LXV
πολυΐδριδι
PROMETHEUS fashioned man,
Then ruthful, pitying
His creature when the snowy storms began
To numb, the frost to harass and to cling,
Toward the sun's golden wheel
He clomb, and, as the blaze
Burned past, taught of Athene, sprang to steal
A scintillating fragment from the rays.
With wisdom-guided torch
Dipped in the heavenly flame
Back he returned to each unlighted porch,
And filled the homes with joy where'er he came.
Zeus marked the flickering brand,
And earthward bent to urge
Two countervailing evils through the land :
One was the fever with its fiery scourge ;
One was Pandora's face,
Her smiles and luring feet—
" Woman," he said, " shall scorch man's petty race,
And fill his senses with insidious heat."
But, Phaon, tremble thou
Whom beauty cannot fire,
Who livest with no rage upon thy brow,
Unstricken by complaint or by desire.
Remember what thou art,
Think of the wrath above,
Scathless to stand is not a mortal's part :
O fool, accept the furious curse of love !
