Prometheus Unbound

“ The solution of this problem is to be found in the fact that this 'Prometheus' was the first play of the trilogy. In the second play, the 'Prometheus Unbound,' of which we have only fragments, these apparent contradictions must have been reconciled. Long ages are supposed to elapse between the plays. Prometheus yields. He reveals the secret and is freed from his bonds. What before seemed to be relentless wanton cruelty is now seen to have been only the harsh but necessary severity of a ruler newly established on his throne. ”

“ And he said to himself, “Well, the gods have shown themselves stronger than we. We can’t conquer them by fighting, that’s clear. But there are cleverer ways of winning than by fighting, as they shall see.”
So Prometheus dug up a good-sized lump of clay, more than six feet long, and nearly four feet round. And now, said he to himself, “I only want just one little spark of Heavenly Fire.”
Now the Heavenly Fire is only to be found in the sky; and Jupiter had ordered that no Titan was ever to enter the sky again. But Prometheus was much too clever to find any difficulty about that. ”

“ The kernel of the myth of Prometheus as developed by Æschylus is proud, unflinching suffering of punishment, inflicted, not by a god justly angry for sin against himself, but by a god sternly mindful of his own prerogatives, whose only right is might, and jealous of any interference in behalf of the race which he detested—the race of man. Thus Prometheus stands out as a hero in Greek mythology, a mediator between man and the blind anger of a god of unconditional power; and Prometheus, with an equally blind belief in Fate, accepts while he defies the punishment inflicted by Zeus. ”

“ Then he went boldly to Jupiter and begged him to give fire to men, that so they might have a little comfort through the long, dreary months of winter.
"Not a spark will I give," said Jupiter. "No, indeed! Why, if men had fire they might become strong and wise like ourselves, and after a while they would drive us out of our kingdom. Let them shiver with cold, and let them live like the beasts. It is best for them to be poor and ignorant, that so we Mighty Ones may thrive and be happy."
Prometheus made no answer; but he had set his heart on helping mankind, and he did not give up. ”

“ Just as those who have been among the Alps may carry about with them the vivid presence of some solitary height which stands up alone and defiant in the face of heaven, its rough sides beaten by a thousand storms, and the great mountains sinking at its feet,—so those who have studied the "Prometheus" have always in their mind that exhibition of unapproachable greatness and indomitable will.
Now who was this Prometheus? He was one of the Titans of whom we spoke in the last chapter,—of the older race of gods who reigned in Olympus before Jove and his dynasty came to the throne of heaven. ”

“ Nor iron threats shall move me e'er
By fear this counsel to declare,
Before he break my cruel chain.
And pay the price of all this pain.
Chorus.
Daring thou art, nor aught to bitter woe
Dost yield, but speakest words too free—
And fear doth vex and pierce my spirit thro'!
I fear the fate attending thee,
Where thou shalt voyage ere thou see
The shore of grief: for none can move
The will, or melt the heart of Jove.
Prometheus.
I know that Jove is cruel; that he hath
For his sole justice, his own will. ”

“ All arts that were among the human race had come from Prometheus, and all these benefits were now preserved for his so inadequate, dear puppets, through the nineteen books in which Prometheus had set down the secrets of all knowledge and all beauty and all contentment,—he who after he had discovered to mortals so many inventions had no invention to preserve himself. Prometheus, in brief, had created and had preserved men and women, in defiance of Heaven’s fixed will. For that sacrilege Prometheus atoned, among the ends of earth, upon this lichen-crusted gray crag. ”

“ Yet his love for man prevailed over his fear and by night he approached the chariot wheels of the sun and stole some fire, bringing it to earth in a hollow tube. With this power, man conquers the cold, makes the minerals plastic, forces his way through mountains, and crosses deep seas.
When Jupiter discovered that Prometheus had bestowed this great gift on man, he punished him very severely; but Prometheus endured the punishment bravely, conscious that man would always profit by his daring. Prometheus has always been called the friend of man, and many poets have written in his honor. ”

“ They were like a race of poor gods gifted with dreams of great glory and the power to fashion marvellous things; and, though they had no endless youth to spend, the gods were troubled.
Last of all, Prometheus went up secretly to heaven after the treasure of the immortals. He lighted a reed at the flame of the sun, and brought down the holy fire which is dearest to the gods. For with the aid of fire all things are possible, all arts are perfected.
This was his greatest gift to man, but it was a theft from the immortal gods, and Zeus would endure no more. ”

“ He was naked, unprotected, more helpless than any of the beasts of the field, more to be pitied than any of them in that he had a soul to suffer.
Surely Zeus, the All Powerful, ruler of Olympus, would have compassion on Man? But Prometheus looked to Zeus in vain; compassion he had none. Then, in infinite pity, Prometheus bethought himself of a power belonging to the gods alone and unshared by any living creature on the earth.
"We shall give Fire to the Man whom we have made," he said to Epimethus. To Epimethus this seemed an impossibility, but to Prometheus nothing was impossible. ”

“ Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy of some of these half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheus when the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could only spare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay. ”

“ Rock-roof'd and self-create, to visit earth,
The mother of this iron? Didst thou come
To look upon my griefs, and grieve withal?
Behold a spectacle!—me, friend of Jove—
Me, the creator of his royalty—
Beneath what torture from his hand I bow!
Ocea. Prometheus, I behold, and fain would lend
Thine ear my chiefest counselling, albeit
Thou hast a subtle mind. Know thine own self,
And change thy ways, since heav'n hath changed her king ”

“ Look now, what lightest parcel of thy pain
Can men abate for thee? A name ill-sorting
Thou bear'st in Heaven, Prometheus: for thyself
Thou hast much need, Provider, to provide,—
Some way to get thee from this cunning toil.
[Hephaistos, Kratos and Bia depart,
leaving Prometheus chained to the rocks, alone.]
PROMETHEUS
O holy sky! and ye, swift-winged winds!
All fountains of all rivers! Thou, that rollest
Laughter innumerable of ripple and wave,
O Sea, behold me! Mother of all things. Earth, 90
Behold me! Thou, great Sun, that seest all,
Bear record what I suffer from my peers. ”

“ By teaching men the use of fire, Prometheus has made them acquainted with all the arts which render human life more endurable; in general, he has made them wiser and happier in every respect, especially by taking from them the fear of death. But in this he does not respect the limits which, according to the view of the ancients, the gods, who are alone immortal, have prescribed to the human race; he seeks to acquire for mortals perfections which the gods had reserved for themselves alone ”

“ They first molded an image similar in form to the gods; bade Eros breathe into its nostrils the spirit of life, and Minerva (Pallas) endow it with a soul; whereupon man lived, and moved, and viewed his new domain.
Justly proud of his handiwork, Prometheus observed man, and longed to bestow upon him some great power, unshared by any other creature of mortal birth, which would raise him far above all other living beings, and bring him nearer to the perfection of the immortal gods. Fire alone, in his estimation, could effect this ”

“ Thou hast seen man's dark estate, wherein he is tied and bound,
A little strength without sap, the stuff of a dream: for when 550
⁠Shall wit of man prevent
⁠God's well-knit regiment?
Such thought in my heart, Prometheus, doth sight of thy ruin move:
And it leaps to my mind how far is this from the strain I sang
In the day of thy marriage feast, by the lavers and bed of love,
The song of the bringing home of Hesione, that sprang
⁠Of mine own father, bride
⁠Gift-gotten to thy side. 560
Io, in form half-woman, half-cow, comes in, wandering. ”

“ The fate of Prometheus therefore recalls the misfortune of Theseus and Peirithoos, who remain bound to the rock, the chthonic mother. According to Athenaeus, Jupiter commanded Prometheus, after he had freed him, to wear a willow crown and an iron ring, by which his lack of freedom and slavery was symbolically represented. (Phoroneus, who in Argos was worshipped as the bringer of fire, was the son of Melia, the ash, therefore tree-enchained.) Robertson compares the crown of Prometheus to the crown of thorns of Christ. ”

“ No less wonderful is the strictly dramatic economy of the play. The action is slight. Prometheus works no more; it is his part to endure. All the secondary characters act as a foil to bring the central figure into massive relief. Each has some touch of Prometheus: Hephæstus, pity without self-sacrifice; Cratos, strength without reflection; the Nymphs, tenderness without force; Oceanus, common-sense without dignity; Io, sensibility to suffering without the vision which learns the lesson of pain; Hermes, the power to serve without perception of the secret of sovereignty. ”

“ History will not forget that, in the nineteenth century, the story of Prometheus found a counterpart, and that the greatest man of the age, seeking to scale the heavens to bring down blessings for mankind, met with Prometheus’s reward from the vultures of calumny who, up to the present moment, have not spared their talons upon him. ”

“ Men were sorry for him, but could do nothing.
Then one day a beautiful white cow passed over the mountain, and stopped to look at Prometheus with sad eyes.
[Pg 10] "I know you," Prometheus said. "You are Io, once a fair and happy maiden dwelling in Argos, doomed by Jupiter and his jealous queen to wander over the earth in this guise. Go southward and then west until you come to the great river Nile. There you shall again become a maiden, fairer than ever before, and shall marry the king of that country. And from your race shall spring the hero who will break my chains and set me free." ”

“ Wherewith thou art exercised as now, a jest.
Nay, poor my friend, let not these heats possess thee;
Rail not against thy lot but seek to mend it.
A threadbare wisdom mine may chance be rated:
So be it: only see, Prometheus, what are
The wages of a tongue that speaks great things.
But thou not yet art chasten'd, stiff as ever, 320
And goest about to add new woes to old.
Nay, nay, if I may be thy teacher, never
Shalt thou lift heel against the pricks; for, look,
One rules, who spares not, lord without compeer,
And none can say to him, "What doest thou?" ”

“ Prometheus stole fire from heaven, and was chained for this crime to Mount Caucasus, where a vulture continually devoured his liver, that grew to meet its hunger. Hesiod says that, before the time of Prometheus, mankind were exempt from suffering; that they enjoyed a vigorous youth, and that death, when at length it came, approached like sleep, and gently closed their eyes. ”

“ The mighty Hercules slew the hateful vulture, rent the granite rock, broke the galling chains that bound his limbs, and the unchained hero rises from his granite bed of ages, the pride of all the earth and the envy of the gods. Prometheus chained was ignorance and superstition enthroned; with limbs unfettered he is literature and knowledge sown broadcast in all the land. How fitting a figure then, the language of the toast, ‘The Chautauqua Idea the unchained Prometheus.’ The selfish gods of fortune doomed the Promethean masses to cruel and hopeless bonds of ignorance and illiteracy forever. ”

“ I will resolve thee all thy heart would know,
Not with dark circumstance, but words full plain, 610
As right would, friend should open mouth to friend.
Thou see'st Prometheus, him that gave men fire. ”

“ Among the persons most prominent in that primeval age of gigantic “world-strife” (if we may be allowed to Anglicize a German compound) stands Prometheus; not, however, like his Titan brethren in character, though identical with them in descent, and in the position which he finally assumed towards the god in whose hands the supreme government of the world eventually remained. Prometheus, as his name denotes, strives against the high authority of Jove, not by that “reasonless force which falls by its own weight,” but by intelligence and cunning. ”

“ Him Prometheus reviles with opprobrious epithets, calling him a lackey of the Gods, and refuses to disclose anything concerning the matter on which he questions him. The winged God, replying, threatens him with dire calamities. A tempest will come upon him and overwhelm him with thunderbolts, and a bloodthirsting eagle shall feed upon his liver. Thus saying, he departs, and immediately the earth commences to heave, the noise of thunder is heard, vivid streaks of lightning blaze throughout the sky and a hurricane—the onslaught of Jove—sweeps Prometheus away in its blast. ”