up within thy house, my road to Hades' halls had led direct from thence. This altar shall not save thee, nor yet Apollo's courts, for that pity thou implorest cries out more loudly for me and my mother, who, though absent in the flesh, is never in name far from me. Behold this cursed woman, see the web of trickery she hath woven! yet comes she cowering to Apollo's altar, thinking to escape the punishment of her misdeeds.
Cre. I warn thee not to slay me, both in my own name and in his at whose altar I am stationed.
Ion. What hast thou to do with Phœbus?
Cre. This body I devote unto that god to keep.
Ion. And yet thou wert for poisoning his' minister?
Cre. But thou wert not Apollo's any longer, but thy father's.
Ion. Nay, I was his son, that is, in absence of a real father.
Cre. Thou wert so then; now 'tis I, not thou, who am Apollo's.
Ion. Well, thou art not guiltless now, whereas I was then.
Cre. I sought to slay thee as an enemy to my house.
Ion. And yet I never invaded thy country, sword in hand.
Cre. Thou didst; and thou it was that wert casting a firebrand into the halls of Erechtheus.
Ion. What sort of brand or flaming fire was it?
Cre. Thou didst design to seize my home against my will, and make it thine.
Ion. What! when my father offered me a kingdom of his getting.
Cre. How had the sons of Æolus any share in the realm of Pallas?
Ion. Arms, not words, he brought to champion it.
my salvation by showing me what to expect when I was wholly in your power."
