I hear the rushing of a mighty wind Through all the halls and chambers of my house!
Her parted lips inhale it, and her bosom Heaves with the inspiration.As a reed Beside a river in the rippling current Bends to and fro, she bows or lifts her head.
She gazes round about as if amazed;
She is alive; she breathes, but yet she speaks not!
(PANDORA descends from the pedestal.)
CHORUS OF THE GRACES
AGLAIA.
In the workshop of Hephaestus What is this I see?
Have the Gods to four increased us Who were only three?
Beautiful in form and feature, Lovely as the day, Can there be so fair a creature Formed of common clay?
THALIA.
O sweet, pale face! O lovely eyes of azure, Clear as the waters of a brook that run Limpid and laughing in the summer sun!
O golden hair that like a miser's treasure In its abundance overflows the measure!
O graceful form, that cloudlike floatest on With the soft, undulating gait of one Who moveth as if motion were a pleasure!
By what name shall I call thee? Nymph or Muse, Callirrhoe or Urania? Some sweet name Whose every syllable is a caress Would best befit thee; but I cannot choose, Nor do I care to choose; for still the same, Nameless or named, will be thy loveliness.
EUPHROSYNE.
Dowered with all celestial gifts, Skilled in every art That ennobles and uplifts And delights the heart, Fair on earth shall be thy fame As thy face is fair, And Pandora be the name Thou henceforth shalt bear.
II
OLYMPUS.
HERMES (putting on his sandals.)
Much must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods, And I, who am their herald, most of all.
No rest have I, nor respite.I no sooner Unclasp the winged sandals from my feet, Than I again must clasp them, and depart Upon some foolish errand.But to-day The errand is not foolish.Never yet With greater joy did I obey the summons That sends me earthward.I will fly so swiftly That my caduceus in the whistling air Shall make a sound like the Pandaean pipes, Cheating the shepherds; for to-day I go, Commissioned by high-thundering Zeus, to lead A maiden to Prometheus, in his tower, And by my cunning arguments persuade him To marry her.What mischief lies concealed In this design I know not; but I know Who thinks of marrying hath already taken One step upon the road to penitence.
Such embassies delight me.Forth I launch On the sustaining air, nor fear to fall Like Icarus, nor swerve aside like him Who drove amiss Hyperion's fiery steeds.
I sink, I fly! The yielding element Folds itself round about me like an arm, And holds me as a mother holds her child.
III
TOWER OF PROMETHEUS ON MOUNT CAUCASUS
PROMETHEUS.
I hear the trumpet of Alectryon Proclaim the dawn.The stars begin to fade, And all the heavens are full of prophecies And evil auguries.Blood-red last night I saw great Kronos rise; the crescent moon Sank through the mist, as if it were the scythe His parricidal hand had flung far down The western steeps.O ye Immortal Gods, What evil are ye plotting and contriving?
(HERMES and PANDORA at the threshold.)
PANDORA.
I cannot cross the threshold.An unseen And icy hand repels me.These blank walls Oppress me with their weight!
PROMETHEUS.
Powerful ye are, But not omnipotent.Ye cannot fight Against Necessity.The Fates control you, As they do us, and so far we are equals!
PANDORA.
Motionless, passionless, companionless, He sits there muttering in his beard.His voice Is like a river flowing underground!
HERMES.
Prometheus, hail!
PROMETHEUS.
Who calls me?
HERMES.
It is I.
Dost thou not know me?
PROMETHEUS.
By thy winged cap And winged heels I know thee.Thou art Hermes, Captain of thieves! Hast thou again been stealing The heifers of Admetus in the sweet Meadows of asphodel? or Hera's girdle?
Or the earth-shaking trident of Poseidon?
HERMES.
And thou, Prometheus; say, hast thou again Been stealing fire from Helios' chariot-wheels To light thy furnaces?
PROMETHEUS.
Why comest thou hither So early in the dawn?
HERMES.
The Immortal Gods Know naught of late or early.Zeus himself The omnipotent hath sent me.
PROMETHEUS.
For what purpose?
HERMES.
To bring this maiden to thee.
PROMETHEUS.
I mistrust The Gods and all their gifts.If they have sent her It is for no good purpose.
HERMES.
What disaster Could she bring on thy house, who is a woman?
PROMETHEUS.
The Gods are not my friends, nor am I theirs.
Whatever comes from them, though in a shape As beautiful as this, is evil only.
Who art thou?
PANDORA.
One who, though to thee unknown, Yet knoweth thee.
PROMETHEUS.
How shouldst thou know me, woman?
PANDORA.
Who knoweth not Prometheus the humane?
PROMETHEUS.
Prometheus the unfortunate; to whom Both Gods and men have shown themselves ungrateful.
When every spark was quenched on every hearth Throughout the earth, I brought to man the fire And all its ministrations.My reward Hath been the rock and vulture.
HERMES.
But the Gods At last relent and pardon.
PROMETHEUS.
They relent not;
They pardon not; they are implacable, Revengeful, unforgiving!
HERMES.
As a pledge Of reconciliation they have sent to thee This divine being, to be thy companion, And bring into thy melancholy house The sunshine and the fragrance of her youth.
PROMETHEUS.
I need them not.I have within myself All that my heart desires; the ideal beauty Which the creative faculty of mind Fashions and follows in a thousand shapes More lovely than the real.My own thoughts Are my companions; my designs and labors And aspirations are my only friends.
HERMES.
Decide not rashly.The decision made Can never be recalled.The Gods implore not, Plead not, solicit not; they only offer Choice and occasion, which once being passed Return no more.Dost thou accept the gift?
PROMETHEUS.
No gift of theirs, in whatsoever shape It comes to me, with whatsoever charm To fascinate my sense, will I receive.
Leave me.
PANDORA.
Let us go hence.I will not stay.
HERMES.
We leave thee to thy vacant dreams, and all The silence and the solitude of thought, The endless bitterness of unbelief, The loneliness of existence without love.
CHORUS OF THE FATES
CLOTHO.