ss fang of an adamantine wedge
right through his breast.[13]

VUL. Alas! alas! Prometheus, I sigh over thy sufferings.

ST. Again thou art hanging back, and sighest thou over the enemies of
Jupiter? Look to it, that thou hast not at some time to mourn for
thyself.

VUL. Thou beholdest a spectacle ill-sighted to the eye.

ST. I behold this wretch receiving his deserts. But fling thou these
girths round his sides.

VUL. I must needs do this; urge me not very much.

ST. Ay, but I will urge thee, and set thee on too. Move downward, and
strongly link his legs.

VUL. And in truth the task is done with no long toil.

ST. With main force now smite the galling fetters, since stern indeed is
the inspector of this work.

VUL. Thy tongue sounds in accordance with thy form.

ST. Yield thou to softness, but taunt not me with ruthlessness and
harshness of temper.

VUL. Let us go; since he hath the shackles about his limbs.

ST. There now be insolent; and after pillaging the prerogatives of the
gods, confer them on creatures of a day. In what will mortals be able to
alleviate these agonies of thine? By no true title do the divinities
call thee Prometheus; for thou thyself hast need of a Prometheus, by
means of which you will slip out of this fate.[14]

[_Exeunt_ STRENGTH _and_ FORCE.

PROMETHEUS. O divine aether, and ye swift-winged breezes, and ye
fountains of rivers, and countless dimpling[15] of the waves of the
deep, and thou earth, mother of all--and to the all-seeing orb of the
Sun I appeal; look upon me, what treatment I, a god, am enduring at the
hand of the gods! Behold with what indignities mangled I shall have to
wrestle through time of years innumerable. Such an ignominious bondage
hath the new ruler of the immortals devised against me. Alas! alas! I
sigh over the present suffering, and that which is coming on. How, where
must a termination of these toils arise? And yet what is it I am saying?
I know beforehand all futurity exactly, and no suffering will come upon
me unlooked-for. But I needs must bear my doom as easily as may be,
knowing as I do, that the might of Necessity can not be resisted.

But yet it is not possible for me either to hold my peace, or not to
hold my peace touching these my fortunes. For having bestowed boons upon
mortals, I am enthralled unhappy in these hardships. And I am he that
searched out the source of fire, by stealth borne-off inclosed in a
fennel-rod,[16] which has shown