ÆG. Medea, hail! for no one hath known a more honorable salutation to
address to friends than this.
MED. Hail thou also, son of the wise Pandion, Ægeus, coming from what
quarter dost thou tread the plain of this land?
ÆG. Having left the ancient oracle of Phœbus.
MED. But wherefore wert thou sent to the prophetic centre of the earth?
ÆG. Inquiring of the God how offspring may arise to me?
MED. By the Gods, tell me, dost thou live this life hitherto childless?
ÆG. Childless I am, by the disposal of some deity.
MED. Hast thou a wife, or knowest thou not the marriage-bed!
ÆG. I am not destitute of the connubial bed.
MED. What then did Apollo tell thee respecting thy offspring?
ÆG. Words deeper than a man can form opinion of.
MED. Is it allowable for me to know the oracle of the God?
ÆG. Certainly, inasmuch as it needs also a deep-skilled mind.
MED. What then did he say? Speak, if I may hear.