Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/54

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Prometheus. I tell you, all these things shall be fulfilled,

As, also, I desire them.

Chorus. Must we then

Look out for one to come, to master Zeus?

Prometheus. These chains weigh lighter than his sorrows shall.

Chorus. How art thou not afraid to speak such words?

Prometheus. What should I fear, who cannot die?

Chorus. But he

Can visit thee with dreader woe than death's.

Prometheus. Why let him do it!—I am here, prepared

For all things and their pangs.

Chorus. The wise are they

Who reverence Adrasteia.

Prometheus. Reverence thou,

Adore thou, flatter thou, whomever reigns,

Whenever reigning—but for me, your Zeus

Is less than nothing! Let him act and reign

His brief hour out according to his will—

He will not, therefore, rule the gods too long!—

But lo! I see that courier-god of Zeus,

That new-made menial of the new-crowned king—

He doubtless comes to tell us something new.

Hermes. I speak to thee, that sophist, speaker down

Of scorn by scorn,—that sinner against gods,—

That reverencer of men,—that thief of fire,—

I speak to and adjure thee! Zeus commands

Thy declaration of what marriage-rite