PROMETHEUS

Be well assured that I would not barter my wretched plight for thy drudgery; for better do I deem it to be a lackey to this rock, than to be born the confidential courier of father Jove. Thus is it meet to repay insult in kind.

MERCURY

Thou seemest to revel in thy present state.

PROMETHEUS

Revel! Would that I might see my foes thus revelling, and among these I reckon thee.

MERCURY

What dost thou impute to me also any blame for thy mischances?

PROMETHEUS

In plain truth, I detest all the gods, as many of them as. after having received benefits at my hands, are iniquitously visiting me with evils.

MERCURY

I hear thee raving with no slight disorder.

PROMETHEUS

Disordered I would be, if disorder it be to loathe one's foes.

MERCURY

Thou wouldst be beyond endurance, wert thou in prosperity.

PROMETHEUS

Woe’s me!

MERCURY

This word of thine Jove knows not.

PROMETHEUS

Aye. but Time as he grows old teaches all things.

MERCURY

And yet verily thou knowest not yet how to be discreet.

PROMETHEUS

No i'faith, or I should not have held parley with thee, menial as thou art.

MERCURY

Thou seemest disposed to tell naught of the things which the sire desires.

PROMETHEUS

In sooth, being under obligation as I am to him, 'I bound to return his favour.

MERCURY

Thou floutest me, forsooth as if I were a boy.

PROMETHEUS

Why, art thou not a boy, and yet sillier than one, if thou lookest to obtain any information from me ? There is no outrage nor artifice by which Jupiter shall bring me to utter this, before my torturing shackles shall have been loosened. Wherefore let his glowing lightning be hurled, and with the white feathered shower of snow, and thunderings beneath the earth let him confound and embroil the universe; for naught of these things shall bend me so much as even to say by whom it is doomed that he shall be put down from his sovei

MERCURY

Consider now whether this determination seems availing.

PROMETHEUS

Long since has this been considered and resolved.

MERCURY

Resolve, O vain one, resolve at length in consideration of thy present sufferings to come to thy right senses.

PROMETHEUS

Thou troublest me with thine admonitions as vainly as [thou mightest] a billow

. Never let it enter your thoughts that I, affrighted by the purpose of Jupiter, shall become womanish, and shall importune the object whom I greatly loathe, with effeminate upliftings of my bands, to release me from these shackles : I want much of that.

MERCURY

PROMÉTHÉE

Contre une servitude pareille à la tienne, sache-le nettement, je n'échangerais pas mon malheur. J'aime mieux, je crois, être asservi à ce roc que me voir fidèle messager de Zeus, père des dieux ! C'est ainsi qu'à
des orgueilleux il sied de montrer leur orgueil !

HERMÈS

Tu parais bien fier du sort qui t'es fait !

PROMÉTHÉE

Fier ! Puissé-je voir mes ennemis être fiers de la sorte — et je te mets parmi eux.

HERMÈS

Me fais-tu donc, à moi aussi, grief de tes malheurs ?

PROMÉTHÉE

Je suis franc : je hais tous les dieux ; ils sont mes obligés, et par eux je subis un traitement inique !

HERMÈS

Je comprends : tu délires ! La maladie est grave.

PROMÉTHÉE

Maladie, soit ! s'il faut être malade pour haïr ses ennemis.

HERMÈS

Tu eusses été intolérable, si tu avais réussi.

PROMÉTHÉE

Hélas !

HERMÈS

Voilà un mot qu'ignore Zeus.

PROMÉTHÉE

Il n'est rien que le temps n'enseigne, en vieillissant.

HERMÈS

Pourtant, tu ne sais pas encore montrer la moindre raison.

PROMÉTHÉE

En effet ! eussé-je sans cela parlé à un valet ?

HERMÈS

Tu ne veux rien dire, je crois, de ce que
désire mon père ?

PROMÉTHÉE

Ah ! sans doute, je lui dois assez, pour le payer de ma reconnaissance !

HERMÈS

Tu me railles ici, vraiment, comme un enfant.

PROMÉTHÉE

Et n'es-tu pas enfant, plus simple même qu'un enfant, si de moi tu espères apprendre quelque chose ? Il n'est outrage ni ruse par quoi Zeus puisse me
décider à déclarer ce qu'il désire, avant qu'il n'ait d'abord desserré ces infâmes liens. Ainsi, qu'on lâche donc sur moi

PROMÉTHÉE

la flamme dévorante ! que sous la neige à l'aile blanche, au fracas d'un tonnerre souterrain ¹ , Zeus confonde et
bouleverse l'univers ! rien ne me pliera à lui révéler le nom de celui qui le doit chasser de sa puissance.

HERMÈS

Vois donc si un tel langage se révèle utile à ta cause.

PROMÉTHÉE

Tout est vu, depuis longtemps et délibéré.

HERMÈS

Daigne donc, pauvre fou, daigne enfin raisonner plus juste en face de ces maux.

PROMÉTHÉE

Tu me fatigues et perds ta peine, comme à faire la leçon au flot. Ne t'imagine pas qu'un beau jour, effrayé de l'arrêt de Zeus, je me ferai un cœur de femme,
et m'en irai, singeant les femmes, supplier, les mains renversées ² , celui que plus que tout j'abhorre de me détacher de ces liens. Il s'en faut du tout au tout !

HERMÈS

PROMETHEUS.

My miſeries, be aſſur'd, I would not change

For thy gay ſervitude, but rather chuſe

To live a vaſſal to this dreary rock,

Than lacquey the proud heels of Jove.

These words,

1015

If inſolent, your inſolence extorts.

MERCURY.

I think thou art delighted with thy woes.

PROMETHEUS.

Delighted! Might I ſee mine enemies

Delighted thus! And thee I hold among them.

MERCURY.

And why blame me for thy calamities?

1020

PROMETHEUS.

To tell thee in a word, I hate them all,

These gods; of them I deſerv'd well, and they

Ungrateful and unjuſt work me these ills.

MERCURY.

Thy malady, I find, is no ſmall madneſs.

PROMETHEUS.

If to deteſt my enemies be madneſs,

1025

It is a malady I wiſh to have.

MERCURY.

Were it well with thee, who cou'd brook thy pride?

PROMETHEUS.

Ah me!

MERCURY.

That ſound of grief Jove doth not know.

PROMETHEUS.

Time, as its age advanceth, teaches all things.

1030

MERCURY.

All its advances have not taught thee wiſdom.

PROMETHEUS.

I ſhould not else waſte words on thee, a vaſſal.

MERCURY.

Nought wilt thou anſwer then to what Jove aſks.

PROMETHEUS.

If due, I wou'd repay his courteſy.

MERCURY.

Why am I check'd, why rated as a boy?

1035

PROMETHEUS.

A boy thou art, more ſimple than a boy,

If thou haſt hopes to be inform'd by me.

Not all his tortures, all his arts ſhall move me

T' unlock my lips, till this curs'd chain be loos'd.

No, let him hurl his flaming lightnings, wing

1040

His whitening ſnows, and with his thunders ſhake

The rocking earth, they move not me to ſay

What force ſhall wreſt the ſceptre from his hand n

.

MERCURY.

Weigh these things well, will these unlooſe thy chains?

PROMETHEUS.

Well have they long been weigh'd, and well confider'd.

1045

MERCURY.

Subdue, vain fool, ſubdue thy inſolence,

And let thy miſeries teach thee juſter thoughts.

PROMETHEUS.

Thy counſels, like the waves that daſh againſt

The rock's firm baſe, diſquiet but not move me.

Conceive not of me that, thro' fear what Jove

1050

May in his rage inflict, my fix'd diſdain

Shall e'er relent, e'er ſuffer my firm mind

To ſink to womaniſh ſoftness, to fall proſtrate,

To ſtretch my ſupplicating hands, intreating

My hated foe to free me from these chains.

1055

Far be that ſhame, that abject weakness from me.

MERCURY.

PROMETEO

Tramutar non vorrei le mie sciagure

con la tua servitú, sappilo bene.

ERMETE

Meglio a questi macigni essere stretto,

che al padre Giove esser fedele araldo?

PROMETEO

Oltraggiare cosí convien chi oltraggia.

1130

ERMETE

Par che di tua condizïon tu goda.

PROMETEO

Godo! Goder cosí possa io vedere

i miei nemici! E te fra questi annovero.

ERMETE

Dei tuoi mali anche a me la colpa assegni.

PROMETEO

A dirla in breve, tutti i Numi aborro.

1135

Da me beneficati, or mi maltrattano.

ERMETE

Tu sei folle e non par lieve follia.

PROMETEO

Se odïare i nemici è follia, sí.

ERMETE

Fossi in auge, saresti insopportabile.

PROMETEO

Ahimè!

1140

ERMETE

Ahimè! Questa parola è ignota a Giove.

PROMETEO

Ma tutto insegna, maturando, il tempo.

ERMETE

Pure, a far senno ancor non hai tu appreso.

PROMETEO

Vero è che a te, che servo sei, favello.

ERMETE

Nulla dirai di ciò che il padre brama?

1145

PROMETEO

Giusto: dovrei grazia per grazia rendergli !

ERMETE

Quasi fossi un fanciullo tu mi beffi!

PROMETEO

E fanciullo non sei, stolto non sei

piú che fanciullo, se da me t'aspetti

PROMETEO

di sapere alcunché? Non v'ha tormento,

1150

artificio non v'ha, con cui m'induca

Giove a parlar, se non allenti prima

questi ceppi d'obbrobrio.

Ed ora piombi

su me la vampa sfavillante, e tutto

1155

con turbini di bianche ali di neve

mischi e travolga, e con inferni tuoni:

nulla di ciò mi piegherà, ch'io sveli

perché fatale è che dal soglio ei piombi.

ERMETE

Vedi or se ciò che dici util ti sembra.

1160

PROMETEO

Tutto ho già visto, ponderato ho tutto.

ERMETE

Sforzati, o tristo, sforzati una volta

di fare senno, alle sciagure innanzi.

PROMETEO

Invan mi tedî: un sordo flutto esorti.

Non ti venga l'idea ch'io, pei disegni

1165

di Zeus sgomento, reso pari a femmina,

l'aborrito nemico molcir tenti

con le mani supine, a mo' di donna,

ch'egli mi sciolga!

Oh!, ne son lungi assai!

1170

ERMETE

Pro.

Tuo cultui meam infelicitatem,

Manifestè scias, non mutarem ego.

970

Melius est, ut arbitror, huic seruire petræ,

Quàm patri dicere Ioui bonum nuncium:

Sic contumelia afficere contumeliosos opus est

Mer.

Gaudere videris præsentibus malis,

Pro.

Gaudeo, gaudentes hic meos inimicos

975

Ego sentio, & te inter illos esse dico.

Mer.

Me quoq; calamitatibus culpas?

Pro.

Vt simpliciter dicam, odio prosequor deos,

Quicunq; bene affecti, malis afficiunt me iniustè.

Mer.

Audio ego te insaniéntem non paruo morbo.

980

Pro.

Ægrotarem, si inimicos odio habere morbus

esset. Mer.

PROMETHEVS.

Mer. Non eris ferendus, si tecum bene agatur.

Pro.

Hei mihi. Mer. Hoc verbum nescit Iupiter.

Pro.

Sed docebit omnia senescens tempus,

985

Mer.

Et tamen nondum tu nosti sapere.

Pro.

Te autem alloquebar, cum non esses minister.

Mer.

Respondes nihil eorum quæ vult pater.

Pro.

Et tamen debens penderem illi gratiam.

Mer.

Conuiciatus es me, tanquam puerum.

990

Pro.

Non enim puer es, neq; eo dementior:

Num expectas aliquid à me audire?

Non est ius, neq; machinatio, quâ

Cogat me Iupiter narrare hæc,

Priusquam soluantur vincula perniciosa.

995

Contrà hæc proijciatur comburens flamma,

Candidiori nube & tonitribus

Terrestribus confundat omnia, terreat,

Non enim flectet me, ut hæc dicam,

A' quo oportet illum cadere regno.

1000

Mer.

Vide nunc, an hæc remedia tibi videantur,

Pro.

Vidi iam hæc, & consulta olim.

Mer.

Audebis audebis, ô fatue, tandem

Ad præsentes labores sapere.

Pro.

Turbas me frustra, tanquam fluctus consolans.

1005

Da operam, ne tandem ego tanquam Iouis

Sententiam veritus, effœminatis seruiam,

Et invocem magnum inimicum

Muliebribus supplicationibus manuum,

Solue me ab his vinculis, omnino rogo.

1010

Mer.

Prometheus

Ay—but mark this: mine heritage of pain

1090

I would not barter for thy servitude.

Hermes

Better, forsooth, be bond-slave to a crag,

Than true-born herald unto Zeus the Sire!

Prometheus

Take thine own coin—taunts for a taunting slave!

Hermes

Proud art thou in thy circumstance, methinks!

1095

Prometheus

Proud? in such pride then be my foemen set,

And I to see—and of such foes art thou!

Hermes

What, blam'st thou me too for thy sufferings?

Prometheus

Mark a plain word—I loathe all gods that are,

Who reaped my kindness and repay with wrong.

1100

Hermes

I hear no little madness in thy words.

Prometheus

Madness be mine, if scorn of foes be mad.

Hermes

Past bearing were thy pride, in happiness.

Prometheus

Ah me!

Hermes

Zeus knoweth nought of sorrow's cry!

1105

Prometheus

He shall! Time's lapse bringeth all lessons home.

Hermes

To thee it brings not yet discretion's curb.

Prometheus

No—else I had not wrangled with a slave!

Hermes

Then thou concealest all that Zeus would learn?

Prometheus

As though I owed him aught and should repay!

1110

Hermes

Scornful thy word, as though I were a child—

Prometheus

Child, ay—or whatsoe'er hath less of brain—

Thou, deeming thou canst wring my secret out!

No mangling torture, no, nor sleight of power

There is, by which he shall compel my speech,

1115

Until these shaming bonds be loosed from me.

So, let him fling his blazing levin-bolt!

Let him with white and wingèd flakes of snow,

And rumbling earthquakes, whelm and shake the world!

For nought of this shall bend me to reveal

1120

The power ordained to hurl him from his throne.

Hermes

Bethink thee if such words can mend thy lot.

Prometheus

All have I long foreseen, and all resolved.

Hermes

Perverse of will! constrain, constrain thy soul

To think more wisely in the grasp of doom!

1125

Prometheus

Truce to vain words! as wisely wouldst thou strive

To warn a swelling wave: imagine not

That ever I before thy lord's resolve

Will shrink in womanish terror, and entreat,

As with soft suppliance of female hands,

1130

The Power I scorn unto the utterance,

To loose me from the chains that bind me here—

A world's division 'twixt that thought and me!

Hermes

Prometheus.

Für deinen Frohndienst gäb' ich mein unselig Loos,

960

Das sei versichert, nimmermehr zum Tausche dar.

Denn besser acht' ich's, diesem Fels dienstbar zu sein,

Als Zeus' des Vaters treuer Knecht im Botenamt.

So troßend muß man widersteh'n dem Troßenden.

Hermes.

Du fühlst in deiner Lage dich behaglich wohl?

965

Prometheus.

Behaglich? Könnt' ich meine Widersacher so

Behaglich sehen, unter sie dich mitgezählt!

Hermes.

So klagst du mich auch wegen deiner Leiden an?

Prometheus.

Mit schlichtem Wort, den Göttern allen heg' ich Haß,

Die mir für Gutes wider Recht nur Böses thun.

970

Hermes.

Ich höre wohl, kein kleiner Wahnsinn rast aus dir.

Prometheus.

Wenn Feinde hassen Rasen ist, so ras' ich wohl.

Hermes.

Du wärest unerträglich, wenn du glücklich wärst.

Weh mir!

Prometheus.

Hermes.

Dem Zeus ist dieser Ausruf unbekannt.

Prometheus.

Doch macht die lange graue Zeit uns Alles kund.

975

Hermes.

Und dennoch hast du weise sein noch nicht gelernt.

Prometheus.

Sonst hätt' ich dir, dem Knechte, wohl kein Wort gegönnt.

Hermes.

Es scheint, du willst nicht sagen, was dir Zeus befiehlt.

Prometheus.

Sein Schuldner, trüg' ich also wohl den Dank ihm ab.

Hermes.

Hohnreden wahrlich beutst du, wie dem Knaben, mir.

980

Prometheus.

Und bist du denn kein Knabe, ja noch thörichter,

Wofern du jemals Kunde hoffst aus meinem Mund?

Durch keine Marter, keine feinerdachte List

Soll mich Kronion zwingen, das ihm kundzuthun,

Bevor er dieser Bande Schmach von mir gelöst.

985

So schmett're denn zur Erde seiner Blize Glut,

In weißbeschwingtem Flockensturm, im Donnerhall

Der Tiefen schwind'le, stürze wildverwirrt das All:

Nichts wird mich beugen, daß ich ihm verkündigte,

Wer ihn dereinst von seinem Throne stürzen soll!

990

Hermes.

Erwäge doch, ob das zu deinem Heile dient.

Prometheus.

Erwogen, festbeschlossen ward dies Alles längst.

Hermes.

Gewinn' es endlich, endlich über dich, o Thor,

Zu deinem Jammerloose rechtgesinnt zu sein!

Prometheus.

Du quälst mich fruchtlos, wie zur Woge redest du.

995

Nie komme dir zu Sinne, daß ich je vor Zeus'

Nathschlüssen weibisch fürchtend mich entwürdige,

Und ihn beschwöre, diesen allverhaßten Gott,

Die Hände flehend ausgestreckt nach Frauenart,

Die Bande mir zu lösen. Das sei ferne mir!

1000

Hermes.