MYTHOLOGY 



4050 



MYTHOLOGY 



"Tour sin merits death," exclaimed the angry 

 goddess, "but death shall not be your portion. 

 Since, however, you have been so fond of weaving. 

 your punishment shall be, that forever and for- 

 ever you and your descendants shall make your 

 threads and weave your webs. And wherever 

 men see you they shall tear your webs as I have 

 torn this, and shall drive you from them as I 

 drive you from me now." 



And touching the girl upon the forehead, she 

 formed her into a spider. 



But all the explanatory myths did not deal 

 with nature problems; some were answers to 

 moral questions, and one of the most interest- 

 hat which tells of the coming of sin into 

 the world. Men had become as the gods, since 

 they had the fire given them by Prometheus, 

 and they must be punished for their presump- 

 tion. The Greeks told of their punishment 

 thus: 



The Locked Box: The story of Pandora 

 In all the beautiful world there were no women 

 only men, who lived in a. state of utter ease. 

 The food which they needed grew ready to their 

 hand on the trees and shrubs ; the air was full of 

 the fragrance of flowers, and there was nothing 

 to do all day but to enjoy themselves and exer- 

 cise their perfect bodies, which had never known 

 a touch of any disease. But the gods in council 

 decided that a vexatious punishment should be 

 sent to man, and that that punishment should be 

 woman. Accordingly, they ordered the artist-god 

 Vulcan to make one. Very beautiful she was, 

 and the gods took delight in bestowing upon her 

 wonderful gifts. Apollo made her musical, Mer- 

 cury gave her powers of persuasion, Venus made 

 her lovable, and in the end they called her Pan- 

 dora, the all-gifted. 



Mercury, the messenger-god, was commissioned 

 to take the maiden to earth, and to leave her 

 with Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus ; and 

 with her was sent a curious box, about the con- 

 tents of which no word was said. Epimetheus re- 

 ceived her gladly never had he seen so exquisite 

 and so alluring a creature ; and all his friends 

 rejoiced in his good fortune, for envy as yet had 

 not entered the world. The songs of Pandora 

 Epimetheus and his friends found more beautiful 

 than the songs of the birds, and they loved to 

 gather about her when the purple twilight was 

 falling and listen to the tales she invented for 

 them. 



For a time Pandora was very happy. The 

 world was new and very wonderful, and every 

 day there were countless things to learn. She 

 found out about the mysteries of fire, which looked 

 like a great wind-tossed flower but was so power- 

 ful ; about the delightful warmth of the day and 

 the delightful cool of the night ; about the tastes 

 of the various fruits, all so delicious but all so 

 different. But in the back of her mind there was 

 one persistent, nagging little trouble that grew 

 larger and larger and threatened to spoil all her 

 pleasure. For Mercury had forbidden her, with 

 the sternest words and the severest look, to open 

 the box he had left with Epimetheus, so there 

 was one thing in the world that she could not find 



out about. And she wanted to know O, how she 

 wanted to know : 



"Probably," she thought, "there are lovely 

 things in the box which would make me even 

 more beautiful white robes like Juno's, or a 

 golden girdle like that which Venus wears." 



Day after day she fretted, and Epimetheus felt 

 the first sadness he had ever known creep over 

 him as he saw Pandora's sadness. Finally she 

 told him what was troubling her, and besought 

 him to open the box; for there was the ^<>lden 

 key hanging by a golden cord. But Epimetheus 

 was horrified. 



"Do that which the gods have forbidden?" he 

 cried. "Never ! The box shall stand in my house 

 forever, and I shall never open it," and he went 

 back to his companions, leaving Pandora to in- 

 dulge her curiosity alone. 



For a time Pandora resisted, but one day when 

 she was left alone in the house the temptation 

 became too strong for her. She slipped tin- key 

 into the lock, turned it slowly, still but half in- 

 tending to open it, and then, suddenly, threw 



PANDORA 



Hope sole remain'd within, nor took her flight. 

 HESIOD (Elton's translation). 



back the cover. No beautiful glitter met her eyes, 

 but only a throng of winged pests which buzzed 

 out at her and hurt her with their sharp stints. 

 There was disease in many forms fever and 

 cholera and rheumatism ; there were spite and 

 envy and green-eyed jealousy ; there were black 

 worries and gray despairs. She had loosed the 

 ills which were ever after to plague the earth. 



In a cloud they swept through the door and 

 windows, darkening the sun, and soon Epime- 

 theus and his companions, at play on a distant 

 green, heard their angry buzzing and felt their 

 stings. And at once dissensions sprang- up, and 

 angry words rushed from lips which till now had 

 known only loving ones. Comrade turned upon 

 comrade, and each saw in the other's face his own 

 scowl reflected. The age of innocence had gone, 

 never to return. 



