193-396.
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193-396. First Episode. 193- 283. First Scene: Prometheus and the Coryphaeus. The scholiast says:
τὴν
ὑπόθεσιν (that is, the expo- sition of the events supposed to pre- cede the opening of the play)
βουλό-
μενος
διδάξαι,
τὸ
περίεργον (curiosity)
τοῦ
γυναικώδους
ήθους
προσέλαβεν (availed himself of, as a motive).
οὐκ
ἂν
γὰρ
ὁ
᾿Ὠκεανds (who enters later)
ἠξίωσεν
ἐρωτῆσαι
εἰδώς. The curiosity of the chorus is a natural conse- quence of their awakened sympathy. Still it is to be observed that Prome- theus on his part is moved to tell his story by the longing to unburden his heart to sympathizing friends (see 198). He needs only the request in order to comply at once. - The Pro- logue and this first scene of the first episode constitute the first act of the drama, which expounds the situation and prepares the way for the follow- ing dramatic development.
235.
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235. On asyndeton in explanations see Krüger I. § 59, 1, 5. –
ἐξελυσά-
μην: of deliverance from an impend- ing disaster, not yet actually present. So Od. x. 286
ἀλλ᾽
ἄγε
δή
σε
κακῶν
ἐκλύσομαι
ἠδὲ
σαώσω, Eur. Andr. 818
θανάτου
νιν
ἐκλύσασθε.
236.
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236. The infinitive with
τὸ
μή fol- lows expressions signifying prevention, or any other action opposed to that expressed by the infinitive itself. Krüger I. § 67, 12, 2–4; GMT. 811. See also 865 below, Ag. 1170
ἄκος
δ'
οὐδὲν
ἐπήρκεσαν
τὸ
μὴ
(μὴ
οὐ ?)
πόλιν
μὲν
ὥσπερ
οὖν
ἔχει
παθεῖν, Pers. 291
ὑπερβάλλει
γὰρ
ἥδε
συμφορὰ
τὸ
μήτε
λέξαι
μήτ᾽
ἐρωτῆσαι
πάθη.
237.
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237.
τῷ : therefore, as in Homer. Cp. Soph. O.
Τ. 511
τῷ
ἀπ᾿
ἐμᾶς
φρενὸς
οὔποτ᾽
ὀφλήσει
κακίαν. See on 234. —
τοῖαῖσδε : in
τοιοῦτος,
τοιόσδε (see Sept. 27, Ag. 1075),
οἷος,
ποιῶ, the diphthong
οι is often shortened. Krüger II. § 3, 3, 1; H. 92 D, d. In such cases o was probably writ- ten;
ποεῖν is often found in inscrip- tions.
239.
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239.
ἐν
οἴκτῳ
προθέμενος :
προ- has its temporal meaning, though I began by showing compassion. Cp.
Ag. 1008
καὶ
τὸ
μὲν
πρὸ
χρημάτων
κτησίων
ὄκνος
βαλών, Eur.
Ion 914
χάριν
οὐ
προ-
λαβών. –
τούτου: i.e.
τοῦ
ἐν
οἴκτῳ
τίθεσθαι.
241.
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241.
ἐρρύθμισμαι: ironical, have been disciplined, brought to order.
Ζηνὶ...
θέα: appositional phrases like this, taking up the second half of a verse, are very effective; see 350, 461. ،
242.
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242. Iron' and 'stone' are, from Homer on, frequent designations of what is unfeeling or stubborn. In Il. xvi. 33 Patroclus says to Achilles,
νη-
λεές,
οὐκ
ἄρα
σοί
γε
πατὴρ
ἦν
ἱππότα
Πηλεὺς
οὐδὲ
Θέτις
μήτηρ·
γλαυκὴ
δέ
245
250
σε
τίκτε
θάλασσα
πέτραι
τ'
ἠλίβατοι,
ὅτι
τοι
νόος
ἐστὶν
ἀπηνής, imitated by Verg. Aen. iv. 366 duris genuit te cautibus horrens Cauca- sus Hircanaeque admorunt ubera tigres; see also Ecl. viii. 43.
Ср. Il. xxiv. 205
σιδήρειον
νύ
τοι
ἦτορ, Hesiod Theog. 239
Εὐρυβίην
τ᾽
ἀδάμαντος
ἐνὶ
φρεσὶ
θυμὸν
ἔχουσαν, Pind. Frg. 88
ὃς
μὴ
πόθῳ
κυμαίνε-
ται,
ἐξ
ἀδάμαντος
ἢ
σιδάρου
κεχάλκευ-
ται
μέλαιναν
καρδίαν, Aesch. Sept. 52
σιδηρόφρων
γὰρ
θυμὸς
ἀνδρείᾳ
φλέγων
ἔπνει, Eur. Med. 1279
τάλαιν',
ὡς
ἄρ᾽
ἦσθα
πέτρος
ἢ
σίδαρος,
ἅτις
KTE-
νεῖς, Cycl. 596
πέτρας
τὸ
λῆμα
κἀδά-
μαντος
ἕξομεν, Theocr. x. 7
Μίλων
ὀψαμᾶτα,
πέτρας
ἀπόκομμ᾽
ἀτεράμνω, Moschus iv. 44
μοχθίζει
πέτρης
ὁ
γ'
ἔχων
νόον
ἠὲ
σιδήρου
καρτερὸν
ἐν
στή-
θεσσι, Tibull. i. 1, 63 flebis: non tua sunt duro praecordia ferro vincta neque in tenero stat tibi corde silex, Ovid Amor. iii. 6, 59 ille habet et silices et vivum in pectore ferrum, Hor. Carm. i.
3,
9 illi ro- bur et aes triplex circa pec- tus erat. ..
246.
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246.
‘καὶ
μήν aut et vero, et sane aut atqui significat' (Her- mann ad Vigerum, 332). Here it means et sane (with emphasis on
φίλοις); in 459, 1080 it means et vero in 982, 985, atqui. - For the omission of
εἰμί see on 42.
247.
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247.
μή: cp. 959, Pers. 344
μή
σοι
δοκοῦμεν
τῇδε
λειφθῆναι
μάχη; The chorus inclines to account for the severity of the punishment by sup- posing a more heinous crime. -
τῶνδε : than what thou hast said; cp.
ταύτῃ 189.
248.
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248.
προδέρκεσθαι : foreseeing death is an evil, in that it benumbs man's energies and stupefies his faculties, since death is ever present before his eyes, and a fixed limit is set to his activity. By
προδέρκεσθαι
μόρον the poet means this anxious expecta- tion of death. A somewhat different conception appears in Plato Gorg. 523 d, where Zeus says,
πρῶτον
μὲν
οὖν
παυστέον
ἐστὶ
προειδότας
αὐτοὺς
τὸν
θάνατον.
νῦν
γὰρ
προΐσασι.
τοῦτο
μὲν
οὖν
καὶ
δὴ
εἴρηται
τῷ
Προμηθεῖ
ὅπως
ἂν
παύσῃ
αὐτῶν. Here it is stated that men are not to know beforehand when they are to die, so that they may not try to deceive the judges of the lower world by pre- meditated artifices, and by providing witnesses to testify in their behalf. Cp. also Hor. Carm. iii. 29, 29 pru- dens futuri temporis exi- tum caliginosa nocte premit deus.
249.
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249.
τὸ
ποῖον
κτἑ. : =
τὸ
φάρμακον
τῆσδε
νόσου
ποῖον
εὑρών; remedium quod huic morbo adhibuisti quale fuit? Is qui interrogat, audiendi studio id, quod alterum dicere vult, occupaturus ipse ora- tionem incohat, quam ab illo ab- solvi vult; ipse autem quia eam absolvere non potest, addit pronomen interrogativum' (Hermann ad Vige- rum 25). –
νόσου: cp. 384, 596, 606, 632, 977, 1069.
250.
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250. As in dealing with the myth of the golden and silver ages, 232, Aeschylus here uses great freedom in treating the myth of Pandora (Hesiod O. D. 94: see Introduction, p. 6), so that the original form of
the story is no longer recognizable, and only the deeper significance re- mains. Man, never deserted by Hope, strives ceaselessly for the attainment of his ends, unmindful of death and untroubled by the thought that he may be cut off before his goal is reached. Cp. Simonides Amorg. Frg. 1, 3
ἐφήμεροι
ἃ
δὴ
βότ᾽
αἰεὶ
ζῶμεν,
οὐδὲν
εἰδότες
ὅπως
ἕκαστον
ἐκτελευτή-
σει
θεός.
ἐλπὶς
δὲ
πάντας
κἀπι-
πειθείη
τρέφει
ἄπρηκτον
ὁρμαίνοντας, Soph. Ant. 615
ὁ
γὰρ
δὴ
πολύπλαγκτος
ἐλπὶς
πολλοῖς
μὲν
ὄνασις
ἀνδρῶν,
πολ-
λοῖς
δ᾽
ἀπάτα
κουφονόων
ἐρώτων.
252.
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252.
σφίν : =
αὐτοῖς, as in 457. Krüger II. § 51, 1, 19.
σφίσιν in this sense is Homeric (Krüger II. § 51, 1, 17), but occurs in tragedy only in 481 below.
253.
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253.
φλογωπόν: the brightness of the fire is put forward, as rendering it the more unfit for the
ἐφήμεροι. The addition of this emphatic word justi- fies the repetition of
πῦρ. Cp. Suppl.
508
ΒΑ.
λευρὸν
κατ᾿
ἄλσος
νῦν
ἐπιστρέ-
φου
τόδε.
ΧΟ.
καὶ
πῶς
βέβηλον
ἄλ-
σος
ἂν
ῥύοιτό
με ; –
ἐφήμεροι : see on 83. Even the chorus feels it to be wrong that men should receive what properly belongs to the gods.
254.
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254.
γέ: in answers, affirms by adding a further statement ("yes, and from it..."); cp. 258, 379, 746, 768, 774. –
ἀφ᾿
οὗ: cp. 170.
255.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-183
255 f. Prometheus interrupts the question by his answer, and to the simple answer
(αἰκίζεται) adds the significant statement
οὐδαμῇ
χαλᾷ
και
κῶν. By this addition the artifice for preserving the stichomythy is con- cealed, and the dialogue proceeds naturally. A more common device is the insertion of a question; this question is so connected in construc- tion with the interrupted sentence which precedes, that in answering it the speaker simply takes up his un- finished speech where he left it off. Thus Pers. 734
ΑΤ.
Ξέρξην
φασὶν.
ΔΑ.
πῶς
τελευτᾶν;
ΑΤ.
ἄσμενον
μο-
λεῖν.
