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!