Page:Prometheus bound - Browning (1833).djvu/61

Of revelation; and I taught them omens
Hard to distinguish; and I eke defined
Signs by the way, and flight of crook-claw'd birds;
And which are, by their nature, fortunate,
Which contrary, and what the food of each;
And how among them there are mutually
Loves, and societies, and enmities;
The lightness of the entrails, and what hue
Possessing, they contribute joy to gods—
The lungs' and liver's fair variety—
And having burnt fat-cover'd limbs and loins,
Toward an art complex'd I led the way,
And render'd clear the fiery signs, erst dark.
Enough of this! What lieth underneath
The bosom of the earth, the helps of man,
Gold, silver, iron, copper—who can say
He track'd them ere my wisdom track'd them? None!
I have sure knowledge—if the boaster's part
He vainly choose not. Learn in brief the whole:—