44 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
words to be initiated into their mysteries. The priests, perceiving the 
tendency and the advantages which it gave them, became more careful in 
concealing the truths ae they at first had sought to propagate. They 
required therefore that a candidate for initiation into the mysteries should 
be of a mind sufficiently cultivated and enlightened to understand and 
practise the lessons taught by them to their disciples, and that he should 
have lived a pure and moral life. Even when these conditions were fulfilled 
a number of preparations and tests had to be gone through, and a solemn 
and fearful oath of perpetual silence was administered. The initiation itself 
‘was accompanied by many and strange ceremonies. The novice was then 
instructed gradually, at first still in symbols and by degrees only, and as 
he advanced from step to step he was made acquainted with their true 
meaning, and what they were intended to convey. 
The manner of proceeding was as follows: When a candidate offered 
himself for initiation he was required to spend a week in solitude and medita- 
tion, and to purify the body by frequent ablutions and severe mortifications 
of the flesh. Then he was ordered to enter the pyramid during the night, 
where he had to descend by aid of his hands and feet through a narrow passage 
without steps, until he reached a cave-like opening, through which he had 
to crawl to another subterranean cave, where three priests, disguised as 
jackals, sought to frighten him, first by their appearance and noise, and 
afterwards by enumerating the dangers that awaited him on his journey 
onwards. If his courage did not fail him here, he was permitted to pass on 
to the hall of fire. This was a large apartment lined with burning stuffs, 
and whose floor was a grate painted flame color; the bars of this grate 
were so narrow that they offered scarcely room enough for the sole of his 
foot. Having passed through this hall, he came to a canal which he had 
to cross by swimming. As soon as he reached the opposite shore, he found 
his passage obstructed by an iron door. While vainly striving to force his 
way, the earth suddenly began to quake beneath his feet ; he sought for sup- 
port from the iron rings inserted in the door, but he no sooner grasped them 
than he felt himself abruptly lifted up in the air, exposed to raging and 
piercingly cold winds. When he was almost exhausted by his sufferings, 
he was gently let down and the door opened before him of its own accord. 
A dazzling light filled the apartment of the temple into which he found 
himself suddenly introduced, and before and around him stood the whole 
band of priests, dressed in full regalia, and singing hymns in praise of their 
divinity. 
There he was made to kneel before an altar, and take the solemn oath 
which bound him to secresy. He was then retained for several months in 
the temple, where moral trials of different kinds awaited him. The object 
_of this was to bring out all the traits in his character, and to test his fitness 
for his vocation. After he had passed through this trial, there came what 
was called his manifestation. This consisted of a number of ceremonies, 
of which the novice was the subject during the space of twelve days. He 
was dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Horus, and decorated with the twelve 
consecrated scarfs (stolw) and the Olympic cloak. These scarfs were 
264 
