Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

the great sea, fast pressed beneath the roots

      Of ancient Ætna, where on highest peak

      Hephæstos sits and smites his iron red-hot,

      From whence hereafter streams of fire shall burst,158

      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.159

      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 see'st 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 æther; and full fain

      Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. [Exit.

Strophe I

      Chor. I grieve, Prometheus, for thy dreary fate,

      Shedding from tender eyes

      The dew of plenteous tears;

      With streams, as when the watery south wind blows,

      My cheek is wet;

      For lo! these things are all unenviable,

      And Zeus, by his own laws his sway maintaining,

      Shows to the elder Gods

      A mood of haughtiness.

Antistrophe I

      And all the country echoeth with the moan,

      And poureth many a tear

      For that magnific power

      Of ancient days far-seen that thou did'st share

      With those of one blood sprung;

      And all the mortal men who hold the plain

      Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn,

      They grieve in sympathy

      For thy woes lamentable.

Strophe II

      And they, the maiden band who find their home

      On distant Colchian coasts,

      Fearless of fight,160

      Or Skythian horde in earth's remotest clime,

      By far Mæotic lake;161

Antistrophe II

      And warlike glory of Arabia's tribes,162

      Who nigh to Caucasos

      In rock-fort dwell,

      An army fearful, with sharp-pointed spear

      Raging in war's array.

Strophe III

      One other Titan only have I seen,

      One other of the Gods,

      Thus bound in woes of adamantine strength —

      Atlas, who ever groans

      Beneath the burden of a crushing might,

      The out-spread vault of heaven.

Antistrophe III

      And lo! the ocean billows murmur loud

      In one accord with him;163

      The sea-depths groan, and Hades' swarthy pit

      Re-echoeth the sound,

      And fountains of clear rivers, as they flow,

      Bewail his bitter griefs.

      Prom. Think not it is through pride or stiff self-will

      That I am silent. But my heart is worn,

      Self-contemplating, as I see myself

      Thus outraged. Yet what other hand than mine

      Gave these young Gods in fulness all their gifts?

      But these I speak not of; for I should tell

      To you that know them. But those woes of men,164

      List ye to them, – how they, before as babes,

      By me were roused to reason, taught to think;

      And this I say, not finding fault with men,

      But showing my good-will in all I gave.

      For first, though seeing, all in vain they saw,

      And hearing, heard not rightly. But, like forms

      Of phantom-dreams, throughout their life's whole length

      They muddled all at random; did not know

      Houses of brick that catch the sunlight's warmth,

      Nor yet the work of carpentry. They dwelt

      In hollowed holes, like swarms of tiny ants,

      In sunless depths of caverns; and they had

      No certain signs of winter, nor of spring

      Flower-laden, nor of summer with her fruits;

      But without counsel fared their whole life long,

      Until I showed the risings of the stars,

      And settings hard to recognise.165 And I

      Found Number for them, chief device of all,

      Groupings of letters, Memory's handmaid that,

      And mother of the Muses.166 And I first

      Bound in the yoke wild steeds, submissive made

      Or to the collar or men's limbs, that so

      They might in man's place bear his greatest toils;

      And horses trained to love the rein I yoked

      To

158

The words point probably to an eruption, then fresh in men's memories, which had happened B.C. 476.

159

By some editors this speech from “No, not so,” to “thou know'st how,” is assigned to Okeanos.

160

These are, of course, the Amazons, who were believed to have come through Thrakè from the Tauric Chersonesos, and had left traces of their name and habits in the Attic traditions of Theseus.

161

Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Mæotis (the sea of Azov) there would be the great river Okeanos, which was believed to flow round the earth.

162

Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. No Greek author sanctions the extension of the latter name to so remote a region as that north of the Caspian.

163

The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy undefined, but it seems better to refer it to that which Atlas receives from the waste of waters around, and the dark world beneath, than to the pity shown to Prometheus. This has already been dwelt on in line 421.

164

The passage that follows has for modern palæontologists the interest of coinciding with their views as to the progress of human society, and the condition of mankind during what has been called the “Stone” period. Comp. Lucretius, v. 955-984.

165

Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod. ii. 4, as showing that here there was the greater risk of faulty observation.

166

Another reading gives perhaps a better sense —

“Memory, handmaid true

And mother of the Muses.”