Racine: Phaedra

342
RACINE
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
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 Troezen ; while the son
Of Phaedra has in Crete a rich domain.
Athens is jours. 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.
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 ?
Was it not boon enough never to hate me.
So long to have abstain'd from harboring
The enmity
HiPPOLYTUs. To hate you? I, to hate you?
However darkly my fierce pride was painted,
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?
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.
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.
In seeming safety view'd the storms from land,