ION.

ION.

ARGUMENT

CREUSA, the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, is beloved by Apollo, to whom she secretly bears a son, named Ion. Fearing the resentment of her father, she conveys the infant to a cave; and after placing him in a cradle, with ornaments appended to his neck, leaves him: he is soon after carried by Mercury, at the desire of Apollo, to the shrine at Delphi; here his helpless condition excites the pity of the priestess, and he is admitted into the temple, where he is carefully instructed in the oracles of the deity. In the mean time, Creusa, by the command of her father, bestows her hand on Xuthus, the son of Æolus; and their mutual desire for children remaining long ungratified, they resolve to visit Delphi, where the oracle informs Xuthus that Ion is his son. Supposing that this youth is the fruit of an amour previous to his marriage with the princess, the happy Xuthus prepares a joyful festival, from which he himself is compelled to be absent, in order to present a grateful sacrifice to Apollo. Creusa, who is envious at the good fortune of her husband, commissions a slave to poison the young man at the banquet; the conspiracy is detected, and the assassin compelled to plead the orders of his mistress in extenuation of his guilt. Creusa, being thus clearly convicted of the offence, escapes to the temple for refuge, whither she is pursued by Ion, who is prevented from pursuing his revenge by the priestess, who had formerly preserved his life, and who now delivers to his custody the ornaments which were found with the infant at the period of his exposure; by these Creusa recognises her son, whose divine race and future renown is announced by the goddess Minerva; while the attachment of Xuthus to his wife continues uninterrupted, from his ignorance of the information thus communicated.-[The scene of this play lies before the temple of Apollo at Delphi.]

Hermes

MERCURY.

Atlas, that on his brazen shoulders rolls

Yon heaven, the ancient mansion of the gods,
Was by a goddess sire to Maia; she

To supreme Jove bore me, and call'd me Hermes;
Attendant on the king, his high behests

I execute. To Delphi am I come,

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This land where Phoebus from his central throne
Utters to mortals his high strain, declaring
The present and the future; this is the cause;
Greece hath a city of distinguish'd glory,
Which from the goddess of the golden lance
Received its name; Erectheus was its king;
His daughter, call'd Creusa, to the embrace
Of nuptial love Apollo strain'd perforce,
Where northward points the rock beneath the
heights

Crown'd with the Athenian citadel of Pallas,
Call'd Macrai by the lords of Attica.

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Her growing burden, to her sire unknown

(Such was the pleasure of the god), she bore, Till in her secret chamber to a son

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The rolling months gave birth to the same cave,

Where by the enamour'd god she was compress'd,
Creusa bore the infant: there for death
Exposed him in a well-compacted ark

Of circular form, observant of the customs
Drawn from her great progenitors, and chief
From Ericthonius, who from the Attic earth
Deriv'd his origin: to him as guards

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Minerva gave two dragons, and in charge
Consign'd him to the daughters of Aglauros:

11 Minerva was the guardian deity of Athens.

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30 Minerva took on herself the care of this earth-born child. One day, going to Pallene, she delivered him to the three daughters of Cecrops and Aglauros in a little chest, charging them not to open it before her return. Curiosity, however, tempted them to disobey her command; they opened the chest, and saw two serpents wreathed around the infant.

This rite to the Erechthidæ hence remains,
Mid serpents wreathed in ductile gold to nurse
Their children. What of ornament she had
She hung around her son, and left him thus
To perish. But to me his earnest prayer
Phœbus applied, “To the high-lineaged sons
Of glorious Athens go, my brother; well
Thou know'st the city of Pallas; from the cave
Deep in the hollow rock a new born babe,
Laid as he is, and all his vestments with him,
Bring to thy brother to my shrine, and place
At the entrance of my temple; of the rest
(For, know, the child is mine) I will take care."
To gratify my brother thence I bore
The osier-woven ark, and placed the boy
Here at the temple's base, the wreathed lid
Uncovering, that the infant might be seen.
It chanced, as the orient sun the steep of heav'n
Ascended, to the god's oracular seat
The priestess entering, on the infant cast

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Her eye, and marvelled, deeming that some nymph
Of Delphi at the fane had dared to lay
The secret burden of her womb: this thought
Prompts her to move it from the shrine: but soon
To pity she resign'd the harsh intent ;
The impulse of the god secretly acting
In favour of the child, that in his temple
It might abide; her gentle hand then took it,
And gave it nurture; yet conceived she not

That Phoebus was the sire, nor who the mother 60
Knew aught, nor of his parents could the child
Give information. All his youthful years

Sportive he wandered round the shrine, and there
Was fed: but when his firmer age advanced
To manhood, o'er the treasures of the god

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33 It was the universal practice of the ancients, in their unnatural custom of exposing their children, to leave something of value, at least of ornament, with the infant.