The Golden Age

Every generation of children asks the same question.

"How was the world made?" they ask.

So did the children of ancient Greece, when the myths were new, and the Greek teachers told them that the earth and sky were all a huge Chaos at first until the gods from their thrones pulled Order from Chaos, in cooperation with Nature, to give order to their world. They separated the earth from the sea, first, and then the sky from both of these. The universe was all a flaming mass in the beginning, but most of that mass became light that ascended to form the skies. The light was trapped above the skies, and below it was the air. The waters could not go higher than the skies, so they collected below that. The earth sank into its hollows. Long ago, some god took a lump of clay from the ground and molded the Earth. This god then gave the clay rivers and lakes, raised mountains, planted forests in fertile fields, and saw that living things—fish, birds, and four-footed beasts—emerged on the surface. But the earth was not finished then by any means. There were two giants of the race of the Titans who inhabited the earth at that time, and both of these brothers were expert craftsmen. Their names were Prometheus and Epimetheus. Prometheus took a little of the new earth in his hands and as he looked it over he saw, hidden in it, some heavenly seeds, very tiny indeed. He wanted to see what would grow from them. He took the seeds and ran them through his fingers and felt their smoothness, which he knew would be like the softest silk when they grew up into plants with leaves. So Prometheus mixed some water with a handful of earth, and then he kneaded it. Next, he rolled it into a ball and pressed it into the shape of a man. This figure of clay stood upright, unlike the four-footed animals, who always looked down at the ground. This form that Prometheus had made stared into the sky, toward where the sun and stars now shone through the air’s thin veil. Prometheus had created mankind.

As he made them, his brother, Epimetheus, was busy giving other animals the skills they needed to survive on earth. Some of them received the gift of courage; others were given the gift of wisdom. Still others received great strength or great speed. It was then that the slow-moving tortoise discovered his shell and the eagle his talons. The deer discovered his slender limbs, and the dove his wings. The sheep were given their woolly coat that would be shaved down so often that it would never need replacing. The horse, the camel, and the elephant were provided with such powerful backs that they could transport heavy loads over great distances. Epimetheus was interested in the man that his brother had made, and he feared that other wild animals living in the forest might attack and destroy the man. He suggested something to his brother, and Prometheus made a torch out of wood that he had cut from a forest on top of a hill. Then he carried the torch to the sky, where he lit it at the Sun's chariot. From the sky he brought down fire, which he then gave to mankind. He brought fire to Earth. That was the most useful gift he could possibly have given them. In his wake, the first humans began to construct dwellings of leaves, then huts woven of twigs, and eventually homes woven of twigs and covered by woven branches. Once fire had reached their homes, they were able to light forges and shape metals into weapons and tools, which they could use to defend themselves from wild beasts and to cut down trees for building stronger dwellings. Using these newly forged ploughshares, they planted their fields with grains.

It seemed as if the earth was going to be a very good place for man and his children, but after awhile all kinds of unexpected things began to happen, and man was often considered the cause. The strange part about it was that man, who was made out of clay and a heavenly seed, caused most of the trouble. Man used axes to chop down forests for building war ships and fortifications around the towns and places that they lived.

The sailors spread their sails to the wind to vex the face of the ocean. Men not satisfied with what land has to offer dug deep down underneath it and brought gold and precious stones. This cause conflict and wars, as each man wanted to gather as much as he can and be richer than others. Land was divided into shares, and this led to more conflicts.

Even the gods were unable to stop the suffering on earth.

At the beginning of time, before the forge fires were lighted, there had been a Golden Age. Then the fields had given all the food that man needed. Flowers came up without being planted and rivers flowed with milk and thick, yellow honey was distilled by the honey bees.

But the gods decided they had to intervene. Jupiter, king of the gods, sent the Silver Age. He shortened the spring and changed it into seasons. Man had to learn how to cope with the cold in the winters and the heat in the summers. Then came the Bronze and Iron Ages. That was when greed and war broke out.

Jupiter thought that more punishment was in order for humanity. He imprisoned the north wind, which scatters the clouds, and let out the south wind to welcome pitch-black darkness. Clouds crashed into each other, and torrents of rain fell. Crops

were destroyed so that all the farmer's efforts at growing food would be ruined. Jupiter even called upon his brother and sister, Neptune and Juno, gods of the sea and earth respectively, to send storms to flood the farmlands and destroy the crops. He tore the land apart with an earthquake, and the oceans overflowed their shores. Through it all, many crops were destroyed. The flooding from the storm resembled a flood. The only land was the hills, and people had to ride from one hill to another in boats. Fish swam among the tree tops. If someone dropped an anchor, it might land in a garden. Hulking sea-calves flopped about, stepping on lambs as if they were weeds; yellow lions, tigers, and wolves struggled in the water, drowning among sheep. It seemed as if the earth would be lost in a second chaos, but a mountain peak appeared above the waste that the waters had made. A man and a woman from the race Prometheus had made took refuge on the peak.

Remembering the heavenly seed that was part of their heritage, people looked up toward the sky and asked Jupiter to take pity on them. Jupiter ordered the north wind to drive the clouds away, then Neptune sounded his horn to order the waters to retreat. The waters obeyed, and the sea returned to its basins. It was a very bare and desolate planet upon which the people looked down from the Mount of Parnassus. They had not forgotten how to build and mine and plant and harvest and keep a home. They would have to begin it all over again, they knew, and there were two ways of going about it.

One way would be to leave the Earth the desert place that it now was and try to wreak vengeance on the gods for the destruction they had wrought upon the Earth. Prometheus, the Titan, still lived, and he was in possession of a secret that could take Jupiter’s throne away from him. According to legend, Prometheus never would have used this secret, but Jupiter learned of it and caused much consternation amongst the other gods.

Jupiter ordered Vulcan, the smith of the gods, to forge two massive links for a heavy chain to hold Prometheus to a rocky outcrop. With these in place, Prometheus was chained to the outcrop and left to be consumed by an ever-roaming vulture while he healed from his wounds. His torment grew worse each day, as he suffered from the ever-roaming vulture nibbling at his flesh, only to have it grow back again every night.

The torture of the giant Prometheus on Mt. Caucasus would end as soon as he told the secret of the gods, Jupiter had assured him, but Prometheus refused to speak because he feared his words might cause the men and women of Earth to suffer. He went on suffering there without any rest, and Earth began to take on its former guise of fertility and prosperity as people once again tried to bring back the Golden Age.

And whenever a man felt like giving up the tasks, he would think of Prometheus chained to a rock. His flesh that came from the earth was the prey of a vulture, but the seed of the gods that was hidden inside each mortal, gave him strength to resist what he believed to be wrong and bear suffering.

The wisest of the ancients, even Prometheus himself, knew that the earth was composed of earthly elements, and that something else rose out of it. Men were a mixture of earthly stuff and something else, too: soul. Nowadays, greed and selfishness guide our uses of land, food, and metals. We must be cautious to balance our resources. Otherwise, we might experience another flood on earth like the one that came from Neptune and Jupiter. And the human being, too, is still a mixture of earthly stuff and something else—a dimension that Prometheus called “heavenly seed” (i.e. “soul”) and that we call soul. When selfishness and greed guide our uses of land and food and the metals that they yield, a Golden Age is apt to be replaced by a flood of destruction—even if God or gods in heaven are to blame. However, there is always a chance to be a Prometheus who can remember about serving all of humanity, instead of oneself; and, so, help bring about the return of a Golden Age on Earth.