HIPP. My tongue hath sworn--my mind is still unsworn.[17]
NUR. O my son, what wilt thou do? wilt thou destroy thy friends?

HIPP. _Friends!_ I reject the word: no unjust person is my friend.

NUR. Pardon, my child: that men should err is but to be expected.

HIPP. O Jove, wherefore in the name of heaven didst thou place in the light
of the sun that specious[18] evil to men, women? for if thou didst will to
propagate the race of mortals, there was no necessity for this to be done
by women, but men might, having placed an equivalent in thy temples, either
in brass, or iron, or the weighty gold, buy a race of children, each for
the consideration of the value paid, and thus might dwell in unmolested
houses, without females. But now, first of all, when we prepare to bring
this evil to our homes, we squander away the wealth of our houses. By this
too it is evident, that woman is a great evil; for the father, who begat
her and brought her up, having given her a dowry sends her away in order to
be rid of the evil. But the husband, on the other hand, when he has
received the baneful evil[19] into his house, rejoices, having added a
beautiful decoration to a most vile image, and tricks her out with robes,
unhappy man, while he has been insensibly minishing the wealth of the
family. But he is constrained; so that having made alliance with noble
kinsmen, he retains with [seeming] joy a marriage bitter to him: or if he
has received a good bride, but worthless parents in law, he suppresses the
evil that has befallen him by the consideration of the good. But his state
is the easiest, whose wife is settled in his house, a cipher, but useless
by reason of simplicity. But a wise woman I detest: may there not be in my
house at least a woman more highly gifted with mind than woman ought to be.
For Venus engenders mischief rather among clever women, but a woman who is
not endowed with capacity, by reason of her small understanding, is removed
from folly. But it is right that an attendant should have no access to a
woman, but with them ought to dwell the speechless brute beasts, in which
case they would be able neither to address any one, nor from them to
receive a voice in return. But now, they that are evil follow after their
evil devices within, and the servants carry it forth abroad. As thou also
hast, O evil woman, come to the purpose of admitting me to share a bed
which must not be approached--a father's. Which impious things I will wash
out with flowing stream, pouring it into my ears: how then could I be the
vile one, who do not even deem myself pure, because I have heard such
things?--But be well assured, my piety protects thee, woman, for, had I not
been taken unawares by the oaths of the Gods, never would I have refrained
from telling these things to my father. But now will I depart from the
house, _and stay_ during the time that Theseus is absent from the land, and
will keep my mouth silent; but I will see, returning with my father's
return, how you will look at him, both you and your mistress. But your
boldness I shall know, having before had proof of it. May you perish: but
never shall I take my fill of hating women, not even if any one assert,
that I am always saying this. For in some way or other they surely are
always bad. Either then let some one teach them to be modest, or else let
him suffer me ever to utter my invectives against them.

CHORUS, PHÆDRA, NURSE.

CHOR. Oh unhappy ill-fated fortune of women! what art now or what words
have we, having failed as we have, to extricate the knot caused by [these]
words?

PHÆ. We have met a just reward; O earth, and light, in what manner, I pray,
can I escape from my fortunes? and how, my friends, can I conceal my
calamity? Who of the Gods will appear my succorer, or what mortal my ally,
or my fellow-worker in unjust works? for the suffering of my life that is
at present on me comes hardly to be escaped.[20] I am the most ill-fated of
women.

CHOR. Alas! alas! we are undone, lady, and the arts of thy attendant have
not succeeded, and it fares ill with us.

PHÆ. O thou most vile, and the destruction of thy friends, what hast thou
done to me! May Jove, my ancestor, tear thee up by the roots, having
stricken thee by his fire. Did not I tell thee (did not I foresee thy
intention?) to be silent with regard to those things with which I am now
tormented? but thou couldst not refrain; wherefore I can no longer die with
glory: but I must now in sooth employ new measures. For he, now that his
mind is made keen with rage, will tell, to my detriment, thy errors to his
father, and will fill the whole earth with the most vile reports. Mayst
thou perish, both thou and whoever else is forward to assist friends
against their will otherwise than by honorable means.

NUR. Lady, thou canst indeed blame the evil I have wrought; for that which
gnaws upon thee masters thy better judgment;--but I too have somewhat to
say in answer to these things, if thou wilt admit it: I brought thee up,
and have a kind affection toward thee; but, while searching for medicine
for thy disease, I found not that I wished for. But if I had succeeded, I
had been surely ranked among the wise; for we have the reputation of sense
according to our success.

PHÆ. What? is this conduct just, and satisfactory to me, to injure me
first, and then to meet me in argument?

NUR. We talk too long--I did not behave wisely. But even from this state of
things it is possible that thou mayest be saved, my child.

PHÆ. Desist from speaking; for before also thou didst not well advise for
me, and didst attempt evil things. But depart from my sight, and take care
about thyself; for I will settle my own affairs in an honorable manner. But
you, noble daughters of Troezene, grant thus much to me requesting it, bury
in silence what you here have heard.

CHOR. I swear by hallowed Dian, daughter of Jove, that I will never reveal
to the face of day one of thy evils.

PHÆ. Thou hast well spoken: but one kind of resource, while I search around
me,[21] do I find for my present calamity, so that I may make the life of
my children glorious, and may myself be assisted as things have now fallen
out. For never will I disgrace the house of Crete at least, nor will I come
before the face of Theseus having acted basely, for one's life's sake.

CHOR. But what irremediable evil art thou then about to perpetrate?

PHÆ. To die: but how, this will I devise.

CHOR. Speak words of better omen.

PHÆ. And do thou at least advise me well. But having quitted life this day,
I shall gratify Venus, who destroys me, and shall be conquered by bitter
love. But when I am dead, I shall be an evil to another at least,[22] so
that he may know not to exult over my misfortunes; but, having shared this
malady in common with me, he shall learn to be modest.

CHOR. Would that I were under the rocks' vast retreats,[23] and that there
the God would make me a winged bird among the swift flocks, and that I were
lifted up above the ocean wave that dashes against the Adriatic shore, and
the water of Eridanus, where for grief of Phaethon the thrice wretched
virgins let fall into their father's billow the amber-beaming brightness of
their tears: and that I could make my way to the shore where the apples
grow of the harmonious daughters of Hesperus, where the ruler of the ocean
no longer permits the passage of the purple sea to mariners, dwelling in
that dread bourn of heaven which Atlas doth sustain, and the ambrosial
founts stream forth hard by the couches of Jove's palaces, where the divine
and life-bestowing earth increases the bliss of the Gods. O white-winged
bark of Crete, who didst bear my queen through the perturbed[24] ocean wave
of brine from a happy home, thereby aiding her in a most evil marriage. For
surely in both instances, or at any rate from Crete she came ill-omened to
renowned Athens, when on the Munychian shore they bound the platted ends of
their cables, and disembarked on the continent. Wherefore she was
heartbroken with the terrible disease of unhallowed love by the influence
of Venus; and now that she can no longer hold out against the heavy
calamity,[25] she will fit around her the noose suspended[26] from the
ceiling of her bridal chamber, adjusting it to her white neck, having
revered the hateful Goddess, and embracing an honorable name, and ridding
from her breast the painful love.

FEMALE SERVANT, CHORUS, THESEUS.

SERV. Alack! alack! run to my succor all that are near the house--My
mistress the wife of Theseus is hanging.

CHOR. Alas! alas! the deed is done: the queen is indeed no more--she is
suspended in the noose that hangs there.

SERV. Will ye not haste? will not some one bring a two-edged sword, with
which we may undo this knot around her neck?

SEMICHOR. My friends, what do we? does it seem good to enter the house and
to free the queen from the tight-drawn noose?

SEMICHOR. Why we? Are not the young men-servants at hand? The being
over-busy is not a safe plan through life.

SERV. Lay right the wretched corpse, pull her limbs straight. A grievous
housekeeping this for my master!

CHOR. The unhappy woman, as I hear, has perished, for already are they
laying her out as a corpse.

THES. Know ye, females, what noise this is in my house? a heavy sound of my
attendants reached me. For the family does not think fit to open the gates
to me and to hail me with joy as having returned from the oracle. Has any
ill befallen the aged Pittheus? His life is now indeed far advanced; but
still he would be much lamented by us, were he to leave this house.

CHOR. This that has happened, Theseus, extends not to the old; the young
are they that by their death will grieve thee.

THES. Alas me! is the life of any of my children stolen from me?

CHOR. They live, but their mother is dead in a way that will grieve thee
most.

THES. What sayest? My wife dead? By what fate?

CHOR. She suspended the noose, wherewith she strangled herself.

THES. Wasted with sorrow, or from some sudden calamity?

CHOR. Thus much we know--_nothing further_; for I am but just come to thy
house, Theseus, to bewail thy evils.

THES. Alas! alas! why then have I my head crowned with entwined leaves, who
am the unhappy inquirer of the oracle? Servants, undo the bars of the
gates; unloose the bolts, that I may behold the mournful spectacle of my
wife, who by her death hath utterly undone me.

CHOR. Alas! alas! unhappy for thy wretched ills: thou hast been a sufferer;
thou hast perpetrated a deed of such extent as to throw this house into
utter confusion. Alas! alas! thy boldness, O thou who hast died a violent
death, and, by an unhallowed chance, the act committed by thy wretched
hand. Who is it then, thou unhappy one, that destroys thy life?

THES. Alas me for my sufferings![27] I have suffered, unhappy wretch, the
extreme of my troubles--O fortune, how heavy hast thou come upon me and my
house, an imperceptible spot from some evil demon! the wearing out of a
life not to be endured;[28] and I, unhappy wretch, perceive a sea of
troubles so great, that never again can I emerge from it, nor escape beyond
the flood of this calamity. What mention making can I unhappy, what
heavy-fated fortune of thine, lady, saying that it was, can I be right? For
as some bird thou art vanished from my hand, having leaped me a sudden leap
to the realms of Pluto. Alas! alas! wretched, wretched are these
sufferings, but from some distant period or other receive I this calamity
from the Gods, for the errors of some of those of old.

CHOR. Not to thee alone, O king, have these evils happened; but with many
others thou hast lost an excellent wife.[29]

THES. In the shades beneath the earth, I unhappy wish, dying, to dwell in
darkness, reft as I am of thy most dear company, for thou hast destroyed
rather than perished--What then do I hear? whence came the deadly chance,
lady, to thine heart? Will any speak what has happened, or does my royal
palace contain to no purpose the crowd of my attendants?--Alas me on thy
account! unhappy that I am, what grief in my house have I seen,
intolerable, indescribable! but--we are undone! my house left desolate, and
my children orphans.

CHOR. Thou hast left us, thou hast left us, O dear among women, and most
excellent of those as many as both the light of the sun, and the
star-visaged moon of night behold. O unhappy man! how great ill doth the
house contain! with tears gushing over, my eyelids are wet at thy calamity.
But the woe that will ensue on this I have long since been dreading.

THES. Alas! alas! What I pray is this letter suspended from her dear hand?
does it mean to betoken some new calamity?--What, has the unhappy woman
written injunctions to me, making some request about[30] my bridal bed and
my children? Be of good courage, hapless one; for no woman exists, who
shall enter the bed and the house of Theseus. But lo! the impressions of
the golden seal[31] of her no more here court my attention.[32] Come, let
me unfold the envelopments of the seal, and see what this letter should say
to me.

CHOR. Alas! alas! this new evil in succession again doth the God bring on.
To me indeed the condition of life will be impossible to bear,[33] from
what has happened; for I consider, alas! as ruined and no more the house of
my kings. O God, if it be in any way possible, do not overthrow the house;
but hear me as I pray, for from some quarter, as though a prophet, I behold
an evil omen.

THES. Ah me! what other evil is this in addition to evil, not to be borne,
nor spoken! alas wretched me!

CHOR. What is the matter? Tell me if it may be told me.

THES. It cries out--the letter cries out things most dreadful: which way
can I fly the weight of my ills; for I perish utterly destroyed. What, what
a complaint have I seen speaking in her writing!

CHOR. Alas! thou utterest words foreboding woes.

THES. No longer will I keep within the door of my lips this dreadful,
dreadful evil hardly to be uttered. O city, city, Hippolytus has dared by
force to approach my bed, having despised the awful eye of Jove. But O
father Neptune, by one of these three curses, which thou formerly didst
promise me, by one of those destroy my son, and let him not escape beyond
this day, if thou hast given me curses that shall be verified.

CHOR. O king, by the Gods recall back this prayer, for hereafter you will
know that you have erred; be persuaded by me.

THES. It can not be: and moreover I will drive him from this land. And by
one or other of the two fates shall he be assailed: for either Neptune
shall send him dead to the mansions of Pluto, having respect unto my wish;
or else banished from this country, wandering over a foreign land, he shall
drag out a miserable existence.

CHOR. And lo! thy son Hippolytus is present here opportunely, but if thou
let go thy evil displeasure, king Theseus, thou wilt advise the best for
thine house.

HIPPOLYTUS, THESEUS, CHORUS.

HIPP. I heard thy cry, my father, and came in haste; the thing however, for
which you are groaning, I know not; but would fain hear from you. Ha! what
is the matter? I behold thy wife, my father, a corpse: this is a thing meet
for the greatest wonder.--Her, whom I lately left, her, who beheld the
light no great time since. What ails her? In what manner died she, my
father, I would fain hear from you. Art silent? But there is no use of
silence in misfortunes; for the heart which desires to hear all things, is
found eager also in the case of ills. It is not indeed right, my father, to
conceal thy misfortunes from friends, and even more than friends.

THES. O men, who vainly go astray in many things, why then do ye teach ten
thousand arts, and contrive and invent every thing; but one thing ye do not
know, nor yet have investigated, to teach those to be wise who have no
intellect!

HIPP. A clever sophist this you speak of, who is able to compel those who
have no wisdom to be rightly wise. But (for thou art arguing too refinedly
on no suitable occasion) I fear, O father, lest thy tongue be talking at
random through thy woes.

THES. Alas! there ought to be established for men some infallible proof of
their friends, and some means of knowing their dispositions, both who is
true, and who is not a friend, and men ought all to have two voices, the
one true, the other as it chanced, that the untrue one might be convicted
by the true, and then we should not be deceived.

HIPP. Has some one then falsely accused me in your ear, and am I suffering
who am not at all guilty? I am amazed, for your words, wandering beyond the
bounds of reason, do amaze me.

THES. Alas! the mind of man, to what lengths will it go? what will be the
limit to its boldness and temerity? For if it shall increase with each
generation of man, and the successor shall be wicked a degree beyond his
predecessor, it will be necessary for the Gods to add to the earth another
land, which[34] will contain the unjust and the evil ones.--But look: ye on
this man, who being born of me hath defiled my bed, and is manifestly
convicted by the deceased of being most base.--But, since thou hast come to
this attaint, show thy face here before thy father. Dost thou forsooth
associate with the Gods, as being an extraordinary person? art thou chaste
and uncontaminated with evil? I will not believe thy boasts, attributing
(_as I must, if I do believe_) to the Gods the folly of thinking evil. Now
then vaunt, and with thy feeding on inanimate food retail your doctrines
upon men, and having Orpheus[35] for your master, revel it, reverencing the
emptiness of many letters; _which avail you not_; since you are caught.

But such sort of men I warn all to shun; for they hunt with fair-sounding
words, while they devise base things. She is dead: dost thou think this
will save thee? By this thou art most detected, O thou most vile one! For
what sort of oaths, what arguments can be more strong than what she says,
so that thou canst escape the accusation? Wilt thou say that she hated
thee, and that the bastard race is hateful forsooth to those of noble
birth? A bad housewife then of life you account her, if through hatred of
thee she lost what was most dear to her. But wilt thou say that there is
not this folly in men, but that there is in women? I myself have known
young men who were not a whit more steady than women, when Venus disturbed
the youthful mind: but their pretense of manliness protects them. Now
however, why do I thus contend against thy words, when the corse, the
surest witness, is here? Depart an exile from this land as soon as
possible. And neither go to the divine-built Athens, nor to the confines of
that land over which my sceptre rules. For if I thus suffering by thee be
vanquished, never will the Isthmian Sinis bear witness of me that I killed
him, but will say that I vainly boast. Nor will the Scironian rocks, that
dwell by the sea, confess that I am formidable to the bad.

CHOR. I know not how I can say that any of mortals is happy; for the things
that were most excellent are turned back again.

HIPP. Father, thy rage indeed, and the commotion of thy mind is terrible;
this thing, however, though it have fair arguments, if any one unravel it,
is not fair. But I am unadorned with phrase to speak to the multitude, but
to speak to my equals and to a few, more expert: but this also has
consistency in it; for those, who are of no account among the wise, are
more fitted to speak before the rabble. But yet it is necessary for me,
since this calamity has come, to unloose my tongue. But first will I begin
to speak from that point where first you attacked, as though you would
destroy, and as though I should not answer again. Dost thou behold this
light and this earth? In these there is not a man more chaste than me, not
even though thou deny it. For, first indeed, I know to reverence the Gods,
and to have such friends as attempt not to be unjust, but those, to whom
there is modesty, so that neither they give utterance to evil thoughts, nor
minister in return base services to those who use their friendship: nor am
I the derider of my associates, O father, but the same man to my friends
when they are not present, and when I am with them. But of one thing by
which thou thinkest to crush me, I am pure;[36] for to this day my body is
undefiled by the couch of love; and I know not the deed except hearing of
it by report, and seeing it in a picture, nor even am I forward to look at
these things, having a virgin mind. And perhaps my modesty persuades you
not. Behooves it thee then to show in what manner I lost it. Did this
woman's person excel in beauty all women? Or did I hope to rule over thine
house, having thy bridal bed as carrying dowry with it? I must in that case
have been a fool, and not at all in my senses. But did I do it as though to
reign were pleasant to the modest? By no means indeed is it, except
monarchy have destroyed the minds of men who are pleased with her. But I
would wish indeed to be first victor in the Grecian games, but second in
the state ever to be happy with the most excellent friends. For thus is it
possible to be well circumstanced: but the absence of the danger gives
greater joy than dominion. One of my arguments has not been spoken, but the
rest you are in possession of: for, if I had a witness such as myself am,
and were she alive during my contention, you would know the evil ones,
searching them by their works. But now I swear by Jove, the guardian of
oaths,[37] and by the plain of the earth, that never touched I thy bridal
bed, nor ever wished it, nor conceived the thought. Else may I perish
inglorious, without a name, and may neither sea nor earth receive the flesh
of me when dead, if I be a wicked man. But whether or no she have destroyed
her life through fear, I know not: for it is not lawful for me to speak
further. Cautious[38] she was, though she could not be chaste; but I, who
could be, had the power to no good purpose.

CHOR. Thou hast said sufficient to rebut the charge, in offering the oaths
by the Gods, no slight proof.

THES. Is not this man then an enchanter and a juggler, who trusts that he
will overcome my mind by his goodness of disposition, after he has
dishonored his father?

HIPP. I too very much wonder at this conduct of yours, my father; for if
you were my son, and I your father, I should slay you, and not punish you
by banishment, if you had dared to defile my wife.

THES. How fitly hast thou said this! yet thou shalt not so die, as thou
hast laid down this law for thyself; for a quick grave is easiest to the
miserable man; but wandering an exile from thy country's land to foreign
realms, thou shalt drag out a life of bitterness; for this is the reward
for the impious man.

HIPP. Ah me! what wilt thou do? wilt thou not even await time as evidence
against me, but wilt thou banish me from the land?

THES. Ay, beyond the ocean, and the place of Atlas,[39] if any way I could,
so much do I hate thee.

HIPP. Without having even examined oath, or proof, or the sayings of the
seers, wilt thou cast me uncondemned from out the land?

THES. This letter here, that waiteth no seer's observations,[40] accuses
thee faithfully; but to the birds that flit above my head I bid a long
farewell.

HIPP. O Gods, wherefore then do I not ope my mouth, who am destroyed by you
whom I worship?--And yet not so--for thus I should not altogether persuade
those whom I ought, but should be violating to no purpose the oaths which I
have sworn.

THES. Alas me! how thy sanctity kills me! Wilt not thou go as quick as
possible from thy country's land?

HIPP. Whither then shall I unhappy turn me; what stranger's mansion shall I
enter, banished on this charge?

THES. His, who delights to entertain defilers of women, and those who dwell
with[41] evil deeds.

HIPP. Alas! alas! this goes to my heart, and almost makes me weep: if
indeed I appear vile, and seem so to thee.

THES. Then oughtest thou to have groaned, and owned the guilt before, when
thou daredst to wrong thy father's wife.

HIPP. O mansions, would that ye could utter me a voice, and bear witness
whether I be a vile man!

THES. Dost fly to dumb witnesses? this deed, though it speak not, clearly
proves thee vile.

HIPP. Alas! would that I could look upon myself standing opposite, to that
degree do I weep for the evils which I suffer!

THES. Thou hast accustomed thyself much more to regard thyself, than to be
a just man, and to do what is righteous to thy parents.

HIPP. O unhappy mother! O wretched natal hour! may none of my friends ever
be illegitimate.

THES. Servants, will ye not drag him out? did you not hear me long ago
pronounce him banished!

HIPP. Any one of them shall touch me to his cost however; but thou thyself,
if it be thy desire, thrust me out from the land.

THES. I will do this, unless thou wilt obey my words, for no pity for thy
banishment comes over me.

HIPP. It is fixed, as it seems; alas, wretch that I am! since I know these
things indeed, but know not how to say them. O most dear to me of deities,
daughter of Latona, thou that assortest with me, huntest with me, we shall
then indeed be banished illustrious Athens: but farewell O city, and land
of Erectheus. O plain of Troezene, how many things hast thou to employ the
happy youth! Farewell! for I address thee, beholding thee for the last
time--Come youths of this land my companions, bid me farewell, and conduct
me from the land, for never shall you see a man more chaste, even though I
seem not to my father.

CHORUS.

Surely the providence of the Gods, when it comes into my mind, greatly
takes away sorrow: but cherishing in my hope some knowledge, I am utterly
deficient, when I look on the fortunes and on the deeds of men, for they
are changed in different manners, and the life of man varies, ever
exceeding vague. Would that in answer to my petitions fate from the Gods
would give me this, prosperity with riches, and a mind unsullied by griefs.
And be my character neither too high, nor on the other hand infamous. But
changing my easy habits with the morrow ever may I lead a happy life; for
no longer have I an unperturbed mind, but I see things contrary to my
expectations: since we have seen the brightest star of Grecian Minerva sent
forth to another land on account of his father's rage. O sands of the
neighboring shore, and mountain wood, where with the swift-footed dogs he
wont to slay the wild beasts, accompanying the chaste Dian! No more shalt
thou mount the car drawn by the team of Henetian steeds, restraining with
thy foot the horses in their exercise on the course round Limna.[42] And
the sleepless song that used to dwell under the bridge of the chords shall
cease in thy father's house. And the haunts of the daughter of Latona in
the deep wood shall be without their garlands: and the contest among the
damsels for thy bridal bed has died away by reason of thy exile. But I, for
thy misfortunes, shall endure with tears a fortuneless fortune.[43] O
unhappy mother, thou hast brought forth in vain! Alas! I am enraged with
the Gods. Alas! alas! united charms of marriage, wherefore send ye the
unhappy one, guilty of no crime, away from his country's land--away from
these mansions?

But lo! I perceive a follower of Hippolytus with a sad countenance coming
toward the house in haste.

MESSENGER, CHORUS.

MESS. Ye females, whither going can I find Theseus, king of this land? If
ye know, tell me: is he within this palace?

CHOR. The [king] himself is coming out of the palace.

MESSENGER, THESEUS, CHORUS.

MESS. I bring a tale that demands concern, of thee and of thy subjects,
both those who inhabit the city of the Athenians, and the realms of the
Troezenian land.

THES. What is it? Has any sudden calamity come upon the two neighboring
states?

MESS. To speak the word--Hippolytus is no more. He views the light however
for a short moment.

THES. _Killed_? By whom? Has any come to enmity with him, whose wife, as
his father's, he has forcibly defiled?

MESS. His own chariot slew him, and the imprecations of thy mouth, which
thou didst put up to thy father, the ruler of the ocean, concerning thy
son.

THES. O ye Gods! and O Neptune! how truly then wert thou my father, when
thou didst duly hear my imprecations! Tell me too, how did he perish? in
what way did the staff of Justice strike him that disgraced me?

MESS. We indeed near the wave-beaten shore were combing out with combs the
horses' hair, weeping, for there had come a messenger saying, that
Hippolytus no longer trod on this land, having from thee received the
sentence of wretched banishment. But he came bringing to us on the shore
the same strain of tears: and an innumerable throng of his friends and
companions came following with him. But at length after some time he spake,
having ceased from his groans. "Wherefore am I thus disquieted? My father's
words must be obeyed. My servants, yoke to my car the harnessed steeds, for
this city is for me no more." Then indeed every man hasted, and sooner than
one could speak we drew up the horses caparisoned before our master; and he
seizes with his hands the reins from off the bow of the chariot, mounting
with his foot sandaled as it was.[44] And first indeed he addressed the
Gods with outstretched hands: "Jove, may I no longer exist, if I am a base
man; but may my father perceive how unworthily he treats me, either when I
am dead, or while I view the light." And on this having taken the whip in
his hands he struck the horses both at once: and we the attendants followed
our master by the chariot close to the reins, along the road that leads
straightway to Argos and Epidauria, but when we came into the desert
country, there is a certain shore beyond this land which slopes even down
to the Saronic Sea, from thence a voice like the subterraneous thunder of
Jove sent forth a dreadful groan appalling to hear, and the horses pointed
their heads erect and their ears toward the sky, and on us there came a
vehement fear, whence possibly the voice could come: but looking toward the
sea-beaten shore we beheld a vast wave pillared in heaven, so that the view
of the heights of Sciron was taken from mine eye:[45] and it concealed the
Isthmus and the rock of Æsculapius. And then swelling up and splashing
forth[46] much foam around in the ocean surf, it moves toward the shore,
where was the chariot drawn by its four horses. But together with its
breaker and its tripled surge,[47] the wave sent forth a bull, a fierce
monster; with whose bellowing the whole land filled resounded fearfully:
and to the lookers-on a sight appeared more dreadful than the eyes could
bear. And straightway a dreadful fear comes over the steeds. But their
master, being much conversant with the ways of horses, seized the reins in
his hands, and pulls them as a sailor pulls his oar, having fixed his body
in an opposite direction to the reins.[48] But they, champing with their
jaws the forged bits, bare him on forcibly, heeding neither the hand that
steered them, nor the traces, nor the compact chariot: and, if indeed
holding the reins he directed their course toward the softer ground, the
bull appeared in front, so as to turn them away maddening with fright the
four horses that drew the chariot. But if they were borne to the rocks
maddened in mettle, silently approaching the chariot he followed so far,
until he overthrew it and drove it backward, dashing the felly of the wheel
against the rock. And all was in confusion, and the naves of the wheels
flew up, and the linch-pins of the axles. But the unhappy man himself
entangled in the reins is dragged along, bound in a difficult bond, his
head dashed against the rocks, and torn his flesh, and crying out in a
voice dreadful to hear, "Stop, O ye that have been trained up in my stalls,
do not destroy me. Oh unhappy imprecation of my father! Who will come near
and save a most excellent man?" But many of us wishing so to do failed
through want of swiftness: and he indeed freed, in what manner I know not,
from the entanglements of the reins, falls, having the breath of life in
him, but for a very short time. And the horses vanished, and the woeful
monster of the bull I know not where in the mountain country. I am indeed
the slave of thy house, O king, but thus much never shall I at least be
able to be persuaded of thy son, that he is evil, not even if the whole
race of women were hung, and though one should fill with writing all the
fir of Ida,[49] since I am confident that he is virtuous.

CHOR. Alas! alas! The calamity of new evils is consummated, nor is there
refuge from fate and from what must be.

THES. Through hate of the man, who has thus suffered, I was pleased with
this account; but now, having respect unto the Gods, and to him, because he
is of me, I am neither pleased, nor yet troubled at these ills.

MESS. How then? Must we bring him hither, or what must we do to the unhappy
man to gratify thy wishes! Think; but if thou take my advice, thou wilt not
be harsh toward thy son in his misfortunes.

THES. Bear him hither, that seeing him before my eyes that denied he had
defiled my bed, I may confute him with words, and with what has happened
from the Gods.

CHOR. Thou, Venus, bendest the stubborn mind of the Gods, and of mortals,
and with thee he of varied plume, that darts about on swiftest wing; and
flies over the earth and over the loud-resounding briny ocean; and Love
charms to subjection, on whose maddened heart the winged urchin come
gleaming with gold, the race of the mountain whelps, and of those that
inhabit the sea, and as many things as the earth nourisheth, which the sun
doth behold scorched [with its rays,] and men: but over all these things
thou, Venus, alone holdest sovereign rule.

DIANA, THESEUS, CHORUS.

DI. Thee, the noble son of Ægeus, I command to listen; but it is I, Diana,
daughter of Latona, who am addressing thee: Theseus, wherefore dost thou,
wretched man, take delight in these things, seeing that thou hast slain in
no just way thy son, being persuaded by the lying words of thy wife in
things not seen? But the guilt that has seized on thee is manifest. How
canst thou, shamed as thou art, refrain from hiding thy body beneath the
dark recesses of the earth? or from withdrawing thy foot from this
suffering, by changing thy nature, and becoming a winged creature above?
Since among good men at least thou hast not a part in life to possess.
Hear, O Theseus, the state of thy ills. Even though I gain no advantage
from it, yet will I torment thee; but for this purpose came I to show thee
the upright mind of thy son, that he may die with a good reputation, and
thy wife's passion, or, in some sort, nobleness; for, gnawed by the stings
of that deity most hateful to us, as many as delight in virginity, she
became enamored of thy son. But while she endeavored by right feeling to
conquer Venus, she was destroyed not willingly by the means employed by the
nurse, who having first bound him by oaths, told thy son her malady. But
he, as was right, obeyed not her words; nor, again, though evil-entreated
by thee, did he violate the sanctity of his oaths, being a pious man. But
she, fearing lest her conduct should be scrutinized, wrote a false letter,
and by deceit destroyed thy son, but nevertheless persuaded thee.

THES. Ah me!

DI. My tale torments thee, Theseus, but be still, that having heard what
follows thou mayest groan the more--Knowest thou then that thou receivedst
from thy father three wishes with a certainty of their being granted?
Whereof one thou hast expended, O most evil one, on thy son, when thou
mightest have done it on some of thine enemies. Thy father then that
dwelleth in the ocean, gave thee as much as he was bound to give, because
he promised. But thou both in his eyes and in mine appearest evil, who
neither didst await nor examine proof, nor the voice of the prophets, didst
not leave the consideration to length of time, but, quicker than became
thee, didst vent thy curses against thy son and slay him.

THES. Mistress, let me die!

DI. Thou hast committed dreadful deeds, but nevertheless, it is still
possible even for thee to obtain pardon for these things. For Venus willed
that these things should be in order to satiate her rage. But among the
Gods the law is thus--None wishes to thwart the purpose of him that wills
anything, but we always give way. Since, be well assured, were it not that
I feared Jove, never should I have come to such disgrace, as to suffer to
die a man of all mortals the most dear to me. But thine error, first of all
thine ignorance frees from malice; and then thy wife by her dying put an
end to the proof of words, so as to persuade thy mind. Chiefly then on thee
these ills are burst, but sorrow is to me too; for Gods rejoice not when
the pious die; the wicked however we destroy with their children and their
houses.

CHOR. And lo! the unhappy man there is coming, all mangled his young flesh
and auburn head. Oh the misery of the house! such double anguish coming
down from heaven has been wrought in the palaces!

HIPPOLYTUS, DIANA, THESEUS, CHORUS.

HIPP. O! O! O! Unhappy I was thus foully mangled by the unjust prayers of
an unjust father--I am destroyed miserably. Ah me! ah me! Pains rush
through my head, and the spasm darts across my brain. Stop, I will rest my
fainting body. Oh! oh! O those hateful horses of my chariot, things which I
fed with my own hand, ye have destroyed me utterly and slain me. Oh! oh! by
the Gods, gently, my servants, touch with your hands my torn flesh. Who
stands by my side on the right? Lift me up properly, and take hold all
equally on me, the unblessed of heaven, and cursed by my father's
error--Jove, Jove, beholdest thou these things? Lo! I, the chaste, and the
reverencer of the Gods, I who in modesty exceed all, have lost my life, and
go to a manifest hell beneath the earth; but in vain have I labored in the
task of piety toward men. O! O! O! O! and now the pain, the pain comes upon
me, loose unhappy me, and let death come to be my physician. Destroy me,
destroy the unhappy one--I long for a two-edged blade, wherewith to cut me
in pieces, and to put my life to an eternal rest. Oh unhappy curse of my
father! the evil too of my blood-polluted kinsmen, my old forefathers,
bursts forth[50] upon me; nor is it at a distance; and it hath come on me,
wherefore, I pray, who am nothing guilty of these ills? Alas me! me! what