Aegeus
noticing Medea's distraught demeanor
But why is your face dissolved in tears?
Medea
[690]
Aegeus, my husband is the basest of men.
Aegeus
What is this you say? Tell me particulars of your unhappiness.
Medea
Jason wrongs me, though he has suffered no wrong from me.
Aegeus
What has he done? Tell me in detail.
Medea
He has put another woman over me as mistress of the house.
Aegeus
[695]
Surely he has not dared such a shameful act?
Medea
He has indeed. Once he loved me, but now I am cast off.
Aegeus
Was it some passion, or did he grow tired of your bed?
Medea
A great passion. He has been unfaithful to his family.
Aegeus
Pay him no mind then since, as you say, he is base.
Medea
[700]
His passion was to marry a king's daughter.
Aegeus
Who has given his daughter to him? Tell me the rest.
Medea
Creon, who rules this land of Corinth.
Aegeus
But it is quite understandable, then, that you are distressed.
Medea
I am finished. Furthermore, I am being exiled from the country.
Aegeus
[705]
By whom? This is yet another misfortune you speak of.
Medea
It is Creon who exiles me from Corinth.
Aegeus
Does Jason accede to this? I do not approve of that either.
Medea
He pretends not to, but he is ready to put up with it.
Medea kneels before Aegeus in the posture of a suppliant.
But I beg you by your beard
[710]
and by your knees and I make myself your suppliant: have pity, have pity on an unfortunate woman, and do not allow me to be cast into exile without a friend, but receive me into your land and your house as a suppliant. If you do so, may your longing for children
[715]
be brought to fulfillment by the gods, and may you yourself die happy! You do not know what a lucky find you have made in me. I will put an end to your childlessness and cause you to beget children, for I know the medicines to do it.
Aegeus
Dear woman, for many reasons
[720]
I am eager to grant you this favor, first, for the sake of the gods, then for the children you promise I will beget. For on that score I am utterly undone. But here is how matters stand with me. If you come to my country, I shall in justice try to act as your protector.
[725]
This much, however, I tell you in advance: I will not consent to take you from this land. But if you manage by yourself to come to my house, you may stay there in safety, and I will never give you up to anyone. You must go on your own, then, from this land.
[730]
I wish to be blameless in the eyes of my hosts as well.
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Euripides. Euripides, with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. forthcoming.
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