The attempts of Ceres to encourage the art of agriculture were not always
favourably received: the King of the Scythians, who loved the sword more
than the ploughshare, and the spear more than the reaping hook, having
attempted to smother the art taught by Ceres in its infancy, was
metamorphosed into a lynx. Nor was this the only instance of the vengeance
of the Goddess, who was irritable, and prompt to punish. A young child,
whose chief crime was having laughed to see her eat with avidity, was
changed into a lizard: while a Thessalian, who had desecrated and attempted
to destroy a sacred forest, was doomed to an hunger so cruel, that he
devoured his own limbs, and died in the midst of fearful torments.
[Illustration]
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