Latin Poetry Podcast

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Phaedra asks Hippolytus to put off his huntsman’s persona and relax, then offers to come out on the hunt with him. She offers to abandon Theseus and move to Troezen to be with Hippolytus. Theseus is already ignoring and slighting both of them, she argues. Their close family connection is no problem, even an asset. The affair will be easily concealed because of it.

aequora bīna suīs oppugnant flūctibus Isthmon, 105

et tenuis tellūs audit utrumque mare.

hīc tēcum Troezēna colam, Pitthēia rēgna;

iam nunc est patriā cārior illa meā.

tempore abest aberitque diū Neptūnius hērōs;

illum Pīrithoī dētinet ōra suī. 110

praeposuit Thēseus — nisi sī[1] manifēsta negāmus —

Pīrithoum Phaedrae Pīrithoumque tibī.

sōla nec haec ad nōs iniūria vēnit ab illō;

in magnīs laesī rēbus uterque sumus.

ossa meī frātris clāvā perfrācta trinōdī 115

sparsit humī; soror est praeda relicta ferīs.

prīma secūrigerās inter virtūte puellās

tē peperit, nātī digna vigōre parēns;

sī quaerās, ubi sit — Thēseus latus ēnse perēgit,

nec tantō māter pignore tūta fuit. 120

at nē nūpta quidem taedāque accepta iugālī —

cūr, nisi nē caperēs rēgna paterna nothus?

addidit et frātrēs ex mē tibi, quōs tamen omnēs

nōn ego tollendī causa, sed ille fuit.

ō utinam nocitūra tibī, pulcherrime rērum, 125

in mediō nīsū vīscera rupta forent!

ī nunc, sīc meritī lectum reverēre parentis —

quem fugit et factīs abdicat ipse suīs!

nec, quia prīvignō videar coitūra noverca,

terruerint animōs nōmina vāna tuōs. 130

ista vetus pietās, aevō moritūra futūrō,

rūstica Sāturnō rēgna tenente fuit.

Iuppiter esse pium statuit, quodcumque iuvāret,

et fās omne facit frātre marīta soror.

illa coit firmā generis iūnctūra catēnā, 135

imposuit nōdōs cui Venus ipsa suōs.

nec labor est cēlāre, licet peccēmus, amōrem.

cognātō poterit nōmine culpa tegī.

vīderit amplexōs aliquis, laudābimur ambō;

dīcar prīvignō fīda noverca meō. 140

nōn tibi per tenebrās dūrī reseranda marītī

iānua, nōn cūstōs dēcipiendus erit;

ut tenuit domus ūna duōs, domus ūna tenēbit;

ōscula aperta dabās, ōscula aperta dabis;

tūtus eris mēcum laudemque merēbere culpā, 145

tū licet in lectō cōnspiciāre meō.

 

[1] nisi si = “unless,” a strenghthened form of nisi https://latin.packhum.org/search?q=nisi+si%23

 

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