On the Mysteries (Thomas Taylor trans.)

To this we may add, as the crowning achievement The original uses "colophon of excellence," referring to the finishing stroke or peak of quality., that this work is the most extensive, the clearest, and the most satisfying defense still in existence of true ancient theology.

This theology—the sacred rituals of which are called theurgy From the Greek theourgia, meaning "divine-work." These were rituals intended to unite the practitioner with the divine. and are explained here—has, for the most part, been misunderstood since its destruction. It has typically been viewed only in its degraded forms among "barbaric" nations, or during the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. As that empire became overwhelmed by corruption, this theology gradually fell with it, until it eventually vanished from what is commonly called the civilized part of the world. This will be clear to the intelligent reader from the following remarks. These points are a summary original: "epitome" of what I have discussed at greater length elsewhere, and they demonstrate that the religions of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks were no less scientific than they were spiritually grand.

First, this theology celebrates a vast, singular principle of all things. It views this principle as something even higher than existence itself—something that stands apart from the entire universe, even though it is the source of everything in a way that words cannot describe original: "ineffably"; and