Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
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§ 495 It should be to please the gods, The speckled beautiful shape of the gall and liver, And I burnt the thigh-bones wrapped in fat And the long loin, and set mortals on the road to a skill That was difficult to discern; and I opened their eyes to signs
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§ 500 In the flames that were hidden from their view before. That’s what those things were like. But as for what was hidden under The ground, things that benefited people -- Bronze, iron, silver and gold – who Could say they had found them before me?
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§ 505 No-one, rest assured, unless they wanted to babble foolishly. In short you should learn that everything collectively, All the skills mortals have, come from Prometheus. ___CHORUS: Now don’t benefit mortals beyond what is their due, But then neglect yourself in your misfortune. Because I
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§ 510 Have good hopes that you will yet be released from these Chains, and not prove weaker than Zeus. ___PROMETHEUS: That isn’t how Fate, who somehow brings all to fulfilment, Is destined to accomplish this, but only after being bent under myriad Pains and miseries like this, am I to flee my chains –
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§ 515 My skill is much weaker than Necessity. CHORUS: Who then is the helmsman of this Necessity? PROMETHEUS: The trio of Fates, and the Furies Who Remember. CHORUS: What, is Zeus weaker than them? PROMETHEUS: He wouldn’t be able to escape what’s fated.
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§ 520 CHORUS: What’s fated for Zeus, other than ruling forever? PROMETHEUS: I can’t tell you anymore – don’t keep asking. CHORUS: This must be a serious matter you’re covering up. PROMETHEUS: Mention some other topic – it’s not the time To speak of this, but it has to be completely hidden
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§ 525 As much as possible. By keeping it secret I can escape these shameful chains and miseries. CHORUS: [ Strophe A ] May Zeus who apportions all Not set his power in opposition to my mind,
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§ 530 Nor may I cease going to the gods With holy feasts
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§ 535 Of slaughtered cattle beside my father Ocean’s inexhaustible stream, Nor may I offend them with my words; But may this remain with me and never melt away. [ Antistrophe A ] It is sweet for me to stretch out a long Life with encouraging hopes, delighting
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§ 540 My heart in apparent pleasures. But I Shudder when I look upon you Wasting away in myriad pains [ one or two words missing ]. You do not tremble at Zeus,
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§ 545 But with your own judgement honour mortals too much, Prometheus. [ Strophe B ] Come, my friend, how is the favour not a favour? Tell me, where or what is your defence? What benefit is there from those who live for a day? Didn’t you see The feebleness of little strength,
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§ 550 Like a dream, in which the blind Race of humans were shackled? Never Will the plans of mortals surpass the arrangements of Zeus. [ Antistrophe B ] When I look at your ruinous fortunes I have learnt this, Prometheus.
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§ 555 This is an utterly different tune winging its way To me from the one I sang in celebration About the lustral font and your bed, For your marriage, when with bridal-gifts you led
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§ 560 Hesione, persuading her to be the wife that shares your bed. [ enter Io, with a cow’s horns sprouting from her head ] IO: What country is this? What people? Who is this I can see wintering In stony harnesses? [ to Prometheus ] For what misdeed are you being ruined with this punishment?
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§ 565 Tell me where on earth I’ve wandered in my wretchedness! [ she flinches as if stung ] Aayeee! Some gadfly has stung me in my misery, The apparition of earth-born Argos – Ah! go away! – I’m afraid To look at the myriad-eyed herdsman! He goes along with sneaky eyes,
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§ 570 Which even after they’ve died are not hidden by the earth. Coming from those underground he bloodhounds Me in my misery, and makes me wander Starving along the sands of the shore. [ Strophe A ] His wax-moulded pipe shrills
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§ 575 As it sounds a soporific tune. Oh no! Where are my far-flung Wanderings leading me? Son of Kronos, why, oh why, have you found Me at fault and yoked me in
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§ 575 These pains? Ah me! Why are you afflicting me in my misery, Crazed with a gadfly-driven fear? Burn me now with fire, bury me in the earth, or Give me as food to the teeth of the sea, And don’t begrudge me My prayers, Lord!
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§ 580 Unstintingly my far-wandered wanderings Have worn me down – I cannot know how I am to escape my pain. Can you hear the voice of a cow-horned young woman? PROMETHEUS: How can I not hear the gadfly-whirled daughter
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§ 585 Of Inachus? She warms Zeus’s heart With desire, and now with overlong running, Hated by Hera, she’s being worn down against her will. [ Antistrophe A ] Why are you uttering my father’s name? Tell me in my misery who you are!
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§ 590 Who are you, poor wretch, that can correctly address Me like this in my wretchedness? You have hit on the god-driven ailment that Exhausts me by stinging me with goads -- oh! -- That make me roam about – ayee! Rushing furiously with starvation
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§ 600 From leaps and with outrages I have come, subdued By Hera’s malicious schemes. Who Among the unfortunate – aaayee! – Suffers as I do? But tell me
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§ 605 Precisely -- what remains for me To suffer? What device or remedy for my ailment? Tell me if you know! Groan it, declare it to the ill-wandered young woman! PROMETHEUS: I’ll tell you precisely everything you want to know,
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§ 610 Without weaving riddles, but simply, As it’s right to open a mouth to friends. You see before you Prometheus, the giver of fire to mankind. IO: You who’ve been revealed as a shared benefit to mankind, Wretched Prometheus – What’s the crime for which you’re suffering this punishment?
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§ 615 PROMETHEUS: Just now I’ve ceased moaning about my pains. IO: Wouldn’t you be able to grant me this gift? PROMETHEUS: Tell me what you want – I’ll inform you of everything. IO: Tell me who gripped you onto this gorge. PROMETHEUS: The plan was Zeus’s, but it was Hephaestus’s hand.
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§ 620 IO: For what crimes are you paying the punishment? PROMETHEUS: It’s enough that I’ve made this much clear to you only. IO: As well as that, tell me the end of my Wanderings, when will that time be for me in my misery? PROMETHEUS: Not knowing would be better for you than knowing.
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§ 625 IO: Don’t hide from me what I’m going to suffer! PROMETHEUS: I don’t begrudge you this gift. IO: Then why are you hesitating to tell me everything? PROMETHEUS: I have nothing against you – but I’m reluctant to upset your mind. IO: Don’t be concerned for me any longer – as this is something I want.
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§ 630 PROMETHEUS: Since you’re so keen for it, I must tell you. Listen then. CHORUS: No, not yet! Grant to me as well a portion of pleasure. Let us enquire first about her ailment -- [ pointing at the horns on Io’s head ] Let her tell us about her disastrous misfortunes. Then you can tell us the rest of her toils.
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§ 635 PROMETHEUS: It’s up to you, Io, to grant them your favour, Especially as they are your father’s sisters. Since to bewail and moan about misfortunes when someone is going to bring tears From the listeners, is time worth spending.
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§ 640 IO: I don’t know how I should refuse you, So in clear speech you’ll find out everything You’re asking for. And yet even as I tell you I’m ashamed Of the god-rushing storm and the ruin Of my appearance, which has flown to me in my wretchedness.
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§ 645 Night visions kept visiting My young women’s apartments, and addressing me With smooth words: __“Blessed girl, Why so long a virgin, when you could obtain The greatest marriage? Zeus is warmed with the dart
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§ 650 Of desire for you, and wants to take up Aphrodite With you – Don’t spurn Zeus’s Bed, but go out to Lerne’s deep Meadow, and the flocks and ox-stalls of your father, So that Zeus’s eyes may rest from yearning.”
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§ 655 With dreams like these every night I was seized, poor wretch, until I steeled myself To tell my father of my night-visiting dreams. Then he sent word to Pytho and Dodona’s thick-leaved Shrine, to find out what he should
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§ 660 Do or say to act in a friendly way to the gods. And they came back bringing oracles that were Shifting in speech and without signs, and words that were difficult to discern. At last an unmistakeable utterance came to Inachus Swooping down clearly and ordering him
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§ 665 To thrust me out of house and homeland, And that let loose I was to wander around on earth to its furthest limits; And if he was unwilling, from Zeus a fiery thunderbolt Would come to disappear his whole family. [ this suggests the methods of a dictator, and has a political feel ] Persuaded by such oracles of Loxias
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§ 670 He drove me away and shut me out of my house, Though we were both unwilling – Zeus’s bridle Forced him to do this against his will. Straight away my appearance and mind were Distorted; and horned, as you can see, and stung
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§ 675 With a sharp-mouthed gadfly, leaping about madly I rushed to the well-watered stream of Kerchneia And the spring of Lerne. But the earthborn herdsman Argos accompanied my untempered passion, watching Over my steps with his clustered eyes.
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§ 680 But then an unexpected and sudden fate Deprived him of life. I goad-struck By a divine whip am now driven from country to country. You’ve heard what happened; if you can tell me what Remains of my sufferings, inform me. Don’t out of pity for me
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§ 685 Soothe me with false tales: because I say That the worst disease is made-up stories. CHORUS: Aayee! Keep away! Ah no! I never never claimed that strange stories Like this had come to my hearing,
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§ 690 Nor that pains, defilements, fearful things, Hard to look upon and hard to bear like this, Would with their sharp spur strike my mind. Oh Fate, Fate,
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§ 695 I shudder when I look at what has been done to Io! PROMETHEUS: You’re too quick to moan, and full of fear: Wait till you hear the rest. CHORUS: Tell us everything you know – to people who are ailing it’s sweet To accurately know in advance the pain that awaits them.
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§ 700 PROMETHEUS: You obtained your first request from me Easily --- for you wanted to hear from her The story of her struggles from her own lips. Now listen to the rest, what kind of suffering This young woman must endure at the hands of Hera. [ to Io ] And you, seed of Inachus, cast my words
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§ 705 Into your mind, so you can learn the destination of your journey. First of all, turn from here towards The west, and come to unploughed lands. You’ll reach the nomadic Scythians, who live under woven
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§ 710 Roofs high up, on well-circling wheels, And equipped with far-shooting arrows. Keep away from them, but bring your feet close to The sea-groaning shores and pass beyond that country. On the left hand the iron-working
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§ 715 Chalybes live, whom you should watch out for. They’re untamed, and not even approachable to strangers. Then you’ll come to the river Hybriste, not named falsely – Don’t cross it, as it’s not accessible to cross, Until you come to the Caucasus itself, seeing
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§ 720 Its highest point, where the river pours out its might From the brows themselves. You should pass beyond Their peaks that neighbour the stars, and take the road Towards the south, where you’ll come to the man-hating Army of the Amazons, who will one day live
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§ 725 In Themiskyra about the river Thermodon, where The Black Sea’s harsh Salmydessian jaw Is stranger-hating to sailors, and the stepmother of ships. These women will show you the way, and very gladly. Then at the narrow gates of the harbour you will come
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§ 730 To the Cimmerian Isthmus, which you must with fortitude Leave and then cross the channel of Maeotis. Ever afterwards people will tell the great tale Of your crossing, and it will be called after you Bosporus, The cattle-crossing. You’ll leave the soil of Europe
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§ 735 And come to the Asian mainland. [ to Chorus ] Don’t you think That the tyrant of the gods is equally violent In everything he does? It’s because the god wanted to mingle With this mortal that he hurled these wanderings upon her. [ to Io ] It’s a bitter suitor for your marriage, dear girl,
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§ 740 That you’ve met with. As for the tale you’ve just heard, Consider that for you it’s not even at the beginning. IO: Oh no no, ayee! PROMETHEUS: Still crying out and moaning loudly? What Will you do when you find out your further sufferings?
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§ 745 CHORUS: Surely you’re not saying she’ll have any further sufferings? PROMETHEUS: Yes, a stormy sea of ruinous misery. IO: What’s the good of living? Why don’t I quickly Throw myself off this rugged rock, So that I can rush to the ground and escape
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§ 750 All my pains? Better to die once and for all Than suffer terribly all my days! PROMETHEUS: You’d find my reward hard to bear then, As I’m not fated to die! That would be the end of my suffering –
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§ 755 But there’s no end in sight for my Pains, until Zeus falls from his tyranny. IO: What, is it possible that Zeus will one day fall from his rule? PROMETHEUS: You’d be delighted, I think, to see that disaster. IO: Of course! Seeing as I’ve suffered terribly from Zeus.
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§ 760 PROMETHEUS: Then you can be certain that this is true. IO: Who will rob him of his tyrant’s sceptre? PROMETHEUS: Himself, by his empty-minded plans. IO: How? Tell me, if there’s no harm in it. PROMETHEUS: He’ll make a marriage, and one day be vexed by it.
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§ 765 IO: A divine or mortal one? If you can speak of it, tell me. PROMETHEUS: Why ask which? I can’t tell you anyway. IO: Is it his wife that will drive him from his throne? PROMETHEUS: She’ll give birth to a son greater than his father. IO: Is there no way for him to turn aside from this fate?
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§ 770 PROMETHEUS: None at all, except if I’m released from these chains. IO: Who’s going to release you if Zeus is unwilling? PROMETHEUS: It is fated to be one of your own grandchildren. IO: What are you saying? A son of mine will get you out of this pain? PROMETHEUS: The third generation after ten offspring.
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§ 775 IO: This prophecy is no longer easy to put together. PROMETHEUS: Don’t keep trying to know everything about your sufferings. IO: Don’t hold this benefit in front of me, then snatch it away! PROMETHEUS: I’ll grant you one of two accounts. IO: What are they? Reveal them to me, then give me a choice!
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§ 780 PROMETHEUS: I give you these – choose one: I shall tell you clearly Either the remainder of your sufferings, or who will set me free. CHORUS: Please grant the first favour to her, But the second to me, and don’t dishonour my request. Tell her what remains of her wanderings,
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§ 785 Then tell me who will free you, as I’m longing to know. PROMETHEUS: [ to Chorus ] Since you’re so keen, I won’t oppose you, But will tell you everything you want to know. [ to Io ] You first, Io – I’ll tell you about your much-driven wandering: Write it in the remembering pages of your mind.
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§ 790 When you cross the stream that borders the two continents, [ You will turn ] to the flaming east, which is trodden by the sun, Crossing the roar of the Black Sea, until you reach The Gorgonian plain of Cisthene, where The Phorkides live, those three long-lived
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§ 795 Young women in the shape of swans, who share one eye And one tooth – the sun never looks at them With his beams, nor the moon at night. Near them are their sisters, the three winged Snaky-haired Gorgons hateful to humans,
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§ 800 Whom no mortal can look upon and live. That’s the kind of thing you should guard against. But let me tell you about another difficult-to-handle sight: Watch out for Zeus’s sharp-beaked unbarking Dogs, the gryphons, and the one-eyed army
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§ 805 Of Arimaspians on horseback -- they live Around the gold-flowing water of Pluto’s stream. Keep away from them. Then you’ll come to a far Country, and a black tribe who live near The springs of the sun, where the river Aethiops lies. Go along its banks, until you reach
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§ 810 A downward slope --- from those Byblian mountains Flows the august well-watered stream of the Nile. This will set you on the road to the triangular delta Of the Nile, where it is fated for you, Io,
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§ 815 And your children, to have a second home for a long time. If any of this is obscure and difficult to understand, Ask me again, and find out everything clearly: I have more free time than I want. CHORUS: If you have anything remaining or passed over
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§ 820 To say of her ruinous wanderings, Tell us – but if you’ve said everything, grant us in turn The favour we’re asking. You remember it I suppose. PROMETHEUS: She’s just heard the end of her journey: But so she may know what I’m saying is true,
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§ 825 I’ll tell her everything she’s suffered before coming here, Providing this as proof of my tale. [ to Io ] I’ll leave out the greater mass of words, And go straight to the end of your wandering here. When you came to the Molossian territory,
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§ 830 And around steep-ridged Dodona, where Zeus’s oracular seat of Thesprotus lies, And the incredible marvel, the speaking oak-trees, You were quite clearly, and not in riddles, Addressed by them as “she who was going to be
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§ 835 The famous wife of Zeus ”. [ Io reacts ] Does any of this please you? Stung from there by the gadfly you rushed Along the sea-shore road to the great Gulf of Rhea, From where you were tossed about in back-wandering runnings. But in future times that nook of the sea,
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§ 840 Rest assured, will be called the Ionian By all people, in memory of your passage through there. These are the tokens of my mind, That it sees more than what has been revealed. As for what remains, I’ll share it with you and her,
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§ 845 Starting from the same trail as my story earlier. There is a city called Canopus, the furthest north in Egypt, At the silted mouth of the Nile -- There Zeus will bring you back to sanity By merely touching and brushing against you with his hand that’s not frightening.
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§ 850 You’ll then give birth to a son named after Zeus’s fathering, Dark Epaphos, meaning ‘Brush Against’, who will reap crops From all the land that the broad-flowing Nile waters. The fifth generation after him, composed of fifty children, Will come back unwillingly to Argos,
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§ 855 All of them women, escaping familial marriage With their cousins. Then these men, excited in their minds, Hawks not long left behind by doves, Will come hunting after marriages That shouldn’t be hunted – but the god will deny them those bodies.
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§ 860 The Pelasgian land will welcome them with the conflict of women Committing murder, when the men are defeated with boldness by watching in the night. Each woman will deprive her husband of life By dipping her two-edged sword in slaughter – May Kypris come against her enemies like this!
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§ 865 But love will soften one of the daughters so that she doesn’t Kill her partner – she’ll be blunted In her resolve. She’ll want one of these two things: To be thought of as weak, rather than bloodthirsty. She’s the one who’ll give birth to a royal family in Argos.
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§ 870 I’d need a long tale to go through all this precisely. From her seed will be born a brave man Famous for the bow, who will free me From these pains. Such was the prophecy that my ancient-born Mother, the Titan Themis, related to me.
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§ 875 But as for the manner and means, this would need a long tale To tell you, and you won’t gain anything by knowing it. [ note: a clear reference to Aeschylus’s Suppliants, particularly with the metaphor of hawks hunting doves. This might mean Suppliants was only a few years earlier, which fits the idea that it is one of Aeschylus’s last plays. The question then arises: was Aeschylus’s son the author of this play? ] IO: Under me spasms and mind-striking Madness are causing heat! The gadfly’s point
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§ 880 Is stinging me without fire! My heart is kicking my mind with fear! My eyes are whirling around, And I’m being carried outside my course by insanity’s Furious breath, with my tongue unbridled!
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§ 885 My muddied words are crashing in chaos Against hateful waves of ruin! [ exit Io ] CHORUS: [ Strophe A ] How wise, oh wise he was Who first pondered this in his judgement And spoke this reasoning with his tongue:
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§ 890 That marrying within your own status is best by far, And that a poor person shouldn’t desire a marriage With those weakened by wealth Or made great by their family. [ Antistrophe A ] Never, oh never,
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§ 895 May you goddesses the Fates see me Sleeping in the bed of Zeus! And may I not approach any bridegroom from among the gods in the sky! I’m afraid when I look at Io’s maidenhood, As yet unloved by a man, obliterated
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§ 900 By the suffering of her evil-wandering journeys caused by Hera. [ epode ] But as for me, when a marriage is equal, It’s without fear. I’m not afraid. May the desire of more powerful gods With its inescapable eye not look upon me! That would be a war that is no war, and a difficulty easy to overcome.
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§ 905 I don’t know what would become of me – I don’t see how I could escape Zeus’s skilfulness. PROMETHEUS: Indeed one day Zeus, although wilful in mind, Will be softened, so great will be the marriage He is preparing for himself, which will banish him
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§ 910 From his throne and disappear him. The prayer of his father Kronos will at that time be completely fulfilled, The one he prayed for when he fell from his long-lived throne. As for how to avoid such pains, none of the gods Except me could clearly show him.
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§ 915 I know that, and the means. In regard to that, Let Zeus be seated in confidence, trusting in his aerial Thunder, and shaking fire-breathing lightning bolts in his hands. Nothing will be strong enough to stop him From falling in dishonour in an unbearable fall.
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§ 920 He is preparing against Zeus A wrestling match like this, a monstrous thing most difficult to fight. He will find a fire stronger than his lightning, And a boom more powerful than his thunder. He will scatter that marine disease that shakes [ the earth ],
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§ 925 The trident, which is Poseidon’s spear. After stumbling against this evil Zeus will learn What a huge difference there is between ruling and being a slave. CHORUS: Surely you’re abusing Zeus with this outcome that you want! PROMETHEUS: I’m telling you what will happen – it’s not just what I want.
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§ 930 CHORUS: Should we expect that someone will be master of Zeus? PROMETHEUS: And because of that, his neck will feel the pain. CHORUS: Aren’t you afraid to let rip a speech like that? PROMETHEUS: Why should I fear anything, when it’s not my fate to die? CHORUS: He might reward you with something even more painful than this!
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§ 935 PROMETHEUS: Let him do it then – I’ve foreseen everything! CHORUS: Those who worship Adrasteia are wise. [ ie, the Inevitable ] PROMETHEUS: Keep revering, praying to, and flattering the one in power! For Zeus I care less than nothing. For this short time let him do what he likes,
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§ 940 Let him wield power. But he won’t rule the gods for long. Ah -- I can see Zeus’s message-boy coming, The lackey of the new tyrant. No doubt he’s come to announce some news. [ enter Hermes ] HERMES: Hey you, clever one! The bitterly over-bitter one!
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§ 945 I say you made a big mistake in regard to the gods when you gave That gift to mortals – you’re the thief of fire! My father commands you to tell me about the marriage you’ve Been boasting about – the one by which he’ll fall from power. Don’t speak in riddles now –
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003:950
§ 950 Go through each point. Don’t make me come here Again, Prometheus – you can see that Zeus is not softened by words like that. PROMETHEUS: Your speech is pompous and full Of arrogance, as expected from a servant of the gods!
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§ 955 You young, oh young ones are in power, and think You live on the heights free from grief. Didn’t I Perceive that two rulers had already fallen from here? And I’ll see the third, the current one, fall Very shamefully and quickly. Do you think
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§ 960 I’m afraid and cowering before these young gods? Far from it – not at all. Go on, Scurry back the way you came: You won’t find out anything you’re asking me about. HERMES: It was this kind of wilfulness before
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003:965
§ 965 That got you into these pains! PROMETHEUS: Rest assured, I wouldn’t exchange My misfortune for your servile position! HERMES: [ sarcastically ] Oh, I think it’s so much better to serve on this rock Than be a trusted messenger for my father Zeus!
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003:970
§ 970 PROMETHEUS: That’s just how insulting people should deliver insults! HERMES: You seem to be revelling in your current position. PROMETHEUS: Revelling? I wish I could see my enemies Revel like this. And I include you in that. HERMES: Surely you’re not blaming me for your disaster?
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§ 975 PROMETHEUS: Put simply, I hate all the gods Who were treated well, but then did me wrong unjustly! HERMES: I hear you – you’re raving with a huge mental illness! PROMETHEUS: I may be sick – if it’s sick to hate your enemies! HERMES: You’d be unbearable if you were doing well. PROMETHEUS: Oh no! HERMES: ‘Oh no’? Zeus doesn’t understand that.
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§ 980 PROMETHEUS: But ageing Time teaches me everything. HERMES: And yet, you know you’re still not clever. PROMETHEUS: No – or I wouldn’t be talking to you, a subordinate! HERMES: It seems you won’t tell my father anything he wants to know.
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§ 985 PROMETHEUS: What? Because I owe him and should repay him that favour? HERMES: You’re taunting me like I was a child! PROMETHEUS: Well, aren’t you a child, and even more brainless than one, If you expect to find out anything from me? There’s no torture or device by which
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003:990
§ 990 Zeus will persuade me to speak, Until he loosens these ruinous chains. On top of this, let him hurl the blazing flame! With white-winged snow and earthy Thunders let him stir and throw everything into confusion!
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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.