Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 16.djvu/185

Rh How could you venture The dangerous trial of a second marriage?

Alas!

Will you forgive me? shall I speak?

Thou mayest.

The king, the conqueror subdued thee: You gave your hand as a reward to him Who saved your country.

Gracious gods!

Was he Happier than Laius? Was your Philoctetes Forgotten then, or did they share your heart?

Thebes, by a cruel monster then laid waste, Had promised its deliverer my hand; The conqueror of the sphinx was worthy of me.

You loved him then?

I felt some tenderness For Œdipus; but O! 'twas far from love: 'Twas not, Ægina, that tumultuous passion, The impetuous offspring of my ravished senses, Not the fierce flame that burned for Philoctetes;