Racine: Phaedra

LIFE A DREAM S41
EsTRELLA —Indeed, my Lord, these eyes have no such power
Over the past or present : but perhaps
They brighten at your welcome to supply
The little that a lady's speech commends
And in the hope that, let whichever be
The other's subject, we may both be friends.
Segismund.—Your hand to that—But why does this warm
hana
Shoot a cold shudder through me ?
EsTRELLA.
In revenge
For likening me to that cold moon, perhaps.
Segismund.—Oh, but the lip whose music tells me so
Breathes of a warmer planet, and that lip
Shall remedy the treason of the hand
[He catches to embrace her.
Estrella.—Release me, sir!
Chamberlain.— And pardon me, my Lord,
This lady is a Princess absolute,
As Prince he is who just saluted you,
And claims her by affiance.
Segismund.— Hence, old fool,
Forever thrusting that white stick of yours
Between me and my pleasure
AsTOLFO. This cause is mine.
Forbear, sir
Segismund.— What, sir mouth-piece, you again?
AsTOLFO.—My Lord, I waive your insult to myself
In recognition of the dignity
You yet are new to, and that greater still
You look in time to wear. But for this lady
"Whom, if my cousin now, I hope to claim
Henceforth by yet a nearer, dearer name
Segismund.—And what care I? She is my cousin too:
And if you be a Prince—well, am not I ?
Lord of the very soil you stand upon ?
By that, and by that right beside of blood
That like a fiery fountain hitherto
Pent in the rock leaps toward her at her touch.
Mine, before all the cousins in Muscovy
You call me Prince of Poland, and yourselves