Note 1458 — Chapter XI · ORPHIC ESCHATOLOGY.
Reading edition
The κύκλος of the rites was probably a real wheel, but it is also possible that it was a circle drawn round the neophyte out of which he escaped. Psellus (περὶ δαιμόνων) records an old Bacchic rite in which demons were expelled by the action of leaping out of a circle of fire: πυρὰ δὲ πολλὰ κύκλῳ τινὶ περιγράφοντες ἐξάλλονται τῆς φλογός. ἤν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς παλαιᾶς βακχείας, ἵνα μὴ λέγω μανίας μέρος ... ὁ δέ γε κύκλος κατοχῆς ἔχει δύναμιν. The wheel and the magic mesmeric circle may have got ‘contaminated.’