ther; but he cannot refrain from expressing his sympathy for Prometheus. "Against my will," he says,
"I fetter thee against thy will with bonds
Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height,
Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man,
But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun
Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt long
For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen,
For sun to melt the rime of early dawn;
And evermore the weight of present ill
Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he
Who shall release thee: this the fate thou gain'st
As due reward for thy philanthropy.
For thou, a god not fearing power of gods,
In thy transgression gav'st their power to men;
And therefore on this rock of little ease
Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down,
Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee;
And many groans and wailings pitiless
Thy lips shall utter; for the mind of Zeus
Remains inexorable. Who holds a power
But newly gained, is ever stern of mood."[1]
Strength despises this pitifulness, and suggests that Vulcan ought to hate one who had injured him so especially; and when the fire-god pleads the force of kindred and friendship, hints that no course is so painful as to encounter the wrath of Zeus. Vulcan bitterly regrets that his possession of the art of working in metals should have brought on him, instead of any other, so distasteful a task. This leads to a remark
- ↑ The translations throughout this play are by Professor Plumptre.
