Creusa Aged retainer of my father Erechtheus while yet he lived and saw the light of day, mount to the god’s prophetic shrine that thou mayst share my gladness, if haply Loxias, great king, vouchsafe an answer touching my hopes of offspring; for sweet it is to share with friends prosperity, and sweet likewise to see a friendly face if any ill betide,—which God forbid! As thou of yore didst tend my sire, so now, thy mistress though I am, I take his place in tending thee.
Old Servant Daughter, thy manners bear good witness still to thy noble lineage; thou hast never brought shame upon those ancestors of thine, the children of the soil. A hand, I prithee, to the shrine! a hand to lean upon! ’Tis a steep path thither, truly; but lend thy aid to guide my steps and make me young again.
Creusa Come follow then, and look where thou art treading.
Old Servant Behold! though my steps loiter, my thoughts take wings.
Creusa Lean on thy staff as thou climbest this winding path.
Old Servant Even this staff is a blind guide when I myself can scarcely see.
Creusa True, but do not yield through fatigue.
Old Servant Never willingly, but I am not master of that which is mine no more.
Creusa Maidens mine, my trusty servants at the loom and web, declare to me how my lord hath fared as touching the question of offspring which brought us hither: for if ye give me good news, ye will cause joy to a mistress who will not prove faithless to her word.
Chorus O fortune!
Old Servant This prelude to your speech is unlucky.
Chorus Woe is me!
Old Servant Can it be that the oracles delivered to my master wound me at all?
Chorus Enough! why have aught to do with that which brings down death?
Creusa What means this piteous strain? wherefore this alarm?
Chorus Are we to speak or keep silence? What shall we do?
Creusa Speak; for thou hast somewhat to tell that touches me.
Chorus Then speak I will, though twice to die were mine. O mistress mine! never shalt thou hold a babe within thy arms or clasp him to thy breast.
Creusa Ah me! would I were dead!
Old Servant My daughter!
Creusa O woe is me for my calamity! Mine is a heritage of suffering and woe that poisons life, good friends.
Old Servant Ah, my child, ’tis death to us!
Creusa Ah me! ah me! grief drives its weapon through this heart of mine.
Old Servant Stay thy lamentations.
Creusa Nay, but sorrow lodges here.
Old Servant Till we learn—
Creusa Ah, what further news is there for me?
Old Servant Whether our master is in the same plight and shares thy misfortune, or thou art alone in thy misery.
Chorus On him, old sir, Loxias hath bestowed a son, and he is enjoying his good fortune apart from her.
Creusa Herein hast thou declared a further evil crowning all, a grief for me to mourn.
Old Servant The child of whom thou speakest—is he some woman’s destined babe, or did the god declare the fate of one already born?
Chorus A youth already born and grown to man’s estate doth Phoebus give to him; for I was there myself.
Creusa What sayest thou? nor tongue nor lip should speak the word thou tellest me.
Old Servant And me. But declare more clearly how this oracle is finding its fulfilment, and say who is the child.
Chorus Whomso thy husband first should meet as he issued from the shrine, him the god gave him for his son.
Creusa Ah me! my fate, it seems, has doomed me to a childless life, and all forlorn am I to dwell in my halls, without an heir.
Old Servant To whom did the oracle refer? whom did our poor lady’s husband meet? how and where did he see him?
Chorus Dear mistress mine, dost know that youth that was sweeping yonder shrine? He is that son.
Creusa Oh! for wings to cleave the liquid air beyond the land of Hellas, away to the western stars, so keen the anguish of my soul, my friends!
Old Servant Dost know the name his father gave to him, or is that left as yet unsettled and unsaid?
Chorus He called him Ion, because he was the first to cross his path.
Old Servant Who is his mother?
Chorus That I cannot say. But,—to tell thee all I know, old sir,— her lord is gone, with furtive step, into the hallowed tent, there to offer on this child’s behalf such gifts and victims as are offered for a birth, and with his new-found son to celebrate the feast.
Cite This Text