In several passages of the _De Mysteriis_ (ii. 11; v. 1, 2, 3, 7; vi. 6) Iamblichus displays much anxiety lest his zeal for Theurgy should lead him to maintain any position inconsistent with the reverence due to the gods. He was closely pressed on this weak point by the objections of Porphyry. (_Ep. ad Anebon._ 5, 6.) His explanation in reply is, that the deities are not in reality drawn down by the mere human will of the Theurgist, but that man is raised to a participation in the power of the gods. The approximation is real, but the apparent descent of divinity is in fact the ascent of humanity. By his long course of preparation, by his knowledge of rites and symbols, of potent hymns, and of the mysterious virtues of certain herbs and minerals, the Theurgist is supposed to rise at last to the rank of an associate with celestial powers; their knowledge and their will become his, and he controls inferior natures with the authority of the gods themselves. Iamblichus supposes, moreover, that there is an order of powers in the world, irrational and undiscerning, who are altogether at the bidding of man when by threats or conjurations he chooses to compel them. _De Myst._ vi. 5. Footnote 26: _J. Simon_, i. 154; ii. 173. Footnote 27: _J. Simon_, liv. iii. chap. 4. Footnote 28: See Note, p. 106. Footnote 29: _Jules Simon_, ii. 218. BOOK THE FOURTH MYSTICISM IN THE GREEK CHURCH CHAPTER I. Questi ordini di su tutti s’ammirano E di giù vincon si che verso Iddio Tutti tirati sono e tutti tirano. E Dionisio con tanto disio A contemplar questi ordini si mise, Che li nomò e distinse com’ io.[30] DANTE. KATE. I have been looking at the pictures in Mrs. Jameson’s _Sacred and Legendary Art_, of those strange creatures, the hermit saints—the Fathers of the desert. Only see this one, what a mane and claws! The two lions digging the grave there are own brothers to the holy men themselves. ATHERTON. Yet they claimed powers as much above humanity as, to look at them, you would think them beneath it. GOWER. Religious Nebuchadnezzars. WILLOUGHBY. No shavelings, at any rate, like the smooth-faced sanctities of the later calendar. ATHERTON. You will find among these anchorites almost all the wonder-working pretensions of mediæval mysticism in full development, thus early;—the discernment of spirits, gift of prophecy, miraculous powers of various kinds, ecstasy, exorcism, &c. &c. I should take St. Antony as a fair specimen of the whole class.[31] MRS. ATHERTON. Look, here is his picture; there he stands, with crutch and bell and pig.