We cannot
overcome
destiny.
Racine - Phaedra
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.
You love.
We cannot overcome destiny.
You were led on by some deadly sorcery.
Is that a happening unknown among us?
Is it only over you that love has triumphed? 1300
Weakness among us is only too natural.
Mortal, submit to the fate of all things mortal.
You complain of a yoke imposed long ago:
Even the gods of Olympus, those gods, we know,
Who frighten criminals with thunderous action, 1305
Have sometimes burned with an illicit passion.
Phaedra
What do I hear? What advice do you dare to give?
Do you wish to poison me while I still live.
Wretched girl! This is how you destroy me.
You turn me back to the light from which I flee. 1310
Your entreaties made me forget my duty.
I avoided Hippolytus: him you made me see.
What did you seek to do?
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.
You love.
We cannot overcome destiny.
You were led on by some deadly sorcery.
Is that a happening unknown among us?
Is it only over you that love has triumphed? 1300
Weakness among us is only too natural.
Mortal, submit to the fate of all things mortal.
You complain of a yoke imposed long ago:
Even the gods of Olympus, those gods, we know,
Who frighten criminals with thunderous action, 1305
Have sometimes burned with an illicit passion.
Phaedra
What do I hear? What advice do you dare to give?
Do you wish to poison me while I still live.
Wretched girl! This is how you destroy me.
You turn me back to the light from which I flee. 1310
Your entreaties made me forget my duty.
I avoided Hippolytus: him you made me see.
What did you seek to do?
