ARTEMIS 215stead may they live and flourish in the renowned city of Athens, free men, open
in speech and their good reputation unsullied by their mother. For man is en-
slaved, even if he is bold of heart, whenever he is conscious of the sins of a
mother or a father.
They say that to win in life's contest, one needs only this: a good and just
character. But the base among mortals are exposed, sooner or later, when Time
holds a mirror before them, as before a young girl. Among such as these may I
never be discovered.
Thus the noble Phaedra reveals her character and her motivation. The Nurse,
upon first learning of Phaedra's love for Hippolytus, was shocked and horrified.
Now, however, in response to her mistress, she offers assurances that Phaedra's
experience is nothing unusual. She is the victim of the goddess of love, like many
others. Not only mortals but even deities succumb to illicit passions. Phaedra must
bear up. The pragmatic Nurse ends her sophistic arguments by claiming that she
will find some cure. She is deliberately ambiguous about the precise nature of this
cure in order to win Phaedra's confidence, hinting at some potion or magic that
must be employed. She dismisses Phaedra's fear that she will reveal her love for
Hippolytus—but this is exactly the cure that she has resolved upon, with the pre-
liminary precaution of exacting from the young man an oath of silence.
Poor Phaedra learns that her Nurse (in a loving but misguided attempt to
help) has indeed approached Hippolytus from his angry shouts that come from
the palace. She overhears Hippolytus brutally denouncing the Nurse, calling her
a procurer of evils, in betrayal of her master's marriage-bed. Phaedra believes
that she is now ruined and confides to the Chorus that she is resolved to die.
We do not have Euripides' stage directions. Some would have Phaedra exit at
this point, but the drama is intensified and her subsequent actions are more com-
prehensible if she remains, compelled to witness the entire following scene. Hip-
polytus bursts forth from the palace followed by the Nurse (581-668):f
HIPPOLYTUS: O mother earth and vast reaches of the sun, What unspeakable
words have I listened to!
NURSE: Be quiet, my boy, before someone hears you shouting.
HIPPOLYTUS: I have heard such dreadful things that it is impossible for me
to be silent.
NURSE: Please, by your strong right hand.
HIPPOLYTUS: Keep your hands off me! Don't touch my cloak!
NURSE: I beseech you, by your knees. Don't ruin me.
HIPPOLYTUS: What do you mean? Didn't you claim that there was nothing
wrong in what you said?
NURSE: What I said was by no means intended for all to hear.
HIPPOLYTUS: Good words spread among many become even better.
NURSE: My child, do not be untrue to your oath, in any way.
HIPPOLYTUS: My tongue swore but my mind is under no oath.
NURSE: My boy, what will you do? Ruin those near and dear to you?
HIPPOLYTUS: I spit upon them! No evil person is near and dear to me.