_Medea:_ Ye gods of wedlock, thou the nuptial couch's guard, Lucina, thou from whom that tamer of the deep, The Argo's pilot, learned to guide his pristine bark, And Neptune, thou stern ruler of the ocean's depths, And Titan, by whose rays the shining day is born, 5 Thou triformed maiden Hecate, whose conscious beams With splendor shine upon the mystic worshipers-- Upon ye all I call, the powers of heaven, the gods By whose divinity false Jason swore; and ye Whose aid Medea may more boldly claim, thou world Of endless night, th' antipodes of heavenly realms, Ye damnéd ghosts, thou lord of hades' dark domain, 10 Whose mistress was with trustier pledge won to thy side-- Before ye all this baleful prayer I bring: Be near! Be near! Ye crime-avenging furies, come and loose Your horrid locks with serpent coils entwined, and grasp With bloody hands the smoking torch; be near as once 15 Ye stood in dread array beside my wedding couch. Upon this new-made bride destruction send, and death Upon the king and all the royal line! But he, My husband, may he live to meet some heavier doom; This curse I imprecate upon his head; may he, Through distant lands, in want, in exile wander, scorned 20 And houseless. Nay, may he once more my favor woo; A stranger's threshold may he seek where now he walks A well-known guest; and--this the blackest curse I know-- May children rise to him to emulate their sire, Their mother's image bear.--Now won is vengeance, won! For I have children borne.--Nay, nay, 'tis empty plaints 25 And useless words I frame. Shall I not rather rush Against the foe and dash the torches from their hands, The light from heaven? Does Father Phoebus suffer this? Do men behold his face, as, seated in his car, He rolls along th' accustomed track of sky serene? 30 Why does he not return to morning's gates, the law Of heaven reversing? Grant that I be borne aloft In my ancestral car! Give me the reins, O sire, Thy fiery team grant me to guide with lines of flame. Then Corinth, though with double shore delaying fate, 35 Herself consumed with fire, shall light two seas with flame. But no, this course alone remains, that I myself Should bear the wedding torch, with acquiescent prayers, And slay the victims on the altars consecrate. Thyself inspect the entrails, and seek there the way 40 By prayer, if still, O soul, thou livest, if there still Remaineth aught of old-time strength in thee! Away With woman's fears! Put on thy heart a breast-plate hard And chill as Caucasus! Then all the wizard arts That Phasis knew, or Pontus, shall be seen again In Corinth. Now with mad, unheard of, dreadful deeds, 45 Whereat high heaven and earth below shall pale and quake, My pregnant soul is teeming; and my heart is full