tings of the breast, and again in many places
abusive language at the sacrifices, and other mad doings". The mysteries
of Demeter, as will appear when her legend is criticised, contained one
element all unlike these "mad doings"; and the evidence of Sophocles,
Pindar, Plutarch and others demonstrate that religious consolations
were somehow conveyed in the Eleusinia. But Greece had many other local
mysteries, and in several of these it is undeniable the Greeks acted
much as contemporary Australians, Zunis and Negroes act in their secret
initiations which, however, also inculcate moral ideas of considerable
excellence. Important as these analogies are, they appear to have
escaped the notice of most mythologists. M. Alfred Maury, however, in
Les Religions de la Grece, published in 1857, offers several instances
of hidden rites, common to Hellas and to barbarism.

There seem in the mysteries of savage races to be two chief purposes.
There is the intention of giving to the initiated a certain sacred
character, which puts them in close relation with gods or demons, and
there is the introduction of the young to complete or advancing manhood,
and to full participation in the savage Church with its ethical ideas.
The latter ceremonies correspond, in short, to confirmation, and they
are usually of a severe character, being meant to test by fasting (as
Plutarch says) and by torture (as in the familiar Spartan rite) the
courage and constancy of the young braves. The Greek mysteries best
known to us are the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinia. In the former the
rites (as will appear later) partook of the nature of savage "medicine"
or magic, and were mainly intended to secure fertility in husbandry and
in the family. In the Eleusinia the purpose was the purification of the
initiated, secured by ablutions and by standing on the "ram's-skin of
Zeus," and after purifications the mystae engaged in sacred dances,
and were permitted to view a miracle play representing the sorrows and
consolations of Demeter. There was a higher element, necessarily obscure
in nature. The chief features in the whole were purifications, dancing,
sacrifice and the representation of the miracle play. It would be
tedious to offer an exhaustive account of savage rites analogous to
these mysteries of Hellas. Let it suffice to display the points where
Greek found itself in harmony with Australian, and American, and African
practice. These points are: (1) mystic dances;