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[1355-1400] Hippolytus 797
feed, ye have been my ruin and my death. O by the gods, good sirs, I
beseech ye, softly touch my wounded limbs. Who stands there at my
right side? Lift me tenderly; with slow and even step conduct a poor
wretch cursed by his mistaken sire. Great Zeus, dost thou see this?
Me thy reverent worshipper, me who left all men behind in purity, 1
plunged thus into yawning Hades 'neath the earth, reft of life; in
vain the toils I have endured through my piety towards mankind.
Ah me! ah me! O the thrill of anguish shooting through me! Set me
down, poor wretch I am; come Death to set me free! Kill me, end
my sufferings. O for a sword two-edged to hack my flesh, and close
this mortal life! Ill-fated curse of my father! the crimes of bloody
kinsmen, ancestors of old, now pass their boundaries and tarry not,
and upon me are they come all guiltless as I am; ah! why ? Alas, alas!
what can I say? How from my life get rid of this relentless agony?
0 that the stern Death-god, night's black visitant, would give my
sufferings rest!
ARTEMIS
Poor sufferer! cruel the fate that links thee to it! Thy noble soul hath
been thy ruin.
HIPPOLYTUS
Ah! the fragrance from my goddess wafted! Even in my agony I feel
thee near and find relief; she is here in this very place, my goddess
Artemis.
ARTEMIS
She is, poor sufferer! the goddess thou hast loved the best.
HIPPOLYTUS
Dost see me, mistress mine? dost see my present suffering?
ARTEMIS
1 see thee, but mine eyes no tear may weep.
HIPPOLYTUS
Thou hast none now to lead the hunt or tend thy fane,
ARTEMIS
None now; yet e'en in death I love thee still.
HIPPOLYTUS
None to groom thy steeds, or guard thy shrines.
ARTEMIS
'Twas Cypris, mistress of iniquity, devised this evil.