Lo, the earth's bound and limitary land,

The Scythian steppe, the waste untrod of men!

Look to it now, Hephaestus-thine it is,

Thy Sire obeying, this arch-thief to clench

Against the steep-down precipice of rock,

With stubborn links of adamantine chain.

Look thou: thy flower, the gleaming plastic fire,

He stole and lent to mortal man-a sin

That gods immortal make him rue today,

Lessoned hereby to own th' omnipotence

Of Zeus, and to repent his love to man!