WATCH.  Am I to speak? or must I turn and go?

CR.  What? know you not your speech offends even now?

WATCH.  Doth the mind smart withal, or only the ear?

CR.  Art thou to probe the seat of mine annoy?

WATCH.  If I offend, ’tis in your ear alone,
The malefactor wounds ye to the soul.

CR.  Out on thee! thou art nothing but a tongue.

WATCH.  Then was I ne’er the doer of this deed.

CR.  Yea, verily:  self-hired to crime for gold.

WATCH.  Pity so clear a mind should clearly err!

CR.  Gloze now on clearness!  But unless ye bring
The burier, without glozing ye shall tell,
Craven advantage clearly worketh bane.

WATCH.  By all means let the man be found; one thing
I know right well:—­caught or not caught, howe’er
Fate rules his fortune, me you ne’er will see
Standing in presence here.  Even now I owe
Deep thanks to Heaven for mine escape, so far
Beyond my hope and highest expectancy. [Exeunt severally

CHORUS. 
Many a wonder lives and moves, but the wonder of all is man, I 1
That courseth over the grey ocean, carried of Southern gale,
Faring amidst high-swelling seas that rudely surge around,
And Earth, supreme of mighty Gods, eldest, imperishable,
Eternal, he with patient furrow wears and wears away
      As year by year the plough-shares turn and turn,—­
Subduing her unwearied strength with children of the steed[4].

And wound in woven coils of nets he seizeth for his prey I 2
The aery tribe of birds and wilding armies of the chase,
And sea-born millions of the deep—­man is so crafty-wise. 
And now with engine of his wit he tameth to his will
The mountain-ranging beast whose lair is in the country wild;
      And now his yoke hath passed upon the mane
Of horse with proudly crested neck and tireless mountain bull.

Wise utterance and wind-swift thought, and city-moulding mind, II 1
And shelter from the clear-eyed power of biting frost,
He hath taught him, and to shun the sharp, roof-penetrating rain,—­
Full of resource, without device he meets no coming time;
      From Death alone he shall not find reprieve;
No league may gain him that relief; but even for fell disease,
That long hath baffled wisest leech, he hath contrived a cure.

Inventive beyond wildest hope, endowed with boundless skill, II 2
One while he moves toward evil, and one while toward good,
According as he loves his land and fears the Gods above. 
Weaving the laws into his life and steadfast oath of Heaven,
      High in the State he moves but outcast he,
Who hugs dishonour to his heart and follows paths of crime
Ne’er may he come beneath my roof, nor think like thoughts with me.