Alcestis | Page 7

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