d as to a future state,"
says Aristides, "the initiated shall not roll in mire and grope in
darkness, a fate which awaits the unholy and uninitiated." When the
Athenians advised Diogenes to be initiated, "It will be pretty enough,"
replied he, "to see Agesilaus and Epaminondas wallowing in the mire, while
the most contemptible rascals who have been initiated are strolling in the
islands of bliss!" When Antisthenes was to be initiated, and the priests
were boasting of the wonderful benefit to ensue, "Why, forsooth, 'tis
wonder your reverence don't hang yourself, in order to come at it sooner,"
was his remark. When, however, such benefits were expected to be derived
from the {35} mysteries, it is no wonder the world crowded to the
Eleusinian standard. Initiation was, in reality, a consecration to Ceres
and Proserpine. Its result was, honor and reverence from the masses. They
believed all virtue to be inspired by these goddesses. Pericles says: "I am
convinced that the deities of Eleusis inspired me with this sentiment, and
that this stratagem was suggested by the principle of the mystic rites." So
also Aristophanes makes the chorus of the initiated, in his Ranae, to
sing:--

"Let us to flowery mead repair,
With deathless roses blooming,
Whose balmy sweets impregn the air,
Both hills and dales perfuming.
Since fate benign one choir has joined,
We'll trip in mystic measure;
In sweetest harmony combined,
We'll quaff full draughts of pleasure.
For us alone the power of day
A milder light dispenses,
And sheds benign a mellow ray
To cheer our ravished senses.
For we beheld the mystic show,
And braved Eleusis' dangers;
We do and know the deeds we owe
To neighbors, friends, and strangers."

It is believed that the higher orders of magi went further, and pretended
to hold intercourse with, and cause to appear, the very [Greek: eidolon] of
the dead. In the days of Moses it was practised. "There shall not be found
among you ... a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard,
or a necromancer."[32] {36} Diodorus Siculus mentions an oracle near Lake
Avernus, where the dead were raised, as having been in existence before the
age of Hercules.[33] Plutarch, in his life of Cimon, relates that
Pausanias, in his distress, applied to the Psychagogi, or dead-evokers, at
Heraclea, to call up the spirit of Cleonice (whose injured apparition
haunted him incessantly), in order that he might ent