Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

the city of Cadmeians

      From the doom of fell destruction,

      From the doom of whelming utter,

      In the flood of alien warriors.

[Exeunt Antigone and Semi-Chorus A., following the corpse of Polyneikes; Ismene and Semi-Chorus B. that of Eteocles.

      PROMETHEUS BOUND

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

      Prometheus

      Hermes

      Okeanos

      Strength

      Hephæstos

      Force

      Chorus of Ocean Nymphs

      ARGUMENT. – In the old time, when Cronos was sovereign of the Gods, Zeus, whom he had begotten, rose up against him, and the Gods were divided in their counsels, some, the Titans chiefly, siding with the father, and some with the son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or Themis, though one of the Titans, supported Zeus, as did also Okeanos, and by his counsels Zeus obtained the victory, and Cronos was chained in Tartaros, and the Titans buried under mountains, or kept in bonds in Hades. And then Prometheus, seeing the miseries of the race of men, of whom Zeus took little heed, stole the fire which till then had belonged to none but Hephæstos and was used only for the Gods, and gave it to mankind, and taught them many arts whereby their wretchedness was lessened. But Zeus being wroth with Prometheus for this deed, sent Hephæstos, with his two helpers, Strength and Force, to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos.

      And in yet another story was the cruelty of the Gods made known. For Zeus loved Io, the daughter of Inachos, king of Argos, and she was haunted by visions of the night, telling her of his passion, and she told her father thereof. And Inachos, sending to the God at Delphi, was told to drive Io forth from her home. And Zeus gave her the horns of a cow, and Hera, who hated her because she was dear to Zeus, sent with her a gadfly that stung her, and gave her no rest, and drove her over many lands.

      Note.– The play is believed to have been the second of a Trilogy, of which the first was Prometheus the Fire-giver, and the third Prometheus Unbound.

PROMETHEUS BOUNDScene. – Skythia, on the heights of Caucasos. The Euxineseen in the distance Enter Hephæstos, Strength, and Force, leadingPrometheus in chains136

      Strength. Lo! to a plain, earth's boundary remote,

      We now are come, – the tract as Skythian known,

      A desert inaccessible: and now,

      Hephæstos, 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,137

      I fetter thee against thy will with bonds

      Of bronze that none can loose, to 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 gained138 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?

      Heph. Strange is the power of kin and intercourse.139

      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;140

      For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true.

      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 may'st 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

136

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.

137

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. Hephæstos, from whom this fire had been stolen, has a touch of pity for him. Strength, who comes as the servant, not of Hephæstos, but of Zeus himself, acts, as such, with merciless cruelty.

138

The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having but recently expelled Cronos from his throne in Heaven.

139

Hephæstos, as the great fire-worker, had taught Prometheus to use the fire which he afterwards bestowed on men.