_Vatican Gallery, Rome_]
In the mean time the crops fell into a bad state, and it was a year of
grievous famine. Demeter still kept her vow to let no green thing appear
upon the earth. Then Zeus came to the rescue of perishing humanity. He
sent a messenger to Pluto begging him to let Persephone return to her
mother. The request was granted, the chariot was made ready, but the
wily king first pressed his bride to eat with him some pomegranate
seeds, designing that she should return to him again. Mother and
daughter were now joyfully reunited, but not without further separation;
for a portion of each year Persephone returned to her kingdom below the
earth, reappearing in the spring to visit her mother. And this is why to
this day the harvest is followed by winter until the spring revisits the
earth.[17]
[17] The story of Demeter and Persephone is related in the Homeric _Hymn
to Demeter_, of which an abridged English version is given in the
chapter on the Myth of Demeter and Persephone in Pater's _Greek
Studies_. The same chapter refers to various other ancient forms of the
story, one of the most important being that of Ovid's Metamorphoses,
translated into English blank verse by Edward King.
In all this story we see that the most striking characteristic of
Demeter is her motherliness. In some respects she is like Hera, because
both are matrons and are patterns of the domestic virtues. But while
Hera is the model wife, Demeter is the model mother.
It is the motherliness of our statue which makes us feel sure that it
must be intended to represent Demeter.[18] The goddess stands holding in
her outstretched right hand a sheaf of wheat, and lifting high in the
left hand the torch with which she journeyed round the world. It is as
if she stood on the threshold of the opening season awaiting her
daughter's return. She gazes straight before her with a look of
expectancy as if she already saw her child from afar. Her face is
lighted by a smile of welcome. One can fancy how tenderly those motherly
arms will fold the child to her heart, and how gladly the daughter will
pillow her head on that broad bosom.
[18] See in the _Historical Directory_ another subject assigned to the
statue.
The figure is in striking contrast to the statue of Athena which we have
studied. The virgin goddess is stately and unapproachable in her panoply
of wisdom, but the great mother seems to invite our confidence. She is
one to whom a frightened child might run, sure of being soothed. To her
the sorrowing would turn, fearing no repulse. She would welcome, she
would understand, she would comfort. There is strength and repose in
every line of her majestic figure.
The statue illustrates admirably the grandeur and simplicity of the best
Greek art. The long straight lines of the drapery, unbroken by any
unnecessary folds, are the secret of the impression of tranquil dignity
in the work.