They sing—what curses they sing, the words I have read[errata 1]
Graved on the wax—woe's me! 880
Chorus.
Alas! thou utterest speech that heralds ill.
Theseus.
No more within my lips' gates will I pen
The horror that chokes utterance—ah wretch!
Hippolytus hath dared assail my bed 885
With violence, flouting Zeus's awful eye!
Father Poseidon, thou didst promise me
Three curses once. Do thou with one of these
Destroy my son: may he not 'scape this day,
If soothfast curses thou hast granted me. 890
Chorus.
O King, recall thou from the Gods this prayer!
Thou yet shall know thine error: yield to me.
Theseus.
Never! Yea, I will drive him from the land,
And, of two dooms, with one shall he be scourged:—
Either Poseidon, reverencing my prayers, 895
Shall slay and speed him unto Hades' halls,
Or, banished from this land, a vagabond
On strange shores, shall he drain life's bitter dregs.
Chorus.
Lo, where thy son's self comes in season meet,
Hippolytus: refrain thy wrath, O king 900
Theseus, and for thine house the best devise.
