Prometheus, the son of Japetos, was wise and good. He looked down from his comfortable abode and saw with pity how man was stupefied and enthralled by ignorance, and he wished to deliver him from his unhappy state. At that time Zeus reigned in the heavens; he was the lord of thunder and of fire. He stored the fire in the heavens and sent it down to earth in the form of lightning to terrify men but not to help them.
Without fire upon earth man’s condition was hopeless. He needed it for making tools, if ever he learned to forge metals, for baking clay with which to make bricks and dishes, for cooking his food, and protecting himself from the biting frosts of winter. But Zeus does not willingly part with his treasures, and he looked upon fire as property solely his own. No one could get it from him by open means, and man had not even dreamed that he needed it.
Prometheus made it a part of his own duty to teach man the use of fire and how to live better by knowing its secrets. So he went to Olympos, the home of Zeus himself, and took a few sparks of the heavenly fire, which he hid in a hollow reed so that it could not go out. He came down to earth, bringing it to men, and they made a great blaze and gave thanks to Prometheus from the depths of their hearts when they saw what it would do.
When it grew cold they sat around the big fire and warmed themselves. They began to cook their food, they melted iron and made spears and tools. They baked clay which they had moulded into dishes, and it led on to their inventing all those things that are made by the use of fire.
When Zeus looked down from the heavens and saw the light of the flames on the earth he at once became aware that Prometheus had stolen the fire from him and given it to mortals. Zeus was greatly alarmed to find his power shared by men, for the lightning had been his sceptre. He called Hephæstos to his aid, the Blacksmith of the Gods, and his powerful servants, Violence and Force, and bade them lead Prometheus far away and chain him to a lofty peak in the Caucasus, a wild mountain-range of Scythia.
Hephæstos loved Prometheus, but he could not disobey the command of Zeus. When they reached the Caucasus, Violence said to Hephæstos: “See! we have reached far off Scythia, a desert where no trace of man is ever found. Behold the Caucasus! Now is the time to perform the task with which thy father Zeus hath charged thee. Let us chain Prometheus to the highest rock with fetters which cannot be broken. Thus may he learn the will of Zeus and that he is subject to his rule. Thus, too, will he see where his love for wretched men has brought him.”
But Hephæstos answered: “Force and Violence, do ye execute the order of Zeus, for I have not the heart to fetter a god who is of my own kin, to this wild mountain. It must be done, because it is the will of Zeus, and it is a dangerous thing to disobey him.”
Then, turning to Prometheus, he said: “High-minded son of Heaven, it is with a sorrowful heart and against my will that I let my servants bind thee with never-breaking bonds to this rock. There thou wilt never hear a human voice nor see a human form. Here wilt thou stay with no power to stir, and the burning sun will scorch thee. There is no place where thou canst rest thy weary limbs or thy sleepless head. This is thy reward for thy love to mankind. But I would rather bear thy punishment than be the tyrant to treat thee so unjustly.”
CHAPTER XXXIV
PROMETHEUS UNBOUND
Prometheus was securely bound with iron fetters and fastened to the solid rock. The servants of Hephæstos increased his tortures with their bitter speeches. But Prometheus bore his sufferings and their taunts with heroic indifference and courage. As long as they were near not a sound came from his lips. Only when Hephæstos and his servants were gone did he begin to bewail his unjust punishment.