“Medea” – Act 3

ACT THREE

A mountainside, in the background a temple (Neris and the two children enter the palace.) Introduction Medea Gods, come to me, deities of Hell! All you who aided my will, let your strength help me again. You must complete my work! Let black death spread its veil in the sky, and destroy people and king in horrible ruin! Oh, dear children, my last torment, whom I dedicate here to the dark goddesses of hatred, may I never have to expiate your blood! Yes, it was your father who killed you! Outcast on earth, may Heaven reject him! They are approaching, alas! What agony! A mother’s heart beats in my breast. Nature, now you speak to me in vain. They must die, life is denied them! They are pledged to the god of the black Furies! Their will is my command.

Neris Your wish has been done, Medea. Glauce has the robe and the diadem. She thanks you. But why are you silent? Look, here are your children! Medea My children, ah! Away, away with you! Serpents, keep away from me! Let go of my neck, you’re suffocating me! Neris What are you saying?

Medea He too has the same look! Jason has the same false glance! Come you must die! (She seizes the children, raising her dagger.) No, dear children, no! I am defeated already! The war in my heart has ceased. Tears have returned to my eyes at last. I see them once more. I clasp them to me again. I think no more of the grief that burns in my breast. My heart returns serenely to those happy days! Nothing will ever overcome the horror of the bitter grief breaking my heart! No! etc. Oh, my children, I love you so! Ah, my treasures! And I meant to stab you to the heart! Oh, gods in Heaven! Holy justice! It was you who prevented my hand from striking. It was you who curbed the passion of inhuman fury! Nothing will ever overcome, etc. Oh, my treasures, my children, my treasures, I love you so! And yet, looking at you, alas, I feel again the rebirth of my fury! Neris, what did you do with my gift?

Neris Glauce was delighted with your diadem. She called her servants to her, happy and contented. She wanted to adorn her brow with your gift, so that Jason would be proud of her! Medea Let her evil rejoicing kill her, o gods! Listen! That diadem once by my black arts I endowed with a secret spell. A lethal poison will destroy Glauce if she places the fine golden diadem on her head! Neris Medea, you punish very severely, let this horrible punishment be finally enough for you! Spare your children! Ah, the day is ending and soon you will be separated from them! Medea It is time! You save my children! May Heaven help them now against me! What then? I am Medea, and I let them live? Whatever happened? Where am I? I must be blind! How could I feel pity for Jason’s children? Yet they are mine too! But even if they are my children, Jason is still their father! Wretched woman!

How can you think of being a mother? How can you listen to the secret voice of the heart? How ever can you feel the delight of a mother, the delight of being a mother in your heart? What shall I do? I’ll run away. I leave my children, my beloved flesh and blood, in the hands of that miscreant. Oh, dark Fury! Implacable goddess! Destroy in my heart love and pity! Give me back the dagger which fell from my hand! I’ll erase that one base moment of hesitation! Oh, my cowardly heart, trembling hand! You will not always be in doubt! No never! Never shall love triumph, no, no! Chorus Oh, gods, have mercy on us! What a horrible revenge! Medea Oh, cry of grief! Oh, that sweet sound to my heart! Chorus Oh, horror, we are betrayed! Oh, dreadful sight!

Medea Oh, sound sweeter to my heart than song! Jason (offstage) Poor, faithful Glauce! What a cruel fate, alas, this love brought you! Chorus Death to the black witch! O sacred thunderbolt, fall upon her! Jason What a heinous misdeed condemns you to death, and robs me of your caress, and you of mine! Medea Black Furies, fly to me, my hand is ready to strike! My children, I must kill you! no more doubts or fear, I intend to finish, surpass my deadly work! Black Furies, to me, come, give me this blood, etc. (Medea runs and locks herself inside the temple as Jason and a great crowd enter from the palace.) Jason Oh, Heaven! Cannot even you punish this foul crime? Gods, where are my children? Gods, give them back to me! Let your goodness protect them! Oh, my faithful Glauce! Oh, fatal destiny!

Chorus Just Heaven, you must avenge this horrible crime! Oh, hapless father! Let us destroy the cruel woman! Jason Let her be struck to the ground, her life be snuffed out! Chorus She must pay for this horrible grief with her blood, with her anguish! Jason She will pay for this suffering with her death, she will pay with her blood for her bloody crime. Chorus She will pay for these tears, etc. Neris (running out of the temple) Ah, sir, the cruel woman... Jason Speak up quickly! Neris ...your wife now in the temple, the cruel woman...

Jason For pity’s sake, what ever has she done? Neris ...is still pursuing the children! She is about to strike them down! Chorus Oh, gods! What an unnatural mother! Jason If we are still in time, we must prevent her! (Medea, surrounded by the three Furies, appears at the temple door, brandishing a dagger.) Medea Hold! And see the wife spurned! Jason Oh, horrid sight! Chorus Oh, terror! Just gods! Jason Fiend! And my children? Medea Their blood has avenged me! Jason What had they done to you, cruel one?

Medea They were your children! Jason Gods! Medea I go to the sacred river! There my shade awaits you! (Medea has set fire to the temple which now bursts into flames around her. The terrified people scatter.)

Neris, Jason, Chorus Just Heaven! Oh, terror! Earth and Heaven are in flames! Let us fly from the burning sky, from the black mourning! The pit of Hell has opened up already! Let us flee from this ill-fated land, etc. END