Medea
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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May I see you reach man’s full estate, high o’er the heads of those I hate! But thou, lady, why with fresh tears dost thou thine eyelids wet, turning away thy wan cheek, with no welcome for these my happy tidings?
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Medea
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’Tis naught; upon these children my thoughts were turned.
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Jason
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Then take heart; for I will see that it is well with them.
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Medea
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I will do so; nor will I doubt thy word; woman is a weak creature, ever given to tears.
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Jason
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Why prithee, unhappy one, dost moan o’er these children?
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Medea
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I gave them birth; and when thou didst pray long life for them, pity entered into my soul to think that these things must be. But the reason of thy coming hither to speak with me is partly told, the rest will I now mention. Since it is the pleasure of the rulers of the land to banish me,
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and well I know ’twere best for me to stand not in the way of thee or of the rulers by dwelling here, enemy as I am thought unto their house, forth from this land in exile am I going, but these children,—that they may know thy fostering hand,
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beg Creon to remit their banishment
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Jason
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I doubt whether I can persuade him, yet must I attempt it.
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Medea
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At least do thou bid thy wife ask her sire this boon, to remit the exile of the children from this land.
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Jason
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Yea, that will I; and her methinks I shall persuade,
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since she is a woman like the rest.
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Medea
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I too will aid thee in this task, for by the children’s hand I will send to her gifts that far surpass in beauty, I well know, aught that now is seen ’mongst men, a robe of finest tissue and a chaplet of chased gold.
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But one of my attendants must haste and bring the ornaments hither. Happy shall she be not once alone but ten thousandfold, for in thee she wins the noblest soul to share her love, and gets these gifts as well which on a day my father’s sire, the Sun-god,
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bestowed on his descendants. My children, take in your hands these wedding gifts, and bear them as an offering to the royal maid, the happy bride; for verily the gifts she shall receive are not to be scorned.
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Jason
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But why so rashly rob thyself of these gifts?
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Dost think a royal palace wants for robes or gold? Keep them, nor give them to another. For well I know that if my lady hold me in esteem, she will set my price above all wealth.
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Medea
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Say not so; ’tis said that gifts tempt even gods;
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and o’er men’s minds gold holds more potent sway than countless words. Fortune smiles upon thy bride, and heaven now doth swell her triumph; youth is hers and princely power; yet to save my children from exile I would barter life, not dross alone. Children, when ye are come to the rich palace,
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pray your father’s new bride, my mistress, with suppliant voice to save you from exile, offering her these ornaments the while; for it is most needful that she receive the gifts in her own hand. Now go and linger not; may ye succeed and to your mother bring back
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the glad tidings she fain would hear!
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Chorus
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Gone, gone is every hope I had that the children yet might live; forth to their doom they now proceed. The hapless bride will take, ay, take the golden crown that is to be her ruin;
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with her own hand will she lift and place upon her golden locks the garniture of death.
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Chorus
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Its grace and sheen divine will tempt her to put on the robe and crown of gold,
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and in that act will she deck herself to be a bride amid the dead. Such is the snare whereinto she will fall, such is the deadly doom that waits the hapless maid, nor shall she from the curse escape.
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Attendant
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Thy children, lady, are from exile freed, and gladly did the royal bride accept thy gifts in her own hands, and so thy children made their peace with her.
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Medea
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Ah!
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Medea
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Ah me!
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Medea
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Ah me! once more I say.
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Have I erred in thinking my news was good?
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Medea
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Thy news is as it is; I blame thee not.
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Attendant
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Then why this downcast eye, these floods of tears?
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Medea
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Old friend, needs must I weep; for the gods and I with fell intent devised these schemes.
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Attendant
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Be of good cheer; thou too of a surety shalt by thy sons yet be brought home again.
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Medea
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Ere that shall I bring others to their home, ah! woe is me!
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Attendant
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Thou art not the only mother from thy children reft. Bear patiently thy troubles as a mortal must.
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Medea
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I will obey; go thou within the house
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and make the day’s provision for the children. O my babes, my babes, ye have still a city and a home, where far from me and my sad lot you will live your lives, reft of your mother for ever; while I must to another land in banishment,
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or ever I have had my joy of you, or lived to see you happy, or ever I have graced your marriage couch, your bride, your bridal bower, or lifted high the wedding torch. Ah me! a victim of my own self-will. So it was all in vain I reared you, O my sons;
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in vain did suffer, racked with anguish, enduring the cruel pangs of childbirth. ’Fore Heaven I once had hope, poor me! high hope of ye that you would nurse me in my age and deck my corpse with loving hands,
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a boon we mortals covet; but now is my sweet fancy dead and gone; for I must lose you both and in bitterness and sorrow drag through life. And ye shall never with fond eyes see your mother more, for o’er your life there comes a change.
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Ah me! ah me! why do ye look at me so, my children? why smile that last sweet smile? Ah me! what am I to do? My heart gives way when I behold my children’s laughing eyes. Ο, I cannot; farewell to all my former schemes;
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I will take the children from the land, the babes I bore. Why should I wound their sire by wounding them, and get me a twofold measure of sorrow? No, no, I will not do it. Farewell my scheming!
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And yet what am I coming to? Can I consent
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to let those foes of mine escape from punishment, and incur their mockery? I must face this deed. Out upon my craven heart! to think that I should even have let the softReading πρόεσθαι for which Badham proposes πρόσεσθαι, indulge my mind in gentle thoughts. words escape my soul. Into the house, children! and whoso feels he must not be present at my sacrifice,
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must see to it himself; I will not spoil my handiwork. Ah! ah! do not, my heart, O do not do this deed! Let the children go, unhappy one, spare the babes! For if they live, they will cheer thee in our exile there.At Athens. Nay, by the fiends of hell’s abyss,
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never, never will I hand my children over to their foes to mock and flout. Die they must in any case, and since ’tis so, why I, the mother who bore them, will give the fatal blow. In any case their doom is fixed and there is no escape.
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Already the crown is on her head, the robe is round her, and she is dying, the royal bride; that do I know full well. But now since I have a piteous path to tread, and yet more piteous still the path I send my children on, fain would I say farewell to them. O my babes,
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my babes, let your mother kiss your hands. Ah! hands I love so well, O lips most dear to me! O noble form and features of my children, I wish ye joy, but in that other land, for here your father robs you of your home. O the sweet embrace,
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the soft young cheek, the fragrant breath! my children! Go, leave me; I cannot bear to longer look upon ye; my sorrow wins the day. At last I understand the awful deed I am to do; but passion, that cause of direst woes to mortal man,
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hath triumphed o’er my sober thoughts.
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Chorus
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Oft ere now have I pursued subtler themes and have faced graver issues than woman’s sex should seek to probe;
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but then e’en we aspire to culture, which dwells with us to teach us wisdom; I say not all; for small is the class amongst women—(one maybe shalt thou find ’mid many)— that is not incapable of culture.
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And amongst mortals I do assert that they who are wholly without experience and have never had children far surpass in happiness those who are parents. The childless, because they have never proved
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whether children grow up to be a blessing or curse to men are removed from all share in many troubles; whilst those who have a sweet race of children growing up in their houses do wear away, as I perceive,
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their whole life through; first with the thought how they may train them up in virtue, next how they shall leave their sons the means to live; and after all this ’tis far from clear whether on good or bad children they bestow their toil.
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But one last crowning woe for every mortal man I now will name; suppose that they have found sufficient means to live, and seen their children grow to man’s estate and walk in virtue’s path, still if
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fortune so befall,Reading κυρήσει (Ald. et. Schol.). The MSS. vary between κυρήσας, σαι, σει. comes Death and bears the children’s bodies off to Hades. Can it be any profit to the gods to heap upon us mortal men beside our other woes this further grief for children lost,
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a grief surpassing all?
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Medea
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Kind friends, long have I waited expectantly to know how things would at the palace chance. And lo! I see one of Jason’s servants coming hither, whose hurried gasps for breath
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proclaim him the bearer of some fresh tidings.
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Messenger
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Fly, fly, Medea! who hast wrought an awful deed, transgressing every law; nor leave behind or sea-borne bark or car that scours the plain.
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Medea
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Why, what hath chanced that calls for such a flight of mine?
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Messenger
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The princess is dead, a moment gone, and Creon too, her sire, slain by those drugs of thine.
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Medea
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Tidings most fair are thine! Henceforth shalt thou be ranked amongst my friends and benefactors.
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Messenger
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Ha! What? Art sane? Art not distraught, lady,
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who hearest with joy the outrage to our royal house done, and art not at the horrid tale afraid?
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Medea
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Somewhat have I, too, to say in answer to thy words. Be not so hasty, friend, but tell the manner of their death, for thou wouldst give me double joy,
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if so they perished miserably.
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Messenger
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When the children twain whom thou didst bear came with their father and entered the palace of the bride, right glad were we thralls who had shared thy griefs, for instantly from ear to ear a rumour spread
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that thou and thy lord had made up your former quarrel. One kissed thy children’s hands, another their golden hair, while I for very joy went with them in person to the women’s chambers. Our mistress, whom now we do revere in thy room,
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cast a longing glance at Jason, ere she saw thy children twain; but then she veiled her eyes and turned her blanching cheek away, disgusted at their coming; but thy husband
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tried to check his young bride’s angry humour with these words: O, be not angered ’gainst thy friends; cease from wrath and turn once more thy face this way, counting as friends whomso thy husband counts, and accept these gifts, and for my sake crave thy sire
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to remit these children’s exile. Soon as she saw the ornaments, no longer she held out, but yielded to her lord in all; and ere the father and his sons were far from the palace gone, she took the broidered robe and put it on,
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and set the golden crown about her tresses, arranging her hair at her bright mirror, with many a happy smile at her breathless counterfeit. Then rising from her seat she passed across the chamber, tripping lightly on her fair white foot,
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exulting in the gift, with many a glance at her uplifted ankle.τένοντ’ ἐς ὀρθὸν σκοπουμένη, (1) she stretches out her foot to see how the robe falls over it (Paley), (2) she stands on tiptoe and looks back to see how the dress hangs behind = erecto pede (Pflugk) When lo! a scene of awful horror did ensue. In a moment she turned pale, reeled backwards, trembling in every limb,
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and sinks upon a seat scarce soon enough to save herself from falling to the ground. An aged dame, one of her company, thinking belike it was a fit from PanAny sudden seizure was ascribed to Pan’s agency. or some god sent, raised a cry of prayer, till from her mouth she saw the foam-flakes issue, her eyeballs
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rolling in their sockets, and all the blood her face desert; then did she raise a loud scream far different fiom her former cry. Forthwith one handmaid rushed to her father’s house, another to her new bridegroom to tell his bride’s sad fate,
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and the whole house echoed with their running to and fro.
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By this time would a quick walker have made the turn in a course of six plethraThe reading is doubtful, still more the meaning. The conjecture ἀνελθών is adopted here, with Musgrave’s ἂν ἥπτετο for ἀνθήπτετο, ἀνελθὼν κῶλον ἑκπλέθρου δρόμου. This would mean, her swoon lasted as long as a man would take to go and return the distance of six plethra. The κῶλον then must be the limb, lap of the course up to the turning post. and reached the goal, when she with one awful shriek awoke, poor sufferer, from her speechless trance and oped her closed eyes,
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for against her a twofold anguish was warring. The chaplet of gold about her head was sending forth a wondrous stream of ravening flame, while the fine raiment, thy children’s gift, was preying on the hapless maiden’s fair white flesh;
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and she starts from her seat in a blaze and seeks to fly, shaking her hair and head this way and that, to cast the crown therefrom; but the gold held firm to its fastenings, and the flame, as she shook her locks, blazed forth the more with double fury.
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Then to the earth she sinks, by the cruel blow o’ercome, past all recognition now save to a father’s eye; for her eyes had lost their tranquil gaze, her face no more its natural look preserved, and from the crown of her head blood and fire in mingled stream ran down;
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and from her bones the flesh kept peeling off beneath the gnawing of those secret drugs, e’en as when the pine-tree weeps its tears of pitch, a fearsome sight to see. And all were afraid to touch the corpse, for we were warned by what had chanced. Anon came her hapless father
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unto the house, all unwitting of her doom, and stumbles o’er the dead, and loud he cried, and folding his arms about her kissed her, with words like these the while, O my poor, poor child, which of the gods hath destroyed thee thus foully? Who is robbing me of thee, old as I am and
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ripe for death? O my child, alas! would I could die with thee! He ceased his sad lament, and would have raised his aged frame, but found himself held fast by the finespun robe as ivy that clings to the branches of the bay, and then ensued a fearful struggle.
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He strove to rise, but she still held him back; and if ever he pulled with all his might, from off his bones his aged flesh he tore. At last he gave it up, and breathed forth his soul in awful suffering; for he could no longer master the pain.
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So there they lie, daughter and aged sire, dead side by side, a grievous sight that calls for tears. And as for thee, I leave thee out of my consideration, for thyself must discover a means to escape punishment. Not now for the first time I think this human life a shadow;
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yea, and without shrinking I will say that they amongst men who pretend to wisdom and expend deep thought on words do incur a serious charge of folly; for amongst mortals no man is happy; wealth may pour in and make
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one luckier than another, but none can happy be.
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Chorus
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This day the deity, it seems, will mass on Jason, as he well deserves, a heavy load of evils. Woe is thee, daughter of Creon! We pity thy sad fate, gone as thou art to Hades’ halls
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as the price of thy marriage with Jason.
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Medea
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My friends, I am resolved upon the deed; at once will I slay my children and then leave this land, without delaying long enough to hand them over to some more savage hand to butcher.
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Needs must they die in any case; and since they must, I will slay them—I, the mother that bare them. O heart of mine, steel thyself! Why do I hesitate to do the awful deed that must be done? Come, take the sword, thou wretched hand of mine!
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Take it, and advance to the post whence starts thy life of sorrow! Away with cowardice! Give not one thought to thy babes, how dear they are or how thou art their mother This one brief day forget thy children dear, and after that lament; for though thou wilt slay them yet
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they were thy darlings still, andThe construction is intentionally irregular. Her emotion prevents a grammatical completion of the sentence. am a lady of sorrows.
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Chorus
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O earth, O sun whose beam illumines all, look, look upon this lost woman, ere she stretch forth, her murderous hand upon her sons for blood;
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for lo! these are scions of thy own golden seed, and the blood of gods is in danger of being shed by man. O light, from Zeus proceeding, stay her, hold her hand, forth from the house
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chase this fell bloody fiend by demons led.
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Chorus
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Vainly wasted were the throes thy children cost thee; vainly hast thou born, it seems, sweet babes, O thou who hast left behind thee that passage through the blue Symplegades, that strangers justly hate.