No More Learning

Alas! When that sword of his sought out my breast,
Did he grow pale for me, and snatch it from me?
It was enough for my hand to touch it lightly, 750
To render it distasteful to that inhuman man:
And for that wretched blade to soil his hands.

Oenone

So in this affliction, that only breeds anguish,
You nourish a passion that you should extinguish.
Would it not be better, Minos' worthy daughter, 755
To search for repose amongst the nobler cares,
Rule, in opposition to that ungrateful man
Who resorts to flight: and govern in the land?

Phaedra

I rule? I, and bring the state beneath my law,
When my weak mind can rule itself no more! 760
When I've abandoned control of my senses so!
When I can scarce breathe beneath a shameful yoke!
When I am dying!

Oenone

Take flight.

Phaedra

I cannot leave him.

Oenone

You dared to banish him: you daren't avoid him?

Phaedra

No longer. He knows my ardent ecstasy.
765
I've passed the bounds of cautious modesty.
In my conqueror's sight I declared my shame,
Yet hope glides to my heart now all the same.
You yourself, defeating my powers' eclipse,
Recalling my soul, already hovering on my lips, 770
You revived me with your flattering advice.
Made me see, that I might love him, with your eyes.

Oenone

Alas! Innocent of your misfortune, or culpable,
To save you still, of what would I not be capable?
But if ever its offence distressed your mind, 775
Can you forget the scornfulness of his pride?
With what cruel glances his harsh severity
Left you well nigh submissive at his feet!
How odious his savage pride has made him!
If Phaedra only had my eyes to see him! 780

Phaedra

Oenone, he may quench this pride that wounds you.
Raised in the forests, he has their wildness too.
Hippolytus, hardened by their savage laws,
Hears love's language he never heard before.
Perhaps his astonishment explains his silence, 785
And our complaints perhaps show too much violence.

Oenone

Think: a barbarian formed him in her womb.

Phaedra

Scythian, and barbarian, she's known love too.