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Jason
Ladies, stationed near this house, pray tell me is the author of these hideous deeds,
Medea, still within, or hath she fled from hence? For she must hide beneath the earth or soar on wings towards heaven’s vault, if she would avoid the vengeance of the royal house. Is she so sure she will escape herself unpunished from this house,
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when she hath slain the rulers of the land? But enough of this! I am forgetting her children. As for her, those whom she hath wronged will do the like by her; but I am come to save the children’s life, lest the victim’s kin visit their wrath on me, in vengeance for the murder foul,
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wrought by my children’s mother.
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Ladies, stationed near this house, pray tell me is the author of these hideous deeds,
Medea, still within, or hath she fled from hence? For she must hide beneath the earth or soar on wings towards heaven’s vault, if she would avoid the vengeance of the royal house. Is she so sure she will escape herself unpunished from this house,
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when she hath slain the rulers of the land? But enough of this! I am forgetting her children. As for her, those whom she hath wronged will do the like by her; but I am come to save the children’s life, lest the victim’s kin visit their wrath on me, in vengeance for the murder foul,
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wrought by my children’s mother.
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Chorus
Unhappy man, thou knowest not the full extent of thy misery, else had thou never said those words.
Unhappy man, thou knowest not the full extent of thy misery, else had thou never said those words.
Jason
How now? Can she want to kill me too?
How now? Can she want to kill me too?
Chorus
Thy sons are dead; slain by their own mother’s hand.
Thy sons are dead; slain by their own mother’s hand.
Jason
O God! what sayest thou? Woman, thou hast sealed my doom.
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O God! what sayest thou? Woman, thou hast sealed my doom.
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Chorus
Thy children are no more; be sure of this.
Thy children are no more; be sure of this.
Jason
Where slew she them; within the palace or outside?
Where slew she them; within the palace or outside?
Chorus
Throw wide the doors and see thy children’s murdered corpses.
Throw wide the doors and see thy children’s murdered corpses.
Jason
Haste, ye slaves, loose the bolts,
undo the fastenings, that I may see the sight of twofold woe, my murdered sons and her, whose blood in vengeance I will shed.
[Medea in mid air, on a chariot drawn by dragons; the children’s corpses by her.
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Haste, ye slaves, loose the bolts,
undo the fastenings, that I may see the sight of twofold woe, my murdered sons and her, whose blood in vengeance I will shed.
[Medea in mid air, on a chariot drawn by dragons; the children’s corpses by her.
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Medea
Why shake those doors and attempt to loose their bolts, in quest of the dead and me their murderess? From such toil desist. If thou wouldst aught with me,
say on, if so thou wilt; but never shalt thou lay hand on me, so swift the steeds the sun, my father’s sire, to me doth give to save me from the hand of my foes.
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Why shake those doors and attempt to loose their bolts, in quest of the dead and me their murderess? From such toil desist. If thou wouldst aught with me,
say on, if so thou wilt; but never shalt thou lay hand on me, so swift the steeds the sun, my father’s sire, to me doth give to save me from the hand of my foes.
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Jason
Accursed woman! by gods, by me and all mankind abhorred as never woman was,
who hadst the heart to stab thy babes, thou their mother, leaving me undone and childless; this hast thou done and still dost gaze upon the sun and earth after this deed most impious. Curses on thee! I now perceive what then I missed
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in the day I brought thee, fraught with doom, from thy home in a barbarian land to dwell in Hellas, traitress to thy sire and to the land that nurtured thee. On me the gods have hurled the curse that dogged thy steps, for thou didst slay thy brother at his hearth
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ere thou cam’st aboard our fair ship
Argo. Such was the outset of thy life of crime; then didst thou wed with me, and having born me sons to glut thy passion’s lust, thou now hast slain them. Not one amongst the wives of Hellas e’er had dared
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this deed; yet before them all I chose thee for my wife, wedding a foe to be my doom, no woman, but a lioness fiercer than Tyrrhene Scylla in nature. But with reproaches heaped a thousandfold
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I cannot wound thee, so brazen is thy nature. Perish, vile sorceress, murderess of thy babes! Whilst I must mourn my luckless fate, for I shall ne’er enjoy my new-found bride, nor shall I have the children,
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whom I bred and reared, alive to say the last farewell to me; nay, I have lost them.
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Accursed woman! by gods, by me and all mankind abhorred as never woman was,
who hadst the heart to stab thy babes, thou their mother, leaving me undone and childless; this hast thou done and still dost gaze upon the sun and earth after this deed most impious. Curses on thee! I now perceive what then I missed
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in the day I brought thee, fraught with doom, from thy home in a barbarian land to dwell in Hellas, traitress to thy sire and to the land that nurtured thee. On me the gods have hurled the curse that dogged thy steps, for thou didst slay thy brother at his hearth
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ere thou cam’st aboard our fair ship
Argo. Such was the outset of thy life of crime; then didst thou wed with me, and having born me sons to glut thy passion’s lust, thou now hast slain them. Not one amongst the wives of Hellas e’er had dared
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this deed; yet before them all I chose thee for my wife, wedding a foe to be my doom, no woman, but a lioness fiercer than Tyrrhene Scylla in nature. But with reproaches heaped a thousandfold
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I cannot wound thee, so brazen is thy nature. Perish, vile sorceress, murderess of thy babes! Whilst I must mourn my luckless fate, for I shall ne’er enjoy my new-found bride, nor shall I have the children,
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whom I bred and reared, alive to say the last farewell to me; nay, I have lost them.
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Medea
To this thy speech I could have made a long retort, but Father Zeus knows well all I have done for thee, and the treatment thou hast given me. Yet thou wert not ordained to scorn my love
and lead a life of joy in mockery of me, nor was thy royal bride nor Creon, who gave thee a second wife, to thrust me from this land and rue it not. Wherefore, if thou wilt, call me e’en a lioness, and Scylla, whose home is in the Tyrrhene land;
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for I in turn have wrung thy heart, as well I might.
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To this thy speech I could have made a long retort, but Father Zeus knows well all I have done for thee, and the treatment thou hast given me. Yet thou wert not ordained to scorn my love
and lead a life of joy in mockery of me, nor was thy royal bride nor Creon, who gave thee a second wife, to thrust me from this land and rue it not. Wherefore, if thou wilt, call me e’en a lioness, and Scylla, whose home is in the Tyrrhene land;
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for I in turn have wrung thy heart, as well I might.
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Jason
Thou, too, art grieved thyself, and sharest in my sorrow.
Thou, too, art grieved thyself, and sharest in my sorrow.
Medea
Be well assured I am; but it relieves my pain to know thou canst not mock at me.
Be well assured I am; but it relieves my pain to know thou canst not mock at me.
Jason
O my children, how vile a mother ye have found!
O my children, how vile a mother ye have found!
Medea
My sons, your father’s feeble lust has been your ruin!
My sons, your father’s feeble lust has been your ruin!
Jason
’Twas not my hand, at any rate, that slew them.
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’Twas not my hand, at any rate, that slew them.
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Medea
No, but thy foul treatment of me, and thy new marriage.
No, but thy foul treatment of me, and thy new marriage.
Jason
Didst think that marriage cause enough to murder them?
Didst think that marriage cause enough to murder them?
Medea
Dost think a woman counts this a trifling injury?
Dost think a woman counts this a trifling injury?
Jason
So she be self-restrained; but in thy eyes all is evil.
So she be self-restrained; but in thy eyes all is evil.
Medea
Thy sons are dead and gone. That will stab thy heart.
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Thy sons are dead and gone. That will stab thy heart.
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Jason
They live, methinks,
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to bring a curse upon thy head.
They live, methinks,
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to bring a curse upon thy head.
Medea
The gods know, whoso of them began this troublous coil.
The gods know, whoso of them began this troublous coil.
Jason
Indeed, they know that hateful heart of thine.
Indeed, they know that hateful heart of thine.
Medea
Thou art as hateful. I am aweary of thy bitter tongue.
Thou art as hateful. I am aweary of thy bitter tongue.
Jason
And I likewise of thine. But parting is easy.
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And I likewise of thine. But parting is easy.
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Medea
Say how; what am I to do? for I am fain as thou to go.
Say how; what am I to do? for I am fain as thou to go.
Jason
Give up to me those dead, to bury and lament
Give up to me those dead, to bury and lament
Medea
No, never! I will bury them myself, bearing them to Hera’s sacred field, who watches o’er the Cape,
that none of their foes may insult them by pulling down their tombs; and in this land of Sisyphus I will ordain hereafter a solemn feast and mystic rites to atone for this impious murder. Myself will now to the land of Erechtheus,
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to dwell with Aegeus, Pandion’s son. But thou, as well thou mayest, shalt die a caitiff’s death, thy head
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crushed ’neath a shattered relic of Argo, when thou hast seen the bitter ending of my marriage.
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No, never! I will bury them myself, bearing them to Hera’s sacred field, who watches o’er the Cape,
that none of their foes may insult them by pulling down their tombs; and in this land of Sisyphus I will ordain hereafter a solemn feast and mystic rites to atone for this impious murder. Myself will now to the land of Erechtheus,
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to dwell with Aegeus, Pandion’s son. But thou, as well thou mayest, shalt die a caitiff’s death, thy head
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crushed ’neath a shattered relic of Argo, when thou hast seen the bitter ending of my marriage.
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Jason
The curse of our sons’ avenging spirit and of Justice,
that calls for blood, be on thee!
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The curse of our sons’ avenging spirit and of Justice,
that calls for blood, be on thee!
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Medea
What god or power divine hears thee, breaker of oaths and every law of hospitality?
What god or power divine hears thee, breaker of oaths and every law of hospitality?
Jason
Fie upon thee! cursed witch! child-murderess!
Fie upon thee! cursed witch! child-murderess!
Medea
To thy house! go, bury thy wife.
To thy house! go, bury thy wife.
Jason
I go, bereft of both my sons.
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I go, bereft of both my sons.
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Medea
Thy grief is yet to come; wait till old age is with thee too.
Thy grief is yet to come; wait till old age is with thee too.
Jason
O my dear, dear children!
O my dear, dear children!
Medea
Dear to their mother, not to thee.
Dear to their mother, not to thee.
Jason
And yet thou didst slay them?
And yet thou didst slay them?
Medea
Yea, to vex thy heart.
Yea, to vex thy heart.
Jason
One last fond kiss, ah me!
I fain would on their lips imprint.
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One last fond kiss, ah me!
I fain would on their lips imprint.
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Medea
Embraces now, and fond farewells for them; but then a cold repulse!
Embraces now, and fond farewells for them; but then a cold repulse!
Jason
By heaven I do adjure thee, let me touch their tender skin.
By heaven I do adjure thee, let me touch their tender skin.
Medea
No, no! in vain this word has sped its flight.
No, no! in vain this word has sped its flight.
Jason
O Zeus, dost hear how I am driven hence; dost mark the treatment I receive from this she-lion, fell murderess of her young? Yet so far as I may and can, I raise for them a dirge,
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and do adjure
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the gods to witness how thou hast slain my sons, and wilt not suffer me to embrace or bury their dead bodies. Would I had never begotten them to see thee slay them after all!
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O Zeus, dost hear how I am driven hence; dost mark the treatment I receive from this she-lion, fell murderess of her young? Yet so far as I may and can, I raise for them a dirge,
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and do adjure
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the gods to witness how thou hast slain my sons, and wilt not suffer me to embrace or bury their dead bodies. Would I had never begotten them to see thee slay them after all!
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Chorus
Many a fate doth Zeus dispense, high on his Olympian throne; oft do the gods bring things to pass beyond man’s expectation; that, which we thought would be, is not fulfilled, while for the unlooked-for god finds out a way; and such hath been the issue of this matter.
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Many a fate doth Zeus dispense, high on his Olympian throne; oft do the gods bring things to pass beyond man’s expectation; that, which we thought would be, is not fulfilled, while for the unlooked-for god finds out a way; and such hath been the issue of this matter.
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Medea. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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