Description

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Man's civilisation began with Fire-how to light it and how to keep it lit. Before he had taken this step, our primal ancestor (or ancestors) evidently led the life of the lower animals. The legend of 'Iapetus' bold son' Prometheus, like many others invented by the Greeks, or rather borrowed from Egypt, contained under the form of fable a deep Truth, a fact, a lesson valuable even in these days. 'Forethought, ' the elder brother of 'Afterthought, ' brought down the semina flamm in a hollow tube from Heaven, or stole it from the chariot of the Sun. Here we have the personification of the Great Unknown, who, finding a cane-brake or a jungle tree fired by lightning or flamed by wind-friction, conceived the idea of feeding with fuel. Thus Hermes or Mercury was 'Pterop dilos' or 'Alipes;' and his ankles were fitted with 'Pedila' or 'Talaria, ' winged sandals, to show that the soldier fights with his legs as well as with his arms.