After this demonstration the epoptæ partook of barley meal flavoured with pennyroyal, as a solemn form of communion with Demeter. According to Eustathius, the compound was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid, half-liquid. This done, each of the initiated repeated after the hierophant the following words: "I have fasted, I have drank 'cyceon.' I have taken from the cystos, and after having tasted of it I placed it in the calathos. I again took it from the calathos and put it back in the cystos." This formula, notwithstanding its length, is said to have been the password leading to the third degree. Justin Martyr gives the oath of initiation as follows: "So help me heaven, the work of God who is great and wise: so help me the word of the Father which he spake when he established the whole universe in his wisdom." With this ceremony the third degree ended, save that the epoptæ were placed upon exalted seats, around which the priests circled in mystic dances. The day succeeding admission into the final degree was regarded as a rigorous fast, at the conclusion of which the epoptæ drank of the mystic cyceon and ate of the sacred cakes. According to Theo of Smyrna, the full or complete initiation consisted of five steps or degrees, which he sets out as follows:-- "Again, philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred ceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are five parts of initiation; the first of which is previous purgation, for neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive them, but there are certain characters who are prevented by the voice of the crier, such as those who possess impure hands and an inarticulate voice, since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain purgations, but after purgation the tradition of the sacred rite succeeds. The third part is denominated inspection. And the fourth, which is the end and design of inspection, is the binding of the head and fixing the crown, so that the initiated may, by this means, be enabled to communicate to others the sacred rites in which he has been instructed. Whether after this he becomes a torch-bearer, or an interpreter of the Mysteries, or sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is produced from all these, is friendship with divinity, and the enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with the gods. According to Plato, purification is to be derived from the five mathematical disciplines, viz. arithmetic, geometry, stereometry, music, and astronomy." Apuleius is represented as saying to himself:-- "I approached the confines of death; and, having crossed the threshold of Proserpine, I at length returned, borne along through all the elements. I beheld the sun shining in the dead of night with luminous splendour: I saw both the infernal and the celestial gods. I approached and adored them."