Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Translated by
Gregory Nagy
1 I begin to
sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair.
And
her daughter [Persephone] too. The one with the delicate ankles, whom
Hadês[1]
seized.
She was given away by Zeus, the loud-thunderer, the one who sees far and wide.
Demeter
did not take part in this, she of the golden double-axe, she who glories in the
harvest.
5 She
[Persephone] was having a good time, along with the daughters of Okeanos, who
wear their girdles slung low.
She
was picking flowers: roses, crocus, and beautiful violets.
Up
and down the soft meadow. Iris blossoms too she picked, and hyacinth.
And
the narcissus, which was grown as a lure for the flower-faced girl
by
Gaia [Earth]. All according to the plans of Zeus. She [Gaia] was doing a favor
for the one who receives many guests [Hadês].
10 It [the narcissus]
was a wondrous thing in its splendor. To look at it gives a sense of holy awe
to
the immortal gods as well as mortal humans.
It
has a hundred heads growing from the root up.
Its
sweet fragrance spread over the wide skies up above.
And
the earth below smiled back in all its radiance. So too the churning mass of
the salty sea.
15 She [Persephone] was
filled with a sense of wonder, and she reached out with both hands
to
take hold of the pretty plaything.[2]
And the earth, full of roads leading every which way, opened up under her.
It
happened on the Plain of Nysa. There it was that the Lord who receives many
guests made his lunge.
He
was riding on a chariot drawn by immortal horses. The son of Kronos. The one
known by many names.
He
seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot,
20 And drove away as
she wept. She cried with a piercing voice,
calling
upon her father [Zeus], the son of Kronos, the highest and the best.
But
not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals,
heard
her voice. Not even the olive trees which bear their splendid harvest.
Except
for the daughter of Persaios, the one who keeps in mind the vigor of nature.
25 She heard it from
her cave. She is Hekatê, with the splendid headband.
And
the Lord Helios [Sun] heard it too, the magnificent son of Hyperion.
They
heard the daughter calling upon her father, the son of Kronos.
But
he, all by himself,
was
seated far apart from the gods, inside a temple, the precinct of many prayers.
He
was receiving beautiful sacrificial rites from mortal humans.
30 She was being taken,
against her will, at the behest of Zeus,
by
her father’s brother, the one who makes many sêmata, the one who receives many guests,
the
son of Kronos, the one with many names. On the chariot drawn by immortal
horses.
So
long as the earth and the star-filled sky
were
still within the goddess’s [Persephone’s] view, as also the
fish-swarming sea [pontos],
with its strong currents,
35 as also the rays of
the sun, she still had hope that she would yet see
her
dear mother and that special group, the immortal gods.
For
that long a time her great noos
was soothed by hope, distressed as she was.
The
peaks of mountains resounded, as did the depths of the sea [pontos],
with
her immortal voice. And the Lady Mother [Demeter] heard her.
40 And a sharp akhos seized her heart. The headband on her
hair
she
tore off with her own immortal hands
and
threw a dark cloak over her shoulders.
She
sped off like a bird, soaring over land and sea,
looking
and looking. But no one was willing to tell her the truth [etêtuma],
45 not one of the gods,
not one of the mortal humans,
not
one of the birds, messengers of the truth [etêtuma].
Thereafter,
for nine days did the Lady Demeter
wander
all over the earth, holding torches ablaze in her hands.
Not
once did she take of ambrosia and nectar, sweet to drink,
50 in her grief, nor
did she bathe her skin in water.
But
when the tenth bright dawn came upon her,
Hekatê
came to her, holding a light ablaze in her hands.
She
came with a message, and she spoke up, saying to her:
“Lady
Demeter, bringer of hôrai,
giver of splendid gifts,
55 which one of the
gods who dwell in the sky or which one of mortal humans
seized
Persephone and brought grief to your philos thûmos?
I
heard the sounds, but I did not see with my eyes
who
it was. So I quickly came to tell you everything, without error.”
So
spoke Hekatê. But she was not answered
60 by the daughter
[Demeter] of Rhea with the beautiful hair. Instead, she [Demeter] joined her
[Hekatê] and quickly
set
out with her, holding torches ablaze in her hands.
They
came to Hêlios, the seeing-eye of gods and men.
They
stood in front of his chariot-team, and the resplendent goddess asked this
question:
“Helios!
Show me respect [aidôs],
god to goddess, if ever
65 I have pleased your
heart and thûmos
in word or deed.
It
is about the girl born to me, a sweet young seedling, renowned for her beauty,
whose
piercing cry I heard resounding through the boundless aether,
as
if she were being forced, though I did not see it with my eyes.
I
turn to you as one who ranges over all the earth and sea [pontos]
70 as you look down
from the bright aether with your sunbeams:
tell
me without error whether you have by any chance seen my philon child,
and
who has taken her away from me by force, against her will,
and
then gone away? Tell me which one of the gods or mortal humans did it.”
So
she spoke. And the son of Hyperion answered her with these words:
75 “Daughter of
Rhea with the beautiful hair, Queen Demeter!
You
shall know the answer, for I greatly respect you and feel sorry for you
as
you grieve over your child, the one with the delicate ankles. No one else
among
all the immortals is responsible [aitios] except the cloud-gatherer Zeus himself,
who
gave her to Hadês as his beautiful wife.
So
he gave her to his own brother. And he [Hadês], heading for the misty
realms of darkness,
80 seized her as he drove
his chariot and as she screamed out loud.
But
I urge you, goddess: stop your loud cry of lamentation: you should not
have
an anger without bounds, all in vain. It is not unseemly
to
have, of all the immortals, such a son-in-law as Hadês, the one who makes
many sêmata.
85 He is the brother
[of Zeus], whose seed is from the same place. And as for tîmê,
he
has his share, going back to the very beginning, when the three-way division of
inheritance was made.[3]
He
dwells with those whose king he was destined by lot to be.”[4]
So
saying, he shouted to his horses, and they responded to his command
as
they swiftly drew the speeding chariot, like long-winged birds.
90 And she [Demeter]
was visited by grief [akhos]
that was even more terrible than before: it makes you think of the Hound of
Hadês.
In
her anger at the one who is known for his dark clouds, the son of Kronos,
she
shunned the company of gods and lofty Olympus.
She
went away, visiting the cities of
humans, with all their fertile landholdings,
shading
over her appearance, for a long time. And not one of men,
95 looking at her,
could recognize her. Not one of women, either, who are accustomed to wear their
girdles low-slung.[5]
Until,
one day, she came to the house of bright-minded Keleos,
who
was at that time ruler of Eleusis, fragrant with incense.[6]
She
sat down near the road, sad in her philon heart,
at
the well called Parthenion [the Virgin’s Place], where the people of the polis[7] used to draw water.
100 She sat in the shade, under the
thick growth of an olive tree,
looking
like an old woman who had lived through many years and who is
deprived of giving childbirth and of the
gifts of Aphrodite, lover of garlands in the hair.
She
was like those nursemaids who belong to kings, administrators of themistes,
and
who are guardians of children in echoing palaces.
105 She was seen by the daughters of
Keleos, son of Eleusinos,
who
were coming to get water, easy to draw [from the well], in order to carry it
in
bronze water-jars to the phila
home of their father.
There
were four of them, looking like goddesses with their bloom of adolescence:
Kallidikê,
Kleisidikê, and lovely Dêmô.
110 And then there was
Kallithoê, who was the eldest of them all.
They
did not recognize her [Demeter]. Gods are hard for mortals to see.
They
[the daughters] stood near her and spoke these winged words:
“Who
are you, and where are you from, old woman, old among old humans?
Why
has your path taken you far away from the polis? Why have you not drawn near to the
palace?
115 There, throughout the shaded
chambers, are women
who
are as old as you are, and younger ones too,
who
would welcome you in word and in deed.”
So
she spoke.[8] And the Lady Goddess spoke with the
following words:
“Phila children! Whoever women you are among the female kind of
humans,
120 I wish you kharis [‘I wish you pleasure and
happiness from our relationship, starting now’]. I shall tell you. It is
not unseemly,
since
you ask, for me to tell you alêthea.
Dôsô[9] is my name. It was given to me by my
honored mother.
But
that was then. I am from Crete, having traveled over the wide stretches of sea
against
my will. Without my consent, by biâ, by
duress,
125 I was abducted by pirates. After
a while,
sailing
with their swift ship, they landed at the harbor of Thorikos. There the ship
was boarded by women
of
the mainland, many of them. They [the pirates]
started
preparing dinner next to the prow of the beached ship.
But
my thûmos did
not yearn for food, that delight of the mind.
130 I stole away and set out to
travel over the dark earth of the mainland, fleeing my arrogant captors. This
way, I stopped them
from
drawing any benefit from my worth without having paid the price.
That
is how I got here, in the course of all my wanderings. And I do not know
what
this land is and who live here.
135 But I pray to all the gods who
abide on Olympus that you be granted
vigorous
husbands and that you be able to bear children,
in
accordance with the wishes of your parents. As for me, young girls, take pity.
To
be honest about it, what I want is for you to name for me a house to go to, the
house of someone, man or woman, who has phila children to be taken care of.[10]
I
want to work for them,
140 honestly. The kind of work that
is cut out for a female who has outlived others her own age.
I
could take some newborn baby in my arms,
and
nourish him well. I could watch over his house.
I
would make his bed in the inner recesses of well-built chambers,
the
royal bed. And I could see to a woman’s tasks.”
145 So spoke the goddess. And she
was answered straightaway by the unwed maiden,
Kallidikê,
the most beautiful of the daughters of Keleos:
“Old
Mother, we humans endure the gifts the gods give us, even when we are grieving
over what has to be.[11]
They
[the gods] are, after all, far better than we are.
What
I now say will be clear advice, and I will name for you
150 the men who have the great
control, divinely given, of tîmê here:
the
men who stand at the forefront of the dêmos and who protect the citadel of the polis
with
their wise counsel and their straight dikai.
And
then there are the wives too: of sound-minded Triptolemos, of Dioklos,
of
Polyxenos, of faultless Eumolpos as well,
155 of Dolikhos, and of our splendid
father [Keleos].
The
wives of all of these manage the palace.[12]
Of
these women, not a single one of them, when they first look at you,
would
deprive you of tîmê,
the way you look, and turn you away from the palace.
Rather,
they will receive you. For, right now, you look like the gods.
160 If you wish, wait for us, while
we go to the palace of our father
and
tell our mother, Metaneira with the low-slung girdle,
all
these things from beginning to end, in the hope that she will tell you
to
come to our house and not to seek out the houses of others.[13]
She
has a treasured son, growing up in the well-built palace.
165 He was born late, after many a
prayer for the birth of a son: a great joy to his parents.
If
you nourish him to grow till he reaches the crossing-point of life, coming of
age,
I
can predict that you will be the envy of any woman who lays eyes on you.
That
is how much compensation she [Metaneira] would give you in return for raising
him.”
So
she [Kallidikê] spoke. And she [Demeter] nodded her assent. So they,
170 filling their splendid jars with
water, carried it off, looking magnificent.
Swiftly
they came to the great palace of their father, and quickly they told their
mother
what
they saw and heard.[14]
And she told them
quickly
to go and invite her [Demeter] for whatever wages, no limits,
and
they, much as deer or heifers in the hôrâ of spring
175 prance along the meadow,
satiating their dispositions as they graze on the grass,
so
also they, hitching up the folds of their lovely dresses,
dashed
along the rutted roadway, their hair flowing
over
their shoulders, looking like crocus blossoms.
They
found the illustrious goddess sitting near the road, just the way
180 they had left her. Then they led
her to the phila
palace of their father.
She
was walking behind them, sad in her philon heart.
She
was wearing a veil on her head, and a long dark robe [peplos]
trailed
around the delicate feet of the goddess.[15]
Straightaway
they came to the palace of sky-nurtured[16]
Keleos.
185 They went through the hall,
heading for the place where their mistress, their mother,
was
sitting near the threshold of a well-built chamber,
holding
in her lap her son, a young seedling. And they ran over
to
her side. She [Demeter] in the meantime went over to the threshold and stood on
it, with feet firmly planted, and her head
reached
all the way to the ceiling. And she filled the whole indoors with a divine
light.
190 She [Metaneira] was seized by a
sense of aidôs,
by a holy wonder, by a blanching fear.
She
[Metaneira] yielded to her [Demeter] the chair on which she was sitting, and
she told her to sit down.
But
Demeter, the bringer of hôrai,
the giver of splendid gifts,
refused
to sit down on the splendid chair,
but
she stood there silent, with her beautiful eyes downcast,
195 until Iambê, the one who
knows what is worth caring about [kednon] and what is not, set down for her
a
well-built stool, on top of which she threw a splendid fleece.[17]
On
this she [Demeter] sat down, holding with her hands a veil before her face.
For
a long time she sat on the stool, without uttering a sound, in her sadness.
And
she made no approach, either by word or by gesture, to anyone.
200 Unsmiling, not partaking of food
or drink,
she
sat there, wasting away with yearning for her daughter with the low-slung
girdle,
until
Iambê,[18] the one who
knows what is dear and what is not, started making fun.
Making
many jokes, she turned the Holy Lady’s disposition in another direction,
making
her smile and laugh and have a merry thûmos.
205 Ever since, she [Iambê]
has been pleasing her [Demeter] with the sacred rites.
Then
Metaneira offered her [Demeter] a cup, having filled it with honey-sweet wine.
But
she refused, saying that it was divinely ordained that she not
drink
red wine. Then she [Demeter] ordered her [Metaneira] to mix some barley and
water
with
delicate pennyroyal, and to give her [Demeter] that potion to drink.
210 So she [Metaneira] made the kukeôn[19] and offered it to the goddess, just as
she had ordered.
The
Lady known far and wide as Dêô[20]
accepted it, for the sake of the hosia.[21]
Then
well-girded Metaneira spoke up in their midst:
“Woman,
I wish you kharis
[‘I wish you pleasure and happiness from our relationship, starting
now’]. I speak this way because I think you are descended not from base
parents
but
from noble ones. You have the look of aidôs in your eyes,
215 and the look of kharis, just as if you were descended from
kings, who uphold the themistes.
We
humans endure the gifts the gods give us, even when we are grieving over what
has to be.
The
yoke has been placed on our neck.
But
now that you have come here, there will be as many things that they give to you
as they give to me.
Take
this little boy of mine and nourish him. He is late-born, and it was beyond my
expectations
220 that the immortals could have
given him to me. I prayed many times to have him.
If
you nourish him to grow till he reaches the crossing-point of life, coming of
age,
I
can predict that you will be the envy of any woman who lays eyes on you.
That
is how much compensation I [Metaneira] would give you in return for raising
him.”
Then
Demeter, with the beautiful garlands in her hair, addressed her:
225 “Woman, I wish you kharis back, and then some. May the gods give
you good things.
With
positive intentions, I will take your little boy as you tell me to.
I
will nourish him, and I do not expect that, through the inadvertence of her
nursemaid,
he
would perish from a pestilence or from the Undercutter.[22]
I
know an antidote[23] that is far
more powerful than the Woodcutter;[24]
230 I know a genuine remedy for the
painful pestilence.”
Having
so spoken, she took the child to her fragrant bosom,
in
her immortal hands. And the mother [Metaneira] rejoiced in her mind.
And
thus it came to pass that the splendid son of bright-minded Keleos,
Dêmophôn,[25]
who was born to well-girded Metaneira,
235 was nourished in the palace, and
he grew up like a daimôn,
not
eating grain, not sucking from the breast. But Demeter
used
to anoint him with ambrosia, as if he had been born of the goddess,
and
she would breathe down her sweet breath on him as she held him to her bosom.
At
nights she would conceal him within the menos of fire, as if he were a smoldering log,
240 and his philoi parents were kept unaware. But they
marveled
at
how full in bloom he came to be, and to look at him was like looking at the
gods.[26]
Now
Demeter would have made him ageless and immortal
if
it had not been for the heedlessness of well-girded Metaneira,
who
went spying one night, leaving her own fragrant bedchamber,
245 and caught sight of it [what
Demeter was doing]. She let out a shriek and struck her two thighs,[27]
afraid
for her child. She had made a big mistake in her thûmos.
Weeping,
she spoke these winged words:
“My
child! Demophon! The stranger, this woman, is making you disappear in a mass of
flames!
This
is making me weep in lamentation [goos]. This is giving me baneful anguish!”
250 So she spoke, weeping. And the
resplendent goddess heard her.
Demeter,
she of the beautiful garlands in the hair, became angry at her
[Metaneira].
She
[Demeter] took her [Metaneira’s] philos little boy, who had been born to her
mother in the palace, beyond her expectations,
—she
took him in her immortal hands and put him down on the floor, away from her.[28]
She
had taken him out of the fire, very angry in her thûmos,
255 and straightaway she spoke to
well-girded Metaneira:
“Ignorant
humans! Heedless, unable to recognize in advance
the
difference between future good fortune [aisa] and future bad.
In
your heedlessness, you have made a big mistake, a mistake without remedy.
I
swear by the Styx,[29]
the witness of oaths that gods make, as I say this:
260 immortal and ageless for all
days
would
I have made your philos
little boy, and I would
have given him tîmê
that is unwilting [a-phthi-tos].[30]
But
now there is no way for him to avoid death and doom.[31]
Still,
he will have a tîmê
that is unwilting [a-phthi-tos],
for all time, because he had once sat
on
my knees and slept in my arms.
265 At the right hôrâ, every year,
the
sons of the Eleusinians will have a war, a terrible battle
among
each other. They will do so for all days to come.[32]
I
am Demeter, the holder of tîmai. I am the greatest
boon
and joy for immortals and mortals alike.
270 But come! Let a great temple,
with a great altar at its base,
be
built by the entire dêmos.
Make it at the foot of the acropolis and its steep walls.
Make
it loom over the well of Kallikhoron,[33]
on a prominent hill.
And
I will myself instruct you in the sacred rites so that, in the future,
you
may perform the rituals in the proper way and thus be pleasing to my noos.”
275 So saying, the goddess changed
her size[34] and
appearance,
shedding
her old age, and she was totally enveloped in beauty.
And
a lovely fragrance wafted from her perfumed robes.
The
radiance of her immortal complexion
shone
forth from the goddess. Her blond hair streamed down her shoulder.
280 The well-built palace was filled
with light, as if from a flash of lightning.
She
went out of the palace, and straightaway her [Metaneira’s] knees buckled.
For
a long time she [Metaneira] was speechless. She did not even think of
her
treasured little boy, to pick him up from the floor.
But
his sisters heard his plaintive wailing,
285 and they quickly ran downstairs
from their well-cushioned bedrooms. One of them
picked
up the child in her arms, clasping him to her bosom.
Another
one rekindled the fire. Still another one rushed, with her delicate feet,
to
prop up her mother as she was staggering out of the fragrant room.
They
all bunched around the little boy, washing him as he gasped and spluttered.
290 They all kept hugging him, but
his thûmos
could not be comforted.
He
was now being held by nursemaids who were far inferior.
All
night they prayed to the illustrious goddess,
trembling
with fear. And when the bright dawn came,
they
told Keleos, who rules far and wide, exactly what happened,
295 and what the goddess Demeter,
the one with the beautiful garlands in the hair, instructed them to do.
Then
he [Keleos] assembled the masses of the people, from this end of the public
place to the other,
and
he gave out the order to build, for Demeter with the beautiful hair, a splendid
temple,
and
an altar too, on top of the prominent hill.
And
they obeyed straightaway, hearing his voice.
300 They built it as he ordered. And
the temple grew bigger and bigger, taking shape through the dispensation of the
daimôn.[35]
When
the people had finished their work and paused from their labor,
they
all went home. But blond-haired Demeter
sat
down and stayed there [in the temple], shunning the company of all the blessed
ones [the gods].
She
was wasting away with yearning for her daughter with the low-slung girdle.
305 She made that year the most
terrible one for mortals, all over the Earth, the nurturer of many.
It
was so terrible, it makes you think of the Hound of Hadês. The Earth did
not send up
any
seed. Demeter, she with the beautiful garlands in her hair, kept them [the
seeds] covered underground..
Many
a curved plough was dragged along the fields by many an ox—all in vain.
Many
a bright grain of wheat fell into the earth—all for naught.
310 At this moment, she [Demeter]
could have destroyed the entire race of meropes[36] humans
with
harsh hunger, thus depriving of their tîmê
the
dwellers of the Olympian abodes—[the tîmê of] sacrificial portions of meat for
eating or for burning,[37]
if
Zeus had not noticed with his noos,
taking note in his thûmos.
First,
he sent Iris, with the golden wings, to summon
315 Demeter with the splendid hair,
with a beauty that is much loved.
That
is what he told her to do. And she obeyed Zeus, the one with the dark clouds,
the son of Kronos,
and
she ran the space between sky and earth quickly with her feet.[38]
She
arrived at the city of Eleusis, fragrant with incense,
and
she found in the temple Demeter, the one with the dark robe.
320 Addressing her, she spoke winged
words:
“Demeter!
Zeus, the one who has unwilting [a-phthi-ta] knowledge, summons you
to
come to that special group, the company of the immortal gods.
So
then, come! May what my words say, which come from Zeus, not fail to be turned
into action that is completed.”
So
she spoke, making an entreaty. But her [Demeter’s] thûmos was not persuaded.
325 After that, the Father sent out
all the other blessed and immortal gods.
They
came one by one,
they
kept calling out to her, offering many beautiful gifts,
all
sorts of tîmai
that she could choose for herself if she joined the company of the immortal
gods.
But
no one could persuade her in her thinking or in her intention [noêma],
330 angry as she was in her thûmos, and she harshly said no to their words.
She
said that she would never go to fragrant Olympus,
that
she would never send up the harvest of the earth,
until
she saw with her own eyes her daughter, the one with the beautiful looks.
But
when the loud-thunderer, the one who sees far and wide, heard this,
335 he sent to Erebos [Hadês]
the one with the golden wand, the Argos-killer
[Hermes],[39]
so
that he may persuade Hadês, with gentle words,
that
he allow holy Persephone to leave the misty realms of darkness
and
be brought up to the light in order to join the daimones [the gods in Olympus], so that her
mother may
see
her with her own eyes and then let go of her anger.
340 Hermes did not disobey, but
straightaway he headed down beneath the depths of the earth,
rushing
full speed, leaving behind the abode of Olympus.
And
he found the Lord inside his palace,
seated
on a funeral couch, along with his duly acquired bedmate,
the
one who was much under duress, yearning for her mother, and suffering from the
unbearable things
345 inflicted on her by the will of
the blessed ones.[40]
Going
near him [Hadês] and stopping, the powerful Argos-killer said to him:
“Hadês!
Dark-haired one! King of the dead!
Zeus
the Father orders that I have splendid Persephone
brought
back up to light from Erebos back to him and his company, so that her mother
350 may see her with her own eyes
and let go of her wrath and terrible mênis
against
the immortals. For she [Demeter] is performing a mighty deed,
to
destroy [root phthi-]
the tribes of earth-born humans, causing them to be without menos,
by
hiding the Seed underground—and she is destroying [root phthi-] the tîmai
of
the immortal gods.[41]
She has a terrible anger, and she refuses
355 to keep company with the gods.
Instead, far removed, she is seated inside
a
temple fragrant with incense. She has taken charge of the rocky citadel of
Eleusis.”
So
he spoke. Hadês, King of the Dead, smiled
with
his brows,[42] and he did
not disobey the order of Zeus the King.
Swiftly
he gave an order to bright-minded Persephone.
360 “Go, Persephone, to your
mother, the one with the dark robe.
Have
a kindly disposition and thûmos in your breast.
Do
not be too upset, excessively so.
I
will not be an unseemly husband to you, in the company of the immortals.
I
am the brother of Zeus the Father. If you are here,
365 you will be queen of everything
that lives and moves about,
and
you will have the greatest tîmai in the company of the immortals.
Those
who violate dikê– will get punishment for all days to come
—those
who do not supplicate your menos
with sacrifice,
performing
the rituals in a reverent way, executing perfectly the offerings that are
due.”
370 So he spoke. And high-minded
Persephone rejoiced.
Swiftly
she set out, with joy. But he [Hadês]
gave
her, stealthily, the honey-sweet berry of the pomegranate to eat,
peering
around him.[43] He did not
want her to stay for all time
over
there, at the side of her honorable mother, the one with the dark robe.
375 The immortal horses were
harnessed to the golden chariot
by
Hadês, the one who makes many sêmata.
She
got up on the chariot, and next to her was the powerful Argos-killer,
who
took reins and whip into his philai
hands
and
shot out of the palace [of Hadês]. And the horses sped away eagerly.
380 Swiftly they made their way
along the long journey. Neither the sea
nor
the water of the rivers nor the grassy valleys
nor
the mountain peaks could hold up the onrush of the immortal horses.
High
over the peaks they went, slicing through the vast air.
He
came to a halt at the place where Demeter, with the beautiful garlands in the
hair,
385 was staying, at the forefront of
the temple fragrant with incense. When she [Demeter] saw them,
she
rushed forth like a maenad[44]
down a wooded mountainslope.
387-400[45]
401 But when the earth starts
blossoming with fragrant flowers of springtime,
flowers
of every sort, then it is that you must come up from the misty realms of
darkness,
once
again, a great thing of wonder to gods and mortal humans alike.
But
what kind of ruse was used to deceive you by the powerful one, the one who
receives many guests?”[46]
405 She [Demeter] was answered by
Persephone, the most beautiful:
“So
then, Mother, I shall tell you everything, without error.
When
the messenger came to me, the swift Argos-killer,
with
the news from my father, the son of Kronos, and from the other dwellers in the
sky,
that
I should come from Erebos, so that you may see me with your own eyes
410 and let go of your wrath and
terrible mênis
against the immortals,
then
I sprang up for joy, but he, stealthily,
put
into my hand the berry of the pomegranate, that honey-sweet food,
and
he compelled me by biâ
to eat of it.
As
for how it was that he [Hadês] snatched me away, through the mêtis of the son of Kronos,
415 my father, and how he took me
down beneath the depths of the earth,
I
will tell you and relate in order, as you ask.
We
were, all of us, going along the lovely meadow, I and
Leukippê,
Phainô, Elektra, Ianthê,
Melitê,
Iakhê, Rhodeia, Kallirrhoê,
420 Mêlobosis, Tychê,
and flower-faced Okyrrhoê,
Chryseis,
Ianeira, Akastê, Admêtê,
Rhodopê,
Ploutô, and lovely Kalypsô,
Styx,
Ourania, and lovely Galaxaura.
Also
Pallas [Athena], the one who rouses to battle, and Artemis, who delights in
arrows.
425 We were playing and gathering
lovely flowers in our hands,
an
assortment of delicate crocus, iris, and hyacinth,
rosebuds
and lilies, a wonder to behold,
and
the narcissus, which is grown, like the crocus, by the wide earth.[47]
I
was joyfully gathering the flowers, and then the earth beneath me
430 gave way, and there it was that
he sprang out, the powerful lord who receives many guests.
He
took me away under the earth in his golden chariot.
It
was very much against my will. I cried with a piercing voice.
These
things, grieving, I tell you, and they are all alêthea.”
In
this way did the two of them spend the whole day, having a like-minded thûmos,[48]
435 and they gladdened greatly each
other’s heart and thûmos,
hugging
each other, and their thûmos
ceased having akhos.
They
received joy from each other, and gave it.
Then
Hekatê approached them, the one with the splendid headband.
And
she welcomed back the daughter of holy Demeter with many embraces.
440 And from that day forward, the
Lady [Hekatê] became her [Persephone’s] attendant and substitute
queen.
Then
the loud-thundering Zeus, who sees far and wide, sent to them a messenger,
Rhea
with the beautiful hair, to bring Demeter, the one with the dark robe,
to
join the company of the special group of gods. And he promised tîmai
that
he would give to her [Demeter], which she could receive in the company of the
immortal gods.
445 He [Zeus] assented that her
daughter, every time the season came round,
would
spend a third portion of the year in the realms of dark mist underneath,
and
the other two thirds in the company of her mother and the other immortals.
So
he spoke, and the goddess [Rhea] did not disobey the messages of Zeus.
Swiftly
she darted off from the peaks of Olympus
450 and arrived at the Rarian Field,[49]
the life-bringing fertile spot of land,
in
former times, at least. But, at this time, it was no longer life-bringing, but
it stood idle
and
completely without green growth. The bright grain of wheat had stayed hidden
underneath,
through
the mental power of Demeter, the one with the beautiful ankles. But, from this
point on,
it
began straightaway to flourish with long ears of grain
455 as the springtime was increasing
its power. On the field, the fertile furrows
began
to be overflow with cut-down ears of grain lying on the ground, while the rest
of what was cut down was already bound into sheaves.
This
happened the moment she [Rhea] arrived from the boundless aether.
They
[Demeter and Rhea] were glad to see each other, and they rejoiced in their thûmos.
Then
Rhea, the one with the splendid headband, addressed her [Demeter]:
460 “Come, child, Zeus the
loud-thunderer, the one who sees far and wide, is summoning you
to
come to the company of that special group of gods. And he promised tîmai
that
he would give you, which you could receive in the company of the immortal gods.
He
[Zeus] assented that your daughter, every time the season comes round,
would
spend a third portion of the year in the realms of dark mist underneath,
465 and the other two thirds in your
company and that of the other immortals.
He
has assented to all this with the nod of his head.[50]
So
come, my child! Obey! Do not be too
stubborn
in your anger at the dark-clouded son of Kronos.
Straightaway
make the harvest grow, that life-bringer for humans.”
470 So she spoke, and Demeter, she
with the beautiful garlands in her hair, did not disobey.
Straightaway
she sent up the harvest from the land with its rich clods of earth.
And
all the wide earth with leaves and blossoms
was
laden. Then she went to the kings, administrators of themistes,
and
she showed them—to Triptolemos, to Diokles, driver of horses,
475 to powerful Eumolpos and to
Keleos, leader of the people [lâoi]—
she
revealed to them the way to perform the sacred rites, and she pointed out the
ritual to all of them[51]
—the
holy ritual, which it is not at all possible to ignore, to find out about,
or
to speak out. The great awe of the gods holds back any speaking out.
480 Olbios among earth-bound mortals is he who has
seen these things.
But
whoever is uninitiated in the rites, whoever takes no part in them, will never
get a share [aisa] of
those sorts of things [that the initiated get],
once
they die, down below in the dank realms of mist.
But
when the resplendent goddess finished all her instructions,
they
[Demeter and Persephone] went to Olympus, to join the company of the other
gods.
485 And there they abide at the side
of Zeus, who delights in the thunderbolt.
Holy
they are, and revered. Olbios
is he whom they,
being
kind, decide to love among earth-bound mortals.
Straightaway
they send to such a man, to reside at his hearth, in his great palace,
Ploutos
[Wealth personified], who gives riches to mortal humans.
490 But come, you goddesses, who
have charge of the dêmos
of Eleusis, fragrant with incense.
and
of Paros the island and rocky Antron.
Come,
O lady resplendent with gifts, queen Dêô [Demeter], bringer of hôrai,
both
you and your daughter, the most beautiful Persephone.
Think
kindly and grant, in return for this song, a rich means of livelihood that
suits the thûmos.
495 And I will keep you in mind
throughout the rest of my song.
[1]This name designates both the god of the underworld and the underworld itself.
[2]As we shall now see, the narcissus is the trigger for the “trap door.”
[3]On the division of the world, to be shared by the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hadês, cf. Iliad XV 189-191.
[4]That is, with the dead.
[5]Different locales had different traditions about where Demeter was first recognized and where her cult and her Mysteries were first established.
[6]Eleusis is the locale of the Eleusinian Mysteries; both Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries were eventually appropriated by the polis of Athens.
[7]That is, the polis of Eleusis.
[8]Evidently the oldest sister was speaking on behalf of the others as well.
[9] The name suggests somebody who is a ‘giver of gifts’.
[10]The textual transmission is garbled here, and my translation of this line is tentative (the key, I propose, is in the connections with lines 149-150).
[11]The “gifts of the gods” can be good fortune or bad fortune, making people rejoice or grieve. This theme is relevant to the ad hoc name of Demeter at line 122.
[12]All this is an exercise in religious hindsight. The temple of “today” is the palace of “yesterday,” the age of heroes. The priest of “today,” descended as he is from an influential aristocratic family, is the king of “yesterday.” At a complex cult-center or “temple” like that of Eleusis, which is run by an accretive hierarchy of hereditary priesthoods, the religious hindsight requires that the accretion of priestly offices in the temple be retrojected as an aggregation of kings in the “palace,” who are also the cult-heroes in the “temple.” Notice that, although Kallidikê promises Demeter a catalogue of the kings, what she says turns out to be a catalogue of queens, who are named in terms of their husbands. The husbands are in the foreground, but the wives in the background are the ones who manage the palace. The kings are all special cult-heroes connected with the worship of Demeter. Triptolemos, the primeval Ploughman, is a local hero of Athens. Dioklos is a local hero of Megara (according to Megarean tradition, he was the Megarean ruler of Eleusis who was expelled by the Athenian hero Theseus: Plutarch Theseus 10; the Megarean character in Aristophanes Acharnians 774 swears by him as a cult-hero). We know less about Polyxenos, but here too we have evidence for his cult in symbiosis with the cult of Demeter; keeping in mind the theme of god-hero antagonism, I note that poluxenos ‘he who has many guests’ is a conventional epithet of Hadês. As for Eumolpos ‘he who sings and dances well’, he is the hero-ancestor of the ultimately dominant priestly family at the cult-center of Eleusis; he represents the most current tradition in Eleusis itself. Dolikhos was a cult-hero connected with the Eleusinian Games (Richardson commentary p. 199). Keleos seems to be a figure parallel to Eumolpos (cf. Richardson commentary p. 303).
[13]Note the roles of the father and the mother.
[14]Again, note the roles of the father and the mother.
[15]Note the diametrical oppositions between Demeter and the girls, both in movement and in appearance. In the cult of Demeter, such diametrically opposite movements and appearances are suitable for ritual re-enactment, in song and dance, by ensembles of specially-chosen girls and women.
[16]An epithet appropriate to kings, reflecting a myth-pattern that connects royal sovereignty with dew from heaven.
[17]We know from other sources that such a stool with a fleece on it was a “prop” for the purification ritual at Eleusis.
[18]Iambê, as we shall now see, is a personification of the iambic tradition, which reflects a ritual discourse that provokes laughter and thereby promotes fertility. This discourse, which makes fun of its targets, is often obscene in nature. The obscenity, it goes without saying, is ritual obscenity.
[19]The name of a ritual potion in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
[20]Another name for Demeter.
[21]The hosia is whatever can be considered specific to the sphere of humans, not gods, in a ritual. For example, hosia is when humans take a drink at a ritual, whereas the god involved does not. From the standpoint of myth, however, when the ritual is founded, the god has to show the way by doing it first, so that humans will have precedent. In such a case, the god does it “for the sake of hosia” (cf. Richardson commentary p. 225).
[22]With reference to the cutting of roots: this riddling euphemism designates extracts that serve as ingredients for magic potions.
[23]Literally, an ‘anti-cutting’.
[24]Apparently the same threat as the Undercutter.
[25]Literally, ‘he who shines for the dêmos’.
[26]Commentary in Nagy, Best of the Achaeans pp. 181-182.
[27]With downturned palms: a ritual gesture, described also in the Iliad.
[28]In other versions, Demeter just leaves the baby in the fire, letting him perish right then and there (cf. Richardson commentary 244).
[29]Styx (the word stux conveys the nervous reaction of recoiling at something that is chillingly ice-cold) is a river in Hadês, and the gods swear by it when they guarantee the absolute truth of what they are saying.
[30]
Commentary in Nagy, Best of the Achaeans p. 184.
[31]In the present version of the Demeter myth, Metaneira’s mistake thus causes the boy’s eventual death. In other versions, as already mentioned, it causes the boy’s immediate death in the fire.
[32]This refers to a ritual mock-battle at Eleusis, a quasi-athletic event known as the Ballêtus, which was officially held on a seasonally-recurring basis to compensate for the death of the baby cult-hero Demophon. This mock-battle seems to have been the ritual kernel of a whole complex of events known as the Eleusinian Games (cf. Richardson commentary p. 246). Parallels: the Nemean and the Isthmian Games, pan-Hellenic athletic events, were held on a seasonally-recurring basis to compensate for the deaths of the baby cult-heroes Arkhemoros and Melikertes respectively.
[33]Meaning: ‘the beautiful place of dancing’.
[34]Gods are larger-than-life-size.
[35]I see here a veiled reference to the ultimate development of the entire religious complex of Eleusis.
[36]The meaning of this word is opaque; it probably conveys some mythological theme of anthropogony.
[37]There were two ways of offering meat to the gods: as portions to be set aside and eaten (e.g. by the priests) or to be burned on the altar. The gods give vegetation to humans, who give their meat-offerings to the gods. If humans get no vegetation in order to sustain their life, the gods cannot get meat-offerings to sustain their timê.
[38]Her golden wings are on her heels.
[39]Hermes was the killer of a monster called Argos, who was himself a Hermetic figure. The form argos conveys swiftness and brightness, and the form Argei-phontês may well convey both ‘Argos-killer’ and ‘he who kills with swiftness and brightness’.
[40]The text of lines 349-350 is garbled, and the translation here is merely an approximation.
[41]Commentary on lines 351-354 in Nagy, Best of the Achaeans pp. 186-187.
[42]This is conventionally said about a “knowing” smile: Hadês knows more than he lets on.
[43]Hadês is acting furtively (Richardson commentary p. 277).
[44]Maenads are frenzied devotees of Bacchus = Dionysus.
[45]These lines are incomplete: the gaps in the text are caused by a tear in the manuscript (the Hymn to Demeter is preserved in only one medieval manuscript). The reconstructed context: Persephone also runs to her mother. Demeter finds out that Persephone has eaten of the pomegranate that had been offered her by Hadês. It is determined that Persephone must therefore stay in Hadês for one-third of the year, even though she may spend the other two-thirds with her mother.
[46]Demeter is asking Persephone this question.
[47]As we know from external sources, both the crocus and the narcissus are sacred to Demeter and Persephone.
[48]It is a religious principle that Demeter and Persephone, on the occasion of their mother-daughter reunion, are “like-minded.”
[49]A cult-place associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries and with the myth about the first ploughing. Demeter is here, at the time: see lines 457-458.
[50]There is a lacuna in the first part of this line.
[51]Editors tend to skip the next line, which repeats the names of some, but not all, of the recipients of Demeter’s revelation of sacred mysteries.