412 BC ION by Euripides translated by Robert Potter şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R) DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI {CHARACTERS CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY - Mercury Ion Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus Xuthus, husband of CREUSA Tutor Attendant {^paragraph 5} Priestess of Apollo Minerva Chorus of Handmaidens of Creusa Attendants of the Temple of Apollo Ion {ION ION - (SCENE:-Before the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The sun is about to rise. MERCURY enters.) - MERCURY Atlas, that on his brazen shoulders rolls Yon heaven, the ancient mansion of the gods, Was by a goddess sire to Maia; she To supreme Jove bore me, and call'd me Hermes; Attendant on the king, his high behests I execute. To Delphi am I come, {^paragraph 5} This land where Phoebus from his central throne Utters to mortals his high strain, declaring The present and the future; this is the cause; Greece hath a city of distinguish'd glory, Which from the goddess of the golden lance {^paragraph 10} Received its name; Erechtheus was its king; His daughter, call'd Creusa, to the embrace Of nuptial love Apollo strain'd perforce, Where northward points the rock beneath the heights Crown'd with the Athenian citadel of Pallas, {^paragraph 15} Call'd Macrai by the lords of Attica. Her growing burden, to her sire unknown (Such was the pleasure of the god), she bore, Till in her secret chamber to a son The rolling months gave birth: to the same cave, {^paragraph 20} Where by the enamour'd god she was compress'd, Creusa bore the infant: there for death Exposed him in a well-compacted ark Of circular form, observant of the customs Drawn from her great progenitors, and chief {^paragraph 25} From Erichthonius, who from the Attic earth Deriv'd his origin: to him as guards Minerva gave two dragons, and in charge Consign'd him to the daughters of Aglauros: This rite to the Erechthidae hence remains, {^paragraph 30} Mid serpents wreathed in ductile gold to nurse Their children. What of ornament she had She hung around her son, and left him thus To perish. But to me his earnest prayer Phoebus applied, "To the high-lineaged sons {^paragraph 35} Of glorious Athens go, my brother; well Thou know'st the city of Pallas; from the cave Deep in the hollow rock a new-born babe, Laid as he is, and all his vestments with him; Bring to thy brother to my shrine, and place {^paragraph 40} At the entrance of my temple; of the rest (For, know, the child is mine) I will take care." To gratify my brother thence I bore The osier-woven ark, and placed the boy Here at the temple's base, the wreathed lid {^paragraph 45} Uncovering, that the infant might be seen. It chanced, as the orient sun the steep of heav'n Ascended, to the god's oracular seat The priestess entering, on the infant cast Her eye, and marvelled, deeming that some nymph {^paragraph 50} Of Delphi at the fane had dared to lay The secret burden of her womb: this thought Prompts her to move it from the shrine: but soon To pity she resign'd the harsh intent; The impulse of the god secretly acting {^paragraph 55} In favour of the child, that in his temple It might abide; her gentle hand then took it, And gave it nurture; yet conceived she not That Phoebus was the sire, nor who the mother Knew aught, nor of his parents could the child {^paragraph 60} Give information. All his youthful years Sportive he wandered round the shrine, and there Was fed: but when his firmer age advanced To manhood, o'er the treasures of the god The Delphians placed him, to his faithful care {^paragraph 65} Consigning all; and in this royal dome His hallow'd life he to this hour hath pass'd. Meantime Creusa, mother of the child, To Xuthus was espoused, the occasion this:- On Athens from Euboean Chalcis roll'd {^paragraph 70} The waves of war; be join'd their martial toil, And with his spear repell'd the foe; for this To the proud honour of Creusa's bed Advanc'd; no native, in Achaea sprung From Aeolus, the son of Jove. Long time {^paragraph 75} Unbless'd with children, to the oracular shrine Of Phoebus are they come, through fond desire Of progeny: to this the god hath brought The fortune of his son, nor, as was deem'd, Forgets him; but to Xuthus, when he stands {^paragraph 80} This sacred seat consulting, will he give That son, declared his offspring; that the child, When to Creusa's house brought back, by her May be agnized; the bridal rites of Phoebus Kept secret, that the youth may claim the state {^paragraph 85} Due to his birth, through all the states of Greece Named Ion, founder of the colonies On the Asiatic coast. The laurell'd cave Now will I visit, there to learn what fortune Is to the boy appointed, for I see {^paragraph 90} This son of Phoebus issuing forth to adorn The gates before the shrine with laurel boughs. First of the gods I hail him by the name Of Ion, which his fortune soon will give him. - {^paragraph 95} (MERCURY vanishes. ION and the attendants of the temple enter.) - ION (chanting) Now flames this radiant chariot of the sun High o'er the earth, at whose ethereal fire {^paragraph 100} The stars into the sacred night retreat: O'er the Parnassian cliffs the ascending wheels To mortals roll the beams of day; the wreaths Of incense-breathing myrrh mount to the roof Of Phoebus' fane; the Delphic priestess now {^paragraph 105} Assumes her seat, and from the hallow'd tripod Pronounces to the Greeks the oracular strains Which the god dictates. Haste, ye Delphic train, Haste to Castalia's silver-streaming fount; Bathed in its chaste dews to the temple go; {^paragraph 110} There from your guarded mouths no sound be heard But of good omen, that to those who crave Admission to the oracle, your voice May with auspicious words expound the answers. My task, which from my early infancy {^paragraph 115} Hath been my charge, shall be with laurel boughs And sacred wreaths to cleanse the vestibule Of Phoebus, on the pavement moistening dews To rain, and with my bow to chase the birds Which would defile the hallow'd ornaments. {^paragraph 120} A mother's fondness, and a father's care I never knew: the temple of the god Claims then my service, for it nurtured me. - (The attendants leave. ION busies himself before {^paragraph 125} the temple as he continues to sing.) - strophe - Haste, thou verdant new-sprung bough, {^paragraph 130} Haste, thy early office know; Branch of beauteous laurel come, Sweep Apollo's sacred dome, Cropp'd this temple's base beneath, Where the immortal gardens breathe, {^paragraph 135} And eternal dews that round Water the delicious ground, Bathe the myrtle's tresses fair. Lightly thus, with constant care, The pavement of the god I sweep, {^paragraph 140} When over the Parnassian steep Flames the bright sun's mounting ray; This my task each rising day. Son of Latona, Paean, Paean, hail! Never, O never may thy honours fail! {^paragraph 145} - antistrophe - Grateful is my task, who wait Serving, Phoebus, at thy gate; {^paragraph 150} Honouring thus thy hallow'd shrine, Honour for the task is mine. Labouring with unwilling hands, Me no mortal man commands: But, immortal gods, to you {^paragraph 155} All my pleasing toil is due. Phoebus is to me a sire; Grateful thoughts my soul inspire; Nurtured by thy bounty here, Thee, Apollo, I revere; {^paragraph 160} As a father's I repeat. Son of Latona, Paean, Paean, hail! Never, O never may thy honours fail! - Now from this labour with the laurel bough {^paragraph 165} I cease; and sprinkling from the golden vase The chaste drops which Castalia's fountain rolls, Bedew the pavement. Never may I quit This office to the god; or, if I quit it, Be it, good Fortune, at thy favouring call! {^paragraph 170} But see, the early birds have left their nests, And this way from Parnassus wing their flight. Come not, I charge you, near the battlements, Nor near the golden dome. Herald of Jove, Strong though thy beak beyond the feather'd kind, {^paragraph 175} My bow shall reach thee. Towards the altar, see, A swan comes sailing: elsewhere wilt thou move Thy scarlet-tinctured foot? or from my bow The lyre of Phoebus to thy notes attuned Will not protect thee; farther stretch thy wings; {^paragraph 180} Go, wanton, skim along the Delian lake, Or wilt thou steep thy melody in blood. Look, what strange bird comes onwards; wouldst thou fix Beneath the battlements thy straw-built nest? My singing bow shall drive thee hence; begone, {^paragraph 185} Or to the banks of Alpheus, gulfy stream, Or to the Isthmian grove; there hatch thy young; Mar not these pendent ornaments, nor soil The temple of the god: I would not kill you: 'Twere pity, for to mortal man you bear {^paragraph 190} The message of the gods; yet my due task Must be perform'd, and never will I cease My service to the god who nurtured me. - (The CHORUS enters. The following lines between ION and the CHORUS are chanted responsively as they gaze admiringly at the decorations on the temple.) {^paragraph 195} - CHORUS The stately column, and the gorgeous dome Raised to the gods, are not the boast alone Of our magnificent Athens; nor the statues {^paragraph 200} That grace her streets; this temple of the god, Son of Latona, beauteous to behold, Beams the resplendent light of both her children. ION Turn thine eyes this way; look, the son of Jove {^paragraph 205} Lops with his golden scimitar the heads Of the Lernean Hydra: view it well. CHORUS I see him. ION {^paragraph 210} And this other standing nigh, Who snatches from the fire the blazing brand. CHORUS What is his name? the subject, on the web Design'd, these hands have wrought in ductile gold. {^paragraph 215} ION The shield-supporting Iolaus, who bears The toils in common with the son of Jove. View now this hero; on his winged steed The triple-bodied monster's dreadful force {^paragraph 220} He conquers through the flames his jaws emit. CHORUS I view it all attentively. ION Observe {^paragraph 225} The battle of the giants, on the walls Sculptured in stone. CHORUS Let us note this, my friends. ION {^paragraph 230} See where against Enceladus she shakes Her gorgon shield. CHORUS I see my goddess, Pallas. ION {^paragraph 235} Mark the tempestuous thunder's flaming bolt Launch'd by the hand of Jove. CHORUS The furious Mimas Here blazes in the volley'd fires: and there {^paragraph 240} Another earth-born monster falls beneath The wand of Bacchus wreathed with ivy round, No martial spear. But, as 'tis thine to tend This temple, let me ask thee, is it lawful, Leaving our sandals, its interior parts {^paragraph 245} To visit? ION Strangers, this is not permitted. CHORUS Yet may we make inquiries of thee? {^paragraph 250} ION Speak; What wouldst thou know? CHORUS Whether this temple's site {^paragraph 255} Be the earth's centre? ION Ay, with garlands hung, And gorgons all around. CHORUS {^paragraph 260} So fame reports. ION If at the gate the honey'd cake be offer'd, Would you consult the oracle, advance To the altar: till the hallow'd lamb has bled {^paragraph 265} In sacrifice, approach not the recess. CHORUS I am instructed: what the god appoints As laws, we wish not to transgress: without Enough of ornament delights our eyes. {^paragraph 270} ION Take a full view of all; that is allow'd. CHORUS To view the inmost shrine was our lord's order. ION {^paragraph 275} Who are you call'd? Attendants on what house? CHORUS Our lords inhabit the magnific domes Of Pallas.-But she comes, of whom thou askest. (CREUSA and attendants enter.) {^paragraph 280} ION Lady, whoe'er thou art, that liberal air Speaks an exalted mind: there is a grace, A dignity in those of noble birth, That marks their high rank. Yet I marvel much {^paragraph 285} That from thy closed lids the trickling tear Water'd thy beauteous cheeks, soon as thine eye Beheld this chaste oracular seat of Phoebus. What brings this sorrow, lady? All besides, Viewing the temple of the god, are struck {^paragraph 290} With joy; thy melting eye o'erflows with tears. CREUSA Not without reason, stranger, art thou seized With wonder at my tears: this sacred dome Awakes the sad remembrance of things past. {^paragraph 295} I had my mind at home, though present here. How wretched is our sex! And, O ye gods, What deeds are yours! Where may we hope for right, If by the injustice of your power undone? ION {^paragraph 300} Why, lady, this inexplicable grief? CREUSA It matters not; my mind resumes its firmless: I say no more; cease thy concern for me. ION {^paragraph 305} But say, who art thou? whence? what country boasts Thy birth? and by what name may we address thee? CREUSA Creusa is my name, drawn from Erechtheus My high-born lineage; Athens gave me birth. {^paragraph 310} Illustrious is thy state; thy ancestry So noble that I look with reverence on thee. CREUSA Happy indeed is this, in nothing farther. ION {^paragraph 315} But tell me, is it true what fame has blazon'd? CREUSA What wouldst thou ask? Stranger, I wish to know. ION Sprung the first author of thy line from the earth? {^paragraph 320} CREUSA Ay, Erichthonius; but my race avails not. ION And did Minerva raise him from the earth? CREUSA {^paragraph 325} Held in her virgin hands: she bore him not. ION And gave him as the picture represents? CREUSA Daughters of Cecrops these, charged not to see him. {^paragraph 330} ION The virgins ope'd the interdicted chest? CREUSA And died, distaining with their blood the rock. ION {^paragraph 335} But tell me, is this truth, or a vain rumour? CREUSA What wouldst thou ask? I am not scant of time. ION Thy sisters did Erechtheus sacrifice? {^paragraph 340} CREUSA He slew the virgins, victims for their country. ION And thou of all thy sisters saved alone? CREUSA {^paragraph 345} I was an infant in my mother's arms. ION And did the yawning earth swallow thy father? CREUSA By Neptune's trident smote; and so he perish'd. {^paragraph 350} ION And Macrai call you not the fatal place? CREUSA Why dost thou ask? What thoughts hast thou recall'd?, ION {^paragraph 355} Does Phoebus, do his lightnings honour it? CREUSA Honour! Why this? Would I had never seen it! ION Why? Dost thou hate the place dear to the god? {^paragraph 360} CREUSA No: but for some base deed done in the cave. ION But what Athenian, lady, wedded thee? CREUSA {^paragraph 365} Of Athens none, but one of foreign birth. ION What is his name? Noble he needs must be. CREUSA Xuthus, by Aeolus derived from Jove. {^paragraph 370} ION How weds a stranger an Athenian born? CREUSA Euboea is a state neighbouring on Athens. ION {^paragraph 375} A narrow sea flows, I have heard, between. CREUSA Joining the Athenian arms, that state he wasted. ION Confederate in the war, thence wedded thee? {^paragraph 380} CREUSA The dowral meed of war, earn'd by his spear. ION Comest thou with him to Delphi, or alone? CREUSA {^paragraph 385} With him, gone now to the Trophonian shrine. ION To view it, or consult the oracle? CREUSA Both that and this, anxious for one response. {^paragraph 390} ION For the earth's fruits consult you, or for children? CREUSA Though wedded long, yet childless is our bed. ION {^paragraph 395} Hast thou ne'er borne a child, that thou hast none? CREUSA My state devoid of children Phoebus knows. ION Bless'd in all else, luckless in this alone. {^paragraph 400} CREUSA But who art thou? Bless'd I pronounce thy mother. ION Call'd as I am the servant of the god. CREUSA {^paragraph 405} Presented by some state, or sold to this? ION I know not aught save this, I am the god's. CREUSA And in my turn, stranger, I pity thee. {^paragraph 410} ION As knowing not my mother, or my lineage. CREUSA Hast thou thy dwelling here, or in some house? ION {^paragraph 415} The temple is my house, ev'n when I sleep. CREUSA A child brought hither, or in riper years? ION An infant, as they say, who seem to know. {^paragraph 420} CREUSA What Delphian dame sustain'd thee at her breast? ION I never knew a breast. She nourish'd me. CREUSA {^paragraph 425} Who, hapless youth? Diseased, I find disease. ION The priestess: as a mother I esteem her. CREUSA Who to these manly years gave thee support? {^paragraph 430} ION The altars, and the still-succeeding strangers. CREUSA Wretched, whoe'er she be, is she that bore thee. ION {^paragraph 435} I to some woman am perchance a shame. CREUSA Are riches thine? Thou art well habited. ION Graced with these vestments by the god I serve. {^paragraph 440} CREUSA Hast thou made no attempt to trace thy birth? ION I have no token, lady, for a proof. CREUSA {^paragraph 445} Ah, like thy mother doth another suffer. ION Who? tell me: shouldst thou help me, what a joy CREUSA One for whose sake I come before my husband. {^paragraph 450} ION Say for what end, that I may serve thee, lady. CREUSA To ask a secret answer of the god. ION {^paragraph 455} Speak it: my service shall procure the rest. CREUSA Hear then the tale: but Modesty restrains me. ION Ah, let her not; her power avails not here. {^paragraph 460} CREUSA My friend then says that to the embrace of Phoebus- ION A woman and a god! Say not so, stranger. CREUSA {^paragraph 465} She bore a son: her father knew it not. ION Not so: a mortal's baseness he disdains. CREUSA This she affirms; and this, poor wretch, she suffer'd. {^paragraph 470} ION What follow'd, if she knew the god's embrace? CREUSA The child, which hence had birth, she straight exposed. ION {^paragraph 475} This exposed child, where is he? doth he live? CREUSA This no one knows; this wish I to inquire. ION If not alive, how probably destroyed? {^paragraph 480} CREUSA Torn, she conjectures, by some beast of prey. ION What ground hath she on which to build that thought? CREUSA {^paragraph 485} Returning to the place she found him not. ION Observed she drops of blood distain the path? CREUSA None, though with anxious heed she search'd around. {^paragraph 490} ION What time hath pass'd since thus the child was lost? CREUSA Were he alive, his youth were such as thine. ION {^paragraph 495} The god hath done him wrong: the unhappy mother- CREUSA Hath not to any child been mother since. ION What if in secret Phoebus nurtures him! {^paragraph 500} CREUSA Unjust to enjoy alone a common right. ION Ah me! this cruel fate accords with mine. CREUSA {^paragraph 505} For thee too thy unhappy mother mourns. ION Ah, melt me not to griefs I would forget! CREUSA I will be silent: but impart thy aid. {^paragraph 510} ION Seest thou what most the inquiry will suppress? CREUSA And to my wretched friend what is not ill? ION {^paragraph 515} How shall the god what he would hide reveal? CREUSA As placed on the oracular seat of Greece. ION The deed must cause him shame: convict him not. {^paragraph 520} CREUSA To the poor sufferer 'tis the cause of grief. ION It cannot be; for who shall dare to give The oracle? With justice would the god, {^paragraph 525} In his own dome affronted, pour on him Severest vengeance, who should answer thee. Desist then, lady: it becomes us ill, In opposition to the god, to make Inquiries at his shrine; by sacrifice {^paragraph 530} Before their altars, or the flight of birds, Should we attempt to force the unwilling gods To utter what they wish not, 'twere the excess Of rudeness; what with violence we urge 'Gainst their consent would to no good avail us: {^paragraph 535} What their spontaneous grace confers on us, That, lady, as a blessing we esteem. LEADER OF THE CHORUS How numberless the ills to mortal man, And various in their form! One single blessing {^paragraph 540} By any one through life is scarcely found. CREUSA Nor here, nor there, O Phoebus, art thou just To her; though absent, yet her words are present. Nor didst thou save thy son, whom it became thee {^paragraph 545} To save; nor, though a prophet, wilt thou speak To the sad mother who inquires of thee; That, if he is no more, to him a tomb May rise; but, if he lives, that he may bless His mother's eyes. But even thus behooves us {^paragraph 550} To omit these things, if by the god denied To know what most I wish.-But, for I see The noble Xuthus this way bend, return'd From the Trophonian cave; before my husband Resume not, generous stranger, this discourse, {^paragraph 555} Lest it might cause me shame that thus I act In secret, and perchance lead on to questions I would not have explain'd. Our hapless sex Oft feel our husbands' rigour: with the bad The virtuous they confound, and treat us harshly. {^paragraph 560} (XUTHUS and his retinue enter.) XUTHUS With reverence to the god my first address I pay: Hail, Phoebus! Lady, next to thee: Absent so long, have I not caused thee fear? {^paragraph 565} CREUSA Not much: as anxious thoughts 'gan rise, thou'rt come. But, tell me, from Trophonius what reply Bearest thou; what means whence offspring may arise? XUTHUS {^paragraph 570} Unmeet he held it to anticipate The answer of the god: one thing he told me. That childless I should not return, nor thou, Home from the oracle. CREUSA {^paragraph 575} Goddess revered, Mother of Phoebus, be our coming hither In lucky hour; and our connubial bed Be by thy son made happier than before! XUTHUS {^paragraph 580} It shall be so. But who is president here? ION Without, that charge is mine; within, devolved On others, stranger, seated near the tripod; The chiefs of Delphi these, chosen by lot. {^paragraph 585} XUTHUS 'Tis well: all that I want is then complete. Let me now enter: for the oracle Is given, I hear, in common to all strangers Before the shrine; on such a day, that falls {^paragraph 590} Propitious thus, the answer of the god Would I receive: meanwhile, these laurel boughs Bear round the altars; lady, breathe thy prayers To every god, that from Apollo's shrine I may bring back the promise of a son. {^paragraph 595} - (XUTHUS, after giving the laurel boughs to CREUSA, enters the temple.) - CREUSA It shall, it shall be so. Should Phoebus now At least be willing to redress the fault Of former times, he would not through the whole {^paragraph 600} Be friendly to us: yet will I accept What he vouchsafes us, for he is a god. - (CREUSA departs to the shrines in the outer precinct of the temple.) - ION Why does this stranger always thus revile {^paragraph 605} With obscure speech the god? Is it through love Of her, for whom she asks? or to conceal Some secret of importance? But to me What is the daughter of Erechtheus? Naught Concerns it me. Then let me to my task, {^paragraph 610} And sprinkle from the golden vase the dew. Yet must I blame the god, if thus perforce He mounts the bed of virgins, and by stealth Becomes a father, leaving then his children To die, regardless of them. Do not thou {^paragraph 615} Act thus; but, as thy power is great, respect The virtues; for whoe'er, of mortal men, Dares impious deeds, him the gods punish: how Is it then just that you, who gave the laws To mortals, should yourselves transgress those laws?, {^paragraph 620} If (though it is not thus, yet will I urge The subject),-if to mortals you shall pay The penalty of forced embraces, thou, Neptune, and Jove, that reigns supreme in heaven, Will leave your temples treasureless by paying {^paragraph 625} The mulcts of your injustice: for unjust You are, your pleasures to grave temperance Preferring: and to men these deeds no more Can it be just to charge as crimes, these deeds If from the gods they imitate: on those {^paragraph 630} Who gave the ill examples falls the charge. (ION goes out.) CHORUS (singing) - strophe {^paragraph 635} - Thee prompt to yield thy lenient aid, And sooth a mother's pain: And thee, my Pallas, martial maid, I call: O, hear the strain! {^paragraph 640} Thou, whom the Titan from the head of Jove, Prometheus, drew, bright Victory, come, Descending from thy golden throne above; Haste, goddess, to the Pythian dome, Where Phoebus, from his central shrine, {^paragraph 645} Gives the oracle divine, By the raving maid repeated, On the hallow'd tripod seated: O haste thee, goddess, and with thee The daughter of Latona bring; {^paragraph 650} A virgin thou, a virgin she, Sisters to the Delphian king; Him, virgins, let your vows implore, That now his pure oracular power Will to Erechtheus' ancient line declare {^paragraph 655} The blessing of a long-expected heir! - antistrophe - To mortal man this promised grace {^paragraph 660} Sublimest pleasure brings, When round the father's hearth a race In blooming lustre springs. The wealth, the honours, from their high-drawn line From sire to son transmitted down, {^paragraph 665} Shall with fresh glory through their offspring shine, And brighten with increased renown: A guard, when ills begin to lower, Dear in fortune's happier hour; For their country's safety waking, {^paragraph 670} Firm in fight the strong spear shaking; More than proud wealth's exhaustless store, More than a monarch's bride to reign, The dear delight, to virtue's lore Careful the infant mind to train. {^paragraph 675} Doth any praise the childless state? The joyless, loveless life I hate; No; my desires to moderate wealth I bound, But let me see my children smile around. - {^paragraph 680} epode - Ye rustic seats, Pan's dear delight; Ye caves of Macrai's rocky height, Where oft the social virgins meet, {^paragraph 685} And weave the dance with nimble feet; Descendants from Aglauros they In the third line, with festive play, Minerva's hallow'd fane before The verdant plain light-tripping o'er, {^paragraph 690} When thy pipe's quick-varying sound Rings, O Pan, these caves around; Where, by Apollo's love betray'd, Her child some hapless mother laid, Exposed to each night-prowling beast, {^paragraph 695} Or to the ravenous birds a feast; For never have I heard it told, Nor wrought it in historic gold, That happiness attends the race, When gods with mortals mix the embrace. {^paragraph 700} (ION re-enters.) ION Ye female train, that place yourselves around This incense-breathing temple's base, your lord Awaiting, hath he left the sacred tripod {^paragraph 705} And oracle, or stays he in the shrine, Making inquiries of his childless state? LEADER OF THE CHORUS Yet in the temple, stranger, he remains. ION {^paragraph 710} But he comes forth; the sounding doors announce His near approach; behold, our lord is here. - (XUTHUS enters from the temple. He rushes to greet ION.) - {^paragraph 715} XUTHUS Health to my son! This first address is proper. ION I have my health: be in thy senses thou, And both are well. {^paragraph 720} XUTHUS O let me kiss thy hand, And throw mine arms around thee. ION Art thou, stranger, {^paragraph 725} Well in thy wits? or hath the god's displeasure Bereft thee of thy reason? XUTHUS Reason bids, That which is dearest being found, to wish {^paragraph 730} A fond embrace. ION Off, touch me not; thy hands Will mar the garlands of the god. XUTHUS {^paragraph 735} My touch Asserts no pledge: my own, and that most dear, I find. ION Wilt thou not keep thee distant, ere {^paragraph 740} Thou hast my arrow in thy heart? XUTHUS Why fly me, When thou shouldst own what is most fond of thee? ION {^paragraph 745} I am not fond of curing wayward strangers, And madmen. XUTHUS Kill me, raise my funeral pyre; But, if thou kill me, thou wilt kill thy father. {^paragraph 750} ION My father thou! how so? it makes me laugh To hear thee. XUTHUS This my words may soon explain. {^paragraph 755} ION What wilt thou say to me? XUTHUS I am thy father, And thou my son. {^paragraph 760} ION Who declares this? XUTHUS The god, That nurtured thee, though mine. {^paragraph 765} ION Thou to thyself Art witness. XUTHUS By the oracle inform'd. {^paragraph 770} ION Misled by some dark answer. XUTHUS Well I heard it. ION {^paragraph 775} What were the words of Phoebus? XUTHUS That who first Should meet me- ION {^paragraph 780} How?-what meeting? XUTHUS As I pass'd. Forth from the temple. ION {^paragraph 785} What the event to him? XUTHUS He is my son. ION Born so, or by some other {^paragraph 790} Presented? XUTHUS Though a present, born my son. ION And didst thou first meet me? {^paragraph 795} XUTHUS None else, my son. ION This fortune whence? XUTHUS {^paragraph 800} At that we marvel both. ION Who is my mother? XUTHUS That I cannot say. {^paragraph 805} ION Did not the god inform thee? XUTHUS Through my joy, For this I ask'd not. {^paragraph 810} ION Haply from the earth I sprung, my mother. XUTHUS No, the earth no sons {^paragraph 815} Produces. ION How then am I thine? XUTHUS I know not. {^paragraph 820} To Phoebus I appeal. ION Be this discourse Chang'd to some other. XUTHUS {^paragraph 825} This delights me most. ION Hast thou e'er mounted an unlawful bed? XUTHUS In foolishness of youth. {^paragraph 830} ION Was that before Thy marriage with the daughter of Erechtheus? XUTHUS Since never. {^paragraph 835} ION Owe I then my birth to that? XUTHUS The time agrees. ION {^paragraph 840} How came I hither then? XUTHUS I can form no conjecture. ION Was I brought {^paragraph 845} From some far distant part? XUTHUS That fills my mind With doubtful musing. ION {^paragraph 850} Didst thou e'er before Visit the Pythian rock? XUTHUS Once, at the feast Of Bacchus. {^paragraph 855} ION By some public host received? XUTHUS Who with the Delphian damsels- ION {^paragraph 860} To the orgies Led thee, or how? XUTHUS And with the Maenades Of Bacchus- {^paragraph 865} ION In the temperate hour, or warm With wine? XUTHUS Amid the revels of the god. {^paragraph 870} ION From thence I date my birth. XUTHUS And fate, my son, Hath found thee. {^paragraph 875} ION How then came I to the temple? XUTHUS Perchance exposed. ION {^paragraph 880} The state of servitude Have I escaped. XUTHUS Thy father now, my son, Receive. {^paragraph 885} ION Indecent were it in the god Not to confide. XUTHUS Thy thoughts are just. {^paragraph 890} ION What else Would we? XUTHUS Thou seest what thou oughtst to see. {^paragraph 895} ION Am I the son then of the son of Jove? XUTHUS Such is thy fortune. ION {^paragraph 900} Those that gave me birth Do I embrace? XUTHUS Obedient to the god. ION {^paragraph 905} My father, hail! XUTHUS That dear name I accept With joy. ION {^paragraph 910} This present day- XUTHUS Hath made me happy. ION O my dear mother, when shall I behold {^paragraph 915} Thy face? Whoe'er thou art, more wish I now To see thee than before; but thou perchance Art dead, and nothing our desires avail. LEADER We in the blessing of our house rejoice. {^paragraph 920} Yet wish we that our mistress too were happy In children, and the lineage of Erechtheus. XUTHUS Well hath the god accomplish'd this, my son, Discovering thee, well hath he joined thee to me; {^paragraph 925} And thou hast found the most endearing ties, To which, before this hour, thou wast a stranger. And the warm wish, which thou hast well conceived, Is likewise mine, that thou mayst find thy mother; I from what woman thou derivest thy birth. {^paragraph 930} This, left to time, may haply be discover'd. Now quit this hallow'd earth, the god no more Attending, and to mine accord thy mind, To visit Athens, where thy father's sceptre, No mean one, waits thee, and abundant wealth: {^paragraph 935} Nor, though thou grieve one parent yet unknown, Shalt thou be censured as ignobly born, Or poor: no, thou art noble, and thy state Adorn'd with rich possessions. Thou art silent. Why is thine eye thus fixed upon the ground? {^paragraph 940} Why on thy brow that cloud? The smile of joy Vanish'd, thou strikest thy father's heart with fear. ION Far other things appear when nigh, than seen At distance. I indeed embrace my fortune, {^paragraph 945} In thee my father found. But hear what now Wakes sad reflections. Proud of their high race Are your Athenians, natives of the land, Not drawn from foreign lineage: I to them Shall come unwelcome, in two points defective, {^paragraph 950} My father not a native, and myself Of spurious birth: loaded with this reproach, If destitute of power, I shall be held Abject and worthless: should I rush among The highest order of the state, and wish {^paragraph 955} To appear important, inferior ranks Will hate me; aught above them gives disgust. The good, the wise, men form'd to serve the state, Are silent, nor at public honours aim Too hastily: by such, were I not quiet {^paragraph 960} In such a bustling state, I should be deem'd Ridiculous, and proverb'd for a fool. Should I attain the dignity of those, Whose approved worth hath raised them to the height Of public honours, by such suffrage more {^paragraph 965} Should I be watch'd; for they that hold in states Rule and pre-eminence, bear hostile minds To all that vie with them. And should I come To a strange house a stranger, to a woman Childless herself, who that misfortune shared {^paragraph 970} Before with thee, now sees it her sole lot, And feels it bitterly, would she not hate me, And that with justice? When I stand before them. With what an eye would she, who hath no child, Look on thy child? In tenderness to her, {^paragraph 975} Thy wife, thou must forsake me, or embroil Thy house in discord, if thou favour me. What murderous means, what poisonous drugs for men Have women with inventive rage prepared! Besides, I have much pity for thy wife, {^paragraph 980} Now growing old without a child, that grief Unmerited, the last of her high race, The exterior face indeed of royalty, So causelessly commended, bath its brightness; Within, all gloom: for what sweet peace of mind, {^paragraph 985} What happiness is his, whose years are pass'd In comfortless suspicion, and the dread Of violence? Be mine the humble blessings Of private life, rather than be a king, From the flagitious forced to choose my friends, {^paragraph 990} And hate the virtuous through the fear of death. Gold, thou mayst tell me, hath o'er things like these A sovereign power, and riches give delight: I have no pleasure in this noisy pomp, Nor, while I guard my riches, in the toil: {^paragraph 995} Be mine a modest mean that knows not care. And now, my father, hear the happy state I here enjoy'd; and first, to mortal man That dearest blessing, leisure, and no bustle To cause disturbance: me no ruffian force {^paragraph 1000} Shoved from the way: it is not to be borne, When every insolent and worthless wretch Makes you give place. The worship of the god Employ'd my life, or (no unpleasing task) Service to men well pleased: the parting guest {^paragraph 1005} I bade farewell-welcomed the new-arrived. Thus something always new made every hour Glide sweetly on; and to the human mind That dearest wish, though some regard it not, To be, what duty and my nature made me, {^paragraph 1010} Just to the god: revolving this, my father, I wish not for thy Athens to exchange This state; permit me to myself to live; Dear to the mind pleasures that arise From humble life, as those which greatness brings. {^paragraph 1015} LEADER Well hast thou said, if those whom my soul holds Most dear shall in thy words find happiness. XUTHUS No more of this discourse; learn to be happy. {^paragraph 1020} It is my will that thou begin it here, Where first I found thee, son: a general feast Will I provide, and make a sacrifice, Which at thy birth I made not: at my table Will I receive thee as a welcome guest, {^paragraph 1025} And cheer thee with the banquet, then conduct the To Athens with me as a visitant, Not as my son: for, mid my happiness, I would not grieve my wife, who hath no child. ION {^paragraph 1030} But I will watch the occasions time may bring, And so present thee, and obtain her leave That thou mayst hold the sceptre which I bear. Ion I name thee, as befits thy fortune, As first thou met'st me from the hallow'd shrine {^paragraph 1035} As I came forth; assemble then thy friends, Invite them all to share the joyful feast, Since thou art soon to leave the Delphic state. And you, ye females, keep, I charge you, keep This secret; she that tells my wife shall die. {^paragraph 1040} ION Let us then go; yet one thing to my fortune Is wanting: if I find not her that bore me, Life hath no joy. Might I indulge a wish, It were to find her an Athenian dame, {^paragraph 1045} That from my mother I might dare to assume Some confidence; for he whose fortune leads him To a free state proud of their unmix'd race, Though call'd a citizen, must close his lips With servile awe, for freedom is not his. {^paragraph 1050} (XUTHUS and ION go out.) CHORUS (singing) - strophe - {^paragraph 1055} Yes, sisters, yes, the streaming eye, The swelling heart I see, the bursting sigh, When thus rejoicing in his son Our queen her royal lord shall find, And give to grief her anguish'd mind, {^paragraph 1060} Afflicted, childless, and alone. What means this voice divine, Son of Latona, fate-declaring power? Whence is this youth, so fondly graced, That to ripe manhood, from his infant hour, {^paragraph 1065} Hath in thy hallow'd courts been plac'd And nurtured at thy shrine? Thy dark reply delights not me; Lurking beneath close fraud I see: Where will this end? I fear, I fear- {^paragraph 1070} 'Tis strange, and strange events must hence ensue: But grateful sounds it to his ear, The youth, that in another's state (Who sees not that my words are true?) Enjoys the fraud, and triumphs in his fate. {^paragraph 1075} - antistrophe - Say, sisters, say, with duteous zeal Shall we this secret to our queen reveal? {^paragraph 1080} She, to her royal lord resign'd, With equal hope, with equal care, Form'd her his joys, his griefs to share, And gave him an her willing mind. But joys are his alone; {^paragraph 1085} While she, poor mourner, with a weight of woes, To hoary age advancing, bends; He the bright smile of prosperous fortune knows. Ev'n thus, unhonour'd by his friends, Plac'd on another's throne, {^paragraph 1090} Mischance and ruin on him wait, Who fails to guard its happy state. Him may mischance and ruin seize, Who round my lov'd queen spreads his wily trains. No god may his oblation please, {^paragraph 1095} No favouring flame to him ascend! To her my faith, my zeal remains, Known to her ancient royal house a friend. - epode {^paragraph 1100} - Now the father and the new-found son The festive table haste to spread, Where to the skies Parnassus lifts his head, And deep beneath the hanging stone {^paragraph 1105} Forms in its rudely-rifted side A cavern wild and wide; Where Bacchus, shaking high his midnight flames, In many a light fantastic round Dances o'er the craggy ground, {^paragraph 1110} And revels with his frantic dames. Ne'er to my city let him come, This youth: no, rather let him die, And sink into an early tomb! With an indignant eye {^paragraph 1115} Athens would view the stranger's pride Within her gates triumphant ride: Enough for her the honour'd race that springs From old Erechtheus and her line of kings. (CREUSA and her aged TUTOR enter.) {^paragraph 1120} CREUSA Thou venerable man, whose guiding voice My father, while he lived, revered, advance Up to the oracular seat thy aged steps; That, if the royal Phoebus should pronounce {^paragraph 1125} Promise of offspring, thou with me mayst share The joy; for pleasing is it when with friends Good fortune we receive; if aught of ill (Avert it, Heaven!) befalls, a friend's kind eye Beams comfort; thee, as once thou didst revere {^paragraph 1130} My father, though thy queen, I now revere. TUTOR In thee, my child, the nobleness of manners Which graced thy royal ancestors yet lives; Thou never wilt disgrace thy high-born lineage. {^paragraph 1135} Lead me, then, lead me to the shrine, support me: High is the oracular seat, and steep the ascent; Be thou assistant to the foot of age. CREUSA Follow; be heedful where thou set thy steps. {^paragraph 1140} TUTOR I am: my foot is slow, my heart hath wings. CREUSA Fix thy staff firm on this loose-rolling ground. TUTOR {^paragraph 1145} That hath no eyes; and dim indeed my sight. CREUSA Well hast thou said; on cheerful then, and faint not. TUTOR I have the will, but o'er constraint no power. {^paragraph 1150} CREUSA Ye females, on my richly-broider'd works Faithful attendants, say, respecting children, For which we came, what fortune hath my lord Borne hence? if good, declare it: you shall find {^paragraph 1155} That to no thankless masters you give joy. LEADER OF THE CHORUS O fortune! CREUSA To thy speech this is a proem {^paragraph 1160} Not tuned to happiness. LEADER Unhappy fortune! But why distress me for the oracle Given to our lords? Be that as fate requires {^paragraph 1165} In things which threaten death, what shall we do? CREUSA What means this strain of woe? Whence are these fears? LEADER What! shall we speak, or bury this in silence? {^paragraph 1170} CREUSA Speak, though thy words bring wretchedness to me. LEADER It shall be spoken, were I twice to die. To thee, my queen, it is not given to clasp {^paragraph 1175} In thy fond arms a child, or at thy breast To hold it. TUTOR O my child, would I were dead! CREUSA {^paragraph 1180} Yes, this is wretchedness indeed, a grief That makes life joyless. TUTOR This is ruin to us. CREUSA {^paragraph 1185} Unhappy me! this is a piercing grief, That rends my heart with anguish. TUTOR Groan not yet. CREUSA {^paragraph 1190} Yet is the affliction present. TUTOR Till we learn- CREUSA To me what tidings? {^paragraph 1195} TUTOR If a common fate Await our lord, partaker of thy griefs, Or thou alone art thus unfortunate. LEADER {^paragraph 1200} To him, old man, the god hath given a son, And happiness is his unknown to her. CREUSA To ill this adds the deepest ill, a grief For me to mourn. {^paragraph 1205} TUTOR Born of some other woman Is this child yet to come, or did the god Declare one now in being? LEADER {^paragraph 1210} One advanced To manhood's prime he gave him: I was present. CREUSA What hast thou said? Thy words denounce to me Sorrows past speech, past utterance. {^paragraph 1215} TUTOR And to me. CREUSA How was this oracle accomplish'd? Tell me With clearest circumstance: who is this youth? {^paragraph 1220} LEADER Him as a son Apollo gave, whom first, Departing from the god, thy lord should meet. CREUSA O my unhappy fate! I then am left {^paragraph 1225} Childless to pass my life, childless, alone, Amid my lonely house! Who was declared? Whom did the husband of this wretch first meet? How meet him? Where behold him? Tell me all. LEADER {^paragraph 1230} Dost thou, my honoured mistress, call to mind The youth that swept the temple? This is he. CREUSA O, through the liquid air that I could fly, Far from the land of Greece, ev'n to the stars {^paragraph 1235} Fix'd in the western sky! Ah me, what grief, What piercing grief is mine I TUTOR Say, by what name Did he address his son, if thou hast heard it? {^paragraph 1240} Or does it rest in silence, yet unknown? LEADER Ion, for that he first advanced to meet him. TUTOR And of what mother? {^paragraph 1245} LEADER That I could not learn: Abrupt was his departure (to inform the Of all I know, old man) to sacrifice, With hospitable rites, a birthday feast; {^paragraph 1250} And in the hallow'd cave, from her apart, With his new son to share the common banquet. TUTOR Lady, we by thy husband are betrayed, For I with thee am grieved, with contrived fraud {^paragraph 1255} Insulted, from thy father's house cast forth. I speak not this in hatred to thy lord, But that I love thee more: a stranger he Came to the city and thy royal house, And wedded thee, all thy inheritance {^paragraph 1260} Receiving, by some other woman now Discover'd to have children privately: How privately I'll tell thee: when he saw Thou hadst no child, it pleased him not to bear A fate like thine; but by some favourite slave, {^paragraph 1265} His paramour by stealth, he hath a son. Him to some Delphian gave he, distant far, To educate; who to this sacred house Consign'd, as secret here, received his nurture. He knowing this, and that his son advanced {^paragraph 1270} To manhood, urged thee to attend him hither, Pleading thy childless state. Nor hath the god Deceived thee: he deceived thee, and long since Contrived this wily plan to rear his son, That, if convicted, he might charge the god, {^paragraph 1275} Himself excusing: should the fraud succeed, He would observe the times when he might safely Consign to him the empire of thy land. And this new name was at his leisure form'd, Ion, for that he came by chance to meet him. {^paragraph 1280} I hate those ill-designing men, that form Plans of injustice, and then gild them over With artificial ornament: to me Far dearer is the honest simple friend, Than one whose quicker wit is train'd to ill. {^paragraph 1285} And to complete this fraud, thou shalt be urged To take into thy house, to lord it there, This low-born youth, this offspring of a slave. Though ill, it had been open, had he pleaded Thy want of children, and, thy leave obtain'd, {^paragraph 1290} Brought to thy house a son that could have boasted His mother noble; or, if that displeased thee, He might have sought a wife from Aeolus. Behooves thee then to act a woman's part, Or grasp the sword, or drug the poison'd bowl, {^paragraph 1295} Or plan some deep design to kill thy husband, And this his son, before thou find thy death From them: if thou delay, thy life is lost: For when beneath one roof two foes are met, The one must perish. I with ready zeal {^paragraph 1300} Will aid thee in this work, and kill the youth, Entering the grot where he prepares the feast; Indifferent in my choice, so that I pay What to my lords I owe, to live or die. If there is aught that causes slaves to blush, {^paragraph 1305} It is the name; in all else than the free The slave is nothing worse, if he be virtuous. I too, my honour'd queen, with cheerful mind Will share thy fate, or die, or live with honour. CREUSA (chanting) {^paragraph 1310} How, o my soul, shall I be silent, how Disclose this secret? Can I bid farewell To modesty? What else restrains my tongue? To how severe a trial am I brought! Hath not my husband wrong'd me? Of my house {^paragraph 1315} I am deprived, deprived of children; hope Is vanish'd, which my heart could not resign, With many an honest wish this furtive bed Concealing, this lamented bed concealing. But by the star-bespangled throne of Jove, {^paragraph 1320} And by the goddess high above my rocks Enshrined, by the moist banks that bend around The hallow'd lake by Triton form'd, no longer Will I conceal this bed, but ease my breast, The oppressive load discharged. Mine eyes drop tears, {^paragraph 1325} My soul is rent, to wretchedness ensnared By men, by gods, whom I will now disclose, Unkind betrayers of the beds they forced. O thou, that wakest on thy seven-string'd lyre Sweet notes, that from the rustic lifeless horn {^paragraph 1330} Enchant the ear with heavenly melody, Son of Latona, thee before this light Will I reprove. Thou camest to me, with gold Thy locks all glittering, as the vermeil flowers I gather'd in my vest to deck my bosom {^paragraph 1335} With the spring's glowing hues; in my white hand Thy hand enlocking, to the cavern'd rock Thou led'st me; naught avail'd my cries, that call'd My mother; on thou led'st me, wanton god, Immodestly, to Venus paying homage. {^paragraph 1340} A son I bare thee, O my wretched fate! Him (for I fear'd my mother) in thy cave I placed, where I unhappy was undone By thy unhappy love. Woe, woe is me! And now my son and thine, ill-fated babe, {^paragraph 1345} Is rent by ravenous vultures; thou, meanwhile, Art to thy lyre attuning strains of joy. Set of Latona, thee I call aloud Who from thy golden seat, thy central throne, Utterest thine oracle: my voice shall reach {^paragraph 1350} Thine ear: ungrateful lover, to my husband, No grace requiting, thou hast given a son To bless his house; my son and thine, unown'd, Perish'd a prey to birds; the robes that wrapp'd The infant's limbs, his mother's work, lost with him. {^paragraph 1355} Delos abhors thee, and the laurel boughs With the soft foliage of the palm o'erhung, Grasping whose round trunk with her hands divine, Latona thee, her hallow'd offspring, bore. LEADER {^paragraph 1360} Ah, what a mighty treasury of ills Is open'd here, a copious source of tears! TUTOR Never, my daughter, can I sate my eyes With looking on thy face: astonishment {^paragraph 1365} Bears me beyond my senses. I had stemm'd One tide of evils, when another flood High-surging overwhelm'd me from the words Which thou hast utter'd, from the present ills To an ill train of other woes transferr'd. {^paragraph 1370} What say'st thou? Of what charge dost thou implead The god? What son hast thou brought forth? Where placed him A feast for vultures? Tell me all again. CREUSA Though I must blush, old man, yet I will speak. {^paragraph 1375} TUTOR I mourn with generous grief at a friend's woes. CREUSA Hear then: the northward-pointing cave thou knowest, And the Cecropian rocks, which we call Macrai. {^paragraph 1380} TUTOR Where stands a shrine to Pan, and altars nigh. CREUSA There in a dreadful conflict I engaged. TUTOR {^paragraph 1385} What! my tears rise ready to meet thy words. CREUSA By Phoebus drawn reluctant to his bed. TUTOR Was this, my daughter, such as I suppose? {^paragraph 1390} CREUSA I know not: but if truth, I will confess it. TUTOR Didst thou in silence mourn this secret ill? CREUSA {^paragraph 1395} This was the grief I now disclose to thee. TUTOR This love of Phoebus how didst thou conceal? CREUSA I bore a son. Hear me, old man, with patience. {^paragraph 1400} TUTOR Where? who assisted? or wast thou alone? CREUSA Alone, in the same cave where compress'd. TUTOR {^paragraph 1405} Where is thy son, that childless now no more CREUSA Dead, good old man, to beasts of prey exposed. TUTOR Dead! and the ungrateful Phoebus gives no aid? {^paragraph 1410} CREUSA None: in the house of Pluto a young guest. TUTOR Whose hands exposed him? Surely not thine own. CREUSA {^paragraph 1415} Mine, in the shades of night, wrapp'd in his vests. TUTOR Hadst thou none with thee conscious to this deed? CREUSA My misery, and the secret place alone. {^paragraph 1420} TUTOR How durst thou in a cavern leave thy son? CREUSA How? uttering many sad and plaintive words. TUTOR {^paragraph 1425} Ah, cruel was thy deed, the god more cruel. CREUSA Hadst thou but seen him stretch his little hands! TUTOR Seeking the breast, or reaching to thine arms? {^paragraph 1430} CREUSA To this, deprived of which he suffer'd wrong. TUTOR And what induced thee to expose thy child? CREUSA {^paragraph 1435} Hope that the god's kind care would save his son. TUTOR How are the glories of thy house destroy'd! CREUSA Why, thine head cover'd, dost thou pour these tears? {^paragraph 1440} TUTOR To see thee and thy father thus unhappy. CREUSA This is the state of man: nothing stands firm. TUTOR {^paragraph 1445} No longer then, my child, let grief oppress us. CREUSA What should I do? In misery all is doubt. TUTOR First on the god that wrong'd thee be avenged. {^paragraph 1450} CREUSA How shall a mortal 'gainst a god prevail? TUTOR Set this revered oracular shrine on fire. CREUSA {^paragraph 1455} I fear: ev'n now I have enough of ills. TUTOR Attempt what may be done then; kill thy husband. CREUSA The nuptial bed I reverence, and his goodness. {^paragraph 1460} TUTOR This son then, which is now brought forth against thee. CREUSA How? Could that be, how warmly should I wish it. TUTOR {^paragraph 1465} Thy train hath swords: instruct them to the deed. CREUSA I go with speed: but where shall it be done? TUTOR In the hallow'd tent, where now he feasts his friends. {^paragraph 1470} CREUSA An open murder, and with coward slaves! TUTOR If mine displease, propose thou some design. CREUSA {^paragraph 1475} I have it, close and easy to achieve. TUTOR In both my faithful services are thine. CREUSA Hear then: not strange to thee the giants' war. {^paragraph 1480} TUTOR When they in Phlegra fought against the gods. CREUSA There the earth brought forth the Gorgon, horrid monster. TUTOR {^paragraph 1485} In succour of her sons to annoy the gods? CREUSA Ev'n so: her Pallas slew, daughter of Jove. TUTOR What fierce and dreadful form did she then wear? {^paragraph 1490} CREUSA Her breastplate arm'd with vipers wreathed around. TUTOR A well-known story; often have I heard it. CREUSA {^paragraph 1495} Her spoils before her breast Minerva wore. TUTOR The aegis; so they call the vest of Pallas. CREUSA So named, when in the war she join'd the gods. {^paragraph 1500} TUTOR But how can this, my child, annoy thy foes? CREUSA Thou canst not but remember Erichthonius. TUTOR {^paragraph 1505} Whom first of thy high race the earth brought forth. CREUSA To him while yet an infant Pallas gave- TUTOR What? Thy slow preface raises expectation. {^paragraph 1510} CREUSA Two drops of blood that from the Gorgon fell. TUTOR And on the human frame what power have these? CREUSA {^paragraph 1515} The one works death, the other heals disease. TUTOR In what around the infant's body hung? CREUSA Enclosed in gold: he gave them to my father. {^paragraph 1520} TUTOR At his decease then they devolved to thee? CREUSA Ay, and I wear it as a bracelet; look. TUTOR {^paragraph 1525} Their double qualities how temper'd, say. CREUSA This drop, which from her hollow vein distill'd,- TUTOR To what effect applied? What is its power? {^paragraph 1530} CREUSA Medicinal, of sovereign use to life. TUTOR The other drop, what faculties hath that? CREUSA {^paragraph 1535} It kills, the poison of the Gorgon dragons. TUTOR And dost thou bear this gore blended in one? CREUSA No, separate; for with ill good mixes not. {^paragraph 1540} TUTOR O my dear child, thou hast whate'er we want. CREUSA With this the boy shall die, and thou shalt kill him. TUTOR {^paragraph 1545} Where? How? 'Tis thine to speak, to dare be mine. CREUSA At Athens, when he comes beneath my roof. TUTOR I like not this; what I proposed displeased. {^paragraph 1550} CREUSA Dost thou surmise what enters now my thoughts? TUTOR Suspicion waits thee, though thou kill him not. CREUSA {^paragraph 1555} Thou hast judged well: a stepdame's hate is proverb'd. TUTOR Then kill him here; thou mayst disown the deed. CREUSA My mind ev'n now anticipates the pleasure. {^paragraph 1560} TUTOR Thus shalt thou meet thy husband's wiles with wiles CREUSA This shalt thou do: this little golden casket Take from my hand, Minerva's gift of old; {^paragraph 1565} To where my husband secretly prepares The sacrifice, bear this beneath thy vest. That supper ended, when they are to pour Libations to the gods, thou mayst infuse In the youth's goblet this: but take good heed, {^paragraph 1570} Let none observe thee; drug his cup alone Who thinks to lord it in my house: if once It pass his lips, his foot shall never reach Illustrious Athens: death awaits him here. (She gives him the casket.) {^paragraph 1575} TUTOR Go thou then to the hospitable house Prepared for thy reception: be it mine, Obedient to thy word to do this deed. Come then, my aged foot, be once more young {^paragraph 1580} In act, though not in years, for past recall That time is fled: kill him, and bear him forth. Well may the prosperous harbour virtuous thought; But when thou wouldst avenge thee on thy foes, There is no law of weight to hinder thee. {^paragraph 1585} (They both go out.) CHORUS (singing) - strophe 1 - {^paragraph 1590} Daughter of Ceres, Trivia hear, Propitious regent of each public way Amid the brightness of the day, Nor less when night's dark hour engenders fear; The fulness of this goblet guide {^paragraph 1595} To check with death this stripling's pride, For whom my queen this fatal draught prepares, Tinged with the Gorgon's venom'd gore: That seat, which mid Erechtheus' royal heirs His pride claims, it shall claim no more: {^paragraph 1600} Never may one of alien blood disgrace The imperial honours of that high-born race! - antistrophe 1 - {^paragraph 1605} Should not this work of fate succeed, Nor the just vengeance of my queen prevail; Should this apt time of daring fail, And hope, that flatters now, desert the deed; Slaughter shall other means afford, {^paragraph 1610} The strangling cord, the piercing sword; For rage from disappointed rage shall flow, And try each. various form of death; For never shall my queen this torment know; Ne'er while she draws this vital breath, {^paragraph 1615} Brook in her house that foreign lords should shine, Clothed with the splendours of her ancient line. - strophe 2 - Thou whom the various hymn delights, Then thy bright choir of beauteous dames among, {^paragraph 1620} Dancing the stream's soft brink along, Thou seest the guardian of thy mystic rites, Thy torch its midnight vigils keep, Thine eye meantime disdaining sleep; While with thee dances Jove's star-spangled plain. {^paragraph 1625} And the moon dances up the sky: Ye nymphs, that lead to grots your frolic train, Beneath the gulfy founts that lie: Thou gold-crown'd queen, through night's dark regions fear'd, And thou, her mother, power revered, {^paragraph 1630} How should I blush to see this youth unknown! This Delphic vagrant, hope to seize the throne. - antistrophe 2 - You, who the melting soul to move, In loose, dishonest airs the Muse employ {^paragraph 1635} To celebrate love's wanton joy, The joy of unallow'd, unholy love, See how our pure and modest law Can lavish man's lewd deeds o'erawe! Ye shameless bards, revoke each wanton air; {^paragraph 1640} No more these melting measures frame; Bid the chaste muse in Virtue's cause declare, And mark man's lawless bed with shame! Ungrateful is this Jove-descended lord; For, his wife's childless bed abhorr'd, {^paragraph 1645} Lewdly he courts the embrace of other dames, And with a spurious son his pride inflames. (An ATTENDANT of CREUSA enters.) ATTENDANT Athenian dames, where shall I find our queen, {^paragraph 1650} The daughter of Erechtheus? Seeking her, This city have I walked around in vain. LEADER OF THE CHORUS And for what cause, my fellow-slave? What means Thy hasty foot? What tidings dost thou bring? {^paragraph 1655} ATTENDANT We are discover'd; and the rulers here Seek her, that she may die o'erwhelm'd with stones. LEADER Ah me! what wouldst thou say? Are our designs {^paragraph 1660} Of secret ruin to this youth disclosed? ATTENDANT They are; and know, the worst of ills await you. LEADER How were our dark devices brought to light? {^paragraph 1665} ATTENDANT The god, that justice might receive no stain Caused it to triumph o'er defeated wrong. LEADER How? as a suppliant, I conjure thee, tell me {^paragraph 1670} Of this inform'd, if we must die, more freely Wish we to die than see the light of heaven. ATTENDANT Soon as the husband of Creusa left The god's oracular shrine, this new-found son {^paragraph 1675} He to the feast, and sacrifice prepared To the high gods, led with him. Xuthus then Went where the hallow'd flame of Bacchus mounts, That on each rock's high point the victim's blood Might flow, a grateful offering for his son {^paragraph 1680} Thus recognised, to whom he gave in charge, "Stay thou, and with the artist's expert aid Erect the sheltering tent: my rites perform'd To the kind gods that o'er the genial bed Preside, should I be there detain'd too long, {^paragraph 1685} Spread the rich table to my present friends." This said, he led the victims to the rocks. Meanwhile with reverent heed the son 'gan rear On firm supporters the wide tent, whose sides No masonry require, yet framed to exclude {^paragraph 1690} The mid-day sun's hot beams, or his last rays When sinking in the west: the lengthen'd lines Equally distant comprehend a square Of twice five thousand feet (the skilful thus Compute it), space to feast (for so he will'd) {^paragraph 1695} All Delphi: from the treasures of the god He took the sacred tapestry, and around Hung the rich shade, on which the admiring eye Gazes with fix'd delight: first over head, Like a broad pennon spread the extended woof, {^paragraph 1700} Which from the Amazonian spoils the son Of Jove, Alcides, hallow'd to the god; In its bright texture interwov'n a sky Gathering the stars in its ethereal round, While downwards to the western wave the sun {^paragraph 1705} His steeds declines, and to his station high Draws up the radiant flame of Hesperus. Meanwhile the Night robed in her sable stole, Her unreign'd car advances; on her state The stars attend; the Pleiads mounting high, {^paragraph 1710} And with his glittering sword Orion arm'd; Above, Arcturus to the golden pole Inclines; full-orb'd the month-dividing moon Takes her bright station, and the Hyades Marked by the sailor: distant in the rear, {^paragraph 1715} Aurora ready to relume the day, And put the stars to flight. The sides were graced With various textures of the historic woof, Barbaric arguments; in gallant trim Against the fleet of Greece the hostile fleet {^paragraph 1720} Rides proudly on. Here monstrous forms portray'd Human and brutal mix'd: the Thracian steeds Are seized, the hinds, and the adventurous chase Of savage lions: figured nigh the doors, Cecrops, attended by his daughter's, roll'd {^paragraph 1725} His serpent train: in the ample space within He spread the festal table, richly deck'd With golden goblets. Now the herald walk'd His round, each native that inclined to grace The feast inviting: to the crowded tent {^paragraph 1730} They hasten, crown'd with garlands, and partake The exquisite repast. The pleasured sense Now satiate, in the midst an old man stood, Officious in his ministry, which raised Much mirth among the guests; for from the urns {^paragraph 1735} He fill'd the lavers, and with fragrant myrrh Incensed the place; the golden bowls he claim'd His charge. When now the jocund pipes 'gan breathe Harmonious airs, and the fresh goblet stood Ready to walk its round, the old man said, {^paragraph 1740} "Away with these penurious cups, and bring Capacious bowls; so shall you quickly bathe Your spirits in delight." With speed were brought Goblets of gold and silver: one he took Of choicer frame; and, seemingly intent {^paragraph 1745} To do his young lord honour, the full vase Gave to his hands, but in the wine infused A drug of poisonous power, which, it is said, His queen supplied, that the new son no more Might view the light of heav'n; but unobserved {^paragraph 1750} He mix'd it. As the youth among the rest Pour'd the libation, 'mid the attendant slaves Words of reproach one utter'd: he, as train'd Within the temple and with expert seers, Deem'd them of evil omen, and required {^paragraph 1755} Another goblet to be filled afresh- The former a libation to the god, He cast upon the ground, instructing all To pour, like him, the untasted liquor down. Silence ensued: the sacred bowls we fill {^paragraph 1760} With wines of Byblos; when a troop of doves Came fluttering in, for undisturb'd they haunt The dome of Phoebus: in the floating wine They dipp'd their bills to drink, then raised their heads, Gurgling it down their beauteous-plumed throats. {^paragraph 1765} Harmless to all the spilt wine, save to her That lighted where the youth had pour'd his bowl: She drank, and straight convulsive shiverings seized Her beauteous plumes; around in giddy rings She whirl'd, and in a strange and mournful note {^paragraph 1770} Seem'd to lament: amazement seized the guests, Seeing the poor bird's pangs: her heart heaved thick, And stretching out her scarlet legs, she died. Rending his robes, the son of Phoebus given Sprung from the table, and aloud exclaim'd,- {^paragraph 1775} "What wretch design'd to kill me? Speak, old man: Officious was thy ministry; the bowl I from thy hand received." Then straight he seized His aged arm, and to the question held him, As in the fact discover'd: he thus caught, {^paragraph 1780} Reluctant and constrain'd, own'd the bold deed, The deadly goblet by Creusa drugg'd. Forth from the tent, the guests attending, rush'd The youth announced by Phoebus, and amid The Pythian regents says,-"O hallow'd land! {^paragraph 1785} This stranger dame, this daughter of Erechtheus Attempts my life by poison." Then decreed The Delphian lords (nor did one voice dissent) That she should die, my mistress, from the rock Cast headlong, as the deed was aim'd against {^paragraph 1790} A sacred life, and impiously presumed This hallow'd place with murder to profane. Demanded by the state, she this way bends Her wretched steps. Unhappy to this shrine She came through fond desire of children; here, {^paragraph 1795} Together with her hopes, her life is lost. CHORUS (singing) None, there is none, from death no flight, To me no refuge; our dark deed Betray'd, betray'd to open light; {^paragraph 1800} The festive bowl, with sprightly wine that flow'd Mix'd with the Gorgon's viperous blood, An offering to the dead decreed, All is betray'd to light: and I, Cast headlong from the rock, must die. {^paragraph 1805} What flight shall save me from this death, Borne on swift pinions through the air, Sunk to the darksome cave beneath, Or mounted on the rapid car? Or shall the flying bark unfurl its sails? {^paragraph 1810} Alas, my queen, no flight avails, Save when some god's auspicious power Shall snatch us from the dangerous hour. Unhappy queen, what pangs shall rend thy heart! Shall we, who plann'd the deathful deed, {^paragraph 1815} Be caught within the toils we spread, While justice claims severe her chast'ning part? (CREUSA rushes in.) CREUSA I am pursued, ye faithful females, doom'd {^paragraph 1820} To death: the Pythian council hath decreed it: My life is forfeited. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Unhappy lady, We know the dreadful ills that close thee round. {^paragraph 1825} CREUSA Ah, whither shall I fly? From instant death Scarce hath my foot sped hither, from my foes By stealth escaping. LEADER {^paragraph 1830} Whither wouldst thou fly, But to this altar? CREUSA What will that avail me? LEADER {^paragraph 1835} To kill a suppliant there the law forbids. CREUSA But by the law I perish. LEADER If their hands {^paragraph 1840} Had seized thee. CREUSA Dreadful contest, with drawn swords They hastily advance. LEADER {^paragraph 1845} Now take thy seat At the altar: shouldst thou die ev'n there, thy blood Will call the vengeance of the god on those That spilt it: but our fortune we must bear. - {^paragraph 1850} (She takes refuge at the altar as ION, guards, and Delphians enter.) - ION Bull-visaged sire Cephisus, what a viper Hast thou produced? a dragon from her eyes {^paragraph 1855} Glaring pernicious flame. Each daring deed Is hers: less venomous the Gorgon's blood, With which she purposed to have poison'd me. Seize her, that the Parnassian rocks may tease Those nice-adjusted ringlets of her hair, {^paragraph 1860} As down the craggy precipice she bounds. Here my good genius saved me, e'er I came To Athens, there beneath my stepdame's wiles To fall; amid my friends thy fell intents Have I unravell'd, what a pest to me, {^paragraph 1865} Thy hate how deadly: had thy toils inclosed me In thine own house, thou wouldst at once have sent me With complete ruin to the shades below. But nor the altar nor Apollo's shrine Shall save thee. Pity, might her voice be heard, {^paragraph 1870} Would rather plead for me and for my mother, She absent, yet the name remains with me. Behold that sorceress; with what art she wove Wile after wile; the altar of the god Impress'd her not with awe, as if secure. {^paragraph 1875} No vengeance waited her unhallow'd deeds. CREUSA I charge thee, kill me not, in my own right, And in the god's, whose suppliant here I stand. ION {^paragraph 1880} What right hast thou to plead Apollo's name? CREUSA My person hallow'd to the god I offer. ION Yet wouldst thou poison one that is the god's. {^paragraph 1885} CREUSA Thou wast no more Apollo's, but thy father's. ION I have been, of a father's wealth I speak. CREUSA {^paragraph 1890} And now I am: thou hast that claim no more. ION But thou art impious: pious were my deeds. CREUSA As hostile to my house, I would have kill'd thee. {^paragraph 1895} ION Did I against thy country march in arms? CREUSA And more; thou wouldst have fired Erechtheus' house. ION {^paragraph 1900} What torch, what brands, what flames had I prepared? CREUSA There wouldst thou fix, seizing my right by force. ION The land which he possess'd, my father gave me. {^paragraph 1905} CREUSA What claim hath there the race of Aeolus? ION He was its guardian, not with words but arms. CREUSA {^paragraph 1910} Its soldier then; an inmate, not its lord. ION Wouldst thou, through fear of what might happen, kill me? CREUSA Lest death should be my portion, if not thine. {^paragraph 1915} ION Childless thou enviest that my father found me. CREUSA And wilt thou make a childless house thy spoil? ION {^paragraph 1920} Devolves my father then no share to me? CREUSA His shield, his spear; be those thine heritage. ION Come from the altar, quit that hallow'd seat. {^paragraph 1925} CREUSA Instruct thy mother, whosoe'er she be. ION Shalt thou unpunish'd meditate my death? CREUSA {^paragraph 1930} Within this shrine if thou wilt murder me. ION What pleasure mid these sacred wreaths to die? CREUSA We shall grieve one, by whom we have been grieved. {^paragraph 1935} ION Strange, that the god should give these laws to men, Bearing no stamp of honour, nor design'd With provident thought: it is not meet to place The unrighteous at his altars; worthier far {^paragraph 1940} To be chased thence; nor decent that the vile Should with their touch pollute the gods: the good, Oppress'd with wrongs, should at those hallow'd seats Seek refuge: ill beseems it that the unjust And just alike should seek protection there. {^paragraph 1945} - (As ION and his followers are about to tear CREUSA from the altar, the PRIESTESS of Apollo enters from the temple.) - PRIESTESS Forbear, my son, leaving the oracular seat, {^paragraph 1950} I pass this pale, the priestess of the god, The guardian of the tripod's ancient law, Call'd to this charge from all the Delphian dames. ION Hail, my loved mother, dear, though not my parent. {^paragraph 1955} PRIESTESS Yet let me have the name, 'tis grateful to me. ION Hast thou yet heard their wily trains to kill me? PRIESTESS {^paragraph 1960} I have; but void of mercy thou dost wrong. ION Should I not ruin those that sought my life? PRIESTESS Stepdames to former sons are always hostile. {^paragraph 1965} ION And I to stepdames ill intreated thus. PRIESTESS Be not, this shrine now leaving for thy country. ION {^paragraph 1970} How, then, by thy monition should I act? PRIESTESS Go with good omens, pure to Athens go. ION All must be pure that kill their enemies. {^paragraph 1975} PRIESTESS So do not thou: attentive mark my words. ION Speak: from good will whate'er thou say'st must flow. PRIESTESS {^paragraph 1980} Seest thou the vase I hold beneath mine arm? ION I see an ancient ark entwined with wreaths. PRIESTESS In this long since an infant I received thee. {^paragraph 1985} ION What say'st thou? New is thy discourse and strange. PRIESTESS In silence have I kept them: now I show them. ION {^paragraph 1990} And why conceal'd, as long since thou received'st me? PRIESTESS The god would have thee in his shrine a servant. ION Is that no more his will? How shall I know it? {^paragraph 1995} PRIESTESS Thy father shown, he sends thee from this land. ION Hast thou preserved these things by charge, or how? PRIESTESS {^paragraph 2000} It was the god that so disposed my thought. ION With what design? Speak, finish thy discourse. PRIESTESS Ev'n to this hour to keep what then I found. {^paragraph 2005} ION What gain imports this to me, or what loss? PRIESTESS There didst thou lie wrapp'd in thy infant vests. ION {^paragraph 2010} Thou hast produced whence I may find my mother. PRIESTESS Since now the god so wills, but not before. ION This is a day of bless'd discoveries. {^paragraph 2015} PRIESTESS Now take them: o'er all Asia, and the bounds Of Europe hold thy progress: thou shalt know These tokens. To do pleasure to the god, I nurtured thee, my son; now to thy hand {^paragraph 2020} Restore what was his will I should receive Unbidden, and preserve: for what intent It was his will, I have not power to say. That I had these, or where they were conceal'd, No mortal knew. And now farewell: the love {^paragraph 2025} I bear thee equals what a parent feels. Let thy inquiries where they ought begin; First, if some Delphian virgin gave thee birth, And in this shrine exposed thee; next, if one Of Greece. From me, and from the god, who feels {^paragraph 2030} An interest in thy fortune, thou hast all. - (She goes into the temple after giving ION the ark.) - ION {^paragraph 2035} Ah me! the moist tear trickles from mine eye, When I reflect that she who gave me birth, By stealth espoused, may with like secrecy Have sold me, to my infant lips her breast Denied: but in the temple of the god {^paragraph 2040} Without a name, a servile life I led. All from the god was gracious, but from fortune Harsh; for the time when in a mother's arms I in her fondness should have known some joy Of life, from that sweet care was I estranged, {^paragraph 2045} A mother's nurture: nor less wretched she, Thus forced to lose the pleasure in her son. But I will take this vase, and to the god Bear it, a hallow'd offering; that from thence I may find nothing which I would not find. {^paragraph 2050} Should she, that gave me being, chance to be A slave, to find her were a greater ill, Than to rest silent in this ignorance. O Phoebus, in thy temple hang I this. What am I doing? War I not against {^paragraph 2055} The pleasure of the god, who saved for me These pledges of my mother? I must dare, And open these: my fate cannot be shunn'd. (He opens the ark.) Ye sacred garlands, what have you so long {^paragraph 2060} Conceal'd: ye bands, that keep these precious relics? Behold the cover of this circular vase; Its freshness knows no change, as if a god So will'd; this osier-woven ark yet keeps Its soundness undecay'd; yet many a year, {^paragraph 2065} Since it contain'd this treasured charge, has pass'd. CREUSA What an unhoped-for sight do I behold! ION I thought thou long hadst known to keep thee silent. {^paragraph 2070} CREUSA Silence is mine no more; instruct not me; For I behold the ark, wherein of old I laid thee, O my son, an infant babe; And in the caves of Cecrops, with the rocks {^paragraph 2075} Of Macrai roof'd, exposed thee: I will quit This altar, though I run on certain death. ION Seize her; for by the impulse of the god She leaves the sculptured altar: bind her bands. {^paragraph 2080} CREUSA Instantly kill me, so that I embrace This vase, and thee, and these thy conceal'd pledges. ION Is not this strange? I take thee at thy word. {^paragraph 2085} CREUSA Not strange: a friend thou by thy friends art found. ION Thy friend! Yet wouldst thou kill me secretly. CREUSA {^paragraph 2090} My son: if that to parents is most dear. ION Forbear thy wiles; I shall refute them well. CREUSA Might I but to come to what I wish, my son! {^paragraph 2095} ION Is this vase empty, or contains it aught? CREUSA Thy infant vests, in which I once exposed thee. ION {^paragraph 2100} And wilt thou name them to me, ere thou see them? CREUSA If I recount them not, be death my meed. ION Speak then: thy confidence hath something strange. {^paragraph 2105} CREUSA A tissue, look, which when a child I wrought. ION What is it? Various are the works of virgins. CREUSA {^paragraph 2110} A slight, unfinish'd essay of the loom. ION What figure wrought? Thou shalt not take me thus. CREUSA A Gorgon central in the warp enwoven- {^paragraph 2115} ION What fortune haunts me, O supreme of gods! CREUSA And like an aegis edged with serpents round. ION {^paragraph 2120} Such is the woof, and such the vest I find. CREUSA Thou old embroidery of my virgin bands! ION Is there aught else besides this happy proof? {^paragraph 2125} CREUSA Two dragons, an old work, their jaws of gold. ION The gift of Pallas, who thus nurtures children? CREUSA {^paragraph 2130} Emblems of Erichthonius of old times. ION Why? for what use? Explain these works of gold. CREUSA For ornaments to grace the infant's neck. {^paragraph 2135} ION See, here they are; the third I wish to know. CREUSA A branch of olive then I wreathed around thee, Pluck'd from that tree which from Minerva's rock {^paragraph 2140} First sprung; if it be there, it still retains Its verdure: for the foliage of that olive, Fresh in immortal beauty, never fades. ION O my dear mother! I with joy behold thee. {^paragraph 2145} With transport 'gainst thy cheek my cheek recline. (They embrace.) CREUSA My son, my son, far dearer to thy mother Than yon bright orb (the god will pardon me), {^paragraph 2150} Do I then hold thee in my arms, thus found Beyond my hopes, when in the realms below, I thought thy habitation 'mong the dead? ION O my dear mother, in thy arms I seem {^paragraph 2155} As one that had been dead to life return'd. CREUSA Ye wide-expanded rays of heavenly light, What notes, what high-raised strains shall tell my joy? This pleasure whence, this unexpected transport? {^paragraph 2160} ION There was no blessing farther from my thoughts Than this, my mother, to be found thy son. CREUSA I tremble yet. {^paragraph 2165} ION And hast thou yet a fear, Holding me, not to hold me? CREUSA Such fond hopes {^paragraph 2170} Long time have I renounced. Thou hallow'd matron, From whom didst thou receive my infant child? What bless'd hand brought him to Apollo's shrine? ION It was the god's appointment: may our life {^paragraph 2175} To come be happy, as the past was wretched. CREUSA Not without tears, my son, wast thou brought forth; Nor without anguish did my hands resign thee. Now breathing on thy cheek I feel a joy {^paragraph 2180} Transporting me with heartfelt ecstasies. ION The words expressive of thy joys speak mine. CREUSA Childless no more, no more alone, my house {^paragraph 2185} Now shines with festive joy; my realms now own A lord; Erechtheus blooms again; no more His high-traced lineage sees night darkening round, But glories in the sun's refulgent beams. ION {^paragraph 2190} Now let my father, since he's present here, Be partner of the joy which I have given you. CREUSA What says my son? ION {^paragraph 2195} Such, such as I am proved. CREUSA What mean thy words? Far other is thy birth. ION Ah me! thy virgin bed produced me base. {^paragraph 2200} CREUSA Nor bridal torch, my son, nor bridal dance Had graced my nuptial rites, when thou wast born. ION Then I'm a wretch, a base-born wretch: say whence. {^paragraph 2205} CREUSA Be witness, thou by whom the Gorgon died,- ION What means this adjuration? CREUSA {^paragraph 2210} Who hast fix'd High o'er my cave thy seat amid the rocks With olive clothed. ION Abstruse thy words, and dark. {^paragraph 2215} CREUSA Where on the cliffs the nightingale attunes Her songs, Apollo- ION Why Apollo named? {^paragraph 2220} CREUSA Led me in secret to his bed. ION Speak on; Thy words import some glorious fortune to me. {^paragraph 2225} CREUSA Thee in the tenth revolving month, my son, A secret pang to Phoebus did I bear. ION Thy words, if true, are grateful to my soul. {^paragraph 2230} CREUSA These swathing bands, thy mother's virgin work, Wove by my flying shuttle, round thy body I roll'd; but from thy lips my breast withheld, A mother's nouriture, nor bathed thy bands {^paragraph 2235} In cleansing lavers; but to death exposed thee, Laid in the dreary cave, to birds of prey A feast, rent piecemeal by their ravenous beaks. ION Cruel, my mother, was thy deed. {^paragraph 2240} CREUSA By fear Constrain'd, my son, I cast thy life away; Unwillingly I left thee there to die. ION {^paragraph 2245} And from my hands unholy were thy death. CREUSA Dreadful was then my fortune, dreadful here, Whirl'd by the eddying blast from misery there To misery here, and back again to joy: {^paragraph 2250} Her boisterous winds are changed; may she remain In this repose: enough of ills are past: After the storm soft breathes a favouring gale. LEADER From this example, mid the greatest ills {^paragraph 2255} Never let mortal man abandon hope. ION O thou, that hast to thousands wrought a change Of state ere this, involving them in ills, And raising them to happiness again; {^paragraph 2260} Fortune, to what a point have I been carried, Ready to kill my mother, horrid thought! But in the sun's bright course each day affords Instruction. Thee, my mother, have I found, In that discovery bless'd; nor hath my birth {^paragraph 2265} Aught I can blame: yet one thing would I say To thee alone:-walk this way: to thine ear In secret would I whisper this, and throw The veil of darkness o'er each circumstance. Take heed, my mother, lest thy maiden fault {^paragraph 2270} Seeks in these secret nuptials to conceal Its fault, then charges on the god the deed; And, fearing my reproach, to Phoebus gives A son, to Phoebus whom thou didst not bear. CREUSA {^paragraph 2275} By her, who 'gainst the giants in her car Fought by the side of Jove, victorious Pallas, No one of mortal race is father to thee, But he who brought thee up, the royal Phoebus. ION {^paragraph 2280} Why give his son then to another father? Why say that I was born the son of Xuthus? CREUSA Not born the son of Xuthus; but he gives thee, Born from himself (as friend to friend may give {^paragraph 2285} His son, and heir adopted to his house. ION True is the god, his tripod else were vain. Not without cause then is my mind perplex'd. CREUSA {^paragraph 2290} Hear what my thoughts suggest: to work thee good Apollo placed thee in a noble house. Acknowledged his, the rich inheritance Could not be thine, nor could a father's name; For I conceal'd my nuptials, and had plann'd {^paragraph 2295} To kill thee secretly: for this the god In kindness gives thee to another father. ION My mind is prompt to entertain such thoughts; But, entering at his shrine will I inquire {^paragraph 2300} If from a mortal father I am sprung, Or from Apollo.-Ha! what may this be? What god above the hallow'd dome unveils His radiant face that shines another sun? Haste, let us fly: the presence of the gods {^paragraph 2305} 'Tis not for mortals to behold, and live. (MINERVA appears from above.) MINERVA Fly not; in me no enemy you fly; At Athens friendly to you, and no less {^paragraph 2310} Here. From that land I come, so named from me, By Phoebus sent with speed: unmeet he deems it To show himself before you, lest with blame The past be mention'd; this he gave in charge, To tell thee that she bore thee, and to him, {^paragraph 2315} Phoebus thy father; he to whom he gave thee, Not as to the author of thy being gives thee, But to the inheritance of a noble house. This declaration made, lest thou shouldst die, Kill'd by thy mother's wily trains, or she {^paragraph 2320} By thee, these means to save you he devised. These things in silence long conceal'd, at Athens The royal Phoebus would have made it known That thou art sprung from her, thy father he: But to discharge my office, and unfold {^paragraph 2325} The oracle of the god, for which you yoked Your chariots, hear: Creusa, take thy son, Go to the land of Cecrops: let him mount The royal throne; for, from Erechtheus sprung, That honour is his due, the sovereignty {^paragraph 2330} Over my country: through the states of Greece Wide his renown shall spread; for from his root Four sons shall spring, that to the land, the tribes, The dwellers on my rock, shall give their names. Geleon the first, Hopletes, Argades, {^paragraph 2335} And from my aegis named Aegicores: Their sons in fate's appointed time shall fix Their seats along the coast, or in the isles Girt by the Aegean sea, and to my land Give strength; extending thence the opposite plains {^paragraph 2340} Of either continent shall make their own, Europe and Asia, and shall boast their name Ionians, from the honour'd Ion call'd. To thee by Xuthus shall a son be born, Dorus, from whom the Dorian state shall rise {^paragraph 2345} To high renown; in the Pelopian land, Another near the Rhian cliffs, along The sea-wash'd coast, his potent monarchy Shall stretch, Achaeus; and his subject realms Shall glory in their chief's illustrious name. {^paragraph 2350} Well hath Apollo quitted him in all: First, without pain he caused thee bear a son. That from thy friends thou mightst conceal his birth; After the birth, soon as his infant limbs Thy hands had clothed, to Mercury he gave {^paragraph 2355} The charge to take the babe, and in his arms Convey him hither; here with tenderness He nurtured him, nor suffer'd him to perish. Guard now the secret that he is thy son, That his opinion Xuthus may enjoy {^paragraph 2360} Delighted: thou too hast thy blessings, lady. And now, farewell: from this relief from ills A prosperous fortune I to both announce. ION O Pallas, daughter of all-powerful Jove! {^paragraph 2365} Not with distrust shall we receive thy words: I am convinced that Phoebus is my father, My mother she, not unassured before. CREUSA Hear me too, now: Phoebus I praise, before {^paragraph 2370} Unpraised; my son he now restores, of whom Till now I deem'd him heedless. Now these gates Are beauteous to mine eyes; his oracles Now grateful to my soul, unpleasant late. With rapture on these sounding rings my hands {^paragraph 2375} Now hang; with rapture I address the gates. MINERVA This I approve, thy former wayward thoughts Resign'd, with honour that thou name the god. Slow are the gifts of Heaven, but found at length {^paragraph 2380} Not void of power. CREUSA My son, let us now go To Athens. MINERVA {^paragraph 2385} Go; myself will follow you. CREUSA A noble guard, and friendly to the state. MINERVA But seat him high on thy paternal throne. {^paragraph 2390} CREUSA A rich possession, and I glory in him. (MINERVA disappears.) CHORUS (singing) Son of Latona and all-powerful Jove, {^paragraph 2395} Apollo, hail! Though fortune's blackest storms Rage on his house, the man whose pious soul Reveres the gods, assumes a confidence, And justly: for the good at length obtain The meed of virtue; but the unholy wretch {^paragraph 2400} (Such is his nature) never can be happy. - - THE END