XV. SAGITTA
Hanc unam de Herculis telis esse demonstrant, qua aquilam dicitur interfecisse, quae Promethei iocinera fertur exedisse; de quo pluribus dicere non inutile uidetur. antiqui cum maxima caerimonia deorum inmortalium sacrificia administrarent, soliti sunt totas hostias in sacrorum consumere flamma. itaque cum propter sumptus magnitudinem sacrificia pauperibus non optingerent, Prometheus, qui propter excellentiam ingenii miram homines finxisse existimatur, recusatione dicitur ab Ioue impetrasse, ut partem hostiae in ignem coicerent, partem in suo consumerent uictu; idque postea consuetudo firmauit. quod cum facile a deo, non ut homine auaro impetrasset, ipse Prometheus immolat tauros duos. quorum primum iocinera cum in ara posuisset, reliquam carnem ex utroque tauro in unum compositam corio bubulo contexit; ossa autem quaecumque fuerunt, reliqua pelle contecta in medio collocauit et Ioui fecit postestatem, ut quam uellet eorum sumeret partem. Iuppiter autem, etsi non pro diuina fecit cogitatione, neque ut deum decebat, omnia qui debuit ante prouidere, sed (quoniam credere instituimus historiis) deceptus a Prometheo, utrumque putans esse taurum, delegit ossa pro sua dimidia parte. itaque post ea in sollemnibus et religiosis sacrificiis carne hostiarum consumpta, reliquias, quae pars fuit deorum, igni comburunt
XV. The Arrow
They show this to be one of the arrows of Heracles, with which he is said to have killed the eagle which is reported to have devoured Prometheus's liver; about which it seems not useless to say more. The ancients, when they performed the sacrifices of the immortal gods with the greatest ceremony, were accustomed to consume whole victims in the flame of the rites. And so, since because of the size of the expense sacrifices did not fall to the poor, Prometheus, who on account of his marvellous excellence of mind is thought to have fashioned men, is said by his protest to have obtained from Zeus that they should throw part of the victim into the fire and consume part in their own meal; and custom afterwards confirmed this. When he had easily obtained this from a god, who was not a greedy man, Prometheus himself sacrifices two bulls. Having first placed the livers of these on the altar, he put the rest of the flesh from both bulls together into one and covered it with ox-hide; the bones, whatever there were, covered with the rest of the hide, he placed in the middle, and gave Zeus the power to take whichever part of them he wished. Zeus, though he did not act with divine forethought, nor as became a god, who should have foreseen everything beforehand, but (since we have undertaken to believe the stories) was deceived by Prometheus, thinking both to be a bull, chose the bones as his half. And so afterwards, in solemn and religious sacrifices, the flesh of the victims being consumed, they burn with fire the remains, which was the gods' portion.
Sed ut ad propositum reuertamur, Iuppiter cum factum rescisset, animo permoto mortalibus eripuit ignem, ne Promethei gratia plus deorum potestate ualeret, neue carnis usus utilis hominibus uideretur, cum coqui non posset. Prometheus autem consuetus insidiari, sua opera ereptum mortalibus ignem restituere cogitabat. itaque ceteris remotis, deuenit ad Iouis ignem; quo deminuto et in ferulam coniecto, laetus, ut uolare non currere uideretur, ferulam iactans, ne spiritus interclusus uaporibus exstingueret in angustia lumen. itaque homines adhuc plerumque, qui laetitiae fiunt nuntii, celerrime ueniunt. praeterea in certatione ludorum cursoribus instituerunt ex Promethei similitudine, ut currerent lampadem iactantes. pro quo Iuppiter facto mortalibus parem gratiam referens, mulierem tradidit his, quam a Uulcano factam deorum uoluntas omni munere donauit; itaque Pandora est appellata. Prometheum autem in monte Scythiae nomine Caucaso ferrea catena uinxit; quem alligatum ad triginta milia annorum Aeschylus tragoediarum scriptor ait. praeterea admisit ei aquilam, quae assidue noctu renascentia iocinera exesset. hanc autem aquilam nonnulli ex Typhone et Echidna natam, alii ex Terra et Tartaro, complures Uulcani factam manibus demonstrant, animamque ei ab Ioue traditam dicunt.
But to return to our theme: Zeus, when he learned of what had been done, with his mind stirred, took fire away from mortals, lest through Prometheus's favour men should prevail more than the power of the gods, or lest the use of flesh should seem useful to men, since it could not be cooked. Prometheus, however, being accustomed to plotting, intended to restore by his own work the fire snatched away from mortals. And so, the others being out of the way, he came to Zeus's fire; having taken some from it and put it into a fennel-stalk, glad, so that he seemed to fly, not run, tossing the stalk, lest the breath, shut in by the fumes, should extinguish the light in the narrow space. And so men even now, those who become messengers of joy, mostly come very swiftly. Further, in contests of games they instituted for runners, after the likeness of Prometheus, that they should run tossing a torch. For this deed Zeus, returning like thanks to mortals, gave them a woman, made by Hephaestus, whom the will of the gods endowed with every gift; and so she was called Pandora. Prometheus he bound with an iron chain on a mountain of Scythia named Caucasus; Aeschylus, the writer of tragedies, says that he was chained for thirty thousand years. Further he sent to him an eagle that would continually eat, by night, his liver as it grew back. This eagle some show to have been born of Typhon and Echidna, others of Earth and Tartarus, very many to have been made by Hephaestus's hands, and say that life was given to it by Zeus.
Sed de eius solutione haec memoriae prodita est causa. cum Iuppiter Thetidis conubium pulchritudine corporis inductus peteret, neque a uirgine timida impetraret, neque ea re minus efficere cogitaret, illo tempore Parcae feruntur cecinisse fata, quae perfici natura uoluit rerum. dixerunt enim, quicumque Thetidis fuisset maritus, eius filium patria fore laude clariorem; quod Prometheus non uoluntate, sed necessitudine uigilans, auditum Ioui nuntiauit. qui ueritus id, quod ipse Saturno patri fecisset in simili causa, ne patrio regno priuaretur, coactus destitit Thetin .uelle ducere uxorem, et Prometheo pro beneficio meritam retulit gratiam eumque. uinculis liberauit. neque id, quod fuerat iuratus, remisit, uacuum omni alligatione futurum; sed memoriae causa ex utraque re, hoc est lapide et ferro, digitum sibi uinciri iussit. qua consuetudine homines usi, quo satisfacere Prometheo uiderentur, anulos lapide et ferro conclusos habere coeperunt. nonnulli etiam coronam habuisse dixerunt, ut se uictorem inpune peccasse diceret. itaque homines in maxima laetitia uictoriisque coronas habere instituerunt; id exercitationibus et conuiuiis perspicere licebit.
But the reason for his release has been handed down thus. When Zeus, drawn by the beauty of Thetis's body, sought her in marriage, and could not obtain her from the timid maiden, and did not on that account think of achieving it any the less, at that time the Fates are said to have sung the destinies which the nature of things willed to be fulfilled. For they said that whoever should be Thetis's husband, his son would be more famous than his father in glory; which Prometheus, keeping watch not by will but by necessity, having heard it, reported to Zeus. He, fearing what he himself had done to his father Cronus in a like case, lest he be deprived of his paternal kingdom, was compelled to give up wishing to marry Thetis, and returned to Prometheus the thanks that he deserved for his service, and freed him from his bonds. Nor did he give up what he had sworn, that [Prometheus] would be free of all binding [?]; but, for memory's sake, he ordered that his finger be bound with both things, that is stone and iron. Men, following this custom, in order to seem to make amends to Prometheus, began to wear rings set with stone and iron. Some also said that he had a crown, so that he might say that he, as victor, had sinned with impunity. And so men instituted crowns for times of the greatest joy and victories; this one can see at exercises and banquets.
Sed potius ad initium causae et interitum aquilae reuertamur. Hercules missus ab Eurystheo ad Hesperidum mala, nescius uiae deuenit ad Promethea, quem in Caucaso monte uinctum fuisse supra ostendimus. a quo uia demonstrata, uictor iam ad eum iter facere contendit, ut et draconem, de quo ante diximus, interfectum diceret, et gratiam pro beneficio referret. nam confestim honorem quem potuit, reddidit merenti* qua dimissa, homines instituerunt, ut hostiis immolatis iocinera consumerent in deorum altaribus, ut exsaturare eos pro uisceribus Promethei uiderentur.
But let us return rather to the beginning of the matter and the death of the eagle. Heracles, sent by Eurystheus to the apples of the Hesperides, not knowing the way, came to Prometheus, whom we showed above to have been bound on Mount Caucasus. By him the way was shown, and, already victorious, he hurried to make his journey to him, to say that the dragon of whom we spoke before had been killed, and to repay the kindness. For at once he gave what honour he could to the deserving man [?]; and when [the eagle] was dismissed [?], men instituted that, when victims were sacrificed, they should consume the livers on the altars of the gods, so that they might seem to satisfy them in place of Prometheus's entrails.
Ut Eratosthenes autem de Sagitta demonstrat, hac Apollo Cyclopas interfecit, qui fulmen Ioui fecerunt, quo Aesculapium interfectum complures dixerunt. hanc autem sagittam in Hyperboreo monte Apollinem defodisse. cum autem Iuppiter ignouerit filio, ipsam sagittam uento ad Apollinem perlatam cum frugibus, quae eo tempore nascebantur. hanc igitur ob causam inter sidera demonstrant.
As Eratosthenes shows about the Arrow, with this Apollo killed the Cyclopes, who made the thunderbolt for Zeus, by which, very many have said, Asclepius was killed. This arrow, however, [they say] Apollo buried on the Hyperborean mountain. When Zeus forgave his son, the arrow itself was carried by the wind to Apollo with the crops which were growing at that time. For this reason, therefore, they show it among the stars.
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