Page:Shelley, a poem, with other writings (Thomson, Debell).djvu/69

Rh Phantasm of Jupiter, by destroying all the reasons alleged for recourse to it.

II. There appears considerable confusion as to the time occupied by the action of the drama—what may be termed the interior time of the poem. As for its date or exterior time, this is, of course, in an ideal aeon beyond the range of chronology, unimpeached by anachronism; so that, notwithstanding the antiquity of the dramatis personæ and fable, the catastrophe points to a far apocalyptic future, and the allusions to the most recent discoveries of science are just as much in place as those to prehistoric traditions. In the beginning we are told that Panthea and Ione are seated at the feet of Prometheus: "Time, Night. During the Scene, Morning slowly breaks." And this single scene occupies the whole of Act I., throughout which the two Oceanides are awake watching ("Ever thus we watch and wake," v. 230); witnessing and chorally commenting the apparition of the Phantasm of Jupiter, the arrival and departure of Mercury, the assaults of the Furies, the vision of Christ, the ministrations of the Spirits. At the end of this act Panthea bids farewell to Prometheus (note likewise her precedent speech and his answer), giving reason for her going:—

In the opening of Act II. Asia is awaiting Panthea:—