usI have come from the ancient oracle of Phoebus.MedeaWhy did you go to earth's prophetic center?AegeusTo inquire how I might get offspring.Medea[670] Have you really lived so long a life without children?AegeusI am childless: it is the act of some god.MedeaHave you a wife, or have you no experience of marriage?AegeusI am not without a wife to share my bed.MedeaWhat then did Phoebus tell you about children?Aegeus[675] Words too wise for mortal to interpret.MedeaIs it lawful for me to hear the response?AegeusMost certainly: it calls for a wise mind.MedeaWhat then did the god say? Tell me, if it is lawful to hear.Aegeus‘Do not the wineskin's salient foot untie. . .'Medea[680] Until you do what or come to what country?Aegeus'. . .until you come to hearth and home again.’1 MedeaAnd what were you in need of that you sailed to this land?AegeusThere is a man named Pittheus, king of Trozen.MedeaThe son of Pelops and a man most pious, they say.Aegeus[685] It is with him that I wish to share the god's response.MedeaThe man is wise and experienced in such matters.AegeusWhat is more, he is closest of all my allies.MedeaWell good luck attend you, and may you obtain what you desire. 1 Aegeus is bidden in the oracle's riddling terms not to have sexual intercourse before he reaches home. In the usual version of the legend, Aegeus does have intercourse with Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, in Trozen and thus begets Theseus. But the oracle, which may be Euripides' own invention, clearly does not belong with this story, for how could Aegeus beget a son if he violated the oracle's instructions? When Aegeus departs at the end of this scene, he seems bound for Athens, not Trozen. ChorusFrom ancient times the sons of Erechtheus have been favored; [825] they are children of the blessed gods sprung from a holy land never pillaged by the enemy. They feed on wisdom most glorious, always stepping gracefully [830] through the bright air, where once, ...
