τέκνον, μή ῥά τι μοι σ[ύ γε πάσσαο νέρθεν ἐοῦσα]
βρώμης; ἐξαύδα, μ[ὴ κεῦθ᾽, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω:]
ὣς μὲν γάρ κεν ἐοῦσα π[αρὰ στυγεροῦ Ἀίδαο]
καὶ παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ καὶ πατρὶ κελ[αινεφέϊ Κρονίωνι]
ναιετάοις πάντεσσι τετιμ[ένη ἀθανάτοι]σιν.
εἰ δ᾽ ἐπάσω, πάλιν αὖτις ἰοῦσ᾽ ὑπ[ὸ κεύθεσι γαίης]
οἰκήσεις ὡρέων τρίτατον μέρ[ος εἰς ἐνιαυτόν,]
τὰς δὲ δύω παρ᾽ ἐμοί τε καὶ [ἄλλοις ἀθανά]τοισιν.
ὁππότε δ᾽ ἄνθεσι γαῖ᾽ εὐώδε[σιν] εἰαρινο[ῖσι]
παντοδαποῖς θάλλῃ, τόθ᾽ ὑπὸ ζόφου ἠερόεντος
αὖτις ἄνει μέγα θαῦμα θεοῖς θνητοῖς τ᾽ ἀνθρώποις.
392-402 My child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while you were below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For if you have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with me and your father, the dark-clouded Son of Cronos and be honoured by all the deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a wonder for gods and mortal men.