These passages are from Aeschylus' play Prometheus Bound. Prometheus is a titan who's stolen fire from the great thunder god Zeus (Jupiter) and given it to primitive mankind. Zeus is anxious to punish him and orders the titans Might and Mayhem to carry him off to a remote mountain, and his son the fire god Hephaistos (Vulcan) to imprison him there.
Might:
To this distant end of the earth we’ve come,
This Scythian tract, this desolate wilderness.
Hephaistos, you must heed your father’s words,
And bind the wrongdoer fast
To these lofty rocks above the cliffs
With fetters of unbreakable steel.
For he stole your glory, the flame that all arts come from,
And bestowed it on mortals. For such an offence
He must repay the Gods, be certain,
And so learn to accept Zeus’ majesty,
And abandon his mortal-loving ways.
Hephaistos:
Might and Mayhem, Zeus’ command you’ve surely
Fulfilled completely, and that’s that for you,
But I don’t have the heart to bind
A divine kinsman to this stormy chasm.
Yet utter necessity forces resolve into me:
For to ignore your father’s will is dire.
High-minded son of wise Themis, I’ll bind you,
Both of us unwilling, with inextricable
Brazen chains, to this deserted crag,
Where you shall hear no man nor see mortal form,
But be scorched by the sun’s radiant flame,
Leathering your shiny skin; you’ll welcome
Night’s embroidered cloak hiding the light,
Then the morning sun scattering the hoar-frost;
Without end will your ill burden distress you,
For he who can free you is not yet born!
Hephaistos goes to work.
Might: “Come on, cast these bonds around his flanks!”
Hephaistos goes to work.
Might: “Come on, cast these bonds around his flanks!”
Hephaistos: “I’ll do it from necessity; but don’t excessively urge anything on me.”
“Indeed, I’ll bid it be done and shout it on anyhow! Get down there and force the bonds around his legs!”
“Look, the job’s done without a long exertion.”
“Vigorously now, strike the piercing fetters, as he who oversees these works is stern indeed!”
“Your tongue speaks words harsh as your appearance.”
“Be soft as you please, but don’t reproach my stubbornness and rage!”
“Let’s go, as his limbs are bound.”
Uranus, the first ruler of the universe, was overthrown by his son Kronos (Saturn), who was in turn overthrown by Zeus. Zeus has heard that Prometheus is spreading the rumor that Zeus too will be brought down, and sends the messenger god Hermes (Mercury) to interrogate Prometheus.
Hermes:
Hey, bright boy, bitterest of the bitter,
I’m talking to you, who wronged the gods
By favoring the mortals and stealing fire!
Father Zeus orders you to speak about
That marriage by which you boast
He’ll lose his power; and, Prometheus,
Don’t speak in vague riddles, but talk straight in
Every detail, and don’t force me to return here.
You know such behavior won’t soften Zeus!
Prometheus:
For a lackey of the gods, your words are
Haughty indeed and full of arrogance!
You’re a new god with new power, and in your dreams
You’ll dwell in your citadel free of woe;
Yet haven’t I seen the first ruler usurped
By a second, the second by a third?
I perceive that the third one, now ruling,
Can expect a most shameful, quick fall too.
Surely you don’t expect me to cower
In terror before the new gods? There’s little,
Nay, no fear left in me. Hurry back
The way you came, for you shall learn nothing
Of the things you question me about!
