Prometheus.
Nay: had Time taught me that, I had not stooped
To bandy words with such a slave as thou.
Chorus.
This, then, is all thine answer; thou'lt not speak
One syllable of what our Father asks.
Prometheus.
Oh, that I were a debtor to his kindness!
I would requite him to the uttermost!
Hermes.
A cutting speech! You take me for a boy
Whom you may taunt and tease.
Prometheus.
Why art thou not
A boy—a very booby—to suppose
Thou wilt get aught from me? There is no wrong
However shameful, nor no shift of malice
Whereby Zeus shall persuade me to unlock
My lips until these shackles be cast loose.
Therefore let lightning leap with smoke and flame,
And all that is be beat and tossed together,
With whirl of feathery snowflakes and loud crack
Of subterranean thunder; none of these
Shall bend my will or force me to disclose
By whom 'tis fated he shall fall from power.
Hermes.
What good can come of this? Think yet again!
Prometheus.
I long ago have thought and long ago
Determined.
