THEIR MYSTICISM. 305 



of Eleusis. He became celebrated for his knowledge 

 and eloquence; but especially for his skill in the 

 supernatural arts which were connected with the 

 doctrines of his sect. He appears before us rather 

 as a hierophant than a philosopher. A large por- 

 tion of his life was spent in evocations, purifications, 

 fastings, prayers, hymns, intercourse with appari- 

 tions, and with the gods, and in the celebration 

 of the festivals of Paganism, especially those which 

 were held in honour of the Mother of the Gods. 

 His religious admiration extended to all forms of 

 mythology. The philosopher, said he, is not the 

 priest of a single religion, but of all the religions 

 in the world. Accordingly, he composed hymns in 

 honour of all the divinities of Greece, Rome, Egypt, 

 Arabia ; Christianity alone was excluded from his 

 favour (M). 



2. Mystical Arithmetic. It is unnecessary 

 further to exemplify, from Proclus, the general 

 mystical character of the school and time to which 

 he belonged; but we may notice more specially 

 one of the forms of this mysticism, which very 

 frequently offers itself to our notice, especially in 

 him; and which we may call Mystical Arithmetic. 

 Like all the kinds of Mysticism, this consists in 

 the attempt to connect our conceptions of external 

 objects by general and inappropriate notions of 

 goodness, perfection, and relation to the divine 

 essence and government ; instead of referring such 

 conceptions to those appropriate ideas, which, by 

 VOL. i. X 



