Euripides, Medea
David Kovacs, Ed.

But your story and mine are not the same: you have a city and a father's house, the enjoyment of life and the company of friends, [255] while I, without relatives or city, am suffering outrage from my husband. I was carried off as booty from a foreign land and have no mother, no brother, no kinsman to shelter me from this calamity. And so I shall ask from you this much as a favor: [260] if I find any means or contrivance to punish my husband for these wrongs [and the bride's father and the bride], keep my secret. In all other things a woman is full of fear, incapable of looking on battle or cold steel; [265] but when she is injured in love, no mind is more murderous than hers.

Chorus-Leader
I will do so. For you will be right to punish your husband, Medea, and I am not surprised that you grieve at what has happened.

Enter Creon by Eisodos B.
But I see Creon coming, ruler of this land. [270] He will have some new deliberation to report.

Creon
You, Medea, scowling with rage against your husband, I order you to leave this land and go into exile, taking your two children with you, and instantly. I am the executor of this decree, [275] and I will not return home again until I expel you from this land.

Medea
Oh, I am undone, wholly lost! My enemies are making full sail against me, and there is no haven from disaster that I can reach. [280] Still, though I am ill-treated, I will ask you: Why are you exiling me, Creon?

Creon
I am afraid （no need to dissemble） that you will do some deadly harm to my daughter. Many indications of this combine: [285] you are a clever woman and skilled in many evil arts, and you are smarting with the loss of your husband's love. And I hear that you are threatening—such is the report people bring—to harm the bride, her father, and her husband. So I shall take precautions before the event. [290] It is better for me to incur your hatred now, woman, than to be soft now and regret it later.