Priestess: There didst thou lie wrapp'd in thy infant vests.
Ion: Thou hast produced whence I may find my mother.
Priestess: Since now the god so wills, but not before.
Ion: This is a day of bless'd discoveries.
Priestess: Now take them: o'er all Asia, and the bounds
Of Europe hold thy progress: thou shalt know
These tokens. To do pleasure to the god,
I nurtured thee, my son; now to thy hand
Restore what was his will I should receive
Unbidden, and preserve: for what intent
It was his will, I have not power to say.
That I had these, or where they were conceal'd,
No mortal knew. And now farewell: the love
I bear thee equals what a parent feels.
Let thy inquiries where they ought begin;
First, if some Delphian virgin gave thee birth,
And in this shrine exposed thee; next, if one
Of Greece. From me, and from the god, who feels
An interest in thy fortune, thou hast all. (She goes into the temple
after giving Ion the ark.)
Studies
