Heathen mythology, Illustrated by extracts from the most celebrated writers, both ancient and modern. VariousЧитать онлайн книгу.
Fury. Champion of Heaven's slaves!
Pro. He whom some dreadful voice invokes is here,
Prometheus, the chained Titan. Horrible forms,
Whence and what are ye? Never yet there came
Phantasms so foul thro' monster-teeming hell,
From the all miscreative brain of Jove;
Whilst I behold such execrable shapes,
Methinks I grow like what I contemplate,
And laugh and stare in loathsome sympathy.
First Fury. We are ministers of pain, and fear,
And disappointment, and mistrust, and hate,
And clinging crime; and, as lean dogs pursue
Thro' wood and lake some struck and sobbing fawn,
We track all things that weep, and bleed, and live,
When the great king betrays them to our will.
Pro. Oh! many fearful natures in one name,
I know ye; and these lakes and echoes know
The darkness and the clangour of your wings.
But why more hideous than your loathed selves
Gather ye up in legions from the deep!
Second Fury. We knew not that: Sisters, rejoice! rejoice!
Pro. Can aught exult in its deformity?
Second Fury. The beauty of delight makes lovers glad,
Gazing on one another: so are we,
As from the rose which the pale priestess kneels
To gather for a festal crown of flowers,
The aërial crimson falls, flushing her cheek,
So from our victim's destined agony,
The shade which is our form invests us round;
Else we are shapeless as our mother night.
Pro. I laugh your power, and his who sent you here,
To lowest scorn. Pour forth the cup of pain.
First Fury. Thou thinkest we will rend thee bone from bone,
And nerve from nerve, working like fire within!
Pro. Pain is my element, as hate is thine;
Ye rend me now; I care not.
Second Fury. Dost imagine
We will but laugh into thy lidless eyes?
Pro. I weigh not what ye do, but what ye suffer,
Being evil. Cruel is the power which called
You, or aught else so wretched into light!
Third Fury. Thou think'st we will live through thee one by one,
Like animal life, and though we can obscure not
The soul which burns within, that we will dwell
Beside it, like a vain, loud multitude,
Vexing the self-content of wisest men:
That we will be dread thought beneath thy brain,
And foul desire round thine astonished heart,
And blood within thy labyrinthine veins,
Crawling like agony.
Pro. Why use me thus now,
Yet am I king over my self's rule,
The torturing and conflicting throes within,
As Jove rules you when hell grows mutinous."
Shelley.
This provoked the vengeance of Jupiter, and he ordered Vulcan to create a female, whom they called Pandora. All the Gods vied in making presents. Venus gave her beauty, and the art of pleasing; Apollo taught her to sing; Mercury instructed her in eloquence; Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments. From these valuable presents which she received from the Gods, the woman was called Pandora, which intimates that she had received every necessary gift. Jupiter, after this, gave her a beautiful box, which she was ordered to present to the man who married her; and by the command of the god, Mercury conducted her to Prometheus. The artful mortal was sensible of the deceit; and as he had always distrusted Jupiter, he sent away Pandora without suffering himself to be captivated by her charms.
"He spoke, and told to Mulciber his will,
And smiling bade him his command fulfil;
To use his greatest art, his nicest care,
To frame a creature exquisitely fair;
To temper well the clay with water, then
To add the vigour and the voice of men;
To let her first in virgin lustre shine,
In form a goddess, with a bloom divine;
And next the sire demands Minerva's aid,
In all her various skill to train the maid
Bids her the secrets of the loom impart,
To cast a curious thread with happy heart;
And golden Venus was to teach the fair
The wiles of love, and to improve her air;
And then in awful majesty to shed
A thousand graceful charms around her head.
Next Hermes, artful god, must form her mind,
One day to torture, and the next be kind:
With manners all deceitful, and her tongue
Fraught with abuse, and with detraction hung;
Jove gave the mandate, and the gods obeyed:
First Vulcan formed of earth the blushing maid;
Minerva next performed the task assigned,
With every female art adorned her mind;
To her the Beauties and the Graces join,
Around her person, lo! the diamonds shine.
To deck her brows the fair tressed seasons bring,
A garland breathing all the sweets of spring:
Each present Pallas gives its proper place,
And adds to every ornament a grace!
Next Hermes taught the fair the heart to move
With all the false alluring arts of love,
Her manners all deceitful, and her tongue
With falsehoods fruitful, and detraction hung;
The finished maid the gods Pandora call,
Because a tribute she received from all;
And thus 'twas Jove's command the sex began
A lovely mischief to the soul of man!
Within her hand the nymph a casket bears,
Full of diseases and corroding cares:
Which opened, they to taint the world begin
And Hope alone remained entire within!
Such