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| Jean Racine (1639–1699). Phædra. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| Act V |
| Scene III |
THESEUS, ARICIA Theseus Your colour comes and goes, you seem confused, | |
| Madam! What business had my son with you? | |
Aricia Sire, he was bidding me farewell for ever. | |
Theseus Your eyes, it seems, can tame that stubborn pride; | |
| And the first sighs he breathes are paid to you. | 5 |
Aricia I can’t deny the truth; he has not, Sire, | |
| Inherited your hatred and injustice; | |
| He did not treat me like a criminal. | |
Theseus That is to say, he swore eternal love. | |
| Do not rely on that inconstant heart; | 10 |
| To others has he sworn as much before. | |
Aricia He, Sire? | |
Theseus You ought to check his roving taste. | |
| How could you bear a partnership so vile? | |
Aricia And how can you endure that vilest slanders | 15 |
| Should make a life so pure as black as pitch? | |
| Have you so little knowledge of his heart? | |
| Do you so ill distinguish between guilt | |
| And innocence? What mist before your eyes | |
| Blinds them to virtue so conspicuous? | 20 |
| Ah! ’tis too much to let false tongues defame him. | |
| Repent; call back your murderous wishes, Sire; | |
| Fear, fear lest Heav’n in its severity | |
| Hate you enough to hear and grant your pray’rs. | |
| Oft in their wrath the gods accept our victims, | 25 |
| And oftentimes chastise us with their gifts. | |
Theseus No, vainly would you cover up his guilt. | |
| Your love is blind to his depravity. | |
| But I have witness irreproachable: | |
| Tears have I seen, true tears, that may be trusted. | 30 |
Aricia Take heed, my lord. Your hands invincible | |
| Have rid the world of monsters numberless; | |
| But all are not destroy’d, one you have left | |
| Alive—your son forbids me to say more. | |
| Knowing with what respect he still regards you, | 35 |
| I should too much distress him if I dared | |
| Complete my sentence. I will imitate | |
| His reverence, and, to keep silence, leave you. | |
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