Why dost thou linger still? why dost thou hesitate
Upon the threshold of the deed? Thou canst perform it.
Now wrath has died within me, and my soul is filled
With shame and deep remorse. Ah me, what have I done,
Wretch that I am? Wretch that thou art, well mayst thou
mourn, 990
For thou hast done it!
At that thought delirious joy
O'ermasters me and fills my heart which fain would grieve.
And yet, methinks, the act was almost meaningless,
Since Jason saw it not; for naught has been performed
If to his grief be added not the woe of sight.
Jason [discovering her]: Lo, there she stands upon the lofty battlements! 995
Bring torches! fire the house, that she may fall ensnared
By those devices she herself hath planned.
Medea [derisively]: Not so,
But rather build a lofty pyre for these thy sons;
Their funeral rites prepare. Already for thy bride
And father have I done the service due the dead;
For in their ruined palace have I buried them.
One son of thine has met his doom; and this shall die 1000
Before his father's face.
Jason: By all the gods, and by the perils of our flight,
And by our marriage bond which I have ne'er lx'trayed,
I pray thee spare the boy, for he is innocent.
If aught of sin there be, 'tis mine. Myself I give
To be the victim. Take my guilty soul for his. 1005
Medea: 'Tis for thy prayers and tears I draw, not sheathe the sword.
Go now, and take thee maids for wives, thou faithless one;
Abandon and betray the mother of thy sons.
Jason: And yet, I pray thee, let one sacrifice atone.
Medea: If in the blood of one my passion could be quenched,
No vengeance had it sought. Though both my sons I slay, 1010
The number still is all too small to satisfy
My boundless grief.
Jason: Then finish what thou hast begun—
I ask no more—and grant at least that no delay
Prolong my helpless agony. 1015
Medea: Now hasten not,
Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/131
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Medea
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