According to porphyry, the first three stages were merely preliminary to complete initiation.
"Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius"
Samuel Dill
The researches of this gentleman, among the remains of Neomagus Lexoviorum, have already brought to light a large number of valuable medals, both in silver and bronze, as well as a considerable quantity of fragments of foreign marble, granite, and porphyry, some of them curiously wrought.
"Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. II. (of 2)"
Dawson Turner
Died in 1884. porphyry, Greek philosoper of the New Platonic school, b.
"A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations"
Joseph Mazzini Wheeler