From death and steep destruction. Such the crime

For which I pay with these fell agonies,

Painful to suffer, pitiful to see.

For pitying man in preference to myself

I am debarred from pity; and thus I stand

Tortured, to Zeus a spectacle of shame.

CHORUS

Oh, iron-hearted he and wrought of stone,

Whoe’er, Prometheus, grieveth not for thy

Calamities — a sight I never hoped

To see, and now behold with broken heart.

PROMETHEUS

Ay, to my friends, I am a sight for pity.

CHORUS

Canst thou perchance have carried thy daring further?

PROMETHEUS

I stayed man from foreknowledge of his fate.

CHORUS

And what cure for that malady didst thou find?

PROMETHEUS

First, I implanted in his heart blind hopes.

CHORUS

A blessing, truly, hast thou given to man.

PROMETHEUS

And furthermore, I bestowed fire upon him.

CHORUS

Have creatures of a day the flame of fire?

PROMETHEUS

They have, and many arts shall learn therefrom.

CHORUS

Such then the accusation whereon Zeus —

PROMETHEUS

Outrages me and ceases not from wrong.

CHORUS

What, is no end appointed for thy labours?

PROMETHEUS

No end, save when he thinks it meet to end them.

CHORUS

When will he? Oh, what hope? Dost thou not see

That thou hast sinned? And yet that word gives me

No pleasure, and pains thee. Let us dismiss

Such thoughts, and from thy labours seek release.

PROMETHEUS

Easy for him who keeps his foot outside

The miry clay to give advice to one

In trouble. All this was known to me:

I willed to sin, I willed it, I confess.

My help to man brought suffering to myself.

Not that I thought that with such pains as these

I would be wasted on precipitous heights,

The tenant of this solitary rock.

But for my present sorrows mourn no more,

Step down to earth and to my future fortunes

Give ear and learn all things from end to end.

O hearken to me, hearken, take compassion

On him who suffers now, for, ever-restless,

Trouble alights on one now, then another.

CHORUS

To thy eager appeal will thy hearers respond

Gladly, Prometheus.

Lo, fleet-footed I step down from my wind-

Swift seat on the ways of the fowls of the air

And alight on the chill earth, eager to hark

To the tale full-told of thy labours.

(Enter OCEANUS, mounted on a sea-horse)

OCEANUS

To the end of my long journey, Prometheus,

Am I come, from afar have I travelled to thee,

Mounted on this wing-swift bird who is quick

To obey my command without bridle or bit;

And in this thy affliction, believe me, I share.

For indeed I am drawn to thy side by the strong

Constraint of our kinship, and, kinship apart,

There is none that I hold in a higher regard.

I will prove thee the truth of my words — it is not

In my nature to flatter with blandishing tongue, —

For behold, make known to me what is thy need,