Aegeus Lady, there are many reasons I am well disposed to grant this favour, that you ask – first there’s the gods, and then the promise I’ll have children. For in that matter, I’m completely at a loss.
But this is how things are: I am a just man, and if you can get to Athens I shall do all in my power to grant you sanctuary and protection. But I must tell you this now, lady, at the start: I am unwilling to convey you out of Corinth, but if you come by your own doing to my house, then you can stay there safe from all aggression, for I shall not give you up to any man. But you must leave this land yourself by your own doing. I would be blameless in my dealings with my guest-friends.
Medea So be it. But now swear an oath …
Aegeus What is it worries you so much? Do you not trust me?
Medea I trust you. But the family of Pelias, yes, and Creon, too, all hate me. And if you were bound tight to me by oaths, you would not give me up to them, as they tried to abduct me from your land, but if we reached some understanding in words only and not sacred oaths before the gods, I would be vulnerable and by no means on an equal footing, if it came to terms. For I am powerless, whereas they have wealth and all the trappings of a king.
Aegeus You have weighed your future carefully and given it close thought. And if you want to do this, I will not refuse. You see, this offers me the best security of all, since, if I’m called upon to do so, I can use the oath to justify myself before your enemies, while you gain more security. Tell me the gods by whom you’d have me swear.
Medea Swear by the sacred soil of Earth, and by my father’s father, Helios, the Sun, and swear by all the tribe of gods …
Aegeus What would you have me swear to do, what not to do? Say now!
Medea … that you yourself will never drive me out in exile from your land, and if another man, an enemy, should try to take me, you yourself, while you still live, will never willingly abandon me.
Aegeus I swear now by the sacred floor of Earth and by the light of Helios, the Sun, and all the gods: I shall abide by all that you have said.
Medea It is enough. But if you don’t abide by what you’ve sworn, what would you suffer then?
Aegeus The punishment that waits for all, who break the bonds of piety.
Medea Go on your way now, and good fortune with you. All is well. And I shall come to you in Athens in all speed, when I have done what I shall do, when I’ve achieved my purpose.
Chorus May Hermes, son of Maia, Lord of all Journeyings, be with you. And may you soon achieve all you desire. You are a good and noble man, Aegeus. So I consider you.
Medea O Zeus, and Justice, child of Zeus, and light of Helios the Sun! Look how we are become now beautiful in victory against our enemies, and how we are already on our way! For there is hope now, that I shall exact some justice over those I hate. For where before I pitched and laboured like a storm-soaked ship, he has appeared to me like some safe haven now for all my calculations, and so I’ll bind the stern-rope fast to shore and come to Athens and the safety of her city and her citadel.
And now, to you, I shall reveal my calculations and their stark truth all unprettified. I’ll send a house-slave to request of Jason that he comes to me, and, when he does, I’ll speak to him with soft, seductive words, assure him that I think he’s acted for the best, convince him that I realize that all my suffering is for the best. But I shall beg him to allow my sons to stay – not so that I might leave them in a hostile country with their enemies, but so that with their help and through deception and deceit, I’ll kill the daughter of the king.
For, I shall send my sons with wedding-gifts for the new bride – a gauzy dress, a coronet of gold, an intercession, as it were, to ward off banishment. And if she takes these pretty trifles, swathes her skin in them, then she and any who has contact with her will choke out their lives in twisting agony. Such is the venom I shall smear upon my gifts.
Enough of that. What I must do next breaks my heart. For I must kill my sons. No-one will stop me. And when I’ve turned all Jason’s life upon its head, I shall leave Corinth and so endure my exile as the killer of my children, whom I love more than the world, the perpetrator of a deed of all deeds most unholy. My friends, I can’t endure being laughed at by my enemies. So let whatever happen. What can it profit me to live? I have no homeland and no home, no place to turn in all my sufferings. I forfeited them long ago, when I went from my father’s house, seduced by sweet words whispered by a Greek, who soon will suffer retribution for my sake and for the gods. For, from this time he’ll never see our sons alive, nor will he ever father children by his newly-bedded bride. Necessity has settled cruel on her, that she must die in cruel agony through my sweet venom. Let no-one under-rate me, think me weak, a woman pliable and tamed, but rather know me to be otherwise, a terrifying scourge to lash my enemies, a gentle balm for family and friends. For it is thus that in this life we earn the most respect.
Chorus Since you have taken us into your confidence, and as I want to help you and uphold the laws of men, I tell you – do not do it.
Medea It can’t be otherwise. Yet it is understandable for you to speak like this. You have not suffered cruelly as I have.
Chorus But will you bring yourself to kill your children, lady?
Medea Yes. That is what will hurt my husband most.
Chorus And so you would become the most unhappy woman of us all.
Medea Enough of that. There’s no use now in talk. No. Go inside and bring me Jason. Whenever matters call for great discretion, I can trust in you. Now, if you wish your mistress well, and more – if you’re a woman – you will not say a word to anyone of my decision.
Stasimon 3
Chorus Since time began, the citizens of Athens have been rich indeed, the children of the blessed gods, dwellers in a holy land that’s whole and pure. And so they grew strong in the shining light of wisdom, stepping lightly in the clear pellucid air, where once they say that golden-headed Harmony gave birth to the nine sacred Muses – and the clear-flowing waters of Cephisus nurtures them.
And so they say that Aphrodite, goddess of Desire, drinks deep of the Cephisus, sailing in her barge to Athens, fanned by breezes scented in the honeyed air, and on her hair her retinue of Lusts, which bring sweet knowledge in their train, sweet loveliness, scatter flowers, seductive in the soothing scent of garlands twined with blushing damask rose.
And so I ask, how will the city welcome you, Medea? How will Cephisus with his sacred streams, how will the very soil of Athens learn to love you, stained by the blood-guilt of your sacrilege, your own sons’ murderess. Think of it, raising your own arm to stab your sons. Think of their blood and what you do. Don’t kill your sons, we’re begging you! We’re falling at your feet!
How can you have such icy thoughts, how can you feel such cold determination in your hand, your heart to see this terrifying cruelty to its fulfillment? How can you look on your own sons and not dissolve in tears? How can you kill them? Your sons will fall before you, begging, supplicating, and you will not be able then to steel your heart and soak your hands in their lifeblood.
Episode 4
Jason You sent for me. I’ve come. You see, although you hold me in such hatred, I won’t fail you. No, I’ll listen to whatever new request you have of me, my lady.
Medea Jason, I ask you to forgive all that I said before. It’s only fair that you should bear my violent swings of temper, since once we shared so much affection, you and I. I’ve gone through all your arguments and I’ve rebuked myself: ‘For shame! What am I doing, ranting so, abusing those who wish me well, thinking that the king’s against me, and my husband too, who is in fact so thoughtful to me and so sympathetic, making royal alliances through marriage, fathering new brothers for my sons? Can’t I forget my anger, since in truth I am not suffering – the gods, in fact, are treating me so well. Do I not have my sons still? Did I not know when we came here that we were friendless migrants?’
I thought all these things over in my mind, an
d understood how foolish I had been and just what little grounds I had for anger. Now I respect you, and I see how rational you’ve been in marrying a second bride, and how irrational I am. I should have shared the planning, come to give my blessing at the marriage, yes, waited in attendance at your marriage bed, acted as a go-between to please you.
But we women are as women are – I shall not slander us. But just because we’re women doesn’t mean we must inevitably act badly or strive to outdo one another in our foolishness. So, I concede. And I admit that what I thought before was wrong. But now I’ve reached a better understanding of the situation.
Children! Children! Come out here! Come outside! Speak to your father. Say goodbye to him with me; and with your mother now be reconciled for all our former hatred towards those we loved. For we are bound together once again. Our anger is all over. Take his hand …
(Groans) I was thinking of the suffering that lies ahead, unseen. My children, will you always stretch your arms out to me just like this all your life long? How quick to weep I am, so full of fear. After so long I’ve put away my quarrel with your father, and now look, see! I’ve made your little face all wet with tears.
Chorus Tears wet my eyes now, too. I wish no greater sufferings were added to those we suffer now.
Jason Lady – I respect all that you’ve said just now, and I forgive you for the way that you behaved before. It’s natural for women to be angry with their husband, when he takes another wife. But now, albeit late, you’ve recognized the weakness of your argument and your response as a result is much more sensible. Yes, this is how a woman who is rational should act.
My sons, your father has your interests at heart, and with the gods’ help everything will turn out well. You see, I think, with your new brothers, that you’ll be the greatest men in Corinth. Yes! Grow up strong – your father and all those who love the gods will do the rest. I long to see you big and strong, come to the full strength of your manhood, masters over all my enemies.
(to Medea) Why are you crying? Why so pale? Why have you turned your back on us – are you not glad to hear my words?
Medea No reason. I was thinking of my sons.
Jason Well, do not worry. I shall arrange all well for them.
Medea No, I’ll not worry. I do not doubt what you have said. As for my tears – it is a woman’s nature.
Jason Why so much crying for your sons? You go too far.
Medea I gave them life. And when you prayed just now for our sons lives, I felt compassion that it might be so.
But as for what you came to hear me say, some I have said; the rest I shall say now. Since the royal family has decided to exile me from Corinth, this course seems better to me too – I recognize this now – that I should not live here in Corinth in your way, or in the way of the royal family. You see, they’d think I was not well disposed to your new household. And so, I’ll take myself away in exile. But our sons – ask Creon not to exile them, that they may be brought up by your own hand.
Jason I don’t know if I can persuade him, but I must try.
Medea Then tell your wife to ask him for you.
Jason Yes, I shall do that. I think I can persuade her.
Medea You will, if she’s like other women. And I shall help you overcome the difficulties, too. I shall send her gifts, more beautiful than any other gifts the world has seen – I know well what to give her – a gauzy dress, yes, and a coronet of gold. I’ll give them to my sons to take to her.
(to Nurse) So, quickly as you can now, go. Bring me the bridal gifts to dress her in. She will enjoy this happiness not once, no, but ten thousand times. Not only has good fortune given her the best of men in you as husband, but she has inherited the bridal gifts that Helios, the sun-god, father of my father, once bequeathed to his descendents.
(to Sons) Take the dowry in your hands. Take it. Give it to the princess, to the blessed bride. She will not think them insignificant, the wedding gifts she gets from me.
Jason Why would you give these things away? Be sensible. Do you think the palace is in need of clothes, of gold? Keep them. Don’t give them away. For I know well that, if my wife thinks anything of me at all, she’ll listen to me more than gold.
Medea Please don’t refuse. Words backed by gifts can sway even the gods, and among mortals gold has more power than ten thousand words. The power of the spirit world is focusing on her, and even now the gods cause everything to do with her to bloom, for she is young and royal. And if it would prevent my children’s exile, I would exchange not money merely, but a soul.
And so, my children, go. Enter this rich palace, supplicate your father’s newly-wedded wife, my mistress. Beg her not to send you out in exile from this land. This is the most important thing of all, that she accepts these gifts with her own hands. Go now, as quickly as you can. And may you bring your mother the good news of your success she so desires, how you have done all well.
Stasimon 4
Chorus I have no longer any hope left for the children’s lives. No longer. For they are going to their slaughter even now. The bride-girl will accept the coronet of gold, and with it her own death-pangs and destruction. And on her glowing golden hair with her own hands she’ll place the wedding-veil of death.
The beauty of the shimmering dress, taboo in its perfection, the golden-twining coronet will so seduce her and she’ll hug them to her. And so she’ll wrap her body in her bridal shroud, all ready for her marriage-rites with death. The snare gapes open for the final dance of death and she will fall, for there is no escape, poor girl, from her destruction.
And you, too, Jason, bridegroom of sorrows, standing proudly at the altar of the king, you do not know how you are leading your own sons to their destruction, and with them your own wife to face her bitter death.
Poor Jason, how your destiny has tricked you. But most of all, I mourn your suffering, your pain, Medea. Mother, in your misery, you will slaughter your own children out of vengeance for your marriage-bed, betrayed beyond all laws of justice, when your husband set up his home with his new bride.
Episode 5
Tutor Mistress, I have news for you. Your children’s banishment has been revoked. The bride, the princess, happily accepted the gifts from their hands. And so, peace and security have come to your children.
Medea (Sighs)
Tutor Why are you so anxious, so confused, now things have turned out well? Why are you not glad to hear my words?
Medea (Groans)
Tutor Your reactions are quite out of keeping with my words.
Medea (Groans)
Tutor Does my announcement have some implication I don’t know? Was I wrong to think my news was good?
Medea Your news is as it is. I am not angry with you.
Tutor Why are you crying? Why won’t you look at us?
Medea Old man, there are many things that make me cry. You see, the gods and I, with all my cruel plots, have brought myself to this.
Tutor Have hope. You will be saved from exile, too, by your sons and so will come to rest.
Medea Before that day, I must bring others to their rest.
Tutor Other women, too, have lost their sons. We mortals must endure our sufferings as best we can.
Medea Yes, I shall do that. Go back inside and do whatever you must do to get things ready for my sons like any other day.
Oh, my children! My children! This is your city and your home! When you no longer have your poor sad mother with you, you will stay here for all the rest of time without me. And I must go, a fugitive, an exile, to a strange land although I’ll never have my joy of you or see your happiness, I’ll never share your wedding day, never meet your bride or decorate the bridal chamber for you, never raise the blazing marriage torch in sacred ritual.
I cannot weaken, and therein lies my tragedy. It was for something different that I brought you up. It was for something different I went through all the work and all the grind, the twisting agonies of birth-pangs just to bring forth sons to die. I
had such hopes: I would grow old and you’d be there for me, and when I died you’d fold the death-shroud round for me and I would be the envy of the world. But as it is, all my sweet dreams are turned to dust. You see, I shall be lonely and alone without you, and so I shall drag out my life in bitterness and pain. You’ll never watch your mother with your lovely eyes again; no – life holds such a different path for you to follow.
My children! Why are looking at me? Your lovely eyes! Why are you smiling? You’ll never smile at me again. What am I going to do? Women! When I look at them, my boys, their shining eyes – it breaks my heart! I could not do it! All that I meant to do just now – forget it all. I’ll take my children with me when I go. Why, just to make their father suffer, must I suffer twice the suffering I would inflict on him? I will not do it. I shall forget all that I meant to do.
And yet – what has come over me? Do I want to hear their mocking laughter always in my ears because I’ve let my enemies escape unpunished? I must go through with it. Yes! I have acted badly. I let soft sentimental arguments corrupt my mind. Children! Go inside!
If any here is barred by law or ritual from sharing in my sacrifice, let them withdraw. My hand is resolute. I shall not weaken now.
No! No! My anger! No! Don’t do this! Let them go! And we’ll all live happily in Athens.
No! No! By the stalking wraiths of Hades and the dead, I will not let it happen that my enemies point mocking fingers at my sons and laugh in hollow, boastful, arrogant derision.
What I would do is done already. There’s no escape. The crown is on her head already and the dress is even now destroying the bride, the princess. I know – I see. But I am going on the saddest road of all, and yet the road I send my children on is sadder still.
I want to talk to my sons! Children, give me your hands and let me kiss them. Say goodbye now to your mother. Your lovely hand! Your little mouth I love so dearly! Look at you! And your little faces, both so brave, so noble. Be happy where you’ll be. What you had here – your father’s put an end to everything. I love our hugs, our kisses, their silken skin, my sons’ sweet breath against me. Go. Go! I cannot look at you as I once did. I am possessed by evil.
Looking at Medea Page 25