1. All you who take offence at the mysteries of Christ, take a look at my tears, and take notice of the power of all that is contained in them. All you who delight in the customs that come from demons, learn from me the vanity of the mockeries in them. For neither will any of you be able to be more god-fearing than I was formerly, nor be able to examine the things concerning the so-called gods more than I, nor be able to attain more energy from them. I am Cyprian, who from tender talons was dedicated to Apollo as a valuable gift and still as a child was initiated into the dramaturgy of the dragon. I was not yet seven years old when I entered the mysteries of Mithras, and seeing how I was an Athenian foreigner I was quickly made a citizen by my parents; when I was still ten years old, I carried the torch for Demeter and submitted to the white sorrow of Kore, and I served the serpent of Pallas on the Acropolis as I was promoted to temple servant. Then I arrived on Mount Olympus, the dwelling place, as they say, of the gods, and I was initiated into the communion of sound and the recounting of noises. I saw there trees that produce visions and herbs appearing to operate by divine intervention. I saw there the successions of seasons as the winds changed and the diversity of days brought about by certain opposing energies. I saw there bands of demons chanting, and others making war, and others lying in ambush, deceiving, and confounding, and I beheld there the phalanx of every god and goddess as I waited for forty days in that place from which, from kingdoms so to speak, they send out the winds to activate each of them on the earth and among all nations.
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