Racine: Phaedra

MEDEA "3
To you here makes you are not yet apprised
For destitute of heirs will I permit you
No longer to remain, but through my aid
Shall you have sons, such potent drugs I know.
JEgeus.—Various inducements urge me to comply
With this request, O woman ;
first an awe
For the immortal gods, and then the hope
That I the promised issue shall obtain.
On what my senses scarce can comprehend
I will rely. O that thy arts may prove
Effectual ! Thee, if haply thou arriv'st
In my domain, with hospitable rites
Shall it be my endeavor to receive,
As justice dictates : but to thee, thus much
It previously behoves me to announce
I will not take thee with me from this realm
But to my house if of thyself thou come
Thou a secure asylum there shalt find,
Nor will I yield thee up to any foe.
But hence without my aid must thou depart,
For I, from those who in this neighboring land
Of Corinth entertain me as their guest,
Wish to incur no censure.
Medea.— Your commands
Shall be obeyed :
but would you plight your faith
That you this promise will to me perform,
A noble friend in you shall I have found.
.^GEUS.— Believ'st thou not? Whence rise these anxious
doubts?
Medea.—In you I trust ; though Pelias' hostile race
And Creon's hate pursue me : but, if bound
By the firm sanction of a solemn oath.
You will not suffer them with brutal force
To drag me from your realm, but having entered
Into such compact, and by every god
Sworn to protect me, still remain a friend.
Nor hearken to their embassies. My fortune
Is in its wane, but wealth to them belongs,
And an imperial mansion.
iEcEUS. In these words