THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

152 Aeschylus
With a dart never forged in the fire;
My seated heart at my ribs
Doth knock, and my straining eyes
Revolve in their orbs; I am borne
As a vessel is lashed by the tempest;
My tongue hath broke its control,
And my turbid words beat madly
In billows of horror and woe.
[878-910]
(Io departs, as the CHORUS begins its song.)
CHORUS
Wise among mortals I count him
Who weighed this truth in his mind
And divulged it: better the union
Of equal with equal in wedlock.
How shall the toiler, the craftsman,
Be lifted in idle desire
To mate with the glory of wealth
Or the honor of noble descent?
Never, O kindly powers,
Behold me the partner of Zeus;
Never may one of the gods
Descend from the skies for my love.
Horror sufficient I feel
For Io, the virgin, the outcast,
Who hateth her lord and is driven
By Hera to wander forlorn.
Wedlock if equal I fear not;
But oh! may never a god
With love's irresistible glance
Constrain me! Hard were the battle,
For who were I to resist him?
What way of escape would remain
From the counsel and purpose of Zeus?
strophe
antistrophe
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PROMETHEUS
Yet shall Zeus himself, the stubborn of soul, be humbled, for the union
he purposes in his heart shall hurl him to outer darkness from his throne
of supremacy. Then at last the curse of his father Cronos shall be ful