"Must you delight in torturing yourself? Was ever such a mighty heart so weak?"

-- Jean Racine, Berenice (III.ii.815-16)

"May I tell her 'I love you' without trembling?

Already, ah, I tremble. My torn heart

Mistrusts this moment much as I desired it.

Long since, she put an end to all my hopes

And bade me never utter more my love.

For five years I kept silent; till today

I hid my passion under friendship's veil.

...

What shall I profit from this rash avowal?

Since I must go, why go, annoying her?

Let me withdraw, depart, without a word,

And far away let me forget or die.

What? Must she never know the pangs I suffer?

And must I always weep and gulp my tears?

-- ibid (I.ii.20-36)