as they say in the mysteries, ‘the thyrsus-bearers are many, but the mystics few’; and these mystics are, I believe, those who have been true philosophers.1
So sayeth Socrates in the Phaedo of Plato. But what does he mean by this? Fortunately for us, a thyrsus is typically associated with the worship of Dionysus, and the word translated here as “mystics” is “Bacchoi”. This tells us that “the mysteries” are Bacchic, and indeed Olympiodorus specifically identifies this as a quote of Orpheus2. Thus, the quote above refers to the Orphic variety of Bacchic mysteries, and the sentiment boils down to something along the lines of “many talk the talk, but few walk the walk”. Socrates clarifies that he considers philosophy to be the mysticism, the “true” form of worship or ‘walking the walk’.
This philosophical interpretation of the mysteries, which prioritizes cultivation of the soul, finds a mythical parallel in the dismemberment of Dionysus. Plutarch, commenting on that myth, expands this viewpoint:
the stories told about the sufferings and dismemberment of Dionysus and the outrageous assaults of the Titans upon him, and their punishment and blasting by thunderbolt after they had tasted his blood - all this is a myth which in its inner meaning has to do with rebirth. For to that faculty in us which is unreasonable and disordered and violent, and does not come from the gods, but from evil spirits, the ancients gave the name Titans, that is to say, those that are punished and subjected to correction. . . .3
Plutarch here is saying that it is necessary to suppress that within oneself which is unreasonable or chaotic, and he relates this to the mythological dismemberment of Dionysus. This implies that, in opposition to our Titanic nature, our Dionysian nature is that which is reasonable, ordered, and non-violent. Proclus further elucidates this position in his commentary on Plato’s Cratylus:
The intellect in us is Dionysian and truly an image of Dionysus. Therefore, anyone that transgresses it and, like the Titans, scatters its undivided nature by fragmented falsehood, this person clearly sins against Dionysus himself, even more than those who transgress against external images of the God, to the extent that the intellect more than other things is akin to the God.4
Proclus even goes so far as to say that the intellect more closely resembles Dionysus than any statue or icon, and to transgress against intellect is therefore worse than transgression against those “external images”. The three of these excerpts in succession suggest that to escape reincarnation, it is paramount to cultivate one’s intellect and at the same time correct one’s chaotic or unreasonable urges.