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46
ÆSCHYLUS.

show their sympathy, borne by the breeze from their father Ocean's halls, overcoming their maiden modesty in their eagerness to condole with him. They are as indignant as Prometheus is at the tyranny of the new rulers of heaven, and, with the enthusiasm of their sex, are even more open in expressing their indignation; and when Prometheus feels as the bitterest pang the exultation which he knows his sufferings cause to the other gods, and cries that to be buried in the depths of Tartarus, out of sight, though bound in darkness for ever, would be better than their mockery, the Chorus scarcely can believe, they say, that any god but the relentless Zeus could rejoice at such a sight. "He," they say, "will grow more and more tyrannous, till some one overthrows his power at last.""Such a time," says the Titan, endowed as he is with a god's prophetic power, "will come, and Zeus himself will then need my help, for I only know how the plot will be laid, and how he can escape it."

"I know that Zeus is hard,
And keeps the right supremely to himself;
But then, I know, he'll be
Full pliant in his will
When he is thus crushed down.
Then calming down his mood
Of hard and bitter wrath,
He'll hasten unto me,
As I to him shall haste,
For friendship and for peace."

On this the Ocean-nymphs beg to hear the story of his offence, and, painful as it is to go over the sad