Phaedra Part 7

Fly, and unless you wish quick punishment To add you to the criminals cut off By me, take heed this sun that lights us now Ne'er sees you more set foot upon this soil.

I tell you once again,--fly, haste, return not, Rid all my realms of your atrocious presence.

To thee, to thee, great Neptune, I appeal If erst I clear'd thy sh.o.r.es of foul a.s.sa.s.sins Recall thy promise to reward those efforts, Crown'd with success, by granting my first pray'r.

Confined for long in close captivity, I have not yet call'd on thy pow'rful aid, Sparing to use the valued privilege Till at mine utmost need. The time is come I ask thee now. Avenge a wretched father!

I leave this traitor to thy wrath; in blood Quench his outrageous fires, and by thy fury Theseus will estimate thy favour tow'rds him.

HIPPOLYTUS Phaedra accuses me of lawless pa.s.sion!

This crowning horror all my soul confounds; Such unexpected blows, falling at once, O'erwhelm me, choke my utterance, strike me dumb.

THESEUS Traitor, you reckon'd that in timid silence Phaedra would bury your brutality.

You should not have abandon'd in your flight The sword that in her hands helps to condemn you; Or rather, to complete your perfidy, You should have robb'd her both of speech and life.

HIPPOLYTUS Justly indignant at a lie so black I might be pardon'd if I told the truth; But it concerns your honour to conceal it.

Approve the reverence that shuts my mouth; And, without wis.h.i.+ng to increase your woes, Examine closely what my life has been.

Great crimes are never single, they are link'd To former faults. He who has once transgress'd May violate at last all that men hold Most sacred; vice, like virtue, has degrees Of progress; innocence was never seen To sink at once into the lowest depths Of guilt. No virtuous man can in a day Turn traitor, murderer, an incestuous wretch.

The nursling of a chaste, heroic mother, I have not proved unworthy of my birth.

Pittheus, whose wisdom is by all esteem'd, Deign'd to instruct me when I left her hands.

It is no wish of mine to vaunt my merits, But, if I may lay claim to any virtue, I think beyond all else I have display'd Abhorrence of those sins with which I'm charged.

For this Hippolytus is known in Greece, So continent that he is deem'd austere.

All know my abstinence inflexible: The daylight is not purer than my heart.

How, then, could I, burning with fire profane--

THESEUS Yes, dastard, 'tis that very pride condemns you.

I see the odious reason of your coldness Phaedra alone bewitch'd your shameless eyes; Your soul, to others' charms indifferent, Disdain'd the blameless fires of lawful love.

HIPPOLYTUS No, father, I have hidden it too long, This heart has not disdain'd a sacred flame.

Here at your feet I own my real offence: I love, and love in truth where you forbid me; Bound to Aricia by my heart's devotion, The child of Pallas has subdued your son.

A rebel to your laws, her I adore, And breathe forth ardent sighs for her alone.

THESEUS You love her? Heav'ns!

But no, I see the trick.

You feign a crime to justify yourself.

HIPPOLYTUS Sir, I have shunn'd her for six months, and still Love her. To you yourself I came to tell it, Trembling the while. Can nothing clear your mind Of your mistake? What oath can rea.s.sure you?

By heav'n and earth and all the pow'rs of nature--

THESEUS The wicked never shrink from perjury.

Cease, cease, and spare me irksome protestations, If your false virtue has no other aid.

HIPPOLYTUS Tho' it to you seem false and insincere, Phaedra has secret cause to know it true.

THESEUS Ah! how your shamelessness excites my wrath!

HIPPOLYTUS What is my term and place of banishment?

THESEUS Were you beyond the Pillars of Alcides, Your perjured presence were too near me yet.

HIPPOLYTUS What friends will pity me, when you forsake And think me guilty of a crime so vile?

THESEUS Go, look you out for friends who hold in honour Adultery and clap their hands at incest, Low, lawless traitors, steep'd in infamy, The fit protectors of a knave like you.

HIPPOLYTUS Are incest and adultery the words You cast at me? I hold my tongue. Yet think What mother Phaedra had; too well you know Her blood, not mine, is tainted with those horrors.

THESEUS What! Does your rage before my eyes lose all Restraint? For the last time,--out of my sight!

Hence, traitor! Wait not till a father's wrath Force thee away 'mid general execration.

Scene III

THESEUS (alone) Wretch! Thou must meet inevitable ruin.

Neptune has sworn by Styx--to G.o.ds themselves A dreadful oath,--and he will execute His promise. Thou canst not escape his vengeance.

I loved thee; and, in spite of thine offence, My heart is troubled by antic.i.p.ation For thee. But thou hast earn'd thy doom too well.

Had father ever greater cause for rage?

Just G.o.ds, who see the grief that overwhelms me, Why was I cursed with such a wicked son?

SCENE IV PHAEDRA, THESEUS

PHAEDRA My lord, I come to you, fill'd with just dread.

Your voice raised high in anger reach'd mine ears, And much I fear that deeds have follow'd threats.

Oh, if there yet is time, spare your own offspring.

Respect your race and blood, I do beseech you.

Let me not hear that blood cry from the ground; Save me the horror and perpetual pain Of having caused his father's hand to shed it.

THESEUS No, Madam, from that stain my hand is free.

But, for all that, the wretch has not escaped me.

The hand of an Immortal now is charged With his destruction. 'Tis a debt that Neptune Owes me, and you shall be avenged.

PHAEDRA A debt Owed you? Pray'rs made in anger--

THESEUS Never fear That they will fail. Rather join yours to mine In all their blackness paint for me his crimes, And fan my tardy pa.s.sion to white heat.

But yet you know not all his infamy; His rage against you overflows in slanders; Your mouth, he says, is full of all deceit, He says Aricia has his heart and soul, That her alone he loves.

PHAEDRA Aricia?

THESEUS Aye, He said it to my face! an idle pretext!

A trick that gulls me not! Let us hope Neptune Will do him speedy justice. To his altars I go, to urge performance of his oaths.

SCENE V

PHAEDRA (alone) Ah, he is gone! What tidings struck mine ears?

What fire, half smother'd, in my heart revives?

What fatal stroke falls like a thunderbolt?