Prometheus Bound
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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and a stream of turbid words beats recklessly against the billows of dark destruction. Exit
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Chorus
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Ah, sage, sage indeed, was he who first pondered this truth in his mind and with his tongue gave it utterance—
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that to marry in one’s own class is far the best—a poor man should not desire to marry among those who are pampered by riches, or who are mighty in pride of birth.
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Chorus
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Never, oh never,
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immortal Fates, may you see me the partner of the bed of Zeus, and may I be wedded to no bridegroom who descends to me from heaven. For I shudder when I behold the loveless maidenhood of Io, cruelly crushed like this
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by her toilsome wanderings sent by Hera.
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Chorus
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When marriage is on equal terms, in my opinion it is no cause for dread; so never may the love of the mightier gods cast on me its irresistible glance. That would indeed be a war that cannot be fought, a source of resourceless misery; and
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I do not know what would be my fate, for I do not see how I could escape the designs of Zeus.
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Prometheus
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Yes, truly, the day will come when Zeus, although stubborn of soul, shall be humbled, seeing that he plans a marriage that shall
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hurl him into oblivion from his sovereignty and throne; and then immediately the curse his father Cronus invoked as he fell from his ancient throne, shall be fulfilled to the uttermost. Deliverance from such ruin no one of the gods can show him clearly except me.
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I know the fact and the means. So let him sit there in his assurance, putting his trust in the crash reverberating on high and brandishing his fire-breathing bolt in his hands. For these shall not protect him from falling in ignominious and unendurable ruin.
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Such an adversary is he now preparing despite himself, a prodigy irresistible, even one who shall discover a flame mightier than the lightning and a deafening crash to outroar the thunder; a prodigy who shall shiver the trident,
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Poseidon’s spear, that scourge of the sea and shaker of the land.The poet adopts the legend that Poseidon was a rival with Zeus for the hand of Thetis, of whose son it had been prophesied by Themis that he should be mightier than his father. The prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Peleus’ son, Achilles.Then, wrecked upon this evil, Zeus shall learn how different it is to be a sovereign and a slave.
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Chorus
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Surely, it is only your own desire that you utter as a curse against Zeus.
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Prometheus
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I speak what shall be brought to pass and, moreover, my own desire.
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Chorus
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Must we really look for one to gain mastery over Zeus?
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Prometheus
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Yes, and he shall bear upon his neck pangs more galling than these of mine.
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Chorus
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How is it that you are not afraid to utter such taunts?
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Prometheus
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Why should I fear since I am fated not to die?
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Chorus
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But he might inflict on you an ordeal even more bitter than this.
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Prometheus
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Let him, for all I care! I am prepared for anything.
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Chorus
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Wise are they who do homage to Necessity.Adrasteia, the inescapable, another name of Nemesis, punished presumptuous words and excessive happiness.
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Prometheus
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Worship, adore, and fawn upon whoever is your lord. But for Zeus I care less than nothing. Let him do his will, let him hold his power
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for his little day— since he will not bear sway over the gods for long. But wait, for over there I see his messenger, the servant of our new lord and master. Certainly he has come to announce some news.
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Hermes
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To you, the clever and crafty, bitter beyond all bitterness,
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who has sinned against the gods in bestowing honors upon creatures of a day—to you, thief of fire, I speak. The Father commands that you tell what marriage you boast of, whereby he is to be hurled from power—and this, mark well, set forth in no riddling fashion,
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but point by point, as the case exactly stands; and do not impose upon me a double journey, Prometheus—you see Zeus is not appeased by dealings such as yours.
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Prometheus
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Bravely spoken, in truth, and swollen with pride is your speech, as befits a minion of the gods.
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Young you are, as young your power, and you think indeed that you inhabit heights beyond the reach of grief. Have I not seen two sovereigns cast out from these heights? A third, the present lord, I shall live to see cast out in ruin most shameful and most swift. Do you think
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I quail, perhaps, and cower before these upstart gods? Far from it—no, not at all. But scurry back the way you came; for you shall learn nothing about which you question me.
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Hermes
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Yet it was by such proud wilfulness before, too,
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that you brought yourself to this harbor of distress.
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Prometheus
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For your servitude, rest assured, I’d not barter my hard lot, not I.
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Hermes
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Better, no doubt, to serve this rock than be the trusted messenger of Father Zeus!
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Prometheus
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Such is the proper style for the insolent to offer insult.
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Hermes
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I think you revel in your present plight.
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Prometheus
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I revel? Oh, I wish that I might see my enemies revelling in this way! And you, too, I count among them.
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Hermes
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What! You blame me in some way for your calamities?
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Prometheus
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In one word, I hate all the gods that received good at my hands and with ill requite me wrongfully.
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Hermes
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Your words declare you stricken with no slight madness.
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Prometheus
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Mad I may be—if it is madness to loathe one’s enemies.
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Hermes
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You would be unbearable if you were prosperous.
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Prometheus
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Alas!
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Prometheus
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But ever-ageing Time teaches all things.
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Hermes
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Yes, but you at least have not yet learned to keep a sober mind.
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Prometheus
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Or else I would not have addressed you, an underling.
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Hermes
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It seems you will answer nothing that the Father demands.
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Prometheus
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Yes, truly, I am his debtor and I should repay favor to him.
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Hermes
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You taunt me as though, indeed, I were a child.
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Prometheus
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And are you not a child and even more witless than a child if you expect to learn anything from me? There is no torment or device by which
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Zeus shall induce me to utter this until these injurious fetters are loosed. So then, let his blazing lightning be hurled, and with the white wings of the snow and thunders of earthquake let him confound the reeling world.
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For nothing of this shall bend my will even to tell at whose hands he is fated to be hurled from his sovereignty.
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Hermes
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Look now whether this course seems to profit you.
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Prometheus
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Long ago has this my course been foreseen and resolved.
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Hermes
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Bend your will, perverse fool, oh bend your will at last
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to wisdom in face of your present sufferings.
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Prometheus
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In vain you trouble me, as though it were a wave you try to persuade. Never think that, through terror at the will of Zeus, I shall become womanish and, with hands upturned, aping woman’s ways,
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shall importune my greatly hated enemy to release me from these bonds. I am far, far from that.
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Hermes
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I think that by speaking much I will only speak in vain; for you are not soothed nor are you softened by my entreaties. You take the bit in your teeth like a new-harnessed
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colt and struggle against the reins. Yet it is a paltry device that prompts your vehemence, for in the foolish-minded mere self-will of itself avails less than anything at all. But if you will not be won to belief by my words,
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think of what a tempest and a towering wave of woe shall break upon you past escape. First, the Father will shatter this jagged cliff with thunder and lightning-flame, and will entomb your frame, while the rock shall still hold you clasped in its embrace.
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But when you have completed a long stretch of time, you shall come back again to the light. Then indeed the winged hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle, coming an unbidden banqueter the whole day long, with savage appetite shall tear your body piecemeal into great rents and feast his fill
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upon your liver until it is black with gnawing. Look for no term of this your agony until some god shall appear to take upon himself your woes and of his own free will descend into the sunless realm of Death and the dark deeps of Tartarus.
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Therefore be advised, since this is no counterfeited vaunting but utter truth; for the mouth of Zeus does not know how to utter falsehood, but will bring to pass every word. May you consider warily and reflect, and never deem
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stubbornness better than wise counsel.
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Chorus
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To us, at least, Hermes seems not to speak untimely; for he bids you to lay aside your stubbornness and seek the good counsel of wisdom. Be advised! It is shameful for the wise to persist in error.
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Prometheus
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No news to me, in truth, is the message this fellow has proclaimed so noisily.Yet for enemy to suffer ill from enemy is no disgrace. Therefore let the lightning’s forked curl be cast upon my head and let the sky
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be convulsed with thunder and the wrack of savage winds; let the hurricane shake the earth from its rooted base, and let the waves of the sea mingle with their savage surge the courses
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of the stars in heaven; and let him lift me on high and hurl me down to black Tartarus with the swirling floods of stern Necessity: do what he will, me he shall never bring to death.
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Hermes
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Such indeed are the thoughts and the words
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one hears from men deranged. Where does his prayer fall short of raving? Where does he abate his frenzy?—But, at all events, may you who sympathize with his anguish,
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withdraw in haste from this spot so that the relentless roar of the thunder does not stun your senses.
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Chorus
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Use some other strain and urge me to some other course in which you are likely to convince me. This utterance
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in your flood of speech is, I think, past all endurance. How do you charge me to practise baseness? With him I am content to suffer any fate; for I have learned to detest traitors, and there is no pest
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I abhor more than this.
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Hermes
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Well then, bear my warning in memory and do not blame your fortune when you are caught in the toils of calamity; nor ever say that it was Zeus who cast you
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into suffering unforeseen. Not so, but blame yourselves. For well forewarned, and not suddenly or secretly shall you be entangled in the inextricable net of calamity by reason of your folly. Exit
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Prometheus
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Indeed, now it has passed from word to deed—the earth rocks, the echoing thunder-peal from the depths rolls roaring past me; the fiery wreathed lightning-flashes flare forth, and whirlwinds toss the
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swirling dust; the blasts of all the winds leap forth and set in hostile array their embattled strife; the sky is confounded with the deep. Behold, this stormy turmoil advances against me visibly,
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sent by Zeus to frighten me. O holy mother mine, O you firmament that revolves the common light of all, you see the wrongs I suffer! Amid thunder and lightning Prometheus vanishes from sight; and with him disappear the daughters of Oceanus
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Chorus
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Who of the gods is so hard of heart as to exult in this? Who does not sympathize with your woes—save only Zeus? But he in malice, has set his soul inflexibly
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and keeps in subjection the race sprung from Uranus; nor will he stop, until he has satiated his soul or another seizes his impregnable empire by some device of guile.
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Chorus
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You are bold, and do not yield to your bitter pangs; you give too much license to your tongue. But my soul is agitated by piercing fear, and I am in dread about your fate,
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wondering to what haven you must steer your ship to see an end of your voyage of sorrow. For the heart of Cronus’ son is hardened against entreaty and his ways are inexorable.
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Chorus
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And those who dwell in the land of Colchis, the maidens fearless in fight; and the Scythian multitude that inhabits the most remote region of the earth bordering the Maeotic lake;
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Chorus
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And the warlike flower of Arabia, which hold the high-cragged citadel near the Caucasus, a hostile host that roars among the sharp-pointed spears.
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Chorus
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Come, my friend, how mutual was your reciprocity? Tell me, what kind of help is there in creatures of a day? What aid? Did you not see the helpless infirmity, no better than a dream, in which the blind
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generation of men is shackled? Never shall the counsels of mortal men transgress the ordering of Zeus.
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Chorus
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I have learned this lesson from observing the luck, Prometheus, that has brought about your ruin. And the difference in the song stole into my thought
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—this song and that, which, about your bridal bed and bath, I raised to grace your marriage, when you wooed with gifts
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and won my sister Hesione to be your wedded wife.
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Prometheus
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It is painful to me to tell the tale,
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Hermes
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Alas? That is a word unknown to Zeus.