456 BC

PROMETHEUS BOUND

by Aeschylus

translated by G.M. Cookson

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY -

KRATOS

BIA

HEPHAESTUS

PROMETHEUS

CHORUS OF THE OCEANIDES

OCEANUS

IO

HERMES

PROMETHEUS BOUND -

Mountainous country, and in the middle of a deep gorge a Rock, towards which KRATOS and BIA carry the gigantic form of PROMETHEUS. HEPHAESTUS follows dejectedly with hammer, nails, chains, etc. -

KRATOS

Now have we journeyed to a spot of earth

Remote- the Scythian wild, a waste untrod.

And now, Hephaestus, thou must execute

The task our father laid on thee, and fetter

This malefactor to the jagged rocks

In adamantine bonds infrangible;

For thine own blossom of all forging fire

He stole and gave to mortals; trespass grave

For which the Gods have called him to account,

That he may learn to bear Zeus' tyranny

And cease to play the lover of mankind. -

HEPHAESTUS

Kratos and Bia, for ye twain the hest

Of Zeus is done with; nothing lets you further.

But forcibly to bind a brother God,

In chains, in this deep chasm raked by all storms

I have not courage; yet needs must I pluck

Courage from manifest necessity,

For woe worth him that slights the Father's word.

O high-souled son of Themis sage in counsel,

With heavy heart I must make thy heart heavy,

In bonds of brass not easy to be loosed,

Nailing thee to this crag where no wight dwells,

Nor sound of human voice nor shape of man

Shall visit thee; but the sun-blaze shall roast

Thy flesh; thy hue, flower-fair, shall suffer change;

Welcome will Night be when with spangled robe

She hides the light of day; welcome the sun

Returning to disperse the frosts of dawn.

And every hour shall bring its weight of woe

To wear thy heart away; for yet unborn

Is he who shall release thee from thy pain.

This is thy wage for loving humankind.

For, being a God, thou dared'st the Gods' ill will,

Preferring, to exceeding honour, Man.

Wherefore thy long watch shall be comfortless,

Stretched on this rock, never to close an eye

Or bend a knee; and vainly shalt thou lift,

With groanings deep and lamentable cries,

Thy voice; for Zeus is hard to be entreated,

As new-born power is ever pitiless. -

KRATOS

Enough! Why palter? Why wast idle pity?

Is not the God Gods loathe hateful to thee?

Traitor to man of thy prerogative? -

HEPHAESTUS

Kindred and fellowship are dreaded names. -

KRATOS

Questionless; but to slight the Father's word-

How sayest thou? Is not this fraught with more dread? -

HEPHAESTUS

Thy heart was ever hard and overbold. -

KRATOS

But wailing will not ease him! Waste no pains

Where thy endeavour nothing profiteth. -

HEPHAESTUS

Oh execrable work! loathed handicraft! -

KRATOS

Why curse thy trade? For what thou hast to do,

Troth, smithcraft is in no wise answerable. -

HEPHAESTUS

Would that it were another's craft, not mine! -

KRATOS

Why, all things are a burden save to rule

Over the Gods; for none is free but Zeus. -

HEPHAESTUS

To that I answer not, knowing it true. -

KRATOS

Why, then, make haste to cast the chains about him,

Lest glancing down on thee the Father's eye