Bereczky Erzsébet (szerk.): Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man. Essays about the ideas and the directing of the Drama (Budapest, 1985)
Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man - full text of the drama - Translated by Joseph Grosz
FIFTH SCENE (Athens. The Public Square with a rostrum in the center. In the foreground, on one side, an open temple-hall with statues of gods, garlands of flowers and an altar. Eve, as Lucia the wife of Miltiades, enters with her son, Kimon. Accompanied by maidens who carry sacrificial objects, she is on her way into the temple. Ragged people linger on the square. A dazzling morning.) EVE Come here, my darling, come with me, my son! There is the harbor where your father sailed To battle far away, on distant shores. Barbarians live there; audaciously They threaten the freedom of our fatherland. Let us now pray, my son! Let us now pray That heaven shall protect our country’s right And bring your valiant father home again. KIMON Why did my father sail so far away? While he protects these ragged cowards’ lives, Great worries pine his pretty wife at home. EVE Oh, do not judge your noble father, son, The curse ©f gads might fall @n such a child! Only a loving wife can have the right To wail about her husband’s every act Which brings disgrace if it is not performed. He acted as a noble man should act. KIMON Are you afraid that they will vanquish him? 167
