And, as at Eleusis, so probably in other mysteries. In a famous passage Theo Smyrnaeus[1] compares the successive steps to be taken in the study of philosophy with the several stages of initiation in mysteries, and Lobeck[2] in his examination of the passage has shown that the reference is not to the mysteries of Eleusis, or at any rate not to them only. It is probable enough that Theo was speaking of mysteries in general, both public and private, in most of which there were, doubtless, several grades of initiation, and he may even have selected the details of his illustration (for it is an analogy only, not an argument, in which he is engaged) from different rites. Yet for his fifth and final stage of initiation, beyond even 'open vision' ([Greek: epopteia]) and 'exposition' ([Greek: dadouchia] or [Greek: hierophantia]), he names that bliss which is the outcome of the earlier stages, the bliss of being god-beloved and sharing the life of gods ([Greek: he kata to theophiles kai theois syndiaiton eudaimonia]).
The recurrence of the word [Greek: theophilês] in the above passages, whether in reference to the Eleusinian or to other mysteries, cannot but excite attention; and we shall not I think go far astray if we take the last phrase of Theo Smyrnaeus, 'the bliss of being god-beloved and sharing the life of gods,' as an epitome of the somewhat vague and general promises held out to the profane as an inducement to initiation. This was the fulfilment of those 'happier hopes'—to use another recurrent phrase—of which the initiated might only speak in guarded fashion. The exact interpretation of this phrase, as we shall have reason to believe when we consider the separate rites in detail, was the great mystic secret. But of that more anon; for the present let us suppose that the general assurances openly given concerning both the Eleusinian and other mysteries are fairly summed up in the promise 'of being god-beloved and of sharing the life of gods.' Such a promise appealed to those innate hopes of the whole Greek race which manifested themselves in their constant striving after close intercourse and communion with their gods; in other words, the happier hopes concerning the hereafter, which the mysteries sought to appropriate and to reserve to the initiated alone, had for their basis the natural religion of the Hellenic folk.
