Fifth Episode (1001-1250)
Mistress, your children are pardoned from exilePaidagogos
Medea
Ah! Ah!
Paidagogos
That is not in tune with my message.
Medea
Ah! Ah! yet again.
Paidagogos
Have I announced a misfortune I was not aware of
and been cheated of my hope of being a bearer of good
news? 1010
Medea
You have told what you had to tell. I do not blame you.
Paidagogos
Why then is your face downcast and why are you crying?
Medea
It has to be, old man. For the gods and I...
yes, I with faulty reasoning have devised these things.
Paidagogos
Cheer up. You too will come home with your children’s help.1015
Medea
I will send others home before that, unhappy woman that I am.
Paidagogos
You are not the only woman to be separated from her children.
Being human we must lightly bear misfortunes.
Medea
I will do that. But go into the house
and prepare for the children what they need for today. 1020
Oh children, children, you have a city
and a home in which, after leaving me to my misery ,
you will dwell forever deprived of a mother.
And I will go to another land, a refugee,
before enjoying you and seeing you happy 1025
before adorning your nuptial bath and bride
and marriage bed and holding up the wedding torch.
Oh how my own daring has wrecked my life.
What a waste was my care for you, dear children!
What a waste the toils which wore me down, 1030
when I endured the hard useless pangs of childbirth.
Truly once, sad as I am now, I had high hopes
in you, that you would care for me in my old age
and when I died, with your own hands you would tend me,
something we humans crave. But now it’s all gone, 1035
my sweet expectation. For without you
I will live a life of sorrow, painful to me.
And you with your dear eyes will no longer
look at your mother, when you go away to another life.
Ah! Ah!. Why do you stare at me with your eyes, children? 1040
Why do you smile that very last smile?
Ah, Ah! What will I do? My heart is not in it,
women, when I look at the gleaming eyes of my children.
I could not do it. Goodbye my plans
of before. I shall take my children with me. 1045
Why should I, to wound their father by hurting them,
have twice as many woes myself?
I will not do it. Goodbye my plans.
But what is the matter with me? Do I want to be
a laughing stock, letting my enemies go unpunished? 1050
These things must be endured. Oh for my cowardice,
that I let soft words into my heart.
Go children into the house. Whoever
is not permitted to partake of my sacrifice
stay way. I shall not let my hand grow slack. 1055
Ah. Ah.
Do not, oh my heart, do not do these things.
Leave them, oh unhappy woman, spare your children.
Living there with me they will delight you.
No! By the avengers down in Hades!
There is no way that I will leave my children 1060
to be abused by my enemies.
[They must die. And since they must,
I will kill them who gave them birth.]
The plan is underway and she will not escape.
On her head is the crown, dressed in the robes, 1065
the royal bride is dying; I am certain of it.
But I shall set out upon a most sorrowful road
and I shall send them on one more sorrowful still.
I want to speak to my children. Give me, children,
give your mother your right hand to kiss. 1070
Oh dearest hand, dearest mouth,
and form and noble face of my children,
may you be happy, but there. Your father has ruined
everything here. Oh sweet embrace
Oh soft skin and lovely breath of my children. 1075
Go, go on. No longer am I able to look
at you. I am overcome by evils.
I understand what evils I am about to do
but my wrath is stronger even that my plans
which is the cause of the greatest wrongs for humankind. 1080
Astrophic choral song
(1081-1115)Often now
I have gone through the more subtle stories
and I have entered greater disputes
than is suitable for the feminine gender to investigate.
But we have a Muse too 1085
who associates with us for the sake of wisdom.
Not with all of us, for small indeed
is the number you would find among many,
not unmused of womankind.
And I say those of mortals who are 1090
altogether inexperienced and have not had
children, excel in happiness
those who are parents.
For the childless through inexperience
whether children turn out 1095
sweet for humans or a misery
are free of many troubles.
But those who have in their houses the
sweet growth of children— I see them
worn down by care all the time, 1100
first how they will bring their children up right
and how they will leave them a livelihood.
But still beyond this whether their toil
is spent on worthless or good ones
is unclear.
But one misfortune— last of all 1105
for all mortals— I have to say it:
yes, suppose they have found sufficient living
and the children have grown up to adulthood
and they have turned out good. If fate
should have it so, gone to Hades 1110
is Death carrying the bodies of the children.
How then does it profit in addition to the other woes
that the gods cast upon mortals
to bear this bitterest grief
for the sake of children? 1115
Medea
My friends, I have been waiting a long time,
expecting news of how events are progressing there.
And I see one of Jason’s servants coming
this way. His agitated breathing
shows that he is the messenger of a new disaster. 1120
Messenger
Oh, Medea, you have perpetrated a terrible,
criminal act! You must flee, flee at once.
Take ship or chariot, but go.
Medea
What happened that I need to take off in this way?
Messenger
The royal princess is dead just now 1125
from your poisons and her father, Creon, too.
Medea
That’s wonderful news. You will have my eternal
gratitude and I will call you my friend.
Messenger
What are you saying? Have you gone mad, woman?
You have destroyed the royal household, 1130
and are glad to hear it and have no fear of the consequences?
Medea
I too have something to say in answer
to your words. But do not rush off, my friend,
tell your tale. How did they die? You will delight me
twice as much if they died horrible deaths. 1135
Messenger
When your two children came inwith their father, and went to the bridal
chamber
we slaves were glad, who before were troubled
by your wrongs. From ear to ear at once talk spread
that you and your husband had called a truce to your earlier
quarrel.1140
One kisses the hand, another the blond head
of the children. And I myself out of joy
followed along to the women’s quarters with the children.
And our mistress, whom we pay respects to now instead of you,
before she caught sight of your two children 1145
held her eyes fixed eagerly on Jason.
But then she covered up her face
and turned away her pale cheek,
sickened by the approach of the children. But your husband
was trying to soothe the rage and venom of the young woman 1150
by telling her this: "Do not be angry at my family.
Won’t you put an end to your rage and turn back your face,
thinking your husband’s loved ones are your own,
and take the gifts and ask your father to revoke
the sentence of exile from my children, for my sake?"1155
And she, when she saw the fine garments did not resist
but agreed with her husband in everything, and
before father and children were far from the house,
picking up the fine robe she put it on
and she placed the golden crown around her curls 1160
and arranged her hair in a shimmering mirror,
smiling at the lifeless image of her figure.
And then she gets up from her chair and walks
through the room, stepping lightly on her delicate feet
overjoyed with the gifts, again and again 1165
casting an eye upon her arched foot.
But then there came a terrible sight to see:
the color drains from her face; her step unsteady, she tries
to go back, her limbs trembling, and she barely manages
to stumble into her seat and avoid falling on the ground.1170
Then an old woman, one of her slaves, thinking a fit
from Pan or one of the gods had seized her,
let out a wail, before she saw white foam
streaming from her mouth and from her eyes
the pupils turned back; and the blood was drained from her skin. 1175
Then there came a terrible cry in answer
to the wail. At once one slave ran to her father’s
rooms, another to her new husband,
to inform them of what was happening to the bride.
The whole house reverberated with the sound of running feet.1180
And by now a quick walker turning the last lap
of the course would be reaching his goal.
And the poor woman her eyes glazed over stirred from her silence
and with a deep groan was trying to get up.
But a twofold trouble was warring against her: 1185
the crown of gold around her head
was spewing out an eerie stream of all-consuming fire,
and the fine robes, gifts of your children,
were eating away the poor girl’s beautiful flesh.
She stands up and tries to escape, but she is on fire. 1190
She shakes her head this way and that,
trying to throw off the crown, but firmly
the gold holds its bonds; and the fire— when she shook
her head— burned twice as bright.
Overcome by the disaster she falls to the floor, 1195
unrecognizable to the sight except to her parent.
For the condition of her eyes and her once lovely face
were not clear, and blood dripped
from the top of her head mingled with fire,
and the flesh was dropping from her bones like the rosin 1200
from a pine, through the hidden gnawing of the poisons,
a terrible sight. We were all afraid to touch
the body. For we had her fate to teach us.
But her poor father in ignorance of the tragedy
suddenly bursts into the room and throws himself on the body. 1205
He cries out and enfolding her in his hands
he kisses her and speaks to her, "My poor child,
which of the gods has mangled you so horribly?
Who has made me an aged tomb, to grieve for you.
Ah me let me die with you, my child." 1210
And when he stopped his weeping and wailing
he wanted to raise his old limbs
but was held back by the fine robes like ivy
by the shoots of laurel. The struggle was hair-raising.
He wanted to get up on his feet 1215
but she held him fast. If he tried to use force
she tore the aged flesh from his bones.
After a time he was exhausted and the poor man
let go of life. For he was not strong enough to fight the disaster.
They lie dead together, child and aged father1220
beside her. A tragedy that makes you want to cry.
In my view your part is beyond my telling.
You will know how to escape punishment.
Not for the first time I find our lives are a shadow,
and I am not afraid to say that people who think 1225
they have everything figured out and are masters of logic
— they are liable to the greatest folly.
No human being is happy.
Strike it rich and you are luckier
than your neighbor— but happy, never. 1230
Chorus
The god has inflicted many troubles
on Jason today and he deserves them.
Oh unhappy daughter of Creon, done to death,
how we pity you for your tragedy,
all because of your marriage to Jason. 1235
Medea
My friends. I have determined to do the deed at once,
to kill my children and leave this land,
and not by delaying to give over my children
to another more hostile hand to murder.
They must die and since they must 1240
I will kill them who brought them into the world.
But arm yourself, my heart. Why hesitate
to do these terrible, yet necessary, evils?
Come, unhappy hand of mine, take the sword
take it, move to the mournful turning point of life.1245
Do not be a coward. Do not think of your children
how much you love them, how you gave them birth.
For this one short day forget your children,
and then mourn. For even if you will kill them
still they were dear to you. I am an unhappy woman.1250