The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Vi Part 36

GORA. Then punish him, strike him low!

Avenge thy brother, thy sire, Our fatherland and our G.o.ds, Our shame-yea, mine, and thine!

MEDEA. First I will have my babes; All else is hidden in night.

What think'st thou of this?--When he comes Treading proud to his bridal with her, That maid whom I hate, If, from the roof of the palace above him, Medea crash down at his feet and lie there, A ghastly corpse?

GORA. 'Twere a sweet revenge!

MEDEA. Or if, at the bridal-chamber's door, I lay her dead in her blood, Beside her the children--Jason's children--dead?

GORA. But thyself such revenge would hurt, and not him.

MEDEA. Ah, I would that he loved me still, That I might slay myself, and make him groan!

But what of that maid, so false, so pure?

GORA. Ha! There thou strikest nearer to the mark!

MEDEA. Peace, peace! Back, whence ye came, ye evil thoughts!

Back into silence, into darkest night!

[_She covers her face with her veil._]

GORA. Those heroes all, who made with him The wanton Argo-voyage hence, The G.o.ds above have recompensed With just requital, swift revenge.

Death and disgrace have seized them all Save one--how long shall he go free?

Each day I listen greedily, And joy to hear how they have died, How fell these glorious sons of Greece, The robber-band that fought their way Back from far Colchis. Thracian maids Rent limb from limb sweet Orpheus' frame; And Hylas found a watery grave; Pirithous and Theseus pierced Even to Hades' darksome realm To rob that mighty lord of shades Of his radiant spouse, Persephone; But then he seized, and holds them there For aye in chains and endless night.

MEDEA (_swiftly s.n.a.t.c.hing her veil from before her face_).

Because they came to steal his wife?

Good! Good! 'Twas Jason's crime, nay, less!

GORA. Great Heracles forsook his wife, For he was snared by other charms, And in revenge she sent to him A linen tunic, which he took And clad himself therewith--and sank To earth in hideous agonies; For she had smeared it secretly With poison and swift death. He sank To earth, and Oeta's wooded heights Were witness how he died in flames!

MEDEA. She wove it, then, that tunic dire That slew him?

GORA. Ay, herself.

MEDEA. Herself!

GORA. Althea 'twas--his mother--smote The mighty Meleager down Who slew the Calydonian boar; The mother slew her child.

MEDEA. Was she Forsaken by her husband, too?

GORA. Nay, he had slain her brother.

MEDEA. Who?

The husband

GORA. Nay, her son, I mean.

MEDEA. And when the deed was done, she died?

GORA. She liveth yet.

MEDEA. To do a deed Like that--and live! Oh, horrible!

Thus much do I know, thus much I see clear Not unavenged shall I suffer wrong; What that vengeance shall be, I know not,--would not know.

Whatso'er I can do, he deserves,--ay, the worst!

But--mankind are so weak, So fain to grant time for the sinner to feel remorse!

GORA. Remorse? Ask thy lord if he rue his deed!

For, see! He draws nigh with hasty steps.

MEDEA. And with him the king, my bitter foe, Whose counsel hath led my lord astray.

Him must I flee, for I cannot tame My hatred.

[_She goes swiftly toward the palace._]

But if lord Jason wish To speak with me, then bid him come in, To my side in the innermost chambers--there I would parley with him, not here By the side of the man who is my foe.

They come. Away!

[_She disappears into the palace._]

GORA. Lo, she is gone!

And I am left to deal with the man Who is killing my child, who hath brought it to pa.s.s That I lay my head on a foreign soil, And must hide my tears of bitter woe, Lest I see a smile on the lips of these strangers here.

_The_ KING _and _JASON _enter._

KING. Why hath thy mistress fled? 'Twill serve her not

GORA. Fled? Nay, she went, because she hates thy face

KING. Summon her forth!

GORA. She will not come.

KING. She shall!

GORA. Then go thou in thyself and call her forth, If thou dost dare.

KING (_angrily_).

Where am I, then, and who, That this mad woman dares to spite me thus?

The servant mirrors forth the mistress' soul-- Servant and mistress mirror forth that land Of darkness that begat them! Once again I tell thee, call her forth!

GORA (_pointing to Jason_).

There stands the man That she would speak with. Let him go within-- If he hath courage for it.

JASON. Get thee gone, Old witch, whom I have hated from the first!