Epeisodion 3
Creusa
Aged retainer of my father Erechtheus while yet he lived and saw the light of day, mount to the god’s prophetic shrine that thou mayst share my gladness, if haply Loxias, great king, vouchsafe an answer touching my hopes of offspring;
725
for sweet it is to share with friends prosperity, and sweet likewise to see a friendly face if any ill betide,—which God forbid! As thou of yore didst tend my sire, so now, thy mistress though I am, I take his place in tending thee.
730
Old Servant
Daughter, thy manners bear good witness still to thy noble lineage; thou hast never brought shame upon those ancestors of thine, the children of the soil. A hand, I prithee, to the shrine! a hand to lean upon!’Tis a steep path thither, truly;
735
but lend thy aid to guide my steps and make me young again.
740
Creusa
Come follow then, and look where thou art treading.
Old Servant
Behold! though my steps loiter, my thoughts take wings.
Creusa
Lean on thy staff as thou climbest this winding path.
Old Servant
Even this staff is a blind guide when I myself can scarcely see.
Creusa
True, but do not yield through fatigue.
745
Old Servant
Never willingly, but I am not master of that which is mine no more.
Creusa
Maidens mine, my trusty servants at the loom and web, declare to me how my lord hath fared as touching the question of offspring which brought us hither:
for if ye give me good news, ye will cause joy to a mistress who will not prove faithless to her word.
750
Old Servant
This prelude to your speech is unlucky.
Old Servant
Can it be that the oracles delivered to my master wound me at all?
755
Chorus
Enough! why have aught to do with that which brings down death?
Creusa
What means this piteous strain? wherefore this alarm?
Chorus
Are we to speak or keep silence? What shall we do?
Creusa
Speak; for thou hast somewhat to tell that touches me.
Chorus
Then speak I will, though twice to die were mine. O mistress mine! never shalt thou hold a babe within thy arms or clasp him to thy breast.
760