_The Central Gates open and the Funeral Procession slowly files out and
begins to fill the Stage_. Admetus beside the bier of Alcestis is
calling on the Chorus (as representing the citizens of Pherae) to join
in the invocations to the dead--when _suddenly another Procession
appears on the Stage [entering by the Right Side-door, as from the
immediate neighborhood]: it is headed by the father and mother of
Admetus, both of whom have reached the furthest verge of old age, and
who with difficulty totter along, while attendants follow them bearing
sumptuous drapery and other funeral gifts. The scene settles down into
the 'Forensic Contest,' a fixed feature of every Greek Tragedy, in
which the 'case' of the hero and the opposition to it are brought out
with all the formality of a judicial process, the long rheses
representing advocates' speeches, the stichomuthic dialogue suggesting
cross-examination, and the Chorus interposing as moderators_.
_Pheres_ in the tone of conventional consolation speaks of the virtues
of the dead, and the special virtue of Alcestis's sacrifice, which has
saved her husband's life, and himself from a childless old age; it is
meet then that he should do honor to the corpse. _Attendants of
Admetus advance to receive the presents: Admetus waves them back and
stands coldly confronting his father. At last he speaks._ His father
is an uninvited guest at this funeral feast, and unwelcome: the dead
shall never be arrayed in his gifts. Then was the time for his father
to show kindness when a life was demanded: and yet he could stand aloof
and let a younger die! He will never believe himself the son of so
mean and abject a soul.
At such an age, just trembling on the verge {677}
Of life, thou would'st not, nay, thou dared'st not die
For thine own son; but thou couldst suffer _her_,
Though sprung from foreign blood: with justice then
Her only as my father must I deem,
Her only as my mother. Yet this course
Mightst thou have run with glory, for thy son
Daring to die; brief was the space of life
That could remain to thee: I then had lived
My destin'd time, she too had lived.
Yet Pheres had already had his share of all that makes life happy: a
youth amid royal luxury, a prosperous reign, a son to inherit his state
and who ever did him honor. But let him beget him new sons to cherish
his age and attend him in death: Admetus's hand shall never do such
offices for him. And this is all that comes of old age's longing for
death: let death show itself, and the old complaints of life are all
silenced!
_Cho._ Forbear! Enough the present weight of woe: {710}
My son, exasperate not a father's mind.
To this long rhesis _Pheres_ answers in a set speech of similar length.
Is he a slave to be so rated by his own son? And for what? He has
given his son birth and nurture, he has already handed over to him a
kingdom and will bequeath him yet more wide lands; all that fathers owe
to sons he gives. What new obligation is this for Greece to submit to,
that a father should die for his son?
It is a joy to thee {730}
To view the light of heaven, and dost thou think
Thy father joys not in it? Long I deem
Our time in death's dark regions: short the space
Of life, yet sweet! So thought thy coward heart
And struggled not to die: and thou dost live,
Passing the bounds of life assign'd by fate,
By killing _her_! My mean and abject spirit
Dost thou rebuke, O timidest of all,
Vanquish'd e'en by a woman, her who gave
For thee, her young fair husband, her own life! {740}
A fine device that thou mightst never die,
Couldst thou persuade--who at the time might be
Thy wife--to die for thee!
If such a man takes to heaping reproaches on his own kin he shall at
least hear the truth told him to his face!
_Cho._ Too much of ill already hath been spoken: {750}
Forbear, old man, nor thus revile thy son.
_Admetus_ says if his father does not like to hear the truth he should
not have done the wrong.
_Pher._ Had I died for thee, greater were the wrong.
_Adm._ Is death alike then to the young and old?
_Pher._ Man's due is one life, not to borrow more.
_Adm._ Thine drag thou on and out-tire heaven's age!
_Pher._ Darest thou to curse thy parents, nothing wrong'd?
_Adm._ Parents in dotage lusting still to live! {760}
_Pher._ And thou--what else but life with this corpse buyest?
_Adm._ This corpse--the symbol of thy infamy!
_Pher._ For us she died not; that thou canst not say!
_Adm._ Ah! mayst thou some time come to need my aid!
_Pher._ Wed many wives that more may die for thee!
_Adm._ On thee rests this reproach--thou daredst not die!
_Pher._ Sweet is this light of heav'n! sweet is this light!
_Adm._ Base is thy thought, unworthy of a man!
_Pher._ The triumph is not thine to entomb my age.
_Adm._ Die when thou wilt, inglorious wilt thou die. {770}
_Pher._ Thy ill report will not affect me dead.
_Adm._ Alas, that age should outlive sense of shame!
_Pher._ But lack of age's wisdom slew _her_ youth.
_Adm._ Begone, and suffer me to entomb my dead.
_Pher._ I go: no fitter burier than thyself
Her murderer! Look for reckoning from her friends:
Acastus is no man, if his hand fails
Dearly to avenge on thee his sister's blood.
_Adm._ Why, get you gone, thou and thy worthy wife:
Grow old in consort--that is now your lot--
The childless parents of a living son:
For never more under one common roof
Come you and I together: had it needed,
By herald I your hearth would have renounced.
_Pheres and his train withdraw along the Stage [to the Right
Side-door]. The interrupted Funeral Procession is continued, filing
amidst lamentations of the Chorus, down the steps from the Stage into
the Orchestra: there the Chorus join it and the whole passes out [by
the Right Archway] to the royal sepulchre in the neighbourhood._
_Stage and Orchestra both vacant for a while._