to words well spoken.--Say something--look
hither--O wretch that I am! Ladies, in vain do we undergo these toils,
while we are as far off from our purpose as before: for neither then was
she softened by our words, nor now does she give heed to us. Still however
know (now then be more obstinate than the sea) that, if thou shalt die,
thou wilt betray thy children, who will have no share in their paternal
mansion. I swear by the warlike queen the Amazon, who brought forth a lord
over thy children, base-born yet of noble sentiments, thou knowest him
well, Hippolytus.

PHAE. Ah me!

NUR. This touches thee.

PHAE. You have destroyed me, nurse, and by the Gods I entreat thee
henceforth to be silent with respect to this man.

NUR. Do you see? you judge well indeed, but judging well you are not
willing both to assist your children and to save your own life.

PHAE. I love my children; but I am wintering in the storm of another
misfortune.

NUR. You have your hands, my child, pure from blood.

PHAE. My hands are pure, but my mind has some pollution.

NUR. What! from some calamity brought on you by any of your enemies?

PHAE. A friend destroys me against my will, himself unwilling.

NUR. Has Theseus sinned any sin against thee?

PHAE. Would that I never be discovered to have injured him.

NUR. What then this dreadful thing that impels thee to die?

PHAE. Suffer me to err, for against thee I err not.

NUR. Not willingly [dost thou do so,] but 'tis through thee that I shall
perish.[10]

PHAE. What are you doing? you oppress me, hanging on me with your hand.

NUR. And never will I let go these knees.

PHAE. Ills to thyself wilt thou hear, O wretched woman, if thou shalt hear
these ills.

NUR. [Still will I cling:] for what greater evil can befall me than to lose
thee?

PHAE. You will be undone.[11] The thing however brings honor to me.

NUR. And dost thou then hide what is useful, when I beseech thee?

PHAE. _Yes_, for from base things we devise things noble.

NUR. Wilt not thou, then, appear more noble by telling it?

PHAE. Depart, by the Gods, and let go my hand!

NUR. No in sooth, since thou givest me not the boon that were right.

PHAE. I will give it; for I have respect unto the reverence of thy hand.

NUR. Now will I be silent: for hence is it yours to speak.

PHAE. O wretched mother, what a love didst thou love!

NUR. That which she had for the bull, my child, or what is this thou
meanest?