THE MEDEA

SCENE: In front of Medea's house in Corinth. Enter from
the house Medea's nurse.
Nurse
How I wish the Argo never had reached the land
Of Colchis, skimming through the blue Symplegades,
Nor ever had fallen in the glades of Pelion
The smitten fir-tree to furnish oars for the hands
Of heroes who in Pelias' name attempted 5
The Golden Fleece! For then my mistress Medea
Would not have sailed for the towers of the land of lolcus,
Her heart on fire with passionate love for Jason;
Nor would she have persuaded the daughters of Pelias
To kill their father, and now be living here 10
In Corinth with her husband and children. She gave
Pleasure to the people of her land of exile,
And she herself helped Jason in every way,
This 'is indeed the greatest salvation of all—
For the wife not to stand apart from the husband. 15
But now there's hatred everywhere, Love is diseased.
For, deserting his own children and my mistress,
Jason has taken a royal wife to his bed,
The daughter of the ruler of this land, Creon.
And poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud .on the 20
Vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped
In eternal promise. She calls upon the gods to witness
What sort of return Jason has made to her love.
.She lies without food and gives herself -up io,suffering,
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