132 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
some of the qualities of the gods, but were subject to the great law of mortality, 
with this difference from common mortals, that they were at once received 
into the society of the gods at the close of their earthly life. Like the gods 
they had sacrifices made to them, attended however by fewer solemnities ; 
but, with very few exceptions, they had no special temples or priests dedi- 
cated to them. The following heroes are the most prominent, and their 
deeds have been sung by poets of all ages. 
1. Proweruevs (the Discreet, the Thoughtful) was the son of Japetos and 
Clymene, and belonged therefore to the race of the Titans. When the latter 
dethroned Cronos in order to make Zeus the king of heaven, Prometheus 
was in favor of employing artifice instead of violence. He guided Zeus by 
his advice, and may therefore claim the distinction of being the founder of 
the new dynasty of gods. Subsequently, however, he disagreed with Zeus 
when the latter, after assuming the government of the world, forgot. the 
mortals in the distribution of his favors, and even intended to destroy them. 
Prometheus then stole a ray of heavenly fire, and in spite of Zeus took it 
down to man, whom he taught its uses in the various arts and sciences. 
He also instructed mankind in the ceremonies of a sacrificial worship, in 
which the gods received the honor of the offering, whilst the profit yielded 
by the victim was reserved for man; for he made them divide the bodies 
of the sacrificial animals, so that only the bones and the kidney fat were 
consumed in honor of the gods, whilst the skin, flesh, and sinews, were saved 
for terrestrial uses. 
Enraged at such proceedings Zeus resolved to visit mankind with his 
wrath. He ordered Hephestos to make a woman of water and clay, whom 
the other deities endowed with their best gifts, beauty, loveliness, sagacity, 
charming eloquence, and so forth. This woman (pl. 23, jig. 16) was called 
Pandora (the all-gifted). Zeus provided her with a closed casket calculated 
to make mankind wretched, and sent her as a present to Prometheus, with 
a view that he should bequeathe her as a precious heavenly gift to his 
favorites the mortals. In this casket Zeus had locked up every human misery, 
and no other good but hope, which he had placed at the bottom. Prome- 
theus, who suspected the nature of the gift, refused to take it, and warned 
mankind and particularly his own brother LApimetheus (after-thought). 
against it, to whom Zeus had sent it by Hermes when Prometheus had 
rejected the offer. But Epimetheus was beguiled by the lovely woman, 
whom he could not suspect of uniting with so much loveliness qualities that 
would prove dangerous as soon as they were liberated from their confinement. 
His curiosity prompted him to open Pandora’s casket, when at once sick- 
ness, care, vice, and every other curse escaped and spread among mankind. 
Hope alone remained behind, and henceforth offered to mankind the only 
consolation when Pandora’s other gifts in their unrestrained sway threatened 
to overwhelm them. 
But it remained for Zeus to wreak his vengeance on Prometheus himself 
for opposing his will and attempting to frustrate his design by warning 
mankind against Pandora’s casket. He caused him to be chained to Mount 
Caucasus, and sent a vulture which daily tore out and devoured his liver, 
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