Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/105

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Before he yielded to the tyrant's will. Nay, nay, 140
Thou raging passion, speak not so! For, if he may,
I would that Jason still may live and still be mine,
As once he was; if not, yet may he still live on,
And, mindful of my merits, live without my aid.
The guilt is Creon's all, who with unbridled power
Dissolves the marriage bond, my children separates 145
From me who bore them, yea, and makes the strongest pledge,
Though ratified with straightest oath, of none effect.
Let him alone sustain my wrath; let Creon pay
The debt of guilt he owes! His palace will I bring
To utter desolation; and the whirling fire
To far-off Malea's crags shall send its lurid glare. 150
Nurse: ⁠Be silent now, I pray thee, and thy plaints confine
To secret woe! The man who heavy blows can bear
In silence, biding still his time with patient soul,
Full oft his vengeance gains. 'Tis hidden wrath that harms;
But hate proclaimed oft loses half its power to harm.
Medea: ⁠But small the grief is that can counsel take and hide
Its head; great ills lie not in hiding, but must rush 155
Abroad and work their will.
Nurse: ⁠Oh, cease this mad complaint,
My mistress; scarce can friendly silence help thee now.
Medea: ⁠But fortune fears the brave, the faint of heart o'erwlielms.
Nurse: ⁠Then valor be approved, if for it still there's room. 160
Medea: ⁠But it must always be that valor finds its place.
Nurse: ⁠No star of hope points out the way from these our woes.
Medea: ⁠The man who hopes for naught at least has naught to fear.
Nurse: ⁠The Colchians are thy foes; thy husband's vows nave failed;
Of all thy vast possessions not a jot is left. 165
Medea: ⁠Yet I am left. There's left both sea and land and fire
And sword and gods and hurtling thunderbolts.
Nurse: ⁠The king must be revered.
Medea: ⁠My father was a king.
Nurse: ⁠Dost thou not fear?
Medea: ⁠Not though the earth produced the foe.
Nurse: ⁠Thou'lt perish. 170
Medea: ⁠So I wish it.
Nurse: ⁠Flee!