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Admetus
Ah me! I loathe this entering in, and loathe to see my widowed home. Woe, woe is me! Whither shall I go? Where stand? what say? or what suppress? Would God that I were dead!
Surely in an evil hour my mother gave me birth. The dead I envy, and would fain be as they, and long to dwell within their courts. No joy to me to see the light, no joy to tread the earth;
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such a hostage death hath reft me of and handed o’er to Hades.
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Ah me! I loathe this entering in, and loathe to see my widowed home. Woe, woe is me! Whither shall I go? Where stand? what say? or what suppress? Would God that I were dead!
Surely in an evil hour my mother gave me birth. The dead I envy, and would fain be as they, and long to dwell within their courts. No joy to me to see the light, no joy to tread the earth;
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such a hostage death hath reft me of and handed o’er to Hades.
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Chorus
Move forward, go within the shelter of thy house.
Move forward, go within the shelter of thy house.
Admetus
Woe is me!
Woe is me!
Chorus
Thy sufferings claim these cries of woe.
Thy sufferings claim these cries of woe.
Admetus
Ah me!
Ah me!
Chorus
Through anguish hast thou gone, full well I know.
Through anguish hast thou gone, full well I know.
Admetus
Alas! alas!
Alas! alas!
Chorus
Thou wilt not help the dead one whit.
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Thou wilt not help the dead one whit.
875
Admetus
O misery!
O misery!
Chorus
Nevermore to see thy dear wife face to face is grief indeed.
Nevermore to see thy dear wife face to face is grief indeed.
Admetus
Thy words have probed the sore place in my heart. What greater grief can come to man
than the loss of a faithful wife? Would I had never married or shared with her my home! I envy those ’mongst men who have nor wife nor child. Theirs is but one life; to grieve for that is no excessive burden;
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but to see children fall ill and bridal beds emptied by death’s ravages is too much to bear, when one might go through life without wife or child.
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Thy words have probed the sore place in my heart. What greater grief can come to man
than the loss of a faithful wife? Would I had never married or shared with her my home! I envy those ’mongst men who have nor wife nor child. Theirs is but one life; to grieve for that is no excessive burden;
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but to see children fall ill and bridal beds emptied by death’s ravages is too much to bear, when one might go through life without wife or child.
885
Chorus
A fate we cannot cope with is come upon us.
A fate we cannot cope with is come upon us.
Admetus
Woe is me!
Woe is me!
Chorus
But thou to sorrow settest no limit.
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But thou to sorrow settest no limit.
890
Admetus
Ah! ah!
Ah! ah!
Chorus
’Tis hard to bear, but still—
’Tis hard to bear, but still—
Admetus
Woe is me!
Woe is me!
Chorus
Thou art not the first to lose—
Thou art not the first to lose—
Admetus
O! woe is me!
O! woe is me!
Chorus
A wife; misfortune takes a different shape for every man she plagues.
A wife; misfortune takes a different shape for every man she plagues.
Admetus
O the weary sorrow! O the grief for dear ones dead and gone! Why didst thou hinder me from plung-ing into the gaping grave, there to lay me down and die with her, my peerless bride?
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Then would Hades for that one have gotten these two faithful souls at once, crossing the nether lake together.
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O the weary sorrow! O the grief for dear ones dead and gone! Why didst thou hinder me from plung-ing into the gaping grave, there to lay me down and die with her, my peerless bride?
895
Then would Hades for that one have gotten these two faithful souls at once, crossing the nether lake together.
900
Chorus
I had a kinsman once, within whose home died
his only son, worthy of a father’s tears; yet in spite of that he bore his grief resignedly, childless though he was, his hair already turning grey, himself far on in years, upon
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life’s downward track.
910
I had a kinsman once, within whose home died
his only son, worthy of a father’s tears; yet in spite of that he bore his grief resignedly, childless though he was, his hair already turning grey, himself far on in years, upon
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life’s downward track.
910
Admetus
O house of mine, how can I enter thee? how can I live here, now that fortune turns against me? Ah me! How wide the gulf ’twixt then and now!
Then with torches cut from Pelion’s pines, with marriage hymns I entered in, holding my dear wife’s hand; and at our back a crowd of friends with cheerful cries, singing the happy lot of my dead wife and me,
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calling us a noble pair made one, children both of highborn lineage; but now the voice of woe instead of wedding hymns, and robes of black instead of snowy white usher me
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into my house to my deserted couch.
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O house of mine, how can I enter thee? how can I live here, now that fortune turns against me? Ah me! How wide the gulf ’twixt then and now!
Then with torches cut from Pelion’s pines, with marriage hymns I entered in, holding my dear wife’s hand; and at our back a crowd of friends with cheerful cries, singing the happy lot of my dead wife and me,
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calling us a noble pair made one, children both of highborn lineage; but now the voice of woe instead of wedding hymns, and robes of black instead of snowy white usher me
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into my house to my deserted couch.
925
Chorus
Hard upon prosperous fortune came this sorrow to thee, a stranger to adversity; yet hast thou saved thy soul alive.
Thy wife is dead and gone; her love she leaves with thee. What new thing is here? Death ere now from many a man hath torn a wife.
930
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Hard upon prosperous fortune came this sorrow to thee, a stranger to adversity; yet hast thou saved thy soul alive.
Thy wife is dead and gone; her love she leaves with thee. What new thing is here? Death ere now from many a man hath torn a wife.
930
Admetus
My friends, I count my dead wife’s lot more blest than mine, for all it seems not so; for nevermore can sorrow touch her for ever; all her toil is over, and glorious is her fame. While I, who had no right to live, have passed the bounds of fate
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only to live a life of misery; I know it now. For how shall I endure to enter this my house? Whom shall I address, by whom be answered back, to find
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aught joyful in my entering in? Whither shall I turn? Within, the desolation will drive me forth,
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whensoe’er I see my widowed couch, the seat whereon she sat, the floor ail dusty in the house, and my babes falling at my knees with piteous tears for their mother, while my servants mourn the good mistress their house hath lost.
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These are the sorrows in my home, while abroad the marriages among Thessalians and the thronging crowds of women will drive me mad,
2
for I can never bear to gaze upon the compeers of my wife. And whoso is my foe will taunt me thus,
950
Behold him living in his shame, a wretch who quailed at death himself, but of his coward heart gave up his wedded wife instead, and escaped from Hades; doth he deem himself a man after that? And he loathes his parents, though himself refused to die. Such ill report shall I to my evils add.
955
What profit, then, my friends, for me to live, in fame and fortune ruined.
960
My friends, I count my dead wife’s lot more blest than mine, for all it seems not so; for nevermore can sorrow touch her for ever; all her toil is over, and glorious is her fame. While I, who had no right to live, have passed the bounds of fate
935
only to live a life of misery; I know it now. For how shall I endure to enter this my house? Whom shall I address, by whom be answered back, to find
1
aught joyful in my entering in? Whither shall I turn? Within, the desolation will drive me forth,
940
whensoe’er I see my widowed couch, the seat whereon she sat, the floor ail dusty in the house, and my babes falling at my knees with piteous tears for their mother, while my servants mourn the good mistress their house hath lost.
945
These are the sorrows in my home, while abroad the marriages among Thessalians and the thronging crowds of women will drive me mad,
2
for I can never bear to gaze upon the compeers of my wife. And whoso is my foe will taunt me thus,
950
Behold him living in his shame, a wretch who quailed at death himself, but of his coward heart gave up his wedded wife instead, and escaped from Hades; doth he deem himself a man after that? And he loathes his parents, though himself refused to die. Such ill report shall I to my evils add.
955
What profit, then, my friends, for me to live, in fame and fortune ruined.
960
Chorus
Myself have traced the Muses’ path, have soared amid the stars, have laid my hold on many a theme,
and yet have found naught stronger than necessity, no spell inscribed on Thracian tablets written there by Orpheus, the sweet singer,
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no! nor aught among the simples culled by Phoebus for the toiling race of men, and given to Asclepius’ sons.
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Myself have traced the Muses’ path, have soared amid the stars, have laid my hold on many a theme,
and yet have found naught stronger than necessity, no spell inscribed on Thracian tablets written there by Orpheus, the sweet singer,
965
no! nor aught among the simples culled by Phoebus for the toiling race of men, and given to Asclepius’ sons.
970
Chorus
The only goddess she, whose altar or whose image man cannot approach;
victims she heedeth not. O come not to me, dread goddess, in greater might than heretofore in my career. Even Zeus requires thy aid to bring to pass whatso he wills.
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Thou too it is that by sheer force dost bend the steel among the Chalybes; nor is there any pity in thy relentless nature.
980
The only goddess she, whose altar or whose image man cannot approach;
victims she heedeth not. O come not to me, dread goddess, in greater might than heretofore in my career. Even Zeus requires thy aid to bring to pass whatso he wills.
975
Thou too it is that by sheer force dost bend the steel among the Chalybes; nor is there any pity in thy relentless nature.
980
Chorus
This is the goddess that hath gripped thee too in chains thou canst not ’scape;
yet steel thy heart, for all thy weeping ne’er will bring to light again the dead from the realms below. Even sons of gods perish in darkness
3
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in the hour of death. We loved her while she was with us, we love her still though dead; noblest of her sex was she, the wife thou tookest to thy bed.
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This is the goddess that hath gripped thee too in chains thou canst not ’scape;
yet steel thy heart, for all thy weeping ne’er will bring to light again the dead from the realms below. Even sons of gods perish in darkness
3
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in the hour of death. We loved her while she was with us, we love her still though dead; noblest of her sex was she, the wife thou tookest to thy bed.
990
Chorus
Her tomb let none regard as the graves of those who die and are no more, but let her have honours equal with the gods, revered by every traveller;
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and many a one will cross the road and read this verse aloud,
This is she that died in days gone by to save her lord; now is she a spirit blest. Hail, lady revered; be kind to us!
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Such glad greeting shall she have.
1005
Her tomb let none regard as the graves of those who die and are no more, but let her have honours equal with the gods, revered by every traveller;
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and many a one will cross the road and read this verse aloud,
This is she that died in days gone by to save her lord; now is she a spirit blest. Hail, lady revered; be kind to us!
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Such glad greeting shall she have.
1005
Alcestis. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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