_Phaedra:_ Me, me, O savage ruler of the deep, Attack; against me send the monstrous shapes 1160 That breed within the caverns of the sea, Whatever Tethys in her heart conceals, And ocean hides within his wandering waves. O Theseus, always ill of omen thou! Oh, never to thy loved ones safe returned, Since son and father by their death have paid 1165 For thy home-coming. Thou of thine own house Art the destroyer; ever baneful thou, Whether in love or hatred of thy wives. [_Turning to the mangled corpse._] Hippolytus, is this thy face I see? Have I brought thee to this? What Sinis wild, What pitiless Procrustes mangled thee? 1170 What Cretan bull-man, filling all the cave Of Daedalus with his vast bellowings, Has rent thee thus upon his savage horns? Ah me! where now is fled thy beauty bright, Thy eyes, my stars? Dost thou all lifeless lie? Come back a little while and hear my words. 1175 'Tis nothing base I speak. With my own hand I'll make thee full atonement, and will plunge The avenging sword within my sinful breast, And so be free from life and guilt at once. Thee will I follow through Tartarean pools. Across the Styx, through streams of liquid fire. 1180 Let me appease the spirit of the dead. Accept the spoils I offer, take this lock Torn from my bleeding forehead. 'Twas not right To join our souls in life; but surely now We may by death unite our fates. [_To herself._] Now die, If thou art undefiled, to appease thy lord; But if defiled, die for thy lover's sake. 1185 Is't meet that I should live and seek again My husband's couch, by such foul incest stained? This wrong was lacking still, that, as if pure, Thou shouldst enjoy that union, justified. O death, thou only cure for evil love, For injured chastity the last resort: I fly to thee; spread wide thy soothing arms. 1190 Hear me, O Athens; thou, O father, hear, Thou worse than stepdame: I have falsely sworn. The crime, which I myself within my heart, With passion mad, conceived, I basely charged To him. An empty vengeance hast thou wrought Upon thy son; for he in chastity, 1195 Through fault of the unchaste, lies there, unstained And innocent. [_To_ Hippolytus.] Regain thine honor now; Behold my impious breast awaits the stroke Of justice, and my blood makes sacrifice Unto the spirit of a guiltless man. [_To_ Theseus.] How thou mayst recompense thy murdered son, Learn now from me--and seek the Acheron. 1200