Racine: Phaedra

MEDEA 1 51
2nd Son [within].— I cannot tell:
For, O my dearest brother, we are lost.
Chorus.—Heard you the children's shrieks? I (O thou dame,
Whom woes and evil fortune still attend)
Will rush into the regal dome, from death
Resolved to snatch thy sons.
1st Son [within].— We by the gods
Conjure you to protect us in this hour
Of utmost peril, for the treacherous snare
Hath caught us, and we perish by the sword.
Chorus.—Art thou a rock, O wretch, or steel, to slay
With thine own hand that generous race of sons
Whom thou didst bear ? I hitherto have heard
But of one woman, who in ancient days
Smote her dear children, Ino, by the gods
With frenzy stung, when Jove's malignant queen
Distracted from her mansion drove her forth.
But she, yet reeking with the impious gore
Of her own progeny, into the waves
Plunged headlong from the ocean's craggy beach,
And shared with her two sons one common fate.
Can there be deeds more horrible than these
Left for succeeding ages to produce ?
Disastrous union with the female sex,
How great a source of woes art thou to man
Enter Jason.
Jason.—Ye dames who near th*^ portals stand, is she
Who hath committed these atrocious crimes,
Medea, in the palace, or by flight
Hath she retreated ? For beneath the ground
Must she conceal herself, or, borne on wings,
Ascend the heights of ^ther, to avoid
The vengeance due for Corinth's royal house.
Having destroyed the rulers of the land.
Can she presume she shall escape unhurt
From these abodes ? But less am I concerned
On ner account, than for my sons ; since they
Whom she hath injured will on her inflict
Due punishment : but hither am I come