Medea

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.

  1. Moderation wins the day first as a better word for men to use, and likewise it is far the best course for them to pursue; but greatness that doth o’erreach itself, brings no blessing to mortal men; but pays a penalty of greater ruin whenever
  2. fortune is wroth with a family.
Chorus
  1. I heard the voice, uplifted loud, of our poor Colchian lady, nor yet is she quiet; speak, aged dame,
  2. for as I stood by the house with double gates I heard a voice of
    weeping from within, and I do grieve, lady, for the sorrows of this house, for it hath won my love.
Nurse
  1. ’Tis a house no more; all that is passed away long since;
  2. a royal bride keeps Jason at her side, while our mistress pines away in her bower, finding no comfort for her soul in aught her friends can say.
Medea
  1. (within). Oh, oh! Would that Heaven’s levin bolt would cleave this head in twain!
  2. What gain is life to me? Woe, woe is me! O, to die and win release, quitting this loathed existence!
Chorus
  1. Didst hear, O Zeus, thou earth, and thou, O light, the piteous note of woe
  2. the hapless wife is uttering? How shall a yearning for that insatiate[*](So MSS. ἀπλήστου. Elmsley, whom many editors have followed, proposed ἀπλάτου = terrible.) resting-place ever hasten for thee, poor reckless one, the end that death alone can bring? Never pray for that.
  3. And if thy lord prefers a fresh love, be not angered with him for that; Zeus will judge ’twixt thee and him herein. Then mourn not for thy husband’s loss too much, nor waste thyself away.
Medea
  1. (within). Great Themis, and husband[*](καὶ πότνι’ Ἄρτεμι, corrupt and pointless. The reading here adopted by the translator is καὶ πόσις, ἄρτι με, suggested by Munro (Journal of Philology, No. 22, p. 275) πόσις = Zeus.) of Themis, behold what I am suffering now, though I did bind that accursed one, my husband, by strong oaths to me? O, to see him and his bride some day brought to utter destruction, they and their house with them,
  2. for that they presume to wrong me thus unprovoked. O my father, my country, that I have left to my shame, after slaying my own brother.
Nurse
  1. Do ye hear her words, how loudly she adjures Themis, oft invoked, and Zeus, whom
  2. men regard as keeper of their oaths? On no mere trifle surely will our mistress spend her rage.
Chorus
  1. Would that she would come forth for us to see, and
  2. listen to the words of counsel we might give, if haply she might lay aside the fierce fury of her wrath, and her temper stern. Never be my zeal at any rate denied my friends!
  3. But go thou and bring her hither outside the house, and tell her this our friendly thought; haste thee ere she do some mischief to those inside the house, for this sorrow of hers is mounting high.
Nurse
  1. This will I do; but I have my doubts whether I shall persuade
  2. my mistress; still willingly will I undertake this trouble for you; albeit, she glares upon her servants with the look of a lioness with cubs, whenso anyone draws nigh to speak to her.