Epeisodion 2
[Episode]
Initiated thee? or what is it thou sayest?
Xuthus
Among the frantic votaries of Bacchus.
Ion
Wert thou sober, or in thy cups?
Xuthus
I had indulged in the pleasures of the wine-cup.
Ion
That is just the history of my birth.
Xuthus
Fate hath discovered thee, my son.
Ion
How came I to the temple?
555
Xuthus
Maybe the maid exposed thee.
555
Ion
I have escaped the shame of slavish birth.
Xuthus
Acknowledge then thy father, my son.
Ion
It is not right that I should mistrust the god.
Xuthus
Thou art right there.
Ion
What more can I desire—
Xuthus
Thine eyes now open to the sights they should.
Ion
Than from a son of Zeus to spring?
Xuthus
Which is indeed thy lot.
Ion
May I embrace the author of my being?
560
Xuthus
Aye, put thy trust in the god.
560
Ion
Hail to thee, father mine.
Xuthus
With joy that title I accept.
Xuthus
Hath made me blest.
Ion
Ah, mother dear! shall I ever see thee too? Now more than ever do I long to gaze upon thee, whoe’er thou art.
But thou perhaps art dead, and I shall never have the chance.
565
Chorus
We share the good luck of thy house; but still I could have wished my mistress too, and Erechtheus’ line, had been blest with children.
Xuthus
My son, albeit the god hath for thy discovery brought his oracle
to a true issue, and united thee to me, while thou, too, hast found what most thou dost desire, till now unconscious of it; still, as touching this anxiety so proper in thee, I feel an equal yearning that thou, my child, mayst find thy mother, and I the wife that bare thee unto me.
570
Maybe we shall discover this, if we leave it to time. But now leave the courts of the god, and this homeless life of thine, and come to Athens, in accordance with thy fathers wishes, for there his happy realm and bounteous wealth await thee; nor shalt thou
575
be taunted with base origin and poverty to boot, because in one of these respects thou something lackest, but thou shalt be renowned alike for birth and wealth. Art silent? why dost fix thy eyes upon the ground? Thou art lost in thought, and by this sudden change from thy former cheerfulness, thou strikest thy father with dismay.
580
Ion
Things assume a different form according as we see them before us, or far off. I am glad at what has happened, since I have found in thee a father; but hear me on some points which I am now deciding.
585
