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    Prometheus Bound
    Prometheus Bound
    Prometheus Bound
    Ebook59 pages48 minutes

    Prometheus Bound

    By Aeschylus

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Kratos (Strength), Bia (violence), and the smith-god Hephaestus chain the Titan Prometheus to a mountain in the Caucasus. Prometheus is being punished not only for stealing fire, but also for thwarting Zeus's plan to obliterate the human race. This punishment is especially galling since Prometheus was instrumental in Zeus's victory in the Titanomachy.
    Prometheus Bound enjoyed a measure of popularity in antiquity and Aeschylus was very popular in Athens decades after his death. In the early 19th century, the Romantic writers came to identify with the defiant Prometheus. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a poem on the theme, as did Lord Byron. Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a play, Prometheus Unbound, which used some of the materials of the play as a vehicle for Shelley's own vision.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSynapse Publishing
    Release dateMay 29, 2019
    ISBN9788834126325

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      Book preview

      Prometheus Bound - Aeschylus

      PROMETHEUS BOUND

      Aeschylus

      Translated by E.D.A. Morshead

      © 2019 Synapse Publishing

      ARGUMENT

      In the beginning, Ouranos and Gaia held sway over Heaven and Earth. And manifold children were born unto them, of whom were Cronos, and Okeanos, and the Titans, and the Giants. But Cronos cast down his father Ouranos, and ruled in his stead, until Zeus his son cast him down in his turn, and became King of Gods and men. Then were the Titans divided, for some had good will unto Cronos, and others unto Zeus; until Prometheus, son of the Titan lapetos, by wise counsel, gave the victory to Zeus. But Zeus held the race of mortal men in scorn, and was fain to destroy them from the face of the earth; yet Prometheus loved them, and gave secretly to them the gift of fire, and arts whereby they could prosper upon the earth. Then was Zeus sorely angered with Prometheus, and bound him upon a mountain, and afterward overwhelmed him in an earthquake, and devised other torments against him for many ages; yet could he not slay Prometheus, for he was a God.

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

        STRENGTH AND FORCE.

        HEPHAESTUS.

        PROMETHEUS.

        CHORUS OF SEA-NYMPHS,

        DAUGHTERS OF OCEANUS.

        OCEANUS.

        IO.

        HERMES.

              Scene—A rocky ravine in the mountains of Scythia.

      STRENGTH

        Lo, the earth's bound and limitary land,

        The Scythian steppe, the waste untrod of men!

        Look to it now, Hephaestus—thine it is,

        Thy Sire obeying, this arch-thief to clench

        Against the steep-down precipice of rock,

        With stubborn links of adamantine chain.

        Look thou: thy flower, the gleaming plastic fire,

        He stole and lent to mortal man—a sin

        That gods immortal make him rue to-day,

        Lessoned hereby to own th' omnipotence

        Of Zeus, and to repent his love to man!

      HEPHAESTUS

        O Strength and Force, for you the best of Zeus

        Stands all achieved, and nothing bars your will:

        But I—I dare not bind to storm-vext cleft

        One of our race, immortal as are we.

        Yet, none the less, necessity constrains,

        For Zeus, defied, is heavy in revenge!

                                                  (To PROMETHEUS)

        O deep-devising child of Themis sage,

        Small will have I to do, or thou to bear,

        What yet we must. Beyond the haunt of man

        Unto this rock, with fetters grimly forged,

        I must transfix and shackle up thy limbs,

        Where thou shalt mark no voice nor human form,

        But, parching in the glow and glare of sun,

        Thy body's flower shall suffer a sky-change;

        And gladly wilt thou hail the hour when Night

        Shall in her starry robe invest the day,

        Or when the Sun shall melt the morning rime.

        But, day or night, for ever shall the load

        Of wasting agony, that may not pass,

        Wear thee away; for know, the womb of Time

        Hath not conceived a power to set thee free.

        Such meed thou hast, for love toward mankind

        For thou, a god defying wrath of gods,

        Beyond the ordinance didst champion men,

        And for reward shalt keep a sleepless watch,

        Stiff-kneed, erect, nailed to this dismal rock,

        With manifold laments and useless

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