Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/107

 LEGEND OF THE IAPETIDS. 75 ing, and Prometheus, a member of the dispossessed body of Titan gods, comes forward as their representative and defender. The advantageous bargain which he made with Zeus on their behalf, in respect to the partition of the sacrificial animals, has been re- counted in the preceding chapter. Zeus felt that he had been outwitted, and was exceeding wroth. In his displeasure he with- held from mankind the inestimable comfort of fire, so that the race would have perished, had not Prometheus stolen fire, in de- fiance of the command of the Supreme Ruler, and brought it to men in the hollow of a ferule. 1 Zeus was now doubly indignant, and determined to play off a still more ruinous stratagem. Hephaestos, by his direction, moulded the form of a beautiful virgin ; Athene dressed her, Aphrodite and the Charities bestowed upon her both ornament and fascination, while Hermes infused into her the mind of a dog, a deceitful spirit, and treacherous words. 2 The messenger of the gods conducted this " fascinating mischief" to mankind, at a time when Prometheus was not present. Now Epimetheus had received from his brother peremptory injunctions not to accept from the hands of Zeus any present whatever ; but the beauty of Pandora (so the newly-formed female was called) was not to be resisted. She was received and admitted among men, and from that moment their comfort and tranquillity was exchanged for suffering of every kind. 3 The evils to which mankind are liable had been before enclosed in a cask in their own keeping : Pandora in her malice removed the lid of the cask, and out flew these thousand evils and calamities, to exercise forever their de- stroying force. Hope alone remained imprisoned, and therefore without efficacy, as before the inviolable lid being replaced before she could escape. Before this incident (says the legend) men had lived without disease or suffering ; but now both earth and sea are full of mischiefs, while maladies of every description etalk abroad by day as well as by night,* without any hope for man of relief to come. to Prometheus as moulder of man. The expression of Aristophanes ( Avcs, 689) Tr/laff/iarrt Trijhov does not necessarily refer to Prome'thens. 1 Hesiod, Theog. 5G6 ; Opp. Di. 52. 2 Theog. 580 ; Opp. Di. 50-85. 4 Opp. Di. 93. Pandora does no; bring with her the cask, as the common
 * Opp. Di. 81-90.