Thou hast undone me, nurse; I do adjure by the gods, mention that man no more.NurseThere now! thou art thyself again, but e’en yet refusest to aid thy children and preserve thy life.PhaedraMy babes I love, but there is another storm that buffets me.NurseDaughter, are thy hands from bloodshed pure?PhaedraMy hands are pure, but on my soul there rests a stain.NurseThe issue of some enemy’s secret witchery?PhaedraA friend is my destroyer, one unwilling as myself.NurseHath Theseus wronged thee in any wise?PhaedraNever may I prove untrue to himi.e. as he never has proved so to me.NurseThen what strange mystery is there that drives thee on to die?PhaedraO, let my sin and me alone! ’tis not ’gainst thee I sin.NurseNever willingly! and, if I fail, ’twill rest at thy door.PhaedraHow now? thou usest force in clinging to my hand.NurseYea, and I will never loose my hold upon thy knees.PhaedraAlas for thee! my sorrows, shouldst thou learn them, would recoil on thee.NurseWhat keener grief for me than failing to win thee?Phaedra’Twill be death to thee; though to me that brings renown.ὀλεῖ (1) 2nd sing. Fut. Mid. thou wilt die as a consequence of sharing my secret (Paley). (2) 3rd sing. Fut. Active it will kill me to keep silence, though that better ensures my honour.NurseAnd dost thou then conceal this boon despite my prayers?PhaedraI do, for ’tis out of shame I am planning an honourable escape.NurseTell it, and thine honour shall the brighter shine.PhaedraAway, I do conjure thee; loose my hand.NurseI will not, for the boon thou shouldst have granted me is denied.PhaedraI will grant it out of reverence for thy holy sup- pliant touch.NurseHenceforth I hold my peace; ’tis thine to speak from now.PhaedraAh! hapless mother,Pasiphae, wife of Minos, deceived by Aphrodite into a fatal passion for a bull. Cf. Verg. Aen. vi. ad init., also Ovid Metam., viii, 131 sqq. what a love was thine!NurseHer love for the bull? daughter, or what meanest thou?PhaedraAnd woe to thee! my sister,Ariadne, deserted by Theseus in the isle of Naxos, where Dionysus found her. bride of Dionysus.NurseWhat ails thee, child? speaking ill of kith and kin.PhaedraMyself the third to suffer! how am I undone!NurseThou strik’st me dumb! Where will this history end?