434
SENECA'S TRAGEDIES.
[Lines 461—493
Nihil rectifo. dira fupplicia ingere;
Merui. cruentis pellicem pcenis premat
Regalis ira, vinculis oneret manus,
Clufamque faxo nodlis aetemse obruat;
Minora meritis patiar. ingratum caput! 465
ReTolvat animus igneos tauri halitus,
Interque faevos gentis indomitae metus,
Annifero in arvo flammeum jEetse pecus,
Hoftifque fubiti tela: cum juffu meo
Terrigena miles mutua casde occidit. 470
Adice expetita fpolia Phrixei arietis,
Somnoque juiTum lumina ignoto dare
Infomne monftrum: traditum fratrem neci;
Et fcelere in uno non femel faiflum fcelus;
Juflasque natas fraude deceptas mea, 475
Secare membra non revi(£luri fenis.
Aliena quasrens regna, deferui mea.
Per fpes tuorum libenun, & certum larem,
Per vi(5la monftra, per manus, pro te quibus
Nunquam peperci, perque praeleritos metus, 480
Per coelum, & uudas, conjugii teftes mei,
Miferere: redde fupplici felix vicem.
Ex opibus illis, quas procul raptas Scythae
Usque a peruftis Indiae populis petunt,
Quas quia referta vix domus gazas capit, 485
Ornamus auro nemora, nil exful tuli,
Nifi fratris aitiis. hos quoque impend! tibi.
Tibi patria ceffit, tibl pater, firater, pudor.
Hac dote nupfi. redde fugient fua.
JAS. Perimere cum te vellet infeftus Creo, 490
Lacrimis meis eviflus, exfilium dedit.
UED. Foenam putabam; munus, ut video, eft fuga.
JAS. Dum licet abire, profuge, teque hinc eripe.
and it is I, who cannot refuse to obey—heap on me the most cruel punishments, if thou likest—I deserve it all,—let Creon's royal anger, too, oppress me with the most merciless penalties, just as if I were some common concubine—let him load my hands with chains, and shut me out from the world, hidden away in some Scythian cave, surrounded by perpetual darkness—I shall suffer less than I deserve, thou mayst think, oh! thou ungrateful man (alluding to her acts towards her father, mother and Pelias). Does thy memory take thee back, Jason, to the flames, breathed forth by the Bull? and, when exposed to the savage terrors of that indomitable race, the ferocious troop, which sprang up already armed in the plains of Æeta, and when the darts of that suddenly arriving enemy were threatening thee, and how, at my command, those earth-born soldiers fell one after the other,