It kills,the poison of the Gorgon dragons.
TUTOR
And dost thou bear this gore blended in one?
CREUSA
No,separate;for with ill good mixes not.
TUTOR
O my dear child,thou hast whate'er we want.
CREUSA
With this the boy shall die,and thou shalt kill him.
TUTOR
Where?How?'Tis thine to speak,to dare be mine.
CREUSA
At Athens,when he comes beneath my roof.
TUTOR
I like not this;what I proposed displeased.
CREUSA
Dost thou surmise what enters now my thoughts?
TUTOR
Suspicion waits thee,though thou kill him not.
CREUSA
Thou hast judged well:a stepdame's hate is proverb'd.
TUTOR
Then kill him here;thou mayst disown the deed.
CREUSA
My mind ev'n now anticipates the pleasure.
TUTOR
Thus shalt thou meet thy husband's wiles with wiles CREUSAThis shalt thou do:this little golden casket Take from my hand,Minerva's gift of old;To where my husband secretly prepares The sacrifice,bear this beneath thy vest.
That supper ended,when they are to pour Libations to the gods,thou mayst infuse In the youth's goblet this:but take good heed,Let none observe thee;drug his cup alone Who thinks to lord it in my house:if once It pass his lips,his foot shall never reach Illustrious Athens:death awaits him here.
(She gives him the casket.)
TUTOR
Go thou then to the hospitable house Prepared for thy reception:be it mine,Obedient to thy word to do this deed.
Come then,my aged foot,be once more young In act,though not in years,for past recall That time is fled:kill him,and bear him forth.
Well may the prosperous harbour virtuous thought;But when thou wouldst avenge thee on thy foes,There is no law of weight to hinder thee.
(They both go out.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Daughter of Ceres,Trivia hear,Propitious regent of each public way Amid the brightness of the day,Nor less when night's dark hour engenders fear;The fulness of this goblet guide To check with death this stripling's pride,For whom my queen this fatal draught prepares,Tinged with the Gorgon's venom'd gore:
That seat,which mid Erechtheus'royal heirs His pride claims,it shall claim no more:
Never may one of alien blood disgrace The imperial honours of that high-born race!
antistrophe 1
Should not this work of fate succeed,Nor the just vengeance of my queen prevail;Should this apt time of daring fail,And hope,that flatters now,desert the deed;Slaughter shall other means afford,The strangling cord,the piercing sword;For rage from disappointed rage shall flow,And try each.various form of death;For never shall my queen this torment know;
Ne'er while she draws this vital breath,Brook in her house that foreign lords should shine,Clothed with the splendours of her ancient line.
strophe 2
Thou whom the various hymn delights,Then thy bright choir of beauteous dames among,Dancing the stream's soft brink along,Thou seest the guardian of thy mystic rites,Thy torch its midnight vigils keep,Thine eye meantime disdaining sleep;While with thee dances Jove's star-spangled plain.
And the moon dances up the sky:
Ye nymphs,that lead to grots your frolic train,Beneath the gulfy founts that lie:
Thou gold-crown'd queen,through night's dark regions fear'd,And thou,her mother,power revered,How should I blush to see this youth unknown!
This Delphic vagrant,hope to seize the throne.
antistrophe 2
You,who the melting soul to move,In loose,dishonest airs the Muse employ To celebrate love's wanton joy,The joy of unallow'd,unholy love,See how our pure and modest law Can lavish man's lewd deeds o'erawe!
Ye shameless bards,revoke each wanton air;
No more these melting measures frame;
Bid the chaste muse in Virtue's cause declare,And mark man's lawless bed with shame!
Ungrateful is this Jove-descended lord;
For,his wife's childless bed abhorr'd,Lewdly he courts the embrace of other dames,And with a spurious son his pride inflames.
(An ATTENDANT of CREUSA enters.)
ATTENDANT
Athenian dames,where shall I find our queen,The daughter of Erechtheus?Seeking her,This city have I walked around in vain.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
And for what cause,my fellow-slave?What means Thy hasty foot?What tidings dost thou bring?
ATTENDANT
We are discover'd;and the rulers here Seek her,that she may die o'erwhelm'd with stones.
LEADER
Ah me!what wouldst thou say?Are our designs Of secret ruin to this youth disclosed?
ATTENDANT
They are;and know,the worst of ills await you.
LEADER
How were our dark devices brought to light?
ATTENDANT
The god,that justice might receive no stain Caused it to triumph o'er defeated wrong.
LEADER
How?as a suppliant,I conjure thee,tell me Of this inform'd,if we must die,more freely Wish we to die than see the light of heaven.
ATTENDANT
Soon as the husband of Creusa left The god's oracular shrine,this new-found son He to the feast,and sacrifice prepared To the high gods,led with him.Xuthus then Went where the hallow'd flame of Bacchus mounts,That on each rock's high point the victim's blood Might flow,a grateful offering for his son Thus recognised,to whom he gave in charge,"Stay thou,and with the artist's expert aid Erect the sheltering tent:my rites perform'd To the kind gods that o'er the genial bed Preside,should I be there detain'd too long,Spread the rich table to my present friends."This said,he led the victims to the rocks.
