Human Nature Evil in Ancient Western Literature

张茜

Whether man is good or evil by nature is a constant topic to philosophers and writers. Is a man born virtuous or evil？ What on earth is human nature？ Is the origin of human nature kind or wicked？ People have been debating over this topic for centuries. These seemingly simple questions have perplexed those Great Minds for thousands of years in European countries and are the constant themes of literary works as well. The problem of human nature is the deepest of the issues regarding human beings which have long been under discussion since ancient time.

Many philosophers and scholars express their different comments about the goodness or evil of human nature. In Chinese philosophy， after Mencius goodness of human nature， disputations between doctrines on the goodness and evil of human nature have led to many different arguments. In the western society， the evil of human nature occupies the main stream of thoughts. In the ancient time of Greece and Roman， the concept of humanity was obscure. Human nature was described as both kind and wicked. As Aurelius Augustine， a famous Roman philosopher， observed：

Mans nature indeed was created flawless and without any sin. But the nature of man in which every man was born from Adam， now wants physicians， because it is not sound. All good qualities…which it still possesses it have the highest God， its creator and maker. But the Flaw， which darkens and weakens all those natural goods …it has not contracted from its blameless creator—but from its original sin， which it committed by free will. （Courtney）

Roughly speaking， human nature evil can traces back to ancient western literature. In ancient Greek mythology， there are two representative stories. The first is the creation of man by Prometheus.Prometheus and Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in Tatarus because they had not fought with their fellow Titans during the war with the Olympia-ns. They were given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud， and Ate--Na breathed life into his clay figure.

Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth thier various qualities， such as swiftness， cunning， strength， fur， wings. Unfortunately， by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for ma-n. Prometheus put all kinds of characters of different animals into human so that human could act as a true animal （Johnson）. There are a camel's endurance， a lion's courage， and a bears strength； also there are the cunning of a fox， the timidity of a rabbit and the greed of a wolf. In other words， humans deeper character is bestial， just like the lower animals. It proves that the origin of human nature is evil.

Another one of the most representative mythologies is the Golden Apple. In this story， not only the origin of human nature is evil， also the gods. In other words， gods evil is an epitome of human nature. Even the gods cannot keep out of evil， let alone human beings. It is recounted that Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. However， Eris， goddess of discord was not invited. Angered by this snub， Eris arrived at the celebration where she threw a golden apple into the proceedings， upon which was the inscription καλλ?στ? （kallistēi， "for the fairest one"）. Three goddesses claimed the apple： Hera， Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest， and eventually Zeus， reluctant to favor any claim himself， declared that Paris， a Trojan mortal， would judge their cases （Jameson）.

Thus it happened that， with Hermes as their guide， all three of the candidates appeared to Paris on Mount Ida， in the climactic moment that is the crux of the tale. After bathing in the spring of Ida， each attempted with her powers to bribe Paris； Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia， Athena offered wisdom and skill in war， and Aphrodite， who had the Charites and the Horai to enhance her charms with flowers and song， offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman. This was Helen of Sparta， wife of the Greek king Menelaus. The primitive instinct of Paris moved. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift and awarded the apple to her， receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War.

Seen purely as a story， the Judgement of Paris is simply an amoral episode in which Paris' skill for sound judgement （for which the gods approved him） is overcome by appeals to his lust； thus a lengthy and blood-soaked war revolves upon a series of apparently trivial episodes， each adding to the momentum that drives events to their inevitable and tragic conclusions.

During the middle Ages， a great book， the Bible， explains that the evil nature of human beings is due to Original Sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says： By his sin Adam， as the first man， lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God， not only for himself but for all humans. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice； this deprivation is called "original sin". As a result of original sin， human nature is weakened in its powers， subject to ignorance， suffering and the domination of death， and inclined to sin （this inclination is called "concupiscence"）.

All in all， by analyzing two stories in ancient Greek mythology and a story in the Bible in Middle Ages literature， we can find the description of the origin of human nature evil. In other words， human nature evil can trace back to ancient western literature.

【Works Cited】

[1]霍莱斯特.欧洲中世纪简史[M].北京：商务印书馆，1988.

[2]阿伦·布洛克.西方人文主义传统[M].北京：生活·读书·新知三联书店，1997.

[3]华莱士·马丁.当代叙事学[M].北京：北京大学出版社，1990.