Pluto, “the unseen,” “the wealth giver,” greedily drew all things down
to his dismal abode. Hades was a prison or storehouse containing the
germs of all future harvests, and in spite of its darkness was regarded
as a land of great riches. Ceres, the earth mother, expresses the
gloom which falls on the earth during the cheerless months of winter.
Proserpine, spring, typifies the yearly blooming of the flowers and the
growth of the corn from the seed, and hence was obliged to dwell in the
dismal underworld during the dark days of winter, but could return with
each spring to give gladness and fertility to the mourning earth.