Artemis Poor sufferer! cruel the fate that links thee to it! Thy noble soul hath been thy ruin.
Hippolytus Ah! the fragrance from my goddess wafted! Even in my agony I feel thee near and find relief; she is here in this very place, my goddess Artemis.
Artemis She is, poor sufferer! the goddess thou hast loved the best.
Hippolytus Dost see me, mistress mine? dost see my present suffering?
Artemis I see thee, but mine eyes no tear may weep.
Hippolytus Thou hast none now to lead the hunt or tend thy fane.
Artemis None now; yet e’en in death I love thee still.
Hippolytus None to groom thy steeds, or guard thy shrines.
Artemis Twas Cypris, mistress of iniquity, devised this evil.
Hippolytus Ah me! now know I the goddess who destroyed me.
Artemis She was jealous of her slighted honour, vexed at thy chaste life.
Hippolytus Ah! then I see her single hand hath struck down three of us.
Artemis Thy sire and thee, and last thy father’s wife.
Hippolytus My sire’s ill-luck as well as mine I mourn.
Art He was deceived by a goddess’s design.
Hippolytus Woe is thee, my father, in this sad mischance!
Theseus My son, I am a ruined man; life has no joys for me.
Hippolytus For this mistake I mourn thee rather than myself.
Theseus O that I had died for thee, my son!
Hippolytus Ah! those fatal gifts thy sire Poseidon gave.
Theseus Would God these lips had never uttered that prayer!
Hippolytus Why not? thou wouldst in any case have slain me in thy fury then.
Theseus Yes; Heaven had perverted my power to think.
Hippolytus O that the race of men could bring a curse upon the gods!
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