Page:The Plays of Euripides Vol. 1- Edward P. Coleridge (1910).djvu/79

Rh. I have a wife joined to me in wedlock's bond.

. What said Phœbus to thee as to children?

. Words too subtle for man to comprehend.

. Surely I may learn the god's answer?

. Most assuredly, for it is just thy subtle wit it needs.

. What said the god? speak, if I may hear it.

. He bade me "not loose the wineskin's pendent neck."

. Till when? what must thou do first, what country visit?

. Till I to my native home return.

. What object hast thou in sailing to this land?

. O'er Trœzen's realm is Pittheus king.

. Pelops' son, a man devout they say.

. To him I fain would impart the oracle of the god.

. The man is shrewd and versed in such-like lore.

. Aye, and to me the dearest of all my warrior friends.

. Good luck to thee! success to all thy wishes!

. But why that downcast eye, that wasted cheek?

. O Ægeus, my husband has proved a monster of iniquity.

. What meanest thou? explain to me clearly the cause of thy despondency.

. Jason is wronging me though I have given him no cause.

. What hath he done? tell me more clearly.

. He is taking another wife to succeed me as mistress of his house.

. Can he have brought himself to such a dastard deed?

. Be assured thereof; I, whom he loved of yore, am in dishonour now.

. Hath he found a new love? or does he loathe thy bed?