Two Tragedies of Seneca: Medea and The Daughters of Troy...

Jason. The lot is ever hard; bitter is fate, Equally bitter if it slay or spare; God gives us remedies worse than our ills. 425 Would I keep faith with her I deem my wife I must expect to die; would I shun death I must forswear myself. Not fear of death Has conquered honor, love has cast out fear In that the father's death involves the sons. 430 O holy Justice, if thou dwell in heaven, I call on thee to witness that the sons Vanquish their father! Say the mother's love Is fierce and spurns the yoke, she still will deem Her children of more worth than marriage joys. 435 My mind is fixed, I go to her with prayers. She starts at sight of me, her look grows wild, Hatred she shows and grief.

Medea. Jason, I flee! I flee, it is not new to change my home, The cause of banishment alone is new; 440 I have been exiled hitherto for thee. I go, as thou compellst me, from thy home, But whither shall I go? Shall I, perhaps, Seek Phasis, Colchis, and my father's realm Whose soil is watered by a brother's blood? 445 What land dost thou command me seek? what sea? The Euxine's jaws through which I led that band Of noble princes when I followed thee, Adulterer, through the Symplegades? Little Iolchos? Tempe? Thessaly? 450 Whatever way I opened up for thee I closed against myself. Where shall I go? Thou drivest into exile, but hast given No place of banishment. I will go hence. The king, Creusa's father, bids me go, 455 And I will do his bidding. Heap on me Most dreadful punishment, it is my due. With cruel penalties let royal wrath Pursue thy mistress, load my hands with chains, And in a dungeon of eternal night 460 Imprison me—'tis less than I deserve! Ungrateful one, recall the fiery bull; The earth-born soldiers, who at my command Slew one another; and the golden fleece Of Phrixus' ram, whose watchful guardian, 465 The sleepless dragon, at my bidding slept; The brother slain; the many, many crimes In one crime gathered.

Think how, led by me, By me deceived, that old man's daughters dared To slay their aged father, dead for aye! 470 By thy hearth's safety, by thy children's weal, By the slain dragon, by these blood-stained hands I never spared from doing aught for thee, By thy past fears, and by the sea and sky Witnesses of our marriage, pity me! 475 O happy one, give me some recompense! Of all the ravished gold the Scythians brought From far, as far as India's burning plains, Wealth our wide palace hardly could contain, So that we hung our groves with gold, I took 480 Nothing. My brother only bore I thence, And him for thee I sacrificed. I left My country, father, brother, maiden shame: This was my marriage portion; give her own To her who goes an exile. 485

Medea. Now from high Olympus send Thy thunder, Jupiter; stretch forth thy hand, Prepare thy lightning, from the riven clouds Make the world tremble, nor with careful hand 535 Spare him or me; whichever of us dies Dies guilty; thy avenging thunderbolt Cannot mistake the victim.

Medea [aside]. 'Tis well! He loves his sons, This, then, the place where he may feel a wound! [To Jason.] Before I go, thou wilt, at least, permit That I should give my sons a last farewell, A last embrace? But one thing more I ask: If in my grief I've poured forth threatening words, 555 Retain them not in mind; let memory hold Only my softer speech, my words of wrath Obliterate.