XXVIII.
TO PROSERPINE.
A HYMN DAUGHTER of Jove, almighty and divine, Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: Only-begotten, Pluto's honor'd wife, 3 O venerable Goddess, source of life: 'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell, 5 Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell: Jove's holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, Fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen: Source of the furies, whose blest frame proceeds From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds: 10 Mother of Bacchus, Sonorous, divine, And many-form'd, the parent of the vine: The dancing Hours attend thee, essence bright, All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light: p.
154 Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, 13 Alone desir'd by those of mortal kind.
O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight: Whose holy form in budding fruits we view, Earth's vig'rous offspring of a various hue: 20 Espous'd in Autumn: life and death alone 21 To wretched mortals from thy power is known: For thine the task according to thy will, 23 Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
p.
155 Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase 25 Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace; Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life With blest abundance, free from noisy strife; Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, Dismiss we willing to the realms beneath, 30 To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains Where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.
Footnotes 153:3 Ver.
3] Only-begotten .
Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεολογός την κόρην ΜΟΥΝΟ-ΓΕΝΕΙΑΝ ἔιαθε προσαγορεύειν.
Proc.
Tim.
2 extra p.
139.
9.
i.e.
"I see that the theologist (meaning Orpheus) calls Proserpine, "Only-begotten".
154:21 Ver.
21.] Espous'd in Autumn .
We have already observed in the Dissertation, that the Orphic theologers considered a difference of sex in the divinities; attributing the male to some, and the female to others.
Now the mutual commerce and energy subsisting between these Gods and Goddesses, they denominated Ιεροι Γαμοι, i.
e.
"holy marriages:" or according to Proclus, on the Parmenides of Plato, as cited by Eschenbach, in Epig.
p.
59.
they mystically called, the simple kindred conjunction, and communion of divine causes, a marriage.
And Proserpine, or the animating part of the earth's soul, may he considered as resting in Autumn, from all farther productions; her powers at that time having attained their full perfection.
Hence at this period may we not say, that she is wholly abstracted from the animal life, and secretly united with Pluto, or the intellectual part of the earth's soul; from whom she receives the divine light of mind, and copious streams of the nectar of divine knowledge.
154:23 Ver.
23.] For thine the task , &c.
Proclus, in Theol.
Plat.
p.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The divine origin is described as 'ineffable', indicating a transcendence beyond positive description.
Ecstatic, non-rational receptivity to the divine figured as drunkenness — Plato's symposium wine, Rumi's sukr, Eckhart's 'sober drunkenness'; the passive/receptive metaphor for divine encounter, distinct from divine_madness's active possessing rapture.
Proserpine is identified as the 'Mother of Bacchus', linking her to the god of wine and ecstasy.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The text is an Orphic hymn intended for 'rites' to incline the goddess, engaging divine power through ritual.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
[auto] Hermes is described as the 'prophet of discourse' and endowed with power to explain all language, aligning with the concept of divine word or reason.