Euripides

“ Why? NURSE It is not meet, fair Son, for every ear! HIPPOLYTUS Good words can bravely forth, and have no fear. NURSE Thine oath, thine oath! I took thine oath before! HIPPOLYTUS 'Twas but my tongue, 'twas not my soul that swore. NURSE O Son, what wilt thou? Wilt thou slay thy kin? HIPPOLYTUS I own no kindred with the spawn of sin! [ He flings her from him.] NURSE Nay, spare me! Man was born to err; oh, spare! HIPPOLYTUS O God, why hast Thou made this gleaming snare, Woman, to dog us on the happy earth? Was it Thy will to make Man, why his birth Through Love and Woman? ”

“ Pride breeds hatred everywhere. HUNTSMAN And good words love, and grace in all men's sight? HIPPOLYTUS Aye, and much gain withal, for trouble slight. HUNTSMAN How deem'st thou of the Gods? Are they the same? HIPPOLYTUS Surely: we are but fashioned on their frame. HUNTSMAN Why then wilt thou be proud, and worship not.. HIPPOLYTUS Whom? If the name be speakable, speak out! HUNTSMAN She stands here at thy gate: the Cyprian Queen! HIPPOLYTUS I greet her from afar: my life is clean. HUNTSMAN Clean? Nay, proud, proud; a mark for all to scan! HIPPOLYTUS Each mind hath its own bent, for God or man. ”

“ But thou in his eyes and in mine art found Evil, who wouldst not think, nor probe, nor sound The deeps of prophet's lore, nor day by day Leave Time to search; but swifter than man may, Let loose the curse to slay thine innocent son! THESEUS O Goddess, let me die! ARTEMIS Nay; thou hast done A heavy wrong; yet even beyond this ill Abides for thee forgiveness. 'Twas the will Of Cypris that these evil things should be, Sating her wrath. And this immutably Hath Zeus ordained in heaven: no God may thwart A God's fixed will; we grieve but stand apart. ”

“ CHORUS Erôs, Erôs, who blindest, tear by tear, Men's eyes with hunger; thou swift Foe that pliest Deep in our hearts joy like an edgèd spear; Come not to me with Evil haunting near, Wrath on the wind, nor jarring of the clear Wing's music as thou fliest! There is no shaft that burneth, not in fire, Not in wild stars, far off and flinging fear, As in thine hands the shaft of All Desire, Erôs, Child of the Highest! In vain, in vain, by old Alpheüs' shore The blood of many bulls doth stain the river And all Greece bows on Phoebus' Pythian floor ”

“ MESSENGER I have seen the Wild White Women there, O King, Whose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but now From Thebes away, and come to tell thee how They work strange deeds and passing marvel. Yet I first would learn thy pleasure. Shall I set My whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part? Yea Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart, Thine edgèd wrath and more than royal soul. PENTHEUS Thy tale shall nothing scathe thee.—Tell the whole. It skills not to be wroth with honesty. Nay, if thy news of them be dark, 'tis he Shall pay it, who bewitched and led them on. ”

“ And great Love's brethren are all we on earth! Nay, they who con grey books of ancient days Or dwell among the Muses, tell—and praise— How Zeus himself once yearned for Semelê; How maiden Eôs in her radiancy Swept Kephalos to heaven away, away, For sore love's sake. And there they dwell, men say, And fear not, fret not; for a thing too stern Hath met and crushed them! And must thou, then, turn And struggle? Sprang there from thy father's blood Thy little soul all lonely? Or the god That rules thee, is he other than our gods? Nay, yield thee to men's ways, and kiss their rods! ”

“ Some Maidens All hail, O Thebes, thou nurse of Semelê! With Semelê's wild ivy crown thy towers; Oh, burst in bloom of wreathing bryony, Berries and leaves and flowers; Uplift the dark divine wand, The oak-wand and the pine-wand, And don thy fawn-skin, fringed in purity With fleecy white, like ours. Oh, cleanse thee in the wands' waving pride! Yea, all men shall dance with us and pray, When Bromios his companies shall guide Hillward, ever hillward, where they stay, The flock of the Believing, The maids from loom and weaving By the magic of his breath borne away. ”

“ AGAVE Dionysus, we beseech thee! We have sinned! DIONYSUS Too late! When there was time, ye knew me not! AGAVE We have confessed. Yet is thine hand too hot. DIONYSUS Ye mocked me, being God; this your wage. AGAVE Should God be like a proud man in his rage? DIONYSUS 'Tis as my sire, Zeus, willed it long ago. AGAVE ( turning from him almost with disdain ) Old man, the word is spoken; we must go. DIONYSUS And seeing ye must, what is it that ye wait? CADMUS Child, we are come into a deadly strait, All; thou, poor sufferer, and thy sisters twain, And my sad self. ”

“ CHORUS Some Women O Women, have ye heard? Nay, dare ye hear The desolate cry of the young Queen's misery? A Woman My Queen, I love thee dear, Yet liefer were I dead than framed like thee. Others Woe, woe to me for this thy bitter bane, Surely the food man feeds upon is pain! Others How wilt thou bear thee through this livelong day, Lost, and thine evil naked to the light? Strange things are close upon us—who shall say How strange?—save one thing that is plain to sight, The stroke of the Cyprian and the fall thereof On thee, thou child of the Isle of fearful Love! ”

“ Thee, Pentheus, I call; forth and be seen, in guise Of woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse, To spy upon His Chosen and thine own Mother! [ Enter PENTHEUS, clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited, a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him. ] Thy shape, methinks, is like to one Of Cadmus' royal maids! PENTHEUS Yea; and mine eye Is bright! Yon sun shines twofold in the sky, Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates.... And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waits Before me? There are horns upon thy brow! What art thou, man or beast! For surely now The Bull is on thee! ”

“ We march to war—'Fore God, shall women dare Such deeds against us? 'Tis too much to bear! DIONYSUS Thou mark'st me not, O King, and holdest light My solemn words; yet, in thine own despite, I warn thee still. Lift thou not up thy spear Against a God, but hold thy peace, and fear His wrath! He will not brook it, if thou fright His Chosen from the hills of their delight. PENTHEUS Peace, thou! And if for once thou hast slipped chain, Give thanks!—Or shall I knot thine arms again? ”

“ TEIRESIAS As with thee, With me 'tis likewise. Light am I and young, And will essay the dancing and the song. CADMUS Quick, then, our chariots to the mountain road. TEIRESIAS Nay; to take steeds were to mistrust the God. CADMUS So be it. Mine old arms shall guide thee there. TEIRESIAS The God himself shall guide! Have thou no care. CADMUS And in all Thebes shall no man dance but we? TEIRESIAS Aye, Thebes is blinded. Thou and I can see. CADMUS 'Tis weary waiting; hold my hand, friend; so. TEIRESIAS Lo, there is mine. So linkèd let us go. CADMUS Shall things of dust the Gods' dark ways despise? ”

“ HIPPOLYTUS Am I so cool? Nay, Father, 'tis thy mood That makes me marvel! By my faith, wert thou The son, and I the sire; and deemed I now In very truth thou hadst my wife assailed, I had not exiled thee, nor stood and railed, But lifted once mine arm, and struck thee dead! THESEUS Thou gentle judge! Thou shalt not so be sped To simple death, nor by thine own decree. Swift death is bliss to men in misery. Far off, friendless forever, thou shalt drain Amid strange cities the last dregs of pain! ”

“ LEADER O God, so cometh new disaster, new Despair! And no escape from what must be! THESEUS Hate of the man thus stricken lifted me At first to joy at hearing of thy tale; But now, some shame before the Gods, some pale Pity for mine own blood, hath o'er me come. I laugh not, neither weep, at this fell doom. HENCHMAN How then? Behoves it bear him here, or how Best do thy pleasure?—Speak, Lord. Yet if thou Wilt mark at all my word, thou wilt not be Fierce-hearted to thy child in misery. THESEUS Aye, bring him hither. Let me see the face Of him who durst deny my deep disgrace And his own sin ”

“ And all to the spell thereof Bend, when he makes his spring; All life that is wild and young In mountain and wave and stream, All that of earth is sprung, Or breathes in the red sunbeam; Yea, and Mankind. O'er all a royal throne, Cyprian, Cyprian, is thine alone! A VOICE FROM THE CLOUD O thou that rulest in Aegeus' Hall, I charge thee, hearken! Yea, it is I, Artemis, Virgin of God most High. Thou bitter King, art thou glad withal For thy murdered son? For thine ear bent low to a lying Queen, For thine heart so swift amid things unseen? Lo, all may see what end thou hast won! ”

“ Knowledge, we are not foes! I seek thee diligently; But the world with a great wind blows, Shining, and not from thee; Blowing to beautiful things, On, amid dark and light, Till Life, through the trammellings Of Laws that are not the Right, Breaks, clean and pure, and sings Glorying to God in the height! All the Chorus Hither for doom and deed! Hither with lifted sword, Justice, Wrath of the Lord, Come in our visible need! Smite till the throat shall bleed, Smite till the heart shall bleed, Him the tyrannous, lawless, Godless, Echion's earthborn seed! ”

“ NURSE O sick and sore are the days of men! What wouldst thou? What shall I change again Here is the Sun for thee; here is the sky; And thy weary pillows wind-swept lie, By the castle door. But the cloud of thy brow is dark, I ween; And soon thou wilt back to thy bower within: So swift to change is the path of thy feet, And near things hateful, and far things sweet; So was it before! Oh, pain were better than tending pain! For that were single, and this is twain, With grief of heart and labour of limb. Yet all man's life is but ailing and dim, And rest upon earth comes never. ”

“ Lost, for this anguish presses, soon or late, To that swift river that no life hath crossed. No woman ever lived so desolate! LEADER OF THE CHORUS Ah me, the time for deeds is gone; the boast Proved vain that spake thine handmaid; and all lost! [ At these words PHAEDRA suddenly remembers the NURSE, who is cowering silently where HIPPOLYTUS had thrown her from him. She turns upon her.] PHAEDRA O wicked, wicked, wicked! Murderess heart To them that loved thee! Hast thou played thy part? Am I enough trod down? May Zeus, my sire, Blast and uproot thee! Stab thee dead with fire! ”

“ A straight and perfect life is not for man; Nay, in a shut house, let him, if he can, 'Mid sheltered rooms, make all lines true. But here, Out in the wide sea fallen, and full of fear, Hopest thou so easily to swim to land? Canst thou but set thine ill days on one hand And more good days on the other, verily, O child of woman, life is well with thee! [ She pauses, and then draws nearer to PHAEDRA.] Nay, dear my daughter, cease thine evil mind, Cease thy fierce pride! For pride it is, and blind, To seek to outpass gods!—Love on and dare: A god hath willed it! ”

“ Some Women Is this some Spirit, O child of man? Doth Hecat hold thee perchance, or Pan? Doth she of the Mountains work her ban, Or the dread Corybantes bind thee? Others Nay, is it sin that upon thee lies, Sin of forgotten sacrifice, In thine own Dictynna's sea-wild eyes? Who in Limna here can find thee; For the Deep's dry floor is her easy way, And she moves in the salt wet whirl of the spray. Other Women Or doth the Lord of Erechtheus' race, Thy Theseus, watch for a fairer face, For secret arms in a silent place, Far from thy love or chiding? ”

“ And is thy Fate so much to give, Is it so hard a thing to see, That the Spirit of God, whate'er it be, The Law that abides and changes not, ages long, The Eternal and Nature-born—these things be strong? What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour Or God's high grace so lovely and so great? To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait; To hold a hand uplifted over Hate; And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever? LEADER Happy he, on the weary sea Who hath fled the tempest and won the haven. ”