SCENE--_Corinth._ MEDEA ACT I SCENE I _Medea_ [_alone_]. Ye gods of marriage; Lucina, guardian of the genial bed; Pallas, who taught the tamer of the seas To steer the Argo; stormy ocean's lord; Titan, dividing bright day to the world; 5 And thou three-formed Hecate, who dost shed Thy conscious splendor on the hidden rites!
Ye by whom Jason plighted me his troth; And ye Medea rather should invoke: Chaos of night eternal; realm opposed 10 To the celestial powers; abandoned souls; Queen of the dusky realm; Persephone By better faith betrayed; you I invoke, But with no happy voice. Approach, approach, Avenging goddesses with snaky hair, 15 Holding in blood-stained hands your sulphurous torch!
Come now as horrible as when of yore Ye stood beside my marriage-bed; bring death To the new bride, and to the royal seed, And Creon; worse for Jason I would ask-- 20 Life! Let him roam in fear through unknown lands, An exile, hated, poor, without a home; A guest now too well known, let him, in vain, Seek alien doors, and long for me, his wife!
And, yet a last revenge, let him beget 25 Sons like their father, daughters like their mother!
'Tis done; revenge is even now brought forth-- I have borne sons to Jason. I complain Vainly, and cry aloud with useless words, Why do I not attack mine enemies? 30 I will strike down the torches from their hands, The light from heaven. Does the sun see this, The author of our race, and still give light?
And, sitting in his chariot, does he still Run through the accustomed spaces of the sky, 35 Nor turn again to seek his rising place, And measure back the day? Give me the reins; Father, let me in thy paternal car Be borne aloft the winds, and let me curb With glowing bridle those thy fiery steeds! 40 Burn Corinth; let the parted seas be joined!
This still remains--for me to carry up The marriage torches to the bridal room, And, after sacrificial prayers, to slay The victims on their altars. Seek, my soul-- 45 If thou still livest, or if aught endures Of ancient vigor--seek to find revenge Through thine own bowels; throw off woman's fears, Intrench thyself in snowy Caucasus.
All impious deeds Phasis or Pontus saw, 50 Corinth shall see. Evils unknown and wild, Hideous, frightful both to earth and heaven, Disturb my soul,--wounds, and the scattered corpse, And murder. I remember gentle deeds, A maid did these; let heavier anguish come, 55 Since sterner crimes befit me now, a wife!
Gird thee with wrath, prepare thine utmost rage, That fame of thy divorce may spread as far As of thy marriage! Make no long delay.
How dost thou leave thy husband? As thou cam'st. 60 Homes crime built up, by crime must be dissolved.
SCENE II _Enter Chorus of Corinthian women, singing the marriage song of Jason and Creusa._ _Chorus._ Be present at the royal marriage feast, Ye gods who sway the scepter of the deep, And ye who hold dominion in the heavens; With the glad people come, ye smiling gods! 65 First to the scepter-bearing thunderers The white-backed bull shall stoop his lofty head; The snowy heifer, knowing not the yoke, Is due to fair Lucina; and to her Who stays the bloody hand of Mars, and gives 70 To warring nations peace, who in her horn Holds plenty, sacrifice a victim wild.
Thou who at lawful bridals dost preside, Scattering darkness with thy happy hands, Come hither with slow step, dizzy with wine, 75 Binding thy temples with a rosy crown.
Thou star that bringest in the day and night, Slow-rising on the lover, ardently For thy clear shining maids and matrons long.
In comeliness the virgin bride excels 80 The Athenian women, and the strong-limbed maids Of Sparta's unwalled town, who on the top Of high Taÿgetus try youthful sports; Or those who in the clear Aonian stream, Or in Alpheus' sacred waters bathe. 85 The child of the wild thunder, he who tames And fits the yoke to tigers, is less fair Than the Ausonian prince. The glorious god Who moves the tripod, Dian's brother mild; The skillful boxer Pollux; Castor, too, 90 Must yield the palm to Jason. O ye gods Who dwell in heaven, ever may the bride Surpass all women, he excel all men!
Before her beauty in the women's choir The beauty of the other maids grows dim; 95 So with the sunrise pales the light of stars, So when the moon with brightness not her own Fills out her crescent horns, the Pleiads fade.
Her cheeks blush like white cloth 'neath Tyrian dyes, Or as the shepherd sees the light of stars 100 Grow rosy with the dawn. O happy one, Accustomed once to clasp unwillingly A wife unloved and reckless, snatched away From that dread Colchian marriage, take thy bride, The Æolian virgin--'tis her father's will. 105 Bright offspring of the thyrsus-bearing god, The time has come to light the torch of pine; With fingers dripping wine put out the fires, Sound the gay music of the marriage song, Let the crowd pass their jests; 'tis only she 110 Who flies her home to wed a stranger guest, Need steal away into the silent dark.
ACT II SCENE I _Medea, Nurse._ _Medea._ Alas, the wedding chorus strikes my ears; Now let me die! I could not hitherto Believe--can hardly yet believe such wrong. 115 And this is Jason's deed? Of father, home, And kingdom reft, can he desert me now, Alone and in a foreign land? Can he Despise my worth who saw the flames and seas By my art conquered? thinks, perchance, all crime 120 Exhausted! Tossed by every wave of doubt, I am distracted, seeking some revenge.
Had he a brother's love--he has a bride; Through her be thrust the steel! Is this enough?
If Grecian or barbarian cities know 125 Crime that this hand knows not, that crime be done!
Thy sins return to mind exhorting thee: The far-famed treasure of a kingdom lost; Thy little comrade, wicked maid, destroyed, Torn limb from limb and scattered on the sea 130 An offering to his father; Pelias old Killed in the boiling cauldron. I have shed Blood often basely, but alas! alas!
'Twas not in wrath, unhappy love did all!
Had Jason any choice, by foreign law 135 And foreign power constrained? He could have bared His breast to feel the sword. O bitter grief, Speak milder, milder words. Let Jason live; Mine as he was, if this be possible, But, if not mine, still let him live secure, 140 To spare me still the memory of my gift!
The fault is Creon's; he abuses power To annul our marriage, sever strongest ties, And tear the children from their mother's breast; Let Creon pay the penalty he owes. 145 I'll heap his home in ashes, the dark flame Shall reach Malea's dreaded cape, where ships Find passage only after long delay.
_Nurse._ Be silent, I implore thee, hide thy pain Deep in thy bosom. He who quietly 150 Bears grievous wounds, with patience, and a mind Unshaken, may find healing. Hidden wrath Finds strength, when open hatred loses hope Of vengeance.
_Medea._ Light is grief that hides itself, And can take counsel. Great wrongs lie not hid. 155 I am resolved on action.
Restrain thy fury; hardly art thou safe Though silent.
_Medea._ Fortune tramples on the meek, But fears the brave.
_Nurse._ This is no place to show That thou hast courage.
_Medea._ It can never be 160 That courage should be out of place.
_Nurse._ To thee, In thy misfortune, hope points out no way.
_Medea._ The man who cannot hope despairs of naught.
_Nurse._ Colchis is far away, thy husband lost; Of all thy riches nothing now remains. 165 _Medea._ Medea now remains! Here's land and sea, Fire and sword, god and the thunderbolt.
_Nurse._ The king is to be feared.
For father.
_Nurse._ Hast thou then no fear of arms?
_Medea._ I, who saw warriors spring from earth?
_Medea._ I wish it.
_Nurse._ Flee!
_Medea._ Nay, I repent of flight.
_Nurse._ Thou art a mother.
_Medea._ And thou seest by whom.
_Nurse._ Wilt thou not fly?
_Medea._ I fly, but first revenge.
_Nurse._ Vengeance may follow thee.
_Medea._ I may, perchance, Find means to hinder it.
_Nurse._ Restrain thyself 175 And cease to threaten madly; it is well That thou adjust thyself to fortune's change.
_Medea._ My riches, not my spirit, fortune takes.
The hinge creaks,--who is this? Creon himself, Swelling with Grecian pride. 180 SCENE II _Creon with Attendants, Medea._ _Creon._ What, is Medea of the hated race Of Colchian Æëtes, not yet gone?
Still she is plotting evil; well I know Her guile, and well I know her cruel hand.
Whom does she spare, or whom let rest secure? 185 Verily I had thought to cut her off With the swift sword, but Jason's prayers availed To spare her life. She may go forth unharmed If she will set our city free from fear.
Threatening and fierce, she seeks to speak with us; 190 Attendants, keep her off, bid her be still, And let her learn at last, a king's commands Must be obeyed. Go, haste, and take her hence.
_Medea._ What fault is punished by my banishment?
_Creon._ A woman, innocent, may ask, 'What fault?' 195 _Medea._ If thou wilt judge, examine.
_Creon._ Kings command.
Just or unjust, a king must be obeyed.
_Medea._ An unjust kingdom never long endures.
_Creon._ Go hence! Seek Colchis!
_Medea._ Willingly I go; Let him who brought me hither take me hence. 200 _Creon._ Thy words come late, my edict has gone forth.
_Medea._ The man who judges, one side still unheard, Were hardly a just judge, though he judge justly.
_Creon._ Pelias for listening to thee died, but speak, I may find time to hear so good a plea. 205 _Medea._ How hard it is to calm a wrathful soul, How he who takes the scepter in proud hands Deems his own will sufficient, I have learned; Have learned it in my father's royal house.
For though the sport of fortune, suppliant, 210 Banished, alone, forsaken, on all sides Distressed, my father was a noble king.
I am descended from the glorious sun.
What lands the Phasis in its winding course Bathes, or the Euxine touches where the sea 215 Is freshened by the water from the swamps, Or where armed maiden cohorts try their skill Beside Thermodon, all these lands are held Within my father's kingdom, where I dwelt Noble and happy and with princely power. 220 He whom kings seek, sought then to wed with me.
Swift, fickle fortune cast me headlong forth, And gave me exile. Put thy trust in thrones-- Such trust as thou mayst put in what light chance Flings here and there at will! Kings have one power, 225 A matchless honor time can never take: To help the wretched, and to him who asks To give a safe retreat. This I have brought From Colchis, this at least I still can claim: I saved the flower of Grecian chivalry, 230 Achaian chiefs, the offspring of the gods; It is to me they owe their Orpheus Whose singing melted rocks and drew the trees; Castor and Pollux are my twofold gift; Boreas' sons, and Lynceus whose sharp eye 235 Could pierce beyond the Euxine, are my gift, And all the Argonauts. Of one alone, The chief of chiefs, I do not speak; for him Thou owest me naught; those have I saved for thee, This one is mine. Rehearse, now, all my crime; 240 Accuse me; I confess; this is my fault-- I saved the Argo! Had I heard the voice Of maiden modesty or filial love, Greece and her leaders had regretted it, And he, thy son-in-law, had fallen first 245 A victim to the fire-belching bull.
Let fortune trample on me as she will, My hand has succored princes, I am glad!
Assign the recompense for these my deeds, Condemn me if thou wilt, but tell the fault. 250 Creon, I own my guilt--guilt known to thee When first, a suppliant, I touched thy knees, And asked with outstretched hands protecting aid.
Again I ask a refuge, some poor spot For misery to hide in; grant a place 255 Withdrawn, a safe asylum in thy realm, If I must leave the city.
_Creon._ I am no prince who rules with cruel sway, Or tramples on the wretched with proud foot.
Have I not shown this true by choosing him 260 To be my son-in-law who is a man Exiled, without resource, in fear of foes?
One whom Acastus, king of Thessaly, Seeks to destroy, that so he may avenge A father weak with age, bowed down with years, 265 Whose limbs were torn asunder? That foul crime His wicked sisters impiously dared Tempted by thee; if thou wouldst say the deed Was Jason's, he can prove his innocence; No guiltless blood has stained him, and his hands 270 Touched not the sword, are yet unstained by thee.
Foul instigator of all evil deeds, With woman's wantonness in daring aught, And man's courageous heart--and void of shame, Go, purge our kingdom; take thy deadly herbs, 275 Free us from fear; dwelling in other lands Afar, invoke the gods.
_Medea._ Thou bidst me go?
Give back the ship and comrade of my flight.
Why bid me go alone? Not so I came.
If thou fear war, both should go forth, nor choice 280 Be made between two equally at fault: That old man fell for Jason's sake; impute To Jason flight, rapine, a brother slain, And a deserted father; not all mine The crimes to which a husband tempted me; 285 'Tis true I sinned, but never for myself.
_Creon._ Thou shouldst begone, why waste the time with words?
_Medea._ I go, but going make one last request: Let not a mother's guilt drag down her sons.
_Creon._ Go, as a father I will succor them, 290 And with a father's care.
_Medea._ By future hopes, By the king's happy marriage, by the strength Of thrones, which fickle fortune sometimes shakes, I pray thee grant the exile some delay That she, perchance about to die, may press 295 A last kiss on her children's lips.
_Creon._ Thou seekst Time to commit new crime.
_Medea._ In so brief time What crime were possible?
_Creon._ No time too short For him who would do ill.
_Medea._ Dost thou deny To misery short space for tears?
_Creon._ Deep dread 300 Warns me against thy prayer; yet I will grant One day in which thou mayst prepare for flight.
_Medea._ Too great the favor! Of the time allowed, Something withdraw. I would depart in haste.
_Creon._ Before the coming day is ushered in 305 By Phœbus, leave the city or thou diest.
The bridal calls me, and I go to pay My vows to Hymen.
SCENE III _Chorus._ He rashly ventured who was first to make In his frail boat a pathway through the deep; 310 Who saw his native land behind him fade In distance blue; who to the raging winds Trusted his life, his slender keel between The paths of life and death. Our fathers dwelt In an unspotted age, and on the shore 315 Where each was born he lived in quietness, Grew old upon his father's farm content; With little rich, he knew no other wealth Than his own land afforded. None knew yet The changing constellations, nor could use 320 As guides the stars that paint the ether; none Had learned to shun the rainy Hyades, The Goat, or Northern Wain, that follows slow By old Boötes driven; none had yet To Boreas or Zephyr given names. 325 Rash Tiphys was the first to tempt the deep With spreading canvas; for the winds to write New laws; to furl the sail; or spread it wide When sailors longed to fly before the gale, And the red topsail fluttered in the breeze. 330 The world so wisely severed by the seas The pine of Thessaly united, bade The distant waters bring us unknown fears.
The cursed leader paid hard penalty When the two cliffs, the gateway of the sea, 335 Moved as though smitten by the thunderbolt, And the imprisoned waters smote the stars.
Bold Tiphys paled, and from his trembling hand Let fall the rudder; Orpheus' music died, His lyre untouched; the Argo lost her voice. 340 When, belted by her girdle of wild dogs, The maid of the Sicilian straits gives voice From all her mouths, who fears not at her bark?
Who does not tremble at the witching song With which the Sirens calm the Ausonian sea? 345 The Thracian Orpheus' lyre had almost forced Those hinderers of ships to follow him!
What was the journey's prize? The golden fleece, Medea, fiercer than the raging sea,-- Worthy reward for those first mariners! 350 The sea forgets its former wrath; submits To the new laws; and not alone the ship Minerva builded, manned by sons of kings, Finds rowers; other ships may sail the deep.
Old metes are moved, new city walls spring up 355 On distant soil, and nothing now remains As it has been. The cold Araxes' stream The Indian drinks; the Persian quaffs the Rhine; And the times come with the slow-rolling years When ocean shall strike off the chains from earth, 360 And a great world be opened. Tiphys then, Another Tiphys, shall win other lands, And Thule cease to be earth's utmost bound.
ACT III SCENE I _Medea, Nurse._ _Nurse._ Stay, foster-child, why fly so swiftly hence?
Restrain thy wrath! curb thy impetuous haste! 365 As a Bacchante, frantic with the god And filled with rage divine, uncertain walks The top of snowy Pindus or the peak Of Nyssa, so Medea wildly goes Hither and thither; on her cheek the stain 370 Of bitter tears, her visage flushed, her breast Shaken by sobs. She cries aloud, her eyes Are drowned in scalding tears; again she laughs; All passions surge within her soul; she stays Her steps, she threatens, makes complaint, weeps, groans. 375 Where will she fling the burden of her soul?
Where wreak her vengeance? where will break this wave Of fury? Passion overflows! she plans No easy crime, no ordinary deed.
She conquers self; I recognize old signs 380 Of raging; something terrible she plans, Some deed inhuman, devilish, and wild.
Ye gods, avert the horrors I foresee!
_Medea._ Dost thou seek how to show thy hate, poor wretch?
Imitate love! And must I then endure 385 Without revenge the royal marriage-torch?
Shall this day prove unfruitful, sought and gained Only by earnest effort? While the earth Hangs free within the heavens; while the vault Of heaven sweeps round the earth with changeless change; 390 While the sands lie unnumbered; while the day Follows the sun, the night brings up the stars; Arcturus never wet in ocean's wave Rolls round the pole; while rivers seaward flow, My hate shall never cease to seek revenge. 395 Did ever fierceness of a ravening beast; Or Scylla or Charybdis sucking down The waters of the wild Ausonian And the Sicilian seas; or Ætna fierce, That holds imprisoned great Enceladus 400 Breathing forth flame, so glow as I with threats?
Not the swift rivers, nor the force of flame By storm-wind fanned, can imitate my wrath.
I will o'erthrow and bring to naught the world!
Does Jason fear the king? Thessalian war? 405 True love fears nothing. He was forced to yield, Unwillingly he gave his hand. But still He might have sought his wife for one farewell.
This too he feared to do. He might have gained From Creon some delay of banishment. 410 One day is granted for my two sons' sake!
I do not make complaint of too short time, It is enough for much; this day shall see What none shall ever hide. I will attack The very gods, and shake the universe! 415 _Nurse._ Lady, thy spirit so disturbed by ills Restrain, and let thy storm-tossed soul find rest.
_Medea._ Rest I can never find until I see All dragged with me to ruin; all shall fall When I do;--so to share one's woe is joy. 420 _Nurse._ Think what thou hast to fear if thou persist; No one can safely fight with princely power.
SCENE II _The Nurse withdraws; enter Jason._ _Jason._ The lot is ever hard; bitter is fate, Equally bitter if it slay or spare; God gives us remedies worse than our ills. 425 Would I keep faith with her I deem my wife I must expect to die; would I shun death I must forswear myself. Not fear of death Has conquered honor, love has cast out fear In that the father's death involves the sons. 430 O holy Justice, if thou dwell in heaven, I call on thee to witness that the sons Vanquish their father! Say the mother's love Is fierce and spurns the yoke, she still will deem Her children of more worth than marriage joys. 435 My mind is fixed, I go to her with prayers.
She starts at sight of me, her look grows wild, Hatred she shows and grief.
_Medea._ Jason, I flee!
I flee, it is not new to change my home, The cause of banishment alone is new; 440 I have been exiled hitherto for thee.
I go, as thou compellst me, from thy home, But whither shall I go? Shall I, perhaps, Seek Phasis, Colchis, and my father's realm Whose soil is watered by a brother's blood? 445 What land dost thou command me seek? what sea?
The Euxine's jaws through which I led that band Of noble princes when I followed thee, Adulterer, through the Symplegades?
Little Iolchos? Tempe? Thessaly? 450 Whatever way I opened up for thee I closed against myself. Where shall I go?
Thou drivest into exile, but hast given No place of banishment. I will go hence.
The king, Creusa's father, bids me go, 455 And I will do his bidding. Heap on me Most dreadful punishment, it is my due.
With cruel penalties let royal wrath Pursue thy mistress, load my hands with chains, And in a dungeon of eternal night 460 Imprison me--'tis less than I deserve!
Ungrateful one, recall the fiery bull; The earth-born soldiers, who at my command Slew one another; and the golden fleece Of Phrixus' ram, whose watchful guardian, 465 The sleepless dragon, at my bidding slept; The brother slain; the many, many crimes In one crime gathered. Think how, led by me, By me deceived, that old man's daughters dared To slay their aged father, dead for aye! 470 By thy hearth's safety, by thy children's weal, By the slain dragon, by these blood-stained hands I never spared from doing aught for thee, By thy past fears, and by the sea and sky Witnesses of our marriage, pity me! 475 O happy one, give me some recompense!
Of all the ravished gold the Scythians brought From far, as far as India's burning plains, Wealth our wide palace hardly could contain, So that we hung our groves with gold, I took 480 Nothing. My brother only bore I thence, And him for thee I sacrificed. I left My country, father, brother, maiden shame: This was my marriage portion; give her own To her who goes an exile. 485 _Jason._ When angry Creon thought to have thee slain, Urged by my prayers, he gave thee banishment.
_Medea._ I looked for a reward; the gift I see Is exile.
_Jason._ While thou mayst fly, fly in haste!
The wrath of kings is ever hard to bear. 490 _Medea._ Thou giv'st me such advice because thou lov'st Creusa, wouldst divorce a hated wife!
_Jason._ And does Medea taunt me with my loves?
_Medea._ More--treacheries and murders.
_Jason._ Canst thou charge Such sins to me?
_Medea._ All I have ever done. 495 _Jason._ It only needs that I should share the guilt Of these thy crimes!
_Medea._ Thine are they, thine alone; He is the criminal who reaps the fruit.
Though all should brand thy wife with infamy, Thou shouldst defend and call her innocent: 500 She who has sinned for thee, toward thee is pure.
_Jason._ To me my life is an unwelcome gift Of which I am ashamed.
_Medea._ Who is ashamed To owe his life to me can lay it down.
_Jason._ For thy sons' sake control thy fiery heart. 505 _Medea._ I will have none of them, I cast them off, Abjure them; shall Creusa to my sons Give brothers?
_Jason._ To an exile's wretched sons A mighty queen will give them.
_Medea._ Never come That evil day that mingles a great race 510 With race unworthy,--Phœbus' glorious sons With sons of Sisyphus.
_Jason._ What, cruel one, Wouldst thou drag both to banishment? Away!
_Medea._ Creon has heard my prayer.
_Jason._ What can I do?
_Medea._ For me? Some crime perhaps.
Is here and there.
_Medea._ Medea's wrath more fierce!
Let us essay our power, the victor's prize Be Jason.
Fear thou to trust a fate too often tried.
_Medea._ Fortune has ever served me faithfully. 520 _Jason._ Acastus comes.
But both shall fall. Medea does not ask That thou shouldst arm thyself against the king, Or soil thy hands with murder of thy kin; Fly with me innocent.
_Jason._ Who will oppose 525 If double war ensue, and the two kings Join forces?
_Medea._ Add to them the Colchian troops And King Æëtes, Scythian hosts and Greeks, Medea conquers them!
_Medea._ Do not covet it. 530 _Jason._ We must cut short our converse, lest it breed Suspicion.
_Medea._ Now from high Olympus send Thy thunder, Jupiter; stretch forth thy hand, Prepare thy lightning, from the riven clouds Make the world tremble, nor with careful hand 535 Spare him or me; whichever of us dies Dies guilty; thy avenging thunderbolt Cannot mistake the victim.
_Jason._ Try to speak More sanely; calm thyself. If aught can aid Thy flight from Creon's house, thou needst but ask. 540 _Medea._ My soul is strong enough, and wont to scorn The wealth of kings; this boon alone I crave, To take my children with me when I go; Into their bosoms I would shed my tears, New sons are thine.
_Jason._ Would I might grant thy prayer; 545 Paternal love forbids me, Creon's self Could not compel me to it. They alone Lighten the sorrow of a grief-parched soul.
For them I live, I sooner would resign Breath, members, light.
_Medea_ [_aside_]. 'Tis well! He loves his sons, 550 This, then, the place where he may feel a wound!
[_To Jason._] Before I go, thou wilt, at least, permit That I should give my sons a last farewell, A last embrace? But one thing more I ask: If in my grief I've poured forth threatening words, 555 Retain them not in mind; let memory hold Only my softer speech, my words of wrath Obliterate.
_Jason._ I have erased them all From my remembrance. I would counsel thee Be calm, act gently; calmness quiets pain. 560 [_Exit Jason._ SCENE III _Medea, Nurse._ _Medea._ He's gone! And can it be he leaves me so, Forgetting me and all my guilt? Forgot?
Nay, never shall Medea be forgot!
Up! Act! Call all thy power to aid thee now; This fruit of crime is thine, to shun no crime! 565 Deceit is useless, so they fear my guile.
Strike where they do not dream thou canst be feared.
Medea, haste, be bold to undertake The possible--yea, that which is not so!
Thou, faithful nurse, companion of my griefs 570 And varying fortunes, aid my wretched plans.
I have a robe, gift of the heavenly powers, An ornament of a king's palace, given By Phœbus to my father as a pledge Of sonship; and a necklace of wrought gold; 575 And a bright diadem, inlaid with gems, With which they used to bind my hair. These gifts, Endued with poison by my magic arts, My sons shall carry for me to the bride.
Pay vows to Hecate, bring the sacrifice, 580 Set up the altars. Let the mounting flame Envelop all the house.
SCENE IV _Chorus._ Fear not the power of flame, nor swelling gale, Nor hurtling dart, nor cloudy wain that brings The winter storms; fear not when Danube sweeps 585 Unchecked between its widely severed shores, Nor when the Rhone hastes seaward, and the sun Has broken up the snow upon the hills, And Hermes flows in rivers.
A wife deserted, loving while she hates, 590 Fear greatly; blindly burns her anger's flame, For kings she cares not, will not bear the curb.
Ye gods, we ask your grace divine for him Who safely crossed the seas; the ocean's lord Is angry for his conquered kingdom's sake; 595 Spare Jason, we entreat!
Th' impetuous youth who dared to drive the car Of Phœbus, keeping not the wonted course, Died in the furious fires himself had lit.
Few are the evils of the well-known way; 600 Seek the old paths your fathers safely trod, The sacred federations of the world Keep still inviolate.
The men who dipped the oars of that brave ship; Who plundered of their shade the sacred groves Of Pelion; passed between the unstable cliffs; Endured so many hardships on the deep; And cast their anchor on a savage coast, Passing again with ravished foreign gold, Atoned with fearful death upon the sea 610 For violated law.
The angry deep demanded punishment: Tiphys to an unskillful pilot left The rudder. On a foreign coast he fell, Far from his father's kingdom, and he lies 615 With nameless shades, under a lowly tomb.
Becalmed in her still harbor Aulis held The impatient ships, remembering in wrath The king that she lost thence.
The fair Camena's son, who touched his lyre 620 So sweetly that the floods stood still, the winds Were silent, and the birds forgot to sing, And forests followed him, on Thracian fields Lies dead, his head borne down by Hebrus' stream.
He touched again the Styx and Tartarus, 625 But not again returns.
Alcides overthrew the north wind's sons; He slew that son of Neptune who could take Unnumbered forms; but after he had made Peace between land and sea, and opened wide 630 The realm of Dis, lying on Œta's top He gave his body to the cruel fire, Destroyed by his wife's gift--the fatal robe Poisoned with Centaur's blood.
Ankæus fell a victim to the boar 635 Of Caledonia; Meleager slew His mother's brother, stained his hands with blood Of his own mother. They have merited Their lot, but what the crime that he atoned By death whom Hercules long sought in vain-- 640 The tender Hylas drawn beneath safe waves?
Go now, brave soldiers, boldly plow the main, But fear the gentle streams.
Idmon the serpents buried in the sands Of Libya, though he knew the future well. 645 Mopsus, to others true, false to himself, Fell far from Thebes; and he who tried to burn The crafty Greeks fell headlong to the deep: Such death was meet for crime.
Oileus, smitten by the thunderbolt, 650 Died on the ocean; and Pheræus' wife Fell for her husband, so averting fate; He who commanded that the golden spoil Be carried to the ships had traveled far, But, plunged in seething cauldron, Pelias died 655 In narrow limits. 'Tis enough, ye gods; Ye have avenged the sea!
ACT IV SCENE I _Nurse._ I shrink with horror! Ruin threatens us!
How terribly her wrath inflames itself!