{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_II/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_II","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_II","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_II","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"II. PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA\n\nThe creation of the world is a problem naturally fitted to excite\nthe liveliest interest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans,\nnot having the information on the subject which we derive from the\npages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which\nis as follows:\n\nBefore earth and sea and heaven were created, all things wore one\naspect, to which we give the name of Chaos\u2014a confused and\nshapeless mass, nothing but dead weight, in which, however,\nslumbered the seeds of things. Earth, sea, and air were all mixed\nup together; so the earth was not solid, the sea was not fluid,\nand the air was not transparent. God and Nature at last\ninterposed, and put an end to this discord, separating earth from\nsea, and heaven from both. The fiery part, being the lightest,\nsprang up, and formed the skies; the air was next in weight and\nplace. The earth, being heavier, sank below; and the water took\nthe lowest place, and buoyed up the earth.\n\nHere some god\u2014it is not known which\u2014gave his good offices in\narranging and disposing the earth. He appointed rivers and bays\ntheir places, raised mountains, scooped out valleys, distributed\nwoods, fountains, fertile fields, and stony plains. The air being\ncleared, the stars began to appear, fishes took possession of the\nsea, birds of the air, and four-footed beasts of the land.\n\nBut a nobler animal was wanted, and Man was made. It is not known\nwhether the creator made him of divine materials, or whether in\nthe earth, so lately separated from heaven, there lurked still\nsome heavenly seeds. Prometheus took some of this earth, and\nkneading it up with water, made man in the image of the gods. He\ngave him an upright stature, so that while all other animals turn\ntheir faces downward, and look to the earth, he raises his to\nheaven, and gazes on the stars.\n\nPrometheus was one of the Titans, a gigantic race, who inhabited\nthe earth before the creation of man. To him and his brother\nEpimetheus was committed the office of making man, and providing\nhim and all other animals with the faculties necessary for their\npreservation. Epimetheus undertook to do this, and Prometheus was\nto overlook his work, when it was done. Epimetheus accordingly\nproceeded to bestow upon the different animals the various gifts\nof courage, strength, swiftness, sagacity; wings to one, claws to\nanother, a shelly covering to a third, etc. But when man came to\nbe provided for, who was to be superior to all other animals,\nEpimetheus had been so prodigal of his resources that he had\nnothing left to bestow upon him. In his perplexity he resorted to\nhis brother Prometheus, who, with the aid of Minerva, went up to\nheaven, and lighted his torch at the chariot of the sun, and\nbrought down fire to man. With this gift man was more than a match\nfor all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons wherewith to\nsubdue them; tools with which to cultivate the earth; to warm his\ndwelling, so as to be comparatively independent of climate; and\nfinally to introduce the arts and to coin money, the means of\ntrade and commerce.\n\nWoman was not yet made. The story (absurd\nenough!) is that Jupiter made her, and sent her to Prometheus and\nhis brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire\nfrom heaven; and man, for accepting the gift. The first woman was\nnamed Pandora. She was made in heaven, every god contributing\nsomething to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury\npersuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to\nearth, and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her,\nthough cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his\ngifts. Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept\ncertain noxious articles, for which, in fitting man for his new\nabode, he had had no occasion. Pandora was seized with an eager\ncuriosity to know what this jar contained; and one day she slipped\noff the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude\nof plagues for hapless man,\u2014such as gout, rheumatism, and colic\nfor his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind,\u2014and\nscattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the\nlid! but, alas! the whole contents of the jar had escaped, one\nthing only excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope.\nSo we see at this day, whatever evils are abroad, hope never\nentirely leaves us; and while we have that, no amount of other\nills can make us completely wretched.\n\nAnother story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter,\nto bless man; that she was furnished with a box, containing her\nmarriage presents, into which every god had put some blessing. She\nopened the box incautiously, and the blessings all escaped, hope\nonly excepted. This story seems more probable than the former; for\nhow could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a\njar full of all manner of evils, as in the former statement?\n\nThe world being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was\nan age of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age. Truth\nand right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any\nmagistrate to threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been\nrobbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessels, nor had men\nbuilt fortifications round their towns. There were no such things\nas swords, spears, or helmets. The earth brought forth all things\nnecessary for man, without his labor in ploughing or sowing.\nPerpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the\nrivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from\nthe oaks.\n\nThen succeeded the Silver Age, inferior to the golden, but better\nthan that of brass. Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the\nyear into seasons. Then, first, men had to endure the extremes of\nheat and cold, and houses became necessary. Caves were the first\ndwellings, and leafy coverts of the woods, and huts woven of\ntwigs. Crops would no longer grow without planting. The farmer was\nobliged to sow the seed and the toiling ox to draw the plough.\n\nNext came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper, and readier to\nthe strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and\nworst was the Iron Age. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty,\ntruth, and honor fled. In their places came fraud and cunning,\nviolence, and the wicked love of gain. Then seamen spread sails to\nthe wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for\nkeels to ships, and vex the face of ocean. The earth, which till\nnow had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into\npossessions. Men were not satisfied with what the surface\nproduced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence\nthe ores of metals. Mischievous iron, and more mischievous gold,\nwere produced. War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was\nnot safe in his friend's house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-\nlaw, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, could not trust one\nanother. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to\nthe inheritance; family love lay prostrate. The earth was wet with\nslaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea alone was left, and finally she also took her departure.\n\nJupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger. He\nsummoned the gods to council. They obeyed the call, and took the\nroad to the palace of heaven. The road, which any one may see in a\nclear night, stretches across the face of the sky, and is called\nthe Milky Way. Along the road stand the palaces of the illustrious\ngods; the common people of the skies live apart, on either side.\nJupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the frightful\ncondition of things on the earth, and closed by announcing his\nintention to destroy the whole of its inhabitants, and provide a\nnew race, unlike the first, who would be more worthy of life, and\nmuch better worshippers of the gods. So saying he took a\nthunderbolt, and was about to launch it at the world, and destroy\nit by burning; but recollecting the danger that such a\nconflagration might set heaven itself on fire, he changed his\nplan, and resolved to drown it. The north wind, which scatters the\nclouds, was chained up; the south was sent out, and soon covered\nall the face of heaven with a cloak of pitchy darkness. The\nclouds, driven together, resound with a crash; torrents of rain\nfall; the crops are laid low; the year's labor of the husbandman\nperishes in an hour. Jupiter, not satisfied with his own waters,\ncalls on his brother Neptune to aid him with his. He lets loose\nthe rivers, and pours them over the land. At the same time, he\nheaves the land with an earthquake, and brings in the reflux of\nthe ocean over the shores. Flocks, herds, men, and houses are\nswept away, and temples, with their sacred enclosures, profaned.\nIf any edifice remained standing, it was overwhelmed, and its\nturrets lay hid beneath the waves. Now all was sea, sea without\nshore. Here and there an individual remained on a projecting\nhilltop, and a few, in boats, pulled the oar where they had lately\ndriven the plough. The fishes swim among the tree-tops; the anchor\nis let down into a garden. Where the graceful lambs played but\nnow, unwieldy sea calves gambol. The wolf swims among the sheep,\nthe yellow lions and tigers struggle in the water. The strength of\nthe wild boar serves him not, nor his swiftness the stag. The\nbirds fall with weary wing into the water, having found no land\nfor a resting-place. Those living beings whom the water spared\nfell a prey to hunger.\n\nParnassus alone, of all the mountains, overtopped the waves; and\nthere Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha, of the race of Prometheus,\nfound refuge\u2014he a just man, and she a faithful worshipper of the\ngods. Jupiter, when he saw none left alive but this pair, and\nremembered their harmless lives and pious demeanor, ordered the\nnorth winds to drive away the clouds, and disclose the skies to\nearth, and earth to the skies. Neptune also directed Triton to\nblow on his shell, and sound a retreat to the waters. The waters\nobeyed, and the sea returned to its shores, and the rivers to\ntheir channels. Then Deucalion thus addressed Pyrrha: \"O wife,\nonly surviving woman, joined to me first by the ties of kindred\nand marriage, and now by a common danger, would that we possessed\nthe power of our ancestor Prometheus, and could renew the race as\nhe at first made it! But as we cannot, let us seek yonder temple,\nand inquire of the gods what remains for us to do.\" They entered\nthe temple, deformed as it was with slime, and approached the\naltar, where no fire burned. There they fell prostrate on the\nearth, and prayed the goddess to inform them how they might\nretrieve their miserable affairs. The oracle answered, \"Depart\nfrom the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast\nbehind you the bones of your mother.\" They heard the words with\nastonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence: \"We cannot obey; we dare\nnot profane the remains of our parents.\" They sought the thickest\nshades of the wood, and revolved the oracle in their minds. At\nlength Deucalion spoke: \"Either my sagacity deceives me, or the\ncommand is one we may obey without impiety. The earth is the great\nparent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind\nus; and I think this is what the oracle means. At least, it will\ndo no harm to try.\" They veiled their faces, unbound their\ngarments, and picked up stones, and cast them behind them. The\nstones (wonderful to relate) began to grow soft, and assume shape.\nBy degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to the human form, like\na block half-finished in the hands of the sculptor. The moisture\nand slime that were about them became flesh; the stony part became\nbones; the veins remained veins, retaining their name, only\nchanging their use. Those thrown by the hand of the man became\nmen, and those by the woman became women. It was a hard race, and\nwell adapted to labor, as we find ourselves to be at this day,\ngiving plain indications of our origin.\n\n\u00a0\n\nThe comparison of Eve to Pandora is too obvious to have escaped\nMilton, who introduces it in Book IV. of \"Paradise Lost\":\n\n\"More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods\n\nEndowed with all their gifts; and O, too like\n\nIn sad event, when to the unwiser son\n\nOf Japhet brought by Hermes, she insnared\n\nMankind with her fair looks, to be avenged\n\nOn him who had stole Jove's authentic fire.\"\n\nPrometheus and Epimetheus were sons of Iapetus, which Milton changes to Japhet.\n\nPrometheus has been a favorite subject with the poets. He is\nrepresented as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their\nbehalf when Jove was incensed against them, and who taught them\ncivilization and the arts. But as, in so doing, he transgressed\nthe will of Jupiter, he drew down on himself the anger of the\nruler of gods and men. Jupiter had him chained to a rock on Mount\nCaucasus, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was renewed\nas fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been brought\nto an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to\nsubmit to his oppressor; for he possessed a secret which involved\nthe stability of Jove's throne, and if he would have revealed it,\nhe might have been at once taken into favor. But that he disdained\nto do. He has therefore become the symbol of magnanimous endurance\nof unmerited suffering, and strength of will resisting oppression.\n\nByron and Shelley have both treated this theme. The following are\nByron's lines:\n\n\"Titan! to whose immortal eyes\n\nThe sufferings of mortality,\n\nSeen in their sad reality,\n\nWere not as things that gods despise;\n\nWhat was thy pity's recompense?\n\nA silent suffering, and intense;\n\nThe rock, the vulture, and the chain;\n\nAll that the proud can feel of pain;\n\nThe agony they do not show;\n\nThe suffocating sense of woe.\n\n\"Thy godlike crime was to be kind;\n\nTo render with thy precepts less\n\nThe sum of human wretchedness,\n\nAnd strengthen man with his own mind.\n\nAnd, baffled as thou wert from high,\n\nStill, in thy patient energy\n\nIn the endurance and repulse\n\nOf thine impenetrable spirit,\n\nWhich earth and heaven could not convulse,\n\nA mighty lesson we inherit.\"\n\nByron also employs the same allusion, in his \"Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte\":\n\n\"Or, like the thief of fire from heaven,\n\nWilt thou withstand the shock?\n\nAnd share with him\u2014 the unforgiven\u2014\n\nHis vulture and his rock?\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter II","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2523}