THE ALCESTIS
OF
EURIPIDES
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYMING VERSE
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY
GILBERT MURRAY, LL D, D LITT, FBA
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
1915
INTRODUCTION
The _Alcestis_ would hardly confirm its author's right to be
acclaimed "the most tragic of the poets." It is doubtful whether one can
call it a tragedy at all. Yet it remains one of the most characteristic
and delightful of Euripidean dramas, as well as, by modern standards, the
most easily actable. And I notice that many judges who display nothing but
a fierce satisfaction in sending other plays of that author to the block
or the treadmill, show a certain human weakness in sentencing the gentle
daughter of Pelias.
The play has been interpreted in many different ways. There is the old
unsophisticated view, well set forth in Paley's preface of 1872. He
regards the _Alcestis_ simply as a triumph of pathos, especially of
"that peculiar sort of pathos which comes most home to us, with our views
and partialities for domestic life.... As for the characters, that of
Alcestis must be acknowledged to be pre-eminently beautiful. One could
almost imagine that Euripides had not yet conceived that bad opinion of
the sex which so many of the subsequent dramas exhibit.... But the rest
are hardly well-drawn, or, at least, pleasingly portrayed." "The poet
might perhaps, had he pleased, have exhibited Admetus in a more amiable
point of view."
This criticism is not very trenchant, but its weakness is due, I think,
more to timidity of statement than to lack of perception. Paley does see
that a character may be "well-drawn" without necessarily being "pleasing";
and even that he may be eminently pleasing as a part of the play while
very displeasing in himself. He sees that Euripides may have had his own
reasons for not making Admetus an ideal husband. It seems odd that such
points should need mentioning; but Greek drama has always suffered from a
school of critics who approach a play with a greater equipment of
aesthetic theory than of dramatic perception. This is the characteristic
defect of classicism. One mark of the school is to demand from dramatists
heroes and heroines which shall satisfy its own ideals; and, though there
was in the New Comedy a mask known to Pollux as "The Entirely-good Young
Man" ([Greek: panchraestos neaniskos]), such a character is fortunately
unknown to classical Greek drama.
The influence of this "classicist" tradition has led to a timid and
unsatisfying treatment of the _Alcestis_, in which many of the most
striking and unconventional features of the whole composition were either
ignored or smoothed away. As a natural result, various lively-minded
readers proceeded to overemphasize these particular features, and were
carried into eccentricity or paradox. Alfred Schöne, for instance, fixing
his attention on just those points which the conventional critic passed
over, decides simply that the _Alcestis_ is a parody, and finds it
very funny. (_Die Alkestis von Euripides_, Kiel, 1895.)
I will not dwell on other criticisms of this type. There are those who
have taken the play for a criticism of contemporary politics or the
current law of inheritance. Above all there is the late Dr. Verrall's
famous essay in _Euripides the Rationalist_, explaining it as a
psychological criticism of a supposed Delphic miracle, and arguing that
Alcestis in the play does not rise from the dead at all. She had never
really died; she only had a sort of nervous catalepsy induced by all the
"suggestion" of death by which she was surrounded. Now Dr. Verrall's work,
as always, stands apart. Even if wrong, it has its own excellence, its
special insight and its extraordinary awakening power. But in general the
effect of reading many criticisms on the _Alcestis_ is to make a
scholar realize that, for all the seeming simplicity of the play,
competent Grecians have been strangely bewildered by it, and that after
all there is no great reason to suppose that he himself is more sensible
than his neighbours.
This is depressing. None the less I cannot really believe that, if we make
patient use of our available knowledge, the _Alcestis_ presents any
startling enigma. In the first place, it has long been known from the
remnants of the ancient Didascalia, or official notice of production, that
the _Alcestis_ was produced as the fourth play of a series; that is,
it took the place of a Satyr-play. It is what we may call Pro-satyric.
(See the present writer's introduction to the _Rhesus_.) And we
should note for what it is worth the observation in the ancient Greek
argument: "The play is somewhat satyr-like ([Greek: saturiphkoteron]). It
ends in rejoicing and gladness against the tragic convention."
Now we are of late years beginning to understand much better what a
Satyr-play was. Satyrs have, of course, nothing to do with satire, either
etymologically or otherwise. Satyrs are the attendant daemons who form the
Kômos, or revel rout, of Dionysus. They are represented in divers
fantastic forms, the human or divine being mixed with that of some animal,
especially the horse or wild goat. Like Dionysus himself, they are
connected in ancient religion with the Renewal of the Earth in spring and
the resurrection of the dead, a point which students of the
_Alcestis_ may well remember. But in general they represent mere
joyous creatures of nature, unthwarted by law and unchecked by
self-control. Two notes are especially struck by them: the passions and
the absurdity of half-drunken revellers, and the joy and mystery of the
wild things in the forest.
The rule was that after three tragedies proper there came a play, still in
tragic diction, with a traditional saga plot and heroic characters, in
which the Chorus was formed by these Satyrs. There was a deliberate clash,
an effect of burlesque; but of course the clash must not be too brutal.
Certain characters of the heroic saga are, so to speak, at home with
Satyrs and others are not. To take our extant specimens of Satyr-plays,
for instance: in the _Cyclops_ we have Odysseus, the heroic
trickster; in the fragmentary _Ichneutae_ of Sophocles we have the
Nymph Cyllene, hiding the baby Hermes from the chorus by the most
barefaced and pleasant lying; later no doubt there was an entrance of the
infant thief himself. Autolycus, Sisyphus, Thersites are all Satyr-play
heroes and congenial to the Satyr atmosphere; but the most congenial of
all, the one hero who existed always in an atmosphere of Satyrs and the
Kômos until Euripides made him the central figure of a tragedy, was
Heracles.
[Footnote: The character of Heracles in connexion with the Kômos, already
indicated by Wilamowitz and Dieterich (_Herakles_, pp. 98, ff.;
_Pulcinella_, pp. 63, ff.), has been illuminatingly developed in an
unpublished monograph by Mr. J.A.K. Thomson, of Aberdeen.]
The complete Satyr-play had a hero of this type and a Chorus of Satyrs.
But the complete type was refined away during the fifth century; and one
stage in the process produced a play with a normal chorus but with one
figure of the Satyric or "revelling" type. One might almost say the
"comic" type if, for the moment, we may remember that that word is
directly derived from 'Kômos.'
The _Alcestis_ is a very clear instance of this Pro-satyric class of
play. It has the regular tragic diction, marked here and there (393,
756, 780, etc.) by slight extravagances and forms of words which are
sometimes epic and sometimes over-colloquial; it has a regular saga plot,
which had already been treated by the old poet Phrynichus in his
_Alcestis_, a play which is now lost but seems to have been Satyric;
and it has one character straight from the Satyr world, the heroic
reveller, Heracles. It is all in keeping that he should arrive tired,
should feast and drink and sing; should be suddenly sobered and should go
forth to battle with Death. It is also in keeping that the contest should
have a half-grotesque and half-ghastly touch, the grapple amid the graves
and the cracking ribs.
* * * * *
So much for the traditional form. As for the subject, Euripides received
it from Phrynichus, and doubtless from other sources. We cannot be sure of
the exact form of the story in Phrynichus. But apparently it told how
Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, received from Apollo a special
privilege which the God had obtained, in true Satyric style, by making the
Three Fates drunk and cajoling them. This was that, when his appointed
time for death came, he might escape if he could find some volunteer to
die for him. His father and mother, from whom the service might have been
expected, refused to perform it. His wife, Alcestis, though no blood
relation, handsomely undertook it and died. But it so happened that
Admetus had entertained in his house the demi-god, Heracles; and when
Heracles heard what had happened, he went out and wrestled with Death,
conquered him, and brought Alcestis home.
Given this form and this story, the next question is: What did Euripides
make of them? The general answer is clear: he has applied his usual
method. He accepts the story as given in the tradition, and then
represents it in his own way. When the tradition in question is really
heroic, we know what his way is. He preserves, and even emphasizes, the
stateliness and formality of the Attic stage conventions; but, in the
meantime, he has subjected the story and its characters to a keener study
and a more sensitive psychological judgment than the simple things were
originally meant to bear. So that many characters which passed as heroic,
or at least presentable, in the kindly remoteness of legend, reveal some
strange weakness when brought suddenly into the light. When the tradition
is Satyric, as here, the same process produces almost an opposite effect.
It is somewhat as though the main plot of a gross and jolly farce were
pondered over and made more true to human character till it emerged as a
refined and rather pathetic comedy. The making drunk of the Three Grey
Sisters disappears; one can only just see the trace of its having once
been present. The revelling of Heracles is touched in with the lightest of
hands; it is little more than symbolic. And all the figures in the story,
instead of being left broadly comic or having their psychology neglected,
are treated delicately, sympathetically, with just that faint touch of
satire, or at least of amusement, which is almost inseparable from a close
interest in character.
What was Admetus really like, this gallant prince who had won the
affection of such great guests as Apollo and Heracles, and yet went round
asking other people to die for him; who, in particular, accepted his
wife's monstrous sacrifice with satisfaction and gratitude? The play
portrays him well. Generous, innocent, artistic, affectionate, eloquent,
impulsive, a good deal spoilt, unconsciously insincere, and no doubt
fundamentally selfish, he hates the thought of dying and he hates losing
his wife almost as much. Why need she die? Why could it not have been some
one less important to him? He feels with emotion what a beautiful act it
would have been for his old father. "My boy, you have a long and happy
life before you, and for me the sands are well-nigh run out. Do not seek
to dissuade me. I will die for you." Admetus could compose the speech for
him. A touching scene, a noble farewell, and all the dreadful trouble
solved--so conveniently solved! And the miserable self-blinded old man
could not see it!
Euripides seems to have taken positive pleasure in Admetus, much as
Meredith did in his famous Egoist; but Euripides all through is kinder to
his victim than Meredith is. True, Admetus is put to obvious shame,
publicly and helplessly. The Chorus make discreet comments upon him.
The Handmaid is outspoken about him. One feels that Alcestis herself, for
all her tender kindness, has seen through him. Finally, to make things
quite clear, his old father fights him openly, tells him home-truth upon
home-truth, tears away all his protective screens, and leaves him with his
self-respect in tatters. It is a fearful ordeal for Admetus, and, after
his first fury, he takes it well. He comes back from his wife's burial a
changed man. He says not much, but enough. "I have done wrong. I have only
now learnt my lesson. I imagined I could save my happy life by forfeiting
my honour; and the result is that I have lost both." I think that a
careful reading of the play will show an almost continuous process of
self-discovery and self-judgment in the mind of Admetus. He was a man who
blinded himself with words and beautiful sentiments; but he was not
thick-skinned or thick-witted. He was not a brute or a cynic. And I think
he did learn his lesson ... not completely and for ever, but as well as
most of us learn such lessons.
The beauty of Alcestis is quite untouched by the dramatist's keener
analysis. The strong light only increases its effect. Yet she is not by
any means a mere blameless ideal heroine; and the character which
Euripides gives her makes an admirable foil to that of Admetus. Where he
is passionate and romantic, she is simple and homely. While he is still
refusing to admit the facts and beseeching her not to "desert" him, she in
a gentle but businesslike way makes him promise to take care of the
children and, above all things, not to marry again. She could not possibly
trust Admetus's choice. She is sure that the step-mother would be unkind
to the children. She might be a horror and beat them (l. 307). And when
Admetus has made a thrilling answer about eternal sorrow, and the
silencing of lyre and lute, and the statue who shall be his only bride,
Alcestis earnestly calls the attention of witnesses to the fact that he
has sworn not to marry again. She is not an artist like Admetus. There is
poetry in her, because poetry comes unconsciously out of deep feeling, but
there is no artistic eloquence. Her love, too, is quite different from
his. To him, his love for his wife and children is a beautiful thing, a
subject to speak and sing about as well as an emotion to feel. But her
love is hardly conscious. She does not talk about it at all. She is merely
wrapped up in the welfare of certain people, first her husband and then he
children. To a modern romantic reader her insistence that her husband
shall not marry again seems hardly delicate. But she does not think about
romance or delicacy. To her any neglect to ensure due protection for the
children would be as unnatural as to refuse to die for her husband.
Indeed, Professor J.L. Myres has suggested that care for the children's
future is the guiding motive of her whole conduct. There was first the
danger of their being left fatherless, a dire calamity in the heroic age.
She could meet that danger by dying herself. Then followed the danger of a
stepmother. She meets that by making Admetus swear never to marry. In the
long run, I fancy, the effect of gracious loveliness which Alcestis
certainly makes is not so much due to any words of her own as to what the
Handmaid and the Serving Man say about her. In the final scene she is
silent; necessarily and rightly silent, for all tradition knows that those
new-risen from the dead must not speak. It will need a long _rite de
passage_ before she can freely commune with this world again. It is a
strange and daring scene between the three of them; the humbled and
broken-hearted husband; the triumphant Heracles, kindly and wise, yet
still touched by the mocking and blustrous atmosphere from which he
sprang; and the silent woman who has seen the other side of the grave.
It was always her way to know things but not to speak of them.
The other characters fall easily into their niches. We have only to
remember the old Satyric tradition and to look at them in the light of
their historical development. Heracles indeed, half-way on his road from
the roaring reveller of the Satyr-play to the suffering and erring
deliverer of tragedy, is a little foreign to our notions, but quite
intelligible and strangely attractive. The same historical method seems to
me to solve most of the difficulties which have been felt about Admetus's
hospitality. Heracles arrives at the castle just at the moment when
Alcestis is lying dead in her room; Admetus conceals the death from him
and insists on his coming in and enjoying himself. What are we to think of
this behaviour? Is it magnificent hospitality, or is it gross want of
tact? The answer, I think, is indicated above.
In the uncritical and boisterous atmosphere of the Satyr-play it was
natural hospitality, not especially laudable or surprising. From the
analogy of similar stories I suspect that Admetus originally did not know
his guest, and received not so much the reward of exceptional virtue as
the blessing naturally due to those who entertain angels unawares. If we
insist on asking whether Euripides himself, in real life or in a play of
his own free invention, would have considered Admetus's conduct to
Heracles entirely praiseworthy, the answer will certainly be No, but it
will have little bearing on the play. In the _Alcestis_, as it stands, the
famous act of hospitality is a datum of the story. Its claims are admitted
on the strength of the tradition. It was the act for which Admetus was
specially and marvellously rewarded; therefore, obviously, it was an act
of exceptional merit and piety. Yet the admission is made with a smile,
and more than one suggestion is allowed to float across the scene that in
real life such conduct would be hardly wise.
Heracles, who rose to tragic rank from a very homely cycle of myth, was
apt to bring other homely characters with him. He was a great killer not
only of malefactors but of "kêres" or bogeys, such as "Old Age" and "Ague"
and the sort of "Death" that we find in this play. Thanatos is not a god,
not at all a King of Terrors. One may compare him with the dancing
skeleton who is called Death in mediaeval writings. When such a figure
appears on the tragic stage one asks at once what relation he bears to
Hades, the great Olympian king of the unseen. The answer is obvious.
Thanatos is the servant of Hades, a "priest" or sacrificer, who is sent to
fetch the appointed victims.
The other characters speak for themselves. Certainly Pheres can be trusted
to do so, though we must remember that we see him at an unfortunate
moment. The aged monarch is not at his best, except perhaps in mere
fighting power. I doubt if he was really as cynical as he here professes
to be.
* * * * *
In the above criticisms I feel that I may have done what critics are so
apt to do. I have dwelt on questions of intellectual interest and perhaps
thereby diverted attention from that quality in the play which is the most
important as well as by far the hardest to convey; I mean the sheer beauty
and delightfulness of the writing. It is the earliest dated play of
Euripides which has come down to us. True, he was over forty when he
produced it, but it is noticeably different from the works of his old age.
The numbers are smoother, the thought less deeply scarred, the language
more charming and less passionate. If it be true that poetry is bred out
of joy and sorrow, one feels as if more enjoyment and less suffering had
gone to the making of the _Alcestis_ than to that of the later plays.
ALCESTIS
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
ADMÊTUS, _King of Pherae in Thessaly_.
ALCESTIS, _daughter of Pelias, his wife_.
PHERÊS, _his father, formerly King but now in retirement_.
TWO CHILDREN, _his son and daughter_.
A MANSERVANT _in his house_.
A HANDMAID.
The Hero HERACLES.
The God APOLLO.
THANÁTOS _or_ DEATH.
CHORUS, _consisting of Elders of Pherae_.
"_The play was first performed when Glaukînos was Archon, in the 2nd
year of the 85th Olympiad_ (438 B.C.). _Sophocles was first,
Euripides second with the Cretan Women, Alcmaeon in Psophis, Telephus and
Alcestis.... The play is somewhat Satyric in character._"
ALCESTIS
_The scene represents the ancient Castle of_ ADMETUS _near Pherae
in Thessaly. It is the dusk before dawn_; APOLLO, _radiant in the
darkness, looks at the Castle._
APOLLO.
Admetus' House! 'Twas here I bowed my head
Of old, and chafed not at the bondman's bread,
Though born in heaven. Aye, Zeus to death had hurled
My son, Asclepios, Healer of the World,
Piercing with fire his heart; and in mine ire
I slew his Cyclop churls, who forged the fire.
Whereat Zeus cast me forth to bear the yoke
Of service to a mortal. To this folk
I came, and watched a stranger's herd for pay,
And all his house I have prospered to this day.
For innocent was the Lord I chanced upon
And clean as mine own heart, King Pheres' son,
Admetus. Him I rescued from the grave,
Beguiling the Grey Sisters till they gave
A great oath that Admetus should go free,
Would he but pay to Them Below in fee
Another living soul. Long did he prove
All that were his, and all that owed him love,
But never a soul he found would yield up life
And leave the sunlight for him, save his wife:
Who, even now, down the long galleries
Is borne, death-wounded; for this day it is
She needs must pass out of the light and die.
And, seeing the stain of death must not come nigh
My radiance, I must leave this house I love.
But ha! The Headsman of the Pit, above
Earth's floor, to ravish her! Aye, long and late
He hath watched, and cometh at the fall of fate.
_Enter from the other side_ THANATOS; _a crouching black-haired and
winged figure, carrying a drawn sword. He starts in revulsion on
seeing_ APOLLO.
THANATOS.
Aha!
Why here? What mak'st thou at the gate,
Thou Thing of Light? Wilt overtread
The eternal judgment, and abate
And spoil the portions of the dead?
'Tis not enough for thee to have blocked
In other days Admetus' doom
With craft of magic wine, which mocked
The three grey Sisters of the Tomb;
But now once more
I see thee stand at watch, and shake
That arrow-armèd hand to make
This woman thine, who swore, who swore,
To die now for her husband's sake.
APOLLO.
Fear not.
I bring fair words and seek but what is just.
THANATOS (_sneering_)
And if words help thee not, an arrow must?
APOLLO.
'Tis ever my delight to bear this bow.
THANATOS.
And aid this house unjustly? Aye, 'tis so.
APOLLO.
I love this man, and grieve for his dismay.
THANATOS.
And now wilt rob me of my second prey!
APOLLO.
I never robbed thee, neither then nor now.
THANATOS.
Why is Admetus here then, not below?
APOLLO.
He gave for ransom his own wife, for whom ...
THANATOS (_interrupting_).
I am come; and straight will bear her to the tomb.
APOLLO.
Go, take her.--I can never move thine heart.
THANATOS (_mocking_).
To slay the doomed?--Nay; I will do my part.
APOLLO.
No. To keep death for them that linger late.
THANATOS (_still mocking_).
'Twould please thee, so?... I owe thee homage great.
APOLLO.
Ah, then she may yet ... she may yet grow old?
THANATOS (_with a laugh_).
No!... I too have my rights, and them I hold.
APOLLO.
'Tis but one life thou gainest either-wise.
THANATOS.
When young souls die, the richer is my prize.
APOLLO.
Old, with great riches they will bury her.
THANATOS.
Fie on thee, fie! Thou rich-man's lawgiver!
APOLLO.
How? Is there wit in Death, who seemed so blind?
THANATOS.
The rich would buy long life for all their kind.
APOLLO.
Thou will not grant me, then, this boon? 'Tis so?
THANATOS.
Thou knowest me, what I am: I tell thee, no!
APOLLO.
I know gods sicken at thee and men pine.
THANATOS.
Begone! Too many things not meant for thine
Thy greed hath conquered; but not all, not all!
APOLLO.
I swear, for all thy bitter pride, a fall
Awaits thee. One even now comes conquering
Towards this house, sent by a southland king
To fetch him four wild coursers, of the race
Which rend men's bodies in the winds of Thrace.
This house shall give him welcome good, and he
Shall wrest this woman from thy worms and thee.
So thou shalt give me all, and thereby win
But hatred, not the grace that might have been.
[_Exit_ APOLLO.]
THANATOS.
Talk on, talk on! Thy threats shall win no bride
From me.--This woman, whatsoe'er betide,
Shall lie in Hades' house. Even at the word
I go to lay upon her hair my sword.
For all whose head this grey sword visiteth
To death are hallowed and the Lords of death.
[THANATOS _goes into the house. Presently, as the day grows lighter,
the_ CHORUS _enters: it consists of Citizens of Pherae, who speak
severally._]
CHORUS.
LEADER.
Quiet, quiet, above, beneath!
SECOND ELDER.
The house of Admetus holds its breath.
THIRD ELDER.
And never a King's friend near,
To tell us either of tears to shed
For Pelias' daughter, crowned and dead;
Or joy, that her eyes are clear.
Bravest, truest of wives is she
That I have seen or the world shall see.
DIVERS CITIZENS, _conversing_.
(The dash -- indicates a new speaker.)
--Hear ye no sob, or noise of hands
Beating the breast? No mourners' cries
For one they cannot save?
--Nothing: and at the door there stands
No handmaid.--Help, O Paian; rise,
O star beyond the wave!
--Dead, and this quiet? No, it cannot be.
--Dead, dead!--Not gone to burial secretly!
--Why? I still fear: what makes your speech so brave?
--Admetus cast that dear wife to the grave
Alone, with none to see?
--I see no bowl of clear spring water.
It ever stands before the dread
Door where a dead man rests.
--No lock of shorn hair! Every daughter
Of woman shears it for the dead.
No sound of bruisèd breasts!
--Yet 'tis this very day ...--This very day?
--The Queen should pass and lie beneath the clay.
--It hurts my life, my heart!--All honest hearts
Must sorrow for a brightness that departs,
A good life worn away.
LEADER.
To wander o'er leagues of land,
To search over wastes of sea,
Where the Prophets of Lycia stand,
Or where Ammon's daughters three
Make runes in the rainless sand,
For magic to make her free--
Ah, vain! for the end is here;
Sudden it comes and sheer.
What lamb on the altar-strand
Stricken shall comfort me?
SECOND ELDER.
Only, only one, I know:
Apollo's son was he,
Who healed men long ago.
Were he but on earth to see,
She would rise from the dark below
And the gates of eternity.
For men whom the Gods had slain
He pitied and raised again;
Till God's fire laid him low,
And now, what help have we?
OTHERS.
All's done that can be. Every vow
Full paid; and every altar's brow
Full crowned with spice of sacrifice.
No help remains nor respite now.
_Enter from the Castle a_ HANDMAID, _almost in tears._
LEADER.
But see, a handmaid cometh, and the tear
Wet on her cheek! What tiding shall we hear?...
Thy grief is natural, daughter, if some ill
Hath fallen to-day. Say, is she living still
Or dead, your mistress? Speak, if speak you may.
MAID.
Alive. No, dead.... Oh, read it either way.
LEADER.
Nay, daughter, can the same soul live and die?
MAID.
Her life is broken; death is in her eye.
LEADER.
Poor King, to think what she was, and what thou!
MAID.
He never knew her worth.... He will know it now.
LEADER.
There is no hope, methinks, to save her still?
MAID.
The hour is come, and breaks all human will.
LEADER.
She hath such tendance as the dying crave?
MAID.
For sure: and rich robes ready for her grave.
LEADER.
'Fore God, she dies high-hearted, aye, and far
In honour raised above all wives that are!
MAID.
Far above all! How other? What must she,
Who seeketh to surpass this woman, be?
Or how could any wife more shining make
Her lord's love, than by dying for his sake?
But thus much all the city knows. 'Tis here,
In her own rooms, the tale will touch thine ear
With strangeness. When she knew the day was come,
She rose and washed her body, white as foam,
With running water; then the cedarn press
She opened, and took forth her funeral dress
And rich adornment. So she stood arrayed
Before the Hearth-Fire of her home, and prayed:
"Mother, since I must vanish from the day,
This last, last time I kneel to thee and pray;
Be mother to my two children! Find some dear
Helpmate for him, some gentle lord for her.
And let not them, like me, before their hour
Die; let them live in happiness, in our
Old home, till life be full and age content."
To every household altar then she went
And made for each his garland of the green
Boughs of the wind-blown myrtle, and was seen
Praying, without a sob, without a tear.
She knew the dread thing coming, but her clear
Cheek never changed: till suddenly she fled
Back to her own chamber and bridal bed:
Then came the tears and she spoke all her thought.
"O bed, whereon my laughing girlhood's knot
Was severed by this man, for whom I die,
Farewell! 'Tis thou ... I speak not bitterly....
'Tis thou hast slain me. All alone I go
Lest I be false to him or thee. And lo,
Some woman shall lie here instead of me--
Happier perhaps; more true she cannot be."
She kissed the pillow as she knelt, and wet
With flooding tears was that fair coverlet.
At last she had had her fill of weeping; then
She tore herself away, and rose again,
Walking with downcast eyes; yet turned before
She had left the room, and cast her down once more
Kneeling beside the bed. Then to her side
The children came, and clung to her and cried,
And her arms hugged them, and a long good-bye
She gave to each, like one who goes to die.
The whole house then was weeping, every slave
In sorrow for his mistress. And she gave
Her hand to all; aye, none so base was there
She gave him not good words and he to her.
So on Admetus falls from either side
Sorrow. 'Twere bitter grief to him to have died
Himself; and being escaped, how sore a woe
He hath earned instead--Ah, some day he shall know!
LEADER.
Surely Admetus suffers, even to-day,
For this true-hearted love he hath cast away?
MAID.
He weeps; begs her not leave him desolate,
And holds her to his heart--too late, too late!
She is sinking now, and there, beneath his eye
Fading, the poor cold hand falls languidly,
And faint is all her breath. Yet still she fain
Would look once on the sunlight--once again
And never more. I will go in and tell
Thy presence. Few there be, will serve so well
My master and stand by him to the end.
But thou hast been from olden days our friend.
[_The_ MAID _goes in_.]
CHORUS.
THIRD ELDER.
O Zeus,
What escape and where
From the evil thing?
How break the snare
That is round our King?
SECOND ELDER.
Ah list!
One cometh?... No.
Let us no more wait;
Make dark our raiment
And shear this hair.
LEADER.
Aye, friends!
'Tis so, even so.
Yet the gods are great
And may send allayment.
To prayer, to prayer!
ALL (_praying_).
O Paian wise!
Some healing of this home devise, devise!
Find, find.... Oh, long ago when we were blind
Thine eyes saw mercy ... find some healing breath!
Again, O Paian, break the chains that bind;
Stay the red hand of Death!
LEADER.
Alas!
What shame, what dread,
Thou Pheres' son,
Shalt be harvested
When thy wife is gone!
SECOND ELDER.
Ah me;
For a deed less drear
Than this thou ruest
Men have died for sorrow;
Aye, hearts have bled.
THIRD ELDER.
'Tis she;
Not as men say dear,
But the dearest, truest,
Shall lie ere morrow
Before thee dead!
ALL.
But lo! Once more!
She and her husband moving to the door!
Cry, cry! And thou, O land of Pherae, hearken!
The bravest of women sinketh, perisheth,
Under the green earth, down where the shadows darken,
Down to the House of Death!
[_During the last words_ ADMETUS _and_ ALCESTIS _have entered_.
ALCESTIS _is supported by her Handmaids and followed by her
two children._]
LEADER.
And who hath said that Love shall bring
More joy to man than fear and strife?
I knew his perils from of old,
I know them now, when I behold
The bitter faring of my King,
Whose love is taken, and his life
Left evermore an empty thing.
ALCESTIS.
O Sun, O light of the day that falls!
O running cloud that races along the sky!
ADMETUS.
They look on thee and me, a stricken twain,
Who have wrought no sin that God should have thee slain.
ALCESTIS.
Dear Earth, and House of sheltering walls,
And wedded homes of the land where my fathers lie!
ADMETUS.
Fail not, my hapless one. Be strong, and pray
The o'er-mastering Gods to hate us not alway.
ALCESTIS (_faintly, her mind wandering_).
A boat two-oared, upon water; I see, I see.
And the Ferryman of the Dead,
His hand that hangs on the pole, his voice that cries;
"Thou lingerest; come. Come quickly, we wait for thee."
He is angry that I am slow; he shakes his head.
ADMETUS.
Alas, a bitter boat-faring for me,
My bride ill-starred.--Oh, this is misery!
ALCESTIS (_as before_).
Drawing, drawing! 'Tis some one that draweth me ...
To the Palaces of the Dead.
So dark. The wings, the eyebrows and ah, the eyes!...
Go back! God's mercy! What seekest thou? Let me be!...
(_Recovering_) Where am I? Ah, and what paths are these I tread?
ADMETUS.
Grievous for all who love thee, but for me
And my two babes most hard, most solitary.
ALCESTIS.
Hold me not; let me lie.--
I am too weak to stand; and Death is near,
And a slow darkness stealing on my sight.
My little ones, good-bye.
Soon, soon, and mother will be no more here....
Good-bye, two happy children in the light.
ADMETUS.
Oh, word of pain, oh, sharper ache
Than any death of mine had brought!
For the Gods' sake, desert me not,
For thine own desolate children's sake.
Nay, up! Be brave. For if they rend
Thee from me, I can draw no breath;
In thy hand are my life and death,
Thine, my belovèd and my friend!
ALCESTIS.
Admetus, seeing what way my fortunes lie,
I fain would speak with thee before I die.
I have set thee before all things; yea, mine own
Life beside thine was naught. For this alone
I die.... Dear Lord, I never need have died.
I might have lived to wed some prince of pride,
Dwell in a king's house.... Nay, how could I, torn
From thee, live on, I and my babes forlorn?
I have given to thee my youth--not more nor less,
But all--though I was full of happiness.
Thy father and mother both--'tis strange to tell--
Had failed thee, though for them the deed was well,
The years were ripe, to die and save their son,
The one child of the house: for hope was none,
If thou shouldst pass away, of other heirs.
So thou and I had lived through the long years,
Both. Thou hadst not lain sobbing here alone
For a dead wife and orphan babes.... 'Tis done
Now, and some God hath wrought out all his will.
Howbeit I now will ask thee to fulfill
One great return-gift--not so great withal
As I have given, for life is more than all;
But just and due, as thine own heart will tell.
For thou hast loved our little ones as well
As I have.... Keep them to be masters here
In my old house; and bring no stepmother
Upon them. She might hate them. She might be
Some baser woman, not a queen like me,
And strike them with her hand. For mercy, spare
Our little ones that wrong. It is my prayer....
They come into a house: they are all strife
And hate to any child of the dead wife....
Better a serpent than a stepmother!
A boy is safe. He has his father there
To guard him. But a little girl! (_Taking the_ LITTLE GIRL
_to her_) What good
And gentle care will guide thy maidenhood?
What woman wilt thou find at father's side?
One evil word from her, just when the tide
Of youth is full, would wreck thy hope of love.
And no more mother near, to stand above
Thy marriage-bed, nor comfort thee pain-tossed
In travail, when one needs a mother most!
Seeing I must die.... 'Tis here, across my way,
Not for the morrow, not for the third day,
But now--Death, and to lie with things that were.
Farewell. God keep you happy.--Husband dear,
Remember that I failed thee not; and you,
My children, that your mother loved you true.
LEADER.
Take comfort. Ere thy lord can speak, I swear,
If truth is in him, he will grant thy prayer.
ADMETUS.
He will, he will! Oh, never fear for me.
Mine hast thou been, and mine shalt ever be,
Living and dead, thou only. None in wide
Hellas but thou shalt be Admetus' bride.
No race so high, no face so magic-sweet
Shall ever from this purpose turn my feet.
And children ... if God grant me joy of these,
'Tis all I ask; of thee no joy nor ease
He gave me. And thy mourning I will bear
Not one year of my life but every year,
While life shall last.... My mother I will know
No more. My father shall be held my foe.
They brought the words of love but not the deed,
While thou hast given thine all, and in my need
Saved me. What can I do but weep alone,
Alone alway, when such a wife is gone?...
An end shall be of revel, and an end
Of crowns and song and mirth of friend with friend,
Wherewith my house was glad. I ne'er again
Will touch the lute nor ease my heart from pain
With pipes of Afric. All the joys I knew,
And joys were many, thou hast broken in two.
Oh, I will find some artist wondrous wise
Shall mould for me thy shape, thine hair, thine eyes,
And lay it in thy bed; and I will lie
Close, and reach out mine arms to thee, and cry
Thy name into the night, and wait and hear
My own heart breathe: "Thy love, thy love is near."
A cold delight; yet it might ease the sum
Of sorrow.... And good dreams of thee will come
Like balm. 'Tis sweet, even in a dream, to gaze
On a dear face, the moment that it stays.
O God, if Orpheus' voice were mine, to sing
To Death's high Virgin and the Virgin's King,
Till their hearts failed them, down would I my path
Cleave, and naught stay me, not the Hound of Wrath,
Not the grey oarsman of the ghostly tide,
Till back to sunlight I had borne my bride.
But now, wife, wait for me till I shall come
Where thou art, and prepare our second home.
These ministers in that same cedar sweet
Where thou art laid will lay me, feet to feet,
And head to head, oh, not in death from thee
Divided, who alone art true to me!
LEADER.
This life-long sorrow thou hast sworn, I too,
Thy friend, will bear with thee. It is her due.
ALCESTIS.
Children, ye heard his promise? He will wed
No other woman nor forget the dead.
ADMETUS.
Again I promise. So it shall be done.
ALCESTIS (_giving the children into his arms one after the other_).
On that oath take my daughter: and my son.
ADMETUS.
Dear hand that gives, I accept both gift and vow.
ALCESTIS.
Thou, in my place, must be their mother now.
ADMETUS.
Else were they motherless--I needs must try.
ALCESTIS.
My babes, I ought to live, and lo, I die.
ADMETUS.
And how can I, forlorn of thee, live on?
ALCESTIS.
Time healeth; and the dead are dead and gone.
ADMETUS.
Oh, take me with thee to the dark below,
Me also!
ALCESTIS.
'Tis enough that one should go.
ADMETUS.
O Fate, to have cheated me of one so true!
ALCESTIS (_her strength failing_).
There comes a darkness: a great burden, too.
ADMETUS.
I am lost if thou wilt leave me.... Wife! Mine own!
ALCESTIS.
I am not thy wife; I am nothing. All is gone.
ADMETUS.
Thy babes! Thou wilt not leave them.--Raise thine eye.
ALCESTIS.
I am sorry.... But good-bye, children; good-bye.
ADMETUS.
Look at them! Wake and look at them!
ALCESTIS.
I must go.
ADMETUS.
What? Dying!
ALCESTIS.
Farewell, husband! [_She dies._]
ADMETUS (_with a cry_).
Ah!... Woe, woe!
LEADER.
Admetus' Queen is dead!
[_While_ ADMETUS _is weeping silently, and the_ CHORUS _veil
their faces, the_ LITTLE BOY _runs up to his dead Mother_.]
LITTLE BOY.
Oh, what has happened? Mummy has gone away,
And left me and will not come back any more!
Father, I shall be lonely all the day....
Look! Look! Her eyes ... and her arms not like before,
How they lie ...
Mother! Oh, speak a word!
Answer me, answer me, Mother! It is I.
I am touching your face. It is I, your little bird.
ADMETUS (_recovering himself and going to the Child_).
She hears us not, she sees us not. We lie
Under a heavy grief, child, thou and I.
LITTLE BOY.
I am so little, Father, and lonely and cold
Here without Mother. It is too hard.... And you,
Poor little sister, too.
Oh, Father!
Such a little time we had her. She might have stayed
On till we all were old....
Everything is spoiled when Mother is dead.
[_The_ LITTLE BOY _is taken away, with his Sister, sobbing_.]
LEADER.
My King, thou needs must gird thee to the worst.
Thou shalt not be the last, nor yet the first,
To lose a noble wife. Be brave, and know
To die is but a debt that all men owe.
ADMETUS.
I know. It came not without doubts and fears,
This thing. The thought hath poisoned all my years.
Howbeit, I now will make the burial due
To this dead Queen. Be assembled, all of you;
And, after, raise your triumph-song to greet
This pitiless Power that yawns beneath our feet.
Meantime let all in Thessaly who dread
My sceptre join in mourning for the dead
With temples sorrow-shorn and sable weed.
Ye chariot-lords, ye spurrers of the steed,
Shear close your horses' manes! Let there be found
Through all my realm no lute, nor lyre, nor sound
Of piping, till twelve moons are at an end.
For never shall I lose a closer friend,
Nor braver in my need. And worthy is she
Of honour, who alone hath died for me.
[_The body of_ ALCESTIS _is carried into the house by mourners;_
ADMETUS _follows it._]
CHORUS.
Daughter of Pelias, fare thee well,
May joy be thine in the Sunless Houses!
For thine is a deed which the Dead shall tell
Where a King black-browed in the gloom carouses;
And the cold grey hand at the helm and oar
Which guideth shadows from shore to shore,
Shall bear this day o'er the Tears that Well,
A Queen of women, a spouse of spouses.
Minstrels many shall praise thy name
With lyre full-strung and with voices lyreless,
When Mid-Moon riseth, an orbèd flame,
And from dusk to dawning the dance is tireless;
And Carnos cometh to Sparta's call,
And Athens shineth in festival;
For thy death is a song, and a fullness of fame,
Till the heart of the singer is left desireless.
LEADER.
Would I could reach thee, oh,
Reach thee and save, my daughter,
Starward from gulfs of Hell,
Past gates, past tears that swell,
Where the weak oar climbs thro'
The night and the water!
SECOND ELDER.
Belovèd and lonely one,
Who feared not dying:
Gone in another's stead
Alone to the hungry dead:
Light be the carven stone
Above thee lying!
THIRD ELDER.
Oh, he who should seek again
A new bride after thee,
Were loathed of thy children twain,
And loathed of me.
LEADER.
Word to his mother sped,
Praying to her who bore him;
Word to his father, old,
Heavy with years and cold;
"Quick, ere your son be dead!
What dare ye for him?"
SECOND ELDER.
Old, and they dared not; grey,
And they helped him never!
'Twas she, in her youth and pride,
Rose up for her lord and died.
Oh, love of two hearts that stay
One-knit for ever....
THIRD ELDER.
'Tis rare in the world! God send
Such bride in my house to be;
She should live life to the end,
Not fail through me.
[_As the song ceases there enters a stranger, walking strongly, but
travel-stained, dusty, and tired. His lion-skin and club show him to
be_ HERACLES.]
HERACLES.
Ho, countrymen! To Pherae am I come
By now? And is Admetus in his home?
LEADER.
Our King is in his house, Lord Heracles.--
But say, what need brings thee in days like these
To Thessaly and Pherae's wallèd ring?
HERACLES.
A quest I follow for the Argive King.
LEADER.
What prize doth call thee, and to what far place?
HERACLES.
The horses of one Diomede, in Thrace.
LEADER.
But how...? Thou know'st not? Is he strange to thee?
HERACLES.
Quite strange. I ne'er set foot in Bistony.
LEADER.
Not without battle shalt thou win those steeds.
HERACLES.
So be it! I cannot fail my master's needs.
LEADER.
'Tis slay or die, win or return no more.
HERACLES.
Well, I have looked on peril's face before.
LEADER.
What profit hast thou in such manslaying?
HERACLES.
I shall bring back the horses to my King.
LEADER.
'Twere none such easy work to bridle them.
HERACLES.
Not easy? Have they nostrils breathing flame?
LEADER.
They tear men's flesh; their jaws are swift with blood.
HERACLES.
Men's flesh! 'Tis mountain wolves', not horses' food!
LEADER.
Thou wilt see their mangers clogged with blood, like mire.
HERACLES.
And he who feeds such beasts, who was his sire?
LEADER.
Ares, the war-lord of the Golden Targe.
HERACLES.
Enough!--This labour fitteth well my large
Fortune, still upward, still against the wind.
How often with these kings of Ares' kind
Must I do battle? First the dark wolf-man,
Lycaon; then 'twas he men called The Swan;
And now this man of steeds!... Well, none shall see
Alcmena's son turn from his enemy.
LEADER.
Lo, as we speak, this land's high governor,
Admetus, cometh from his castle door.
_Enter_ ADMETUS _from the Castle_.
ADMETUS.
Zeus-born of Perseid line, all joy to thee!
HERACLES.
Joy to Admetus, Lord of Thessaly!
ADMETUS.
Right welcome were she!--But thy love I know.
HERACLES.
But why this mourning hair, this garb of woe?
ADMETUS (_in a comparatively light tone_).
There is a burial I must make to-day.
HERACLES.
God keep all evil from thy children!
ADMETUS.
Nay,
My children live.
HERACLES.
Thy father, if 'tis he,
Is ripe in years.
ADMETUS.
He liveth, friend, and she
Who bore me.
HERACLES.
Surely not thy wife? 'Tis not
Alcestis?
ADMETUS (_his composure a little shaken_).
Ah; two answers share my thought,
Questioned of her.
HERACLES.
Is she alive or dead?
ADMETUS.
She is, and is not; and my heart hath bled
Long years for her.
HERACLES.
I understand no more.
Thy words are riddles.
ADMETUS.
Heard'st thou not of yore
The doom that she must meet?
HERACLES.
I know thy wife
Has sworn to die for thee.
ADMETUS.
And is it life,
To live with such an oath hung o'er her head?
HERACLES (_relieved_).
Ah,
Weep not too soon, friend. Wait till she be dead.
ADMETUS.
He dies who is doomed to die; he is dead who dies.
HERACLES.
The two are different things in most men's eyes.
ADMETUS.
Decide thy way, lord, and let me decide
The other way.
HERACLES.
Who is it that has died?
Thou weepest.
ADMETUS.
'Tis a woman. It doth take
My memory back to her of whom we spake.
HERACLES.
A stranger, or of kin to thee?
ADMETUS.
Not kin,
But much beloved.
HERACLES.
How came she to be in
Thy house to die?
ADMETUS.
Her father died, and so
She came to us, an orphan, long ago.
HERACLES (_as though about to depart_).
'Tis sad.
I would I had found thee on a happier day.
ADMETUS.
Thy words have some intent: what wouldst thou say?
HERACLES.
I must find harbour with some other friend.
ADMETUS.
My prince, it may not be! God never send
Such evil!
HERACLES.
'Tis great turmoil, when a guest
Comes to a mourning house.
ADMETUS.
Come in and rest.
Let the dead die!
HERACLES.
I cannot, for mere shame,
Feast beside men whose eyes have tears in them.
ADMETUS.
The guest-rooms are apart where thou shalt be.
HERACLES.
Friend, let me go. I shall go gratefully.
ADMETUS.
Thou shalt not enter any door but mine.
(_To an Attendant_)
Lead in our guest. Unlock the furthest line
Of guest-chambers; and bid the stewards there
Make ready a full feast; then close with care
The midway doors. 'Tis unmeet, if he hears
Our turmoil or is burdened with our tears.
[_The Attendant leads_ HERACLES _into the house_.]
LEADER.
How, master? When within a thing so sad
Lies, thou wilt house a stranger? Art thou mad?
ADMETUS.
And had I turned the stranger from my door,
Who sought my shelter, hadst thou praised me more?
I trow not, if my sorrow were thereby
No whit less, only the more friendless I.
And more, when bards tell tales, were it not worse
My house should lie beneath the stranger's curse?
Now he is my sure friend, if e'er I stand
Lonely in Argos, in a thirsty land.
LEADER.
Thou callest him thy friend; how didst thou dare
Keep hid from him the burden of thy care?
ADMETUS.
He never would have entered, had he known
My grief.--Aye, men may mock what I have done,
And call me fool. My house hath never learned
To fail its friend, nor seen the stranger spurned.
[ADMETUS _goes into the house_]
CHORUS.
Oh, a House that loves the stranger,
And a House for ever free!
And Apollo, the Song-changer,
Was a herdsman in thy fee;
Yea, a-piping he was found,
Where the upward valleys wound,
To the kine from out the manger
And the sheep from off the lea,
And love was upon Othrys at the sound.
And from deep glens unbeholden
Of the forest to his song
There came lynxes streaky-golden,
There came lions in a throng,
Tawny-coated, ruddy-eyed,
To that piper in his pride;
And shy fawns he would embolden,
Dappled dancers, out along
The shadow by the pine-tree's side.
And those magic pipes a-blowing
Have fulfilled thee in thy reign
By thy Lake with honey flowing,
By thy sheepfolds and thy grain;
Where the Sun turns his steeds
To the twilight, all the meads
Of Molossus know thy sowing
And thy ploughs upon the plain.
Yea, and eastward thou art free
To the portals of the sea,
And Pelion, the unharboured, is but minister to thee.
He hath opened wide his dwelling
To the stranger, though his ruth
For the dead was fresh and welling,
For the loved one of his youth.
'Tis the brave heart's cry:
"I will fail not, though I die!"
Doth it win, with no man's telling,
Some high vision of the truth?
We may marvel. Yet I trust,
When man seeketh to be just
And to pity them that wander, God will raise him from the dust.