Heavy shall it be for you Never to look again On the face of the woman you love.
ADMETUS
You bring to my mind the grief that breaks my heart. What sorrow is worse for a man than the loss of such a woman? I would I had never married, never shared my house with her. I envy the wifeless and the childless. They live but one life-what is suffering to them? But the sickness of children, bridal-beds ravished by Death-dreadful! when we might be wifeless and childless to the end.
CHORUS
Chance, dreadful Chance, has stricken you.
ADMETUS
Alas!
CHORUS
But you set no limit to your grief.
ADMETUS
Ah! Gods!
CHORUS
A heavy burden to bear, and yet...
ADMETUS
Woe! Woe!
CHORUS
Courage! You are not the first to lose...
ADMETUS
Oh me! Oh me!
CHORUS
A wife.
Different men Fate crushes with different blows.
ADMETUS
O long grief and mourning for those beloved under the earth!
Why did you stay me from casting myself into the hollow grave to lie down for ever in death by the best of women? Two lives, not one, had then been seized by Hades, most faithful one to the other; and together we should have crossed the lake of the Underworld.
CHORUS
A son most worthy of tears Was lost to one of my house, Yet, childless, he suffered with courage, Though the white was thick in his hair And his days were far-spent!
ADMETUS
O visage of my house! How shall I enter you? How shall I dwell in you, now that Fate has turned its face from me? How great is the change! Once, of old, I entered my house with marriage-songs and the torches of Pelion, holding a loved woman by the hand, followed by a merry crowd shouting good wishes to her who is dead and to me, because we had joined our lives, being both noble and born of noble lines.
Today, in place of marriage-songs are lamentations; instead of white garments I am clad in mourning, to return to my house and a solitary bed.
CHORUS
Grief has fallen upon you In the midst of a happy life Untouched by misfortune.
But your life and your spirit are safe.
She is dead, She has left your love.
Is this so new?
Ere now many men Death has severed from wives.
ADMETUS (speaking)
O friends, whatsoever may be thought by others, to me it seems that my wife's fate is happier than mine. Now, no pain ever shall touch her again; she has reached the noble end of all her sufferings. But I, I who should have died, I have escaped my fate, only to drag out a wretched life. Only now do I perceive it.
How shall I summon strength to enter this house? Whom shall Igreet? Who will greet me in joy at my coming? Whither shall I turn my steps? I shall be driven forth by solitude when I see my bed widowed of my wife, empty the chairs on which she sat, a dusty floor beneath my roof, my children falling at my knees and calling for their mother, and the servants lamenting for the noble lady lost from the house!
Such will be my life within the house. Without, I shall be driven from marriage-feasts and gatherings of the women of Thessaly. Ishall not endure to look upon my wife's friends. Those who hate me will say: 'See how he lives in shame, the man who dared not die, the coward who gave his wife to Hades in his stead! Is that a man? He hates his parents, yet he himself refused to die!'
This evil fame I have added to my other sorrows. O my friends, what then avails it that I live, if I must live in misery and shame?
(He covers his head with his robe, and crouches in abject misery on the steps of his Palace.)CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
I have lived with the Muses And on lofty heights:
Many doctrines have I learned;
But Fate is above us all.
Nothing avails against Fate Neither the Thracian tablets Marked with Orphic symbols, Nor the herbs given by Phoebus To the children of Asclepius To heal men of their sickness.
antistrophe 1
None can come near to her altars, None worship her statues;She regards not our sacrifice.
O sacred goddess, Bear no more hardly upon me Than in days overpast!
With a gesture Zeus judges, But the sentence is yours.
Hard iron yields to your strength;
Your fierce will knows not gentleness.
strophe 2
And the Goddess has bound you Ineluctably in the gyves of her hands.
Yield.
Can your tears give life to the dead?
For the sons of the Gods Swoon in the shadow of Death.
Dear was she in our midst, Dear still among the dead, For the noblest of women was she Who lay in your bed.
antistrophe 2
Ah!
Let the grave of your spouse Be no more counted as a tomb, But revered as the Gods, And greeted by all who pass by!
The wanderer shall turn from his path, Saying: 'She died for her lord;A blessed spirit she is now.
Hail, O sacred lady, be our friend!'
Thus shall men speak of her.
(ADMETUS is still crouched on the Palace steps, when HERACLES enters from the side, leading a veiled woman.)LEADER OF THE CHORUS
But see! The son of Alcmena, as I think, comes to your house.
(ADMETUS uncovers his head, and faces the newcomer.)HERACLES
Admetus, a man should speak freely to his friends, and not keep reproaches silent in his heart. Since I was near you in your misfortune, should have wished to show myself your friend. But you did not tell me the dead body was your wife's, and you took me into your house as if you were in mourning only for a stranger. And I put a garland of flowers upon my head, and poured wine-offerings to the Gods, when your house was filled with lamentation. I blame you, yes, Iblame you for this-but I will not upbraid you in your misfortune.
Why I turned back and am here, I shall tell you. Take and keep this woman for me until I have slain the King of the Bistones and return here with the horses of Thrace. If ill happens to me-may Ireturn safely!-I give her to you to serve in your house.
With much striving I won her to my hands. On my way I found public games, worthy of athletes, and I have brought back this woman whom Iwon as the prize of victory. The winners of the easy tests had horses;heads of cattle were given to those who won in boxing and wrestling.