The search for knowledge thus becomes a phase of
Titanism; and wherever it is found, it must always be regarded in the
light of a secret treasure stolen from heaven against the will of
contemptuous or jealous divinities. On the other hand, knowledge is
obviously the friend of man. Prometheus is man's champion, and no figure
could make a stronger appeal than his. Indeed, in not a few respects he
approaches the Christian ideal, and must have brought in some measure
the same solution to those who were able to receive it. Few touches in
literature, for instance, are finer than that in which he comforts the
daughters of Ocean, speaking to them from his cross.
The idea of Titanism has become the commonplace of poets. It is familiar
in Milton, Byron, Shelley, and countless others, and Goethe tells us
that the fable of Prometheus lived within him. Many of the Titanic
figures, while they appeared to be blaspheming, were really fighting for
truth and justice. The conception of the gods as jealous and
contemptuous was not confined to the Greek mythology, but has appeared
within the pale of Christian faith as well as in all heathen cults.
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