Of joy nor heartache led thee on to this!
But when a whole life one great battle is,
To win or lose--no man can blame me then.

PHAEDRA
Shame on thee! Lock those lips, and ne'er again
Let word nor thought so foul have harbour there!

NURSE
Foul, if thou wilt: but better than the fair
For thee and me. And better, too, the deed
Behind them, if it save thee in thy need,
Than that word Honour thou wilt die to win!

PHAEDRA
Nay, in God's name,--such wisdom and such sin
Are all about thy lips!--urge me no more.
For all the soul within me is wrought o'er
By Love; and if thou speak and speak, I may
Be spent, and drift where now I shrink away.

NURSE
Well, if thou wilt!--'Twere best never to err,
But, having erred, to take a counsellor
Is second.--Mark me now. I have within
love-philtres, to make peace where storm hath been,
That, with no shame, no scathe of mind, shall save
Thy life from anguish; wilt but thou be brave!
[_To herself, rejecting_.]
Ah, but from him, the well-beloved, some sign