{"id":5,"date":"2020-07-23T13:20:27","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T17:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/phedre\/2020\/07\/23\/chapter-1\/"},"modified":"2020-07-23T16:38:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T20:38:31","slug":"chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/phedre\/chapter\/chapter-1\/","title":{"raw":"Act One","rendered":"Act One"},"content":{"raw":"

LIST OF CHARACTERS<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n \t
THESEUS, son of Aegeus, king of Athens.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
PHAEDRUS, wife of Theseus, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
HIPPOLYTE, son of Theseus, and Antiope, queen of the Amazons.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
ARICIA, princess of the royal blood of Athens.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
THERAMENE, governor of Hippolyte.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
\u0152NONE, nurse and confidante of Ph\u00e8dre.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
ISMENE, confidante of Aricie.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
PANOPE, wife of the suite of Ph\u00e8dre.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Guards<\/span><\/span>\u00a0.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n

The scene is in Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne, a town in the Peloponnese.<\/em><\/h3>\r\n
\r\n

ACT ONE<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n

<\/span>FIRST SCENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/span>HIPPOLYTE, THERAMENES.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
The plan is taken: I am leaving, dear Theramene,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And leave the stay of the amiable Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In the mortal doubt by which I am agitated,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I begin to blush at my idleness.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
For more than six months away from my father,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I do not know the fate of such a dear head;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I don't know until the places that can hide it.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
And in what places, lord, are you going to look for it?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Already to satisfy your just fear,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I have sailed the two seas that separate Corinth;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I asked Theseus to the peoples of these shores<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Where we see Acheron getting lost among the dead;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I visited Elis, and leaving Tenara,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Passed to the sea which saw Icarus fall:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
On what new hope, in what happy climates<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Do you think you are discovering his footsteps?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Who even knows, who knows if the king your father<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Want that of his absence we know the mystery?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And if, when with you we tremble for his days,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Quiet, and hiding from us new loves,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
This hero does not wait for an abused lover ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Dear Th\u00e9ram\u00e8ne, stop and respect Theseus.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
From his young mistakes now back,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
By an unworthy obstacle he is not held back;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And fixing his vows on the fatal inconstancy,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Ph\u00e8dre no longer fears a rival for a long time.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Finally, looking for him, I will follow my duty,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And I will flee these places, which I no longer dare to see.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hey!\u00a0since when, lord, do you fear the presence<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
From those peaceful places so dear to your childhood,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And whose stay I saw you prefer<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To the pompous tumult of Athens and the court?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What danger, or rather what grief chases you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
This happy time is over.\u00a0Everything has changed face,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Since on these shores the gods sent<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The daughter of Minos and Pasipha\u00e9.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
I hear: the cause of your pain is known to me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Phaedrus here grieves you, and hurts your sight.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Dangerous stepmother, she barely saw you,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
That your exile first signaled its credit.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But his hatred, on you once attached,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Either passed out, or relaxed.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And besides, what dangers can you run?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
A dying woman, and who seeks to die?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Ph\u00e8dre, afflicted with an illness that she persists in keeping silent,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Finally tired of herself and of the day that illuminates her,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Can she form some designs against you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
His vain enmity is not what I fear.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Hippolyte, on leaving, flees another enemy;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I flee, I will admit, this young Aricie,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Remains of a fatal blood conjured against us.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What!\u00a0yourself, lord, are you persecuting her?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Never the loving sister of the cruel Pallantides<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Did she dabble in the plots of her treacherous brothers?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And must you hate his innocent charms?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
If I hated her, I wouldn't run away from her.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Lord, am I allowed to explain your flight?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Could you no longer be this superb Hippolyte<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Implacable enemy of loving laws,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And of a yoke that Theseus suffered so many times?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Venus, by your pride so long despised,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Would she want to justify Theseus in the end?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And putting you in the ranks of the rest of the mortals,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Did she force you to incense her altars?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Would you like, lord?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>Friend, what dare you say?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You who know my heart since I breathe,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Feelings of a heart so proud, so disdainful,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Can you ask me for the shameful disavowal?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
It is little that with her milk an Amazon mother<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Made me suck again this pride which astonishes you;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In a more mature age I myself have come,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I applauded myself when I got to know myself.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Tied to me by sincere zeal,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You told me then the story of my father.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You know how much my soul, attentive to your voice,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Warmed up to tales of his noble exploits,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
When you portrayed me this fearless hero<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Comforting mortals for the absence of Alcide,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Monsters suffocated, and brigands punished,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Procruste, Cercyon, and Sciron, and Sinis,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And the scattered bones of the giant of Epidaurus,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And Crete smoking the blood of the Minotaur.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But when you recited less glorious facts,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
His faith offered everywhere, and received in a hundred places;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
H\u00e9l\u00e8ne to her parents in Stolen Sparta;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Salamis, witness to Peribea's tears;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
So many others, whose names even escaped him,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Too credulous minds that his flame has deceived!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Ariadne aux Rochers recounting her injustices;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Phaedrus finally removed under better auspices;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You know how, reluctantly listening to this speech,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I often urged you to shorten the course.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Happy if I could have stolen from memory<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
This unworthy half of such a beautiful story!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And I, in turn, would see myself bound!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And the gods until then would have humiliated me!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In my cowardly sighs all the more contemptible,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
That a long mass of honors makes Theseus excusable,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
That no monsters tamed by me until today,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Have not won me the right to fail like him!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Even though my pride might have softened,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Should I have chosen Aricie as the winner?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Would he no longer remember my lost senses<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Of the eternal obstacle that has separated us?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My father disapproves of her, and by severe laws,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
He forbids giving nephews to his brothers:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
With a guilty stalk he fears a shoot;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
He wants to bury their name with the sister;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And that, up to the tomb under his tutelage,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The hymen fires never light up for her.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Should I marry his rights against an angry father?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Shall I set an example for recklessness?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And in mad love my youth embarked ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ah, lord!\u00a0if your time is once marked,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The sky of our reasons does not know how to inform itself.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Theseus opens your eyes by wanting to close them;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And his hatred irritating a rebellious flame,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Lend his enemy new grace.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Finally with a chaste love why frighten you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
If it has any sweetness, don't you dare to try it?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Will you still believe a fierce scruple?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Are we afraid of getting lost in the footsteps of Hercules?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What courage has Venus not mastered?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Yourself, where would you be, you who fight her,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
If always Antiope to his laws opposite<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Would it not have burned with modest ardor for Theseus?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But what is the use of affecting a superb speech?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Admit it, everything is changing;\u00a0and in recent days,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
We see you less often, proud and wild,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Sometimes fly a tank on the shore,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Sometimes, learned in art by invented Neptune,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To make an untamed steed docile to the brake;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The forests of our cries resound less often;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Charged with a secret fire, your eyes grow heavy;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
There is no doubt about it, you love, you burn;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You perish from an evil that you conceal:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Did you like the charming Aricie?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Theramenes, I'm leaving, and I'm going to find my father.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Will you not see Ph\u00e8dre before you go?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Lord?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>This is my plan: you can tell him.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Let us see it, since thus my duty orders it to me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But what new misfortune troubles her dear Oenone?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n

<\/span>SCENE II.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/span>HIPPOLYTE, THERAMENE, OENONE.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Alas!\u00a0Lord, what trouble can mine be equal?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The queen is almost at her fatal end.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In vain to observe it day and night I attach myself;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
She dies in my arms from an illness that she hides from me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Eternal disorder reigns in his mind;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
His worried grief tears him from his bed:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
She wants to see the light of day: and her deep pain<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
However, orders me to remove everyone ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
She comes.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>It is enough: I leave it in these places,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And do not show him an odious face.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n

<\/span>SCENE III.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/span>PHAEDRUS, OENONE.<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Let's not go any further, let's stay, dear Oenone.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I no longer support myself;\u00a0my strength abandons me:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My eyes are dazzled by the day that I see again,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And my trembling knees buckle under me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Alas!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
(She sits down.)<\/span><\/i><\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>Almighty gods, may our tears appease you!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
How heavy these vain ornaments, how heavy these veils!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What a troublesome hand, forming all these knots,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Took care on my forehead to put my hair together?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Everything grieves me, harms me, and conspires to harm me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
How we see all his wishes destroying each other!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Yourself, condemning your unjust designs,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Sometimes to adorn you you excited our hands;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Yourself, recalling your original strength,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You wanted to show yourself and see the light again.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You see her, madame;\u00a0and, ready to hide,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You hate the day you came for!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Noble and brilliant author of a sad family,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You that my mother dared to boast of being a girl,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Who perhaps blushes at the confusion in which you see me,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Sun, I am coming to see you for the last time!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What!\u00a0you will not lose this cruel desire?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Will I still see you, giving up on life,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Make your death the disastrous preparations?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Gods !\u00a0why am I not sitting in the shade of the forests!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
When can I, through a noble dust,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Watching a fleeing tank in the quarry?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What, ma'am?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>Insane!\u00a0where am I ?\u00a0and what did I say?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Where do I let my vows and my mind stray?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I lost it: the gods have robbed me of its use.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Oenone, the redness covers my face:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I let you see too much my shameful pains;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And my eyes in spite of myself fill with tears.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ah!\u00a0if you have to blush, blush with silence<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Who of your evils still embittered violence.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Rebel to all our care, deaf to all our speeches,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Do you want to let your days end without mercy?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What fury limits them in the middle of their race?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What charm or what poison has dried up its source?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Shadows three times have darkened the skies<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Since sleep entered your eyes;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And the day has thrice chased the dark night<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Since your body languishes without food.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What dreadful design do you indulge in?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What right do you dare to attack yourself?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You offend the gods who are the authors of your life;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You betray the husband to whom faith binds you;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You finally betray your unhappy children,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
That you throw under a severe yoke.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Consider that the same day their mother will delight them<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And will restore hope to the stranger's son,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To this proud enemy of you, of your blood,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
This son that an Amazon carried in her side,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
This Hippolyte ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>\u00a0Ah!\u00a0gods !<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>Does this reproach affect you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Unhappy!\u00a0what a name came out of your mouth!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Well !\u00a0your anger bursts with reason:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I love to see you shudder at this fatal name.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Live then: may love and duty excite you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Live;\u00a0do not suffer that the son of a Scythian<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Overwhelming your children with a hateful empire,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Order from the most beautiful blood of Greece and the gods.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But do not differ;\u00a0every moment kills you:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Quickly repair your broken strength,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
While your days ready to be consumed<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The torch still lasts and can be rekindled.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
I have prolonged its culpable duration too much.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What!\u00a0are you torn from some remorse?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
What crime could have produced such pressing trouble?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Your hands haven't soaked in innocent blood?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Thanks be to heaven, my hands are not criminal.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Would to the gods that my heart were innocent like them!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
And what awful project have you given birth to<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Whose heart still must be terrified?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
I've told you enough: spare me the rest.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I am dying, so as not to make such a fatal confession.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Die therefore, and keep an inhuman silence;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But to close your eyes seek another hand.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Although you have barely a dim light left,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My soul among the dead will descend first;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
A thousand open paths always lead there,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And my just pain will choose the shorter ones.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Cruel!\u00a0when did my faith disappoint you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Do you think that when I was born my arms received you?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My country, my children, I left everything for you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Did you reserve this price for my loyalty?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What fruit do you hope for from so much violence?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You will shudder with horror if I break the silence.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
And what will you say to me that does not yield, great gods!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To the horror of seeing you expire in my eyes?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
When you know my crime and the fate that overwhelms me,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I will die none the less: I will die more guilty.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Madam, in the name of the tears I shed for you,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
By your weak knees that I hold embraced,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Free my mind from this fatal doubt.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
You want it ?\u00a0get up.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>Speak: I am listening to you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Heaven!\u00a0what am I going to tell him?\u00a0and where to start?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
By vain fears stop offending me.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
O hatred of Venus!\u00a0O fatal anger!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Into what madness love threw my mother!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Let\u2019s forget them, madam;\u00a0and that in the future<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Eternal silence hides this memory.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Ariane, my sister!\u00a0what love hurt<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You died at the edges where you were left!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
What are you doing, lady?\u00a0and what a deadly boredom<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Against all your blood drives you today?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Since Venus wants it, with this deplorable blood<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I am the last and the most miserable.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Do you like to ?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>I have all the fury of love.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
For who ?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>You will hear the height of horrors ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I love\u2026 At this fatal name, I tremble, I shiver.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I love\u2026<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>\u00a0Who?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>You know this son of the Amazon,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
This prince so long oppressed by myself ...<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Hippolyte?\u00a0Great gods!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>You named him!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Good heaven !\u00a0all my blood in my veins is freezing!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
O despair!\u00a0O crime!\u00a0O deplorable race!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Unfortunate trip!\u00a0Unhappy shore,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Should we approach your dangerous shores!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
My pain comes from further away.\u00a0Barely to the son of Aegean<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Under the laws of the hymen I was committed,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My rest, my happiness seemed to be strengthened;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Athens showed me my superb enemy:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I saw him, I blushed, I turned pale at the sight of him;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
A disturbance arose in my distraught soul;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My eyes could no longer see, I could not speak;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I felt my whole body and sweating and burning:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I recognized Venus and its formidable fires,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
With blood she pursues inevitable torments!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
By assiduous wishes I thought I was diverting them:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I built a temple for it, and took care to adorn it;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Of victims myself surrounded at all times,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I searched their flanks for my lost reason:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
From an incurable love of powerless remedies!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In vain on the altars my hand burned incense!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
When my mouth cried out for the name of the goddess,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I adored Hippolyte;\u00a0and seeing him constantly,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Even at the foot of the altars that I used to smoke,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I offered everything to this god whom I dared not name.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I avoided it everywhere.\u00a0O height of misery!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My eyes found him in his father's features.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Against myself finally I dared to rebel:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I excited my courage to persecute him.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To banish the enemy of whom I was idolatrous,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I affected the sorrows of an unjust stepmother;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I hastened his exile;\u00a0and my eternal cries<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Tore him from his father's breast and arms.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I was breathing, Oenone;\u00a0and, since his absence,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My less restless days flowed in innocence:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Submitted to my husband, and hiding my troubles,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I cultivated the fruits of his fatal marriage.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Vain precautions!\u00a0Cruel destiny!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
By my husband himself\u00a0<\/span>brought<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne\u00a0,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I saw the enemy I had driven away:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
My too sharp wound immediately bled.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
It is no longer an ardor in my veins hidden:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
It is all Venus to its attached prey.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I have conceived just terror for my crime;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I hated life, and my flame in horror;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I wanted to take care of my glory while dying,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And steal from the light of such a black flame:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I could not support your tears, your struggles;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I confessed everything to you;\u00a0I don't regret it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Provided that, of my death respecting the approaches,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You no longer afflict me with unjust reproaches,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And that your vain help ceases to remind<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
A remnant of heat ready to be exhaled.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n

<\/span>SCENE IV.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/span>PH\u00c8DRE, OENONE, PANOPE.<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
I would like to hide sad news from you,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Madame: but I must reveal it to you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Death has robbed you of your invincible husband;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And this misfortune is no longer ignored by you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Panope, what are you saying?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>That the queen abused<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
In vain ask Heaven for the return of Theseus;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And that, by vessels arriving in the port,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Hippolyte his son has just learned of his death.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Heaven!<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
<\/span>For the choice of a master Athens is shared:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To the prince your son one gives his suffrage,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Mrs ;\u00a0and the state, the other forgetting the laws<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To the stranger's son dares to give his voice.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
It is even said that at the throne an insolent ploy<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Wants to place Aricia and the blood of Pallante.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
I thought I should warn you of this peril.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Even Hippolyte is already quite ready to go;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And we fear, if he appears in this new storm,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Let him not drag a whole fickle people after him.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Panope, that's enough: the queen who hears you<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Will not neglect this important advice.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
\r\n

<\/span>SCENE V.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/span>PHAEDRUS, OENONE.<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n
<\/div>\r\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Madame, I ceased to urge you to live;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Already even at the tomb I thought of following you;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
To turn you away, I no longer had a voice:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But this new misfortune prescribes other laws for you.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Your fortune changes and takes another face:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The king is no more, madame;\u00a0you have to take her place.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
His death leaves you with a son to whom you owe yourselves;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Slave if he loses you, and king if you live.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
On whom, in his misfortune, do you want him to lean?<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Her tears will no longer have a hand that wipes them away;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And her innocent cries, carried to the gods,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Will go against his mother to irritate his ancestors.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Live;\u00a0you no longer have to blame yourself:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Your flame becomes an ordinary flame;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Theseus breathing out has just broken the knots<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Who made all the crime and horror of your fires.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Hippolyte for you becomes less formidable;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And you can see it without being guilty.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Perhaps, convinced of your aversion,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
He will give a leader to the sedition:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Reconsider his mistake, flex his courage.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
King of these happy shores, Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne is his share;<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
But he knows the laws give your son<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
The superb ramparts that Minerve built.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
You both have a true enemy:<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Both unite to fight Aricie.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\r\n
\r\n \t
Well !\u00a0to your advice I let myself be carried away.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Let's live, if we can bring me back to life,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
And if the love of a son, at this fatal moment,<\/span><\/dd>\r\n \t
Of my weak spirits can revive the rest.<\/span><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n\r\n
","rendered":"

LIST OF CHARACTERS<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
THESEUS, son of Aegeus, king of Athens.<\/span><\/dd>\n
PHAEDRUS, wife of Theseus, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae.<\/span><\/dd>\n
HIPPOLYTE, son of Theseus, and Antiope, queen of the Amazons.<\/span><\/dd>\n
ARICIA, princess of the royal blood of Athens.<\/span><\/dd>\n
THERAMENE, governor of Hippolyte.<\/span><\/dd>\n
\u0152NONE, nurse and confidante of Ph\u00e8dre.<\/span><\/dd>\n
ISMENE, confidante of Aricie.<\/span><\/dd>\n
PANOPE, wife of the suite of Ph\u00e8dre.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Guards<\/span><\/span>\u00a0.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

The scene is in Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne, a town in the Peloponnese.<\/em><\/h3>\n
\n

ACT ONE<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

<\/span>FIRST SCENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>HIPPOLYTE, THERAMENES.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
The plan is taken: I am leaving, dear Theramene,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And leave the stay of the amiable Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne.<\/span><\/dd>\n
In the mortal doubt by which I am agitated,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I begin to blush at my idleness.<\/span><\/dd>\n
For more than six months away from my father,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I do not know the fate of such a dear head;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I don’t know until the places that can hide it.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
And in what places, lord, are you going to look for it?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Already to satisfy your just fear,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I have sailed the two seas that separate Corinth;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I asked Theseus to the peoples of these shores<\/span><\/dd>\n
Where we see Acheron getting lost among the dead;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I visited Elis, and leaving Tenara,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Passed to the sea which saw Icarus fall:<\/span><\/dd>\n
On what new hope, in what happy climates<\/span><\/dd>\n
Do you think you are discovering his footsteps?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Who even knows, who knows if the king your father<\/span><\/dd>\n
Want that of his absence we know the mystery?<\/span><\/dd>\n
And if, when with you we tremble for his days,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Quiet, and hiding from us new loves,<\/span><\/dd>\n
This hero does not wait for an abused lover …<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Dear Th\u00e9ram\u00e8ne, stop and respect Theseus.<\/span><\/dd>\n
From his young mistakes now back,<\/span><\/dd>\n
By an unworthy obstacle he is not held back;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And fixing his vows on the fatal inconstancy,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Ph\u00e8dre no longer fears a rival for a long time.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Finally, looking for him, I will follow my duty,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And I will flee these places, which I no longer dare to see.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Hey!\u00a0since when, lord, do you fear the presence<\/span><\/dd>\n
From those peaceful places so dear to your childhood,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And whose stay I saw you prefer<\/span><\/dd>\n
To the pompous tumult of Athens and the court?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What danger, or rather what grief chases you?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
This happy time is over.\u00a0Everything has changed face,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Since on these shores the gods sent<\/span><\/dd>\n
The daughter of Minos and Pasipha\u00e9.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
I hear: the cause of your pain is known to me.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Phaedrus here grieves you, and hurts your sight.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Dangerous stepmother, she barely saw you,<\/span><\/dd>\n
That your exile first signaled its credit.<\/span><\/dd>\n
But his hatred, on you once attached,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Either passed out, or relaxed.<\/span><\/dd>\n
And besides, what dangers can you run?<\/span><\/dd>\n
A dying woman, and who seeks to die?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Ph\u00e8dre, afflicted with an illness that she persists in keeping silent,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Finally tired of herself and of the day that illuminates her,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Can she form some designs against you?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
His vain enmity is not what I fear.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Hippolyte, on leaving, flees another enemy;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I flee, I will admit, this young Aricie,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Remains of a fatal blood conjured against us.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
What!\u00a0yourself, lord, are you persecuting her?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Never the loving sister of the cruel Pallantides<\/span><\/dd>\n
Did she dabble in the plots of her treacherous brothers?<\/span><\/dd>\n
And must you hate his innocent charms?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
If I hated her, I wouldn’t run away from her.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Lord, am I allowed to explain your flight?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Could you no longer be this superb Hippolyte<\/span><\/dd>\n
Implacable enemy of loving laws,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And of a yoke that Theseus suffered so many times?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Venus, by your pride so long despised,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Would she want to justify Theseus in the end?<\/span><\/dd>\n
And putting you in the ranks of the rest of the mortals,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\n
Did she force you to incense her altars?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Would you like, lord?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Friend, what dare you say?<\/span><\/dd>\n
You who know my heart since I breathe,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Feelings of a heart so proud, so disdainful,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Can you ask me for the shameful disavowal?<\/span><\/dd>\n
It is little that with her milk an Amazon mother<\/span><\/dd>\n
Made me suck again this pride which astonishes you;<\/span><\/dd>\n
In a more mature age I myself have come,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I applauded myself when I got to know myself.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Tied to me by sincere zeal,<\/span><\/dd>\n
You told me then the story of my father.<\/span><\/dd>\n
You know how much my soul, attentive to your voice,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Warmed up to tales of his noble exploits,<\/span><\/dd>\n
When you portrayed me this fearless hero<\/span><\/dd>\n
Comforting mortals for the absence of Alcide,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Monsters suffocated, and brigands punished,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Procruste, Cercyon, and Sciron, and Sinis,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And the scattered bones of the giant of Epidaurus,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And Crete smoking the blood of the Minotaur.<\/span><\/dd>\n
But when you recited less glorious facts,<\/span><\/dd>\n
His faith offered everywhere, and received in a hundred places;<\/span><\/dd>\n
H\u00e9l\u00e8ne to her parents in Stolen Sparta;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Salamis, witness to Peribea’s tears;<\/span><\/dd>\n
So many others, whose names even escaped him,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Too credulous minds that his flame has deceived!<\/span><\/dd>\n
Ariadne aux Rochers recounting her injustices;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Phaedrus finally removed under better auspices;<\/span><\/dd>\n
You know how, reluctantly listening to this speech,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I often urged you to shorten the course.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Happy if I could have stolen from memory<\/span><\/dd>\n
This unworthy half of such a beautiful story!<\/span><\/dd>\n
And I, in turn, would see myself bound!<\/span><\/dd>\n
And the gods until then would have humiliated me!<\/span><\/dd>\n
In my cowardly sighs all the more contemptible,<\/span><\/dd>\n
That a long mass of honors makes Theseus excusable,<\/span><\/dd>\n
That no monsters tamed by me until today,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Have not won me the right to fail like him!<\/span><\/dd>\n
Even though my pride might have softened,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Should I have chosen Aricie as the winner?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Would he no longer remember my lost senses<\/span><\/dd>\n
Of the eternal obstacle that has separated us?<\/span><\/dd>\n
My father disapproves of her, and by severe laws,<\/span><\/dd>\n
He forbids giving nephews to his brothers:<\/span><\/dd>\n
With a guilty stalk he fears a shoot;<\/span><\/dd>\n
He wants to bury their name with the sister;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And that, up to the tomb under his tutelage,<\/span><\/dd>\n
The hymen fires never light up for her.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Should I marry his rights against an angry father?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Shall I set an example for recklessness?<\/span><\/dd>\n
And in mad love my youth embarked …<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Ah, lord!\u00a0if your time is once marked,<\/span><\/dd>\n
The sky of our reasons does not know how to inform itself.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Theseus opens your eyes by wanting to close them;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And his hatred irritating a rebellious flame,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Lend his enemy new grace.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Finally with a chaste love why frighten you?<\/span><\/dd>\n
If it has any sweetness, don’t you dare to try it?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Will you still believe a fierce scruple?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Are we afraid of getting lost in the footsteps of Hercules?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What courage has Venus not mastered?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Yourself, where would you be, you who fight her,<\/span><\/dd>\n
If always Antiope to his laws opposite<\/span><\/dd>\n
Would it not have burned with modest ardor for Theseus?<\/span><\/dd>\n
But what is the use of affecting a superb speech?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Admit it, everything is changing;\u00a0and in recent days,<\/span><\/dd>\n
We see you less often, proud and wild,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Sometimes fly a tank on the shore,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Sometimes, learned in art by invented Neptune,<\/span><\/dd>\n
To make an untamed steed docile to the brake;<\/span><\/dd>\n
The forests of our cries resound less often;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Charged with a secret fire, your eyes grow heavy;<\/span><\/dd>\n
There is no doubt about it, you love, you burn;<\/span><\/dd>\n
You perish from an evil that you conceal:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Did you like the charming Aricie?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Theramenes, I’m leaving, and I’m going to find my father.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
THERAMENE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Will you not see Ph\u00e8dre before you go?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Lord?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>This is my plan: you can tell him.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Let us see it, since thus my duty orders it to me.<\/span><\/dd>\n
But what new misfortune troubles her dear Oenone?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n

<\/span>SCENE II.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>HIPPOLYTE, THERAMENE, OENONE.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Alas!\u00a0Lord, what trouble can mine be equal?<\/span><\/dd>\n
The queen is almost at her fatal end.<\/span><\/dd>\n
In vain to observe it day and night I attach myself;<\/span><\/dd>\n
She dies in my arms from an illness that she hides from me.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Eternal disorder reigns in his mind;<\/span><\/dd>\n
His worried grief tears him from his bed:<\/span><\/dd>\n
She wants to see the light of day: and her deep pain<\/span><\/dd>\n
However, orders me to remove everyone …<\/span><\/dd>\n
She comes.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
HIPPOLYTE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>It is enough: I leave it in these places,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And do not show him an odious face.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n

<\/span>SCENE III.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>PHAEDRUS, OENONE.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Let’s not go any further, let’s stay, dear Oenone.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I no longer support myself;\u00a0my strength abandons me:<\/span><\/dd>\n
My eyes are dazzled by the day that I see again,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And my trembling knees buckle under me.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Alas!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
(She sits down.)<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Almighty gods, may our tears appease you!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
How heavy these vain ornaments, how heavy these veils!<\/span><\/dd>\n
What a troublesome hand, forming all these knots,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Took care on my forehead to put my hair together?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Everything grieves me, harms me, and conspires to harm me.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
How we see all his wishes destroying each other!<\/span><\/dd>\n
Yourself, condemning your unjust designs,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Sometimes to adorn you you excited our hands;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Yourself, recalling your original strength,<\/span><\/dd>\n
You wanted to show yourself and see the light again.<\/span><\/dd>\n
You see her, madame;\u00a0and, ready to hide,<\/span><\/dd>\n
You hate the day you came for!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Noble and brilliant author of a sad family,<\/span><\/dd>\n
You that my mother dared to boast of being a girl,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Who perhaps blushes at the confusion in which you see me,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Sun, I am coming to see you for the last time!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
What!\u00a0you will not lose this cruel desire?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Will I still see you, giving up on life,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Make your death the disastrous preparations?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Gods !\u00a0why am I not sitting in the shade of the forests!<\/span><\/dd>\n
When can I, through a noble dust,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Watching a fleeing tank in the quarry?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
What, ma’am?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Insane!\u00a0where am I ?\u00a0and what did I say?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Where do I let my vows and my mind stray?<\/span><\/dd>\n
I lost it: the gods have robbed me of its use.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Oenone, the redness covers my face:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I let you see too much my shameful pains;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And my eyes in spite of myself fill with tears.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Ah!\u00a0if you have to blush, blush with silence<\/span><\/dd>\n
Who of your evils still embittered violence.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Rebel to all our care, deaf to all our speeches,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Do you want to let your days end without mercy?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What fury limits them in the middle of their race?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What charm or what poison has dried up its source?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Shadows three times have darkened the skies<\/span><\/dd>\n
Since sleep entered your eyes;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And the day has thrice chased the dark night<\/span><\/dd>\n
Since your body languishes without food.<\/span><\/dd>\n
What dreadful design do you indulge in?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What right do you dare to attack yourself?<\/span><\/dd>\n
You offend the gods who are the authors of your life;<\/span><\/dd>\n
You betray the husband to whom faith binds you;<\/span><\/dd>\n
You finally betray your unhappy children,<\/span><\/dd>\n
That you throw under a severe yoke.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Consider that the same day their mother will delight them<\/span><\/dd>\n
And will restore hope to the stranger’s son,<\/span><\/dd>\n
To this proud enemy of you, of your blood,<\/span><\/dd>\n
This son that an Amazon carried in her side,<\/span><\/dd>\n
This Hippolyte …<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>\u00a0Ah!\u00a0gods !<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Does this reproach affect you?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Unhappy!\u00a0what a name came out of your mouth!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Well !\u00a0your anger bursts with reason:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I love to see you shudder at this fatal name.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Live then: may love and duty excite you.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Live;\u00a0do not suffer that the son of a Scythian<\/span><\/dd>\n
Overwhelming your children with a hateful empire,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Order from the most beautiful blood of Greece and the gods.<\/span><\/dd>\n
But do not differ;\u00a0every moment kills you:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Quickly repair your broken strength,<\/span><\/dd>\n
While your days ready to be consumed<\/span><\/dd>\n
The torch still lasts and can be rekindled.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
I have prolonged its culpable duration too much.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
What!\u00a0are you torn from some remorse?<\/span><\/dd>\n
What crime could have produced such pressing trouble?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Your hands haven’t soaked in innocent blood?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Thanks be to heaven, my hands are not criminal.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Would to the gods that my heart were innocent like them!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
And what awful project have you given birth to<\/span><\/dd>\n
Whose heart still must be terrified?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
I’ve told you enough: spare me the rest.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I am dying, so as not to make such a fatal confession.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Die therefore, and keep an inhuman silence;<\/span><\/dd>\n
But to close your eyes seek another hand.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Although you have barely a dim light left,<\/span><\/dd>\n
My soul among the dead will descend first;<\/span><\/dd>\n
A thousand open paths always lead there,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And my just pain will choose the shorter ones.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\n
Cruel!\u00a0when did my faith disappoint you?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Do you think that when I was born my arms received you?<\/span><\/dd>\n
My country, my children, I left everything for you.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Did you reserve this price for my loyalty?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
What fruit do you hope for from so much violence?<\/span><\/dd>\n
You will shudder with horror if I break the silence.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
And what will you say to me that does not yield, great gods!<\/span><\/dd>\n
To the horror of seeing you expire in my eyes?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
When you know my crime and the fate that overwhelms me,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I will die none the less: I will die more guilty.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Madam, in the name of the tears I shed for you,<\/span><\/dd>\n
By your weak knees that I hold embraced,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Free my mind from this fatal doubt.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
You want it ?\u00a0get up.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Speak: I am listening to you.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Heaven!\u00a0what am I going to tell him?\u00a0and where to start?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
By vain fears stop offending me.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
O hatred of Venus!\u00a0O fatal anger!<\/span><\/dd>\n
Into what madness love threw my mother!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Let\u2019s forget them, madam;\u00a0and that in the future<\/span><\/dd>\n
Eternal silence hides this memory.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Ariane, my sister!\u00a0what love hurt<\/span><\/dd>\n
You died at the edges where you were left!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
What are you doing, lady?\u00a0and what a deadly boredom<\/span><\/dd>\n
Against all your blood drives you today?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Since Venus wants it, with this deplorable blood<\/span><\/dd>\n
I am the last and the most miserable.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Do you like to ?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>I have all the fury of love.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
For who ?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>You will hear the height of horrors …<\/span><\/dd>\n
I love\u2026 At this fatal name, I tremble, I shiver.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I love\u2026<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>\u00a0Who?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>You know this son of the Amazon,<\/span><\/dd>\n
This prince so long oppressed by myself …<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Hippolyte?\u00a0Great gods!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>You named him!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Good heaven !\u00a0all my blood in my veins is freezing!<\/span><\/dd>\n
O despair!\u00a0O crime!\u00a0O deplorable race!<\/span><\/dd>\n
Unfortunate trip!\u00a0Unhappy shore,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Should we approach your dangerous shores!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
My pain comes from further away.\u00a0Barely to the son of Aegean<\/span><\/dd>\n
Under the laws of the hymen I was committed,<\/span><\/dd>\n
My rest, my happiness seemed to be strengthened;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Athens showed me my superb enemy:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I saw him, I blushed, I turned pale at the sight of him;<\/span><\/dd>\n
A disturbance arose in my distraught soul;<\/span><\/dd>\n
My eyes could no longer see, I could not speak;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I felt my whole body and sweating and burning:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I recognized Venus and its formidable fires,<\/span><\/dd>\n
With blood she pursues inevitable torments!<\/span><\/dd>\n
By assiduous wishes I thought I was diverting them:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I built a temple for it, and took care to adorn it;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Of victims myself surrounded at all times,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I searched their flanks for my lost reason:<\/span><\/dd>\n
From an incurable love of powerless remedies!<\/span><\/dd>\n
In vain on the altars my hand burned incense!<\/span><\/dd>\n
When my mouth cried out for the name of the goddess,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I adored Hippolyte;\u00a0and seeing him constantly,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Even at the foot of the altars that I used to smoke,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I offered everything to this god whom I dared not name.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I avoided it everywhere.\u00a0O height of misery!<\/span><\/dd>\n
My eyes found him in his father’s features.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Against myself finally I dared to rebel:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I excited my courage to persecute him.<\/span><\/dd>\n
To banish the enemy of whom I was idolatrous,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I affected the sorrows of an unjust stepmother;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I hastened his exile;\u00a0and my eternal cries<\/span><\/dd>\n
Tore him from his father’s breast and arms.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I was breathing, Oenone;\u00a0and, since his absence,<\/span><\/dd>\n
My less restless days flowed in innocence:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Submitted to my husband, and hiding my troubles,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I cultivated the fruits of his fatal marriage.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Vain precautions!\u00a0Cruel destiny!<\/span><\/dd>\n
By my husband himself\u00a0<\/span>brought<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne\u00a0,<\/span><\/dd>\n
I saw the enemy I had driven away:<\/span><\/dd>\n
My too sharp wound immediately bled.<\/span><\/dd>\n
It is no longer an ardor in my veins hidden:<\/span><\/dd>\n
It is all Venus to its attached prey.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I have conceived just terror for my crime;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I hated life, and my flame in horror;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I wanted to take care of my glory while dying,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And steal from the light of such a black flame:<\/span><\/dd>\n
I could not support your tears, your struggles;<\/span><\/dd>\n
I confessed everything to you;\u00a0I don’t regret it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/dd>\n
Provided that, of my death respecting the approaches,<\/span><\/dd>\n
You no longer afflict me with unjust reproaches,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And that your vain help ceases to remind<\/span><\/dd>\n
A remnant of heat ready to be exhaled.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n

<\/span>SCENE IV.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>PH\u00c8DRE, OENONE, PANOPE.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
I would like to hide sad news from you,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Madame: but I must reveal it to you.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Death has robbed you of your invincible husband;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And this misfortune is no longer ignored by you.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Panope, what are you saying?<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>That the queen abused<\/span><\/dd>\n
In vain ask Heaven for the return of Theseus;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And that, by vessels arriving in the port,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Hippolyte his son has just learned of his death.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Heaven!<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PANOPE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>For the choice of a master Athens is shared:<\/span><\/dd>\n
To the prince your son one gives his suffrage,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Mrs ;\u00a0and the state, the other forgetting the laws<\/span><\/dd>\n
To the stranger’s son dares to give his voice.<\/span><\/dd>\n
It is even said that at the throne an insolent ploy<\/span><\/dd>\n
Wants to place Aricia and the blood of Pallante.<\/span><\/dd>\n
I thought I should warn you of this peril.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Even Hippolyte is already quite ready to go;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And we fear, if he appears in this new storm,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Let him not drag a whole fickle people after him.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Panope, that’s enough: the queen who hears you<\/span><\/dd>\n
Will not neglect this important advice.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n

<\/span>SCENE V.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span>PHAEDRUS, OENONE.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u0152NONE.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Madame, I ceased to urge you to live;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Already even at the tomb I thought of following you;<\/span><\/dd>\n
To turn you away, I no longer had a voice:<\/span><\/dd>\n
But this new misfortune prescribes other laws for you.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Your fortune changes and takes another face:<\/span><\/dd>\n
The king is no more, madame;\u00a0you have to take her place.<\/span><\/dd>\n
His death leaves you with a son to whom you owe yourselves;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Slave if he loses you, and king if you live.<\/span><\/dd>\n
On whom, in his misfortune, do you want him to lean?<\/span><\/dd>\n
Her tears will no longer have a hand that wipes them away;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And her innocent cries, carried to the gods,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Will go against his mother to irritate his ancestors.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Live;\u00a0you no longer have to blame yourself:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Your flame becomes an ordinary flame;<\/span><\/dd>\n
Theseus breathing out has just broken the knots<\/span><\/dd>\n
Who made all the crime and horror of your fires.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Hippolyte for you becomes less formidable;<\/span><\/dd>\n
And you can see it without being guilty.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Perhaps, convinced of your aversion,<\/span><\/dd>\n
He will give a leader to the sedition:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Reconsider his mistake, flex his courage.<\/span><\/dd>\n
King of these happy shores, Tr\u00e9z\u00e8ne is his share;<\/span><\/dd>\n
But he knows the laws give your son<\/span><\/dd>\n
The superb ramparts that Minerve built.<\/span><\/dd>\n
You both have a true enemy:<\/span><\/dd>\n
Both unite to fight Aricie.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
<\/div>\n
PHAEDRA.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
Well !\u00a0to your advice I let myself be carried away.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Let’s live, if we can bring me back to life,<\/span><\/dd>\n
And if the love of a son, at this fatal moment,<\/span><\/dd>\n
Of my weak spirits can revive the rest.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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