314-315
Kr.
So then, what of you. Do you live in a house nearby? Or is this is where you sleep… here… inside the temple?
Ion.
Not inside — outside. So long as it is in the sacred precinct, I have been permitted to lie down wherever I like when sleep finally overtakes me.
326
Kr.
You are very nicely dressed at least, so you must be doing well for yourself now.
Io.
The clothes are not mine, unfortunately. We attendants reflect the greater glory of the god, my lady, so others see that we are well adorned.
Kr. (308)
Clearing throat, changing subject. But where are my manners? What is your name? And by what name can I call those parents – so blessed and fortunate—in whose house you were raised?
Ion
The god is my parent and the master of the house where I grew up. I am a slave, my lady, property of the temple.
322-3
Kr.
Oh. But when you were younger – who provided for you?
Ion
The altars here have always fed me – or I got what I needed from one of the temple guests. Someone new arrives every day.
Kr.
Oh – to be a slave… what a burden you bear. Our roles have reversed: now you have my sincerest pity and apologies, stranger.
Ion
I appreciate your kindness. But in truth, the heaviest burden is knowing nothing of either the mother who delivered me or the father who conceived me.
Kr.
Why don’t you investigate – try to track down your origins?
Io.
How? I was left nothing, my lady, no clues or evidence.
Kr.
Well, where did you come from? Were you given to the god on behalf of a city or were you sold by a private citizen?
Ion
I am afraid that I don’t know. Whereas you have a family name and a city which claims you, I have always simply been claimed by Loxias.
316+ Kr.
Were you brought here as a child or as a young man?
Ion
As a newborn, actually. At least that is what I have been told by those who know anything about it.
Kr.
You poor thing – as a baby…; my heart breaks to hear that. In a way your burdens mirror my own. It is as if while I lay wasting away from sickness, thinking that I suffered alone, I look to the side and I find another, plagued with the same disease.
But someone must know more: which of the Delphians nursed you and mothered you?
Ion
No one. I never knew a mother’s breast. But someone raised me at least…
Kr
What sort of person was she – your mother… I mean, the one who raised you?
Ion
It was Phoebus’ prophetess – the Pythia: I have always thought of her as like a mother. She found me, abandoned on the very steps of the temple.
324
Kr.
Leaving you on Apollo’s doorstep must have torn your mother apart, whoever she was. What burdens she must have been suffering under to be forced into such a desperate choice…
Ion
Perhaps. Or perhaps I was the burden and she was glad to be rid of me? Or if not a burden, then an indictment – inconvenient testament of some immorality or crime? Both are a common experience in women’s lives, I am told.
330
No. Do not even think such a thing.
Your mother would not have left you without a terrible burden of sorrow. This is a tale I am very familiar with.
Ion
From whom? Tell me, please, who else do you know who carries a burden of grief similar to my own? I would welcome finding someone else and we might better share such a weight by walking side by side.
Kr.
It is a story told to me by… a friend — it is on her behalf that I have come here before my husband to seek an oracle.
Ion.
Concerning what will you ask the prophetess, my Lady? Please, I might be able to give you some assistance first.
Kr.
Perhaps. It concerns dark deeds and so I will require a private consultation with Phoebus’s oracle.
Ion.
Tell me as much as you can then. You need special privileges to make such a request, so I will need to find a citizen to sponsor you as proxenos for the rest.
Kr.
Then I have a tale – an accusation really – that you must hear. *Long pause* But… now that I come to it, I find that shame holds back the words…
Ion
When investigating a crime, the goddess Shame weakens the cause of justice. Do not listen to her. You must push past, or you will never accomplish what you were sent here to do.
Kr.
*Deep breath* Then this is what I…. was told by my friend. First, you must know that she had an affair with Phoebus.
Ion
With Phoebus… As in…the pure-light?
A mortal woman?
Together? An affair… I can’t…
You must not speak such slander. You are a guest here!
Kr.
Not only that but there was a child. The god’s, though no one else knows. She delivered him alone, in secret, without her father ever learning.
Ion.
Not possible. No. Some man – a mortal man –took advantage of her and she concealed her shame by covering it in such a lie.
Kr.
She swore that this was not the case. And it is not as if claiming this has benefited her. The wretched woman suffered regardless.
Ion
To be so esteemed – to be chosen as the bride of a god? How could she possibly have suffered?! (the god’s bride? Is so close to the god?)?
Kr.
[[She was a bride only physically, not by law, and there was no father to acknowledge the child. So] — he was set out of the house… exposed. [She hoped that Phoebus would save his child.]
Ion.
Ah. And after this – where is this child? Does he still look upon the light?
Kr.
She is not certain; that is part of what we seek to learn.
IO 357
It is likely then that Phoebus the pure light did save his child and raised him, hidden from all.
Kr xxx
Perhaps — but when they were together, he certainly took what pleasure he wanted without any bashfulness, so it would be hypocritical for him to suddenly be shy and quiet now that he is alone.
//When they were together, he certainly had no issue openly taking whatever pleasure he wanted, so now that she is all alone, it would be wrong for him act in secret and not give her even the smallest respite from her sorrow.
Ion
You are right, it would be quite unjust for him to have acted this towards her. What a terrible burden this must have been for the poor mother.
Kr.
Can she still truly be called a mother? After this, she never gave birth to another child.
Ion
But, even assuming that the child no longer lives – ho w would he have died?
Kr.
Wild animals – oh, poor child – She said that they would have been the most likely cause of death.
Ion
How did she come to such a conclusion? Was any evidence left behind?
Kr.
[Gods, to think back on this.] Because she went back… to that place where he had been exposed. To find him. But the child was… no longer there.
Ion
Hmmm…Were there any traces of blood there or nearby?
Kr.
No. That is what she said, anyway. And she went over the area again and again, desperately looking.
353
Ion
And how much time has passed since the child… well… since he died?
Kr.
If he had lived, he would now be a young man. About the same age as you.
Ion
*sighs loudly* If only it were so, he would have been virtually my twin: the song of his life and my own share the same harmony. The laments of our sorrow are alike as well.
Kr.
And in how much you are loved. I know that somewhere there is another mother, burdened by her sorrows and past, who misses you very much, friend.
Ion
No. Please do not dredge up such emotions. That is all in the past and it is better not to think about it.
Kr.
Then I said all that I can of my request The rest is for Phoebus alone. So, can you help me obtain a private consultation like you said?
Ion
Something about your tale still does not sit right with me…
Kr.
Only one thing? Can there be anything in that noxious tale which doesn’t turn your stomach?
Io
Why would the god ever be willing to issue an oracle which openly admitted to something that he would prefer to keep secret?
Kr
What he wants does not matter. As long as he sits on the sacred tripod, held in common by all of Greece, he is bound to the speak the truth and it will be recorded.
Ion
If you drag Apollo into a public court like this, her whole sordid story will be exposed. This business will cause great shame to the reputations of all involved, including him.
Kr.
Nonetheless — how could this possibly be any worse for her? The victim of the crime is already being tortured.
Ion
I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I cannot help you.
No interpreter would dare to bring your question before the god.
To air such an evil in lord Phoebus’ own palace…
his power is absolute here and
he would be well within his rights to bring terrible punishments on
anyone who spoke such words, even on your behalf.
My lady, I can only beg you to abandon this now before it goes any further–
There can be no oracular consultations if it goes against the god’s wishes.
Everyone knows the maxim:
There is no higher peak of foolishness than
To try to force unwilling gods
To reveal what they wish to keep hidden –
It doesn’t matter whether one tries on altars,
Looking for signs in the livers of sheep,
Or seeks to track the wings of birds — it is no use.
if we compel them by force when the gods refuse to speak,
we may seem to acquire some good,
but it will ultimately prove ruinous.
We can only derive profit from what they willingly give.
Chorus
(Expressing and echoing Kreousa’s despair)
For humans the burdens of sorrow are multifarious,
coming to the whole multitude
in forms ever-multiplying; To find a life free from them…
That is somehow happy from start to finish…
it would be a miracle to find even one such life.
Kr.
Lord Phoebus – I summon you! Bear witness to an injustice – yours!
Witness the sins you have committed both here, now, and there, before
Against the absent woman, present in my accusation.
First Apollo, you chose not to save one whom it was your duty to save.
Now, when the mother comes seeking comfort, you choose not to speak,
though you are a seer and have the knowledge.
At least you could confirm to her that he is dead …
so she could finally put up a monument and grieve got him.
Or tell her that somehow, despite it all, he survived…
But what more can I possibly do now? As you say, stranger, the gods themselves
Stand in the way of what I wish to know.