Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Act four of Andromache by Jean Racine, translated by Robert
Bruce Boswell, Act four, Scene one, Andromache Sophysia, my.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Lady, this your husband doubted not. This hector works this
miracle on you. Surely he wish DROI should rise again
under that son, whose life he bids you guard. Peerus
has promised you the boy just now you heard him say,
he waits but for a word to make him yours,
(00:36):
and you may trust his love. Your heart contents him.
Father scept friends, he rects them. Not if you will
reign or him and are his people? Does he then
deserve hatred? Indignant, he confronts the Greeks and pities the
probabe no less than you guards him from Outredge will
(01:01):
stand their rage, exposing his own life to shelter his.
But always ready you have.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Promised, Yes, I will be there. Let us go see
my son.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Why in such haste no one forbids you now to
visit him. Therewith be satisfied, and soon your tenderness shall
have full scope in many a fond and understrained caress.
Will it not bring your joy to raise your babe
(01:34):
no longer for a life of slavery, but to revive
the glories of his line.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Sophy, sir, this is the last time I shall see
my child. Why what is this, oh, my dear friend,
with whom my soul should wear no mask, For you
have proved in all my trouble faithful. Still, I hoped
you knew me better than to dem myself so faithless
found as to betray the husband who within my heart
(02:05):
survives that. Caring not how much I vex the dead,
I should think only of my own repose is that
to keep my promise made so off to Hector's ashes.
But I am obliged to save his son. Peirus, on
wedding me, vows to protect him. I may trust his word.
(02:28):
I know his nature violent, but sincere he will do more,
Sophicia than he said, And I rely too on the
wrath of Greece. Her hatred will on Hector's son bestow
a father. Since the victim is required, I will assure
to Pearis all that's left of life to me, and
(02:48):
by most sacred bonds indissolubly bind him to my boy.
But straightway shall this hand, with fatal strokes have but
the court of life no longer true? And so preserve
me stainless, and yet pay peeris his due, Nor fail
in what I owe to son and husband, Aye, and
(03:10):
to myself. This is the harmless plot my love suggests,
or rather hect to a spirit. So alone him and
my sires. I join close you mine eyes.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Ah, if you die, think not that I will live.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Nay.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I forbid you, friend to follow me. My only treasure
to your care. I trust you lived for me. Live
now for het to a son, sole guardian of the
hopes of fallen troy. Her royal line requires your constant care.
Watch peeris well, and make him keep his faith if
(03:55):
he shall need it. Speak to him of me. Remind
him I consent to be his before my death. Teach
him to prize that bond, and blot out all resentment
from his soul. That leaving him my son, I showed
how much I valued him. And to that son. Make
(04:15):
known the heroes of his race, direct his steps to
follow them. Tell him of all their fame, of what
they did rather than what they were. Dwell on his
father's virtues day by day, and sometimes whisper of a
mother's love, but of avenging me. He must not dream
(04:38):
his master's friendship. Let him strive to win, regarding his
high birth with modesty. Let him remember, though, of Hector's blood,
Troy lives in him alone, and for his sake. In
one day, I lay down life, hatred, love, alness. You
(04:59):
must not come with me unless your heart is brave
and can command your tears. Siphy, sir, dry your eyes.
I hear step, remember your great trust, hermione approacheth let
us shun her violence.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Scene too, hermione cleone.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
This silence, Madam, fills me with surprise. You utter not
a word, This cruel slight seems not to ruffle your tranquility. Tamely,
you suffer such a rude rebuff who shuddered, but to
hear your rival's name, You, who could scarce, endure without despair.
The passing glance that Pearis cast on her, he weds her,
makes her partner of his throne and plights the troughs
(05:46):
so lately given to you. Yet still your lips are dumb,
Your tongue disdains to upbraid the traitor with deserved reproach.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
I fear what.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Such a fatal calm forebodes. It would be better far.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
You send for him is it not, so Orestes.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Will be here, and, as you may believe, will place
himself wholly at your disposal without hope of recompense. Your
eyes are sure enough to charm him. See he enters.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Scene three. Orestes, hermione, cleone.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Can it be that I, for once, in seeking you
obey your bidding, or as false oak flattered me, had
you indeed wished me to come to you? Shall I
believe your eyes at last disarmed?
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Will I would know whether you love me?
Speaker 6 (06:33):
Sir, love you, great gods? My vows too hard to
keep my flight, return reverence, that curbed reproach, my dark despair,
my eyes all drowned in tears. What witness will you
if you trust not these?
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I trust them? On avenge me.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Let us go, my mistress, and once more set grease
on fire. This arm shall make your name renowned, and
you shall rival Helen I, the king of men. Let
us revive the miseries of Troy here in epirus and
our father's fame eclipse. Yes, I am ready, let us start.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
No, let us stay not carry these affrants so far?
What crown the insults of my foes and wide elsewhere
to wreak A slow revenge, resign myself to the arbitrament
of war, that after all might fail to vindicate my wrongs.
I will have all epyrus weep when I depart, avenge
(07:44):
me in an hour or not at all. Delay, and
you refuse haste to the temple, you must slay.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
I whom perus the king.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Your hatred hesitates Run quickly? Did they lest I call
you back? Speak not of duties. I would fain forget,
nor will I hear a word in his defense, And
least from you from me.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Your tenderness has stamped his crime too deeply on my soul.
Let us take vengeance, but by other means. Become his foes,
but not as murderers, and with the arms of justice
ruined him. Shall I for answer to the Greeks bring
back his head, and have I taken on myself this
charge from them to turn assassin. No, in Heaven's name,
(08:37):
Let Greece the challenge meet and crest beneath her hatred.
Let him die. The name of king is sacred, and
the brow.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Is not My sentence. Then enough for you, that my
offended dignity demands a victim to be offered to myself.
That if you quell the tyrant. You shall have me
for reward that I hate him whom once I loved. Yes,
I confess it. He knew how to win my heart.
(09:08):
Whether my father's will or inclination moved me matters not
act on that knowledge. Though he broke his vows, though
with just horror, I regard his crying. Yet while he
lives fear, I may still forgive distrust my wavering wrath
till death removes the monster. For unless he dies today
(09:33):
tomorrow I may love him.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Then must death prevent his pardon? How shall I proceed?
Can I so soon aventure injuries? Where lies the path
that leads him to his doom? I have but just
set foot upon the soil, and you would have me
overturn the state and slay the king? And for his
punishment you grant me but a day, no, not an hour.
(09:58):
It must be done before its people's My victim to
the altar shall be brought no longer I demure. I
will but go and view the appointed place of sacrifice.
This night I do your bidding, and he dies.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Meanwhile, today he weds on Ramaki, already in the shrine,
his throne is set. His crime accomplished, and my shame confirmed.
Why should you wait? He offers you his life. No
gods attend him to this festival. He makes them all
(10:36):
encircle Hector's son and gives himself to my avenger's arm.
Will you, then, of his life take greater care than
he does. Arm my followers with your Greeks, stir up
your friends on mine. You may rely me. He betrays
(10:58):
fools you and scorns us. Surely their hatred is as
great as mine. The trojan woman's husband loath to spare speak,
and my foe cannot escape your hands, or rather they
will strike him dead themselves lead or be led by
(11:20):
this noble rage, tied with the faithless wretchous blood. Return,
Thus only can you gain my heart.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Now go, But madam, think.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
This rarely passes bounds your scruples great upon my angry mood,
I show the way to win hermione and make orestes happy.
But I see he will do not to earn her
only wine. Forever, Go post of your constancy elsewhere, and
leave me to avenge myself. My weak concessions fill my
(11:56):
soul with shame. One day of such refusals as too much,
When all is ready for the marriage right, and where
you dared not venture, I will go alone, find means
to approach my enemy and stab the heart I could
not touch with love. Then shall my blood stained hands
(12:17):
turned on myself, unite our destiny in spite of him
and creator, though he be, twill be more sweet for
me to die with him than live with you.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
No, I will rob you of that dismal joy. He
shall not die but by a rest his hand. Yes,
by my arm, your enemy shall fall, and you shall
then reward me. If you will go, leave.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
Your future fortune in my care, let all your ships
be ready for our flight.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Scene four hermione cleone, think.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Madam ere your ruin you invoke ruin.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
No I mean to have revenge. I doubt whatever promises
be made the trust reposed on others than myself. The
guilt of Pirus does not scorch his eyes as it
does mine. My stroke would be more sure to be
my own avenger. Would be sweet to stain this fair
(13:22):
arm with the traitor's blood, and to increase my pleasure
and his pain, to hide my rival from his dying gaze.
What if Orestes fail to let him know he dies
a victim sacrificed to me. Go find and tell him
to inform the wretch. He owes his death to me
(13:42):
and not to Greece, Ran dear cleone, My revenge is
balt If he should die unconscious that his doom proceeds
from me.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
I will obey you. What do I see who would
have fancied it? The king himself.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Follow orestes strait. He must do naught? Do he seize
me again?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Scene five, peeress Hermione phoenix.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
You are surprised that I should seek you here, and
my approach disturbs your colloquy. I do not come armed
with unworthy whiles. No feigned excuse shall gloss the wrong
I do. My heart condemns me with no doubtful voice.
Nor can I urge a plea I know is false.
I wed a trojan woman. Yes, I own the faith
(14:33):
I plight to her was given to you. I might
remind you that our fathers formed these ties at Troy
without consulting us, and we were bound together by no
love or choice of ours. But tis enough for me
that I submitted. My ambassadors made you the promise of
my heart and hand. So far from wishing to revoke
the pledge, I willingly confirmed it. You with them came hither,
(14:58):
And although another eye all ready had subdued me and
forestalled your sway, that passion did not make me pause,
and I resolved still to be true to you. I
welcomed you as queen, and till this day I thought
my oath would hold the place of love. But love prevailed,
and by a fatal stroke, and Romochy has won the
(15:19):
heart she hates, each drawn by the other in our
own despite we hastened to the altar there to swear union. Forever.
Blame me as you may for traitor, though a willing
one I grieve to prove defaulter. Nor do I presume
to check the just resentment that relieves myself. As much
as you call me forsworn, I fear your silence more
(15:40):
than your reproach, rung by the secret witness in my heart.
The less you say, the more I feel my guilt.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Sir, this confession stripped of fall deceit shows that at
least you, to yourself, are just, And though resolved to
snap the solemn tie, crime makes you, in your own
eyes criminal. Yet, after all, why should a conqueror stoop
(16:12):
to common honesty that keeps its word. No perfidy for
you has secret charms. You seek me but to glory
in your shame, unhindered by your duty or your oath,
are made of grease, And then a dame of Troy
attract your fickle fancy, flying off, returning, and then leaving
(16:37):
me once more, crowning in turn the princess and the slave,
making Troy bow to Greece, and Greece to Troy. Thus
acts a heart that's master of itself, heroic, and no
slave of promises. Your bride might be displeased were I
(16:58):
to stint such honeyed terms as wretch and perjurer. You
came to look whether my faces were pale, and then
to mock my sorrow in her arms, You would be
glad if I would follow her in tears. But one
day has brought joy enough. You need not seek new
(17:18):
titles to renown. Those that you have may well suffice
your greed. An aged sire of Hectas mitten Down, dying
before the eyes of all his skin, while your sword
thrust into his field, heart seeks the few frozen drops
that linger there. Troy all in flames, plunged in a
(17:40):
sea of blood. Your hands too cut Polyxena's fair throat,
A cruel sight that grease herself condemned such glorious deeds
clim fit acknowledgement.
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I know full well to what excess of rage revenge
for Helen's rape transported me to you, her child. I
might impute the blood that I have shed, but be
the past forgot. I thank high Heaven that your indifference
sanctions a happier passion in my breast. My heart, too
ready to torrent itself, should know you better and excuse
(18:15):
its change. Madam, I did you wrong to feel remorse?
Can one be faithless who was never loved? You have
not tried to keep me bound to you, fearing to injure.
It may be that I serve you. No sympathy unites
our hearts, twas duty that I followed, as did you.
You never loved me?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
In reality, I never loved you.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
What then did I do for you? Our native princes?
I despised, sought you myself in your remotest realms. Still
am I here? Though you have proved untrue, and all
my Greeks my weakness view with shame, I have commanded
them to hide my wrongs. In secret, I waited your
(19:00):
return to duty, trusting, whether sooner or late, you will
bring back a heart I claimed as mine. I loved you,
though inconstant could I more if faithful found, even while
your cruel lips calmly announce the death of all my hopes.
(19:22):
I doubt if I have ceased to love you yet,
But if it must be so, and Heaven in wrath
reserves for other eyes the power to charm. Complete this marriage,
but at least refrain from forcing me to witness my disgrace. Listen,
for this may be my last appeal. Let one day pass.
(19:44):
Tomorrow you shall wed. You answer not ah, faithless, wretch, disclear.
You count these moments lost you spend with me, impatient
your enchantress to behold once more. You grudge with others
to converse with her. Your heart inspires each word, each look.
(20:07):
Escape where you are free. I hold you not from going.
Swear as you have sworn to me, Go and profane
the majesty of heaven, the justice of God's who will
never forget how those same oaths have bound you to myself.
Haste to their altars. Take that perjured heart there, dread
(20:31):
to meet Hermione once more.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Scene six. Peeris Phoenix.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
My lord, you heard her be upon your guard. Beware
the vengeance of a baffled love, inflamed fury, armed with
the support of Greece, that is the champion of her cause.
Orestes loves her still, perchance that prize.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
And t McKee awaits me guard her son.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
End of Act four.
Act four of Andromache by Jean Racine, translated by Robert
Bruce Boswell, Act four, Scene one, Andromache Sophysia, my.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Lady, this your husband doubted not. This hector works this
miracle on you. Surely he wish DROI should rise again
under that son, whose life he bids you guard. Peerus
has promised you the boy just now you heard him say,
he waits but for a word to make him yours,
(00:36):
and you may trust his love. Your heart contents him.
Father scept friends, he rects them. Not if you will
reign or him and are his people? Does he then
deserve hatred? Indignant, he confronts the Greeks and pities the
probabe no less than you guards him from Outredge will
(01:01):
stand their rage, exposing his own life to shelter his.
But always ready you have.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Promised, Yes, I will be there. Let us go see
my son.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Why in such haste no one forbids you now to
visit him. Therewith be satisfied, and soon your tenderness shall
have full scope in many a fond and understrained caress.
Will it not bring your joy to raise your babe
(01:34):
no longer for a life of slavery, but to revive
the glories of his line.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Sophy, sir, this is the last time I shall see
my child. Why what is this, oh, my dear friend,
with whom my soul should wear no mask, For you
have proved in all my trouble faithful. Still, I hoped
you knew me better than to dem myself so faithless
found as to betray the husband who within my heart
(02:05):
survives that. Caring not how much I vex the dead,
I should think only of my own repose is that
to keep my promise made so off to Hector's ashes.
But I am obliged to save his son. Peirus, on
wedding me, vows to protect him. I may trust his word.
(02:28):
I know his nature violent, but sincere he will do more,
Sophicia than he said, And I rely too on the
wrath of Greece. Her hatred will on Hector's son bestow
a father. Since the victim is required, I will assure
to Pearis all that's left of life to me, and
(02:48):
by most sacred bonds indissolubly bind him to my boy.
But straightway shall this hand, with fatal strokes have but
the court of life no longer true? And so preserve
me stainless, and yet pay peeris his due, Nor fail
in what I owe to son and husband, Aye, and
(03:10):
to myself. This is the harmless plot my love suggests,
or rather hect to a spirit. So alone him and
my sires. I join close you mine eyes.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Ah, if you die, think not that I will live.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Nay.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I forbid you, friend to follow me. My only treasure
to your care. I trust you lived for me. Live
now for het to a son, sole guardian of the
hopes of fallen troy. Her royal line requires your constant care.
Watch peeris well, and make him keep his faith if
(03:55):
he shall need it. Speak to him of me. Remind
him I consent to be his before my death. Teach
him to prize that bond, and blot out all resentment
from his soul. That leaving him my son, I showed
how much I valued him. And to that son. Make
(04:15):
known the heroes of his race, direct his steps to
follow them. Tell him of all their fame, of what
they did rather than what they were. Dwell on his
father's virtues day by day, and sometimes whisper of a
mother's love, but of avenging me. He must not dream
(04:38):
his master's friendship. Let him strive to win, regarding his
high birth with modesty. Let him remember, though, of Hector's blood,
Troy lives in him alone, and for his sake. In
one day, I lay down life, hatred, love, alness. You
(04:59):
must not come with me unless your heart is brave
and can command your tears. Siphy, sir, dry your eyes.
I hear step, remember your great trust, hermione approacheth let
us shun her violence.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Scene too, hermione cleone.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
This silence, Madam, fills me with surprise. You utter not
a word, This cruel slight seems not to ruffle your tranquility. Tamely,
you suffer such a rude rebuff who shuddered, but to
hear your rival's name, You, who could scarce, endure without despair.
The passing glance that Pearis cast on her, he weds her,
makes her partner of his throne and plights the troughs
(05:46):
so lately given to you. Yet still your lips are dumb,
Your tongue disdains to upbraid the traitor with deserved reproach.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
I fear what.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Such a fatal calm forebodes. It would be better far.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
You send for him is it not, so Orestes.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Will be here, and, as you may believe, will place
himself wholly at your disposal without hope of recompense. Your
eyes are sure enough to charm him. See he enters.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Scene three. Orestes, hermione, cleone.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Can it be that I, for once, in seeking you
obey your bidding, or as false oak flattered me, had
you indeed wished me to come to you? Shall I
believe your eyes at last disarmed?
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Will I would know whether you love me?
Speaker 6 (06:33):
Sir, love you, great gods? My vows too hard to
keep my flight, return reverence, that curbed reproach, my dark despair,
my eyes all drowned in tears. What witness will you
if you trust not these?
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I trust them? On avenge me.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Let us go, my mistress, and once more set grease
on fire. This arm shall make your name renowned, and
you shall rival Helen I, the king of men. Let
us revive the miseries of Troy here in epirus and
our father's fame eclipse. Yes, I am ready, let us start.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
No, let us stay not carry these affrants so far?
What crown the insults of my foes and wide elsewhere
to wreak A slow revenge, resign myself to the arbitrament
of war, that after all might fail to vindicate my wrongs.
I will have all epyrus weep when I depart, avenge
(07:44):
me in an hour or not at all. Delay, and
you refuse haste to the temple, you must slay.
Speaker 6 (07:54):
I whom perus the king.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Your hatred hesitates Run quickly? Did they lest I call
you back? Speak not of duties. I would fain forget,
nor will I hear a word in his defense, And
least from you from me.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Your tenderness has stamped his crime too deeply on my soul.
Let us take vengeance, but by other means. Become his foes,
but not as murderers, and with the arms of justice
ruined him. Shall I for answer to the Greeks bring
back his head, and have I taken on myself this
charge from them to turn assassin. No, in Heaven's name,
(08:37):
Let Greece the challenge meet and crest beneath her hatred.
Let him die. The name of king is sacred, and
the brow.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Is not My sentence. Then enough for you, that my
offended dignity demands a victim to be offered to myself.
That if you quell the tyrant. You shall have me
for reward that I hate him whom once I loved. Yes,
I confess it. He knew how to win my heart.
(09:08):
Whether my father's will or inclination moved me matters not
act on that knowledge. Though he broke his vows, though
with just horror, I regard his crying. Yet while he
lives fear, I may still forgive distrust my wavering wrath
till death removes the monster. For unless he dies today
(09:33):
tomorrow I may love him.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
Then must death prevent his pardon? How shall I proceed?
Can I so soon aventure injuries? Where lies the path
that leads him to his doom? I have but just
set foot upon the soil, and you would have me
overturn the state and slay the king? And for his
punishment you grant me but a day, no, not an hour.
(09:58):
It must be done before its people's My victim to
the altar shall be brought no longer I demure. I
will but go and view the appointed place of sacrifice.
This night I do your bidding, and he dies.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Meanwhile, today he weds on Ramaki, already in the shrine,
his throne is set. His crime accomplished, and my shame confirmed.
Why should you wait? He offers you his life. No
gods attend him to this festival. He makes them all
(10:36):
encircle Hector's son and gives himself to my avenger's arm.
Will you, then, of his life take greater care than
he does. Arm my followers with your Greeks, stir up
your friends on mine. You may rely me. He betrays
(10:58):
fools you and scorns us. Surely their hatred is as
great as mine. The trojan woman's husband loath to spare speak,
and my foe cannot escape your hands, or rather they
will strike him dead themselves lead or be led by
(11:20):
this noble rage, tied with the faithless wretchous blood. Return,
Thus only can you gain my heart.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Now go, But madam, think.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
This rarely passes bounds your scruples great upon my angry mood,
I show the way to win hermione and make orestes happy.
But I see he will do not to earn her
only wine. Forever, Go post of your constancy elsewhere, and
leave me to avenge myself. My weak concessions fill my
(11:56):
soul with shame. One day of such refusals as too much,
When all is ready for the marriage right, and where
you dared not venture, I will go alone, find means
to approach my enemy and stab the heart I could
not touch with love. Then shall my blood stained hands
(12:17):
turned on myself, unite our destiny in spite of him
and creator, though he be, twill be more sweet for
me to die with him than live with you.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
No, I will rob you of that dismal joy. He
shall not die but by a rest his hand. Yes,
by my arm, your enemy shall fall, and you shall
then reward me. If you will go, leave.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
Your future fortune in my care, let all your ships
be ready for our flight.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Scene four hermione cleone, think.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Madam ere your ruin you invoke ruin.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
No I mean to have revenge. I doubt whatever promises
be made the trust reposed on others than myself. The
guilt of Pirus does not scorch his eyes as it
does mine. My stroke would be more sure to be
my own avenger. Would be sweet to stain this fair
(13:22):
arm with the traitor's blood, and to increase my pleasure
and his pain, to hide my rival from his dying gaze.
What if Orestes fail to let him know he dies
a victim sacrificed to me. Go find and tell him
to inform the wretch. He owes his death to me
(13:42):
and not to Greece, Ran dear cleone, My revenge is
balt If he should die unconscious that his doom proceeds
from me.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
I will obey you. What do I see who would
have fancied it? The king himself.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Follow orestes strait. He must do naught? Do he seize
me again?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Scene five, peeress Hermione phoenix.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
You are surprised that I should seek you here, and
my approach disturbs your colloquy. I do not come armed
with unworthy whiles. No feigned excuse shall gloss the wrong
I do. My heart condemns me with no doubtful voice.
Nor can I urge a plea I know is false.
I wed a trojan woman. Yes, I own the faith
(14:33):
I plight to her was given to you. I might
remind you that our fathers formed these ties at Troy
without consulting us, and we were bound together by no
love or choice of ours. But tis enough for me
that I submitted. My ambassadors made you the promise of
my heart and hand. So far from wishing to revoke
the pledge, I willingly confirmed it. You with them came hither,
(14:58):
And although another eye all ready had subdued me and
forestalled your sway, that passion did not make me pause,
and I resolved still to be true to you. I
welcomed you as queen, and till this day I thought
my oath would hold the place of love. But love prevailed,
and by a fatal stroke, and Romochy has won the
(15:19):
heart she hates, each drawn by the other in our
own despite we hastened to the altar there to swear union. Forever.
Blame me as you may for traitor, though a willing
one I grieve to prove defaulter. Nor do I presume
to check the just resentment that relieves myself. As much
as you call me forsworn, I fear your silence more
(15:40):
than your reproach, rung by the secret witness in my heart.
The less you say, the more I feel my guilt.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Sir, this confession stripped of fall deceit shows that at
least you, to yourself, are just, And though resolved to
snap the solemn tie, crime makes you, in your own
eyes criminal. Yet, after all, why should a conqueror stoop
(16:12):
to common honesty that keeps its word. No perfidy for
you has secret charms. You seek me but to glory
in your shame, unhindered by your duty or your oath,
are made of grease, And then a dame of Troy
attract your fickle fancy, flying off, returning, and then leaving
(16:37):
me once more, crowning in turn the princess and the slave,
making Troy bow to Greece, and Greece to Troy. Thus
acts a heart that's master of itself, heroic, and no
slave of promises. Your bride might be displeased were I
(16:58):
to stint such honeyed terms as wretch and perjurer. You
came to look whether my faces were pale, and then
to mock my sorrow in her arms, You would be
glad if I would follow her in tears. But one
day has brought joy enough. You need not seek new
(17:18):
titles to renown. Those that you have may well suffice
your greed. An aged sire of Hectas mitten Down, dying
before the eyes of all his skin, while your sword
thrust into his field, heart seeks the few frozen drops
that linger there. Troy all in flames, plunged in a
(17:40):
sea of blood. Your hands too cut Polyxena's fair throat,
A cruel sight that grease herself condemned such glorious deeds
clim fit acknowledgement.
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I know full well to what excess of rage revenge
for Helen's rape transported me to you, her child. I
might impute the blood that I have shed, but be
the past forgot. I thank high Heaven that your indifference
sanctions a happier passion in my breast. My heart, too
ready to torrent itself, should know you better and excuse
(18:15):
its change. Madam, I did you wrong to feel remorse?
Can one be faithless who was never loved? You have
not tried to keep me bound to you, fearing to injure.
It may be that I serve you. No sympathy unites
our hearts, twas duty that I followed, as did you.
You never loved me?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
In reality, I never loved you.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
What then did I do for you? Our native princes?
I despised, sought you myself in your remotest realms. Still
am I here? Though you have proved untrue, and all
my Greeks my weakness view with shame, I have commanded
them to hide my wrongs. In secret, I waited your
(19:00):
return to duty, trusting, whether sooner or late, you will
bring back a heart I claimed as mine. I loved you,
though inconstant could I more if faithful found, even while
your cruel lips calmly announce the death of all my hopes.
(19:22):
I doubt if I have ceased to love you yet,
But if it must be so, and Heaven in wrath
reserves for other eyes the power to charm. Complete this marriage,
but at least refrain from forcing me to witness my disgrace. Listen,
for this may be my last appeal. Let one day pass.
(19:44):
Tomorrow you shall wed. You answer not ah, faithless, wretch, disclear.
You count these moments lost you spend with me, impatient
your enchantress to behold once more. You grudge with others
to converse with her. Your heart inspires each word, each look.
(20:07):
Escape where you are free. I hold you not from going.
Swear as you have sworn to me, Go and profane
the majesty of heaven, the justice of God's who will
never forget how those same oaths have bound you to myself.
Haste to their altars. Take that perjured heart there, dread
(20:31):
to meet Hermione once more.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Scene six. Peeris Phoenix.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
My lord, you heard her be upon your guard. Beware
the vengeance of a baffled love, inflamed fury, armed with
the support of Greece, that is the champion of her cause.
Orestes loves her still, perchance that prize.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
And t McKee awaits me guard her son.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
End of Act four.
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