from thy father three wishes with a certainty of their being granted?
Whereof one thou hast expended, O most evil one, on thy son, when thou
mightest have done it on some of thine enemies. Thy father then that
dwelleth in the ocean, gave thee as much as he was bound to give, because
he promised. But thou both in his eyes and in mine appearest evil, who
neither didst await nor examine proof, nor the voice of the prophets, didst
not leave the consideration to length of time, but, quicker than became
thee, didst vent thy curses against thy son and slay him.

THES. Mistress, let me die!

DI. Thou hast committed dreadful deeds, but nevertheless, it is still
possible even for thee to obtain pardon for these things. For Venus willed
that these things should be in order to satiate her rage. But among the
Gods the law is thus--None wishes to thwart the purpose of him that wills
anything, but we always give way. Since, be well assured, were it not that
I feared Jove, never should I have come to such disgrace, as to suffer to
die a man of all mortals the most dear to me. But thine error, first of all
thine ignorance frees from malice; and then thy wife by her dying put an
end to the proof of words, so as to persuade thy mind. Chiefly then on thee
these ills are burst, but sorrow is to me too; for Gods rejoice not when
the pious die; the wicked however we destroy with their children and their
houses.

CHOR. And lo! the unhappy man there is coming, all mangled his young flesh
and auburn head. Oh the misery of the house! such double anguish coming
down from heaven has been wrought in the palaces!

HIPPOLYTUS, DIANA, THESEUS, CHORUS.

HIPP. O! O! O! Unhappy I was thus foully mangled by the unjust prayers of
an unjust father--I am destroyed miserably. Ah me! ah me! Pains rush
through my head, and the spasm darts across my brain. Stop, I will rest my
fainting body. Oh! oh! O those hateful horses of my chariot, things which I
fed with my own hand, ye have destroyed me utterly and slain me. Oh! oh! by
the Gods, gently, my servants, touch with your hands my torn flesh. Who
stands by my side on the right? Lift me up properly, and take hold all
equally on me, the unblessed of heaven, and cursed by my father's
error--Jove, Jove, beholdest thou these things? Lo! I, the chaste, and the
reverencer of the Gods, I who in modesty exceed all, have lost my life, and
go to a manifest hell beneath the earth; but in vain have I labored in the
task