Woe, woe is me! thou art betrayed, dear mistress! What counsel
shall I give thee? thy secret is out; thou art utterly undone.

PHAEDRA
Ah me! ah me!

CHORUS (chanting)
Betrayed by friends!

PHAEDRA
She hath ruined me by speaking of my misfortune; 'twas kindly

meant, but an ill way to cure my malady.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS

O what wilt thou do now in thy cruel dilemma?
PHAEDRA

I only know one way, one cure for these my woes, and that is
instant death.

(HIPPOLYTUS bursts out of the palace, followed closely by the NURSE.)
HIPPOLYTUS

O mother earth! O sun's unclouded orb! What words, unfit for any
lips, have reached my ears!

NURSE
Peace, my son, lest some one hear thy outcry.

HIPPOLYTUS
I cannot hear such awful words and hold my peace.

NURSE
I do implore thee by thy fair right hand.

HIPPOLYTUS
Let go my hand, touch not my robe.

NURSE
O by thy knees I pray, destroy me not utterly.

HIPPOLYTUS
Why say this, if, as thou pretendest, thy lips are free from

blame?
NURSE

My son, this is no story to be noised abroad.
HIPPOLYTUS

A virtuous tale grows fairer told to many.
NURSE

Never dishonour thy oath, my son.
HIPPOLYTUS

My tongue an oath did take, but not my heart.
NURSE

My son, what wilt thou do? destroy thy friends?
HIPPOLYTUS

Friends indeed! the wicked are no friends of mine.
NURSE

O pardon me; to err is only human, child.
HIPPOLYTUS

Great Zeus, why didst thou, to man's sorrow, put woman, evil
counterfeit, to dwell where shines the sun? If thou wert minded that

the human race should multiply, it was not from women they should have
drawn their stock, but in thy temples they should have paid gold or

iron or ponderousbronze and bought a family, each man proportioned to
his offering, and so in independence dwelt, from women free. But now

as soon as ever we would bring this plague into our home we bring
its fortune to the ground. 'Tis clear from this how great a curse a

woman is; the very father, that begot and nurtured her, to rid him
of the mischief, gives her a dower and packs her off; while the

husband, who takes the noxious weed into his home, fondly decks his
sorry idol in fine raiment and tricks her out in robes, squandering by

degrees, unhappy wight! his house's wealth. For he is in this dilemma;
say his marriage has brought him good connections, he is glad then

to keep the wife he loathes; or, if he gets a good wife but useless
kin, he tries to stifle the bad luck with the good. But it is

easiest for him who has settled in his house as wife mere cipher,
incapable from simplicity. I hate a clever woman; never may she set

foot in my house who aims at knowing more than women need; for in
these clever women Cypris implants a larger store of villainy, while

the artless woman is by her shallow wit from levity debarred. No
servant should ever have had access to a wife, but men should put to

live with them beasts, which bite, not talk, in which case they
could not speak to any one nor be answered back by them. But, as it

is, the wicked in their chambers plot wickedness, and their servants
carry it abroad. Even thus, vile wretch, thou cam'st to make me

partner in an outrage on my father's honour; wherefore I must wash
that stain away in running streams, dashing the water into my ears.

How could I commit so foul a crime when by the very mention of it I
feel myself polluted? Be well assured, woman, 'tis only my religious

scruple saves thee. For had not I unawares been caught by an oath,
'fore heaven! I would not have refrained from telling all unto my

father. But now I will from the house away, so long as Theseus is
abroad, and will maintainstrict silence. But, when my father comes, I

will return and see how thou and thy mistress face him, and so shall I
learn by experience the extent of thy audacity. Perdition seize you

both! I can never satisfy my hate for women, no! not even though
some say this is ever my theme, for of a truth they always are evil.

So either let some one prove them chaste, or let me still trample on
them for ever.

(HIPPOLYTUS departs in anger.)
CHORUS (chanting)

O the cruel, unhappy fate of women! What arts, what arguments have
we, once we have made a slip, to loose by craft the tight-drawn knot?

PHAEDRA (chanting)
I have met my deserts. O earth, O light of day! How can I escape

the stroke of fate? How my pangs conceal, kind friends? What god
will appear to help me, what mortal to take my part or help me in

unrighteousness? The present calamity of my life admits of no
escape. Most hapless I of all my sex!

LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Alas, alas! the deed is done, thy servant's schemes have gone

awry, my queen, and all is lost.
PHAEDRA (to the NURSE)

Accursed woman! traitress to thy friends! How hast thou ruined me!
May Zeus, my ancestor, smite thee with his fiery bolt and uproot

thee from thy place. Did I not foresee thy purpose, did I not bid thee
keep silence on the very matter which is now my shame? But thou

wouldst not be still; wherefore my fair name will not go with me to
the tomb. But now I must another schemedevise. Yon youth, in the

keenness of his fury, will tell his father of my sin, and the aged
Pittheus of my state and fill the world with stories to my shame.

Perdition seize thee and every meddling fool who by dishonest means
would serve unwilling friends!

NURSE
Mistress, thou may'st condemn the mischief I have done, for

sorrow's sting o'ermasters thy judgment; yet can I answer thee in face
of this, if thou wilt hear. 'Twas I who nurtured thee; I love thee

still; but in my search for medicine to cure thy sickness I found what
least I sought. Had I but succeeded, I had been counted wise, for

the credit we get for wisdom is measured by our success.
PHAEDRA

Is it just, is it any satisfaction to me, that thou shouldst wound
me first, then bandy words with me?

NURSE
We dwell on this too long; I was not wise, I own; but there are

yet ways of escape from the trouble, my child.
PHAEDRA

Be dumb henceforth; evil was thy first advice to me, evil too
thy attempted scheme. Begone and leave me, look to thyself; I will