Why is hope the last thing to be lost?

Hesiod mentioned in his Theogony and retold in Works and Days the myth of Pandora. The myth begins with humanity still in the Golden Age, a male society ignorant of all that is evil and where death came in a placid sleep. However, when Prometheus gives them fire, Zeus wants to compensate for that good with a poisoned gift. That is why he orders Hephaestus to create Pandora from clay, being her the first woman.

Once Pandora was created, the gods gave her their gifts. Athena teaches her to weave; Aphrodite spreads her grace, desire and restlessness that enervate the limbs; Hermes granted her impudence, false spirit, her voice, lies, flattery and perfidies. Athena, Cárites, Pito and the Hours clothe her. However, as will be seen, her nature is the least of the problems.

Although Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gift from Zeus, he ignored him, accepting Pandora and causing her to open her jar, releasing all the evils except one, hope, due to Zeus swirling in the sky and commanding her to close the lid, doing so out of sheer fear. With the evils of the world free and with the presence of the woman, the Silver Age begins.

Now then, why did the hope stay in the jar? And more importantly, what was it doing there to begin with?

Greek concept of hope

In mythology, hope was personified as Elpis (ἐλπίς), daughter of Nix and mother of Feme. Her name means "hope," but also "expectation." Both in turn derive from "supposition". Her Roman equivalent was Spes, from whom we get the classic phrase that needs no translation: Spes Ultima Dea. For the Greeks Elpis was an ambivalent or even negative concept, explaining its presence in the vessel.

Zeus Objective

Zeus wanted to compensate the gift of fire with a punishment. The evils that escaped are undoubtedly part of it, but did he keep hope withheld so that man would not have it or to make it available to him? Not knowing either whether hope was good or bad creates new questions.

Pandora as an evil in itself

To begin with, Pandora herself and thus her lineage, as indicated in the Theogony, were considered an evil in themselves because they fed on the fruits of man's labor. Athena's gifts were a common element of any educated woman, increasing her attractiveness, but her gluttony and profligacy are her repellent. Marrying a good woman did not rid her of evil because it constantly equals good. Dying unmarried did not either, for relatives would divide her inheritance. The emphasis on Pandora's flaws and her deceptive physical beauty underscore this view.

It is also suggested that, with the end of the Golden Age, the means of life are no longer within reach, but must be dug up. Here it must be remembered that Pandora or, her other name, Anesidora ("present of all (the gods)" or "giver of all") were epithets of Gaea and Demeter, represented as a woman emerging from the earth. This was an envoy of the earth and the earth herself the prototype of woman. There are also indications that Pandora herself was an ancient goddess of the earth.

The vase

Pithos

The vase (pithos), not the box (pyxis in Latin), was probably not brought by Pandora from heaven. According to Proclus (412 - 485 BC), Prometheus obtained it from the satyrs and deposited it with Epimetheus warning him not to accept Pandora. Prometheus probably persuaded the satyrs to take the vase away from Zeus when he was about to pour its contents on mankind. It has been suggested that the jar contained not only the evils, but also the goods, which returned to heaven, except for hope.

The poet Babrius (1st-2nd century A.D.) tells that Zeus placed all the goods in a jar that he deposited with the man, but the man's curiosity moved him to lift the lid, releasing them and returning them all to heaven except hope. This idea of the jar of goods sent by the gods fits the Stoic view of divine providence rather than the archaic conception of the gods. Theognis of Megara (6th century B.C.) tells us how the gods abandoned the earth because of man's wickedness, with only hope remaining. It is probable that Babrio combined this legend with the myth of Pandora. It is unlikely that Hesiod, having a keen eye for the distinction of opposites, combined two legends about a vessel of evils and a vessel of good.

Under this view, the permanence of hope symbolizes that man is responsible for the evil consequences of his blind hope. Similarly, incoherently, if Pandora had not opened it, men would still be subject to all evils and responsible for them.

Returning to Hesiod, are we to suppose that a vessel whose function was to prevent its contents from spreading among men would help to retain one of its elements? Zeus' influence on Pandora to close it indicates that it was to remain so forever. It has been suggested that the permanence of hope means that life lacks it, not that it does not exist, but this could not be expressed by the Greek term used. The term used could mean "optimism," but then its presence in the vessel of evils would be a mystery. If he wanted to make life promising, he could have neutralized the effects of evil, and if he wanted the opposite effect, he would have chosen not to place it in the vessel.

It is possible that this element that remained in the vessel would have been unbearable for mankind and the delusive illusion would have induced men to neglect their work. Hesiod himself warned in his second book of Works and Days about "vain hopes and evil thoughts".

According to Proclus, the explanation would be that Zeus placed in the vessel all evils and, what is worse, the expectation of these evils. His original purpose was that men should expect the evils that would afflict him, but Zeus altered his decision at the last moment because it would be an unbearable torture. Thus, evil appears by surprise. These evils are not moral, but misfortunes.

Summary

In response to the questions posed:

• Did he keep hope withheld so that man would not have it or to make it available to him? Why did hope remain in the vessel?
• Zeus wanted to deprive mankind of hope, of the expectation of evil, because its burden would be unbearable. His decision was to retain it permanently.
• What was she doing there, is she good or bad?
• Its presence in the jar was because it was the capacity to expect the inevitable evil that will happen.

Source

• Verdenius, W. J. (1985). A commentary on Hesiod: Works and days, vv. 1-382 (Vol. 86). Brill.