Part 1 of Prometheus Bound
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Recording by Expatriate in Bangor, Maine
Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus
Translated by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Part 1
Persons of the drama
Kratos and Bia,
or Strength and Force
Hephaestus, or Vulcan
Prometheus
Chorus of Ocean Nymphs
Oceanus
Io, daughter of Inachus
and Hermes.
Kratos and Bia,
Hephaestus and Prometheus
_Kr._ We are come to the far-bounding plain of earth,
To the Scythian way, to the unapproached solitude.
Hephaistus, orders must have thy attention, Which the Father has enjoined on thee, this
bold one To the high-hanging rocks to bind
In indissoluble fetters of adamantine bonds.
For thy flower, the splendor of fire useful in all arts,
Stealing, he bestowed on mortals; and for such
A crime 't is fit he should give satisfaction to the gods;
That he may learn the tyranny of Zeus To love, and cease from his man-loving ways.
_Heph._ Kratos and Bia, your charge from Zeus Already has its end, and nothing further in
the way; But I cannot endure to bind
A kindred god by force to a bleak precipice,-- Yet absolutely there's necessity that I have
courage for these things;
For it is hard the Father's words to banish.
High-plotting son of the right-counseling Themis,
Unwilling thee unwilling in brazen fetters hard to be loosed
I am about to nail to this inhuman hill, Where neither voice [you'll hear], nor form
of any mortal See, but, scorched by the sun's clear flame,
Will change your color's bloom; and to you glad
The various-robed night will conceal the light, And sun disperse the morning frost again;
And always the burden of the present ill Will wear you; for he that will relieve you
has not yet been born.
Such fruits you've reaped from your man-loving ways,
For a god, not shrinking from the wrath of gods,
You have bestowed honors on mortals more than just,
For which this pleasureless rock you'll sentinel, Standing erect, sleepless, not bending a knee;
And many sighs and lamentations to no purpose Will you utter; for the mind of Zeus is hard
to be changed; And he is wholly rugged who may newly rule.
_Kr._ Well, why dost thou delay and pity in vain?
Why not hate the god most hostile to gods, Who has betrayed thy prize to mortals?
_Heph._ The affinity indeed is appalling, and the familiarity.
_Kr._ I agree, but to disobey the Father's words
How is it possible?
Fear you not this more?
_Heph._ Ay, you are always without pity, and full of confidence.
_Kr._ For 't is no remedy to bewail this one; Cherish not vainly troubles which avail naught.
_Heph._ O much hated handicraft!
_Kr._ Why hatest it? for in simple truth, for these misfortunes
Which are present now Art's not to blame.
_Heph._ Yet I would 't had fallen to another's lot.
_Kr._ All things were done but to rule the gods,
For none is free but Zeus.
_Heph._ I knew it, and have naught to say against these things.
_Kr._ Will you not haste, then, to put the bonds about him,
That the Father may not observe you loitering?
_Heph._ Already at hand the shackles you may see.
_Kr._ Taking them, about his hands with firm strength
Strike with the hammer, and nail him to the rocks.
_Heph._ 'T is done, and not in vain this work.
_Kr._ Strike harder, tighten, nowhere relax, For he is skillful to find out ways e'en from
the impracticable.
_Heph._ Ay, but this arm is fixed inextricably.
_Kr._ And this now clasp securely, that He may learn he is a duller schemer than is
Zeus.
_Heph._ Except him would none justly blame me.
_Kr._ Now with an adamantine wedge's stubborn fang
Through the breasts nail strongly.
_Heph._ Alas! alas!
Prometheus, I groan for thy afflictions.
_Kr._ And do you hesitate? for Zeus' enemies Do you groan?
Beware lest one day you yourself will pity.
_Heph._ You see a spectacle hard for eyes to behold.
_Kr._ I see him meeting his deserts; But round his sides put straps.
_Heph._ To do this is necessity, insist not much.
_Kr._ Surely I will insist and urge beside; Go downward, and the thighs surround with
force.
_Heph._ Already it is done, the work, with no long labor.
_Kr._ Strongly now drive the fetters, through and through,
For the critic of the works is difficult.
_Heph._ Like your form your tongue speaks.
_Kr._ Be thou softened, but for my stubbornness Of temper and harshness reproach me not.
_Heph._ Let us withdraw, for he has a net about his limbs.
_Kr._ There now insult, and the shares of gods
Plundering on ephemerals bestow; what thee Can mortals in these ills relieve?
Falsely thee the divinities Prometheus Call; for you yourself need one _foreseeing_
In what manner you will escape this fortune.
PROMETHEUS, _alone_.
O divine ether, and ye swift-winged winds, Fountains of rivers, and countless smilings
Of the ocean waves, and earth, mother of all, And thou all-seeing orb of the sun I call.
Behold me what a god I suffer at the hands of gods.
See by what outrages Tormented the myriad-yeared
Time I shall endure; such the new Ruler of the blessed has contrived for me,
Unseemly bonds.
Alas! alas! the present and the coming Woe I groan; where ever of these sufferings
Must an end appear.
But what say I?
I know beforehand all, Exactly what will be, nor to me strange
Will any evil come.
The destined fate As easily as possible it behooves to bear,
knowing Necessity's is a resistless strength.
But neither to be silent nor unsilent about this
Lot is possible for me; for a gift to mortals Giving, I wretched have been yoked to these
necessities; Within a hollow reed by stealth I carry off
fire's Stolen source, which seemed the teacher
Of all art to mortals, and a great resource.
For such crimes penalty I pay, Under the sky, riveted in chains.
Ah! ah! alas! alas!
What echo, what odor has flown to me obscure, Of god, or mortal, or else mingled,--
Came it to this terminal hill A witness of my sufferings, or wishing what?
Behold bound me an unhappy god, The enemy of Zeus, fallen under
The ill will of all the gods, as many as Enter into the hall of Zeus,
Through too great love of mortals.
Alas! alas! what fluttering do I hear Of birds near? for the air rustles
With the soft rippling of wings.
Everything to me is fearful which creeps this way.
PROMETHEUS _and_ CHORUS.
_Ch._ Fear nothing; for friendly this band Of wings with swift contention
Drew to this hill, hardly Persuading the paternal mind.
The swift-carrying breezes sent me; For the echo of beaten steel pierced the recesses
Of the caves, and struck out from me reserved modesty;
And I rushed unsandaled in a winged chariot.
_Pr._ Alas! alas! alas! alas!
Offspring of the fruitful Tethys, And of him rolling around all
The earth with sleepless stream children, Of Father Ocean; behold, look on me;
By what bonds embraced On this cliff's topmost rocks
I shall maintain unenvied watch.
_Ch._ I see, Prometheus; but to my eyes a fearful
Mist has come surcharged With tears, looking upon thy body
Shrunk to the rocks By these mischiefs of adamantine bonds;
Indeed, new helmsmen rule Olympus; And with new laws Zeus strengthens himself,
annulling the old, And the before great now makes unknown.
_Pr._ Would that under earth, and below Hades, Receptacle of dead, to impassable
Tartarus he had sent me, to bonds indissoluble Cruelly conducting, that neither god
Nor any other had rejoiced at this.
But now the sport of winds, unhappy one, A source of pleasure to my foes, I suffer.
_Ch._ Who so hard-hearted Of the gods, to whom these things are pleasant?
Who does not sympathize with thy Misfortunes, excepting Zeus? for he in wrath
always Fixing his stubborn mind,
Afflicts the heavenly race; Nor will he cease, until his heart is sated;
Or with some palm some one may take the power hard to be taken.
_Pr._ Surely yet, though in strong Fetters I am now maltreated,
The ruler of the blessed will have need of me,
To show the new conspiracy by which He's robbed of sceptre and of honors,
And not at all me with persuasion's honey-tongued Charms will he appease, nor ever,
Shrinking from his firm threats, will I Declare this, till from cruel
Bonds he may release, and to do justice For this outrage be willing.
_Ch._ You are bold; and to bitter Woes do nothing yield,
But too freely speak.
But my mind piercing fear disturbs; For I'm concerned about thy fortunes,
Where at length arriving you may see An end to these afflictions.
For manners Inaccessible, and a heart hard to be dissuaded
has the son of Kronos.
_Pr._ I know, that--Zeus is stern and having Justice to himself.
But after all Gentle-minded
He will one day be, when thus he's crushed, And his stubborn wrath allaying,
Into agreement with me and friendliness Earnest to me earnest he at length will come.
_Ch._ The whole account disclose and tell us plainly,
In what crime taking you Zeus Thus disgracefully and bitterly insults;
Inform us, if you are nowise hurt by the recital.
_Pr._ Painful indeed it is to me to tell these things,
And a pain to be silent, and every way unfortunate.
When first the divinities began their strife, And discord 'mong themselves arose,
Some wishing to cast Kronos from his seat, That Zeus might reign, forsooth, others the
contrary Striving, that Zeus might never rule the gods;
Then I, the best advising, to persuade The Titans, sons of Uranus and Chthon,
Unable was; but crafty stratagems Despising with rude minds,
They thought without trouble to rule by force; But to me my mother not once only, Themis,
And Gæa, of many names one form, How the future should be accomplished had
foretold, That not by power nor by strength
Would it be necessary, but by craft the victors should prevail.
Such I in words expounding, They deigned not to regard at all.
The best course, therefore, of those occurring then
Appeared to be, taking my mother to me, Of my own accord to side with Zeus glad to
receive me; And by my counsels Tartarus' black-pitted
Depths conceals the ancient Kronos, With his allies.
In such things by me The tyrant of the gods having been helped,
With base rewards like these repays me; For there is somehow in kingship
This disease, not to trust its friends.
What then you ask, for what cause He afflicts me, this will I now explain.
As soon as on his father's throne He sat, he straightway to the gods distributes
honors, Some to one and to another some, and arranged
The government; but of unhappy mortals account Had none; but blotting out the race
Entire, wished to create another new.
And these things none opposed but I, But I adventured; I rescued mortals
From going destroyed to Hades.
Therefore, indeed, with such afflictions am I bent,
To suffer grievous, and piteous to behold, And, holding mortals up to pity, myself am
not Thought worthy to obtain it; but without pity
Am I thus corrected, a spectacle inglorious to Zeus.
_Ch._ Of iron heart and made of stone, Whoe'er, Prometheus, with thy sufferings
Does not grieve; for I should not have wished to see
These things, and having seen them I am grieved at heart.
_Pr._ Indeed to friends I'm piteous to behold.
_Ch._ Did you in no respect go beyond this?
_Pr._ True, mortals I made cease foreseeing fate.
_Ch._ Having found what remedy for this all?
_Pr._ Blind hopes in them I made to dwell.
_Ch._ A great advantage this you gave to men.
_Pr._ Beside these, too, I bestowed on them fire.
_Ch._ And have mortals flamy fire?
_Pr._ From which, indeed, they will learn many arts.
_Ch._ Upon such charges, then, does Zeus Maltreat you, and nowhere relax from ills?
Is there no term of suffering lying before thee?
_Pr._ Nay, none at all, but when to him it may seem good.
_Ch._ And how will it seem good?
What hope?
See you not that You have erred?
But how you've erred, for me to tell Not pleasant, and to you a pain.
But these things Let us omit, and seek you some release from
sufferings.
_Pr._ Easy, whoever out of trouble holds his Foot, to admonish and remind those faring
Ill.
But all these things I knew; Willing, willing I erred, I'll not deny;
Mortals assisting I myself found trouble.
Not indeed with penalties like these thought I
That I should pine on lofty rocks, Gaining this drear unneighbored hill.
But bewail not my present woes, But alighting, the fortunes creeping on
Hear ye, that ye may learn all to the end.
Obey me, obey, sympathize With him now suffering.
Thus indeed affliction, Wandering round, sits now by one, then by
another.
_Ch._ Not to unwilling ears do you urge This, Prometheus.
And now with light foot the swift-rushing Seat leaving, and the pure ether,
Path of birds, to this peaked Ground I come; for thy misfortunes
I wish fully to hear.
PROMETHEUS, CHORUS, _and_ OCEANUS.
_Oc._ I come to the end of a long way Traveling to thee, Prometheus,
By my will without bits directing This wing-swift bird;
For at thy fortunes know I grieve.
And, I think, affinity thus Impels me, but apart from birth,
There's not to whom a higher rank I would assign than thee.
And you will know these things as true, and not in vain
To flatter with the tongue is in me.
Come, therefore, Show how it is necessary to assist you;
For never will you say, than Ocean There's a firmer friend to thee.
_Pr._ Alas! what now?
And you, then, of my sufferings Come spectator?
How didst thou dare, leaving The stream which bears thy name, and rock-roofed
Caves self-built, to the iron-mother Earth to go?
To behold my fate Hast come, and to compassionate my ills?
Behold a spectacle, this, the friend of Zeus, Having with him stablished his tyranny,
With what afflictions by himself I'm bent.
_Oc._ I see, Prometheus, and would admonish Thee the best, although of varied craft.
Know thyself, and fit thy manners New; for new also the king among the gods.
For if thus rude and whetted words Thou wilt hurl out, quickly may Zeus, though
sitting Far above, hear thee, so that thy present
wrath Of troubles child's play will seem to be.
But, O wretched one, dismiss the indignation which thou hast,
And seek deliverance from these woes.
Like an old man, perhaps, I seem to thee to say these things;
Such, however, are the wages Of the too lofty speaking tongue, Prometheus;
But thou art not yet humble, nor dost yield to ills,
And beside the present wish to receive others still.
But thou wouldst not, with my counsel, Against the pricks extend your limbs, seeing
that A stern monarch irresponsible reigns.
And now I go, and will endeavor, If I can, to release thee from these sufferings.
But be thou quiet, nor too rudely speak.
Know'st thou not well, with thy superior wisdom, that
On a vain tongue punishment is inflicted?
_Pr._ I congratulate thee that thou art without blame,
Having shared and dared all with me; And now leave off, and let it not concern
thee.
For altogether thou wilt not persuade him, for he's not easily
persuaded, But take heed yourself lest you be injured
by the way.
_Oc._ Far better thou art to advise those near
Than thyself; by deed and not by word I judge.
But me hastening by no means mayest thou detain, For I boast, I boast, this favor will Zeus
Grant me, from these sufferings to release thee.
End of Part 1
Recording by Expatriate in Bangor, Maine