ACTUS PRIMUS 9
WOMEN.
Ah, there’s a fine retort !
PELIAS.
Goddesses speak and men list reverently.
Could she not find a fitter messenger?
JASON.
Her cause is Jason’s. Jason therefore speaks.
P
PELIAS.
Aha! A suppliant to our clemency!
I did mistake the gesture and the sword
Angrily gripped, the foot flung terribly
Foremost, the fierce, constrainéd attitude.
But—as a suppliant! Tell thy woeful tale,
Sad youth! Some woman thou hast loved and lost?
JASON.
Thou hast robbed me of this kingdom. Thou hast kept
My father (poor half-witted man!) a slave
And parasite about thy court (one grief
The more I add to this account of thine!)
Myself a babe thou didst seek out to slay,
And, I being hid, with fish-hooks bent with lies
And gilded with most specious promises,
Cunningly angled for old Chiron’s grace
To catch me yet. Athena hears me swear
To right all this—nay, answer me before
Anger get all the spoil of me, and drink
Thy life-blood in one gulp! Descend that dais!