PROMETHEUS BOUND.
Strength.
TO earth's remotest plain we now are come,
To Scythia's confine, an untrodden waste.
Hephæstos! Thou the mandates must observe
Enjoin'd thee by thy sire; this miscreant
'Gainst lofty-beetling rocks to clasp in fetters
Of adamantine bonds, unbreakable.
For that the splendour of all-working fire,
Thy proper flower, he stole, and gave to mortals.
Such crime he to the gods must expiate;
So may he learn the sovereignty of Zeus 10
To bear, and cease from mortal-loving wont.
Hephæstos.
Ho! Strength and Force, for you the word of Zeus
Its goal hath reached, no obstacle remains;
But I of daring lack, a brother god
Fast to this storm-vexed cleft perforce to bind.
Yet so to dare is sheer necessity;
For grievous 'tis the father's words to slight.
[To Prometheus.]
Right-judging Themis' lofty-thoughted son,
Thee 'gainst thy will must I unwilling nail
