shackled and impaled in a lonely cleft of a Scythian precipice. The
play opens with this act of divine resentment enforced by the will
of Zeus and by the handicraft of Hephaestus, who is aided by two
demons, impersonating Strength and Violence. These agents if the ire
of Zeus disappear after the first scene, the rest of the play
represents Prometheus in the mighty solitude, but visited after a
while by a Chorus of sea nymphs who, from the distant depths of ocean,
have heard the clang of the demons' hammers, and arrive, in a winged
car, from the submarine palace of their father Oceanus. To them
Prometheus relates his penalty and its cause: viz., his over
tenderness to the luckless race of mankind. Oceanus himself follows
on a hippogriff, and counsels Prometheus to submit to Zeus. But the
Titan who has handled the sea nymphs with all gentleness, receives
the advice with scorn and contempt, and Oceanus retires. But the
courage which he lacks his daughters possess to the full; they
remain by Prometheus to the end, and share his fate, literally in
the crack of doom. But before the end, the strange half human figure
of Io, victim of the lust of Zeus and the jealousy of Hera, comes
wandering by, and tells Prometheus of her wrongs. He, by his divine
power, recounts to her not only the past but also the future of her
wanderings. Then, in a fresh access of frenzy, she drifts away into
the unknown world. Then Prometheus partly reveals to the sea maidens
his secret, and the mysterious cause of Zeus' hatred against him--a
cause which would avail to hurl the tyrant from his power. So deadly
is this secret, that Zeus will, in the lapse of ages, be forced to
reconcile himself with Prometheus, to escape dethronement. Finally,
Hermes, the messenger of Zeus, appears with fresh threats, that he
may extort the mystery from the Titan. But Prometheus is firm,
defying both the tyrant and his envoy, though already the lightning
is flashing, the thunder rolling, and sky and sea are mingling their