CH. Why, what is doomed for Jupiter but to reign for evermore?
PR. This thou mayest not yet learn, and do not press it.
CH. 'Tis surely some solemn mystery that thou veilest.
PR. Make mention of some other matter; it is by no means seasonable to
proclaim this; but it must be shrouded in deepest concealment; for it is
by keeping this secret that I am to escape from my ignominious shackles
and miseries.
CH. Never may Jupiter, who directs all things, set his might in
opposition to my purpose: nor may I be backward in attending upon the
gods at their hallowed banquets, at which oxen are sacrificed, beside
the restless stream of my sire Ocean; and may I not trespass in my
words; but may this feeling abide by me and never melt away. Sweet it is
to pass through a long life in confident hopes, making the spirits swell
with bright merriment; but I shudder as I behold thee harrowed by
agonies incalculable.... For not standing in awe of Jupiter, thou,
Prometheus, in thy self-will honorest mortals to excess. Come, my
friend, own how boonless was the boon; say where is any aid? What relief
can come from the creatures of a day? Sawest thou not the powerless
weakness, nought better than a dream, in which the blind race of men is
entangled? Never shall at any time the schemes of mortals evade the
harmonious system of Jupiter. This I learned by witnessing thy
destructive fate, Prometheus. And far different is this strain that now
flits toward me from the hymenaeal chant which I raised around the baths
and thy couch with the consent[44] of nuptials, when, after having won
Hesione with thy love-tokens, thou didst conduct her our sister to be
thy bride, the sharer of thy bed.
_Enter_ IO.[45]
What land is this? what race? whom shall I say I here behold
storm-tossed in rocky fetters? Of what trespass is the retribution
destroying thee? Declare to me into what part of earth I forlorn have
roamed. Ah me! alas! alas! again the hornet[46] stings me miserable: O
earth avert[47] the goblin of earth-born Argus:[48] I am terrified at
the sight of the neatherd of thousand eyes, for he is journeying on,
keeping a cunning glance, whom not even after death does earth conceal;
but issuing forth from among the departed he chases me miserable, and he
makes me to wander famished along the shingled strand, while the
sounding wax-compacted pipe drones on a sleepy strain. Oh! oh! ye
powers! Oh! powers! whither do my far-roaming wanderings convey me? In
what, in what, O son of Saturn, hast thou, having found me
transgressing, shackled me in these pangs? Ah! ah! and art thus wearing
out a timorous wretch frenzied with sting-driven fear. Burn me with
fire, or bury me in earth, or give me for food to the monsters of the
deep, and grudge me not these prayers, O king! Amply have my
much-traversed wanderings harassed me; nor can I discover how I may
avoid pain. Hearest thou the address of the ox-horned maiden?
PR. How can I fail to hear the damsel that is frenzy-driven by the
hornet, the daughter of Inachus, who warms the heart of Jupiter with
love, and now, abhorred of Juno, is driven perforce courses of exceeding
length?
IO. From whence utterest thou the name of my father? Tell me, the
woe-begone, who thou art, who, I say, O hapless one, that hast thus
correctly accosted me miserable, and hast named the heaven-inflicted
disorder which wastes me, fretting with its maddening stings? Ah! ah!
violently driven by the famishing tortures of my boundings have I come a
victim to the wrathful counsels of Juno. And of the ill-fated who are
there, ah me! that endure woes such as mine? But do thou clearly define
to me what remains for me to suffer, what salve:[49] what remedy there
is for my malady, discover to me, if at all thou knowest: speak, tell it
to the wretched roaming damsel.
PR. I will tell thee clearly every thing which thou desirest to learn,
not interweaving riddles, but in plain language, as it is right to open
the mouth to friends. Thou seest him that bestowed fire on mortals,
Prometheus.
IO. O thou that didst dawn a common benefit upon mortals, wretched
Prometheus, as penance for what offense art thou thus suffering?
PR. I have just ceased lamenting my own pangs.
IO. Wilt thou not then accord to me this boon?
PR. Say what it is that thou art asking, for thou mightest learn
everything from me.
IO. Say who it was that bound thee fast in this cleft?
PR. The decree of Jupiter, but the hand of Vulcan.
IO. And for what offenses art thou paying the penalty?
PR. Thus much alone is all that I can clearly explain to thee.
IO. At least, in addition to this, discover what time shall be to me
woe-worn the limit of my wanderings.
PR. Not to learn this is better for thee than to learn it.
IO. Yet conceal not from me what I am to endure.
PR. Nay, I grudge thee not this gift.
IO. Why then delayest thou to utter the whole?
PR. 'Tis not reluctance, but I am loth to shock thy feelings.