_Eleusis_, the _place_, and _Eleusinian_, as descriptive of the _mysteries_ therein solemnised, were both denominated in honour of that _Advent_, which all nations awaited; and the fulfilment of which, in the person of one of the _Budhas_, made him to be recognised on one occasion as the “source of the _faith_ of the three epochs of the world.”[398] I have already redeemed the character of those ceremonies from the sinister imputations which attached to their _secrecy_. An apprehension that their publication would subvert the popular belief, or a supposed indelicacy in their tenour, were the _mildest_ constructions which the _uninitiated_ would afford them. Though secure in the sufficiency of my former proofs, I cannot avoid taking support from an article in a very talented publication of our day, in which the writer, _wholly uninstructed, while he evidently is, as to the nature_ of those celebrations, yet confirms the fact of their worth and their purity. “From the whole concurrent testimony of ancient history,” says he, “we must believe that the Eleusinian mysteries were used for good purposes, for there is not an instance on record that the honour of an initiation was ever obtained by a very bad man. The hierophants--the higher priests of the order--were always exemplary in their morals, and became sanctified in the eyes of the people. The high-priesthood of this order in Greece was continued in one family, the Eumolpidæ, for ages. In this they resembled both the Egyptians and the Jews. “The Eleusinian mysteries in Rome took another form, and were called the rites of Bona Dea; but she was the same Ceres that was worshipped in Greece. All the distinguished Roman authors speak of these rites and in terms of profound respect. Horace denounces the wretch who should attempt to reveal the secrets of these rites; Virgil mentions these mysteries with great respect; and Cicero alludes to them with a greater reverence than either of the poets we have named. Both the Greeks and Romans punished any insult offered to these mysteries with the most persevering vindictiveness. Alcibiades was charged with insulting these religious rites; and although the proof of his offence was quite doubtful, yet he suffered for it for years in exile and misery; and it must be allowed that he was the most popular man of his age.”[399] Analogous to these were the solemnities at Carthage, designated by the name of _Phiditia_; and the import of which, as well in term as in substance, has been no less a riddle to antiquarians, than was the sanctified commemoration which it disguises. During the interval of their celebration, the youths received lessons from their elders of the state, as to the regulation of their conduct in after life; and the lustre of truth, and the comeliness of virtue, as they shone forth in _Budha_ (_which solves the mystery of the name_), were the invariable _ethics_ they propounded.