And the gods? They have sufficient livelihood.
But they’ve hidden it all from humans.
Otherwise we’d have it easy.
We would only need to work for one day.
One day, and we’d have enough for the whole year.
We’d take all the other days off.
One, then farm tools quickly useless,
except as trophies mounted above the fireplace. [45]
Oxen and mules: they worked a hard day.
But now they’d have to find a new occupation.
It was Zeus who hid sufficient livelihood from us.
He used anger, according to his plan.
The plan was a response to Prometheus,
who tried to deceive him with a wily stratagem.
Because of Prometheus, Zeus was able to unfold
his plan for humans: troublesome toils.
Yes, Zeus hid fire.
In retaliation, Prometheus, the noble son of Iapetus, [50]
stole it for humans from Zeus.
A fateful move, because Zeus is full of stratagems.
Prometheus hid it from Zeus, in the hollow of the narthex.
But Zeus loves to thunder.
With his wrath now enkindled,
Zeus the cloud gatherer spoke out:
“Son of Iapetus,
you know stratagems like no one else.
You delight in stealing fire,
in trying to frustrate my plan with your deceit. [55]
For you, there will be a great pain,
but also for all husbands to come.
For them, as the counterpart to fire, I shall give an evil.
In this counterpart, shall they
all take delight. Her evil competitive spirit,
they shall lovingly embrace.”
So said Zeus. And he, the Zeusfather of husbands and gods,
laughed out loud.
He commanded famous Hephaestus
to swiftly [60]
mix dry Earth with water,
and to place in it a human voice
and human strength,
and to make its face the likeness of an immortal goddess,
and its shape that of a beautiful and charming virgin.
Then Athena
was to teach it her own special work:
to weave the intricately patterned web.
Then golden Aphrodite
was to pour her own special grace all around its head, [65]
the grace that instills a troublesome longing,
a desire that gnaws away at your limbs.
He ordered Hermes,
Zeus’ messenger and the Slayer of Argus the monster,
to put inside it
the cunning character of animal intelligence.
So said Zeus.
And they all obeyed Lord Zeus, the son of Cronus.
Without pause,
the famous lame god shaped from the Earth [70]
the likeness of a modest virgin,
following the chemical blueprint of the son of Cronus.
The steely-eyed goddess, Athena,
wove the wardrobe web, dressing her and adorning her.
Encircling her, the goddesses,
the Graces (Charites) with Lady Persuasion (Peitho),
arranged golden jewelry
upon the fleshly surfaces of her body. Encircling her,
the lovely-haired Seasons (Horai)
garlanded her hair with the blossoms of spring. [75]
Finally, on everything that adorns the skin,
Pallas Athena put her finishing touch.
But then Hermes, Zeus’ messenger and
the Slayer of Argus the monster, put into her breast
his cunning character:
wily lies and winning words.
He did this according to the plan of deep-thundering Zeus.
This clever voice that he,
the clever herald of the gods, placed in her,
is the reason why he named this woman [80]
Pandora – the “Gift” for Whom “Anything Goes.”
Also, in her, “anything” a god living on Olympus has
was “gifted” by them to us: Pandora
– the “Gift” into Whom “Anything Goes.”
She is why husbands work for food: a pain.
After Zeus had brought her to completion
(the imposing ruse, invincible to stratagems),
he sent Hermes,
the famous the Slayer of Argus, to Epimetheus.
Hermes, the gods’ swift messenger
brought him Pandora as a gift. But Epimetheus [85]
had been told by his brother Prometheus
(he whose very name means Fore-Thought)
never to accept a gift from Olympian Zeus,
but instead to send it right back,
so that no evil would come into being for mortals,
the ultimate targets of Zeus’ justice.
But Epimetheus (After-Thought)
only thought
about her as evil
after he had married her.
Before that fateful day, the tribes of men,
although living on the ground, still did so [90]
separated far apart from all evils,
far apart from any hard labor,
and they had no painful diseases,
the sort which the goddess Death brings for husbands.
Quickly do such distresses
beset mortals now when they grow old.
But on that fateful day, when his wife,
Pandora – the “Gift” with Whom “Anything Goes” –
placed her hands on her spouse,
she removed the great lid of Zeus’ jar,
everybody now touched [95]
by what Zeus had planned for humans:
troublesome toils.
Hope alone remained in the jar.
Hope alone can build an indestructible home.
Hope lingers on the lips.
Hope did not fly outside on that fateful day.
Lingering on the lip of the jar,
with lid replaced, hope abides.
This is all according to the plan
of cloud-gathering Zeus, he who holds the aegis.
But what it decrees is that numberless toils
must now roam among humans. [100]
The entire Earth is overrun with evils,
and the sea likewise.
Sometimes diseases creep over humans
during the day, but others at night
bring their evils to mortals, arriving suddenly
and without warning, bearing evil
in silence. Strategic Zeus silences their voices.
So too Pandora’s clever voice can
silence any man’s rejoinder.
Husbands’ proof: there’s no escaping the mind of Zeus. [105]