Ion: What pleasure mid these sacred wreaths to die?
Creusa: We shall grieve one, by whom we have been grieved.
Ion: Strange, that the god should give these laws to men,
Bearing no stamp of honour, nor design'd
With provident thought: it is not meet to place
The unrighteous at his altars; worthier far
To be chased thence; nor decent that the vile
Should with their touch pollute the gods: the good,
Oppress'd with wrongs, should at those hallow'd seats
Seek refuge: ill beseems it that the unjust
And just alike should seek protection there. (As Ion and his followers
are about to tear Creusa from the altar, the Priestess of Apollo enters
from the temple.)
Priestess: Forbear, my son, leaving the oracular seat,
I pass this pale, the priestess of the god,
The guardian of the tripod's ancient law,
Call'd to this charge from all the Delphian dames.
Studies
