Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v5.djvu/412

370 Pr. Then let him do it; all is expected by me.

Ch. Those reverencing Adrastia are wise.

Pr. Revere, pray, flatter each successive ruler.

Me less than nothing Zeus concerns.

Let him do, let him prevail this short time

As he will, for long he will not rule the gods,—

But I see here, indeed, Zeus' runner,

The new tryant's drudge;

Doubtless he brings some new message.

Her. To thee, the sophist, the bitterly bitter,

The sinner against gods, the giver of honors

To ephemerals, the thief of fire, I speak;

The Father commands thee to tell the marriage

Which you boast, by which he falls from power;

And that, too, not enigmatically,

But each particular declare; nor cause me

Double journeys, Prometheus; for thou see'st that

Zeus is not appeased by such.

Pr. Solemn-mouthed and full of wisdom

Is thy speech, as of the servant of the gods.

Ye newly rule, and think forsooth

To dwell in griefless citadels; have I not seen

Two tyrants fallen from these?

And third I shall behold him ruling now,

Basest and speediest. Do I seem to thee

To fear and shrink from the new gods?

Nay, much and wholly I fall short of this.

The way thou cam'st go through the dust again;

For thou wilt learn naught which thou ask'st of me.