Take heed; be not to mortals overkind, But to thyself in this dire strait unkind. Good hope have I, one day to see thee stand Free from those bonds and mate the power of Zeus. PROMETHEUS. Not yet that consummation fate ordains. A thousand years of agony must pass Before my tortured frame puts off this chain. For skill is weak matched with necessity. CHORUS. Who, then, is pilot of necessity? PROMETHEUS. Fates three, and the unchanged Erinnyes. CHORUS. And have these powers the mastery over Zeus? PROMETHEUS. Not Zeus himself can baffle destiny. CHORUS. What is his destiny but endless rule? PROMETHEUS. I may not tell thee; importune me not. CHORUS. Dread is the secret that thou hidest thus. PROMETHEUS. Think of some other question; this to tell The time is not yet ripe; deep in my breast The secret must be buried; thus alone May I from chains and tortures be set free. * * * * * _PROMETHEUS DEFIES ZEUS_. LINES 928-1114. PROMETHEUS. Yet, yet shall Zeus, for all his proud self-will, Be humbled. On a wedlock he is bent Whereof the fateful offspring shall one day Hurl him from sovereignty to nothingness, And so fulfil the curse old Chronos spake, When from his immemorial throne he fell. And this his doom how to escape not one Of all the gods can rede him saving I. But to me all is known. Then let him sit Triumphant while his thunders roll through heaven, And his hand grasps the flaming thunderbolt; All his artillery shall not save its lord From utter shame and ruin bottomless. Such the antagonist himself arrays Against himself, dread and invincible, One who a fiercer than the lightning's flame, A louder than the thunder's peal shall find, And wrest the truncheon that makes earth to quake, Poseidon's trident, from its wielder's hand. Wrecked on misfortune's rock, he then shall know How high it is to reign, to serve how low. CHORUS. Thy wish is father to thy prophecy. PROMETHEUS. My wish is one with destiny's decree. CHORUS. Think'st thou that Zeus will e'er his master find? PROMETHEUS. Ay! and a load harder than mine to bear. CHORUS. Dost thou not fear to cast such words at Zeus? PROMETHEUS. What should I fear when I must never die? CHORUS. But Zeus may yet enhance thine agony. PROMETHEUS. Prepared for all, his malice I defy. CHORUS. 'Tis wise to bow to the inevitable. PROMETHEUS. Cringe, if thou wilt, sue, bend the knee to power. Little reck I of Zeus. Then let him work His tyrant will for his allotted span. Not long shall he be monarch of the gods. But lo! the Almighty's henchman I behold, That errands bears for this new dynasty; His lacqueyship must some new fiat bring. (_Enter_ HERMES.) HERMES.