Four Plays of Aeschylus Part 24

CHORUS

Exulting Fates, who waste the line And whelm the house of Oedipus!

Fiends, who have slain, in wrath condign, The father and the children thus!

What now befits it that I do, What meditate, what undergo?

Can I the funeral rite refrain, Nor weep for Polynices slain?

But yet, with fear I shrink and thrill, Presageful of the city's will!

Thou, O Eteocles, shalt have Full rites, and mourners at thy grave, But he, thy brother slain, shall he, With none to weep or cry Alas, To unbefriended burial pa.s.s?

Only one sister o'er his bier, To raise the cry and pour the tear- Who can obey such stern decree?

SEMI-CHORUS

Let those who hold our city's sway Wreak, or forbear to wreak, their will On those who cry, Ah, well-a-day!

Lamenting Polynices still!

We will go forth and, side by side With her, due burial will provide!

Royal he was; to him be paid Our grief, wherever he be laid!

The crowd may sway, and change, and still Take its caprice for Justice' will!

But we this dead Eteocles, As Justice wills and Right decrees, Will bear unto his grave!

For-under those enthroned on high And Zeus' eternal royalty- He unto us salvation gave!

He saved us from a foreign yoke,- A wild a.s.sault of outland folk, A savage, alien wave!

[Exeunt.

PROMETHEUS BOUND

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 t.i.tans, 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 G.o.ds and men. Then were the t.i.tans divided, for some had good will unto Cronos, and others unto Zeus; until Prometheus, son of the t.i.tan 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 G.o.d.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

STRENGTH AND FORCE. HEPHAESTUS. PROMETHEUS. CHORUS OF SEA-NYMPHS, DAUGHTERS OF OCEa.n.u.s. OCEa.n.u.s. 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 G.o.ds 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 pa.s.s, 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 G.o.d defying wrath of G.o.ds, 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 cries Against the will inexorable of Zeus.

Hard is the heart of fresh-usurped power!

STRENGTH

Enough of useless ruth! why tarriest thou?

Why pitiest one whom all G.o.ds wholly hate, One who to man gave o'er thy privilege?

HEPHAESTUS

Kinship and friendship wring my heart for him.

STRENGTH

Ay-but how disregard our Sire's command?

Is not thy pity weaker than thy fear?

HEPHAESTUS

Ruthless as ever, brutal to the full!

STRENGTH

Tears can avail him nothing: strive not thou, Nor waste thine efforts thus unaidingly.

HEPHAESTUS

Out on my cursed mastery of steel!

STRENGTH

Why curse it thus? In sooth that craft of thine Standeth a.s.soiled of all that here is wrought.

HEPHAESTUS

Would that some other were endowed therewith!

STRENGTH

All hath its burden, save the rule of Heaven, And freedom is for Zeus, and Zeus alone.

HEPHAESTUS

I know it; I gainsay no word hereof.

STRENGTH

Up, then, and hasten to do on his bonds, Lest Zeus behold thee indolent of will!

HEPHAESTUS

Ah well-behold the armlets ready now!

STRENGTH

Then cast them round his arms and with sheer strength Swing down the hammer, clinch him to the crags.

HEPHAESTUS

Lo, 'tis toward-no weakness in the work!

STRENGTH

Smite harder, wedge it home-no faltering here!

He hath a craft can pa.s.s th' impa.s.sable!