ἐς τοῦτ᾽ ἐλαύνει, κοὐ λέληθεν, ὡς δοκεῖ.
δώσει γὰρ εἰσελθόντι μαντεῖον τόδε
Ξούθῳ τὸν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, καὶ πεφυκέναι
κείνου σφε φήσει, μητρὸς ὡς ἐλθὼν δόμους
γνωσθῇ Κρεούσῃ, καὶ γάμοι τε Λοξίου
κρυπτοὶ γένωνται, παῖς τ ἔχη τὰ πρόςφορα.
"And here to Loxias' Oracle are come
Yearning for children. Nor doth God forget,
But helpeth on the matter to this end.
For when old Xuthus to the sacred shrine
Cometh, t'will give up to him his own son—
His origin revealing, so the youth
May hie him to his mother's home, and there
Be recognised by her—Apollo's loves
Be kept in sacred secresy—and Ion
Gain all things fitting his estate and birth."
When Creusa appears at the Oracle, Ion meets her, and asks her for what purpose she comes? She is reminded of the scene of her early amour with the god, and exclaims (v. 251.):
ὦ τλήμονες γυναῖκες, ὦ τολμήματα
Θεῶν· Τί δῆτα; ποῖ δίκην ἀνοίσομεν,
εῖ τῶν κρατούτων ἀδικίαις ὀλούμεθα;
"Woe! our ill-fated sex! O bold essays
Of Gods! What then! What hope of justice here,
When they, our masters, wrong us and we perish!"
She tells him the mission on which she and her husband have come.
He asks:
ουδ᾽ ἔτεκες οὐδὲν πώποτ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ἄτεκνος εἶ;
"Didst ne'er bear offspring, but art childless, say?"
She adroitly avoids the question:
Ὁ Φοῖβος οἶδε τὴν ἐμὴν ἀπαιδίαν.
"Apollo understands my childlessness."
The dialogue between them is pathetic and beautiful. He commiserates her condition, and she grieves over his parentless state, and total ignorance of his birth and origin, She relates to him the story of her amour with
