Stasimon 4
[Episode]
I sought to slay thee as an enemy to my house.
Ion
And yet I never invaded thy country, sword in hand.
Creusa
Thou didst; and thou it was that wert casting a firebrand into the halls of Erechtheus.
Ion
What sort of brand or flaming fire was it?
Creusa
Thou didst design to seize my home against my will, and make it thine.
1295
Ion
What! when my father offered me a kingdom of his getting.
Creusa
How had the sons of Aeolus any share in the realm of Pallas?
Ion
Arms, not words, he brought to champion it.
Creusa
No mere ally could enter into an inheritance in my land.
Ion
And was it then from fear of consequences that thou didst try to slay me?
1300
Creusa
Yes, lest I should myself perish if thou wert spared.
Ion
Doth thy childlessness make thee envious that my father found me?
Creusa
And thou, wilt thou rob the childless of her home?
Ion
Had I then no share at all in my father’s heritage?
Creusa
All that his sword and shield had won was thine, and thine alone.
1305
Ion
Quit the altar and sanctuary built for gods.
Creusa
Go bid thy own mother, wherever she is, do that.
Ion
Shalt thou escape all punishment, after trying to kill me?
Creusa
Not if thou choose to butcher me within this shrine.
Ion
What joy can it give thee to be slain amid the sacred wreaths?
1310
Creusa
There is one whom I shall grieve of those who have grieved me.
Ion
Oh! ’tis passing strange how badly the deity hath enacted laws for mortal men, contrary to all sound judgment; for instance, they should ne’er have suffered impious men to sit at their altars,
but should have driven them away; for it was nowise right that hands unclean should touch the altars of the gods, though the righteous deserved to find a refuge there from their oppressors, instead of good and bad alike having recourse to the same divine protection with equal success.
1315
Pythian Priestess
Refrain thyself, my son; for I, the priestess of Phoebus, chosen from all the maids of Delphi in accordance with the tripod’s ancient rite, have left that prophetic seat, and am passing o’er this threshold.
1320
Ion
Hail to thee, dear mother mine,—mother, though thou didst not give me birth.
Pythian Priestess
Yes, so have I ever been called, and the title causes me no regret.
1325
Ion
Hast heard how this woman plotted my death?
Pythian Priestess
I have; thou, too, art wrong because of thy harshness.
Ion
Am I not to pay back murderers in their coin?
Pythian Priestess
Wives ever hate the children of a former marriage.
