Racine: Phaedra

PROMETHEUS BOUND 29
lo. Point me not to a good,
To leave me straight bereaved.
Prometheus.— I am prepared
To grant thee one of two things.
lo. But which two?
Set them before me grant me power to choose.
;
Prometheus.— I grant it ; choose now :
shall I name aloud
What griefs remain to wound thee, or what hand
Shall save me out of mine?
Chorus.— Vouchsafe, O god,
The one grace of the twain to her who prays
The next to me ;
and turn back neither prayer
Dishonor'd by denial. To herself
Recount the future wandering of her feet
Then point me to the looser of thy chain,
Because I yearn to know him.
Prometheus.— Since ye will.
Of absolute will, this knowledge, I will set
No contrary against it, nor keep back
A word of all ye ask for. lo, first
To thee I must relate thy wandering course
Far winding. As I tell it, write it down
In thy soul's book of memories. When thou hast past
The refluent bound that parts two continents,
Track on the footsteps of the orient sun
In his own fire, across the roar of seas
Fly till thou hast reached the Gorgonaean flats
Beside Cisthene. There, the Phorcides,
Three ancient maidens, live, with shape of swan.
One tooth between them, and one common eye:
On whom the sun doth never look at all
With all his rays, nor evermore the moon
When she looks through the night. Anear to whom
Are the Gorgon sisters three, enclothed with wings,
With twisted snakes for ringlets, man-abhorred
There is no mortal gazes in their face
And gazing can breathe on. I speak of such
To guard thee from their horror. Ay, and list
Another tale of a dreadful sight ;
beware
The Grifiins, those unbarking dogs of Zeus,