Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

ToposText · Aeschylus · 217 sections

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§ i Encountered at a bus stop on Naxos, Colin Young has a BA (Hons.) and PhD from the University of Western Australia (UWA). He specialised in Greek tragedy, particularly the Oresteia, for his PhD. He has taught at UWA and the Australian National University, and has published his poetry in various venues. Like many modern scholars, Young believes the play is not by Aeschylus. He suspects the play reflects the political victory of Perikles over Kimon and his supporters. Characters: PROMETHEUS, cousin of Zeus, a Titan HEPHAESTUS, son of Zeus, an Olympian POWER (Kratos) and FORCE (Bia), servants of Zeus OCEAN, uncle of Prometheus, a Titan (also uncle of ZEUS) IO, daughter of Inachus HERMES, Son of ZEUS, an Olympian CHORUS of OCEANIDS, daughters of OCEAN and cousins of Prometheus. [Prometheus is tied up to a large rock on stage. Enter Power, Force and Hephaestus. Hephaestus has a hammer and other metal tools, such as a wedge, rivets, and chains]
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§ 1 POWER: We've reached this far-bounded land of the earth, This tract of Scythia, an untrodden wilderness. [ to Hephaestus ] Hephaestus, you should pay attention to the orders Your father Zeus gave you –- to grip this malefactor
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§ 5 Onto rocks with steep cliffs In unbreakable links of adamantine chains. Because it was your flower, the blaze of all-skilful fire That he stole and gifted to humans. For such A crime he must pay the penalty to the gods,
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§ 10 So he can learn to be content with the new rule Of Zeus, and stop his humanity-loving ways. HEPHAESTUS: Power ( Kratos ) and Force ( Bia ), for you Zeus's injunction Has authority, and nothing stands in your way;
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§ 15 But I am not so bold as to bind by force My relative, a god, to this wintry ravine. Still, I absolutely must have boldness for this: It’s dangerous to neglect Zeus's words. [ to Prometheus ] Lofty-thoughted son of right-counselling Themis,
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§ 20 We will both be unwilling when I nail you down With difficult-to-release bronze to this crag far from mankind – Here you won’t see either the voice or shape Of any people, but scorched by the sun's bright flame You’ll change the flower of your skin. You’ll be glad
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§ 25 When Night in glittering dress hides away the light, And when the sun once more scatters the frost of dawn: The burden of your current pain will keep Wearing you down –- but your rescuer is not yet born. This is what you’ve gained for your humanity-loving ways!
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§ 30 A god yourself, you didn't cower under the gods' rancour, But instead gifted honours to humans beyond the natural order. For this you’ll stand guard over this rock of no delight, Upright, sleepless, without bending your knee: You are going to utter many moans and groans
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§ 35 In vain – Zeus's mind is implacable. Every new ruler is harsh. POWER: [ to Hephaestus ] Come on! Why hesitate? What's the point of pity? Why not hate the god who’s the enemy of the gods, The one who gave away your prize to humans? HEPHAESTUS: Family and association carry weight.
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§ 40 POWER: I agree. But how can you not listen To your father's orders? Aren't your more afraid of that? HEPHAESTUS: You're always pitiless! Full of insolence! POWER: Yes, because it's no cure wailing for him. Don't waste your time with useless words.
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§ 45 HEPHAESTUS: How I loathe my handiwork! POWER: Why hate it? Put simply, the pains He now has are not the result of your skill. HEPHAESTUS: Anyway, I wish someone else had my job! POWER: Everything is burdensome except to be commander of the gods:
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§ 50 No-one is free except Zeus. HEPHAESTUS: I recognise this, and can find no objection. POWER: Aren't you eager to wrap him in chains, So your father doesn't catch you slacking off? HEPHAESTUS: The bridle's in my hand –- here, look! POWER: Put your hands around it, and with your powerful strength
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§ 55 Strike it with the hammer! Nail him to the rocks! HEPHAESTUS: [ He nails it around Prometheus ] It's gone right through – It's done its job. POWER: Smash it more! Tighten it! Don't be slack! He's clever at finding a way out of difficulties.
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§ 60 HEPHAESTUS: This arm is fixed so he can't get free. POWER: Now pin this one down as well, securely, so that The expert may learn that he is slower than Zeus! HEPHAESTUS: [ pointing at the chains ] Except for this, no-one could justifiably find fault with me. POWER: Use your strength to nail the ruthless jaw
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§ 65 Of the unconquerable wedge right through his chest! HEPHAESTUS: Oh Prometheus, how I cry out for your pain! POWER: Are you reluctant again? Crying out for Zeus's Enemies? Watch that you don't end up pitying yourself! HEPHAESTUS: You can see – a sight hard to look at!
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§ 70 POWER: All I see is him getting what he deserves! Now put the harness around his ribs! HEPHAESTUS: I'm forced to do this – don't keep ordering me so much! POWER: I will keep ordering you! And I'll shout at you as well! Move down now – encircle his legs by force!
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§ 75 HEPHAESTUS: It's done now – it didn't take long. POWER: Use your strength now to strike the links right through! The foreman of this punishment is serious! HEPHAESTUS: Your tongue matches your looks. POWER: You're soft – so don't rebuke me
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§ 80 For my ruthlessness and harshness of temper! HEPHAESTUS: Let's go now – his limbs are completely bound. POWER: [ to Prometheus ] Commit outrages here now –- Steal the gods' Gift and give it to the short-lived humans! How Can mere mortals bail you out of this pain? The gods were wrong to call you Prometheus,
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§ 85 Meaning'Forethought' –- you are the one that needs forethought, As to how you can wriggle out of this handicraft! [ exit Power, Force, and Hephaestus ] PROMETHEUS: You, divine sky, and you, fast-winged winds! Springs of rivers, and numberless laughter Of ocean waves! I call on you, mother Earth,
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§ 90 And on the all-seeing eye of the Sun! Look at what I, a god, am suffering from the gods! ___See with what tortures I will be worn down as I suffer
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§ 95 During the myriad years! The new commander of the gods has devised For me this sort of shameful imprisonment. Ah! I bemoan my current and future Pain, not knowing when an end
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§ 100 Of this suffering must come! ___And yet what am I saying? I have exact knowledge ahead Of everything that will happen – no unexpected pain Will come to me at all. I should put up With this destined fate as easily as I can, as I know That the power of brute force cannot be overcome.
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§ 105 But I can't keep quiet, or not keep quiet, About what has happened to me. Because I brought a gift To mortals I am yoked, alas! in these constraints. I hunted after fire's source, which I stole
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§ 110 And filled a reed –- it has been the teacher to mortals Of every skill, and a great resource. For such misdeeds I am paying the price, Pinned down by these chains high above. [ looks off stage ] Ah! Ah!
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§ 115 What sound or fragrance has flown to me invisibly? Is it god-driven, human, or a mixture of both? Has someone come to my faraway crag To look at my pains? What do they want? [ twists toward the noise off-stage ] Can you see me, a prisoner, an ill-fated god,
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§ 120 Zeus's enemy? By all the gods Who enter Zeus's palace I have come to be hated For my too-great love of humanity. Oh no! What is this fluttering I can hear,
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§ 125 Like that of birds? The air is whistling With the light beating of wings. Everything that approaches frightens me. ___[ Chorus enter riding on large birds above the stage. Then they hover. ] CHORUS: [ Strophe A ] Don't be afraid: in friendship Our company has come With swift contention of wings
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§ 130 To this peak, with difficulty Winning over our father's mind. The swift-bearing winds sent me here: The clang of the beating of steel Rushed through the depths of our caves, and struck Away my grave modesty:
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§ 135 I sped here without shoes in my winged vehicle. PROMETHEUS: Ah me! Offspring of fruitful Tethys, And of your father Ocean Who winds around the whole earth
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§ 140 With his untiring wave! Look at me, see the chains They have pinned me down with, onto the heights Overlooking this ravine! I will have to endure an unenviable watch! ___CHORUS: [ Antistrophe A ] I can see, Prometheus. A fearful
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§ 145 Mist full of tears Has rushed to my eyes, When I look at your body Wasting away on the rocks With these steel-bound outrages. New helmsmen Are in power in Olympus: with his radical
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§ 150 Laws, Zeus is ruling illegitimately. Those who were once mighty he disappears. [ lit. ‘makes invisible’; ‘radical laws’ could refer to the several crucial laws of the 450s that Pericles oversaw as part of promoting the radical democracy. The last line might be referring to the ostracism and eventual death of Cimon ] PROMETHEUS: I wish he’d sent me underground beneath Hades The Corpse-Receiver, to fathomless Tartarus,
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§ 155 Bringing me there savagely with bonds not to be loosed: Then no god, or anyone else, Could rejoice in this! As it is, I’m miserable from the sky's movements, And suffer pains delightful to my enemies! CHORUS: [ Strophe B ]
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§ 160 What god could be so stern-hearted As to find this delightful? Who does not sympathise with your Pain except for Zeus? He is still bitterly angry As he imposes his unbending mind
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§ 165 And subdues the family Of Ouranos, and will not stop, Until either his heart is satisfied, or by some throw Someone seizes his difficult-to-catch empire. [ lit. ‘rule’ ‘arche’ came to mean ‘empire’ in Thucydides ] PROMETHEUS: Although I'm being tortured in these strong Body-irons, the lord of the gods [ lit. ‘official of the blessed’ ] Will still need me, oh yes,
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§ 170 To reveal the new plan by which He is to be stripped of his sceptre and honours. But I will not be softened by his honey-tongued Chants of persuasion! I will never
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§ 175 Cower under his harsh threats and Make this known, Until he releases me from these savage chains, And consents to pay the penalty For this outrage! CHORUS: [ Antistrophe B ]
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§ 180 No, it’s you who are wilful and do not soften Because of your bitter pains. You are too free-speaking! But a piercing fear stirs my mind. I am afraid for what will happen to you,
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§ 185 Whenever it is fated for you To reach and look upon an end Of these toils. The son of Kronos has an unapproachable Character, and a heart not to be persuaded. PROMETHEUS: I know Zeus is harsh and keeps
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§ 190 Justice to himself. Still, I think He will one day Be gentle-minded when he is crushed by this event. He will stop his bitter fury, And one day come to harmony
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§ 195 And friendship with me, and we will both be eager. [ ‘keeps justice to himself’ effectively describes Pericles’s various legal reforms of the 450s ] CHORUS: Reveal everything and tell us the story: What is the reason that Zeus has seized you, And now outrages you so shamefully and bitterly? Tell us, unless speaking brings you any harm. PROMETHEUS: It is painful for me even to speak of all that,
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§ 200 But also painful to be quiet about it --- wretched either way. As soon as the gods began their anger, And strife was stirred up among each other, [ also ‘civil war’ ] There were some willing to throw Kronos from his throne, So that Zeus might rule, but others were eager
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§ 205 For the opposite, that Zeus would never rule the gods. Then I, although I gave them the best advice, was unable To persuade the Titans, offspring of Earth And Sky. But putting no trust in my wily Schemes, in their hard minds
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§ 210 They thought they would gain mastery easily and by force. But my mother Themis and Earth, One form under many names, Had foretold the future: That it must not be by strength
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§ 215 Or might, but by guile that we should defeat those in power. That was what I revealed to them, But they didn’t think it worth even looking at. The best thing in those circumstances, I thought, was to take my mother as a helper,
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§ 220 And stand together alongside Zeus --- both of us would be willing. It is by my plans that the black-deep lair Of Tartarus hides the ancient-born Kronos With all his allies. Although he owes Me this, the tyrant of the gods
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§ 225 Has given me this evil punishment in exchange. Tyranny somehow has this Disease --- not to trust one’s friends. ___As for what you’re asking, the reason He tortures me, I’ll now explain.
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§ 230 As soon as he was seated on his father’s Throne, straight away he began assigning privileges to the gods, Severally to each, and regularly apportioning His realm. Of wretched humans he took No account at all, but wanted to annihilate their
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§ 235 Whole race, and plant a new one. No-one opposed this except me. But I dared to! I saved mortals From being smashed to pieces and going to Hades. That’s why I’m bent under tortures like this,
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§ 240 Painful to suffer and pitiful to see. Because I placed mortals ahead in pity, I myself Was not thought worthy of obtaining it; pitilessly Was I thus strung up, a sight to the discredit of Zeus. CHORUS: They would have to be iron-hearted and made of stone,
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§ 245 Whoever does not sympathise with your toils, Prometheus. I would not crave to see this, And now that I have, my heart is pained. PROMETHEUS: Oh yes, to my friends I’m pitiful. CHORUS: Did you perhaps go even further than that?
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§ 250 PROMETHEUS: I stopped mortals from foreseeing their future. CHORUS: What remedy did you find for that ailment? PROMETHEUS: I established blind hopes in them. CHORUS: That was a great benefit you gifted to mortals! PROMETHEUS: As well as that I granted them fire.
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§ 255 CHORUS: So now those beings of a day have the flame of fire? PROMETHEUS: From this they will master all the arts. CHORUS: So that is the reason that Zeus against you--- PROMETHEUS: Commits outrage and doesn’t slacken from evil. CHORUS: Is there no end in the future for your toil?
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§ 260 PROMETHEUS: None at all, except when he decides. CHORUS: How will he decide? What hope is there? Don’t you see That you made a mistake? That you did so is no pleasure To me, and painful for you. But let’s drop All this. Look for some release from your toils.
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§ 265 PROMETHEUS: It’s easy for someone not involved in pain To keep counselling and advising a person who’s doing Badly. I knew all of that. Willingly, yes willingly, I made a mistake, I won’t deny it. Because I assisted mortals, I myself found pains.
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§ 270 But I didn’t think that I’d be made to waste away With this kind of punishment on crags high up in the air, Neighbour to this deserted rock. But don’t lament my current pains. Step onto the ground and listen to my coming
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§ 275 Fortunes, so you may learn everything through to the end. Listen to me, please, listen to me. Feel the pain of one Who toils now. Suffering in its wandering Rests on different spots in succession. CHORUS: We are most willing in what you are urging,
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§ 280 Prometheus. So now, with our light feet we leave behind Our swift-rushing seat, And the air, that pure road of the birds, And approach this rugged ground. I crave to hear
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§ 285 All your labours thoroughly. [ Chorus step down off their birds onto the stage. The birds fly off. Enter Ocean riding a winged horse, which hovers above the stage. ] OCEAN: I have come to the end of my lengthy journey, After passing here to you, Prometheus. This wing-swift bird I directed with my mind, without reins.
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§ 290 Rest assured, I share in the pain of your misfortunes. For our kinship, I think, thus Impels me to you, And besides family there is no-one to whom I would apportion a greater esteem than you.
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§ 295 You will know that this is true. It is not in me To speak pleasingly to no purpose --- so come now! Tell me what is needed to help you. Never will you say that you have a more steadfast Friend than Ocean.
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§ 300 PROMETHEUS: Oh, what’s this I see? Have you also come to be a spectator Of my pains? How did you have the courage to leave The water with your name, and the rock-roofed Self-built caverns, to come to this land, The mother of iron? Have you come to observe
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§ 305 My misfortunes, and sympathise with my treatment? Then gaze on this sight: here was Zeus’s friend, The one who helped establish his tyranny: Under what sufferings am I bent by him! OCEAN: I can see, Prometheus: I’m willing to give you
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§ 310 The best advice, though you are skilful. Know yourself and adopt new Ways, as the tyrant of the gods is new. [ or ‘young’ ] If you hurl out such harsh and sharp Words, soon even from his seat high above
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§ 315 Zeus would hear you, and then your present crowd Of miseries would seem like child’s play. Come, unhappy friend, drop what anger you have, And seek a removal from these agonies. Old-fashioned, perhaps, these words seem to you.
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§ 320 But such are the wages, Prometheus, Of a tongue that speaks too loftily. You aren’t yet humble, and don’t even yield to difficulties: On top of your current ones you would add others! If you would make use of me as a teacher,
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§ 325 You won’t hold out your leg to the kicks, since you can see That a harsh monarch rules without accountability. [ Note: the political term ‘euthunia’ could be suggested ] And now I’m going to try If I can release you from these pains. Keep quiet! Don’t storm with your mouth!
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§ 330 Over-clever as you are, don’t you know precisely That a penalty is inflicted on a thoughtless tongue? ___PROMETHEUS: I envy you for being outside the main cause, You who so took part in everything and acted so boldly on my part. So drop it now --- don’t trouble yourself about me.
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§ 335 You won’t persuade him at all: he’s not easily persuaded. Look out for yourself --- I’m afraid you may find pain on your journey. OCEAN: You are much more sensible to those closest to you Than to yourself. I can see the proof In your actions, not in your words.
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§ 340 When I’m eager to set off, don’t fight against me! I boast, I do indeed, that Zeus will grant me This gift --- to release you from these pains. PROMETHEUS: Some things I praise you for, and I’ll never stop doing so. You have lots of enthusiasm. But
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§ 345 Don’t keep troubling yourself --- you’ll get no benefit From troubling yourself for nothing, if you’re willing even to trouble yourself. Keep quiet yourself! Keep out of the way! If I suffer misfortune, it’s because of this -- That I wouldn’t want to bring pain upon others.
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§ 350 No! Since the fate of my brother Atlas as well Wears me down --- in the western region He stands bearing on his shoulders the pillar Of earth and sky, a burden difficult to grasp. And when I saw that earth-born inhabitant
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§ 355 Of the Cilician caves, I pitied him, a hostile monster With a hundred heads, subdued by force, Impetuous Typhon, the god who resisted the gods, Hissing fear from his horrible jaws. From his eyes he lightninged gorgon-faced flame,
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§ 360 To obliterate by force the tyranny of Zeus. But Zeus’s unsleeping bolt came upon him, The descending lightning that breathes fire, And it blasted him out of his lofty-speaking Boasts. Struck to his very heart
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§ 365 He was burnt to ashes, and his strength was thundered out of him. And now useless and outstretched his body Lies near the narrow neck of sea Crushed under the roots of Mount Aetna. On its high summit sits Hephaestus
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§ 370 Beating in his forge; from there one day will burst Rivers of fire devouring with their rabid jaws The level fields of fruitful Sicily. This is the anger that Typhon will boil up, With hot bolts of unquenchable fire-breathing hail,
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§ 375 Though he is turned to ashes by Zeus’s thunder. You’ve had experience, you don’t need me To tell you. Save yourself as you know how! I’ll bail out my present misfortune, Until Zeus’s heart rests from anger.
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§ 380 OCEAN: Don’t you realise, Prometheus, That words are the healers of a diseased fury? PROMETHEUS: Provided someone is softened in their heart at the right time, And doesn’t constrict their passion by force! OCEAN: For being enthusiastic and bold, what
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§ 385 Penalty do you see? Tell me that! PROMETHEUS: Excessive labour and light-minded folly. OCEAN: Let me remain in this illness, since It is best for one who is sensible not to seem sensible. PROMETHEUS: That offence will seem mine.
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§ 390 OCEAN: So what you are saying is I should go back home? PROMETHEUS: Yes! I fear that lamenting for me could make you an enemy--- OCEAN:--- of the one recently seated on the all-powerful throne? [ note: ‘recently’ perhaps refers to the 450s when Pericles instituted several important laws. ] PROMETHEUS: Watch out for him! One day his heart may be aggrieved! OCEAN: Your disaster, Prometheus, is my teacher.
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§ 395 PROMETHEUS: Leave! Depart! Keep your current attitude! OCEAN: I’m eagerly setting out at your urging. This winged horse is fluttering On the smooth path of the sky: gladly Would it bend its knees in its stalls at home. [ exit Ocean on his winged horse ] CHORUS: [ Strophe A ]
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§ 400 I mourn for you, Prometheus, because of your ruinous fate: Dripping from my eyes I stain my tender cheek With watery springs; For Zeus rules over these
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§ 405 Miseries with his own laws, And reveals to the gods of old His arrogant power. [ ‘his own laws’: This possibly references Pericles’s laws of the 450s ] [ Antistrophe A ] The whole land is already uttering its moans, And people mourn the magnificent,
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§ 410 Anciently outstanding Honour of your brothers; And all the mortals who dwell In the neighbouring seat of holy Asia Suffer together with your
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§ 415 Loudly-groaned pains. [ Strophe B ] The inhabitants of Colchis, The virgins fearless in battle, And the throng of Scythia, who Live in the farthest place
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§ 420 Around Lake Maeotis, ___[ Antistrophe B ] And the warlike flower of Arabia, Who live in the steep-cliffed Citadel near the Caucasus, The hostile army thundering
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§ 425 With their sharp-pointed spears. I saw another alone in pain, Subdued by adamantine Outrages, the Titan Atlas, who still with his overwhelming strength
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§ 430 Supports the mighty vault of the sky On his back and groans under the weight. The ocean wave falling together Shouts for you, and the deep mourns, And Hades’ black nook thunders below,
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§ 435 And the springs of pure-flowing rivers Mourn your pitiful pain. PROMETHEUS: Don’t think that it’s out of delicacy or wilfulness That I’m silent. My heart is devoured with anxiety When I see myself being insulted like this.
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§ 440 And yet who else but I completely determined Their privileges to these new gods? But that’s enough of that --- you know The story I could tell you. Now listen to the plight Of human beings, how they were childish before,
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§ 445 And I made them intelligent and possessed of mind. I’ll tell you about them, not because I blame them at all, But to explain the kindness I granted them. First of all, though they could see, they saw to no purpose, Though hearing they didn’t hear, but like
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§ 450 Shapes in dreams in their long life They muddled up everything at random. They didn’t know Brick-built sunny houses, or wordworking; But like ants that burrow, light as air, They lived in the sunless corners of caves.
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§ 455 They had no reliable sign of winter, Flowering spring, or fruitful Summer --- they did everything Without intelligence, until I showed them When the stars rose, and their settings that are hard to tell.
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§ 460 I also invented for them numbers, The most outstanding cleverness, and how to put letters together, The recording of everything, working mother of the muses. I first yoked the wild beasts Enslaving them in harnesses and in pack-saddles, so that
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§ 465 People might have a relief from their heavy Burdens, and brought under chariots rein-loving Horses, the adornment of proud wealth. And no-one else but me invented the sea-wandering Fabric-winged vehicles of ships.
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§ 470 Although I invented all these devices for mortals, Alas! I myself do not have a clever means whereby I can escape my present distress. CHORUS: The pain you’ve suffered is shameful. Having slipped away from your mind You’re wandering, and like a bad doctor you’ve fallen
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§ 475 Ill, depressed, and cannot find The medicine to heal yourself. PROMETHEUS: Listen to the rest and you’ll be more amazed, What skills and means I devised. The greatest was, that if anyone fell ill,
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§ 480 There was nothing to protect them at all, either food, Ointment or drink --- from lack Of medicines they turned into skeletons, till I showed Them the compounds of gentle curatives, With which they warded off all their illnesses.
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§ 485 I arranged in order the many types of prophecy, And was the first to interpret what should come From dreams while awake, and taught them obscure Omens and signs when people are on the road; And I precisely defined the flight of taloned
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§ 490 Birds, both the ones that are favourable by nature, And the ill-omened ones, and the way of life that Each had, and the hostility that some showed To each other and their affection and association. I also defined the plumpness of the liver, and what colour

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Herbert Weir Smyth (1857-1937). Composed ca. 450 BCE. Licence: public domain. Source.