OCEANUS. Yea, I behold, Prometheus! and would warn Thee, spite of all thy wisdom, for thy weal! Learn now thyself to know, and to renew A rightful spirit within thee, for, made new With pride of place, sits Zeus among the gods! Now, if thou choosest to fling forth on him Words rough with anger thus and edged with scorn, Zeus, though he sit aloof, afar, on high, May hear thine utterance, and make thee deem His present wrath a mere pretence of pain. Banish, poor wretch! the passion of thy soul, And seek, instead, acquittance from thy pangs! Belike my words seem ancientry to thee— Such, natheless, O Prometheus, is the meed That doth await the overweening tongue! Meek wert thou never, wilt not crouch to pain, But, set amid misfortunes, cravest more! Now—if thou let thyself be schooled by me— Thou must not kick against the goad. Thou knowest, A despot rules, harsh, resolute, supreme, Whose law is will. Yet shall I go to him, With all endeavour to relieve thy plight— So thou wilt curb the tempest of thy tongue! Surely thou knowest, in thy wisdom deep, The saw—_Who vaunts amiss, quick pain is his_. PROMETHEUS. O enviable thou, and unaccused— Thou who wast art and part in all I dared! And now, let be! make this no care of thine, For Zeus is past persuasion—urge him not! Look to thyself, lest thine emprise thou rue. OCEANUS. Thou hast more skill to school thy neighbour’s fault Than to amend thine own: ’tis proved and plain, By fact, not hearsay, that I read this well. Yet am I fixed to go—withhold me not— Assured I am, assured, that Zeus will grant The boon I crave, the loosening of thy bonds.