A common enemy
Threatens you both, unite them to oppose
Aricia.
PHAEDRA
To your counsel I consent.
Yes, I will live, if life can be restored,
If my affection for a son has pow'r
To rouse my sinking heart at such a dangerous hour.
ACT II
SCENE I
ARICIA, ISMENE
ARICIA
Hippolytus request to see me here!
Hippolytus desire to bid farewell!
Is't true, Ismene? Are you not deceived?
ISMENE
This is the first result of Theseus' death.
Prepare yourself to see from every side.
Hearts turn towards you that were kept away
By Theseus. Mistress of her lot at last,
Aricia soon shall find all Greece fall low,
To do her homage.
ARICIA
'Tis not then, Ismene,
An idle tale? Am I no more a slave?
Have I no enemies?
ISMENE
The gods oppose
Your peace no longer, and the soul of Theseus
Is with your brothers.
ARICIA
Does the voice of fame
Tell how he died?
ISMENE
Rumours incredible
Are spread. Some say that, seizing a new bride,
The faithless husband by the waves was swallow'd.
Others affirm, and this report prevails,
That with Pirithous to the world below
He went, and saw the shores of dark Cocytus,
Showing himself alive to the pale ghosts;
But that he could not leave those gloomy realms,
Which whoso enters there abides for ever.
ARICIA
Shall I believe that ere his destined hour
A mortal may descend into the gulf
Of Hades? What attraction could o'ercome
Its terrors?
ISMENE
He is dead, and you alone
Doubt it.
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