Christie, James: Disquisitions upon the painted Greek vases, and their probable connection with the shows of the Eleusinian and other mysteries (London, 1825)

89

CHAP. XIII.

Of the dotted Chaplet, Girdle, and Scarf. — The Fate of Cassandra and
the* Flight of JEneas mystically treated.

It was just at this moment that I had promised to myself and
the mystae, my readers, admission to the very adyta of Eleusis-,
for I had found a key, not indeed that golden one which
Sophocles tells us was hung upon the tongue of the Eleusinian
priests, it was of baser metal: with the hope of obtaining useful
information I applied it; but what a nauseous spectacle did it
disclose!

To see the internal organisation of nature laid open, to view
the mysterious ceconomy of her womb, (and this merely to show
the transition from sterility to fecundity, and to prove that
nature is ever reproductive,) might afford entertainment to the
anatomist, or the obstetrical professor; but to an enquirer into
the principles of Greek theology, it presented nothing but
horror and disgust. Let me then quickly close this chamber,
where from every object drips uncleanness, and chase its contents
from my memory. It is now, for the first time, that I applaud
the prudence of those who forbad the disclosure of the mysteries.
The Greek writers often intimate their acquaintance with these

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