perceives that nothing but evil can come out of this second marriage—is sure that Medea is plotting some terrible revenge—and tells an old servant of Jason's her own terrors and her mistress's sad condition. He, on his part, brings her news. Medea must quit Corinth on that very day, and take, her two sons with her; their father has consented to their banishment, and Creon, king of Corinth, cannot rest until the Colchian witch is over the border. The fears of the nurse harp on the children. She bids them go into the house, and begs Jason's servant,—
"To the utmost, keep them by themselves,
Nor bring them near their sorrow-frenzied mother.
For late I saw her with the roused bull's glare
View them as though she'd at them, and I trow
That she'll not bate her wrath till it have swooped
Upon some prey,"[1]
Her just fears are confirmed by the exclamations of her mistress, speaking from within:—
"Ah me! ah me!
I have endured, sad woman, endured
A burden for great laments. Cursed sons
Of a loathed mother, die, ye and your sire,
And let all our house wane away."
The nurse remains on the stage when the Chorus of Corinthian women enter and comment on the "wild and whirling words" they have overheard:—
- ↑ All the translations are taken from Mrs Augusta Webster's version, poetical as well as "literal," of the "Medea."
