_Enter the Stage [by one of the Inferior Doors of the Palace] the
Steward of Admetus_: he has stolen away to get a moment's respite from
the hateful hilarity of this strange visitor--some ruffian or robber he
supposes--on whom his office has condemned him to wait, and thereby to
miss paying the last offices to a mistress who has been more like a
mother to him. The guest has been willing to enter, and though he saw
the mourning of the household, he did not allow it to make any
difference to his mirth:
Grasping in his hands {804}
A goblet wreath'd with ivy, fill'd it high
With the grape's purple juice, and quaff'd it off
Untemper'd, till the glowing wine inflamed him;
Then binding round his head a myrtle wreath,
Howls dismal discord:--two unpleasing strains
We heard, his harsh notes who in nought revered
Th' afflictions of Admetus, and the voice
Of sorrow through the family that wept
Our mistress. Yet our tearful eyes we showed not,
Admetus so commanded, to the guest. {814}
He starts as he feels on his shoulder the huge hand of _Hercules_, who
has followed him, and _now appears on the Stage goblet in hand,
wreathed and attired like a reveller in full revel_. Hercules
good-humouredly scolds him for letting a remote family bereavement
hinder him from showing a sociable countenance to his lord's guest. He
lectures him on the easy ethics of the banquet-hour:
Come hither, that thou mayst be wiser, friend: {832}
Knowst thou the nature of all mortal things?
Not thou, I ween: how shouldst thou? hear from me.
By all of human race death is a debt
That must be paid; and none of mortal men
Knows whether till to-morrow life's short space
Shall be extended: such the dark events
Of fortune, never to lie learn'd or traced
By any skill. Instructed thus by me {840}
Bid pleasure welcome, drink; the life allow'd
From day to day esteem thine own; all else
Fortune's.
The Steward receives his lecture with a bad grace: he knows all
that--but there is a time for all things. His manner raises Hercules'
suspicions that Admetus has been keeping something back:
_Herc._ Is it some sorrow which he told not me? {866}
_Stew._ Go thou with joy: ours are our lord's afflictions.
_Herc._ These are not words that speak a foreign loss.
_Stew._ If such, thy revelry had not displeased me.
The secret is not long kept against the questioning of Hercules. When
the truth comes out Hercules drops the goblet: he might have known all
from so grief-worn a face! All the lightness of the reveller
disappears, and the godlike bearing returns to Hercules' figure as he
catches the full dignity of his friend's hospitable feat: he is fired
to essay a rival deed of nobility.
Now, my firm heart, and thou, my daring soul, {894}
Show what a son the daughter of Electryon,
Alcmena of Tirynthia, bore to Jove!
This lady, new in death, behoves me save,
And, to Admetus rendering grateful service,
Restore his lost Alcestis to his house.
This sable-vested tyrant of the dead
Mine eye shall watch, not without hope to find him
Drinking th' oblations nigh the tomb. If once
Seen from my secret stand I rush upon him,
These arms shall grasp him till his panting sides
Labour for breath; and who shall force him from me
Till he gives back this woman? {906}
If he fails to find Death elsewhere he will descend to the dark world
of spirits itself, rather than fail in making a fit return to his
friend:
Whose hospitable heart {913}
Receiv'd me in his house, nor made excuse
Though pierc'd with such a grief; this he conceal'd
Through generous thought, and reverence to his friend.
Who in Thessalia bears a warmer love
To strangers? Who, through all the realms of Greece?
It never shall be said this noble man
Received in me a base and worthless wretch!
_Exit [through the Stage Right Side-door] in the direction of the tomb._
_Stage and Orchestra vacant for a while._