MESSENGER, CHORUS.
MESS. Ye females, whither going can I find Theseus, king of this land? If ye know, tell me: is he within this palace?
CHOR. The [king] himself is coming out of the palace.
MESSENGER, THESEUS, CHORUS.
MESS. I bring a tale that demands concern, of thee and of thy subjects, both those who inhabit the city of the Athenians, and the realms of the Trœzenian land.
THES. What is it? Has any sudden calamity come upon the two neighboring states?
MESS. To speak the word—Hippolytus is no more. He views the light however for a short moment.
THES. Killed? By whom? Has any come to enmity with him, whose wife, as his father's, he has forcibly defiled?
MESS. His own chariot slew him, and the imprecations of thy mouth, which thou didst put up to thy father, the ruler of the ocean, concerning thy son.
THES. O ye Gods! and O Neptune! how truly then wert thou my father, when thou didst duly hear my imprecations! Tell me too, how did he perish? in what way did the staff of Justice strike him that disgraced me?