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  ...HIPPOLYTUS I have heard horrors! Shall I hold my peace?
NURSE Yea by this fair right arm, Son, by thy pledge ...
HIPPOLYTUS Down with that hand! Touch not my garment's edge!
NURSE Oh, by thy knees, be silent or I die!
HIPPOLYTUS Why, when thy speech was all so guiltless? Why?
NURSE It is not meet, fair Son, for every ear!
HIPPOLYTUS Good words can bravely forth, and have no fear.
NURSE Thine oath, thine oath! I took thine oath before!
HIPPOLYTUS
'Twas but my tongue, 'twas not my soul that swore.  
NURSE O Son, what wilt thou? Wilt thou slay thy kin?
HIPPOLYTUS I own no kindred with the spawn of sin! [_He flings her from him_.]
NURSE Nay, spare me! Man was born to err; oh, spare!
HIPPOLYTUS O God, why hast Thou made this gleaming snare, Woman, to dog us on the happy earth? Was it Thy will to make Man, why his birth Through Love and Woman? Could we not have rolled Our store of prayer and offering, royal gold Silver and weight of bronze before...
 
Euripides


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Excerpt from Hippolytus/The Bacchae · This quote is tagged Swearing · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation · Make a shirt with this quote on our USA or UK shop · Help your friends discover QB

A little bit about Euripides

Euripides, the youngest of the three great Athenian playwrights, was born around 485 BC of a family of good standing. He first competed in the dramatic festivals in 455 BC, coming only third; his record of success in the tragic competitions is lower than that of either Aeschylus or Sophocles. There is a tradition that he was unpopular, even a recluse; we are told that he composed poetry in a cave by the sea, near Salamis. What is clear from contemporary evidence, however, is that audiences were facinated by his innovative and often disturbing dramas. His work was controversial already in his lifetime, and he himself was regarded as a 'clever' poet, associated with philosophers and other intellectuals. Towards the end of his life he went to live at the court of Archelaus, King of Macedon. It was during his time there that he wrote what many consider his greatest work, the Bacchae. When news of his death reached Athens in early 406 BC, Sophocles appeared publicly in mourning for him. Euripides is thought to have written about ninety-two plays, of which seventeen tragedies and one satyr-play known to be his survive; the other play which is attributed to him, the Rhesus, may in fact be by a later hand. · Can we improve this biography? Write us your version.

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