Che orror che tradimento

English Libretto or Translation:

TITUS
O horror! What treachery!
What black disloyalty! To pretend friendship
and be always at my side; at every moment
exacting from me
some token of love, and meanwhile
plotting my death! And I still delay
the punishment and do not sign
the sentence?

He takes the pen to sign, then pauses.

Ah yes, let the miscreant die!
He shall die … but am I sending Sextus to his death
without hearing him? Yes; the Senate
has already heard enough. Yet suppose he had
some secret to reveal to me?
Ho there!
He puts down his pen; a guard enters
(Let him be heard, and then
he can go to execution.) Bring Sextus to me.

Exit guard

How unhappy is the fate
of those who reign! To us is denied
what is given to the lowliest. That needy peasant
in the depths of the woods, whose rough sides
are clad in coarse wool, whose shapeless hovel
is an unreliable shelter from the inclement elements,
sleeps peacefully,
passes his days in tranquillity. He asks little:
he knows who hates him, who loves him:
in company or alone
he goes safely to the forest and to the mountain,
and sees everyone's hearts mirrored in their faces.