Persephone of Eleusis: A Romance of Ancient Greece

by Clare Winger Harris

The sun had set and the stars came out one by one. As he stood upon the sand and gazed toward the hazy outline of Salamis, an ecstatic mood took possession of him. Conscious of his own impotence, he sank upon his knees and lifted his eyes to the God who had saved Greece, and who was manifest in all the wonders of nature around him.

Soon he realized that the other mystæ, bearing flaming torches, were leaving the shore and repairing to the temple. As he hurried hither he met Cleodice with a torch for him.

“We are going to the Telesterion to hear the address of the hierophant,” she explained.

The flickering, reddish lights from hundreds of torches cast grotesque shadows and produced a weird effect as they entered the enormous hall and seated themselves upon the steps which surrounded the square floor on all sides. Within this square many who had been in the procession from Athens marched and sang with the lyre, the flute and the barbiton. Upon their heads and around their shoulders rested garlands of interwoven flowers.

The revelry ended at the appearance of four men from one of the six doors which were arranged in pairs on three sides of the hall. First in order came the sacred torch-bearer followed by the altar-priest who wore the insignia and carried the holy emblems for the service. Immediately behind him came the hierophant whose duty it was to expound the truths to the newly initiated. This man, chosen in the prime of life, was selected from the aristocratic family of the Eumolpidæ. His term would last till his death, for such was the custom regarding the election of this officer. In his footsteps followed a fourth figure, the sacred herald, who together with the altar-priest and torch-bearer, was chosen for life from the sacred family of Ceryces, the family in which Zopyrus could proudly claim membership.

A hush fell upon the assembly at the appearance of these venerable men. The hierophant with outstretched hands invoked the blessing of the Mother goddess upon the celebrants. Then in a well modulated voice he addressed his words to the newly initiated.

Zopyrus sat as one in a trance, for the sentiment was similar to that of many utterances of his beloved friend Aeschylus. His thoughts wandered for a moment to his poet friend and he wondered if he were faring well on his journey to the island of Sicily. He was probably at this moment on the surface of the dark sea searching the far horizon for a first glimpse of fiery Ætna, a favorite abode of Demeter and her daughter Persephone! This brought his thoughts back again to his immediate surroundings and he listened as the hierophant spoke:—

“When I look upon yonder green fields, I call upon the faithful to give thanks to Demeter, that is, that active manifestation of the One through which the corn attains to its ripe maturity. Whether we view the sun or the harvest, or contemplate with admiration the unity and harmony of the visible or invisible world, still it is always with the Only, the All-embracing One we have to do, to Whom we ourselves belong as those of His manifestations in which He places His self-consciousness.

“The wonderful miracle of reviving vegetation, of the grain which dies in the ground and springs anew to life, illustrates man’s longing for a revival of his own life, and serves as an assurance of his hope of immortality.

“Many of you sit before me fearful for the morrow, for you know not in the day or in the night what course fate has marked out for you. But think you that any part of the self-consciousness of this omnipotent God can sink into utter oblivion? I tell you that death is but a passing out of this life into a larger, fuller existence like unto the change which takes place in a kernel of corn when it is planted in the ground. What change does Demeter work in that corn? What change will the One accomplish in you? In Demeter you see explained the mysteries pertaining to the source of life. In Persephone you behold life itself with its problems. Their relation to each other is emblematic of man’s resurrection. We are here now to win the friendship of the Mother and Daughter that we may procure a blessing at their hands in the next existence.”