aeschylus - Conscious Evolution TV

ION
is not my own, but only finding my own that I love Xu. With one who at Delphifull
well. Ion. Initiated thee? or what is it thou sayest?
Ion. Hands offl or thou shalt feel an arrow pierce Xu. Among the frantic votaries of Bacchus.
thy ribs. Ion. Wert thou sober, or in thy cups?
Xu. Why dost thou shun me, now that thou find- Xu. I had indulged in the pleasures of the wineest
in me thy nearest and dearest? cup.
Ion. I am not fond of schooling boors and crazy Ion. That is just the history of my birth.
strangers. Xu. Fate hath discovered thee, my son.
Xu. Kill me, burn me, if thou wilt; for, if thou Ion. How came I to the temple?
dost, thou wilt be thy father's murderer. Xu. Maybe the maid exposed thee.
Ion. Thou my father, indeed! Oh! is not news like Ion. I have escaped the shame of slavish birth.
this enough to make me laugh? Xu. Acknowledge then thy father, my son.
Xu. Not so; my tale, as it proceeds, will prove to Ion. It is not right that I should mistrust the god.
thee what I assert. Xu. Thou art right there.
Ion. Pray, what hast thou to tell me? Ion. What more can I desire-
Xu. That I am thy own father, and thou my very Xu. Thine eyes now open to the sights they should.
child. Ion. Than from a son of Zeus to spring?
Ion. Who says so? Xu. Which is indeed thy lot.
Xu. Loxias, who gave thee nurture, though thou Ion. May I embrace the author of my being?
wert my son. Xu. Aye, put thy trust in the god.
Ion. Thou art thy own witness. Ion. Hail to thee, father mine.
Xu. Nay, I have learnt the answer of the god. Xu. With joy that title I accept.
Ion. Thou art mistaken in the dark riddle thou Ion. This dayhast
heard. Xu. Hath made me blest.
Xu. It seems then I do not hear aright. Ion. Ah, mother dear I shall I ever see thee too?
Ion. What said Phrebus? Now more than ever do I long to gaze upon thee,
Xu. That the man who met me-- whoe'er thou art. But thou perhaps art dead, and I
Ion. When and where? shall never have the chance.
Xu. As I came forth from the god's temple- Ch. We share the good luck of thy house; but still
Ion. Weill what should happen to him? I could have wished my mistress too, and Erech-
Xu. Should be my own true son. theus'line, had been blest with children.
Ion. Thy own true son, or a gift from others? Xu. My son, albeit the god hath for thy discovery
Xu. A gift, but mine for all that. brought his oracle to a true issue, and united thee
Ion. Am I the first that thou didst meet? to me, while thou, too, hast found what most thou
Xu. I have met no other, my son. dost desire, till now unconscious of it; still, as touch-
Ion. Whence came this piece ofluck? ing this anxiety so proper in thee, I feel an equal
Xu. To both of us alike it causes surprise. yearning that thou, my child, mayst find thy mother,
Ion. Ahl but who was my mother? and I the wife that bare thee unto me. Maybe we
Xu. I cannot tell. shall discover this, if we leave it to time. But now
Ion. Did not Phrebus tell thee that? leave the courts of the god, and this homeless life of
Xu. I was so pleased with this, I did not ask him thine, and come to Athens, in accordance with thy
that. father's wishes, for there his happy realm and boun-
Ion. I must have sprung from mother earth. teous wealth await thee; nor shalt thou be taunted
Xu. The ground brings forth no children. with base origin and poverty to boot, because in one
Ion. How can I be thine? of these respects thou something lackest, but thou
Xu. I know not; I refer it to the god. shalt be renowned alike for birth and wealth. Art
Ion. Come,let us try another theme. silent? why dost fix thy eyes upon the ground? Thou
Xu. Better hold to this, my son. art lost in thought, and by this sudden change from
Ion. Didst thou e' er indulge in illicit amours? thy former cheerfulness, thou strikest thy father
Xu. Yes, in the folly of youth. with dismay.
Ion. Ere thou didst win Erechtheus' daughter? Ion. Things assume a different form according as
Xu. Never since. we see them before us, or far off. I am glad at what
Ion. Could it be, then, thou didst beget me? has happened, since I have found in thee a father;
Xu. The time coincides therewith. but hear me on some points which I am now decid-
Ion. In that case, how came I hither? ing. Athens, I am told-that glorious city of ana-
Xu. That puzzles me. . tive race-owns no aliens; in which case I shall force
Ion. After that long journey too? my entrance there under a twofold disadvantage, as
Xu. That, too, perplexes me. an alien's son and base-born as I am. Branded with
Ion. Didst thou in days gone by come to the Pyth- this reproach, while as yet I am unsupported, I shall
ian rock? get the name of a mere nobody, a son of nobodies;
Xu. Yes, to join in the mystic rites of Bacchus. and if I win my way to the highest place in the
Ion. Didstthou lodge with one of the public hosts? state, and seek to be some one, I shall be hated by
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