PROMETHEUS, THE CHAMPION OF MANKIND
Heaven and earth were created. The sea rolled its waves against the
shore and played around the islands. The fishes sported in the waters
in lively gambols. On the land the birds flew from tree to tree
singing with sweetest voices; wild beasts were peaceable; flowers
threw out delicious odors; nature beamed with loveliness.
But mankind could not notice the beauty of nature. Men walked as in a
dream, for they were not awakened to delicate odors or sweet sounds
or beautiful forms and colors. They were barbarous and rude; they did
not know any of the arts of civilization; they were not even able to
build homes; they lived in caves like wild beasts and fed on nuts and
fruit.
The cultivation of the soil was unknown. Men made no difference
between the blooming spring and fruitful summer and the cold winter.
They did not know how to cut stone. Like the wild creatures they lived
in constant fear, crawling about miserably.
Prometheus, the son of Japetos, was wise and good. He looked down from
his comfortable abode and saw with pity how man was stupefied and
enthralled by ignorance, and he wished to deliver him from his unhappy
state. At that time Zeus reigned in the heavens; he was the lord of
thunder and of fire. He stored the fire in the heavens and sent it
down to earth in the form of lightning to terrify men but not to help
them.
Without fire upon earth man's condition was hopeless. He needed it for
making tools, if ever he learned to forge metals, for baking clay with
which to make bricks and dishes, for cooking his food, and protecting
himself from the biting frosts of winter. But Zeus does not willingly
part with his treasures, and he looked upon fire as property solely
his own. No one could get it from him by open means, and man had not
even dreamed that he needed it.
Prometheus made it a part of his own duty to teach man the use of fire
and how to live better by knowing its secrets. So he went to Olympos,
the home of Zeus himself, and took a few sparks of the heavenly fire,
which he hid in a hollow reed so that it could not go out. He came
down to earth, bringing it to men, and they made a great blaze and
gave thanks to Prometheus from the depths of their hearts when they
saw what it would do.
When it grew cold they sat around the big fire and warmed themselves.
They began to cook their food, they melted iron and made spears and
tools. They baked clay which they had moulded into dishes, and it led
on to their inventing all those things that are made by the use of
fire.
When Zeus looked down from the heavens and saw the light of the flames
on the earth he at once became aware that Prometheus had stolen the
fire from him and given it to mortals. Zeus was greatly alarmed to
find his power shared by men, for the lightning had been his sceptre.
He called Hephæstos to his aid, the Blacksmith of the Gods, and his
powerful servants, Violence and Force, and bade them lead Prometheus
far away and chain him to a lofty peak in the Caucasus, a wild
mountain-range of Scythia.
Hephæstos loved Prometheus, but he could not disobey the command of
Zeus. When they reached the Caucasus, Violence said to Hephæstos:
"See! we have reached far off Scythia, a desert where no trace of man
is ever found. Behold the Caucasus! Now is the time to perform the
task with which thy father Zeus hath charged thee. Let us chain
Prometheus to the highest rock with fetters which cannot be broken.
Thus may he learn the will of Zeus and that he is subject to his rule.
Thus, too, will he see where his love for wretched men has brought
him."
But Hephæstos answered: "Force and Violence, do ye execute the order
of Zeus, for I have not the heart to fetter a god who is of my own
kin, to this wild mountain. It must be done, because it is the will of
Zeus, and it is a dangerous thing to disobey him."
Then, turning to Prometheus, he said: "High-minded son of Heaven, it
is with a sorrowful heart and against my will that I let my servants
bind thee with never-breaking bonds to this rock. There thou wilt
never hear a human voice nor see a human form. Here wilt thou stay
with no power to stir, and the burning sun will scorch thee. There is
no place where thou canst rest thy weary limbs or thy sleepless head.
This is thy reward for thy love to mankind. But I would rather bear
thy punishment than be the tyrant to treat thee so unjustly."