On leaving the stage he tells the Chorus, who, of course, have heard the real story, to keep what they know to themselves. If they let his wife into the secret they shall surely die; and, inasmuch as they are Athenian women, Xuthus has the right to threaten, as well as the means to keep his promise. For one who has seen so much of the world, it argues much simplicity in Xuthus to have imagined that even the fear of death will insure silence in some people. Creusa is very soon made aware by her female attendants of her husband's scheme for deceiving her, and she behaves exactly as he had foreseen she would. She re-enters, accompanied by an aged servant of her house: when the Chorus enlighten her on every point except one—the name of Ion's mother; and "the venerable man" is exactly the instrument needed by an indignant woman, for
"It is the curse of kings to be attended
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life." [1]
"We," says the prompter of evil, "by thy husband are betrayed." This comes of unequal marriages. Of him we know as little as of his new-found bantling:—
"Xuthus
Came to the city and thy royal house,
And wedded thee, all thy inheritance
Receiving. By some other woman now
Discovered to have children privately—
- ↑ "King John," act iv. sc. 2.
