JASON: O children, what a wicked mother she was to you!
MEDEA: They died from a disease they caught from their father.
JASON: I tell you it was not my hand that destroyed them.
MEDEA: But it was your insolence, and your virgin wedding.
JASON: And just for the sake of that you chose to kill them.
MEDEA: Is love so small a pain, do you think, for a woman?[ἸΆΣΩΝ: ὦ τέκνα, μητρὸς ὡς κακῆς ἐκύρσατε.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ὦ παῖδες, ὡς ὤλεσθε πατρῴᾳ νόσῳ.
ἸΆΣΩΝ: οὔτοι νιν ἡμὴ δεξιά γ᾽ ἀπώλεσεν.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἀλλ᾽ ὕβρις οἵ τε σοὶ νεοδμῆτες γάμοι.
ἸΆΣΩΝ: λέχους σφε κἠξίωσας οὕνεκα κτανεῖν;
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: σμικρὸν γυναικὶ πῆμα τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι δοκεῖς;]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1363ff (431 BC) [tr. Warner (1944)]
(Source)
Medea and Jason arguing over her murder of their sons. Here Medea blames Jason for deserting her (which he did) in favor of Princess Glauce (whom she has also killed).
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:JASON: How vile a Mother, O my sons, was yours!
MEDEA: How did ye perish thro' your Father's lust!
JASON: But my right hand was guiltless of their death.
MEDEA: Not so thy cruel taunts, and that new marriage.
JASON: Was my new marriage a sufficient cause
For thee to murder them?
MEDEA:Canst thou suppose
Such wrongs sit light upon the female breast?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]JASON: My children, a bad mother have you found.
MEDEA: My sons, you perish'd through your father's folly.
JASON: Yet my right hand plung'd not the muurderous sword.
MEDEA: But thy foul wrongs, and thy new nuptials plung'd it.
JASON: And for these nupturals hast thou kill'd thy sons?
MEDEA: This to a woman deem'st thou a slight pain?
[tr. Potter (1814)]JASON: Oh sons, how foul a mother have ye had!
MEDEA: Oh boys, how died ye by your father's guilt!
JASON: Not this right hand of mine slew them, indeed.
MEDEA: No, but thine outrage and new wedding ties.
JASON: So for a bed lost thou thoughtst fit to slay them?
MEDEA: Dost thou count that a light wrong to a woman?
[tr. Webster (1868)]JASON: O my children, how vile a mother ye have found!
MEDEA: My sons, your father's feeble lust has been your ruin!
JASON: 'Twas not my hand, at any rate, that slew them.
MEDEA: No, but thy foul treatment of me, and thy new marriage.
JASON: Didst think that marriage cause enough to murder them?
MEDEA: Dost think a woman counts this a trifling injury?
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]JASON: My children, what a wicked mother have ye found!
MEDEA: My sons, how did ye perish by your father's fault!
JASON: Nevertheless my hand slew them not.
MEDEA: But injury, and thy new nuptials.
JASON: And on account of thy bed didst thou think fit to slay them?
MEDEA: Dost thou deem this a slight evil to a woman?
[tr. Buckley (1892)]JASON: O children mine, what miscreant mother had ye!
MEDEA: O sons, destroyed by your own father's lust!
JASON: Sooth, 'twas no hand of mine that murdered them.
MEDEA: Nay, but thine insolence and thy new-forged bonds.
JASON: How, claim the right for wedlock's sake to slay them!
MEDEA: A light affliction count'st thou this to woman?
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]JASON: Oh, what a womb of sin my children bore!
MEDEA: Sons, did ye perish for your father's shame?
JASON: How? It was not my hand that murdered them.
MEDEA: 'Twas thy false wooings, 'twas thy trampling pride.
JASON: Thou hast said it! For thy lust of love they died.
MEDEA: And love to women a slight thing should be?
[tr. Murray (1906)]JASON: O children, what a wicked mother Fate gave you!
MEDEA: O sons, your father’s treachery cost you your lives.
JASON: It was not my hand that killed my sons.
MEDEA:No, not your hand;
But your insult to me, and your new-wedded wife.
JASON: You thought that reason enough to murder them, that I
No longer slept with you?
MEDEA:And is that injury
A slight one, do you imagine, to a woman?
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]JASON: O children, what an evil mother you encountered!
MEDEA: O children, how your father’s illness killed you!
JASON: At least it wasn’t my right hand that killed them.
MEDEA: No, your insults and your recent marriage.
JASON: Was it really for sex that you decided to kill them?
MEDEA: Do you think that this is small suffering for a woman?
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]JASON: Children, what an evil mother you got.
MEDEA: Children, how you have perished by your father's fault.
JASON: It was not my hand, you know, that killed them.
MEDEA: No: it was the outrage of your new marriage.
JASON: Did you really think it right to kill them because of a marriage?
MEDEA: Do you imagine that loss of love is a trivial grief for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs (Perseus)]JASON: Children, what an evil mother you got!
MEDEA: Children, how you have perished by your father's fault!
JASON: It was not my hand, you know, that killed them.
MEDEA: No: it was the outrage of your new marriage.
JASON: Did you really think it right to kill them because of a marriage?
MEDEA: Do you imagine that loss of this is a trivial grief for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]JASON: O children, what a wicked mother you had!
MEDEA: O my sons, how your father's weakness caused your deaths!
JASON: Yet it was no right hand of mine that dealt them ruin!
MEDEA: No, it was your lustful heart and that new marriage of yours.
JASON: What? You decided to kill them because I loved another?
MEDEA: Do you think this is a minor annoyance to a woman?
[tr. Davie (1996)]JASON: My darling children! What a despicable woman gave birth to you!
MEDEA: My darling children! What a despicable man gave you such a destruction!
JASON: They were not murdered by my hand!
MEDEA: No, what killed them was the shame and your new marriage.
JASON: Was an empty bed a good enough reason for your murders?
MEDEA: Do you think an empty bed is such a small thing for a woman?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]JASON: Oh children, what a terrible mother you had.
MEDEA: Oh children, how you were destroyed by your father’s disease.
JASON: My right hand did not strike them.
MEDEA: But your abuse and your new marriage.
JASON: You thought the marriage bed was worth your children’s lives?
MEDEA: Do you think this a trivial wrong for a woman?
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]JASON:O my children,
you had such an evil mother!
MEDEA:O my children,
victims of your father’s evil actions!
JASON: At least it was not my hand that killed them.
MEDEA: No. It was an insult — your new marriage.
JASON: Was it right to murder them for that?
MEDEA: Do you think an insult to a woman
is something insignificant?
[tr. Johnston (2008)]JASON: My children, how kakē is the mother you have found!
MEDEA: My sons, your father’s lust has been your ruin.
JASON: It was not my right hand that slew them.
MEDEA: No, your hubris and your new marriage-bed.
JASON: Did you think that that was reason enough to murder them?
MEDEA: Do you think a woman finds that a tiny pain?
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]JASON: Oh, children, what a wicked mother you had!
MEDEA: Oh, sons, you were ruined by your father's disease.
JASON: It wasn't my right hand that murdered them.
MEDEA: No, it was your insolence, your new-forged marriage.
JASON: You judged it right to kill them for your bed?
MEDEA: You think that pain's a small thing for a woman?
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]
