There is a myth about the hero Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. He was the hereditary king of the city of Iolka in Northern Greece, but his elder relative, the imperious Pelius, seized power in the city, and in order to return it, Jason had to accomplish a feat: with his heroes-friends on the ship "Argo" swim to the eastern edge of the earth and there , in the country of Colchis, get the sacred golden fleece, guarded by a dragon. Then Apollonius of Rhodes wrote about this voyage, the poem Argonautics.

In Colchis ruled the mighty king, the son of the Sun; his daughter, the princess and sorceress Medea, fell in love with Jason, they swore allegiance to each other, and she saved him. Firstly, she gave him witchcraft potions that helped him to withstand the test feat first - plowing arable land on fire-breathing bulls - and then lull the dragon guard. Secondly, when they sailed from Colchis, Medea, out of love for her husband, killed her brother and scattered pieces of his body along the shore; The Colchians who pursued them lingered, burying him, and could not overtake the fugitives. Thirdly, when they returned to Iolk, Medea, in order to save Jason from the treachery of Pelius, invited the daughters of Pelius to slaughter their old father, promising after that to resurrect him young. And they killed the father, but Medea refused her promise, and the father-daughter's daughters disappeared into exile. However, Jason did not succeed in obtaining the Iolkian kingdom: the people were indignant against the foreign witch, and Jason with Medea and two young sons fled to Corinth. The old Corinthian king, having looked closely, offered him his daughter and his kingdom as his wife, but, of course, so that he would divorce the witch. Jason accepted the offer: maybe he himself was already beginning to fear Medea. He celebrated a new wedding, and the king sent Medea an order to leave Corinth. On a sun-chariot drawn by dragons, she fled to Athens, and told her children: “Give your stepmother my wedding gift: an embroidered cloak and a gold-woven headband.” The cloak and bandage were saturated with fiery poison: the flame engulfed the young princess, and the old king, and the royal palace. The children rushed to seek salvation in the temple, but the Corinthians stoned them in fury. What happened to Jason, no one knew for sure.

It was hard for the Corinthians to live with the notoriety of child murderers and wicked people. Therefore, legend says, they asked the Athenian poet Euripides to show in tragedy that they did not kill the Iason children, but Medea herself, their mother. It was difficult to believe in such horror, but Euripides made him believe it.

“Oh, if the pines from which the ship on which Iason sailed were never collapsed ...” - the tragedy begins. It says the old nurse Medea. Her mistress had just learned that Jason would marry the princess, but did not yet know that the king had told her to leave Corinth. Behind the scene, Medea’s groans are heard: she curses Jason, and herself, and the children. “Take care of the children,” the nurse says to the old caregiver. Corinthian women chorus in alarm: Medea would not have called the worst trouble! “Terrible royal pride and passion! better peace and measure. ”

The moans fell silent, Medea goes to the choir, she says firmly and courageously. “My husband was everything to me - I have nothing more. Oh wretched woman’s share! They give her to someone else's house, pay a dowry for her, buy her a master; giving birth to her is painful, as in a battle, and leaving is a shame. You are here, you are not alone, but I am alone. ” An old Corinthian king appears to meet her: immediately, in front of everyone, let the sorceress go into exile! "Alas! hard to know more than others:

from this fear, from this hatred. Give me at least one day in time: decide where to go. ” The king gives her a day in time. “Blind man! She says after him. “I don’t know where I’ll go, but I know that I’ll leave you dead.” Whom - you? The choir sings a song about universal untruth: oaths are violated, rivers flow back, men are more insidious than women!

Jason enters; the argument begins. “I saved you from the bulls, from the dragon, from Pelius - where are your oaths? Where do i go In Colchis - the ashes of a brother; in Iolkah is the dust of Pelius; your friends are my enemies. O Zeus, why do we know how to recognize fake gold, but not a fake person! ” Jason replies: “It was not you who saved me, but the love that moved you. For salvation, I’m counting: you are not in wild Colchis, but in Greece, where they know how to sing glory to me and you. My new marriage is for the sake of children: those born of you, they are incompetent, and in my new house they will be happy. ” - “No need for happiness at the cost of such resentment!” “Oh, why can't men be born without women!” there would be less evil in the world. " The choir sings a song about evil love.

Medea will do her job, but where then to go? Here appears the young Athenian king Aegeus: he went to the oracle to ask why he had no children, and the oracle answered inexplicably. “You will have children,” Medea says, “if you give me shelter in Athens.” She knows Aegeus will have a son born on a foreign side - the hero Theseus; knows that this Theseus will drive her out of Athens; knows that later Aegeus will die from this son - he will throw himself into the sea at the false news of his death; but is silent. “May I perish if I allow you to be expelled from Athens!” - says Aegeus, More Medea now does not need anything. Aegeus will have a son, and Jason will have no children - neither from his new wife, nor from her, Medea. "I will tear out the genus Iasonov!" - and let the descendants be horrified. The choir sings a song to the glory of Athens.

Medea recalled the past, secured the future — now her concern is for the present. The first is about her husband. She calls Jason, asks for forgiveness - "such are we women!" - flatters, tells the children to hug his father: “I have a cloak and a bandage, the legacy of the Sun, my ancestor; let them bring them to your wife! ” - “Of course, and God grant them a long life!” Medea's heart is contracting, but she forbids self-pity. The choir sings: "Something will be!"

The second concern is about children. They carried the presents and returned; Medea cries for the last time over them. “I gave birth to you, I fed you, I see your smile - is it really the last time? Lovely hands, lovely lips, royal faces - will I really not spare you? The father stole your happiness, the father robs you of your mother; I will pity you - my enemies will laugh; do not be this! Pride is strong in me, and anger is stronger than me; decided! " The choir sings: “Oh, it’s better not to give birth to children, not to lead at home, to live in thought with the Muses - are women with the mind weaker than men?”

The third concern is about the homeowner. The messenger runs in: “Save yourself, Medea: both the princess and the king have perished from your poison!” - "Tell, tell, the more, the sweeter!" The children entered the palace, everyone admires them, the princess rejoices at the dresses, Jason asks her to be a good stepmother for the little ones. She promises, she puts on an outfit, she flaunts in front of a mirror; suddenly the paint runs off the face, foam appears on the lips, the flame covers her curls, burnt meat is compressed on the bones, poisoned blood oozes like tar from the bark. The old father cries out to her body, a dead body encircles him like ivy; he tries to shake it off, but he dies himself, and both, charred, lie dead. “Yes, our life is only a shadow,” the messenger concludes, “and there is no happiness for people, but there are good luck and failure.”

Now there is no turning back; if Medea doesn’t kill the children herself, others will kill them. “Do not hesitate, heart: only a coward hesitates. Silence, remember: now I am not their mother, I will cry tomorrow. " Medea leaves the stage, the choir sings in horror: “The ancestor sun and the highest Zeus! hold her hand, do not let the murder multiply by murder! ” Two baby moans are heard, and it's over.

Jason bursts in: “Where is she? on earth, in the underworld, in the sky? Let her be torn to pieces, I only need to save the children! ” “Late, Jason,” the choir tells him. The palace opens, Medea on the Sun Chariot with dead children in her arms above the palace. “You are a lioness, not a wife! - shouts Jason. “You are the demon with whom the gods struck me!” “Call me whatever you want, but I hurt your heart.” - “And your own!” “My pain is easy for me when I see yours.” “Your hand killed them!” “And before that, your sin.” “So let the gods execute you!” - "The gods do not hear the oath-criminals." Medea disappears, Jason calls in vain to Zeus. The choir ends the tragedy with the words:

“What you thought was true does not come true, / And the unexpected gods find ways - / This is what we experienced” ...