Flee to
infernal
night.
Racine - Phaedra
How has my reason strayed?
I, jealous! And Theseus is to be implored! 1265
My husband lives, and yet I burn the more!
For whom? Whose is the heart that claims my prayers?
Every word lifts the horrid tresses of my hair.
Now my crimes have overflowed the measure.
I breathe incest and deceit, twins together. 1270
My murderous hands, eager for vengeance,
Burn to plunge in the blood of innocence.
Unhappy! And I live? And endure the sight
Of that sacred Sun from whom I take my life?
I have, for ancestor, the gods' king and father: 1275
The sky, the universe is filled with my ancestors.
Where can I hide myself?
Flee to infernal night.
What am I saying? My father, there, holds tight
To the fatal urn: Destiny placed it in his hands:
Minos, in Hell, judges the ghosts of these humans. 1280
Ah! How his shade will tremble, horrified
When he sees his daughter present before his eyes,
Forced to confess to so many diverse sins,
Crimes perhaps unknown even in those realms!
What will you say, father, to that terrible sight? 1285
I see the dread urn drop from your hands outright,
I see you searching for some new punishment,
Doomed yourself to be your own child's torment.
Forgive me. A cruel god destroys your race.
See his vengeance in your daughter's face. 1290
Alas! My sad heart failed to gather the fruit
Of my dreadful crime, and shame is in pursuit.
Hounded by misery till my final breath,
I lay down a painful life in tormented death.
Oenone
Oh! Madame, reject this ill-founded terror. 1295
View it with another eye as pardonable error.
I, jealous! And Theseus is to be implored! 1265
My husband lives, and yet I burn the more!
For whom? Whose is the heart that claims my prayers?
Every word lifts the horrid tresses of my hair.
Now my crimes have overflowed the measure.
I breathe incest and deceit, twins together. 1270
My murderous hands, eager for vengeance,
Burn to plunge in the blood of innocence.
Unhappy! And I live? And endure the sight
Of that sacred Sun from whom I take my life?
I have, for ancestor, the gods' king and father: 1275
The sky, the universe is filled with my ancestors.
Where can I hide myself?
Flee to infernal night.
What am I saying? My father, there, holds tight
To the fatal urn: Destiny placed it in his hands:
Minos, in Hell, judges the ghosts of these humans. 1280
Ah! How his shade will tremble, horrified
When he sees his daughter present before his eyes,
Forced to confess to so many diverse sins,
Crimes perhaps unknown even in those realms!
What will you say, father, to that terrible sight? 1285
I see the dread urn drop from your hands outright,
I see you searching for some new punishment,
Doomed yourself to be your own child's torment.
Forgive me. A cruel god destroys your race.
See his vengeance in your daughter's face. 1290
Alas! My sad heart failed to gather the fruit
Of my dreadful crime, and shame is in pursuit.
Hounded by misery till my final breath,
I lay down a painful life in tormented death.
Oenone
Oh! Madame, reject this ill-founded terror. 1295
View it with another eye as pardonable error.
