CREU. Thou old embroidery of my virgin hands!
10N. Is there aught else besides this happy proof?
CREU. Two dragons, an old work, their jaws of gold.
ION. The gift of Pallas, who thus nurtures children?
CREU. Emblems of Erichthonius of old times.
ION. Why? for what use? Explain these works of gold.
CREU. For ornaments to grace the infant's neck.
ION. See, here they are: the third I wish to know.
CREU. A branch of olive then I wreath'd around thee,
Pluck'd from that tree which from Minerva's rock
First sprung if it be there, it still retains
Its verdure, for the foliage of that olive
Fresh in immortal beauty never fades.
ION. O my dear mother, I with joy behold thee,
With transport 'gainst thy cheek my cheek recline. CREU. My son, my son, far dearer to thy mother
Than yon bright orb, the god will pardon me, Do I then hold thee in my arms, thus found Beyond my hopes, when in the realms below, I thought thy habitation 'mongst the dead! 10N. O my dear mother, in thy arms I seem
As one that had been dead to life return'd. CREU. Ye wide expanded rays of heavenly light,
What notes, what high-rais'd strains shall tell my joy! This pleasure whence, this unexpected transport? ION. There was no blessing further from my thoughts Than this, my mother, to be found thy son.
And hast thou yet a fear,
Holding me, not to hold me?
Long time had I renounc'd. Thou hallow'd matron,
From whom didst thou receive my infant child?
What blest hand brought him to Apollo's shrine?
10N. It was the god's appointment: may our life
To come be happy, as the past was wretched.
CREU. Not without tears, my son, wast thou brought forth;
Nor without anguish did my hands resign thee.
Now breathing on thy cheek I feel a joy
Transporting me with heart-felt ecstasies.
10N. The words, expressive of thy joys, speak mine. CREU. Childless no more, no more alone, my house
Now shines with festive joy, my realms now own
A lord; Erectheus blooms again; no more
His high-traced lineage sees night dark'ning round,
But glories in the sun's refulgent beams.
Now let my father, since he's present here,
Be partner of the joy which I have given you.
CREU. What says my son?
Such, such as I am prov'd.
CREU. What mean thy words? Far other is thy birth.
ION. Ah me, thy virgin bed produced me base.
CREU. Nor bridal torch, my son, nor bridal dance
Had graced my nuptial rites, when thou wast born.
ION. Then I'm a wretch, a base-born wretch: say whence.
CREU. Be witness thou, by whom the Gorgon died,
ION. What means this adjuration?
High o'er my cave thy seat amidst the rocks
With olive cloth'd.
Abstruse thy words, and dark. CREU. Where on the cliffs the nightingale attunes
ION.
Why Apollo named ?
CREU. Led me in secret to his bed.
Thy words import some glorious fortune to me. CREU. Thee in the tenth revolving month, my son,
A secret pang to Phoebus did I bear.
ION. Thy words, if true, are grateful to my soul.
CREU. These swathing bands, thy mother's virgin work,
Wove by my flying shuttle, round thy body
I roll'd; but from thy lips my breast withheld,
A mother's nouriture, nor bath'd thy hands
In cleansing layers; but to death expos'd thee,
Laid in the dreary cave, to birds of prey
A feast, rent piecemeal by their ravenous beaks.
Cruel, my mother, was thy deed.
By fear
Constrain'd, my son, I cast thy life away;
Unwillingly I left thee there to die.
And from my hands unholy were thy death,
CREU. Dreadful was then my fortune, dreadful here,
Whirl'd by the eddying blast from misery there
To misery here, and back again to joy:
Her boisterous winds are chang'd; may she remain
In this repose; enough of ills are past,
After the storm soft breathes a favouring gale.
CHOR. From this example 'midst the greatest ills
Never let mortal man abandon hope.
iON. O thou, that hast to thousands wrought a change Of state e'er this, involving them in ills,
And raising them to happiness again,
Fortune, to what a point have I been carried,
Ready to kill my mother, horrid thought!
But in the sun's bright course each day affords
Instruction. Thee, my mother, have I found,
In that discovery blest; nor hath my birth
Aught I can blame: yet one thing would I say
To thee alone: walk this way: to thine ear
In secret would I whisper this, and throw
The veil of darkness o'er each circumstance.
VOL. I.
Take heed my mother, lest thy maiden fault
Seeks in these secret nuptials to conceal
Its fault, then charges on the god the deed;
And fearing my reproach to Phoebus gives
A son, to Phoebus whom thou didst not bear.
CREU. By her, who 'gainst the giants in her car
Fought by the side of Jove, victorious Pallas,
No one of mortal race is father to thee,
But he, who brought thee up, the royal Phœbus.
ION. Why give his son then to another father,
Why say that I was born the son of Xuthus? CREU. Not born the son of Xuthus, but he gives thee Born from himself, as friend to friend may give His son, an heir adopted to his house.
True is the god, his tripod else were yain:
Not without cause then is my mind perplex'd.
CREU. Hear what my thoughts suggest: to work thee good Apollo plac'd thee in a noble house.
Acknowledg'd his, the rich inheritance
Could not be thine, nor could a father's name :
For I conceal'd my nuptials, and had plann'd
To kill thee secretly: for this the god
In kindness gives thee to another father.
My mind is prompt to entertain such thoughts ;
But, entering, at his shrine will I inquire
If from a mortal father I am sprung,
Or from Apollo.Ha! what may this be!
What god above the hallow'd dome unveils
His radiant face that shines another sun?
Haste, let us fly: the presence of the gods
'Tis not for mortals to behold, and live,
Fly not; in me no enemy you fly;
At Athens friendly to you, and no less
Here. From that land I come, so named from me,
By Phoebus sent with speed: unmeet he deems it
To show himself before you, lest with blame
The past be mention'd; this he gave in charge,
To tell thee that she bore thee, and to him,
Phoebus thy father: he, to whom he gave thee,
Not as to th' author of thy being gives thee,
But to th' inheritance of a noble house.
This declaration made, lest thou shou❜dst die
Kill'd by thy mother's wily trains, or she
By thee, these means to save you he devis'd.
These things in silence long conceal'd, at Athens
The royal Phœbus would have made it known
That thou art sprung from her, thy father he.
But to discharge my office, and unfold
The oracle of the god, for which you yoked
Your chariots, hear: Creusa, take thy son,
Go to the land of Cecrops, let him mount
The royal throne, for from Erectheus sprung
That honour is his due, the sovereignty
Over my country; through the states of Greece
Wide his renown shall spread; for from his root
Four sons shall spring, that to the land, the tribes,
The dwellers on my rock, shall give their names,
Geleon the first, Hopletes, Argades,
And from my Ægis named Ægicoris :
Their sons in fate's appointed time shall fix
Their seats along the coast, or in the isles
Girt by th' Ægean sea, and to my land
Give strength; extending thence the opposite plains
Of either continent shall make their own,
Europe and Asia, and shall boast their name
Ionians, from the honour'd Ion called.
To thee by Xuthus shall a son be born,
Dorus, from whom the Dorian state shall rise
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