In honor of the 7-day Cerealia this month: "Next come the games of Ceres. There is no need to declare the reason; the bounty and the services of the goddess are manifest. The bread of the first mortals consisted of the green herbs which the earth yielded without solicitation; and now they plucked the living grass from the turf, and now the tender leaves of tree-tops furnished a feast. . . Ceres delights in peace; and you, ye husbandmen, pray for perpetual peace . . You may give the goddess spelt, and the compliment of spurting salt, and grains of incense on old hearths; and if there is no incense, kindle resinous torches. Good Ceres is content with little, if that little be but pure." (From Ovid, Fasti Book 4, trans. JG Frazer)
(photo from the Museum of Roman Art of Merida, Spain by O.M. Repoller)
