[478] The reason for strict secrecy in the Eleusinia has been variously explained: in many cases secret rites belong to a conquered people, who wish to preserve their religious practices from their conquerors; this explanation has been applied to the Eleusinia, which may have been “Pelasgian” (Gardner p. 383 f.). But the cause may rather be due to the nature of religion: as Ramsay (p. 125) remarks, “it was a condition of their good effect that they (the Mysteries) should not hereafter be lightly spoken of”; cf. Strabo 467 “ἡ κρύψις ἡ μυστικὴ τῶν ἱερῶν σεμνοποιεῖ τὸ θεῖον”. See further Jevons p. 360 f., who believes that the silence imposed on the initiated was not for concealment (there was little to conceal), but to prevent pollution.
Παρεξίμεν: Agar (Class. Rev. 1896, p. 388) revives Ruhnken's “παρεξέμεν”, not in the sense of “neglect,” but “divulge.” “παρεξίμεν” must mean “transgress,” “overstep,” and will stand if “ἀχέειν” means “give out.” See next note. Πυθέσθαι: cf. Paus.i. 38. 7“τοῖς οὐ τελεσθεῖσιν, ὁπόσων θέας εἴργονται, δῆλα δήπου μηδὲ πυθέσθαι μετεῖναί σφισιν”.
The Homeric Hymns, edited, with preface, apparatus criticus, notes, and appendices. Thomas W. Allen. E. E. Sikes. London. Macmillan. 1904.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.