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114 114 AESCHYLUS

Ιο. And what crime

Dost expiate so ?

Prometheus. Enough for thee I have told In so much only.

lo. Nay, but show besides 725

The limit of my wandering, and the time Which yet is lacking to fulfil my grief.

Prometheus. Why, not to know were better than to know For such as thou.

lo. Beseech thee, blind me not

To that which I must suffer.

P)'07netheiiS. If I do, 730

The reason is not that I grudge a boon.

lo. What reason, then, prevents thy speaking out?

Prometheus. No grudging, but a fear to break thine heart.

lo. Less care for me, I pray thee. Certainty I count for advantage.

Prometheus. Thou wilt have it so, 735

And therefore I must speak. Now hear —

Chorus. Not yet.

Give half the guerdon my way. Let us learn First what the curse is that befell the maid. Her own voice telling her own wasting woes : The sequence of that anguish shall await 7«

The teaching of thy lips.

Prometheus. It doth behoove

That thou, maid lo, shouldst vouchsafe to these The grace they pray, — the more, because they are

called Thy father's sisters ; since to open out And mourn out grief, where it is possible 745

To draw a tear from the audience, is a work That pays its own price weU.