“Dowered with all celestial gifts,
Skilled in every art
That ennobles and uplifts
And delights the heart,
Fair on earth shall be thy fame
As thy face is fair,
And Pandora be the name
Thou henceforth shalt bear.”
--_Longfellow._
To Prometheus, a giant who first inhabited the earth, was attributed
the creation of man.
“Prometheus first transmuted
Atoms culled from human clay.”
--_Horace._
It is also said that he stole fire from heaven and so cleverly used it
for the benefit of humanity that it finally gave man dominion over all
the earth.
“Beautiful is the tradition
Of that flight through heavenly portals,
The old classic superstition
Of the theft and the transmission
Of the fire of the Immortals.”
--_Longfellow._
Jupiter so grudged fire to mortals that he became furious with anger
and in revenge ordered Vulcan to fashion a woman out of clay and send
her to man to bring misery upon him.
“The crippled artist god,
Illustrious, moulded from the yielding clay
A bashful virgin’s image, as advised
Saturnian Jove.”
--_Hesiod._
The woman was named Pandora and on her were bestowed all the charms and
weaknesses of human nature. Mercury led her to Epimetheus who, though
warned by his brother Prometheus not to accept any gifts from the gods,
succumbed at once to her beauty and made her his wife. He conveyed her
to his home, where all went merrily until Pandora discovered a box
hidden away in her husband’s house. She was seized with a curiosity to
know its contents, but Epimetheus forbade her to meddle with it.
“Yon mysterious chest
Attracts and fascinates me. Would I knew
What there lies hidden! but the oracle forbids.”
--_Longfellow._
The allurement proved too great, however. Stealthily she raised the
lid to take a peep within and lo, out flew a multitude of plagues and
scattered themselves over the earth to forever torment hapless man with
diseases, vices and crimes. All that remained was Hope. After many
entreaties she came forth to heal the wounds inflicted by her former
fellow prisoners. “Thus entered evil into the world bringing untold
misery: thus followed Hope to point to a happier future.”