For I that reason have regained which erst
Forsook me, when to the abodes of Greece
I from your home, from a barbarian realm,
Conveyed you, to your sire a grievous bane,
And the corrupt betrayer of that land

Which nurtured you. Some envious god first roused
Your evil genius from the shades of hell
For my undoing: after you had slain
Your brother at the altar, you embarked
In the famed Argo. Deeds like these a life

Of guilt commenced; with me in wedlock joined,
You bore those sons, whom you have now destroyed
Because I left your bed. No Grecian dame
Would e'er have ventured on a deed so impious;
Yet I to them preferred you for my bride:
This was a hostile union, and to me

The most destructive; for my arms received
No woman, but a lioness more fell

Than Tuscan Scylla. Vainly should I strive
To wound you with reproaches numberless,
For
you are grown insensible of shame!
Vile sorceress, and polluted with the blood
Of your own children, perish-my hard fate
While I lament, for I shall ne'er enjoy

My lovely bride, nor with those sons, who owe
To me their birth and nurture, ever hold
Sweet converse. They, alas! can live no more,
Utterly lost to their desponding sire.

MEDEA. Much could I say in answer to this charge,
Were not the benefits from me received,

And thy abhorred ingratitude, well-known
To Jove, dread sire. Yet was it not ordained,
Scorning my bed, that thou shouldst lead a life
Of fond delight, and ridicule my griefs;
Nor that the royal virgin thou didst wed,
Or Creon, who to thee his daughter gave,
Should drive me from these regions unavenged.
A lioness then call me if thou wilt,

Or by the name of Scylla, whose abode
Was in Etrurian caverns. For thy heart,
As justice prompted, in my turn I wounded.

134

JASON. You grieve, and are the partner of my woes.
MEDEA.-Be well assured I am: but what assuages

My grief is this, that thou no more canst scoff.
JASON. How vile a mother, O my sons, was yours!
MEDEA. How did ye perish through your father's lust!
JASON. But my right hand was guiltless of their death.
MEDEA.-Not so thy cruel taunts, and that new marriage.
JASON.-Was my new marriage a sufficient cause
For thee to murder them?

MEDEA.

Canst thou suppose

Such wrongs sit light upon the female breast? JASON. On a chaste woman's; but your soul abounds With wickedness.

MEDEA.

This will afflict thee.

JASON.

Thy sons are now no more,

O'er your head, alas!

They now two evil geniuses impend.

MEDEA. The gods know who these ruthless deeds began.

JASON. They know the hateful temper of your soul.

MEDEA.

In detestation thee I hold, and loathe
Thy conversation.

JASON.―

Yours too I abhor;

But we with ease may settle on what terms
To part forever.

MEDEA.

Shall I proceed? JASON. Let me inter the

Name those terms. Say how

For such my ardent wish.

dead, and o'er them weep.

MEDEA.-Thou shalt not. For their corses with this hand

Am I resolved to bury in the grove
Sacred to awful Juno, who protects
The citadel of Corinth, lest their foes
Insult them, and with impious rage pluck up
The monumental stone. I in this realm
Of Sisyphos moreover will ordain
A solemn festival and mystic rites,
To make a due atonement for my guilt
In having slain them. To Erectheus' land
I now am on my road, where I shall dwell
With Ægeus, great Pandion's son ; but thou
Shalt vilely perish as thy crimes deserve,

Beneath the shattered relics of thy bark,
The Argo, crushed; such is the bitter end
Of our espousals and thy faith betrayed.
JASON.-May the Erinyes of our slaughtered sons,
And justice, who requites each murderous deed,
Destroy you utterly!

MEDEA.

Will any god

Or demon hear thy curses, O thou wretch,
False to thy oath, and to the sacred laws
Of hospitality?

JASON.

Most impious woman,

gore

Those hands yet reeking with your children's
MEDEA. Go to the palace, and inter thy bride.
JASON.-Bereft of both my sons, I thither go.
MEDEA.-Not yet enough lament'st thou: to increase
Thy sorrows, may'st thou live till thou art old!
JASON.-Ye dearest children.

On their loved lips, ah me! would I imprint.

MEDEA. NOW wouldst thou speak to them, and in thine arms Clasp those whom living thou didst banish hence.

JASON. Allow me, I conjure you by the gods,

My children's tender bodies to embrace.

MEDEA. Thou shalt not: these presumptuous words in vain By thee were hazarded.

JASON.

Jove, hear'st thou this,

How I with scorn am driven away, how wronged
By that detested lioness, whose fangs

Have slain her children? Yet shall my loud plaints,

While here I fix my seat, if 'tis allowed,

And this be possible, call down the gods

To witness that you hinder me from touching
My murdered sons, and paying the deceased
Funereal honors. Would to Heaven I ne'er
Had seen them born to perish by your hand!
CHORUS.-Throned on Olympos, with his sovereign nod,

Jove unexpectedly performs the schemes
Divine foreknowledge planned; our firmest hopes
Oft fail us: but the god still finds the means

Of compassing what man could ne'er have looked for;
And thus doth this important business end.

THE KNIGHTS

BY

ARISTOPHANES

[Metrical Translation by John Hookham Frere]