_Chor._ Ah! ne'er may Zeus the Lord, Whose sovran sway rules all, His strength in conflict set Against my feeble will! Nor may I fail to serve The Gods with holy feast Of whole burnt-offerings, Where the stream ever flows That bears my father's name, The great Okeanos! Nor may I sin in speech! 540 May this grace more and more Sink deep into my soul And never fade away! ANTISTROPHE I Sweet is it in strong hope To spend long years of life, With bright and cheering joy Our heart's thoughts nourishing. I shudder, seeing thee Thus vexed and harassed sore. By twice ten thousand woes; For thou in pride of heart, Having no fear of Zeus, 550 In thine own obstinacy, Dost show for mortal men, Prometheus, love o'ermuch. STROPHE II See how that boon, dear friends, For thee is bootless found. Say, where is any help? What aid from mortals comes? Hast thou not seen this brief and powerless life, Fleeting as dreams, with which man's purblind race Is fast in fetters bound? 560 Never shall counsels vain Of mortal men break through The harmony of Zeus. ANTISTROPHE II This lesson have I learnt Beholding thy sad fate, Prometheus! Other strains Come back upon my mind, When I sang wedding hymns around thy bath, And at thy bridal bed, when thou did'st take In wedlock's holy bands One of the same sire born, Our own Hesione, 570 Persuading her with gifts As wife to share thy couch. _Enter_ IO _in form like a fair woman with a heifer's horns_,[171] _followed by the Spectre of_ ARGOS _Io._ What land is this? What people? Whom shall I Say that I see thus vexed With bit and curb of rock? For what offence dost thou Bear fatal punishment? Tell me to what far land I've wandered here in woe. Ah me! ah me! Again the gadfly stings me miserable. Spectre of Argos, thou, the earth-born one— Ah, keep him off, O Earth! I fear to look upon that herdsman dread, 580 Him with ten thousand eyes: Ah lo! he cometh with his crafty look, Whom Earth refuses even dead to hold;[172] But coming from beneath He hunts me miserable, And drives me famished o'er the sea-beach sand. STROPHE