The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1888-09-20

The spiritual identities in Prone
theus and Christ are easily 10 be
traced. The TRANSACTION Of the god
upon the rock finds its counterpart
in the erucifixiou Of the Christ. The
cause Of the condemnation is sub
staatially the same. Christ was
doomed 20 death technically because
he had blasphemed; morally, that
his death might be an atOnement for
the sins Of men, and lead them from
darkness into light. PrOmetheus
blasphemed against Jupiter; he alsO
supplied mankind with fire, by which
they were led out Of the darkness
Of Ignorance Into the light Of eiviliz-
alton and the arts. Not only IL the
mode Of death startlingly alike for
both, but even the circumstances
surrounding the catastrophe. Com
pare the simple but sublime deserip-
lion given by Eschylus with the
narrative OF the eruciiixiOn IS pre-
served In the scriptures.
'sNoW rivet the ruthless fang OF
an adamantine wedge through his
breast" cries Strength to Vulcan.
Strength says TO the transhxed sur
fering deity, "Sighest thou over
the enemies Of Jupiter? Look to il
that thou hast not at some time to
mourn for thyself." Again he ad-
dressed the dying god very much a.
one OF the OnlOOkers did Christ: "By
no true title do the divinities call
the Prometheus; for thou thyself
hath need Of q PrOmetbeus by whom
thou wilt escape this fate"
PrOmetheus speaking declares
that ne knew beforehand all futuri-
~, and that no suffering can come
upon him unexpected. When the
sentence upon the god had been
completely executed the poet de-
clares that "veTily in deed and no
longer in word did the earth heave :"
the rearing echo OF the thunder
rolled; deep blazing wreaths Of
lightning glared and hurricanes
Wairled the dust; armament was
embrOiled with the deep"
There is q strange identity also In
the radical Significance Of the
names. PrOmetheus literally means
fOrethOught; so the idea OF the
Messiah involved the convention
that he who was to come existed in
the deity from the beginning aud
fOresaw the fate destined for him as
the redeemer. From the same
Greek root that forms Prometheus
comes the root OF pharmacy, whose
Greek radical, pharmakOn, meant
TO the popular mind Of poetic Hellas
the great healing drug "the blood OF
Prometheus.n
So with the Hebrews, Christ II
derived from the equivalent OF the
anointeT, the healer; for oil was the
chief remedy with the early He
brews for ills Of the flesh, aud was
at the same time their chief sac
CRITICAL symbol. In the Hellenic
mythology the legend Of Prone
theirs stands for the triumph Of ie
soul over matter; In the Christian
cult the death Of Christ is followed
by a miraculous resurrection, de-
mOnatrating the superiOrityof spirit
over matter.
It is true that II Is by Jupiter Pro-
metheus was condemned; and that
10 was the sins and fall OF man that
made necessary the death Of Christ.
But the Jupiter idea In Hellenic
poetry was variable; some times IL
meant the pure and ethereal god,
sometimes an anthropOlOgicsl deity
capable OF mems frailities and sub
iect to mems passions. Like the
myths OF the air which Ruskin has
30 charmlngly elueidated, the value
OF the Jupiter myth depends largely
upon the ingenuity, the force and
the beauty Of Its various iuterpreta-
tions. Shelley, whose mind was so
essentially Kschyleau and whose
"PrOmetheus Unbound is worthy
to be accepted as a substitute for the
lost drama by the Greek poet, rejects
with scOrn the dulleT version that
prOmetheus became recOnciled TO a
cOmprOmI- lowering him In his own
esteem. 1.-THE moral interest Of the
fable which Is so powerfully sus-
tanned by the sufIerings and endur-
ance OF PrOmethus would be ami
hilated," he declares, "were such q
presumption tOlerable.
IL Is scarcely to be expected that
we shall know now more certainty
81 cOmpartive antiquity Of the
PrOmethean legend as HesiOn first
disclOses Il, and OF the Hebrew pro-
phecies OF the Messiah. But in
their present distinct and at the
same time dim relationship they are
full OF bewildering mystery, and by
no means free from suspicion OF
common origin.