THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

Prometheus Bound
On this storm-riven rock? What crime
Hath brought thee to perishing thus?
Ah whither, to what far regions
Hath misery borne me? Ah me!
Once more I am stung by the gadfly,
Pursued by the wraith of dead Argus.
Save me, O Earth! Once more
In my terror I see him, the watcher;
He is there, and his myriad eyes
Are upon me. Shall earth nevermore
Conceal her buried dead?
He hath come from the pit to pursue me,
He drives me weary and famished
Over the long sea sands;
And ever his shrill scrannel pipe,
Waxen-jointed, is droning forth
A slumberous strain.
Alas!
To what land far-off have I wandered?
What error, O Zeus, what crime
Is mine that thus I am yoked
Unto misery? Why am I stung
With frenzy that drives me unresting
Forever? Let fires consume me;
Let the deep earth yawning engulf me;
Or the monstrous brood of the sea
Devour; but O great King,
Hark to my pleading for respite!
I have wandered enough, I am weary,
And still I discern no repose.—
(To PROMETHEUS)
And thou, hast thou heard me, the virgin
Wearing these horns of a heifer?
PROMETHEUS
I hear the frenzied child of Inachus,
The maiden who with love could all inflame
Great Zeus's heart, and now by Hera's hate
Forever flees before this stinging pest.
Io (chanting)
Thou knowest my father then?
And who, I prythee, art thou