Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus Roberts Deborah

Author:Aeschylus, Roberts, Deborah [Roberts, Deborah H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60384-864-0
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 2012-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

Children of Tethys

with her many young,

and of Ocean, who circles

[150] the whole of the earth

with unsleeping stream:11

look here and see

the fetters that pin me

to this chasm’s high crags,

[155] the unenviable watch

I will keep.

CHORUS:

[Antistrophe 1]

I look at you, Prometheus, and a mist

of frightened tears comes to my eyes,

to see your body as it lies

[160] here withering against this rocky cliff,

misused, in chains you cannot break.

New helmsmen guide Olympus now;

Zeus rules ungoverned, with new law,

and brings to nothing all that once was great.

PROMETHEUS:

[165] If only he had sent me

under the earth,

far below Hades

who harbors the dead,

down to the limitless

[170] depths of Tartarus12

in cruel chains

that can’t be broken,

so no god—or other—

could have gloated at this.

[175] As it is, I hang here

swaying in the air,

my pain a delight to my enemies.

CHORUS:

[Strophe 2]

What god is so hard-hearted that he finds

delight in this? Who wouldn’t share your sorrow—

[180] except for Zeus?

In constant anger and with unbending mind

he subjugates Heaven’s children.13

He will not stop

until he satiates his heart

[185] or someone wins his kingdom (hard to win)

by violence or by art.

PROMETHEUS:

In fact he will need me,

abused though I am

and held in strong fetters.

[190] The lord of the happy

will need me still

to reveal the new plan

by which he will be stripped

of scepter and standing.

[195] He will not enchant me

with persuasion’s sweet charms,

and I will not flinch

at his hard threats

or declare what I know

[200] until he releases me

from these cruel bonds

and pays what is due

for this outrage.

CHORUS:

[Antistrophe 2]

You are full of confidence, and don’t give way

[205] to bitter agony; you speak too freely.

Side-piercing fear

provokes my heart to anger and dismay.

I’m frightened of what may happen:

when will you see

[210] the end of trouble, safe in port?

The ways of Cronus’ son14 are out of reach;

no words can move his heart.

PROMETHEUS:

I know Zeus is harsh,

and makes justice his own.

[215] Still, I think, once broken,

he will prove easygoing,

and calm his temper’s

rough seas, and come

to join me in friendship,

[220] as eager as I am.

CHORUS LEADER:

Uncover everything and let us know

the charge on which Zeus seized you. Why does he

inflict such bitter pain and such disgrace?

Tell us: unless to tell will somehow harm you.

PROMETHEUS:

[225] It hurts me even to speak about these things,

but it hurts to keep quiet: misfortune on all sides.

Back when the gods first started to get angry15

and civil war sprang up, one party wanted

to unseat Cronus and to throw him out—

[230] so Zeus could reign, of course—but others urged

the reverse: that Zeus should never rule the gods.

I gave the best advice, but failed to persuade

the Titans, children of Heaven and of Earth.

They despised my wily schemes, they were so sure

[235] it would be no trouble to gain power by force.

But more than once my mother, Themis, the Earth,

one being with many names, had given me

a prophecy of what would come to be:

that strength and force were worthless, and that those

[240] superior in trickery would win.

But even though I explained this carefully,

they didn’t think it worth consideration.

Of my alternatives this was the best:

to take my mother with me and join Zeus.

[245] I was a welcome and a willing aide.

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