Collected Works

And he makes all that is allowed, a sister married to her brother.
That bond of lineage joins them with a firm chain:
Venus herself has placed her own knots upon it.
And it is no labor. It is allowed to be hidden. Seek the gift from her.
The fault will be able to be covered by a related name.
If someone sees our embraces: we will both be praised.
I will be called a faithful stepmother to my stepson.
The door of a harsh husband will not need to be opened for you through the shadows:
Nor will a guardian need to be deceived:
As one house held the two of us: one house will hold us.
You were giving open kisses: you will give open kisses.
You will be safe with me: you will deserve praise through the fault:
Even if you are seen in my bed:
Only take away delays: and join the hurried pacts:
May love, which now rages against me, spare you in this way.
I do not disdain to pray as a suppliant and humble one.
Alas, where do my pride and high words lie now?
I was certain to struggle for a long time: and not to submit myself to a fault:
If love had any certainties.
Conquered, I pray: and I extend my royal arms to your knees.
What is fitting: no lover sees.
Modesty has left me: and fugitive modesty has abandoned its own signs.
Give pardon to one who has confessed: and tame your harsh heart.
Because my father is Minos, who possesses the seas:
Because the thunderbolts, twisted by the hand of my great-grandfather, come to me:
Because my grandfather Helios, the sun is surrounded by sharp rays on his forehead:
Who moves the warm day with his purple axle:
Nobility lies beneath love. Pity my ancestors:
And if you do not wish to spare me: spare my kin.
The island of Crete, a land of Jupiter, is my dowry.
Let the entire palace serve my Hippolytus.
Bend your fierce spirit. My mother was able to corrupt a bull.
Will you be more ferocious than the savage bull yourself?
I pray you spare me by Venus: who is very much with me.
So may you never love one who is able to spurn you.
So may the agile goddess be present to you in secret glades:
And may the deep forest offer you wild beasts to be destroyed.
So may the Satyrs favor you: and the mountain deities, the Pans:
And may the boar fall, pierced by your opposing spear.
So may the Nymphs give you (although you are said to hate girls):
The water that might lift your parched thirst.
In addition to these prayers, you also read my tears:
And imagine you see the tears of one praying.