17) like Prometheus, in whose dialectic name, Promantheus, lingers still the fire-creator, the twirling (_math_) sticks which make fire in the wood.

He is man's guest and best friend (Mitra, iv.1.

9; above).
An hymn or two entire will show what was Agni to the Vedic poet.

In the following, the Rig Veda's first hymn, he is addressed, in the opening stanza, under the names of house-priest, the chief sacrificial priest, and the priest that pours oblations.

In the second stanza he is extolled as the messenger who brings the gods to the sacrifice, himself rising up in sacrificial flames, and forming a link between earth and heaven.