The Tragedies of Seneca / Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A mightier holds it back. Ye heavenly powers,

I call ye all to witness, what I wish—605

Hippolytus: Thy heart desires and cannot tell its wish?

Phaedra: Light cares speak out, the weighty have no words.

Hippolytus: Into my ears, my mother, tell thy cares.

Phaedra: The name of mother is too proud and high;

My heart dictates some humbler name than that.610

Pray call me sister—slave, Hippolytus.

Yes, slave I'd be. I'll bear all servitude;

And shouldst thou bid me tread the driven snows,