View:
By Scene
Chorus
Alas, alas! the deed is done, thy servant’s schemes have gone awry, my queen, and all is lost.
680
Alas, alas! the deed is done, thy servant’s schemes have gone awry, my queen, and all is lost.
680
Phaedra
Accursed woman! traitress to thy friends! How hast thou ruined me! May Zeus, my ancestor, smite thee with his fiery bolt and uproot thee from thy place.
Did I not foresee thy purpose, did I not bid thee keep silence on the very matter which is now my shame? But thou wouldst not be still; wherefore my fair name will not go with me to the tomb. But now I must another scheme devise. Yon youth, in the keenness of his fury,
685
will tell his father of my sin, and the aged Pittheus of my state, and fill the world with stories to my shame. Perdition seize thee and every meddling fool who by dishonest means would serve unwilling friends!
690
Accursed woman! traitress to thy friends! How hast thou ruined me! May Zeus, my ancestor, smite thee with his fiery bolt and uproot thee from thy place.
Did I not foresee thy purpose, did I not bid thee keep silence on the very matter which is now my shame? But thou wouldst not be still; wherefore my fair name will not go with me to the tomb. But now I must another scheme devise. Yon youth, in the keenness of his fury,
685
will tell his father of my sin, and the aged Pittheus of my state, and fill the world with stories to my shame. Perdition seize thee and every meddling fool who by dishonest means would serve unwilling friends!
690
Nurse
Mistress, thou may’st condemn the mischief I have done, for sorrow’s sting o’ermasters thy judgment; yet can I answer thee in face of this, if thou wilt hear. ’Twas I who nurtured thee; I love thee still; but in my search for medicine to cure thy sickness I found what least I sought.
695
Had I but succeeded, I had been counted wise, for the credit we get for wisdom is measured by our success.
700
Mistress, thou may’st condemn the mischief I have done, for sorrow’s sting o’ermasters thy judgment; yet can I answer thee in face of this, if thou wilt hear. ’Twas I who nurtured thee; I love thee still; but in my search for medicine to cure thy sickness I found what least I sought.
695
Had I but succeeded, I had been counted wise, for the credit we get for wisdom is measured by our success.
700
Phaedra
Is it just, is it any satisfaction to me, that thou shouldst wound me first, then bandy
1
words with me?
Is it just, is it any satisfaction to me, that thou shouldst wound me first, then bandy
1
words with me?
Nurse
We dwell on this too long; I was not wise, I own;
but there are yet ways of escape from the trouble, my child.
705
We dwell on this too long; I was not wise, I own;
but there are yet ways of escape from the trouble, my child.
705
Phaedra
Be dumb henceforth; evil was thy first advice to me, evil too thy attempted scheme. Begone and leave me, look to thyself; I will my own fortunes for the best arrange.
(Exit Nurse).
Ye noble daughters of Troezen, grant me the only boon I crave; in silence bury what ye here have heard.
710
Be dumb henceforth; evil was thy first advice to me, evil too thy attempted scheme. Begone and leave me, look to thyself; I will my own fortunes for the best arrange.
(Exit Nurse).
Ye noble daughters of Troezen, grant me the only boon I crave; in silence bury what ye here have heard.
710
Chorus
By majestic Artemis, child of Zeus, I swear I will never divulge aught of thy sorrows.
By majestic Artemis, child of Zeus, I swear I will never divulge aught of thy sorrows.
Phaedra
’Tis well. But I, with all my thought,
2
can but one way discover out of this calamity, that so I may secure my children’s honour, and find myself some help as matters stand. For never, never will I bring shame upon my Cretan home,
715
nor will I, to save one poor life, face Theseus after my disgrace.
720
’Tis well. But I, with all my thought,
2
can but one way discover out of this calamity, that so I may secure my children’s honour, and find myself some help as matters stand. For never, never will I bring shame upon my Cretan home,
715
nor will I, to save one poor life, face Theseus after my disgrace.
720
Chorus
Art thou bent then on some cureless woe?
Art thou bent then on some cureless woe?
Phaedra
On death; the means thereto must I devise myself.
On death; the means thereto must I devise myself.
Chorus
Hush!
Hush!
Phaedra
Do thou at least advise me well.
For this very day shall I gladden Cypris, my destroyer, by yielding up my life, and shall own myself vanquished by cruel love. Yet shall my dying be another’s curse, that he may learn not to exult at my misfortunes;
725
but when he comes to share the self-same plague with me, he will take a lesson in wisdom.
730
Do thou at least advise me well.
For this very day shall I gladden Cypris, my destroyer, by yielding up my life, and shall own myself vanquished by cruel love. Yet shall my dying be another’s curse, that he may learn not to exult at my misfortunes;
725
but when he comes to share the self-same plague with me, he will take a lesson in wisdom.
730
Hippolytus. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.