NURSE
We talk too long, Child. I did ill; but, oh,
There is a way to save thee, even so!

PHAEDRA
A way? No more ways! One way hast thou trod
Already, foul and false and loathed of god!
Begone out of my sight; and ponder how
Thine own life stands! I need no helpers now.
[_She turns from the_ NURSE, _who creeps abashed away into the Castle_.]

Only do ye, high Daughters of Trozen,
Let all ye hear be as it had not been;
Know naught, and speak of naught! 'Tis my last prayer.

LEADER
By God's pure daughter, Artemis, I swear,
No word will I of these thy griefs reveal!

PHAEDRA
'Tis well. But now, yea, even while I reel
And falter, one poor hope, as hope now is,
I clutch at in this coil of miseries;
To save some honour for my children's sake;
Yea, for myself some fragment, though things break
In ruin around me. Nay, I will not shame
The old proud Cretan castle whence I came,
I will not cower before King Theseus' eyes,
Abased, for want of one life's sacrifice!