Page:Prometheus Bound (Bevan 1902).djvu/33

 in the Prometheus is somewhat altered. It is still she alone who knows directly the decrees of fate and things to come, but she speaks only by the mouth of her son Prometheus (ll. 211, 873). From him Zeus got the boulai to which his victory was due (l. 219): no one but Prometheus can tell him what the peril is which hangs over his head, and how it may be removed (l. 913).

His wisdom, then, is one of the three characteristics of Prometheus, which Aeschylus has taken from the old myth and expanded. And this he has also done with the other two, love of men and defiance of the new gods. Already in Hesiod, Prometheus is a "kindly" god. (. Theog. 614.) He schemes to secure the good part of the sacrifice for men. He steals fire for men. But he is not yet the universal benefactor, the one moved always with a divine compassion, who because of his great love for men drew wittingly upon himself the wrath of God. Again, in Hesiod Prometheus already acts in opposition to Zeus, he belongs to the Titan brood, whom only the utmost strength of Zeus could overthrow, but he is not