Page:Prometheus bound - Browning (1833).djvu/77

Io. Then what availeth me my life? Why not
Hurl myself headlong from this rigid rock;
That, dashing 'gainst the plain, I may be freed
From all mine anguish? Better once to die,
Than suffer miserably all my days.
Pro. A heavy burden, wouldst thou find my pangs,
To whom the Fates have not appointed death;
For death had loosed the fetter and the woe:
But now before my sight there lies no bound
To agony—ere Jove from empire fall.
Io. But can Jove ever from dominion fall?
Pro. Thou wouldst rejoice, I ween, to see that sight.
Io. Why should I not, who suffer ills from Jove?
Pro. Then learn, that it is even so.
Io.By whom
Shall he be spoiled of his imperial sceptre?
Pro. Himself will do it, by his counsel weak.
Io. But how? Discover—if thou canst unharm'd.