Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/119

89 PROMETHEUS BOUND 89

Where never human voice nor face shall find

Out thee who lov'st them ; and thy beauty's flower,

Scorched in the sun's clear heat, shall fade away. 25

Night shall come up with garniture of stars

To comfort thee with shadow, and the sun

Disperse with retrickt beams the morning-frosts ;

But through all changes, sense of present woe

Shall vex thee sore, because with none of them 30

There comes a hand to free. Such fruit is plucked

From love of man ! And in that thou, a god.

Didst brave the wrath of gods, and give away

Undue respect to mortals, for that crime

Thou art adjudged to guard this joyless rock, 35

Erect, unslumbering, bending not the knee,

And many a cry and unavailing moan

To utter on the air. For Zeus is stern,

And new-made kings are cruel.

Strength. Be it so.

Why loiter in vain pity ? Why not hate 40

A god the gods hate ? — one, too, who betrayed Thy glory unto men ?

Hephaestus. An awful thing

Is kinship joined to friendship.

Strength. Grant it be :

Is disobedience to the Father's word A possible thing ? Dost quail not more for that ? 45

Hephaestus. Thou, at least, art a stern one, ever bold.

Strength. Why, if I wept, it were no remedy ; And do not thou spend labor on the air To bootless uses.

Hephaestus. Cursed handicraft! I curse and hate thee, Ο my craft !

Strength. Why hate 50

Thy craft most plainly innocent of all These pending ills ?