Prometheus Bound 1–35
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 1–35 (ed. Griffith) — Kratos brings Prometheus to the rock at the end of the earth and orders Hephaestus to chain him there; Hephaestus obeys under protest. Prometheus himself says nothing until 88. · 40 lines
1ΚΡΑΤΟΣ
1–2Χθονὸς μὲν εἰς τηλουρὸν ἥκομεν πέδον, Σκύθην ἐς οἷμον, ἄβροτον εἰς ἐρημίαν.
To the far-bounded plain of earth we have come, to the Scythian tract, to a wilderness without mortals.
3–4Ἥφαιστε, σοὶ δὲ χρὴ μέλειν ἐπιστολὰς ἃς σοι πατὴρ ἐφεῖτο,
Hephaestus, but you must make your concern the commands which the Father enjoined upon you:
4–6τόνδε πρὸς πέτραις ὑψηλοκρήμνοις τὸν λεωργὸν ὀχμάσαι ἀδαμαντίνων δεσμῶν ἐν ἀρρήκτοις πέδαις.
to clamp this criminal here to the high-cliffed rocks in the unbreakable shackles of adamantine bonds.
7–8τὸ σὸν γὰρ ἄνθος, παντέχνου πυρὸς σέλας, θνητοῖσι κλέψας ὤπασεν.
For it was your own bloom, the blaze of all-crafting fire, that he stole and bestowed on mortals.
8–9τοιᾶσδέ τοι ἁμαρτίας σφε δεῖ θεοῖς δοῦναι δίκην,
Such, I tell you, is the wrong for which he must pay the penalty to the gods,
10–11ὡς ἂν διδαχθῆι τὴν Διὸς τυραννίδα στέργειν, φιλανθρώπου δὲ παύεσθαι τρόπου.
so that he may be taught to be content with the sovereignty of Zeus and to give up his man-loving ways.
12ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΣ
12–13Κράτος Βία τε, σφῶιν μὲν ἐντολὴ Διὸς ἔχει τέλος δὴ κοὐδὲν ἐμποδὼν ἔτι,
Kratos and Bia, for you two Zeus' command has now reached its end, and nothing stands in your way any longer;
14–15ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἄτολμός εἰμι συγγενῆ θεὸν δῆσαι βίαι φάραγγι πρὸς δυσχειμέρωι.
but I have not the heart to bind a kindred god by force to a storm-beaten ravine.
16–17πάντως δ᾽ ἀνάγκη τῶνδέ μοι τόλμαν σχεθεῖν· εὐωριάζειν γὰρ πατρὸς λόγους βαρύ.
Yet in any case I must summon up the nerve for these things; for to make light of a father's words is a grave matter.
18–20τῆς ὀρθοβούλου Θέμιδος αἰπυμῆτα παῖ, ἄκοντά σ᾽ ἄκων δυσλύτοις χαλκεύμασι προσπασσαλεύσω τῶιδ᾽ ἀπανθρώπωι πάγωι,
Son of straight-counselling Themis, you of the towering schemes — unwilling myself, I shall nail you unwilling with bonds hard to loose to this crag far from men,
21–22ἵν᾽ οὔτε φωνὴν οὔτε του μορφὴν βροτῶν ὄψηι,
where you will see neither the voice nor the shape of any mortal;
22–23σταθευτὸς δ᾽ ἡλίου φοίβηι φλογὶ χροιᾶς ἀμείψεις ἄνθος·
and scorched by the sun's bright flame you will lose the bloom of your skin;
23–25ἀσμένωι δέ σοι ἡ ποικιλείμων νὺξ ἀποκρύψει φάος πάχνην θ᾽ ἑώιαν ἥλιος σκεδᾶι πάλιν·
and you will be glad when the spangle-robed night hides the light away, and when the sun in turn scatters the morning frost;
26–27αἰεὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος ἀχθηδὼν κακοῦ τρύσει σ᾽· ὁ λωφήσων γὰρ οὐ πέφυκέ πω.
and always the burden of the trouble present at each moment will wear you down; for the one who is to relieve you has not yet been born.
28–30τοιαῦτ᾽ ἐπηύρου τοῦ φιλανθρώπου τρόπου· θεὸς θεῶν γὰρ οὐχ ὑποπτήσσων χόλον βροτοῖσι τιμὰς ὤπασας πέρα δίκης·
Such is the profit you have reaped from your man-loving ways; for you, a god, not cowering before the wrath of gods, bestowed honours on mortals beyond what is right.
31–32ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἀτερπῆ τήνδε φρουρήσεις πέτραν ὀρθοστάδην ἄυπνος, οὐ κάμπτων γόνυ·
In return for which you will keep watch over this joyless rock, standing bolt upright, sleepless, never bending a knee;
33–34πολλοὺς δ᾽ ὀδυρμοὺς καὶ γόους ἀνωφελεῖς φθέγξηι·
and you will utter many lamentations and unavailing groans;
34–35Διὸς γὰρ δυσπαραίτητοι φρένες, ἅπας δὲ τραχὺς ὅστις ἂν νέον κρατῆι.
for the mind of Zeus is hard to move by prayer, and everyone who has newly come to power is harsh.