Medea E-Book

Seneca

• Herausgeber: Enhanced Media Publishing
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Medea finds her position in the Greek world threatened when her husband Jason attempts to leave her for a Greek princess of Corinth.

In this classic translation of Seneca’s Medea, Ella Harris retains the powerful effects of the monologues, as well as the unique flavor of Seneca's language.

Leseprobe

Medea

By Seneca

Table of Contents

Title Page

Medea

Dramatis Personae

ACT I | Scene I

Scene II

ACT II | Scene I

Scene II

Scene III

ACT III | Scene I

Scene II

Scene III

Scene IV

ACT IV | Scene I

Scene II

Scene III

ACT V | Scene I

Scene II

Scene III

Further Reading: Plato Six Pack – Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, The Allegory of the Cave and Symposium

Medea by Seneca. Translated by Ella Isabel Harris. First published in 1899. This edition published 2017 by Enhanced Media. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-365-76986-3.

Dramatis Personae

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Jason

Creon

Medea

Nurse

Messenger

Chorus of Corinthian Women.

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Scene—Corinth.

ACT I

Scene I

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Medea [alone]. Ye gods of marriage;

Lucina, guardian of the genial bed;

Pallas, who taught the tamer of the seas

To steer the Argo; stormy ocean's lord;

Titan, dividing bright day to the world;

And thou three-formed Hecate, who dost shed

Thy conscious splendor on the hidden rites!

Ye by whom Jason plighted me his troth;

And ye Medea rather should invoke:

Chaos of night eternal; realm opposed

To the celestial powers; abandoned souls;

Queen of the dusky realm; Persephone

By better faith betrayed; you I invoke,

But with no happy voice. Approach, approach,

Avenging goddesses with snaky hair,

Holding in blood-stained hands your sulphurous torch!

Come now as horrible as when of yore

Ye stood beside my marriage-bed; bring death

To the new bride, and to the royal seed,

And Creon; worse for Jason I would ask—

Life! Let him roam in fear through unknown lands,

An exile, hated, poor, without a home;

A guest now too well known, let him, in vain,

Seek alien doors, and long for me, his wife!

And, yet a last revenge, let him beget

Sons like their father, daughters like their mother!

'Tis done; revenge is even now brought forth—

I have borne sons to Jason. I complain

Vainly, and cry aloud with useless words,

Why do I not attack mine enemies?

I will strike down the torches from their hands,

The light from heaven. Does the sun see this,

The author of our race, and still give light?

And, sitting in his chariot, does he still

Run through the accustomed spaces of the sky,

Nor turn again to seek his rising place,

And measure back the day? Give me the reins;

Father, let me in thy paternal car

Be borne aloft the winds, and let me curb

With glowing bridle those thy fiery steeds!

Burn Corinth; let the parted seas be joined!

This still remains—for me to carry up

The marriage torches to the bridal room,

And, after sacrificial prayers, to slay

The victims on their altars. Seek, my soul—

If thou still livest, or if aught endures

Of ancient vigor—seek to find revenge

Through thine own bowels; throw off woman's fears,

Intrench thyself in snowy Caucasus.

All impious deeds Phasis or Pontus saw,

Corinth shall see. Evils unknown and wild,

Hideous, frightful both to earth and heaven,

Disturb my soul,—wounds, and the scattered corpse,

And murder. I remember gentle deeds,

A maid did these; let heavier anguish come,

Since sterner crimes befit me now, a wife!

Gird thee with wrath, prepare thine utmost rage,

That fame of thy divorce may spread as far

As of thy marriage! Make no long delay.

How dost thou leave thy husband? As thou cam'st.

Homes crime built up, by crime must be dissolved.

Scene II

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Enter Chorus of Corinthian women, singing the marriage song of Jason and Creusa.

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Chorus. Be present at the royal marriage feast,

Ye gods who sway the scepter of the deep,

And ye who hold dominion in the heavens;

With the glad people come, ye smiling gods!

First to the scepter-bearing thunderers

The white-backed bull shall stoop his lofty head;

The snowy heifer, knowing not the yoke,

Is due to fair Lucina; and to her

Who stays the bloody hand of Mars, and gives

To warring nations peace, who in her horn

Holds plenty, sacrifice a victim wild.

Thou who at lawful bridals dost preside,

Scattering darkness with thy happy hands,

Come hither with slow step, dizzy with wine,

Binding thy temples with a rosy crown.

Thou star that bringest in the day and night,

Slow-rising on the lover, ardently

For thy clear shining maids and matrons long.

In comeliness the virgin bride excels

The Athenian women, and the strong-limbed maids

Of Sparta's unwalled town, who on the top

Of high Taÿgetus try youthful sports;

Or those who in the clear Aonian stream,

Or in Alpheus' sacred waters bathe.

The child of the wild thunder, he who tames

And fits the yoke to tigers, is less fair

Than the Ausonian prince. The glorious god

Who moves the tripod, Dian's brother mild;

The skillful boxer Pollux; Castor, too,

Must yield the palm to Jason. O ye gods

Who dwell in heaven, ever may the bride

Surpass all women, he excel all men!