N. Wecklein Prometheus Bound 153.comm-153

F. D. Allen (Translator)

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Prometheus Bound. N. Wecklein. F. D. Allen (Translator). . .

Current edition Experimental

English commentary on Prometheus Bound (OCR draft) (English) (N. Wecklein, translated by F. D. Allen. Ginn & Company, 1893; compared with the 1891 printing. Printed commentary pages 31–144. Provisional alignment and unresolved OCR are visibly flagged.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (7)
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 128-194 focus
Προμηθεὺς δεσμώτης Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.) — 128-195 focus
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 152 focus
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 152 focus
ΠΡΟΜΗθΕΥΣ ΔΕΣΜΩΤΗΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΠΡΟΜΗθΕΥΣ ΔΕΣΜΩΤΗΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 152 focus
Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης (OCR draft) Experimental (Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 152 focus
εἰ γάρ μ' ὑπὸ γῆν νέρθεν θ' Ἅιδου
τοῦ νεκροδέγμονος
εἰς ἀπέραντον Τάρταρον ἧκεν,
δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἀγρίοις πελάσας,
ὡς μήτε θεὸς μήτε τις ἄλλος
165
τοῖσδ᾽ ἐπεγήθει.
νῦν δ᾽ αἰθέριον κίνυγμ᾽ ὁ τάλας
ἐχθροῖς ἐπίχαρτα πέπονθα.
τίς ὧδε τλησικάρδιος
θεῶν ὅτῳ τάδ᾽ ἐπιχαρῆ;
170
τίς οὐ ξυνασχαλᾷ κακοῖς
τεοῖσι, δίχα γε Διός; ὃ δ᾽
ἐπικότως ἀεὶ
θέμενος ἄγναμπτον νόον
δάμναται Οὐρανίαν
175
γένναν, οὐδὲ λήξει,
πρὶν ἂν ἢ κορέσῃ
κέαρ, ἢ παλάμᾳ τινὶ
τὰν δυσάλωτον ἕλῃ τις ἀρχάν.
Aeschyli Prometheus Vinctus (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Prometheus Vinctus. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 152 focus
Translations (9)
Prometheus Bound Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 128-195 focus
Prometheus Bound. (OCR draft) Experimental (Prometheus Bound.. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 152 focus
Oh would that he had sent me beneath the earth, and below into the boundless Tartarus of Hades that receives the dead, after savagely securing me in indissoluble bonds, so that no god at any time, nor any other being, had exulted in this my doom. Whereas now, hapless one, I, the sport of the winds, suffer pangs that gladden my foes.
Who of the gods is so hard-hearted as that these things should be grateful to him? Who is there that sympathizes not with thy sufferings, Jove excepted? He indeed, in his wrath, assuming an inflexible temper, is evermore oppressing the celestial race! nor will he cease before that either he shall have sated his heart, or some one by some stratagem shall have seized upon his sovereignty that will be no easy prize.
PROMÉTHÉE ENCHAINÉ (OCR draft) Experimental (PROMÉTHÉE ENCHAINÉ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 152 focus
mes ennemis !
serment ; un jour viendra où de moi, pour outragé que je sois dans ces brutales entraves, de moi il aura besoin, le monarque des
Bienheureux, s'il veut apprendre quel destin hasardeux doit le dépouiller de son sceptre et de ses honneurs ;
Prometheus Chained (OCR draft) Experimental (Prometheus Chained. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 152 focus
Beneath the earth,
Beneath the gulfs of Tartarus, g
that ſpread
Interminable o'er the dead,
160
Had his ſtern fury fix'd this rigid chain,
Nor gods, nor men had triumph'd in my pain.
But pendent in th' ætherial air,
The pageant gratifies my ruthleſs foes,
That gaze, inſult, and glory in my woes. h
165
Is there a god, whoſe ſullen ſoul
Feels a ſtern joy in thy deſpair?
Owns he not pity's ſoft controul,
And drops in ſympathy the tear?
All, all, ſave Jove; with fury driv'n
170
Severe he tames the ſons of heav'n;
And he will tame them, till ſome pow'r ariſe
To wreſt from his ſtrong hand the ſceptre of the ſkies.
Eschilo, Prometeo legato: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Prometeo legato: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 152 focus
Prometeo, veggo. Ed una fosca nuvola
di lagrimose stille
mi preme le pupille,
te contemplando in lacci indissolubili
170
•
su questa roccia, a misero tormento.
Ma novello signor l'Olimpo regge;
ma con novella legge
or Giove a suo talento
175
lo scettro impugna, e tutto
che prima ebbe potere or vuol distrutto.
Aeschylus, Prometheus vinctus: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Prometheus vinctus: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 152 focus
Sì uerò me sub terram ad inferos
Mortiferos in immenſum
Tartarum misiſſet, uinculis in disſolutis
Ferociter appropinquans, ut neque Deus,
160
Quis sic corde durus
Deorum cui haec placeant?
Quis non succenset malis
165
Tuis? Ille dissentit à Iove:
ille autem fraudulenter semper
Indutus, inflexili mente
Domat genus cœleste,
Neq; prius desinet quam saturauerit cor,
170
Vel aliqua astutia ceperit inexpugnabile principatu.
Prometheus Bound (OCR draft) Experimental (Prometheus Bound. Anna Swanwick, 1886.) — 151 focus
Chorus
If aught untold of her sore-wasting course
Remains by thee to be unfolded, speak.
But if thou hast told all, to us vouchsafe

The boon we craved; its scope full well thou knowest.
PROMETHEUS
She of her roaming hath the limit heard,
But yet that she may know that not in vain
She heard my tale, her woes ere coming here
I will relate, sure pledge my words are true.
Tedious array of words I shall omit,
And of thy roamings reach at once the goal;
For when Molossia's plains thy foot had trod,
Round lofty-ridged Dodona, where is found
The seat prophetic of Thesprotian Zeus,

And, portent past belief, the speaking oaks,
By which full clearly, in no riddling phrase,
Wast hailed as the illustrious spouse of Zeus,
Fate-destined,—doth this flatter thee at all?—
Thence, fiercely stung, along the sea-washed tract,
To Rhea's mighty gulf didst hurry,—whence
In courses retrograde wast rudely tossed.
But know thou this, that through all future time
That sea-gulf shall the name Ionian bear,
To all mankind memorial of thy way;

These then to thee be tokens of my mind,
That more discerneth than doth meet the sense.
PROMETHEUS
The rest for you and her I will relate,
The track regaining of my former words.
On the land's verge a town, Canobos, stands,
At Neilos' very mouth and sand-bar,—there,
Zeus shall restore thy reason,—stroking thee
With touch alone of unalarming hand;
Then thou dark Epaphos shalt bear, whose name

Records his sacred gendering. He shall reap
All land that Neilos' waves broad-flooding reach.
Fifth in descent from him a female race,
Fifty in number, shall return to Argos,
Not willingly, but wedlock to avoid
Of cousins; these, with passion-winged hearts,
Falcons that follow close on doves, shall come
Chasing unlawful wedlock, but the god
Shall grudge them such fair prey; Pelasgian soil
Harbour shall grant them till, awake by night,

Woman's fell prowess over men prevail;
For every bride her spouse shall reave of life,
The two-edged weapon bathing in his neck.—
May Kypris visit in such guise my foes!—
But of the maids shall one, by love beguiled,
Her partner fail to slay;—her will's keen edge
Blunted, she will of evils twain prefer
Repute of weakness to bloodguiltiness.
She shall a kingly race in Argos bear.
This to set forth at large needs lengthy speech.

But from this seed shall dauntless hero spring,
Bow-famous, who shall free me from these ills.
PROMETHEUS
Such oracle my mother, born of eld,
Themis, hoar Titaness, to me rehearsed.
But how and where, to tell, needs lengthy speech,
Nor would the knowledge aught advantage thee.
IO
887 894
Ah me! ah woe is me!
Brain-smiting madness once again
Inflames me, and convulsive pain.
The gad-fly's barb, not wrought with fire,
Stings me; against my breast

Kicks my pent heart with fear oppressed.
901
Mine eyeballs roll in dizzy gyre;
Out of my course by frenzy's blast
I'm borne. My tongue brooks not the rein,
And turbid words, at random cast,
'Gainst waves of hateful madness beat in vain.
PROMETHEUS
Yea verily shall Zeus, though stubborn-souled,
Be humbled yet; such marriage he prepares
Which from his throne of power to nothingness

Shall hurl him down; so shall be all fulfilled
His father Kronos' curse, which erst he spake
What time he fell from his primeval throne.
From such disasters none of all the gods
To Zeus escape can show, save I alone.
I know it and the way. Then let him sit
Confiding in his lofty thunder-peals,
And wielding with both hands the fiery bolt;
For these shall not avail, but fall he shall,
A fall disgraceful, not to be endured.

Such wrestler now, himself against himself,
He arms for battle;—portent hard to quell;
Who flame shall find surpassing lightning's glare,
And crash more mighty than the thunder-roll;
Who the sea-trident, earth-convulsing plague,
Poseidon's spear, shall shatter;—then shall Zeus,
When 'gainst this evil he hath stumbled, learn
How wide apart are servitude and sway.
Chorus
Such taunts on Zeus thy wish, I trow, inspires.
PROMETHEUS
Both what shall be, I speak, and what I wish.

Chorus
And must we look for one o'er Zeus to reign?
PROMETHEUS
Yea, pangs than these more crushing shall he bear.
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1908) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 152 focus
Had he but hurled me, far beneath
170
The vast and ghostly halls of Death,
Down to the limitless profound
Of Tartarus, in fetters bound,
Fixed by his unrelenting hand!
So had no man, nor God on high,
175
Exulted o'er mine agony—
But now, a sport to wind and sky,
Mocked by my foes, I stand!
What God can wear such ruthless heart
As to delight in ill?
180
Who in thy sorrow bears not part?
Zeus, Zeus alone! for he, with wrathful will,
Clenched and inflexible,
Bears down Heaven's race—nor end shall be, till hate
His soul shall satiate,
185
Or till, by some device, some other hand
Shall wrest from him his sternly-clasped command!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1854. Native Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, selected textual readings and metrical facsimiles. Remaining OCR differences and unattributed reading notes are documented in the linked review inventory.) — 152 focus
O hätt' er hinab in den Hades mich
Zu den Todten gestürzt, in der Tartarosnacht
Unermeßliche Kluft, mit unlösbarem Band
Zornvoll mich umstrickt, daß weder ein Gott
155
Noch ein Anderer sonst frohlockte darob!
Nun schweb' ich den Lüften ein Spielwerk hier,
Muß dulden zur Lust für die Feinde !
Zweite Strophe.
Wo hegte solch verhärtet Herz
Ein Gott, sich deines Leids zu freu'n?
160
Wer fühlte nicht mit deiner Qual
Mitleiden? Freilich außer Zeus: er zürnt und grollt;
Ungebeugten Sinnes stets,
Bändigt er Uranos" Stamm; nimmer rastet er,
Bis sein Herz sich ersättigt hat,
165
Oder ein listiger Arm die gewaltige Macht ihm entwindet.

Notes on the current edition

Prometheus Bound

1. Two-source OCR draft: unmatched words are bracketed; readings, punctuation, possible marginalia and note boundaries remain unverified. Agreement between OCR sources is not proof of correctness.
2. Reference placement provisional: local window supported by running Greek. Source note 153; verify numbering and scope.

Commentary

English commentary on Prometheus Bound (OCR draft) (N. Wecklein, translated by F. D. Allen. Ginn & Company, 1893; compared with the 1891 printing. Printed commentary pages 31–144. Provisional alignment and unresolved OCR are visibly flagged.) focus

128-192. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-99

1
2
128-192. Parodos. It is com- matic, that is, divided between actor and chorus. The chorus enter in a winged car (ὄχῳ πτερωτῷ 135, κραι- πνόσυτον θᾶκον 279), moved by the- atrical machinery. The car, advancing from the right side, has gradually approached Prometheus. It is seen by the spectators while still invisible to Prometheus, who can only look straight before him. At 124 the chorus are already very near, and they hear the words of 127 (φοβερόν). - The ᾿Ωκεανίδες are daughters of Oceanus and Tethys; see Hesiod Theog. 362. Hesiod (ibid. 346) enum- erates forty-one by name, and adds πολλαί γε μέν εἶσι καὶ ἄλλαι, τρὶς γὰρ χίλιαί εἰσι τανύσφυροι Ωκεανῖναι. Aes- chylus's chorus consisted of twelve persons. The first strophe gives the motive of the chorus for coming; this is what an unknown grammarian (in the hypothesis to the Persians) calls ' παροδικά, ὅτε λέγει (sc. ὁ χορός) δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν πάρεστιν.' - The rhythms ( ῥυθμὸς ᾿Ανακρεόντειός ἐστι κεκλασμένος πρὸς τὸ θρηνητικόν, Schol.) are in keeping with the sorrowful tone of the composition (see 144 ff.); they
are furthermore especially appropri- ate to a female chorus.

153. mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-119

3
4
153 f. τοῦ νεκροδέγμονος : cp. Sept. 860 πάνδοκον εἰς ἀφανῆ τε χέρσον, Suppl. 157 τὸν πολυξενώτατον Ζῆνα τῶν κεκμηκότων. In Hom. Hymn v. 9, 17, 430, Hades is called Πολυδέκτης and Πολυδέγμων. Cp. οἰστοδέγμονα θησαυρόν Pers. 1020. – ἀπέραντον : see 1078. δεσμοῖς πελάσας : " and had put me in bonds there as here." For the expression δεσμοῖς πελάσας cp. Eur. Alc. 229 βρόχῳ δέρην οὐρανίῳ πελάσσαι, also ΙΙ. ν. 766 κακῆς ὀδύνῃσι πελάζειν.