Act II. Scene II. Racine, Jean. 1909-14. Phædra. The Harvard Classics

Fiction > Harvard Classics > Jean Racine > Phædra

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Jean Racine (1639–1699). Phædra.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Act II

Scene II


HIPPOLYTUS, ARICIA, ISMENE Hippolytus Lady, ere I go
My duty bids me tell you of your change
Of fortune. My worst fears are realized;
My sire is dead. Yes, his protracted absence
Was caused as I foreboded. Death alone,	5
Ending his toils, could keep him from the world
Conceal’d so long. The gods at last have doom’d
Alcides’ friend, companion, and successor.
I think your hatred, tender to his virtues,
Can hear such terms of praise without resentment,	10
Knowing them due. One hope have I that soothes
My sorrow: I can free you from restraint.
Lo, I revoke the laws whose rigour moved
My pity; you are at your own disposal,
Both heart and hand; here, in my heritage,	15
In Trœzen, where my grandshire Pittheus reign’d
Of yore and I am now acknowledged King,
I leave you free, free as myself,—and more.

Aricia Your kindness is too great, ’tis overwhelming.
Such generosity, that pays disgrace	20
With honour, lends more force than you can think
To those harsh laws from which you would release me.

Hippolytus Athens, uncertain how to fill the throne
Of Theseus, speaks of you, anon of me,
And then of Phædra’s son.	25

Aricia Of me, my lord?

Hippolytus I know myself excluded by strict law:
Greece turns to my reproach a foreign mother.
But if my brother were my only rival,
My rights prevail o’er his clearly enough	30
To make me careless of the law’s caprice.
My forwardness is check’d by juster claims:
To you I yield my place, or, rather, own
That it is yours by right, and yours the sceptre,
As handed down from Earth’s great son, Erechtheus.	35
Adoption placed it in the hands of Ægeus:
Athens, by him protected and increased,
Welcomed a king so generous as my sire,
And left your hapless brothers in oblivion.
Now she invites you back within her walls;	40
Protracted strife has cost her groans enough,
Her fields are glutted with your kinsmen’s blood
Fatt’ning the furrows out of which it sprung
At first. I rule this Trœzen; while the son
Of Phædra has in Crete a rich domain.	45
Athens is yours. I will do all I can
To join for you the votes divided now
Between us.

Aricia Stunn’d at all I hear, my lord,
I fear, I almost fear a dream deceives me.	50
Am I indeed awake? Can I believe
Such generosity? What god has put it
Into your heart? Well is the fame deserved
That you enjoy! That fame falls short of truth!
Would you for me prove traitor to yourself?	55
Was it not boon enough never to hate me,
So long to have abstain’d from harbouring
The enmity—

Hippolytus To hate you? I, to hate you?
However darkly my fierce pride was painted,	60
Do you suppose a monster gave me birth?
What savage temper, what envenom’d hatred
Would not be mollified at sight of you?
Could I resist the soul-bewitching charm—

Aricia Why, what is this, Sir?	65

Hippolytus I have said too much
Not to say more. Prudence in vain resists
The violence of passion. I have broken
Silence at last, and I must tell you now
The secret that my heart can hold no longer.	70
You see before you an unhappy instance
Of hasty pride, a prince who claims compassion
I, who, so long the enemy of Love,
Mock’d at his fetters and despised his captives,
Who, pitying poor mortals that were shipwreck’d,	75
In seeming safety view’d the storms from land,
Now find myself to the same fate exposed,
Toss’d to and fro upon a sea of troubles!
My boldness has been vanquish’d in a moment,
And humbled is the pride wherein I boasted.	80
For nearly six months past, ashamed, despairing,
Bearing where’er I go the shaft that rends
My heart, I struggle vainly to be free
From you and from myself; I shun you, present;
Absent, I find you near; I see your form	85
In the dark forest depths; the shades of night,
Nor less broad daylight, bring back to my view
The charms that I avoid; all things conspire
To make Hippolytus your slave. For fruit
Of all my bootless sighs, I fail to find	90
My former self. My bow and javelins
Please me no more, my chariot is forgotten,
With all the Sea God’s lessons; and the woods
Echo my groans instead of joyous shouts
Urging my fiery steeds.	95

Hearing this tale
Of passion so uncouth, you blush perchance
At your own handiwork. With what wild words
I offer you my heart, strange captive held
By silken jess! But dearer in your eyes	100
Should be the offering, that this language comes
Strange to my lips; reject not vows express’d
So ill, which but for you had ne’er been form’d

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · CHARACTERS

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