The scene represents a fine country, with mountains at a distance.
SCENE I.
PROMETHEUS, CHORUS OF NYMPHS, PANDORA.
[At the farther end of the stage, lying down in an alcove.
PROMETHEUS.
In vain, Pandora, do I call on thee,
My lovely work; alas! thou hearest me not,
All stranger as thou art to thy own charms,
And to Prometheus’ love: the heart I formed
Is still insensible; thy eyes are void
Of motion; still the ruthless power of Jove
Denies thee life, and drives me to despair:
Whilst nature breathes around thee, and the birds
In tender notes express their passion, thou
Art still inanimate; death holds thee still
Beneath his cruel empire.
SCENE II.
PROMETHEUS, THE TITANS, ENCELADUS, TYPHON, ETC.
ENCELADUS AND TYPHON.
Child of Earth
And Heaven, thy cries have raised the forest; speak;
Who amongst the gods hath wronged Prometheus?
PROMETHEUS.
[Pointing to Pandora.
Jove
Is jealous of my work divine; he fears
That altars will be raised to my Pandora;
He cannot bear to see the earth adorned
With such a peerless object; he denies
To grant her life, and makes my woes eternal.
TYPHON.
That proud usurper Jove did ne’er create
Our nobler souls; life, and its sacred flame,
Come not from him.
ENCELADUS.
[Pointing to his brother Typhon.
We are the sons of Night
And Tartarus:
To thee, eternal night, we pray,
Thou wert long before the day;
Let then to Janarus Olympus yield.
TYPHON.
Let the unrelenting Jove
Join the jealous gods above;
Life and all its blessings flow
From hell, and from the gods below.
PROMETHEUS AND THE TWO TITANS.
Come from the centre, gods of night profound,
And animate her beauty; let your power
Assist our bold emprize!
PROMETHEUS.
Your voice is heard,
The day looks pale, and the astonished earth
Shakes from its deep foundations: Erebus
Appears before us.
[The scene changing represents chaos; all the gods of hell come upon the stage.]
CHORUS OF INFERNAL DEITIES.
Light is hateful to our eyes,
Jove and heaven we despise;
The guilty race, as yet unborn, must go
With us to hell’s profoundest depths below.
NEMESIS.
The waves of Lethe, and the flames of hell,
Shall ravage all: speak, whom must Janarus
In its dark womb embrace?
PROMETHEUS.
I love the earth,
And would not hurt it: to that beauteous object
[Pointing to Pandora
Have I given birth; but Jove denies it power
To breathe, to think, to love, and to be happy.
THE THREE PARCÆ.
All our glory, and our joy,
Is to hurt, and to destroy;
Heaven alone can give it breath,
We can nought bestow but death.
PROMETHEUS.
Away then, ye destroyers, ye are not
The deities Prometheus shall adore;
Hence to your gloomy seats, ye hateful powers,
And leave the world in peace.
NEMESIS.
Tremble thou, for thou shalt prove
Soon the fatal power of love:
We will unchain the fiends of war,
And death’s destructive gates unbar.
[The infernal deities disappear, and the country resumes its verdure: the nymphs of the woods range themselves on each side of the stage.]
PROMETHEUS.
[To the Titans.
Why would ye call forth from their dark abyss
The foes of nature, to obscure the light
Of these fair regions?
From hell Pandora never shall receive
That flame divine which only heaven should give.
ENCELADUS.
Since, good Prometheus, ‘tis thy dear delight
To scatter blessings o’er this new abode,
Thou best deservest to be its master: haste
To yon blest regions, and snatch thence the flame
Celestial, form a soul, and be thyself
The great Creator.
PROMETHEUS.
Love’s in heaven; he reigns
O’er all the gods: I’ll throw his darts around,
And light up his fierce fires: he is my god,
And will assist Prometheus.
CHORUS OF NYMPHS.
Fly to the immortal realms above,
And penetrate the throne of Jove;
The world to thee shall altars raise,
And millions celebrate thy praise.
End of the First Act.