That he may learn to reverence the pow'r
Of Jove, and moderate his love to man.
VULC.Stern pow'rs, your harsh commands have here an end,
Nor find resistance. My less hardy mind,
Averse to violence, shrinks back, and dreads
To bind a kindred god to this wild cliff,
Expos'd to ev'ry storm: but strong constraint
Compels me; I must steel my soul, and dare:
Jove's high commands require a prompt observance.
High-thoughted son of truth-directing Themis[1],
Thee with indissoluble chains, perforce,
Must I now rivet to this savage rock,
Where neither human voice, nor human form
Shall meet thine eye, but parching in the beams,
Unshelter'd, of yon' fervid sun, thy bloom
Shall lose its grace, and make thee wish th' approach
Of grateful evening mild, whose dusky stole
Spangled with gems shall veil his fiery heat;
And night upon the whitening ground breathe frore,
But soon to melt, touch'd by his orient ray.
So shall some present ill with varied pain
Afflict thee; nor is he yet born, whose hand
Shall set thee free: thus thy humanity
- ↑ Themis was one of the most ancient and respectable deities, the daughter of Ouranus and Gaia, that is of heaven and Earth. As she was the second prophetic power that held her oracular seat at Delphos, she was honoured as the goddess of Trutt and Justice.
was the father of Pallas by Eurybia, daughter of Pontus and Gaia: Styx was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. When Jupiter assembled the gods on Olympus, and declared his gracious intention to reward and honour each that should be auxiliary to him in his wars against the Titans, Styx, by the advice of her father, was the first that attended him, leading with her these her two sons; Jupiter received her with great respect, appointed her to be the sacred oath of the gods, and admitted her sons to be constant attendants on his own person. Hesiod. Theog. v, 400.
