This is the cause of my life, this is the relief of my burning breast from cares.
spiritu citius queam §549carere, membris, luce.
More quickly could I part with my breath, my limbs, the light.
§549bSic natos amat?
Medea: Does he love his children so?
§550bene est, tenetur, vulneri patuit locus. — §551suprema certe liceat abeuntem loqui §552mandata, liceat ultimum amplexum dare: §553gratum est et illud, voce iam extrema peto, §554ne, si qua noster dubius effudit dolor, §555maneant in animo verba: melioris tibi §556memoria nostri sedeat; haec irae data §557oblitterentur.
It is well; he is caught; a place is opened for a wound. — Surely, let me as I depart speak my final commands, let me give a last embrace: even that is welcome, and with my final voice I beg: lest, if my wavering grief poured out any words, those words should remain in your mind: let the memory of us remain with you; let these things given to anger be forgotten.
§557bOmnia ex animo expuli §558precorque et ipse, fervidam ut mentem regas §559placideque tractes: miserias lenit quies.
Jason: I have driven everything from my mind, and I myself pray that you rule your fiery mind and act calmly: quiet soothes miseries.
Medea: He is gone. Is it so? You depart, forgotten of me and of so many of my deeds? Have we fallen from your memory?
§562numquam excidemus.
Never shall we fall from it.
hoc age, omnis advoca §563vires et artes, fructus est scelerum tibi §564nullum scelus putare, vix fraudi est locus: §565timemur.
To work! Summon all strength and skills. The fruit of crimes to you is to think no crime a crime. Scarcely is there room for deceit: we are feared.
hac aggredere, qua nemo potest §566quicquam timere, perge, nunc aude, incipe §567quicquid potest Medea, quicquid non potest.
Attack from that side where no one can fear anything; press on, now dare, begin whatever Medea can do, and whatever she cannot.
You, faithful nurse, companion of my grief and of my varied lot, assist my wretched plans.
§570est palla nobis, munus aetherium, domus §571decusque regni, pignus Aeetae datum §572a Sole generis, est et auro textili §573monile fulgens quodque gemmarum nitor §574distinguit aurum, quo solent cingi comae,
We have a robe, a heavenly gift, the glory of our house and kingdom, a pledge given to Aeetes by the Sun, the founder of our race; there is also a flashing necklace of woven gold, and a crown where the brilliance of gems distinguishes the gold, with which hair is wont to be girt.
Let our children carry these gifts to the bride, but first smeared and steeped in dreadful arts.
Let Hecate be summoned; prepare the death-bringing rites: let altars be raised, and let the flame now resound in the house.
§579Nulla vis flammae tumidive venti §580tanta, nec teli metuenda torti, §581quanta cum coniunx viduata taedis §582ardet et odit; §583non ubi hibernos nebulosus imbres §584Auster advexit properatque torrens §585Hister et iunctos vetat esse pontes §586ac vagus errat; §587non ubi impellit Rhodanus profundum, §588aut ubi in rivos nivibus solutis §589sole iam forti medioque vere §590tabuit Haemus.
Chorus: No force of flame or swelling wind is so great, nor of the hurled weapon so to be feared, as when a wife, reft of her marriage-torches, burns and hates; not when the cloudy South Wind has brought winter rains, and the rushing torrent of Hister hastens, forbidding bridges to remain joined, and wanders straying; not when the Rhodanus impels the deep, or when, the snows melted into streams, by the sun now strong in the midst of spring, Haemus has dissolved.
§591caecus est ignis stimulatus ira §592nec regi curat patiturve frenos §593aut timet mortem: cupit ire in ipsos §594obvius enses.
Blind is the fire stimulated by anger, it cares not to be ruled nor suffers reins, nor does it fear death: it desires to go right against the very swords.
§595parcite, o divi, veniam precamur, §596vivat ut tutus mare qui subegit, §597sed furit vinci dominus profundi §598regna secunda.
Spare him, O gods, we pray for pardon, that he may live safe who subdued the sea; but the lord of the deep rages that the second kingdom should be conquered.
§599ausus aeternos agitare currus §600immemor metae iuvenis paternae §601quos polo sparsit furiosus ignes §602ipse recepit.
The youth, daring to drive the eternal chariot, unmindful of his father's goal, the fires which in his fury he scattered in the sky, himself received.
§603constitit nulli via nota magno: §604vade qua tutum populo priori, §605rumpe nec sacro vidente sancta §606foedera mundi.
A path known to none cost a great price: go where it was safe for the earlier people, nor break the sacred covenants of the world, while the holy heaven looks on.
§607Quisquis audacis tetigit carinae §608nobiles remos nemorisque sacri §609Pelion densa spoliavit umbra, §610quisquis intravit scopulos vagantes §611et tot emensus pelagi labores §612barbara funem religavit ora §613raptor externi rediturus auri, §614exitu diro temerata ponti §615iura piavit.
Whoever touched the noble oars of the daring ship, and despoiled Pelion of its dense shade, whoever entered the wandering rocks, and having traversed so many labors of the sea, bound his cable to the barbarous shore, to return as a plunderer of foreign gold, by a dreadful end expiated the violated laws of the deep.
§616exigit poenas mare provocatum: §617Tiphys in primis, domitor profundi, §618liquit indocto regimen magistro; §619litore externo, procul a paternis §620occidens regnis tumuloque vili §621tectus ignotas iacet inter umbras.
The provoked sea demands its punishment: Tiphys first of all, the tamer of the deep, left the helm to an untaught master; on a foreign shore, far from his father's kingdoms, dying, and covered with a cheap mound, he lies amid unknown shades.
Aulis, mindful of the lost king, holds back the ships in her sluggish harbors, complaining that they stand still.
§625ille vocali genitus Camena, §626cuius ad chordas modulante plectro §627restitit torrens, siluere venti, §628cura suo cantu volucris relicto §629adfuit tota comitante silva, §630Thracios sparsus iacuit per agros, §631at caput tristi fluitavit Hebro: §632contigit notam Styga Tartarumque, §633non rediturus.
That youth born of the vocal Muse, to whose chords, as the plectrum modulated them, the torrent stopped, the winds grew silent, and the bird, forgetting its own song, was present while the whole forest accompanied him— lay scattered through the Thracian fields, while his head floated down the sad Hebrus: he reached the well-known Styx and Tartarus, never to return.
§634stravit Alcides Aquilone natos, §635patre Neptuno genitum necavit §636sumere innumeras solitum figuras: §637ipse post terrae pelagique pacem, §638post feri Ditis patefacta regna, §639vivus ardenti recubans in Oeta §640praebuit saevis sua membra flammis, §641tabe consumptus gemini cruoris §642munere nuptae.
Alcides laid low the sons of Aquilo, and killed the son born of Neptune as father, accustomed to take on innumerable shapes: he himself, after the peace of land and sea, after the kingdoms of fierce Dis were laid open, lying alive on burning Oeta, offered his limbs to the savage flames, consumed by the poison of the double blood, the gift of his bride.
§643stravit Ancaeum violentus ictu §644saetiger; fratrem, Meleagre, matris §645impius m actas morerisque dextra
The violent blow of the bristly beast laid Ancaeus low; and you, Meleager, impiously slay your mother's brother and die by the right hand of your angry mother.
§646matris iratae, meruere cuncti §647morte quod crimen tener expiavit §648Herculi magno puer inrepertus, §649raptus, heu, tutas puer inter undas,
All deserved the punishment for the crime which the tender boy expiated by his death—the boy unsought, snatched, alas, amid safe waves.
Go now, brave men, plough the deep, with its fearsome spring.
§652Idmonem, quamvis bene fata nosset,
Idmon, although he well knew his fate,