Euripides

“ And thou, little maiden, my sister, the burden hast taken, hast taken,
⁠Which thy brother may bear not alone, and a weariful lot shall be thine. ⁠410
O father, of long-living love was thy marriage uncherished, uncherished:
⁠Thou hast won not the goal of old age with the love of thy youth at thy side;
For, or ever she won to the fulness of days, she hath perished, hath perished;
⁠And the home is a wreck and a ruin, for thou, O my mother, hast died!
Chorus.
Admetus, this mischance thou needs must bear.
Not first of mortals thou, nor shalt be last
To lose a noble wife ”

“ Pheres.
What?—art not burying her in thine own stead?
Admetus.
A token, dastard, of thy cowardice.
Pheres.
I did her not to death: thou canst not say it.
Admetus.
Mayest thou feel thy need of me some day!
Pheres.
Woo many women, that the more may die. ⁠720
Admetus.
This taunt strikes thee—'tis thou wast loth to die.
Pheres.
Sweet is yon sun-god's light, yea, it is sweet.
Admetus.
Base is thy spirit, and unmeet for men.
Pheres.
No agèd corpse thou bearest, inly laughing!
Admetus.
Yet shalt thou die in ill fame, when thou diest. ⁠725
Pheres. ”

“ Living I had; and dead, mine only wife
Shalt thou be called: nor ever in thy stead ⁠330
Shall bride Thessalian hail me as her lord.
None is there of a father so high-born,
None so for beauty peerless among women.
Children enough have I: I pray the Gods
For joy in these—our joy in thee is nought. ⁠335
Not for a year's space will I mourn for thee,
But long as this my life shall last, dear wife,
Loathing my mother, hating mine own sire,
For in word only, not in deed, they loved me.
Thou gav'st in ransom for my life thine all ⁠340
Of precious, and didst save. ”

“ Admetus, cometh forth his palace-hall.
Enter Admetus.
Admetus.
Hail, O thou sprung from Zeus' and Perseus' blood!
Herakles.
Admetus, hail thou too, Thessalia's king. ⁠510
Admetus.
Hale?—Would I were! Yet thy good heart I know.
Herakles.
Wherefore for mourning shaven show'st thou thus?
Admetus.
This day must I commit to earth a corpse.
Herakles.
Now heaven forefend thou mourn'st for children dead!
Admetus.
In mine home live the babes whom I begat. ⁠515
Herakles. ”

“ She is, and she is not: here lies my sorrow.
Herakles.
Nothing the more I know: dark sayings thine.
Admetus.
Know'st not the doom whereon she needs must light?
Herakles.
I know she pledged herself to die for thee.
Admetus.
How lives she then, if she to this consented? ⁠525
Herakles.
Mourn not thy wife ere dead: abide the hour.
Admetus.
Dead is the doomed, and no more is the dead.
Herakles.
Diverse are these—to be and not to be.
Admetus.
This, Herakles, thy sentence: that is mine.
Herakles.
But now, why weep'st thou? What dear friend is dead? ⁠530
Admetus. ”

“ Hither to me, that wiser thou may'st grow.
The lot of man—its nature knowest thou? ⁠780
I trow not: how shouldst thou? Give ear to me.
From all mankind the debt of death is due,
Nor of all mortals is there one that knows
If through the coming morrow he shall live:
For trackless is the way of fortune's feet, ⁠785
Not to be taught, nor won by art of man.
This hearing then, and learning it from me,
Make merry, drink: the life from day to day
Account thine own, all else in fortune's power. ”

“ A woman—hers the memory we mourn.
Herakles.
Some stranger born, or nigh of kin to thee?
Admetus.
A stranger born; yet near and dear to us.
Herakles.
How died a stranger then in house of thine?
Admetus.
An orphan here she dwelt, her father dead. ⁠535
Herakles.
Would we had found thee mourning not, Admetus.
Admetus.
Ay so?—what purpose lurketh 'neath thy word?
Herakles.
On will I to another host's hearth-welcome.
Admetus.
It cannot be: may no such evil come!
Herakles.
A burden unto mourners comes the guest. ⁠540
Admetus. ”

“ Death be my meed, if I betray her dead.
Herakles.
Receive this woman now these halls within.
Admetus.
Nay!—I beseech by Zeus that did beget thee!
Herakles.
Yet shalt thou err if thou do not this thing.
Admetus.
Yet shall mine heart be grief-stung, if I do it. ⁠1100
Herakles.
Yield thou: this grace may prove perchance a duty.
Admetus.
O that in strife thou ne'er hadst won this maid!
Herakles.
Yet thy friend's victory is surely thine.
Admetus.
Well said: yet let the woman hence depart.
Herakles.
Yea—if need be. First look well—need it be? ⁠1105
Admetus. ”

“ Death.
Would wealth not buy the boon of dying old?
Apollo.
So then thou wilt not grant this grace to me?⁠60
Death.
Nay surely—dost not know my wonted way?
Apollo.
Hateful to mortals this, and loathed of Gods.
Death.
All things beyond thy rights thou canst not have.
Apollo.
Surely thou shalt forbear, though ruthless thou,
So mighty a man to Pheres' halls shall come, ⁠65
Sent of Eurystheus forth, the courser-car
From winter-dreary lands of Thrace to bring.
Guest-welcomed in Admetus' palace here,
By force yon woman shall he wrest from thee. ”

“ Nought reck I of ill-speaking o'er my grave.
Admetus.
Ah me! how full of shamelessness is eld!
Pheres.
Not shameless she,—but senseless hast thou found her.
Admetus.
Begone: leave me to bury this my dead
Pheres. ”

“ Admetus.
Easier to exhort than suffer and be strong.
Herakles.
But what thy profit, though for aye thou moan?
Admetus.
I too know this; yet love constraineth me. ⁠1080
Herakles.
Love for the lost—ay, that draws forth the tear.
Admetus.
She hath undone me more than words can tell.
Herakles.
A good wife hast thou lost, who shall gainsay?
Admetus.
So that this man hath no more joy in life.
Herakles.
Time shall bring healing: now is thy grief young. ⁠1085
Admetus. ”

“ Another saviour found,—I call me son
To her, and loving fosterer of her age.
For nought the agèd pray for death's release,
Plaining of age and weary-wearing time. ⁠670
Let death draw near—who then would die? Not one:
No more is eld a burden unto them.
Chorus.
O hush! Suffice the affliction at the doors.
O son, infuriate not thy father's soul.
Pheres.
Son, whom, think'st thou—some Lydian slave or Phrygian ⁠675
Bought with thy money?—thus beratest thou?
What, know'st thou not that I Thessalian am,
Sprung from Thessalian sire, free man true-born? ”

“ In act to fall, all hail! May bliss be thine
Even in Hades. Thus to wed, I say,
Profiteth men—or nothing worth is marriage.
Admetus.
Bidden of me thou com'st not to this burial,
Nor count I thine the presence of a friend. ⁠630
Thine ornaments she never shall put on;
She shall be buried needing nought of thine.
Thou grieve!—thou shouldst have grieved in my death-hour!
Thou stood'st aloof—the old, didst leave the young
To die:—and wilt thou wail upon this corpse? ⁠635
True father of my body thou wast not ”

“ Horses there were for them to take which won
The light foot's triumph; but for hero-strife, ⁠1030
Boxing and wrestling, oxen were the guerdon:
A woman made it richer. Shame it seemed
To hap thereon, and slip this glorious gain.
But, as I said, this woman be thy care:
For no thief's prize, but toil-achieved, I bring her. ⁠1035
Yea, one day thou perchance shalt say 'twas well.
Admetus.
Not flouting thee, nor counting among foes,
My wife's unhappy fate I hid from thee.
But this had been but grief uppiled on grief,
Hadst thou sped hence to be another's guest ”

“ Thou art gone, for thy great love spared not
⁠Thy blossom of youth from the grave.
Ah, may it be mine, such communion
⁠Of hearts!—'tis vouchsafed unto few:—
Then ours should be sorrowless union
⁠Our life-days through.
Enter Herakles.
Herakles.
Strangers, who dwell in this Pheraian land,
Say, do I find Admetus in his home?
Chorus.
Herakles, in his home is Pheres' son.
Yet say, what brings thee to Thessalian land,
That thou shouldst come to this Pheraian town? ⁠480
Herakles. ”

“ Mine heart is heavy for my friend's mischance.
Death.
What, wilt thou wrest from me this second corpse?
Apollo.
Nay, not that other did I take by force.
Death.
Not?—why on earth then?—why not underground?⁠45
Apollo.
She was his ransom, she for whom thou comest.
Death.
Yea, and will hale her deep beneath the earth.
Apollo.
Take her and go: I trow I shall not bend thee—
Death.
To slay the victim due?—mine office this.
Apollo.
Nay, but to smite with death the ripe for death.⁠50
Death. ”

“ Would God I had wedded her not, home-bliss with Alcestis to feel!
⁠O, I envy the lot
⁠Of the man without wife,
⁠Without child: single-wrought
⁠Is the strand of his life:
No soul-crushing burden of sorrow, no strength-overmastering strife.
⁠But that children should sicken,
⁠That gloom of despair
⁠Over bride-beds should thicken,
⁠What spirit can bear, [errata 1]
When childless, unwedded, a man through life's calm journey might fare?
Chorus.
⁠Thee Fortune hath met,
⁠Strong wrestler, and thrown;
⁠Yet no bounds hast thou set— ⁠890
Admetus.
⁠Woe's me!—
Chorus. ”

“ Admetus, to thine hearth is journeying.
Enter Herakles, leading a woman wholly veiled.
Herakles.
Unto a friend behoveth speech outspoken,
Admetus, not to hide within the breast
Murmurs unvoiced. I came mid thine affliction. ⁠1010
Fair claim was mine to rank amidst thy friends.
Thou told'st me not how lay thy wife a corpse:
Thou gavest me guest-welcome in thine home,
Making pretence of mourning for a stranger. ”

“ Thine anchor shall Sir Beaker's plash upheave.
What, man!—the mortal must be mortal-minded.
So, for your solemn wights of knitted brows, ⁠800
For each and all,—if thou for judge wilt take me,—
Life is not truly life, but mere affliction.
Servant.
All this we know: but now are we in plight
Not meet for laughter and for revelry.
Herakles.
The woman dead is alien-born: grieve not ⁠805
Exceeding much. Yet live the household's lords.
Servant.
Live, quotha!—know'st thou not the house's ills? ”

“ Raises the veil, and discloses Alcestis.
Look on her, if in aught she seems to thee
Like to thy wife. Step forth from grief to bliss.
Admetus.
What shall 1 say?—Gods! Marvel this unhoped for!
My wife do I behold in very sooth,
Or doth some god-sent mockery-joy distract me? ⁠1125
Herakles.
Not so; but this thou seest is thy wife.
Admetus.
What if this be some phantom from the shades?
Herakles.
No ghost-upraiser hast thou ta'en for guest.
Admetus.
How?—whom I buried do I see—my wife?
Herakles.
Doubt not: yet might'st thou well mistrust thy fortune. ⁠1130
Admetus. ”

“ Yet he loathed not his earthly taskmaster, but loved him, for that he was a just man, and hospitable exceedingly. Wherefore he obtained from the Fates this boon for Admetus, that, when his hour of death should come, they should accept in ransom for his life the life of whosoever should have before consented to die in his stead. Now when this was made known, none of them which were nearest by blood to the king would promise to be his ransom in that day. Then Alcestis his wife, the daughter of Pelias King of Iolkos, pledged her to die for him. ”

“ And the babes, clinging to their mother's robes,
Were weeping: and she clasped them in her arms, ⁠190
Fondling now this, now that, as one death-doomed.
And all the servants 'neath the roof were weeping,
Pitying their lady. But to each she stretched
Her right hand forth; and none there was so mean
To whom she spake not and received reply. ⁠195
Such are the ills Admetus' home within.
Now, had he died, he had ended: but, in 'scaping,
He bears a pain that he shall ne'er forget.
Chorus.
Doth not Admetus groan for this affliction
Of such a noble wife to be bereft? ⁠200
Handmaid. ”

“ Shall he see on this day lying dead, while her spirit by Lêthê shivereth.
Chorus 9.
⁠O look!—look yonder, where forth of the hall
She cometh, and he at her side whose life by her life she delivereth. ”

“ Whereon of her doom she must pass to the tomb.
Half-Chorus 2.
With a keen pang's smart hast thou stabbed mine heart.
Half-Chorus 1.
It is meet, when the good are as flowers plucked away,
⁠That in sorrow's gloom
Should the breast of the old tried friend have part.
Chorus.
(Str. 2) ⁠Though ye voyage all seas,
⁠Ye shall light on no lands,
⁠Nor on Lycia's leas,
⁠Nor Ammonian sands, ⁠115
Whence redemption shall come for the wretched, or loosing of Death's dread bands. ”