Hesiod’s Pandora and the woman from the rib
Then, since his set purpose was to speak ill of what is written, he also mocked the passage, “God cast a trance upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs and filled up flesh in its place; and he built the rib which he had taken from Adam into a woman” (Genesis 2:21–22), and what follows. He did not even set out the wording, which could have made the hearer notice that it is spoken figuratively. And he would not even acknowledge that such things are taken as allegory, although later he says that the more reasonable of the Jews and Christians, ashamed of these things, try somehow to allegorize them.
One may say to him: Is it, then, that what your inspired Hesiod said about the woman in the form of a myth is taken as allegory, that she was given to men by Zeus as “an evil” “in return for fire” (Hesiod, Works and Days 57), while the woman taken from the rib of the man who slept after a “trance,” and built by God, seems to you to have been told without any meaning and without any hidden sense? But it is not fair-minded to refrain from laughing at those verses as a myth, and to admire them as philosophy told in a myth, and yet to sneer at these words, resting the mind on the wording alone, and to think that they will turn out to mean nothing. For if one must find fault with things said under hidden meanings because of the bare wording, see whether it is not rather Hesiod’s verses that will incur laughter, though he was, as you say, an inspired man, and wrote such things as these:
“Then Zeus the cloud-gatherer, in anger, said to him: ‘Son of Iapetus, you who know counsels beyond all others, you rejoice that you stole fire and outwitted my mind, a great sorrow for yourself and for men who are to come. To them, in return for fire, I will give an evil in which all may delight in their hearts, embracing their own evil.’ So he spoke; and the father of men and gods brought it to pass. He bade far-famed Hephaestus with all speed to mix earth with water, and to put in it a human voice and strength, and to make it like the immortal gods in face, a maiden’s fair and lovely form; and he bade Athena teach her crafts, to weave the richly worked web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace about her head, and painful longing and cares that wear out the limbs; and to put in her the mind of a dog and a thievish nature he charged Hermes, the guide, the slayer of Argus. So he spoke; and they obeyed Zeus, the lord, the son of Cronus. At once the famous lame god moulded from earth the likeness of a modest maiden, by the counsels of the son of Cronus; the goddess, grey-eyed Athena, girded and adorned her; about her the divine Graces and queenly Persuasion set golden necklaces upon her skin, and the lovely-haired Seasons crowned her with spring flowers; and Pallas Athena fitted every ornament to her body. And in her breast the guide, the slayer of Argus, wrought lies and wheedling words and a thievish nature, by the counsels of loud-thundering Zeus; and the herald of the gods put a voice in her, and named this woman Pandora, because all who have their homes on Olympus gave her as a gift, a sorrow to men who eat bread” (Hesiod, Works and Days 53–82).
Laughable on its face, too, is what is said about the jar: “For before this the tribes of men lived on the earth far from evils, without hard toil and painful diseases, which bring men their dooms. But the woman lifted the great lid from the jar with her hands and scattered them, and devised grievous sorrows for men. Hope alone remained there within, in an unbreakable house, under the lip of the jar, and did not fly out of the door; for before that she had put the lid on the jar” (Hesiod, Works and Days 90–98).
To the man who solemnly allegorizes these things, whether he succeeds in the allegory or not, we will say: Is it only the Greeks who may philosophize under a hidden meaning, and the Egyptians as well, and those of the barbarians who pride themselves on mysteries and on truth, while the Jews alone, with their lawgiver and their writers, seemed to you the most senseless of all men, and this nation alone has received no share of any power of God, the nation that was taught, in so lofty a way, to rise up to the uncreated nature of God, to fix its gaze on him alone, and to look for its hopes from him alone?
Greek
Εἶτ᾿ ἐπεὶ προκείμενον ἦν αὐτῷ κακηγορεῖν τὰ γεγραμμένα, διεχλεύασε καὶ τὸ „ἐπέβαλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔκστασιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ, καὶ ὕπνωσε. καὶ ἔλαβε μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεπλήρωσε σάρκα ἀντ᾿ αὐτῆς· καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε τὴν πλευρὰν, ἣν ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, εἰς γυναῖκα“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, οὐδὲ τὴν λέξιν ἐκθέμενος. δυναμένην ἐπιστῆσαι τὸν ἀκούοντα ὅτι μετὰ τροπολογίας εἴρηται. καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησέ γε προσποιήσασθαι ἀλληγορεῖσθαι τὰ τοιαῦτα, καίτοι γε ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς λέγων ὅτι οἱ ἐπιεικέστεροι Ἰουδαίων τε καὶ Χριστιανῶν ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰσχυνόμενοι πειρῶνταί πως ἀλληγορεῖν αὐτά. ἔστι δ᾿ εἰπεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν· ἆρα τὰ μὲν τῷ ἐνθέῳ σου Ἡσιόδῳ εἰρημένα ἐν μύθου σχήματι περὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀλληγορεῖται. ὡς ἄρα δέδοται αὕτη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς „κακὸν“ „ἀντὶ τοῦ πυρός“· ἡ δ᾿ ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ μετ᾿ „ἔκστασιν“ κοιμηθέντος ληφθεῖσα γυνὴ καὶ οἰκοδομηθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ χωρὶς παντὸς λόγου καί τινος ἐπικρύψεως λελέχθαι σοι φαίνεται; ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ εὔγνωμον ἐκεῖνα μὲν μὴ γελᾶν ὡς μῦθον ἀλλὰ θαυμάζειν ὡς ἐν μύθῳ φιλοσοφούμενα, ταῦτα δὲ μόνῃ τῇ λέξει τὴν διάνοιαν ἐναπερείσαντα μυχθίζειν καὶ μηδενὸς λόγου νομίζειν ἔσεσθαι. εἰ γὰρ ψιλῆς ἕνεκεν λέξεως χρὴ κατηγορεῖν τῶν ἐν ὑπονοίαις λελεγμένων, ὅρα εἰ μὴ τὰ Ἡσιόδου μᾶλλον γέλωτα μέλλει ὀφλεῖν, ἀνδρὸς, ὡς φῂς, ἐνθέου τοιαῦτα γράψαντος· τὸν δὲ χολωσάμενος προσέφη νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς· Ἰαπετιονίδη. πάντων πέρι μήδεα εἰδὼς, χαίρεις πῦρ κλέψας καὶ ἐμὰς φρέ νας ἠπεροπεύσας, σοί τ᾿ αὐτῷ μέγα πῆμα καὶ ἀνδράσιν ἐσσομένοισι. τοῖς δ᾿ ἐγὼ ἀντὶ πυρὸς δώσω κακὸν, ᾧ κεν ἅπαντες τέρπωνται κατὰ θυμὸν ἑὸν κακὸν ἀμφαγαπῶντες. ὣς ἔφατ᾿· ἐκ δ᾿ ἐτέλεσσε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε Ἥφαιστον δ᾿ ἐκέλευσε περικλυτὸν ὅττι τάχιστα γαῖαν ὕδει φύρειν, ἐν δ᾿ ἀνθρώπου θέμεν αὐδὴν καὶ σθένος, ἀθανάτοις δὲ θεοῖς εἰς ὦπα ἐΐσκειν παρθενικῆς καλὸν εἶδος ἐπήρατον· αὐτὰρ Ἀθήνην ἔργα διδασκέμεναι, πολυδαίδαλον ἱστὸν ὑφαίνειν· καὶ χάριν ἀμφιχέαι κεφαλῇ χρυσῆν Ἀφροδίτην καὶ πόθον ἀργαλέον καὶ γυιοκόρους μελεδῶνας· ἐν δὲ θέμεν κύνεόν τε νόον καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος (Ἑρμείην ἤνωγε. διάκτορον ἀργεϊφόντην.) ὣς ἔφαθ᾿· οἱ δ᾿ ἐπίθοντο Διῒ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι. αὐτίκα δ᾿ ἐκ γαίης πλάσσεν κλυτὸς Ἀμφιγυήεις παρθένῳ αἰδοίῃ ἴκελον Κρονίδεω διὰ βουλάς· ζῶσε δὲ καὶ κόσμησε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη· ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ Χάριτές τε θεαὶ καὶ πότνια Πειθὼ ὅρμους χρυσείους ἔθεσαν (χροΐ·) ἀμφὶ δὲ τήνδε Ὧραι καλλίκομοι στέφον ἄνθεσιν εἰαρινοῖσιν· πάντα δέ (οἱ) χροῒ κόσμον ἐφήρμοσε Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη· ἐν δ᾿ ἄρα οἱ στήθεσσι διάκτορος ἀργεϊφόντης ψεύδεά θ᾿ αἱμυλίους τε λόγους καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος τεῦξε Διὸς βουλῇσι βαρυκτύπου· ἐν δ᾿ ἄρα φωνὴν θῆκε θεῶν κῆρυξ, ὀνόμηνε δὲ τήνδε γυναῖκα Πανδώρη. ὅτι πάντες Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾿ ἔχοντες δῶρον ἐδώρησαν, πῆμ᾿ ἀνδράσιν ἀλφηστῇσι. γελοῖον δ᾿ αὐτόθεν καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ πίθου λεγόμενον, ὅτι πρὶν μὲν γὰρ ζώεσκον ἐπὶ χθονὶ φῦλ᾿ ἀνθρώπων νόσφιν ἄτερ τε κακῶν καὶ ἄτερ χαλεποῖο πόνοιο νούσων τ᾿ ἀργαλέων. αἵ τ᾿ ἀνδράσι κῆρας ἔδωκαν. ἀλλὰ γυνὴ χείρεσσι πίθου μέγα πῶμ᾿ ἀφελοῦσα ἐσκέδασ᾿· ἀνθρώποισι δ᾿ ἐμήσατο κήδεα λυγρά. μούνη δ᾿ αὐτόθε Ἐλπὶς ἐν ἀῤῥήκτοισι δόμοισιν ἔνδον ἔμιμνε πίθου ὑπὸ χείλεσιν, οὐδὲ θύραζε ἐξέπτη· πρόσθεν γὰρ ἐπέμβαλε πῶμα πίθοιο. πρὸς δὲ τὸν ταῦτα σεμνῶς ἀλληγοροῦντα, εἴτ᾿ ἐπιτυγχάνοντα ἐν τῇ ἀλληγορίᾳ εἴτε καὶ μὴ, ἐροῦμεν· ἆρα μόνοις Ἕλλησιν ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ ἔξεστι φιλοσοφεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ ὅσοι τῶν βαρβάρων σεμνύνονται ἐπὶ μυστηρίοις καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· μόνοι δὲ Ἰουδαῖοι ἔδοξάν σοι καὶ ὁ τούτων νομοθέτης καὶ οἱ συγγραφεῖς πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἶναι ἀνοητότατοι, καὶ μόνον τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος οὐδεμιᾶς δυνάμεως θεοῦ μετειληφέναι. τὸ οὕτως μεγαλοφυέστατα δεδιδαγμένον ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγένητον τοῦ θεοῦ φύσιν κἀκείνῳ μόνῳ ἐνορᾶν καὶ τὰς ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ μόνου ἐλπίδας προσδοκᾶν;