Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/188

176 The massy iron in her womb? Com'st thou

To be spectator of my evil lot

And fellow sympathizer with my woes?

Behold, a thing indeed to gaze upon!

The friend of Zeus, co-stablisher of his rule,

See, by his sentence with what pains I am bowed!

Prometheus, all too plainly I behold:

And for the best would counsel thee: albeit

Thy brain is subtle. Learn to know thy heart,

And, as the times, so let thy manners change,

For by the law of change a new God rules.

But, if these bitter, savage, sharp-set words

Thou ventest, it may be, though he sit throned

Far off and high above thee, Zeus will hear;

And then thy present multitude of ills

Will seem the mild correction of a babe.

Rather, O thou much chastened one, refrain

Thine anger, and from suffering seek release.

Stale, peradventure, seem these words of mine;

Nevertheless, of a too haughty tongue

Such punishment, Prometheus, is the wage.

But thou, not yet brought low by suffering,

To what thou hast of ill would'st add far worse.

Therefore, while thou hast me for schoolmaster,

Thou shalt not kick against the pricks; the more

That an arch-despot who no audit dreads

Rules by his own rough will. And now I leave thee,

To strive with what success I may command

For thy deliv'rance. Keep a quiet mind

And use not over-vehemence of speech—