Chapter 2

Electra's Sister Chrysothemis, having found the offerings of Orestes on his Father's Tomb, brings what she deems glad Tidings to Electra, who meets her with the Announcement that the Pedagogos has just brought Certain News of their Brother's Death. Electra, now reduced to Despair, proposes to Chrysothemis that they should themselves attempt to slay Aegisthus. Lines 871-1057

Orestes enters with the Urn which, it is pretended, contains his Ashes. His Recognition ensues. Lines 1097-1231

THE TRACHINIAE

Introduction

Deianira imparts the Secret of her Device for regaining the Love of her Husband, Hercules, and puts the Fatal Robe into the Hands of Lichas, the Herald, that he may carry it to Hercules. Lines 531-632

Deianira recounts to the Chorus an Alarming and Portentous Incident. Then Hyllus, the Son of Hercules, comes and announces the Catastrophe. Lines 663-820

PHILOCTETES.

Introduction

Ulysses explains the Plan of Action to Neoptolemus, and labours to bend him to his Purpose. Lines 1-134

Neoptolemus having filched the Bow of Philoctetes, Philoctetes prays him to restore it. Lines 927-962

AESCHYLUS

PROMETHEUS BOUND.

Prometheus, the good Titan, has been raising mankind from the condition of primeval brutes by teaching them the arts of civilisation. At last he steals fire from heaven for their use. By this he incurs the wrath of Zeus, who, having deposed his father Chronos, has become king of the gods. As a punishment Prometheus is condemned by Zeus to be chained to a rock in the Caucasus, with an eagle always feeding on his breast. But Prometheus knows the secret of a mysterious marriage which is destined in time to take place, and by the offspring of which Zeus in his turn is to be dethroned. Strong in his consciousness of this, he defies Zeus, who by the agency of Hermes tries in vain to wrest the secret from him. The persons of the drama, besides Prometheus, are Hephaestus, better known by his Latin name of Vulcan, Might and Force personified, Hermes the messenger of Heaven, and the wandering Io. The chorus consists of sea- nymphs, who sympathise with the suffering Prometheus. This drama is a sublime enigma. Aeschylus was conservative and deeply religious. How could he write a play the hero of which is a benefactor of man struggling against the tyranny of the king of the gods, and the sequel of which found a fit and congenial composer in Shelley, whose sentiment and manner the "Prometheus Bound" wonderfully anticipates and perhaps helped to form? Again, how could the Athenians, in an age when their piety had not yet given way to scepticism, have endured such dramatic treatment of the chief of the gods? It is almost as if a Mystery Play had been presented in the Middle Ages with Satan for the hero and the First Person of the Trinity in the character of an oppressor. Perhaps the position of Zeus in the drama as a usurper may, in some degree, have softened the religious effect.

* * * * *

Prometheus is brought in by the Spirits of Might and Force, Hephaestus accompanying them.

LINES 1-113.

SCENE: _The Caucasus_.

MIGHT.

Unto earth's utmost boundary we have come, To Scythia's realm, th' untrodden wilderness. Hephaestus, now it is thy part to do The Almighty Father's bidding, and to bind This arch-deceiver to yon lowering cliff With bonds of everlasting adamant. Thy attribute, all-fabricating fire, He stole and gave to man. Such is the crime For which he pays the penalty to Heaven, That he may learn henceforth meekly to bear The rule of Zeus and less befriend mankind.

HEPHAESTUS.

Spirits of Might and Force, by you the word Of Zeus has been fulfilled; your task is done. But I--to bind a god, one of my kin, To a storm-beaten cliff, my heart abhors. And yet this must I do, for woe is him That does not what the Almighty Sire commands. Thou high-aspiring son of Themis sage, Unwilling is the hand that rivets thee Indissolubly to this lonely rock, Where thou shalt see no face and hear no voice Of man, but, scorched by the sun's burning ray, Change thy fair hue for dark, and long for night With starry kirtle to close up the day, And for the morn to melt the frosts of night, Still racked with tortures endlessly renewed, And which to end redeemer none is born. Such is the guerdon of thy love for man. A god thyself, thou gav'st, despite the gods, To mortals more than is a mortal's due. And therefore must thou keep this dreary rock, Erect, with frame unbending, reft of sleep, And many a bootless wail of agony Shalt utter. Change of mind in Zeus is none, Ruthless the rule when power is newly won.

MIGHT.

To work! A truce to these weak wails of ruth. Whom the gods hate why dost thou not abhor-- Him that betrayed thy attribute to man?

HEPHAESTUS.

Great force have kindred and companionship.

MIGHT.

True, but to disobey the Almighty Sire How canst thou dare? Fearest thou not this more?

HEPHAESTUS.

Relentless still and pitiless art thou.

MIGHT.

Thy wailings are no medicines for his woes; Then waste no pains on that which profits naught.

HEPHAESTUS.

O thrice accurs'd this master-craft of mine!

MIGHT.

Why dost thou curse it? Simple truth to say, Thy art is no way guilty of these ills.

HEPHAESTUS.

Would it had fallen to any lot but mine.

MIGHT.

The one thing to the gods themselves denied [Footnote: In this passage I have retained the old reading eprachthae with the interpretation of the Scholiast.] Is sovereignty, for Zeus alone is free.

HEPHAESTUS.

Too well I know it, and gainsay it not.

MIGHT.

Be quick, then, and make fast this sinner's chain, Lest the Almighty see thee loitering.

HEPHAESTUS.

Here are the fetters for his arms; behold them.

MIGHT.

Grasp him, and with thy hammer round his arms Strike and strike hard and clench them to the rock.

HEPHAESTUS.

The work goes on apace and tarries not.

MIGHT.

Strike harder, clench, leave nothing loose; his craft, E'en in extremity, can find a way.

HEPHAESTUS.

This arm is fixed past any power to loose.

MIGHT.

Clench now the other firmly; let him know That all his cunning is no match for Zeus.

HEPHAESTUS.

Fault with my work can no one find save he.

MIGHT.

Drive then the ruthless spike of adamant Right through the sinner's breast and see it holds.

HEPHAESTUS.

Alas, Prometheus! I bemoan thy pains.

MIGHT.

Thou loiterest, moaning for the foe of Zeus; One day thou mayest be moaning for thyself.

HEPHAESTUS.

Thou see'st a sight most piteous to behold.

MIGHT.

I see yon sinner meeting his desert. Proceed, make fast the fetters round his sides.

HEPHAESTUS.

Needs must I do it, press me not too hard.

MIGHT.

Press thee I will, and shout into thine ear. Go down and clench the gyves about his legs.

HEPHAESTUS.

That work with little labour has been done.

MIGHT.

Now let thy hammer all the bonds make fast; The overseer of this thy work is stern.

HEPHAESTUS.

Thy speech is ruthless as thy looks are grim.

MIGHT.

Be thou soft-hearted an thou wilt, but spare To flout my sternness and my strong resolve.

HEPHAESTUS.

Let us be gone; the gyves are on his legs.

MIGHT.

There revel in thy insolence, there rob Gods of their attributes to give to man. Can mortal man in aught thy durance ease? Ill chosen was the name that thou hast borne. Foresight it means, but thou dost foresight need To set thy limbs free from his handiwork.

PROMETHEUS.

O glorious firmament; O swift-winged winds, Ye rivers and ye gleaming ocean waves Innumerable, and thou great Mother Earth, Thou, too, O sun, with thy all-seeing eye, Look how a god is treated by the gods! See the pains that I must bear, Even to the thousandth year! Such the chains that heaven's new king Forges for my torturing. Ah me! Ah me! my present woe Does but the pangs to come foreshow, Pangs that an end will never know.

Yet hold! The darkness of futurity Is to my eye not dark, nor can aught come That I do not foresee. Our destiny We all must bear as lightly as we may, Since none may wrestle with necessity. And yet to speak or not to speak alike Is miserable. High service done to man-- For this I bear the adamantine chain. I to its elemental fountain tracked, In fern-pith stored and bore by stealth away, Fire, source and teacher of all arts to men. Such mine offence, whereof the penalty I pay, thus chained in face of earth and heaven.

* * * * *

_THE SIN OF PROMETHEUS_.

LINES 444-533.

PROMETHEUS.

Think not it is from pride or wantonness That I forbear to speak; my heart is wrung With looking on these ignominious bonds. Who was it that to these new deities Their attributes apportioned? Who but I? Of that no more; to you as well as me The tale is known; but list while I recount How vile was man's estate, how void was man Of reason, till I gave him mind and sense. Not that I would upbraid the race of men: I would but show my own benevolence. Eyesight they had, yet nothing saw aright; Ears, and yet heard not; but like forms in dreams, For ages lived a life confused, nor bricks Nor woodwork had to build them sunny homes, But dwelt beneath the ground, as do the tribes Diminutive of ants, in sunless caves. Nor had they signs to mark the season's change, Coming of winter or of flowery spring Or of boon summer; but at random wrought In all things, till I taught them to discern The risings and the settings of the stars; The use of numbers, crown of sciences, Was my invention; mine were letters too, The implement of mind in all its works. First I trained beasts to draw beneath the yoke, The collar to endure, the rider bear, And thus relieve man of his heaviest toils. First taught the steed, obedient to the rein, To draw the chariot, wealth's proud appanage. Nor, before me, did any launch the barque With its white wings to rove the ocean wave. These blessings, hapless that I am, have I Devised for man, and yet device have none Myself to liberate from these fell bonds.

CHORUS.

Sad is thy lot, to thy unwisdom due. Now, like a bad physician that himself Has into sickness fallen, thou dost despair And hast no medicine for thine own disease.

PROMETHEUS.

Hear what remains, and thou wilt wonder more At all the feats of my inventive mind. Greatest of all was this; when they fell sick Men had no help, no medicine edible, Potion or ointment, but for lack of cure Wasted away and perished, till my skill Taught them to mix the juice of sovran herbs, With which they now ward off all maladies. Of divination many ways I traced, Laid down the rules for telling which of dreams Would be fulfilled, and of foreboding sounds The mystery unfolded. Then I taught What sights are ominous to wayfarers. I showed which of the birds that wing the heavens Were lucky, which unlucky, and what were Their loves and hatreds and foregatherings. Then what the flesh of victims signified, Of its appearances which pleased the gods, How shaped, how streaked each part behoved to be, And the burnt offerings on the altar laid, Thighs wrapped in fat and chine. I read the signs Of sacrificial flames unread before. More yet I did; the wealth that lurks for man In earth's dark womb,--gold, silver, iron, brass,-- Who was it brought all this to light but I? All others lie who would the honour claim. In one short sentence a long tale is told Alone Prometheus gave all arts to man.

CHORUS.

Take heed; be not to mortals overkind, But to thyself in this dire strait unkind. Good hope have I, one day to see thee stand Free from those bonds and mate the power of Zeus.

PROMETHEUS.

Not yet that consummation fate ordains. A thousand years of agony must pass Before my tortured frame puts off this chain. For skill is weak matched with necessity.

CHORUS.

Who, then, is pilot of necessity?

PROMETHEUS.

Fates three, and the unchanged Erinnyes.

CHORUS.

And have these powers the mastery over Zeus?

PROMETHEUS.

Not Zeus himself can baffle destiny.

CHORUS.

What is his destiny but endless rule?

PROMETHEUS.

I may not tell thee; importune me not.

CHORUS.

Dread is the secret that thou hidest thus.

PROMETHEUS.

Think of some other question; this to tell The time is not yet ripe; deep in my breast The secret must be buried; thus alone May I from chains and tortures be set free.

* * * * *

_PROMETHEUS DEFIES ZEUS_.

LINES 928-1114.

PROMETHEUS.

Yet, yet shall Zeus, for all his proud self-will, Be humbled. On a wedlock he is bent Whereof the fateful offspring shall one day Hurl him from sovereignty to nothingness, And so fulfil the curse old Chronos spake, When from his immemorial throne he fell. And this his doom how to escape not one Of all the gods can rede him saving I. But to me all is known. Then let him sit Triumphant while his thunders roll through heaven, And his hand grasps the flaming thunderbolt; All his artillery shall not save its lord From utter shame and ruin bottomless. Such the antagonist himself arrays Against himself, dread and invincible, One who a fiercer than the lightning's flame, A louder than the thunder's peal shall find, And wrest the truncheon that makes earth to quake, Poseidon's trident, from its wielder's hand. Wrecked on misfortune's rock, he then shall know How high it is to reign, to serve how low.

CHORUS.

Thy wish is father to thy prophecy.

PROMETHEUS.

My wish is one with destiny's decree.

CHORUS.

Think'st thou that Zeus will e'er his master find?

PROMETHEUS.

Ay! and a load harder than mine to bear.

CHORUS.

Dost thou not fear to cast such words at Zeus?

PROMETHEUS.

What should I fear when I must never die?

CHORUS.

But Zeus may yet enhance thine agony.

PROMETHEUS.

Prepared for all, his malice I defy.

CHORUS.

'Tis wise to bow to the inevitable.

PROMETHEUS.

Cringe, if thou wilt, sue, bend the knee to power. Little reck I of Zeus. Then let him work His tyrant will for his allotted span. Not long shall he be monarch of the gods. But lo! the Almighty's henchman I behold, That errands bears for this new dynasty; His lacqueyship must some new fiat bring.

(_Enter_ HERMES.)

HERMES.

Thou of the crafty soul and bitter tongue, Sinner, that did'st betray to mortal man The attributes of gods, stealer of fire, The Father bids thee tell what wedlock this That thou dost boast shall hurl him from his throne. Speak plain, Prometheus, and take heed that I Have not a second journey, for such shifts, As well thou seest, turn not the heart of Zeus.

PROMETHEUS.

High are the words and full of majesty For him that runs the errands of the gods. New are ye, new to rule, and deem your tower Of puissance proof against calamity. Yet therefrom two lords I have seen cast out; A third, him that now reigns, cast out shall see Most quickly and most foully. Think'st thou I Will crouch before these gods of yesterday? Far, far from me that thought of shame. Do thou The way thou camest measure back with speed, For to thy question I give answer none.

HERMES.

It was by such self-will before displayed, That thou did'st pluck these woes upon thy head.

PROMETHEUS.

My woes, how great so e'er, I would not change For servitude like thine; of that be sure.

HERMES.

Better, thou think'st, be bondsman to this rock Than be the faithful pursuivant of Zeus.

PROMETHEUS.

'Tis meet the scorner should be met with scorn.

HERMES.

Thou seem'st to revel in thy present lot.

PROMETHEUS.

Revel! I would that I could see my foes Thus revelling, of whom I count thee one.

HERMES.

Layest thou the blame on me of thy mischance?

PROMETHEUS.

I hate, without exception, all the gods Who my good deeds with injury requite.

HERMES.

Thy words bespeak no common sickness thine.

PROMETHEUS.

If hating foes be sickness, I am sick.

HERMES.

Thou wert past bearing wert thou prosperous.

PROMETHEUS.

Alas!

HERMES.

Zeus knows not how to say Alas!

PROMETHEUS.

Time in its course can teach us anything.

HERMES.

Yet thee it has not taught to rule thy tongue.

PROMETHEUS..

No, else I had not parleyed with a slave.

HERMES.

It seems thou wilt not tell what Zeus demands.

PROMETHEUS.

Were I his debtor I the debt would pay.

HERMES.

As though I were a child thou twittest me.

PROMETHEUS.

Art thou not sillier than a silly child, To think that I will tell thee what thou ask'st? No torture does Zeus know, he has no rack By which he can my secret wrest from me, Till from these cruel bonds I am released. Let him hurl lightnings with his red right hand, Let him with whirling snow and earthquake shock, Confound and wreck this universal frame, Never shall he constrain me to reveal The child of fate that hurls him from his throne.

HERMES.

Look, will this insolence amend thy lot?

PROMETHEUS.

I have well looked, and fixed is my resolve.

HERMES.

Bow thy proud soul, insensate wretch, and do What wisdom bids in thine extremity.

PROMETHEUS.

Waste no more words, thou dost but chide the sea; Dream not that I can be o'erawed by Zeus, That I will from my manhood derogate And sue to him that from my soul I hate, With womanish uplifting of my hands, For liberation from these fetters.--Never!

HERMES.

Methinks I spend my eloquence in vain, For all my prayers nor melt nor move thy heart. Like a raw colt that pulls against the reins, Taking the bit between his teeth, art thou. And yet thy mettle will but weakness prove; For dogged resolution by itself, With wisdom unallied, is impotence. See if thou wilt not to my words give ear, What stormy billows of resistless woe Will overwhelm thee. First the Almighty Sire Will with his thunder cleave this beetling rock, And bury thee beneath its shattered base, Within its stony arms enfolding thee; And many an age shall pass ere thou return To daylight. Then the winged hound of Zeus, The ravening eagle with devouring maw, Shall deeply trench thy quivering flesh and come, Day after day, an uninvited guest, To feast upon thy ulcerated heart. Of this thy agony expect no end Until some god appears to take on him Thy load of suffering, and for thee descend To the dark depths of the dread under-world. Advise thee then, and deem not that my words Are feigned, for I in bitter earnest speak. The lips of the Almighty cannot lie; Each word they utter surely is fulfilled. Use then thy forecast and be circumspect, Nor o'er good counsel let self-will prevail.

CHORUS.

As seems to us, Hermes has spoken well, In that he redes thee put away self-will, And take far-sighted prudence to thy heart. Give ear; for one so wise to err were shame.

PROMETHEUS.

Well known beforehand was to me The purport of this embassy. His foe am I, he is my foe, And I his worst can undergo. Then let his forked lightnings flash, Heaven with his pealing thunder crash: Let him the wild winds loose and make Earth to her deep foundation shake; Bid the swoll'n waves, by tempest driven, Mount up and drench the stars of heaven; And let my helpless form be hurled Headlong to the dark under-world Midst raging wreck of earth and sky.-- There ends his power, I cannot die. HERMES.

Madness it is inspires thy thought. Thy words are words of one distraught. What here is wanting that can be Sure token of insanity? But now, ye ocean nymphs whose eyes Weep for yon sinner's agonies, Go hence, the heavens begin to lower, Go hence, or with its awful stour The thunder will your souls o'erpower.

CHORUS.

Go hence; good Hermes, change thy rede And I will to thy words give heed. But ne'er to me such counsel name As e'en to think upon were shame, Whate'er Prometheus may betide, Be mine to suffer at his side. Of all foul things abhorred by me The most abhorred is perfidy.

HERMES.

Lay then to heart what now I say, And think not in destruction's day On fortune's spite the blame to throw, Or say that Zeus has wrought your woe. When thou hast rushed into the net Of doom for fate by folly set, Thou wilt thy just reward have met.

PROMETHEUS.

Now the dread hour has come: earth reels, Through heaven the crashing thunder peals, Forked lightnings blaze about the sky, The sand in clouds is whirled on high; From east, from west, from south, from north, The winds in mad career rush forth, And elemental battle join; The welkin mingles with the brine; Upon me comes in flood and fire The blast of the Almighty's ire. Look, holy mother, on this sight; Look on it, Aether, source of light, See justice overborne by might.

THE PERSIANS

Xerxes has led the hosts of Asia on the fatal expedition against Hellas. His mother, Atossa, remaining at Susa, has a fatal dream, which she recounts to the chorus of aged Persians.

* * * * *

_ATOSSA'S DREAM_.

LINES 178-216.

ATOSSA.

By dreams I have been haunted every night, Since with his armament my son went forth To smite the land of the Ionians. Yet never dream has come so startling clear As last night's vision; let me tell it thee:-- Methought two women, beauteously attired, The robes of one in Persian fashion wrought. Those of her mate in Dorian, met my view. In stature they surpassed all womankind; Peerless their forms; sisters they were in blood. The heritage and dwelling-place of one Was Hellas, of the other Asia. Between these two methought a strife arose, Which when my son perceived, he checked their wrath And calmed them, and beneath his chariot's yoke He led them both, and o'er their necks the rein He stretched. Then of her trappings one seemed proud And to the bit her mouth obedient lent. But her companion, like a restive steed, The harness broke, and, heeding not the bit, O'erthrew the car and snapped the yoke in twain. My son falls, and his sire Darius comes To aid and comfort him, whom when he sees, Xerxes his garments rends in sign of woe. Such was my dream. When morning came I rose, And first the night's pollution purged away With purifying waters, then I sought The altar, with my sacrificial train To lay the gift, which turns the wrath divine, Of honeyed meal before the powers who save. Behold an eagle flying in affright To Phoebus' shrine; fear struck me mute, my friends. Then lo! a falcon on the eagle swoops, Assails him with his wings and tears his head With angry talons, while the mightier bird Cowers unresisting. Awful 'twas to see, Awful it is for you to hear. My son, If well he fares, will boundless glory win, If ill--yet he no reckoning owes the state; Let him but live and he is master here.

* * * * *

_SALAMIS_.

The battle narrated by a Persian coming from the scene.

LINES 251-473.

MESSENGER.

Alas! ye cities all of Asia, Alas! thou Persia, treasure-house of wealth, How at one stroke has your prosperity Been overthrown and Persia's glory lost! Ill-luck has he that evil tidings brings, Yet needs must I my tale of woe unfold. Persians, our host has perished utterly.

* * * * * * *

ATOSSA.

O'erwhelming sorrow has long held me mute. Disaster such as this transcends all thought, Bars all enquiry, chokes all utterance. And yet we mortals must misfortune bear When heaven ordains. Then, though thy heart be wrung, Calm thee and tell us all, that we may know Who of our warriors lives, whom we must mourn Among our chiefs, as having by his death Left void the station of his high command.

MESSENGER.

Xerxes himself lives and beholds the sun.

ATOSSA.

Thy word is sunshine to my sorrowing house; A cheerful day after a dismal night.

MESSENGER.