Hippolytus (1045-1066)

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?