Hippolytus innocentiae et castitatis insigne praebet exemplum: quae aliquoties malorum hominum libidine in discrimen uocantur, ita tamen ut fatigentur, non extinguantur. Sic castus Iosephus in Aegypto impudicae mulieris calumnia ualde quidem periclitatus est, sed tandem post afflictiones et carceres eo clarior emicuit.* Fere igitur fit ut minus tuta sit uirtus, popularior improbitas: illa enim, cum sit sincera, incorrupta, in se ipsa tota nititur: haec fuco perlita plerisque imponit et in errores inducit. Ceterum non obscure poeta indicat quibus studiis πρὸς τὴν σωφροσύνην omnium uirtutum basim ueniatur, dum Hippolytum assidue uenationi uacasse, syluas et montes peragrasse, rurestres labores obiisse fingit, praeterea luxui, deliciis, mollitiei nihil loci apud se reliquisse. nam ut desidia radix est uitiorum et inhonestorum amorum, sic labores exercitiaque tam corporis quam animi uirtutum incunabula sunt. Formosum quoque et robustum bonaque quadam corporis (cuius fulturis animus sustinetur) ἕξει fuisse eundem Hippolytum intelligere debemus: quae res non mediocre momentum adfert ad uitam perfectam, eo quod languores, pituitae torpor, aliaque id genus mala desidiosa et luxui deuota corpora persequantur et ad usque mentis etiam perniciem procedant. Bonus autem color et ualetudo constans ex uitae temperantia et gignitur et conseruatur. Unde quondam apud Persas probrosum erat (ut auctor est Xenophon in 1. Cyri Paediae)** quempiam uel expuere uel emungi aut pituita fluidum [204] esse, quod crederent ea hominibus uenire ex intemperantia et luxu uitae. Nec temere idem auctor*** in eodem opere labores τοῦ ζῆν ἡδέως εἶναι ἡγεμόνας, id est, Suauiter uiuendi duces esse, dixit. Quod uero Hippolytus iam propter calumniatrices literas nouercae damnatus non prodat ipsius impuditiciam, qua ad stuprum per uetulam sollicitatus erat, facit integritas et eius inconuulsa fides, quam etiam famae periclitanti anteposuit. Nam (ut ait* Plinius) maiore animo honestatis fructus in conscientia quam in fama reponitur. Sicut autem Hippolytus (ut dixi) continentiae et gloriosae uitae imaginem prae se fert, ita Phaedra uiolenti et insani amoris typum gerit. Cuius ea uis est ut nisi principiis obstetur totum hominem rapiat, alieni iuris faciat, et omnibus casibus ac uitiis obuium expositumque reddat. Huius amoris fomenta sunt otium et luxus, unde et praesentis Phaedrae insaniae culpa in Venerem deliciarum ac mollitiei praesidem transfertur. Alitur autem indulgentia et fracti animi imbellia tandemque in funestos exitus excrescit secumque fert ἀνηκέστων κακῶν πέλαγος.† In Theseo notabilis est inconsulta temeritas, praecipitata ira, quae semper habet comites paenitentiam et infelicitatem: eo ipsum stulta credulitas perpulerat. Nunc argumentum breuiter exponam.

*[The false accusation of rape against an innocent youth who has refused an attempted seduction by a married woman is a motif found in other Greek myths, such as that of Bellerophon and Stheneboea or Peleus and Astydameia, and in the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39.]

**[Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.2.16 αἰσχρὸν μὲν γὰρ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐστι Πέρσαις καὶ τὸ πτύειν καὶ τὸ ἀπομύττεσθαι καὶ τὸ φύσης μεστοὺς φαίνεσθαι]

***[Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.5.12 πόνους δὲ τοῦ ζῆν ἡδέως ἡγεμόνας νομίζετε]

*[in margin] Plinius Novocomensis in 1. epist. li. epist. 7. [Stiblinus refers to Epist. 1.7 of Pliny the Younger, but the passage in current editions is Epist. 1.8.14: Praeterea meminimus, quanto maiore animo honestatis fructus in conscientia quam in fama reponatur.]

†[“sea of incurable evils”: the phrase “sea of evils” occurs in Hippolytus 822, earlier in Aeschylus, and in two other passages of Euripides; Stiblinus has combined this with the frequent juncture “incurable evils” found in Archilochus, Aeschylus, and classical prose authors.]

Hippolytus exhibits a remarkable example of innocence and chastity, which are many times ushered into danger by the lust of evil men, yet in such a way that they are plagued, not destroyed. In this way, chaste Joseph was certainly put into great peril in Egypt by the false accusation of a shameless woman, but finally emerged after his sufferings and incarcerations all the more glorious. Therefore, it normally happens that virtue is less safe and depravity more popular: in fact, the former, when genuine, is uncorrupted, and relies completely on itself: the latter, smeared with deceptive makeup, imposes on a great many people and leads them into error. Furthermore, the poet indicates clearly by what efforts one may arrive at moderation, the foundation of all virtues, when he depicts Hippolytus as having been constantly at leisure to engage in the hunt, to have wandered through the forests and mountains, and to have submitted himself to toils in the countryside, and moreover as having left no room in his life for luxury, pleasure, and wantonness. For just as idleness is the root of vices and dishonorable love, the labors and exercises of the body, as those of the soul, are the origins of virtues. We ought to understand that this same Hippolytus was also beautiful and strong, and endowed with a certain excellent condition of the body (by the support of which the soul is sustained): these things convey an extraordinary impetus toward the perfect life, for the reason that lassitude, the sluggishness of bodily humors, and other evils of such kind press upon bodies that are lazy and devoted to luxury and proceed so far as to ruin even the mind. Yet a good complexion and constant state of health are both produced and maintained by moderation in life. Whence, formerly among the Persians it was shameful (as Xenophon recounts in Cyropedia 1) for someone to spit out or blow their nose or be moist with phlegm, [204] because they used to believe that these came to humans out of extravagance and a life of luxury. And it is not by chance that the same author said in this very work that toils τοῦ ζῆν ἡδέως εἶναι ἡγεμόνας, that is, that they are guides for living pleasantly. But the fact that Hippolytus, when he has already been damned by the falsely accusing letter of his stepmother, does not expose her shamelessness, because of which he had been solicited for adultery by the old woman, is brought about by his integrity and unshaken faithfulness, which he considered more important even than his endangered reputation. For (as Pliny says) it is with a more noble spirit that the fruits of honesty reside in the conscience rather than in repute. However, just as Hippolytus (as I have said) displays an image of moderation and a glorious life, Phaedra shows a type of violent and irrational love. Love’s power is such that, unless checked at the beginning, it seizes the entire person, enslaves him, and renders him open to and exposed to all vicissitudes and vices. The fuel of this love is leisure and luxury, from which the blame for Phaedra’s present insanity is transferred to Venus, the patron of luxuriousness and of wantonness. However, it is nourished by indulgence and the lack of stern resistance in a broken mind, and finally swells into calamitous ends and bears with itself a sea of incurable evils†. In Theseus’ case, his unadvised rashness is noteworthy, and his hasty anger, which always has as its concomitants repentance and misfortune: to such an extent has foolish gullibility impelled him. Now I will briefly explain the plot.

Profugerat Theseus una cum uxore Troezena, cum occidisset Pallantem, unum ex suis cognatis. ubi Hippolytum Pittheo seni moderato et prudenti instituendum crediderat. Phaedra autem, absente marito, per otium ac mollem uitam in libidinem prolapsa priuigni nefando amore corripitur: diuque morbum celat infamiae metuens, donec superante iam incendio improbis uix precibus uicta nutrici proderet, quae omnem operam ut erae in hac re nauaret Hippolyto conatur persuadere ut consentiret in amorem nouercae. Verum cum ille a Venereis rebus totus abhorreret ac uenationi deditus esset rurique agere gauderet, uehementer exasperatur ista furiosae mulierculae insania deosque deploratae nequitiae testes aduocat. Phaedra nutricem operam lusisse morbumque iam proditum esse uidens, et se neque uiuere honeste nec rursus abs dedecore posthumo mori posse intelligens, dolum excogitauit, ut pudicitiam suam Theseo reuerso illibatam persuaderet Hippolytique praefractam insolentiam ulcisceretur. literas enim, quibus ille stupri* accusabatur, penes se seruat ac mox uitam laqueo abrumpit. Interea Theseus domum redit, coniugem extinctam totamque domum luctu mixtam offendit: et dum soluit ipsam ac sepulturae mandare parat, inuenit literas quibus incestus crimen innocenti Hippolyto intentabatur. Quare illico ira praeceps temereque credens uxoris calumniis filium in exilium amandat, illique abeunti et nequicquam multa deprecanti diras immittit, quas a Neptuno patre impetrauerat. Deuotus ergo exitio Hippolytus miserrimo mortis genere periit. Diana vero patrona insontis iuuenis, ne tanta criminis foeditas in falsa hominum suspicione perpetuo haereret, rem omnem ut erat Theseo aperit nouercaeque crudeles technas in priuignum patefacit, ut moneremur saepe accidere sceleratorum hominum impudentia ut pietas innocentiaque uim patiatur et non raro etiam opprimatur, tandem uero rursus celesti prouidentia emergat inclarescatque.

*[corrected from stupti, already in Stephanus 1602]

Theseus had fled together with his wife to Troezen after he had killed Pallas, one of his relatives. There he had entrusted Pittheus, a moderate and prudent elder, with educating Hippolytus. Yet with her husband absent, Phaedra, having fallen into desire through leisure and a soft lifestyle, is gripped by an impious love for her stepson. And, fearing disgrace, she hides this sickness for a long time, until, with her burning passion now in control, she, just barely overcome by persistent requests, reveals it to the nurse, who in order to do her utmost for her mistress in this situation tries to persuade Hippolytus to acquiesce in the love of his stepmother. But since Hippolytus shrank utterly from matters of love, was dedicated to the hunt, and delighted in passing his time in the countryside, he is strongly provoked by that insanity of a raging female and calls the gods as witnesses of the hopeless wickedness. Seeing that the nurse had failed in her effort and that her sickness had now been revealed, and understanding that she could neither live honorably nor on the contrary die without shame attending her after death, Phaedra devised a deception in order to persuade Theseus upon his return of her undamaged chastity and to avenge herself against the harsh arrogance of Hippolytus. For she keeps with herself a letter, by which Hippolytus was accused of rape, and immediately cuts her life short with a noose. Meanwhile Theseus returns home and comes upon his dead wife and the whole house thrown into chaos by sorrow: and while he unties her and prepares to commit her to the grave, he finds the letter by which the crime of incest was directed towards innocent Hippolytus. Wherefore Theseus, being rash out of anger and thoughtlessly believing his wife’s trickeries, sends his son immediately into exile, and as Hippolytus is departing and making many pleas of innocence in vain, he imposes on him curses that he had obtained from his father Neptune. Therefore Hippolytus, dedicated to destruction, perished by a most terrible form of death. Diana, however, the patron of the innocent youth, lest so foul a stain of crime persist always in the false suspicion of men, reveals the whole truth to Theseus and brings to light the cruel schemes of the stepmother against her stepson, in order that we may be reminded that it often comes about through the shameless deeds of wicked men that piety and innocence suffer violence and not seldom are even overwhelmed, yet finally emerge and become manifest through divine providence.

[204] Argumentum Actus primi.

In prologo Venus minatur ultionem Hippolyto quod sua commercia contemneret totusque Dianae uirginitatis patronae deditus esset. Facit autem futurarum turbarum et epitasium expectationem. 2. Hippolytus a uenatione rediens cum suis comitibus hymnos dicit Dianae: famula hortatur ne uelit contemptui habere Veneris numen. Vt enim comitas et modestia tam apud deos quam apud homines plurimum gratiae habeat, sic fastus non careat periculo. 3. Chorus ex Troezeniis matronis collectus cum audiuisset Phaedram miserrime afflictari uarias ipse secum huius rei causas auguratur. 4. Nutrix fastidiosam et languidam Phaedram foras e cubiculo ducit, simulque in deplorationem humanarum miseriarum excurrit. Mox ipsa domina in spectaculum producitur, furiosa amore et perplexae mentis et inconstans: in qua re licet uidere nugas ac dementiam perdite amantium.

[204] Argument of the first act.

1. In the prologue, Venus threatens to exact vengeance against Hippolytus because he disdains her fellowship and is completely devoted to Diana, the patroness of virginity. Moreover, she creates the expectation of the turmoil and catastrophes to come. 2. Hippolytus, returning from the hunt, sings hymns to Diana with his comrades: a servant urges him not to want to despise the divine power of Venus—for, just as kindness and modesty possess a great deal of charm both among the gods and among men, so too haughtiness is not devoid of danger. 3. Because it had heard that Phaedra is most miserably distressed, the Chorus, comprised of matrons of Troezen, speculate among themselves the various possible causes of this circumstance. 4. The Nurse leads forth out of her bedroom Phaedra, hard-to-please and weak, and simultaneously digresses into lamentation over mankind’s misfortunes. Soon the mistress herself is brought forth into sight, raging with love and inconsistent, her confused mind: in which behavior it is possible to see the trifles and madness of those who are desperately in love.

[207] Argumentum Actus secundi.

Chorus Troezeniarum matronarum ad domum Phaedrae coierat ut disceret quonam malo Phaedra affligeretur. Unde nutrix omnem mouet lapidem ut eram ad confessionem morbi adigeret: cuius ex uerbis uix tandem colligit eam amore Hippolyti detineri. 2. Phaedra Choro et nutrici longa ac sententiosa oratione exponit ac probat suum consilium, quo morte spontanea amoris nefandi foeditatem subterfugere statuerat. Contra nutrix summa ope nititur a proposito abducere eram, ne scilicet uelit mori, sed potius naturae et necessitati obsequi: polliceturque se inuenturam aliquid quo hoc malo leuari possit. Phaedra nihil mouetur oratione nutricis sed obstinate in priore sua manet sententia. 3. Chorus uidens Phaedram ex amore tam misere affectam deprecatur saeui Cupidinis uiolentiam, simulque duobus exemplis ostendit quam dirae clades saepenumero ex immoderatis amoribus oriantur.

[207] Argument of the second act.

1. The Chorus of Troezenian women had come together in order to learn with what evil Phaedra was stricken. Whereupon the Nurse leaves no stone unturned in order to compel her mistress to a confession of her illness: from whose words she finally barely gathers that she is seized by love of Hippolytus. 2. Phaedra explains herself to the Chorus and her Nurse by means of a long speech full of generalizations and justifies her own decision, by which she had determined to avoid the foulness of an unspeakable love through a voluntary death. In turn, the Nurse strives with the utmost effort to lead her mistress away from her plan, so that, namely, she would not want to die, but rather to submit to nature and the inevitable: and she promises that she will find some way by which she would be able to be relieved from this evil. Phaedra is not at all moved by the nurse’s speech, and yet remains unwaveringly by her previous decision. 3. The Chorus, seeing Phaedra so impaired because of wretched love, prays to avert the violence of savage Cupid and simultaneously presents by means of two examples how dreadful disasters arise again and again from uncontrolled love.

[211] Argumentum Actus tertii.

Hic Actus continet primam epitasim: nimirum proditionem foedi amoris Phaedrae et super hac re uehementem indignationem Hippolyti, in qua communiter in omne genus muliebre inuehitur. 2. Phaedra intelligens Hippolytum esse inflexibilem suamque turpitudinem palam factam primum acriter incessit nutricem, cuius opera res fuerat prodita: deinde uitam abrumpere laqueo decernit, minitando interim tacite Hippolyto ultionen. 3. Chorus uidens quorsum illa spectarent optat se procul abesse aut in auem mutari, quo auolare in alium orbem posset, ne res tam dira aspicienda praesenti ueniret. Deinde fatalem infelicitatem malaque coniugii Phaedrae auspicia deplorat.

[211] Argument of the third act.

1. This Act contains the initial heightening of tension: specifically, the discovery of Phaedra’s vile love and in addition to this the furious disdain of Hippolytus, in which he inveighs against the entire female race in general. 2. Phaedra, thinking Hippolytus inflexible and her shame made public, first fiercely attacks her Nurse, whose deed had betrayed the secret: she then decides to cut her life short with a noose, meanwhile covertly threatening revenge against Hippolytus. 3. The Chorus, seeing to what end the situation is heading, wishes to be far away or to be changed into a bird so that they could fly to some other world, so that such a dreadful thing would not come before their eyes. Then the Chorus bemoans the fatal misfortune and bad omens of the marriage of Phaedra.

[213] Argumentum Actus quarti.

Actus quartus habet secundam partem Epitaseos, suspendium uidelicet Phaedrae, aduentum Thesei, et lamentationes eiusdem cum Choro, super miserabili funere uxoris. 2. Theseus lectis literis in quibus falso Hippolytus nouercam ad stuprum sollicitasse insimulabatur diris filium deuouet: cui rei, cum innocens iuuenis clamorem et eiulatum audiens interueniret, utrinque habitis orationibus, quibus alter male credulus improbae uxoris epistolae execrabatur filium, alter, scilicet filius, suam innocentiam afferebat, tandem in exilium pellitur miser et insons Hippolytus, postquam nullum non argumentum suae innocentiae protulisset. 3. Chorus uidens innocentiam iniuste opprimi orditur querelam super Hippolyto, a loco communi de prouidentia deorum imperuestigabili et incertis rerum humanarum uicibus, quibus omnia ueluti aestu quodam uoluantur et reuoluantur.

[213] Argument of the fourth act.

1. The fourth act contains the second part of the intensification, namely the hanging of Phaedra, the arrival of Theseus, and the latter’s lamentations with the Chorus over the miserable death of his wife. 2. Theseus, after reading the letter in which Hippolytus was falsely charged with having appealed to his stepmother to commit adultery, condemns his son with curses. When the innocent youth, hearing the shouting and lamenting, arrives in this midst of this action, after speeches had been delivered on both sides —in which the one, wrongly trusting his wife’s wicked letter, proceeded to curse his son, and the other, that is, the son, tried to assert his innocence—Hippolytus, wretched and innocent, is finally driven into exile, after he had produced every possible proof of his innocence. 3. The Chorus, observing innocence being unjustly afflicted, begins a lament for Hippolytus, starting from the general truth about the inscrutable providence of the gods and the uncertain vicissitudes of human affairs, by which all things are turned again and again in a sort of flux.

[215] Argumentum Actus quinti.

In hoc Actu extremo, extrema est Epitasis, in qua miserabile exitium Hippolyti Theseo narratur et eiusdem innocentia per Dianam testata fit. Unde acerbissime dolet Theseus sua culpa filium immerentem crudeliter laniatum esse. 2. Ipse Hippolytus in spectaculum producitur cruentatus uulneribus et moribundus: quem post flebiles planctus Diana consolatur, promittens illi et uindictam et honores diuinos: aperitque Veneris machinis, non Thesei culpa, ista omnia accidisse. Unde et Hippolytus iam sub mortem patri ignoscit exitque multo fabula luctu. Lege Senecam*, qui in eiusdem casus Hippolyti narratione non parum lucis praesenti nuntii exegesi adferet.

*[Stiblinus refers to the messenger speech in lines 1000-1114 of Seneca’s tragedy Phaedra.]

[215] Argument of the fifth act.

1. In this last act is the final intensification, in which the miserable destruction of Hippolytus is recounted to Theseus and his innocence is attested by Diana. Therefore Theseus is very harshly pained that his blameless son was cruelly torn apart through his error. 2. Hippolytus himself is carried forth into view, made bloody by wounds and at the point of death. Diana consoles him after tearful laments, promising him both revenge and divine honors; and she reveals that all these events happened because of Venus’ schemes, not Theseus’ mistake. And thus Hippolytus, right at the brink of dying, forgives his father and the play ends with much grief. Read Seneca, who in his narration of the same downfall of Hippolytus will bring considerable illumination to the present narrative of the messenger.

Translation by Jeremy Simmons