Chorus

Truly, your good fortune is the shared good fortune of our whole house.

Though… for my mistress, I do wish that she had been more fortunate

in childbearing and… I wish that the line of Erechtheus had carried on as well.

Ion hears the chorus’ displeasure and is concerned.

 

Xo

My child! To have reached the moment of such a discovery… well, we must have been carefully directed

Here by the god himself. So consider: it must have been Phoebus who brought me to you

And it was he who finally allowed you to find the one most dear to you

– before this, you were completely in the dark.

So…  child, of course you are also eager

to find your mother right away —  I understand: the same desire grips me

To find the woman who gave birth to my child—but…

we must give it some time. Eventually, perhaps he will guide us to find her in the same way.

For now, it is time to leave behind the temple of the god, end your exile,

And return triumphantly to Athens as the heir to throne with your father’s full support.

There the prosperous scepter of your father’s kingdom awaits,

and great wealth besides. No longer will you be spoken of as infested with the twinned

diseases: low birth and poverty… though you only truly suffered from one …

Instead, you will be famous for your nobility and the great abundance you possess.

 

Wait. Why are you now silent? Why do you stand there, eyes staring only at the ground?

You appear lost in worry… this and the sudden departure of your joy

Strikes your father with fear.

 

Ion

Things appear quite different

When they are actually at hand,

Rather than just something glimpsed far away.

Please make no mistake, I am so grateful for my good fortune, father.

And also that I was brought to find you. But… I have also realized some things,

that you need to hear:

It is said that the noble people of Athens

Are not immigrants but autochthonus – born from and on the very land they now hold.

So, I will fall into their lap infected with two diseases, just not the two you listed:

First, that my father is not a native and, second, that I am a bastard, born illegitimately.

No matter what I do, I will be criticized:

Let us say I come into the city and act timidly, not exerting any power or influence,

— how would I not rightly be called a worthless nobody descended from no one?

And if instead I eagerly take the city’s wheel from the first

and strive to be known as a “somebody’ — then those who lack such power will

hate me instead; for it is a bitter thing to have someone placed above you.

And if I try to address that [by engaging in public politics instead, to sway them to my side…]

then all of those able to afford to be wise and philosophical: the respectable people of the city

— The ones who keep silent and are reluctant to get involved with public affairs.

Well to them, I would be a laughingstock and I would the greatest idiot of all,

To seek to become embroiled city already chaotic, disturbed by fear.

And then if, in the opinions of those men who are considered influential,

I acted worthily, well then, how would I manage to protect myself with votes

From political danger? Matters are accustomed to go this way, father:

Those who hold cities and noble rank,

Are besieged on all sides by rivals. (606)