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

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

Act V

Scene VI


THESEUS, THERAMENES Theseus Theramenes, is’t thou? Where is my son?
I gave him to thy charge from tenderest childhood.
But whence these tears that overflow thine eyes?
How is it with my son?

Theramenes Concern too late!	5
Affection vain! Hippolytus is dead.

Theseus Gods!

Theramenes I have seen the flow’r of all mankind
Cut off, and I am bold to say that none
Deserved it less.	10

Theseus What! My son dead! When I
Was stretching out my arms to him, has Heav’n
Hasten’d his end? What was this sudden stroke?

Theramenes Scarce had we pass’d out of the gates of Trœzen,
He silent in his chariot, and his guards,	15
Downcast and silent too, around him ranged;
To the Mycenian road he turn’d his steeds,
Then, lost in thought, allow’d the reins to lie
Loose on their backs. His noble chargers, erst
So full of ardour to obey his voice,	20
With head depress’d and melancholy eye
Seem’d now to mark his sadness and to share it.
A frightful eye, that issues from the deep,
With sudden discord rends the troubled air;
And from the bosom of the earth a groan	25
Is heard in answer to that voice of terror.
Our blood is frozen at our very hearts;
With bristling manes the list’ning steeds stand still
Meanwhile upon the watery plain there rises
A mountain billow with a mighty crest	30
Of foam, that shoreward rolls, and, as it breaks,
Before our eyes vomits a furious monster.
With formidable horns its brow is arm’d,
And all its body clothed with yellow scales,
In front a savage bull, behind a dragon	35
Turning and twisting in impatient rage.
Its long continued bellowings make the shore
Tremble; the sky seems horror-struck to see it;
The earth with terror quakes; its poisonous breath
Infects the air. The wave that brought it ebbs	40
In fear. All fly, forgetful of the courage
That cannot aid, and in a neighbouring temple
Take refuge—all save bold Hippolytus.
A hero’s worthy son, he stays his steeds,
Seizes his darts, and, rushing forward, hurls	45
A missile with sure aim that wounds the monster
Deep in the flank. With rage and pain it springs
E’en to the horses’ feet, and, roaring, falls,
Writhes in the dust, and shows a fiery throat
That covers them with flames, and blood, and smoke.	50
Fear lends them wings; deaf to his voice for once,
And heedless of the curb, they onward fly.
Their master wastes his strength in efforts vain;
With foam and blood each courser’s bit is red.
Some say a god, amid this wild disorder,	55
Was seen with goads pricking their dusty flanks.
O’er jagged rocks they rush urged on by terror;
Crash! goes the axle-tree. Th’ intrepid youth
Sees his car broken up, flying to pieces;
He falls himself entangled in the reins.	60
Pardon my grief. That cruel spectacle
Will be for me a source of endless tears.
I saw thy hapless son, I saw him, Sire,
Dragg’d by the horses that his hands had fed,
Pow’rless to check their fierce career, his voice	65
But adding to their fright, his body soon
One mass of wounds. Our cries of anguish fill
The plain. At last they slacken their swift pace,
Then stop, not far from those old tombs that mark
Where lie the ashes of his royal sires.	70
Panting I thither run, and after me
His guard, along the track stain’d with fresh blood
That reddens all the rocks; caught in the briers
Locks of his hair hang dripping, gory spoils!
I come, I call him. Stretching forth his hand,	75
He opes his dying eyes, soon closed again.
“The gods have robb’d me of a guiltless life,”
I hear him say: “Take care of sad Aricia
When I am dead. Dear friend, if e’er my father
Mourn, undeceived, his son’s unhappy fate	80
Falsely accused; to give my spirit peace,
Tell him to treat his captive tenderly,
And to restore—” With that the hero’s breath
Fails, and a mangled corpse lies in my arms,
A piteous object, trophy of the wrath	85
Of Heav’n—so changed, his father would not know him.

Theseus Alas, my son! Dear hope for ever lost!
The ruthless gods have served me but too well.
For what a life of anguish and remorse
And I reserved!	90

Theramenes Aricia at that instant,
Flying from you, comes timidly, to take him
For husband, there, in presence of the gods.
Thus drawing nigh, she sees the grass all red
And reeking, sees (sad sight for lover’s eye!)	95
Hippolytus stretch’d there, pale and disfigured.
But, for a time doubtful of her misfortune,
Unrecognized the hero she adores,
She looks, and asks—“Where is Hippolytus?”
Only too sure at last that he lies there	100
Before her, with sad eyes that silently
Reproach the gods, she shudders, groans, and falls
Swooning and all but lifeless, at his feet.
Ismene, all in tears, kneels down beside her,
And calls her back to life-life that is naught	105
But sense of pain. And I, to whom this light
Is darkness now, come to discharge the duty
The hero has imposed on me, to tell thee
His last request—a melancholy task.
But hither comes his mortal enemy.	110

CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · CHARACTERS

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