Part 33 (1/2)

HERMES

Scornful thy word, as though I were a child-

PROMETHEUS

Child, ay-or whatsoe'er hath less of brain- Thou, deeming thou canst wring my secret out!

No mangling torture, no, nor sleight of power There is, by which he shall compel my speech, Until these shaming bonds be loosed from me.

So, let him fling his blazing levin-bolt!

Let him with white and winged flakes of snow, And rumbling earthquakes, whelm and shake the world!

For nought of this shall bend me to reveal The power ordained to hurl him from his throne.

HERMES

Bethink thee if such words can mend thy lot

PROMETHEUS

All have I long foreseen, and all resolved.

HERMES

Perverse of will! constrain, constrain thy soul To think more wisely in the grasp of doom!

PROMETHEUS

Truce to vain words! as wisely wouldst thou strive To warn a swelling wave: imagine not That ever I before thy lord's resolve Will shrink in womanish terror, and entreat, As with soft suppliance of female hands, The Power I scorn unto the utterance, To loose me from the chains that bind me here- A world's division 'twixt that thought and me!

HERMES

So, I shall speak, whate'er I speak, in vain!

No prayer can melt or soften thy resolve; But, as a colt new-harnessed champs the bit, Thou strivest and art restive to the rein.

But all too feeble is the stratagem In which thou art so confident: for know That strong self-will is weak and less than nought In one more proud than wise. Bethink thee now- If these my words thou shouldest disregard- What storm, what might as of a great third wave Shall dash thy doom upon thee, past escape!

First shall the Sire, with thunder and the flame Of lightning, rend the crags of this ravine, And in the shattered ma.s.s o'erwhelm thy form, Immured and morticed in a clasping rock.

Thence, after age on age of durance done, Back to the daylight shall thou come, and there The eagle-hound of Zeus, red-ravening, fell With greed, shall tatter piecemeal all thy flesh To shreds and ragged vestiges of form- Yea, an unbidden guest, a day-long bane, That feeds, and feeds-yea, he shall gorge his fill On blackened fragments, from thy vitals gnawed.

Look for no respite from that agony Until some other deity be found, Ready to bear for thee the brunt of doom, Choosing to pa.s.s into the lampless world Of Hades and the murky depths of h.e.l.l.

Hereat, advise thee! 'tis no feigned threat Whereof I warn thee, but an o'er-true tale.

The lips of Zeus know nought of lying speech, But wreak in action all their words foretell.

Therefore do thou look warily, and deem Prudence a better saviour than self-will.

CHORUS

Meseems that Hermes speaketh not amiss, Bidding thee leave thy wilfulness and seek The wary walking of a counselled mind.

Give heed! to err through anger shames the wise.

PROMETHEUS

All, all I knew, whate'er his tongue In idle arrogance hath flung.