[希臘神話]普羅米修斯

Prometheus

Prometheus was a Titan ．In the war between Zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympiangods．Out of the clay he made the first man，to whom Athena gave soul and holy breath．Prometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fire．And fire raised man above all animals ．Later，there held a joint meeting of gods and men．The meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should begiven to gods and what to men．Prometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts：under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bones，for he knew the selfish Zeus loved fat． Zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus' favor towards men．So in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankind．However，Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down tomen．Flying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion，Zeus let the other gods chain Prometheus to a rock on Mountain Caucasus，where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew again．His period of pain was to be thirty-thousand years．Prometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before Zeus．At last Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to friend ship，when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free．

普羅米修斯是泰坦巨人之一。在宙斯與巨人的戰爭中，他站在新的奧林波斯山神一邊。他用粘土造出了第一個男人。雅典娜賦予了這個男人靈魂和神聖的生命。普羅米修斯還花費了很多時間和精力創造了火，並將之贈予人類。火使人成爲萬物之靈。在這之後，舉行了第一次神與人的聯席會議。這個會議將決定燒烤過的動物的哪一部分該分給神，哪一部分該給人類。普羅米修斯切開一頭牛，把它分成兩部分：他把肉放在皮下，將骨頭放在肥肉下。因爲他知道自私的宙斯愛吃肥肉。宙斯看穿了他的把戲。普羅米修斯偏袒人類，這使宙斯感到不快。因此，他專橫地把火從人類手中奪走。然而，普羅米修斯設法竊走了天火，偷偷地把它帶給人類。宙斯對他這種肆無忌憚的違抗行爲大發雷霆。他令其他的山神把普羅米修斯用鎖鏈縛在高加索山脈的一塊岩石上。一隻飢餓的老鷹天天來啄食他的肝臟，而他的肝臟又總是重新長出來。他的痛苦要持續三萬年。而他堅定地面對苦難，從來不在宙斯面前喪失勇氣。最後，海格立斯使普羅米修斯與宙斯恢復了他們的友誼，找到了金蘋果，殺死了老鷹，因而解救了人類的老朋友。