Whereby Zeus shall persuade me to unlock
My lips until these shackles be cast loose.

Therefore let lightning leap with smoke and flame,
And all that is be beat and tossed together,

With whirl of feathery snowflakes and loud crack
Of subterranean thunder; none of these

Shall bend my will or force me to disclose
By whom 'tis fated he shall fall from power.

HERMES
What good can come of this? Think yet again!

PROMETHEUS
I long ago have thought and long ago

Determined.
HERMES

Patience! patience! thou rash fool
Have so much patience as to school thy mind

To a right judgment in thy present troubles.
PROMETHEUS

Lo, I am rockfast, and thy words are wave
That weary me in vain. Let not the thought

Enter thy mind, that I in awe of Zeus
Shall change my nature for a girl's, or beg

The Loathed beyond all loathing-with my hands
Spread out in woman's fashion-to cast loose

These bonds; from that I am utterly removed.
HERMES

I have talked much, yet further not my purpose;
For thou art in no whit melted or moved

By my prolonged entreaties: like a colt
New to the harness thou dost back and Plunge.

Snap at thy bit and fight against the rein.
And yet thy confidence is in a straw;

For stubbornness, if one be in the wrong,
Is in itself weaker than naught at all.

See now, if thou wilt not obey my words,
What storm, what triple-crested wave of woe

Unshunnable shall come upon thee. First,
This rocky chasm shall the Father split

With earthquakethunder and his burning bolt,
And he shall hide thy form, and thou shalt hang

Bolt upright, dandled in the rock's rude arms.
Nor till thou hast completed thy long term

Shalt thou come back into the light; and then
The hound of Zeus, the tawny eagle,

Shall violently fall upon thy flesh
And rend it as 'twere rags; and every day

And all day long shall thine unbidden guest
Sit at thy table, feasting on thy liver

Till he hath gnawn it black. Look for no term
To such an agony till there stand forth

Among the Gods one who shall take upon him
Thy sufferings and consent to enter hell

Far from the light of Sun, yea, the deep pit
And mirk of Tartarus, for thee. Be advised;

This is not stuffed speech framed to frighten the
But woeful truth. For Zeus knows not to lie

CHORUS
To our mind

The words of Hermes fail not of the mark.
For he enjoins thee to let self-will go

And follow after prudentcounsels. Him
Harken; for error in the wise is shame.

PROMETHEUS
These are stale tidings I foreknew;

Therefore, since suffering is the due
A foe must pay his foes,

Let curled lightnings clasp and clash
And close upon my limbs: loud crash

The thunder, and fierce throes
Of savage winds convulse calm air:

The embowelled blast earth's roots uptear
And toss beyond its bars,

The rough surge, till the roaring deep
In one devouring deluge sweep

The pathway of the stars
Finally, let him fling my form

Down whirling gulfs, the central storm
Of being; let me lie

Plunged in the black Tartarean gloom;
Yet-yet-his sentence shall not doom

This deathless self to die!
HERMES

These are the workings of a brain
More than a little touched; the vein

Of voluble ecstasy!
Surely he wandereth from the way,

His reason lost, who thus can pray
A mouthing mad man he!

Therefore, O ye who court his fate,
Rash mourners-ere it be too late

And ye indeed are sad
For vengeance spurring hither fast-

Hence! lest the bellowing thunderblast
Like him should strike you mad I

CHORUS
Words which might work persuasion speak

If thou must counsel me; nor seek
Thus, like a stream in spate,

To uproot mine honour. Dost thou dare
Urge me to baseness! I will bear

With him all blows of fate;
For false forsakers I despise;

At treachery my gorge doth rise:
I spew it forth with hate!

HERMES
Only-with ruin on your track-

Rail not at fortune; but look back
And these my words recall;

Neither blame Zeus that he hath sent
Sorrow no warning word forewent!

Ye labour for your fall
With your own hands I Not by surprise

Nor yet by stealth, but with clear eyes,
Knowing the thing ye do,

Ye walk into the yawning net
That for the feet of is set

And Ruin spreads for you.
Exit.

PROMETHEUS
The time is past for words; earth quakes

Sensibly: hark! pent thunder rakes
The depths, with bellowing din

Of echoes rolling ever nigher:
Lightnings shake out their locks of fire;

The dust cones dance and spin;
The skipping winds, as if possessed

By faction-north, south, east and west,
Puff at each other; sea

And sky are shook together: Lo
The swing and fury of the blow

Wherewith Zeus smiteth me
Sweepeth apace, and, visibly,

To strike my heart with fear. See, see,
Earth, awful Mother! Air,

That shedd'st from the revolving sky
On all the light they see thee by,

What bitter wrongs I bear!
The scene closes with earthquake and thunder,

in the midst of which PROMETHEUS and the DAUGHTERS OF OCEANUS
sink into the abyss.

THE END
.

• persuade [pə´sweid] v.(被)说服；使相信 (初中英语单词)
• lightning [´laitniŋ] n.闪电 a.突然的 (初中英语单词)
• thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
• patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧 (初中英语单词)
• harness [´hɑ:nis] vt.上马具 n.马具 (初中英语单词)
• frighten [´fraitn] vt.吓唬，使惊惧 (初中英语单词)
• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
• sentence [´sentəns] n.判决 vt.宣判；处刑 (初中英语单词)
• hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
• persuasion [pə´sweiʒən] n.说服(力)；劝说；见解 (初中英语单词)
• counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• naught [nɔ:t] n.无；零 (高中英语单词)
• earthquake [´ə:θkweik] n.地震；大变动 (高中英语单词)
• upright [´ʌprait] a.直立的 ad.直立地 (高中英语单词)
• violently [´vaiələntli] ad.强暴地；猛烈地 (高中英语单词)
• prudent [´pru:dənt] a.谨慎的；精明的 (高中英语单词)
• tidings [´taidiŋz] n.消息，音信 (高中英语单词)
• vengeance [´vendʒəns] n.报复，复仇 (高中英语单词)
• treachery [´tretʃəri] n.背叛；背信弃义 (高中英语单词)
• whereby [weə´bai] ad.凭什么；靠那个 (英语四级单词)
• pathway [´pɑ:θwei] n.小路 (英语四级单词)
• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
• deluge [´delju:dʒ] n.大洪水 vt.泛滥 (英语六级单词)
• uproot [,ʌp´ru:t] vt.将...连根拔掉 (英语六级单词)
• prometheus [prə´mi:θju:s] n.普罗米修斯 (英语六级单词)