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PROMETHEUS. I HEAR the trumpet of Alectryon | |
| Proclaim the dawn. The stars begin to fade, | |
| And all the heavens are full of prophecies | |
| And evil auguries. Blood-red last night | |
| I saw great Kronos rise; the crescent moon | 5 |
| Sank through the mist, as if it were the scythe | |
| His parricidal hand had flung far down | |
| The western steeps. O ye Immortal Gods, | |
| What evil are ye plotting and contriving? | |
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HERMES and PANDORA at the threshold.
PANDORA. I cannot cross the threshold. An unseen | 10 |
| And icy hand repels me. These blank walls | |
| Oppress me with their weight! | |
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PROMETHEUS. Powerful ye are, | |
| But not omnipotent. Ye cannot fight | |
| Against Necessity. The Fates control you, | 15 |
| As they do us, and so far we are equals! | |
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PANDORA. Motionless, passionless, companionless, | |
| He sits there muttering in his beard. His voice | |
| Is like a river flowing underground! | |
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HERMES. Prometheus, hail!
PROMETHEUS. Who calls me?
HERMES. It is I. | 20 |
Dost thou not know me?
PROMETHEUS. By thy wingèd cap | |
| And wingèd heels I know thee. Thou art Hermes, | |
| Captain of thieves! Hast thou again been stealing | |
| The heifers of Admetus in the sweet | |
| Meadows of asphodel? or Hera’s girdle? | 25 |
| Or the earth-shaking trident of Poseidon? | |
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HERMES. And thou, Prometheus; say, hast thou again | |
| Been stealing fire from Helios’ chariot-wheels | |
To light thy furnaces?
PROMETHEUS. Why comest thou hither | |
So early in the dawn?
HERMES. The Immortal Gods | 30 |
| Know naught of late or early. Zeus himself, | |
The omnipotent hath sent me.
PROMETHEUS. For what purpose? | |
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HERMES. To bring this maiden to thee.
PROMETHEUS. I mistrust | |
| The Gods and all their gifts. If they have sent her | |
It is for no good purpose.
HERMES. What disaster | 35 |
| Could she bring on thy house, who is a woman? | |
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PROMETHEUS. The Gods are not my friends, nor am I theirs. | |
| Whatever comes from them, though in a shape | |
| As beautiful as this, is evil only. | |
Who art thou?
PANDORA. One who, though to thee unknown, | 40 |
Yet knoweth thee.
PROMETHEUS. How shouldst thou know me, woman? | |
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PANDORA. Who knoweth not Prometheus the humane? | |
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PROMETHEUS. Prometheus the unfortunate; to whom | |
| Both Gods and men have shown themselves ungrateful. | |
| When every spark was quenched on every hearth | 45 |
| Throughout the earth, I brought to man the fire | |
| And all its ministrations. My reward | |
Hath been the rock and vulture.
HERMES. But the Gods | |
At last relent and pardon.
PROMETHEUS. They relent not; | |
| They pardon not; they are implacable, | 50 |
Revengeful, unforgiving!
HERMES. As a pledge | |
| Of reconciliation they have sent to thee | |
| This divine being, to be thy companion, | |
| And bring into thy melancholy house | |
| The sunshine and the fragrance of her youth. | 55 |
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PROMETHEUS. I need them not. I have within myself | |
| All that my heart desires; the ideal beauty | |
| Which the creative faculty of mind | |
| Fashions and follows in a thousand shapes | |
| More lovely than the real. My own thoughts | 60 |
| Are my companions; my designs and labors | |
| And aspirations are my only friends. | |
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HERMES. Decide not rashly. The decision made | |
| Can never be recalled. The Gods implore not, | |
| Plead not, solicit not; they only offer | 65 |
| Choice and occasion, which once being passed | |
| Return no more. Dost thou accept the gift? | |
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PROMETHEUS. No gift of theirs, in whatsoever shape | |
| It comes to me, with whatsoever charm | |
| To fascinate my sense, will I receive. | 70 |
Leave me.
PANDORA. Let us go hence. I will not stay. | |
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HERMES. We leave thee to thy vacant dreams, and all | |
| The silence and the solitude of thought, | |
| The endless bitterness of unbelief, | |
| The loneliness of existence without love. | 75 |
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CHORUS OF THE FATES
CLOTHO. How the Titan, the defiant, | |
| The self-centred, self-reliant, | |
| Wrapped in visions and illusions, | |
| Robs himself of life’s best gifts! | |
| Till by all the storm-winds shaken, | 80 |
| By the blast of fate o’ertaken, | |
| Hopeless, helpless, and forsaken, | |
| In the mists of his confusions | |
| To the reefs of doom he drifts! | |
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LACHESIS. Sorely tried and sorely tempted, | 85 |
| From no agonies exempted, | |
| In the penance of his trial, | |
| And the discipline of pain; | |
| Often by illusions cheated, | |
| Often baffled and defeated | 90 |
| In the tasks to be completed, | |
| He, by toil and self-denial, | |
| To the highest shall attain. | |
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| ATROPOS. Tempt no more the noble schemer; | |
| Bear unto some idle dreamer | 95 |
| This new toy and fascination, | |
| This new dalliance and delight! | |
| To the garden where reposes | |
| Epimetheus crowned with roses, | |
| To the door that never closes | 100 |
| Upon pleasure and temptation, | |
| Bring this vision of the night! | |
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