Prometheus.
Of two narrations I will grant thee one.
Io.
Set forth the twain, the choice then leave to me.
Prometheus.
Granted: Shall I the remnant of thy woes
Plainly declare, or who shall set me free? 800
Chorus.
Of these to her the former grace vouchsafe
To me the latter; spurn not my request.
To her the sequel of her course disclose,
To me thy rescuer; for this I crave.
Prometheus.
Since ye are eager I will thwart you not,
Nor will withhold what ye desire to know.
First, Io, thy vex'd course to thee I'll tell,
Which in thy mind's recording tablets grave.
When thou hast crossed the flood, limit betwixt
Two continents, fronting the burning East[1] 810
Trod by the sun, [then onward hold thy course.
Fierce northern blasts thou wilt encounter first;
- ↑ The poet here takes up the journey of Io where he left it in v. 754. The stream which is the limit of the continents is evidently the Kimmerian Bosporos. She now travels towards the sun (i. e., eastward). This is, in Herodotus, the course of merchants travelling for gold, no doubt, to the Ural Mountains. In this journey the Volga must be crossed, most naturally at Asterakhän, where, it has been conjectured, its numerous mouths, and the Caspian, may explain the πόντου φλοῖσβον of our poet.
