Prometheus having, by his attention to the wants of men, provoked the anger of Jove, is bound down in a cleft of a rock in a distant desert of Scythia. Here he not only relates the wanderings, but foretells the future lot of Io, and likewise alludes to the fall of Jove's dynasty. Disdaining to explain his meaning to Mercury, he is swept into the abyss amid terrific hurricane and earthquake. 

 
PERSONS REPRESENTED. 

 
STRENGTH. FORCE. VULCAN. PROMETHEUS. CHORUS OF NYMPHS, DAUGHTERS OF OCEAN. IO, DAUGHTER OF INACHUS. MERCURY. 

 
STRENGTH, FORCE, VULCAN, PROMETHEUS.

 
STRENGTH. [1]We are come to a plain, the distant boundary of the earth, to the Scythian track, to an untrodden[2] desert. Vulcan, it behooves thee that the mandates, which thy Sire imposed, be thy concern--to bind this daring wretch[3] to the lofty-cragged rocks, in fetters of adamantine chains that can not be broken; for he stole and gave to mortals thy honor, the brilliancy of fire [that aids] all arts.[4] Hence for such a trespass he must needs give retribution to the gods, that he may be taught to submit to the sovereignty of Jupiter, and to cease from his philanthropic disposition.