ALC. Thou Sun, and thou light of day, and ye heavenly eddies of the
fleeting clouds--
ADM. He beholds[18] thee and me, two unhappy creatures, having done nothing
to the Gods, for which thou shouldst die.
ALC. O earth, and ye roofs of the palace, and thou bridal bed of my native
Iolcos.
ADM. Lift up thyself, unhappy one, desert me not; but entreat the powerful
Gods to pity.
ALC. I see--I see the two-oared boat--and the ferryman of the dead, holding
his hand on the pole--Charon even now calls me--"Why dost thou delay?
haste, thou stoppest us here"--with such words vehement he hastens me.
ADM. Ah me! a bitter voyage this thou speakest of! Oh! unhappy one, how do
we suffer!
ALC. He pulls me, some one pulls me--do you not see?--to the hall of the
dead, the winged Pluto, staring from beneath his black eyebrows--What wilt
thou do?--let me go--what a journey am I most wretched going!
ADM. Mournful to thy friends, and of these especially to me and to thy
children, who have this grief in common.
ALC. Leave off[19] supporting me, leave off now, lay me down, I have no
strength in my feet. Death is near, and darkling night creeps upon mine
eyes--my children, my children, no more your mother is--no more.--Farewell,
my children, long may you view this light!
ADM. Ah me! I hear this sad word, and more than any death to me. Do not by
the Gods have the heart to leave me: do not by those children, whom thou
wilt make orphans: but rise, be of good courage: for, thee dead, I should
no longer be: for on thee we depend both to live, and not to live: for thy
love we adore.
ALC. Admetus, thou seest both thy affairs and mine, in what state they are,
I wish to tell thee, ere I die, what I would have done. I, honoring thee,
and causing thee at the price of my life to view this light, die, it being
in my power not to die, for thee: but though I might have married a husband
from among the Thessalians whom I would, and have lived in a palace blessed
with regal sway, was not willing to live, bereft of thee, with my children
orphans; nor did I spare myself, though possessing the gifts of bloomy
youth, wherein I delighted. And yet thy father and thy mother forsook thee,
though they had well arrived at a point of life, in which they might have
died, and nobly delivered their son, and died with glory: for thou wert
their only one, and there was no hope, when thou wert dead, that they could
have other children.[20] And I should have lived, and thou, the rest of our
time. And thou wouldst not be groaning deprived of thy wife, and wouldst
not have to bring up thy children orphans. But these things indeed, some
one of the Gods hath brought to pass, that they should be thus. Be it
so--but do thou remember to give me a return for this; for never shall I
ask thee for an equal one, (for nothing is more precious than life,) but
just, as thou wilt say: for thou lovest not these children less than I do,
if thou art right-minded; them bring up lords over my house, and bring not
in second marriage a step-mother over these children, who, being a worse
woman than me, through envy will stretch out her hand against thine and my
children. Do not this then, I beseech thee; for a step-mother that is in
second marriage is enemy to the children of the former marriage, no milder
than a viper. And my boy indeed has his father, a great tower of defense;
but thou, O my child, how wilt thou be, brought up during thy virgin years?
Having what consort of thy father's? _I fear_, lest casting some evil
obloquy on thee, she destroys thy marriage in the bloom of youth.[21] For
neither will thy mother ever preside over thy nuptials, nor strengthen thee
being present, my daughter, at thy travails, where nothing is more kind
than a mother. For I needs must die, and this evil comes upon me not
to-morrow, nor on the third day of the month, but immediately shall I be
numbered among those that are no more. Farewell, and may you be happy; and
thou indeed, my husband, mayst boast, that thou hadst a most excellent
wife, and you, my children, that you were born of a most excellent mother.
CHOR. Be of good cheer; for I fear not to answer for him: he will do this,
if he be not bereft of his senses.
ADM. These things shall be so, they shall be, fear not: since I, when alive
also, possessed thee _alone_, and when thou art dead, thou shalt be my only
wife, and no Thessalian bride shall address me in the place of thee: there
is not woman who shall, either of so noble a sire, nor otherwise most
exquisite in beauty. But my children are enough; of these I pray the Gods
that I may have the enjoyment; for thee we do not enjoy. But I shall not
have this grief for thee for a year, but as long as my life endures, O
lady, abhorring her indeed that brought me forth, and hating my father; for
they were in word, not in deed, my friends. But thou, giving what was
dearest to thee for my life, hast rescued me. Have I not then reason to
groan deprived of such a wife? But I will put an end to the feasts, and the
meetings of those that drink together, and garland and song, which wont to
dwell in my house. For neither can I any more touch the lyre, nor lift up
my heart to sing to the Libyan flute; for thou hast taken away my joy of
life. But by the cunning hand of artists imaged thy figure shall be lain on
my bridal bed, on which I will fall, and clasping my hands around, calling
on thy name, shall fancy that I hold my dear wife in mine arms, though
holding her not:[22] a cold delight, I ween; but still I may draw off the
weight that sits upon my soul: and in my dreams visiting me, thou mayst
delight me, for a friend is sweet even to behold at night, for whatever
time he may come. But if the tongue of Orpheus and his strain were mine, so
that invoking with hymns the daughter of Ceres or her husband, I could
receive thee from the shades below, I would descend, and neither the dog of
Pluto, nor Charon at his oar, the ferryman of departed spirits, should stay
me before I brought thy life to the light. But there expect me when I die
and prepare a mansion for me, as about to dwell with me. For I will enjoin
these[23] to place me in the same cedar with thee, and to lay my side near
thy side: for not even when dead may I be separated from thee, the only
faithful one to me!
CHOR. And I indeed with thee, as a friend with a friend, will bear this
painful grief for her, for she is worthy.
ALC. My children, ye indeed hear your father saying that he will never
marry another wife to be over you, nor dishonor me.