Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (29 page)

CHORUS
[253]
A great
benefit was this you gave to mortals.

PROMETHEUS
[254]
In
addition, I gave them fire.

CHORUS
[255]
What! Do
creatures of a day now have flame-eyed fire?

PROMETHEUS
[256]
Yes, and
from it they shall learn many arts.

CHORUS
[257]
Then it
was on a charge like this that Zeus —

PROMETHEUS
[258]
Torments
me and in no way gives me respite from pain.

CHORUS
[259]
And is
there no end assigned to your ordeal?

PROMETHEUS
[260]
No, none
except when it seems good to him.

CHORUS
[261]
But how
will it seem good to him? What hope is there? Do you not see that you have
wronged? And yet it is not pleasant for me to talk about how you have wronged,
and for you it is pain. So, let us quit this theme; and may you seek some
release from your ordeal.

PROMETHEUS
[265]
It is easy
for him who keeps his foot free from harm to counsel and admonish him who is in
misery. I have known this all the while. Of my own will, yes, of my own will I
erred — I will not deny it. By helping mortals I found suffering for myself;
nevertheless I did not think I would be punished in this way — wasting away
upon cliffs in mid-air, my portion this desolate and dreary crag. And now,
bewail no more my present woes; alight on the ground and listen to my oncoming
fortunes so that you may be told them from end to end. Consent, I beg you, oh
consent. Take part in the trouble of him who is now in sore distress. In truth,
affliction wanders impartially abroad and alights upon all in turn.

CHORUS
[279]
Not to
unwilling ears have you made this appeal, Prometheus. And so now with light
foot I will quit my swift-speeding seat and the pure air, the pathway of birds
and draw near to this rugged ground; for I want to hear the whole story of your
sorrows.

[
Enter Oceanus
on a winged steed.
]

OCEANUS
[286]
I have come
to the end of a long journey in my passage to you, Prometheus, guiding by my
own will, without a bridle, this swift-winged bird. For your fate, you may be
sure, I feel compassion. Kinship, I think, constrains me to this; and, apart
from blood ties, there is none to whom I should pay greater respect than to
you. You shall know this for simple truth and that it is not in me to utter
vain and empty words; come, tell me; what aid can I render you? For you shall
never say that you have a friend more loyal than Oceanus.

PROMETHEUS
[300]
Ha! What
have we here? So then you too have come to stare upon my sufferings? How did
you summon courage to quit the stream that bears your name and the rock-roofed
caves you yourself have made and come to this land, the mother of iron? Is it
that you have come to gaze upon my state and join your grief to my distress?
Look upon me here — a spectacle, the friend of Zeus, who helped him to
establish his sovereign power, by what anguish I am bent by him!

OCEANUS
[309]
I see,
Prometheus; and I want to give you the best advice, although you yourself are
wily. Learn to know yourself and adapt yourself to new ways; for new also is
the ruler among the gods. If you hurl forth words so harsh and of such whetted
edge, perhaps Zeus may hear you, though throned far off, high in the heavens,
and then your present multitude of sorrows shall seem but childish sport. Oh
wretched sufferer! Put away your wrathful mood and try to find release from
these miseries. Perhaps this advice may seem to you old and dull; but your
plight, Prometheus, is only the wages of too boastful speech. You still have
not learned humility, nor do you bend before misfortune, but would rather add
even more miseries to those you have. Therefore take me as your teacher and do not
add insult to injury, seeing that a harsh monarch now rules who is accountable
to no one. So now I will depart and see whether I can release you from these
sufferings. And may you hold your peace and be not too blustering of speech.
Or, can it be that for all your exceeding wisdom, you do not know that
chastisement is inflicted on a wagging tongue?

PROMETHEUS
[332]
I envy you
because you have escaped blame for having dared to share with me in my
troubles. So now leave me alone and let it not concern you. Do what you want,
you cannot persuade him; for he is not easy to persuade. Beware that you do not
do yourself harm by the mission you take.

OCEANUS
[337]
In truth,
you are far better able to admonish others than yourself. It is by fact, not by
hearsay, that I judge. So do not hold back one who is eager to go. For I am
confident, yes, confident, that Zeus will grant me this favor, to free you from
your sufferings.

PROMETHEUS
[342]
I thank
you for all this and shall never cease to thank you; in zeal you lack nothing,
but do not trouble yourself; for your trouble will be vain and not helpful to
me — if indeed you want to take the pain. No, keep quiet and keep yourself
clear of harm. For even if I am in sore plight, I would not wish affliction on
everyone else. No, certainly, no! since, besides, I am distressed by the fate
of my brother Atlas, who, towards the west, stands bearing on his shoulders the
pillar of heaven and earth, a burden not easy for his arms to grasp. Pity moved
me, too, at the sight of the earth-born dweller of the Cilician caves curbed by
violence, that destructive monster of a hundred heads, impetuous Typhon. He
withstood all the gods, hissing out terror with horrid jaws, while from his
eyes lightened a hideous glare, as though he would storm by force the
sovereignty of Zeus. But the unsleeping bolt of Zeus came upon him, the
swooping lightning brand with breath of flame, which struck him, frightened,
from his loud-mouthed boasts; then, stricken to the very heart, he was burnt to
ashes and his strength blasted from him by the lightning bolt. And now, a
helpless and a sprawling bulk, he lies hard by the narrows of the sea, pressed
down beneath the roots of Aetna; while on the topmost summit Hephaestus sits
and hammers the molten ore. There, one day, shall burst forth rivers of fire,
with savage jaws devouring the level fields of Sicily, land of fair fruit — such
boiling rage shall Typho, although charred by the blazing lightning of Zeus,
send spouting forth with hot jets of appalling, fire-breathing surge.

[375]
But you are not
inexperienced, and do not need me to teach you. Save yourself, as you know
best; while I exhaust my present lot until the time comes when the mind of Zeus
shall abandon its wrath.

OCEANUS
[379]
Do you not
know then, Prometheus, that words are the physicians of a disordered temper?

PROMETHEUS
[381]
If one
softens the soul in season, and does not hasten to reduce its swelling rage by
violence.

OCEANUS
[383]
What
lurking mischief do you see when daring joins to zeal? Teach me this.

PROMETHEUS
[385]
Lost labor
and thoughtless simplicity.

OCEANUS
[386]
Leave me
to be affected by this, since it is most advantageous, when truly wise, to be
deemed a fool.

PROMETHEUS
[388]
This fault
will be seen to be my own.

OCEANUS
[389]
Clearly the
manner of your speech orders me back home.

PROMETHEUS
[390]
So that
you won’t win enmity for yourself by lamenting for me.

OCEANUS
[391]
In the
eyes of the one who is newly seated on his omnipotent throne?

PROMETHEUS
[392]
Beware
lest the time come when his heart is angered with you.

OCEANUS
[393]
Your
plight, Prometheus, is my instructor.

PROMETHEUS
[394]
Go away,
depart, keep your present purpose.

OCEANUS
[395]
Your
urging meets my eagerness; for my four-footed winged beast fans with his wings
the smooth pathway of the air; and truly he will be glad to rest his knees in
his stall at home.
[
Exit.
]

CHORUS
[399]
I mourn
your unfortunate fate, Prometheus. Shedding from my eyes a coursing flood of
tears I wet my tender cheeks with their moist streams. For Zeus, holding this
unenviable power by self-appointed laws, displays towards the gods of old an
overweening spirit.

[407]
Now the whole
earth cries aloud in lamentation; . . . lament the greatness of the glory of
your time-hallowed honor, the honor that was yours and your brother’s; and all
mortals who make their dwelling place in holy Asia share the anguish of your
most lamentable suffering; 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; 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.

[425]
One other Titan
god before this I have seen in distress, enthralled in torment by adamantine
bonds — Atlas, pre-eminent in mighty strength, who moans as he supports the
vault of heaven on his back. The waves of the sea utter a cry as they fall, the
deep laments, the black abyss of Hades rumbles in response, and the streams of
pure-flowing rivers lament your piteous pain.

PROMETHEUS
[436]
No, do not
think it is from pride or even from wilfulness that I am silent. Painful
thoughts devour my heart as I behold myself maltreated in this way. And yet who
else but I definitely assigned their prerogatives to these upstart gods? But I
do not speak of this; for my tale would tell you nothing except what you know.
Still, listen to the miseries that beset mankind — how they were witless before
and I made them have sense and endowed them with reason. I will not speak to
upbraid mankind but to set forth the friendly purpose that inspired my
blessing.

[447]
First of all,
though they had eyes to see, they saw to no avail; they had ears, but they did
not understand ; but, just as shapes in dreams, throughout their length of
days, without purpose they wrought all things in confusion. They had neither
knowledge of houses built of bricks and turned to face the sun nor yet of work
in wood; but dwelt beneath the ground like swarming ants, in sunless caves.
They had no sign either of winter or of flowery spring or of fruitful summer,
on which they could depend but managed everything without judgment, until I
taught them to discern the risings of the stars and their settings, which are
difficult to distinguish.

[459]
Yes, and
numbers, too, chiefest of sciences, I invented for them, and the combining of
letters, creative mother of the Muses’ arts, with which to hold all things in
memory. I, too, first brought brute beasts beneath the yoke to be subject to
the collar and the pack-saddle, so that they might bear in men’s stead their
heaviest burdens; and to the chariot I harnessed horses and made them obedient
to the rein, to be an image of wealth and luxury. It was I and no one else who
invented the mariner’s flaxen-winged car that roams the sea. Wretched that I am
— such are the arts I devised for mankind, yet have myself no cunning means to
rid me of my present suffering.

CHORUS
[472]
You have
suffered sorrow and humiliation. You have lost your wits and have gone astray;
and, like an unskilled doctor, fallen ill, you lose heart and cannot discover
by which remedies to cure your own disease.

PROMETHEUS
[477]
Hear the
rest and you shall wonder the more at the arts and resources I devised. This
first and foremost: if ever man fell ill, there was no defence — no healing
food, no ointment, nor any drink — but for lack of medicine they wasted away,
until I showed them how to mix soothing remedies with which they now ward off
all their disorders. And I marked out many ways by which they might read the
future, and among dreams I first discerned which are destined to come true; and
voices baffling interpretation I explained to them, and signs from chance
meetings. The flight of crook-taloned birds I distinguished clearly — which by
nature are auspicious, which sinister — their various modes of life, their
mutual feuds and loves, and their consortings; and the smoothness of their
entrails, and what color the gall must have to please the gods, also the
speckled symmetry of the liver-lobe; and the thigh-bones, wrapped in fat, and
the long chine I burned and initiated mankind into an occult art. Also I
cleared their vision to discern signs from flames,which were obscure before
this. Enough about these arts. Now as to the benefits to men that lay concealed
beneath the earth — bronze, iron, silver, and gold — who would claim to have
discovered them before me? No one, I know full well, unless he likes to babble
idly. Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every
art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.

CHORUS
[507]
Do not
benefit mortals beyond reason and disregard your own distress; although, I am
confident that you will be freed from these bonds and will have power in no way
inferior to Zeus.

PROMETHEUS
[511]
Not in
this way is Fate, who brings all to fulfillment, destined to complete this
course. Only when I have been bent by pangs and tortures infinite am I to
escape my bondage. Skill is weaker by far than Necessity.

CHORUS
[515]
Who then
is the helmsman of Necessity?

PROMETHEUS
[516]
The
three-shaped Fates and mindful Furies.