EURIPIDES
Nurse
By your knees then, . . . don't destroy me!
Hippolytus
What is this?
Don't you declare that you have done nothing wrong?
Nurse
Yes, but the story, son, is not for everyone.
Hippolytus
Why not? A pleasant tale makes pleasanter telling,
when there are many listeners. 610
Nurse
You will not break your oath to me, surely you will not?
Hippolytus
My tongue swore, but my mind was still unpledged.
Nurse
Son, what would you do?
You'll not destroy your friends?
Hippolytus
"Friends" you say!
I spit the word away. None of the wicked
are friends of mine.
Nurse
Then pardon, son. It's natural
that we should sin, being human. 615
Hippolytus
Women! This coin which men find counterfeit!
Why, why, Lord Zeus, did you put them in the world,
206