Ion

Excuse me, attendants – I see that have been here a while, staying near the foundation of the temple

smoky with incense, in order to keep watch for any news pertaining to your mistress.

So, can you tell me if he has left the sacred tripod and oracular temple yet

–Xouthos, I mean—or if he is still in line, waiting to ask about his childlessness?

 

Chorus

He is still inside the temple, stranger: but though he has not yet emerged

he is on his way out – we heard footsteps

From inside the door and… there, now we see our master exiting.

 

Xouthos Sees Ion and reacts strangely, almost as he did on seeing the statue of Apollo

Greetings. May you be well and be favourable, my child!  Yes, the formal greeting seems to me

the most appropriate start to our conversation.

 

Ion

Oh.  Uh… In fact I am doing well, thank you. So, as long as you are well-minded, then we two are well together.

 

Xouthos

Then then let me kiss your hand and let me embrace your body!

 

Ion

Wait – what are you doing? Maybe you are not well in the mind … Has your encounter with the god shaken you from your senses, honored guest?

 

Xouthous

My mind is sound and now that I have found the one who I long for, my most dear, I will never let you escape.

 

Ion

Stop! If you don’t calm down, you are going to harm the property of the god with your hands – and that would be a terrible sacrilege!

 

Xouthous

Then I will caress you instead – for I do not wish to paw you like some prize that I have seized in battle but to hold you as the most beloved thing I have ever found.

 

Ion

If you don’t let me go, then I will stab you in the side with an arrow.

 

Xouthous Releases him. Ion backs away quickly.

Why are you recoiling? Looking at me, do you not recognize how dear I am to you…

 

Ion

No, I don’t feel any affection for you. But I do like teaching uncultured and hot-headed foreigners some manners.

 

Xouthous

Then go ahead and kill me but promise to light the pyre afterwards…. for you will be chief mourner at your father’s funeral and his murderer at the same time.

 

Ion

What do you mean, ‘your father’? Is this some kind of joke at my expense?

 

Xou.

No. No! Just hear me out – in the course of our discussion, my meaning will become clear to you.

 

Ion

Fine. So what is it exactly that I need to hear?

 

Xouthos

That I am your father. You are my child.

 

Ion

Ridiculous. Who told you this?

 

Xouthos

The very one who brought you up instead of me– Loxias.

 

Ion

And as proof, I suppose you can only call yourself to testify?

 

Xouthos

And the god too; I learned this through his oracle.

 

Ion

Then the oracle you heard was too complex and you misinterpreted.

 

Xouthos

Only if my ears completely imagined the words they heard.

 

Ion

Fine. What were the exact words of Phoebus’ prophecy?

 

Xo

‘After meeting that one, that I…’

 

Ion

Misleading and incomplete stanza: met whom?

 

Xou.

Let me finish. ‘After meeting the one… that I come upon, when exiting the halls of the god.”

 

Ion

The meter of this verse is incomplete: what is the result of this encounter?

 

Xou

//That this one is my boy.

 

Ion

There are two meanings here. Is it “your boy” in the sense that I am born from you or is it “your boy” in the slang term for a slave you own — that is, have I been gifted to you in some way?

 

Xou

My boy, make no mistake: you are a gift given to me. But you are also my child, born to me.

 

Ion

And I was definitely the first person you met? The path of your steps reached me before any other?

 

Xouthos

There was no one else, my child.

 

xxxIon

And how could such a Fate even be possible? It doesn’t make any sense.

 

Xouthos

I’ll admit — though there must be one explanation, we two are equally confused at that.

 

Ion

Well… what of my mother? Who was she?

 

Xouthos

I do not know.

 

Ion

What? Phoebus did not tell you?

 

Xouthos

I was so overjoyed at what I heard that I failed to ask him any further questions.

 

Ion  sarcastic, angry

Well I guess I just popped out from the earth then, with Gaia as my mother?

 

Xouthos earnest, did not notice the sarcasm

I don’t think so. The soil does not give birth to human children.

 

Ion

Then tell me how it happened, if I am indeed your son.

 

Xouthos

I have no idea. But all the details are in Apollo’s hands now – nothing to bother us further.

 

Ion

Fine. Let us try a different line of conversation then.

 

Xouthos

Thank you. A different topic would be much appreciated, my son.

 

Ion

Have you ever taken anyone to bed outside of your marriage?

 

Xouthos Shocked. Not where he thought the conversation would go.

What? Well…yes, in the foolishness of youth, certainly I…

 

Ion

Before or after you were given the hand of Erechtheus’ daughter?

 

Xouthos

Before. Not even once after our marriage.

 

Ion

So then, logically you must have impregnated someone before your marriage?

 

Xouthos

I suppose. The timeline certainly matches.

 

Ion

But that would not explain why I am here in Delphi…

 

Xou

I cannot explain it either.

 

Ion

…if I was born elsewhere, how I could have crossed such a long distance?

 

Xouthos

Baffling, I agree.

 

Ion

Wait. Have you visited the Pythian rock before?

 

Xouthos

Well… yes. During the torch festival for Bacchus.

 

Ion

Ah. Of course, you stayed in the house of a proxenos then – one of the Delphians that hosts foreign dignitaries?

 

Xou

… yes. As I recall: I was there, and the proxenos was there, and there were some Delphian girls…

 

Ion

Girls? Surely you meant to say that you were participating in a ritual thiasos – the Bacchic celebration which allows a mix of genders? Or do you mean to imply something improper?

 

Xouthos

Of course – not girls… they were Maenads of Bacchus, that is what I meant to say.

 

Ion

And in that celebration were you clear-headed or were you wine-drunk?

 

Xouthos

Not drunk –as they say “deep in Bacchus’ pleasures.”

 

Ion

I see. So this must have been when I was conceived.

 

Xou

Likely. What an impressive finding — It is almost like it was destined for you to uncover this, my child.

 

Ion

But if so, that still doesn’t explain how I got to the temple.

 

Xou

Maybe the girl abandoned you there?

 

Ion

Though this would mean that I am free-born… that that I have escaped slavery…

 

Xo

You are welcome, my child! Now come and give your father a proper hug!

 

Ion

…  And I suppose it is reasonable inference not to distrust the god…

 

Xo

Finally, you are in your right mind!

 

Ion

…And what more could I possibly have wished for…

 

Xo.

Yes, good! Finally – that is what you should be focusing on.

 

Ion

…than to be the child of Zeus’s own son?

 

Xo

And it is so. You are!

 

Ion Moves in nervously for a hug.

…Can I… do I truly touch the one who bore me?

 

Xouthos

Unless you believe the god has lied.

 

Ion

Oh. Then, uh: Greetings. Be well… and may you be favorable to me… father.

 

Xo

Father. I have never heard any sound more beloved than that.

 

Ion

And, uh, of course, the same greetings to the day itself. I have waited so long for its arrival. Be favourable and give us your blessings.

 

Xo

Well said. For this day has definitely blessed me with happiness.

 

Ion Mostly to himself.

Sigh. But oh, my deeply missed mother, will I ever know your face? Whoever you are…

Despite all this, my heart now aches to see you even more than before,

Though you may be long dead and beyond sight, even in my dreams. (565)