MEDEA

IS it so? Your life still up to this point is childless?

AEGEUS

Yes. By the fate of some power we have no children.

MEDEA

Have you a wife, or is there none to share your bed?

AEGEUS

There is. Yes, I am joined to my wife in marriage.

MEDEA

And what did Phoebus say to you about children?

AEGEUS

Words too wise for a mere man to guess their meaning.

MEDEA

IS it proper for me to be told the god’s reply?

AEGEUS

It is. For sure what is needed is cleverness.

MEDEA

Then what was his message? Tell me, if I may hear.

AEGEUS

I am not to loosen the hanging foot of the wine-skin . . .

MEDEA

Until you have done something, or reached some country?

AEGEUS

Until I return again to my hearth and house.

MEDEA

And for what purpose have you journeyed to this land?

AEGEUS

There is a man called Pittheus, king of Troezen.

MEDEA

A son of Pelops, they say, a most righteous man.

AEGEUS

With him I wish to discuss the reply of the god.

MEDEA

Yes. He is wise and experienced in such matters.

AEGEUS

And to me also the dearest of all my spear-friends.

MEDEA

Well, I hope you have good luck, and achieve your will.

AEGEUS

But why this downcast eye of yours, and this pale cheek?

MEDEA

O Aegeus, my husband has been the worst of all to me.

AEGEUS

What do you mean? Say clearly what has caused this grief.

MEDEA

Jason wrongs me, though I have never injured him.

AEGEUS

What has he done? Tell me about it in clearer words.

MEDEA

He has taken a wife to his house, supplanting me.

AEGEUS

Surely he would not dare to do a thing like that.

MEDEA

Be sure he has. Once dear, I now am slighted by him.

AEGEUS

Did he fall in love? Or is he tired of your love?

MEDEA

He was greatly in love, this traitor to his friends.

AEGEUS

Then let him go, if, as you say, he is so bad.

MEDEA

A passionate love—for an alliance with the king.

AEGEUS

And who gave him his wife? Tell me the rest of it.

MEDEA

It was Creon, he who rules this land of Corinth.

AEGEUS

Indeed, Medea, your grief was understandable.

MEDEA

I am ruined. And there is more to come: I am banished.

AEGEUS

Banished? By whom? Here you tell me of a new wrong.

MEDEA

Creon drives me an exile from the land of Corinth.

AEGEUS

Does Jason consent? I cannot approve of this.

MEDEA

He pretends not to, but he will put up with it.

Ah, Aegeus, I beg and beseech you, by your beard

And by your knees I am making myself your suppliant,

Have pity on me, have pity on your poor friend,

And do not let me go into exile desolate,

But receive me in your land and at your very hearth.

So may your love, with Gods help, lead to the bearing