Phèdre Page 3

  HIPPOLYTUS

  Ye gods, who know her, do ye thus reward Her virtue?

  THERAMENES

  A faint rumour meanwhile whispers That Theseus is not dead, but in Epirus Has shown himself. But, after all my search, I know too well—

  HIPPOLYTUS

  Let nothing be neglected.

  This rumour must be traced back to its source. If it be found unworthy of belief,

  Let us set sail, and cost whate'er it may, To hands deserving trust the sceptre's sway.

  ACT III

  Scene I

  PHAEDRA, OENONE PHAEDRA

  Ah! Let them take elsewhere the worthless honours They bring me. Why so urgent I should see them? What flattering balm can soothe my wounded heart? Far rather hide me: I have said too much. My madness has burst forth like streams in flood, And I have utter'd what should ne'er have reach'd His ear. Gods! How he heard me! How reluctant To catch my meaning, dull and cold as marble, And eager only for a quick retreat!

  How oft his blushes made my shame the deeper! Why did you turn me from the death I sought? Ah! When his sword was pointed to my bosom, Did he grow pale, or try to snatch it from me? That I had touch'd it was enough for him To render it for ever horrible,

  Leaving defilement on the hand that holds it.

  OENONE

  Thus brooding on your bitter disappointment, You only fan a fire that must be stifled.

  Would it not be more worthy of the blood

  Of Minos to find peace in nobler cares,

  And, in defiance of a wretch who flies

  From what he hates, reign, mount the proffer'd throne?

  PHAEDRA

  I reign! Shall I the rod of empire sway, When reason reigns no longer o'er myself? When I have lost control of all my senses? When 'neath a shameful yoke I scarce can breathe? When I am dying?

  OENONE Fly.

  PHAEDRA

  I cannot leave him.

  OENONE

  Dare you not fly from him you dared to banish? PHAEDRA

  The time for that is past. He knows my frenzy. I have o'erstepp'd the bounds of modesty, And blazon'd forth my shame before his eyes. Hope stole into my heart against my will. Did you not rally my declining pow'rs?

  Was it not you yourself recall'd my soul

  When fluttering on my lips, and with your counsel, Lent me fresh life, and told me I might love him?

  OENONE

  Blame me or blame me not for your misfortunes, Of what was I incapable, to save you? But if your indignation e'er was roused By insult, can you pardon his contempt? How cruelly his eyes, severely fix'd, Survey'd you almost prostrate at his feet! How hateful then appear'd his savage pride! Why did not Phaedra see him then as I Beheld him?

  PHAEDRA

  This proud mood that you resent

  May yield to time. The rudeness of the forests Where he was bred, inured to rigorous laws, Clings to him still; love is a word he ne'er Had heard before. It may be his surprise Stunn'd him, and too much vehemence was shown In all I said.

  OENONE

  Remember that his mother Was a barbarian.

  PHAEDRA

  Scythian tho' she was, She learned to love.

  OENONE

  He has for all the sex Hatred intense.

  PHAEDRA

  Then in his heart no rival

  Shall ever reign. Your counsel comes too late Oenone, serve my madness, not my reason. His heart is inaccessible to love.

  Let us attack him where he has more feeling. The charms of sovereignty appear'd to touch him; He could not hide that he was drawn to Athens; His vessels' prows were thither turn'd already, All sail was set to scud before the breeze. Go you on my behalf, to his ambition

  Appeal, and let the prospect of the crown Dazzle his eyes. The sacred diadem

  Shall deck his brow, no higher honour mine Than there to bind it. His shall be the pow'r I cannot keep; and he shall teach my son

  How to rule men. It may be he will deign

  To be to him a father. Son and mother

  He shall control. Try ev'ry means to move him; Your words will find more favour than can mine. Urge him with groans and tears; show Phaedra dying. Nor blush to use the voice of supplication. In you is my last hope; I'll sanction all You say; and on the issue hangs my fate.

  Scene II PHAEDRA (alone)

  Venus implacable, who seest me shamed

  And sore confounded, have I not enough

  Been humbled? How can cruelty be stretch'd Farther? Thy shafts have all gone home, and thou Hast triumph'd. Would'st thou win a new renown? Attack an enemy more contumacious:

  Hippolytus neglects thee, braves thy wrath, Nor ever at thine altars bow'd the knee. Thy name offends his proud, disdainful ears. Our interests are alike: avenge thyself, Force him to love—

  But what is this? Oenone

  Return'd already? He detests me then,

  And will not hear you.

  SCENE III

  PHAEDRA, OENONE OENONE

  Madam, you must stifle

  A fruitless love. Recall your former virtue: The king who was thought dead will soon appear Before your eyes, Theseus has just arrived, Theseus is here. The people flock to see him With eager haste. I went by your command To find the prince, when with a thousand shouts The air was rent—

  PHAEDRA

  My husband is alive,

  That is enough, Oenone. I have own'd A passion that dishonours him. He lives: I ask to know no more.

  OENONE What? PHAEDRA

  I foretold it, But you refused to hear. Your tears prevail'd Over my just remorse. Dying this morn, I had deserved compassion; your advice I took, and die dishonour'd.

  OENONE Die? PHAEDRA

  Just Heav'ns!

  What have I done to-day? My husband comes,

  With him his son: and I shall see the witness Of my adulterous flame watch with what face

  I greet his father, while my heart is big

  With sighs he scorn'd, and tears that could not move him Moisten mine eyes. Think you that his respect For Theseus will induce him to conceal

  My madness, nor disgrace his sire and king?

  Will he be able to keep back the horror

  He has for me? His silence would be vain.

  I know my treason, and I lack the boldness

  Of those abandon'd women who can taste

  Tranquillity in crime, and show a forehead

  All unabash'd. I recognize my madness,

  Recall it all. These vaulted roofs, methinks, These walls can speak, and, ready to accuse me, Wait but my husband's presence to reveal

  My perfidy. Death only can remove

  This weight of horror. Is it such misfortune

  To cease to live? Death causes no alarm

  To misery. I only fear the name

  That I shall leave behind me. For my sons

  How sad a heritage! The blood of Jove

  Might justly swell the pride that boasts descent From Heav'n, but heavy weighs a mother's guilt Upon her offspring. Yes, I dread the scorn

  That will be cast on them, with too much truth, For my disgrace. I tremble when I think

  That, crush'd beneath that curse, they'll never dare To raise their eyes.

  OENONE

  Doubt not I pity both;

  Never was fear more just than yours. Why, then, Expose them to this ignominy? Why

  Will you accuse yourself? You thus destroy The only hope that's left; it will be said That Phaedra, conscious of her perfidy,

  Fled from her husband's sight. Hippolytus Will be rejoiced that, dying, you should lend His charge support. What can I answer him? He'll find it easy to confute my tale,

  And I shall hear him with an air of triumph To every open ear repeat your shame.

  Sooner than that may fire from heav'n consume me! Deceive me not. Say, do you love him still? How look you now on this contemptuous prince? PHAEDRA

  As on a monster frightful to mine eyes.

  OENONE

  Why yield him, then,
an easy victory?

  You fear him? Venture to accuse him first, As guilty of the charge which he may bring This day against you. Who can say 'tis false? All tells against him: in your hands his sword Happily left behind, your present trouble, Your past distress, your warnings to his father, His exile which your earnest pray'rs obtain'd.

  PHAEDRA

  What! Would you have me slander innocence? OENONE

  My zeal has need of naught from you but silence. Like you I tremble, and am loath to do it; More willingly I'd face a thousand deaths, But since without this bitter remedy

  I lose you, and to me your life outweighs All else, I'll speak. Theseus, howe'er enraged Will do no worse than banish him again. A father, when he punishes, remains

  A father, and his ire is satisfied

  With a light sentence. But if guiltless blood Should flow, is not your honour of more moment? A treasure far too precious to be risk'd? You must submit, whatever it dictates;

  For, when our reputation is at stake,

  All must be sacrificed, conscience itself. But someone comes. 'Tis Theseus.

  PHAEDRA

  And I see

  Hippolytus, my ruin plainly written

  In his stern eyes. Do what you will; I trust My fate to you. I cannot help myself.

  SCENE IV

  THESEUS, HIPPOLYTUS, PHAEDRA, OENONE, THERAMENES THESEUS

  Fortune no longer fights against my wishes, Madam, and to your arms restores—

  PHAEDRA

  Stay, Theseus!

  Do not profane endearments that were once So sweet, but which I am unworthy now

  To taste. You have been wrong'd. Fortune has proved Spiteful, nor in your absence spared your wife. I am unfit to meet your fond caress,

  How I may bear my shame my only care

  Henceforth.

  Scene V THESEUS, HIPPOLYTUS, THERAMENES THESEUS

  Strange welcome for your father, this! What does it mean, my son?

  HIPPOLYTUS

  Phaedra alone

  Can solve this mystery. But if my wish Can move you, let me never see her more; Suffer Hippolytus to disappear

  For ever from the home that holds your wife.

  THESEUS

  You, my son! Leave me? HIPPOLYTUS

  'Twas not I who sought her:

  'Twas you who led her footsteps to these shores. At your departure you thought meet, my lord, To trust Aricia and the Queen to this

  Troezenian land, and I myself was charged With their protection. But what cares henceforth Need keep me here? My youth of idleness

  Has shown its skill enough o'er paltry foes That range the woods. May I not quit a life Of such inglorious ease, and dip my spear In nobler blood? Ere you had reach'd my age More than one tyrant, monster more than one Had felt the weight of your stout arm. Already, Successful in attacking insolence,

  You had removed all dangers that infested Our coasts to east and west. The traveller fear'd Outrage no longer. Hearing of your deeds, Already Hercules relied on you,

  And rested from his toils. While I, unknown Son of so brave a sire, am far behind

  Even my mother's footsteps. Let my courage Have scope to act, and if some monster yet Has 'scaped you, let me lay the glorious spoils Down at your feet; or let the memory

  Of death faced nobly keep my name alive, And prove to all the world I was your son.

  THESEUS

  Why, what is this? What terror has possess'd My family to make them fly before me?

  If I return to find myself so fear'd,

  So little welcome, why did Heav'n release me From prison? My sole friend, misled by passion, Was bent on robbing of his wife the tyrant Who ruled Epirus. With regret I lent

  The lover aid, but Fate had made us blind, Myself as well as him. The tyrant seized me Defenceless and unarm'd. Pirithous

  I saw with tears cast forth to be devour'd By savage beasts that lapp'd the blood of men. Myself in gloomy caverns he inclosed,

  Deep in the bowels of the earth, and nigh To Pluto's realms. Six months I lay ere Heav'n Had pity, and I 'scaped the watchful eyes That guarded me. Then did I purge the world Of a foul foe, and he himself has fed

  His monsters. But when with expectant joy To all that is most precious I draw near Of what the gods have left me, when my soul Looks for full satisfaction in a sight So dear, my only welcome is a shudder, Embrace rejected, and a hasty flight.

  Inspiring, as I clearly do, such terror, Would I were still a prisoner in Epirus! Phaedra complains that I have suffer'd outrage. Who has betray'd me? Speak. Why was I not Avenged? Has Greece, to whom mine arm so oft Brought useful aid, shelter'd the criminal? You make no answer. Is my son, mine own Dear son, confederate with mine enemies? I'll enter. This suspense is overwhelming. I'll learn at once the culprit and the crime, And Phaedra must explain her troubled state.

  Scene VI

  HIPPOLYTUS, THERAMENES HIPPOLYTUS

  What do these words portend, which seem'd to freeze My very blood? Will Phaedra, in her frenzy Accuse herself, and seal her own destruction? What will the King say? Gods! What fatal poison Has love spread over all his house! Myself, Full of a fire his hatred disapproves,

  How changed he finds me from the son he knew! With dark forebodings in my mind alarm'd, But innocence has surely naught to fear.

  Come, let us go, and in some other place

  Consider how I best may move my sire

  To tenderness, and tell him of a flame

  Vex'd but not vanquish'd by a father's blame.

  ACT IV

  Scene I

  THESEUS, OENONE THESEUS

  Ah! What is this I hear? Presumptuous traitor! And would he have disgraced his father's honour? With what relentless footsteps Fate pursues me! Whither I go I know not, nor where know I am. O kind affection ill repaid!

  Audacious scheme! Abominable thought!

  To reach the object of his foul desire

  The wretch disdain'd not to use violence. I know this sword that served him in his fury, The sword I gave him for a nobler use.

  Could not the sacred ties of blood restrain him? And Phaedra,—was she loath to have him punish'd? She held her tongue. Was that to spare the culprit?

  OENONE

  Nay, but to spare a most unhappy father.

  O'erwhelm'd with shame that her eyes should have kindled So infamous a flame and prompted him

  To crime so heinous, Phaedra would have died. I saw her raise her arm, and ran to save her. To me alone you owe it that she lives;

  And, in my pity both for her and you,

  Have I against my will interpreted

  Her tears.

  THESEUS

  The traitor! He might well turn pale.

  'Twas fear that made him tremble when he saw me. I was astonish'd that he show'd no pleasure; His frigid greeting chill'd my tenderness. But was this guilty passion that devours him Declared already ere I banish'd him

  From Athens?

  OENONE

  Sire, remember how the Queen

  Urged you. Illicit love caused all her hatred.

  THESEUS

  And then this fire broke out again at Troezen? OENONE

  Sire, I have told you all. Too long the Queen Has been allow'd to bear her grief alone Let me now leave you and attend to her.

  Scene II

  THESEUS, HIPPOLYTUS THESEUS

  Ah! There he is. Great gods! That noble mien Might well deceive an eye less fond than mine! Why should the sacred stamp of virtue gleam Upon the forehead of an impious wretch? Ought not the blackness of a traitor's heart To show itself by sure and certain signs?

  HIPPOLYTUS

  My father, may I ask what fatal cloud Has troubled your majestic countenance? Dare you not trust this secret to your son? Traitor, how dare you show yourself before me? Monster, whom Heaven's bolts have spared too long! Survivor of that robber crew whereof

  I cleansed the earth. After your brutal lust Scorn'd even to respect my marriage bed,

  You venture—you, my
hated foe—to come

  Into my presence, here, where all is full Of your foul infamy, instead of seeking

  Some unknown land that never heard my name. Fly, traitor, fly! Stay not to tempt the wrath That I can scarce restrain, nor brave my hatred. Disgrace enough have I incurr'd for ever

  In being father of so vile a son,

  Without your death staining indelibly

  The glorious record of my noble deeds.

  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 shores of foul assassins 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 passion!

  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 wishing 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,