Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/126

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96 AESCHYLUS

But thou speakest unto me

Too free and unworn ; And a terror strikes through me

And festers my soul,

And I fear, in the roll 220

Of the storm, for thy fate

In the ship far from shore ; Since the son of Saturnus ^ is hard in his hate, And unmoved in his heart evermore.

_First Scene of First Episode.'

Prometheus. I know that Zeus is stern ; 225

I know he metes his justice by his will ; And yet his soul shall learn More softness when once broken by this ill ; And, curbing his unconquerable vaunt, He shall rush on in fear to meet with me 230

ΛVho rush to meet with him in agony, To issues of harmonious covenant.

Chornis. Remove the veil from all things, and relate The story to us, — of what crime accused, Zeus smites thee with dishonorable pangs. 235

Speak, if to teach us do not grieve thyself.

Pi'ometheus. The utterance of these things is tor- ture to me. But so, too, is their silence : each way lies Woe strong as fate.

When gods began with wrath. And war rose up between their starry brows, 240

Some choosing to cast Cronos from his throne That Zeus might king it there, and some in haste AYith opposite oaths, that they would have no Zeus To rule the gods forever, — I, who brought

i Else% here the translator generally uses the Greek name Cronos.