| |
| Shall take its name from thee. And Europe’s plain | 800 |
| Then quitting, thou shalt gain the Asian coast. | |
| Doth not the all-ruling monarch of the Gods | |
| Seem all ways cruel? For, although a God, | |
| He, seeking to embrace this mortal maid, | 804 |
| Imposed these wanderings on her. Thou hast found, | |
| O maiden! bitter suitor for thy hand; | |
| For great as are the ills thou now hast heard, | |
| Know that as yet not e’en the prelude’s known. | 808 |
| |
| Io. Ah woe! woe! woe! | |
| |
| Prom. Again thou groan’st and criest. What wilt do | |
| When thou shalt learn the evils yet to come? | |
| |
| Chor. What! are there troubles still to come for her? | 812 |
| |
| Prom. Yea, stormy sea of woe most lamentable. | |
| |
| Io. What gain is it to live? Why cast I not | |
| Myself at once from this high precipice, | |
| And, dashed to earth, be free from all my woes? | 816 |
| Far better were it once for all to die | |
| Than all one’s day to suffer pain and grief. | |
| |
| Prom. My struggles then full hardly thou wouldst bear, | |
| For whom there is no destiny of death; | 820 |
| For that might bring a respite from my woes: | |
| But now there is no limit to my pangs | |
| Till Zeus be hurled out from His sovereignty. | |
| |
| Io. What! shall Zeus e’er be hurled from His high state? | 824 |
| |
| Prom. Thou wouldst rejoice, I trow, to see that fall. | |
| |
| Io. How should I not, when Zeus so foully wrongs me? | |
| |
| Prom. That this is so thou now mayst hear from me. | |
| |
| Io. Who then shall rob Him of His sceptred sway? | 828 |
| |
| Prom. Himself shall do it by His own rash plans. | |
| |
| Io. But how? Tell this, unless it bringeth harm. | |
| |
| Prom. He shall wed one for whom one day He’ll grieve. | |
| |
| Io. Heaven-born or mortal? Tell, if tell thou mayst. | 832 |
| |
| Prom. Why ask’st thou who? I may not tell thee that | |
| |
| Io. Shall His bride hurl Him from His throne of might? | |
| |
| Prom. Yea; she shall bear child mightier than his sire. | |
| |
| Io. Has He no way to turn aside that doom? | 836 |
| |
| Prom. No, none; unless I from my bonds be loosed. 1 | |
| |
| Io. Who then shall loose thee ’gainst the will of Zeus? | |
| |
| Prom. It must be one of thy posterity. | |
| |
| Io. What, shall a child of mine free thee from ills? | 840 |
| |
| Prom. Yea, the third generation after ten. 2 | |
| |
| Io. No more thine oracles are clear to me. | |
| |
| Prom. Nay, seek not thou thine own drear fate to know. | |
| |
| Io. Do not, a boon presenting, then withdraw it. | 844 |
| |
| Prom. Of two alternatives, I’ll give thee choice. | |
| |
| Io. Tell me of what, then give me leave to choose. | |
| |
| Prom. I give it then. Choose, or that I should tell | |
| Thy woes to come, or who shall set me free. | 848 |
| |
| Chor. Of these be willing one request to grant | |
| To her, and one to me; nor scorn my words: | |
| Tell her what yet of wandering she must bear, | |
| And me who shall release thee. This I crave. | 852 |
| |
| Prom. Since ye are eager, I will not refuse | |
| To utter fully all that ye desire. | |
| Thee, Io, first I’ll tell thy wanderings wild, | |
| Thou, write it in the tablets of thy mind. | 856 |
| When thou shalt cross the straits, of continents | |
| The boundary, 3 take thou the onward path | |
| On to the fiery-hued and sun-tracked East. | |
| [And first of all, to frozen Northern blasts | 860 |
| Thou’lt come, and there beware the rushing whirl, | |
| Lest it should come upon thee suddenly, | |
| And sweep thee onward with the cloud-rack wild;] 4 | |
| Crossing the sea-surf till thou come at last | 864 |
| Unto Kisthene’s Gorgoneian plains, | |
| Where dwell the grey-haired virgin Phorkides, 5 | |
| Three, swan-shaped, with one eye between them all | |
| And but one tooth; whom nor the sun beholds | 868 |
| With radiant beams, nor yet the moon by night: | |
| And near them are their wingèd sisters three, | |
| The Gorgons, serpent-tressed, and hating men, | |
| Whom mortal wight may not behold and live. | 872 |
| Such is one ill I bid thee guard against; | |
| Now hear another monstrous sight: Beware | |
| The sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that never bark, 6 | |
| The Gryphons, and the one-eyed mounted host | 876 |
| Of Arimaspians, who around the stream | |
| That flows o’er gold, the ford of Pluto, dwell: 7 | |
| Draw not thou night to them. But distant land | |
| Thou shalt approach, the swarthy tribes who dwell | 880 |
| By the sun’s fountain, 8 Æthiopia’s stream: | |
| By its banks wend thy way until thou come To | |
| that great fall where from the Bybline hills | |
| The Neilos pours its pure and holy flood; | 884 |
| And it shall guide thee to Neilotic land, | |
| Three-angled, where, O Io, ’tis decreed | |
| For thee and for thy progeny to found | |
| A far-off colony. And if of this | 888 |
| Aught seem to thee as stammering speech obscure, | |
| Ask yet again and learn it thoroughly: | |
| Far more of leisure have I than I like. | |
| |
| Chor. If thou hast aught to add, aught left untold | 892 |
| Of her sore-wasting wanderings, speak it out; | |
| But if thou hast said all, then grant to us | |
| The boon we asked. Thou dost not, sure, forget it. | |
| |
| Prom. The whole course of her journeying she hath heard, | 896 |
| And that she show she hath not heard in vain | |
| I will tell out what troubles she hath borne | |
| Before she came here, giving her sure proof | |
| Of these my words. The greater bulk of things | 900 |
| I will pass o’er, and to the very goal | |
| Of all thy wanderings go. For when thou cam’st | |
| To the Molossian plains, and by the grove 9 | |
| Of lofty-ridged Dodona, and the shrine | 904 |
| Oracular of Zeus Thesprotian, | |
| And the strange portent of the talking oaks, | |
| By which full clearly, not in riddle dark, | |
| Thou wast addressed as noble spouse of Zeus,— | 908 |
| If aught of pleasure such things give to thee,— | |
| Thence strung to frenzy, thou didst rush along | |
| The sea-coast’s path to Rhea’s mighty gulf, 10 | |
| In backward way from whence thou now art vexed, | 912 |
| And for all time to come that reach of sea, | |
| Know well, from thee Ionian shall be called, | |
| To all men record of thy journeyings. | |
| These then are tokens to thee that my mind | 916 |
| Sees somewhat more than that is manifest. | |
| What follows (to the Chorus) I will speak to you and her | |
| In common, on the track of former words | |
| Returning once again. A city stands, | 920 |
| Canobos, at its country’s furthest bound, | |
| Hard by the mouth and silt-bank of the Nile; | |
| There Zeus shall give thee back thy mind again, 11 | |
| With hand that works no terror touching thee,— | 924 |
| Touch only—and thou then shalt bear a child | |
| Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, “Touch-born,” | |
| Swarthy of hue, whose lot shall be to reap | |
| The whole plain watered by the broad-streamed Neilos: | 928 |
| And in the generation fifth from him | |
| A household numbering fifty shall return | |
| Against their will to Argos, in their flight | |
| From wedlock with their cousins. 12 And they too | 932 |
| (Kites but a little space behind the doves), | |
| With eager hopes pursuing marriage rites, | |
| Beyond pursuit shall come; and God shall grudge | |
| To give up their sweet bodies. And the land | 936 |
| Pelasgian 13 shall receive them, when by stroke | |
| Of woman’s murderous hand these men shall lie | |
| Smitten to death by daring deed of night: | |
| For every bride shall take her husband’s life, | 940 |
| And dip in blood the sharp two-edgèd sword | |
| (So to my foes may Kypris show herself!) 14 | |
| Yet one of that fair band shall love persuade | |
| Her husband not to slaughter, and her will | 944 |
| Shall lose its edge; and she shall make her choice | |
| Rather as weak than murderous to be known. | |
| And she at Argos shall a royal seed | |
| Bring forth (long speech ’twould take to tell this clear) | 948 |
| Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free 15 | |
| From these my woes. Such was the oracle | |
| Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born, | |
| Gave to me; but the manner and the means,— | 952 |
| That needs a lengthy tale to tell the whole, | |
| And thou canst nothing gain by learning it. | |
| |
| Io. Eleleu! Oh, Eleleu! 16 | |
| The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood | 956 |
| Of frenzy-smitten rage; | |
| The gadfly’s pointed stings, | |
| Not forged with fire, attacks, | |
| And my heart beats against my breast with fear. | 960 |
| Mine eyes whirl round and round: | |
| Out of my course I’m borne | |
| By the wild spirit of fierce agony, | |
| And cannot curb my lips, | 964 |
| And turbid speech at random dashes on | |
| Upon the waves of dread calamity. | |
| |
STROPHE I
Chor. Wise, very wise was he | |
| Who first in thought conceived this maxim sage, | 968 |
| And spread it with his speech, 17— | |
| That the best wedlock is with equals found, | |
| And that a craftsman, born to work with hands, | |
| Should not desire to wed | 972 |
| Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth, | |
| Or with the race that boast their lineage high. | |
| |
ANTISTROPHE I
Oh ne’er, oh ne’er, dread Fates, | |
| May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus, | 976 |
| The partner of His couch, | |
| Nor may I wed with any heaven—born spouse! | |
| For I shrink back, beholding Io’s lot | |
| Of loveless maindenhood, | 980 |
| Consumed and smitten low exceedingly | |
| By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent! | |
| |
STROPHE II
To me, when wedlock is on equal terms, | |
| It gives no cause to fear: | 984 |
| Ne’er may the love of any of the Gods, | |
| The strong Gods, look on me | |
| With glance I cannot ’scape! | |
| |
ANTISTROPHE II
That fate is was that none can war against, | 988 |
| Source of resourceless ill; | |
| Nor know I what might then become of me: | |
| I see not how to ’scape | |
| The counsel deep of Zeus. | 992 |
| |
| Prom. Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff of will, | |
| Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now | |
| Is He preparing, one to cast Him forth | |
| In darkness from His sovereignty and throne. | 996 |
| And then the curse His father Cronos spake | |
| Shall have its dread completion, even that | |
| He uttered when he left his ancient throne; | |
| And from these troubles no one of the Gods | 1000 |
| But me can clearly show the way to ’scape. | |
| I know the time and manner: therefore now | |
| Let Him sit fearless, in His peals on high | |
| Putting His trust, and shaking in His hands | 1004 |
| His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail | |
| To hinder Him from falling shamefully | |
| A fall intolerable. Such a combatant | |
| He arms against Himself, a marvel dread, | 1008 |
| Who shall a fire discover mightier far | |
| Than the red levin, and a sound more dread | |
| Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver | |
| That plague sea-born that causeth earth to quake, | 1012 |
| The trident, weapon of Poseidon’s strength: | |
| And stumbling on this evil, He shall learn | |
| How far apart a king’s lot from a slave’s. | |
| |
| Chor. What thou dost with thou mutterest against Zeus. | 1016 |
| |
| Prom. Things that shall be, and things I wish, I speak. | |
| |
| Chor. And must we look for one to master Zeus? | |
| |
| Prom. Yea, troubles harder far than these are His. | |
| |
| Chor. Art not afraid to vent such words as these? | 1020 |
| |
| Prom. What can I fear whose fate is not to die? | |
| |
| Chor. But He may send on thee worse pain than this. | |
| |
| Prom. So let Him do: nought finds me prepared. | |
| |
| Chor. Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia worship. 18 | 1024 |
| |
| Prom. Worship then, praise and flatter Him that rules; | |
| My care for Zeus is nought, and less than nought: | |
| Let Him act, let Him rule this little while, | |
| E’en as He will; for long He shall not rule | 1028 |
| Over the Gods. But lo! I seed at hand | |
| The courier of the Gods, the minister | |
| Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come | |
| To bring me tidings of some new device. | 1032 |
| |
Enter HERMES Herm. Thee do I speak to,—thee, the teacher wise, | |
| The bitterly o’er-bitter, who ’gainst Gods | |
| Hast sinned in giving gifts to short-lived men— | |
| I speak to thee, the filcher of bright fire. | 1036 |
| The Father bids thee say what marriage thou | |
| Dost vaunt, and who shall hurl Him from His might; | |
| And this too not in dark mysterious speech, | |
| But tell each point out clearly. Give me not, | 1040 |
| Prometheus, task of double journey. Zeus, | |
| Thou seest, is not with such words appeased. | |
| |
| Prom. Stately of utterance, full of haughtiness | |
| Thy speech, as fits a messenger of Gods. | 1044 |
| Ye yet are young in your new rule, and think | |
| To dwell in painless towers. Have I not | |
| Seen two great rulers driven forth from thence? 19 | |
| And now the third, who reigneth, I shall see | 1048 |
| In basest, quickest fall. Seem I to thee | |
| To shrink and quail before these new-made Gods? | |
| Far, very far from that am I. But thou, | |
| Track once again the path by which thou camest; | 1052 |
| Thou shalt learn nought of what thou askest me. | |
| |
| Herm. It was by such self-will as this before | |
| That thou didst bring these sufferings on thyself. | |
| |
| Prom. I for my part, be sure, would never change | 1056 |
| My evil state for that thy bondslave’s lot. | |
| |
| Herm. To be the bondslave of this rock, I trow, | |
| Is better than to be Zeus’ trusty herald! | |
| |
| Prom. So it is meet the insulter to insult. | 1060 |
| |
| Herm. Thou waxest proud, ’twould seem, of this thy doom. | |
| |
| Prom. Wax proud! God grant that I may see my foes | |
| Thus waxing proud, and thee among the rest! | |
| |
| Herm. Dost blame me then for thy calamities? | 1064 |
| |
| Prom. In one short sentence—all the Gods I hate, | |
| Who my good turns with evil turns repay. | |
| |
| Herm. Thy words prove thee with no slight madness plagued. | |
| |
| Prom. If to hate foes be madness, mad I am. | 1068 |
| |
| Herm. Not one could bear thee wert thou prosperous. | |
| |
| Prom. Ah me! | |
| |
| Herm. That word is all unknown to Zeus. | |
| |
| Prom. Time waxing old can many a lesson teach. | 1072 |
| |
| Herm. Yet thou at least hast not true wisdom learnt. | |
| |
| Prom. I had not else addressed a slave like thee. | |
| |
| Herm. Thou wilt say nought the Father asks, ’twould seem. | |
| |
| Prom. Fine debt I owe Him, favour to repay. | 1076 |
| |
| Herm. Me as a boy thou scornest then, forsooth. | |
| |
| Prom. And art thou not a boy, and sillier far, | |
| If that thou thinkest to learn aught from me? | |
| There is no torture nor device by which | 1080 |
| Zeus can impel me to disclose these things | |
| Before these bonds that outrage me be loosed. | |
| Let then the blazing levin-flash be hurled; | |
| With white-winged snow-storm and with earth-born thunders | 1084 |
| Let Him disturb and trouble all that is; | |
| Nought of these things shall force me to declare | |
| Whose hand shall drive Him from His sovereignty. | |
| |
| Herm. See if thou findest any help in this. | 1088 |
| |
| Prom. Long since all this I’ve seen, and formed my plans. | |
| |
| Herm. O fool, take heart, take heart at last in time, | |
| To form right thoughts for these thy present woes. | |
| |
| Prom. Like one who soothes a wave, thy speech in vain | 1092 |
| Vexes my soul. But deem not thou that I, | |
| Fearing the will of Zeus, shall e’er become | |
| As womanised in mind, or shall entreat | |
| Him whom I greatly loathe, with upturned hand, | 1096 |
| In woman’s fashion, from these bonds of mine | |
| To set me free. Far, far am I from that. | |
| |
| Herm. It seems that I, saying much, shall speak in vain; | |
| For thou in nought by prayers art pacified, | 1000 |
| Or softened in thy heart, but like a colt | |
| Fresh harnessed, thou dost champ thy bit, and strive, | |
| And fight against the reins. Yet thou art stiff | |
| In weak device; for self-will, by itself, | 1104 |
| In one who is not wise, is less than nought. | |
| Look to it, if thou disobey my words, | |
| How great a storm and triple wave of ills, 20 | |
| Not to be ’scaped, shall come on thee; for first, | 1108 |
| With thunder and the levin’s blazing flash | |
| The Father this ravine of rocks shall crush, | |
| And shall thy carcase hide, and stern embrace | |
| Of stony arms shall keep thee in thy place. | 1112 |
| And having traversed space of time full long, | |
| Thou shalt come back to light, and then his hound, | |
| The wingèd hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle, | |
| Shall greedily make banquet of thy flesh, | 1116 |
| Coming all day an uninvited guest, | |
| And glut himself upon thy liver dark. | |
| And of that anguish look not for the end, | |
| Before some God shall come to bear thy woes, | 1120 |
| And will to pass to Hades’ sunless realm, | |
| And the dark cloudy depths of Tartaros. 21 | |
| Wherefore take heed. No feigned boast is this, | |
| But spoken all too truly; for the lips | 1124 |
| Of Zeus know not to speak in lying speech, | |
| But will perform each single word. And thou, | |
| Search well, be wise, nor think that self-willed pride | |
| Shall ever better prove than counsel good. | 1128 |
| |
| Chor. To us doth Hermes seem to utter words | |
| Not out of season; for he bids thee quit | |
| Thy self-willed pride and seek for counsel good. | |
| Hearken thou to him. To the wise of soul | 1132 |
| It is foul shame to sin persistently. | |
| |
| Prom. To me who knew it all | |
| He hath this message borne; | |
| And that a foe from foes | 1136 |
| Should suffer is not strange. | |
| Therefore on me be hurled | |
| The sharp-edged wreath of fire; | |
| And let heaven’s vault be stirred | 1140 |
| With thunder and the blasts | |
| Of fiercest winds; and earth | |
| From its foundations strong, | |
| E’en to its deepest roots, | 1144 |
| Let storm-wind make to rock; | |
| And let the ocean wave, | |
| With wild and foaming surge, | |
| Be heaped up to the paths | 1148 |
| Where move the stars of heaven; | |
| And to dark Tartaros | |
| Let Him my carcase hurl, | |
| With mighty blasts of force: | 1152 |
| Yet me He shall not slay. | |
| |
| Herm. Such words and thoughts from one | |
| Brain-stricken one may hear. | |
| What space divides his state | 1156 |
| From frenzy? What repose | |
| Hath he from maddened rage? | |
| But ye who pitying stand | |
| And share his bitter griefs, | 1160 |
| Quickly from hence depart, | |
| Lest the relentless roar | |
| Of thunder stun your soul. | |
| |
| Chor. With other words attempt | 1164 |
| To counsel and persuade, | |
| And I will hear: for now | |
| Thou hast this word thrust in | |
| That we may never bear. | 1168 |
| How dost thou bid me train | |
| My soul to baseness vile? | |
| With him I will endure | |
| Whatever is decreed. | 1172 |
| Traitors I’ve learned to hate, | |
| Nor is there any plague | |
| That more than this I loathe. | |
| |
| Herm. Nay then, remember ye | 1176 |
| What now I say, nor blame | |
| Your fortune: never say | |
| That Zeus hath cast you down | |
| To evil not foreseen. | 1180 |
| Not so; ye cast yourselves: | |
| For now with open eyes, | |
| Not taken unawares, | |
| In Atè’s endless net | 1184 |
| Ye shall entangled be | |
| By folly of your own. [A pause, and then flashes of lightning and peals of thunder 22 | |
| |
| Prom. Yea, now in very deed, | |
| No more in word alone, | 1188 |
| The earth shakes to and fro, | |
| And the loud thunder’s voice | |
| Bellows hard by, and blaze | |
| The flashing levin-fires; | 1192 |
| And tempests whirl the dust, | |
| And gusts of all wild winds | |
| On one another leap, | |
| In wild conflicting blasts, | 1196 |
| And sky with sea is blent: | |
| Such is the storm from Zeus | |
| That comes as working fear, | |
| In terrors manifest. | 1200 |
| O Mother venerable! | |
| O Æther! rolling round | |
| The common light of all, | |
| Seest thou what wrongs I bear? | 1204 |
