(Chorus) Loxias gives him [a son who is] already a fully grown youth; and I was present.
§782πῶς φῄς;
(Creusa) How say you?
ἄφατον ἄφατον ἀναύδητον §783λόγον ἐμοὶ θροεῖς.
A word unspeakable, unspeakable, not to be uttered, you cry out to me.
§785κἄμοιγε.
(Tutor) And to me indeed.
πῶς δʼ ὁ χρησμὸς ἐκπεραίνεται,
But how is the oracle fulfilled?
§786σαφέστερόν μοι φράζε, χὥστις ἔσθʼ ὁ παῖς.
Tell me more clearly, and who the boy is.
(Chorus) Whomever your husband should first meet as he rushed out of the temple of the god, the god gave him as his child.
§789ὀττοτοττοτοῖ·
(Creusa) Otottottoi!
τὸν δʼ ἐμὸν ἄτεκνον ἄτεκνον ἔλακεν §790ἄρα βίοτον;
Has he then declared my life childless, childless?
ἐρημίᾳ δʼ ὀρφανοὺς §791δόμους οἰκήσω.
And in loneliness I shall inhabit a desolate house.
§792τίς οὖν ἐχρήσθη;
(Tutor) Who then was prophesied?
τῷ συνῆψʼ ἴχνος ποδὸς §793πόσις ταλαίνης;
With whom did the husband of this wretched woman join his footstep?
πῶς δὲ ποῦ νιν εἰσιδών;
How and where did he see him?
(Chorus) Do you know, dear mistress, the youth who used to sweep this temple?
οὗτος ἔσθʼ ὁ παῖς.
He is the boy.
§796ἀνʼ ὑγρὸν ἀμπταίην αἰθέρα πόρσω γαί- §797ας Ἑλλανίας, ἀστέρας ἑσπέρους, §799οἷον οἷον ἄλγος ἔπαθον, φίλαι.
(Creusa) Would that I could fly up through the moist air, far away from the land of Greece, to the western stars, such, such is the pain I have suffered, friends.
§800ὄνομα δὲ ποῖον αὐτὸν ὀνομάζει πατήρ;
(Tutor) And what kind of name does his father call him?
§801οἶσθʼ, ἢ σιωπῇ τοῦτʼ ἀκύρωτον μένει;
Do you know, or does this remain undecided in silence?
§802Ἴωνʼ, ἐπείπερ πρῶτος ἤντησεν πατρί.
(Chorus) Ion, since he was the first to meet his father.
§803μητρὸς δʼ ὁποίας ἐστὶν —
(Tutor) But of what kind of mother is he...
§803bοὐκ ἔχω φράσαι.
(Chorus) I cannot say.
§804φροῦδος δʼ — ἵνʼ εἰδῇς πάντα τἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, γέρον — §805παιδὸς προθύσων ξένια καὶ γενέθλια §806σκηνὰς ἐς ἱερὰς τῆσδε λαθραίως πόσις, §807κοινὴν ξυνάψων δαῖτα παιδὶ τῷ νέῳ.
But he is gone—so that you may know all from me, old man— your husband has gone secretly to the sacred tents to offer sacrifices of welcome and birth for the boy, to share a common feast with his new son.
§808δέσποινα, προδεδόμεσθα — σὺν γάρ σοι νοσῶ — §809τοῦ σοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρός, καὶ μεμηχανημένως §810ὑβριζόμεσθα δωμάτων τʼ Ἐρεχθέως §811ἐκβαλλόμεσθα.
(Tutor) Mistress, we have been betrayed—for I suffer along with you— by your husband, and we are being insulted by design and cast out of the halls of Erechtheus.
καὶ σὸν οὐ στυγῶν πόσιν §812λέγω, σὲ μέντοι μᾶλλον ἢ κεῖνον φιλῶν· §813ὅστις σε γήμας ξένος ἐπεισελθὼν πόλιν §814καὶ δῶμα καὶ σὴν παραλαβὼν παγκληρίαν, §815ἄλλης γυναικὸς παῖδας ἐκκαρπούμενος §816λάθρα πέφηνεν·
And I do not speak out of hatred for your husband, but because I love you more than him; who, having married you as a stranger entering the city, and having received your house and your entire inheritance, has now been revealed to have secretly produced children from another woman and claimed them for himself.
ὡς λάθρα δʼ, ἐγὼ φράσω.
How it was done secretly, I will tell.
§817ἐπεί σʼ ἄτεκνον ᾔσθετʼ, οὐκ ἔστεργέ σοι §818ὅμοιος εἶναι τῆς τύχης τʼ ἴσον φέρειν, §819λαβὼν δὲ δοῦλα λέκτρα νυμφεύσας λάθρα §820τὸν παῖδʼ ἔφυσεν, ἐξενωμένον δέ τῳ §821Δελφῶν δίδωσιν ἐκτρέφειν.
When he perceived you were childless, he was not content to be like you and bear an equal share of fortune, but taking a slave bed and marrying in secret, he begot the boy, and gave him to some stranger of Delphi to bring up.
ὃ δʼ ἐν θεοῦ §822δόμοισιν ἄφετος, ὡς λάθοι, παιδεύεται.
And he, set free in the temple of the god, was educated so that he might remain hidden.
When he perceived the youth was fully grown, he persuaded you to come here on account of your childlessness.
§825κᾆθʼ ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἐψεύσαθʼ, ὅδε δʼ ἐψεύσατο §826πάλαι τρέφων τὸν παῖδα, κἄπλεκεν πλοκὰς §827τοιάσδʼ· ἁλοὺς μὲν ἀνέφερʼ ἐς τὸν δαίμονα, §829τυραννίδʼ αὐτῷ περιβαλεῖν ἔμελλε γῆς.
And then the god did not lie, but this man lied, having reared the boy long ago, and he wove such plots: if caught, he would refer it to the god, and he was intending to invest him with the tyranny of this land.
And the name Ion was newly fashioned after a time, supposedly because he met him as he was going.
Alas, how I always hate wicked men, who, putting together injustice, then adorn it with devices!
φαῦλον χρηστὸν ἂν λαβεῖν φίλον §835θέλοιμι μᾶλλον ἢ κακὸν σοφώτερον.
I would rather have a simple, honest friend than a cleverer wicked one.
§836καὶ τῶνδʼ ἁπάντων ἔσχατον πείσῃ κακόν· §837ἀμήτορʼ, ἀναρίθμητον, ἐκ δούλης τινὸς §838γυναικός, ἐς σὸν δῶμα δεσπότην ἄγειν.
And of all these, you will suffer the ultimate evil: to bring into your house as master a motherless, nameless boy, born of some slave woman.
§839ἁπλοῦν ἂν ἦν γὰρ τὸ κακόν, εἰ παρʼ εὐγενοῦς §840μητρός, πιθών σε, σὴν λέγων ἀπαιδίαν, §841ἐσῴκισʼ οἴκους· εἰ δὲ σοὶ τόδʼ ἦν πικρόν, §842τῶν Αἰόλου νιν χρῆν ὀρεχθῆναι γάμων.
For the evil would have been simple, if, having persuaded you and citing your childlessness, he had settled a child from a noble mother in your house; or if this was bitter to you, he ought to have reached for a marriage from the line of Aeolus.
§843ἐκ τῶνδε δεῖ σε δὴ γυναικεῖόν τι δρᾶν· §844ἢ γὰρ ξίφος λαβοῦσαν ἢ δόλῳ τινὶ §845ἢ φαρμάκοισι σὸν κατακτεῖναι πόσιν §846καὶ παῖδα, πρὶν σοὶ θάνατον ἐκ κείνων μολεῖν.
From these things, you must indeed do something womanly: either taking a sword or by some trick or by poison, kill your husband and the boy, before death comes to you from them.
§850ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν σοι καὶ συνεκπονεῖν θέλω, §851καὶ συμφονεύειν παῖδʼ ἐπεισελθὼν δόμους §852οὗ δαῖθʼ ὁπλίζει, καὶ τροφεῖα δεσπόταις §853ἀποδοὺς θανεῖν τε ζῶν τε φέγγος εἰσορᾶν.
I, therefore, am willing both to labor along with you, and to help murder the boy, entering the tents where he is preparing the feast, and having paid back my rearing-dues to my masters, either to die or to live and look upon the light.
§854ἓν γάρ τι τοῖς δούλοισιν αἰσχύνην φέρει, §855τοὔνομα· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πάντα τῶν ἐλευθέρων §856οὐδὲν κακίων δοῦλος, ὅστις ἐσθλὸς ᾖ.
For one thing only brings shame to slaves, the name; in all other things, a slave who is noble is in no way worse than the free.
(Chorus) And I, dear mistress, wish to share this fortune and either die or live honorably.
§859ὦ ψυχά, πῶς σιγάσω;
(Creusa) O my soul, how shall I keep silence?
How shall I reveal my dark couplings, and be cast off from shame?
§862τί γὰρ ἐμπόδιον κώλυμʼ ἔτι μοι;
For what obstacle is any longer a hindrance to me?