Reconstructing Pandora's Box (I)

"Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless man; that she was furnished with a box containing her marriage presents, into which every god had put some blessing, She opened the box incautiously, and the blessings all escaped, hope only excepted. This story seems more probable than the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manner of evils, as in the former statement?" -Bulfinch's Mythology

Of course, the 'former statement' being referenced there is that of the more typical story of Pandora having opened up a box of evils, releasing them out to the world, with hope remaining...

So this bit o' mythology then begs the question: what is hope? and can it be evil? or more precisely, is there any reason to assume that it _can't_ be evil?