Great in the sight of mortals, and not without a name am I the Goddess
Venus, and in heaven: and of as many as dwell within the ocean and the
boundaries of Atlas, beholding the light of the sun, those indeed, who
reverence my authority, I advance to honor; but overthrow as many as hold
themselves high toward me. For this is in sooth a property inherent even in
the race of the Gods, that "they rejoice when honored by men." But quickly
will I show the truth of these words: for the son of Theseus, born of the
Amazon, Hippolytus, pupil of the chaste Pittheus, alone of the inhabitants
of this land of Trœzene, says that I am of deities the vilest, and rejects
the bridal bed, and will have nothing to do with marriage. But Dian, the
sister of Phœbus, daughter of Jove, he honors, esteeming her the greatest
of deities. And through the green wood ever accompanying the virgin, with
his swift dogs he clears the beasts from off the earth, having formed a
fellowship greater than mortal ought. This indeed I grudge him not; for
wherefore should I? but wherein he has erred toward me, I will avenge me on
Hippolytus this very day: and having cleared most of the difficulties
beforehand,[1] I need not much labor. For Phædra, his father's noble wife,
having seen him, (as he was going once from the house of Pittheus to the
land of Pandion, in order to see and afterward be fully admitted to the
hallowed mysteries,) was smitten in her heart with fierce love by my
design. And even before she came to this land of Trœzene, at the very rock
of Pallas that overlooks this land, she raised a temple to Venus, loving an
absent love; and gave out afterward,[2] that the Goddess was honored with
her temple for Hippolytus's sake. But now since Theseus has left the land
of Cecrops, in order to avoid the pollution of the murder of the sons of
Pallas, and is sailing to this land with his wife, having submitted to a
year's banishment from his people; there indeed groaning and stricken with
the stings of love, the wretched woman perishes in secret; and not one of
her domestics is conscious of her malady. But this love must by no means
fall to the ground in this way: but I will open the matter to Theseus, and
it shall become manifest. And him that is our enemy shall the father kill
with imprecations, which Neptune, king of the ocean, granted as a privilege
to Theseus, that he should make no prayer thrice to the God in vain. But
Phædra dies, an illustrious woman indeed, yet still [she must die]; for I
will not make her ills of that high consequence, that will hinder my
enemies from giving me such full vengeance as may content me. But, as I see
the son of Theseus coming, having left the toil of the chase, I will depart
from this spot. But with him a numerous train of attendants following
behind raise a clamor, praising the Goddess Dian with hymns, for he knows
not that the gates of hell are opened, and that this day is the last he
beholds.