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Part I.
Part I.
Dramatis Personae
Prometheus
Strength
Hermes
Hephaestos
Okeanos
Force
Chorus of Ocean Nymphs
Scene - Skythia, on the heights of Caucasos. The Euxine seen in the distance.
Enter Hephaestos, Strength, and Force, leading Prometheus in chains^1
[Footnote 1: The scene seems at first an exception to the early conventional
rule, which forbade the introduction of a third actor on the Greek stage. But
it has been noticed that (1) Force does not speak, and (2) Prometheus does not
speak till Strength and Force have retired, and that it is therefore probable
that the whole work of nailing is done on a lay figure or effigy of some kind,
and that one of the two who had before taken part in the dialogue then speaks
behind it in the character of Prometheus. So the same actor must have appeared
in succession as Okeanos, Io, and Hermes.]
Strength
Lo! to a plain, earth`s boundary remote,
We now are come, - the track as Skythian known,
A desert inaccessible: and now,
Hephaestos, it is thine to do the hests
The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags
To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains
Of adamantine bonds that none can break;
For he, thy choice flower stealing, the bright glory
Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it
On mortal men. And so for fault like this
He now must pay the Gods due penalty,
That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule
Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy.
Heph. O Strength, and thou, O Force, the hest of Zeus,
As far as touches you, attains its end,
And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails
To bind a God of mine own kin by force
To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep;
And yet I needs must muster courage for it:
`Tis no slight thing the Father`s words to scorn.
O thou of Themis [to Prometheus] wise in counsel son,
Full deep of purpose, lo! against my will,^2
I fetter thee against thy will with bonds
Of bronze that none can loose, the this lone height,
Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man,
But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun,
Shalt lose thy skin`s fair beauty. Thou shalt long
For starry - mantled night to hide day`s sheen,
For sun to melt the rime of early dawn;
And evermore the weight of present ill
Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he
Who shall release thee: this the fate thou gain`st
As due reward for thy philanthropy.
For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods,
In thy transgression gav `st their power to men;
And therefore on this rock of little ease
Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down,
Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee;
And many groans and wailings profitless
Thy lips shall utter; for the mind of Zeus
Remains inexorable. Who holds a power
But newly gained^3 is ever stern of mood.
Strength. Let be! Why linger in this idle pity?
Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe,
Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men?
[Footnote 2: Prometheus (Forethought) is the son of Themis (Right), the second
occupant of the Pythian Oracle (Eumen. v. 2). His sympathy with man leads him
to impart the gift which raised them out of savage animal life, and for this
Zeus, who appears throughout the play as a hard taskmaster, sentences him to
fetters. Hephaestos, from whom this fire had been stolen, has a touch of pity
for him. Strength, who comes as the servant, not of Hephaestos, but of Zeus
himself, acts, as such, with merciless cruelty.]
[Footnote 3: The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having but recently
expelled Cronos from his throne in heaven.]
Heph. Strange is the power of kin and intercourse.^4
[Footnote 4: Hephaestos, as the great fire - worker, had taught Prometheus to
use the fire which he afterwards bestowed on men.]
Strength. I own it; yet to slight the Father`s words,
How may that be? Is not that fear the worse?
Heph. Still art thou ruthless, full of savagery.
Strength. There is no help in weeping over him:
Spend not thy toil on things that profit not.
Heph. O handicraft to me intolerable!
Strength. Why loath`st thou it? Of these thy present griefs
That craft of thine is not one whit the cause.
Heph. And yet I would some other had that skill.
Strength. All things bring toil except for Gods to reign;^5
For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true.
[Footnote 5: Perhaps, "All might is ours except o`er Gods to rule."]
Heph. Too well I see the proof, and gainsay not.
Strength. Wilt thou not speed to fix the chains on him,
Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here?
Heph. Well, here the handcuffs thou mayst see prepared.
Strength. In thine hands take him. Then with all thy might
Strike with thine hammer; nail him to the rocks.
Heph. The work goes on, I ween, and not in vain.
Strength. Strike harder, rivet, give no whit of ease:
A wondrous knack has he to find resource,
Even where all might seem to baffle him.
Heph. Lo! this his arm is fixed inextricably.
Strength. Now rivet thou this other fast, that he
May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is duller.
Heph. No one but he could justly blame my work.
Strength. Now drive the stern jaw of the adamant wedge
Right through his chest with all the strength thou hast.
Heph. Ah me! Prometheus, for thy woes I groan.
Strength. Again, thou`rt loth, and for the foes of Zeus
Thou groanest: take good heed to it lest thou
Ere long with cause thyself commiserate.
Heph. Thou seest a sight unsightly to our eyes.
Strength. I see this man obtaining his deserts:
Nay, cast thy breast - chains round about his ribs.
Heph. I must needs do it. Spare thine o`ermuch bidding;
Go thou below and rivet both his legs.^6
[Footnote 6: The words indicate that the effigy of Prometheus, now nailed to
the rock, was, as being that of a Titan, of colossal size.]
Strength. Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to thy work.
Heph. There, it is done, and that with no long toil.
Strength. Now with thy full power fix the galling fetters:
Thou hast a stern o`erlooker of thy work.
Heph. Thy tongue but utters words that match thy form.^7
[Footnote 7: The touch is characteristic as showing that here, as in the
Eumenides, Aeschylos relied on the horribleness of the masks, as part of the
machinery of his plays.]
Strength. Choose thou the melting mood; but chide not me
For my self - will and wrath and ruthlessness.
Heph. Now let us go, his limbs are bound in chains.
Strength. Here then wax proud, and stealing what
belongs
To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can they
Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes?
Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name,
Prometheus, Forethought; forethought thou dost need
To free thyself from this rare handiwork.
[Exeunt Hephaestos, Strength, and Force,
leaving Prometheus on the rock.
Prom.^8 Thou firmament of God, and swift - winged winds,
Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves
That smile innumerous! Mother of us all,
O Earth, and Sun`s all - seeing eye, behold,
I pray, what I, a God, from Gods endure.
Behold in what foul case
I for ten thousand years
Shall struggle in my woe,
In these unseemly chains.
[Footnote 8: The silence of Prometheus up to this point was partly, as has
been said, consequent on the conventional laws of the Greek drama, but it is
also a touch of supreme insight into the heroic temper. In the presence of his
tortures, the Titan will not utter even a groan. When they are gone, he
appeals to the sympathy of Nature.]
Such doom the new - made Monarch of the Blest
Hath now devised for me.
Woe, woe! The present and the oncoming pang
I wail, as I search out
The place and hour when end of all these ills
Shall dawn on me at last.
What say I? All too clearly I foresee
The things that come, and nought of pain shall be
By me unlooked - for; but I needs must bear
My destiny as best I may, knowing well
The might resistless of Necessity.
And neither may I speak of this my fate,
Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through giving
Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made
In these fast fetters; yea, in fennel stalk^9
I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire,
Which is to men a teacher of all arts,
Their chief resource. And now this penalty
Of that offence I pay, fast riveted
In chains beneath the open firmament.
[Footnote 9: The legend is from Hesiod (Theogon. v. 567). The fennel, or
narthex, seems to have been a large umbelliferous plant, with a large stem
filled with a sort of pith, which was used when dry as tinder. Stalks were
carried as wands (the thyrsi) by the men and women who joined in Bacchanalian
processions. In modern botany, the name is given to the plant which produces
Asafoetida, and the stem of which, from its resinous character, would burn
freely, and so connect itself with the Promethean myth. On the other hand, the
Narthex Asafoetida is found at present only in Persia, Afghanistan, and the
Punjaub.]
Ha! ha! What now?
What sound, what odour floats invisibly?^10
Is it of God or man, or blending both?
And has one come to this remotest rock
To look upon my woes? Or what wills he?
Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed,
The foe of Zeus, and held
In hatred by all Gods
Who tread the courts of Zeus:
And this for my great love,
Too great, for mortal men.
Ah me! what rustling sounds
Hear I of birds not far?
With the light whirr of wings
The air re - echoeth:
All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear.^11
[Footnote 10: The ocean nymphs, like other divine ones, would be anointed with
ambrosial unguents, and the odour would be wafted before them by the rustling
of their wings. This, too, we may think of as part of the "stage effects" of
the play.]
[Footnote 11: The words are not those of a vague terror only. The sufferer
knows that his tormentor is to come to him before long on wings, and therefore
the sound as of the flight of birds is full of terrors.]
Enter Chorus of Ocean Nymphs, with wings, floating in the air^12
[Footnote 12: By the same stage mechanism the Chorus remains in the air till
verse 14, page 176, when, at the request of Prometheus, they alight.]
Chor. Nay, fear thou nought: in love
All our array of wings
In eager race hath come
To this high peak, full hardly gaining o`er
Our Father`s mind and will;
And the swift - rushing breezes bore me on:
For lo! the echoing sound of blows on iron
Pierced to our cave`s recess, and put to flight
My shamefast modesty,
And I in unshod haste, on winged car,
To thee rushed hitherward.
Prom. Ah me! ah me!
Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child,
Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls
Round all the earth with never - sleeping stream,
Behold ye me, and see
With what chains fettered fast,
I on the topmost crags of this ravine
Shall keep my sentry - post unenviable.
Chor. I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist
Of fear and full of tears comes o`er mine eyes,
Thy frame beholding thus,
Writhing on these high rocks
In adamantine ills.
New pilots now o`er high Olympos rule,
And with new - fashioned laws
Zeus reigns, down - trampling Right,
And all the ancient powers He sweeps away.
Prom. Ah! would that `neath the Earth, `neath Hades too,
Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros
Unfathomable He in fetters fast
In wrath had hurled me down:
So neither had a God
Nor any other mocked at these my woes;
But now, the wretched plaything of the winds,
I suffer ills at which my foes rejoice.
Chor. Nay, which of all the Gods
Is so hard - hearted as to joy in this?
Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee
In these thine ills? But He,
Ruthless, with soul unbent,
Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease^13
Until His heart be satiate with power,
Or some one seize with subtle stratagem
The sovran might that so resistless seemed.
[Footnote 13: Here, as throughout the play, the poet puts into the mouth of
his dramatis personae words which must have seemed to the devouter Athenians
sacrilegious enough to call for an indictment before the Areiopagos. But the
final play of the Trilogy came, we may believe, as the Eumenides did in its
turn, as a reconciliation of the conflicting thoughts that rise in men`s minds
out of the seeming anomalies of the world.]
Prom. Nay, of a truth, though put to evil shame,
In massive fetters bound,
The Ruler of the Gods
Shall yet have need of me, yes, e`en of me,
To tell the counsel new
That seeks to strip from Him
His sceptre and His might of sovereignty.
In vain will He with words
Or suasion`s honeyed charms
Soothe me, nor will I tell
Through fear of His stern threats,
Ere He shall set me free
From these my bonds, and make,
Of His own choice, amends
For all these outrages.
Chor. Full rash art thou, and yield`st
In not a jot to bitterest form of woe;
Thou art o`erfree and reckless in thy speech:
But piercing fear hath stirred
My inmost soul to strife;
For I fear greatly touching thy distress,
As to what haven of these woes of thine
Thou now must steer: the son of Cronos hath
A stubborn mood and heart inexorable.
Prom. I know that Zeus is hard,
And keeps the Right supremely to Himself;
But then, I trow, He`ll be
Full pliant in His will,
When He is thus crushed down.
Then, calming down His mood
Of hard and bitter wrath,
He`ll hasten unto me,
As I to Him shall haste,
For friendship and for peace.
Chor. Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale:
For what offence Zeus, having seized thee thus,
So wantonly and bitterly insults thee:
If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us.
Prom. Painful are these things to me e`en to speak:
Painful is silence; everywhere is woe.
For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath
And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred,
Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne,
That Zeus, forsooth, might reign; while others strove,
Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods:
Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade
The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth,
Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts,
With counsels violent, they thought that they
By force would gain full easy mastery.
But then not once or twice my mother Themis
And earth, one form though bearing many names,^14
Had prophesied the future, how `twould run,
That not by strength nor yet by violence,
But guile, should those who prospered gain the day.
And when in my words I this counsel gave,
They deigned not e`en to glance at it at all.
And then of all that offered, it seemed best
To join my mother, and of mine own will,
Not against His will, take my side with Zeus,
And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit
Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds,
Himself and his allies. Thus profiting
By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods
Repays me with these evil penalties:
For somehow this disease in sovereignty
Inheres, of never trusting to one`s friends.^15
And since ye ask me under what pretence
He thus maltreats me, I will show it you:
For soon as He upon His father`s throne
Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods
He divers gifts distributed, and His realm
Began to order. But of mortal men
He took no heed, but purposed utterly
To crush their race and plant another new;
And, I excepted, none dared cross His will;
But I did dare, and mortal men I freed
From passing on to Hades thunderstricken;
And therefore am I bound beneath these woes,
Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see:
And I, who in my pity thought of men
More than myself, have not been worthy deemed
To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly
I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to Zeus.
[Footnote 14: The words leave it uncertain whether Themis is identified with
Earth, or, as in the Eumenides (v. 2), distinguished from her. The Titans as a
class, then, children of Okeanos and Chthon (another name for Land or Earth),
are the kindred rather than the brothers of Prometheus.]
[Footnote 15: The generalising words here, as in v. 12, page 175, appeal to
the Athenian hatred of all that was represented by the words tyrant and
tyranny.]
Chor. Iron - hearted must he be and made of rock
Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes:
Fain could I wish I ne`er had seen such things,
And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart.
Prom. Yea, I am piteous for my friends to see.
Chor. Didst thou not go to farther lengths than this?
Prom. I made men cease from contemplating death.^16
[Footnote 16: The state described is that of men who "through fear of death
are all their life time subject to bondage." That state, the parent of all
superstition, fostered the slavish awe in which Zeus delighted. Prometheus,
representing the active intellect of man, bestows new powers, new interests,
new hopes, which at last divert them from that fear.]
Chor. What medicine didst thou find for that disease?
Prom. Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell with them.
Chor. Great service that thou didst for mortal men!
Prom. And more than that, I gave them fire, yes, I.
Chor. Do short - lived men the flaming fire possess?
Prom. Yea, and full many an art they`ll learn from it.
Chor. And is it then on charges such as these
That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives
Of many woes? And has thy pain no end?
Prom. End there is none, except as pleases Him.
Chor. How shall it please? What hope hast thou?
Seest not
That thou hast sinned? Yet to say how thou sinned`st
Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee.
Well! let us leave these things, and, if we may,
Seek out some means to `scape from this thy woe.
Prom. `Tis a light thing for one who has his foot
Beyond the reach of evil to exhort
And counsel him who suffers. This to me
Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly
I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men,
I for myself found trouble: yet I thought not
That I with such dread penalties as these
Should wither here on these high - towering crags,
Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless.
Wherefore wail not for these my present woes,
But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear,
That ye may learn the whole tale to the end.
Nay, hearken, hearken; show your sympathy
With him who suffers now. `Tis thus that woe,
Wandering, now falls on this one, now on that.
Chor. Not to unwilling heares hast thou uttered,
Prometheus, thy request,
And now with nimble foot abounding
My swiftly rushing car,
And the pure aether, path of birds of heaven,
I will draw near this rough and rocky land,
For much do I desire
To hear this tale, full measure of thy woes.
Enter Okeanos, on a car drawn by a winged gryphon
Okean. Lo, I come to thee, Prometheus,
Reaching goal of distant journey,^17
Guiding this my winged courser
By my will, without a bridle;
And thy sorrows move my pity.
Force, in part, I deem, of kindred
Leads me on, nor know I any,
Whom, apart from kin, I honour
More than thee, in fuller measure.
This thou shalt own true and earnest:
I deal not in glozing speeches.
Come then, tell me how to help thee;
Ne`er shalt thou say that one more friendly
Is found than unto thee is Okean.
[Footnote 17: The home of Okeanos was in the far West, at the boundary of the
great stream surrounding the whole world, from which he took his name.]
Prom. Let be. What boots it? Thou then too art come
To gaze upon my sufferings. How didst dare
Leaving the stream that bears thy name, and caves
Hewn in the living rock, this land to visit,
Mother of iron? What then, art thou come
To gaze upon my fall and offer pity?
Behold this sight: see here the friend of Zeus,
Who helped to seat Him in His sovereignty,
With what foul autrage I am crushed by Him!
Okean. I see, Prometheus, and I wish to give thee
My best advice, all subtle though thou be.
Know thou thyself,^18 and fit thy soul to moods
To thee full new. New king the Gods have now;
But if thou utter words thus rough and sharp,
Perchance, though sitting far away on high,
Zeus yet may hear thee, and His present wrath
Seem to thee but as child`s play of distress.
Nay, thou poor sufferer, quit the rage thou hast,
And seek a remedy for these thine ills.
A tale thrice told, perchance I seem to speak:
Lo! this, Prometheus, is the punishment
Of thine o`erlofty speech, nor art thou yet
Humbled, nor yieldest to thy miseries,
And fain wouldst add fresh evils unto these.
But thou, if thou wilt take me as thy teacher,
Wilt not kick out against the pricks;^19 seeing well
A monarch reigns who gives account to none.
And now I go, and will an effort make,
If I, perchance, may free thee from thy woes;
Be still then, hush thy petulance of speech,
Or knowest thou not, o`erclever as thou art,
That idle tongues must still their forfeit pay?
[Footnote 18: One of the sayings of the Seven Sages, already recognised and
quoted as a familiar proverb.]
[Footnote 19: See note on Agam. 1602 in E. H. Plumptre`s translation.]
Prom. I envy thee, seeing thou art free from blame
Though thou shared`st all, and in my cause wast bold;^20
Nay, let me be, nor trouble thou thyself;
Thou wilt not, canst not soothe Him; very hard
Is He of soothing. Look to it thyself,
Lest thou some mischief meet with in the way.
[Footnote 20: In the mythos, Okeanos had given his daughter Hesione in
marriage to Prometheus after the theft of fire, and thus had identified
himself with his transgression.]
Okean. It is thy wont thy neighbours` minds to school
Far better than thine own. From deeds, not words,
I draw my proof. But do not draw me back
When I am hasting on, for lo! I deem,
I deem that Zeus will grant this boon to me,
That I should free thee from these woes of thine.
Prom. I thank thee much, yea, ne`er will cease to thank;
For thou no whit of zeal dost lack; yet take,
I pray, no trouble for me; all in vain
Thy trouble, nothing helping, e`en if thou
Shouldst care to take the trouble. Nay, be still;
Keep out of harm`s way; sufferer though I be,
I would not therefore wish to give my woes
A wider range o`er others. No, not so:
For lo! my mind is wearied with the grief
Of that my kinsman Atlas,^21 who doth stand
In the far West, supporting on his shoulders
The pillars of the earth and heaven, a burden
His arms can ill but hold; I pity too
The giant dweller of Kilikian caves,
Dread portent, with his hundred hands, subdued
By force, the mighty Typhon,^22 who arose
`Gainst all the Gods, with sharp and dreadful jaws
Hissing out slaughter, and from out his eyes
There flashed the terrible brightness as of one
Who would lay low the sovereignty of Zeus.
But the unsleeping dart of Zeus came on him,
Down - swooping thunderbolt that breathes out flame,
Which from his lofty boastings startled him,
For he i` the heart was struck, to ashes burnt,
His strength all thunder - shattered; and he lies
A helpless, powerless carcase, near the strait
Of the great sea, fast pressed beneath the roots
Of ancient Aetna, where on highest peak
Hephaestos sits and smites his iron red - hot,
From whence hereafter streams of fire shall burst,^23
Devouring with fierce jaws the golden plains
Of fruitful, fair Sikelia. Such the wrath
That Typhon shall belch forth with bursts of storm,
Hot, breathing fire, and unapproachable,
Though burnt and charred by thunderbolts of Zeus.
Not inexperienced art thou, nor dost need
My teaching: save thyself, as thou know`st how;
And I will drink my fortune to the dregs,
Till from His wrath the mind of Zeus shall rest.^24
[Footnote 21: In the Theogony of Hesiod (v. 509), Prometheus and Atlas appear
as the sons of two sisters. As other Titans were thought of as buried under
volcanoes, so this one was identified with the mountain which had been seen by
travellers to Western Africa, or in the seas beyond it, rising like a column
to support the vault of heaven. In Herodotos (iv. 174) and all later writers,
the name is given to the chain of mountains in Lybia, as being the "pillar of
the firmament"; but Humboldt and others identify it with the lonely peak of
Teneriffe, as seen by Phoenikian or Hellenic voyagers. Teneriffe, too, like
most of the other Titan mountains, was at one time volcanic. Homer (Odyss. i
53) represents him as holding the pillars which separate heaven from earth;
Hesiod (Theogon. v. 517) as himself standing near the Hesperides (this, too,
points to Teneriffe), sustaining the heavens with his head and shoulders.]
[Footnote 22: The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Minor, and the
liability to earthquakes which has marked nearly every period of its history,
led men to connect it also with the traditions of the Titans, some accordingly
placing the home of Typhon in Phrygia, some near Sardis, some, as here, in
Kilikia. Hesiod (Theogon. v. 820) describes Typhon (or Typhoeus) as a serpent
- monster hissing out fire; Pindar (Pyth. i. 30, viii. 21) as lying with his
head and breast crushed beneath the weight of Aetna, and his feet extending to
Cumae.]
[Footnote 23: The words point probably to an eruption, then fresh in men`s
memories, which had happened B.C. 476.]
[Footnote 24: By some editors this speech from "No, not so," to "thou know`st
how," is assigned to Okeanos.]
Okean. Know`st thou not this, Prometheus, even this:
Of wrath`s disease wise words the healers are?
Prom. Yea, could one soothe the troubled heart in time,
Nor seek by force to tame the soul`s proud flesh.
Okean. But, in due forethought with bold daring blent,
What mischief seest thou lurking? Tell me this.
Prom. Toil bootless, and simplicity full fond.
Okean. Let me, I pray, that sickness suffer, since
`Tis best being wise to have not wisdom`s show.
Prom. Nay, but this error shall be deemed as mine.
Okean. Thy word then clearly sends me home at once.
Prom. Yea, lest thy pity for me make a foe....
Okean. What! of that new king on His mighty throne?
Prom. Look to it, lest His heart be vexed with thee.
Okean. Thy fate, Prometheus, teaches me that lesson.
Prom. Away, withdraw! keep thou the mind thou hast.
Okean. Thou urgest me who am in act to haste;
For this my bird four - footed flaps with wings
The clear path of the aether; and full fain
Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. [Exit.
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