 11 89. Under the Macedonian and Roman rule (partly owing to the supposed connexion of Rome with Troy) these mysteries were continually growing in importance. See Liv. xiv. 5, Galen De usu part. xvit 1, Juv. 11 144 jures licet et Samothracum et nos-
224 BOOK I CH. XLII § 119.
trorum aras. Lobeck denies that there was any difference between the Samothracian and Lemnian mysteries. The latter are only mentioned here and in another passage from the Philoctetes of Attius quoted by Varro LZ. L. vu 11 Lemnia praesto | litora rara, et celsa Cabirum | delubra tenes, mysteria quets | pristina cistis consaepta sacris | Ribbeck Frag. Lat. ip. l73:
nocturno—densa: anapaestic dimeter followed by the versus paroe- miacus; probably a quotation from the Philoctetes of Attius: ‘those rites which are celebrated at Lemnos in nightly procession, deep shrouded in their leafy covert’ (sdvestribus saepibus densa a sort of hypallage for denszs silvis saepta).
quibus explicatis—deorum. Compare 111 63 on the allegorizing of the Stoics. The mysteries themselves appear to have been a kind of miracle play illustrative of the story of Demeter and of other deities, such as Zagreus, who were in later times associated with her. It is doubtful whether the symbolical action was accompanied by any authorized inter- pretation, but philosophers and moralists sought to explain the mysteries in such a manner as to recommend their own views. While the ordinary spectator, satisfied with the splendid and impressive scenes which passed before his eyes, carried away with him no distinct ideas beyond the suggestion of a future life of happiness which was in store for the initiated, the Stoics (as Ddllinger says, p. 198) regarded them as symboliz- ing the truth that the gods were merely a portion of the material universe ; the Peripatetics as showing that God had laid the foundation of civilization in agriculture; the Euhemerists that the objects of worship were only deified men; the Pythagoreans and New Platonists that the secret of all religions was contained in the ancient theology of Egypt and the East. Plutarch expressly says that he who would rightly understand and profit by the mysteries must take with him Adyov ek pirocodias pvctaywydv (Is. c. 68). For exx. of the ‘physical interpretation’ here referred to by C. cf. Lobeck l.c. p. 136 foll., who quotes Themistius Or. 29 for the view of Prodicus that the mysteries only referred to the operations of agriculture ; similarly Cornutus c. 28, and Varro (ap. Aug. C. D. vit 20) V. de Eleusiniis nihil interpretatur nisi quod attinet ad frumentum; Proserpinam dicit significare fecunditatem seminum, quae cum defuisset tempore, exortam esse opinionem quod Cereris filiam Orcus abstulerit, &c., ib. vir 28 V. Samo- thracum mysteria sic interpretatur ; dicit se tb multis indiciis collegisse in simulacris aliud significare caelum, aliud terram, aliud exempla rerum, quas Plato appellat ideas; caelum Jovem, terram Junonem, ideas Minervam vult intelliyt ; somewhat different is the account given by the same author in Ling. Lat. v 58, terra enim et caclum, ut Samothracum initia docent sunt Dei Magni et hi quos dixi multis nominibus ; so Plut. (et ap. Delph. p. 389) speaks of the Zagreus myth as symbolizing the divine soul of the world which is ever clothing itself in new shapes.
1 See on the other side, Doll. p. 170.