Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/242

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As though I owed him aught and should repay!

Scornful thy word, as though I were a child—

Child, ay—or whatsoe'er hath less of brain—

Thou, deeming thou canst wring my secret out!

No mangling torture, no, nor sleight of power

There is, by which he shall compel my speech,

Until these shaming bonds be loosed from me.

So, let him fling his blazing levin-bolt!

Let him with white and wingèd flakes of snow,

And rumbling earthquakes, whelm and shake the world!

For nought of this shall bend me to reveal

The power ordained to hurl him from his throne.

Bethink thee if such words can mend thy lot.

All have I long foreseen, and all resolved.

Perverse of will! constrain, constrain thy soul

To think more wisely in the grasp of doom!

Truce to vain words! as wisely wouldst thou strive

To warn a swelling wave: imagine not