Hippolytus (212-274)

My child, what wild speech is this? O say not such things in public, wild whirling words of frenzy bred!

Away to the mountain take me! to the wood, to the pine-trees I will go, where hounds pursue the prey, hard on the scent of dappled fawns. Ye gods! what joy to hark them on,

to grasp the barbed dart, to poise Thessalian hunting-spears close to my golden hair, then let them fly.

Why, why, my child, these anxious cares? What hast thou to do with the chase?

Why so eager for the flowing spring, when hard by these towers stands a hill well watered, whence thou may’st freely draw?

O Artemis, who watchest o’er sea-beat Limna[*] and the race-course thundering to the horse’s hoofs,

would I were upon thy plains curbing Venetian steeds!

Why betray thy frenzy in these wild whirling words? Now thou wert for hasting hence to the hills away to hunt wild beasts, and now

thy yearning is to drive the steed over the waveless sands. This needs a cunning seer to say what god it is that reins thee from the course, distracting thy senses, child.

Ah me! alas! what have I done?

Whither have I strayed, my senses leaving? Mad, mad! stricken by some demon’s curse! Woe is me! Cover my head again, nurse. Shame fills me for the words I have spoken.

Hide me then; from my eyes the tear-drops stream, and for very shame I turn them away. Tis painful coming to one’s senses again, and madness, evil though it be, has this advantage, that one has no knowledge of reason’s overthrow.

There then I cover thee; but when will death hide my body in the grave? Many a lesson length of days is teaching me. Yea, mortal men should pledge themselves

to moderate friendships only, not to such as reach the very heart’s core; affection’s ties should be light upon them to let them slip or draw them tight. For one poor heart to grieve for twain, as I do

for my mistress, is a burden sore to bear. Men say that too engrossing pursuits in life more oft cause disappointment than pleasure,

and too oft are foes to health. Wherefore I do not praise excess so much as moderation, and with me wise men will agree.