Part 3 (2/2)

_Medea_ Beware, Lest not the fear, but lust of power prevail with thee

_Jason_ Too long we strive: have done, lest we suspicion breed

_Medea_ Now Jove, throughout thy heavens let the thunders roll!

Thy eance loose, and shake the lofty fireful bolts, Selecting neither me nor Jason with thy aiuilt upon hiht

_Jason_ Recall thee and in calift From Creon's royal house can coht

_Medea_ My soul doth scorn The wealth of kings But let ht, that in their childish breasts Their mother's tears may flo sons await thy home

_Jason_ My heart inclines to yield to thee, but love forbids

For these h Creon's self de of life, My sore heart's comfort and my joy are these my sons; And sooner could I part with liht of life

_Medea_ [_Aside_] Doth he thus love his sons? 'Tis well; Then is he bound, and in his arth this flaw Reveals the place to strike

Here, apparently, is the first suggestion to Medea of the e which she was to take upon Jason The obvious revenge upon Creon and his daughter, as well as upon her husband, Medea had already foreshadowed in her opening words; but her deadly passion had not yet been aimed at her children It is true that twice she had bitterly renounced theain but now to Jason himself, since they were Jason's also, and were likely now to be brothers to the sons of her hated rival; nevertheless herBut now, by Jason's unfortunate emphasis upon the love he bears his sons, she sees a chance to obtain that e which in her heart she has already resolved to find And yet this thought is so terrible to her that, even though we see her shape her present course in reference to it, it is evident that she gives it no more than a subconscious existence

But now she resolves to conceal her purposes of revenge and overcouile, and thus addresses him:

At least ere I depart Grant me this last request: let me once more embrace My sons E'en that small boon will comfort my sad heart

And this ue was over-bold, let not s Of ot

Jason is co humility, as if, indeed, a passionate nature like hers, inflas like hers, could be restrained and tamed by a few caler in ently yield to fate

For resignation ever soothes the woful soul

[_Exit Jason_

As Jason leaves her, calnition of his wife's great sufferings, the thought of this adds fresh fuel to her passion

He's gone! And can it be? And shall he thus depart, Forgetting me and all my service? Must I drop, Like some discarded toy, out of his faithless heart?

It shall not be Up then, and suth And all thy skill! And this, the fruit of for cried about; scant roons

Now must the attack be made where least suspicion makes The least resistance Now Medea, on! And do, And dare thine utmost, yea, beyond thy utmost power!

[_To the Nurse_] Do thou, rief, And all the devious wanderings of my checkered course, assist lory of our Colchian real aeetes as a proof Of fatherhood; a gleaold, the yellow gold bespangled o'er With ge crown to deck a princess' head

These treasures let Medea's children bear as gifts To Jason's bride But first iic, and invoke the aid of Hecate; The woe-producing sacrifices then prepare, And let the sacred flah all our courts resound

The chorus, which is supposed to be present throughout the play, an interested though inactive witness of all that passes, has already been seen to be a partisan of Jason, and hostile to Medea It now sings a choral interlude opening on the text ”hell hath no fury like a wo with a prayer for Jason's safety It then recounts the individual history of Jason's co how alht indeed be said to have deserved their fate, for they volunteered to assist in that first iolden fleece; but Jason should be spared the general doo uncle, Pelias

As the next scene opens, the old nurse voices the feeling that we all have upon the eve of some expected but unknown horror

My spirit trembles, for I feel the near approach Of sorief, Its own fires kindling; and again her passion's force Hath leaped to life I oft have seen her, with the fit Of inspiration in her soul, confront the Gods, And force the very heavens to her will But now, A reaterFor, but now, did she With step of frenzy hurry off until she reached Her stricken hoic wonders are revealed; once s herself hath held in fear theseone by one her ministers of ill, Occult, unspeakable, and wrapt in mystery