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To Lucius from Eunomius. I hope this finds you well, dear friend; it has been too long since I have heard anything from you. I received one of your students the other day, Isadorus, and he filled me in on all that had transpired up to the point of his departure, but the boy had been on the road for over a month and I know how quickly things can change in these raging times. I am glad to hear that your school is prospering - however else the world goes, there will always be a need for Plato, and people to interpret him. Your Isadorus has certainly taken to philosophy - we had a very enjoyable discussion on the immortality of the soul. You know my thoughts on the subject, but I couldn't help kneedling your pupil, and so I played the Epicurean for him. Very strong, that Isadorus; no matter how much I tried to ruffle his feathers he kept his calm and refused to fall for my verbal snares. You should be proud, old friend, for the virtue of the teacher is reflected in his students. And that is why I have undertaken to write you. Isadorus told me about another of your students, Alexander, and how he has begun to write an epic about the things that Dionysos did. This, as you can well understand, is a subject close to my heart. I have been a follower of Dionysos for almost fifty years, since I was of the age to put on the toga of manhood in his festival. I have held almost every position within his mysteries from torch-bearer to bacchos to chief herdsman and all the others. I have explored the rites sacred to Dionysos in Greece, Phrygia, Thrace, and Egypt that I might discover how they differ and which are closer to the truth. I have read the books of Orpheus and Musaeus and the accounts made by Timotheus. I am well-versed in these sacred things. And on account of that I was very disturbed to hear that this student of yours intends to put down a holy account of Dionysos, and to deal openly with the mysteries that are sacred to him. For in the course of study which prepares one to accept the Initiations there are oaths which must be sworn and secrets that can never be revealed. And yet, from what I heard, this Alexander of yours is throwing out his oaths and trampling on the secrets of God. If this truly is his intention, then he shall pay for it in the world to come, and shall suffer the torments which Orpheus has taught us about. The courts of this world may no longer try blasphemers - but Justice will forever be the concern of the Immortal Gods. Having said that, I must admit that my thoughts are not entirely against your student. I have not read his epic, and so I cannot say to what degree he has violated his oaths, if in fact he even has. That he is your pupil, and well-liked by Isadorus, gives me reason to pause, for these are not trifling things, and speak to his good nature. There is a difference, I suppose, between one who reveals sacred things in order to glorify them, and one who brings them out only to mock at them. Alexander, from my talks with Isadorus, does not sound like such a person, and perhaps I am overreacting. But there have been too many attacks on our religion of late, Christians parading the Gods before the unworthy public like actors on a stage, making sport of stories and rituals they scarcely understand. It is, perhaps, because they do not understand that they ridicule, for no one who knows what lies behind the veil, no one who has ever experienced the holy Gods through the mysteries ever forsakes them. Maybe it is only the secretive nature of our rites which allows the atheists to mock us. Perhaps if, like Alexander has done, we were to bring the holy things out into the open, where everyone could see and take part in them, then there would be no contest, and the Christians would have no ground to attack us on. But I do not think that that is even possible, for the mysteries are not stories or tokens to be handled, but rather a communication of souls to souls, of man to man and man to God; therefore what is truly of the mysteries is unspeakable - not because it is forbidden, but because it is not conveyed through mere words. In this, the mysteries are not unlike philosophy, as you well know. So I am willing to suspend judgment on this matter, however important it is, until I can get ahold of Alexander's work. Maybe I am just an old man, stuck in my ways. Perhaps Alexander and those like him are the future of our faith. In these dark days, when the whole world seems to be conspiring against us and against the Gods, maybe it is time for change. We must save the accomplishments of civilization, or watch as everything that our ancestors fought for is lost. May the Gods continue to watch over you and your students. |
