Multa eximia divinaque videntur Athenæ tuæ peperisse, atque in vitam hominum attulisse; tum nihil melius illis mysteriis, quibus ex agresti immanique vitâ, exculti ad humanitatem et mitigati sumus, initiaque ut appellautur, ita re vera principia vitæ cognovimus. Cic. 1. ii. de leg. n. 36.
Teque Ceres, et Libera, quarum sacra, sicut opiniones hominum ac religiones ferunt, longè maximis atque occultissimis ceremoniis continentur: à quibus initia vitæ atque victùs, legum, morum, mansuetudinis, humanitatis exempla hominibus et civitatibus data ac dispertita esse dicuntur. Cic. in Verr. de supplic. n. 186.—Trans.
Est et fideli tuta silentio
Merces. Vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum
Vulgârit arcana, sub iisdem
Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum
Solvat phaselum.
Hor. Od. 2. l. iii.
Safe is the silent tongue, which none can blame
The faithful secret merit fame;
Beneath one roof ne'er let him rest with me,
Who “Ceres' mysteries” reveals;
In one frail bark ne'er let us put to sea,
Nor tempt the jarring winds with spreading sails.
—Trans.
Tardaque Eleusinæ matris volventia plaustra.
Virg. Georg. l. i. ver. 163.
The Eleusinian mother's mystic car Slow rolling——
—Trans.