It will be noted that there is nothing here which requires or implies flight through the air within sight of the audience. Evidently Oceanus rides upon a fantastic creature which is rolled along by hidden power or which walks on disguised human legs. A similar interpretation must be set upon the lines which refer to the chorus’ mode of entrance in the same play. At vs. 124 Prometheus cries out:
Hark again! I hear the whirring
As of wingèd birds approaching;
With the light strokes of their pinions
Ether pipes ill-boding whispers:—
Alas! Alas! that I should fear
Each breath that nears me.
To which the Oceanides, as they come into view, reply:
Fear nothing; for a friendly band approaches;
Fleet rivalry of wings