Page:The Tragedies of Aeschylus - tr. Potter - 1812.pdf/50

6 That he may learn to reverence the pow'r

Of Jove, and moderate his love to man.

Stern pow'rs, your harsh commands have here an end,

Nor find resistance. My less hardy mind,

Averse to violence, shrinks back, and dreads

To bind a kindred god to this wild cliff,

Expos'd to ev'ry storm: but strong constraint

Compels me; I must steel my soul, and dare:

Jove's high commands require a prompt observance.

High-thoughted son of truth-directing Themis ,

Thee with indissoluble chains, perforce,

Must I now rivet to this savage rock,

Where neither human voice, nor human form

Shall meet thine eye, but parching in the beams,

Unshelter'd, of yon' fervid sun, thy bloom

Shall lose its grace, and make thee wish th' approach

Of grateful evening mild, whose dusky stole

Spangled with gems shall veil his fiery heat;

And night upon the whitening ground breathe frore,

But soon to melt, touch'd by his orient ray.

So shall some present ill with varied pain

Afflict thee; nor is he yet born, whose hand

Shall set thee free: thus thy humanity