Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/116

98 Has sinned. Jason: But gifts which sin has bought 'twere shame to take. Medea: Why keep'st thou then the gifts which it were shame to take? Jason: Nay, curb thy fiery soul! Thy children—for their sake Be calm. Medea: My children! Them I do refuse, reject, Renounce! Shall then Creüsa brothers hear to these My children? Jason: But the queen can aid thy wretched sons. Medea: May that day never dawn, that day of shame and woe, When in one house are joined the low born and the high, The sons of that foul robber Sisyphus, and these, The sons of Phoebus. Jason: Wretched one, and wilt thou then Involve me also in thy fall? Begone, I pray. Medea: Creon hath heard my prayer. Jason: What wouldst thou have me do? Medea: For me? I'd have thee dare the law. Jason: The royal power Doth compass me. Medea: A greater than the king is here: Medea. Set us front to front and let us strive; And of this royal strife let Jason be the prize. Jason: O'erwearied by my woes I yield. But be thou ware, Medea, lest too often thou shouldst tempt thy fate. Medea: Yet fortune's mistress have I ever been. Jason: But see, With hostile front Acastus comes, on vengeance bent, While Creon threatens instant death. Medea: Then flee them both. I ask thee not to draw thy sword against the king Nor yet to stain thy pious hands with kindred blood. Come, flee with me. Jason: But what resistance can we make, If war with double visage rear his horrid front, If Creon and Acastus join in common cause? Medea: Add, too, the Colchian armies with my father's self To lead them; join the Scythian and Pelasgian hordes: In one deep gulf of ruin will I whelm them all.