'Twas Cypris, mistress of iniquity, devised this evil.
HIPPOLYTUS
Ah me! now know I the goddess who destroyed me.
ARTEMIS
She was jealous of her slighted honour, vexed at thy chaste life.
HIPPOLYTUS
Ah! then I see her single hand hath struck down three of us.
ARTEMIS
Thy sire and thee, and last thy father's wife.
HIPPOLYTUS
My sire's ill-luck as well as mine I mourn.
ARTEMIS
He was deceived by a goddess's design.
HIPPOLYTUS
Woe is thee, my father, in this sad mischance!
THESEUS
My son, I am a ruined man; life has no joys for me.
HIPPOLYTUS
For this mistake I mourn thee rather than myself.
THESEUS
O that I had died for thee, my son!
HIPPOLYTUS
Ah! those fatal gifts thy sire Poseidon gave.
THESEUS
Would God these lips had never uttered that prayer!
HIPPOLYTUS
Why not? thou wouldst in any case have slain me in thy fury then.
THESEUS
Yes; Heaven had perverted my power to think.
HIPPOLYTUS
O that the race of men could bring a curse upon the gods!
ARTEMIS
Enough! for though thou pass to gloom beneath the earth, the wrath of Cypris shall not, at her will, fall on thee unrequited, because thout hadst a noble righteous soul. For I with mine own hand will with these unerring shafts avenge me on another, who is her votary, dearest to her of all the sons of men. And to thee, poor sufferer, for thy anguish now will grant high honours in the city of Troezen; for thee shall maids unwed before their marriage cut off their hair, thy harvest through the long roll of time of countless bitter tears.
Yea, and for ever shall the virgin choir hymn thy sad memory, nor shall Phaedra's love for thee fall into oblivion and pass away unnoticed. But thou, O son of old Aegeus, take thy son in thine arms, draw him close to thee, for unwittingly thou slewest him, and men may well commit an error when gods put it in their way. And thee Hippolytus, I admonish; hate not thy sire, for in this death thou dost but meet thy destined fate. And now farewell! 'tis not for me to gaze upon the dead, or pollute my sight with death-scenes, and e'en now I see thee nigh that evil.
(ARTEMIS vanishes.)
HIPPOLYTUS
Farewell, blest virgin queen! leave me now! Easily thou resignest our long friendship! I am reconciled with my father at thy desire, yea, for ever before I would obey thy bidding. Ah me! the darkness is settling even now upon my eyes. Take me, father, in thy arms, lift me up.
THESEUS
Woe is me, my son! what art thou doing to me thy hapless sire!
HIPPOLYTUS
I am a broken man; yes, I see the gates that close upon the dead.
THESEUS
Canst leave me thus with murder on my soul!
HIPPOLYTUS
No, no; I set thee free from this bloodguiltiness.
THESEUS
What sayest thou? dost absolve me from bloodshed?
HIPPOLYTUS
Artemis, the archer-queen, is my witness that I do.
THESEUS
My own dear child, how generous dost thou show thyself to thy father!
HIPPOLYTUS
Farewell, dear father! a long farewell to thee!
THESEUS
O that holy, noble soul of thine!
HIPPOLYTUS
Pray to have children such as me born in lawful wedlock.
THESEUS
O leave me not, my son; endure awhile.
HIPPOLYTUS
'Tis finished, my endurance; I die, father; quickly veil my face with a mantle.
THESEUS
O glorious Athens, realm of Pallas, what a splendid hero ye have lost! Ah me, ah me! How oft shall I remember thy evil works, P Cypris!
CHORUS (singing)
On all our citizens hath come this universal sorrow, unforeseen.
Now shall the copious tear gush forth, for sad news about great men takes more than usual hold upon the heart.
-THE END-
.
