>:^ 
 
 \-v;fk-PROMETHEU-S-.
 
 REG. U. S. PAT OFF. 
 
 oO
 
 prom 
 
 ^schylos 
 From the bust iu the capito], Rome
 
 [prometbeus Bounb 
 
 CranelatcD from tbe ©rech of 
 
 aC9Cb^l09 
 
 3Bb 
 
 IB. lb. ipiumptre, S).S)» 
 
 '?^^1. 
 
 
 Tlew lt?orft an^ Xondon 
 
 <5. ip. putnam'6 Sons 
 
 Ube Unfcfterbocftcr preas
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 2057148
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 In the old time, when Cronos was sovereign of 
 the Gods, Zeus, whom he had begotten, rose 
 up against hitn^ and the Gods were divided 
 in their counsels, soniey the Titaiis chiefly, 
 siding with the father^ and some with the 
 son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or 
 Themis, though one of the Titans^ sup- 
 ported Zeus, as did also Okeanos, and by 
 his counsels Zeus obtaijied the victory, and 
 Cronos was chained in Tartar os, and the 
 Tita?is buried under mountains, or kept in 
 bonds in Hades. And then Prometheus, 
 seeing the miseries of the race of men, of 
 whom Zeus took little heed, stole the fire 
 which till then had belonged to none but 
 HephcEstos and was used only for the Gods, 
 and gave it to ma?ikind, and taught them 
 many arts luhereby their wretchedness was 
 lessened. But Zeus being wroth with Pro- 
 metheus for this deed, sent Hephcpstos^ 
 ivith his two helpers, Strength and Force, 
 to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos, 
 
 And in yet another story was the cruelty 
 of the Gods made known. For Zeus loved 
 3
 
 4 iprometbeus JSounD 
 
 /<?, the daughter of Inachos, king o/Argos, 
 and she zuas haunted by virions of the 
 night, telling her of his passion, and she 
 told her father thereof. And Inachos, 
 sending to tlie God at Delphi, was told to 
 drive lo forth from her home. And Zeus 
 gave her the horns of a cow, and Hera, 
 who hated her because she was dear to 
 Zeus, sent with her a gadfly that stung her, 
 and gave her no rest, and drove her over 
 many lands. 
 
 iVi?^^— The play is believed to have been the second 
 of a Trilogy, of which the first was Prometheus the 
 Fire-giver^ and the third Prometheus Unbound. 
 
 f
 
 Dramatis ipersona^. 
 
 Promethkus. 
 
 Okeanos. 
 
 Heph^stos. 
 
 Hermes. 
 
 Strength. 
 
 Force. 
 
 Chorus of Ocean Nymphs,
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Scene. — Skythia, 07i the heights of Caucasos. 
 The Euxine seen in the distance. 
 
 Enter Heph^stos, Strength, and Force, 
 leading Prometheus in chains} 
 
 Strength. Lol to a plain, earth's boundary 
 
 remote, 
 We now are come, — the tract as Skythian 
 
 known, 
 A desert inaccessible : and now, 
 Hephyestos, it is thine to do the bests 
 The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags 
 To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains 
 Of adamantine bonds that none can break ; 
 For he thy choice flower stealing, the bright 
 
 glory 
 Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it 
 On mortal men. And so for fault like this 
 He now must pay the Gods due penalty. 
 That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule 
 Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy. 
 
 See note i on page 63.
 
 8 prometbcus JSounD 
 
 Heph. O Strength, and thou, O Force, the 
 hest of Zeus, 
 As far as touches you, attains its end, 
 And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails 
 To bind a God of mine own kin by force 
 To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep ; 
 And yet I needs must muster courage for it : 
 'Tis no slight thing the Father's words to scorn. 
 
 thou of Themis \to Promutheus] wise iu 
 
 counsel son, 
 Full deep of purpose, lo ! against my will,^ 
 
 1 fetter thee against thy will with bonds 
 
 Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height, 
 Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of 
 
 man, 
 But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun, 
 Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt 
 
 long 
 For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen, 
 For sun to melt the rime of early dawn ; 
 And evermore the weight of present ill 
 Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he 
 Who shall release thee : this the fate thou 
 
 gain'st 
 As due reward for thy philanthropy. 
 For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods, 
 In thy transgression gav'st their power to men ; 
 And therefore on this rock of little ease 
 
 See note 2 on page 63.
 
 promctbeus JBounO 9 
 
 Tiiou still sbalt keep thy watch, nor lyin^ down, 
 Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee ; 
 And many groans and wailmgs profitless 
 Tiiy lips shall utter ; for the mind of Zeus 
 Remains inexorable. Who holds a power 
 But newly gained^ is ever stern of mood. 
 
 Streyigth. Let be ! Why linger in this idle pity ? 
 Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe, 
 Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men ? 
 Heph. Strange is the power of kin and 
 
 intercourse.* 
 Strength. I own it ; yet to slight the Father's 
 words, 
 How may that be ? Is not that fear the worse ? 
 Heph. St 11 art thou ruthless, full of 
 
 savagery. 
 Strength, There is no help in weeping 
 over him: 
 Spend not thy toil on things that profit not. 
 Heph. O handicraft to me intolerable ! 
 Strength. Why loath'st thou it? Of these 
 thy present griefs 
 That craft of thme is not one whit the cause. 
 Heph. And yet I would some other had 
 
 that skill. 
 Strength, All things bring toil except 
 for Gods to reign; s 
 
 See notes 3, 4, and 5 on page 63.
 
 lo iprometbcus BounD 
 
 For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true. 
 Heph. Too well I see the proof, and gainsay 
 
 not. 
 Strength. Wilt thou not speed to fix the 
 chains on him, 
 Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here ? 
 Heph. Well, here the handcuffs thou 
 
 may'st see prepared. 
 Strength. In thine hands take him. Then 
 
 with all thy might 
 Strike with thine hammer ; nail him to the 
 
 rocks. 
 Heph. The work goes on, I ween, and not in 
 
 vain. 
 Strength. Strike harder, rivet, give no whit 
 of ease : 
 A wondrous knack has he to find resource. 
 Even where all might seem to baffle him. 
 Heph. Lo ! this his arm is fixed inextrica- 
 bly. 
 Strength. Now rivet thou this other fast, 
 that he 
 May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is 
 duller. 
 Heph. No one but he could justly blame my 
 
 work. 
 Strength. Now drive the stern jaw of the 
 adamant wedge 
 Right through his chest with all the strength 
 thou hast.
 
 Iprometbeus JBounD n 
 
 Heph. Ah me ! Prometheus, for thy woes I 
 
 groan. 
 Strength. Again, thou 'rt loth, and for the 
 foes of Zeus 
 Thou groanest : take good heed to it lest thou 
 Kre long with cause thyself commiserate. 
 Heph. Thou see'st a sight unsightly to our 
 
 eyes. 
 Strength. I see this man obtaining his de- 
 serts : 
 Nay, cast thy breast-chains round about his ribs. 
 Heph. I must needs doit. Spare thine o'er 
 much bidding ; 
 Go thou below and rivet both his legs, « 
 
 StreJigth. Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to 
 
 thy work. 
 Heph. There it is done, and that with no long 
 
 toil. 
 Strength. Now with thy full power fix the 
 galling fetters ; 
 Thou hast a steru o'erlooker of thy work. 
 
 Heph. Thy tongue but utters words that 
 
 match thy form, i 
 Strength. Choose thou the melting mood ; 
 but chide not me 
 For my selfwill and wrath and ruthlessness. 
 Heph. Now let us go, h:s limbs are bound 
 in chains. 
 
 See notes 6 and 7 on page 63,
 
 12 iprometbeua :ffiounD 
 
 Strength. Here then wax proud, and stealing 
 what belongs 
 To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can 
 
 they 
 Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes ? 
 Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name, 
 Prometheus, Forethought ; forethought thou 
 
 dost need 
 To free thyself from this rare handiwork. 
 
 \^Exeunt Heph^stos, Strength, afid 
 Force, leaving Prometheus on the rock. 
 Prom^ Thou firmament of God, and swift- 
 winged w!ncs. 
 Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves 
 That smile innumerous ! Mother of us all, 
 
 Earth, and Sun's all- seeing eye, behold, 
 
 1 pray, what I a God from Gods endure. 
 
 Behold in wh '^ '"oi! rase 
 
 I for ten thousand years 
 
 Shall struggle in my woe, 
 
 In these unseemly chains. 
 Such doom the new-made Monarch of the Blest 
 
 Hath now devised for me. 
 Woe, woe ! The present and the oncoming pang 
 
 I wail, as I search out 
 The place and hour when end of all these ills 
 
 Shall dawn on me at last. 
 
 See note 8 on page 64.
 
 prometbeuB JBounO 13 
 
 What say I ? All too clearly I foresee 
 
 The things that come, and nou;-^ht of pain shall 
 
 be 
 By me unlooked-for ; but I needs must bear 
 My destiny as best I may, knowing well 
 Tlie might resistless of Necessity. 
 And neither may I speak of this my fate, 
 Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through 
 
 giving 
 Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made 
 In these fast fetters ; yea, in fennel stalk' 
 I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire, 
 Which is to men a teacher of all arts, 
 Their chief resource. And now this penalty 
 Of that offence I pay, fast riveted 
 In chains beneath the open firmament. 
 
 Ha! ha! What now? 
 What sound, what odour floats invisibly ? '° 
 Is it of (iod or man, or blending both ? 
 And has one come to this remotest rock 
 To look upon my woes ? Or what wills he ? 
 Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed, 
 
 The foe of Zeus, and held 
 
 In hatred by all Gods 
 
 Who tread the courts of Zeus : 
 
 And this for my great love. 
 
 Too great, for mortal men. 
 
 Ah me! what rustling sounds 
 
 See notes 9 and 10 on page T4.
 
 14 iprometbeus :©ounD 
 
 Hear I of birds not far ? 
 
 With the light whirr of wings 
 
 The air re-echoeth : 
 All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear, n 
 Enter Chorus <?/" Ocean Nj^mphs, with wings, 
 
 floating in the air " 
 Chor. Nay, fear thou nought : in love 
 
 All our array of wings 
 
 In eager race hath come 
 To this high peak, full hardly gaining o'er 
 
 Our Father's miud and will ; 
 And the swift-rushing breezes bore me on : 
 Forlo! the echoing sound of blows on iron 
 Pierced to our cave's recess, and put to flight 
 
 My shamefast modesty. 
 And I in unshod haste, on winged car, 
 
 To thee rushed hitherward. 
 Prom, Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child, 
 Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls 
 Round all the earth with never-sleeping stream. 
 
 Behold ye me, and see 
 
 With what chains fettered fast, 
 I on the topmost crags of this ravine 
 Shall keep my sentry-post unenviable. 
 
 Chor. I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist 
 Of fear and full of tears comes o'er mine eyes. 
 
 Thy fame beholding thus, 
 
 See notes ii and 12 on page 64.
 
 prometbeus JGounD 15 
 
 Writhing on these high recks 
 
 In adamantine ills. 
 New pilots now o'er high Olympos rule, 
 
 And with new-fashioned laws 
 
 Zeus reigns, down-trampling right. 
 And all the ancient powers He sweeps away. 
 Prom, Ah ! would that 'neath the Earth, 
 'neath Hades, too. 
 Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros 
 Unfathomable He in fetters fast 
 
 In wrath had hurled me down : 
 
 So neither had a God 
 Nor any other mocked at these my woes ; 
 But now, the wretched plaything of the winds, 
 I suffer ill at which my foes rejoice. 
 
 Chor. Nay, which of all the Gods 
 Is so hard-hearted as to joy in this ? 
 Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee 
 
 In these thine ills ? But He, 
 
 Ruthless, with soul unbent, 
 Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease.*' 
 Until his heart be satiate with power 
 Or some one seize with subtle stratagem 
 The sovran might that so resistless seemed. 
 Proin. Nay, of a truth, though put to evil 
 shame. 
 
 In massive fetters bound, 
 
 The Ruler of the Gods 
 
 See note 13 on page 64.
 
 i6 prometbeus SounD 
 
 Shall yet have need of me, yes, e'en of me, 
 
 To tell the counsel new 
 
 That seeks to strip from him 
 His sceptre and his might of sovereignty. 
 
 In vain will He with words 
 
 Or suasion's honeyed charms 
 
 Sooth me, nor will I tell 
 
 Through fear of his stern threats, 
 
 Ere He shall set me free 
 
 From these my bonds, and make, 
 
 Of his own choice, amends 
 
 For all these outrages. 
 Chor. Full rash art thou, and yield'st 
 In not a jot to bitterest form of woe ; 
 Thou art o'er-free and reckless in thy speech 
 
 But piercing fear hath stirred 
 
 My inmost soul to strife ; 
 For I fear greatly touching thy distress, 
 As to what haven of these woes of thine 
 Thou now must steer : the son of Cronos hath 
 
 A stubborn mood and heart inexorable. 
 Prom. I know that Zeus is hard, 
 And keeps the Right supremely to himself ; 
 
 But then, I trow, He '11 be 
 
 Full pliant in h:s will, 
 
 When He is thus crushed down. 
 
 Then, calming down his mood 
 
 Of hard and bitter wrath, 
 
 He '11 hasten unto me,
 
 IPromecbeus JBounD 17 
 
 As I to bim shall haste, 
 
 For friendship and for peace. 
 Chor. Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale : 
 I'or vvhat offence Zeus, having seized thee thus, 
 vSo wantonly and bitterly insults thee : 
 If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us. 
 
 Prom. Painful are these things to me e'en to 
 
 speak ; 
 Painful is silence ; everywhere is woe. 
 For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath. 
 And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred, 
 Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne. 
 That Zeus, forsooth, might reign ; while others 
 
 strove, 
 Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods : 
 Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade 
 The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth, 
 Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts. 
 With counsels violent, they thought that they 
 By force would gain full easy mastery. 
 But then not once or twice my mother Themis 
 And Earth, one form though bearing many 
 
 names, »♦ 
 Ha I prophesied the future, how ' t would run, 
 That not by strength nor yet by violence, 
 But guile, should those who prospered gain the 
 
 day. 
 And when in my words I this counsel gave. 
 
 See note 14 on page 64. 
 
 f
 
 i8 iprometbeus JBounD 
 
 They deigned not e'en to glance at it at all. 
 And then of all that offered, it seemed best 
 To join my mother, and of mine own will, 
 Not against his will, take my side wnth Zeus, 
 And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit 
 Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds. 
 Himself and his allies. Thus profiting 
 By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods 
 Repays me with these evil penalties : 
 For somehow this disease in sovereignty 
 Inheres, of never trusting to one's friends, u 
 And since ye ask me under what pretence 
 He thus maltreats me, I will show it you : 
 For as soon as He upon his father's throne 
 Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods 
 He divers gifts distributed, and his realm 
 Began to order. But of mortal men 
 He took no heed, but purposed utterly 
 To crush their race and plant another new ; 
 And, I excepted, none dared cross his will ; 
 But I did dare, and mortal men I fread 
 From passing on to Hades thunder-stricken ; 
 And therefore am I bound beneath these woes, 
 Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see : 
 And I, who in my pity thought of men 
 More than myself, have not been worthy 
 
 deemed 
 To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly 
 
 See note 15 on page 65.
 
 IPrometbcus JGounD 19 
 
 I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to 
 
 Zeus, 
 Chor. Iron-hearted must he be and made of 
 
 rock 
 Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes : 
 I'ain could I wish I ne'er had seen such 
 
 things, 
 And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart. 
 Prom, Yea, I am piteous for my friends to 
 
 see. 
 Chor. Did'st thou not go to farther lengths 
 
 than this ? 
 Prom. I made men cease from contemplat- 
 ing death. >6 
 Chor. What medicine did'st thou find for 
 
 that disease ? 
 Prom. Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell 
 
 with them. 
 Chor. Great service that thou did'st for 
 
 mortal men ! 
 Prom. And more than that, I gave them fire, 
 
 yes I. 
 Chor. Do short-lived men the flaming fire 
 
 possess ? 
 Prom. Yea, and full many an art they '11 
 
 learn from it. 
 Chor. And is it then on charges such as these 
 That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives 
 
 See note i6 on page 65.
 
 20 iprometbeue J6ounD 
 
 Of many woes ? And has thy pain no end ? 
 Prom. End there is none, except as pleases 
 
 Him. 
 Chor. How shall it please ? What hope hast 
 
 thou ? See'st not 
 That thou hast sinned ? Yet to say how thou 
 
 sinned'st 
 Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee. 
 Well ! let us leave these things, and, if we may, 
 Seek out some means to 'scape from this thy 
 
 woe. 
 Prom. 'Tis a light thing for one who has his 
 
 foot 
 Beyond the reach of evil to exhort 
 And counsel him who suffers. This to me 
 Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly 
 I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men, 
 I for myself found trouble : yet I thought not 
 That I with such dread penalties as these 
 Should wither here on these high-towering 
 
 crags. 
 Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless. 
 Wherefore wail not for these my present woes. 
 But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear. 
 That ye may learn the whole tale to the end. 
 Nay, hearken, hearken ; show your sympathy 
 With him who suffers now. 'T is thus that woe, 
 Wandering, now falls on this one, now ou that. 
 Chor. Not to unwilling hearers hast thou 
 uttered,
 
 promctbeus JBoimO ji 
 
 Prometheus, thy request, 
 Aud now with nimble foot abaudonin^ 
 
 My swiftly rushing car, 
 Aud the pure aether, path of birds of heaven, 
 I will draw uear this rouo;h and rocky land, 
 
 For much do I desire 
 To hear this tale, full measure, of thy woes. 
 
 Enter Okeanos, on a car drawn by a winged 
 gryphon. 
 
 Okean. Lo, I come to thee, Prometheus, 
 Reaching goal of distant journey, ' ' 
 Guiding this my winged courser 
 By my will, without a bridle ; 
 Aud thy sorrows move my pity. 
 Force, in part, I deem, of kindred 
 Leads me on, nor know I any, 
 Whom, apart from kin, I honour 
 More than thee, in fuller measure. 
 This thou shalt own true and earnest: 
 I deal not in glozing speeches. 
 Come then, tell me how to help thee: 
 Ne'er shalt thou say that one more friendly 
 Is found than unto thee is Okean. 
 Prom. Let be. What boots it? Thou then 
 too art come 
 To gaze upon my suflferings. How did'st dare 
 
 See note 17 on page 65,
 
 22 iprometbeus JSounD 
 
 lyeaving the stream that bears thy name, aud 
 
 caves 
 Hewn in the living rock, this land to visit, 
 Mother of iron ? What then, art thou come 
 To gaze upon my fall and offer pity ? 
 Behold this sight: see here the friend of Zeus, 
 Who helped to seat him in his sovereignty, 
 With what foul outrage I am crushed by him ! 
 Okean. I see, Prometheus, and I wish to give 
 
 thee 
 My best advice, all subtle though thou be. 
 Know thou thyself, 18 aud fit thy soul to moods 
 To thee full new. New king the Gods have 
 
 now; 
 But if thou utter words thus rough and sharp, 
 Perchance, though sitting far away on high, 
 Zeus yet may hear thee, and his present wrath 
 Seem to thee but as child's play of distress. 
 Nay, thou poor sufferer, quit the rage thou hast. 
 And seek a remedy for these thine ills. 
 A tale thrice-told, perchance, I seem to speak: 
 lyO ! this, Prometheus, is the punishment 
 Of thine o'er lofty speech, nor art thou yet 
 Humbled, nor yieldest to thy miseries. 
 And fain would'st add fresh evils unto these. 
 But thou, if thou wilt take me as thy teacher, 
 Wilt not kick out against the pricks; i^ seeing 
 
 well 
 
 See notes i8 and 19 on page 65.
 
 Iprometbeus JBounO 23 
 
 A monarch reigns who gives account to none. 
 And now I go, and will an effort make, 
 If I, perchance, may free thee from thy woes; 
 Be still then, hush thy petulance of speech, 
 Or knowest thou not, o'er-clever as thou art. 
 That idle tongues must still their forfeit pay? 
 
 Prom. I envy thee, seeing thou art free from 
 blame 
 Though thou shared'st all, and in my cause 
 
 wast bold ; '^'^ 
 Nay, let me be, nor trouble thou thyself; 
 Thou wilt not, canst not soothe Him ; very hard 
 Is He of soothing. Look to it thyself. 
 Lest thou some mischief meet with in the way. 
 
 Okean. It is thy wont thy neighbour's minds 
 to school 
 Far better than thine own. From deeds, not 
 
 words, 
 I draw my proof. But do not draw me back 
 When I am hasting on, for lo, I deem, 
 I deem that Zeus will grant this boon to me. 
 That I should free thee from these woes of thine. 
 
 Prom. I thank thee much, yea, ne'er will 
 cease to thank ; 
 For thou no whit of zeal dost lack ; yet take, 
 I pray no trouble for me ; all in vain 
 Thy trouble, nothing helping, e'en if thou 
 
 5ee note 3o on page 65.
 
 24 iprometbcus JSounD 
 
 Should'st care to take the trouble. Nay, be 
 
 still ; 
 Keep out of barm's way ; sufferer though I be, 
 I would not therefore wish to give my woes 
 A wider range o'er others. No, not so : 
 For lo ! my mind is wearied with the grief 
 Of that my kinsman Atlas, 21 who doth stand 
 In the far West, supporting on his shoulders 
 The pillars of the earth and heaven, a burden 
 His arms can ill but hold : I pity too 
 The giant dweller of Kilikian caves, 
 Dread portent, with his hundred hands, subdued 
 By force, the mighty Typhon2 2 who arose 
 'Gainst all the Gods, with sharp and dreadful 
 
 jaws 
 Hissing out slaughter, and from out his eyes 
 There flashed the terrible brightness as of one 
 Who would lay low the sovereignty of Zeus. 
 But the unsleeping dart of Zeus came on him, 
 Down-swooping thunderbolt that breathes out 
 
 flame. 
 Which from his lofty boastings startled him. 
 For he i' the heart was struck, to ashes burnt, 
 His strength all thunder shattered ; and he lies 
 A helpless, powerless carcase, near the strait 
 Of the great sea, f-^st pressed beneath the roots 
 Of ancient ^tua, where on highest peak 
 
 I 
 
 See notes 21 and 22 on page 65.
 
 promctbcua JBounD 25 
 
 Hephsestos sits and smites his iron red-hot, 
 From whence hereafter streams of fire shall 
 
 burst, 2 3 
 Devouring with fierce jaws the golden plains 
 Of fruitful, fair Sikelia. Such the wrath 
 That Typhon shall belch forth with bursts of 
 
 storm, 
 Hot, breathing fire, and unapproachable. 
 Though burnt and charred by thunderbolts of 
 
 Zeus. 
 Not inexperienced art thou, nor dost need 
 My teaching : save thyself, as thou know'st how; 
 And I will drink my fortune to the dregs. 
 Till from his wrath the mind of Zeus shall rest.24 
 Okcan. Know'st thou not this, Pron:etheus, 
 even this. 
 Of wrath's disease wise words the healers are ? 
 Prom. Yea, could one soothe the troubled 
 heart in time, 
 Nor seek by force to tame the soul's proud flesh. 
 Okean. But in due forethought with bold 
 daring blent. 
 What mischief see'st thou lurking ? Tell me 
 this. 
 Prom. Toil bootless, and simplicity full fond. 
 Okeati. Let me, I pray, that sickness suffer, 
 since 
 
 See notes 23 and 24 on page 66.
 
 26 ipromctbeus BoimD 
 
 'Tis best being wise to have not wisdom's show. 
 Prom. Nay, but this error shall be deemed 
 
 as mine. 
 Okean. Thy word then clearly sends me home 
 
 at once. 
 Prom. Yea, lest thy pity for me make a 
 
 foe. . . . 
 Okean. What ! of that new king on his mighty 
 
 throne? 
 Prom. Ivook to it, lest his heart be vexed 
 
 with thee. 
 Okean. Thy fate, Prometheus, teaches me 
 
 that lesson. 
 Prom. Away, withdraw ! keep thou the mind 
 
 thou hast. 
 Okean. Thou urgest me who am in act to 
 haste ; 
 For this my bird four-footed flaps with wings 
 The clear path of the aether ; and full fain 
 Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. 
 
 {_Exit. 
 
 STROPH. I 
 
 Chor. I grieve, Prometheus, for thy dreary fate 
 Shedding from tender eyes 
 The dew of plenteous tears ; 
 With streams, as when the watery south wind 
 blows, 
 My cheek is wet ;
 
 promctbcus JBounD 27 
 
 For lo ! these things are all unenviable, 
 
 And Zeus, by his own laws his sway maintaining, 
 
 Shows to the elder Gods 
 
 A mood of haughtiness. 
 
 ANTISTROPH. I 
 
 And all the country echoeth with the moan, 
 
 And poureth many a tear 
 
 For that maguific power 
 Of ancient days far-seen that thou did'st share 
 
 With those of one blood sprung ; 
 And all the mortal men who hold the plain 
 Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn, 
 
 They grieve in sympathy 
 
 For thy woes lamentable. 
 
 STROPH. II 
 
 And they, the maiden band who find their home 
 On distant Colchian coasts, 
 Fearless of fight, 25 
 
 Or Skythiau horde in earth's remotest clime, 
 By far Maeotic lake ; 26 
 
 ANTISTROPH. U 
 
 And warlike glory of Arabia's tribes, 2' 
 
 Who nigh to Caucasos 
 
 In rock-fort dwell. 
 An army fearful, with sharp-pointed spear 
 
 See notes 25, 26 and 27 on page 66.
 
 28 promctbeus :J6oiinD 
 
 Raging in war's array. 
 
 STROPH. Ill 
 
 One other Titan only have I seen, 
 
 One other of the Gods, 
 Thus bound in woes of adamantine strength — 
 
 Atlas, who ever groans 
 Beneath the burden of a crushing might, 
 
 The out-spread vault of heaven. 
 
 ANTISTROPH III 
 
 And lo ! the ocean billows murmur loud 
 In one accord with him ; ^s 
 
 The sea-depths groan, and Hades' swarthy pit 
 Re-echoeth the sound, 
 
 And fountains of clear rivers, as they flow, 
 Bewail his bitter griefs. 
 Prom. Think not it is through pride or stiff 
 self-will 
 
 That I am silent. But my heart is worn, 
 
 Self-contemplating, as I see myself 
 
 Thus outraged. Yet what other hand than mine 
 
 Gave these young Gods in fulness all their gifts? 
 
 But these I speak not of; for I should tell 
 
 To you that know them. But those woes of 
 men^^ 
 
 List ye to them, — how they, before as babes, 
 
 See notes 28 and 29 on page 66.
 
 prometbeus JBounO 29 
 
 By me were roused to reason, taught to think ; 
 And this I say, not finding fault with men. 
 But showing my good-will in all I gave. 
 For first, though seeing, all in vain they saw, 
 And hearing, heard not rightly. But, like 
 
 forms 
 Of phantom-dreams, throughout their life's 
 
 whole length 
 They muddled all at random ; did not know 
 Houses of brick that catch the sunlight's 
 
 warmth, 
 Nor yet the work of carpentry. They dwelt 
 In hollowed holes, like swarms of tiny ants, 
 In sunless depths of caverns ; and they had 
 No certain signs of winter, nor of spring 
 Flower-laden, nor of summer with her fruits; 
 But without counsel fared their whole lifelong, 
 Until I showed the risings of the stars, 
 And settings hard to recognise. ^o And I 
 Found Number for them, chief device of all. 
 Groupings of letters, Memory's handmaid that, 
 And mother of the Muses. ^i And I first 
 Bound in the yoke wild steeds, submissive made 
 Or to the collar or men's limbs, that so 
 They might in man's place bear his greatest 
 
 toils ; 
 And horses trained to love the rein I yoked 
 
 See notes 30 and 31 on page f>6.
 
 30 iprometbeus :©ounD 
 
 To chariots, glory of wealth's pride of state ; 32 
 Nor was it any one but I that found 
 Sea-crossing, canvas- winged cars of ships : 
 Such rare designs inventing ( wretched me ! ) 
 For mortal men, I yet have no device 
 By which to free myself from this my woe.^^ 
 Chor. Foul shame thou suflFerest : of thy 
 
 sense bereaved, 
 Thou errest greatly : and, like leech unskilled. 
 Thou losest heart when smitten with disease. 
 And know'st not how to find the remedies 
 Wherewith to heal thine own soul's sicknesses. 
 Prom. Hearing what yet remains thou'lt 
 
 wonder more. 
 What arts and what resources I devised : 
 And this the chief: if any one fell ill, 
 There was no help for him, nor healing food, 
 Nor unguent, nor yet potion ; but for want 
 Of drugs they wasted, till I showed to them 
 The blendings of all mild medicaments, 3 4 
 Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore 
 I gave them many modes of prophecy ; ^s 
 And I first taught them what dreams needs 
 
 must prove 
 True visions, and made known the ominous 
 
 sounds 
 Full hard to know ; and tokens by the way, 
 
 See notes 32, 33, 34 and 35 on pages 66 and 67.
 
 Ipromctbcus :fi3ounD 31 
 
 And fli<^bts of taloued birds I clearly marked, — 
 Those on the right propitious to mankind, 
 And those sinister, — and what form of life 
 They each maintain, and what their enmities 
 Kach with the other, and their loves and friend- 
 
 sliips ; 
 And of the inward parts the plumpness smooth, 
 And with what colour they the Gods would 
 
 please, 
 And the streaked comeliness of gall and liver : 
 And with burnt limbs en wrapt in fat, and chine, 
 I led men on to art full difficult : 
 And I gave eyes to omens drawn from fire, 
 Till then dim-visioued. So far then for this. 
 And 'neath the earth the hidden boons for men, 
 Bronze, iron, silver, gold, who else could say 
 That he, ere I did, found them ? None, I know, 
 Unless he fain would babble idle words. 
 In one short word, then, learn the truth con- 
 densed, — 
 All arts of mortals from Prometheus spring. 
 
 Chor. Nay, be not thou to men so overkind, 
 While thou thyself art in sore evil case ; 
 For I am sanguine that thou too, released 
 From bonds, shall be as strong as Zeus himself. 
 Prom. It is not thus that Fate's decree is 
 fixed ; 
 But I, long crushed with twice ten thousand 
 woes
 
 32 iprometbeus :J6oimD 
 
 And bitter pains, shall then escape my bonds ; 
 Art is far weaker than Necessit3\ 
 
 Chor. Who guides the helm, then, of Ne- 
 cessity ? 
 Prom. Fates triple- formed, Erinnyes un for- 
 getting. 
 Chor. Is Zeus, then, weaker in his might 
 
 than these ? 
 Prom. Not even He can 'scape the thing 
 
 decreed, 
 Chor. What is decreed for Zeus but still to 
 
 reign ? 
 Prom. Thou may'st no further learn, ask 
 
 thou no more. 
 Chor. 'T is doubtless some dread secret 
 
 which thou hidest. 
 Prom. Of other theme make mention, for 
 the time 
 Is not yet come to utter this, but still 
 It must be hidden to the uttermost ; 
 For by thus keeping it it is that I 
 Escape my bondage foul, and these my pains. 
 
 STROPH. I 
 
 Chor. Ah ! ne'er may Zeus the Lord, 
 Whose sovran sway rules all, 
 His strength in conflict set 
 Against my feeble will ! 
 Nor may I fail to serve
 
 prometbeus JiSounD 33 
 
 The Gods with holy feast 
 Of whole burnt-offerings, 
 Where the stream ever flows 
 That bears my father's name, 
 The great Okeanos ! 
 Nor may I sin in speech ' 
 May this grace more and more 
 Sink deep into my soul 
 And never fade away ! 
 
 ANTISTROPH. I 
 
 Sweet is it in strong hope 
 To spend long years of life, 
 With bright and cheering joy 
 Our heart's thoughts nourishing. 
 I shudder, seeing thee 
 Thus vexed and harassed sore 
 By twice ten thousand woes ; 
 For thou in pride of heart, 
 Having no fear of Zeus, 
 In thine own obstinacy, 
 Dost show for mortal men, 
 Prometheus, love o'ermuch. 
 
 STROPH. II 
 
 See how that boon, dear friends, 
 For thee is bootless found. 
 Say, where is any help? 
 What aid from mortals comes ?
 
 34 iprometbeus :fiSounD 
 
 Hast thou not seen this brief and powerless life, 
 Fleeting as dreams, with which man's purblind 
 race 
 
 Is fast in fetters bound ? 
 
 Never shall counsels vain 
 
 Of mortal men break through 
 
 The harmony of Zeus. 
 
 ANTISTROPH. II 
 
 This lesson have I learnt 
 Beholding thy sad fate, 
 Prometheus ! Other strains 
 Come back upon ray mind, 
 When I sang wedding hymns around thy bath, 
 And at thy bridal bed, when thou did'st take 
 In wedlock's holy bands 
 One of the same sire born, 
 Our own Hesione, 
 Persuading her with gifts 
 As wife to share thy couch. 
 Enter lo in form like a fair woman with a 
 heifer's horns,^^ followed by the 
 Spectre ^Argos. 
 Jo. What land is this? What people? 
 Whom shall I 
 Say that I see thus vexed 
 With bit and curb of rock ? ' 
 
 See note 36 on page 67.
 
 Ipromctbeua JGounD 35 
 
 For what offence dost thou 
 
 Bear fatal punishment ? 
 
 Tell me to what far land 
 
 I' ve wandered here in woe. 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 Again the gadfly stings me miserable. 
 
 Spectre of Argos, thou, the earth-born 
 one — 
 
 Ah, keep him off, O Earth ! 
 I fear to look upon that herdsman dread, 
 
 Him with ten thousand eyes : 
 Ah lo ! he cometh with his crafty look, 
 Whom Earth refuses even dead to hold ; ^^ 
 
 But coming from beneath 
 
 He hunts me miserable, 
 And drives me famished o'er the sea-beach sand. 
 
 STROPH. 
 
 And still his waxened reed-pipe soundeth clear 
 A soft and slumberous strain, 
 O heavens ! O ye Gods ! 
 Whither do these long wanderings lead me on ? 
 For what offence, Oson of Cronos, what, 
 Hast thou thus bound me fast 
 In these great miseries ? 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 And why with terror of the gadfly's sting 
 
 See note 37 on page 67.
 
 36 prometbeus JBounD 
 
 Dost thou thus vex me, frenzied in my soul? 
 Burn me with fire, or bury me in earth, 
 Or to wild sea-beasts give me as a prey : 
 Nay, grudge me not, O King, 
 An answer to my prayers : 
 Enough my many-wandered wanderings 
 Have exercised my soul, 
 Nor have I power to learn 
 How to avert the woe. 
 {To Prometheus). Hear'st thou the voice of 
 
 maiden crowned with horns ? 
 Prom. Surely I heard the maid by gadfly 
 driven, 
 Daughter of Inachos, who warmed the heart 
 Of Zeus with love, and now through Hera's 
 
 hate 
 Is tried, perforce, with wanderings over-long ? 
 
 ANTISTROPH. 
 
 Id. How is it that thou speak'st my father's 
 name? 
 Tell me, the suffering one. 
 Who art thou, who, poor wretch, 
 Who thus so truly nam'st me miserable. 
 
 And tell'st the plague from Heaven, 
 Which with its haunting stings 
 Wears me to death ? Ah woe ! 
 And I with famished and unseemly bounds 
 Rush madly, driven by Hera's jealous craft.
 
 prometbeus JBounD 37 
 
 All, who of all that suffer, born to woe, 
 Have trouble like the pain that I endure? 
 But thou, make clear to me 
 What yet for me remains, 
 What remedy, what healing for my pangs. 
 Show me, if thou dost know : 
 Speak out and tell to me, 
 The maid by wanderings vexed. 
 Prom. I will say plainly all thou seek'st to 
 know ; 
 Not in dark tangled riddles, but plain speech. 
 As it is meet that friends to friends should speak ; 
 Thou see'st Prometheus who gave fire to men. 
 
 lo. O thou to men as benefactor known. 
 Why, poor Prometheus, sufferest thou this pain ? 
 Prom. I have but now mine own woes 
 
 ceased to wail. 
 Id. Wilt thou not then bestow this boon on 
 
 me ? 
 Prom. Say what thou seek'st, for I will tell 
 
 thee all. 
 lo. Tell me, who fettered thee in this ravine ? 
 Prom. The counsel was of Zeus, the hand 
 
 Hephaestos'. 
 
 lo. Of what offence dost thou the forfeit pay ? 
 
 Prom. Thus much alone am I content to tell. 
 
 lo. Tell me, at least, besides, what end shall 
 
 come 
 
 To my drear wanderings; when the time shall be.
 
 38 ipromctbeus JiSounD 
 
 Prom. Not to know this is better than to 
 
 know. 
 lo. Nay, hide not from me what I have 
 
 to bear. 
 Prom, It is not that I grudge the boon to 
 
 thee. 
 lo. Why then delayest thou to tell the 
 
 whole ? 
 Prom.. Not from ill will, but loth to vex thy 
 
 soul. 
 lo. Nay, care thou not beyond what pleases 
 
 me. 
 Profn. If thou desire it I must speak. Hear 
 
 then. 
 Chor. Not yet though ; grant me share of 
 pleasure too, 
 lyet us first ask the tale of her great woe. 
 While she unfolds her life's consuming chances ; 
 Her future sufferings let her learn from thee. 
 Prom. 'T is thy work, lo, to grant these 
 their wish, 
 On other grounds and as thy father's kin : 3 8 
 For to bewail and moan one's evil chance, 
 Here where one trusts to gain a pitying tear 
 From those who hear, — this is not labour lost. 
 lo. I know not how to disobey your wish ; 
 So ye shall learn the whole that ye desire 
 In speech full clear. And yet I blush to tell 
 
 See note 38 on page 67.
 
 promctbcus J6ounD 39 
 
 The storm that came from God, and brought 
 
 the loss 
 Of maiden face, what way it seized on me. 
 r'or nightly visions coming evermore 
 Into my virgin bower, sought to woo me 
 With glozing words. " O virgin greatly blest, 
 Why art thou still a virgin when thou might'st 
 Attain to highest wedlock ? For with dart 
 Of passion for thee Zeus doth glow, and fain 
 Would make thee his. And thou, O child, 
 
 spurn not 
 The bed of Zeus, but go to Lerua's field, 
 Where feed thy father's flocks and herds, 
 That so the eye of Zeus may fiud repose 
 From this his craving." With such visions I 
 Was haunted every evening, till I dared 
 To tell my father all these dreams of night. 
 And he to Pytho and Dodona sent 
 Full many to consult the Gods, that he 
 Might learn what deeds and words would please 
 
 Heaven's lords. 
 And they came bringing speech of oracles 
 Shot with dark sayings, dim and hard to know. 
 At last a clear word came to Inachos 
 Charging him plainly, and commanding him 
 To thrust me from my country and my home. 
 To stray atlarge^' to utmost bounds of earth ; 
 
 See note 39 on page 67.
 
 40 prometbcus JBounD 
 
 And, should he gainsay, that the fiery bolt 
 
 Of Zeus should come and sweep away his 
 
 race. 
 And he, by I^oxias' oracles induced, 
 Thrust me, against his will, against mine too. 
 And drove me from my home ; but spite of all, 
 The curb of Zeus constrained him this to do. 
 And then forthwith my face and mind were 
 
 changed ; 
 And horned, as ye see me, stung to the quick 
 By biting gadfly, I with maddened leap 
 Rushed to Kerchneia's fair and limpid stream. 
 And fount of lyerna.^o And a giant herds- 
 man, 
 Argos, full rough of temper, followed me. 
 With many an eye beholding, on my track. 
 And him a sudden and unlooked-for doom 
 Deprived of life. And I, by gadfly stung. 
 By scourge from Heaven am driven from land 
 
 to land. 
 What has been done thou hearest. And if thou 
 Can'st tell what yet remains of woe, declare it ; 
 Nor in thy pity soothe me with false words ; 
 For hollow words, I deem, are worst of ills. 
 Chor. Away, away, let be : 
 
 Ne'er thought I that such tales 
 Would ever, ever come unto mine ears ; 
 
 See note 40 on page
 
 promctbcus JBounO 41 
 
 Nor that such terrors, woes, and outrages, 
 
 Hard to look on, hard to bear, 
 Would chill my soul with sharp goad, double- 
 edged. 
 
 Ah fate ! Ah fate ! 
 I shudder, seeing lo's fortune strange. 
 
 Prom. Thou art too quick in groaning, full 
 
 of fear : 
 Wait thou a while until thou hear the rest. 
 Chor. Speak thou and tell. Unto the sick 
 
 'tis sweet 
 Clearly to know what yet remains of pain. 
 Prom. Your former wish ye gained full 
 
 easily. 
 Your first desire was to learn of her 
 The tale she tells of her own sufferings ; 
 Now therefore hear the woes that yet remain 
 For this poor maid to bear at Hera's hands. 
 And thou, O child of Inachos ! take heed 
 To these my words, that thou may'st hear the 
 
 goal 
 Of all thy wanderings. First then, turning 
 
 hence 
 Towards the sunrise, tread the untilled plains. 
 And thou shalt reach the Skythian nomads, 
 
 those *• 
 Who on smooth-rolling waggons dwell aloft 
 
 See note 41 on page 68.
 
 42 ipromctbeue JBounD 
 
 In wicker houses, with far-dartiug bows 
 Duly equipped. Approach thou not to these, 
 But trending round the coasts on which the surf 
 Beats with loud murmurs^z traverse thou that 
 
 clime. 
 On the left hand there dwell the Chalybes,4 3 
 Who work in iron. Of these do thou beware. 
 For fierce are they and most inhospitable ; 
 And thou wilt reach the river fierce and strong, 
 True to its name. 44 This seek not thou to cross, 
 For it is hard to ford, until thou come 
 To Caucasos itself, of all high hills 
 The highest, where a river pours its strength 
 From the high peaks themselves. And thou 
 
 must cross 
 Those summits near the stars, must onward go 
 Towards the south, where thoushalt find the host 
 Of the Amazons, hating men, whose home 
 Shall one day be around Thermodon's bank, 
 By Themiskyra,4s where the ravenous jaws 
 Of Salmydessos ope upon the sea, 
 Treacherous to sailors, stepdame stern to 
 
 ships, *6 
 And they with right good-will shall be thy 
 
 guides ; 
 And thou, hard by a broad pool's narrow gates, 
 Wilt pass to the Kimmerian isthmus. I^eaving 
 
 See notes 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 on page 63.
 
 promctbeus 3Boun& 43 
 
 This boldly, tbou must cross Maeotic channel ;*'> 
 And there shall be great fame 'mong mortal 
 
 men 
 Of this thy journey, and the Bosporos-'s 
 Shall take its name from thee. And Europe's 
 
 plain 
 Then quitting, thou shalt gain the Asian coast. 
 Doth not the all-ruling monarch of the Gods 
 vSeem all ways cruel ? For, although a God, 
 He, seeking to embrace this mortal maid, 
 Imposed these wanderings on her. Thou hast 
 
 found, 
 O maiden ! bitter suitor for thy hand ; 
 For great as are the ills thou now hast heard. 
 Know that as yet not e'en the prelude's known. 
 /o. Ah woe ! woe ! woe ! 
 
 Prom, Again thou groan'st and criest. What 
 wilt do 
 When thou shalt learn the evils yet to come? 
 C/ior. What ! are there troubles still to come 
 
 for her ? 
 Prom. Yea, stormy sea of woe most lament- 
 able. 
 lo. What gain is it to live ? Why cast I not 
 Myself at once from this high precipice, 
 And, dashed to earth, be free from allmy woes? 
 Far better were it once for all to die 
 
 See notes 47 and 48 on page 1
 
 44 prometbeus BounD 
 
 Than all one's days to suffer pain and grief. 
 Prom. My struggles then full hardly thou 
 
 would'st bear, 
 For whom there is no destiny of death ; 
 For that might bring a respite from my woes : 
 But now there is no limit to my pangs 
 Till Zeus be hurled out from his sovereignty. 
 lo. What ! shall Zeus e'er be hurled from 
 
 his high stale ? 
 Prom. Thou would'st rejoice, I trow, to see 
 
 that fall. 
 lo. How should I not, when Zeus so foully 
 
 wrongs me ? 
 Prom. That this is so thou now may'st hear 
 
 from me. 
 lo. Who then shall rob him of his sceptred 
 
 sway ? 
 Prom. Himself shall do it by his own rash 
 
 plans. 
 Id. But how ? Tell this, unless it bringeth 
 
 harm. 
 Prom. He shall wed one for whom one day 
 
 he '11 grieve. 
 lo. Heaven -born or mortal ? Tell, if tell 
 
 thou may'st. 
 Prom. Why ask'st thou who ? I may not 
 
 tell thee that. 
 lo. Shall his bride hurl him from his throne 
 
 of might ?
 
 promctbeua JBounO 45 
 
 Pro. Yea ; she shall bear child mightier 
 
 than his sire. 
 lo. Has he uo way to turn aside that doom ? 
 Prom. No, none ; unless I from my bonds 
 
 be loosed. 4 9 
 lo. Who then shall loose thee 'gainst the 
 
 will of Zeus ? 
 Prom. It must be one of thy posterity. 
 lo. What, shall a child of mine free thee 
 
 from ills ? 
 Prom. Yea, the third generation after 
 
 tenso 
 lo. No more thine oracles are clear to me. 
 Prom. Nay, seek not thou thine own drear 
 
 fate to know. 
 lo. Do not, a boon presenting, then with- 
 draw it. 
 Prom. Of two alternatives, I '11 give thee 
 
 choice. 
 lo. Tell me of what, then give me leave to 
 
 choose. 
 Prom. I give it then. Choose, or that I 
 
 should tell 
 Thy woes to come, or who shall set me free. 
 Chor. Of these be willing one request to 
 
 grant 
 To her, and one to me ; nor scorn my words ; 
 
 See notes 4g and 50 on pages 68 and 6g.
 
 46 iprometbeus :©ounD 
 
 Tell her what yet of wanderings she must bear, 
 And me who shall release thee. This I crave. 
 
 Prom. Since ye are eager, I will not refuse 
 To utter fully all that ye desire. 
 Thee, lo, first I '11 tell thy wanderings wild, 
 Thou, write it in the tablets of thy mind. 
 When thou shalt cross the straits, of continents 
 The boundary, 5 1 take thou the onward path 
 On to the fiery-hued and sun-tracked East. 
 [And first of all, to frozen Northern blasts 
 Thou'lt come, and there beware the rushing 
 
 whirl, 
 Lest it should come upon thee suddenly, 
 And sweep thee onward with the cloud-rack 
 
 wild]; 5 2 
 Crossing the sea-surf till thou come at last 
 Unto Kisthene's Gorgoneian plains, 
 Where dwell the grey -haired virgin Phorkides, 5 3 
 Three, swan-shaped, with one eye between them 
 
 all 
 And but one tooth ; whom nor the sun beholds 
 With radiant beams, nor yet the moon by night : 
 And near them are their winged sisters three, 
 The Gorgons, serpent-tressed, and hating men. 
 Whom mortal wight may not behold and live. 
 Such is one ill I bid thee guard against ; 
 Now hear another monstrous sight : Beware 
 
 See notes 51, 52 and 53 on page 69.
 
 prometbcus JBounD 47 
 
 The sharp-beaked houuds of Zeus that never 
 
 bark, 5 4 
 The Gryphons, and the one-eyed, mounted 
 
 host 
 Of Arimaspians, who around the stream 
 That flows o'er gold, the ford of Pluto, dwell :5 5 
 Draw not thou nigh to them. But distant land 
 Thou shalt approach, the swarthy tribes who 
 
 dwell 
 By the sun's fountain, S6 ^'l^thiopia's stream : 
 By its banks wend thy way until thou come 
 To that great fall where from the Bybline hills 
 The Neilos pours its pure and holy flood ; 
 And it shall guide thee to Neilotic land, 
 Three-angled, where, O lo, 'tis decreed, 
 For thee and for thy progeny to found 
 A far-off colony. And if of this 
 Aught seem to thee as stammering speech ob- 
 scure, 
 Ask yet again and learn it thoroughly : 
 Far more of leisure have I than I like. 
 
 Chor. If thou hast aught to add, aught left 
 untold 
 Of her sore-wasting wanderings, speak it out ; 
 But if thou hast said all, then grant to us 
 The boon we asked. Thou dost not, sure, for- 
 get it. 
 
 See notes 54, 55 and 56 on page 69.
 
 48 prometbcus 36oun& 
 
 Prom. The whole course of her journeying 
 
 she hath heard, 
 And that she know she hath not heard in vain 
 I will tell out what troubles she hath borne 
 Before she came here, giving her sure proof 
 Of these my words. The greater bulk of things 
 I will pass o'er, and to the very goal 
 Of all thy wanderings go. For when thou 
 
 cam'st 
 To the Molossian plains, and by the grove s ' 
 Of lofty-ridged Dodona, and the shrine 
 Oracular of Zeus Thesprotian, 
 And the strange portent of the talking oaks, 
 By which full clearly, not in riddle dark. 
 Thou wast addressed as noble spouse of Zeus, — 
 If aught of pleasure such things give to thee, — 
 Thence stung to frenzy, thou did 'st rush along 
 The sea-coast's path to Rhea's mighty gulf,5 8 
 In backward way from whence thou now art 
 
 vexed, 
 And for all time to come that reach of sea, 
 Know well, from thee Ionian shall be called, 
 To all men record of thy journeyings. 
 These then are tokens to thee that my mind 
 Sees somewhat more than that is manifest. 
 What follows {to the Chorus) I will speak to you 
 
 and her 
 
 See notes 57 and 58 on page 70.
 
 promctbeu3 JSounO 49 
 
 In common, on the track of former words 
 Returning once again. A city stands 
 Canobos, at its country's furthest bound, 
 Hard by the mouth and silt-bank of the Nile ; 
 There Zeus shall give thee back thy mind 
 
 again, 59 
 With hand that works no terror touching thee.— 
 Touch only— and thou then shalt bear a child 
 Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, "Touch-born," 
 vSwartliy of hue, whose lot shall be to reap 
 The whole plain watered by the broad-streamed 
 
 Neilos : 
 And in the generation fifth from him 
 A household numbering fifty shall return 
 Against their will to Argos, in their flight 
 From wedlock with their cousins. 6o And they 
 
 too, 
 (Kites but a little space behind the doves) 
 With eager hopes pursuing marriage rites 
 Beyond pursuit shall come ; and God shall 
 
 grudge 
 To give up their sweet bodies. And the land 
 Pelasgian ''i shall receive them, when by stroke 
 Of woman's murderous hand these men shall lie 
 Smitten to death by daring deed of night : 
 For every bride shall take her husband's life, 
 And dip in blood the sharp two-edged sword 
 
 See notes 59, 60 and 61 on page 70. 
 4
 
 50 iprometbeus :i6oimD 
 
 (So to my foes may Kypris show herself!) ^2 
 Yet one of that fair baud shall love persuade 
 Her husbaud not to slaughter, and her will 
 Shall lose its edge ; and she shall make her 
 
 choice 
 Rather as weak than murderous to be known. 
 And she at Argos shall a royal seed 
 Bring forth (long speech 't would take to tell 
 
 this clear) 
 Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free ^3 
 From these my woes. Such was the oracle 
 Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born, 
 Gave to me ; but the manner and the means, — 
 That needs a lengtliy tale to tell the whole, 
 And thou can'st nothing gain by learning it. 
 
 lo. Eleleu ! Oh, Eleleu ! 64 — 
 The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood 
 Of frenzy-smitten rage ; 
 The gadfly's pointed sting, 
 Not forged with fire, attacks, 
 And my heart beats against my breast with fear. 
 Mine eyes whirl round and round : 
 Out of my course I 'm borne 
 By the wild spirit of fierce agony. 
 And cannot curb my lips, 
 And turbid speech at random dashes on 
 Upon the waves of dread calamity. 
 
 See notes 62, 63 and 64 on page 70.
 
 prometbeus ."©ounO 51 
 
 STROPH. I 
 
 Chor. Wise, very wise was he 
 Who first in thought conceived this maxim 
 
 sage, 
 
 And spread it with his speech, (-^ — 
 That the best wedlock is with equals found, 
 And that a craftsman, born to work with hands, 
 
 Should not desire to wed 
 Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth. 
 Or with the race that boast their lineage high. 
 
 ANTISTROPH. I 
 
 Oh ne'er, oh ne'er, dread Fates, 
 May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus, 
 
 The partner of his couch. 
 Nor may I wed with any heaven-born spouse ! 
 For I shrink back, beholding lo's lot 
 
 Of loveless maidenhood. 
 Consumed and smitten low exceedingly 
 By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent ! 
 
 STROPH. II 
 
 To me, when wedlock is on equal terms, 
 It gives no cause to fear : 
 
 Ne'er may the love of any of the Gods, 
 The strong Gods, look on me 
 With glance I cannot 'scape ! 
 
 See note 65 on page 70.
 
 52 ipromctbcus JSounC) 
 
 ANTISTROPH, II 
 That fate is war that none can war against, 
 
 Source of resourceless ill ; 
 Nor know I what might then become of me : 
 
 I see not how to 'scape 
 
 The counsel deep of Zeus, 
 Prom. Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff 
 
 of will, 
 Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now 
 Is he preparing, one to cast him forth 
 In darkness from his sovereignty and throne. 
 And then the curse his father Cronos spake 
 Shall have its dread completion, even that 
 He uttered when he left his ancient throne ; 
 And from these troubles no one of the Gods 
 But me can clearly show the way to 'scape. 
 I know the time and manner : therefore now 
 Let him sit fearless, in his peals on high 
 Putting his trust, and shaking in his hands 
 His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail 
 To hinder him from falling shamefully 
 A fall intolerable. Such a combatant 
 He arms against himself, a marvel dread, 
 Who shall a fire discover mightier far 
 Than the red levin, and a sound more dread 
 Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver 
 That plague sea-born that causeth earth to 
 
 quake. 
 The trident, weapon of Poseidon's strength :
 
 promctbeug JBounD 53 
 
 And stumbling on this evil, he shall learn 
 How far apart a king's lot from a slave's. 
 
 Chor. What thou dost wish thou mutterest 
 
 against Zeus. 
 Prom. Things that shall be, and things I 
 
 wish, I speak. 
 Chor. And must we look for one to master 
 
 Zeus? 
 Prom. Yea, troubles harder far than these 
 
 are his. 
 Chor. Art not afraid to vent such words as 
 
 these? 
 Prom. What can I fear whose fate is not to 
 
 die? 
 Chor. But He may send on thee worse pain 
 
 than this. 
 Prom. So let Him do : nought finds me 
 
 unprepared. 
 Chor. Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia wor- 
 ship. 66 
 Prom. Worship then, praise and flatter him 
 that rules ; 
 My care for Zeus is nought, and less than 
 
 nought : 
 Let Him act, let Him rule this little while, 
 E'en as He will ; for long He shall not rule 
 Over the Gods. But lo ! I see at hand 
 
 See note 66 on page 70.
 
 54 iprometbeua JBounD 
 
 The courier of the Gods, the minister 
 
 Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come 
 
 To bring me tidings of some new device. 
 
 Enter Hermes. 
 
 Herm. Thee do I speak to, — thee, the 
 teacher wise, 
 The bitterly o'er-bitter, who 'gainst Gods 
 Hast sinned in giving gifts to short-lived 
 
 men — 
 I speak to thee, the filcher of bright fire. 
 The Father bids thee say what marriage thou 
 Dost vaunt, and who shall hurl Him from his 
 
 might ; 
 And this too not in dark mysterious speech. 
 But tell each point out clearly. Give me not, 
 Prometheus, task of double journey. Zeus 
 Thou seest, is not with such words appeased. 
 Prom. Stately of utterance, full of haughti- 
 ness 
 Thy speech, as fits a messenger of Gods. 
 Ye yet are young in your new rule, and think 
 To dwell in painless towers. Have I not 
 Seen two great rulers driven forth from 
 
 thence P^? 
 And now the third, who reigneth, I shall see 
 In basest, quickest fall. Seem I to thee 
 
 See note 67 on page 70,
 
 prometbcus3 JGounD 55 
 
 To shrink and quail Ijcfore these ncw-niade 
 
 Gods ? 
 I'ar, very far from that am I. But thou, 
 Track once aj<aiu the path by which thou 
 
 earnest ; 
 Thou shaltlearn nouglit of what thou askest me. 
 Henn. It was by such self-will as this 
 before 
 That thou did'st brin.t^ these sufferings on thy- 
 self. 
 Prom. I for my ] art, be sure, would never 
 change 
 My evil state for that thy bondslave's lot. 
 
 HcyjH. To be the bondslave of this rock, I 
 trow. 
 Is better than to be Zeus' trusty herald ! 
 Prom. So it is meet the insulter to insu't. 
 Henn. Thou waxest proud, 't would seem, 
 
 of this thy doom. 
 Piom. Wax proud ! God grant that I may 
 see my foes 
 Thus waxing proud, and thee among the rest ! 
 Herm. Dost blame me tlieu for thy calam- 
 ities ? 
 Prom. In one short sentence — all the Gods 
 I hate, 
 Who my good turns with evil turns repay. 
 Herm, Thy words prove thee with no slight 
 madness pUgued,
 
 56 ipromctbeug JBounD 
 
 Prom. If to hate foes be madness, mad I am, 
 Ilerni. Not one could bear thee wert thou 
 
 prosperous. 
 Prom. Ah me ! 
 Herm. That word is all unknown 
 
 to Zeus. 
 Prom. Time waxing old can many a lesson 
 
 teach. 
 Herm. Yet thou at least hast not true wis- 
 dom learnt. 
 Prom. I had not else addressed a slave like 
 
 thee. 
 Herm. Thou wilt say nought the Father 
 
 asks, 't would seem. 
 Prom. Fine debt I owe him, favour to repay. 
 Herm. INIe as a boy thou scornest then, 
 
 forsooth . 
 Prom. And art thou not a boy, and sillier far, 
 If tbat thou thinkest to learn augbt from me ? 
 There is no torture nor device by which 
 Zeus can impel me to disclose these things 
 Before these bonds that outrage me be loosed. 
 Let then the blazing- levin-flash be hurled ; 
 With white-winged snow-storm and with earth- 
 born thunders 
 Let Him disturb and trouble all that is ; 
 Nought of these things shall force me to declare 
 Whose hand shall drive him from his sover- 
 eignty.
 
 prometbcus JBounD 57 
 
 Herm. See if thou findest any help in this. 
 Prom. Long since all this I 've seen, and 
 
 forme 1 my pL.ns. 
 Herm. O fool, take heart, take heart at last 
 in time, 
 To form right thoughts lor these thy present 
 woes. 
 Prom. Like one who soothes a wave, thy 
 speech in vain 
 Vexes my soul. But deem not thou that I, 
 I-'jaring the will of Zeus, shall e'er become 
 As woman ised in mind, or shall entreat 
 Ilim whom I greatly loathe, with upturned 
 
 hand. 
 In woman's fashion, from these bonds of mine 
 To set me free. Far, f.ir am I from that. 
 
 Herm. It seems that I, saying much, shall 
 speak in vain ; 
 For thou in nou ;ht by prayers art pacified, 
 Or softened in thy heart, but like a colt 
 Fresh harnessed, thou dost champ thy bit, and 
 
 strive. 
 And fight against the reins. Yet thou art stiff 
 In weak device ; for self-will, by itself. 
 In one who is not wise, is less t.ian nought. 
 Look to it, if thou disobey my words. 
 How great a storm and triple wave of ills, ^s 
 
 See note 68 on page 70.
 
 58 iprometbeus JSounD 
 
 Not to be 'scaped, shall come ou thee ; for first 
 With thunder aud the levin's blazing flash 
 The Father this ravine of rock shall crush, 
 And shall thy carcase hide, and stern embrace 
 Of stony arms shall keep thee in thy place. 
 And having traversed space of time full long. 
 Thou shall come back to light, and then his 
 
 hound. 
 The winged hound of Zeus, the ravening ea !e 
 Shall greedily make banquet of thy flesh, 
 Coming all day an uninvited guest, 
 Aud glut himself upon thy l.ver dark. 
 And of that anguish look not for the end. 
 Before some God shall come to bear thy woes, 
 And will to pass to Hades' sunless realm. 
 And the dark cloudy depths of Tartaros.69 
 Wherefore take heed. No feigned boast is this. 
 But spoken all too truly ; for the lips 
 Of Zeus know not to speak a lying speech, 
 But will perform each single word. And thou. 
 Search well, be wise nor think that self-willed 
 
 pride 
 Shall ever better prove than counsel good. 
 Chor. To us doth Hermes seem to utter 
 words 
 Not out of season ; for he bids thee quit 
 
 See note 69 on page 71,
 
 prometbcus J6ounO 59 
 
 Thy self-willed pride and seek for council good 
 Hearken thou to him. To the wise of soul 
 It is foul shame to sin persistently. 
 
 Prom. To me who knew it all 
 
 He hath this message borne ; 
 
 And that a foe from foes 
 
 Should suffer is not strange. 
 
 Therefore on me be hurled 
 
 The sharp-edged wreath of fire ; 
 
 And let heaven's vault be stirred 
 
 With thunder and the blasts 
 
 Of fiercest winds ; antl Earth 
 
 From its foundations strong, 
 
 E'en to its deepest roots, 
 
 Let storm-wind make to rock ; 
 
 And let the Ocean wave, 
 
 With wild and foaming surge, 
 
 Be heaped up to the paths 
 
 Where move the stars of heaven ; 
 
 And to dark Tartaros 
 
 Let Him my carcase hurl, 
 
 With mighty blasts of force : 
 
 Yet me He shall not slay. 
 
 Herm. Such words and thoughts from 
 one 
 
 Brain-stricken one may hear. 
 
 What space divides his state 
 
 From freozy ? What repose
 
 6o iprometbeus JBounO 
 
 Hath he from maddened rage ? 
 But ye who pitying stand 
 And share his bitter griefs, 
 Quickly from hence depart, 
 Lest the relentless roar 
 Of thunder stun your soul. 
 
 Chor. With other words attempt 
 To counsel and persuade, 
 And I will hear : for now 
 Thou hast this word thrust in 
 That we may never bear. 
 How dost thou bid me train 
 My soul to baseness vile ? 
 With him I will endure 
 Whatever is decreed. 
 Traitors I 've learnt to hate. 
 Nor is there any plague 
 That more than this I loathe. 
 
 Her^n. Nay then, remember ye 
 What now I say, nor blame 
 Your fortune : never say 
 That Zeus hath cast you down 
 To evil not foreseen. 
 Not so ; ye cast yourselves : 
 For now with open eyes, 
 Not taken unawares, 
 In Ate's endless net 
 Ye shall entangled be
 
 promctbcus JBoun^ 6i 
 
 By folly of 3'our ovN^n. 
 [A pajise, and then flashes of lightnijig 
 
 and peals of thunder. 70 
 Prom. Yea, now in very deed, 
 No more in word alone, 
 The earth shakes to and fro, 
 And the loud thunder's voice 
 Bellows hard by, and blaze 
 The flashing 1 vin-fires ; 
 And tempests whirl the dust, 
 And gusts of all wild winds 
 On one another leap, 
 In wild conflicting blasts, 
 And sky with sea is blent : 
 Such is the storm from Zeus 
 That comes as working fear, 
 In terrors manife t. 
 O M tlier venerable ! 
 O ^ther ! rolling round 
 The common light of all, 
 See'st thou what wrongs I bear ? 
 
 -ee note 70 on page 71.
 
 I
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1. The scene seems at first an exception to the early 
 conventional rule, which forbade the introduction of a 
 third actor on the Greek stage, liut it has been noticed 
 that (i) Force does not speak, and (2) Prometheus does 
 not speak till Streng^th and Force have retired, and that 
 it is therefore probable that the whole work of nailing 
 is done on a lay figure or effigy of some kind, and that 
 one of the two who had before taken part in the dialogue 
 then speaks behind it in the character of Prometheus. 
 So the same actor must have appeared in succession as 
 Okeanos, lo, and Hermes. 
 
 2. Prometheus {Forethought) is the son of Themis 
 {Right) the .second occupant of the Pythian Oracle 
 {Eitmen., V. 2). His sympathy with man leads him to 
 impart the gift which raised them out of savage animal 
 life, and for this Zeus, who appears throughout the 
 play as a hard taskmaster, sentences him to fetters. 
 Hepha^stos, from whom this fire had been stolen, has a 
 touch of pity for him. Strength, who ccmes as the ser- 
 vant, not of Hephffistos, but of Zeus himself, acts, as 
 such, with merciless cruelty. 
 
 3. The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having^ 
 but recently expelled Cronos from his throne in Heaven. 
 
 4. Hephsestos, as the great fire-worker, had taught 
 Prometheus to use the fire which he afterwards bestowed 
 
 5. Perhaps, "All might is ours except o'er Gods to 
 rule." 
 
 6. The words indicate that the efiigy of Prometheus, 
 now nailed to the rock, was, as being that of a Titan, of 
 colossal size. 
 
 7. The touch is characteristic as showing that here, 
 as in the humetiides, .lEschylos relied on the horrible- 
 ness of the masks, as part of the machinery of his plays. 
 
 63
 
 64 IRotes 
 
 8. The silence of Prometheus up to this point was 
 partly, as has been said, consequent on the conventional 
 laws of the Greek drama, but it is also a touch of su- 
 preme insight into the heroic temper. In the presence 
 of his torturers, the Titan will not utter even a groan. 
 When they are gone, he appeals to the sympathy of 
 Nature. 
 
 9. The legend is from Hesiod, (r^^og-ow. v. 567.) The 
 fennel, or narthex, seems to have been a large umbel- 
 liferous plant with a large stem filled with a sort of 
 pith, which was used when dry as tinder. Stalks were 
 carried as wands (the thyrsi) by the men and women 
 who joined in the Bacchanalian processions. In modern 
 botany, the name is given to the plant which produces 
 A?afoetida, and the stem of which, from its resinous 
 character, would burn freely, and so connect itself with 
 the Promethean mj th. On the other hand, the Narthex 
 Asafcetida is found at present only in Persia, AfiFghanis- 
 tan, and the Punjaub. 
 
 10 The ocean nymphs, like other divine ones, would 
 be anointed with ambrosial unguents, and the odour 
 would be v/afted before them by the rustling of their 
 wings. This, too, we may think of as part of the 
 "stage effects" of the play . 
 
 11. The words are not those of a vague terror only. 
 The sufferer knows that his tormentor is to come to 
 him before long on wings, and therefore the sound as 
 of the flight of birds is full of terrors. 
 
 12. By some stage mechanism the Chorus remains in 
 the air till verse 280, when at the request of Prometheus, 
 they alight. 
 
 13. Here, as throughout the play, the poet puts into 
 the mouth of his dramatis personce words which must 
 have seemed to the devouter Athenians sacriligeous 
 enough to call for an indictment before the Areiopagos. 
 But the final play of the Triolog}' came, we may believe, 
 as the l-Aimenides did in its turn, as a reconciliation of the 
 conflicting thoughts that rise in men's minds out of the 
 seeming anomalies of the world. 
 
 14. The words leave it uncertain whether Themis is 
 identified with Earth, or, as in Eumenides. (v. 2,) dis- 
 tinguished from her. The Titans as a class, then child- 
 ren of Okeanos and Chth6n (another name for Land 
 or Earth ) are the kindred rather than the brothers of 
 Prometheus.
 
 "Wotcs 65 
 
 15. The generalising words here, as in v. 35, appeal to 
 the Athenian hatred of all that was represented by the 
 words tyrant and tyranny. 
 
 16 The state described is that of men who " through 
 fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. 
 That state, the parent of all superstition, fostered the 
 slavish awe in which Zeus delighted. Prometheus, 
 representing the active intellect of man, bestows new 
 powers, new interests, new hopes, which at last divert 
 them from that fear. 
 
 17. The home of Okeanos was in the far west, at the 
 boundary of the great stream surrounding the whole 
 world, from which he took his name. 
 
 18. One of the sayings of the Seven Sages, already 
 recognised and quoted as a familiar proverb. 
 
 19. See Plumptre's edition oi Agamemnon, v. 1602. 
 
 20. In the mythos, Okeanos had given his daughter 
 Hesione in marriage to Prometheus after the theft 
 of fire, and thus had identified himself with his 
 transgression. 
 
 21. In the Theogony of Hesiod, (v. sog,) Prometheus 
 and Atlas appear as tfee sons of two sisters. As other 
 Titans were thought of as buried unJer volcanoes, so 
 this one was identified with the mountaia which had 
 been seen by travellers to Western Africa, or in the seas 
 beyond it, rising like a column to support the vault of 
 heaven. In Herodotus ( iv. 174 ) and all later writers, 
 the name is given to the chain of mountains in l^ybia, 
 as being the " pillar of the firmament ; " but Humboldt 
 and others identify it with the lonely peak of Teneriffe, 
 as seen by Phoenikian or Hellenic voyagers. Teneriffe, 
 too, like most of the other Titan mountains, was at one 
 time volcanic. Homer^ {Odyss, i., 53) represents him as 
 holding the pillars which separate heaven from earth ; 
 Hesiod (Theogon. v. 517) as himself standing near the 
 Hesnerides, (this, too, points to Teneriffe ) sustaining 
 the heavens with his head and shoulders. 
 
 22. The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Mi- 
 nor, and the liability to earthquakes which has marked 
 nearly every period of its history, led men to connect it 
 also with the traditions of the Titans, some accordingly 
 placing the home of Typhon in Phrygia, some, near Saf-
 
 66 motes 
 
 dis, some, as here, in Kilikia. Hesiod ( Theogon, v. 820) de- 
 scribes Typhon (or Typhoeus) as a serpent-monster hiss- 
 ing out fire ; Pindar XPyth. i. 30, viii., 21), as lying with 
 his head and breast crushed beneath the weight of 
 -i^tna, and his feet extending to Cumae. 
 
 23. The words point probably to an eruption, then 
 fresh in men's memories, which had happened B.C. 476. 
 
 24. By some editors this speech from " No, not so," 
 to " thou know'st how," is assigned to Okeanos. 
 
 25. These are, of course, the Amazons, who were be- 
 lieved to have come through Thrak^ from the Tauric 
 Chersonesos, and had left traces of their names and 
 habits in the Attic traditions of Theseus. 
 
 26. Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Maeotis 
 (the sea of Azov) there would be the great river 
 Okeanos, which was believed to flow round the earth. 
 
 27. Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. 
 No Greek author sanctions the extension of the latter 
 name to so remote a region as that north of the 
 Caspian. 
 
 28. The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy un- 
 defined, but it seems better to refer it to that which 
 Atlas receives from the waste of waters around, and the 
 dark world beneath, than the pitj shown to Prometheus. 
 This had already been dwelt on in line 421. 
 
 29. The passage that follows has for modem palae- 
 ontologists the interest of coinciding with their views as 
 to the progress of human society, and the condition ot 
 mankind during what has been called the "Stone " 
 period. Comp. I^ucretius, v. 955-984. 
 
 30. Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod, ii. 4, as 
 showing that here there was the greater risk of faulty 
 observation. 
 
 31. Another reading gives perhaps a better sense— 
 
 " Memory, handmaid true 
 And mother of the Muses." 
 
 32. In Greece, as throughout the Kast, the ox was 
 used for all agricultural labours, the horse by the noble 
 and the rich, either in war chariots, or stately proces- 
 sions, or in chariot races in the great games. 
 
 of Pi 
 
 Compare with this the account of the inventions 
 Palamedes in Sophocles, Fragm. 379.
 
 "Wotee 67 
 
 34. Here we can recognise the knowledjje of one who 
 had studied in the schools of Pythagoras, or had at any 
 rate picked up their terminology. A more immediate 
 connection may perhaps be traced with the influence of 
 Epimenides, who was said to have spent many years in 
 searching out the healing virtues of plants, and to have 
 written books about them, 
 
 35. The lines that follow form almost a manual of 
 the art of divination as then practised. The " ominous 
 sounds'' include chance words , strange cries, any unex- 
 
 S)ected utterance that connected itself with men's fears 
 or the future. The flights of birds were watched by the 
 diviner as he faced the north, and so the region on the 
 right hand was that of the sunrise, light, blessedness; 
 on the left there were darkness and gloom and death. 
 
 36. So lo was represented, we are told, by Greek 
 sculptors, (Herod, ii. 41.) as Isis was by those of Egypt. 
 The points of contact between the myth of loand that 
 of Prometheus, as adopted, or perhaps developed, by 
 ^Eschylos, are— (i) that from her the destined deliverer 
 of the chained Titan is to come ; ( 2 ) that both were suf- 
 fering from the cruelty of Zeus ; (3) that the wanderings 
 of lo gave scope for the wild tales of far countries on 
 which the imagination of the Athenians fed greedily. 
 But, as the Suppliants may serve to show, the story it- 
 self had a strange fascination for him. In the birth ot 
 Epaphos, and lo's release from her frenzy, he saw, it 
 may be, a reconciliation of what had seemed hard to 
 reconcile, a solution of the problems of the world, like 
 in kind to that which was shadowed forth in the lost 
 Prometheus Unbound. 
 
 37. Argos had been slain by Hermes, and his eyes 
 transferred by Hera to the tail of the peacock, and that 
 bird was thenceforth sacred to her. 
 
 38. Inachos the father of lo f identified with the Ar- 
 give river of the same name ) was, like all rivers, a son 
 of Okeanos and therefore brother to the nymphs who 
 had come to see Prometheus. 
 
 39. The words used have an almost technical mean- 
 ing as applied to animals that were consecrated to the 
 service of God, and set free to wander where they liked. 
 The fate of lo, as at once devoted to Zeus and animal- 
 ised in form, was thus shadowed forth in the very lan- 
 guage of the Oracle.
 
 68 notes 
 
 40. Ivcrna was a lake near the mouth of the Tnachos 
 close to the sea. Kerchneia may perhaps be identified 
 with the Kenchreae, the haven of Korinth in later geo- 
 graphies. 
 
 41. The wicker huts used by Skythian or Thrakian 
 nomads (the Calmucks of modern geographers) are de- 
 scribed by Herodotus (iv. 46) and are still in use. 
 
 42. Sc. the N. K. boundary of the Euxine, where 
 spurs of the Caucasos ridge approach the sea. 
 
 43. The Chalybes are placed by geographers to the 
 south of Colchis. The description of the text indicates 
 a locality farther to the north. 
 
 44. Probably the Araxes, which the Greeks would 
 connect with a word conveying the idea of a torrent 
 dashing on the rocks. The description seems to imply a 
 river flowing into the Kuxine from the Caucasos, and 
 the condition is fulfilled by the Hypanis or Kouban. 
 
 45. When the Amazons appear in contact with Greek 
 history, they are found in TJirace. But they had come 
 from the coast of Pontos, and near the mouth of the 
 Themiodon ( ThermeJi). The words of Prometheus point 
 to yet earlier migrations from the East. 
 
 46. Here, as in Soph. Antig. (970) the name Salmy- 
 dessos represents the rock-bound, havenless coast 
 from the promontory of Thynias to the entrance of the 
 Bosporos, which had griven to the Black Sea its earlier 
 name of Axenos, the "inhospitable." 
 
 47. The track is here in some confusion. From the 
 Amazons south of the Caucasos, lo is to find her way to 
 the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea) and the Kimmerian 
 Bosporos, which flows into the Sea of Azov, and so to 
 return to Asia. 
 
 48. Here, as in a hundred other instances, a false ety- 
 mology has become the parent of a myth. The name 
 Bosporos is probably Asiatic not Greek, and has an en- 
 tirely different signification. 
 
 49. The lines refer to the story that Zeus loved Thetis 
 the daughter of Nereus, and followed her to Caucasos, 
 but abstained from marriage with her because Prome- 
 theus warned him that the child born of that union
 
 t\0tC6 69 
 
 should overthrow his father. Here the future is used 
 of what was still contingent only. In the lost play of the 
 Trilogy the myth was possibly brought to its conclu- 
 sion and connected with the release of Prometheus. 
 
 50. Heracles, whose genealogy was traced through 
 Aicmena, Perseus, Danaii, Danaos, and seven other 
 names to Epaphos and lo. 
 
 51. Probably the Kimmerian Bosporos. The Tanais 
 or Phasis has, however, been conjectured. 
 
 52 The history of the passage in brackets is curious 
 enough to call "for a note. They are not in any extant, 
 but they are found in a passage quoted by Galen iv. p. 
 454) as from the Protneiheus Bound, and are inserted 
 here by Mr. Paley. 
 
 53. Kisthene belongs to the geography of legend, 
 lying somewhere on the shore of the great ocean-river 
 in Lybia or Ethiopia, at the end of the world, a great 
 mountain in the far West, beyond the Hesperides, the 
 dwelling-place, as here, of the Gorgons, the daughters 
 of Phorkys. Those first named are the Graiae. 
 
 54. Here, like the "winged hound" of v. 1043, for the 
 eagles that are the messengers of Zeus. 
 
 55. We are carried back again from the fabled West 
 to the fabled East. The Arimaspians, with one eye, 
 and the Grypes or Grj-phons, (the griffins of mediaeval 
 heraldry), "quadrupeds with the wings and beaks of 
 eagles, were placed by most writers (Herod, iv. 13, 27) 
 in the north of Europe, in or beyond the terra iyicoi^mta 
 ofSkythia. The mention of the " ford of Pluto'' and 
 .-Ethiopia, however, may possibly imply (if we identify 
 it, as Mr. Paley does, with the 'Tartessos of Spain, or 
 Bo^Hs— Guadalquivir) that ^schylos followed another 
 legend which placed them in the West. There is pos- 
 sibly & paronomasia between Pluto, the God of Hades, 
 and Plutos, the ideal God of riches. 
 
 56. The name was applied by later writers (Quintus 
 Curtius, iv. 7, 22; Lucretius, vi. 84S) to the fountain in 
 the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the great Oasis. The 
 " river .Ethiops " may be purely imaginary, but it may 
 also suggest the possibility of some vague knowledge of 
 the Niger, or more probably of the Nile itself in the 
 upper regions of its course. The " Bybline Hills " carry 
 the name Bvblos which we only read of as belonging to 
 a town in the Delta, to the Second Cataract.
 
 7o IKlOtCS 
 
 57. Coinp. Sophocles, Trachin, v. 1168. 
 
 58. The Adriatic or Ionian Gulf. 
 
 59. In the Suppliants, Zeus is said to have soothed 
 her, and restored her to her human consciousness by his 
 "divine breathings." The thought underlying the 
 legend may be taken either as a distortion of some prim- 
 itive tradition, or as one of the "unconscious prophe- 
 cies " of heathenism. The deliverer is not to be born 
 after the common manner of men, and is to have a 
 divine as well as a human parentage, 
 
 60. See the argument of the Suppltatits, who, as the 
 daughters of Danaos, descended from Epaphos, are here 
 referred to. The passage is noticeable as showing that 
 the. theme of that tragedy was already present to the 
 poet's thoughts. 
 
 6r, Argos. So in the Suppliants, Pelasgos is the 
 mythical king of the Apian land who receives them. 
 
 62. Hypermneestra, who spared I^ynceus, and by him 
 became the mother of Abas and a line of Argive kings. 
 
 63. Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his ar- 
 rows slew the eagle that devoured Prometheus. 
 
 64. The word is simply an interjection of pain, but 
 one so characteristic that I have thought it better to 
 reproduce it than to give any English equivalent. 
 
 65. The maxim, " Marry with a woman thine equal," 
 was ascribed to Pittacos. 
 
 66. The Kuphemerism of later scholiasts derived the 
 name from a king Adrastos, who was said to have been 
 the first to build a temple to Nemesis, and so the power 
 thus worshipped was called after his name. Abetter 
 etymology leads us to see in it the idea of the " inevit- 
 able " law of retribution working unseen by men, and 
 independently even of the arbitrary will of the. Gods, 
 and bringing destruction upon the proud and haughty. 
 
 67. Comp. Agam. 162—6. 
 
 68. Either a mere epithet of intensity, as in our 
 "thrice blest," or rising from the supposed fact that 
 every third wave was larger and more impetuous than
 
 •Rotes 71 
 
 the others, like the fluctus decumanus of the Latins, or 
 from the sequence of three great waves which some 
 have noted as a common phenomenon in storms. 
 
 69. Here again we have a strange shadowing forth of 
 the mystery of Atonement, and what we have learnt to 
 call "vicarious " satisfaction. In the later legend, Chei- 
 ron, suffering from the agony of his wounds, resigns his 
 immortality, and submits to die in place of the ever- 
 living death to which Prometheus was doomed. 
 
 70. It is noticeable that both ^schylos and Sopho- 
 cles have left us tragedies which end in a thunderstorm 
 as an element of effect. But the contrast between the 
 Ptomelheus and the GLdipus at Colonos as to the impres- 
 sion left in the one case of serene reconciliation, and in 
 the other of violent antagonism, is hardly less striking 
 than the resemblance in the outward phenomena, 
 which are common to the two.
 
 Hrlcl Boohlets
 
 Ariel DooKlets 
 
 ORDER 
 NUMBER 
 
 Abelard and Heloise. Letters 95 
 
 About Children: What Men and Women Have 
 
 Said ii6 
 
 About Men: What Women Have Said . . . .114 
 About Women : What Men Have Said . . . . iis 
 Addison. Sir Roger de Coverley Papers ... 94 
 
 iEsop's Fables 40 
 
 Arabian Nights. 6 vols 98-103 
 
 Arnold. Sweetness and Light 9 
 
 Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and Songs 
 
 of Experience 150 
 
 Bacon. Some of the Essays of 58 
 
 Bright, John. Speech on America 155 
 
 Brown. Rab aad His Friends, and Marjorie 
 
 Fleming 2 
 
 Browne. Religio Medici 90 
 
 Browning, E. B. Sonnets from the Portuguese . 5 
 Browning, R. Christmas Eve, and Easter Day 74 
 
 Lyrics 10 
 
 Pippa Passes 128 
 
 Bryant. Thanatopsis, Flood of Years, etc. . . 12 
 
 Butler. Nothing to Wear 15 
 
 Calverley. Verses and Fly Leaves 31
 
 ORDER 
 NUMBER 
 
 Carleton. Wild Goose Lodge and Other Irish 
 
 Tales 77 
 
 Carlyle. Nibelungen Lied 24 
 
 Carove. Story without an End 46 
 
 Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland . . . .136 
 Hunting of the Snark and Other 
 
 Poems 137 
 
 Through the Looking Glass and What 
 
 Alice Found There .... 158 
 Chassimo. Peter Schlemihl ... ... 67 
 
 Chesney. Battle of Dorking 64 
 
 Chesterfield. Letters and Maxims 66 
 
 Cicero and Emerson. On Friendship .... 54 
 Coleridge. Rime of the Ancient Mariner ... 16 
 
 Concerning Friendship 85 
 
 Curtis. Our Best Society 4 
 
 De Maistre, X. A Journey Round My Room . 151 
 De Montaigne, Michel. Education of Children . 152 
 
 De Quiiicey. Conversation 154 
 
 Three Essays * . 63 
 
 Dickens. Christmas Carol ...c****43 
 Cricket on the Hearth ...... 44 
 
 Drake. Culprit Fay 3 
 
 Drummond, Henry. The Greatest Thing in the 
 
 World 159 
 
 Edgeworth. Castle Rackrent, etc 78 
 
 Emerson, R. W. Essays on Character, Heroism, 
 
 and Nature 140 
 
 Epictetus 20
 
 ORDER 
 NUMBER 
 
 Ewing, Julia H. A Story of a Short Life . . . 148 
 
 Jackanapes 149 
 
 Ferguson. Father Tom and the Pope .... 48 
 
 Fouqu6. Sintram 76 
 
 Undine 84 
 
 Franklin. Autobiography 41 
 
 Poor Richard 42 
 
 Froude, James Anthony. The Science of History 153 
 
 Gaskell. Cranford 33 
 
 Gessa Romanorum 65 
 
 Gilbert. Bab Ballads. 2 vols 96-97 
 
 Goldsmith. Good Natured Man 8 
 
 She Stoops to Conquer 14 
 
 Vicar of Wakefield 34 
 
 Gray. Elegy in a Country Churchyard. ... 17 
 
 Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput 80 
 
 Gulliver's Voyage to Brob^ingnag 8i 
 
 Gulliver's Voyage to Laputa 82 
 
 Gulliver's Voyage to the Houyhnhnms .... 83 
 Hale, E. E. The Man without a Country . . .142 
 Horace. Odes. English Translation and Latin 
 
 Text. 2 vols 143-144 
 
 Ideals of the Republic 30 
 
 Irving. Bracebridge Hall. 2 vols. . . . 1 21-12 2 
 Knickerbocker's New York. 2 vols. 123-124 
 
 Legend of Sleepy Hollow 28 
 
 Old Christmas 75 
 
 Rip Van Winkle 29 
 
 Sketch Book. 2 vols 55-56
 
 ORDER 
 
 NUMBER 
 
 Irving. Tales of a Traveller. 2 vols. . . 125-126 
 
 The Alhambra. 2 vols 1 19-120 
 
 James I. of England. Counterblaste to Tobacco 73 
 
 Johnson. Rasselas 36 
 
 Keats. Endjrmion 87 
 
 Eve of St. Agnes 26 
 
 Kingsley, Charles. Greek Heroes 131 
 
 Lamb. Essays of Elia. 2 vols 61-62 
 
 Wit and' Wisdom 38 
 
 Lincoln, A. Stories and Sayings. Collected and 
 
 edited by Henry Llewellyn Williams . . 14S 
 
 Longfellow, H. W. Evangeline 138 
 
 Lover. Barney O'Reirdon, etc 79 
 
 Lowell. Fable for Critics 68 
 
 Lytton, E. Bulwer. Richelieu 134 
 
 The Lady of Lyons . . .135 
 
 Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome 19 
 
 Mahaffy, John P. The Art of Conversation . .141 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. Thoughts 21 
 
 Michael Angelo. Sonnets of 53 
 
 Milton. Areopagitica 72 
 
 L'AUegro and II Penseroso . . . . . 11 
 
 Munchausen. Travels 39 
 
 Mulock. The Adventures of a Brownie . . . .161 
 
 The Little Lame Prince 160 
 
 Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat 47 
 
 Ouida. Dog of Flanders 118 
 
 The Niirnberg Stove 162 
 
 PascaL Thoughts 89
 
 ORDHR 
 NUMBER 
 
 Pater, W. Child in the House Si 
 
 Cupid and Psyche 130 
 
 Penn. Fruits of SoUtude. 2 vols 91-92 
 
 Plato. Apology of Socrates 59 
 
 The Phaedo 60 
 
 Plumtre, George, Translated by. Prometheus 
 
 Bound of Aeschylos 156 
 
 Antigone of Sophocles i57 
 
 Poe. Gold Bug i 
 
 Poems 53 
 
 The Murders in the Rue Morgue ... 146 
 The Purloined Letter, and the Pit and the 
 
 Pendulum ... . 147 
 
 Rochefoucauld. Maxims 117 
 
 Roosevelt. True Americanism 70 
 
 Rossetti. Blessed Damozel 45 
 
 House of Life 18 
 
 Ruskin. Crown of Wild Olive 88 
 
 Ideas of Truth 25 
 
 King of the Golden River 27 
 
 Sesame and Lilies 22 
 
 Shakespeare. As You Like It 10 
 
 Hamlet 113 
 
 Julius Caesar iii 
 
 Macbeth 112 
 
 Merchant of Venice 107 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream . .106 
 Much Ado About Nothing . . . 105 
 Romeo and Juliet no
 
 ORDER 
 
 NUMBER 
 
 Shakespeare. Sonnets 37 
 
 Tempest 104 
 
 Twelfth Night 109 
 
 Sheridan. Rivals ••• 7 
 
 School for Scandal 6 
 
 Stephen. Robert Louis Stephenson 57 
 
 Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey . .129 
 
 Stevenson, R. L. A Child's Garden of Verses . 139 
 
 Virginibus Puerisque ... 69 
 
 WiU o' the MiU 86 
 
 Swinburne, A. C. Laus Veneris . • • . . .127 
 
 Tennyson. In Memoriam 93 
 
 Princess «... 50 
 
 Thackeray. Charity and Humor 13 
 
 Novels by Eminent Hands ... 32 
 
 Rose and the Ring 23 
 
 Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan . . . 132 
 
 The Ballad of Reading Gaol . . 133 
 
 Winthrop. Love and Skates 49 
 
 Word for the Day 71 
 
 Zschokke. Tales 35 
 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons 
 
 Ne-w YorK and London
 
 RFT, II S PAT OFF
 
 BEGlON^L 
 
 it 
 
 000 002 634