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Aeschylus.

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 Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound.

Oresteia
Agamemnon
The Libation Bearers
About the author The Eumenides

In addition, the canon of Aeschylus’ plays includes a

Aeschylus (525 BC - 456 BC) was a playwright of seventh, Prometheus Bound. Attributed to Aeschylus in
ancient Greece. Born in Eleusis, he wrote his first plays in antiquity, it is considered by some modern scholars to be
498 BC, but his earliest surviving play is possibly The the work of an unknown fourth-century playwright
Suppliants, written in approximately 490 BC. That same (though there is still controversy over this play).
year, he participated in the Battle of Marathon, and in 480 In 2003 another Aeschylus play was discovered in the
BC he fought at the Battle of Salamis. Salamis was the wrappings of a mummy in Egypt. The play, Achilles, was
subject of his play The Persians, written in 472 BC; it is part of a trilogy about the Trojan War. It was known to
possible that The Suppliants was written after this, making exist due to mentions in ancient sources, but had been lost
The Persians his earliest surviving play. for over 2000 years.
Aeschylus was the earliest of the three greatest Greek Aeschylus frequently travelled to Sicily, where the tyrant
tragedians, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. of Gela was a patron. In 458 he travelled there for the last
Aeschylus’ work has a strong moral and religious emphasis. time; according to traditional legend, Aeschylus was killed
Many of his plays end more “happily” than those of the in 456 when an eagle (or more likely a Lammergeier),
other two; namely, his masterpiece The Oresteia trilogy. mistaking the playwright’s bald crown for a stone, dropped
Besides the literary merit of his work, Aeschylus’ greatest a tortoise on his head.
contribution to the theater was the addition of a second
actor to his scenes. Previously, the action took place between
a single actor and the Greek chorus.
Aeschylus is known to have written over 70 plays, only
six of which remain extant:

The Suppliants
The Persians
Seven Against Thebes
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Prometheus
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
Kratos
Bia
Hephaestus

Bound. Prometheus
Chorus of the Oceanides
Oceanus
Io
Hermes

(SCENE:—Mountainous country, and in the middle of a deep gorge a

Rock, towards which KRATOS and BIA carry the gigantic form OF
Bibliographic citation for this ebook: PROMETHEUS. HEPHAESTUS follows dejectedly with hammer,
Aeschylus Prometheus Bound. n. d.. Coradella Bookshelf Editions. Co- nails, chains, etc.)
lumbus, Ohio: The Write Direction / Oberon, 2005.
KRATOS
Now have we journeyed to a spot of earth
Remote—the Scythian wild, a waste untrod.
And now, Hephaestus, thou must execute
The task our father laid on thee, and fetter
ISBN 0-9677361-3-7
This malefactor to the jagged rocks
In adamantine bonds infrangible;
NOTICE For thine own blossom of all forging fire
Copyright © 2005 The Write Direction He stole and gave to mortals; trespass grave
Please note that although the text of this ebook is in the public domain, For which the Gods have called him to account,
this pdf edition is a copyrighted publication.
That he may learn to bear Zeus’ tyranny
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And cease to play the lover of mankind.
 Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound.
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HEPHAESTUS HEPHAESTUS
Kratos and Bia, for ye twain the hest Kindred and fellowship are dreaded names.
Of Zeus is done with; nothing lets you further. KRATOS
But forcibly to bind a brother God, Questionless; but to slight the Father’s word—
In chains, in this deep chasm raked by all storms How sayest thou? Is not this fraught with more dread?
I have not courage; yet needs must I pluck HEPHAESTUS
Courage from manifest necessity, Thy heart was ever hard and overbold.
For woe worth him that slights the Father’s word. KRATOS
O high-souled son of them is sage in counsel, But wailing will not ease him! Waste no pains
With heavy heart I must make thy heart heavy, Where thy endeavour nothing profiteth.
In bonds of brass not easy to be loosed, HEPHAESTUS
Nailing thee to this crag where no wight dwells, Oh execrable work! I handicraft!
Nor sound of human voice nor shape of man KRATOS
Shall visit thee; but the sun-blaze shall roast Why curse thy trade? For what thou hast to do,
Thy flesh; thy hue, flower-fair, shall suffer change; Troth, smithcraft is in no wise answerable.
Welcome will Night be when with spangled robe HEPHAESTUS
She hides the light of day; welcome the sun Would that it were another’s craft, not mine!
Returning to disperse the frosts of dawn. KRATOS
And every hour shall bring its weight of woe Why, all things are a burden save to rule
To wear thy heart away; for yet unborn Over the Gods; for none is free but Zeus.
Is he who shall release Chee from thy pain. HEPHAESTUS
This is thy wage for loving humankind. To that I answer not, knowing it true.
For, being a God, thou dared’st the Gods’ ill will, KRATOS
Preferring, to exceeding honour, Man. Why, then, make haste to cast the chains about him,
Wherefore thy long watch shall be comfortless, Lest glancing down on thee the Father’s eye
Stretched on this rock, never to close an eye Behold a laggard and a loiterer.
Or bend a knee; and vainly shalt thou lift, HEPHAESTUS
With groanings deep and lamentable cries, Here are the iron bracelets for his arms.
Thy voice; for Zeus is hard to be entreated, KRATOS
As new-born power is ever pitiless. Fasten them round his arms with all thy strength!
KRATOS Strike with thy hammer! Nail him to the rocks!
Enough! Why palter? Why wast idle pity? HEPHAESTUS
Is not the God Gods loathe hateful to thee? ’Tis done! and would that it were done less well!
Traitor to man of thy prerogative? KRATOS
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Harder—I say—strike harder—screw all tight HEPHAESTUS
And be not in the least particular So villainous a form vile tongue befits.
Remiss, for unto one of his resource KRATOS
Bars are but instruments of liberty. Be thou the heart of wax, but chide not me
HEPHAESTUS That I am gruffish, stubborn and stiff-willed.
This forearm’s fast: a shackle hard to shift. HEPHAESTUS
KRATOS Oh, come away! The tackle holds him fast.
Now buckle this! and handsomely! Let him learn KRATOS
Sharp though he be, he’s a dull blade to Zeus. Now, where thou hang’st insult Plunder the Gods
HEPHAESTUS For creatures of a day! To thee what gift
None can find fault with this:—save him it tortures. Will mortals tender to requite thy pains?
KRATOS The destinies were out miscalling the
Now take thine iron spike and drive it in, Designer: a designer thou wilt need
Until it gnaw clean through the rebel’s breast. From trap so well contrived to twist thee free.
HEPHAESTUS (Exeunt.)
Woe’s me, Prometheus, for thy weight of woe!
KRATOS PROMETHEUS.
Still shirking? still a-groaning for the foes O divine air Breezes on swift bird-wings,
Of Zeus? Anon thou’lt wail thine own mishap. Ye river fountains, and of ocean-waves
HEPHAESTUS The multitudinous laughter Mother Earth!
Thou seest what eyes scarce bear to look upon! And thou all-seeing circle of the sun,
KRATOS Behold what I, a God, from Gods endure!
I see this fellow getting his deserts! Look down upon my shame,
But strap him with a gelt about his ribs. The cruel wrong that racks my frame,
HEPHAESTUS The grinding anguish that shall waste my strength,
I do what I must do: for thee—less words! Till time’s ten thousand years have measured out their length!
KRATOS He hath devised these chains,
“Words,” quotha? Aye, and shout ‘em if need be. The new throned potentate who reigns,
Come down and cast a ring-bolt round his legs. Chief of the chieftains of the Blest. Ah me!
HEPHAESTUS The woe which is and that which yet shall be
The thing is featly done; and ’twas quick work. I wail; and question make of these wide skies
KRATOS When shall the star of my deliverance rise.
Now with a sound rap knock the bolt-pins home! And yet—and yet—exactly I foresee
For heavy-handed is thy task-master. All that shall come to pass; no sharp surprise
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Of pain shall overtake me; what’s determined But a fresh breeze our convoy brought,
Bear, as I can, I must, knowing the might For loud the din of iron raught
Of strong Necessity is unconquerable. Even to our sea-cave’s cold recess,
But touching my fate silence and speech alike And scared away the meek-eyed bashfulness.
Are unsupportable. For boons bestowed I tarried not to tic my sandal shoe
On mortal men I am straitened in these bonds. But haste, post haste, through air my winged chariot flew.
I sought the fount of fire in hollow reed PROMETHEUS
Hid privily, a measureless resource Ah me! Ah me!
For man, and mighty teacher of all arts. Fair progeny
This is the crime that I must expiate That many-childed Tethys brought to birth,
Hung here in chains, nailed ‘neath the open sky. Ha! Ha! Fathered of Ocean old
What echo, what odour floats by with no sound? Whose sleepless stream is rolled
God-wafted or mortal or mingled its strain? Round the vast shores of earth
Comes there one to this world’s end, this mountain-girt ground, Look on me! Look upon these chains
To have sight of my torment? Or of what is he fain? Wherein I hang fast held
A God ye behold in bondage and pain, On rocks high-pinnacled,
The foe of Zeus and one at feud with all My dungeon and my tower of dole,
The deities that find Where o’er the abyss my soul,
Submissive entry to the tyrant’s hall; Sad warder, her unwearied watch sustains!
His fault, too great a love of humankind. CHORUS
Ah me! Ah me! what wafture nigh at hand, Prometheus, I am gazing on thee now!
As of great birds of prey, is this I hear? With the cold breath of fear upon my brow,
The bright air fanned Not without mist of dimming tears,
Whistles and shrills with rapid beat of wings. While to my sight thy giant stature rears
There cometh nought but to my spirit brings Its bulk forpined upon these savage rocks
Horror and fear. In shameful bonds the linked adamant locks.
(The DAUGHTERS OF OCEANUS draw near in mid-air in their For now new steersmen take the helm
winged chariot.) Olympian; now with little thought
Of right, on strange, new laws Zeus stablisheth his realm,
CHORUS Bringing the mighty ones of old to naught.
Put thou all fear away! PROMETHEUS
In kindness cometh this array Oh that he had conveyed me
On wings of speed to mountain lone, ‘Neath earth, ‘neath hell that swalloweth up the dead;
Our sire’s consent not lightly won. In Tartarus, illimitably vast
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With adamantine fetters bound me fast— Thy will no whit by bitter woes unstrung,
There his fierce anger on me visited, And all too free
Where never mocking laughter could upbraid me The licence of thy bold, unshackled tongue.
Of God or aught beside! But fear hath roused my soul with piercing cry!
But now a wretch enskied, And for thy fate my heart misgives me! I
A far-seen vane, Tremble to know when through the breakers’ roar
All they that hate me triumph in my pain. Thy keel shall touch again the friendly shore;
CHORUS For not by prayer to Zeus is access won;
Who of the Gods is there so pitiless An unpersuadable heart hath Cronos’ son.
That he can triumph in thy sore distress? PROMETHEUS
Who doth not inly groan I know the heart of Zeus is hard, that he hath tied
With every pang of thine save Zeus alone? Justice to his side;
But he is ever wroth, not to be bent But he shall be full gentle thus assuaged;
From his resolved intent And, the implacable wrath wherewith he raged
The sons of heaven to subjugate; Smoothed quite away, nor he nor I
Nor shall he cease until his heart be satiate, Be loth to seal a bond of peace and amity.
Or one a way devise CHORUS
To hurl him from the throne where he doth monarchize. All that thou hast to tell I pray unfold,
PROMETHEUS That we may hear at large upon what count
Yea, of a surety—though he do me wrong, Zeus took thee and with bitter wrong affronts:
Loading my limbs with fetters strong— Instruct us, if the telling hurt thee not.
The president PROMETHEUS
Of heaven’s high parliament These things are sorrowful for me to speak,
Shall need me yet to show Yet silence too is sorrow: all ways woe!
What new conspiracy with privy blow When first the Blessed Ones were filled with wrath
Attempts his sceptre and his kingly seat. And there arose division in their midst,
Neither shall words with all persuasion sweet, These instant to hurl Cronos from his throne
Not though his tongue drop honey, cheat That Zeus might be their king, and these, adverse,
Nor charm my knowledge from me; nor dures Contending that he ne’er should rule the Gods,
Of menace dire, fear of more grievous pains, Then I, wise counsel urging to persuade
Unseal my lips, till he have loosed these chains, The Titans, sons of Ouranos and Chthon,
And granted for these injuries redress. Prevailed not: but, all indirect essays
CHORUS Despising, they by the strong hand, effortless,
High is the heart of thee, Yet by main force—supposed that they might seize
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Supremacy. But me my mother Themis Of infamy to Zeus.
And Gaia, one form called by many names, CHORUS
Not once alone with voice oracular He hath a heart
Had prophesied how power should be disposed— Of iron, hewn out of unfeeling rock
That not by strength neither by violence Is he, Prometheus, whom thy sufferings
The mighty should be mastered, but by guile. Rouse not to wrath. Would I had ne’er beheld them,
Which things by me set forth at large, they scorned, For verily the sight hath wrung my heart.
Nor graced my motion with the least regard. PROMETHEUS
Then, of all ways that offered, I judged best, Yea, to my friends a woeful sight am I.
Taking my mother with me, to support, CHORUS
No backward friend, the not less cordial Zeus. Hast not more boldly in aught else transgressed?
And by my politic counsel Tartarus, PROMETHEUS
The bottomless and black, old Cronos hides I took from man expectancy of death.
With his confederates. So helped by me, CHORUS
The tyrant of the Gods, such service rendered What medicine found’st thou for this malady?
With ignominious chastisement requites. PROMETHEUS
But ’tis a common malady of power I planted blind hope in the heart of him.
Tyrannical never to trust a friend. CHORUS
And now, what ye inquired, for what arraigned A mighty boon thou gavest there to man.
He shamefully entreats me, ye shall know. PROMETHEUS
When first upon his high, paternal throne Moreover, I conferred the gift of fire.
He took his seat, forthwith to divers Gods CHORUS
Divers good gifts he gave, and parcelled out And have frail mortals now the flame-bright fire?
His empire, but of miserable men PROMETHEUS
Recked not at all; rather it was his wish Yea, and shall master many arts thereby.
To wipe out man and rear another race: CHORUS
And these designs none contravened but me. And Zeus with such misfeasance charging thee—
I risked the bord attempt, and saved mankind PROMETHEUS
From stark destruction and the road to hell. Torments me with extremity of woe.
Therefore with this sore penance am I bowed, CHORUS
Grievous to suffer, pitiful to see. And is no end in prospect of thy pains?
But, for compassion shown to man, such fate PROMETHEUS
I no wise earned; rather in wrath’s despite None; save when he shall choose to make an end.
Am I to be reformed, and made a show CHORUS
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How should he choose? What hope is thine? Dost thou OCEANUS
Not see that thou hast erred? But how thou erredst Now have I traversed the unending plain
Small pleasure were to me to tell; to the And unto thee, Prometheus, am I come,
Exceeding sorrow. Let it go then: rather Guiding this winghd monster with no rein,
Seek thou for some deliverance from thy woes. Nor any bit, but mind’s firm masterdom.
PROMETHEUS And know that for thy grief my heart is sore;
He who stands free with an untrammelled foot The bond of kind, methinks, constraineth me;
Is quick to counsel and exhort a friend Nor is there any I would honour more,
In trouble. But all these things I know well. Apart from kinship, than I reverence thee.
Of my free will, my own free will, I erred, And thou shalt learn that I speak verity:
And freely do I here acknowledge it. Mine is no smooth, false tongue; for do but show
Freeing mankind myself have durance found. How I can serve thee, grieved and outraged thus,
Natheless, I looked not for sentence so dread, Thou ne’er shalt say thou hast, come weal, come woe,
High on this precipice to droop and pine, A friend more faithful than Oceanus.
Having no neighbour but the desolate crags. PROMETHEUS
And now lament no more the ills I suffer, How now? Who greets me? What! Art thou too come
But come to earth and an attentive ear To gaze upon my woes? How could’st thou leave
Lend to the things that shall befall hereafter. The stream that bears thy name, thine antres arched
Harken, oh harken, suffer as I suffer! With native rock, to visit earth that breeds
Who knows, who knows, but on some scatheless head, The massy iron in her womb? Com’st thou
Another’s yet for the like woes reserved, To be spectator of my evil lot
The wandering doom will presently alight? And fellow sympathizer with my woes?
CHORUS Behold, a thing indeed to gaze upon
Prometheus, we have heard thy call: The friend of Zeus, co-stablisher of his rule,
Not on deaf cars these awful accents fall. See, by this sentence with what pains I am bowed !
Lo! lightly leaving at thy words OCEANUS
My flying car Prometheus, all too plainly I behold:
And holy air, the pathway of great birds, And for the best would counsel thee: albeit
I long to tread this land of peak and scar, Thy brain is subtle. Learn to know thy heart,
And certify myself by tidings sure And, as the times, so let thy manners change,
Of all thou hast endured and must endure. For by the law of change a new God rules.
(While the winged chariot of the OCEANIDES comes to ground their But, if these bitter, savage, sharp-set words
father OCEANUS enters, riding on a monster.) Thou ventest, it may be, though he sit throned
Far off and high above thee, Zeus will hear;
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And then thy present multitude of ills Trouble not thyself; for at the best thy labour
Will seem the mild correction of a babe. Will nothing serve me, if thou mean’st to serve.
Rather, O thou much chastened one, refrain Being thyself untrammelled stand fast.
Thine anger, and from suffering seek release. For, not to mitigate my own mischance,
Stale, peradventure, seem these words of mine: Would I see others hap on evil days.
Nevertheless, of a too haughty tongue The thought be far from me. I feel the weight
Such punishment, Prometheus, is the wage. Of Atlas’ woes, my brother in the west
But thou, not yet brought low by suffering, Shouldering the pillar that props heaven and earth,
To what thou hast of ill would’st add far worse. No wieldy fardel for his arms to fold.
Therefore, while thou hast me for schoolmaster, The giant dweller in Cilician dens
Thou shalt not kick against the pricks; the more I saw and pitied—a terrific shape,
That an arch-despot who no audit dreads A hundred-headed monster—when he fell,
Rules by his own rough will. And now I leave thee, Resistless Typhon who withstood the Gods,
To strive with what success I may command With fearsome hiss of beak-mouth horrible,
For thy deliv’rance. Keep a quiet mind While lightning from his eyes with Gorgon-glare
And use not over-vehemence of speech— Flashed for the ravage of the realm of Zeus.
Knowest thou not, being exceeding wise, But on him came the bolt that never sleeps,
A wanton, idle tongue brings chastisement? Down-crashing thunder, with emitted fire,
PROMETHEUS Which shattered him and all his towering hopes
I marvel that thou art not in my case, Dashed into ruin; smitten through the breast,
Seeing with me thou did’st adventure all. His strength as smoking cinder, lightning-charred.
And now, I do entreat thee, spare thyself. And now a heap, a helpless, sprawling hulk,
Thou wilt not move him: he’s not easy moved He lies stretched out beside the narrow seas,
Take heed lest thou find trouble by the way. Pounded and crushed deep under Etna’s roots.
OCEANUS But on the mountain-top Hephaestus sits
Thou are a better counsellor to others Forging the molten iron, whence shall burst
Than to thyself: I judge by deeds not words. Rivers of fire, with red and ravening jaws
Pluck me not back when I would fain set forth. To waste fair-fruited, smooth, Sicilian fields.
My oath upon it, Zeus will grant my prayer Such bilious up-boiling of his ire
And free thee from these pangs. Shall Typho vent, with slingstone-showers red-hot,
PROMETHEUS And unapproachable surge of fiery spray,
I tender the Although combusted by the bolt of Zeus.
For this my thanks and ever-during praise. But thou art not unlearned, nor needest me
Certes, no backward friend art thou; and yet To be thy teacher: save thyself the way
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Thou knowest and I will fortify my heart Fain would he kneel him down in his own stall.
Until the wrathfulness of Zeus abate. (Exit OCEANUS.)
OCEANUS
Nay then, Prometheus, art thou ignorant CHORUS (after alighting)
Words are physicians to a wrath-sick soul? I mourn for thee, Prometheus,
PROMETHEUS minished and brought low,
Yes, if with skill one soften the ripe core, Watering my virgin cheeks with these sad drops, that flow
Not by rough measures make it obdurate. From sorrow’s rainy fount, to fill soft-lidded eyes
OCEANUS With pure libations for thy fortune’s obsequies.
Seest thou in warm affection detriment An evil portion that none coveteth hath Zeus
Or aught untoward in adventuring? Prepared for thee; by self-made laws established for his use
PROMETHEUS Disposing all, the elder Gods he purposeth to show
A load of toil and a light mind withal. How strong is that right arm wherewith he smites a foe.
OCEANUS There hath gone up a cry from earth, a groaning for the fall
Then give me leave to call that sickness mine. Of things of old renown and shapes majestical,
Wise men accounted fools attain their ends. And for thy passing an exceeding bitter groan;
PROMETHEUS For thee and for thy brother Gods whose honour was thine own:
But how if I am galled by thine offence? These things all they who dwell in Asia’s holy seat,
OCEANUS Time’s minions, mourn and with their groans thy groans repeat.
There very palpably thou thrustest home. Yea, and they mourn who dwell beside the Colchian shore,
PROMETHEUS The hero maids unwedded that delight in war,
Beware lest thou through pity come to broils. And Scythia’s swarming myriads who their dwelling make
OCEANUS Around the borders of the world, the salt Maeotian lake.
With one established in Omnipotence? Mourns Ares’ stock, that flowers in desert Araby,
PROMETHEUS And the strong city mourns, the hill-fort planted high,
Of him take heed lest thou find heaviness. Near neighbour to huge Caucasus, dread mountaineers
OCEANUS That love the clash of arms, the counter of sharp spears.
I am schooled by thy calamity, Prometheus! Beforetime of all Gods one have I seen in pain,
PROMETHEUS One only Titan bound with adamantine chain,
Pack then! And, prithee, do not change thy mind! Atlas in strength supreme, who groaning stoops, downbent
OCEANUS Under the burthen of the earth and heaven’s broad firmament.
Thou criest “On” to one in haste to go. Bellows the main of waters, surge with foam-seethed surge
For look, my dragon with impatient wings Clashing tumultuous; for thee the deep seas chant their dirge;
Flaps at the broad, smooth road of level air. And Hell’s dark under-world a hollow moaning fills;
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Thee mourn the sacred streams with all their fountain-rills. And take upon themselves, to man’s relief,
PROMETHEUS The heaviest labour of his hands: and
Think not that I for pride and stubbornness Tamed to the rein and drove in wheeled cars
Am silent: rather is my heart the prey The horse, of sumptuous pride the ornament.
Of gnawing thoughts, both for the past, and now And those sea-wanderers with the wings of cloth,
Seeing myself by vengeance buffeted. The shipman’s waggons, none but I contrived.
For to these younger Gods their precedence These manifold inventions for mankind
Who severally determined if not I? I perfected, who, out upon’t, have none—
No more of that: I should but weary you No, not one shift—to rid me of this shame.
With things ye know; but listen to the tale CHORUS
Of human sufferings, and how at first Thy sufferings have been shameful, and thy mind
Senseless as beasts I gave men sense, possessed them Strays at a loss: like to a bad physician
Of mind. I speak not in contempt of man; Fallen sick, thou’rt out of heart: nor cans’t prescribe
I do but tell of good gifts I conferred. For thine own case the draught to make thee sound.
In the beginning, seeing they saw amiss, PROMETHEUS
And hearing heard not, but, like phantoms huddled But hear the sequel and the more admire
In dreams, the perplexed story of their days What arts, what aids I cleverly evolved.
Confounded; knowing neither timber-work The chiefest that, if any man fell sick,
Nor brick-built dwellings basking in the light, There was no help for him, comestible,
But dug for themselves holes, wherein like ants, Lotion or potion; but for lack of drugs
That hardly may contend against a breath, They dwindled quite away; until I taught them
They dwelt in burrows of their unsunned caves. To compound draughts and mixtures sanative,
Neither of winter’s cold had they fixed sign, Wherewith they now are armed against disease.
Nor of the spring when she comes decked with flowers, I staked the winding path of divination
Nor yet of summer’s heat with melting fruits And was the first distinguisher of dreams,
Sure token: but utterly without knowledge The true from false; and voices ominous
Moiled, until I the rising of the stars Of meaning dark interpreted; and tokens
Showed them, and when they set, though much obscure. Seen when men take the road; and augury
Moreover, number, the most excellent By flight of all the greater crook-clawed birds
Of all inventions, I for them devised, With nice discrimination I defined;
And gave them writing that retaineth all, These by their nature fair and favourable,
The serviceable mother of the Muse. Those, flattered with fair name. And of each sort
I was the first that yoked unmanaged beasts, The habits I described; their mutual feuds
To serve as slaves with collar and with pack, And friendships and the assemblages they hold.
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And of the plumpness of the inward parts What lot for Zeus save world-without-end reign?
What colour is acceptable to the Gods, PROMETHEUS
The well-streaked liver-lobe and gall-bladder. Tax me no further with importunate questions.
Also by roasting limbs well wrapped in fat CHORUS
And the long chine, I led men on the road O deep the mystery thou shroudest there
Of dark and riddling knowledge; and I purged PROMETHEUS
The glancing eye of fire, dim before, Of aught but this freely thou may’st discourse;
And made its meaning plain. These are my works. But touching this I charge thee speak no word;
Then, things beneath the earth, aids hid from man, Nay, veil it utterly: for strictly kept
Brass, iron, silver, gold, who dares to say The secret from these bonds shall set me free.
He was before me in discovering? CHORUS
None, I wot well, unless he loves to babble. May Zeus who all things swayeth
And in a single word to sum the whole— Ne’er wreak the might none stayeth
All manner of arts men from Prometheus learned. On wayward will of mine;
CHORUS May I stint not nor waver
Shoot not beyond the mark in succouring man With offerings of sweet savour
While thou thyself art comfortless: for And feasts of slaughtered kine;
Am of good hope that from these bonds escaped The holy to the holy,
Thou shalt one day be mightier than Zeus. With frequent feet and lowly
PROMETHEUS At altar, fane and shrine,
Fate, that brinks all things to an end, not thus Over the Ocean marches,
Apportioneth my lot: ten thousand pangs The deep that no drought parches,
Must bow, ten thousand miseries afflict me Draw near to the divine.
Ere from these bonds I freedom find, for Art My tongue the Gods estrange not;
Is by much weaker than Necessity. My firm set purpose change not,
CHORUS As wax melts in fire-shine.
Who is the pilot of Necessity? Sweet is the life that lengthens,
PROMETHEUS While joyous hope still strengthens,
The Fates triform, and the unforgetting Furies. And glad, bright thoughts sustain;
CHORUS But shuddering I behold thee,
So then Zeus is of lesser might than these? The sorrows that enfold thee
PROMETHEUS And all thine endless pain.
Surely he shall not shun the lot apportioned. For Zeus thou hast despised;
CHORUS Thy fearless heart misprized
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All that his vengeance can, The hollow shape—Argus—that evil thing—
Thy wayward will obeying, The hundred-eyed—
Excess of honour paying, Earth-born-herdsman! I see him yet; he stalks
Prometheus, unto man. With stealthy pace
And, oh, beloved, for this graceless grace And crafty watch not all my poor wit baulks!
What thanks? What prowess for thy bold essay From the deep place
Shall champion thee from men of mortal race, Of earth that hath his bones he breaketh bound,
The petty insects of a passing day? And from the pale
Saw’st not how puny is the strength they spend? Of Death, the Underworld, a hell-sent hound
With few, faint steps walking as dreams and blind, On the blood-trail,
Nor can the utmost of their lore transcend Fasting and faint he drives me on before,
The harmony of the Eternal Mind. With spectral hand,
These things I learned seeing thy glory dimmed, Along the windings of the wasteful shore,
Prometheus. Ah, not thus on me was shed The salt sea-sand!
The rapture of sweet music, when I hymned List! List! the pipe! how drowzily it shrills!
The marriage-song round bath and bridal bed A cricket-cry!
At thine espousals, and of thy blood-kin, See! See! the wax-webbed reeds! Oh, to these ills
A bride thou chosest, wooing her to thee Ye Gods on high,
With all good gifts that may a Goddess win, Ye blessed Gods, what bourne? O wandering feet
Thy father’s child, divine Hesione. When will ye rest?
(Enter IO, crazed and horned.) O Cronian child, wherein by aught unmeet
Have I transgressed
IO To be yoke-fellow with Calamity?
What land is this? What people here abide? My mind unstrung,
And who is he, A crack-brained lack-wit, frantic mad am I,
The prisoner of this windswept mountain-side? By gad-fly stung,
Speak, speak to me; Thy scourge, that tarres me on with buzzing wingl
Tell me, poor caitiff, how did’st thou transgress, Plunge me in fire,
Thus buffeted? Hide me in earth, to deep-sea monsters fling,
Whither am I, half-dead with weariness, But my desire—
For-wandered? Kneeling I pray—grudge not to grant, O King!
Ha! Ha! Too long a race
Again the prick, the stab of gadfly-sting! Stripped for the course have I run to and fro;
O earth, earth, hide, And still I chase
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The vanishing goal, the end of all my woe; Or sound of charming song shall make me well?
Enough have I mourned! Hide naught of ill
Hear’st thou the lowing of the maid cow-horned? But—if indeed thou knowest—prophesy—
PROMETHEUS In words that thrill
How should I hear thee not? Thou art the child Clear-toned through air—what such a wretch as
Of Inachus, dazed with the dizzying fly. Must yet abide—
The heart of Zeus thou hast made hot with love The lost, lost maid that roams earth’s kingdoms wide?
And Hera’s curse even as a runner stripped PROMETHEUS
Pursues thee ever on thine endless round. What thou wouldst learn I will make clear to thee,
IO Not weaving subtleties, but simple sooth
How dost thou know my father’s name? Impart Unfolding as the mouth should speak to friends.
To one like thee I am Prometheus, giver of fire to mortals.
A poor, distressful creature, who thou art. IO
Sorrow with me, Oh universal succour of mankind,
Sorrowful one! Tell me, whose voice proclaims Sorrowful Prometheus, why art thou punished thus?
Things true and sad, PROMETHEUS
Naming by all their old, unhappy names, I have but now ceased mourning for my griefs.
What drove me mad— IO
Sick! Sick! ye Gods, with suffering ye have sent, Wilt thou not grant me then so small a boon?
That clings and clings; PROMETHEUS
Wasting my lamp of life till it be spent! What is it thou dost ask? Thou shalt know all.
Crazed with your stings! IO
Famished I come with trampling and with leaping, Declare to me who chained thee in this gorge.
Torment and shame, PROMETHEUS
To Hera’s cruel wrath, her craft unsleeping, The hest of Zeus, but ’twas Hephaestus’ hand.
Captive and tame IO
Of all wights woe-begone and fortune-crossed, But what transgression dost thou expiate?
Oh, in the storm PROMETHEUS
Of the world’s sorrow is there one so lost? Let this suffice thee: thou shalt know no more.
Speak, godlike form, IO
And be in this dark world my oracle ! Nay, but the end of my long wandering
Can’st thou not sift When shall it be? This too thou must declare.
The things to come? Hast thou no art to tell PROMETHEUS
What subtle shift, That it is better for thee not to know.
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IO Of angry Gods and brute deformity,
Oh hide not from me what I have to suffer! And how and why on me these horrors swooped.
PROMETHEUS Always there were dreams visiting by night
Poor child! Poor child! I do not grudge the gift. The woman’s chambers where I slept; and they
IO With flattering words admonished and cajoled me,
Why then, art thou so slow to tell me all? Saying, “O lucky one, so long a maid?
PROMETHEUS And what a match for thee if thou would’st wed
It is not from unkindness; but I fear Why, pretty, here is Zeus as hot as hot—
‘Twill break thy heart. Love-sick—to have thee! Such a bolt as thou
IO Hast shot clean through his heart And he won’t rest
Take thou no thought for me Till Cypris help him win thee! Lift not then,
Where thinking thwarteth heart’s desire! My daughter, a proud foot to spurn the bed
PROMETHEUS Of Zeus: but get thee gone to meadow deep
So keen By Lerna’s marsh, where are thy father’s flocks
To know thy sorrows! List I and thou shalt learn. And cattle-folds, that on the eye of Zeus
CHORUS May fall the balm that shall assuage desire.”
Not till thou hast indulged a wish of mine. Such dreams oppressed me, troubling all my nights,
First let us hear the story of her grief Woe’s me! till I plucked courage up to tell
And she herself shall tell the woeful tale. My father of these fears that walked in darkness.
After, thy wisdom shall impart to her And many times to Pytho and Dodona
The conflict yet to come. He sent his sacred missioners, to inquire
PROMETHEUS How, or by deed or word, he might conform
So be it, then. To the high will and pleasure of the Gods.
And, Io, thus much courtesy thou owest And they returned with slippery oracles,
These maidens being thine own father’s kin. Nought plain, but all to baffle and perplex—
For with a moving story of our woes And then at last to Inachus there raught
To win a tear from weeping auditors A saying that flashed clear; the drift, that
In nought demeans the teller. Must be put out from home and country, forced
IO To be a wanderer at the ends of the earth,
I know not A thing devote and dedicate; and if
How fitly to refuse; and at your wish I would not, there should fall a thunderbolt
All ye desire to know I will in plain, From Zeus, with blinding flash, and utterly
Round terms set forth. And yet the telling of it Destroy my race. So spake the oracle
Harrows my soul; this winter’s tale of wrong, Of Loxias. In sorrow he obeyed,
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And from beneath his roof drove forth his child PROMETHEUS
Grieving as he grieved, and from house and home Thou dost lament too soon, and art as one
Bolted and barred me out. But the high hand All fear. Refrain thyself till thou hast heard
Of Zeus bear hardly on the rein of fate. What’s yet to be.
And, instantly—even in a moment—mind CHORUS
And body suffered strange distortion. Horned Speak and be our instructor:
Even as ye see me now, and with sharp bite There is a kind of balm to the sick soul
Of gadfly pricked, with high-flung skip, stark-mad, In certain knowledge of the grief to come.
I bounded, galloping headlong on, until PROMETHEUS
I came to the sweet and of the stream Your former wish I lightly granted ye:
Kerchneian, hard by Lerna’s spring. And thither And ye have heard, even as ye desired,
Argus, the giant herdsman, fierce and fell From this maid’s lips the story of her sorrow.
As a strong wine unmixed, with hateful cast Now hear the sequel, the ensuing woes
Of all his cunning eyes upon the trail, The damsel must endure from Hera’s hate.
Gave chase and tracked me down. And there he perished And thou, O seed of Inachaean loins,
By violent and sudden doom surprised. Weigh well my words, that thou may’st understand
But I with darting sting—the scorpion whip Thy journey’s end. First towards the rising sun
Of angry Gods—am lashed from land to land. Turn hence, and traverse fields that ne’er felt plough
Thou hast my story, and, if thou can’st tell Until thou reach the country of the Scyths,
What I have still to suffer, speak; but do not, A race of wanderers handling the long-bow
Moved by compassion, with a lying tale That shoots afar, and having their habitations
Warm my cold heart; no sickness of the soul Under the open sky in wattled cotes
Is half so shameful as composed falsehoods. That move on wheels. Go not thou nigh to them,
CHORUS But ever within sound of the breaking waver,
Off! lost one! off! Horror, I cry! Pass through their land. And on the left of the
Horror and misery The Chalybes, workers in iron, dwell.
Was this the traveller’s tale I craved to hear? Beware of them, for they are savages,
Oh, that mine eyes should see Who suffer not a stranger to come near.
A sight so ill to look upon! Ah me! And thou shalt reach the river Hybristes,
Sorrow, defilement, haunting fear, Well named. Cross not, for it is ill to cross,
Fan my blood cold, Until thou come even unto Caucasus,
Stabbed with a two-edged sting! Highest of mountains, where the foaming river
O Fate, Fate, Fate, tremblingly I behold Blows all its volume from the summit ridge
The plight of Io, thine apportioning! That o’ertops all. And that star-neighboured ridge
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Thy feet must climb; and, following the road CHORUS

That runneth south, thou presently shall reach And wilt thou tell
The Amazonian hosts that loathe the male, The maiden something further: some fresh sorrow?
And shall one day remove from thence and found PROMETHEUS
Themiscyra hard by Thermodon’s stream, A stormy sea of wrong and ruining.
Where on the craggy Salmadessian coast IO
Waves gnash their teeth, the maw of mariners What does it profit me to live! Oh, why
And step-mother of ships. And they shall lead the Do I not throw myself from this rough crag
Upon thy way, and with a right good will. And in one leap rid me of all my pain?
Then shalt thou come to the Cimmerian Isthmus, Better to die at once than live, and all
Even at the pass and portals of the sea, My days be evil.
And leaving it behind thee, stout of heart, PROMETHEUS
Cross o’er the channel of Maeotis’ lake. Thou would’st find it hard
For ever famous among men shall be To bear what I must bear: for unto me
The story of thy crossing, and the strait It is not given to die,—a dear release
Be called by a new name, the Bosporus, From pain; but now of suffering there is
In memory of thee. Then having left No end in sight till Zeus shall fall.
Europa’s soil behind thee thou shalt come IO
To the main land of Asia. What think ye? And shall
Is not the only ruler of the Gods Zeus fall? His power be taken from him?
A complete tyrant, violent to all, No matter when if true—
Respecting none? First, being himself a God, PROMETHEUS
He burneth to enjoy a mortal maid, ’Twould make thee happy
And then torments her with these wanderings. Methinks, if thou could’st see calamity
A sorry suitor for thy love, poor girl, Whelm him.
A bitter wooing. Yet having heard so much IO
Thou art not even in the overture How should it not when all my woes
And prelude of the song. Are of his sending? learn how
IO These things shall be.
Alas! Oh! Oh! The tyrant’s rod?
PROMETHEUS And fond imaginings.
Thou dost cryout, fetching again deep groans: IO
What wilt thou do when thou hast heard in full But how? Oh, speak,
The evils yet to come? If the declaring draw no evil down !
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PROMETHEUS IO
A marriage he shall make shall vex him sore. Nay,
IO Tender me not a boon to snatch it from me.
A marriage? Whether of gods or mortals? PROMETHEUS
Speak! Of two gifts thou hast asked one shall be thine.
If this be utterable! IO
PROMETHEUS What gifts? Pronounce and leave to me the choice.
Why dost thou ask PROMETHEUS
What I may not declare? Nay, thou are free to choose. Say, therefore, whether
IO I shall declare to thee thy future woes
And shall he quit Or him who shall be my deliverer.
The throne of all the worlds, by a new spouse CHORUS
Supplanted? Nay, but let both be granted! Unto her
PROMETHEUS That which she chooseth, unto me my choice,
She will bear to him a child, That I, too, may have honour from thy lips.
And he shall be in might more excellent First unto her declare her wanderings,
Than his progenitor. And unto me him who shall set thee free;
IO ’Tis that I long to know.
And he will find PROMETHEUS
No way to parry this strong stroke of fate? I will resist
PROMETHEUS No further, but to your importunacy
None save my own self—when these bonds are loosed. All things which ye desire to learn reveal.
IO And, Io, first to thee I will declare
And who shall loose them if Zeus wills not? Thy far-driven wanderings; write thou my words
Of thine own seed. In the retentive tablets of thy heart.
How say’st thou? Shall a child When thou hast crossed the flood that flows between
Of mine release thee? And is the boundary of two continents,
PROMETHEUS Turn to the sun’s uprising, where he treads
Son of thine, but son Printing with fiery steps the eastern sky,
The thirteenth generation shall beget. And from the roaring of the Pontic surge
IO Do thou pass on, until before thee lies
A prophecy oracularly dark. The Gorgonean plain, Kisthene called,
PROMETHEUS Where dwell the gray-haired three, the Phorcides,
Then seek not thou to know thine own fate. Old, mumbling maids, swan-shaped, having one eye
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Betwixt the three, and but a single tooth. PROMETHEUS
On them the sun with his brightbeams ne’er glanceth Nay, she has heard the last of her long journey.
Nor moon that lamps the night. Not far from them But, as some warrant for her patient hearing
The sisters three, the Gorgons, have their haunt; I will relate her former sufferings
Winged forms, with snaky locks, hateful to man, Ere she came hither. Much I will omit
Whom nothing mortal looking on can live. That had detained us else with long discourse
Thus much that thou may’st have a care of these. And touch at once her journey’s thus far goal.
Now of another portent thou shalt hear. When thou wast come to the Molossian plain
Beware the dogs of Zeus that ne’er give tongue, That lies about the high top of Dodona,
The sharp-beaked gryphons, and the one-eyed horde Where is an oracle and shrine of Zeus
Of Arimaspians, riding upon horses, Thesprotian, and—portent past belief—
Who dwell around the river rolling gold, The talking oaks, the same from whom the word
The ferry and the frith of Pluto’s port. Flashed clear and nothing questionably hailed the
Go not thou nigh them. After thou shalt come The destined spouse—ah! do I touch old wounds?—
To a far land, a dark-skinned race, that dwell Of Zeus, honoured above thy sex; stung thence
Beside the fountains of the sun, whence flows In torment, where the road runs by the sea,
The river Ethiops: follow its banks Thou cam’st to the broad gulf of Rhea, whence
Until thou comest to the steep-down slope Beat back by a strong wind, thou didst retrace
Where from the Bibline mountains Nilus old Most painfully thy course; and it shall be
Pours the sweet waters of his holy stream. That times to come in memory of thy passage
And thou, the river guiding thee, shalt come Shall call that inlet the Ionian Sea.
To the three-sided, wedge-shaped land of Nile, Thus much for thee in witness that my mind
Where for thyself, Io, and for thy children Beholdeth more than that which leaps to light.
Long sojourn is appointed. If in aught Now for the things to come; what I shall say
My story seems to stammer and to er Concerns ye both alike. Return we then
From indirectness, ask and ask again And follow our old track. There is a city
Till all be manifest. I do not lack Yclept Canobus, built at the land’s end,
For leisure, having more than well contents me Even at the mouth and mounded silt of Nile,
CHORUS And there shall Zeus restore to thee thy mind
If there be aught that she must suffer yet, With touch benign and laying on of hands.
Or aught omitted in the narrative And from that touch thou shalt conceive and bear
Of her long wanderings, I pray thee speak. Swarth Epaphus, touch-born; and he shall reap
But if thou hast told all, then grant the boon As much of earth as Nilus watereth
We asked and doubtless thou wilt call to mind. With his broad-flowing river. In descent
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The fifth from him there shall come back to Argos, With raging throes
Thine ancient home, but driven by hard hap, It beats upon my brain—the burning wind
Two score and ten maids, daughters of one house, That madness blows!
Fleeing pollution of unlawful marriage It pricks—the barb, the hook not forged with heat,
With their next kin, who winged with wild desire, The gadfly dart!
As hawks that follow hard on cushat-doves, Against my ribs with thud of trampling feet
Shall harry prey which they should not pursue Hammers my heart!
And hunt forbidden brides. But God shall be And like a bowling wheel mine eyeballs spin,
Exceeding jealous for their chastity; And I am flung
And old Pelasgia, for the mortal thrust By fierce winds from my course, nor can rein in
Of woman’s hands and midnight murder done My frantic tongue
Upon their new-wed lords, shall shelter them; That raves I know not what!—a random tide
For every wife shall strike her husband down Of words—a froth
Dipping a two-edged broadsword in his blood. Of muddied waters buffeting the wide,
Oh, that mine enemies might wed such wivesl High-crested, hateful wave of ruin and God’s wrath!
But of the fifty, one alone desire (Exit raving.)
Shall tame, as with the stroke of charming-wand,
So that she shall not lift her hands to slay CHORUS
The partner of her bed; yea, melting love I hold him wise who first in his own mind
Shall blunt her sharp-set will, and she shall choose This canon fixed and taught it to mankind:
Rather to be called weak and womanly True marriage is the union that mates
Than the dark stain of blood; and she shall be Equal with equal; not where wealth emasculates,
Mother of kings in Argos. ’Tis a tale Or mighty lineage is magnified,
Were’t told in full, would occupy us long. Should he who earns his bread look for a bride.
For, of her sowing, there shall spring to fame Therefore, grave mistresses of fate, I pray
The lion’s whelp, the archer bold, whose bow That I may never live to see the day
Shall set me free. This is the oracle When Zeus takes me for his bedfellow; or
Themis, my ancient Mother, Titan-born, Draw near in love to husband from on high.
Disclosed to me; but how and in what wise For I am full of fear when I behold
Were long to tell, nor would it profit thee. Io, the maid no human love may fold,
IO And her virginity disconsolate,
Again they come, again Homeless and husbandless by Hera’s hate.
The fury and the pain! For me, when love is level, fear is far.
The gangrened wound! The ache of pulses dinned May none of all the Gods that greater are
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Eve me with his unshunnable regard; That parts rule absolute from servitude.
Fir in that warfare victory is hard, CHORUS
And of that plenty cometh emptiness. Methinks the wish is father to the thought
What should befall me then I dare not guess; And whets thy railing tongue.
Nor whither I should flee that I might shun PROMETHEUS
The craft and subtlety of Cronos’ Son. Not so: the wish And the accomplishment go hand in hand.
PROMETHEUS CHORUS
I tell thee that the self-willed pride of Zeus Then must we look for one who shall supplant
Shall surely be abased; that even now And reign instead of Zeus?
He plots a marriage that shall hurl him forth Far, far more grievous shall bow down his neck.
Far out of sight of his imperial throne CHORUS
And kingly dignity. Then, in that hour, Hast thou no fear venting such blasphemy?
Shall be fulfilled, nor in one tittle fail, PROMETHEUS
The curse wherewith his father Cronos cursed him, What should I fear who have no part nor lot
What time he fell from his majestic place In doom of dying?
Established from of old. And such a stroke CHORUS
None of the Gods save me could turn aside. But he might afflict the
I know these things shall be and on what wise. With agony more dreadful, pain beyond
Therefore let him secure him in his seat, These pains.
And put his trust in airy noise, and swing PROMETHEUS
His bright, two-handed, blazing thunderbolt, Why let him if he will
For these shall nothing stead him, nor avert All evils I foreknow.
Fall insupportable and glory humbled. CHORUS
A wrestler of such might he maketh ready Ah, they are wise
For his own ruin; yea, a wonder, strong Who do obeisance, prostrate in the dust,
In strength unmatchable; and he shall find To the implacable, eternal Will.
Fire that shall set at naught the burning bolt PROMETHEUS
And blasts more dreadful that o’er-crow the thunder. Go thou and worship; fold thy hands in prayer,
The pestilence that scourgeth the deep seas And be the dog that licks the foot of power!
And shaketh solid earth, the three-pronged mace, Nothing care I for Zeus; yea, less than naught!
Poseidon’s spear, a mightier shall scatter; Let him do what he will, and sway the world
And when he stumbleth striking there his foot, His little hour; he has not long to lord it
Fallen on evil days, the tyrant’s pride Among the Gods.
Shall measure all the miserable length Oh here here runner comes
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The upstart tyrant’s lacquey! He’ll bring news, HERMES
A message, never doubt it, from his master. This is that former stubbornness of thine
(Enter HERMES.) That brought thee hither to foul anchorage.
HERMES PROMETHEUS
You, the sophistical rogue, the heart of gall, Mistake me not; I would not, if I might,
The renegade of heaven, to short-lived men Change my misfortunes for thy vassalage.
Purveyor of prerogatives and tities, HERMES
Fire-thief! Dost hear me? I’ve a word for thee. Oh! better be the vassal of this rock
Thou’rt to declare—this is the Father’s pleasure Than born the trusty messenger of Zeus
These marriage-feasts of thine, whereof thy tongue PROMETHEUS
Rattles a-pace, and by the which his greatness I answer insolence, as it deserves,
Shall take a fall. And look you rede no riddles, With insolence. How else should it be answered?
But tell the truth, in each particular HERMES
Exact. I am not to sweat for thee, Prometheus, Surely; and, being in trouble, it is plain
Upon a double journey. And thou seest You revel in your plight.
Zeus by thy dark defiance is not moved. PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS Revel, forsooth!
A very solemn piece of insolence I would my enemies might hold such revels
Spoken like an underling of the Gods! Ye are young! And thou amongst the first.
Ye are young! New come to power And ye suppose HERMES
Your towered citadel Calamity Dost thou blame me
Can never enter! Ah, and have not For thy misfortunes?
Seen from those pinnacles a two-fold fall PROMETHEUS
Of tyrants? And the third, who his brief “now” I hate all the Gods,
Of lordship arrogates, I shall see yet Because, having received good at my hands,
By lapse most swift’ most ignominious, They have rewarded me with evil.
Sink to perdition. And dost thou suppose Proves thee stark mad!
I crouch and cower in reverence and awe HERMES
To Gods of yesterday? I fail of that This proves thee stark mad!
So much, the total all of space and time PROMETHEUS
Bulks in between. Take thyself hence and count Mad as you please, if hating
Thy toiling steps back by the way thou camest, Your enemies is madness
In nothing wiser for thy questionings. HERMES
Were all well
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With thee, thou’dst be insufferable! Shall bend my will or force me to disclose
PROMETHEUS By whom ’tis fated he shall fall from power.
Alas! HERMES
HERMES What good can come of this? Think yet again!
Alas, that Zeus knows not that word, Alas! PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS I long ago have thought and long ago
But ageing Time teacheth all knowledge. Determined.
HERMES HERMES
Time Patience! patience! thou rash fool
Hath not yet taught thy rash, imperious will Have so much patience as to school thy mind
Over wild impulse to win mastery. To a right judgment in thy present troubles.
PROMETHEUS PROMETHEUS
Nay: had Time taught me that, I had not stooped Lo, I am rockfast, and thy words are wave
To bandy words with such a slave as thou. That weary me in vain. Let not the thought
HERMES Enter thy mind, that I in awe of Zeus
This, then, is all thine answer: thou’lt not Shall change my nature for a girl’s, or beg
One syllable of what our Father asks. The Loathed beyond all loathing—with my hands
PROMETHEUS Spread out in woman’s fashion—to cast loose
Oh, that I were a debtor to his kindness! These bonds; from that I am utterly removed.
I would requite him to the uttermost! HERMES
HERMES I have talked much, yet further not my purpose;
A cutting speech! You take me for a boy For thou art in no whit melted or moved
Whom you may taunt and tease. By my prolonged entreaties: like a colt
PROMETHEUS New to the harness thou dost back and Plunge.
Why art thou not Snap at thy bit and fight against the rein.
A boy—a very booby—to suppose And yet thy confidence is in a straw;
Thou wilt get aught from me? There is no wrong For stubbornness, if one be in the wrong,
However shameful, nor no shift of malice Is in itself weaker than naught at all.
Whereby Zeus shall persuade me to unlock See now, if thou wilt not obey my words,
My lips until these shackles be cast loose. What storm, what triple-crested wave of woe
Therefore let lightning leap with smoke and flame, Unshunnable shall come upon thee. First,
And all that is be beat and tossed together, This rocky chasm shall the Father split
With whirl of feathery snowflakes and loud crack With earthquake thunder and his burning bolt,
Of subterranean thunder; none of these And he shall hide thy form, and thou shalt hang
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Bolt upright, dandled in the rock’s rude arms. The pathway of the stars
Nor till thou hast completed thy long term Finally, let him fling my form
Shalt thou come back into the light; and then Down whirling gulfs, the central storm
The hound of Zeus, the tawny eagle, Of being; let me lie
Shall violently fall upon thy flesh Plunged in the black Tartarean gloom;
And rend it as ‘twere rags; and every day Yet—yet—his sentence shall not doom
And all day long shall thine unbidden guest This deathless self to die!
Sit at thy table, feasting on thy liver HERMES
Till he hath gnawn it black. Look for no term These are the workings of a brain
To such an agony till there stand forth More than a little touched; the vein
Among the Gods one who shall take upon him Of voluble ecstasy!
Thy sufferings and consent to enter hell Surely he wandereth from the way,
Far from the light of Sun, yea, the deep pit His reason lost, who thus can pray
And mirk of Tartarus, for thee. Be advised; A mouthing mad man he!
This is not stuffed speech framed to frighten the Therefore, O ye who court his fate,
But woeful truth. For Zeus knows not to lie Rash mourners—ere it be too late
CHORUS And ye indeed are sad
To our mind For vengeance spurring hither fast—
The words of Hermes fail not of the mark. Hence! lest the bellowing thunderblast
For he enjoins thee to let self-will go Like him should strike you mad !
And follow after prudent counsels. Him CHORUS
Harken; for error in the wise is shame. Words which might work persuasion speak
PROMETHEUS If thou must counsel me; nor seek
These are stale tidings I foreknew; Thus, like a stream in spate,
Therefore, since suffering is the due To uproot mine honour. Dost thou dare
A foe must pay his foes, Urge me to baseness! I will bear
Let curled lightnings clasp and clash With him all blows of fate;
And close upon my limbs: loud crash For false forsakers I despise;
The thunder, and fierce throes At treachery my gorge doth rise:
Of savage winds convulse calm air: I spew it forth with hate!
The embowelled blast earth’s roots uptear HERMES
And toss beyond its bars, Only—with ruin on your track—
The rough surge, till the roaring deep Rail not at fortune; but look back
In one devouring deluge sweep And these my words recall;
 Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound.
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Neither blame Zeus that he hath sent
Sorrow no warning word forewent!
Ye labour for your fall
With your own hands I Not by surprise
Nor yet by stealth, but with clear eyes,
Knowing the thing ye do,
Ye walk into the yawning net
That for the feet of is set
And Ruin spreads for you.
(Exit.)

PROMETHEUS
The time is past for words; earth quakes
Sensibly: hark! pent thunder rakes
The depths, with bellowing din
Of echoes rolling ever nigher:
Lightnings shake out their locks of fire;
The dust cones dance and spin;
The skipping winds, as if possessed
By faction—north, south, east and west,
Puff at each other; sea
And sky are shook together: Lo
The swing and fury of the blow
Wherewith Zeus smiteth me
Sweepeth apace, and, visibly,
To strike my heart with fear. See, see,
Earth, awful Mother! Air,
That shedd’st from the revolving sky
On all the light they see thee by,
What bitter wrongs I bear!
(The scene closes with earthquake and thunder, in the midst of which
PROMETHEUS and the DAUGHTERS OF OCEANUS sink into
the abyss.)
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