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HEPHÆSTUS (standing before the statue of Pandora). NOT fashioned out of gold, like Hera’s throne, | |
| Nor forged of iron like the thunderbolts | |
| Of Zeus omnipotent, or other works | |
| Wrought by my hands at Lemnos or Olympus, | |
| But moulded in soft clay, that unresisting | 5 |
| Yields itself to the touch, this lovely form | |
| Before me stands, perfect in every part. | |
| Not Aphrodite’s self appeared more fair, | |
| When first upwafted by caressing winds | |
| She came to high Olympus, and the gods | 10 |
| Paid homage to her beauty. Thus her hair | |
| Was cinctured; thus her floating drapery | |
| Was like a cloud about her, and her face | |
| Was radiant with the sunshine and the sea. | |
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THE VOICE OF ZEUS. Is thy work done, Hephæstus?
HEPHÆSTUS. It is finished! | 15 |
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THE VOICE. Not finished till I breathe the breath of life | |
| Into her nostrils, and she moves and speaks. | |
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HEPHÆSTUS. Will she become immortal like ourselves? | |
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THE VOICE. The form that thou hast fashioned out of clay | |
| Is of the earth and mortal; but the spirit, | 20 |
| The life, the exhalation of my breath, | |
| Is of diviner essence and immortal. | |
| The gods shall shower on her their benefactions, | |
| She shall possess all gifts: the gift of song, | |
| The gift of eloquence, the gift of beauty, | 25 |
| The fascination and the nameless charm | |
That shall lead all men captive.
HEPHÆSTUS. Wherefore? wherefore? | |
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A wind shakes the house. I hear the rushing of a mighty wind | |
| Through all the halls and chambers of my house! | |
| Her parted lips inhale it, and her bosom | 30 |
| Heaves with the inspiration. As a reed | |
| Beside a river in the rippling current | |
| Bends to and fro, she bows or lifts her head. | |
| She gazes round about as if amazed; | |
| She is alive; she breathes, but yet she speaks not! | 35 |
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PANDORA descends from the pedestal
CHORUS OF THE GRACES
AGLAIA. In the workshop of Hephæstus | |
| What is this I see? | |
| Have the Gods to four increased us | |
| Who were only three? | |
| Beautiful in form and feature, | 40 |
| Lovely as the day, | |
| Can there be so fair a creature | |
| Formed of common clay? | |
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THALIA. O sweet, pale face! O lovely eyes of azure, | |
| Clear as the waters of a brook that run | 45 |
| Limpid and laughing in the summer sun! | |
| O golden hair, that like a miser’s treasure | |
| In its abundance overflows the measure! | |
| O graceful form, that cloudlike floatest on | |
| With the soft, undulating gait of one | 50 |
| Who moveth as if motion were a pleasure! | |
| By what name shall I call thee? Nymph or Muse, | |
| Callirrhoë or Urania? Some sweet name | |
| Whose every syllable is a caress | |
| Would best befit thee; but I cannot choose, | 55 |
| Nor do I care to choose; for still the same, | |
| Nameless or named, will be thy loveliness. | |
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EUPHROSYNE. Dowered with all celestial gifts, | |
| Skilled in every art | |
| That ennobles and uplifts | 60 |
| And delights the heart, | |
| Fair on earth shall be thy fame | |
| As thy face is fair, | |
| And Pandora be the name | |
| Thou henceforth shalt bear. | 65 |
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