I can't support myself: my
strength
has left me.
Racine - Phaedra
(Oenone enters. )
But what new trouble disturbs dear Oenone?
Act I Scene II (Hippolytus, Oenone, Theramenes)
Oenone
Alas! My lord, what misfortune could equal mine?
The Queen is near to the ending of her life.
I've kept watch over her, in vain, day and night: 145
She'll die in my arms of this illness that she hides.
Eternal disorder reigns now in her spirit.
She's torn from her bed by sorrowful unquiet.
She wishes to see the light: yet with deep sadness
Orders the world outside to be dismissed. . . 150
She is here.
Hippolyte
Enough: I'll leave this place to her,
And show my odious face to her no longer.
Act I Scene III (Phaedra, Oenone)
Phaedra
Let's go no further. Stay, dear Oenone.
I can't support myself: my strength has left me.
My eyes are dazzled, on seeing the light of day, 155
My knees, trembling beneath me, have given way.
Alas!
(She sits down. )
Oenone
All-powerful gods! If tears could but appease.
Phaedra
How these vain ornaments, these veils burden me!
What irksome hand, weaving these knots around,
Has gathered my hair with such care on my brow? 160
All afflicts, and harms, and conspires to harm me.
Oeneone
Your wishes thwart one another, alternately!
You yourself, condemning your unjust intent,
Urged our hands to prepare you for this instant:
You yourself, recalling your former strength, 165
Wished to rise again, and see the light at length.
You see it, mistress, and start to hide once more:
Do you hate the daylight you were searching for?
Phaedra
Noble, glittering creator of a sad family,
You, whose daughter my mother dared claim to be, 170
Who blush perhaps on viewing my troubled mind,
Oh Sun, I come to look on you for one last time.
Oeneone
What! Will you never forget that cruel desire?
Am I always to see you renouncing life entire,
Making funereal preparations for your death?
