HIPPOLYTUS.
Enter Aphrodite.
Aphrodite.
Mighty on earth, and named by many a name
Am I, the Goddess Kypris, as in heaven.
And of all dwellers 'twixt the Pontic Sea
And Atlas' bourn, which look on the sun's light,
I honour them which reverence my power,5
But bring the proud hearts that defy me low.
For even to the Gods this appertains,
That in the homage of mankind they joy.
And I will give swift proof of these my words.
For Theseus' son, born of the Amazon,10
Hippolytus, pure-hearted Pittheus' ward,
Sole mid the folk of this Trœzenian land
Sayeth that vilest of the Gods am I;
Rejects the couch; of marriage will he none;
But Phœbus' sister Artemis, Zeus' child, 15
Honours, of all Gods chiefest holding her:
And through the greenwood in the Maid's train still
With swift hounds sweeps the wild beasts from the earth,
Linked with companionship for men too high.
Yet this I grudge not: what is this to me? 20
But that his wrong to me will I avenge
