Bonds Made by Hephaestus

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[Enter Power and Force, bringing with them the captive Prometheus; also Hephaestus.]

POWER
To earth's remotest limit we come, to the Scythian land, an untrodden solitude. And now, Hephaestus, yours is the charge to observe the mandates laid upon you by the Father—to clamp this miscreant upon the high craggy rocks in shackles of binding adamant that cannot be broken. For your own flower, flashing fire, source of all arts, he has purloined and bestowed upon mortal creatures. Such is his offence; for this he is bound to make requital to the gods, so that he may learn to bear with the sovereignty of Zeus and cease his man-loving ways.

HEPHAESTUS
Power and Force, for you indeed the behest of Zeus is now fulfilled, and nothing remains to stop you. But for me—I do not have the nerve myself to bind with force a kindred god upon this rocky cleft assailed by cruel winter. Yet, come what may, I am constrained to summon courage to this deed; for it is perilous to disregard the commandments of the Father.

Lofty-minded son of Themis who counsels straight, against my will, no less than yours, I must rivet you with brazen bonds no hand can loose to this desolate crag, where neither voice nor form of mortal man shall you perceive; but, scorched by the sun's bright beams, you shall lose the fair bloom of your flesh. And glad you shall be when spangled-robed night shall veil his brightness and when the sun shall scatter again the frost of morning. Evermore the burden of your present ill shall wear you out; for your deliverer is not yet born.

Such is the prize you have gained for your championship of man. For, god though you are, you did not fear the wrath of the gods, but you bestowed honors upon mortal creatures beyond their due. Therefore on this joyless rock you must stand sentinel, erect, sleepless, your knee unbent. And many a groan and unavailing lament you shall utter; for the heart of Zeus is hard, and everyone is harsh whose power is new.

POWER
Well, why delay and excite pity in vain? Why do you not detest a god most hateful to the gods, since he has betrayed your prerogative to mortals?

HEPHAESTUS
A strangely potent tie is kinship, and companionship as well.

POWER
I agree; yet to refuse to obey the commands of the Father; is this possible? Do you not fear that more?

HEPHAESTUS
Yes, you are ever pitiless and steeped in insolence.

POWER
Yes, for it does not good to bemoan this fellow. Stop wasting your labor at an unprofitable task.

HEPHAESTUS
Oh handicraft that I hate so much!

POWER
Why hate it? Since in truth your craft is in no way to blame for these present troubles.

HEPHAESTUS
Nevertheless, i wish it had fallen to another's lot!

POWER
Every job is troublesome except to be the commander of gods; no one is free except Zeus.

HEPHAESTUS
I know it by this task; I cannot deny it.

POWER
Hurry then to cast the fetters about him, so that the Father does not see you loitering.

HEPHAESTUS
Well, there then! The bands are ready, as you may see.

POWER
Cast them about his wrists and with might strike with your hammer; rivet him to the rocks.

HEPHAESTUS
There! The work is getting done and not improperly.

POWER
Strike harder, clamp him tight, leave nothing loose; for he is wondrously clever at finding a way even out of desperate straits.

HEPHAESTUS
This arm, at least, is fixed permanently.

POWER
Now rivet this one too and securely, so that he may learn, for all his cleverness, that he is a fool compared to Zeus.

HEPHAESTUS
None but he could justly blame my work.

POWER
Now drive the adamantine wedge's stubborn edge straight through his chest with your full force.

HEPHAESTUS
Alas, Prometheus, I groan for your sufferings.

POWER
What! Shrinking again and groaning over the enemies of Zeus? Take care, so that the day does not come when you shall grieve for yourself.

HEPHAESTUS
You see a spectacle grievous for eyes to behold.

POWER
I see this man getting his deserts. Come, cast the girths about his sides.

HEPHAESTUS
I must do this; spare me your needless ordering.

POWER
Indeed, I'll order you, yes and more—I'll hound you on. Get down below, and ring his legs by force.

HEPHAESTUS
There now! The work's done and without much labor.

POWER
Now hammer the piercing fetters with your full force; for the appraiser of our work is severe.

HEPHAESTUS
The utterance of your tongue matches your looks.

POWER
Be softhearted then, but do not attack my stubborn will and my harsh mood.

HEPHAESTUS
Let us be gone, since he has got the fetters on his limbs.

[Exit.]

POWER
There now, indulge your insolence, keep on wresting from the gods their honors to give them to creatures of a day. Are mortals able to lighten your load of sorrow? Falsely the gods call you Prometheus, for you yourself need forethought to free yourself from this handiwork.

[Exeunt Power and Force.]


- Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound


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Ye race of Titans, offspring of Uranus, blood-kinsmen mine! Behold me fettered, clamped to these rough rocks, even as a ship is moored fast by timid sailors, fearful of night because of the roaring sea. Thus hath Zeus, the son of Cronus, fastened me, and to the will of Zeus hath Hephaestus lent his hand. With cruel art hath he riven my limbs by driving in these bolts. Ah, unhappy that I am! By his skill transfixed, I tenant this stronghold of the Furies. And now, each third woeful day, with dreadful swoop, the minister of Zeus with his hooked talons rends me asunder by his cruel repast. Then, crammed and glutted to the full on my fat liver, the utters a prodigious scream and, soaring aloft, with winged tail fawns upon my gore. But when my gnawed liver swells, renewed in growth, greedily doth he return anew to his fell repast. Thus do I feed this guardian of my awful torture, who mutilates me living with never-ending pain. For fettered, as ye see, by the bonds of Zeus, I have no power to drive from my vitals the accursed bird. Thus, robbed of self-defence, I endure woes fraught with torment: longing for death, I look around for an ending of my misery; but by the doom of Zeus I am thrust far from death. And this my ancient dolorous agony, intensified by the dreadful centuries, is fastened upon my body, from which there fall, melted by the blazing sun, drops that unceasingly pour upon the rocks of Caucasus.


- Fragment of Aeschylus' lost play Prometheus Unbound, taken from the writings of Cicero and Nonius Marcellus, translated by Herbert Weir Smyth


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Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them also fire, which, unknown to Zeus, he had hidden in a stalk of fennel. But when Zeus learned of it, he ordered Hephaestus to nail his body to Mount Caucasus, which is a Scythian mountain. On it Prometheus was nailed and kept bound for many years. Every day an eagle swooped on him and devoured the lobes of his liver, which grew by night. That was the penalty that Prometheus paid for the theft of fire until Hercules afterwards released him, as we shall show in dealing with Hercules.


- Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library, Book 1, Chapter 7, Section 1


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