Part 5 (1/2)

I hear the writhing lash of serpents huge resound

Whoibbering there with scattered lirant his quest Then coe all your torches--rend me--burn!

For lo, my bosoeful Goddesses depart And go in peace down to the lowest shades of hell

And do thou leave me to myself, and let this hand That slew thee with the sword now offer sacrifice Unto thy shade

Roused to the point of action by this vision, and still at the very pitch of frenzy, she plunges her dagger into the first of her sons (The poet thus violates the canons of the classical drae)

But now hoarse shouts and the quick tra of

What sudden uproar meets my ear?

'Tis Corinth's citizens on my destruction bent

Unto the palace roof I'll mount, and there complete This bloody sacrifice

[_To her other son_] Do thou come hence with me; But thee, poor senseless corse, within ird thyself, th Nor must this deed Lose all its just renown because in secret done; But to the public eye my handone son, terrified and reluctant, and bearing the body of her other child in her arms Jason and a crowd of Corinthian citizens rush upon the stage Stopping in front of his own palace, he shouts:

Ho, all ye loyal sons who s!

Come, let us seize the worker of this hideous criround

At this es upon the palace roof

_Medea_ No have I regained ain the Colchians hold the spoil Of precious gold, and by the ic of this hour I ath! O festal hour! O nuptial day! On! on!

Accouilt, but not the reco to act

Why dost thou linger still? Why dost thou hesitate Upon the threshold of the deed? Thou canst perform it

Norath 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 ht delirious joy O'errieve

And yet, less, Since Jason saw it not; for naught has been perforht

_Jason_ [_discovering her_] Lo, there she stands upon the lofty battle 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 Before his father's face--

_Jason_ By all the Gods, and by the perils of our flight, And by our e bond which I have ne'er betrayed, I pray thee spare the boy, for he is innocent

If aught of sin there be, 'tis uilty soul for his

_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 ht Though both my sons I slay, The nurief

_Jason_ Then finish what thou hast begun-- I ask no ony