Myth Of Proserpina In Ovid's Book 5

In Ovid’s Book 5, he represents the myth of Proserpina as follows. Proserpina is the daughter to Ceres the goddess of harvest. As Proserpina was picking flowers in the garden with her playmates, Dis spotted her and felt smitten. He picked her up and carried her away. The reason for abducting her was that his love for her was very hasty. The goddess was worried and terrified and this made her cry out for help from her mother Ceres. Dis rushed off using his chariot and took the girl to a landlocked place in the middle of the Cyane and Pisaean pools (Ovid 1093).
The area was the residence for the most famous nymph in the entire Sicily. Dis wanted to rape the girl but Cyane emerged and ordered Dis to stop his action because he could not become an in-law to the Great Ceres against their will. Cyane said that it was better if Dis asked the Ceres first before abducting the girl. Since Cyane could not allow Dis to pass, he hurled his scepter using his strong right arm and struck the fountain that made the earth open …show more content…
After searching and exhausting her serach in the whole earth and ocean, Ceres went back to Sicily passing through Cyane in the hope that she could get some information regarding her daughter. Cyane was willing to tell her the where about of Proserpina but her tongue, mouth and vocal apparatus were not present. However, Cyane provided Ceres with some proof regarding her daughter. The proof was very clear to mother Ceres because it was Persephone’s girdle that fell on the fountain by a chance and was exposed on the surface. It was then that Ceres realized that her daughter had been abducted and her hair torn to utter disorder. She realized that her daughter had been sexually harassed because it seemed that her breasts were struck repeatedly using both hands. However, the location of Cere’s daughter was still a misery (Ovid