Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/411



O earth's remotest plain we now are come,

To Scythia's confine, an untrodden waste.

Hephæstos! Thou the mandates must observe

Enjoin'd thee by thy sire; this miscreant

'Gainst lofty-beetling rocks to clasp in fetters

Of adamantine bonds, unbreakable.

For that the splendour of all-working fire,

Thy proper flower, he stole, and gave to mortals.

Such crime he to the gods must expiate;

So may he learn the sovereignty of Zeus

To bear, and cease from mortal-loving wont.

Ho! Strength and Force, for you the word of Zeus

Its goal hath reached, no obstacle remains;

But I of daring lack, a brother god

Fast to this storm-vexed cleft perforce to bind.

Yet so to dare is sheer necessity;

For grievous 'tis the father's words to slight.

Right-judging Themis' lofty-thoughted son,

Thee 'gainst thy will must I unwilling nail