The most celebrated among the myths which testify to the wondrous power of Dionysus is the story of the punishment of the Tyrrhenian pirates. On the occasion of his passage from Icaria to Naxos, these pirates put Dionysus in chains, purposing to take him to Italy, and there sell him as a slave. At a nod from the youthful god the chains fell from his limbs; he appeared as a lion, while a bear was seen at the other end of the ship. Vines and ivy tendrils wound themselves round the mast and sails of the ship, which stood still, whilst the strains of the nymphs burst forth. The sailors, terrified by the transformation of the god, leaped overboard, and were changed into dolphins. A fine representation, in relief, of this scene still exists on the monument of Lysicrates, at Athens. The most beautiful feature in it is the figure of the god playing with his lion in the most joyous unconsciousness (Fig. 36). With the name of Naxos, which was a chief seat of his worship, is connected the celebrated story of his marriage with Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete. The Attic hero, Theseus, after escaping the dangers of the Labyrinth by her means, had taken her away with him from Crete in order to marry her. He deserted her, however, whilst asleep on the island of Naxos, either of his own accord or because warned of the god in a dream. The indescribable anguish and consternation of Ariadne, on awaking to find herself alone and deserted on a foreign strand, was only equalled by her joyous surprise when Bacchus, returning from his travels in India, found her and made her his bride. The poets, indeed, do not relate that Zeus then bestowed on her that immortality which he had already given his son on account of his glorious achievements and extraordinary merit toward mankind; but such appears to have been the popular tradition. At Athens a sort of harvest thanksgiving was celebrated in honour of both Dionysus and his bride, at which vines with the grapes on them were borne in solemn procession through the streets of the city.

The worship of Dionysus extended not only over the whole of Greece, but also to Italy, Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedonia, and to every place where the vine was cultivated by the Greeks. The god was extolled as Lyæus, the deliverer from care, and great festivals were instituted in his honour, which were of a disorderly character, but very popular among the common people. At the time of the winter solstice there was mourning, because at this season the vine seemed to die away, and the god was believed to be suffering persecution at the hands of the evil spirits of winter, and obliged to flee in consequence to the sea or lower world. It was, therefore, thought right to suffer with him, and people manifested their grief at his disappearance by every kind of wild gesture. At the winter festivals of Dionysus, which were celebrated every other year, only women and girls took part. The festivals of the god at the beginning of spring, when the new wine was tasted for the first time, were purely festivals of gladness, like the greater Dionysia at Athens. On these occasions the reawakening of nature was celebrated with boundless joy and boisterous mirth. All kinds of jokes and mischievous pranks were indulged in, and festive processions and theatrical performances followed each other in quick succession.

The following festivals were celebrated at Athens in honour of Dionysus:—

1. The Lesser or Rural Dionysia. This was the vintage festival proper, which did not take place in Attica till the end of November or beginning of December, because they liked to let the grapes hang as long as possible. A he-goat was first solemnly sacrificed to the god; this was followed by a festive procession bearing the sacred things, and the festival concluded with all kinds of country amusements, dancing, masquerading, and revelling. The chief amusement of the young men was dancing on the leather bag. Out of the skin of the slaughtered goat was made a leather bag, which was inflated and smeared with oil: the young men then attempted to dance on it.

2. The Lenæa, or feast of the wine-press, was celebrated in the month of January at Athens, in the place where, according to an old tradition, the first wine-press had stood. Here stood the Lenæon, one of the two chief temples of the god. The chief feature of the festival was a magnificent procession with the sacred symbols of the god. This was followed by a great banquet, the viands for which were furnished by the city of Athens. The new wine which was drunk on these occasions did not tend to diminish the hilarity of the worshippers, so that all kinds of mischievous jokes were perpetrated.

3. The Anthesteria were celebrated in February, on the 11th, 12th, and 13th days of the month Anthesterion. They were supposed to commemorate the return of Dionysus from the lower world, or, in other words, the reawakening of nature from the sleep of winter. The first day was called πιθοιγία (cask-opening), because on this day the new wine was first broached. The second and chief day of the festival was called χόες (cups). A procession and a great banquet took place, at which the guests were crowned with flowers. Many liberties were permitted to the slaves on this occasion, as at the Roman Saturnalia. The third day was called χύτροι (pots), because vessels were displayed filled with all kinds of boiled vegetables. These were regarded in the light of offerings for the souls of the dead, who were popularly supposed to revisit the upper world on this occasion.

4. The Greater or City Dionysia formed the chief festival of the god, and the proper spring-feast of the Athenians. It was celebrated with extraordinary splendour in the month of March, and lasted several days, bringing together a vast concourse of strangers from all parts. The city, renowned alike for the refined artistic taste and the keen wit of its inhabitants, then donned its holiday garb, and innumerable merry antics were played by the crowds assembled in the streets and squares. The chief feature of the festival was a solemn procession, in which an old wooden statue of the god was borne through the streets. There were likewise banquets and comic processions in masks, and grand representations of new comedies and tragedies. The proceedings concluded with the presentation of prizes to the successful competitors.

The Italian nationalities likewise celebrated a festival on the 17th of March, called the Liberalia, in honour of Liber, or Liber Pater, the Italian god of the vine. It was distinguished throughout by the simple countrified character of the proceedings, and resembled the Lesser Dionysia of the inhabitants of Attica. People amused themselves with all kinds of jokes and antics, and with masquerades, the masks for which were cut from the bark of trees. The chief object of the festival was to pray for the fertility of the vines. These innocent festivals had nothing to do with the voluptuous Bacchanalia which were afterwards introduced into Rome in imitation of the Greek mysteries, and which the most rigorous interference of the authorities was unable to suppress.

If we try to conceive briefly the significance of the worship of Dionysus in the religion of the ancients, we shall find that in his primitive character the god was a personification of the active, productive power of nature. As Demeter was supposed to give corn and the other fruits of the field, so Dionysus was supposed to give the fruits of trees, and especially of the vine. He was likewise regarded as the author of the blessings of civilisation, so that, on this point, he supplements the idea of the great culture-goddess Demeter, with whom, both among the Greeks and Romans, he had many temples and festivals in common. Looking at his character from another side, we find him coming into contact with Apollo, since he was supposed not only to endow men with a kindly, cheerful disposition, but also to inspire them with a love of music, on which account he was honoured with Apollo as the friend and leader of the Muses.

Artistic representations of Dionysus have come down to us on numerous monuments. In earlier art he was generally depicted as majestic and grave, and on that account represented with a beard. We have given an instance of this earlier conception in the so-called Sardanapalus of the Vatican (Fig. 37). In later art he became more youthful, and was characterised by a delicate roundness of form. The statues of this period are distinguished by the almost feminine expression of face with which they endow the god, as well as by the rounded limbs and the graceful ease of every attitude. The statue of a youthful Dionysus in the Louvre at Paris is an instance of this later mode of conception (Fig. 38). So likewise is the head of Dionysus at Leyden, which is distinguished by a sweet expression of reverie. His soft hair, which falls about his shoulders in delicate ringlets, is generally intertwined with a garland of vine leaves or ivy (Fig. 39). The other attributes of the god are the thyrsus, or Bacchic wand, the diadem, the skin of a wild beast falling across his chest, which often forms his sole clothing, and the drinking-cup in his hand. He is generally accompanied by lions, tigers, or panthers; and the bull and ram, as the symbols of fertility, were held sacred to him, while the latter was also his usual sacrifice. Among plants, besides the vine and the ivy, the laurel was held sacred to him on account of its powers of inspiration.

Of all the prominent personages in the stories of Dionysus, Ariadne has received most attention at the hands of the sculptor. The most celebrated of such ancient monuments is a marble figure of great beauty, larger than life, representing the sleeping Ariadne. It is now preserved in the Vatican Museum at Rome (Fig. 40). Among the productions of modern sculptors, the Ariadne of Dannecker, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, which represents her as the bride of Theseus, riding on a panther, justly enjoys a very high reputation (Fig. 41).

4. The Nymphs.—We now come to a class of inferior terrestrial divinities who are often found in the train of Bacchus. The most numerous and important of these are the Nymphs. They personify the restless activity and energy of nature, over the whole of which their power extends. They manifest their presence in the murmuring, rippling streams and brooks, as well as in the sprouting vegetation of wood and meadow. They are tender, graceful maidens, who, though kindly disposed towards men, yet avoid human habitations, and prefer the peaceful solitude of the woods and mountains, where they lead a merry, joyous life among the clefts and grottoes.

Sometimes they devote themselves to useful pursuits, and spin and weave; sometimes they engage in graceful dances, and sing merry songs, or bathe their delicate limbs in the white spray of lonely brooks. They gladly join the train of those superior deities supposed to preside in the realms of nature. Thus we see them joining in the Bacchic revelry with Dionysus, or figuring in the train of Aphrodite, or ranging field and wood as they hunt in the company of Artemis.

According to the divisions of nature, over which the Nymphs were supposed to preside, we may distinguish the following classes:—

1. The Water-Nymphs, to whom, in their wider signification, the Oceanids and Nereids also belong. Here, however, we have only to deal with the water-nymphs of the brooks and fountains of the land, who are distinguished by the name of Naiads. As the kindly nourishers of plants, and as thereby ministering indirectly to the sustenance of both man and beast, they enjoyed a large measure of veneration among the ancients, although, being inferior deities, they could claim no temples of their own. Like the sea-nymphs, they possessed the gift of prophecy, and appear as the patrons of poetry and song.

2. Nymphs of the Mountains, or Oreads, to whom belong the nymphs of the valleys and glens (Napææ). These were very numerous, and received special names from the particular mountains or districts they inhabited. The most celebrated among them was the Bœotian nymph Echo. She was consumed by love for the beautiful youth Narcissus, a son of the river-god Cephisus, and finding that he did not reciprocate her affection, she pined away in ever-increasing grief, until at length her emaciated frame was changed into rock, and nothing but her voice remained. But Aphrodite avenged this injury to her sex on Narcissus, who had in his vain self-love thus contemned the beautiful nymph. As he was hunting one day on Mount Helicon, he bent down to quench his thirst from a spring clear as crystal, and the goddess caused him to fall in love with his own shadow, which was reflected in the water. The object of his desires being unattainable, he too pined away from grief, and the flower named after him has ever since continued an emblem of heartless beauty.

3. The Dryads, or Hamadryads (wood-nymphs). These appear to have been a conception of later times. It was supposed that their existence depended on that of the trees they inhabited, so that when the latter were destroyed the nymphs also perished. Not sharing immortality, therefore, they cannot properly be reckoned among the gods.

The veneration of nymphs was very ancient in Greece, and was thence transferred to Rome. Goats, lambs, milk, and oil were offered to them.

In art they are depicted as lovely maidens, generally only slightly clad, and adorned with flowers and garlands. The Naiads are also represented as drawing water, or with attributes relating to their element.

5. The Satyrs.—In contrast to the Nymphs, or female personifications of the life of Nature, we find a number of inferior wood and water-deities of the male sex, called Satyrs, Sileni, and Panes, between whom it is difficult to distinguish clearly. Generally by Satyrs (Fauni) we understand the wood and mountain-spirits proper, who are inseparably connected with Dionysus, whose attendant train they form. Coarse sensuality and a wanton spirit of mischief are the leading features of their character. On account of their animal propensities they were fabled to be only half human in appearance, with blunt noses and otherwise ignoble features, bristling hair, goat-like ears, and a goat’s tail. Like the Muses, they love music and dancing, their instruments being the Syrinx and the flute, together with cymbals and castanets. Like their master, they were passionately addicted to excessive indulgence in wine; but whereas in the former this produced only a rapturous enthusiasm and an exalted frame of mind, with them its effects were purely sensual, and excited them to insane and unseemly pranks of all kinds.

The Satyrs were not an uncommon subject of representation among ancient artists. The conception was based on the original hideous half-man, half-animal type; and in art, as well as in poetry, the blunt nose, the pointed ears, and the goat’s tail form their characteristic features. The Bacchic insignia of a band round the brow and an ivy garland also belong to them. There are some particularly fine antique statues of satyrs in the art-collections of Munich and Rome.

The engraving (Fig. 42) shows the highly-expressive face of a satyr in the Munich collection.

6. Silenus.—Silenus, according to the common tradition, was an old satyr who tended and brought up Dionysus, and afterwards became the faithful companion of his wanderings. He is depicted by the poets as a somewhat elderly man, with blunt nose and bald head, hairy chest and thighs, and a stomach so large that he can scarcely walk. He generally appears riding on an ass in front of the Bacchic company, with a satyr on either side supporting his half-drunken form.

The artists of antiquity seem to have devoted themselves frequently to the subject of Silenus. They either represented him as the nurse and preceptor of the youthful Bacchus, holding the child in his arms and regarding him with a look of affection, in which the comic element is entirely lacking, or they present him to us as the insatiable but good-natured wine-bibber. His standing attribute is the wine-skin, besides which, like other members of the Bacchic train, he bears a thyrsus and ivy garland.

Besides Silenus, who was celebrated as the preceptor of Dionysus, there was a whole tribe of Sileni. Whether this is due to the fact that the older satyrs were called Sileni, or whether they form a special class of deities presiding over the flowing, gushing water, cannot be determined with any certainty.

Among the Sileni were two personages who play a part in the story of Dionysus. These were Marsyas and Midas. The former, like all satyrs, was an accomplished master of the flute, and challenged Apollo to a trial of skill which proved fatal to him. The conditions of the contest were that he who was vanquished should put himself entirely in the power of his adversary. Apollo won, and made a cruel use of his victory by hanging Marsyas on a pine tree and flaying him alive.

Midas was the mythic founder of the kingdom of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, whither he had emigrated from Macedonia. Tradition makes him a son of Cybele, and, as her favourite, endowed with fabulous wealth. But, like many of the sons of men in the present day, the richer he grew the greater was his thirst for gold, until it betrayed him at length into an act of great folly. One day, the drunken Silenus strayed from the company of Bacchus into the garden of Midas. The latter received him with great hospitality, and after entertaining him sumptuously for ten days brought him to Bacchus. Pleased with his kindness, the god rewarded him with the gratification of any wish he might make. Midas now wished that everything he touched might turn to gold. Naturally the gratification of this wish well-nigh proved his ruin; and he only escaped by washing, at the command of the god, in the river Pactolus, which has ever since washed down gold in its sands. A later fable makes Midas the judge in the rivalry of Apollo and Pan, on which occasion he decided in favour of the latter, for which the god changed his ears into those of an ass. Modern criticism has seen in the rich Midas one of the many personifications of the sun, who, as he rises over the earth, turns all things to gold.

7. Greek and Roman Wood-Spirits.—1. Pan.—Pan was a very ancient god of the woods and meadows. He was at first honoured only by the inhabitants of the mountain-land of Arcadia and by other pastoral tribes. Subsequently his divinity was more generally acknowledged and more highly esteemed. Common accounts make him the son of Hermes by the nymph Penelope, a daughter of Dryops. His mother was not a little terrified at his birth, since he was hairy all over, and had horns and goat’s feet. His father wrapped him in a hare-skin, and bore him to Olympus, where the assembled gods showed no small pleasure at the sight of the strange little wood-demon. From time immemorial Pan was regarded by the shepherds of Greece as their most doughty protector; for which reason the mountain caves in which they gathered their herds together at night, or in threatening weather, were held sacred to him. There were many such caves of Pan in the mountains of Arcadia, and also one at the foot of the Acropolis at Athens, besides others on Mount Parnassus in Bœotia, and elsewhere. Pan was esteemed a god of great cheerfulness and activity of character, who loved to range the woods as a huntsman, and was on this account regarded with little less veneration by huntsmen than by shepherds. He was also looked on as the patron of fishing and bee-keeping.

As the god of shepherds, Pan was also a lover of music, and on returning in the evening from the chase, says the Homeric story, he was wont to play sweet tunes on his pan-pipe (Syrinx), whilst the Oreads, or mountain-nymphs, sang the praises of the gods and led off their spirited dances. The poets have founded a story on his discovery of the Syrinx. They invented a fabulous nymph called Syrinx, with whom Pan was supposed to have fallen violently in love. The nymph, however, did not return his affection, and fled from his embraces. Pan pursued her, and in her extremity she sought the aid of Gæa, who transformed her into a reed. Out of this reed Pan, by joining seven pieces together, made an instrument which he called the Syrinx, after the nymph.

Pan was as passionately fond of dancing as of music. According to Pindar, he was the most accomplished dancer among the gods. His favourite amusement was to dance in company with the mountain-nymphs, on which occasions he regaled them with every kind of droll leap, in the performance of which his goat’s feet stood him in good stead.

As a wood-deity, Pan also possessed the gift of prophecy; indeed, according to some, it was he who first imparted this gift to Apollo. He certainly had a very ancient oracle at Acacesium in Arcadia.

Wild mountainous country and the thick untrodden forest are both alike apt to impress the lonely traveller with feelings of awe. All such sensations of sudden and unaccountable fear were ascribed to Pan (Panic). He was also said to delight in terrifying travellers with all kinds of strange noises. Hence, at a later period, arose the story that in the contest with the Titans he rendered good service to Zeus by blowing on a shell trumpet which he had invented, whereupon the Titans were seized with a sudden terror. This, however, is only another version of Triton’s services at the battle with the giants. It is well known that the Athenians introduced the worship of Pan, to which they had been hitherto strangers, into their city after the battle of Marathon, in consequence of the assistance which they believed they had received from the god.

Such are the more ancient and simple features of the character of Pan. He assumed a higher significance when men began to regard him as the companion of the “Mighty Mother,” and assigned him a place in the Bacchic circle. Men now saw in him a productive force of nature like the Phrygian Attis; indeed, in consequence of a misinterpretation of his name, he was made the creator and god of the universe. He seems to have originally signified the “purifying” breeze, which at one time whistled through the reeds, or at another moaned dismally in the forest, frightening the belated traveller.

After he had once been introduced into the company of Dionysus, poets and artists alike set themselves to work to invent a number of Panes and little Pans (Panisci), who were easily confounded with the Satyrs and Sileni.

The chief shrine of Pan was at Acacesium in Arcadia. Cows, goats, and sheep were sacrificed to him, besides offerings of milk, honey, and new wine.

In art we must distinguish the earlier and later types of the god. In the former, which dates from the best days of Greek art, he is conceived as entirely human in appearance, with the exception of two sprouting horns on either side of the forehead. Later, he was depicted with larger horns, a long goat’s beard, and goat’s feet. We give an engraving of this later conception (Fig. 43), which is taken from a mural painting at Naples. The usual attributes of Pan are a Syrinx and shepherd’s crook, sometimes also a pine garland.

2. Silvanus.—Among the Roman wood-deities, Silvanus occupies a position most akin to that of Pan, although they are not exactly identical. His name, derived from silva (wood), points him out as the god of the forest, where he was supposed to dwell, a deity kindly disposed towards mankind, and propitious to the welfare of trees, plants, and cattle. At times, however, he appears, like Pan, as a mischievous sprite, who delights to trick and terrify the lonely traveller. His sphere of activity was not confined to the woods, since he was also regarded as the author of fruitfulness in gardens and orchards. In this character Silvanus bears a close resemblance to Terminus, the god of boundaries and landed property, inasmuch as he preserves fields, gardens, and houses from harm. The first of the fruits of the field were offered to him. He had two shrines in Rome, one on the Viminal and another on the Aventine.

Artists and poets agree in representing Silvanus as an old man with a rustic head-gear, scattering blooming lilies and other flowers. He is usually distinguished by a pruning-knife.

3. Faunus and Fauna.—Closely resembling Silvanus is another deity called Faunus, one of the most ancient national gods of Italy. He appears as the good spirit of the mountains, pastures, and plains. He was regarded by the shepherds as their best protector, since he made their cattle fruitful and drove off noxious beasts of prey. In the former character he was also called Inuus (the fertiliser); in the latter Lupercus (the warder-off of wolves).

Like Pan, he appears to have his seat in the woods, whence he sometimes terrifies and annoys travellers. At night, too, he creeps into men’s houses, and torments them with evil dreams and horrible apparitions (Incubus).

Like Pan, too, Faunus possessed the gift of prophecy, and answered both by direct revelations and by dreams. In this character he was called Fatuus, and had a celebrated oracle in the grove at Tibur, on the spring Albunea.

Having once invented a number of Fauns, the poets soon began to identify them with the Satyrs of the Greeks.

In honour of this decidedly national deity, different festivals were celebrated, at which rams were sacrificed and libations of wine and milk made. The Faunalia were celebrated on the Nones of December, on which occasion the guests at the festive board surrendered themselves to the most unrestrained mirth, and granted many liberties also to their slaves. The Lupercalia, however, formed the proper expiatory festival of Faunus. This festival was celebrated on the 15th of February, and was remarkable for the number of ancient customs which were observed. The chief of these was the course of the Luperci, or priests of Faunus, who, after making their offering, ran from the shrine of the god (Lupercal), on the Palatine, through the streets of Rome, their only clothing being an apron cut from the skin of the slaughtered animal. They struck all whom they met with thongs, also cut from the same blood-stained skin. Barren women placed themselves in the way of the Luperci, believing that by means of the strokes the reproach of barrenness would be taken away from them. As a day of atonement, this day was termed dies februatus (from februare, to purify), whence the name of the month.

The feminine counterpart of Faunus, though not his wife, was Fauna, a propitious, kindly goddess of the plains. She is also called Maia, or Bona Dea. The women made an offering to her every year at night, on which occasion males were strictly excluded.

In art Faunus bears exactly the same appearance as Pan, with whom, indeed, he was often identified.

8. Priapus.—The worship of Priapus, the god of fields and gardens, appears to have been long of a purely local character, confined principally to the districts on the Hellespont, since he is not even mentioned by earlier writers. He was the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, and presided over the exuberant fertility of nature. He was supposed to exercise influence over the fruitfulness of flocks and herds, whilst fishing and the rearing of bees were also placed under his protection. His special sphere, however, was the protection of gardens and vineyards. Asses were sacrificed to him, a fact which gave rise to all sorts of comical stories relating to the hostility of Priapus to this animal. Besides this, he received the first fruits of the garden and field and drink-offerings of milk and honey. The worship of Priapus was introduced into Italy at the same time as that of Aphrodite, and he was identified with the native Mutunus.

This deity was scarcely noticed in higher art. In the gardens of Italy, however, rough-hewn pillars of wood, similar to those of Hermes, were erected in his honour. He is usually distinguished by a pruning-knife and club.

9. Saturnus and Ops.—Before passing to Demeter, or Ceres, the great goddess of civilisation, to whom by Greeks and Romans alike the blessings of the harvest were ascribed, and who forms the best link between the gods of the upper and lower worlds, we must pause to consider some gods of agriculture and cattle-rearing peculiar to the Romans. Among them are Saturn and Ops, who belong to the most ancient national deities of Italy. To Saturn was ascribed the introduction of agriculture, together with the cultivation of the vine and other fruits. He was, therefore, venerated as the great benefactor of mankind, who not only promoted the physical welfare of men, but who also introduced a higher standard of civilisation. After the Romans had become acquainted with the mythology of the Greeks, they identified him with Cronus. In consequence of this, the story arose that, after his dethronement by Jupiter, Saturn fled to Italy, where he was hospitably received by Janus. There he is said to have brought together the inhabitants, who had hitherto wandered about without any fixed homes, and to have united them in regular political communities, over which he himself ruled. This was the golden age. In remembrance of the happy age when men were not yet troubled by sorrow or need, the Saturnalia were celebrated during three days, beginning from the 17th of December. This festival, which with changed meaning still continues in the Carnival of the present day, was celebrated in Rome with particularly great splendour. Unbounded festivity reigned throughout the whole town, and vented itself in every description of joke and prank. The distinctions of class were suspended, the courts and schools kept holiday, and the shops were closed. The chief day was the 19th of December, which was especially a festive day for the slaves, for on this day there were practically no slaves in Rome. No services were required of them, and they were allowed to don the clothes of their masters and to eat and drink as much as they liked, whilst their masters waited on them at table. And this custom allowed a class, otherwise subject to so many afflictions, to forget their sorrows for at least one day in a year. Wealthy Romans generally kept open house on this day, and vied with each other in the splendour of their hospitalities; and of course a solemn sacrifice was made to Saturn. The woollen bandages which, during the greater part of the year, enveloped the feet of his statue in order that he might not depart without vouchsafing a blessing, were on this day unloosed, and throughout the night the temple was illuminated with wax tapers. This festival, which was extremely popular among the Romans, was also celebrated with games in the circus.

The chief temple of Saturn, which was begun by Tarquinius Superbus and finished in the first years of the Republic, was situated on the ascent to the Capitol from the Forum. Beneath it was a vault containing the state treasury, or ærarium, the guardianship of the state treasures being committed to this god as the dispenser of every blessing.

Regarded as the wife of Saturn, and therefore identified with Rhea, Ops was the goddess of the seed-time and harvest. On this account her worship was closely connected with that of Saturn, and she had a place in his temple on the Capitoline. A festival was celebrated in honour of her on the 25th of August, when the newly-gathered corn was threshed.

When taken together, Saturn and Ops were regarded as deities who presided over marriage and the education of children, it being an easy step from the deity of the sprouting, ripening seed, to that of the budding, thriving season of human life.

Saturn is always represented as an old man, and is generally distinguished by a pruning-knife or sickle.

10. Vertumnus and Pomona.—Vertumnus and Pomona much resemble Saturn and Ops, the only difference being that the former exert their influence solely on the growth and welfare of the fruits of the garden and orchard. Vertumnus properly signifies the self-changing one; referring, probably, to the manifold changes which the fruit undergoes from the time of its first appearance in blossom to that of its maturity. For the same reason the god was said to possess the faculty of assuming any shape he liked. The first of the flowers and fruits were offered to him. Pomona, as her name signifies, was the goddess of the fruit harvest, and called by the poets the wife of Vertumnus. Each deity had a special priest (flamen), though the latter naturally held only an inferior position.

In art Vertumnus generally appears as a beautiful youth, his head crowned with a garland of ears of corn or laurel, with a horn of plenty, as a symbol of the blessings he bestows, in his right hand. He is sometimes distinguished by a dish filled with fruit, or a pruning-knife. Pomona is generally represented as the season of Autumn, a beautiful maiden with boughs of fruit-trees in her hand.

11. Flora.—Among the inferior deities of the plain was Flora, the goddess of blossoms and flowers, who was held in great honour by the Sabines, and everywhere in the interior of Italy. Her worship is said to have been introduced into Rome by Numa, who assigned the goddess a priest of her own. She attained a higher significance by becoming a goddess of maternity, whom women invoked before their confinement. Her festival was celebrated with great rejoicings from the 28th of April to the 1st of May (Floralia). The doors of the houses were adorned with flowers, and wreaths were worn in the hair. After the first Punic war, the festival, which was remarkable throughout for its merry and tumultuous character, was also celebrated with games, hares and deer being hunted in the circus.

Artists appear to have represented Flora as the season of Spring, in the guise of a beautiful girl crowned with flowers. There is a fine marble statue of this kind, larger than life, in the museum at Naples, called the Farnese Flora.

12. Pales.—Pales was the ancient pastoral goddess of the Italian tribes, from whom the name Palatine, which originally meant nothing but a pastoral colony, was derived. She was especially venerated by the shepherds, who besought her to send fruitfulness and health to their flocks. A festival in her honour was celebrated on the 21st of April, the anniversary of the foundation of the city (Palilia), at which very ancient rustic customs were observed. The most remarkable of these was the kindling of a large straw fire, through which the shepherds rushed with their flocks, thinking thus to purify themselves from their sins. Milk and baked millet-cakes were offered to the goddess. There is no statue of her now in existence.

13. Terminus.—Terminus, although he had nothing to do either with the welfare of the crops or the fruitfulness of the flocks, may yet be reckoned among the field deities, as the god who specially presided over boundaries. All landmarks were held sacred to him, and their erection was attended with religious ceremonies. In order that his people might fully appreciate the sanctity of boundaries, King Numa instituted a special festival in honour of the god, called the Terminalia, and annually celebrated on the 23rd of February. The proprietors of lands bordering on each other were wont on this occasion to crown the boundary stone with garlands, and to make an offering of a flat cake to the god.

In his wider signification Terminus was regarded as the god under whose protection the boundaries of the state reposed, and in this character he had a chapel in the temple of Minerva on the Capitol. A statue of the god also stood in the midst of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which is explained by the following story:—After Tarquinius had conceived the plan of building the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, the limited space necessitated the removal of several existing shrines, which could only occur with the consent of the deities themselves. They all expressed by means of auguries their readiness to make way for the highest god of heaven, except Terminus, who refused, and whose shrine had therefore to be included in the temple of Jupiter.

Statues of Terminus are exactly like the Hermæ of the Greeks, and have no importance in art.

14. Demeter (Ceres).—Demeter was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her name signifies Mother Earth, and she is, therefore, an expression of the ancient conception of the earth-goddess, with a special reference to nature and human civilisation. She was also named Deo, and by comparison of these two words, her name has been interpreted as Dawn-Mother, from the same root as Zeus, the sky. The thriving of the crops was ascribed to her influence; she was further regarded as the patroness of all those arts which are more or less intimately connected with agriculture, and which men first learned from her. Demeter thus rises to the rank of a goddess of civilisation. She rescued men by means of agriculture from the lower grades of hunters and shepherds, and brought their former rude and barbarous manners into subjection to law and morality. She thus becomes that “bountiful daughter of Heaven,” who, as Schiller sings in his Lay of the Bell,

Regarded in this light, she comes into contact with Dionysus, whose beneficial influence on human civilisation and manners we have already described. This accounts for the intimate connection of these two deities in the Eleusinian mysteries, where Dionysus-Iacchus even appears as the son of Demeter and the husband of Cora-Persephone. Owing to the important part she played in the institution of law and order among mankind, she was venerated as the goddess of marriage, marriage being the necessary foundation of civil society. She was also regarded as the tutelary goddess of national assemblies.

Of the numerous legends which are linked with the name of this goddess, none perhaps is more celebrated, or more pregnant with meaning in regard to her worship, than the rape of her daughter Persephone, or Cora. The latter was once playing with the daughters of Oceanus in a flowery meadow, where they were picking flowers and making garlands. Persephone happened to quit her companions for a moment to pluck a narcissus she had perceived, when suddenly the ground opened at her feet, and Pluto, or Hades, the god of the infernal regions, appeared in a chariot drawn by snorting horses. Swift as the wind he seized and carried off the terrified maiden in spite of her struggles, and vanished again into the regions of darkness before her companions were aware of the catastrophe. All this occurred, however, with the knowledge of Zeus, who had, unknown to Demeter, promised her daughter to Pluto. When Demeter missed her darling child, and none could tell her where she had gone, she kindled torches, and during many days and nights wandered in anxiety through all the countries of the earth, not even resting for food or sleep. At length Helios, who sees and hears everything, told Demeter what had happened, not disguising, however, that it had occurred with the consent of Zeus. Full of wrath and grief, the goddess now withdrew from the society of the other gods into the deepest solitude. Meanwhile all the fruits of the earth ceased, and a general famine threatened to extinguish the human race. In vain Zeus sent one messenger after another, beseeching the angry goddess to return to Olympus. Demeter swore that she would neither return nor allow the fruits of the earth to grow until her daughter was restored to her. At length Zeus was fain to consent, and despatched Hermes to the lower world to bring Persephone back. Persephone joyfully prepared to obey this command, but as she was about to depart Hades gave her a pomegranate-seed to eat, whereupon she found herself bound to him and unable to return. By means of Zeus, however, a compact was made by which Persephone was to spend two-thirds of the year in the upper world with her mother, and the remaining portion with her husband. And thus every year at springtide she ascends from her subterraneous kingdom to enjoy herself in her mother’s company, but returns again late in autumn to the regions of darkness and death.

It is not difficult to discover the meaning of this myth. It is simply an allegorical representation of the spectacle that is annually renewed before our eyes—the dying away and coming to life again of the vegetable world. Whilst Cora is dwelling during the winter months in the realms of Hades, Nature appears to wear a garb of mourning for her lost daughter. In the Eleusinian mysteries this inevitable decease and resurrection of the vegetable world was conceived as a symbol of higher meaning, setting forth the immortality of the soul. Every living being shares the fate of Cora; every life becomes the prey of cold, inexorable death, only to arise from the darkness of the grave more beautiful and glorious than before.

Closely connected with this beautiful and expressive myth is another which refers to the institution of the Eleusinian mysteries. When Demeter, after the loss of her daughter, was wandering over the earth in the guise of a poor old woman, she came to Eleusis. The daughters of Celeüs, the king of the city, found her sitting on a stone by the Maidens’ Well as they came thither to draw water, and offered the old woman service in their father’s house as nurse to their youngest brother Demophon. The goddess consented, and was kindly received in the house of Celeüs, where she was at once installed as nurse to the young prince. She became so fond of the child that she resolved to make him immortal by anointing him with ambrosia, and then laying him at night in the glow of the fire. She was discovered at her work, however, by the mother of the child, whose cries disturbed her, and thus prevented her from fulfilling her benevolent intention. She now revealed herself to Celeüs, and commanded him to build her a temple in Eleusis. When it had been hastily completed, with the help of the goddess, she initiated Celeüs and some other princes of Eleusis—Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles—in the solemn rites of her service. On Triptolemus, who is called the son of Celeüs, she imposed the task of disseminating a knowledge of agriculture and of her own worship throughout the earth, and for this purpose lent him her own chariot and dragons. On this he travelled through the countries of the earth, making known everywhere the blessings of agriculture, and uniting men in regular political communities. He was not well received in all places, and the goddess had sometimes to step in and punish those who contemned her benefits. Such was the case with the Scythian king Lynceus and the Thessalian prince Erysichthon; but at length her cause triumphed, and the worship of the bountiful goddess spread itself over the whole world.

The chief seat of her worship was the city of Eleusis, which was beautifully situated on the bay of Salamis. It retained this honour even after it had lost its independence and come into the possession of the Athenians. The Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated both here and at Athens, in honour of Demeter and the deities associated with her. They probably contained a symbolical history of Cora.

There was a distinction between the greater and lesser mysteries. The latter were celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion (February), and were a kind of preparation for the greater mysteries, which took place in September, and were celebrated during nine days, partly at Athens and partly at Eleusis. In these secret rites only those could take part who had been initiated. The chief feature of the festival was a great and solemn procession on the sixth day from Athens to Eleusis, a distance of about twelve miles. All those who took part in it—often as many as 30,000—were crowned with myrtle, and bore torches in their hands, as the procession started from Athens at the earliest dawn.

The festival of the Thesmophoria, which was celebrated at the beginning of November, in honour of Demeter in her character of lawgiver and goddess of marriage, was less important than the Eleusinia. It lasted for five days, and only married women were allowed to take part in it.