Page:Prometheus Bound (Bevan 1902).djvu/35

 how the matter stands, Themis declares the peril, and Thetis is married to Peleus. It was this passage of Pindar which Aeschylus had in his mind, as the echo of its phrases proves. But the situation is complicated by making Themis herself dumb: Prometheus alone is privy to her secret, and thus holds the fate of Zeus in his hands.

It remains to say as much of the minor characters of the play as may give some idea of the associations presupposed in the mind of an Athenian spectator.

Hephaistos was closely associated with Prometheus in the Attic cult. Both, indeed, were originally perhaps only different forms of the same Fire-god. They were, at any rate, worshipped together, and had many things in common. This is one reason for the strong sympathy with Prometheus shown by Hephaistos in this play. An allusion is made to their old friendship (l. 39).