truth, that I am bent by sufferings such as these, agonizing to endure, and piteous to look upon. I that had compassion for mortals, have myself been deemed unworthy to obtain this, but mercilessly am thus coerced to order, a spectacle inglorious to Jupiter. CH. Iron-hearted and formed of rock too, Prometheus, is he, who condoles not with thy toils: for I could have wished never to have beheld them, and now, when I behold them, I am pained in my heart. PR. Ay, in very deed I am a piteous object for friends to behold. CH. And didst thou chance to advance even beyond this? PR. Yes! I prevented mortals from foreseeing their doom. CH. By finding what remedy for this malady? PR. I caused blind hopes to dwell within them. CH. In this thou gavest a mighty benefit to mortals. PR. Over and above these boons, however, I imparted fire to them. CH. And do the creatures of a day now possess bright fire? PR. Yes--from which they will moreover learn thoroughly many arts. CH. Is it indeed on charges such as these that Jupiter is both visiting thee with indignities, and in no wise grants thee a respite from thy pains? And is no period to thy toils set before thee? PR. None other assuredly, but when it may please him. CH. And how shall it be his good pleasure? What hope is there? Seest thou not that thou didst err? but how thou didst err, I can not relate with pleasure, and it would be a pain to you. But let us leave these points, and search thou for some escape from thine agony. PR. 'Tis easy, for any one that hath his foot unentangled by sufferings, both to exhort and to admonish him that is in evil plight. But I knew all these things willingly, willingly I erred, I will not gainsay it; and in doing service to mortals I brought upon myself sufferings. Yet not at all did I imagine, that, in such a punishment as this, I was to wither away upon lofty rocks, meeting with this desolate solitary crag. And yet wail ye not over my present sorrows, but after alighting on the ground, list ye to the fortune that is coming on, that ye may learn the whole throughout. Yield to me, yield ye, take ye a share in the woes of him that is now suffering. Hence in the same way doth calamity, roaming to and fro, settle down on different individuals. CH. Upon those who are nothing loth hast thou urged this, Prometheus: and now having with light step quitted my rapidly-wafted chariot-seat, and the pure aether, highway of the feathered race, I will draw near to this rugged ground: and I long to hear the whole tale of thy sufferings. _Enter_ OCEAN.