Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus
Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.
- Yes, and he shall bear upon his neck pangs more galling than these of mine.
- How is it that you are not afraid to utter such taunts?
- Why should I fear since I am fated not to die?
- But he might inflict on you an ordeal even more bitter than this.
- Let him, for all I care! I am prepared for anything.
- Wise are they who do homage to Necessity.[*](Adrasteia, the inescapable, another name of Nemesis, punished presumptuous words and excessive happiness.)
- Worship, adore, and fawn upon whoever is your lord. But for Zeus I care less than nothing. Let him do his will, let him hold his power
- for his little day— since he will not bear sway over the gods for long. But wait, for over there I see his messenger, the servant of our new lord and master. Certainly he has come to announce some news.
- To you, the clever and crafty, bitter beyond all bitterness,
- who has sinned against the gods in bestowing honors upon creatures of a day—to you, thief of fire, I speak. The Father commands that you tell what marriage you boast of, whereby he is to be hurled from power—and this, mark well, set forth in no riddling fashion,
- but point by point, as the case exactly stands; and do not impose upon me a double journey, Prometheus—you see Zeus is not appeased by dealings such as yours.
- Bravely spoken, in truth, and swollen with pride is your speech, as befits a minion of the gods.
- Young you are, as young your power, and you think indeed that you inhabit heights beyond the reach of grief. Have I not seen two sovereigns cast out from these heights? A third, the present lord, I shall live to see cast out in ruin most shameful and most swift. Do you think