Main Body
Act Five
FIRST SCENE.
HIPPOLYTE, ARICIE, ISMÈNE.
ARICIA.
- What! can you be silent in this extreme peril?
- Do you leave a father who loves you in error?
- Cruel, if of my tears, contemptuous of power,
- You easily agree not to see me again,
- Go; separate yourself from sad Aricia;
- But at least when you leave, secure your life.
- Defend your honor from a shameful reproach,
- And force your father to revoke his vows:
- There is still time. Why, by what whim,
- Are you leaving the field open to your accuser?
- Clear up Theseus.
HIPPOLYTE.
- Hey! what did I not say?
- Did I have to uncover the shame of his bed?
- Should I, by telling him too sincere a story,
- Cover a father’s forehead with an unworthy blush?
- You alone have unraveled this odious mystery.
- My heart to pour out has only you and the gods.
- I couldn’t hide from you, judge if I love you,
- Everything I wanted to hide from myself.
- But think under what seal I revealed it to you:
- Forget, if it is possible, that I spoke to you,
- Mrs ; and that never a mouth so pure
- Do not open to tell this horrible adventure.
- On the equity of the gods we dare to confide;
- They have too much interest in justifying me:
- And Phèdre, sooner or later for his crime punished,
- Cannot avoid its just ignominy.
- This is the only respect I demand from you.
- I allow all the rest to my wrath:
- Get out of slavery where you are reduced;
- Dare to follow me, dare to accompany my flight;
- Tear yourself away from a deadly and profaned place,
- Where virtue breathes a poisoned air;
- Take advantage, to hide your early retirement,
- From the confusion that my disgrace throws at it.
- I can assure you of the means:
- Up to now you have only my guards;
- Mighty defenders will take our quarrel;
- Argos reaches out to us, and Sparta calls us:
- To our mutual friends let us bring our just cries;
- Let us not suffer that Phèdre, assembling our debris,
- From the father’s throne drives us both away,
- And promise his son my remains and yours.
- The opportunity is beautiful, it must be embraced …
- What fear is holding you back? you seem to be swinging?
- Your only interest inspires me this daring:
- When I’m all on fire, where does this ice cream come from?
- In the footsteps of an outcast do you fear to walk?
ARICIA.
- Alas! how dear such an exile, my lord!
- In what raptures, to your fate bound,
- From the rest of mortals I would live forgotten!
- But not being united by such a sweet bond,
- May I with honor steal with you?
- I know that, without hurting the most severe honor,
- I can free myself from the hands of your father:
- It is not to tear me away from my parents’ womb;
- And those who flee their tyrants are allowed to escape.
- But you love me, lord; and my alarmed glory …
HIPPOLYTE.
- No, no, I care too much for your fame.
- A nobler purpose brings me before you:
- Flee your enemies, and follow your husband.
- Free in our misfortunes, since heaven orders it,
- The gift of our faith does not d