2503 ([return])
[ sc. Semele. Zeus is here speaking.]
2504 ([return])
[ The reference is apparently to something in the body of the hymn, now lost.]
2505 ([return])
[ The Greeks feared to name Pluto directly and mentioned him by one of many descriptive titles, such as ‘Host of Many’: compare the Christian use of O DIABOLOS or our ‘Evil One’.]
2506 ([return])
[ Demeter chooses the lowlier seat, supposedly as being more suitable to her assumed condition, but really because in her sorrow she refuses all comforts.]
2507 ([return])
[ An act of communion—the drinking of the potion here described—was one of the most important pieces of ritual in the Eleusinian mysteries, as commemorating the sorrows of the goddess.]