_ Is Zeus less
absolute
than these are?
Elizabeth Browning
Enough said now of this
For the other helps of man hid underground,
The iron and the brass, silver and gold,
Can any dare affirm he found them out
Before me? none, I know! unless he choose
To lie in his vaunt. In one word learn the whole,--
That all arts came to mortals from Prometheus.
_Chorus. _ Give mortals now no inexpedient help,
Neglecting thine own sorrow. I have hope still
To see thee, breaking from the fetter here,
Stand up as strong as Zeus.
_Prometheus. _ This ends not thus,
The oracular fate ordains. I must be bowed
By infinite woes and pangs, to escape this chain
Necessity is stronger than mine art.
_Chorus. _ Who holds the helm of that Necessity?
_Prometheus. _ The threefold Fates and the unforgetting Furies.
_Chorus.
_ Is Zeus less absolute than these are?
_Prometheus. _ Yea,
And therefore cannot fly what is ordained.
_Chorus. _ What is ordained for Zeus, except to be
A king for ever?
_Prometheus. _ 'Tis too early yet
For thee to learn it: ask no more.
_Chorus. _ Perhaps
Thy secret may be something holy?
_Prometheus. _ Turn
To another matter: this, it is not time
To speak abroad, but utterly to veil
In silence. For by that same secret kept,
I 'scape this chain's dishonour and its woe.
_Chorus, 1st Strophe. _
Never, oh never
May Zeus, the all-giver,
Wrestle down from his throne
In that might of his own
To antagonize mine!
Nor let me delay
As I bend on my way
Toward the gods of the shrine
Where the altar is full
Of the blood of the bull,
Near the tossing brine
Of Ocean my father.
May no sin be sped in the word that is said,
But my vow be rather
Consummated,
Nor evermore fail, nor evermore pine.
For the other helps of man hid underground,
The iron and the brass, silver and gold,
Can any dare affirm he found them out
Before me? none, I know! unless he choose
To lie in his vaunt. In one word learn the whole,--
That all arts came to mortals from Prometheus.
_Chorus. _ Give mortals now no inexpedient help,
Neglecting thine own sorrow. I have hope still
To see thee, breaking from the fetter here,
Stand up as strong as Zeus.
_Prometheus. _ This ends not thus,
The oracular fate ordains. I must be bowed
By infinite woes and pangs, to escape this chain
Necessity is stronger than mine art.
_Chorus. _ Who holds the helm of that Necessity?
_Prometheus. _ The threefold Fates and the unforgetting Furies.
_Chorus.
_ Is Zeus less absolute than these are?
_Prometheus. _ Yea,
And therefore cannot fly what is ordained.
_Chorus. _ What is ordained for Zeus, except to be
A king for ever?
_Prometheus. _ 'Tis too early yet
For thee to learn it: ask no more.
_Chorus. _ Perhaps
Thy secret may be something holy?
_Prometheus. _ Turn
To another matter: this, it is not time
To speak abroad, but utterly to veil
In silence. For by that same secret kept,
I 'scape this chain's dishonour and its woe.
_Chorus, 1st Strophe. _
Never, oh never
May Zeus, the all-giver,
Wrestle down from his throne
In that might of his own
To antagonize mine!
Nor let me delay
As I bend on my way
Toward the gods of the shrine
Where the altar is full
Of the blood of the bull,
Near the tossing brine
Of Ocean my father.
May no sin be sped in the word that is said,
But my vow be rather
Consummated,
Nor evermore fail, nor evermore pine.
