Come, as a friend will I commune with thee—
Yet what fair dealing should I hope from thee?— 500
Yet will I: questioned, baser shalt thou show.
Now, whither turn I?—to my father's house,
Which, with my country, I for thee cast off?
To Pelias' hapless daughters?—Graciously
Their father's slayer would they welcome home! 505
For thus it is: a foe am I become
To mine own house. Whom I should ne'er have harmed,
For grace to thee I made mine enemies.
So then midst Hellas' daughters hast thou made me
Blest in return for all: in thee have I— 510
O wretched I!—a wondrous spouse and leal,[1]
If from the land cast forth I pass to exile
Forlorn of friends, alone with children lone.
A proud reproach for our new bridegroom this—
In poverty thy babes, thy saviour, wander! 515
O Zeus, ah wherefore hast thou given to men
Plain signs for gold which is but counterfeit,
But no assay-mark nature-graven shows
On man's form, to discern the base withal?
Chorus.
Awful is wrath, and past all balm of healing, 520
When they that once loved clash in feud of hate.
Jason.
Needs must I be not ill at speech, meseems,
But, like the careful helmsman of a ship,
With close-reefed canvas run before the gale,
- ↑ Or, reading κἄπιστον, "Woe's me!—a marvellous spouse beyond belief,"
