Hesiod · Theogony Θεογονία

Hesiod, Theogony 505–534: The sons of Iapetus: Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus (505-534)

Iapetus and Clymene have four sons. Menoetius is struck down by Zeus for his arrogance, Atlas is made to hold up the sky, and the crafty Prometheus is bound, with an eagle sent to eat his liver, until Heracles kills it and frees him. Epimetheus, who took the first woman from Zeus, is introduced as a source of trouble for men.

Lines 505–534 · 283 words · click a number to copy its link
505καὶ στεροπήν· τὸ πρὶν δὲ πελώρη Γαῖα κεκεύθει· τοῖς πίσυνος θνητοῖσι καὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἀνάσσει. κούρην δʼ Ἰαπετὸς καλλίσφυρον Ὠκεανίνην ἠγάγετο Κλυμένην καὶ ὁμὸν λέχος εἰσανέβαινεν. ἣ δέ οἱ Ἄτλαντα κρατερόφρονα γείνατο παῖδα· 510τίκτε δʼ ὑπερκύδαντα Μενοίτιον ἠδὲ Προμηθέα ποικίλον αἰολόμητιν, ἁμαρτίνοόν τʼ Ἐπιμηθέα ὃς κακὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γένετʼ ἀνδράσιν ἀλφηστῇσιν· πρῶτος γάρ ῥα Διὸς πλαστὴν ὑπέδεκτο γυναῖκα παρθένον. ὑβριστὴν δὲ Μενοίτιον εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς 515εἰς Ἔρεβος κατέπεμψε βαλὼν ψολόεντι κεραυνῷ εἵνεκʼ ἀτασθαλίης τε καὶ ἠνορέης ὑπερόπλου. Ἄτλας δʼ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχει κρατερῆς ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης πείρασιν ἐν γαίης, πρόπαρ Εσπερίδων λιγυφώνων, ἑστηὼς κεφαλῇ τε καὶ ἀκαμάτῃσι χέρεσσιν· 520ταύτην γάρ οἱ μοῖραν ἐδάσσατο μητίετα Ζεύς. δῆσε δʼ ἀλυκτοπέδῃσι Προμηθέα ποικιλόβουλον δεσμοῖς ἀργαλέοισι μέσον διὰ κίονʼ ἐλάσσας· καί οἱ ἐπʼ αἰετὸν ὦρσε τανύπτερον· αὐτὰρ ὅ γʼ ἧπαρ ἤσθιεν ἀθάνατον, τὸ δʼ ἀέξετο ἶσον ἁπάντη 525νυκτός ὅσον πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἔδοι τανυσίπτερος ὄρνις. τὸν μὲν ἄρʼ Ἀλκμήνης καλλισφύρου ἄλκιμος υἱὸς Ἡρακλέης ἔκτεινε, κακὴν δʼ ἀπὸ νοῦσον ἄλαλκεν Ἰαπετιονίδῃ καὶ ἐλύσατο δυσφροσυνάων οὐκ ἀέκητι Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου ὑψιμέδοντος, 530ὄφρʼ Ἡρακλῆος Θηβαγενέος κλέος εἴη πλεῖον ἔτʼ ἢ τὸ πάροιθεν ἐπὶ χθόνα πουλυβότειραν. ταῦτʼ ἄρα ἁζόμενος τίμα ἀριδείκετον υἱόν· καί περ χωόμενος παύθη χόλου, ὃν πρὶν ἔχεσκεν, οὕνεκʼ ἐρίζετο βουλὰς ὑπερμενέι Κρονίωνι.

In them he trusts and rules over mortals and immortals. Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bore him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bore very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had formed. But Menoetius was outrageous, and farseeing Zeus struck him with a lurid thunderbolt and sent him down to Erebus because of his mad presumption and exceeding pride. And Atlas through hard constraint upholds the wide heaven with unwearying head and arms, standing at the borders of the earth before the clear-voiced Hesperides; for this lot wise Zeus assigned to him. And ready-witted Prometheus he bound with inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft through his middle, and set on him a long-winged eagle, which used to eat his immortal liver; but by night the liver grew as much again everyway as the long-winged bird devoured in the whole day. That bird Heracles, the valiant son of shapely-ankled Alcmene, slew; and delivered the son of Iapetus from the cruel plague, and released him from his affliction—not without the will of Olympian Zeus who reigns on high, that the glory of Heracles the Theban-born might be yet greater than it was before over the plenteous earth. This, then, he regarded, and honored his famous son; though he was angry, he ceased from the wrath which he had before because Prometheus matched himself in wit with the almighty son of Cronos.

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English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914). Original text: Hugh G. Evelyn-White (ed.), Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library, London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1914 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.