_Strophe_

In vain--our pious vows are vain-- {111} Make we the flying sail our care, The light bark bounding o'er the main; To what new realm shall we repair?

To Lycia's hallow'd strand?

Or where in solitary state, Mid thirsty deserts wild and wide That close him round on every side, Prophetic Ammon holds his awful seat?

What charm, what potent hand Shall save her from the realms beneath?

He comes, the ruthless tyrant Death: I have no priest, no altar more, Whose aid I may implore!

_Antistrophe_

O that the Son of Phoebus now {121} Lived to behold th' ethereal light!

Then might she leave the seats below, Where Pluto reigns in cheerless night!

The Sage's potent art, Till thund'ring Jove's avenging pow'r Hurl'd his red Thunders at his breast, Could, from the yawning gulf releast, To the sweet light of life the dead restore.

Who now shall aid impart?

To ev'ry G.o.d, at ev'ry shrine, The king hath paid the rites divine: But vain his vows, his pious care; And ours is dark despair!

EPISODE I

_At last they have been heard, and one of the Queen's Women comes weeping from the Palace [by one of the Inferior Doors]: the Chorus fall into their Episode position, in two ranks, between the Altar and the Stage, taking part by their Foreman in the dialogue._

The Chorus eagerly enquire whether Alcestis yet lives. {138}

_Attend._ As living may I speak of her, and dead.

_Cho._ Living and dead at once, how may that be?

_Attend._ E'en now she sinks in death and breathes her last.

They join in extolling her heroic devotion, and the Attendant tells of her bearing on this day of Death, which she celebrates as if a day of religious festival.

When she knew {160} The destin'd day was come, in fountain water She bath'd her lily-tinctured limbs, then took From her rich chests, of odorous cedar form'd, A splendid robe, and her most radiant dress; Thus gorgeously array'd she stood before The hallow'd flames, and thus address'd her pray'r: "O Queen, I go to the infernal shades!

Yet, e'er I go, with reverence let me breathe My last request: Protect my orphan children, Make my son happy with the wife he loves, {170} And wed my daughter to a n.o.ble husband: Nor let them, like their mother, to the tomb Untimely sink, but in their native land Be blest through length'ned life to honour'd age."

Then to each altar in the royal house She went, and crown'd it, and address'd her vows, Plucking the myrtle bough; nor tear, nor sigh Came from her, neither did the approaching ill Change the fresh beauties of her vermeil cheek.

Her chamber then she visits, and her bed; {180} There her tears flow'd, and thus she spoke: "O bed To which my wedded lord, for whom I die, Led me a virgin bride, farewell; to thee No blame do I impute, for me alone Hast thou destroy'd; disdaining to betray Thee and my lord, I die: to thee shall come Some other woman, not more chaste, perchance More happy"--as she lay, she kissed the couch, And bath'd it with a flood of tears; that pa.s.s'd, She left her chamber, then return'd, and oft {190} She left it, oft return'd, and on the couch Fondly, each time she enter'd, cast herself.

Her children, as they hung upon her robes, Weeping, she rais'd, and clasp'd them to her breast Each after each, as now about to die.

Each servant through the house burst into tears In pity of their mistress; she to each St[r?]etch'd her right hand; nor was there one so mean To whom she spoke not, and admitted him To speak to her again. Within the house {200} So stands it with Admetus. Had he died, His woes were over: now he lives to bear A weight of pain no moment shall forget.

Alcestis is wasting away, and fading with swift disease, while her distracted husband holds her in his arms, entreating impossibilities.

And now they are about to bring her out, for the dying Alcestis has a longing for one more sight of heaven and the radiant morning. The Chorus are plunged in despair: how will their king bear to live after the loss of such a wife!

The lamentations rise higher still _as the Central Gates open and the couch of Alcestis is borne out, Admetus holding her in his arms, and, her children clinging about her; the Stage fills with weeping friends and attendants. The whole dialogue falls into lyrical measures with strophic alternations just perceptible_. _Alcestis_ commences to address the sunshine and fair scenery she has come out to view--when the scene changes to her dying eyes, and she can see nothing but the gloomy river the dead have to cross, with the boatman ready waiting, and the long dreary journey beyond. Dark night is creeping over her eyes, when _Admetus_, as he ever mingles his pa.s.sionate prayers with her wanderings, conjures her for her children's sake as well as his own not to forsake them. A thought for her children's future rouses the mother from her stupor, and she rallies for a solemn last appeal [_the measure changing to blank verse to mark the change of tone_]. She begins to recite the sacrifice she is making for her lord:

I die for thee, though free {284} Not to have died, but from Thessalia's chiefs Preferring whom I pleas'd, in royal state To have lived happy here--I had no will To live bereft of thee with these poor orphans-- I die without reluctance, though the gifts Of youth are mine to make life grateful to me. {290} Yet he that gave thee birth, and she that bore thee, Deserted thee, though well it had beseem'd them With honour to have died for thee, t' have saved Their son with honour, glorious in their death.

They had no child but thee, they had no hope Of other offspring, should'st thou die; and I Might thus have lived, thou mightst have lived till age Crept slowly on, nor wouldst thou heave the sigh Thus of thy wife deprived, nor train alone Thy orphan children:--but some G.o.d appointed {300} It should be thus: thus be it.

All this is the basis for a requital she demands of her husband: that he shall let her children be lords in their own house, and not set over them the cruel guardianship of a step-mother.

My son that holds endearing converse with thee {315} Hath in his father a secure protection; But who, my daughter, shall with honour guide Thy virgin years? What woman shalt thou find New-wedded to thy father, whose vile arts Will not with slanderous falsehoods taint thy name, And blast thy nuptials in youth's freshest bloom?

For never shall thy mother see thee led A bride, nor at thy throes speak comfort to thee, Then present when a mother's tenderness Is most alive: for I must die! {325}

The _Chorus_ pledge their faith that the king will honour such a request as long as reason lasts. _Admetus_ addresses a solemn vow to his dying wife, that her will shall be done:

Living thou wast mine, {334} And dead thou only shalt be called my wife.

It will be only too easy to keep such a pledge as that, for life henceforth will be one long mourning to him.

Hence I renounce The feast, the cheerful guest, the flow'ry wreath, {350} And song that used to echo through my house: For never will I touch the lyre again, Nor to the Libyan flute's sweet measures raise My voice: with thee all my delights are dead.

Thy beauteous figure, by the artist's hand Skillfully wrought, shall in my bed be laid; By that reclining, I will clasp it to me, And call it by thy name, and think I hold My dear wife in my arms, and have her yet, Though now no more I have her: cold delight {360} I ween, yet thus th' affliction of my soul I shall relieve, and visiting my dreams Shalt thou delight me.

O for the power of Orpheus's lyre, that might rescue thee even from the realms of the dead!

But there await me till I die; prepare {374} A mansion for me, as again with me To dwell; for in thy tomb I will be laid, In the same cedar, by thy side composed: For e'en in death I will not be disjoin'd From thee who hast alone been faithful to me!

As the Chorus join in Admetus's sorrow the pledge is reiterated, and the dying mother is satisfied.

_Alc._ Thus pledging, from my hands receive thy children. {386} _Adm._ A much-loved gift, and from a much-loved hand!

The strength Alcestis had summoned for her last effort now forsakes her: she sinks rapidly.

_Alc._ A heavy weight hangs on my darkened eye. {396} _Adm._ If thou forsake me I am lost indeed!

_Alc._ As one that is no more I now am nothing.

_Adm._ Ah, raise thy face! forsake not thus thy children!

_Alc._ It must be so perforce: farewell, my children.

_Adm._ Look on them, but a look.

_Alc._ I am no more.

_Adm._ How dost thou? Wilt thou leave us so?

_Alc._ Farewell.

_Adm._ And what a wretch, what a lost wretch am I!

_Cho._ She's gone! Thy wife, Admetus, is no more!

The little Son flings himself pa.s.sionately on the corpse [_the metre breaking out into strophic alternations._]

_Strophe_

_Son._ O my unhappy fate! {405} My mother sinks to the dark realms of night, Nor longer views this golden light; But to the ills of life exposed Leaves my poor orphan state!

Her eyes, my father, see, her eyes are closed, And her hand nerveless falls.

Yet hear me, O my mother, hear my cries!

It is thy son who calls, Who prostrate on the earth breathes on thy lips his sighs.

_Adm._ On one that hears not, sees not! I and you Must bend beneath affliction's heaviest load.

_Antistrophe_

_Son._ Ah! she hath left my youth-- {417} My mother, my loved mother is no more-- Left me my sufferings to deplore, Left me a heritage of woe: Who shall my sorrows soothe?

Thou too, my sister, thy full share shalt know Of grief, thy heart to rend.

Vain, O my father, vain thy nuptial vows, Brought to this speedy end: For when my mother died in ruin sank our house! {425}

The Chorus [_in calm blank verse_] call on their king to command himself and bear what many have had to bear before.--_Admetus_ knows he must: this calamity has not come without notice. He rouses himself to give orders as to the preparations for burial: the mourning rites shall last a whole year, and shall extend throughout the whole region of Thessaly: the very horses shall have their waving manes cut close, and no sound of flute or instrument of joy shall be heard in the city.

{445}

_The corpse is slowly carried out, and at last the Stage is vacant.