Now lay it in, and heap the earth upon it. [_The slave lets the chest down into the pit and shovels in the earth upon it. MEDEA kneels at one side of the pit as he works._] GORA (_standing in the foreground_). Oh, let me die, ye gods of Colchis, now, That I may look no more on such a sight! Yet, first hurl down your lightning-stroke of wrath Upon this traitor who hath wrought us woe. Let me but see him die; then slay me too! MEDEA (_to the slave_). 'Tis finished. Stamp the earth about it close, And go.--I charge thee, guard my secret well. Thou art a Colchian, and I know thee true. [_The slave departs._] GORA (_calling after him with grim scorn_). If thou shalt tell thy master, woe to you both! (_To MEDEA._) Hast finished? MEDEA. Ay. At last I am at peace! GORA. The Fleece, too, didst thou bury? MEDEA. Even the Fleece. GORA. Thou didst not leave it in Iolcos, with Thine husband's uncle? MEDEA. Nay, thou saw'st it here. GORA. Thou hadst it still--and now hast buried it! Gone, gone! And naught is left; all thy past life Vanished, like wreaths of vapor in the breeze! And naught's to come, and naught has been, and all Thou seest is but this present fleeting hour! There _was_ no Colchis! All the gods are dead! Thou hadst no father, never slew thy brother I Thou think'st not of it; lo, it never happened!-- Think, then, thou art not wretched. Cheat thyself To dream Lord Jason loves thee yet. Perchance It may come true! MEDEA (angrily). Be silent, woman! GORA. Nay! Let her who knows her guilty lock her lips, But I _will_ speak. Forth from my peaceful home There in far Colchis, thou hast lured me here, To be thine haughty paramour's meek slave. Freeborn am I, yet see! mine arms are chained!-- Through the long, troubled nights, upon my couch I lie and weep; each morn, as the bright sun Returns, I curse my gray hairs and my weight Of years. All scorn me, flout me. All I had Is gone, save heavy heart and scalding tears.-- Nay, I will speak, and thou shalt listen, too! MEDEA. Say on.