Prologos:

Medea's old nanny from her childhood in Colchis comes out of the house alone and addresses the elements.

Nurse

If only the Argo had not flown through

the dark blue clashing rocks into the land of the Colchians;

if only in the groves of Pelion the pine tree

had never fallen, cut down to put oars in the hands

of the heroes who went after the golden fleece

for Pelias. Then my mistress Medea would not

have sailed to the fortress of the land of Iolcus

wounded in her heart by love for Jason.

And she would not have persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill

their father and come to live here in the land of Corinth

with her husband and children, gratifying

in her exile the citizens to whose land she came,

herself agreeing with Jason in all things,

which is the greatest security:

when a woman does not dispute with her husband.

But now all things are hateful and affections have gone sour.

Abandoning his children and my mistress,

Jason now makes his bed in a royal marriage,

after a wedding with the daughter of Creon who governs this land.

And Medea, in grief, held in dishonor,

howls out "the oaths he swore" and calls upon the right hand

greatest symbol of trust and calls the gods to witness

what treatment she has received from Jason.

She goes without food giving herself over to her grief,

wasting away all her time in tears,

from when she realized her husband had betrayed her,

never looking up nor raising her face

from the ground. Like a rock or wave of the sea

she takes in her loved ones' advice,

unless sometimes turning back her pale neck

she laments to herself her dear father,

her homeland and her home all of whom she betrayed

to come here with the man who holds her now in dishonor.

The poor woman knows from bitter experience

what it means to lose her native land.

And she hates her children, takes no delight in seeing them.

I'm afraid of her in case she has some new plan in mind.

For her mind is deep and she will not put up with

being abused. I know her and I'm frightened

that she may thrust a sharp sword through the heart

in silence entering the house where the bed is laid

or kill the princess and the one who married her

and then suffer some greater tragedy.

She is frightening. Not easily will anyone engage her

in enmity and carry off the crown of victory.

But here come the children from their play.

They know nothing of their mother's troubles

for the childish heart is not used to grief.

Paidagogos (minder of the children of Jason and Medea)

Ancient possession of my mistress,

why alone in front of the doors

do you stand here, bewailing your troubles to yourself?

How is it that Medea is willing to be left alone?

Nurse

Aged attendant of Jason's children,

for good slaves affairs of their masters going amiss

are disasters and they also touch their hearts

so that I reached such a pitch of sadness that there came over me

a desire to come out here and speak

to the earth and sky the sorrows of my mistress.

Paidagogos

Has the poor woman not yet stopped crying?

Nurse

I envy you. She has barely started.

Paidagogos

Oh the fool! If one may say that of one's masters.

She knows nothing of the latest troubles.

Nurse

What is it, old man? Please tell me.

Paidagogos

Nothing. I'm sorry I let it slip out.

Nurse

Do not, I beg you, hide this from your fellow slave.

I will, if need be, keep it a secret.

Paidagogos

I heard someone saying, pretending not to listen,

as I was passing the tables where the old men sit to play

draughts, near the sacred fountain of Peirene,

that these children with their mother--the king of this country,

Creon, plans to banish them from Corinthian territory.

Whether the story is true I am uncertain.

I hope it is not so.

Nurse

And Jason puts up with his children being

treated like that, even if he is estranged from their mother?

Paidagogos

Old relationships give way to new ones.

He is not a friend to this family.

Nurse

We are ruined, if we will bear a new disaster

on top of the old, before that has been exhausted.

Paidagogos

But you--it's not a good time for mistress

to find out about this--so keep it quiet.

Nurse

Oh, children, do you hear what you father is to you?

Curse him, but no, he is my master.

But he is found out being a traitor to his family.

Paidagogos

What man is not? Are you just figuring it out,

that everyone loves himself more than his neighbor,

[some justly, others out of self-interest]

if their father is disaffected from these children because of his new

marriage?

Nurse

Go--everything will be just fine--go on inside, children.

But, you, as much as possible keep them away

and don't let them go near their mother in her temper.

For I have seen her giving them a look like a wild animal,

as if she might do something to them. She will not give up

her wrath--I'm sure of that--before she strikes out at someone.

May it be enemies, not loved ones she hurts.