Epeisodion 4
Prometheus
I will tell you plainly all that you would like to know,
not weaving riddles, but in simple language, since it is right to speak openly to friends. Look, I whom you see am Prometheus, who gave fire to mankind.
610
Io
O you who have shown yourself a common benefactor of mankind, wretched Prometheus, why do you suffer so?
Prometheus
I have only just now finished lamenting my own calamities.
615
Io
You will not then do this favor for me?
Prometheus
Say what it is you wish; for you can learn all from me.
Io
Tell me who has bound you fast in this ravine.
Prometheus
Zeus by his will, Hephaestus by his hand.
Io
And for what offence do you pay the penalty?
620
Prometheus
It suffices that I have made clear to you this much and no more.
Io
No, also tell me the end of my wandering—what time is set for wretched me.
Prometheus
It would be better not to know than to know, in your case.
Io
I beg you, do not hide from me what I am doomed to suffer.
625
Prometheus
No, it is not that I do not want to grant your request.
Io
Why then your reluctance to tell me everything?
Prometheus
I am not unwilling; but I hesitate to crush your spirit.
Io
Do not be more kind to me than I myself desire.
Prometheus
Since you insist, I must speak. Listen, then.
630
Chorus
No, not yet. Grant us too a portion of the pleasure. Let us first inquire the story of her affliction and let her with her own lips relate the events that brought horrid calamity upon her. Then let her be instructed by you as to the toils still to come.
Prometheus
It is for you, Io, to grant them this favor, especially since they are your father’s sisters. For it is worthwhile to indulge in weeping and in wailing over evil fortunes when one is likely to win the tribute of a tear from the listener.
635
Io
I do not know how to refuse you. You shall learn in truthful speech all that you would like to know. Yet I am ashamed to tell about the storm of calamity sent by Heaven, of the marring of my form, and of the source from which it swooped upon me, wretched that I am.
640
For visions of the night, always haunting my maiden chamber, sought to beguile me with seductive words, saying: O damsel greatly blessed of fortune, why linger in your maidenhood so long when it is within your power to win a union of the highest? Zeus is inflamed by passion’s dart
645
for you and is eager to unite with you in love. Do not, my child, spurn the bed of Zeus, but go forth to Lerna’s meadow land of pastures deep and to your father’s flocks and where his cattle feed, so that the eye of Zeus may find respite from its longing.
650
By such dreams was I, to my distress, beset night after night, until at last I gained courage to tell my father of the dreams that haunted me. And he sent many a messenger to Pytho and Dodona so that he might discover
655
what deed or word of his would find favor with the gods. But they returned with report of oracles, riddling, obscure, and darkly worded. Then at last there came an unmistakable utterance to Inachus, charging and commanding him clearly that
660
he must thrust me forth from home and native land to roam at large to the remotest confines of the earth; and, if he would not, a fiery thunderbolt would come from Zeus that would utterly destroy his whole race.
Yielding obedience to such prophetic utterances of Loxias,
665
he drove me away and barred me from his house, against his will and mine; but the constraint of Zeus forced him to act by necessity. Immediately my form and mind were distorted, and with horns, as you see, upon my forehead,
670
stung by a sharp-fanged gadfly I rushed with frantic bounds to Cerchnea’s sweet stream and Lerna’s spring. But Argus, the earth-born herdsman, untempered in his rage, pursued me, peering with his many eyes upon my steps.
675
A sudden death robbed him of life unexpectedly; while I, still tormented by the gadfly, am driven on from land to land before the heaven-sent plague.
That is what happened ; and if you can declare what toils still remain, reveal them. Do not, from pity, seek
680
to soothe me with untrue words ; for I consider false words to be the foulest sickness.
685
Chorus
Oh, ah, go away, alas! Never, oh never, did I dream that words so strange would greet my ears;
or that sufferings so grievous to look upon, yes, and so grievous to endure, a tale of outrage, would strike my soul as if with double-pronged goad. Alas, O Fate, O Fate,
690
I shudder to behold the plight that has befallen Io.
695
Prometheus
You lament and are full of fear all too soon. Wait until you have learned the rest as well.
Chorus
Proceed, tell all. It is comforting for the sick to know clearly beforehand what pain still awaits them.
Prometheus
You gained your former request easily from me; for you first desired the story of her ordeal from her own lips. Hear now the sequel, the sufferings this maid is fated to endure at Hera’s hand.
700
And may you, daughter of Inachus, lay to heart my words so that you may learn the end of your wanderings.
First, from this spot, turn yourself toward the rising sun and make your way over untilled plains; and you shall reach the Scythian nomads, who dwell
705
in thatched houses, perched aloft on strong-wheeled wagons and are equipped with far-darting bows. Do not approach them, but keeping your feet near the rugged shore, where the sea breaks with a roar, pass on beyond their land. On the left hand dwell the workers in iron,
710
the Chalybes, and you must beware of them, since they are savage and are not to be approached by strangers. Then you shall reach the river Hybristes,
Ὑβριστής, Violent from ὕβρις, violence.
which does not belie its name. Do not cross this, for it is hard to cross, until you come to Caucasus itself,
715
loftiest of mountains, where from its very brows the river pours out its might in fury. You must pass over its crests, which neighbor the stars, and enter upon a southward course, where you shall reach the host of the Amazons, who loathe all men. They shall in time to come
720
inhabit Themiscyra on the Thermodon, where, fronting the sea, is Salmydessus’ rugged jaw, evil host of mariners, step-mother of ships. The Amazons will gladly guide you on your way. Next, just at the narrow portals of the harbor, you shall reach
725
the Cimmerian isthmus. This you must leave with stout heart and pass through the channel of Maeotis; and ever after among mankind there shall be great mention of your passing, and it shall be called after you the Bosporus.
Βόσπορος, by popular etymology derived from βοῦς and πόρος, passing of the cow, is, according to Wecklein, a Thracian form of Φωσφόρος, light-bearing, an epithet of the goddess Hecate. The dialectical form, once misunderstood, was then, it is conjectured, transferred from the Thracian (cp. Aesch. Pers. 746) to the Crimean strait. In theSuppliantsAeschylus makes Io cross the Thracian
Bosporus.Then, leaving the soil of Europe,
730
you shall come to the Asian continent.
Does it not seem to you that the tyrant of the gods is violent in all his ways? For this god, desirous of union with this mortal maid, has imposed upon her these wanderings. Maiden, you have gained a cruel suitor
735
for your hand. As to the tale you now have heard— understand that it has not even passed the introduction.
740
Prometheus
What! You are crying and groaning again? What will you do, I wonder, when you have learned the sufferings still in store for you?
Chorus
What! Can it be that you have sufferings still left to recount to her?
745
Prometheus
Yes, a tempestuous sea of calamitous distress.
Io
What gain have I then in life? Why did I not hurl myself straightaway from this rugged rock, so that I was dashed to earth and freed from
all my sufferings? It is better to die once and for all than linger out all my days in misery.
750
Prometheus
Ah, you would hardly bear my agonies to whom it is not foredoomed to die; for death would have freed me from my sufferings.
But now no limit to my tribulations has been appointed until Zeus is hurled from his sovereignty.
755
Io
What! Shall Zeus one day be hurled from his dominion?
Prometheus
You would rejoice, I think, to see that happen.
Io
Why not, since it is at the hand of Zeus that I suffer?
Prometheus
Then you may assure yourself that these things are true.
760
Io
By whom shall he be despoiled of the sceptre of his sovereignty?
Prometheus
By himself and his own empty-headed purposes.
Io
In what way? Oh tell me, if there be no harm in telling.
Prometheus
He shall make a marriage that shall one day cause him distress.
Io
With a divinity or with a mortal? If it may be told, speak out.
765
Prometheus
Why ask with whom? I may not speak of this.
Io
Is it by his consort that he shall be dethroned?
Prometheus
Yes, since she shall bear a son mightier than his father.
Io
And has he no means to avert this doom?
Prometheus
No, none—except me, if I were released from bondage.
770
Io
Who then is to release you against the will of Zeus?
Prometheus
It is to be one of your own grandchildren.
Io
What did you say? A child of mine will release you from your misery?
Prometheus
The third in descent after ten generations.
Io
Your prophecy is not easy to understand.
775
Prometheus
Yes, so do not seek to learn the full extent of your own sufferings.
Io
Do not offer me a favor and then withdraw it.
Prometheus
I will present you with one or other of two tales.
Io
Which two? Set them forth and offer me the choice.
Prometheus
I am making the offer: choose whether I shall reveal the sufferings still in store for you or the one who will be my deliverer.
780
Chorus
Consent to bestow on her one of these favors, and on me the other; do not deny me the tale. Tell her about her further wanderings;
tell me who will deliver you—for I would like to know this.
785
Prometheus
Well, since you are bent on this, I will not refuse to proclaim all that you still crave to know. First, to you, Io, will I declare your much-vexed wandering, and may you engrave it on the recording tablets of your mind.
When you have crossed the stream that bounds the two continents, toward the flaming east, where the sun walks,......
crossing the surging sea until you reach the Gorgonean plains of Cisthene, where the daughters of Phorcys dwell, ancient maids,
790
three in number, shaped like swans, possessing one eye amongst them and a single tooth; neither does the sun with his beams look down upon them, nor ever the nightly moon. And near them are their three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons, loathed of mankind,
795
whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath. Such is the peril that I bid you to guard against. But now listen to another and a fearsome spectacle. Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the gryphons,
800
and the one-eyed Arimaspian folk, mounted on horses, who dwell about the flood of Pluto’s
Πλούτον is an abbreviation of Πλουτοδότης or Πλουτοδοτήρ, giver of wealth; hence the apparent confusion with Πλούτος.stream that flows with gold. Do not approach them. Then you shall come to a far-off country of a dark race that dwells by the waters of the sun, where the river Aethiop is.
805
Follow along its banks until you reach the cataract, where, from the Bybline mountains, Nile sends forth his hallowed and sweet stream. He will conduct you on your way to the three-angled land of Nilotis, where, at last, it is ordained for you,
810
O Io, and for your children to found your far-off colony.
If anything of this is confusing to you and hard to understand, may you question me yet again, and gain a clear account; for I have more leisure than I crave.
815
Chorus
If there is anything still remaining or passed over
of her direful wandering that you have to tell, oh speak. But if you have told all, grant us in turn the favor we request—you probably have it still in memory.
820
Prometheus
She has now heard the full end of her travels; yet so she may know that she has heard no vain tale from me,
I will describe the toils she has endured before she came here, giving this as a sure proof of my account.
Most of the weary tale I shall leave out and come to the very close of your wanderings.
For when you reached the Molossian plains
825
and the sheer ridge that encircles Dodona, where lies the prophetic seat of Thesprotian Zeus and that marvel, passing all belief, the talking oaks, by which you clearly, and in no riddling terms, were saluted as the renowned
830
bride-to-be of Zeus (is any of this pleasing to you?), then, stung by the gadfly, you rushed along the pathway by the shore to the great gulf of Rhea, from where you are tossed in backward-wandering course; and for all time to come a recess of the sea,
835
be well assured, shall bear the name Ionian, as a memorial of your crossing for all mankind.
These, then, are the tokens to you of my understanding, to show that it discerns more than has been made manifest. The rest I shall declare both to you and her,
840
returning to the track of my former tale.
845
There is a city, Canobus, on the extremity of the land at the very mouth and silt-bar of the Nile. There at last Zeus restores you to your senses by the mere stroke and touch of his unterrifying hand.
And you shall bring forth dark Epaphus,Epaphus, Touch-born, named from the touch (ἔφαξις) of the hand of Zeus. Cp. Aesch. Supp. 45, 48.thus named from the manner of Zeus’ engendering; and he shall gather the fruit of all the land watered by the broad-flowing Nile. Fifth in descent from him, fifty maidens shall return to Argos, not of their own
850
free choice, but fleeing marriage with their cousin kin; while these, their hearts ablaze with passion, like falcons eagerly pursuing doves, shall come in pursuit of wedlock unlawful to pursue; but God shall grudge them enjoyment of their brides.
855
Pelasgian soil shall offer the maids a home, when, in the watches of the night, their husbands have been slain by a deed of daring wrought by the women’s murderous blows. For each bride shall take the life of her lord, dyeing a two-edged sword in his blood—in such ways may Love come upon my enemies!
860
However, love’s desire shall charm one of the maidens not to slay her mate; rather, her resolve will lose its edge; for she will make her choice between two evil names to be called coward rather than murderess. She it is who shall give birth in Argos to a royal line—
865
a long story is necessary to explain this clearly; of her seed, however, shall be born a man of daring, renowned with the bow, who shall deliver me from these toils.Heracles. Accidently wounded by the poisoned arrow of this descendant of Io, the centaur Chiron offered himself as a substitute for Prometheus, thus fulfilling the prophecy contained in ll. 1026 ff. In a fragment of the Prometheus Unbound Heracles is represented as aiming his arrow against the eagle that feasted on the body of Prometheus (l. 1022).Such is the oracle recounted to me by my mother, Titan Themis, born long ago.
870
The manner and the means—these need lengthy speech to tell, and to learn them all would not be of any benefit.
875