438 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



EXPLANATION. This fable seems to regard natural philosophy, 

 and searches deep into that rich and fruitful virtue and supply in sub 

 terraneous bodies, from whence all the things upon the earth s surface 

 spring, and into which they again relapse and return. By Proserpine 

 the ancients denoted that ethereal spirit shut up and detained within 

 the earth, here represented by Pluto, the spirit being separated from 

 the superior globe, according to the expression of the poet.* This 

 spirit is conceived as ravished, or snatched up by the earth, because it 

 can no way be detained, when it has time and opportunity to lly off, 

 but is only wrought together and fixed by sudden intermixture, and 

 comminution, in the same manner as if one should endeavour to mix 

 air with water, which cannot otherwise be done than by a quick and 

 rapid agitation, that joins them together in froth whilst the air is thus 

 caught up by the water. And it is elegantly added, that Proserpine 

 was ravished whilst she gathered narcissus flowers, which have their 

 name from numbcdness, or stupefaction ; for the spirit we speak of 

 is in the fittest disposition to be embraced by terrestrial matter when 

 it begins to coagulate, or grow torpid as it were. 



It is an honour justly attributed to Proserpine, and not to any other 

 wife of the gods, that of being the lady or mistress of her husband, be 

 cause this spirit performs all its operations in the subtcrrancal regions, 

 whilst Pluto, or the earth, remains stupid, or as it were ignorant of 

 them. 



The cethcr, or the efficacy of the heavenly bodies, denoted by Ceres, 

 endeavours with infinite diligence to force out this spirit, and restore 

 it to its pristine state. And by the torch in the hand of Ceres, or the 

 aether, is doubtless meant the sun, which disperses light over the whole 

 globe of the earth, and if the thing were possible, must have the greatest 

 share in recovering Proserpine, or reinstating the subtcrrancal spirit. 

 Yet Proserpine still continues and dwells below after the manner ex 

 cellently described in the condition betwixt Jupiter and Ceres. For 

 first, it is certain that there are two ways of detaining the spirit, in solid 

 and terrestrial matter, the one of condensation or obstruction, which 

 is mere violence and imprisonment ; the other by administering a 

 proper aliment, which is spontaneous and free. For after the included 

 spirit begins to feed and nourish itself, it is not in a hurry to fly off, but 

 remains as it were fixed in its own earth. And this is the moral of 

 Proserpine s tasting the pomegranate : and were it not for this, she 

 must long ago have been carried up by Ceres, who with her torch 

 wandered the world over, and so the earth have been left without its 

 spirit. For though the spirit in metals and minerals may perhaps be, 

 after a particular manner, wrought in by the solidity of the mass, yet 

 the spirit of vegetables and animals has open passages to escape at, 

 unless it be willingly detained, in the way of sipping and tasting them. 



The second article of agreement, that of Proserpine s remaining six 

 months with her mother and six with her husband, is an elegant 



* &quot; Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alta 



cognati retincbat scmina cocli.&quot; Mctam i. 80, 



