Medea
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Medea
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Hast thou a wife, or hast thou never known the married state?
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Aegeus
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I have a wife joined to me in wedlock’s bond.
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Medea
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What said Phoebus to thee as to children?
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Aegeus
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Words too subtle for man to comprehend.
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Medea
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Surely I may learn the god’s answer?
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Aegeus
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Most assuredly, for it is just thy subtle wit it needs.
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Medea
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What said the god? speak, if I may hear it.
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Aegeus
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He bade me not loose the wineskin’s pendent neck.i.e., enjoined strict chastity.
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Medea
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Till when? what must thou do first, what country visit?
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Aegeus
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Till I to my native home return.
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Medea
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What object hast thou in sailing to this land?
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Aegeus
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O’er Troezen’s realm is Pittheus king.
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Medea
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Pelops’ son, a man devout they say.
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Aegeus
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To him I fain would impart the oracle of the god.
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Medea
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The man is shrewd and versed in such-like lore.
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Aegeus
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Aye, and to me the dearest of all my warrior friends.
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Medea
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Good luck to thee! success to all thy wishes!
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Aegeus
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But why that downcast eye, that wasted cheek?
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Medea
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O Aegeus, my husband has proved a monster of iniquity.
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Aegeus
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What meanest thou? explain to me clearly the cause of thy despondency.
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Medea
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Jason is wronging me though I have given him no cause.
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Aegeus
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What hath he done? tell me more clearly.
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Medea
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He is taking another wife to succeed me as mistress of his house.
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Aegeus
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Can he have brought himself to such a dastard deed?
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Medea
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Be assured thereof; I, whom he loved of yore, am in dishonour now.
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Aegeus
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Hath he found a new love? or does he loathe thy bed?
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Medea
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Much in love is he! A traitor to his friend is he become.
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Aegeus
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Enough! if he is a villain as thou sayest.
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Medea
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The alliance he is so much enamoured of is with a princess.
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Aegeus
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Who gives his daughter to him? go on, I pray.
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Medea
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Creon, who is lord of this land of Corinth.
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Aegeus
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Lady, I can well pardon thy grief.
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Medea
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I am undone, and more than that, am banished from the land.
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Aegeus
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By whom? fresh woe this word of thine unfolds.
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Medea
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Creon drives me forth in exile from Corinth.
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Aegeus
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Doth Jason allow it? This too I blame him for.
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Medea
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Not in words, but he will not stand out against it. Ο, I implore thee by this beard
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and by thy knees, in suppliant posture, pity, O pity my sorrows; do not see me cast forth forlorn, but receive me in thy country, to a seat within thy halls. So may thy wish by heaven’s grace be crowned with a full harvest
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of offspring, and may thy life close in happiness! Thou knowest not the rare good luck thou findest here, for I will make thy childlessness to cease and cause thee to beget fair issue; so potent are the spells I know.
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Aegeus
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Lady, on many grounds I am most fain to grant thee this thy boon,
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first for the gods’ sake, next for the children whom thou dost promise I shall beget; for in respect of this I am completely lost.The Schol. gives two interpretations of φροῦδος, (1) I am ruined as far as begetting children goes. (2) I am entirely devoted to doing so. Neither is satisfactory owing to want of parallel passages. ’Tis thus with me; if e’er thou reach my land, I will attempt to champion thee as I am bound to do.
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Only one warning I do give thee first, lady; I will not from this land bear thee away, yet if of thyself thou reach my halls, there shalt thou bide in safety and I will never yield thee up to any man. But from this land escape without my aid,
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for I have no wish to incur the blame of my allies as well.i.e., as well as Jason.
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Medea
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It shall be even so; but wouldst thou pledge thy word to this, I should in all be well content with thee.
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Aegeus
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Surely thou dost trust me? or is there aught that troubles thee?
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Medea
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Thee I trust; but Pelias’ house and Creon are my foes.
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Wherefore, if thou art bound by an oath, thou wilt not giveTo avoid the very doubtful form μεθεῖς = μεθείης some read μεθεῖ’ ἂν. me up to them when they come to drag me from the land, but, having entered into a compact and swornReading ἐνώμοτος. Hermann changes καὶ into μὴ. A simpler change, supported by a Schol., and one MS., would be to read ἀνωμοτος = whereas if thou only make a verbal compact, without oath, thou mightest be persuaded, etc. The whole passage is, as it stands, probably corrupt; numerous emendations have been proposed. If the above emendation be adopted, it will be necessary to alter οὐκ ἂν πίθοιο for which Munro proposed ὀκνῶν πίθοιο = and fearing their demands of surrender thou mightest yield. Wecklein, τάχ’ ἂν τίθοι σε (adopted by Nauck), is tempting. by heaven as well, thou wilt become my friend and disregard their overtures. Weak is any aid of mine,
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whilst they have wealth and a princely house.
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Aegeus
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Lady, thy words show much foresight, so if this is thy will, I do not refuse. For I shall feel secure and safe if I have some pretext to offer to thy foes,
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and thy case too the firmer stands. Now name thy gods.
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Medea
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Swear by the plain of Earth, by Helios my father’s sire, and, in one comprehensive oath, by all the race of gods.
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Aegeus
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What shall I swear to do, from what refrain? tell me that.
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Medea
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Swear that thou wilt never of thyself expel me from thy land,
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nor, whilst life is thine, permit any other, one of my foes maybe, to hale me thence if so he will.
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Aegeus
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By earth I swear, by the sun-god’s holy beam and by all the host of heaven that I will stand fast to the terms, I hear thee make.
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Medea
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’Tis enough. If thou shouldst break this oath, what curse dost thou invoke upon thyself?
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Aegeus
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Whate’er betides the impious.
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Medea
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Go in peace; all is well, and I with what speed I may, will to thy city come, when I have wrought my purpose and obtained my wish.
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Chorus
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May Maia’s princely son
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go with thee on thy way to bring thee to thy home, and mayest thou attain that on which thy soul is set so firmly, for to my mind thou seemest a generous man, O Aegeus.
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Medea
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O Zeus, and Justice, child of Zeus, and sun-god’s light,
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now will I triumph o’er my foes, kind friends; on victory’s road have I set forth; good hope have I of wreaking vengeance on those I hate. For where we were in most distress this stranger hath appeared, to be a haven in my counsels;
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to him will we make fast the cables of our ship when we come to the town and citadel of Pallas. But now will I explain to thee my plans in full; do not expect to hear a pleasant tale. A servant of mine will I to Jason
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send and crave an interview; then when he comes I will address him with soft words, say, this pleases me, and, that is well, even the marriage with the princess, which my treacherous lord is celebrating, and add it suits us both, ’twas well thought out;Porson condemns these two lines.
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then will I entreat that here my children may abide, not that I mean to leave them in a hostile land for foes to flout, but that I may slay the king’s daughter by guile. For I will send them with gifts in their hands,
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carrying them unto the bride to save them from banishment, a robe of finest woof and a chaplet of gold. And if these ornaments she take and put them on, miserably shall she die, and likewise everyone who touches her; with such fell poisons will I smear my gifts.
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And here I quit this theme; but I shudder at the deed I must do next; for I will slay the children I have borne; there is none shall take them from my toils; and when I have utterly confounded Jason’s house
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I will leave the land, escaping punishment for my dear children’s murder, after my most unholy deed. For I cannot endure the taunts of enemies, kind friends; enough! what gain is life to me? I have no country, home, or refuge left.
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Ο, I did wrong, that hour I left my father’s home, persuaded by that Hellene’s words, who now shall pay the penalty, so help me God. Never shall he see again alive the children I bore to him,
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nor from his new bride shall he beget issue, for she must die a hideous death, slain by my drugs. Let no one deem me a poor weak woman who sits with folded hands, but of another mould, dangerous to foes and well-disposed to friends;
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for they win the fairest fame who live their life like me.
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Chorus
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Since thou hast imparted this design to me, I bid thee hold thy hand, both from a wish to serve thee and because I would uphold the laws men make.
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Medea
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It cannot but be so; thy words
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I pardon since thou art not in the same sorry plight that I am.
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Chorus
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O lady, wilt thou steel thyself to slay thy children twain?
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Medea
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I will, for that will stab my husband to the heart.
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Chorus
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It may, but thou wilt be the saddest wife alive.
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Medea
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No matter; wasted is every word that comes ’twixt now and then.
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(To the Nurse.) Ho! thou, go call me Jason hither, for thee I do employ on every mission of trust. No word divulge of all my purpose, as thou art to thy mistress loyal and likewise of my sex.
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Chorus
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Sons of Erechtheus, heroes happy from of yore,
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children of the blessed gods, fed on wisdom’s glorious food in a holy land ne’er pillaged by its foes, ye who move with sprightly step through a climate ever bright
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and clear, where, as legend tells, the Muses nine, Pieria’s holy maids, were brought to birth by Harmonia with the golden hair;
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Chorus
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and poets sing how Cypris drawing water from the streams of fair-flowing Cephissus breathesReading χώρας with Reiske. The passage is corrupt, and possibly some word is lost. o’er the land a gentle breeze
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of balmy winds, and ever as she crowns her tresses with a garland of sweet rose-buds sends forth the Loves to sit by wisdom’s side,
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to take a part in every excellence.
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Jason
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I am come at thy bidding, for e’en though thy hate for me is bitter thou shalt not fail in this small boon, but I will hear what new request thou hast to make of me, lady.
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Medea
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Jason, I crave thy pardon
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for the words I spoke, and well thou mayest brook my burst of passion, for ere now we twain have shared much love. For I have reasoned with my soul and railed upon me thus, Ah! poor heart 1 why am I thus distraught, why so angered ’gainst all good advice,
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why have I come to hate the rulers of the land, my husband too, who does the best for me he can, in wedding with a princess and rearing for my children noble brothers? Shall I not cease to fret? What possesses me, when heaven its best doth offer?
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Have I not my children to consider? do I forget that we are fugitives, in need of friends? When I had thought all this I saw how foolish I had been, how senselessly enraged. So now I do commend thee and think thee most wise in forming
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this connexion for us; but I was mad, I who should have shared in these designs, helped on thy plans, and lent my aid to bring about the match, only too pleased to wait upon thy bride. But what we are, we are, we women, evil I will not say;
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wherefore thou shouldst not sink to our sorry level nor with our weapons meet our childishness.
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I yield and do confess that I was wrong then, but now have I come to a better mind. Come hither, my children, come, leave the house,
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step forth, and with me greet and bid farewell to your father, be reconciled from all past bitterness unto your friends, as now your mother is; for we have made a truce and anger is no more. Enter the Children. Take his right hand; ah me! my sad fate!
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when I reflect, as now, upon the hidden future. O my children, since there awaits you even thus a long, long life, stretch forth the hand to take a fond farewell. Ah me! how newἀρτίδακρυς. The Schol. explains this word as ready to shed tears, but ἄρτι, as Mr. Evelyn Abbott points out, can scarcely bear such a meaning. (Cf., in Heberden’s edition of the Medea, his note.) to tears am I, how full of fear! For now that I have at last released me from my quarrel with your father,
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I let the tear-drops stream adown my tender cheek.
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Chorus
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From my eyes too bursts forth the copious tear; O, may no greater ill than the present e’er befall!
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Jason
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Lady, I praise this conduct, not that I blame what is past; for it is but natural to the female sex to vent their spleen against a husband
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when he trafficks in other marriages besides his own.i.e., ἀλλοίους. This word is not elsewhere used in tragedy, and has therefore been suspected. Heimsoethius conjectures παρεμπολῶντι δευτέρους, Dindorf δώμασιν. But thy heart is changed to wiser schemes and thou art determined on the better course, late though it be; this is acting like a woman of sober sense. And for you, my sons, hath your father provided
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with all good heed a sure refuge, by God’s grace; for ye, I trow, shall with your brothers share hereafter the foremost rank in this Corinthian realm. Only grow up, for all the rest your sire and whoso of the gods is kind to us is bringing to pass.