Prometheus Bound [14]
Spoken like an underling of the Gods! Ye are young!
Ye are young! New come to power And ye suppose
Your towered citadel Calamity
Can never enter! Ah, and have not
Seen from those pinnacles a two-fold fall
Of tyrants? And the third, who his brief "now"
Of lordship arrogates, I shall see yet
By lapse most swift' most ignominious,
Sink to perdition. And dost thou suppose
I crouch and cower in reverence and awe
To Gods of yesterday? I fail of that
So much, the total all of space and time
Bulks in between. Take thyself hence and count
Thy toiling steps back by the way thou camest,
In nothing wiser for thy questionings.
HERMES
This is that former stubbornness of thine
That brought thee hither to foul anchorage.
PROMETHEUS
Mistake me not; I would not, if I might,
Change my misfortunes for thy vassalage.
HERMES
Oh! better be the vassal of this rock
Than born the trusty messenger of Zeus
PROMETHEUS
I answer insolence, as it deserves,
With insolence. How else should it be answered?
HERMES
Surely; and, being in trouble, it is plain
You revel in your plight.
PROMETHEUS
Revel, forsooth!
I would my enemies might hold such revels
And thou amongst the first.
HERMES
Dost thou blame me
For thy misfortunes?
PROMETHEUS
I hate all the Gods,
Because, having received good at my hands,
They have rewarded me with evil.
Proves thee stark mad!
HERMES
This proves thee stark mad!
PROMETHEUS
Mad as you please, if hating
Your enemies is madness
HERMES
Were all well
With thee, thou'dst be insufferable!
PROMETHEUS
Alas!
HERMES
Alas, that Zeus knows not that word, Alas!
PROMETHEUS
But ageing Time teacheth all knowledge.
HERMES
Time
Hath not yet taught thy rash, imperious will
Over wild impulse to win mastery.
PROMETHEUS
Nay: had Time taught me that, I had not stooped
To bandy words with such a slave as thou.
HERMES
This, then, is all thine answer: thou'lt not
One syllable of what our Father asks.
PROMETHEUS
Oh, that I were a debtor to his kindness!
I would requite him to the uttermost!
HERMES
A cutting speech! You take me for a boy
Whom you may taunt and tease.
PROMETHEUS
Why art thou not
A boy-a very booby-to suppose
Thou wilt get aught from me? There is no wrong
However shameful, nor no shift of malice
Whereby Zeus shall persuade me to unlock
My lips until these shackles be cast loose.
Therefore let lightning leap with smoke and flame,
And all that is be beat and tossed together,
With whirl of feathery snowflakes and loud crack
Of subterranean thunder; none of these
Shall bend my will or force me to disclose
By whom 'tis fated he shall fall from power.
HERMES
What good can come of this? Think yet again!
PROMETHEUS
I long ago have thought and long ago
Determined.
HERMES
Patience! patience! thou rash fool
Have so much patience as to school thy mind
To a right judgment in thy present troubles.
PROMETHEUS
Lo, I am rockfast, and thy words are wave
That weary me in vain. Let not the thought
Enter thy mind, that I in awe of Zeus
Shall change my nature for a girl's, or beg
The Loathed beyond all loathing-with my hands
Spread out in woman's fashion-to cast loose
These bonds; from that I am utterly removed.
HERMES
I have talked much, yet further not my purpose;
For thou art in no whit melted or moved
By my prolonged entreaties: like a colt
New to the harness thou dost back and Plunge.
Snap at thy bit and fight against the rein.
And yet thy confidence is in a straw;
Ye are young! New come to power And ye suppose
Your towered citadel Calamity
Can never enter! Ah, and have not
Seen from those pinnacles a two-fold fall
Of tyrants? And the third, who his brief "now"
Of lordship arrogates, I shall see yet
By lapse most swift' most ignominious,
Sink to perdition. And dost thou suppose
I crouch and cower in reverence and awe
To Gods of yesterday? I fail of that
So much, the total all of space and time
Bulks in between. Take thyself hence and count
Thy toiling steps back by the way thou camest,
In nothing wiser for thy questionings.
HERMES
This is that former stubbornness of thine
That brought thee hither to foul anchorage.
PROMETHEUS
Mistake me not; I would not, if I might,
Change my misfortunes for thy vassalage.
HERMES
Oh! better be the vassal of this rock
Than born the trusty messenger of Zeus
PROMETHEUS
I answer insolence, as it deserves,
With insolence. How else should it be answered?
HERMES
Surely; and, being in trouble, it is plain
You revel in your plight.
PROMETHEUS
Revel, forsooth!
I would my enemies might hold such revels
And thou amongst the first.
HERMES
Dost thou blame me
For thy misfortunes?
PROMETHEUS
I hate all the Gods,
Because, having received good at my hands,
They have rewarded me with evil.
Proves thee stark mad!
HERMES
This proves thee stark mad!
PROMETHEUS
Mad as you please, if hating
Your enemies is madness
HERMES
Were all well
With thee, thou'dst be insufferable!
PROMETHEUS
Alas!
HERMES
Alas, that Zeus knows not that word, Alas!
PROMETHEUS
But ageing Time teacheth all knowledge.
HERMES
Time
Hath not yet taught thy rash, imperious will
Over wild impulse to win mastery.
PROMETHEUS
Nay: had Time taught me that, I had not stooped
To bandy words with such a slave as thou.
HERMES
This, then, is all thine answer: thou'lt not
One syllable of what our Father asks.
PROMETHEUS
Oh, that I were a debtor to his kindness!
I would requite him to the uttermost!
HERMES
A cutting speech! You take me for a boy
Whom you may taunt and tease.
PROMETHEUS
Why art thou not
A boy-a very booby-to suppose
Thou wilt get aught from me? There is no wrong
However shameful, nor no shift of malice
Whereby Zeus shall persuade me to unlock
My lips until these shackles be cast loose.
Therefore let lightning leap with smoke and flame,
And all that is be beat and tossed together,
With whirl of feathery snowflakes and loud crack
Of subterranean thunder; none of these
Shall bend my will or force me to disclose
By whom 'tis fated he shall fall from power.
HERMES
What good can come of this? Think yet again!
PROMETHEUS
I long ago have thought and long ago
Determined.
HERMES
Patience! patience! thou rash fool
Have so much patience as to school thy mind
To a right judgment in thy present troubles.
PROMETHEUS
Lo, I am rockfast, and thy words are wave
That weary me in vain. Let not the thought
Enter thy mind, that I in awe of Zeus
Shall change my nature for a girl's, or beg
The Loathed beyond all loathing-with my hands
Spread out in woman's fashion-to cast loose
These bonds; from that I am utterly removed.
HERMES
I have talked much, yet further not my purpose;
For thou art in no whit melted or moved
By my prolonged entreaties: like a colt
New to the harness thou dost back and Plunge.
Snap at thy bit and fight against the rein.
And yet thy confidence is in a straw;