"I shall speak of the most important point of the religion of the Athenians, of those mysteries whose origin is lost in the night of ages; whose ceremonies inspire no less terror than veneration; and whose secret has never been revealed, except by a few persons who were immediately devoted to death, and to public execration; for the law not only pronounces against them the confiscation of their property and the loss of their life, but it orders that a column be erected, to perpetuate the rememberance of their crime and of their punishment. "Of all the mysteries established in honor of the gods, none were more celebrated than those of Ceres. This goddess herself, it is said, regulated them, while she was wandering on the earth for the purpose of finding Proserpine, ravished by Pluto, she arrived in the plain of Eleusis. Pleased with the welcome extended to her by the inhabitants, she presented them with two signaled blessings, agriculture, and initiation to a sacred doctrine. It is added, that the minor mysteries which are preparatory to the major, were instituted to the honor of Hercules. "People believe, that, wherever the Athenians established the mysteries of Eleusis, the spirit of union and humanity became more general; because they free the soul from ignorance and stains; procure the particular assistance of the gods; the means of arriving at the perfection of virtue; the sweets of a holy life; the hope of a peaceable death, and of an endless bliss. Those initiated will occupy a distinguished place in the Elysian fields; they will enjoy a pure light, and they will dwell in the bosom of the Deity; whereas, those who are profane will dwell hereafter in abodes of darkness and of horror. "In order to avoid such an alternative the Greeks flocked from everywhere to Eleusis to find the promised bliss. Though young, the Athenians are admitted to the ceremonies of the initiation; and those who never participated to them ask this favor before they die; the menaces and the pictures of the sufferings of another life, before considered as a subject of derision, cause a more vivid impression on the mind; and then terror generates weakness. However, there are enlightened men who do not believe that there is any need for them to be initiated in order to be virtuous. Socrates constantly declined joining the mysteries; and, one day, Diogenes being solicited, in my presence, to ask for initiation, answered: 'Patæcion, a famous thief, was initiated; Epaminondas and Agesilas never asked for it. Can I believe that the former will go to the Elysian fields and the latter to the Tartarus.'