thy breast, nor do thou give way to sadness excessively beyond others: In no wise shall I be an unseemly consort among the immortals, [being] own brother of sire Jove. Coming hither, thou shalt be mistress of all beings, as many as live and walk, and thou shalt ever possess[1] the greatest honours among the immortals. And there shall for all days be judgment upon those who have done injury, who do not appease thy power with sacrifices, piously performing them, offering suitable gifts."
Thus he spoke, but prudent Proserpine rejoiced, and quickly leaped forth through joy. But he had privily given her[2] the sweet grain of a pomegranate to eat, offering it her in private,[3] that she might not remain all days above with hallowed Ceres, of dark robes. And Pluto, who rules over many, yoked his steeds in front beneath the golden chariot, and she mounted the chariot, and by her the strong slayer of Argus, seizing the bridles and scourge in his hands, drove [the steeds] straight out from the abodes, and they twain flew along not unwillingly. And swiftly they passed o'er the long tracks, nor did the sea, nor the water of rivers, nor the grassy valleys, nor the heights, restrain the rush of the immortal steeds, but they cut through the deep darkness above them,[4] as they went. And he stopped driving them, where well-crowned Ceres stood, before the incense-fraught temple. But she, perceiving, leaped forward, like a mænad on the shaded mountain of a wood.[5] * * * * * ********
"And thou shalt dwell with me and thy sire, the dark-clouded son of Saturn, honoured by all the immortals. But if thou hast tasted[6] [aught], again going beneath the hiding-places
- ↑ Hermann reads τιμὰς δ' αἰὲν ἔχησθα, observing, "si genuina est codicis scriptura, (i. e. τιμὰς δὲ σχήσησθα,) exemplum habemus futuri conjunctivi, contra grammaticorum sententiam."
- ↑ Read αὐτῇ, with Voss.
- ↑ I have done my best with Hermann's correction, ἀμφὶς νωμήσας, but am by no means satisfied.
- ↑ Burney, in note MS., would read αὐράων for αὐτάων.
- ↑ Here the MS. is mutilated: the meeting of the mother and daughter, and the inquiries of the former, whether Proserpine, by eating any thing, had rendered herself subject to the dominion of the shades, formed the missing portion.
- ↑ Read εἰ δ' ἐπάσω, with Wyttenb., Ruhnk., Herm.
