Penny Dreadfuls, 1912 · page 51 of 118
The Medea — page 51: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 35 of *Medea* This is a text page from what appears to be a dramatic adaptation of the classical *Medea* story. The page contains dialogue and a chorus section in verse form. Medea speaks bitterly to her departing husband, cursing him with suffering, while the Chorus that follows philosophizes extensively on the nature of love—describing it as both destructive ("falleth like a flood") and potentially gentle, before appealing to Cyprian (Venus) not to afflict them with love's poisonous arrows. The page number indicates this is part of a larger serialized work.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MEDEA | 35 For thee and for thy babes. But nothing good Can please thee. In sheer savageness of mood Thou drivest from thee every friend. Wherefore I warrant thee, thy pains shall be the more. [He goes slowly ax ty. MEDEA. Go: thou art weary for the new delight Thou wooest, so long tarrying out of sight Of her sweet chamber. Go, fulfil thy pride, O bridegroom! For it may be, such a bride Shall wait thee,— yea, God heareth me in this— As thine own heart shall sicken ere it kiss. CHORUS. Alas, the Love that falleth like a flood, Strong-winged and transitory: Why praise ye him? What beareth he of good To man, or glory? Yet Love there is that moves in gentleness, Heart-filling, sweetest of all powers that bless. Loose not on me, O Holder of man’s heart, Thy golden quiver, Nor steep in poison of desire the dart That heals not ever. The pent hate of the word that cavilleth, The strife that hath no fill, Where once was fondness; and the mad heart’s breath For strange love panting still: O Cyprian, cast me not on these; but sift, Keen-eyed, of love the good and evil gift. Eomichbooks.com