Racine: Phaedra

36a
RACINE
With his destruction. 'Tis a debt that Neptune
Owes me, and you shall be avenged.
Ph^dra.— A debt
Owed you ? Pray'rs made in anger
Theseus.— Never fear
That they will fail. Rather join yours to mine.
In all their blackness paint for me his crimes,
And fan my tardy passion to white heat.
But yet you know not all his infamy
His rage against you overflows in slanders
Your mouth, he says, is full of all deceit.
He says Aricia has his heart and soul,
That her alone he loves.
Ph^dra.— Aricia ?
Theseus.— Ay,
He said it to my face : an idle pretext
A trick that gulls me not ! Let us hope Neptune
Will do him speedy justice. To his altars
I go, to urge performance of his oaths.
Scene V.
Ph^dra [alone] .—Ah, he is gone ! What tidings struck mine
\
ears
What fire, half smother'd, in my heart revives?
What fatal stroke falls like a thunderbolt ?
Stung by remorse that would not let me rest,
I tore myself out of CEnone's arms,
And flew to help Hippolytus with all
My soul and strength. Who knows if that repentance
Might not have moved me to accuse myself?
And, if my voice had not been choked with shame,
Perhaps I had confess'd the frightful truth.
Hippolytus can feel, but not for me
Aricia has his heart, his plighted troth.
Ye gods, when, deaf to all my sighs and tears,
He arm'd his eye with scorn, his brow with threats,
I deem'd his heart, impregnable to love,
Was fortified 'gainst all my sex alike.
And yet another has prevail'd to tame