Prometheus. Hear me, last of men, last of ingrates!
Ahasverus. What need have I of your words? I desire your groans, perverse divinity. Here are the chains. See how I raise them; listen to the clank of the iron . . . Who unbound you just now?
Prometheus. Hercules.
Ahasverus. Hercules . . . See whether he will repeat his service now that you are to be bound anew.
Prometheus. You are raving.
Ahasverus. The sky gave you your first punishment, now earth will give you the second and the last. Not even Hercules will ever be able to break these fetters. See how I brandish them in the air, like feathers! for I represent the power of millennial despairs. All humanity is concentrated within me. Before I sink into the abyss, I will write upon this stone the epitaph of a world. I will summon
