Euripides Ion 184

Ion

Lady, whosoe’er thou art, I see thou art of noble birth, and thy bearing proves thy gentle breeding. For from his bearing one may mostly judge

whether a man is nobly born. Yet am I much amazed to see thee close thine eyes in grief and with tears bedew thy noble face, when thou standest face to face with the holy oracle of Loxias. Why, lady, art thou thus disquieted?

240

Here, where all others show their joy at sight of Phoebus’ sanctuary, thine eye is wet with tears.

245

Creusa

Most courteously, sir stranger, dost thou express surprise at these my tears; the sight of this temple of Apollo

recalled to me a memory of long ago, and somehow my thoughts went wandering home, though I am here myself. Ah, hapless race of women! ah, ye reckless gods! What shall I say? to what standard shall we refer justice if through the injustice of our lords and masters we are brought to ruin?

250

Ion

Why, lady, art thou thus cast down, past all finding out?

255

Creusa

’Tis naught; I have shot my bolt; for what remains, I say no more, nor seek thou further to inquire.

Ion

Who art thou and whence? who is the father that begat thee? by what name are we to call thee?

Creusa

Creusa is my name, the daughter of Erechtheus I; my native land is Athens .

260

Ion

A glorious city thine, lady, a noble line of ancestry! with what reverence I behold thee!

Creusa

Thus far, no further goes my luck, good sir.

Ion

Pray, is the current legend true—

265

Creusa

What is thy question? I fain would learn.

Ion

Was thy father’s grandsire really sprung from Earth?

Creusa

Yes, Erichthonius was; but my high birth avails me not

Ion

Is it true Athena reared him from the ground?

Creusa

Aye, and into maidens’ hands, though not his mother’s—

270

Ion

Consigned him, did she? as ’tis wont to be set forth in painting.

Creusa

Yes, to the daughters of Cecrops, to keep him safe unseen.

Ion

I have heard the maidens opened the ark wherein the goddess laid him.

Creusa

And so they died, dabbling with their blood the rocky cliff.

Ion

Even so. But what of this next story? Is it true or groundless?

275

Creusa

What is thy question? Ask on, I have no calls upon my leisure.

Ion

Did thy sire Erechtheus offer thy sisters as a sacrifice?

Creusa

For his country’s sake he did endure to slay the maids as victims.

Ion

And how didst thou, alone of al thy sisters, escape?

Creusa

I was still a tender babe in my mother’s arms.

280

Ion

Did the earth really open its mouth and swallow thy father?

Creusa

The sea-god smote and slew him with his trident.

Ion

Is there a spot there called Macrae?

Creusa

Why ask that? what memories thou recallest!

Ion

Doth the Pythian god with his flashing fire do honour to the place?

285

Creusa

Honour, yes! Honour, indeed! would I had never seen the spot!

Ion

How now? dost thou abhor that which the god holds dear?

Creusa

No, no; but I and that cave are witnesses of a deed of shame.

Ion

Lady, who is the Athenian lord that calls thee wife?

Creusa

No citizen of Athens , but a stranger from another land.

290

Ion

Who is he? he must have been one of noble birth.

Creusa

Xuthus, son of Aeolus, sprung from Zeus.

Ion

And how did he, a stranger, win thee a native born?

Creusa

Hard by Athens lies a neighbouring township, Euboea.

Ion

With a bounding line of waters in between, so I have heard.

295

Creusa

This did he sack, making common cause with Cecrops’ sons.

Ion

Coming as an ally, maybe; he won thy hand for this?

Creusa

Yes, this was his dower of battle, the prize of his prowess.

Ion

Art thou come to the oracle alone, or with thy lord?

Creusa

With him. But he is now visiting the cavern of Trophonius.

300

Ion

As a spectator merely, or to consult the oracle?

Creusa

’Tis his wish to hear the self-same answer from Trophonius and Phoebus too.

Ion

Is it to seek earth’s produce or fruit of offspring that ye come?

Creusa

We are childless, though wedded these many years.

Ion

Hast thou never been a mother? art thou wholly childless?

305

Creusa

Phoebus knows whether I am childless.

Ion

Unhappy wife! how this doth mar thy fortune else so happy!

Creusa

But who art thou? how blest I count thy mother!

Ion

Lady, I am called the servant of Apollo, and so I am.

Creusa

An offering of thy city, or sold to him by some master?

310

Ion

Naught know I but this, that I am called the slave of Loxias.

Creusa

Then do i in my turn pity thee, sir stranger.

Ion

Because I know not her that bare me, or him that begat me.

Creusa

Is thy home here in the temple, or hast thou a house to dwell in?

Ion

The god’s whole temple is my house, wherever sleep o’ertakes me.

315

Creusa

Was it as a child or young man that thou earnest to the temple?

Ion

Those who seem to know the truth, say I was but a babe.

Creusa

What Delphian maid, then, weaned thee?

Ion

I never knew a mother’s breast. But she who brought me up—

Creusa

Who was she, unhappy youth? I see thy sufferings in my own.

320

Ion

The priestess of Phoebus; I look oh her as my mother.

Creusa

Until thou earnest unto man’s estate, what nurture hadst thou?

Ion

The altar fed me, and the bounty of each casual guest.

Creusa

Woe is thy mother, then, whoe’er she was!

Ion

Maybe my birth was some poor woman’s wrong.

325

Creusa

Hast thou any store, for thy dress is costly enough?

Ion

The god I serve gives me these robes to wear.

Creusa

Wert thou never eager to inquire into thy birth?

Ion

Ah! yes, lady! but I have no clue at all to guide me.

Creusa

Alas! I know another woman who hath suffered as thy mother did.

330

Ion

Who is she? If she would but help me in the task, how happy should I be!

Creusa

’Tis she on whose account I have preceded my husband hither.

Ion

What are thy wishes? be sure I will serve thee, lady.

Creusa

I would fain obtain a secret answer from Apollo’s oracle.

Ion

Name it, then; the rest will I undertake for thee.

335

Creusa

Hear, then, this story. Yet am I ashamed.

Ion

Thus wilt thou accomplish naught, for shame is a goddess slow to act.

Creusa

A friend of mine asserts that Phoebus lay with her.

Ion

Phoebus with a mortal woman? Stranger lady, say not so.

Creusa

Yea, and she bare the god a child without her father’s knowledge.

340

Ion

It cannot be; some man did wrong her, and she is ashamed of it.

Creusa

This she denieis herself; and she hath suffered further woe.

Ion

How so, if she was wedded to a god?

Creusa

The babe she bare she did expose.

Ion

Where is the child who was thus cast forth? is he yet alive?

345

Creusa

No man knoweth. That is the very thing I would ask the oracle.

Ion

But if he be no more, how did he perish?

Creusa

She supposes that beasts devoured the hapless babe.

Ion

What proof led her to form this opinion?

Creusa

She came to the place where she exposed him, but found him no longer there.

350

Ion

Were any drops of blood upon the path?

Creusa

None, she says; and yet she ranged the ground to and fro.

Ion

How long is it since the babe was destroyed?

Creusa

Thy age and his would measure out the self-same span, were he alive.

Ion

Hath she given birth to no other child since then?

355

Creusa

The god doth wrong her, and wretched is she in having no child.

Ion

But what if Phoebus privily removed her child, and is rearing it?

Creusa

Then is he acting unfairly in keeping to himself alone a joy he ought to share.

Ion

Ah me! this misfortune sounds so like my own.

Creusa

Thee too, fair sir, thy poor mother misses, I am sure.

360

Ion

Oh! call me not back to piteous thoughts I had forgotten.

Creusa

I am dumb; proceed with that which touches my inquiry.

Ion

Dost know the one weak point in this thy story?

Creusa

’Tis all weak in that poor lady’s case.

Ion

How should the god declare that which he wishes hidden?

365

Creusa

He must, if here upon the tripod he sits for all Hellas to seek to.

Ion

He is ashamed of the deed; do not question him.

Creusa

Aye, but his victim has her sorrows too.

Ion

There is none who will act as thy medium in this.

For were Phoebus in his own temple proved a villain, he would justly wreak his vengeance on the man who expounded to thee his oracles; desist then, lady; we must not prophesy against the god’s will,

370

for it would be the height of folly in us, were we to try and make the gods against their will declare reluctant truths either by sacrifice of sheep at their altars, or by omens from birds. For those answers we strive to extort from heaven, lady, are goods that bring no blessing on our getting;

375

but what they freely offer, thereby we profit.

380

Chorus

Many are the chances that befall the many tribes of men, and diverse are their forms. But scarce one happy scene canst thou find in all the life of man.

Creusa

Ah! Phoebus, here as there, art thou unjust

to that absent sufferer, whose cause I now am pleading. Thou didst not preserve thy child, as in duty bound, nor wilt thou, for all thy prophetic skill, answer his mother’s questioning, that, if he be no more, a mound may be raised o’er him, or, if he live, he may some day be restored to his mother’s eyes.

385

In vain is this the home of oracles if the god prevents me from learning what I wish to ask. But lo! I see my noble lord, Xuthus, nigh at hand, returning 278 from the lair of Trophonius; say nothing,

390

sir, to my husband of what I have told thee, lest I incur reproach for troubling about secrets, and the matter take a different turn to that which I sought to give it. For women stand towards men in a difficult position, and the virtuous from being mingled with the wicked amongst us are hated;

395

such is our unhappy destiny.

400

Xuthus

First to the god all hail! for he must receive the first-fruits of my salutation, and next all hail to thee, my wife! Has my delay in arriving caused thee alarm?

Creusa

By no means; but thou art come at an anxious time.

Tell me what response thou bringest from Trophonius, touching our future hopes of mutual offspring.

405

Xuthus

He deigned not to forestal the prophecies of Phoebus. This only did he say, that neither thou nor I should return unto our house childless from the shrine.

Creusa

Majestic mother of Phoebus, to our journey grant success, and may our previous dealings with thy son now find a better issue!

410

Xuthus

It will be so; but who acts as the god’s spokesman here?

Ion

I serve outside the shrine, others within,

who stand near the tripod, even the noblest of the Delphians chosen by lot, sir stranger.

415

Xuthus

’Tis well; I have attained the utmost of my wishes. I will go within; for I am told that a victim has been slain in public before the temple for strangers,

and to-day,—for it is a lucky day,—I would fain receive the god’s oracle. Do thou, my wife, take branches of laurel, and seated at the altars pray to the gods that I may carry home from Apollo’s shrine an answer that bodeth well for offspring.

420

Creusa

All this shall be. Now, at any rate, if Loxias would retrieve his former sins, e’en though he cannot be my friend entirely, yet will I accept whate’er he deigns to give, because he is a god.

425

[Exeunt Xuthus and Creusa.

Ion

Why doth this stranger lady hint dark reproaches against the god

unceasingly, either out of affection for her on whose behalf she seeks the oracle, or maybe because she is hiding something needing secrecy? Yet what have I to do with the daughter of Erectheus? She is naught to me.

430

No, I will go to the laver, and from golden ewers sprinkle the holy water. Yet must I warn Phoebus of what is happening to him; he ravishes a maid and proves unfaithful to her, and after secretly begetting a son leaves him to die. O! Phoebus, do not so, but as thou art supreme,

435

follow in virtue’s track; for whosoever of mortal men transgresses, him the gods punish. How, then, can it be just that you should enact your laws for men, and yourselves incur the charge of breaking them? Now I will put this case, though it will never happen.

440

Wert thou, wert Poseidon, and Zeus, the lord of heaven, to make atonement to mankind for every act of lawless love, ye would empty your temples in paying the fines for your misdeeds. For when ye pursue pleasure in preference to the claims of prudence, ye act unjustly; no longer is it fair

445

to call men wicked, if we are imitating the evil deeds of gods, but rather those who give us such examples. [Exit Ion

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