Racine: Phaedra

278
MOLIERE
Alceste. I am resolved not to move a step in the matter.
Either I am right or I am wrong.
Philinte. Do not be over-confident.
Alceste. I will not stir.
Philinte. Your adversary is powerful, and may by his in-
trigues persuade . . .
Alceste. I care not.
Philinte. You will do wrong.
Alceste. Be it so. We shall see what comes of it.
Philinte. But . . .
Alceste. I shall have the pleasure of losing my lawsuit.
Philinte. But still . . .
Alceste. I shall see in this trial whether men will have impudence
enough—will be wicked, villainous, and perverse
enough—to do me this injustice in the face of the whole
world.
Philinte. What a man
Alceste. I would give up a great deal to have the pleasure of
losing my suit.
Philinte. If people heard you speak in that way, they would
laugh at you in good earnest, Alceste.
Alceste. So much the worse for those who laughed.
Philinte. But this rectitude which you claim so loudly ; this
thorough-going integrity, in which you entrench yourself,
do you find them in her you love? Being, as it seems, so
much at variance with the whole human race, I am greatly
astonished that, in spite of all that can render it odious,
you have chosen in it what charms your eyes. What surprises
me still more, is the strange choice which your
heart has made. The sincere Eliante is kindly disposed
towards you, the prude Arsinoe casts longing eyes upon
you ; yet you reject their vows, and suffer yourself to
be led in chains by Celimene, whose coquettish disposi-
tion and malicious wit are so much in accordance with
the manners of our age ! How is it that, bearing such
deep hatred to these manners, you can put up with them
in the person you love? In so sweet a charmer are they
no longer failings? Are you blind to them, or do you
excuse them?
Alceste. No. My love for this young widow does not make