Hippolytus (1005-1082)

or see in pictures, for I have no wish to look even on these, so pure my virgin soul. I grant my claim to chastity may not convince thee; well, ’tis then for thee to show the way I was corrupted. Did this woman exceed in beauty

all her sex? Did I aspire to fill the husband’s place after thee and succeed to thy house?[*] That surely would have made me out a fool, a creature void of sense. Thou wilt say, Your chaste man loves to lord it. No, no! say I, sovereignty pleases only those

whose hearts are quite corrupt. Now, I would be the first and best at all the games in Hellas, but second in the state, for ever happy thus with the noblest for my friends. For there one may be happy, and the absence of danger

gives a charm beyond all princely joys.

One thing I have not said, the rest thou hast. Had I a witness to attest my purity, and were I pitted ’gainst her still alive, facts would show thee on enquiry who the culprit was.

Now by Zeus, the god of oaths, and by the earth, whereon we stand, I swear to thee I never did lay hand upon thy wife nor would have wished to, or have harboured such a thought Slay me, ye gods! rob me of name and honour, from home and city cast me forth, a wandering exile o’er the earth!

nor sea nor land receive my bones when I am dead, if I am such a miscreant! I cannot say if she through fear destroyed herself, for more than this am I forbid. With her discretion took the place of chastity,

while I, though chaste, was not discreet in using this virtue.[*]

Thy oath by heaven, strong security, sufficiently refutes the charge.

A wizard or magician must the fellow be, to think he can first flout me, his father,

then by coolness master my resolve.

Father, thy part in this doth fill me with amaze; wert thou my son and I thy sire, by heaven! I would have slain, not let thee off with banishment, hadst thou presumed to violate my honour.

A just remark! yet shalt thou not die by the sentence thine own lips pronounce upon thyself; for death, that cometh in a moment, is an easy end for wretchedness. Nay, thou shalt be exiled from thy fatherland, and wandering to a foreign shore drag out a life of misery;

for such are the wages of sin.[*]

Oh! what wilt thou do? Wilt thou banish me, without so much as waiting for Time’s evidence on my case?

Ay, beyond the sea, beyond the bounds of Atlas, if I could, so deeply do I hate thee.

What! banish me untried, without even testing my oath, the pledge I offer, or the voice of seers?

This letter here, though it bears no seers’ signs, arraigns thy pledges; as for birds that fly o’er our heads, a long farewell to them.

(aside). Great gods! why do I not unlock my lips, seeing that I am ruined by you, the objects of my reverence? No, I will not; I should nowise persuade those whom I ought to, and in vain should break the oath I swore.

Fie upon thee! that solemn air of thine is more than I can bear.

Begone from thy native land forthwith!

Whither shall I turn? Ah me! whose friendly house will take me in, an exile on so grave a charge?

Seek one who loves to entertain as guests and partners in his crimes corrupters of men’s wives.

Ah me! this wounds my heart and brings me nigh to tears to think that I should appear so vile, and thou believe me so.

Thy tears and forethought had been more in season when thou didst presume to outrage thy father’s wife.

O house, I would thou couldst speak for me and witness if I am so vile!

Dost fly to speechless witnesses? This deed, though it speaketh not, proves thy guilt clearly.

Alas! Would I could stand and face myself, so should I weep to see the sorrows I endure.

Ay, ’tis thy character to honour thyself far more than reverence thy parents, as thou shouldst.

Unhappy mother! son of sorrow! Heaven keep all friends of mine from bastard birth!