Racine - Phaedra - College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

PHAEDRA. ACT III. SCENE 6 / 185
The tyrant caught me, unarmed and by surprise.
I saw Pirithoiis with my weeping eyes
Flung by the barbarous king to monsters then,
Fierce beasts who drink the blood of luckless men.
Me he confined where never light invades, 45
In caverns near the empire of the shades.
After six months, Heaven pitied my mischance. ,
Escaping from my guardians' vigilance, ,
I cleansed the world of one more fiend, and threw
To his own beasts the bloody corpse to chew. 50
But now when, joyful, I return to see
The dearest whom the Gods have left to me;
Now, when my spirits, glad once more and light,
Would feast again upon that cherished sight,' ,
I'm met with shudders and with frightened faces: 55
All flee me, all deny me their embraces.
Touched by the very terror I beget,
I wish I were Epirus' prisoner yet.
Speak! Phaedra says that I've been wronged. By whom?
Why has the culprit not yet met his doom? 60
Has Greece, so often sheltered by my arm,
Chosen to shield this criminal fromharm?
You're silent. Is my own son, if you please,
In some alliance with my enemies?
I shall go in, and end this maddening doubt. 65
Both crime and culprit must be rooted out,
And Phaedra tell why she is so distraught: '
SCENE 6
HIPPOLITUS; THERAMENES
HIPPOLYfUS How her words chilled 'me! What was in her thought?
Will Phaedra, who is still her frenzy's prey, ' .
Accuse herself, and throw her life away? '
What will the King say? Gods! What'love has done
To poison all this house while he was gone!
And I, who burn for one who bears his curse, :
Am altered in his sight, and for the worse!
I've dark forebodings; something ill draws near.
Yet surely innocence need never fear. '
Come, let's consider now how I may best 10
Revive the kindness in my father's breast,
And tell him of a love which he may take
Amiss, but all his power cannot shake.
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