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he was a god, perhaps having partaken of the savor of roasted meats, of which, indeed, your gods confess it is their "privilege to receive their portion"—with a thunderbolt he tortures the Titans and entrusts the limbs of Dionysus to his son Apollo to bury. And he, for he did not disobey Zeus, carries it to Parnassus and lays down the dismembered corpse. 2.3.27 But if you wish to see also the rites of the Corybantes, these two, having killed their third brother, covered the head of the corpse with a purple cloth and, having crowned it, buried it, carrying it on a bronze shield to the foothills 2.3.28 of Olympus. And these are the mysteries, to speak concisely, murders and burials. And their priests, whom those concerned call Anactotelestae, add monstrous tales to the calamity, utterly forbidding celery to be placed on the table; for they suppose, indeed, that the celery has grown from the blood that flowed from the Corybant; just as, of course, the women celebrating the Thesmophoria are careful not to eat the seeds of the pomegranate; for they believe that the pomegranates have sprouted from the drops of Dionysus's blood that fell to the ground. 2.3.29 And calling the Corybantes "Cabeiri," they also proclaim a Cabeiric rite. For these two fratricides themselves, taking up the chest in which the phallus of Dionysus was laid, brought it to Tyrrhenia, merchants of a famous cargo; and there they lived, being exiles, handing over to the Tyrrhenians for worship the highly-prized teaching of piety, the phallus and the chest; for which reason some, not unreasonably, wish Dionysus to be called Attis, as having been deprived of his genitals. 2.3.30 And what wonder if the Tyrrhenians, the barbarians, are initiated into such shameful sufferings, when for the Athenians and the rest of Greece I am ashamed even to speak of 2.3.31 the mythology concerning Deo, which is full of shame? For Deo, wandering in search of her daughter Kore around Eleusis—this place is in Attica—grows weary and sits down by a well in grief. This is forbidden to the initiates even now, so that the initiated might not seem to imitate 2.3.32 the lamenting one. Now at that time the earth-born were inhabiting Eleusis; their names were Baubo and Dysaules and Triptolemus, and also Eumolpus and Eubuleus; Triptolemus was a herdsman, Eumolpus a shepherd, and Eubuleus a swineherd; from whom the Eumolpidae and the Kerykes, this 2.3.33 hierophantic family in Athens, flourished. And indeed—for I will not shrink from speaking—Baubo, having shown hospitality to Deo, offers her a mixed drink. And when she refused to take it and was unwilling to drink—for she was mourning—Baubo, becoming very grieved, as if she had been scorned, forsooth, lifts up her private parts and displays them to the goddess. And Deo is delighted by the sight and at last accepts the drink, pleased with the spectacle. 2.3.34 These are the secret mysteries of the Athenians, and these things, you know, Orpheus also records. And I will set beside you the very words of Orpheus, so that you may have the mystagogue himself as a witness to the shamelessness: So saying, she drew up her robes, and showed all the unseemly parts of her body. And the child was Iacchus, and he was waving his hand, laughing, under Baubo's breasts. And when the goddess smiled, she smiled in her heart, and she accepted the glittering cup, in which the mixed drink was. 2.3.35 And the password of the Eleusinian mysteries is: "I have fasted, I have drunk the mixed drink, I have taken from the chest, having worked I put it back into the basket and from the basket into the chest." Fine spectacles indeed and fitting for a goddess. 2.3.36 The rites are worthy then of night and of fire and of the "great-souled," or rather foolish-minded, people of the sons of Erechtheus, and in addition also of the other Greeks, 2.3.37 for whom "there await on dying such things as they do not expect." To whom, then, does Heraclitus of Ephesus prophesy? "To night-wanderers, magi, bacchanals, Lenaean revelers, initiates," to these he threatens the things after death, for these he prophesies fire; "for the mysteries considered 2.3.38 such among men are celebrated in an unholy manner." Custom, therefore, and vain opinion and the mysteries of the serpent are a kind of deceit being worshipped, the truly uninitiated initiations and the unholy rites with a bastard piety 2.3.39

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θεὸς ἦν, τάχα που τῆς κνίσης τῶν ὀπτωμένων κρεῶν μεταλαβών, ἧς δὴ τὸ «γέρας λαχεῖν» ὁμολογοῦσιν ὑμῶν οἱ θεοί- κεραυνῷ τοὺς Τιτᾶνας αἰκίζεται καὶ τὰ μέλη τοῦ ∆ιονύσου Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ παιδὶ παρακατατίθεται καταθάψαι. ὁ δέ, οὐ γὰρ ἠπείθησε ∆ιί, εἰς τὸν Παρνασὸν φέρων κατατίθεται διεσπασμένον τὸν νεκρόν. 2.3.27 Εἰ θέλεις δ' ἐποπτεῦσαι καὶ Κορυβάντων ὄργια, τὸν τρίτον ἀδελφὸν ἀποκτείναντες οὗτοι τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ νεκροῦ φοινικίδι ἐπεκαλυψάτην καὶ καταστέψαντ' ἐθαψάτην, φέροντες ἐπὶ χαλκῆς ἀσπίδος ὑπὸ τὰς ὑπωρείας 2.3.28 τοῦ Ὀλύμπου. καὶ ταῦτ' ἐστὶ τὰ μυστήρια, συνελόντι φάναι, φόνοι καὶ τάφοι· οἱ δὲ ἱερεῖς οἱ τῶνδε, οὓς Ἀνακτοτελέστας οἷς μέλον καλεῖν καλοῦσι, προσεπιτερατεύονται τῇ συμφορᾷ, ὁλόριζον ἀπαγορεύοντες σέλινον ἐπὶ τραπέζης τιθέναι· οἴονται γὰρ δὴ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἀπορρυέντος τοῦ κορυβαντικοῦ τὸ σέλινον ἐκπεφυκέναι· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ αἱ θεσμοφοριάζουσαι τῆς ῥοιᾶς τοὺς κόκκους παραφυλάττουσιν ἐσθίειν· τοὺς γὰρ ἀποπεπτωκότας χαμαὶ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ∆ιονύσου αἵματος σταγόνων βεβλαστηκέναι νομίζουσι τὰς ῥοιάς. 2.3.29 Καβείρους δὲ τοὺς Κορύβαντας καλοῦντες καὶ τελετὴν Καβειρικὴν καταγγέλλουσιν. αὐτὼ γὰρ δὴ τούτω τὼ ἀδελφοκτόνω τὴν κίστην ἀνελομένω, ἐν ᾗ τὸ τοῦ ∆ιονύσου αἰδοῖον ἀπέκειτο, εἰς Τυρρηνίαν κατήγαγον, εὐκλεοῦς ἔμποροι φορτίου· κἀνταῦθα διετριβέτην φυγάδε ὄντε, τὴν πολυτίμητον εὐσεβείας διδασκαλίαν, αἰδοῖα καὶ κίστην, θρησκεύειν παραθεμένω Τυρρηνοῖς· δι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἀπεικότως τὸν ∆ιόνυσον προσαγορεύεσθαί τινες Ἄττιν θέλουσιν, αἰδοίων ἐστερημένον. 2.3.30 Καὶ τί θαυμαστὸν εἰ Τυρρηνοὶ οἱ βάρβαροι αἰσχροῖς οὕτω τελίσκονται παθήμασιν, ὅπου γε Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ Ἑλλάδι αἰδοῦμαι καὶ λέγειν 2.3.31 αἰσχύνης ἔμπλεως ἡ περὶ τὴν ∆ηὼ μυθολογία; ἀλωμένη γὰρ ἡ ∆ηὼ κατὰ ζήτησιν τῆς θυγατρὸς τῆς Κόρης περὶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα-τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον-ἀποκάμνει καὶ φρέατι ἐπικαθίζει λυπουμένη. τοῦτο τοῖς μυουμένοις ἀπαγορεύεται εἰσέτι νῦν, ἵνα μὴ δοκοῖεν οἱ τετελεσμένοι μι2.3.32 μεῖσθαι τὴν ὀδυρομένην. ᾤκουν δὲ τηνικάδε τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα οἱ γηγενεῖς· ὀνόματα αὐτοῖς Βαυβὼ καὶ ∆υσαύλης καὶ Τριπτόλεμος, ἔτι δὲ Εὔμολπός τε καὶ Εὐβουλεύς· βουκόλος ὁ Τριπτόλεμος ἦν, ποιμὴν δὲ ὁ Εὔμολπος, συβώτης δὲ ὁ Εὐβουλεύς· ἀφ' ὧν τὸ Εὐμολπιδῶν καὶ τὸ Κηρύκων τὸ ἱεροφαντικὸν δὴ 2.3.33 τοῦτο Ἀθήνησι γένος ἤνθησε. καὶ δὴ οὐ γὰρ ἀνήσω μὴ οὐχὶ εἰπεῖν ξενίσασα ἡ Βαυβὼ τὴν ∆ηὼ ὀρέγει κυκεῶνα αὐτῇ. τῆς δὲ ἀναινομένης λαβεῖν καὶ πιεῖν οὐκ ἐθελούσης-πενθήρης γὰρ ἧν-περιαλγὴς ἡ Βαυβὼ γενομένη, ὡς ὑπεροραθεῖσα δῆθεν, ἀναστέλλεται τὰ αἰδοῖα καὶ ἐπιδεικνύει τῇ θεῷ, ἡ δὲ τέρπεται τῇ ὄψει ἡ ∆ηὼ καὶ μόλις ποτὲ δέχεται τὸ ποτόν, ἡσθεῖσα τῷ θεάματι. 2.3.34 Ταῦτ' ἐστὶ τὰ κρύφια τῶν Ἀθηναίων μυστήρια, ταῦτά τοι καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ἀναγράφει. παραθήσομαι δέ σοι αὐτὰ τοῦ Ὀρφέως τὰ ἔπη, ἵν' ἔχῃς μάρτυρα τῆς ἀναισχυντίας τὸν μυσταγωγόν· ὣς εἰποῦσα πέπλους ἀνεσύρατο, δεῖξε δὲ πάντα σώματος οὐδὲ πρέποντα τύπον· παῖς δ' ἦεν Ἴακχος χειρί τέ μιν ῥίπτασκε γελῶν Βαυβοῦς ὑπὸ κόλποις. ἡ δ' ἐπεὶ οὖν μείδησε θεά, μείδησ' ἐνὶ θυμῷ, δέξατο δ' αἰόλον ἄγγος, ἐν ᾧ κυκεὼν ἐνέκειτο. 2.3.35 κἄστι τὸ σύνθημα Ἐλευσινίων μυστηρίων· «ἐνήστευσα, ἔπιον τὸν κυκεῶνα, ἔλαβον ἐκ κίστης, ἐργασάμενος ἀπεθέμην εἰς κάλαθον καὶ ἐκ καλάθου εἰς κίστην». καλά γε τὰ θεάματα καὶ θεᾷ πρέποντα. 2.3.36 Ἄξια μὲν οὖν νυκτὸς τὰ τελέσματα καὶ πυρὸς καὶ τοῦ «μεγαλήτορος», μᾶλλον δὲ ματαιόφρονος Ἐρεχθειδῶν δήμου, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλή2.3.37 νων, οὕστινας «μένει τελευτήσαντας ἅσσα οὐδὲ ἔλπονται». τίσι δὴ μαντεύεται Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος; «νυκτιπόλοις, μάγοις, βάκχοις, λήναις, μύσταις», τούτοις ἀπειλεῖ τὰ μετὰ θάνατον, τούτοις μαντεύεται τὸ πῦρ· «τὰ γὰρ νομιζό2.3.38 μενα κατὰ ἀνθρώπους μυστήρια ἀνιερωστὶ μυεῦνται». νόμος οὖν καὶ ὑπόληψις κενὴ καὶ τοῦ δράκοντος τὰ μυστήρια ἀπάτη τίς ἐστι θρησκευομένη τὰς ἀμυήτους ὄντως μυήσεις καὶ τὰς ἀνοργιάστους τελετὰς εὐσεβείᾳ νόθῳ προ2.3.39