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The Chorus
Zeus’s son and the messenger of the gods. Hermes visits Prometheus on Zeus’s behalf while Prometheus is bound to the mountain, and he tells him that his suffering will increase by a “threefold tidal wave of misery” if Prometheus does not tell Zeus what he knows about Zeus’s future marriage, son, and supposed “downfall.” Like Kratos and Bia, Hermes exists within the play to carry out Zeus’s orders and do his bidding, and Aeschylus infers that Hermes isn’t exactly free either. Hermes threatens Prometheus with continued confinement and horrific suffering if he does not bend to Zeus’s will, but Prometheus implies that it is Hermes who is really confined by Zeus. “I would not exchange / my own misfortune for your slavery,” Prometheus says to Hermes. While Prometheus is the one in chains, Hermes acts on Zeus’s will, not his own, and it is in this way that he is psychologically confined. Prometheus won’t submit to Zeus’s will so easily, and Aeschylus implies that Prometheus is freer than Hermes because of this.
Hermes Quotes in Prometheus Bound
The Prometheus Bound quotes below are all either spoken by Hermes or refer to Hermes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prometheus Bound
Quotes
Pompously spoken, as befits
a mouthpiece of the gods.
You’re young, the lot of you, and young in power,
and think your fortress is secure from sorrow.
But I’ve already seen two tyrants fall
and see the third, our present ruler,
falling soon, more suddenly
and much more shamefully than they.
Or do you think I’ll cringe
before these upstart gods, and tremble?
I’m farther from that than you can imagine.
So scurry back again the way you came.
You will receive no answer to your question.
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Explanation and Analysis:
But all your vehemence rests on a weak foundation,
mere cleverness, a scheme. What good is obstinate will
untamed by sound thought and good measure?
Consider the storm that will rise up against you
if you refuse to heed my words,
a threefold tidal wave of misery,
impossible to escape. For first,
the Father will destroy this jagged cliff
with thunder and lightning, and bury you,
still gripped by its embrace, inside it.
Then, after an enormous span of time,
you will come back again into the light,
and Zeus’s winged hound, a scarlet eagle,
will carve your body into ragged shreds
of flesh. He will return, day in, day out,
as an unbidden guest, to feast upon
your blackened liver.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
And to this pain
do not expect a limit or an end,
until some god appears as a successor
to take your tortures as his own and willingly
go down into the gloom of Hades
and the black depths of Tartaros.
Make your decision in the light of that!
These are no boastful threats but true words
all too clearly spoken. For Zeus’s mouth
does not know how to lie. Each word of his
comes true. But you, weigh carefully
what you must do, and don’t hold stubbornness
above considered judgment.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Prometheus Bound LitChart as a printable PDF.
Hermes Quotes in Prometheus Bound
The Prometheus Bound quotes below are all either spoken by Hermes or refer to Hermes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prometheus Bound
Quotes
Pompously spoken, as befits
a mouthpiece of the gods.
You’re young, the lot of you, and young in power,
and think your fortress is secure from sorrow.
But I’ve already seen two tyrants fall
and see the third, our present ruler,
falling soon, more suddenly
and much more shamefully than they.
Or do you think I’ll cringe
before these upstart gods, and tremble?
I’m farther from that than you can imagine.
So scurry back again the way you came.
You will receive no answer to your question.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
But all your vehemence rests on a weak foundation,
mere cleverness, a scheme. What good is obstinate will
untamed by sound thought and good measure?
Consider the storm that will rise up against you
if you refuse to heed my words,
a threefold tidal wave of misery,
impossible to escape. For first,
the Father will destroy this jagged cliff
with thunder and lightning, and bury you,
still gripped by its embrace, inside it.
Then, after an enormous span of time,
you will come back again into the light,
and Zeus’s winged hound, a scarlet eagle,
will carve your body into ragged shreds
of flesh. He will return, day in, day out,
as an unbidden guest, to feast upon
your blackened liver.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
And to this pain
do not expect a limit or an end,
until some god appears as a successor
to take your tortures as his own and willingly
go down into the gloom of Hades
and the black depths of Tartaros.
Make your decision in the light of that!
These are no boastful threats but true words
all too clearly spoken. For Zeus’s mouth
does not know how to lie. Each word of his
comes true. But you, weigh carefully
what you must do, and don’t hold stubbornness
above considered judgment.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
