Since it most profits that the truly wise
Should seem not wise at all.
Prometheus. And this will seem
A crime of mine.
Oceanus. In truth thine argument
Sends me back home.
Prometheus. Because thy grief for me
Might cast thee down to hate.
Oceanus. The hate of Him,
Who sits a new king on the general throne?
Prometheus. Beware of him,—lest thine heart grieve by him.
Oceanus. Thy doom, Prometheus, be my teacher!
Prometheus. Go!
Depart—beware!—and keep the mind thou hast.
Oceanus. Thy words drive after, as I rush before—
Lo! my four-footed Bird sweeps smooth and wide
The flats of air with balanced pinions, glad
To bend his knee at home, in the ocean-stall.
1st Strophe.
I moan thy fate, I moan for thee,
Prometheus! From my restless eyes,
Drop by drop intermittently,
A trickling stream of tears supplies
My cheeks all wet from fountains free,—
Because that Zeus, the sternly bold,
Whose law is taken from his breast,
Uplifts his sceptre manifest
Over the gods of old.
1st Antistrophe.
All the land is moaning
