That may be, on the whole, an improvement. The play will then open with that grand soliloquy of Prometheus, when he is chained to the rock.
“Oh! ye eternal heavens! Ye rushing winds!
Ye fountains of great streams! Ye ocean waves,
That in ten thousand sparkling dimples wreathe
Your azure smiles! All-generating earth!
All-seeing sun! On you, on you, I call.” (1)
Well, I allow that will be striking; I did not think you capable of that idea. Why do you laugh?
SPEÜSIPPÜS.
Do you seriously suppose that one who has studied the plays of that great man, Euripides, would ever begin a tragedy in such a ranting style?
(1) See Æschylus; Prometheus, 88.
CALLIDEMUS.
What, does not your play open with the speech of Prometheus?
SPEÜSIPPÜS.
No doubt.