Medea
within
Oh, what a wretch am I, how miserable in my sorrows! Ah ah, how I wish I could die!
Nurse
Just as I said, dear children. Your mother is stirring up her feelings, stirring up her anger.
[100]
Go quickly into the house, and do not come into her sight or approach her, but beware of her fierce nature and the hatefulness of her wilful temper.
[105]
Go inside as quickly as you can.
Exit Tutor and children into the house.
It is plain that she will soon kindle with even greater passion the cloud of lament now rising from its source: what will her proud soul, so hard to check,
[110]
do when stung by this injury?
Medea
Oh, what sufferings are mine, sufferings that call for loud lamentation! O accursed children of a hateful mother, may you perish with your father and the whole house collapse in ruin!
Nurse
[115]
Oh, woe is me! Why do you make the children sharers in their father's sin? Why do you hate them? O children, how terrified I am that you may come to harm. The minds of royalty are dangerous:
[120]
since they often command and seldom obey, they are subject to violent changes of mood. For it is better to be accustomed to live on terms of equality. At any rate, may I be able to grow old in modest state and with security.
[125]
For moderate fortune has a name that is fairest on the tongue, and in practice it is by far the most beneficial thing for mortals. But excessive riches mean no advantage for mortals, and when a god is angry at a house,
[130]
they make the ruin greater.
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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