Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | Page 8

of
the earth. They accordingly took up stones from the mountain side and
cast them over their shoulders. From those thrown by Deucalion there
sprang up men, and from those thrown by Pyrrha, women.

After the lapse of time the theory of Autochthony (from autos, self, and
chthon, earth) was laid aside. When this belief existed there were no
religious teachers whatever; but in course of time temples were raised
in honour of the different gods, and priests appointed to offer sacrifices
to them and conduct their worship. These priests were looked upon as
authorities in all religious matters, and the doctrine they taught was,
that man had been created by the gods, and that there had been several
successive ages of men, which were called the Golden, Silver, Brazen,
and Iron Ages.
Life in the Golden Age was one unceasing round of ever-recurring
pleasures unmarred by sorrow or care. The favoured mortals living at
this happy time led pure and joyous lives, thinking no evil, and doing
no wrong. The earth brought forth fruits and flowers without toil or
labour in plentiful luxuriance, and war was unknown. This delightful
and god-like existence lasted for hundreds of years, and when at length
life on earth was ended, death laid his hand so gently upon them that
they passed painlessly away in a happy dream, and continued their
existence as ministering spirits in Hades, watching over and {23}
protecting those they had loved and left behind on earth. The men of
the Silver Age[7] were a long time growing up, and during their
childhood, which lasted a hundred years, they suffered from ill-health
and extreme debility. When they at last became men they lived but a
short time, for they would not abstain from mutual injury, nor pay the
service due to the gods, and were therefore banished to Hades. There,
unlike the beings of the Golden Age, they exercised no beneficent
supervision over the dear ones left behind, but wandered about as
restless spirits, always sighing for the lost pleasures they had enjoyed in
life.
The men of the Brazen Age were quite a different race of beings, being
as strong and powerful as those of the Silver Age were weak and
enervated. Everything which surrounded them was of brass; their arms,
their tools, their dwellings, and all that they made. Their characters
seem to have resembled the metal in which they delighted; their minds
and hearts were hard, obdurate, and cruel. They led a life of strife and
contention, introduced into the world, which had hitherto known

nothing but peace and tranquillity, the scourge of war, and were in fact
only happy when fighting and quarrelling with each other. Hitherto
Themis, the goddess of Justice, had been living among mankind, but
becoming disheartened at their evil doings, she abandoned the earth,
and winged her flight back to heaven. At last the gods became so tired
of their evil deeds and continual dissensions, that they removed them
from the face of the earth, and sent them down to Hades to share the
fate of their predecessors.
We now come to the men of the Iron Age. The earth, no longer teeming
with fruitfulness, only yielded her increase after much toil and labour.
The goddess of Justice having abandoned mankind, no influence
remained sufficiently powerful to preserve them from every kind of
wickedness and sin. This condition grew worse as time went on, until at
last Zeus in his anger let loose the water-courses from above, and
drowned every {24} individual of this evil race, except Deucalion and
Pyrrha.
The theory of Hesiod,[8] the oldest of all the Greek poets, was that the
Titan Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, had formed man out of clay, and
that Athene had breathed a soul into him. Full of love for the beings he
had called into existence, Prometheus determined to elevate their minds
and improve their condition in every way; he therefore taught them
astronomy, mathematics, the alphabet, how to cure diseases, and the art
of divination. He created this race in such great numbers that the gods
began to see the necessity of instituting certain fixed laws with regard
to the sacrifices due to them, and the worship to which they considered
themselves entitled from mankind in return for the protection which
they accorded them. An assembly was therefore convened at Mecone in
order to settle these points. It was decided that Prometheus, as the
advocate of man, should slay an ox, which should be divided into two
equal parts, and that the gods should select one portion which should
henceforth, in all future sacrifices, be set apart for them. Prometheus so
divided the ox that one part consisted of the bones (which formed of
course the least valuable portion of the animal), artfully