1-127.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-1
1-127: Prologue
(πρόλογος).
1-87.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-2
1-87: First Scene. Cratos and Bia, dragging the figure representing Prometheus, enter on the left; He- phaestus with smith's tools accompa- nies them.
48.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-37
48. Cp. Eur. Iph.
Α. 86
τἀξίωμα
δὲ
ἄλλος
τις
ὤφελ᾽
ἀντ᾿
ἐμοῦ
λαβεῖν
τόδε.
49.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-38
49 f. The sense is, "another sta- tion would have another burden: every one is bound to service and obedience save Zeus, the sovereign ruler; he alone commands all and obeys none”
(ὑπ᾽
ἀρχᾶς
οὔτινος
θοάζων, Suppl. 595). –
ἐπαχθῆ: vexatious, dis- agreeable. –
κοιρανεῖν : with dative, like
ἄρχειν 940,
ἐπιδεσπόζει
στρατῷ Pers. 241. See Krüger II. § 47, 20, 3.
51.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-39
51.
ἔγνωκα
τοῖσδε: I recognize it (the truth of what you say) by this (what is here going on). –
οὐδὲν
ἀντειπεῖν : sc.
τὸ
μὴ
οὐ
τὰ
ἐπιτεταγμένα
ποιεῖν.
52.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-40
52.
δεσμὰ
περιβαλεῖν : resolution in the fifth foot is very rare in trag- edy. This is the only case in the Prometheus. See on 2.
53.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-41
53.
ἐλινύοντα:
ἐλινύω is absolute here, but is construed with a partici- ple in 529.
54.
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54.
ψέλια : the best manuscript has
ψάλια, others
ψέλια. Ammonius gives the distinction:
ψάλια
μὲν
τὸ
τοῦ
ἵππου,
ψέλιον
δὲ
τὸ
ἄκροις
βραχίοσι
περι
τιθέμενον
κόσμιον. With such brace-
let-like clamps Prometheus is fastened in the paintings described in the In- trod., p. 5, footnote
3.-δέρκεσθαι : said with reference to
προσδερχθῇ above.
55.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-43
55 f.
νὶν:
τὰ
ψέλια, Schol. ; see on 46. –
ἐγκρατεῖ
σθένει,
ῥαιστήρι : of these two datives the one denotes the inner power (dynamic dative), the other the external means (instrumen- tal dative).
ἐγκρατεῖ
σθένει nearly =
ἐγκρατῶς. In Il. xviii. 477 Hephaes- tus wields a
ῥαιστὴρ
κρατερή.
56.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-44
56.
θεῖνε
πασσάλευε : the connective is omitted ('asyndeton') when a sin- gle idea is expressed by two or more verbs, the second being a stronger ex- pression than the first.
Ср. 58, 141, 392, 608, 698, 937; Pers. 426
ἔπαιον
ἐρράχιζον, 463
παίουσι
κρεοκοποῦσι, Cho. 289
κινεῖ
ταράσσει, Sept. 60
χωρεῖ
κοι
νίει, 186
αύειν
λακάζειν, Soph. Ai. 60
ὤτρυνον
εἰσέβαλλον
εἰς
ἕρκη
κακά, 115, 811, 844, 988, Ant. 1037
κερδαίνετ'
ἐμπολᾶτε,
Εl. 719
ἤφριζον
εἰσέβαλλον
ἱππικαὶ
πνοαί, Trach. 1255
ἐγκονεῖτ᾽
αἴρεσθε, Eur. Hec. 507
σπεύδωμεν
ἐγκο-
νῶμεν, Phoen. 1434
ἔκλαι᾽
ἐθρήνει.
57.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-45
57.
ματᾷ:
διατρίβει,
χρονίζει,
He- sych.
59.
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59. Cp. Ar.
Εq. 758
ποικίλος
γὰρ
ἁνὴρ
κἀκ
τῶν
ἀμηχάνων
πόρους
εὐμή-
χανος
πορίζειν.
61.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-47
61.
πόρπασον : long à (not n), as in
πόρπαμα Eur. El. 820. Cp.
ἐκθοινά-
σεται 1025
(θοινατῆρος Ag. 1502,
θοί-
ναμα Eur. Ion 1495), and other tragic forms, as
εὐνατήρ Pers. 137,
εὐνάτειρα Pers. 157,
ποινάτωρ Ag. 1281,
ἱπποβά-
μων 805 below and Supp. 284,
έκα-
τογκάρανος 353
(καρανοῦται Cho. 528),
κυναγός,
βαλός,
γάπεδον,
γάμοροι,
γάπο-
τος,
ἕκατι,
δαρόν,
δάιος, and others.
62.
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62.
σοφιστής: in Aeschylus's time this word had not acquired the mean- ing which Socrates and Plato after- wards gave it, and which through their influence passed into history. Cp. Athen. xiv. 632 c
πάντας
τοὺς
χρω-
μένους
τῇ
τέχνῃ
ταύτῃ (i.e.
τῇ
μουσικῇ)
σοφιστὰς
ἀπεκάλουν,
ὥσπερ
καὶ
Αἰσχύ-
λος
ἐποίησεν
'εἴτ᾽
οὖν
σοφιστὴς
κᾶλα
παραπαίων
χέλυν.' In this play, both here and 944, the word implies a crafty and unscrupulous cleverness.
Cp. the sense of
σοφίζομαι in Soph. Phil. 77
ἀλλ᾿
αὐτὸ
τοῦτο
δεῖ
σοφισθῆ-
ναι,
κλοπεὺς
ὅπως
γένηται
τῶν
ἀνικήτων
ὅπλων. –
ὤν : the speaker does not mean that Zeus is a
σοφιστής. Logi- cally only
Διὸς
νωθέστερος belongs to
μάθῃ
ὤν.
σοφιστής, though grammat- ically a predicate, refers only to Pro- metheus. The general sense is, "may learn that with all his artfulness he is
slower-witted than Zeus."
64.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-49
64.
αὐθάδη: with this epithet the Homeric
νηλέϊ
χαλκῷ,
λᾶας
ἀναιδής, and the Euripidean
λάβρῳ
μαχαίρᾳ, Cycl. 403, may be compared. –
γνά-
θον: cp.
γένus used in the sense of
πέλεκυς in Soph. El. 196 and 485, Phil. 1205, and
πελέκεων
γνάθοις in Eur. Cycl. 395.
65.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-50
65.
στέρνων
διαμπάξ: the passage of Hesiod, Theog. 521,
δῆσε
δ᾽
ἀλυκτο-
πέδησι
Προμηθέα
ποικιλόβουλον
δεσμοῖς
ἀργαλέοισι
μέσον
διὰ
κίον᾽
ἐλάσσας, which should be construed
ἐλάσσας
(τὰ
δεσμὰ)
διὰ
μέσον
κίονα, riveting the chains through the middle of the pillar, was wrongly understood as
ἐλάσσας
κίονα
διὰ
μέσον
(τὸν
Προμηθέα). Ac- cordingly, on an ancient
black-figured vase, found at Chiusi and now in the Berlin Museum (No. 1722; Jahn, Archaeologische Beiträge, Plate viii.; Baumeister, Denkmäler fig. 1566), we find Prometheus represented as ac- tually impaled (on an upright stake passed lengthwise through the body). This revolting conception was modi- fied by Aeschylus into one more endurable for the eye. Even in He- siod's narrative the original notion is obscured: the older legend doubtless meant by the pillar a
κίων
οὐράνιος, that is, a sharp
mountain-peak rear- ing itself to the sky. See on 349.
66.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-51
66.
ὑπό : because of, by reason of, denoting the cause; as Thuc. ii. 85
ὑπὸ
ἀνέμων
καὶ
ὑπὸ
ἀπλοίας
ἐνδιέτριψεν
οὐκ
ὀλίγον
χρόνον,
ίν. 8
ὑλώδης
τε
καὶ
ἀτριβὴς
πᾶσα
ὑπ᾽
ἐρημίας
ἦν (sc.
ἡ
νῆ-
σος), Soph. Ant. 221
ὑπ᾽
ἐλπίδων
ἄνδρας
τὸ
κέρδος
πολλάκις
διώλεσεν, also Ag. 475
πυρὸς
δ᾽
ὑπ᾿
εὐαγγέλου
πόλιν
διήκει
θοὰ
βάξις.
67.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-52
67.
αὖ
κατοκνεῖς : see 36. –
ἐχθρῶν
ὕπερ: the tragedians often put the preposition after its noun when an attributive (as in 653 a genitive) follows both. Otherwise, the post- ponement of the preposition (with anastrophe of the accent) is per-
mitted in trimeter, as a rule, only when the preposition comes thereby to stand at the end of a verse. This occurs most frequently with
περί,
μετά,
παρά,
ὑπό,
ὑπέρ,
ἀπό, and
ἐπί, in con- nexion with the genitive. The re- maining cases in Aeschylus are: with the dative,
ὑπό 365 below and Pers. 190,
ἐπί Suppl. 1003,
μετά Pers. 613; with the accusative,
περί Pers. 61.
68.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-53
68.
ὅπως
μή
κτέ.: for this form of warning see GMT. 272; G. 217,
N. 4;
Η. 886.
70.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-54
70.
ὀρῶ: said with emphasis after
ὁρᾷς.
71.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-55
71.
μασχαλιστήρας : iron girths, passed round the body and nailed to the rock on either side.
72.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-56
72. The asyndeton of the two clauses (instead of
μηδὲν
ἐγκέλευ᾿
ἄγαν,
ἀνάγκη
γὰρ
ταῦτα
δρᾶν: see on 373 f.) expresses irritation. Krüger I. § 59, 1, 8, and II. § 59, 1, 7. Im- patience at the repeated admonitions is also implied in the compound
ἐγκέ-
λευε, command imperiously, urgently.
73.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-57
73.
ἡ
μὴν
κελεύσω: defiant reply to Hephaestus's demand. -
ἐπιθωύξω : ср. 277, 393, 1041; Eur. Hipp. 219
κυσὶ
θωύξαι. The scholiast on 277 remarks,
ἡ
μεταφορὰ
ἀπὸ
τῶν
κυνηγῶν: that is, the verb was properly used of a hunter's call to his dogs. –
καὶ
γέ: et quidem; yé serves to emphasize the stronger statement. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 610
ΠΟ.
ὅς
μ᾽
ἄμοιρον
ἐξελαύνεις.
ΕΤ.
καὶ
κατακτενῶ
γε
πρός. -
πρός: adverbial. Cp.
πρὸς
δέ 929,
καὶ
πρός Cho. 299. G. 191,
Ν. 2;
Η. 785. ...
74.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-58
74.
χώρει
κάτω: the scholiast un- derstands this literally :
διὰ
τοῦ
῾χώ-
ρει
κάτω᾿
τὸ
μέγεθος
ἐνέφηνε
τοῦ
δεσμευομένου
θεοῦ. But it may mean simply, "proceed to the lower limbs."
κίρκωσον:
ἀντὶ
τοῦ
κρίκωσον, Schol.
κρίκος, ring, is read in Il. xxiv. 272. The older form
κίρκος (circus) sur- vived in the name of the bird (Od. xiii. 86
ἴρηξ
κίρκος): see 857. Simi- lar are the Attic forms
φάρξαι for
φράξαι,
δαρχμή for
δραχμή.
76.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-59
76.
διατόρους
πέδας:
πέδας is ge- neric, as in 6.
διάτορος is here passive, perforated; the active sense (see 181) is more common. Schütz and Her- mann understand it of holes origi- nally made in the fetters for the reception of the nails. Rather it means "pierced by nails," "having nails driven through them," as in Soph. O. T. 1034
διατόρους
ποδοῖν
ἀκμάς means "feet pierced with needles."
θεῖνε then refers to the nails. Hephaes- tus
is bidden, before departing, to examine once more the different fas- tenings and drive the nails in each firmly home. - On the resolution, see note on 2. Three other resolutions of this foot occur (273, 680, 809). In 273 the second and third shorts of the tribrach are formed by a disyllable
(διά); in 809 they begin a word of three syllables; in 680, as here, they begin a word of four syllables.
77.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-60
77. Cp. 53 and 68. –
ἐπιτιμητής : cp. Pers. 827
Ζεύς
τοι
κολαστὴς
τῶν
ὑπερκόπων
ἄγαν
φρονημάτων
ἔπεστιν,
εὔθυνος
βαρύς, Soph. Frg. 478
κολασταὶ
κἀπιτιμηταὶ
κακῶν, Eur. Suppl. 255
τούτων
κολαστὴν
κἀπιτιμητήν,
ἄναξ.
78.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-61
78.
ὅμοια
μορφῃ:
ὡς
ἐκτραπέλου (grotesque)
πεποιημένου
τοῦ
προσώπου (mask)
αὐτοῦ, Schol.
79.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-62
79.
μαλθακίζου: on this use of the imperative to denote a permission, see Krüger I. § 54, 4, 2.
80.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-63
80.
ὀργῆς: violent nature.
81.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-64
81.
κώλοισιν: the dative depends on the notion of
ἀμφιβάλλειν implied in
ἀμφίβληστρ᾽
ἔχει. – Hephaestus, with these words, quietly goes his way, while Cratos remains to give further vent to his scorn. In this way time was secured for the retiring ac- tor to take his position for the part of Prometheus. See Introduction, p. 23.
82.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-65
82.
Cp. Il. xxi. 120
τὸν
δ'
᾿Αχι-
λεὺς
ποταμόνδε
λαβὼν
ποδὸς
ἧκε
φέρε-
σθαι,
καί
οἱ
ἐπευχόμενος
ἔπεα
πτερόεντ'
ἀγόρευεν·
ἐνταυθοῖ
νῦν
κεῖσο
μετ᾿
ἰχθύ-
σιν
κτέ., Od. xviii. 105
ἐνταυθοῖ
νῦν
ἦσο
σύας
τε
κύνας
τ᾿
ἀπερύκων
κτέ., Ar. Thesm. 1001
ἐνταῦθα
νῦν
οἰμῶξι
πρὸς
τὴν
αἰτρίαν, also Vesp. 149, Plut. 724.
83.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-66
83.
ἐφημέροισι: see on 546 f., and
ср. 253, 945, Eur. Orest. 976
ἰὰ
ἰώ,
πανδάκρυτ᾽
ἐφαμέρων
ἔθνη
πολύπονα, Ar. Nub. 223 (Socrates speaks as a god)
τί
με
καλεῖς,
ὦ
᾿φήμερε, Cic. Tusc. i. 39, 94 apud Hypanim fluvium... Aristoteles ait bestiolas quasdam nasci, quae unum diem vivant (Aris- totle H. An. v. 19, calls these animals
ἐφήμερα) . . Confer nostram longissimam aetatem cum aeternitate; in eadem prope- modum brevitate qua illae bestiolae reperiemur.
86.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-67
86. The construction
δεῖ
τινά
τινος is not elsewhere found in Aeschylus, but occurs several times in Euripides (Hec. 1021, Phoen. 470, Hipp. 23, Ion 1018, H. F. 1170, Rhes. 837).
G.
172, 2,
Ν. 2;
Η. 712 b. –
προμηθέως: the proper name is here used as an appel- lative,
fore-thinker, counsellor. Cp. Pind. Ol. vii. 79
ἐν
δ᾽
ἀρετὰν
ἔβαλεν
καὶ
χάρματ᾽
ἀνθρώποισι
Προμαθέος
αἰ-
δώς. Etymological interpretations of proper names are frequent in Aeschy- lus. His view on the subject is ex- pressed Ag. 681:
τίς
ποτ᾿
ὠνόμαζεν
ὧδ᾽
ἐς
τὸ
πᾶν
ἐτητύμως;
μή
τις
ὅντιν᾿
οὐχ
ὁρῶμεν
προνοίαισι
τοῦ
πε-
πρωμένου
γλῶσσαν
ἐν
τύχᾳ
νέ-
μων; where
Ἑλένα is explained as
ἑλέναυς,
ἕλανδρος,
ἑλέπτολις. Cp. ibid. 1080
᾿Απόλλων ...
ἀπόλλων
ἐμός, and similar cases, Sept. 658, 829, 536; ср. also Od. i. 60
οὔ
νύ
τ᾿
Ὀδυσσεὺς
χαρίζετο
ἱερὰ
ῥέζων;
τί
νύ
οἱ
τόσον
ὠδύ-
σαο,
Ζεῦ; Eur. Phoen. 636
ἀληθῶς
δ᾽
ὄνομα
Πολυνείκην
πατὴρ
ἔθετό
σοι
θείᾳ
προνοίᾳ
νεικέων
ἐπώνυμον. On the thought, cp. 474 f. below, and the passage of Mark there quoted.
87.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-68
87.
ὅτῳ
τρόπῳ
ἐκκυλισθήσει: cp. Eur. Med. 322
οὐκ
ἔχεις
τέχνην,
ὅπως
μενεῖς
παρ'
ἡμῖν, Thuc. i. 107
ἔδοξε
δ'
αὐτοῖς ...
σκέψασθαι,
ὅτῳ
τρόπῳ
ἀσφα-
λέστατα
διαπορεύσονται. The clause depends on the verbal idea
τοῦ
προμη-
θουμένου implied in
προμηθέως. –
τέ-
χνης:
τῶν
δεσμῶν, Schol.; another scholiast,
τοῦ
τεχνηέντως
κατεσκευ-
ασμένου
δεσμοῦ. Cp. Soph. O. C. 472
κρατῆρες
εἰσίν,
ἀνδρὸς
εὔχειρος
τέχνη, Frg. III. of the Prom. Solutus below, 8, qua miser sollertia transver- beratus. Prometheus is bound hand and foot, so that he cannot stir. This serves to excite the spectators' com- passion (cp. 32), but it also affords a reason for the immobility, during the entire play, of the figure representing Prometheus. See Introduction, p. 22.
