is present misfortune.

Io, daughter of Inachus, beloved by Jove, but forced, through the
jealous hatred of Juno, to make many wanderings, then appears, and
beseeches Prometheus to discover to her what time shall be the limit of
her sufferings. Prometheus accedes to her request and relates how she
shall wander over many lands and seas until she reaches the city of
Canopus, at the mouth of the Nile, where she shall bring forth a
Jove-begotten child, from whose seed shall finally spring a dauntless
warrior renowned in archery, who will liberate Prometheus from his
captivity and accomplish the downfall of Jove.

Io then resumes her wanderings, and Mercury, sent by Jove, comes to
question Prometheus as to the nuptials which he has boasted will
accomplish the overthrow of the ruler of the Gods. Him Prometheus
reviles with opprobrious epithets, calling him a lackey of the Gods, and
refuses to disclose anything concerning the matter on which he questions
him. The winged God, replying, threatens him with dire calamities. A
tempest will come upon him and overwhelm him with thunderbolts, and a
bloodthirsting eagle shall feed upon his liver. Thus saying, he departs,
and immediately the earth commences to heave, the noise of thunder is
heard, vivid streaks of lightning blaze throughout the sky and a
hurricane--the onslaught of Jove--sweeps Prometheus away in its blast.

The "Seven against Thebes" includes in its cast of characters Eteocles,
King of Thebes, Antigone and Ismene, Sisters of the King, a Messenger
and a Herald. The play opens with the siege of Thebes. Eteocles appears
upon the Acropolis in the early morning, and exhorts the citizens to be
brave and be not over-dismayed at the rabble of alien besiegers. A
messenger arrives and announces the rapid approach of the Argives.
Eteocles goes to see that the battlements and the gates are properly
manned, and during his absence the chorus of Theban maidens set up a
great wail of distress and burst forth with violent lamentations.
Eteocles, returning, upbraids them severely for their weakness and bids
them begone and raise the sacred auspicious shout of the paean as an
encouragement to the Theban warriors. He then departs to prepare himself
and six others to meet in combat the seven chieftains who have come
against the city.

He soon re-enters, and at the same time comes the messenger from another
part of the city with fresh tidings of the foe and the arrangement of
the invade