[Illustration]
Theseus married Phaedra, daughter of Minos, sister of the unfortunate
Ariadne whom he had left to perish. Phaedra, however, unhappily, felt a
guilty love for Hippolytus, son of Theseus by a previous union. Venus,
having a dislike to Minos, the father of Phaedra, sent Cupid to pierce her
with his shafts. {202}
For a long time she struggled with the pangs which raged within her, but
they grew too fierce to be endured, and she revealed to him her love.
_Phae._ "'My lord, 'tis said you soon will part from us.
_Hip._ Madam!
_Phae._ I pray you do not leave us!
_Hip._ My duty, lady!--
_Phae._ Would that that duty, were in pleasing me;
_Hip._ To please you, lady, were my highest wish,
To gain your love, my highest privilege.
_Phae._ To gain my love?
_Hip._ Aye, madam!
_Phae._ Hippolytus! the fearful truth will out,
_My love is gained_!
_Hip._ I hope, indeed so,--as a mother.
_Phae. aside_--(How coldly doth _he_ speak, while thro' _my_ veins
The hot blood bounds in fierce convulsive starts.)
Not as a mother do I love thee,
But--as a woman--now my breast is free
Of the stern secret which so long hath burned
And given a fever to my very looks.
_Hip._ Madam! I do not understand you;
_Phae._ You must! fierce, burning love is mine,
For you, Hippolytus, the son of Theseus!
_Hip._ And you his wife?
_Phae._ Aye, boy, 'tis even so;
Nay, look not so:--I say Hippolytus,
That from the very hour I saw, I loved thee;
That from the very moment that thy voice
Rang in my ears, it entered in my heart,
That from the hour I was Theseus' wife,
Even at the altar, where my plight was vowed,
My thoughts were all of thee. Speak, speak, and say
Thou dost not hate me.
_Hip._ Some sudden frenzy hath upset thy brain--
Thou knowest not what thou speakest.
_Phae._ I am not mad! would to the gods I were--
Think not that I have yielded willingly,
Unto the passion which I now avow,
Daily, and hourly, have I striven against it:
And night by night, when visions and when dreams
Pressed on my brain in many a confused shape,
All bearing one image, and that image thine,
I have striven, wrestled, fought against this love,
But all in vain.
_Hip._ I scarcely dare believe mine ears, a dream
Seems on me, like a man in sleep,
A mass of dim confusion gathers round me;
Am I indeed Hippolytus, and art thou Phaedra?
_Phae._ I am thy Phaedra! Theseus has my hand,
But thou, Hippolytus, thou hast my heart.
_Hip._ Theseus--my father--
{203} [Illustration]
_Phae._ Thy father and my husband, what of that?
Love knows no ties save those he makes himself,
Speak to me--
Say that I yet may hope to lay my head
On that dear bosom, say thou wilt not spurn
The heart that rests its only hope on thee.
Say, or, but look, a clear return of love,
And I will fall upon my knees adoring thee!
_Hip._ Madam, I would not, could not wrong my father;
And thou, how canst thou meet his face?
Shame, shame, upon the wanton love that leaves
The marriage bed, even were it but in thought:
And thou above thy compeers raised afar,
In that thy name is mated with my father's,
Shouldst pray the gods to scourge this passion from thee.
_Phae._ Oh! by thine hopes of heaven I pray thee peace!
_Hip._ Peace, thou! adultress! peace, thou, shameless one,
Away, lest I should change a husband's love,
Into a husband's hate.
_Phae._ Thou canst not do it!
_Hip._ What if I did proclaim to him thy guilt?
What if I said--father! thy wife, my mother,
Hath offered me the love due but to thee,
Hath with a shameless love, and wanton's insolence,
Deemed she could win me to her bed--
Woman, I tell thee--
{204}
_Phae._ And I tell thee, that he would not believe thee.
Yet--say it not, Hippolytus! for I
Do love thee as--
_Hip._ I'll hear no more!
_Mother!_ I leave thee, and I pray the gods
To visit not on thee, this awful crime!'"