Stories from the Greek Tragedians | Page 2

"'Tis my wont to carry it."
"Ay, and it is thy wont to help this house beyond all right and law."
"Nay, but I was troubled at the sorrows of one that I loved, and helped
him."
"I know thy cunning speech and fair ways; but this woman thou shalt
not take from me."
"But consider; thou canst but have one life. Wilt thou not take another
in her stead?"
"Her and no other will I have, for my honour is the greater when I take
the young."
"I know thy temper, hated both of Gods and of men. But there cometh a
guest to this house, whom Eurystheus sendeth to the snowy plains of
Thrace, to fetch the horses of Lycurgus. Haply he shall persuade thee
against thy will."
"Say what thou wilt; it shall avail nothing. And now I go to cut off a
lock of her hair, for I take these firstfruits of them that die."
In the meantime, within the palace, Alcestis prepared herself for death.
And first she washed her body with pure water from the river, and then

she took from her coffer of cedar her fairest apparel, and adorned
herself therewith. Then, being so arranged, she stood before the hearth
and prayed, saying, "O Queen Heré, behold! I depart this day. Do thou
therefore keep my children, giving to this one a noble husband and to
that a loving wife." And all the altars that were in the house she visited
in like manner, crowning them with myrtle leaves and praying at them.
Nor did she weep at all, or groan, or grow pale. But at the last, when
she came to her chamber, she cast herself upon the bed and kissed it,
crying, "I hate thee not, though I die for thee, giving myself for my
husband. And thee another wife shall possess, not more true than I am,
but, maybe, more fortunate!" And after she had left the chamber, she
turned to it again and again with many tears. And all the while her
children clung to her garments, and she took them up in her arms, the
one first and then the other, and kissed them. And all the servants that
were in the house bewailed their mistress, nor did she fail to reach her
hand to each of them, greeting him. There was not one of them so vile
but she spake to him and was spoken to again.
After this, when the hour was now come when she must die, she cried
to her husband (for he held her in his arms, as if he would have stayed
her that she should not depart), "I see the boat of the dead, and Charon
standing with his hand upon the pole, who calleth me, saying, 'Hasten;
thou delayest us;' and then again, 'A winged messenger of the dead
looketh at me from under his dark eyebrows, and would lead me away.
Dost thou not see him?'" Then after this she seemed now ready to die,
yet again she gathered strength, and said to the King, "Listen, and I will
tell thee before I die what I would have thee do. Thou knowest how I
have given my life for thy life. For when I might have lived, and had
for my husband any prince of Thessaly that I would--and dwelt here in
wealth and royal state, yet could I not endure to be widowed of thee
and that thy children should be fatherless. There, fore I spared not
myself, though thy father and she that bare thee betrayed thee. But the
Gods have ordered all this after their own pleasure. So be it. Do thou
therefore make this recompense, which indeed thou owest to me, for
what will not a man give for his life? Thou lovest these children even
as I love them. Suffer them then to be rulers in this house, and bring not
a step-mother over them who shall hate them and deal with them
unkindly. A son, indeed, hath a tower of strength in his father. But, O

my daughter, how shall it fare with thee, for thy mother will not give
thee in marriage, nor be with thee, comforting thee in thy travail of
children, when a mother most showeth kindness and love. And now
farewell, for I die this day. And thou, too, farewell, my husband. Thou
losest a true wife, and ye, too, my children, a true mother."
Then Admetus made answer, "Fear not, it shall be as thou wilt. I could
not find other wife fair and well born and true as thou. Never more
shall I gather revellers in my palace, or crown my head with garlands,
or hearken to the voice of music. Never shall I touch the harp or sing