The mares that carry me as far as longing can reach rode on, once they had come and fetched me onto the legendary road of divinity that carries the man who knows through the vast and dark unknown. And on I was carried as the mares, aware just where to go, kept carrying me straining the chariot; and young women led the way …

And the goddess (Persephone) welcomed me kindly, and took my right hand in hers and spoke these words as she addressed me: ‘Welcome young man, partnered by immortal charioteers, reaching our home with the mares that carry you. Parmenides b. 515 BC