Medea: Act V

Messenger [comes running in from the direction of the palace]: Lo,all is lost! the kingdom totters from its base!The daughter and the father lie in common dust!Chorus: By what snare taken?

Chorus: What harm could lurk in them?

Messenger: In equal doubt I stand;And, though my eyes proclaim the dreadful deed is done,I scarce can trust their witness.

Messenger: Devouring flames consume the palace at the willOf her who sent them; there complete destruction reigns,While men do tremble for the very city's doom.

Chorus: Let water quench the fire.

Messenger: Nay here is added wonder:The copious streams of water feed the deadly flames;And opposition only fans their fiery rageTo whiter heat. The very bulwarks feel their power.

Medea: Thou bid'st me speed my flight? Nay rather, had I fledI should return for this. Strange bridal rites I see!Why dost thou falter, O my soul? 'Tis well begun;But still how small a portion of thy just revengeIs that which gives thee present joy? Not yet has loveBeen banished from thy maddened heart if 'tis enoughThat Jason widowed be. Pursue thy vengeful questTo acts as yet unknown, and steel thyself for these.Away with every thought and fear of God and man;Too lightly falls the rod that pious hands upbear.Give passion fullest sway; exhaust thy ancient powers;And let the worst thou yet hast done be innocentBeside thy present deeds. Come, let them know how slightWere those thy crimes already done; mere training theyFor greater deeds. For what could hands untrained in crimeAccomplish? Or what mattered maiden rage? But now,I am Medea; in the bitter school of woeMy powers have ripened.Oh, the bliss of memory!My infant brother slain, his limbs asunder rent,My royal father spoiled of his ancestral realm,And Pelias' guiltless daughters lured to slay their sire!But here I must not rest; no untrained hand I bringTo execute my deeds. But now, by what approachOr by what weapon wilt thou threat the treacherous foe?Deep hidden in my secret heart have I conceivedA purpose which I dare not utter. Oh, I fearThat in my foolish madness I have gone too far--I would that children had been born to him of thisMy hated rival. Still, since she hath gained his heart,His children too are hers--That punishment would be most fitting and deserved.Yes, now I see the final deed of crime, and thou,My soul, must face it. You, who once were called my sons,Must pay the penalty of these your father's crimes--My heart with horror melts, a numbing chill pervadesMy limbs, and all my soul is filled with sinking fear.Now wrath gives place, and, heedless of my husband's sins,The tender mother-instinct quite possesses me.And could I shed my helpless children's blood? Not so,Oh, say not so, my maddened heart! Far from my handAnd thought be that unnameable and hideous deed!What sin have they that shedding of their wretched bloodWould wash away?Their sin--that Jason is their sire,And, deeper guilt, that I have borne them. Let them die;They are not mine. Nay, nay! they are my own, my sons,And with no spot of guilt. Full innocent they are,'Tis true--my brother, too, was innocent. O soul,Why dost thou hesitate? Why flow these streaming tears,While with contending thoughts my wavering heart is torn?As when conflicting winds contend in stubborn strife,And waves, to stormy waves opposed, the sea invade,And to their lowest sands the briny waters boil;With such a storm my heart is tossed. Hate conquers love,And love puts impious hate to flight. Oh, yield thee, grief,To love! Then come, my sons, sole comfort of my heart,Come, cling within your mother's close embrace. UnharmedYour sire may keep you, while your mother holds you too.But flight and exile drive me forth! And even nowMy children must be torn away with tears and cries.Then let them die to Jason since they're lost to me.Once more has hate resumed her sway, and passion's fireIs hot within my soul. Now fury, as of yore,Reseeks her own. Lead on, I follow to the end!I would that I had borne twice seven sons, the boastOf Niobe! But all too barren have I been.Still will my two sufficient be to satisfyMy brother and my sire.But whither hastes that throngOf furies? What their quest? What mean their brandished fires?Whom threats this hellish host with horrid, bloody brands?I hear the writhing lash resound of serpents huge.Whom seeks Megaera with her deadly torch? Whose shadeComes gibbering there with scattered limbs? It is my brother!Revenge he seeks, and we will grant his quest. Then come,Within my heart plunge all your torches, rend me, burn;For lo, my bosom open to your fury's stroke.O brother, bid these vengeful goddesses departAnd go in peace down to the lowest shades of hell.And do thou leave me to myself, and let this handThat slew thee with the sword now offer sacrificeUnto thy shade.What sudden uproar meets my ear?'Tis Corinth's citizens on my destruction bent.Unto the palace roof I'll mount and there completeThis bloody sacrifice.Do thou come hence with me.But thee, poor senseless corse, within mine arms I'll bear.Now gird thyself, my heart, with strength. Nor must this deedLose all its just renown because in secret done;But to the public eye my hand must be approved.

Jason [in the street below shouting to citizens]: Ho, all ye loyalsons, who mourn the death of kings!Come, let us seize the worker of this hideous crime.Now ply your arms and raze her palace to the ground.

Medea [appearing on the housetop with her two sons]: Now, now haveI regained my regal state, my sire,My brother! Once again the Colchians hold the spoilOf precious gold! And by the magic of this hourI am a maid once more. O heavenly powers, appeasedAt length! O festal hour! O nuptial day! On, on!Accomplished is the guilt, but not the recompense.Complete the task while yet thy hands are strong to act!Why dost thou linger still? why dost thou hesitateUpon the threshold of the deed? Thou canst perform it.Now wrath has died within me, and my soul is filledWith shame and deep remorse. Ah me, what have I done,Wretch that I am? Wretch that thou art, well mayst thou mourn,For thou hast done it!At that thought delirious joyO'ermasters me and fills my heart which fain would grieve.And yet, methinks, the act was almost meaningless,Since Jason saw it not; for naught has been performedIf to his grief be added not the woe of sight.

Jason [discovering her]: Lo, there she stands upon thelofty battlements!Bring torches! fire the house, that she may fall ensnaredBy those devices she herself hath planned.

Medea [derisively]: Not so,But rather build a lofty pyre for these thy sons;Their funeral rites prepare. Already for thy brideAnd father have I done the service due the dead;For in their ruined palace have I buried them.One son of thine has met his doom; and this shall dieBefore his father's face.

Jason: By all the gods, and by the perils of our flight,And by our marriage bond which I have ne'er betrayed,I pray thee spare the boy, for he is innocent.If aught of sin there be, 'tis mine. Myself I giveTo be the victim. Take my guilty soul for his.

Medea: 'Tis for thy prayers and tears I draw, not sheathe the sword.Go now, and take thee maids for wives, thou faithless one;Abandon and betray the mother of thy sons.Jason: And yet, I pray thee, let one sacrifice atone.

Medea: If in the blood of one my passion could be quenched,No vengeance had it sought. Though both my sons I slay,The number still is all too small to satisfyMy boundless grief.

Jason: Then finish what thou hast begun--I ask no more--and grant at least that no delayProlong my helpless agony.

Medea: Now hasten not,Relentless passion, but enjoy a slow revenge.This day is in thy hands; its fertile hours employ.

Jason: Oh, take my life, thou heartless one.

Medea: Thou bid'st me pity--Well! [Slays the second child.]--'Tis done!No more atonement, passion, can I offer thee.Now hither lift thy tearful eyes ungrateful one.Dost recognize thy wife? 'Twas thus of old I fled.The heavens themselves provide me with a safe retreat.Twin serpents bow their necks submissive to the yoke.Now, father, take thy sons; while I, upon my car,With wingéd speed am borne aloft through realms of air.

Jason [calling after her]: Speed on through realms of air thatmortals never see:But, witness heaven, where thou art gone no gods can be!