_Polynices:_ Shall I do this, That so for all his treachery and crime My curséd brother be not recompensed? _Jocasta:_ Fear not. He shall indeed be recompensed, 645 For he shall reign. _Polynices:_ Is that a punishment? _Jocasta:_ If thou believe me not, believe thy sire, Believe thy grandsire too. This truth to thee Will Cadmus and the house of Cadmus tell. Without disaster has no Theban king E'er held the scepter, nor will anyone Who wins the kingly power by broken faith Retain it long. And 'mongst those faithless ones 650 Count now thy brother. _Eteocles:_ Be it even so: If I must die, I count it worthy death, To die with kings. [_To_ Polynices.] Thee to the exiled band I doom. _Jocasta:_ Reign then, but hated by thy friends. _Eteocles:_ Who shrinks from hatred does not wish to reign. That great divinity who made the world 655 Made of one substance royalty and hate. For me, I count it worthy of a king To overcome this hate. By love of friends Too oft is royal power circumscribed. O'er those who hate him is the king more free To lord it as he will. Who would be loved, With but a weak and languid scepter reigns. _Jocasta:_ But hated empire never long endures. 660 _Eteocles:_ 'Tis for the king to speak of empire's rules. Do thou give laws for exiles. For the throne-- _Jocasta:_ Wouldst burn thy native land, thy home and all? _Eteocles:_ A kingdom is well bought at any price. * * * * * FOOTNOTES: [8] The text is corrupt here. The Ionian Sea, situated to the west of Greece, can have no possible connection with the region here described, i. e., the Hellespont. MEDEA MEDEA DRAMATIS PERSONAE MEDEA Daughter of Aeëtes, King of Colchis, and wife of Jason. _Jason_ Son of Aeson, and nephew of Pelias, the usurping king of Thessaly; organizer and leader of the Argonautic expedition to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece. _Creon_ King of Corinth, who had received into his hospitable kingdom Medea and Jason, fugitives from Thessaly, after Medea had plotted the death of Pelias. _Nurse_ Of Medea. _Messenger_ _Two Sons_ Of Medea and Jason (_personae mutae_). _Chorus of Corinthians_ Friendly to Jason and hostile to Medea. THE TIME of the play is confined to the single day of the culmination of the tragedy, the day proposed by Creon for the banishment of Medea and marriage of Jason to Creüsa, daughter of Creon. THE SCENE is in Corinth, in the court of the house of Jason.