Stasimon 5
[Episode]
Thy noble soul hath been thy ruin.
1390
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?
1395
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.
1400
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.
1405
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!
1410
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!
1415
Artemis
Enough! for though thou pass to gloom beneath the earth, the wrath of Cypris shall not, at her will, fall on thee unrequited, because thou hadst a noble righteous soul.Nauck encloses this line in brackets.
For I with mine own hand will with these unerring shafts avenge me on another,Adonis. who is her votary, dearest to her of all the sons of men. And to thee, poor sufferer, for thy anguish now will I grant high honours in the city of Troezen;
1420
for thee shall maids unwed before their marriage cut off their hair, thy harvest through the long roll of time of countless bitter tears. Yea, and for ever shall the virgin choir hymn thy sad memory,
1425
nor shall Phaedra’s love for thee fall into oblivion and pass away unnoticed.
1430
But thou, O son of old Aegeus, take thy son in thine arms, draw him close to thee, for unwittingly thou slewest him, and men may well commit an error when gods put it in their way.
And thee Hippolytus, I admonish; hate not thy sire, for in this death thou dost but meet thy destined fate.
1435
