And died,distaining with their blood the rock.
ION
But tell me,is this truth,or a vain rumour?
CREUSA
What wouldst thou ask?I am not scant of time.
ION
Thy sisters did Erechtheus sacrifice?
CREUSA
He slew the virgins,victims for their country.
ION
And thou of all thy sisters saved alone?
CREUSA
I was an infant in my mother's arms.
ION
And did the yawning earth swallow thy father?
CREUSA
By Neptune's trident smote;and so he perish'd.
ION
And Macrai call you not the fatal place?
CREUSA
Why dost thou ask?What thoughts hast thou recall'd?IONDoes Phoebus,do his lightnings honour it?
CREUSA
Honour!Why this?Would I had never seen it!
ION
Why?Dost thou hate the place dear to the god?
CREUSA
No:but for some base deed done in the cave.
ION
But what Athenian,lady,wedded thee?
CREUSA
Of Athens none,but one of foreign birth.
ION
What is his name?Noble he needs must be.
CREUSA
Xuthus,by Aeolus derived from Jove.
ION
How weds a stranger an Athenian born?
CREUSA
Euboea is a state neighbouring on Athens.
ION
A narrow sea flows,I have heard,between.
CREUSA
Joining the Athenian arms,that state he wasted.
ION
Confederate in the war,thence wedded thee?
CREUSA
The dowral meed of war,earn'd by his spear.
ION
Comest thou with him to Delphi,or alone?
CREUSA
With him,gone now to the Trophonian shrine.
ION
To view it,or consult the oracle?
CREUSA
Both that and this,anxious for one response.
ION
For the earth's fruits consult you,or for children?
CREUSA
Though wedded long,yet childless is our bed.
ION
Hast thou ne'er borne a child,that thou hast none?
CREUSA
My state devoid of children Phoebus knows.
ION
Bless'd in all else,luckless in this alone.
CREUSA
But who art thou?Bless'd I pronounce thy mother.
ION
Call'd as I am the servant of the god.
CREUSA
Presented by some state,or sold to this?