MEDEA.
* * * *
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
NURSE.
TUTOR.
MEDEA.
CHORUS OF CORINTHIAN WOMEN.
CREON.
JASON.
ÆGEUS
MESSENGER.
SONS OF MEDEA.
The Scene lies in the vestibule of the palace of Jason at Corinth.
* * * * *
THE ARGUMENT.
* * * *
JASON, having come to Corinth, and bringing with him Medea, espouses
Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. But Medea, on the point of
being banished from Corinth by Creon, having asked to remain one day, and
having obtained her wish, sends to Glauce, by the hands of her sons,
presents, as an acknowledgment for the favor, a robe and a golden chaplet,
which she puts on and perishes; Creon also having embraced his daughter is
destroyed. But Medea, when she had slain her children, escapes to Athens,
in a chariot drawn by winged dragons, which she received from the Sun, and
there marries Ægeus son of Pandion.
* * * * *
MEDEA.
* * * *
NURSE OF MEDEA.
Would that the hull of Argo had not winged her way to the Colchian land
through the Cyanean Symplegades,[1] and that the pine felled in the forests
of Pelion had never fallen, nor had caused the hands of the chiefs to
row,[2] who went in search of the golden fleece for Pelias; for neither
then would my mistress Medea have sailed to the towers of the Iolcian land,
deeply smitten in her mind with the love of Jason; nor having persuaded the
daughters of Pelias to slay their father would she have inhabited this
country of Corinth with her husband and her children, pleasing indeed by
her flight[3] the citizens to whose land she came, and herself concurring
in every respect with Jason; which is the surest support of conjugal
happiness, when the wife is not estranged from the husband. But now every
thing is at variance, and the dearest ties are weakened. For having
betrayed his own children, and my mistress, Jason reposes in royal wedlock,
having married the daughter of Creon, who is prince of this land. But Medea
the unhappy, dishonored, calls on his oaths, and recalls the hands they
plighted, the greatest pledge of fidelity, and invokes the gods to witness
what return she meets with from Jason. And she lies without tasting food,
having sunk her body in grief, dissolving all her tedious time in tears,
after she had once known that she had been injured by her husband, neither
raising her eye, nor lifting her countenance from the ground; but as the
rock, or the wave of the sea, does she listen to her friends when advised.
Save that sometimes having turned her snow-white neck she to herself
bewails her dear father, and her country, and her house, having betrayed
which she hath come hither with a man who has now dishonored her. And she
wretched hath discovered from affliction what it is not to forsake one's
paternal country. But she hates her children, nor is she delighted at
beholding them: but I fear her, lest she form some new design: for violent
is her mind, nor will it endure to suffer ills. I know her, and I fear her,
lest she should force the sharpened sword through her heart, or even should
murder the princess and him who married her, and after that receive some
greater ill. For she is violent; he who engages with her in enmity will not
with ease at least sing the song of victory. But these her children are
coming hither having ceased from their exercises, nothing mindful of their
mother's ills, for the mind of youth is not wont to grieve.
TUTOR, WITH THE SONS OF MEDEA, NURSE.
TUT. O thou ancient possession of my mistress's house, why dost thou stand
at the gates preserving thus thy solitude, bewailing to thyself our
misfortunes? How doth Medea wish to be left alone without thee?
NUR. O aged man, attendant on the children of Jason, to faithful servants
the affairs of their masters turning out ill are a calamity, and lay hold
upon their feelings. For I have arrived at such a height of grief that
desire hath stolen on me to come forth hence and tell the misfortunes of
Medea to the earth and heaven.
TUT. Does not she wretched yet receive any respite from her grief?
NUR. I envy thy ignorance; her woe is at its rise, and not even yet at its
height.
TUT. O unwise woman, if it is allowable to say this of one's lords, since
she knows nothing of later ills.
NUR. But what is this, O aged man? grudge not to tell me.
TUT. Nothing: I have repented even of what was said before.
NUR. Do not, I beseech you by your beard, conceal it from your
fellow-servant; for I will preserve silence, if it be necessary, on these
subjects.
TUT. I heard from some one who was saying, not appearing to listen, having
approached the places where dice is played, where the elders sit, around
the hallowed font of Pirene, that the king of this land, Creon, intends to
banish from the Corinthian country these children, together with their
mother; whether this report be true, however, I know not; but I wish this
may not be the case.
NUR. And will Jason endure to see his children suffer this, even although
he is at enmity with their mother?
TUT. Ancient alliances are deserted for new, and he is no friend to this
family.
NUR. We perish then, if to the old we shall add a new ill, before the
former be exhausted.[4]
TUT. But do thou, for it is not seasonable that my mistress should know
this, restrain your tongue, and be silent on this report.
NUR. O my children, do you hear what your father is toward you? Yet may he
not perish, for he is my master, yet he is found to be treacherous toward
his friends.
TUT. And what man is not? dost thou only now know this, that every one
loves himself dearer than his neighbor,[5] some indeed with justice, but
others even for the sake of gain, unless it be that[6] their father loves
not these at least on account of new nuptials.
NUR. Go within the house, my children, for all will be well. But do thou
keep these as much as possible out of the way, and let them not approach
their mother, deranged through grief. For but now I saw her looking with
wildness in her eyes on these, as about to execute some design, nor will
she cease from her fury, I well know, before she overwhelm some one with
it; upon her enemies however, and not her friends, may she do some [ill.]
MEDEA. (within) Wretch that I am, and miserable on account of my
misfortunes, alas me! would I might perish!
NUR. Thus it is, my children; your mother excites her heart, excites her
fury. Hasten as quick as possible within the house, and come not near her
sight, nor approach her, but guard against the fierce temper and violent
nature of her self-willed mind. Go now, go as quick as possible within. But
it is evident that the cloud of grief raised up from the beginning will
quickly burst forth with greater fury; what I pray will her soul, great in
rage, implacable, irritated by ills, perform!
MED. Alas! alas! I wretched have suffered, have suffered treatment worthy
of great lamentation. O ye accursed children of a hated mother, may ye
perish with your father, and may the whole house fall.
NUR. Alas! alas! me miserable! but why should your children share their
father's error? Why dost thou hate these! Alas me, my children, how beyond
measure do I grieve lest ye suffer any evil! Dreadful are the dispositions
of tyrants, and somehow in few things controlled, in most absolute, they
with difficulty lay aside their passion. The being accustomed then[7] to
live in mediocrity of life is the better: may it be my lot then to grow old
if not in splendor, at least in security. For, in the first place, even to
mention the name of moderation carries with it superiority, but to use it
is by far the best conduct for men; but excess of fortune brings more power
to men than is convenient;[8] and has brought greater woes upon families,
when the Deity be enraged.
NURSE, CHORUS.
CHOR. I heard the voice, I heard the cry of the unhappy Colchian; is not
she yet appeased? but, O aged matron, tell me; for within the apartment
with double doors, I heard her cry; nor am I delighted, O woman, with the
griefs of the family, since it is friendly to me.
NUR. The family is not; these things are gone already: for he possesses the
bed of royalty; but she, my mistress, is melting away her life in her
chamber, in no way soothing her mind by the advice of any one of her
friends.
MED. Alas! alas! may the flame of heaven rush through my head, what profit
for me to live any longer. Alas! alas! may I rest myself in death, having
left a hated life.
CHOR. Dost thou hear, O Jove, and earth, and light, the cry which the
wretched bride utters? why I pray should this insatiable love of the
marriage-bed hasten thee, O vain woman, to death? Pray not for this. But if
thy husband courts a new bed, be not thus[9] enraged with him. Jove will
avenge these wrongs for thee: waste not thyself so, bewailing thy husband.
MED. O great Themis and revered Diana, do ye behold what I suffer, having
bound my accursed husband by powerful oaths? Whom may I at some time see
and his bride torn piecemeal with their very houses, who dare to injure me
first. O my father, O my city, whom I basely abandoned, having slain my
brother.
NUR. Do ye hear what she says, and how she invokes Themis hearing the vow,
and Jove who is considered the dispenser of oaths to mortals? It is not
possible that my mistress will lull her rage to rest on any trivial
circumstance.
CHOR. By what means could she come into our sight, and hear the voice of
our discourse, if she would by any means remit her fierce anger and her
fury of mind. Let not my zeal however be wanting ever to my friends. But go
and conduct her hither from without the house, my friend, and tell her
this, hasten, before she injure in any way those within, for this grief of
hers is increased to a great height.
NUR. I will do it, but I fear that I shall not persuade my mistress;
nevertheless I will give you this favor of my labor. And yet with the
aspect of a lioness that has just brought forth does she look sternly on
her attendants when any one approaches near attempting to address her. But
thou wouldest not err in calling men of old foolish and nothing wise, who
invented songs, for festivals, for banquets, and for suppers, the delights
of life that charm the ear; but no mortal has discovered how to soothe with
music and with varied strains those bitter pangs, from which death and
dreadful misfortunes overthrow families. And yet for men to assuage these
griefs with music were gain; but where the plenteous banquet is furnished,
why raise they the song in vain? for the present bounty of the feast brings
pleasure of itself to men.
CHOR. I heard the dismal sound of groans, and in a shrill voice she vents
her bitter[10] anguish on the traitor to her bed, her faithless
husband--and suffering wrongs she calls upon the Goddess Themis, arbitress
of oaths, daughter of Jove, who conducted her to the opposite coast of
Greece, across the sea by night, over the salt straits of the boundless
ocean.
MEDEA, CHORUS.
MED. Ye Corinthian dames, I have come from out my palace; do not in any
wise blame me; for I have known many men who have been[11] renowned, some
who have lived far from public notice, and others in the world; but those
of a retired turn have gained for themselves a character of infamy and
indolence. For justice dwells not in the eyes of man,[12] whoever, before
he can well discover the disposition of a man, hates him at sight, in no
way wronged by him. But it is necessary for a stranger exactly to conform
himself to the state, nor would I praise the native, whoever becoming
self-willed is insolent to his fellow-citizens through ignorance. But this
unexpected event that hath fallen upon me hath destroyed my spirit: I am
going, and having given up the pleasure of life I am desirous to meet
death, my friends. For he on whom my all rested, as you well know, my
husband, has turned out the basest of men. But of all things as many as
have life and intellect, we women are the most wretched race. Who indeed
first must purchase a husband with excess of money, and receive him a lord
of our persons; for this is a still greater ill than the former. And in
this is the greatest risk, whether we receive a bad one or a good one; for
divorces bring not good fame to women, nor is it possible to repudiate
one's husband. But on passing to new tempers and new laws, one need be a
prophetess, as one can not learn of one's self, what sort of consort one
shall most likely experience. And if with us carefully performing these
things a husband shall dwell not imposing on us a yoke with severity,
enviable is our life; if not, to die is better. But a man, when he is
displeased living with those at home, having gone abroad is wont to relieve
his heart of uneasiness, having recourse either to some friend or compeer.
But we must look but to one person. But they say of us that we live a life
of ease at home, but they are fighting with the spear; judging ill, since I
would rather thrice stand in arms, than once suffer the pangs of
child-birth. But, for the same argument comes not home to you and me, this
is thy city, and thy father's house, thine are both the luxuries of life,
and the society of friends; but I being destitute, cityless, am wronged by
my husband, brought as a prize from a foreign land, having neither mother,
nor brother, nor relation to afford me shelter from this calamity. So much
then I wish to obtain from you, if any plan or contrivance be devised by me
to repay with justice these injuries on my husband, and on him who gave his
daughter, and on her to whom he was married,[13] that you would be silent;
for a woman in other respects is full of fear, and timid to look upon deeds
of courage and the sword; but when she is injured in her bed, no other
disposition is more blood-thirsty.
CHOR. I will do this; for with justice, Medea, wilt thou avenge thyself on
thy husband, and I do not wonder that you lament your misfortunes. But I
see Creon monarch of this land advancing, the messenger of new counsels.
CREON, MEDEA, CHORUS.
CRE. Thee of gloomy countenance, and enraged with thy husband, Medea, I
command to depart in exile from out of this land, taking with thee thy two
children, and not to delay in any way, since I am the arbiter of this
edict, and I will not return back to my palace, until I shall drive thee
beyond the boundaries of this realm.
MED. Alas! alas! I wretched am utterly destroyed, for my enemies stretch
out every cable against me; nor is there any easy escape from this evil,
but I will speak, although suffering injurious treatment; for what, Creon,
dost thou drive me from this land?
CRE. I fear thee (there is no need for me to wrap my words in obscurity,)
lest thou do my child some irremediable mischief, And many circumstances
are in unison with this dread. Thou art wise, and skilled in many evil
sciences, and thou art exasperated, deprived of thy husband's bed. And I
hear that thou threatenest, as they tell me, to wreak some deed of
vengeance on the betrother, and the espouser and the espoused; against this
then, before I suffer, will I guard. Better is it for me now to incur
enmity from you, than softened by your words afterward greatly to lament
it.
MED. Alas! alas! not now for the first time, but often, Creon, hath this
opinion injured me, and worked me much woe. But whatever man is prudent,
let him never educate his children too deep in wisdom. For, independent of
the other charges of idleness which they meet with, they find hostile envy
from their fellow-citizens. For holding out to fools some new-discovered
wisdom, thou wilt seem to be useless and not wise. And being judged
superior to others who seem to have some varied knowledge, thou wilt appear
offensive in the city. But even I myself share this fortune; for being
wise, to some I am an object of envy, but to others, unsuited; but I am not
very wise. Thou then fearest me, lest thou suffer some grievous
mischief.[14] My affairs are not in a state, fear me not, Creon, so as to
offend against princes. For in what hast thou injured me? Thou hast given
thy daughter to whom thy mind led thee; but I hate my husband: but thou, I
think, didst these things in prudence. And now I envy not that thy affairs
are prospering; make your alliances, be successful; but suffer me to dwell
in this land, for although injured will I keep silence, overcome by my
superiors.
CRE. Thou speakest soft words to the ear, but within my mind I have my
fears, lest thou meditate some evil intent. And so much the less do I trust
thee than before. For a woman that is quick to anger, and a man likewise,
is easier to guard against, than one that is crafty and keeps silence. But
begone as quick as possible, make no more words; since this is decreed, and
thou hast no art, by which thou wilt stay with us, being hostile to me.
MED. No I beseech you by your knees, and your newly-married daughter.
CRE. Thou wastest words; for thou wilt never persuade me.
MED. Wilt thou then banish me, nor reverence my prayers?
CRE. For I do not love thee better than my own family.
MED. O my country, how I remember thee now!
CRE. For next to my children it is much the dearest thing to me.
MED. Alas! alas! how great an ill is love to man!
CRE. That is, I think, as fortune also shall attend it.
MED. Jove, let it not escape thine eye, who is the cause of these
misfortunes.
CRE. Begone, fond woman, and free me from these cares.
MED. Care indeed;[15] and do not I experience cares?
CRE. Quickly shalt thou be driven hence by force by the hands of my
domestics.
MED. No, I pray not this at least; but I implore thee, Creon.
CRE. Thou wilt give trouble, woman, it seems.[16]
MED. I will go; I dare not ask to obtain this of you.
CRE. Why then dost thou resist, and wilt not depart from these realms?
MED. Permit me to remain here this one day, and to bring my purpose to a
conclusion, in what way we shall fly, and to make provision for my sons,
since their father in no way regards providing for his children; but pity
them, for thou also art the father of children; and it is probable that
thou hast tenderness: for of myself I have no care whether I may suffer
banishment, but I weep for them experiencing this calamity.
CRE. My disposition is least of all imperious, and through feeling pity in
many cases have I injured myself. And now I see that I am doing wrong, O
lady, but nevertheless thou shalt obtain thy request; but this I warn thee,
if to-morrow's light of the God of day shall behold thee and thy children
within the confines of these realms, thou shalt die: this word is spoken in
truth. But now if thou must stay, remain here yet one day, for thou wilt
not do any horrid deed of which I have dread.
MEDEA, CHORUS.
CHOR. Unhappy woman! alas wretched on account of thy griefs! whither wilt
thou turn? what hospitality, or house, or country wilt thou find a refuge
for these ills? how the Deity hath led thee, Medea, into a pathless tide of
woes!
MED. Ill hath it been done on every side. Who will gainsay it? but these
things are not in this way, do not yet think it. Still is there a contest
for those lately married, and to those allied to them no small affliction.
For dost thou think I ever would have fawned upon this man, if I were not
to gain something, or form some plan? I would not even have addressed him.
I would not even have touched him with my hands. But he hath arrived at
such a height of folly, as that, when it was in his power to have crushed
my plans, by banishing me from this land, he hath granted me to stay this
day in which three of mine enemies will I put to death, the father, the
bride, and my husband. But having in my power many resources of destruction
against them, I know not, my friends, which I shall first attempt. Whether
shall I consume the bridal house with fire, or force the sharpened sword
through her heart having entered the chamber by stealth where the couch is
spread? But one thing is against me; if I should be caught entering the
house and prosecuting my plans, by my death I shall afford laughter for my
foes. Best then is it to pursue the straight path, in which I am most
skilled, to take them off by poison. Let it be so. And suppose them dead:
what city will receive me? What hospitable stranger affording a land of
safety and a faithful home will protect my person? There is none. Waiting
then yet a little time, if any tower of safety shall appear to us, I will
proceed to this murder in treachery and silence. But if ill fortune that
leaves me without resource force me, I myself having grasped the sword,
although I should die, will kill them, and will rush to the extreme height
of daring. For never, I swear by my mistress whom I revere most of all, and
have chosen for my assistant, Hecate, who dwells in the inmost recesses of
my house, shall any one of them wring my heart with grief with impunity.
Bitter and mournful to them will I make these nuptials, and bitter this
alliance, and my flight from this land. But come, spare none of these
sciences in which thou art skilled, Medea, deliberating and plotting.
Proceed to the deed of terror: now is the time of resolution: seest thou
what thou art suffering? Ill doth it become thee to incur ridicule from the
race of Sisyphus, and from the nuptials of Jason, who art sprung from a
noble father, and from the sun. And thou art skilled. Besides also we women
are, by nature, to good actions of the least capacity, but the most cunning
inventors of every ill.
CHOR. The waters of the hallowed streams flow upward to their sources, and
justice and every thing is reversed. The counsels of men are treacherous,
and no longer is the faith of heaven firm. But fame changes, so that my sex
may have the glory.[17] Honor cometh to the female race; no longer shall
opprobrious fame oppress the women. But the Muses shall cease from their
ancient strains, from celebrating our perfidy. For Phœbus, leader of the
choir, gave not to our minds the heavenly music of the lyre, since they
would in turn have raised a strain against the race of men. But time of old
hath much to say both of our life and the life of men. But thou hast sailed
from thy father's house with maddened heart, having passed through the
double rocks of the ocean, and thou dwellest in a foreign land, having lost
the shelter of thy widowed bed, wretched woman, and art driven dishonored
an exile from this land. The reverence of oaths is gone, nor does shame any
longer dwell in mighty Greece, but hath fled away through the air. But thou
helpless woman hast neither father's house to afford you haven from your
woes, and another more powerful queen of the nuptial bed rules over the
house.
JASON, MEDEA, CHORUS.
JAS. Not now for the first time, but often have I perceived that fierce
anger is an irremediable ill. For though it was in your power to inhabit
this land and this house, bearing with gentleness the determination of thy
superiors, by thy rash words thou shalt be banished from this land. And to
me indeed it is of no importance; never cease from saying that Jason is the
worst of men. But for what has been said by thee against the royal family,
think it the greatest good fortune that thou art punished by banishment
only. I indeed was always employed in diminishing the anger of the enraged
princes, and was willing that thou shouldest remain. But thou remittest not
of thy folly, always reviling the ruling powers; wherefore thou shalt be
banished from the land. But nevertheless even after this am I come, not
wearied with my friends, providing for thee, O woman, that thou mightest
not be banished with thy children, either without money, or in want of any
thing. Banishment draws many misfortunes with it. For although thou hatest
me, I never could wish thee evil.
MED. O thou vilest of men (for this is the greatest reproach I have in my
power with my tongue to tell thee, for thy unmanly cowardice), hast thou
come to us, hast thou come, who art most hateful? This is not fortitude, or
confidence, to look in the face of friends whom thou hast injured, but the
worst of all diseases among men, impudence. But thou hast done well in
coming. For both I shall be lightened in my heart while reviling thee, and
thou wilt be pained at hearing me. But I will first begin to speak from the
first circumstances. I preserved thee (as those Greeks well know as many as
embarked with thee on board the same ship Argo) when sent to master the
fire-breathing bulls with the yoke, and to sow the fatal seed: and having
slain the dragon who watching around the golden fleece guarded it with
spiry folds, a sleepless guard, I raised up to thee a light of safety. But
I myself having betrayed my father, and my house, came to the Peliotic
Iolcos[18] with thee, with more readiness than prudence. And I slew Pelias
by a death which it is most miserable to die, by the hands of his own
children, and I freed thee from every fear. And having experienced these
services from me, thou vilest of men, thou hast betrayed me and hast
procured for thyself a new bed, children being born to thee, for if thou
wert still childless it would be pardonable in thee to be enamored of this
alliance. But the faith of oaths is vanished: nor can I discover whether
thou thinkest that the former Gods are not still in power, or whether new
laws are now laid down for men, since thou art at least conscious of being
perjured toward me. Alas! this right hand which thou hast often touched,
and these knees, since in vain have I been polluted by a wicked husband,
and have failed in my hopes. Come (for I will converse with thee as with a
friend, not expecting to receive any benefit from thee at least, but
nevertheless I will; for when questioned thou wilt appear more base), now
whither shall I turn? Whether to my father's house, which I betrayed for
thee, and my country, and came hither? or to the miserable daughters of
Pelias? friendly would they indeed receive me in their house, whose father
I slew. For thus it is: I am in enmity with my friends at home; but those
whom I ought not to injure, by obliging thee, I make my enemies. On which
account in return for this thou hast made me to be called happy by many
dames through Greece, and in thee I, wretch that I am, have an admirable
and faithful husband, if cast out at least I shall fly this land, deserted
by my friends, lonely with thy lonely children. Fair renown indeed to the
new married bridegroom, that his children are wandering in poverty, and I
also who preserved thee. O Jove, why I pray hast thou given to men certain
proofs of the gold which is adulterate, but no mark is set by nature on the
person of men by which one may distinguish the bad man.
CHOR. Dreadful is that anger and irremediable, when friends with friends
kindle strife.
JAS. It befits me, it seems, not to be weak in argument, but as the prudent
pilot of a vessel, with all the sail that can be hoisted, to run from out
of thy violent abuse, O woman. But I, since thou thus much vauntest thy
favors, think that Venus alone both of Gods and men was the protectress of
my voyage. But thou hast a fickle mind, but it is an invidious account to
go through, how love compelled thee with his inevitable arrows to preserve
my life. But I will not follow up arguments with too great accuracy, for
where thou hast assisted me it is well. Moreover thou hast received more at
least from my safety than thou gavest, as I will explain to thee. First of
all thou dwellest in Greece instead of a foreign land, and thou learnest
what justice is, and to enjoy laws, not to be directed by mere force. And
all the Grecians have seen that thou art wise, and thou hast renown; but if
thou wert dwelling in the extreme confines of that land, there would not
have been fame of thee. But may neither gold in my house be be my lot, nor
to attune the strain more sweet than Orpheus, if my fortune be not
conspicuous. So much then have I said of my toils; for thou first
broughtest forward this contest of words. But with regard to those
reproaches which thou heapest on me for my royal marriage, in this will I
show first that I have been wise, in the next place moderate, thirdly a
great friend to thee, and my children: but be silent. After I had come
hither from the Iolcian land bringing with me many grievous calamities,
what measure more fortunate than this could I have invented, than, an exile
as I was, to marry the daughter of the monarch? not, by which thou art
grated, loathing thy bed, nor smitten with desire of a new bride, nor
having emulation of a numerous offspring, for those born to me are
sufficient, nor do I find fault with that; but that (which is of the
greatest consequence) we might live honorably, and might not be in want,
knowing well that every friend flies out of the way of a poor man; and that
I might bring up my children worthy of my house, and that having begotten
brothers to those children sprung from thee, I might place them on the same
footing, and having united the family, I might flourish; for both thou hast
some need of children, and to me it were advantageous to advance my present
progeny by means of the children which might arise; have I determined ill?
not even thou couldest say so, if thy bed did not gall thee. But thus far
have you come, that your bed being safe, you women think that you have
every thing. But if any misfortune befall that, the most excellent and
fairest objects you make the most hateful. It were well then that men
should generate children from some other source, and that the female race
should not exist, and thus there would not have been any evil among
men.[19]
CHOR. Jason, thou hast well adorned these arguments of thine, but
nevertheless to me, although I speak reluctantly, thou appearest, in
betraying thy wife, to act unjustly.
MED. Surely I am in many things different from many mortals, for in my
judgment, whatever man being unjust, is deeply skilled in argument, merits
the severest punishment. For vaunting that with his tongue he can well
gloze over injustice, he dares to work deceit, but he is not over-wise.
Thus do not thou also be now plausible to me, nor skilled in speaking, for
one word will overthrow thee: it behooved thee, if thou wert not a bad man,
to have contracted this marriage having persuaded me, and not without the
knowledge of thy friends.
JAS. Well wouldest thou have lent assistance to this report, if I had
mentioned the marriage to thee, who not even now endurest to lay aside this
unabated rage of heart.
MED. This did not move thee, but a foreign bed would lead in its result to
an old age without honor.
JAS. Be well assured of this, that I did not form this alliance with the
princess, which I now hold, for the sake of the woman, but, as I said
before also, wishing to preserve thee, and to beget royal children brothers
to my sons, a support to our house.
MED. Let not a splendid life of bitterness be my lot, nor wealth, which
rends my heart.
JAS. Dost thou know how to alter thy prayers, and appear wiser? Let not
good things ever seem to you bitter, nor when in prosperity seem to be in
adversity.
MED. Insult me, since thou hast refuge, but I destitute shall fly this
land.
JAS. Thou chosest this thyself, blame no one else.
MED. By doing what? by marrying and betraying thee?
JAS. By imprecating unhallowed curses on the royal family.
MED. From thy house at least am I laden with curses.
JAS. I will not dispute more of this with thee. But if thou wishest to
receive either for thyself or children any part of my wealth as an
assistant on thy flight, speak, since I am ready to give with an unsparing
hand, and to send tokens of hospitality to my friends, who will treat you
well; and refusing these thou wilt be foolish, woman, but ceasing from
thine anger, thou wilt gain better treatment.
MED. I will neither use thy friends, nor will I receive aught; do not give
to me, for the gifts of a bad man bring no assistance.
JAS. Then I call the Gods to witness, that I wish to assist thee and thy
children in every thing; but good things please thee not, but thou
rejectest thy friends with audacity, wherefore shalt thou grieve the more.
MED. Begone, for thou art captured by desire of thy new bride, tarrying so
long without the palace; wed her, for perhaps, but with the assistance of
the God shall it be said, thou wilt make such a marriage alliance, as thou
wilt hereafter wish to renounce.
CHOR. The loves, when they come too impetuously, have given neither good
report nor virtue among men, but if Venus come with moderation, no other
Goddess is so benign. Never, O my mistress, mayest thou send forth against
me from thy golden bow thy inevitable shaft, having steeped it in desire.
But may temperance preserve me, the noblest gift of heaven; never may
dreaded Venus, having smitten my mind for another's bed, heap upon me
jealous passions and unabated quarrels, but approving the peaceful union,
may she quick of perception sit in judgment on the bed of women. O my
country, and my house, never may I be an outcast of my city, having a life
scarce to be endured through poverty, the most lamentable of all woes. By
death, by death, may I before that be subdued, having lived to accomplish
that day; but no greater misfortune is there than to be deprived of one's
paternal country. We have seen it, nor have we to speak from others'
accounts; for thee, neither city nor friend hath pitied, though suffering
the most dreadful anguish. Thankless may he perish who desires not to
assist his friends, having unlocked the pure treasures of his mind; never
shall he be friend to me.
ÆGEUS, MEDEA, CHORUS.
ÆG. Medea, hail! for no one hath known a more honorable salutation to
address to friends than this.
MED. Hail thou also, son of the wise Pandion, Ægeus, coming from what
quarter dost thou tread the plain of this land?
ÆG. Having left the ancient oracle of Phœbus.
MED. But wherefore wert thou sent to the prophetic centre of the earth?
ÆG. Inquiring of the God how offspring may arise to me?
MED. By the Gods, tell me, dost thou live this life hitherto childless?
ÆG. Childless I am, by the disposal of some deity.
MED. Hast thou a wife, or knowest thou not the marriage-bed!
ÆG. I am not destitute of the connubial bed.
MED. What then did Apollo tell thee respecting thy offspring?
ÆG. Words deeper than a man can form opinion of.
MED. Is it allowable for me to know the oracle of the God?
ÆG. Certainly, inasmuch as it needs also a deep-skilled mind.
MED. What then did he say? Speak, if I may hear.
ÆG. That I was not to loose the projecting foot of the vessel--
MED. Before thou didst what, or came to what land?
ÆG. Before I revisit my paternal hearth.
MED. Then as desiring what dost thou direct thy voyage to this land?
ÆG. There is one Pittheus, king of the country of Trazene.
MED. The most pious son, as report says, of Pelops.
ÆG. To him I wish to communicate the oracle of the God.
MED. For he is a wise man, and versed in such matters.
ÆG. And to me at least the dearest of all my friends in war.
MED. Mayest thou prosper, and obtain what thou desirest.
ÆG. But why is thine eye and thy color thus faded?
MED. Ægeus, my husband is the worst of all men.
ÆG. What sayest thou? tell me all thy troubles.
MED. Jason wrongs me, having never suffered wrong from me.
ÆG. Having done what? tell me more clearly.
MED. He hath here a wife besides me, mistress of the house.
ÆG. Hath he dared to commit this disgraceful action?
MED. Be assured he has; but we his former friends are dishonored.
ÆG. Enamored of her, or hating thy bed?
MED. [Smitten with] violent love indeed, he was faithless to his friends.
ÆG. Let him perish then, since, as you say, he is a bad man.
MED. He was charmed to receive an alliance with princes.
ÆG. And who gives the bride to him? finish the account, I beg.
MED. Creon, who is monarch of this Corinthian land.
ÆG. Pardonable was it then that thou art grieved, O lady.
MED. I perish, and in addition to this am I banished from this land.
ÆG. By whom? thou art mentioning another fresh misfortune.
MED. Creon drives me an exile out of this land of Corinth.
ÆG. And does Jason suffer it? I praise not this.
MED. By his words he does not, but at heart he wishes [to endure my
banishment:] but by this thy beard I entreat thee, and by these thy knees,
and I become thy suppliant, pity me, pity this unfortunate woman, nor
behold me going forth in exile abandoned, but receive me at thy hearth in
thy country and thy house. Thus by the Gods shall thy desire of children be
accomplished to thee, and thou thyself shalt die in happiness. But thou
knowest not what this fortune is that thou hast found; but I will free thee
from being childless, and I will cause thee to raise up offspring, such
charms I know.
ÆG. On many accounts, O lady, am I willing to confer this favor on thee,
first on account of the Gods, then of the children, whose birth thou
holdest forth; for on this point else I am totally sunk in despair. But
thus am I determined: if thou comest to my country, I will endeavor to
receive thee with hospitality, being a just man; so much however I
beforehand apprise thee of, O lady, I shall not be willing to lead thee
with me from this land; but if thou comest thyself to my house, thou shalt
stay there in safety, and to no one will I give thee up. But do thou of
thyself withdraw thy foot from this country, for I wish to be without blame
even among strangers.
MED. It shall be so, but if there was a pledge of this given to me, I
should have all things from thee in a noble manner.
ÆG. Dost thou not trust me? what is thy difficulty?
MED. I trust thee; but the house of Pelias is mine enemy, and Creon too; to
these then, wert thou bound by oaths, thou wouldest not give me up from the
country, should they attempt to drag me thence. But having agreed by words
alone, and without calling the Gods to witness, thou mightest be their
friend, and perhaps[20] be persuaded by an embassy; for weak is my state,
but theirs are riches, and a royal house.
ÆG. Thou hast spoken much prudence, O lady. But if it seems fit to thee
that I should do this, I refuse not. For to me also this seems the safest
plan, that I should have some pretext to show to your enemies, and thy
safety is better secured; propose the Gods that I am to invoke.
MED. Swear by the earth, and by the sun the father of my father, and join
the whole race of Gods.
ÆG. That I will do what thing, or what not do? speak.
MED. That thou wilt neither thyself ever cast me forth from out of thy
country, nor, if any one of my enemies desire to drag me thence, that thou
wilt, while living, give me up willingly.
ÆG. I swear by the earth, and the hallowed majesty of the sun, and by all
the Gods, to abide by what I hear from thee.
MED. It is sufficient: but what wilt thou endure shouldest thou not abide
by this oath?
ÆG. That which befalls impious men.
MED. Go with blessings; for every thing is well. And I will come as quick
as possible to thy city, having performed what I intend, and having
obtained what I desire.
CHOR. But may the son of Maia the king, the guide, conduct thee safely to
thy house, and the plans of those things, which thou anxiously keepest in
thy mind, mayest thou bring to completion, since, Ægeus, thou hast appeared
to us to be a noble man.
MEDEA, CHORUS.
MED. O Jove, and thou vengeance of Jove, and thou light of the sun, now, my
friends, shall I obtain a splendid victory over my enemies, and I have
struck into the path. Now is there hope that my enemies will suffer
punishment. For this man, where I was most at a loss, hath appeared a
harbor to my plans. From him will I make fast my cable from the stern,
having come to the town and citadel of Pallas. But now will I communicate
all my plans to thee; but receive my words not as attuned to pleasure.
Having sent one of my domestics, I will ask Jason to come into my presence;
and when he is come, I will address gentle words to him, as that it appears
to me that these his actions are both honorable, and are advantageous and
well determined on.[21] And I will entreat him that my sons may stay; not
that I would leave my children in a hostile country for my enemies to
insult, but that by deceit I may slay the king's daughter. For I will send
them bearing presents in their hands, both a fine-wrought robe, and a
golden-twined wreath.[22] And if she take the ornaments and place them
round her person, she shall perish miserably, and every one who shall touch
the damsel; with such charms will I anoint the presents. Here however I
finish this account; but I bewail the deed such as must next be done by me;
for I shall slay my children; there is no one who shall rescue them from
me; and having heaped in ruins the whole house of Jason, I will go from out
this land, flying the murder of my dearest children, and having dared a
deed most unhallowed. For it is not to be borne, my friends, to be derided
by one's enemies. Let things take their course; what gain is it to me to
live longer? I have neither country, nor house, nor refuge from my ills.
Then erred I, when I left my father's house, persuaded by the words of a
Grecian man, who with the will of the Gods shall suffer punishment from me.
For neither shall he ever hereafter behold the children he had by me alive,
nor shall he raise a child by his new wedded wife, since it is fated that
the wretch should wretchedly perish by my spells. Let no one think me
mean-spirited and weak, nor of a gentle temper, but of a contrary
disposition to my foes relentless, and to my friends kind: for the lives of
such sort are most glorious.
CHOR. Since thou hast communicated this plan to me, desirous both of doing
good to thee, and assisting the laws of mortals, I dissuade thee from doing
this.
MED. It can not be otherwise, but it is pardonable in thee to say this, not
suffering the cruel treatment that I do.
CHOR. But wilt thou dare to slay thy two sons, O lady?
MED. For in this way will my husband be most afflicted.
CHOR. But thou at least wilt be the most wretched woman.
MED. Be that as it may: all intervening words are superfluous; but go,
hasten, and bring Jason hither; for I make use of thee in all matters of
trust. And thou wilt mention nothing of the plans determined on by me, if
at least thou meanest well to thy mistress, and art a woman.
CHOR. The Athenians happy of old, and the descendants of the blessed Gods,
feeding on the most exalted wisdom of a country sacred and unconquered,
always tripping elegantly through the purest atmosphere, where they say
that of old the golden-haired Harmonia gave birth to the chaste nine
Pierian Muses.[23] And they report also that Venus drawing in her breath
from the stream of the fair-flowing Cephisus, breathed over their country
gentle sweetly-breathing gales of air; and always entwining in her hair the
fragrant wreath of roses, sends the loves as assessors to wisdom; the
assistants of every virtue. How then will the city of hallowed rivers,[24]
or the country which conducts thee to friends, receive the murderer of her
children, the unholy one? Consider in conjunction with others of the
slaughter of thy children, consider what a murder thou wilt undertake. Do
not by thy knees, by every plea,[25] by every prayer, we entreat you, do
not murder your children; but how wilt thou acquire confidence either of
mind or hand or in heart against thy children, attempting a dreadful deed
of boldness? But how, having darted thine eyes upon thy children, wilt thou
endure the perpetration of the murder without tears? Thou wilt not[26] be
able, when thy children fall suppliant at thy feet, to imbrue thy savage
hand in their wretched life-blood.
JASON, MEDEA, CHORUS.
JAS. I am come, by thee requested; for although thou art enraged, thou
shalt not be deprived of this at least; but I will hear what new service
thou dost desire of me, lady.
MED. Jason, I entreat you to be forgiving of what has been said, but right
is it that you should bear with my anger, since many friendly acts have
been done by us two. But I reasoned with myself and rebuked myself; wayward
woman, why am I maddened and am enraged with those who consult well for me?
and why am I in enmity with the princes of the land and with my husband,
who is acting in the most advantageous manner for us, having married a
princess, and begetting brothers to my children? Shall I not cease from my
rage? What injury do I suffer, the Gods providing well for me? Have I not
children? And I know that I am flying the country, and am in want of
friends. Revolving this in my mind I perceive that I had much imprudence,
and was enraged without reason. Now then I approve of this, and thou
appearest to me to be prudent, having added this alliance to us; but I was
foolish, who ought to share in these plans, and to join in adorning and to
stand by the bed, and to delight with thee that thy bride was enamored of
thee; but we women are as we are, I will not speak evil of the sex;
wherefore it is not right that you should put yourself on an equality with
the evil, nor repay folly for folly. I give up, and say that then I erred
in judgment, but now I have determined on these things better. O my
children, my children, come forth, leave the house, come forth, salute, and
address your father with me, and be reconciled to your friends from your
former hatred together with your mother. For there is amity between us, and
my rage hath ceased. Take his right hand. Alas! my misfortunes; how I feel
some hidden ill in my mind! Will ye, my children, in this manner, and for a
long time enjoying life, stretch out your dear hands? Wretch that I am! how
near am I to weeping and full of fear!--But at last canceling this dispute
with your father, I have filled thus my tender sight with tears.
CHOR. In my eyes also the moist tear is arisen; and may not the evil
advance to a greater height than it is at present.
JAS. I approve of this, lady, nor do I blame the past; for it is reasonable
that the female sex be enraged with a husband who barters them for another
union.--But thy heart has changed to the more proper side, and thou hast
discovered, but after some time, the better counsel: these are the actions
of a wise woman. But for you, my sons, your father not without thought hath
formed many provident plans, with the assistance of the Gods. For I think
that you will be yet the first in this Corinthian country, together with
your brothers. But advance and prosper: and the rest your father, and
whatever God is propitious, will effect. And may I behold you blooming
arrive at the prime of youth, superior to my enemies. And thou, why dost
thou bedew thine eyes with the moist tear, having turned aside thy white
cheek, and why dost thou not receive these words from me with pleasure?
MED. It is nothing. I was thinking of my sons.
JAS. Be of good courage; for I will arange well for them.
MED. I will be so, I will not mistrust thy words; but a woman is of soft
mould, and was born to tears.
JAS. Why, I pray, dost thou so grieve for thy children?
MED. I brought them into the world, and when thou wert praying that thy
children might live, a feeling of pity came upon me if that would be. But
for what cause thou hast come to a conference with me, partly hath been
explained, but the other reasons I will mention. Since it appeareth fit to
the royal family to send me from this country, for me also this appears
best, I know it well, that I might not dwell here, a check either to thee
or to the princes of the land; for I seem to be an object of enmity to the
house; I indeed will set out from this land in flight; but to the end that
the children may be brought up by thy hand, entreat Creon that they may not
leave this land.
JAS. I know not whether I shall persuade him; but it is right to try.
MED. But do thou then exhort thy bride to ask her father, that my children
may not leave this country.
JAS. Certainly I will, and I think at least that she will persuade him, if
indeed she be one of the female sex.
MED. I also will assist you in this task, for I will send to her presents
which (I well know) far surpass in beauty any now among men, both a
fine-wrought robe, and a golden-twined chaplet, my sons carrying them. But
as quick as possible let one of my attendants bring hither these ornaments.
Thy bride shall be blessed not in one instance, but in many, having met
with you at least the best of husbands, and possessing ornaments which the
sun my father's father once gave to his descendants. Take these nuptial
presents, my sons, in your hands, and bear and present them to the blessed
royal bride; she shall receive gifts not indeed to be despised.
JAS. Why, O fond woman, dost thou rob thy hands of these; thinkest thou
that the royal palace is in want of vests? in want of gold? keep these
presents, give them not away; for if the lady esteems me of any value, she
will prefer pleasing me to riches, I know full well.
MED. But do not oppose me; gifts, they say, persuade even the Gods,[27] and
gold is more powerful than a thousand arguments to men. Hers is fortune,
her substance the God now increases, she in youth governs all. But the
sentence of banishment on my children I would buy off with my life, not
with gold alone. But my children, enter you the wealthy palace, to the new
bride of your father, and my mistress, entreat her, beseech her, that you
may not leave the land, presenting these ornaments; but this is of the
greatest consequence, that, she receive these gifts in her own hand. Go as
quick as possible, and may you be bearers of good tidings to your mother in
what she desires to obtain, having succeeded favorably.
CHOR. Now no longer have I any hope of life for the children, no longer [is
there hope]; for already are they going to death. The bride shall receive
the destructive present of the golden chaplet, she wretched shall receive
them, and around her golden tresses shall she place the attire of death,
having received the presents in her hands. The beauty and the divine
glitter of the robe will persuade her to place around her head the
golden-wrought chaplet. Already with the dead shall the bride be adorned;
into such a net will she fall, and such a destiny will she, hapless woman,
meet with; nor will she escape her fate. But thou, oh unhappy man! oh
wretched bridegroom! son-in-law of princes, unknowingly thou bringest on
thy children destruction, and on thy wife a bitter death; hapless man, how
much art thou fallen from thy state![28] But I lament for thy grief, O
wretch, mother of these children, who wilt murder thy sons on account of a
bridal-bed; deserting which, in defiance of thee, thy husband dwells with
another wife.
TUTOR, MEDEA, CHORUS.
TUT. Thy sons, my mistress, are reprieved from banishment, and the royal
bride received thy presents in her hands with pleasure, and hence is peace
to thy children.
MED. Ah!
TUT. Why dost thou stand in confusion, when thou art fortunate?
MED. Alas! alas!
TUT. This behavior is not consonant with the message I have brought thee.
MED. Alas! again.
TUT. Have I reported any ill fortune unknowingly, and have I failed in my
hope of being the messenger of good?
MED. Thou hast said what thou hast said, I blame not thee.
TUT. Why then dost thou bend down thine eye, and shed tears?
MED. Strong necessity compels me, O aged man, for this the Gods and I
deliberating ill have contrived.
TUT. Be of good courage; thou also wilt return home yet through thy
children.
MED. Others first will I send to their home,[29] O wretched me!
TUT. Thou art not the only one who art separated from thy children; it
behooves a mortal to bear calamities with meekness.
MED. I will do so; but go within the house, and prepare for the children
what is needful for the day. O my sons, my sons, you have indeed a city,
and a house, in which having forsaken me miserable, you shall dwell, ever
deprived of a mother. But I am now going an exile into a foreign land,
before I could have delight in you, and see you flourishing, before I could
adorn your marriage, and wife, and nuptial-bed, and hold up the torch.[30]
O unfortunate woman that I am, on account of my wayward temper. In vain
then, my children, have I brought you up, in vain have I toiled, and been
consumed with cares, suffering the strong agonies of child-bearing. Surely
once there was a time when I hapless woman had many hopes in you, that you
would both tend me in my age, and when dead would with your hands decently
compose my limbs, a thing desired by men. But now this pleasing thought
hath indeed perished; for deprived of you I shall pass a life of misery,
and bitter to myself. But you will no longer behold your mother with your
dear eyes, having passed into another state of life. Alas! alas! why do you
look upon me with your eyes, my children? Why do ye smile that last smile?
Alas! alas! what shall I do? for my heart is sinking. Ye females, when I
behold the cheerful look of my children, I have no power. Farewell my
counsels: I will take my children with me from this land. What does it
avail me grieving their father with the ills of these, to acquire twice as
much pain for myself? never will I at least do this. Farewell my counsels.
And yet what do I suffer? do I wish to incur ridicule, having left my foes
unpunished? This must be dared. But the bringing forward words of
tenderness in my mind arises also from my cowardice. Go, my children, into
the house; and he for whom it is not lawful to be present at my sacrifice,
let him take care himself to keep away.[31] But I will not stain my hand.
Alas! alas! do not thou then, my soul, do not thou at least perpetrate
this. Let them escape, thou wretch, spare thy sons. There shall they live
with us and delight thee. No, I swear by the infernal deities who dwell
with Pluto, never shall this be, that I will give up my children to be
insulted by my enemies. [At all events they must die, and since they must,
I who brought them into the world will perpetrate the deed.] This is fully
determined by fate, and shall not pass away. And now the chaplet is on her
head, and the bride is perishing in the robes; of this I am well assured.
But, since I am now going a most dismal path, and these will I send by one
still more dismal, I desire to address my children: give, my sons, give thy
right hand for thy mother to kiss. O most dear hand, and those lips dearest
to me, and that form and noble countenance of my children, be ye blessed,
but there;[32] for every thing here your father hath taken away. O the
sweet embrace, and that soft skin, and that most fragrant breath of my
children. Go, go; no longer am I able to look upon you, but am overcome by
my ills. I know indeed the ills that I am about to dare, but my rage is
master of my counsels,[33] which is indeed the cause of the greatest
calamities to men.
CHOR. Already have I often gone through more refined reasonings, and have
come to greater arguments than suits the female mind to investigate; for we
also have a muse, which dwelleth with us, for the sake of teaching wisdom;
but not with all, for haply thou wilt find but a small number of the race
of women out of many not ungifted with the muse.[34]
And I say that those men who are entirely free from wedlock, and have not
begotten children, surpass in happiness those who have families; those
indeed who are childless, through inexperience whether children are born a
joy or anguish to men, not having them themselves, are exempt from much
misery. But those who have a sweet blooming offspring of children in their
house, I behold worn with care the whole time; first of all how they shall
bring them up honorably, and how they shall leave means of sustenance for
their children. And still after this, whether they are toiling for bad or
good sons, this is still in darkness. But one ill to mortals, the last of
all, I now will mention. For suppose they have both found sufficient store,
and the bodies of their children have arrived at manhood, and that they are
good; but if this fortune shall happen to them, death, bearing away their
sons, vanishes with them to the shades of darkness. How then does it profit
that the Gods heap on mortals yet this grief in addition to others, the
most bitter of all, for the sake of children?
MEDEA, MESSENGER, CHORUS.
MED. For a long time waiting for the event, my friends, I am anxiously
expecting what will be the result thence. And I see indeed one of the
domestics of Jason coming hither, and his quickened breath shows that he
will be the messenger of some new ill.
MESS. O thou, that hast impiously perpetrated a deed of terror, Medea, fly,
fly, leaving neither the ocean chariot,[35] nor the car whirling o'er the
plain.
MED. But what is done that requires this flight?
MESS. The princess is just dead, and Creon her father destroyed by thy
charms.
MED. Thou hast spoken most glad tidings: and hereafter from this time shalt
thou be among my benefactors and friends.
MESS. What sayest thou? Art thou in thy senses, and not mad, lady? who
having destroyed the king and family, rejoicest at hearing it, and fearest
not such things?
MED. I also have something to say to these words of thine at least; but be
not hasty, my friend; but tell me how they perished, for twice as much
delight wilt thou give me if they died miserably.
MESS. As soon as thy two sons were come with their father, and had entered
the bridal house, we servants, who were grieved at thy misfortunes, were
delighted; and immediately there was much conversation in our ears, that
thy husband and thou had brought the former quarrel to a friendly
termination. One kissed the hand, another the auburn head of thy sons, and
I also myself followed with them to the women's apartments through joy. But
my mistress, whom we now reverence instead of thee, before she saw thy two
sons enter, held her cheerful eyes fixed on Jason; afterward however she
covered her eyes, and turned aside her white cheek, disgusted at the
entrance of thy sons; but thy husband quelled the anger and rage of the
young bride, saying this; Be not angry with thy friends, but cease from thy
rage, and turn again thy face, esteeming those as friends, whom thy husband
does. But receive the gifts, and ask thy father to give up the sentence of
banishment against these children for my sake. But when she saw the
ornaments, she refused not, but promised her husband every thing; and
before thy sons and their father were gone far from the house, she took and
put on the variegated robes, and having placed the golden chaplet around
her tresses she arranges her hair in the radiant mirror, smiling at the
lifeless image of her person. And after, having risen from her seat, she
goes across the chamber, elegantly tripping with snow-white foot; rejoicing
greatly in the presents, looking much and oftentimes with her eyes on her
outstretched neck.[36] After that however there was a sight of horror to
behold. For having changed color, she goes staggering back trembling in her
limbs, and is scarce in time to prevent herself from falling on the ground,
by sinking into a chair. And some aged female attendant, when she thought
that the wrath either of Pan or some other Deity[37] had visited her,
offered up the invocation, before at least she sees the white foam bursting
from her mouth, and her mistress rolling her eyeballs from their sockets,
and the blood no longer in the flesh; then she sent forth a loud shriek of
far different sound from the strain of supplication; and straightway one
rushed to the apartments of her father, but another to her newly-married
husband, to tell the calamity befallen the bride, and all the house was
filled with frequent hurryings to and fro. And by this time a swift runner,
exerting his limbs, might have reached[38] the goal of the course of six
plethra;[39] but she, wretched woman, from being speechless, and from a
closed eye having groaned deeply writhed in agony; for a double pest was
warring against her. The golden chaplet indeed placed on her head was
sending forth a stream of all-devouring fire wonderful to behold, but the
fine-wrought robes, the presents of thy sons, were devouring the white
flesh of the hapless woman. But she having started from her seat flies, all
on fire, tossing her hair and head on this side and that side, desirous of
shaking off the chaplet; but the golden wreath firmly kept its hold; but
the fire, when she shook her hair, blazed out with double fury, and she
sinks upon the ground overcome by her sufferings, difficult for any one
except her father to recognize. For neither was the expression of her eyes
clear, nor her noble countenance; but the blood was dropping from the top
of her head mixed with fire. But her flesh was dropping off her bones, as
the tear from the pine-tree, by the hidden fangs of the poison; a sight of
horror. But all feared to touch the body, for we had her fate to warn us.
But the hapless father, through ignorance of her suffering, having come
with haste into the apartment, falls on the corpse, and groans immediately;
and having folded his arms round her, kisses her, saying these words; O
miserable child, what Deity hath thus cruelly destroyed thee? who makes an
aged father bowing to the tomb[40] bereaved of thee? Alas me! let me die
with thee, my child. But after he had ceased from his lamentations and
cries, desiring to raise his aged body, he was held, as the ivy by the
boughs of the laurel, by the fine-wrought robes; and dreadful was the
struggle, for he wished to raise his knee, but she held him back; but if he
drew himself away by force he tore the aged flesh from his bones. But at
length the wretched man swooned away, and gave up his life; for no longer
was he able to endure the agony. But they lie corses, the daughter and aged
father near one another; a calamity that demands tears. And let thy affairs
indeed be not matter for my words; for thou thyself wilt know a refuge from
punishment. But the affairs of mortals not now for the first time I deem a
shadow, and I would venture to say that those persons who seem to be wise
and are researchers of arguments, these I say, run into the greatest folly.
For no mortal man is happy; but wealth pouring in, one man may be more
fortunate than another, but happy he can not be.
CHOR. The Deity, it seems, will in this day justly heap on Jason a variety
of ills. O hapless lady, how we pity thy sufferings, daughter of Creon, who
art gone to the house of darkness, through thy marriage with Jason.
MED. The deed is determined on by me, my friends, to slay my children as
soon as possible, and to hasten from this land; and not by delaying to give
my sons for another hand more hostile to murder. But come, be armed, my
heart; why do we delay to do dreadful but necessary deeds? Come, O wretched
hand of mine, grasp the sword, grasp it, advance to the bitter goal of
life, and be not cowardly, nor remember thy children how dear they are, how
thou broughtest them into the world; but for this short day at least forget
thy children; hereafter lament. For although thou slayest them,
nevertheless they at least were dear, but I a wretched woman.
CHOR. O thou earth, and thou all-illuming beam of the sun, look down upon,
behold this abandoned woman, before she move her blood-stained hand itself
about to inflict the blow against her children; for from thy golden race
they sprung; but fearful is it for the blood of Gods to fall by the hand of
man. But do thou, O heaven-born light, restrain her, stop her, remove from
this house this blood-stained and miserable Erinnys agitated by the Furies.
The care of thy children perishes in vain, and in vain hast thou produced a
dear race, O thou who didst leave the most inhospitable entrance of the
Cyanean rocks, the Symplegades. Hapless woman, why does such grievous rage
settle on thy mind; and hostile slaughter ensue? For kindred pollutions are
difficult of purification to mortals; correspondent calamities falling from
the Gods to the earth upon the houses of the murderers.[41]
FIRST SON. (within) Alas! what shall I do? whither shall I fly from my
mother's hand?
SECOND SON. I know not, dearest brother, for we perish.
CHOR. Hearest thou the cry? hearest thou the children? O wretch, O
ill-fated woman! Shall I enter the house? It seems right to me to ward off
the murderous blow from the children.
SONS. Nay, by the Gods assist us, for it is in needful time; since now at
least are we near the destruction of the sword.
CHOR. Miserable woman, art thou then a rock, or iron, who cuttest down with
death by thine own hand the fair crop of children which thou producedst
thyself? one indeed I hear of, one woman of those of old, who laid violent
hands on her children, Ino, maddened by the Gods when the wife of Jove sent
her in banishment from her home; and she miserable woman falls into the sea
through the impious murder of her children, directing her foot over the
sea-shore, and dying with her two sons, there she perished! what then I
pray can be more dreadful than this? O thou bed of woman, fruitful in ills,
how many evils hast thou already brought to men!
JASON, CHORUS.
JAS. Ye females, who stand near this mansion, is she who hath done these
deeds of horror, Medea, in this house; or hath she withdrawn herself in
flight? For now it is necessary for her either to be hidden beneath the
earth, or to raise her winged body into the vast expanse of air, if she
would not suffer vengeance from the king's house. Does she trust that after
having slain the princes of this land, she shall herself escape from this
house with impunity?--But I have not such care for her as for my children;
for they whom she has injured will punish her. But I came to preserve my
children's life, lest [Creon's] relations by birth do any injury,[42]
avenging the impious murder perpetrated by their mother.
CHOR. Unhappy man! thou knowest not at what misery thou hast arrived,
Jason, or else thou wouldest not have uttered these words.
JAS. What is this, did she wish to slay me also?
CHOR. Thy children are dead by their mother's hand.
JAS. Alas me! What wilt thou say? how hast thou killed me, woman!
CHOR. Think now of thy sons as no longer living.
JAS. Where did she slay them, within or without the house?
CHOR. Open those doors, and thou wilt see the slaughter of thy sons.
JAS. Undo the bars, as quick as possible, attendants; unloose the hinges,
that I may see this double evil, my sons slain, and may punish her.
MED. Why dost thou shake and unbolt these gates, seeking the dead and me
who did the deed. Cease from this labor; but if thou wantest aught with me,
speak if thou wishest any thing; but never shall thou touch me with thy
hands; such a chariot the sun my father's father gives me, a defense from
the hostile hand.[43]
JAS. O thou abomination! thou most detested woman, both by the Gods and by
me, and by all the race of man; who hast dared to plunge the sword in thine
own children, thou who bore them, and hast destroyed me childless. And
having done this thou beholdest both the sun and the earth, having dared a
most impious deed. Mayest thou perish! but I am now wise, not being so then
when I brought thee from thy house and from a foreign land to a Grecian
habitation, a great pest, traitress to thy father and the land that
nurtured thee. But the Gods have sent thy evil genius on me. For having
slain thy brother at the altar, thou embarkedst on board the gallant vessel
Argo. Thou begannest indeed with such deeds as these; and being wedded to
me, and bearing me children, thou hast destroyed them on account of another
bed and marriage. There is not one Grecian woman who would have dared a
deed like this, in preference to whom at least, I thought worthy to wed
thee, an alliance hateful and destructive to me, a lioness, no woman,
having a nature more savage than the Tuscan Scylla. But I can not gall thy
heart with ten thousand reproaches, such shameless confidence is implanted
in thee. Go, thou worker of ill, and stained with the blood of thy
children. But for me it remains to bewail my fate, who shall neither enjoy
my new nuptials, nor shall I have it in my power to address while alive my
sons whom I begot and educated, but I have lost them.
MED. Surely I could make long reply to these words, if the Sire Jupiter did
not know what treatment thou receivedst from me, and what thou didst in
return; but you were mistaken, when you expected, having dishonored my bed,
to lead a life of pleasure, mocking me, and so was the princess, and so was
Creon, who proposed the match to thee, when he expected to drive me from
this land with impunity. Wherefore, if thou wilt, call me lioness, and
Scylla who dwelt in the Tuscan plain. For thy heart, as is right, I have
wounded.
JAS. And thou thyself grievest at least, and art a sharer in these ills.
MED. Be assured of that; but this lessens[44] the grief, that thou canst
not mock me.
JAS. My children, what a wicked mother have ye found!
MED. My sons, how did ye perish by your father's fault!
JAS. Nevertheless my hand slew them not.
MED. But injury, and thy new nuptials.
JAS. And on account of thy bed didst thou think fit to slay them?
MED. Dost thou deem this a slight evil to a woman?
JAS. Whoever at least is modest; but in thee is every ill.
MED. These are no longer living, for this will gall thee.
JAS. These are living, alas me! avenging furies on thy head.
MED. The Gods know who began the injury.
JAS. They know indeed thy execrable mind.
Meo. Thou art hateful to me, and I detest thy bitter speech.
JAS. And I in sooth thine; the separation at least is without pain.
MED. How then? what shall I do? for I also am very desirous.
JAS. Suffer me, I beg, to bury and mourn over these dead bodies.
MED. Never indeed; since I will bury them with this hand bearing them to
the shrine of Juno, the Goddess guardian of the citadel, that no one of my
enemies may insult them, tearing up their graves. But in this land of
Sisyphus will I institute in addition to this a solemn festival and
sacrifices hereafter to expiate this unhallowed murder. But I myself will
go to the land of Erectheus, to dwell with Ægeus son of Pandion. But thou,
wretch, as is fit, shalt die wretchedly, struck on thy head with a relic of
thy ship Argo, having seen the bitter end of my marriage.
JAS. But may the Fury of the children, and Justice the avenger of murder,
destroy thee.
MED. But what God or Deity hears thee, thou perjured man, and traitor to
the rights of hospitality?
JAS. Ah! thou abominable woman, and murderer of thy children.
MED. Go to thy home, and bury thy wife.
JAS. I go, even deprived of both my children.
MED. Thou dost not yet mourn enough: stay and grow old.[45]
JAS. Oh my dearest sons!
MED. To their mother at least, but not to thee.
JAS. And yet thou slewest them.
MED. To grieve thee.
JAS. Alas, alas! I hapless man long to kiss the dear mouths of my children.
MED. Now them addressest, now salutest them, formerly rejecting them with
scorn.
JAS. Grant me, by the Gods, to touch the soft skin of my sons.
MED. It is not possible. Thy words are thrown away in vain.
JAS. Dost thou hear this, O Jove, how I am rejected, and what I suffer from
this accursed and child-destroying lioness? But as much indeed as is in my
power and I am able, I lament and mourn over these; calling the Gods to
witness, that having slain my children, thou preventest me from touching
them with my hands, and from burying the bodies, whom, oh that I had never
begotten, and seen them thus destroyed by thee.
CHOR. Jove is the dispenser of various fates in heaven, and the Gods
perform many things contrary to our expectations, and those things which we
looked for are not accomplished; but the God hath brought to pass things
unthought of. In such manner hath this affair ended.
* * * * *
NOTES ON MEDEA
* * * *
[1] The Cyaneæ Petræ, or Symplegades, were two rocks in the mouth of the
Euxine Sea, said to meet together with prodigious violence, and crush the
passing ships. See Pindar. Pyth. iv. 386.
[2] ερετμωσαι signifies to make to row; ερετμησαι, to row. In the same
sense the two verbs derived from πολεμος are used, πολεμοω signifying ad
bellum excito; πολεμεω, bellum gero.
[3] Elmsley reads φυγη in the nominative case, "a flight indeed
pleasing," etc.
[4] Literally, Before we have drained this to the very dregs. So Virgil,
Æn. iv. 14. Quæ bella exhausta canebat!
[5] Ter. And. Act. ii. Sc. 5. Omnes sibi malle melius esse quam alteri.
Ac. iv. Sc. 1. Proximus sum egomet mihi.
[6] Elmsley reads και for ει, "And their father," etc.
[7] In Elms. Dind. το γαρ ειθισθαι, "for the being accustomed," etc.
[8] δυναται here signifies ισχυει, σθενει; and in this sense it is
repeatedly used: ουδενα καιρον, in this place, is not to be interpreted
"intempestive", but "immoderate, supra modum." For this signification
consult Stephen's Thesaurus, word καιρος. EMSLEY.
[9] ‛οδε is used in this sense v. 49, 687, 901, of this Play.
[10] μογερα is best taken with Reiske as the accusative plural, though the
Scholiast considers it the nominative singular. ELMSLEY.
[11] γεγωτας need not be translated as νομιζομενους, the sense is [Greek;
ontas]: so αυθαδης γεγως, line 225.
[12] That is, the character of man can not be discovered by the
countenance: so Juvenal,
Fronti nulla fides.
‛οστις, though in the singular number, refers to βροτων in the plural: a
similar construction is met with in Homer, Il. Γ. 279.
ανθρωπους τιννυσθον, ‛ο τις κ' επιορκον ‛ομοσσηι.
[13] Grammarians teach us that γαμειν is applied to the husband, γαμεισθαι
to the wife; and this rule will generally be found to hold good. We must
either then read ‛η τ' εγηματο, which Porson does not object to, and
Elmsley adopts; or understand εγηματο in an ironical sense, in the spirit
of Martial's Uxori nubere nolo meæ: in the latter case ‛ηι τ' εγηματο
should be read (not ‛ην τ'), as being the proper syntax.
[14] The primary signification of πλημμελης is absonus, out of tune:
hence is easily deduced the signification in which it is often found in
Euripides. The word πλημμελησας occurs in the Phœnissæ, l. 1669.
[15] Elmsley approves of the reading adopted by Porson, though he has given
in his text
πονουμεν ‛ημεις, κ' ον πονων κεχρημεθα.
"We are oppressed with cares, and want not other cares," as being more
likely to have come from Euripides. So also Dindorf.
[16] ‛ως εοικας; is here used for the more common expression ‛ως εοικεν. So
Herodotus, Clio, clv. ου παυσονται ‛οι Λυδοι, ‛ως οικασι, πραγματα
παρεχοντες, και αυτοι εχοντες. See also Hecuba, 801.
[17] Beck interprets this passage, "Mea quidem vita ut non habeat laudem,
fama obstat." Heath translates it, "Jam in contrariam partem tendens fama
efficit, ut mea quoque vita laudem habeat." We are told by the Scholiast,
that by βιοταν is to be understood φυσιν.
[18] Iolcos was a city of Thessaly, distant about seven stadii from the
sea, where the parents of Jason lived: Pelion was both a mountain and city
of Thessaly, close to Iolcos; whence Iolcos is called Peliotic.
[19] For the same sentiment more fully expressed, see Hippolytus, 616-625.
See also Paradise Lost, x. 890.
Oh, why did God,
Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven
With spirits masculine, create at last
This novelty on earth, this fair defect
Of nature, and not fill the world at once
With men, as angels, without feminine?
[20] Porson rightly reads ταχ' αν πιθοιο with Wyttenbach.
[21] Elmsley has
"‛ως και δοκει μοι ταυτα, και καλως εχειν
γαμους τυραννων, ‛ους προδους ‛ημας εχει,
και ξυμφορ' ειναι, και καλως εγνωσμενα."
"that these things appear good to me, and that the alliance with the
princes, which he, having forsaken me, has contracted, are both
advantageous and well determined on." So also Dind. but καλως εχει. Porson
omits the line.
[22] In Elmsley this line is omitted, and instead of it is inserted
"νυμφηι φεροντας, τηνδε μη φευγειν χθονα."
"offering them to the bride, that they may not be banished from this
country," which Dindorf retains, and brackets the other.
[23] Although the Scholiast reprobates this interpretation, it seems to be
the best, nor is it any objection, that Μνημοσυνη is elsewhere represented
as the Mother of the Muses; so much at variance is the poetry of Euripides
with the received mythology of the ancients. ELMSLEY.
[24] The construction is πολις ‛ιερων ποταμων; thus Thebes, Phœnis. l. 831,
is called πυργος διδυμων ποταμων. A like expression occurs in 2 Sam. xii.
27. I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters,
πολιν των ‛υδατων in the Septuagint version.
[25] Elmsley reads παντες, "we all entreat thee." So Dindorf.
[26] Elmsley reads ‛η δυνασει with the note of interrogation after θυμωι;
"or how wilt thou be able," etc.
[27] An allusion to that well-known saying in Plato, de Repub. 1. 3. Δωρα
θεους πειθει, δωρ' αιδοιους βασιληας. Ovid. de Arte Am. iii. 635.
Munera, crede mini, capiunt hominesque deosque.
[28] Vertit Portus, O infelix quantam calamitatem ignoras. Mihi sensus
videtur esse, quantum a pristina fortuna excidisti. ELMSLEY.
[29] Medea here makes use of the ambiguous word καταξω, which may be
understood by the Tutor in the sense of "bringing back to their country,"
but implies also the horrid purpose of destroying her children: τοδε
'καταξω' αντι του πεμψω εις τον Αιδην, as the Scholiast explains it.
[30] It was the custom for mothers to bear lighted torches at their
children's nuptials. See Iphig. Aul. l. 372.
[31] ‛οτωι δε φησιν ουκ ευσεβες φαινεται παρειναι τωι φονωι, και δεχεσθαι
τοιαυτας θυσιας, ‛ουτος αποτω.--τωι δε αυτωι μελησει συναπτεον το μη
παρειναι. SCHOL.
[32] But there; that is, in the regions below.
[33] Ovid. Metamorph. vii. 20.
Video meliora proboque,
Deteriora sequor.
[34] Elmsley reads
παυρον δε γενος (μιαν εν πολλαις
‛ευροις αν ισως)
ουκ, κ.τ.λ.
"But a small number of the race of women (you may perchance find one among
many) not ungifted with the muse."
[35] A similar expression is found in Iphig. Taur, v. 410. ναϊον οχημα. A
ship is frequently called ‛Ερμα θαλασσης: so Virgil, Æn. vi. Classique
immittit habenas.
[36] Elmsley is of opinion that the instep and not the neck is meant by
τενων.
[37] The ancients attributed all sudden terrors, and sudden sicknesses,
such as epilepsies, for which no cause appeared, to Pan, or to some other
Deity. The anger of the God they endeavored to avert by a hymn, which had
the nature of a charm.
[38] Elmsley has ανθηπτετο, which is the old reading: this makes no
difference in the construing or the construction, as, in the line before,
he reads αν ‛ελκων, where Porson has ανελκων.
[39] The space of time elapsed is meant to be marked by this circumstance.
MUSGRAVE. PORSON. Thus we find in Μ of the Odyssey, l. 439, the time of day
expressed by the rising of the judges; in Δ of the Iliad, l. 86, by the
dining of the woodman. When we recollect that the ancients had not the
inventions that we have whereby to measure their time, we shall cease to
consider the circumlocution as absurd or out of place.
[40] The same expression occurs in the Heraclidæ, l. 168. The Scholiast
explains it thus; τυμβογεροντα, τον πλησιον θανατου ‛οντα: τυμβους δε
καλουσι τους γεροντας, παροσον πλησιον εισι του θανατου και του ταφου.
[41] αυτοφονταις may be taken as an adjective to agree with δομοις, or the
construction may be αχη πιτνοντα αυτοφονταις επι δομοις, in the same manner
as λιθος επεσε μοι επι κεφαληι. ELMSLEY.
[42] μη με τι δρασωσι' had been "lest they do me any injury." Elmsley
conceives that νιν is the true reading, which might easily have been
corrupted into μοι.
[43] Here Medea appears above in a chariot drawn by dragons, bearing with
her the bodies of her slaughtered sons. SCHOL. See Horace, Epod. 3.
Hoc delibutis ulta donis pellicem,
Serpente fugit alite.
[44] λυει may also be interpreted, with the Scholiast, in the sense of
λυσιτελει, "the grief delights me." The translation given in the text is
proposed by Porson, and approved of by Elmsley.
[45] Elmsley has
μενε και γηρας.
"Stay yet for old age." So also Dindorf.
* * * * * *