GORA. Up, Medea, speak! Why liest thou there so silent, staring Blindly before thee? Rise, and speak! O, help our sore distress! MEDEA. My babes! My babes! GORA. Forth must we flee ere night shall fall, And already the twilight draweth down. Up! Rouse thee, and gird thee for flight! Swiftly they come to slay! MEDEA. Alas, my children! GORA. Nay, up! I say, unhappy one, Nor kill me with thy cries of woe! Hadst thou but heeded when I warned, Still should we be at home In Colchis, safe; thy kinsmen yet Were living; all were well with us. Rise up! What use are tears? Come, rise! [MEDEA _drags herself half up and kneels on the steps._] MEDEA. 'Twas so I knelt, 'twas so I lay And stretched my hands for pity out To mine own children; begged and wept And prayed for one, for only one Of my dear children! Death itself Were not so bitter, as to leave One of them here!--But to have none--! And neither came! They turned away With terror on their baby lips, And fled for comfort to the breast Of her--my bitterest enemy! [_She springs up suddenly._] But he,--he laughed to see, and she Did laugh as well! GORA. O, woe is me! O, woe and heavy sorrow! MEDEA. O gods, is this your vengeance, then, Your retribution? All for love I followed him, as wife should e'er Follow her lord. My father died, But was it I that slew him? No! My brother fell. Was't, then, my hand That dealt the stroke? I've wept for them With heavy mourning, poured hot tears To serve as sad libation for Their resting-place so far away! Ye gods! These woes so measureless That I have suffered at your hands-- Call ye these justice,--retribution? GORA. Thou didst leave thine own-- Thine own desert thee now! MEDEA. Then will I visit punishment On them, as Heaven on me! There shall no deed of wickedness In all the wide world scathless go! Leave vengeance to my hand, O gods above! GORA. Nay, think how thou mayst save thyself; All else forget! MEDEA. What fear is this That makes thy heart so craven-soft? First thou wert grim and savage, spak'st Fierce threats of vengeance, now art full Of fears and trembling!