Page:Prometheus Bound (Webster 1866).djvu/12

 But I am scant of courage to bind down

A like-born god on this storm-beaten peak.

But yet I needs must nerve myself to do it.—

For to slight Zeus's words is a grave thing.

Oh high-souled son of justice-teaching Themis,

I, most unwilling, even as thou thyself

Art most unwilling, now must rivet thee,

In brazen bonds 'twill pass thee to unloose,

Upon this desolate rock, where never voice

Nor form of man shall pass into thy ken,

But shrivelled by the living glow of the sun

Thy bloom shall wither up, and welcoming

Wilt thou perceive the twinkling-vestured night

Veiling the light, and welcoming perceive

The sun once more disperse the morning rimes.

And always shall the burden of an ill

Present upon thee wear thee down: for he

Who shall release thee waits yet for the birth.

Such thy reward for thy man-helping wont.

For thou, a god, brunting the wrath of gods,

Hast given a wrongful honour to mankind.

So on this joyless rock shalt thou keep watch,

Standing erect and sleepless, not so much