Meleager down
Who slew the Calydonian boar;
The mother slew her child.

MEDEA. Was she
Forsaken by her husband, too?

GORA. Nay, he had slain her brother.

MEDEA. Who?
The husband

GORA. Nay, her son, I mean.

MEDEA. And when the deed was done, she died?

GORA. She liveth yet.

MEDEA. To do a deed
Like that--and live! Oh, horrible!
Thus much do I know, thus much I see clear
Not unavenged shall I suffer wrong;
What that vengeance shall be, I know not,--would not know.
Whatso'er I can do, he deserves,--ay, the worst!
But--mankind are so weak,
So fain to grant time for the sinner to feel remorse!

GORA. Remorse? Ask thy lord if he rue his deed!
For, see! He draws nigh with hasty steps.

MEDEA. And with him the king, my bitter foe,
Whose counsel hath led my lord astray.
Him must I flee, for I cannot tame
My hatred.

[_She goes swiftly toward the palace._]

But if lord Jason wish
To speak with me, then bid him come in,
To my side in the innermost chambers--there
I would parley with him, not here
By the side of the man who is my foe.
They come. Away!

[_She disappears into the palace._]

GORA. Lo, she is gone!
And I am left to deal with the man
Who is killing my child, who hath brought it to pass
That I lay my head on a foreign soil,
And must hide my tears of bitter woe,
Lest I see a smile on the lips of these strangers here.

_The_ KING _and _JASON _enter._

KING. Why hath thy mistress fled? 'Twill serve her not

GORA. Fled? Nay, she went, because she hates thy face

KING. Summon her forth!

GORA. She will not come.

KING. She shall!

GORA. Then go thou in thyself and call her forth,
If thou dost dare.

KING (_angrily_).

Where am I, then, and who,
That this mad woman dares to spite me thus?
The servant mirrors forth the mistress' soul--
Servant and mistress mirror forth that land
Of darkness that begat them! Once again
I tell thee, call her forth!

GORA (_po