I declare to you my heart is full of
the most acute sorrow and the most tender love.
SOPHRONINE:
Since you love me, I ought to live; but if you refuse me your hand, I
must die. Dearest Aglaea, in the name of so much love, in the name of
your charms and your virtues, explain this funereal mystery to me.
(Socrates enters)
O Socrates! my master! my father! I see myself here the most unlucky
of men: between two beings through whom I breathe; it's you who taught
me wisdom; it's Aglaea who taught me how to feel love. You've given
your consent to our marriage; the beautiful Aglaea who seems to desire
it refuses me and, as she tells me she loves me, plunges the dagger in
my heart. She breaks off our marriage without explaining to me the
reason for such a cruel caprice. Either prevent my pain, or teach me,
if it is possible, to bear it.
SOCRATES:
Aglaea is the mistress of her will; her father made me her tutor and
not her tyrant. I based my happiness on seeing you united together; if
she has changed her mind, I am surprised by it, but we must hear her
reasons. If they are just, we must submit to them.
SOPHRONINE:
They cannot be just.
AGLAEA:
They are, at least in my eyes.
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