Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (32 page)
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Authors: Aeschylus
PROMETHEUS
[1001]
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, shall importune my greatly hated enemy to release
me from these bonds. I am far, far from that.
HERMES
[1007]
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 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, 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. 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 upon your liver until it is black with gnawing.
[1026]
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.
[1030]
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 stubbornness better
than wise counsel.
CHORUS
[1036]
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.
PROMETHEUS
[1040]
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 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
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.
HERMES
[1054]
Such
indeed are the thoughts and the words 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, withdraw in haste from this
spot so that the relentless roar of the thunder does not stun your senses.
CHORUS
[1063]
Use some
other strain and urge me to some other course in which you are likely to
convince me. This utterance 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 I abhor more
than this.
HERMES
[1071]
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
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 Hermes.
]
PROMETHEUS
[1080]
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 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, 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.
]
THE SURVIVING
TITLES OF AESCHYLUS’ PLAY
S
Seventy-three of
the under-mentioned titles appear in the list of the dramas that is found in
the Medicean manuscript.
. Agamemnôn.
. Athamas.
3. Aigyptioi.
. Aitnaiai (gnêsioi).
. Aitnaiai (nothoi).
6. Alkmênê.
. Amymônê.
. Argeioi or Argeiai.
. Argô ê Kôpastês.
10. Atalantê.
. Bakchai.
. Bassarai.
. Glaukos pontios.
. Glaukos Potnieus.
. Danaïdes.
16. Diktyoulkoi.
17. Dionysou trophoi (or Troiphoi).
. Eleusinioi.
. Epigonoi.
. Hepta epi Thêbas.
. Eumenides.
. Êdônoi.
. Hêliades
. Hêrakleidai.
. Thalamopoioi.
. Theôroi ê Isthmiastai.
. Thrêssai.
. Hiereiai.
. Hiketides.
. Ixiôn.
. Iphigeneia.
. Kabeiroi.
33. Kallistô.
. Kares ê Eurôpê.
. Kerkyôn.
. Kêrykes.
37. Kirkê.
. Krêssai.
39. [Kyknos.]
40. Laïos.
. Leôn.
42. Lêmnioi or Lêmniai.
. Lykourgos.
. Memnôn.
. Myrmidones.
. Mysoi.
. Neaniskoi.
48. Nemea.
. Nêreïdes.
. Niobê.
. Xantriai.
. Oidipous.
. Hoplôn krisis.
. Ostologoi.
. Palamêdês.
. Pentheus.
. Perrhaibides.
58. Persai.
. Pênelopê.
60. Polydektês.
. Promêtheus desmôtês.
. Promêtheus lyomenos.
. Promêtheus pyrkaeus.
. Promêtheus pyrphoros.
65. Propompoi.
. Prôteus.
. Salaminiai.
68. Semelê ê Hydrophoroi.
. Sisyphos drapetês.
. Sisyphos petrokylistês.
. Sphinx.
. Têlephos.
. Toxotides.
74. Hypsipylê.
. Philoktêtês.
. Phineus.
. Phorkides.
. Phryges ê Hektoros lytra.
79. Phrygioi.
. Choêphoroi.
. Psychagôgoi.
82. Psychostasia.
. Ôreithyia.
1. Not mentioned in the
Katalogos
tôn Aischulou dramatôn
.
2. No identified fragment is extant.
3. No identified fragment forming an entire verse is extant.
4. The two plays of this name are not to be distinguished in the extant
fragments.
5. Alternative titles are due to Alexandrian scholars whose explanatory
designations sought to avoid confusion between dramas of the same name. Where
such alternative titles occur, that denoting the Chorus is presumably older
than that denoting a principal personage or the subject matter of the play.
6. The descriptive epithet added after a title may be due to Alexandrian
scholars, who sought thereby to distinguish dramas of the same name.
Satyric plays attested:
Kerkuôn,
Kêrukes, Kirkê, Leôn, Lukourgos, Promêtheus (purkaeus), Prôteus, Sphinx.
Possibly satiric are:
Amumônê, Glaukos pontios, Kallistô, Kabeiroi,
Xantriai, Sisuphos drapetês, Phorkides.
Tetralogies attested:
1. (472 B.C.)
Phineus, Persai, Glaukos (Potnieus), Promêtheus (purkaeus).
2. (467 B.C.)
Laïos, Oidipous, Epta epi Thêbas, Sphinx.
3.
Lukourgeia
:
êdônoi, Bassarai, Neaniskoi, Lukourgos.
4.
Oresteia
(458 B.C.):
Agamemnôn, Choêphoroi, Eumenides, Prôteus.
By reason of the
myth or of other indication of connexion between their several members, the
following groups may be assumed with some probability. (The order within the
group is often uncertain.)
Iketides, Aiguptioi, Danaïdes,
Amumônê
(satiric).
Psuchagôgoi, Ostrologoi, Pênelopê, Kirkê
(satyric).
Promêtheus desmoôtes, Promêtheus luomenos, Promêtheus purphoros
.
Hoplôn krisis, Thrêssai, Salaminiai.
Murmidones, Nêreïdes, Phruges ê Hektoros lutra.
Argô, Lêmnioi
(
Lêmniai
?),
Hupsipulê, Kabeiroi
(satyric
?).
Eleusinioi, Argeioi
(
Argeiai
?),
Epigonoi.
Diktuolkoi, Poludektês, Phorkides.
Memnôn, Psuchostasia
Perraibides, Ixiôn.
Musoi, Têlephos.
Theban legends of Dionysus seem to
have formed the subject of no less than five plays :
Semelê ê Hudrophoroi,
Dionusos trophoi
(or
Trophoi
),
Bakchai, Xantriai, Pentheus
. The
Argument to Euripides’ Bakchai asserts that the story of that drama had been
handled in
Pentheus
.
To reduce the number of these Dionysus-plays to the compass of a trilogy or
tetralogy, various expedients have been proposed:
1. To seek other connexions for
Dionusos
trophoi
and assume a tetralogy consisting of
Semelê ê Hudrophoroi,
Bakchai, Pentheus, Xantriai
(satiric).
2. To regard
Bakchai
as an alternative name for
Pentheus
, or for
Xantriai
(not satiric), or even for
Bassarai
.
3. To make
Bakchai
the title of the group
Semelê ê Hudrophoroi,
Pentheus, Xantriai
.
4. To make
Pentheus
the name of the trilogy
Semelê ^h Hudrophoroi,
Bakchai, Xantriai
.