 | Prometheus The Fire-Bringer |  |
NOTE.
As it is impossible to know into whose hands a book, of any class, may chance to fall, and as it is very certain that many persons of the highest intelligence, taste, and feeling, have had no opportunities for the study of classical antiquities, I hope to be excused for offering a word or two on the nobly suggestive old fable of “Prometheus.”
The Supreme Ruler of the Early Gods, at a very remote period of the Greek mythology, was Ouranos. His son “Iapetus” (Japetus) was one of the Titans, and the father of the Titan demi-god, Prometheus. Hence, the descendants of Ouranos were called the “Ouranidai.” Of this early dynasty was also Oceanus, and his daughters the Sea-Nymphs, or Oceanides.
“Iapetus,” with others of the Ouranidai, warred against Heaven, and dethroned the Ruling Power who succeeded Ouranos; but they were themselves vanquished by Zeus (in later centuries adopted into the Roman mythology as Jupiter, or Jove), with the assistance of Athena (the Minerva of the Romans), and Hephaistos, or Vulcan. Aphrodite was transferred into the Roman mythology under the name of Venus, and Helios, under that of Phœbus, or the Sun-God.
The common-place vulgar statement that Prometheus “stole fire” from Heaven, does no justice to the real spirit of this magnificent mythological fable. The expression would be better suited to the brutal prostitution of the popular taste for burlesquing, with prodigal costliness, the noblest and the most beautiful subjects. The Supreme Ruler, Zeus, did not take away the unspeakable blessing of fire from mortals. This severe punishment had been inflicted by the Ruling Power of an earlier period. But Zeus refused to restore the precious gift; and Prometheus undertook to obtain it for mankind. This great act of self-devotion brought down upon himself the most tremendous and long-lasting vengeance of Zeus. According to my view, Prometheus should therefore be regarded as the friend and instructor of Humanity,—its first Champion, and its first Martyr;—the grand old Pagan archetype, and providential foreshadowing of the Divine Master who came upon the earth many centuries afterwards.
| Prometheus The Fire-Bringer | |