AESCHYLUS




PROMETHEUS BOUND.


Prometheus, the good Titan, has been raising mankind from the
condition of primeval brutes by teaching them the arts of
civilisation. At last he steals fire from heaven for their use.
By this he incurs the wrath of Zeus, who, having deposed his
father Chronos, has become king of the gods. As a punishment
Prometheus is condemned by Zeus to be chained to a rock in the
Caucasus, with an eagle always feeding on his breast. But Prometheus
knows the secret of a mysterious marriage which is destined in time to
take place, and by the offspring of which Zeus in his turn is to be
dethroned. Strong in his consciousness of this, he defies Zeus, who by
the agency of Hermes tries in vain to wrest the secret from him. The
persons of the drama, besides Prometheus, are Hephaestus, better known
by his Latin name of Vulcan, Might and Force personified, Hermes the
messenger of Heaven, and the wandering Io. The chorus consists of sea-
nymphs, who sympathise with the suffering Prometheus. This drama is a
sublime enigma. Aeschylus was conservative and deeply religious. How
could he write a play the hero of which is a benefactor of man
struggling against the tyranny of the king of the gods, and the sequel