[Exit IO.]
CHORUS.
O well and sagely was it said—
Yea, wise of heart was he who first
Gave forth in speech the thought he nursed—
In thine own order see thou wed!
Let not the humble heart aspire
To the gross home of wealth and pride;
Nor be it to a hearth allied
That vaunts of many a noble sire.
O Fates, of awful empery!
Never may I by Zeus be wooed—
Never give o’er my maidenhood
To any god that dwells on high.
A shudder to my soul is sent,
Beholding Io’s doom forlorn—
By Hera’s malice put to scorn,
Roaming in mateless banishment.
From wedlock’s crown of fair desire
I would not shrink—an idle fear!
But may no god to me draw near
With shunless might and glance of fire!
That were a strife wherein no chance
Of conquest lies: from Zeus most high
And his resolve, no subtlety
Could win me my deliverance.
PROMETHEUS.
And yet shall Zeus, for all his stubborn pride,
Be brought to low estate! aha, he schemes
Such wedlock as shall bring his doom on him,
Flung from his kingship to oblivion’s lap!
Ay, then the curse his father Cronos spake
As he fell helpless from his agelong throne,
Shall be fulfilled unto the utterance!
No god but I can manifest to him
A rescue from such ruin as impends—
I know it, I, and how it may be foiled.
Go to, then, let him sit and blindly trust
His skyey rumblings, for security,
And wave his levin with its blast of flame!
All will avail him not, nor bar his fall
Down to dishonour vile, intolerable
So strong a wrestler is he moulding now
To his own proper downfall—yea, a shape
Portentous and unconquerably huge,
Who truly shall reveal a flame more strong
Than is the lightning, and a crash of sound
More loud than thunder, and shall dash to nought
Poseidon’s trident-spear, the ocean-bane
That makes the firm earth quiver. Let Zeus strike
Once on this rock, he speedily shall learn
How far the fall from power to slavery!
CHORUS.
Beware! thy wish doth challenge Zeus himself.
PROMETHEUS.
I voice my wish and its fulfilment too.
CHORUS.
What, dare we look for one to conquer Zeus?
PROMETHEUS.
Ay—Zeus shall wear more painful bonds than mine
CHORUS.
Darest thou speak such taunts and tremble not?
PROMETHEUS.
Why should I fear, who am immortal too?
CHORUS.
Yet he might doom thee to worse agony.