Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v5.djvu/388

346 Ch. Of iron heart and made of stone,

Whoe'er, Prometheus, with thy sufferings

Does not grieve; for I should not have wished to see

These things, and having seen them I am grieved at heart.

Pr. Indeed to friends I'm piteous to behold.

Ch. Did you in no respect go beyond this?

Pr. True, mortals I made cease foreseeing fate.

Ch. Having found what remedy for this all?

Pr. Blind hopes in them I made to dwell.

Ch. A great advantage this you gave to men.

Pr. Beside these, too, I bestowed on them fire.

Ch. And have mortals flamy fire?

Pr. From which, indeed, they will learn many arts.

Ch. Upon such charges, then, does Zeus

Maltreat you, and nowhere relax from ills?

Is there no term of suffering lying before thee?

Pr. Nay, none at all, but when to him it may seem good.

Ch. And how will it seem good? What hope? See you not that

You have erred? But how you 've erred, for me to tell

Not pleasant, and to you a pain. But these things

Let us omit, and seek you some release from sufferings. Pr. Easy, whoever out of trouble holds his

Foot, to admonish and remind those faring

Ill. But all these things I knew;

Willing, willing I erred, I'll not deny;

Mortals assisting I myself found trouble.

Not indeed with penalties like these thought I

That I should pine on lofty rocks,