Why did you let me be
deceived?
Racine - Phaedra
I have a rival.
Oenone
What!
Phaedra
Hippolyte loves, I cannot doubt, it's true.
That shy untameable enemy, one who 1220
Seemed offended by respect, annoyed by tears,
That tiger I could not approach without fear,
Submissive, docile, knows a conqueror's art:
Aricia has found the pathway to his heart.
Oenone
Aricia?
Phaedra
Oh! A pain as yet that I had not felt! 1225
For what new torment have I reserved myself?
All I have suffered, my fears, my ecstasies,
Horror of remorse, the madness before my eyes,
And the unbearable hurt of cruel rejection,
Was only a feeble shadow of this moment. 1230
They are in love! What magic misled my eyes?
Where did they meet? Since when? How did it arise?
You knew.
Why did you let me be deceived?
Could you not teach their furtive passion to me?
Have they been seen speaking together, searching? 1235
Did they seek the forest's depths: were they hiding?
Alas! They had full licence of each other's eyes.
Heaven approved the innocence of their sighs:
They followed their loving thoughts without remorse:
Each day rose clear, serene to light their course. 1240
And I, sad, rejected by Nature outright,
I hid from the day: I fled from the light.
Death was the only god I dared call on.
I waited for the moment of extinction,
Feeding myself on venom, quenched with tears, 1245
Too closely watched in my suffering to dare
To allow myself to drown with weeping:
Tasting that deadly pleasure, with trembling,
And disguising my pain behind a calm brow,
Often my own tears I refused to allow. 1250
Oenone
But what will the fruit be of their hopeless love?
They will never meet again.
Phaedra
They will always love.
Ah, deadly thought, as I speak, at this moment, here,
They brave the fury of a maddened lover!
Despite the same exile that will separate them, 1255
They swear a thousand times nothing will part them.
No, I cannot endure a happiness that galls me,
Oenone.
Oenone
What!
Phaedra
Hippolyte loves, I cannot doubt, it's true.
That shy untameable enemy, one who 1220
Seemed offended by respect, annoyed by tears,
That tiger I could not approach without fear,
Submissive, docile, knows a conqueror's art:
Aricia has found the pathway to his heart.
Oenone
Aricia?
Phaedra
Oh! A pain as yet that I had not felt! 1225
For what new torment have I reserved myself?
All I have suffered, my fears, my ecstasies,
Horror of remorse, the madness before my eyes,
And the unbearable hurt of cruel rejection,
Was only a feeble shadow of this moment. 1230
They are in love! What magic misled my eyes?
Where did they meet? Since when? How did it arise?
You knew.
Why did you let me be deceived?
Could you not teach their furtive passion to me?
Have they been seen speaking together, searching? 1235
Did they seek the forest's depths: were they hiding?
Alas! They had full licence of each other's eyes.
Heaven approved the innocence of their sighs:
They followed their loving thoughts without remorse:
Each day rose clear, serene to light their course. 1240
And I, sad, rejected by Nature outright,
I hid from the day: I fled from the light.
Death was the only god I dared call on.
I waited for the moment of extinction,
Feeding myself on venom, quenched with tears, 1245
Too closely watched in my suffering to dare
To allow myself to drown with weeping:
Tasting that deadly pleasure, with trembling,
And disguising my pain behind a calm brow,
Often my own tears I refused to allow. 1250
Oenone
But what will the fruit be of their hopeless love?
They will never meet again.
Phaedra
They will always love.
Ah, deadly thought, as I speak, at this moment, here,
They brave the fury of a maddened lover!
Despite the same exile that will separate them, 1255
They swear a thousand times nothing will part them.
No, I cannot endure a happiness that galls me,
Oenone.
