. The Open court. rejoiced at the restoration of herdaughter and had the Eleusinian Mysteries instituted to commem- ON GREEK RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY. 643 orate the loss and return of Persephone and to celebrate theseevents as a symbol of the constant reappearance of the life of na-ture and as a promise of the immortality of the human soul. The Demeter myth is the subject of a most beautiful classicalhymn, commonly ascribed to Homer, which, like many other piecesof Greek poetry, is untranslatable in its full grandeur and lamentations of the goddess for her lost daughter are most pa-th
. The Open court. rejoiced at the restoration of herdaughter and had the Eleusinian Mysteries instituted to commem- ON GREEK RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY. 643 orate the loss and return of Persephone and to celebrate theseevents as a symbol of the constant reappearance of the life of na-ture and as a promise of the immortality of the human soul. The Demeter myth is the subject of a most beautiful classicalhymn, commonly ascribed to Homer, which, like many other piecesof Greek poetry, is untranslatable in its full grandeur and lamentations of the goddess for her lost daughter are most pa-thetic. Demeter says : O Sun, compassionate me on behalf of my divine daughter, if ever either byword or deed I have gratified thy heart and mind. My daughter whom I bore, asweet blossom, beauteous in form, whose frequent cries I have heard through thesterile air, as though she were being forced away, but I have not beheld it with mineeyes,—but do thou (for thou from the divine aether dost look down with thy rays. Altar of Demeter.(Frontispiece to Taylors Eleusijiian and Bacchic Mysteries.) upon all the earth and sea) tell me truly, dear son, if thou hast anywhere seen him,of the gods or mortal men, who, without my consent, has seized her perforce andcarried her off. Then Demeter wanders about spreading bliss wherever shegoes, and at last her daughter is restored to her for two thirds ofthe year, which time the goddess spends in increasing the life-giving fruit for men. At last Triptolemos, a local hero of Attica,is sent out into the world as Demeters messenger for the instruc-tion of all the nations in the art of agriculture. Schiller has cast similar ideas into German words and hassucceeded in producing a most thoughtful poem under the title ofDie Klage der Ceres, in which he describes the search of the discon- IThe sacrifice to Demeter consists in a burning sheaf. She is worshipped by the peoplewhom she changes from barbarians into civilised men. Zeus approves of her mission
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
