He was the messenger of the gods on all their errands between heaven and earth. […] Ceres was the goddess of the earth, and the people looked to her for bountiful harvests, and for the growth of everything that sprang from the earth. […] She had power to make the earth yield plentiful crops of grain, or to leave it barren; and on her depended the food, and therefore the life, of all the people on the great, wide earth. […] Then the earth, too, is somber and sad. […] And Jupiter sent this messenger of his to wander over all the earth.