KRATUS
Now we have come to the endmost land of the earth,
To the Scythian strip, the demortaled desolation.
But Hephaestos, it must be a care for thee ---
these commands thy father continued to send thee,
to bind the villain here to the high craggy rocks
in untiring bonds of adamantine chain.
For, having stolen thy young budding prize, the bright flame of fire that aids in every art,
he gave it to mere mortals. For such a sin as this
he must give satisfaction to you gods,
that he may be taught to be contented with the absolute rule of Zeus,
taught to cease from the course of kindness to mankind.
HEPHAESTUS
Kratos and Bia, in you two the injunction of Zeus
has its completion, and nothing can stand in your path;
but I, I am none too daring to bind by force
a god of my kindred to this winter-worn cliff.
Yet I am constrained by obligation to hold to the reckless deed;
for it is a grave thing to neglect the words of the father.
O child of Themis right-counseling, who art full of lofty thoughts,
against thy will and mine as well I shall nail thee
in these bonds of unbreakable brass to this rocky hill away from all mankind,
where thou wilt nor hear the sound nor see the shape of mortal men,
and burned by the bright blaze of the sun, thou wilt change the luster of your skin.
And thou wilt be glad when night in her star-dappled robe hides the light of day,
but the sun will scatter the hoarfrost again;
and always the grief of thy present woe will grind thee down,
for the one who shall put an end to it has not yet been begotten.
So wilt thou suffer for thy wont of goodwill to man.
For thou, a god, not cowering in fear before the wrath of gods,
gave frail mortals an honor beyond the just decree.
Therefore, thou wilt make thy vigils pressed against this joyless rock,
Standing straight, sleepless, not bending the knee.
Thou wilt utter many laments and weeping groans, but to no avail;
for the heart-and-mind of Zeus is inexorable,
and each and every ruler is ruthless, while his rule is still new.
*****
Hephaestus: O much hated handicraft!
Kratus: Wherefore dost thou abhor it? For, to put it in a simple word,
Thy craft is not the cause of these soon-approaching toils.
Hephaestus: Oh what benefit to me, if only some other had been given this lot.
Kratus: To everything there is a burden, save the lordship of the gods.
For no one is free except for Zeus.
Hephaestus: I have learned these things, and I am not able to gainsay them.
Kratus: So wilt thou not hasten to throw the bonds around him, lest thy father behold thy drowzy laziness?
Hephaestus: Behold: already the chains are night at hand.
Kratus: Thrust them about his hands; strike with a firm grip on the hammer; pin him to the rocks.
Hephaestus: It is being accomplished, and the work does not lag.
Kratus: Strike harder! Bind him tight! Nowhere let it loosen! For he is a clever one to devise a way out even of helpless states.
Hephaestus: There. His arm is fixed, not to be unsnarled.
