Page:Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians (IA b24884170).pdf/180

148 sent, or to disturb Proclus, in his MS. Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, observes, "that in the mysteries some one of the more imperfect dæmons assumes the appearance of one that is more perfect, and draws down to himself souls that are not yet purified, and separates them from the Gods. Hence, in the most holy of the mysteries [i. e. in the Eleusinian mysteries], prior to the manifest presence of the God [who is invoked], certain terrene dæmons present themselves to the view, disturbing those that are initiated, divulsing them from undefiled good, and exciting them to matter. On this account the Gods [in the Chaldean oracles] order us not to behold them, till we are guarded by the powers imparted by the mysteries. For they say,

i. e. It is not proper you should behold them till your body is purified by initiation. And they add the reason,

i. e. For these dæmons alluring souls, always draw them away from the mysteries.

Conformably to this, also, Proclus in Plat. Theol. p. 7, says,. i. e. "As in the most holy of the mysteries, they say, that the mystics at first meet with the multiform and many shaped genera [i. e. with evil dæmons], which are hurled forth before the Gods, but on entering the interior parts of the temple, unmoved, and guarded by the mystic rites, they genuinely receive in their bosom divine illumination, and divested of their garments, as they would say, participate of such natures in their illuminations.