Preface to Hippolytus In the Women at the Thesmophoria of 411 bc, Aristophanes makes the angry Athenian women complain that Euripides 'has deliberately chosen stories where there are bad women, producing Melanippes and Phaedras, but never a Penelope' (546—7), and throughout that play he is satirically treated as a persistent critic of the female sex. We have already seen that this account is inadequate: in the Alcestis he presents an unambiguously 'virtuous' woman, and in the Medea he creates a complex character who performs a terrible deed but cannot be simply dismissed as a monster of villainy. The complications in the portrayal of Phaedra are of a different kind and arise partly from the fact that Euripides had already covered this ground before, in an earlier Hippolytus, now lost. Ancient scholars, who knew both plays, distinguished them as Hippolytus veiled and Hippolytus bearer of the garland. The latter is the play that we have; the title refers to his offering to Artemis mentioned by Hippolytus when he first appears on stage (73-83). The reconstruction of lost dramas, even when, as with Euripides' first Hippolytus, some short quotations and critical comments do survive, is a hazardous and speculative business. What seems certain is that in the earlier Hippolytus Phaedra was a conventional 'bad woman', who made sexual overtures to the honourable Hippolytus, was rejected and denounced him to her husband Theseus: Hippolytus died for his supposed crime and Phaedra killed herself. This type of story can be paralleled elsewhere in Greek myth and indeed in the Bible (Genesis 39, Joseph and Potiphar's wife). In the surviving play Euripides handles the same material, the outcome is the same (death for EURIPIDES Phaedra and Hippolytus), but the motives and psychology niuch more interesting and ambiguous. Perhaps Euripides .as piqued at the negative reception his earlier play had received, perhaps he was stimulated by the production of a play by Sophocles (also lost) on the same theme, or perhaps he was simply determined to do something new with a well-known legend. At any rate, his efforts were rewarded: the tetralogy including the extant Hippolytus won first prize. Although the play is called Hippolytus, and his death at the end of the play overshadows that of Phaedra, the interest of the spectator is divided between the two: Hippolytus makes a brief appearance in the opening scenes, but the first half is dominated by Phaedra's agonies of love and indecision, the second by the more masculine conflict of father and son. Many will find Phaedra's dilemma more sympathetic: initially firm in her resistance to the overwhelming power of Aphrodite, she intends to starve herself to death and die with her shameful love unsuspected. It is not Phaedra who brings about the catastrophe, but her well-meaning Nurse, who cannot understand Phaedra's nobility: by her interference she first induces Phaedra to reveal her secret, then betrays it to Hippolytus. By contrast, the young man's foolish arrogance towards Aphrodite, his vicious denunciation of all women, and his tactless handling of his father are likely to reduce any audience's sympathy. Although the early scene in which he prays to Artemis is touching and beautiful in its religious devotion, his later speeches seem to show him in a less attractive light, and many critics have written disapprovingly of his puritan (or even pathological) psychology. It is easy to go too far in condemning Hippolytus: despite his furious response to the Nurse's misguided overtures, he does keep Phaedra's secret in the face of extreme provocation, refusing to break his oath. His most notorious line (622), in which he claims that only his tongue, not his heart, is bound by that oath, does not represent his considered attitude. By contrast, Phaedra, however sympathetic, not only fails in her original resolve (but can a mortal hope to defy a goddess's power?) but also unjustly libels Hippolytus - partly to preserve her own reputation, but also to take revenge for his insults to her and her sex (728-31). HIPPOLYTUS Neither character is wholly admirable, but in the last an? Hippolytus' self-destructive integrity may be thought prefer to Phaedra's morally ambiguous pride in her own good name. Theseus, the most famous hero of Athenian mythology, has fathered Hippolytus in one of his many sexual liaisons. It is significant that Hippolytus' mother was an Amazon queen, one of a race committed to hunting and antagonism to men. His hostility to women, his devotion to a virgin goddess and huntress, his uneasy relationship with his father, who does not really understand him, and his self-consciousness about his status as a bastard (1083; 1455), all cohere in a convincing psychological picture: as often, Euripides shows himself astonishingly modern in his understanding of human emotions, attitudes and reactions. By contrast, Theseus is a man of action, impatient with his son's self-conscious purity and peculiar ways (948-57). Confident that he knows the truth, he curses his son without waiting to hear his case. The scene in which they confront each other, more than most Euripidean conflict-scenes, has the flavour of a courtroom, with much talk of oaths, witnesses and the like; but the crucial piece of testimony cannot be brought out, and the verdict and sentence have been uttered before the trial begins. Theseus' rashness in accepting his wife's word untested, without appealing to prophets or oracles, is condemned later by Artemis (1321-4; cf. 1055-6); as so often in tragedy, Theseus discovers the truth too late. The two opposing divinities, Aphrodite and Artemis, goddesses of passion and chastity, preside over the play: they were surely represented by statues on stage, and are referred to by the characters throughout, often with unconscious ironies (e.g. 87; 361; 522-3; 725). The appearance of the deities as characters, in prologue and final scene, differentiates it from the Medea, where the destructive forces at work are human in origin, though daemonic in scale. The fact that Euripides has here given his human characters such vivid personalities, and portrayed their reactions so realistically, has tempted many critics to regard the divinities as dispensable, and to explain the action in terms of human psychology. But this interpretation must be wrong: we need the supernatural dimension for Theseus' curse to work EURIPIDES HIPPOLYTUS 'I from the sea is no mere tidal wave); even more import-.0 revelation of Hippolytus' innocence can only convince eus if it comes from an unquestionable divine source. The gods in Euripides are real for the purposes of the drama, even if they work on what they find in the minds of their human victims (thus Phaedra's family has a history of dangerous and immoral sexuality, to which she refers at 3 3 7ft.). If the gods are truly like this, vengefully striking down those ! who dishonour them, does this make for a negative, pessimistic picture of human life? Certainly it seems cold comfort that > Artemis will continue the conflict by destroying Aphrodite's '■ favourite Adonis (1420—22). But we should remember that this i is tragedy, high drama, treating the actions and sufferings of j mythical figures from the remote past: in this genre we can j expect suffering and disaster. Moreover, tragic myth tends to j deal with extreme situations, dilemmas which allow no painless 1 resolution, whereas in everyday life the audience would rarely if ever be confronted with choices of this kind. The normal Athenian would have no difficulty in worshipping both Artemis j and Aphrodite in their proper place: it is not Hippolytus' chastity | but his bad-mouthing of Aphrodite that is punished. Nevertheless, with all qualifications made, the Euripidean portrayal of divinity regularly raises worrying questions, in this play highlighted by the servant who vainly advises Hippolytus to mend his manners towards Aphrodite. When the young man has left the stage, the servant begs Aphrodite to forgive this hot-headedness: 'pretend not to hear him. Gods should be wiser thanmen' (119-20). But are they? The nature of divine wisdom ; is a subject which recurs persistently in the work of Euripides. The Hippolytus is a less starkly tragic play than the Medea, though hardly less powerful. In particular, the disaster is somewhat alleviated because Hippolytus lives long enough to forgive his father, at Artemis' bidding: father and son are reconciled in the closing lines. Moreover, Hippolytus' untimely death will be commemorated in ritual: unmarried girls will cut their locks in his honour before proceeding to the wedding that he never had (i423ff.). The claims of Artemis and Aphrodite are symbolically reconciled through cult. By contrast there is little concern for the unfortunate Phaedra at the end of the play: as a 1 Artemis' revelations her much-treasured reputation is ta (though at 13 01 she is allowed some degree of nobilit, posterity must assign her once more to the ranks of bad w Characters aphrodite, goddess of love hippolytus, a son of Theseus and devotee of Artemis chorus of huntsmen, followers of Hippolytus servant of Hippolytus chorus of women of Trozen phaedra's nurse phaedra, wife of Theseus and stepmother of Hippolytus Theseus, king of Athens messenger artemis, goddess of hunting and chastity [The scene is outside the royal palace in Trozen1 with, centre stage, the wide doorway of the palace with double leaves. Two statues are visible, one of Aphrodite, the other of Artemis. aphrodite appears above the stage-building and begins her soliloquy.] aphrodite: I am the goddess called Cypris. In heaven and earth alike my name and power are renowned. All who live between the Great Sea2 and the boundaries of Atlas, all who see the sun's light, are my subjects. If they show a proper respect for my power I give them due status, but overthrow any who harbour arrogant thoughts towards me. For even the race of gods has this trait: they enjoy being honoured by men. I'll show the truth of these words soon enough. Theseus' child, Hippolytus, the boy he fathered by the 16 Amazon3 and gave to Pittheus4 the pure of heart to raise, is the only one among the citizens of this land of Trozen to call me the foulest of divinities.5 He scorns the bed of love, rejecting wedlock, and pays tribute to Phoebus' sister, to Artemis, daughter of Zeus - she is his queen of heaven. He never leaves her side - a chaste union this - and through the green forest he and his swift hounds strip the earth of game to hunt, mortal man and goddess in ill-matched partnership. I do not grudge them these pastimes; why should I? But for 20 his crimes against me I'll have my revenge on Hippolytus this day. My plans have been well advanced for some time now and little further effort is required. When he went once from Pittheus' home to the land of Pandion6 to witness and participate in the holy mysteries EURIPIDES 40 5° 60 here, his father's royal bride, Phaedra, saw him, and my scheming caused a terrible longing to seize her heart. Before she came here to Trozen, there, beside the very rock of Pallas, she founded a temple to Cypris,7 to look out over the land and mark her love for one across the sea. And in the future men shall speak of this shrine as established for the goddess in memory of Hippolytus. But now that Theseus has left the land of Cecrops, his hands polluted by Pallantid blood,8 and, submitting to a year's atonement in exile, has sailed to this land with his wife, now the wretched woman, groaning and reduced to madness by love's cruel jabs, is dying without speaking a word. Not a soul in her household shares the secret of her sickness. But this love of hers must have a different end. I will reveal the affair to Theseus;9 it shall not stay in the dark. And this young man who makes war on me shall be killed, through his own father's curses, by the gift Poseidon, king of the sea, gave to Theseus - that he might three times call upon the god's aid and have his prayer fulfilled. To the lady Phaedra I grant a death that saves her honour, yet she must die. For I will not let the thought of her suffering rob me of the satisfaction of seeing my enemies punished. Enough. I see him approaching, Theseus' son Hippolytus, his hunting energies spent for the day. I'll quit this place. And at his heels they bay, his pack of trusty followers, honouring in their songs Artemis the divine. For he does not know that Hades' gates lie open and that this day's light he sees shall be his last. [Exit aphrodite, hippolytus enters with a band of huntsmen, his servants, and, at some distance, an old servant, a palace retainer. They gather at Artemis' statue and sing her a brief hymn.] hippolytus: Follow, follow on and sing the praise of Zeus' child, heavenly Artemis, our protectress! hippolytus and followers: Sovereign lady, lady most holy, offspring of Zeus, all hail, Artemis, daughter of Leto and of Zeus, fairest by far of virgin maids, who in the broad heavens dwell in your noble father's halls, the richly golden HIPPOLYTUS house of Zeus! All hail, fair lady, fairest of the f? Olympus! hippolytus: Mistress, for you I bring this garland I h woven. I fashioned it from flowers in a virgin meadow where no shepherd dares to let his flock graze and the ploughshare has not yet come. It is a pure meadow and the bee passes over it in the spring. Reverence10 tends it with river water for all who have gained self-discipline in everything they do -no mortal man their tutor but nature alone; its flowers are for them to gather, while the wicked are prohibited Dear mistress, permit a devoted hand to set this garland on your golden hair. For I am the only mortal who has this privilege; I am at your side, I talk with you and am answered, hearing your voice but not seeing your face. Oh, may I end life's race as I have begun! [His offering and prayer made, hippolytus remains before Artemis' statue in an attitude of silent reverence. The old servant moves forward and addresses him.] servant: My lord - after all, it's gods should be called our 'masters' - if I advised you well, would you listen?11 hippolytus: Of course; I'd be a fool not to. servant: Well, you know the general rule among mankind? hippolytus: No, I don't. Just what's this question about? servant: I mean the way that pride and unfriendliness to others is not tolerated. hippolytus: Quite right too; show me anyone who likes proud people. servant: Is it an attractive quality, being good at talking to people? hippolytus: Very much so; it costs little effort and can bring benefits as well. servant: What about gods? Do you think it's the same with them? hippolytus: Yes, if we behave on earth as they do in heaven. servant: Then why don't you pay your respects to a proud goddess? hippolytus: Which one do you mean? Careful! Watch that tongue of yours! 80 90 .40 EURIPIDES f ^rvant: This one standing here at your doors, the Cyprian. (ippolytus: I keep my distance when I greet her; I am pure. servant: But she's a proud one, she is. Mortals greatly honour her. hippolytus: No god worshipped by night wins my respect. servant: Gods must have their worship, boy. hippolytus: Likes and dislikes will differ in men as in gods. servant: Good luck to you, then, and all the sense you need! hippolytus: Inside, men! Into the house and see to some food! After hunting a full table is a real pleasure. And there are my horses to be rubbed down. Once I've eaten my fill I'll take them for a drive and give them the workout they deserve. As for your Cyprian, she's not mine - good riddance! [Exit hippolytus with band of huntsmen into the palace.} servant: Well, I'll make my prayers to your statue, Lady Cypris, speaking as a slave should. For we shouldn't imitate young folk when this is what's in their heads. Forgiveness is what we need. If someone in the heat of youth says foolish things about you, pretend not to hear him. Gods should be wiser than men. [Exit servant and enter the chorus, fifteen young married women of Trozen.] chorus [Strophe]: A rock there is, dripping water from Ocean (so men say), and from its face it sends a gushing stream whose waters bathe the proffered pitchers. There it was a friend of mine was washing crimson robes in the flowing spring and spreading them on a rock warmed by the sun. From her I first heard tell of my lady; [Antistrophe:] how she wastes away on a bed of sickness and keeps to the palace, her blonde head shaded by fine-spun veils. This is the third day, I hear, that she had let no food pass her lips and kept her body pure of Demeter's grain. Some unspoken trouble prompts her to bring her craft to rest on death's unhappy strand. [Strophe:] Are you possessed, sweet lady?12 Do you wander in the grip of Pan or Hecate? Is it the holy Corybantes who haunt you or the Mountain Mother? Or can it be Dictynna, mistress of wild things, you have offended? Her sacred rites HIPPOLYTUS or offerings neglected - is that the sin that withers yo Over the salt lake too she ranges and the sandy spit ami. sea's eddies. [Antistrophe:] Or can it be that your husband, noble prince of Erechtheid blood, finds comfort in his home with another, in a union that is secret from your bed? Or has some sailor, putting out from Crete, voyaged to the port where seamen find most ready welcome, bringing news for the queen of some sorrow that chains her anguished soul to her bed? [Epode:] A miserable, wearying helplessness too often accompanies the irritable constitution of women before the pains of labour, making our wits go astray. Through my womb once this breeze blew strong. But on the heavenly one I cried, the archeress who eases labour, Artemis, and always — gods be thanked! - she comes to my side, the answer to all prayers. chorus-leader: Ah, here before the doors is her old Nurse, bringing her out of the palace. But the cloud of melancholy thickens on her brows. My heart longs to know what the cause is, what it is has wasted the queen's body and drained it of colour. [As the chorus chant these lines, the palace doors open and phaedra's nurse emerges, followed by her mistress, who lies on a bed carried by serving women.] nurse13 [to phaedra]: How horrible life is with its sickness and troubles!141 just don't know what to do with you, I really don't. Here is sunlight, look! Here's fresh air and brightness; you can lie on your sickbed outdoors now. 'I want to go outside!' was all we heard from you then but in no time it'll be, 'Take me to my bedroom at once!' You're up one minute, down the next; nothing pleases you. You're never happy with what's in front of you; you're more interested in what you lack. I'd rather be a patient than a nurse; the one's a simple matter, the other means worry and sore hands. It's nothing but pain, this life of ours; we're born to suffer and there's no end to it. If anything more precious than life does exist, it's wrapped in darkness, hidden behind clouds. We're fools in love - it's plain enough - clinging to this glitter here on earth iics Deiow. it's stones sweep us along, silly stories. "haedra: Lift my body, hold up my head. I have lost control of my limbs. Take hold of my hands and slender arms, maidservants. This net is heavy that holds my hair. Remove it, let _ny hair fall over my shoulders. ^urse: Don't fret, my girl, stop tiring yourself out with all this movement. You'll find your illness easier to bear if you stay calm and show a noble spirit. Everyone on earth suffers - it's the way life is. phaedra: Ah, if only I might take a draught of pure water from a fresh spring and rest on the ground under poplars in some lush meadow!15 nurse: What are you saying, child? You musn't speak like this for anyone to hear, wild words that ride on madness. phaedra: Take me to the mountains! To the forest I'll go, among the pines, where hounds run their prey to ground, fastening upon the spotted deer. O you gods, I beg you! How I long to cheer on my hounds, to hold a barbed spear of Thessaly in my hand, to lift it high and hurl it past my shining hair! nurse: Why are you so worried about these things, you poor dear? What's all this about hounds and hunting? Why are you in love with running springs? Right here, alongside the city walls, is a watered slope - that's the place for you to drink! phaedra: Artemis, mistress of the salt mere and the exercise grounds where horses gallop hard, I wish I were in your sanctuary, breaking in colts of Venetia! nurse: More madness! Why are you babbling like this? Just now you were off to the mountains, all on fire for the hunt, but now it's horses you're after beside the waveless sands. It needs all of a prophet's skill to learn which god pulls you on the rein and drives your wits astray, my girl. phaedra: Oh, pity me! What have I done? Where have I wandered from true reason's path? Madness came upon me, a god dulled my mind and I fell. Oh, I am in misery, misery! Nurse dear, cover my head once more; I am ashamed of shame is plain to see there. To keep control of my sens> agony; yet this madness repels me; no, to die aware of n-is best. nurse: There, I'm covering it. But tell me, when shall pull his veil over my body? A long life has taught me a & ' * deal. We mortals should limit any love we feel for eacn other; it shouldn't pierce us through and through. The heart's affections shouldn't weigh us down; we should find them easy to cast off or to tighten. It's a heavy load when one heart suffers pain for two, as I share this woman's torment. A life of strict, unswerving conduct more often leads to failure, they say, than to happiness, and is no friend to health. Excess, then, wins no praise from me. 'Know when to stop' - that's my life's rule, and the wise will say I'm right. chorus-leader: Old woman, we can see for ourselves the miserable state our queen is in but there's nothing to tell us what her illness is. You are Phaedra's nurse and she trusts you; please tell us what we want to learn. nurse: I'm in the dark for all my questions; she won't say. chorus-leader: Not even how these troubles started? nurse: You're no further forward there either; she's not saying a word about any of it. chorus-leader: Oh, how weak and haggard she looks! nurse: And wouldn't you if this was your third day without food? chorus-leader: Is she out of her mind or trying to kill herself? nurse: Kill herself, you say? Well, her refusal of food is certainly likely to remove her from life. chorus-leader: I simply can't believe her husband puts up with this. nurse: She keeps him in the dark - pretends there's nothing wrong with her! chorus-leader: But can't he tell from looking at her face? nurse: No, he's out of the country, as it happens. chorus-leader: But can't you force her to say what's causing this senseless behaviour and making her ill? nurse: I've tried everything; it's no good. Mind you, I won't W EURIPIDES let things rest even now, so you can see with your own eyes and tell others if I'm the type to desert a mistress in trouble. [To phaedra:] Come on, my pet, let's both forget what we've said. Don't be so hard on me. Let's have no more of these frowns and stubborn thoughts. There were times then I could have been more understanding; well, I'll change and find better things to say. If it's some trouble you can't mention makes you ill, look, these people here are women who can help you find a cure. But if men can be told your ailment, out with it and we'll consult doctors. Well? Still nothing to say? Either correct me if what I've said is wrong or agree with what is right; but you mustn't sit there dumb, child! Say something! Look at me! [phaedra does not react.] Oh, what can I do, ladies? This is a hopeless task, hopeless! We're no closer than we were before. My words fell on deaf ears then and still she won't listen. [To phaedra, again:] But let me tell you this, and then you can be as stubborn as the sea itself: if you die, you'll have betrayed your own children - no share for them in their father's estate - no, by that horse-riding Amazon queen! She produced a son to lord it over your children, a bastard who thinks of himself as true-born, you know him well, Hippolytus ... phaedra [suddenly erect]: Oh no! nurse: Am I getting through to you now? phaedra: You're destroying me, Nurse dear! I beg you, in the gods' name, don't speak of this man again! nurse: You see? You're sane all right but just the same you're not prepared to help your children or save your life. phaedra: I love my children! A different storm drives me on to the rocks. nurse: I take it your hands are clean of blood, my girl? phaedra: My hands, yes, but my heart is defiled. nurse: Some harmful spell, perhaps, from someone who hates you? phaedra: One I love is my destroyer - not of his choice or mine. nurse: Theseus - has he wronged you in some way? phaedra: Oh no, and may I never be seen wronging him! HIPPOLYTUS nurse: Then what is it, this frightening thing that mak want to die? phaedra: Leave me to do wrong; it's not you I offend aga nurse [falling at phaedra'j feet and clasping her hand tightly]: Never, if I can help it! If I do fail, the fault will be yours. phaedra: What are you doing? Forcing me by seizing hold of my hand?16 nurse: Yes, and your knees as well; I'll never let go! phaedra: Oh, you poor soul, it will be terrible for you if you learn this, terrible! nurse: And just what could be more terrible for me than failing to win your confidence? phaedra: It will be the death of you! Yet I will be honoured for my action. nurse: What? And still you mean to keep it a secret, when what I'm asking of you is for your own good? phaedra: Yes! My state is shameful, but out of it I plan to bring good. nurse: Well then, talking about it will bring you all the more honour, surely? phaedra: Oh, go away, in heaven's name! Let go my hand! nurse: Never, until you give me the gift you owe me! phaedra: You shall have it; I must respect your hand as a suppliant. nurse [relaxing her grip]: Now I'll stop pressing you; it's your turn to talk. phaedra: O Mother, my poor Mother, what a terrible passion seized you!17 nurse: The one she had for the bull, child? Is this your meaning? phaedra: And you, too, Sister, loved to your cost by Dionysus!18 nurse: What's the matter with you, girl? Slandering your own family now? phaedra: I am the third in line: their ruin has become mine -pity me! nurse: I'm astonished. Whatever will she say next? phaedra: Then it was, not in recent days, that my sorrows began. 146 EURIPIDES HIPPOLYTUS trse: I still don't know any more of what I want to hear. a.edra: Ah, if only you could say for me what I must say! jRSE: Am I a prophet, then? Do I know for sure what no one sees? phaedra: What does it mean when they say people are ... in love? nurse: Oh, joy, my girl, so sweet and yet so bitter, too. phaedra: That last will be the taste on my tongue, then. nurse: What's that? You're in love, my girl? Who on earth is he? phaedra: Whoever would he be? It is that one, the Amazon's ... nurse: Hippolytus, you mean? phaedra: You spoke that name, not I. nurse: No! No! What will you say next, girl? You've finished me! [Turning to the chorus:] Ladies, it's unbearable! I won't live on now! I hate the sight of day, hate its light! I'll throw myself down, jump clear to my death! Farewell! I'm dying, as good as dead! For good and faithful wives have sinful desires - it's not their own wish but still they have them. She's no goddess, then, the Cyprian, but something greater - call it what you will - bringing ruin on this woman, on me and on this house. [Her energies spent, she flings herself down in despair and the chorus-leader sings a short lament.] chorus-leader: Did you hear, ah, did you catch the sufferings - monstrous, pitiful - that the queen was crying out? [Turning to phaedra.-] For myself, dear lady, I would sooner die than ever reach your state of mind. [Groaning aloud:] Oh, the pity of it! What sorrows you have, poor lady! How men must feed on sorrows! You are ruined, you have exposed your ghastly secret to the light! What do they have in store for you, all the hours of this day? A change for ill shall come upon this house. No more is it unclear where it sinks and sets, the star of fortune sent you by the Cyprian, luckless child of Crete. [phaedra has risen from her bed and advanced towards the chorus, whom she now addresses.] phaedra: Ladies of Trozen,19 who live on this furthes land of the Peloponnese, already in the long hours night I have given thought to human lives that end in And my view is that it's not the way they think that maKC them go wrong, for they are intelligent enough in most cases. No, this is how we should look at it: we know what is right and understand it, but we don't put it into practice, some out of laziness, others by letting some other pleasure come first, and life has many pleasures - long hours of conversation, and time to do nothing (precious moments that can lead us astray) and a sense of shame. This takes two forms, one beneficial, the other a burden on families. If we had no doubts about each case, there would not be two of them with the same name 20 Since these are my thoughts on the matter, no magic charm would have power to change them for the worse or force me to contradict myself. I will tell you, too, the path my mind took.21 When I first felt love's dart, I tried to find the best way to endure the wound. This, then, was how I began: I said nothing about this illness, kept it secret. For there's no trusting the tongue; it knows how to tell other people when their thinking's wrong but creates havoc when it speaks for itself. My second course was to win the battle by using self-discipline; this was how I planned to live through this madness decently. Thirdly, since I was failing to defeat the Cyprian by these means, I decided to die, the best course - no one will deny it - I could have devised. For just as I wouldn't want my right actions to go unnoticed, I wouldn't want my sins witnessed by the world. As for the act and the illness, I knew they brought disgrace on me and, again, I was well aware of being a woman, something hated by all men. Whatever woman first set about playing the adulteress, may all the world's curses fall upon her shameless head! It was in well-born families that this evil first infected womankind; when noble ladies sanction acts of shame in their own lives, the low-born will think their behaviour respectable, mark my words! And I despise them, women who preach faithfulness to husbands but dare the T48 EURIPIDES HIPPOLYTUS 149 worst behind their backs. [She turns to face Aphrodite's statue by the palace doors.] Oh, my royal lady, sea-born Cypris, how can they share their husbands' beds and meet their eyes without shuddering at the thought of the darkness and roof beams, accomplices in their acts, voicing what they witnessed! It's this, you see, my friends, just this that is killing me, so 4zo that I may never be caught disgracing my husband or the children I brought into the world. No, it is freedom I want for them, the freedom to speak their minds and flourish as citizens of glorious Athens,22 their good name untarnished on their mother's part. For a man becomes a slave, however bold he is in spirit, on the day he learns the crimes his mother or father has committed. It's this and this alone, they say, that helps you win life's race: having a just and honest mind. The wicked are exposed, sooner or later, when Time reflects them 430 in his mirror, as a young woman sees her own features. May I never be seen in their number! chorus-leader: Ah, what a fine thing it is to have self-discipline in all circumstances! How true that the fruit it bears in this life is a good reputation! nurse: My lady, I got a terrible fright for a moment, when I heard just then about your trouble. But now I realize I was being silly. It's funny how often our second thoughts are wiser. There's nothing out of the ordinary in what's happened to you; it can all be explained: it's the goddess' anger has landed on your head. You're in love; what's so strange about 440 that? So is half the world. And then, because of love, are you going to end your life? A poor lookout for all lovers, eh, today and tomorrow, if it's going to cost them their lives! She's more than a body can bear, the Cyprian, when she comes in full flood - gentle enough in coming after anyone who yields to her but any she finds above himself and arrogant she takes and gives him a shocking time, believe me. Through the heavens she roams, the Cyprian; she's there in the waves of the sea and all things take their fife from her. It's she who has 450 love's seed in her hand and scatters it and all of us on earth it^P^Yl'p her offspring. * J&WL^11 there are all those with books written in times past. who spend their lives in reading - they know how Zeus once wanted Semele for his bride; they know how once love made radiant Dawn snatch Cephalus up to join the gods.23 And yet they have their homes in heaven and do not shun the company of the gods; they are content, I think, to accept their fate. "Won't you put up with yours? Your father should have fixed special terms when you were conceived or found other gods 460 as masters, if these laws of theirs don't suit you! How many men, do you think, thoroughly sensible men, prefer to turn a blind eye when they see their wives misbehaving? How many fathers help their lovesick sons get the girl they want? It's plain good sense, you see, to sweep any dirt under the carpet - ask anyone! We shouldn't bend over backwards to make our lives perfect. Would a builder strive for precision in making the roof for a house? In any case, now that you are in such dangerous waters, how do you propose to swim clear? 470 No, you are not a god: if the good you have outweighs the bad, you can count yourself lucky. Dear child, let's have no more of this stubbornness; stop showing such pride! For pride it is, pure and simple, wishing to set yourself above the gods. Find the strength to continue with your love! It is a god's will. If you're ill, then find a good way to defeat your illness. Charms exist and spells with power to bewitch; a remedy for this illness will come to light. We are women, after all, and will find a way; it would be a long wait 480 to rely on a man. chorus-leader: Phaedra, this woman's advice is more helpful in meeting your present trouble, but I take your side. Yet this praise will please you less than her words and grate more on your ear. phaedra: This is what destroys well-established cities and homes on this earth: fine words, too well spoken! Words should be spoken to create a good name, not to please the ear. nurse: Oh, stop preaching! It's not high-sounding words you 490 need, it's the man. We mustn't beat about the bush any lon^^,^ let's speak the truth about you, no pretence! If your li^rere "tB^ not in such danger and you were a woman in co»ol Qj^] with your man; but our backs are against the wall now: your life's at stake and who would grudge me this? phaedra: What an appalling thing to say! Close your mouth! I never want to hear such vile talk from you again! 500 nurse: Vile it may be but better for you than your lofty morals. Better to do the deed and stay alive than bask in your good name and die. phaedra: Oh no, I beg you - your words are clever but vile -stop there! Desire has tilled my heart as well as any field, and if you argue so well for what is wrong, I shall be consumed in what I am trying to shun. nurse: Well, if that's how you feel... [Pausing:] You shouldn't be in love at all; but as you are, do what I say; it's the next best way of obliging me. In the house I have a charm that is a 510 spell for love - it only came into my mind this moment - it will rid you of this sickness and do no harm to your wits or your reputation, provided you don't turn coward. But we need to get some token from him, the one you long for, a lock of hair, or something from his clothes, and then join the two - token and spell - for a happy result. phaedra: This charm - is it an ointment or a potion? nurse: I don't know;24 a cure is what you should be after, my girl, not answers to questions. phaedra: Oh, you may prove too clever for me, that's my fear! nurse: You'd fear anything, that's your trouble! What's your worry? 52.0 phaedra: That you may pass any of this on to Theseus' son. nurse: Leave it to me, my girl; I'll take good care over this. [Pausing in front of Aphrodite's statue:] Only help me, my royal lady, sea-born Cypris, and be my accomplice! What other things I have in mind need only be told to friends inside. [The nurse goes into the palace.] chorus [Strophe]: Eros, Eros, you who distil your drops of longing on the eyes of lovers and fill with sweet joy the hearts of those you set out to conquer, never, I pray, show yourself r^m**i-n an§er to me or come beyond due measure! For neither shaft ui lijLi, iiui u^ain ui liic is sLiungci man rvpiiiouiLC s uarc shot from the hands of Eros, son of Zeus. [Antistrophe:] In vain does the land of Greece kill bull after bull in sacrifice by Alpheus' stream, in vain at Phoebus' Pythian shrine, if Eros, monarch of men, who holds the keys to Aphrodite's chambers of desire, fails to receive our worship, 540 'the god who devastates mortals when he comes and hurls them through every misfortune. [Strophe:] The girl of Oechalia25 was virgin once, a filly still unyoked, to men and marriage a stranger; but put in harness and taken from Eurytus' home, like a running nymph or wor- 5 50 shipper of Bacchus, amid blood and smoke, in a marriage sealed by slaughter, she was given to Alcmene's son - the Cyprian's work, all. O wretched bride! [Antistrophe:] O sacred wall of Thebes, O mouth of Dirce's spring, you could confirm the manner of the Cyprian's coming. For to the flaming thunderbolt she gave in marriage the girl who was to bear twice-born Bacchus and laid her to 560 sleep with death for bridegroom.26 Terror is in her breath and none escapes it; like a bee she flits where she will. [phaedra has moved close to the palace doors where she stands listening to voices inside.] phaedra: Silence, women! This is the end for me! chorus-leader: What is it in the house that frightens you, Phaedra? phaedra: Quiet! Let me hear what they're saying inside! chorus-leader: I'll stop. But this isn't a happy start to things. phaedra: Oh no! Not that, no! What must I suffer? Oh, 570 misery! chorus-leader: What misery? Why are you screaming like this? Tell us, lady, what words rush on your mind and make you afraid? phaedra: I'm as good as dead! Come, stand here by the doors and hear the shouting that fills the house! chorus-leader: You're at the door;27 you are the one to pass on any message from the house. Tell us, tell us, what awful 580 thing has happened? ^paiUBs t52 EURIPIDES HIPPOLYTUS 153 phaedra: He's shouting, the son of the riding Amazon, Hippo-lytus, pouring curses and abuse on my servant! chorus-leader: I hear a voice but it's not clear. The sound carries well enough where the cry came to you through the door. phaedra: It's clear enough now, all right; 'whore's maid' he calls her, 'betrayer of her master's bed'. chorus-leader: Oh, this is monstrous! You are betrayed, dear lady! How can I help you out of this? Your secret is known to all and you are ruined - oh, it's unbearable - betrayed by a friend! phaedra: In telling of my troubles she has destroyed me; she tried to cure my sickness and acted lovingly but fatally. chorus-leader: What now? What will you do? Your position is hopeless! phaedra: I know one thing only: I must die at once; there is no other cure for this anguish I feel. [hippolytus rushes on stage followed by the nurse. phaedra cowers at the side.] hippolytus: O mother earth! Open sunlight! What words I have heard - foul, unspeakable! nurse: Be quiet, boy, stop shouting, before someone hears you. hippolytus: Quiet? Be quiet, after hearing such terrible things? nurse: Please! I beg you, by this fine right arm of yours! hippolytus: Ugh! Don't touch me! Take your hands off my clothes! nurse: Oh, I clasp your knees and beg you,28 don't ruin me, please! hippolytus: How can I, if, as you say, you have said nothing wrong? nurse: Those words were not for all ears, my boy, certainly not! hippolytus: Fine words are all the finer said in public. nurse: My boy, the oath you gave me, you'll never break that? hippolytus: It was my tongue that swore, not my heart.29 nurse: Child, what do you mean to do? Ruin one who is near ' you? hippolytus: Near me? Get out of here! A criminal near to me? The idea! nurse: Find it in you to forgive, my son; it's human to err. hippolytus [ignoring her]: O Zeus,30 why did you allow women to live in the light of the sun and plague mankind with their counterfeit looks? If you wished to propagate the race of men, it wasn't from women you should have provided this; no, men ought to enter your temples and there pur- 62.0 chase children at a valuation, each at its appropriate price, depositing in exchange bronze or iron or weight of gold, and then live in freedom in their homes without women.31 Here's your proof that woman is a dangerous pest: her father, who gave her life and raised her up, puts down a dowry for her and sends her to another home to rid himself of his trouble. The husband, taking into his house this poisonous 630 creature, has never known such happiness; he decks his idol with jewellery, fair gifts for such foulness, and, poor fool, takes pains to purchase one fashionable dress after another, exhausting the family fortune. Being married to a nonentity-gives a man the least trouble and yet there's no good comes of having a woman enshrined at home in her stupidity. Cleverness in women I detest; I never want her darkening my door, 640 the woman with more intelligence than a woman should have. For the Cyprian breeds evil more often in clever women; the helpless ones are saved from promiscuous urges by their lack of brains. No servant should ever come into contact with a woman; dumb and savage beasts should keep them company and then they could not speak to any servant or have one speak to them in reply. But as it is they sit at home and think up wicked schemes in their wicked hearts, while their servants carry them to the outside world. [To the nurse:] This you have 650 done with me, you old witch, coming to persuade me to enter my father's bed and enjoy what I may not. I'll wash this filth away with spring water, flushing my ears. How could I stoop to this, when just hearing such words makes me feel polluted? Let me tell you, woman, only my reverence for the gods k^jjEgw you from harm; had you not taken me off guard zxipolytus [lifting up bis eyes]: O you gods, why do I not J^jnseal my lips, when it is you whom I revere who are BB^^ destroying me? No, I will not. I would fail utterly to convince those I should and violate for nothing the oaths I swore. theseus: Oh, it will be the death of me, this pious cant of yours! Away with you, out of your father's land, and this instant! hippolytus : Where will I turn in my wretched state? Who will give me kind welcome into his home, when this charge causes my banishment? theseus: Anyone who enjoys welcoming as guests men who violate wives and share their beds as well as their homes. 1070 hippolytus: Ah, that hits me hard! This almost reduces me to tears, to be thought as foul as this - and by you! theseus: That was the time for tears and thinking of consequences, when you dared to violate your father's wife. hippolytus: O house, if only you might find speech and testify to the goodness of my heart! theseus: You take refuge in dumb witnesses - clever of you; but the deed needs no voice to brand you as evil. hippolytus: Oh, if only I could stand where you are and look at myself, to weep at the cruelty of my treatment here! 1080 theseus: Yes, you always practised self-worship far more than showing a just and pious regard for your father. hippolytus: O Mother, my unhappy Mother! What hatred shrouded my birth! I hope no friend of mine is ever born a bastard! theseus: Drag him away, you servants! Listen to what I tell you! Have I only now pronounced him an exile? hippolytus: If one of them lays a finger on me, he'll be sorry! Thrust me out of the land with your own hands, if that's what you want! theseus: And so I shall, if you disobey my words. I feel no pity coming over me at the prospect of your exile. 1090 hippolytus: It is settled, then, it seems. What a wretch I am! I know the facts of the case but not how to express them. [He turns to face Artemis' statue.] O goddess I love the most, Leto's daughter, my companion in the hunt, at rest and in full HIPPOLYTUS J@*^J&k cry, it is indeed exile for me from glorious Athens. Fa ■velL^r 1 to that city, then, and Erechtheus' land. Farewell to yor WJjl®r A of Trozen, and all the happiness you hold for those who fr^jgnripr to manhood here! This is the last time I will set eyes on you or speak to you. Come, my young friends, we've grown up here together, give me your goodbyes and see me on my way from Trozen. You'll never see another man more pure of heart, even if my 1100 father disagrees. [The stage is left by hippolytus and theseus.] huntsmen, followers of hippolytus [Strophe]: The gods' care for us, when it comes to my mind, truly relieves my sorrow. I have deep within me hopes of understanding, yet, when I see how fate rewards mortal actions, I am disappointed. For fortunes crowd in on men from every quarter and their lives are constantly changing, shifting at every mo turn. chorus [Antistrophe]: May the powers above in answer to my prayers grant me this fate - a life of good fortune with a heart untouched by grief. For my thoughts and opinions, may they not be rigid or at the same time false-coined. May my ways be flexible and, by adapting them at all times to tomorrow, may I share in the good fortune tomorrow brings. huntsmen [Strophe]: For my mind is now a troubled pool, my mo expectations reversed by what I see: the brightest star of Grecian Aphaea48 we have seen, we have seen sent on his way to another land through his father's anger. O sands of the city's shore, O wooded mountain slopes where at holy Dictynna's side he hunted down wild beasts with his swift- 1130 footed hounds! chorus [Antistrophe]: No longer will you take the reins behind your matched Enetic team and fill the track beside the lake with the steady pounding of their hooves. The song awakened from the strings of your lyre shall slumber now in your father's halls. No garlands now to mark where Leto's daughter catches breath in the thick greenwood. It is finished, the rivalry of 1140 girls for your bridal bed, laid to rest by your exile. [Epode:] And for your misfortune a life of tears will be my EURIPIDES t: unenviable fate. O poor, unhappy mother, what a return or your pains at birth! Ah, the gods, they make me angry! Oh, you Graces, sisters entwined, why do you send him, the poor man, all innocent of this disaster, from his native land, away from his home here? [The huntsmen leave.] chorus-leader: But here I see a servant of Hippolytus hurrying towards the palace; he's wasting no time and his face has a grim look. [Enter messenger.] messenger: Ladies, where might I go to find Theseus, ruler of this land? Tell me, if you know. Is he inside the palace? chorus-leader: Here he comes in person from within. [Enter theseus.] messenger: Theseus, the news I bring merits your concern and that of the citizens who live in the city of Athens and Trozen's land. theseus: What is it? Not some fresh disaster that has overtaken our two neighbouring cities? messenger: Hippolytus is no more, as good as, anyway. He still sees the daylight but the scales are poised to fall. theseus: Who is responsible? Did he make an enemy of someone by assaulting his wife as he did his father's? messenger: His own chariot and team destroyed him, and the curses your own mouth uttered when you prayed about him to your father, the ocean's king. theseus: O you gods! Poseidon, it is true, then, you are my father, answering my prayer as you have! How did he actually meet his death? Tell me! How did the trap of Justice fall and crush him, the man who brought shame on me? messenger: We were beside the shore where the waves break, combing our horses' manes and shedding tears at the news a man had brought, that Hippolytus would never again set foot in this land, sentenced by you to miserable exile. He came to join us on the shore with the same tearful refrain, and stepping behind him came a vast crowd of friends and people of like age to him. Eventually, when he had stopped lamenting, he said, 'Enough of these foolish tears; my father's orders must HIPPOLYTUS be obeyed. Put my horses in their yoke, lads, and ha them to the chariot. I no longer belong to this city.' Then every man stirred himself and, quicker than a m could say, we had them harnessed and standing ready right by our master. He grabbed hold of the reins from the chariot rail, his feet securely in their footstalls. And first he raised his palms to heaven and made this prayer: 'Zeus, if I am a man of evil nature, may I die! And may my father come to know how he dishonours me, either when I am dead or while I yet see the light!' With this he flicked the switch he had in his hands over all the horses at the one time. We servants started to accompany our master above us in his chariot, keeping close to the bridles, along the road that leads straight to Argos and Epidauria. And then we began striking into uninhabited country. There is a promontory beyond the frontier of this land, facing what by then has become the Saronic Gulf. There it was that a rumbling from the earth swelled, like Zeus' thunder, into a deep roar, terrifying to our ears. The horses lifted up their heads skyward, pricking up their ears, while we in a real panic wondered where the sound could be coming from. We looked out to where the sea broke on the shore and saw an awesome sight - a wave set fast in the sky, blocking Sciron's coast from my eye. The Isthmus, too, and Asclepius' rock were hidden from view. And then, swelling up and spouting thick foam around as the sea was blown high, it advanced on the shore, where his four horses stood in harness. And just at the moment when it broke with a huge surge, the wave sent forth a bull, a wild and wondrous beast. The whole land was filled with its bellowing, returning an echo that made us tremble, and to our staring eyes it seemed a sight beyond endurance. At once the horses were seized by a blind panic. Their master, long familiar with their moods, took tight hold of the reins and pulled, like a sailor on his oar, throwing the weight of his body back against the straps. But they champed the harder on their iron bits and swept him on for all his struggling, indifferent to their pilot's hand, to the reins and the sturdy chariot. Each time he took the helm and tried to steer EURIPIDES HIPPOLYTUS course towards the softer ground, there he would appear in ront of them, the bull, to head them off, maddening the team of four with terror. Whenever they rushed, crazed, towards the rocks, he was with them, a silent presence, following close to the handrail of the chariot, until he finally brought it down, dashing its wheels against a rock, and sent it spinning. Then all was in turmoil - axle pins and wheel hubs were leaping in the air, while the poor man himself, caught up in the reins, was dragged along bound fast in an inextricable knot, smashing his head against the rocks and tearing his flesh, as he shouted words terrible to hear: 'Stand fast, my mares, reared in my own stables, don't destroy me! O pitiless curse of my father!49 Who will come to the aid of a man of innocent heart?' There were willing hands in plenty but our legs failed us and we were left behind. He was freed from the leather thongs that held him prisoner -1 don't know how - and fell, still breathing for a little while. As for the horses and that monstrous bull that brought such sorrow, they vanished in the rocky earth, I don't know where. My royal lord, I'm a slave in this house of yours, it's true, but one thing I'll never be able to do and that's believe your son a villain, not even if the whole female sex should hang itself and all the trees on Ida go to make writing material; I know he is a good man. chorus-leader: Oh no! A fresh disaster has broken on us; from fate and necessity there is no escape. theseus: Since I feel hate for the man who has suffered this, I took pleasure in this report; but now, out of respect for the 1260 gods, yes, and for him, since he is mine, this tale of woe neither pleases nor distresses me. messenger: What, then? Are we to carry the wretch here? What would you have us do to please you, sir? Give it thought. If you take my advice, you won't be cruel to your son in his misfortune. theseus: Fetch him here. I want to see him before my eyes, the man who denies defiling my bed, and to convict him by my words and the heavy sentence of the gods. [Exit the messenger to do theseus' bidding. The cho1 sings its final ode, a short hymn in honour of Aphrodite.] chorus: Cyprian, you lead captive the unyielding hearts c gods and men, with, at your side, the bright-winged god, 1170 casting his nets on nimble wing. Over the earth Eros flies and across the echoing salt sea. And he casts his spell whenever he lights on some maddened heart, god of the golden-gleaming wings, be it the young of creatures mountain-bred or of the sea, all life that the earth nurtures and the blazing sun sees, or men. All these, all are your subjects, Cyprian, and have 1280 you alone as their sovereign mistress. [The goddess artemis appears above the palace and addresses theseus.]50 artemis: You, the well-born son of Aegeus, I order you to listen! It is Leto's daughter, Artemis, who speaks. Theseus, you wretch, why do you take pleasure in this, when you have impiously killed your own son, trusting the lying words of your wife though all was not clear? Clear indeed is the ruin you have met! Why do you not hide yourself for shame in the 1290 depths of hell, or take wing to some new home in the skies to escape from this clinging sorrow? For you there can be no place now in the company of good men. Listen, Theseus, to the true state of your misfortune. It will remedy nothing, it is true, but it will cause you pain. I came here to reveal your son's righteous heart, so that he may die with name untarnished, and your wife's lustful desire - or in 1300 a way her nobility. For the goddess most hated by me and all who love virginity plagued and goaded her into a passionate desire for your son. She tried by strength of mind to master the Cyprian but fell against her will through her nurse's scheming - she it was divulged her mistress' sickness to your son under oath. But he, as was right and proper, rejected her proposal and, god-fearing man, did not retract the pledge he had sworn, not even in the face of your calumny. Phaedra, fearing she might be exposed, wrote a letter of lies and by 1310 trickery destroyed your son - you were persuaded none the less. 1 EURIPIDES 2seus: Oh no! tiXEMiS: They wound you, do they, Theseus, these words of mine? Contain yourself; you have louder groans to make when you hear what is to follow. You are aware of the three binding curses you have from your father? One of them you used (how wickedly!) against your son, when an enemy might have felt its force. Your father, then, the sea's lord, wishing you well, gave what he was bound to give, since his word had been given. But you have offended both him and me by your behaviour; you did not wait for proof or advice from prophets, you did not cross-question him, or allow an enquiry over a length of time; no, with improper haste you launched curses at your son and took his life. theseus: Mistress, I pray for death! artemis: You have done a terrible thing but nevertheless even you may yet win pardon for this. For it was the Cyprian's will that this took place; she was satisfying her anger. We gods have a law: none seeks to oppose the settled purpose of another; we always stand aside. For, be assured, only my dread of Zeus would have forced me into such a shameful position - doing nothing to save from death the man I love best of all mortals. As for your fault, ignorance first of all exempts you from sin; secondly, by dying your wife made it impossible to test her account and so won over your mind. On your head this calamity has now broken most of all but I, too, grieve. There is no joy felt in heaven when god-fearing men die; the wicked, however, we destroy, children and house and all. [hippolytus enters, half walking, half supported by servants.] chorus-leader: Here he comes indeed, the poor man, his youthful flesh and blond head disfigured! O trouble-stricken house! What a double sorrow the gods have fulfilled here, battening on these halls! hippolytus: Ah, pity me, pity me in my wretchedness, disfigured through an unjust father's unjust curses! Oh, misery, I am a thing of pity, ruined! Stabbing pains dart through my i I: HIPPOLYTUS head, spasms leap in my brain. [To his servants:] Wait, lei l. rest my weary limbs. Ah! Ah! O my fine horses, fed by I hand, I hate you now, destroyers, killers of your master! o no, no! In heaven's name be gentle, lads, in handling my raw flesh! Who stands at my side on the right? Lift me gently, brace yourselves to move me smoothly, the wretch of evil J fortune, accursed, through my father's sinful act. Zeus, Zeus, do you see this? I, the man of piety, the man who revered the gods, the man who surpassed all others in not yielding to I passion, am passing to the land of darkness, seeing my death ahead, my life utterly destroyed. How pointless, all my efforts ! to serve my fellow men with acts of piety! Ah! Ah! It comes on me now, the pain, the pain! Let me go, for pity's sake - may healing death come to me! Oh, finish me, I'm hated by the gods, finish me off! I long for a j double-edged sword to split me apart, to lay my life to sleep. O wretched curse of my father! It is some inherited evil, stained with blood and issuing from forefathers of old, that j has crossed the boundaries and will not wait but comes upon I me - and why? No guilt is mine for wickedness done. Oh, I ; cannot bear it! What shall I say? How can I free this life of i mine from its anguish and find release from pain? Oh, to be i lulled to rest, ill-fated that I am, by Hades' doom, black, night-dark! I artemis: Unhappy youth, yoked to so heavy a misfortune! j You have been destroyed by the nobility of your mind. I hippolytus [raising his head]: Ah! Breath of heavenly fragrance! Even in my troubles I knew your presence and felt the pain in my body ease. The goddess Artemis is here in this ] place! I artemis: She is, poor lad, the god you love beyond all others. hippolytus: Do you see my wretched state, my lady? artemis: I see; but I am forbidden to let my eyes shed tears.51 j hippolytus: No longer do you have a companion in the hunt i or one to do you service. artemis: No longer, it is true; but you die with my love. hippolytus: No longer one to keep watch over your horses as they graze or to guard your statues. EURIPIDES mis: No; this day was devised by the Cyprian in her lamelessness. ppolytus: Oh, misery! Now I understand what god has brought me to this! artemis : She held you to blame over the honour she was denied and was angered by your self-control. hippolytus: A single goddess, she destroyed the three of us, I see it now. artemis: Yes, your father, yourself and his wife the third. hippolytus: Then my father's hasty actions make me pity even him. artemis: He was deceived by a goddess and her schemes. hippolytus: O my poor father, I pity you for what has passed this day! theseus: I am ruined, my son; all delight in life has gone for me. hippolytus: Your error makes me grieve for you more than myself. 1410 theseus: O my child, if only I could be the one to die, not you! hippolytus: What gifts Poseidon sent - cruel gifts for his son to have! theseus: How I wish the words had never passed my lips! hippolytus: How so? You would have killed me at that moment, such anger was upon you. theseus : Yes, the gods had thrown me off balance; my thinking was distorted. hippolytus: Oh, if only mortal men could curse the gods!52 artemis: Enough! Not even in the darkness of the earth below shall it go unpunished, this wilful anger of the goddess Cypris that attacks your body; this much I owe to your piety and 142.0 righteous heart. With these unerring arrows shot from this hand I will take revenge on another, one of hers, whatever man she loves most on earth.53 And to you, my stricken friend, in recompense for this suffering I will give highest honours in the city of Trozen. Unmarried girls before their wedding day shall cut their locks in your honour and through the long ages the tribute of their tears shall be yours, shed in deepest sorrow. HIPPOLYTUS When they compose their songs virgin maids shall iiv to think of you, and Phaedra's passion for you shall j into nameless silence.54 As for you, son of old Aegeus, take your son in your arms and hold him close. You destroyed him but with an innocent heart. Men can hardly avoid error when the gods inspire it. And for you, Hippolytus, my counsel is this: do not hate your father; it was allotted you, this fate that has destroyed you. I bid you farewell. I am forbidden to look upon the dead or to defile my sight with fife's last breath, the sad end I see drawing near to you now.55 hippolytus: Farewell to you, blessed maiden, as you go! How 1440 easily you leave your companion of so many hunts!56 As it is your wish, I cancel all dispute with my father. In the past as well I would obey your words. Ah! Darkness is descending on my eyes now! Hold me, Father, straighten my body. theseus: Oh, my son, I cannot bear it! I'm cursed, what will you do to me? hippolytus: My life is over: look, the gates of the dead, I see them! theseus : Will you leave me here, your blood defiling my hands? hippolytus: Not so; I absolve you of this bloodshed. theseus: What are you saying? You let me go, free of this 1450 blood? hippolytus: Yes; I call to witness Artemis, whose arrows bring death. theseus: O my beloved boy, what a noble spirit you show to your father! hippolytus: Farewell to you, Father, a long farewell. theseus: Oh, what a generous soul you have! How truly you hold the gods dear! hippolytus: Pray for such love from your legitimate sons! theseus: Don't abandon me now, my son! Endure! hippolytus: My endurance is at an end; my life is spent, Father. Quick - cover my face with my cloak. [He dies.] theseus: O famous boundaries of Aphaea and of Pallas, what a noble heart you have lost and will never see again! Oh, what 1460 cch am I! For many a long day, Cypris, I shall remember ay's spiteful work! cus: On all citizens together this grief has fallen, foreseen by none. In unbroken lamentation many tears will be shed. The end of great men, heard in song, compels our greater sorrow. ! Notes ALCESTIS i. Fates: according to other authors, Apollo extracted the promise by getting the Fates drunk; perhaps Euripides thought that this would detract from Apollo's dignity in this scene. %. pollution: the gods are immortal, and should not be contaminated with the ugliness of death. Similarly, Artemis leaves Hippolytus before he expires (1437-4^). 3. J see Death: Death is not one of the regular Olympian gods, though he figures in the Iliad. In this scene he is treated like a bogeyman, an almost grotesque stage villain. This is one feature which makes the Alcestis an untypical tragedy. 4.... wintry regions: the arrival of Heracles is anticipated without naming him; the audience would know who was meant when they heard the name of his task-master Eurystheus. 5. be it Lycia ... Amnion has his shrine: Lycia is in southern Turkey; the oracle of Ammon lay in the Libyan desert. The exotic names suggest vast remoteness. 6. Phoebus' son: Asclepius, the great healer, mentioned by Apollo in the prologue. He was slain by Zeus for transgressing the limits of his craft by recalling the dead to life. 7. Hestia's altar: Hestia, a rather shadowy figure, was the personification of the hearth and presided over the inner household. 8. Lord Healer: Apollo. 9. Admetus, you see...: to modern readers it seems peculiar that Alcestis not only spends so long dying (a technique paralleled in opera) but also rallies here and makes a much more coherent speech after a phase of delirium and violent emotion. This is a common device in Greek tragedy: what is first treated in lyric is then presented anew, from a different perspective, in rational dialogue. There is a similar sequence when Phaedra first appears in the Hippolytus.