Medea then had never seen thy towers
O Corinth, pierced with Jason's fatal love.

For Jason's love she gave up all she had,
And, by her care, secured him fortune's smile.
And then it is, that safest far and best

Man leads his life, when wife and husband joined
In love's blest union, know no jarring thought.
But now that happy amity is gone;

My lady loathes what most she once did love.
For Jason basely hath abandoned her,

And his own offspring, for a royal spouse,
Wedding King Creon's daughter, Corinth's king.
Medea, therefore, thus dishonored,

O'erwhelmed with grief, calls on his plighted faith,
His solemn oath, by strongest pledge confirmed,
The pledge of his right hand, and to the Gods
With streaming eyes appeals for heaven's justice
Upon the base return her love hath met.

Upon the ground she lies, sunk down by sorrow,
And sheddeth day and night continued tears,
Since of her husband's treachery she heard:
She lifteth not her eye from off the earth,
But like a rock, or wave from ocean's deep,
Heareth the sympathies of weeping friends :
Save that she, now and then, her pallid brow
Doth raise, and with a bitter grief lament
Her sire beloved, her native land, sweet home,

FIRST CHORUS IN MEDEA.

And all she left behind for that base man

Who leaves her now to shame in foreign land.

*

But lo! here come her children from their sports, Attended by their pedagogue, poor things!

How little wot they of their mother's woe!
For youthful hearts love not dark sorrow's gloom.

1822.

X.

OPENING OF THE

FIRST CHORUS IN MEDEA.

75

CHORUS of Corinthian women.

Dramatis Persona. MEDEA'S NURSE.

MEDEA is heard lamenting behind the scenes.

CHORUS.

I HEARD a sad voice, I heard a wild cry

Of the sorrowing Colchian queen":

Doth she rave? Ah! tell, aged nurse, tell why These sounds from her palace; hast seen

The dire cause of alarm

That her wild cry of fear doth betray?
Grief may innocence harm,

While she treads dark adversity's way.

NURSE.

Her sweet comforts of home are all gone,
For allied is her spouse to the throne:
He hath married the daughter of kings;
Who the rule of this fair land brings
To false Jason, sworn ever to be
Medea's, o'er land and o'er sea :

By this dark, treacherous deed driven wild,
Of all peace is our sweet queen despoiled.

MEDEA.

Alas! alas! through my brain let the lightning-flame flash!

For why wish to live any more?

Ah, me! ah, me! would that death might this instant dash

My loathed life through the grave's dark door!

STROPHE.

CHORUS.

Hearest thou, O Jove! O Earth, and O Light!
Her wailing o'er woes more gloomy than night,
And darkening around her?

STABAT MATER.

Oh! do not let disappointment's sting
In what thou hast held a holy thing—
Wedded love-wretched lady, blindly lead
Thy mind to the thought of a desperate deed!
Let not thy hopes founder

Upon that rock, nor pray

That death would end thy sad day!

77

Though thy husband hath left thee in sorrow to sigh,
Yet remember that God, thine Avenger, is nigh:
Oh! grieve not thy life away,

Nor deign, for a false, faithless spouse to die.

XI.

ᏚᎢᎪᏴᎪᎢ Ꮇ Ꭺ Ꭲ Ꭼ Ꭱ ;

A MUCH ADMIRED HYMN IN THE LATIN SERVICE.

I.

Stabat mater dolorosa,
Juxta crucem lacrymosa,
Dum pendebat filius ;
Cujus animam gementem,
Contristantem et dolentem,
Pertransivit gladius.

II.

O, quam tristis et afflicta,
Fuit illa benedicta

Mater Uni geniti ;

Quæ mærebat et dolebat,
Et tremebat, cum videbat
Nati pænas inclyti.

III.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
Christi matrem si videret
In tanto supplicio ?
Quis posset non contristari,
Piam matrem contemplari
Dolentem cum filio?

IV.

Pro peccatis suæ gentis,
Vidit Jesum in tormentis,
Et flagellis subditum ;
Vidit suum dulcem natum
Morientem, desolatum,
Dum emisit spiritum.

V.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
Da per mortem me venire,
Ad palmam victoriæ ;
Quando corpus morietur,
Fac ut animæ donetur
Paradisi gloriæ.

TRANSLATION OF THE ABOVE,

Adapted to the Rhythm of the Original.

I.

NEAR the cross, in deep wo sighing,
Weeping, while her son was dying,

Stood the mother of our Lord;

Through whose soul, oppressed and groaning, Sinners' agony bemoaning,

Passed the sharp and cutting sword.