 | Medea |  |
SCENE the SECOND.
JASON, the FIRST COLCHIAN and the CHILDREN.ELDEST CHILD.
Art thou found
At last, my father? In thy search we pass'd
Through frightful waters, and in roaring winds.
Come to our mother, who of thee complains;
And with a promise never more to leave us
Speak comfort to her.
JASON.
Comfort!
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Dost thou shrink
To see these pledges of a love like hers?
Oh! thou obdurate, who hast thrown the beauties
Of virtue from thee in thy youthful season,
When ev'ry soft sensation is most warm,
To clasp the cold deformity of guilt!
I have no off-spring—Must an old man's eyes
Teach thine their tender lesson? Must a heart,
Which time and ills and care might well have sear'd,
Teach thee affection, and a parent's feeling?
JASON.
Support me rather, than depress me, Colchian.
I sink—My soul dissolving in affection
Hath quite unmann'd me.
ELDEST CHILD.
Dost thou grieve to see us?
JASON.
No, my poor boys. My spirit bows before you
In love and rev'rence. These indeed subsist
A common care exacting all regard.
What shall I say—Not cruel would I seem,
Not ev'n severe—Yet, Colchian, let me ask?
Will she . . . .
FIRST COLCHIAN.
Command her; she is all submission.
JASON.
Amid the woes of separating parents
Who like the father can protect the off-spring?
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Prosperity and honour be their portion?
ELDEST CHILD.
Ah! do not take us from our mother's arms.
YOUNGEST CHILD.
From our kind mother. Leave us.
ELDEST CHILD.
Leave us here
To weep with her.
JASON.
How constant are these children!
But they were never harrass'd by her scorn.
| Medea | |