CHAP. XV. PRELIMINARY ORDEALS. 327 



During that part of the ceremony called sTroTrrs/a, 

 " inspection," the Gods themselves were supposed 

 to appear to the initiated ; and it was in order to dis- 

 cover if the candidates were sufficiently prepared 

 for such a mark of their favour that these terrific 

 preludes were instituted. Proclus thus describes 

 them in his Commentary on Plato's Republic : " In 

 all initiations and mysteries, the Gods exhibit them- 

 selves under many forms, and appear in a variety 

 of shapes. Sometimes their unfigured light is held 

 forth to the view ; sometimes this light appears 

 under a human form ; and it sometimes assumes 

 a different shape." In his commentary on the 

 first Alcibiades, he also says, *' In the most holy of 

 the mysteries, before the God appears the impul- 

 sions of certain terrestrial daemons become visible, 

 alluring the initiated from undefiled goods to 

 matter." 



Apuleius * mentions the same extraordinary 

 illusions, — " the sun being made to appear at mid- 

 night, glittering with white light ;" and it is sup- 

 posed that Ezekiel t alludes to similar scenes when 

 speaking of the abominations committed by the 

 idolatrous " ancients of the house of Israel in the 

 dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery.'' 



The preliminary ordeals, through which candi- 

 dates were obliged to pass, previous to admission into 

 the Egyptian mysteries, were equally, if not more, 

 severe ; and it frequently happened that their lives 

 were exposed to great danger, as is said to have 



* Metam. lib. ii. 256. f Ezek. viii. 12. 



Y 4 



