Order 870497: Question on the play Medea, by Euripides
Medea
by Euripides
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Scene One:
Nurse enters from skenē.
Nurse
If only the hull of the Argo had not flown through
the dark Clashing Rocks to the land of Kolchis.
If the pine in Mt. Pelion’s forests
had never been cut and supplied oars
for the Argonauts in quest of the Golden Fleece
for Pelias. Then my mistress Medea
would not have sailed to the towers of Iolkos,
her heart dazed with love for Jason,
nor persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill
their father. Then she would not be living
here in Korinth with her husband and children.
Pleasing the people in her land of exile,
she helped Jason himself in every way.
When a woman does not oppose her man,
the greatest security is hers.
Now hate infects all the closest bonds of love.
Betraying his own sons and my mistress,
Jason beds down in a royal marriage,
having wed the daughter of Kreon, the king.
Wretched Medea, finding herself dishonored,
cries out his oaths to her, their joined right hands,
the greatest pledge of all. She invokes the gods
to witness exactly how Jason repays her.
She lies there without eating, surrendering to pain,
dissolving in tears time and time again,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
knowing her husband has wronged her.
Without raising her eyes or lifting her face
from the ground, she listens like a rock
or sea wave to her friends’ advice.
Sometimes she turns her pale face away
to mourn for her own dear father, her country
and family, since she betrayed all of them
to follow a husband who has dishonored her.
That woman, so miserable, knows through misfortune
what it means to abandon her homeland.
Filled with hate, she finds no joy in the sight of her sons.
I’m afraid she’s planning something:
Her hard mind won’t stand for mistreatment.
I know her. I fear she may silently
enter the house where the marriage bed is laid
and stab her heart with a sharp sword,
or kill the king and the bridegroom,
provoking a greater disaster.
She is a strange one. No one battling her
as an enemy will easily claim sweet victory.
Enter Tutor and two boys from City Path.
Ah, here come the boys, done with their games.
They’re not thinking of their mother’s troubles.
Young hearts are not fond of sorrow.
Tutor
Old household slave of my mistress,
why are you standing alone outside the gates?
Crying to yourself about your troubles?
Does Medea wish to be left alone?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Nurse
Ancient companion of Jason’s children,
when the dice of our masters’ fortune roll badly,
it touches the heart of good slaves.
I felt such an overwhelming grief
that I longed to come out here and tell
Earth and Sky about my mistress’s bad luck.
Tutor
Isn’t that poor wretch done moaning yet?
Nurse
I envy your ignorance. Her pain isn’t halfway gone.
Tutor
The fool – if one may call masters that.
She knows nothing of the latest troubles.
Nurse
What is it, old man? Don’t hold back.
Tutor
Nothing. I regret what I’ve already said.
Nurse
By your beard, don’t hide this from a fellow slave!
I’ll keep quiet about it, if I must.
Tutor
I heard some talk, while pretending not to listen,
by the gaming tables where the old men
sit near the holy spring of Pirene.
They say Kreon, Lord of Korinth,
intends to banish these boys
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
with their mother. I do not know
whether this tale is true. I hope not.
Nurse
Even if Jason has a quarrel with their mother,
will he allow his own sons to suffer exile?
Tutor
Old marriage ties are abandoned for new
and he is no friend of this house.
Nurse
We’re sunk if new troubles wash over
before we bail out the old!
Tutor
You keep quiet. It’s not the right time
for your mistress to learn this. Keep the news secret.
Nurse
Oh children, do you hear what a father you have?
May he be cursed – no, he is my master –
but he is caught in cruelty to his family.
Tutor
What man is not? Did you just learn
that everyone loves himself best of all?
Because of his new bedmate,
their father does not love these boys.
Nurse
Go inside the house, children; it will be all right.
To Tutor:
You must keep them out of the way as much as possible –
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
do not let them near their ill-tempered mother.
I have seen her eye them like a bull,
as if she has something in mind. Her rage
won’t end, I know well, until it blasts someone.
May it strike enemies and not friends.
Medea wails from offstage inside skenē.
Medea
Oh! Misery, I’m miserable in my troubles.
Oimoi! I wish I were dead.
Nurse
Here she goes. Dear boys, your mother
stirs her heart, stirs her rage.
Hurry faster into the house.
Don’t let her see you;
stay away from her.
To Tutor:
Guard against her fierce temper and
the hateful nature of her willful mind.
Now go. Go in as quickly as possible.
Tutor and children exit skenē as Nurse continues.
Clearly that cloud of woe,
rising from its source, will soon flash
with still greater passion. What
will her enraged and untamed spirit
do when bitten by such evil?
Medea
Oh! I’ve suffered miserably, misery
worthy of great woe. O cursèd sons
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
of a hateful mother, may you die
with your father! May his entire line vanish.
Nurse
Oimoi! Miserable indeed! What share
do your sons have in their father’s crime?
Why hate them? Dear children,
I’m worried, afraid that you might suffer.
The tempers of tyrants are strange.
They have so much power and so little guidance
that their moods change violently.
To face life on equal terms is better.
For me at least, may I grow old
without greatness, secure.
To speak the word moderation,
then to act on it, is best for men
by far. There’s no right time for excess
in human life, but when a god
becomes angry with a household,
even greater ruin follows.
Entrance Song: Chorus enters from City Path.
Chorus (sings)
We hear her voice,
we hear the cry
of the unhappy woman of Kolchis.
Is she not yet calm? Old woman, tell us.
We hear her cry within the gated hall.
Woman, since we are her friends,
we do not rejoice
at the grief of this house.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Nurse
What house? It’s already gone.
The bed of a royal family claims him,
while my mistress wastes her life away
in her room. No words from friends
or family comfort her in any way.
Medea
May lightning from heaven strike my head.
What do I gain by living any longer?
Oh, in death may I take my rest,
abandoning this hateful life.
Chorus (sings)
Zeus, Earth, and light,
do you hear the miserable bride
sing such a dirge?
Foolish woman, why do you
desire that cold, cruel rest?
Why hurry death’s end?
Don’t pray for this.
If your husband
worships at a new bed,
do not be sharp with him.
Zeus will take your case. Do not waste away
weeping too much for your bed partner.
Medea
Great Themis and Lady Artemis,
do you see what I suffer, despite binding
my accurséd husband with sacred oaths?
May I gaze upon him and his bride
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
gouged out, scraped away, house and all.
They dared to wrong me first.
O father! Homeland I abandoned,
shamefully killing my brother!
Nurse
You hear what she says? She shouts
an invocation to Themis and to Zeus,
whom mortals honor as overseer of the oath.
The rage of my mistress will not
end with some trivial deed.
Chorus (sings)
We wish she would let us see her, come out
and hear our voice,
listen to our words,
dismiss her mind’s temper
and angry passion.
Let our willing support
not abandon our friends.
Step in, bring her out of the house,
and tell her we, too, are friends.
Hurry in before she harms someone.
This sorrow rushes on and grows.
Nurse
I’ll do it. But I fear
I won’t persuade my mistress.
I’ll do you this favor of my labor –
although she glares like a bull,
like a lioness with newborn cubs,
whenever a slave approaches to have a word.
If you said that men of old were foolish
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
and not at all wise, you would not be wrong.
They invented songs for festivals, banquets
and dinner parties, merry music for life.
Yet none has discovered poetry
or songs played on the lyre
to end such bitter human suffering
that unleashes death and terrible
misfortune, wrecking homes.
The lives of human beings
benefit from songs that heal.
During abundant feasts,
why strain the voice in vain?
The plenty of the feast at hand
holds delight in itself for humans.
Nurse exits skenē.
Chorus (sings)
We hear her cry, a mournful dirge;
she calls out shrilly, wailing in distress
about her bed betrayer, her wicked husband.
Having suffered injustice, she invokes
Zeus’ Themis, goddess of oaths,
who bade her journey to Greece
across the strait through the brine
by night toward the Bosporos
barrier of the treacherous Black Sea.
Scene Two:
Medea enters from skenē.
Medea
Women of Korinth, I’ve come out of the house
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
to avoid reproach. I know that many people
prove themselves arrogant either behind closed doors
or in public. Others win a bad reputation
for indifference just by living quietly.
It isn’t right for people to hate at a glance
before understanding the core of a man,
even though wronged not a whit.
A foreigner certainly must conform to the state.
Even for a citizen, I don’t approve if he carelessly
pleases himself while offending his fellows.
But for me, this unexpected catastrophe
has destroyed my life. I am lost, my friends,
and casting away life’s joy, want to be dead.
I know well, the one who was everything to me
has turned out to be the worst of men, my husband.
Of all who live and can think,
we women are the most miserable species:
We must buy a husband with abundant goods
and, an evil even more hurtful than the initial purchase,
take him as master of our body. That
is the greatest challenge, whether we win a bad husband
or a decent one. Divorce ruins a woman’s reputation,
nor is it possible to refuse a husband.
Without instruction at home, you must be a prophet
to understand new habits and customs,
and what sort of bedmate you will need to manage.
If we do a good job with that and a husband
lives with us without protesting the marriage yoke,
then our life is enviable. If not, better to die.
When those at home annoy a man,
he leaves, ending his heart’s distress
by turning to a friend or companion,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
while we women must look to one soul alone.
They say that we live a life in the house
without danger, while they fight with spears.
They think wrongly. For I would rather stand
in the line of battle three times than give birth once.
My story, though, is not the same as yours.
You have this city and your father’s homes
and advantage in life and company of friends.
Bereft of my city, I am humiliated by the man
who stole me from a foreign land.
I have no mother, no brother, no kin
to shelter with away from this disaster.
That’s why I want you to go along with one thing:
If I should find some way or means
to pay back my husband for these wrongs,
(and his bride and the father who gave her to wed),
keep silent. In other matters, a woman is full of fear
and weak in weapons and strength.
But when she finds herself wronged in the marriage-bed,
no one wields a mind more murderous.
Chorus Leader
Medea, we will keep silent while you justly pay back
your husband. I am not surprised that you grieve at your fate.
Here I see Kreon, Lord of Korinth,
coming to announce new decrees.
Kreon with silent attendants enters from City Path.
Kreon
You there, scowling and angry with your husband.
Medea, I command you to leave this land,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
banished with your two children without delay.
As the enforcer of this order myself,
I will not return to the palace
until I cast you beyond my borders.
Medea
No! Misery, utter destruction!
My enemies unfurl all their sails against me
and I can find no safe harbor from ruin.
Still, although in agony, I will ask:
Kreon, why do you banish me?
Kreon
I fear you – no need at all to cloak my words –
afraid you may incurably harm my daughter.
The evidence points that way: You are clever
by nature and skilled in myriad means of destruction.
And you grieve, deprived of your man’s marriage-bed.
I hear, as the report goes, that you threaten the groom,
the bride, and me, who gave her in marriage.
So I will be on guard before anyone suffers.
Better for you to hate me now, woman,
than for me to be soft now and later groan in regret.
Medea
Puh! Not now for the first time, Kreon, but often,
has my reputation hindered and injured me.
No sensible man should ever educate
his sons to be overly clever.
Aside from seeming lazy, they earn
envy and resentment from their neighbors.
If you bring a new idea to fools
you will seem useless, not clever.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
But if the public considers you superior
to the experts, they will be offended.
I, too, share in this lot:
The experts envy me for being clever,
while fools consider me a bother.
No, I am not so very clever.
Yet you fear me. What unpleasantness could you suffer?
Kreon, don’t be afraid of me. I’m not the kind
to make a mistake with a man of the royal line.
What injustice have you done me?
You gave your daughter where your heart led you.
Yes, I hate my husband. You, I think, acted sensibly.
Even now, I don’t resent that your affairs prosper.
Keep the marriage and fare well.
But allow me to live in this land. I will keep quiet,
even if wronged, conquered by those more powerful.
Kreon
I hear your mild words, but I am terrified
that you may be planning something evil.
I trust you even less than before:
much easier to guard against an angry, sharp-tongued
woman – or man – than a silent clever one.
Leave as quickly as possible: no more talk.
The matter is fixed and you cannot contrive
a way to remain among us, while hostile to me.
Medea
No, I beg you by your knees, by your newlywed daughter.
Kreon
You waste words. You will never persuade me.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Medea
Will you cast me out, showing no respect at all for prayer?
Kreon
Yes, because I do not love you more than my home.
Medea
O my Fatherland, how strongly I remember you now.
Kreon
After my child, I love my country by far the most.
Medea
Puh! Loving is a great evil for mortals.
Kreon
I suppose that depends on the circumstances.
Medea
Zeus, may you not forget who caused these troubles.
Kreon
Crawl away, foolish woman, and end my toils.
Medea
I have toils – no shortage of toils.
Kreon
My attendants will force you out at once.
Medea (on her knees, grabs Kreon’s hand)
No, not that! Kreon, I beg you!
Kreon
You are making a scene, woman.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Medea
We’ll leave. I’m not pleading to revoke my exile.
Kreon
Then why still pressure me by not releasing my hand?
Medea
Allow me to remain for this one day
to fully consider the means of our exile
and a refuge for my boys, since their father
does not care enough to plan at all for the children.
Pity them – you, too, are a father,
so naturally you would favor children.
If we go into exile, I have no thought for myself,
but I weep for their lives in disaster.
Kreon
In no way is my temper tyrannical by nature;
I have often ruined matters by showing consideration.
Although I see I am making a mistake, woman,
you shall succeed in your request. I proclaim to you:
If tomorrow the light of Helios sees
you and your children within our borders,
you will die. This sentence is fixed infallibly.
So now, if you must stay, stay for just one day.
You will not do in a day the terrible things I fear.
Kreon exits City Path.
Chorus (chants)
Oh, unhappy woman,
miserable under your burdens,
where will you turn? What ally
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
or household or country
will deliver you from troubles?
Medea, a god set you to sail
on a trackless sea-swell of troubles.
Medea
It has gone badly in all ways. Who will deny that?
But by no means are things set; don’t assume it.
There are struggles ahead for the newlyweds
and no small labor for the one who made the match.
Do you think I would ever fawn on that man
without some profit or plan?
I would not have spoken or ever laid hands on him.
Though he could block my plans by throwing me out,
he has reached such a pinnacle of foolishness
that he allows me to remain this one day,
in which I will make three of my enemies
corpses: the father, the daughter, and my husband.
My friends, with so many fatal paths for them,
I do not know which to lay my hands on first.
Shall I set fire to the bridal home,
or stab through the heart with a sharp sword,
silently reaching the palace where their bed is laid?
Just one thing bothers me. If I were caught
entering the house and in the act,
my death would provide my enemies a good laugh.
Best is the direct path, in which my nature
is most clever: to kill them with poison.
Good.
They’re dead. Then which city will welcome me?
What host will save my skin, offering
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
refuge from violence and a safe house?
There is none. Then I must still wait a short time.
If some tower of safety should appear,
I will silently pursue murder through deceit.
Or if inescapable fortune drives me out,
I’ll take up a sword, even if I am certain to die,
and kill them. I will go to the extremes of daring.
No one – by the mistress I chose as partner
and revere most of all, Hekate,
who dwells in the innermost center of my hearth –
no one will torment my heart and rejoice.
I will make them a bitter and sorrowful marriage,
bitter the father-in-law and my exile from this land.
Come now, Medea, spare nothing
from your skill in planning and devising.
Charge into the terrible fray! Now is the test of courage.
You see what you suffer? You must not be mocked
by Jason’s marriage into the house of Sisyphus:
you, born of a noble father, himself from Helios the Sun.
You know how. Women by nature
utterly lack the means for noble actions,
but are the most clever architects of every evil.
Second Song
Chorus
Holy rivers run upstream;
justice and everything flows in reverse.
With deceptive plans
men no longer keep
their pledge sworn to the gods.
Now the stories will change
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
our lives for glory.
Honor arrives for womankind
and ugly rumor will settle
upon women no more.
The Muses of ancient bards
will end the songs
of our unfaithfulness.
Apollo, god of music,
did not endow us
with inspired song to the lyre
or we would have sung
a reply to mankind.
Long ages have much to tell about
the destinies of women and of men.
You sailed from your father’s home
with a maddened heart, traveling through
the rocky shores of the Bosporos.
You live here as a foreigner,
your bed, now a manless union, lost.
Miserable woman,
driven in exile from Korinth,
dishonored.
The Grace of oaths has vanished.
Shame no longer stays
in wide Greece, flown into the ether.
Unhappy woman, you cannot find shelter
from your troubles on your father’s shore,
and another woman, a princess,
stronger than your marriage-bond,
commands your house.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Scene Three:
Jason enters from City Path.
Jason
Not now for the first time have I observed, but often,
how a prickly anger causes impossible problems.
Although you could have stayed in this land and house
by lightly bearing the deliberations of your betters,
you will be banished for your foolish talk.
It doesn’t matter to me that you never stop
blathering that Jason is the worst possible man.
But with your talk against the royal family,
consider it profit that you are only punished with exile.
While I always tried to calm the anger
of the impassioned king and wanted you to stay,
you hung on to your stupidity, always slandering
the royal family. So you are banished from here.
Nevertheless, not denying the family in such circumstances,
I have come to provide for your welfare, woman,
so that you might not be poor while in exile with children
nor in need of anything. Exile brings with it
many troubles. Even if you hate me,
I cannot ever think badly of you.
Medea
Vile bastard! I call you the worst curse
my tongue can speak to your unmanly self.
You come to me, you come here most hated
by the gods and me and all the human race?
Such confidence is not courage,
to face the family you have wronged,
but the greatest of all diseases among humans:
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
brazen shamelessness. You did well to come, though.
I can lighten my spirit by cursing you
and to listen will strike you with pain.
I will begin at the beginning:
I saved you – as all the Greeks know
who sailed in the Argo with you –
when you were sent to tame and yoke fire-breathing
bulls, and sow the field with a deadly crop.
I killed the sleepless dragon that kept
the Golden Fleece safe in its tangled coils
and so held up the light of salvation for you.
After I betrayed my father and my home,
I went with you to Iolkos,
more eager than wise. There I killed Pelias
in the most dreadful way to die, at the hands
of his own daughters, destroying his whole house.
Then, after you benefited from all that I did,
worst of men, you betrayed me and took a new bride –
even though you have sons. If you were childless,
one could understand you lusting for a new bed.
Trust in oaths has vanished. I cannot figure it out:
Do you think that the gods then in power no longer rule,
or that new laws now prevail for humans?
Since you know full well that you broke your oath to me.
Puh! The pledge of my right hand that you often clasped.
These knees grasped falsely, beseeched by a wicked man.
I missed the mark in my expectations.
All right, I’ll talk with you since you are family.
What can I expect to gain from you?
Under questioning, you’ll prove more shameful.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Where shall I turn now? To my father’s house,
which I betrayed along with my homeland to come with you?
Or to Pelias’ wretched daughters? They would give me,
their father’s killer, a warm welcome in that house.
It’s like this: My kin in Kolchis despise me
and for your sake I made enemies
of those Greeks whom I need not have hurt.
In return for all that, you made me blessed
among Greek women. Unlucky me,
I have marvelous, trustworthy you for husband,
while I flee the land, bereft of friends,
discarded, alone with the children, alone.
A fine reproach for a new bridegroom that your sons
wander as beggars, and I, too, who saved you.
Zeus, why did you give humans signs
to clearly identify counterfeit gold,
but no mark on a man’s body
to distinguish the bad among men?
Chorus Leader
Terrible anger and hard to heal
when kin clash with kin.
Jason
It seems I must prove myself an eloquent speaker,
woman, like an alert pilot on a ship
with sails mostly furled, to run from under
your loudmouthed, yapping tongue.
Since you raise a monument to gratitude,
I consider Aphrodite alone the savior
of my expedition – of all gods and humans.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
You do have a subtle mind. Yet to detail the whole story
of how Eros compelled you with his inescapable arrows
to save my skin would cause resentment.
I will not itemize it too precisely.
Where you really did benefit me, you didn’t do badly.
In return for my salvation, though, you got
better than you gave, as I will explain.
First, you live in Greece instead of a barbarian
land and you know justice and the rule
of law that doesn’t bow to force.
Second, all Greeks know you are clever
and you have fame. If you lived on the mountainous
edge of the earth, nobody would know your story.
I would rather have a remarkable destiny
than either a house full of gold
or a song more potent than Orpheus.
I tell you these things about my labors
because you started a contest of words.
As to the royal marriage for which you reproach me,
I will show that in this matter, I have been clever,
and sensible, and also a great friend to you
and my sons – but keep calm.
When I moved here in exile from Iolkos,
dragging along many inescapable disasters,
what luckier find could I have found than the king’s
daughter to marry? Not because I hated your bed –
that’s what truly grates at you –
or struck with desire for a new bride.
Or eager to hold a baby-making contest –
the current sons are sufficient. I have no complaint.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
But most importantly, so that we might live well
and not lack things, knowing that everyone
flees the path of a friend without means.
And that I could raise sons worthy of my house
and sow brothers for the children from you,
set them on the same footing, and prosper
by merging the family line. Why do you need sons?
It is profitable for me if future children benefit
those alive now. Surely, I have not planned badly?
You would agree, if sex did not grate at you.
You women have reached a point where you think
that if things are right in bed you have everything.
But if any misfortune happens to the marital bed,
you consider the best and finest as the worst.
Mortals should have another way to father sons
and no need for the female race.
Then mankind would have no trouble.
Chorus Leader
Jason, you presented this story well.
In my opinion, contrary to your judgment,
you have unjustly betrayed your wife.
Medea
How very different I am from mortals in many ways.
In my mind, whoever speaks cleverly,
while being unjust, deserves the most punishment.
Confident that his tongue will nicely cloak injustice,
he dares to do wrong. Yet he is not so very clever.
So you, too. Don’t wear a façade of decency to me
with a terribly clever speech. One point will knock you out.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
If you were not evil, you should have persuaded me
before making this marriage, not hidden it from your family.
Jason
Sure, I think if I had told you about my marriage,
you would gladly pull your oar for it. Even now
you can’t bear to cast off your heart’s great rage.
Medea
No, you were thinking that a foreign wife
wouldn’t provide you glorious status in old age.
Jason
Now understand this: Not for the sake of a woman
did I marry into the bed of royalty as I now have,
but, just as I said before, wanting to rescue you
from danger, and to produce for my boys royal
sons from the same source, a safeguard for my house.
Medea
Grant me no painful life with “prosperity,”
or “wealth” that grates on my mind.
Jason
You know how to change your prayer and seem wiser?
Pray that good things never seem painful to you
and when you’re fortunate don’t think it bad fortune.
Medea
Add insult to injury, since you have refuge,
but I will be in exile from this land, abandoned.
Jason
You chose this. Blame no one but yourself.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Medea
I did what? Took a wife and betrayed you?
Jason
No, cursed unholy curses against the royal family.
Medea
And I am truly a curse on your house.
Jason
I won’t dispute these things with you further.
If you want some aid from my wealth
for the boys or yourself in exile, say so.
I am prepared to give my ungrudging hand
and send tokens to allies, who will treat you well.
Woman, you would be a fool to reject this.
Forget your anger. You’ll profit more.
Medea
We would not use your connections
and won’t accept anything – don’t give it to us.
Gifts from a wicked man benefit no one.
Jason
So be it. I invoke the gods as witness that I wish
to do everything for you and the children. But no,
good things are not enough for you. You reject friends
to please yourself. Well, you will suffer even more.
Jason begins to exit City Path.
Medea
Go on! Desire for the freshly-tamed girl seizes you,
out of sight of the palace for so long.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Go bed your wife! Perhaps, with a god’s favor,
you marry such a marriage as will make you mourn.
Jason exits City Path.
Third Song
Chorus
The extreme passion of Eros
never grants men prestige
or virtue, but when Aphrodite
sends just enough love,
no other god is so gracious.
Goddess, may you never shoot me
with inescapable arrows
from your golden bow,
anointed with desire.
May moderation, the finest gift
of the gods, grace me.
May terrible Aphrodite
never cast into me
angry quarrels and endless strife,
striking my heart for another bed.
Respecting peaceful unions,
may she judge marriage
for women wisely.
O fatherland, O home,
may I never live without my city,
leading that difficult life without means,
most pitiable of sorrows.
I would rather death conquer me,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
death ending my last day.
No troubles can compare
to being deprived
of one’s native land.
We ourselves know
and can tell your story:
No city, no allies
will pity your suffering,
most terrible suffering.
May anyone so ungrateful perish,
who is unwilling to honor his friends
with the open doors of a pure heart.
Never will he be a friend to me.
Scene Four:
Aigeus enters from Gate Path.
Aigeus
Medea, I wish you joy! No one knows a finer
greeting than this to address friends.
Medea
Aigeus! Joy to you, King of Athens, son of wise Pandion.
From where do you come to visit this land?
Aigeus
From Apollo’s ancient oracle.
Medea
Why travel to the earth’s center where prophecies are sung?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Aigeus
To inquire how I could sow the seed for children.
Medea
By the gods, no child through the course of your whole life?
Aigeus
We have no children, by the grace of some god.
Medea
Do you have a wife or are you unmarried?
Aigeus
We are yoked in the bed of marriage.
Medea
Then what did Apollo tell you about children?
Aigeus
Words too clever for a man to interpret.
Medea
Is it right for me to know the oracle of the god?
Aigeus
Certainly, since it truly needs a clever mind.
Medea
What was the response? Tell me, if indeed I may hear.
Aigeus
“Not to release the wineskin’s jutting foot –”
Medea
Until you do what or reach what land?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Aigeus
“Until I return to my hearth and home.”
Medea
Then why have you sailed to this land?
Aigeus
To see Pittheus, lord of Troizen –
Medea
A son of Pelops and most virtuous, they say.
Aigeus
I wish to share with him the god’s prophecy.
Medea
He is a clever man and skilled in such things.
Aigeus
Dearest to me of all my allies in battle.
Medea
Then good luck and may you attain your desire.
Aigeus
But why is your face so gaunt? And your eyes?
Medea
Aigeus, I have the worst husband of all.
Aigeus
What are you saying? Why are you upset?
Medea
Jason wrongs me although suffering nothing from me.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Aigeus
Tell me more plainly. What has he done?
Medea
He has a woman other than me as mistress of his house.
Aigeus
No, surely he hasn’t dared this most shameful act?
Medea
Now you know: He dishonors those he once loved.
Aigeus
From passion or despising your bed?
Medea
Oh, a great passion; he is unfaithful to his family.
Aigeus
Let him go then, if he is as bad as you say.
Medea
A passion to acquire a tyrant for a father-in-law.
Aigeus
Who gave his daughter to Jason? Tell me more.
Medea
Kreon, who rules this land of Korinth.
Aigeus
Woman, no wonder you feel pain.
Medea
I am lost. And banished from the country.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Aigeus
Another new trouble. Who banishes you?
Medea
Kreon banishes me from Korinth.
Aigeus
Jason will allow it? I don’t approve.
Medea
In words no, but he’s willing to endure it.
I beg you by your beard,
by your knees, I am a suppliant!
Pity, pity me the unfortunate,
and after expulsion, don’t let me be abandoned.
Accept me in Athens, at the hearth in your home.
So may your desire for children, by gods, be fruitful
and may you be prosperous until death.
You do not know what a find you found.
I will stop you from being childless, help you
sow the seeds for children. I know such a potion.
Aigeus
Woman, I am eager to grant this favor to you
for many reasons, and for the gods first of all.
Then for your promise of children –
on that matter, I am utterly lost.
For my part, if you come to Athens,
I will try to protect you, as is just.
Nonetheless, I declare to you, woman,
that I will not arrange your passage.
If you come to my house on your own,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
you will remain safe. I will not give you up to anyone.
But you shall depart from this land on your own feet.
I wish to be blameless to my allies.
Medea
So be it. If I might have a pledge
of this, it would set my mind at ease.
Aigeus
What is the problem? Surely, you don’t distrust me?
Medea
I trust you. But Pelias’ house is hostile to me
and Kreon’s, too. If you are bound by oaths,
you would not release me to those who banish me.
With just a verbal agreement, not sworn to the gods,
you might become their friend and their demands
quickly persuade you – since my position is weak
and they have wealth and the palace of royalty.
Aigeus
Your speech shows much forethought.
If an oath seems best to you, I won’t refuse.
After all, it is safer for me to be able
to show your enemies a proper excuse,
and it gives you more security. Name your gods.
Medea
Swear by Earth’s plain and Helios, father of my father,
and the whole race of gods altogether.
Aigeus
Tell me what I ought to do or not do.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Medea
To never yourself cast me out of your land
and, if any of my enemies want to take me,
to not willingly extradite me while you live.
Aigeus
I swear by Earth and the bright light of Helios
and all the gods to abide by what I hear from you.
Medea
Good. If you do not abide by this oath, what will you suffer?
Aigeus
Whatever happens to immoral men.
Medea
Farewell, then, and safe journey. All is well.
I will come as quickly as possible to your city,
after doing what I intend and attaining what I wish.
Chorus (chants)
May lord Hermes, son of Maia,
escort you home. May you accomplish all
that you have in mind to strive for,
since you seem to me,
Aigeus, a noble man.
Aigeus exits City Path.
Medea
O Zeus, and Zeus’ Justice, and light of Helios!
Now, my friends, we will have sweet victory
over my enemies. We have set foot on that path.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Now I can hope my enemies will pay the just price.
Since that man appeared as the safe harbor
for my plans, satisfying my greatest concern,
I will fasten my cable
to moor with him
in the city of Pallas Athena.
Now I will tell you my entire plan:
Accept what I say without hope of pleasure.
Sending off a servant of mine,
I will ask Jason to come face me.
When he arrives, I will speak soft words to him:
that I see it his way, that he marries well
marrying royalty as he has (betraying us)
and that it is profitable and well conceived.
Then I will ask if my sons can remain.
Not as if I would leave them here
for my enemies to abuse,
but for me to kill the king’s daughter through deceit.
I will send them with gifts in hand:
a delicate dress and a golden tiara.
If she places the pretty things upon her skin,
the girl and all who touch her will die horribly;
I will anoint the gifts with such poisons.
Now I’m done with that subject.
But I cry out at what deed I must do next:
I will kill my children, my own –
no one can rescue them.
After wiping out Jason’s whole house,
I will leave the land,
flee the murder of my dearest boys,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
daring this most unholy deed.
Friends, I will not tolerate mockery by my enemies.
Let it go! What profit in staying alive?
No country, no home, no way to turn from evil.
I made a mistake when I abandoned my homeland,
trusting in the words of a Greek man.
Now he will pay me justice, gods willing.
Never will he see the sons I gave him alive
or father children from his newlywed bride –
the evil girl must die an evil death by my poisons.
Let no one think me simple, weak,
or passive, but the opposite:
hard on my enemies and kind to my friends.
Those who live by this creed win the greatest glory.
Chorus Leader
Since you have shared this account with us,
wishing to help you as well as supporting the laws
common to humanity, we forbid you to do this.
Medea
It can’t be otherwise. I forgive you for saying so,
since you aren’t suffering and I am.
Chorus Leader
Woman, will you dare to kill your own seed?
Medea
Yes, to bite into my husband hardest.
Chorus Leader
You would truly be the most miserable woman.
Medea
So be it. All talk in the meantime is too much.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
To Servant:
Hurry away and bring Jason,
since I call on you in all matters needing trust.
Say nothing of my resolutions,
if you think well of your mistress and are a woman.
Servant exits City Path.
Fourth Song
Chorus
Since ancient times in Athens,
the sons of Erechtheus prospered:
children of the blessed gods,
born from sacred land, unconquered,
feeding on most glorious wisdom,
ever strolling gracefully
through luminous air.
Where, they say,
the nine holy Muses
of Pieria gave birth
to fair-haired Harmony.
Athenians celebrate how
Aphrodite, drawing water
from the beautiful river Kephisos,
blows temperate breezes
over their land with her sweet breath.
Ever wearing a fragrant garland
of roses on her hair,
she sends Love
to join with Wisdom,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
partners in every kind
of excellence.
How will this city
of sacred rivers
and safe passage for friends
keep a child-killer, you
unholy among the pure?
Think again about striking these children;
think whose blood you shed.
By your knees, we beseech you
in every possible way:
Do not slay your children!
Where will you find the audacity –
from your mind or from your children –
to lead your hand and heart
in such terrible daring?
How will you gaze at your children
without tears, embracing the destiny of murder?
As your children fall pleading,
you will not have the strength
to wet your hand in their blood
with rash and reckless heart.
Scene Five:
Jason enters from City Path.
Jason
I’ve come as you asked. You won’t fail in this
even though you dislike me. I will listen.
Woman, what new business do you wish of me?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Medea
Jason. I beg you to be understanding about
what I said. One expects you to bear my moods,
since our long love has prepared the soil.
I talked it over and scolded myself:
“Stubborn woman, why be mad and bear
hard feelings against those who plan well?
Why stand as an enemy to the ruler of the land
and to my husband, who acts most favorably for us,
marrying a princess and fathering brothers
for my children? Shall I not divorce my passion?
What is wrong with me, when the gods provide so well?
Don’t I have the boys, and don’t I know that
we are exiles from this land and lack friends?”
With this in mind, I realized that I have been
misguided and pointlessly enraged.
So now I praise you and you seem to me sensible
to make this alliance, and I thoughtless.
I ought to share in these plans and help out
and stand by the bed, pleased to tend your bride.
Well, we women are such as we are –
I won’t say exactly “wicked.”
Still, you should not match our wickedness,
or pay back foolishness with foolishness.
I ask for pardon and claim that I reasoned wrongly
then, but now reconsider for the better.
Oh boys, boys, come here, leave the house
and come outside! Welcome your father
Children with Tutor enter from skenē.
and speak to him with me. Join mother
in changing hate into friendship.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
We made a truce and the rage is gone.
Clasp right hands . . .
(Oimoi! I’m thinking of hidden harm.
My boys, will you reach out your dear arms
like this your long life through? I am miserable,
close to tears and full of fear.)
My quarrel with your father over at last,
this tender sight fills me with tears.
Chorus Leader
A fresh tear falls from my eyes, too.
May greater harm not follow this one.
Jason
I approve, woman, and I don’t blame you.
One expects females to get mad
when husbands smuggle in other marriages.
But your heart has changed for the better;
you recognize the winning plan at last.
These are actions of a sensible woman.
Sons, your father has most thoughtfully
created great security for you, gods willing.
I believe you will yet be among the elite
with your future brothers here in Korinth.
Grow up, and the rest your father will handle,
with whoever of the gods is kind.
May I see you when you’ve grown into strong,
young men, triumphant over my enemies.
Woman, why do you turn your pale cheek,
your eyes wet with fresh tears,
and not accept my words gladly?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Medea
It’s nothing. I’m thinking about these children.
Jason
Now, take heart. I will arrange all things well for them.
Medea
I’ll do that. I won’t distrust your words.
But a woman is female and prone to tears.
Jason
Why so much moaning about these children?
Medea
I gave birth to them. When you prayed that the children
would live, pity washed over me. Will it happen?
Never mind, you came to speak with me for their sake:
Part I’ve said; the rest I will mention.
The royal family has decided to banish me.
I know well that this is best for me, too,
not to be underfoot for you or the rulers,
since I seem unfriendly to the palace.
All right, I will leave here for exile.
But ask Kreon not to drive your sons from this land
so that you may raise them with your own hand.
Jason
I might not persuade him, but I must try.
Medea
Then urge your wife to entreat her father
not to banish your sons from Korinth.
Jason
Certainly. And I do expect to persuade her,
if she is a woman like all the rest.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Medea
I, too, will help you in this task,
by sending her gifts far more beautiful,
I know, than any among mortals:
a delicate dress and a golden tiara,
which your sons will carry. One of the servants
should quickly bring the pretty things here.
Servant hands Medea dress and tiara in a box or basket.
Your bride will be happy, not in one but myriad ways:
She wins you for bedmate, the best of men,
and the finery which my grandfather
Helios once gave to his own descendents.
Grasp the dowry, boys, in your hands
and give it to the blessed princess bride.
She will welcome these faultless gifts.
Jason
You fool, why empty your hands? Keep these riches.
Do you suppose the royal palace lacks dresses
or, do you suppose, gold? Don’t give them away.
If a wife considers me worthy of any account,
I know that she’ll rank me higher than rich goods.
Medea
No, they say “gifts persuade even gods.”
Gold is stronger to mortals than countless words.
A lucky spirit favors her, now a god makes her fortune grow:
She’s young and a princess. I would trade my life,
not just gold, to revoke the exile of my boys.
Children, go to the wealthy palace
to your father’s new wife, my mistress.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Beseech her, beg her not to banish you,
give her these pretty things. Take care that
she receives these gifts into her own hands.
Medea gives them to the children.
Go quickly, and bring back the good news
mother desires – of your success.
Jason, children, and Tutor exit City Path.
Fifth Song
Chorus
Now we can no longer hope for the children’s lives,
not now, when they march off to their murder.
The bride will accept the golden headband,
the poor girl will accept ruin.
Her own hands will set
the finery of Hades
upon her yellow hair.
Charm and the ambrosial gleam will persuade
her to put on the dress and gold wrought crown.
Already she wears her bridal dress,
a bride among the dead.
She will fall into such a trap,
the destiny of death, poor girl.
She will not escape from ruin.
(To Jason)
You reckless, poorly wed
son-in-law of royalty,
ignorant that you bring
destruction upon your children’s lives,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
and your wife a horrible death.
Unhappy man, how far you’ve strayed
from your destiny.
(To Medea)
Next, we mourn with your grief,
reckless mother of sons, who will murder
children for the sake of a bridal bed
because your husband lawlessly
abandoned you to join in another union.
Scene Six:
Tutor enters with the children from City Path.
Tutor
Mistress, your children have escaped exile,
and the royal bride gladly accepts the gifts
from their hands. There is peace for the boys. What?
Why are you upset with good fortune?
Medea
Ah, no!
Tutor
That is not in tune with the news.
Medea
No, again!
Tutor
Surely I’m not the messenger of misfortune
without knowing it? Was I wrong to think it good news?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Medea
You brought the message – I don’t blame you.
Tutor
Then why are your eyes downcast? Why are you crying?
Medea
Necessity forces me, old man. I was thinking wrongly
when I – and the gods – arranged these things.
Tutor
Take heart. Your sons will bring you back yet.
Medea
I will sooner bring down others, miserable me.
Tutor
You are not alone in being parted from your children.
Human beings must lightly bear misfortunes.
Medea
So I will. But go inside the house
and prepare for the children’s daily needs.
Tutor exits skenē; children stay on stage.
Boys, my boys, this is your city and home
where you will live, forever deprived
of your mother, leaving me in misery.
I go to another land, a refugee,
before enjoying you and seeing you happy.
Before prenuptial baths and wives, before
I adorn your wedding beds and raise the torches.
Most miserable from pleasing myself !
I raised you in vain, children, after all.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
In vain, I labored and was torn with pains,
bearing cruel grief in childbirth.
This unhappy woman once had many hopes in you,
that you would take care of me in old age,
and all would envy me when I die
since your own hands would shroud me.
Now these sweet thoughts perish. Without you
I will lead a painful life, full of grief.
Your dear eyes will no longer see your mother
when you withdraw to another state of life.
Oh! Boys, why this look in your eyes?
Why do you smile your last smile at me?
Ah! What shall I do? Women, my heart is utterly lost
looking into the bright eyes of my children.
I cannot do it – goodbye my plans.
I will take my boys from this land.
Why should I hurt their father with their anguish,
and win twice as much anguish for myself ?
No, I cannot. Goodbye plans.
And yet . . . why should I suffer? Do I want
to be mocked for not punishing my enemies?
I must dare to do this. Such cowardice
to even admit soft words in my mind.
Children, into the house.
Children head toward skenē but are occupied by attendant by the doors.
Medea moves to where they cannot hear her.
Whoever thinks it not right to attend my sacrifice,
stay at your own risk. I will not weaken my hand.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Ah! No truly, my heart, no, don’t do it.
Let them be, wretched heart! Spare the children.
Living there with us, they will bring us joy.
No, no by Hades’ avengers,
this can never be, that I surrender
my boys to my enemies to abuse.
Anyway, what’s done is done.
The royal bride won’t escape.
Now in the dress, with the crown
on her head, she dies, I know.
Since I will travel the most miserable road
and send them down one more miserable still,
I wish to speak to the children.
Medea and children come together.
My boys, give, give mother
your right hand to caress.
Dearest hand, children’s mouth,
noble form and face so dear to me.
May you be happy, but there; your father
took away life here. O sweet embrace,
the soft skin and sweetest breath of children.
Go in, go! I can’t look at you any longer
while anguish defeats me.
Children exit skenē.
I understand what evil I intend to do,
but my heart is master of my plans.
That heart causes mortals the greatest evil.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Chanted interlude in place of song.
Chorus
Often we speak about subjects more subtle
and engage in debates greater
than womankind should seek.
For the sake of wisdom,
the Muses also speak
with a few of us, not all,
maybe one among many.
Yet the Muses do inspire
a small group of women.
We say those who never bear children
nor have anything to do with them
find greater happiness than parents.
Without trial and error,
the childless never discover
whether children bring pleasure or pain,
and so escape from many labors.
But those with the sweet sprout
of children in their home, we see them
worn down by care every day.
How will they nurture the children?
How to leave them a livelihood?
Even then, who knows
if they labor for bad children or good?
We must state the worst anguish of all
for every human being.
Suppose parents find an adequate living
and the young bodies grow into youth
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
and the children truly are good.
If Fate brings it about,
Death flies off to Hades
with the children’s bodies in tow.
How is this most painful sorrow,
piled onto the rest
that gods inflict upon mortals,
worthwhile for the sake of children?
Scene Seven:
Medea
My friends, after waiting so long, I’m watching
to see how the affairs in the palace turn out.
Look – a messenger approaches, a servant of Jason.
His frantic breathing shows
he must be bringing bad news.
Messenger enters from City Path.
Messenger
Flee, Medea, flee! Neglect
no transport by land or sea.
Medea
What has happened that merits my flight?
Messenger
Just now the royal princess and her father
Kreon, too, perished from your poison.
Medea
You tell the loveliest tidings. You’ll be among
my friends and benefactors from now on.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Messenger
What are you saying?
Woman, are you thinking straight, not mad?
You rejoice at the news and fear no consequences
after assaulting the hearth of the royal family?
Medea
I could offer some kind of rebuttal.
But don’t be hasty, friend.
Tell me: How did they die? You would please me
twice as much if they died horribly.
Messenger
When the two children, your offspring, arrived
with their father, and entered the newlyweds’ apartment,
we were pleased, we slaves who wearied of your
troubles. Straightaway our ears picked up the talk
that you and your husband had resolved your quarrel.
One of us kissed a little hand, another a child’s
blond head. I even followed the children
in pleasure into the women’s quarters.
The mistress we honor now instead of you
eagerly kept her eye on Jason
until she saw your two children.
Then she covered her eyes
and turned her pale cheek,
loathing the boys’ entrance. Your husband,
to sooth the temper and rage of his bride,
said: “You won’t be unfriendly to family, will you?
End your anger and turn your head,
considering as kin anyone your husband does.
Won’t you accept these gifts and for my sake
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
ask your father to release my sons from exile?”
When she looked at the finery, she could not resist,
but agreed with her husband on everything.
Before father and sons had gone far from the palace,
she put on the embroidered dress,
and placing the golden tiara around her curls,
she arranged her hair in the shining mirror,
smiling at the lifeless image of her body.
Then rising from her chair, she walked about
the house, her pale white feet stepping daintily.
Utterly charmed by the gifts, her eyes
kept checking the hem, her ankle.
After that, it truly was a terrible sight to behold:
Her skin changing, her limbs trembling,
she staggered, bent over,
fell into a chair, nearly sinking to the ground.
An old servant entered and, thinking either
divine possession by Pan or another god,
raised a joyous cry – until she saw white foam
frothing from her mouth, the pupils of her eyes
rolling back, and her bloodless skin.
Then instead of the cry of joy, the old woman sang out
a loud shriek. Straightaway one servant rushed
to her father’s quarters and another to her new husband
to tell them of the bride’s calamity.
All the palace pounded with a flurry of running.
Before a fast sprinter could reach the finish line
in the last leg of a stadium race,
the poor girl, mute with eyes shut tight,
started up, groaning terribly.
A twofold pain attacked her:
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
The golden tiara encircling her head
shot forth a miraculous stream of all devouring fire,
while the delicate dress ate the white flesh
of the bedeviled girl – the gifts from your children.
Rising from the chair, she fled, on fire,
shaking her hair and head every which way,
desperate to throw off the crown. But the gold band
held firmly, and the fire, after she shook
her hair, blazed twice as fiercely as before.
She fell to the ground conquered by disaster.
Only a parent could recognize her:
The shape of her eyes and noble face
distorted, as blood mixed with fire
dripped down from the top of her head.
Her flesh melted away from the bones, weeping
like pine resin from the poison’s unseen jaws,
a terrible sight. Everyone feared to touch
the body, for we thought her fate a lesson.
Her reckless father, ignorant of her misfortune,
suddenly entered the room and fell upon the corpse.
He groaned, throwing his arms around her,
kissed her, and said: “My poor daughter,
what god destroyed you so dishonorably?
Who makes childless an old man near his grave?
Oimoi! May I die with you, my child!”
When he stopped mourning and lamenting,
he needed his aged body to rise,
but he stuck to the delicate dress like ivy
to shoots of laurel. They wrestled terribly
as he tried to pull himself to his knees,
while she held him fast. When he applied force,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
she ripped his old flesh from the bones.
In time he gave way and the doomed man surrendered
his life, no longer stronger than the poison.
The bodies lie together, daughter with old father,
a calamity longing for tears.
I left your part out of the telling:
You will know your own punishment in turn.
Not for the first time, I think human life a shadow,
and I would say without fear that those people
who seem to be clever and play with words
bring upon themselves the greatest folly.
Nobody human can be happy.
When wealth flows in, one man may
be luckier than another, but not happy, no.
Messenger exits City Path.
Chorus Leader
A divinity seems to justly merge
many disasters for Jason in one day.
How we pity your misfortunes,
daughter of Kreon, vanished to Hades
because of marriage with Jason.
Medea
My friends, I am determined to act:
kill the boys at once, then depart.
I must not, by lingering, give the children
to someone else to murder with a harsher hand.
It is necessary for them to die, and since they must,
I who gave them birth will kill them.
Now arm yourself, my heart! Why delay
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
doing the terrible and necessary evil?
Yes, my reckless hand, take up the sword,
take it. Step up to the painful start of your life.
Don’t be cowardly, don’t remember the children,
how very dear, how you gave them birth,
but for this brief day forget your sons,
then mourn. Even if you kill them, even so
they are dear – unfortunate woman that I am.
Medea exits skenē to kill the children – her first exit.
Sixth Song
Chorus
Earth and all-shining ray of Helios,
look down on the destructive woman,
before she attacks her children
with a bloody, kin-slaying hand.
She grew from your golden race, and now
we dread that blood descended from a god
will spill upon the earth by mortal hands.
Zeus-born light, hold her,
stop her, rid the house of the reckless
and bloodstained avenging Fury.
The labor of childbearing is lost, in vain.
Leaving the most inhospitable
strait of the dark Clashing Rocks,
you bore dear offspring in vain, after all.
Sorry creature, why does mind-oppressing
rage fall on you and frenzied murder
follow these other deaths?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
The stain of kindred blood is hard for humans;
grief from the gods in due measure
falls upon the house of murderers.
Children speak from inside skenē.
Child
Oh, help me!
Chorus (speaks)
Do you hear a shout? Hear the children?
O reckless woman, evil fate!
Child A
Oimoi, what can I do? Where run from mother’s hands?
Child B
I don’t know, dearest brother – we’re lost!
Chorus (sings)
Shall I enter the house? I am determined
to prevent the children’s murder.
Child A
Yes, by the gods, stop her in time!
Child B
We are so close now to the sword’s trap.
Chorus (sings)
Wretch, so you truly are rock or iron,
since you will kill the crop of children
you bore, their doom by your own hand.
Children’s screams stop abruptly.
Only one we’ve heard of, one woman before
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
who cast her hand against her own children.
When Zeus’ wife Hera drove Ino mad
and sent her from the house in a daze,
the miserable mother fell into the sea
for her children’s unholy murder.
Stretching a foot over the sea cliff,
Ino perished, dying with her two sons.
What terrible act is still impossible?
O women’s marriage bed of many woes,
such evil you have already done to humankind!
Scene Eight:
Jason enters City Path.
Jason
Women standing out here,
is she in the house? She’s done terrible deeds.
Medea. Or has she already fled?
She must be hidden beneath the earth
or her body aloft on wings into the high ether,
not to pay the just penalty to the royal palace.
Does she think she can escape from this house
unpunished after killing the rulers of the land?
But forget her – my thoughts are for the children.
Those she harmed will do the same to her.
I came to save the lives of my sons,
fearing that the king’s kin would act against us
to exact retribution for their mother’s unholy murders.
Chorus Leader
Miserable man. You do not know your troubles,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Jason, or you would not have said those words.
Jason
What is it? I expect she wishes to kill me, too?
Chorus Leader
Your sons are dead by their mother’s hand.
Jason
Oimoi! What do you mean? Woman, you destroy me!
Chorus Leader
Understand that your sons no longer live.
Jason
Where did she kill them? In the house or out?
Chorus Leader
Open the gates to view the murder of your children.
Jason
Unfasten the bar quickly, servants.
Release the lock, so I can see the double evil:
the dead and her – to exact justice.
Medea enters on crane above stage in a dragon chariot (the deus ex
machina).
Medea
Why knock about and try to pry open the gates,
searching for the corpses and me who did it?
Cease your labor. If you have need of me,
say what you want. Your hand will never touch me.
Helios, father of my father, gave me this chariot,
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
a defense against an enemy hand.
Jason
Vile woman! The gods, I, and all
the human race utterly despise you!
You had the audacity to plunge a sword
into your children, destroying me, childless.
Can you look upon the sun and earth,
after daring this most monstrous deed?
Damn you! I see now what I was blind to
when I brought you from your barbarian
home to a Greek household: an abomination,
traitor to your father and land that raised you.
The gods have hurled your avenging spirit at me
ever since you killed your brother by the hearth
and set sail on Argo, my beautiful ship.
So you began. Even though you were married
to me and had born me children, you murdered them.
All because of sex and a marriage bed.
No Greek woman exists who would ever
dare this, yet I picked you to marry –
a hateful, destructive marriage for me –
a lioness, not a woman, more savage
than the Etruscan Scylla.
But a million more insults would not bite into you,
such boldness is your true nature.
Die, you shameless, polluted child-killer.
What’s left for me but to mourn my fate?
I won’t profit by my new bride
and cannot speak to my sons alive,
sons I bred and reared, and then lost.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
Medea
I would say much to refute your tale,
if father Zeus did not know
how you benefited from me and what you did.
You could not dishonor my bed
and live a delightful life mocking me.
The princess and Kreon, your marriage broker,
could not have impunity to throw me out of here.
That’s the way it is. Go on, call me a lioness,
if you wish, and Etruscan Scylla.
I attacked your heart, as needed.
Jason
You hurt yourself and share in the suffering.
Medea
True – but it’s worth the pain to still your laughter.
Jason
Children, what an evil mother you had!
Medea
Boys, a sick father destroyed you.
Jason
No, my right hand did not destroy them.
Medea
But your arrogance and new marriage did.
Jason
You thought it right to kill them over sex?
Medea
You think this a minor insult for a woman?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Jason
Yes, for a sensible one. You are pure evil.
Medea (points at corpses)
These here no longer live – that will bite at you.
Jason
They live on – oimoi – as avengers for your head.
Medea
The gods know who began this calamity.
Jason
They know well your despicable mind.
Medea
So despise me. I loathe your bitter voice.
Jason
Just as I yours – so parting is easy.
Medea
What shall I do? I’m ready and willing.
Jason
Let me bury these bodies and then weep.
Medea
No. I shall bury them with my own hand,
bringing them to the sanctuary of Hera Akraia
where no enemy can abuse them, digging up
their graves. I shall establish for all time
in this land of Sisyphus a hallowed festival
and due rites for this unholy murder.
I will depart for the land of Erechtheus
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
to live with Aigeus, son of Pandion, in Athens.
You will die badly, as a bad man deserves:
struck on the head with a timber scrap from Argo,
having seen the bitter end from my marriage.
Chanted from here to end.
Jason
May the children’s Furies
and deadly Justice destroy you.
Medea
What god or spirit listens to you,
oath liar and deceiver of allies?
Jason
Foul abomination! Child-killer!
Medea
Go home and bury your wife.
Jason
I go, deprived of two children.
Medea
You don’t mourn yet. Just wait for old age.
Jason
O dearest children.
Medea
Dearest to their mother, not you.
Jason
And so you killed them?
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Medea
Medea
To hurt you.
Jason
Oimoi, the misery! How I long to press
my sons’ dear mouths close to me.
Medea
You speak to them now, embrace them now.
Back then you pushed them away.
Jason
By the gods, allow me
to touch the soft skin of my children.
Medea
Not possible. You fling words in vain.
Medea flies off.
Jason
Do you hear how I am driven away, Zeus,
and what I suffer from this foul,
child-killing lioness?
With all my strength
I sing a dirge and invoke the gods
as my witness. Medea, you killed my children,
then prevent my hands
from touching them, burying their bodies.
If only I never had them
to see them slain by you.
Chorus
Zeus in Olympos oversees many things;
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core
Euripides’ Medea
much the gods accomplish despite our hopes.
The expected did not come to pass;
a god found a passage for the unexpected.
Thus ends this matter of Medea.
terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139059077.004 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Griffith University, on 08 Mar 2018 at 04:53:08, subject to the Cambridge Core