eant; the other parts of Asia being included under the term
'Scythicas oras.']

[Footnote 80: _Mopsopian._--Ver. 661. This very uneuphonious name
is derived from Mopsopus, one of the ancient kings of Attica. It
here means 'Athenian.']

[Footnote 81: _The greatest of us._--Ver. 662. Namely, Calliope,
who had commenced her song as the representative of the Muses, at
line 341.]

EXPLANATION.

Triptolemus reigned at Eleusis at the time when the mysteries of Ceres
were established there. As we are told by Philochorus, he went with a
ship, to carry corn into different countries, and introduced there the
worship of Ceres, whose priest he was. This is, doubtless, the key for
the explanation of the story, that Ceres nursed him on her own milk,
and purified him by fire. Some have supposed that the fable refers to
the epoch when agriculture was introduced into Greece: but it is much
more probable that it relates simply to the introduction there of the
mysterious worship of Ceres, which was probably imported from Egypt.
It is possible that, at the same period, the Greeks may have learned
some improved method of tilling the ground, acquired by their
intercourse with Egypt.

Probably, the dangers which Triptolemus experienced in his voyages and
travels, gave rise to the story of Lyncus, whose cruelty caused him to
be changed into a lynx. Bochart and Le Clerc think that the fable of
Triptolemus being drawn by winged dragons, is based upon the equivocal
meaning of a Phoenician word, which signified either 'a winged dragon,'
or 'a ship fastened with iron nails or bolts.' Philochorus, however,
as cited by Eusebius, says that his ship was called a flying dragon,
from its carrying the figure of a dragon on its prow. We learn from a
fragment of Stobaeus, that Erectheus, when engaged in a war against the
Eleusinians, was told by the oracle that he would be victorious, if he
sacrificed his daughter Proserpine. This, perhaps, may have given
rise, or added somewhat, to the story of the rape of Proserpine by
Pluto.

According to a fragment of Homer, cited by Pausanias, the names of the
first Greeks, who were initiated into the mysteries of Ceres,
were,--Celeus, Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles. Clement of
Alexandria calls them Baubon, Dysaulus, Eubuleues, Eumolpus, and
Triptolemus. Eumolpus being the Hierophant, or explainer of the
mysteries of