How impotent his craft, oppos'd to Jove.
VULC. This work he only can with justice blame.
STR.
Across his breast draw now this stubborn bar
Of adamant, fix firm its sharpen'd point.
VULC. Thy miseries, Prometheus, I bewail.
STR. Still dost thou linger Still bewail the foes
Of Jove ? Take heed lest thou bewail thyself.
VULC. Thou seest an object horrible to sight,
STR.I see him honour'd as his deeds deserve.
But haste thee, fix this strong habergeon on him.
VULC. Constraint lies on me; urge not thou its rigour.
STR. Urge thee I will, and in an higher tone.
Downwards; with all thy force enring his legs.
VULC. This too is finish'd, with no ling'ring speed.
STR.Strike hard, drive deep their penetrating points.
Severe his eye, who nicely scans thése works.
VULC. Thy voice is harsh, and rugged as thy form.
STR. Now fair befal thy softness; yet upbraid not
My ruder and unpitying ruthlessness.
VULC. Let us be gone: the rig'rous task is done.
STR.. Now triumph in thy insolence; now steal
The glory of the gods, and bear the gift
To mortal man: will they relieve thee now?
False is the boasted prudence of thy name,
Or wanted now to free the from thy fate.
- ↑ No writer knew better how to preserve propriety of character than Æschylus. Prometheus disdained to answer the ferocious insolence of these ministers of Jupiter, nor could even the tender commiseration of Vulcan elicit a word from him, There is a dignity, and even a sublimity in this silence beyond the expression of word's. But as soon as the instruments}} of tyranny left him, he bursts into a strain of pathetic lamentations and invokes all nature to attest his undeserved sufferings. There is a further propriety in this address; the Winds were the sons of Nereus and Doris, the Rivers of Oceanus and Tethys, the Sun of Hyperion and Thea, whose parents were
