immortal, but that her fatal
curiosity had rendered this impossible, adding, however, that the child,
having slept in her arms, and been nursed on her lap, should ever command
the respect and esteem of mankind. She then desired that a temple and altar
should be erected to her on a neighbouring hill by the people of Eleusis,
promising that she herself would direct them how to perform the sacred
rites and ceremonies, which should be observed in her honour. With these
words she took her departure never to return.

Obedient to her commands, Celeus called together a meeting of his people,
and built the temple on the spot which the goddess had indicated. It was
soon completed, and Demeter took up her abode in it, but her heart was
still sad for the loss of her daughter, and the whole world felt the
influence of her grief and dejection. This was {55} indeed a terrible year
for mankind. Demeter no longer smiled on the earth she was wont to bless,
and though the husbandman sowed the grain, and the groaning oxen ploughed
the fields, no harvest rewarded their labour. All was barren, dreary
desolation. The world was threatened with famine, and the gods with the
loss of their accustomed honours and sacrifices; it became evident,
therefore, to Zeus himself that some measures must be adopted to appease
the anger of the goddess. He accordingly despatched Iris and many of the
other gods and goddesses to implore Demeter to return to Olympus; but all
their prayers were fruitless. The incensed goddess swore that until her
daughter was restored to her she would not allow the grain to spring forth
from the earth. At length Zeus sent Hermes, his faithful messenger, to the
lower world with a petition to Aides, urgently entreating him to restore
Persephone to the arms of her disconsolate mother. When he arrived in the
gloomy realms of Aides, Hermes found him seated on a throne with the
beautiful Persephone beside him, sorrowfully bewailing her unhappy fate. On
learning his errand, Aides consented to resign Persephone, who joyfully
prepared to follow the messenger of the gods to the abode of life and
light. Before taking leave of her husband, he presented to her a few seeds
of pomegranate, which in her excitement she thoughtlessly swallowed, and
this simple act, as the sequel will show, materially affected her whole
future life. The meeting between mother and child was one of unmixed
rapture, and for the moment all the past was forgotten. The lov