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    Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.) | English (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
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    Enter Power and Force, bringing with them the captive Prometheus; also Hephaestus.
    Power

    To earth's remotest limit we come, to the Scythian land, an untrodden solitude. And now, Hephaestus, yours is the charge to observe the mandates laid upon you by the Father--to clamp this miscreant [5] upon the high craggy rocks in shackles of binding adamant that cannot be broken. For your own flower, flashing fire, source of all arts, he has purloined and bestowed upon mortal creatures. Such is his offence; for this he is bound to make requital to the gods, [10] so that he may learn to bear with the sovereignty of Zeus and cease his man-loving ways.

    Hephaestus

    Power and Force, for you indeed the behest of Zeus is now fulfilled, and nothing remains to stop you. But for me--I do not have the nerve myself [15] to bind with force a kindred god upon this rocky cleft assailed by cruel winter. Yet, come what may, I am constrained to summon courage to this deed; for it is perilous to disregard the commandments of the Father.

    Lofty-minded son of Themis who counsels straight, against my will, no less than yours, I must rivet you with brazen bonds [20] no hand can loose to this desolate crag, where neither voice nor form of mortal man shall you perceive; but, scorched by the sun's bright beams, you shall lose the fair bloom of your flesh. And glad you shall be when spangled-robed night shall veil his brightness and [25] when the sun shall scatter again the frost of morning. Evermore the burden of your present ill shall wear you out; for your deliverer is not yet born.

    Such is the prize you have gained for your championship of man. For, god though you are, you did not fear the wrath of the gods, but [30] you bestowed honors upon mortal creatures beyond their due. Therefore on this joyless rock you must stand sentinel, erect, sleepless, your knee unbent. And many a groan and unavailing lament you shall utter; for the heart of Zeus is hard, [35] and everyone is harsh whose power is new.


    There are a total of 2 comments on and cross references to this page.

    Cross references from Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (ed. Ildar Ibraguimov):
    465 [Gebrauch des Artikels bei Pronomen und Zahlwörtern mit und ohne Substantiv.]

    Cross references from Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (ed. Ildar Ibraguimov):
    553 [Adverbialsätze der Absicht, durch hina, oft auch hôs, hopôs, ophra (ep. u. lyr.), damit, [heôs ep.] (negativ hina mê, hôs mê u. s. w., auch bloss mê [lat. ne], damit nicht), eingeleitet).]

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    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes. 1. Prometheus Bound. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.
    OCLC: 13109528
    ISBN: 0674991605

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