 | Medea |  |
SCENE the FIRST.
JASON advancing from the end of the stage, THEANO on one side, MEDEA in the grove.THEANO.
The princely steps of Jason are in sight.
He scarce conjectures, that th'indignant breast
Of her, he injures, pours from yonder shades
Its high-ton'd anguish. Yet, illustrious false one,
What stinging thoughts distort thy manly frame!
How have thy gestures lost their wonted grace
In this keen struggle with upbraiding conscience!
Thou soon before that inward judge arraign'd
Shalt hear me plead thy wrong'd Medea's cause.
This is the crisis—Too complacent hero,
By pride untutor'd, though misled by error,
Thou wilt be calm and gentle to rebuke.
JASON.
Press'd by a father's absolute decree,
Solicited by Corinth's potent lord,
Aw'd with the specious sound of public good,
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Oh! in some future hour of sad reflection
May not my heart with self-reproach confess,
This plea of public welfare was ambition;
And filial duty was a feeble tie
To authorise the breach of sacred vows.
MEDEA
in the grove.
Ungrateful Jason!
JASON.
Whence proceeds this voice?
MEDEA
in the grove.
O sire of light, thou seest my wrongs.
JASON.
Again?
Imagination pregnant with remorse
In sounds unreal yields its birth of terror.
MEDEA
in the grove.
Ye arbiters of oaths, and plighted faith,
O Jove and Themis, hear!
JASON.
It is a voice!
Resembling hers, when she alas! is far,
No mockery of fancy.
(Leans against the scene.
THEANO
advancing.
On his cheek
Health seems to wither. O'er his shaded sight
The shiv'ring eye-lids close. A creeping tremor
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Bless'd be these signals of returning virtue.
Hail! prince. Why stand'st thou listning? What alarms thee?
JASON.
An awful murmur from offended heav'n
Through yonder branches issu'd in a voice,
Which chill'd my spirit, and unnerv'd my strength.
THEANO.
What didst thou hear?
JASON.
Medea's well-known accents
Thrice did the vocal prodigy repeat,
Though seas divide her from these faithless arms.
THEANO.
There is no need of prodigy. Meer nature
In thy own breast will startle, when thou know'st,
It was Medea's self, who call'd on Jason.
JASON.
Herself?
THEANO.
The injur'd daughter of Æetes,
But newly-wafted from Thessalia's shore,
Thou may'st discover through those parting boughs;
Where she is seated near the fountain's brink
With her pale cheek reclining on the altar.
JASON
looking on the grove.
Stern deities of vengeance, and of justice!
Now pass your sentence, Nemesis and Themis!
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Which was not wove for happiness.
THEANO.
Be patient.
JASON.
Peculiar woes through ev'ry stage of being
Were Jason's portion. Early I beheld
My father's crown usurp'd. My youth subjected
To an insidious tyrant was devoted
A sacrifice in Colchis—So he hop'd,
And I wish now!—I triumph'd—Glory follow'd,
The source of new calamity to me.
Where is that glory? Serving selfish kings,
Abetting falshood, perjury and fraud.
THEANO.
Turn thy attention from thy own distress
To feel, what others suffer by thy frailty,
Thy wife and off-spring. Listen.
JASON.
I obey.
THEANO.
How could'st thou lead this all-excelling princess
From clime to clime, th'associate in thy toils,
To fall the victim in a foreign land
Of those unrighteous statutes, which appoint
Imperious husbands masters of divorce;
How think, th'establish'd practice of the Greeks,
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Could e'er absolve thee from a solemn tie
With such uncommon obligations bound
By those superior, those unwritten laws,
Which honour whispers to the conscious heart?
JASON.
O venerable woman, lend thy aid.
THEANO.
Attone thy fault. Repentance is heroic,
And holds its rank among the manly virtues.
JASON.
Yes, I renounce Creüsa, and her kingdom.
Yet see this breast with new-born terror beat.
Not all my trials through unnumber'd dangers
From monsters, famine, from the raging deep,
And dark-brow'd care have so confirm'd my courage,
But that I tremble at th'impending conflict.
I dread that scorn and fury, whose excess
May kill repentance, and provoke destruction.
| Medea | |