Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/58

52

The Father will split up this jut of rock

With the great thunder and the bolted flame,

And hide thy body where the hinge of stone

Shall catch it like an arm!—and when thou hast passed

A long black time within, thou shalt come out

To front the sun; and Zeus's winged hound,

The strong carnivorous eagle, shall wheel down

To meet thee,—self-called to a daily feast,—

And set his fierce beak in thee, and tear off

The long rags of thy flesh, and batten deep

Upon thy dusky liver! Do not look

For any end, moreover, to this curse,

Or ere some god appear, to bear thy pangs

On his own head vicarious, and descend

With unreluctant step the darks of hell,

And the deep glooms enringing Tartarus!—

Then ponder this!—the threat is not a growth

Of vain invention: it is spoken and meant!

For Zeus's mouth is impotent to lie,

And doth complete the utterance in the act—

So, look to it, thou!—take heed!—and nevermore

Forget good counsel, to indulge self-will!

Chorus. This Hermes suits his reasons to the times—

At least I think so!—since he bids thee drop

Self-will for prudent counsel. Yield to him!

When the wise err, their wisdom proves their shame.

Prometheus. Unto me the foreknower, this mandate of power,

He cries, to reveal it!

And scarce strange is my fate, if I suffer from hate,

At the hour that I feel it!