EURIPIDES
Admetus
She does not see, she does not hear you. You and I
both have a hard and heavy load to carry now. 405
Boy
Father, I am too small to be left alone
by the mother I loved so much. Oh,
it is hard for me to bear
all this that is happening,
and you, little sister, suffer 410
with me too. Oh, father,
your marriage was empty, empty, she did not live
to grow old with you.
She died too soon. Mother, with you gone away,
the whole house is ruined. 415
(Alcestis is carried into the house, followed
by children and servants.)
Chorus
Admetus, you must stand up to misfortune now.
You are not the first, and not the last of humankind
to lose a good wife. Therefore, you must understand
death is an obligation claimed from all of us.
Admetus *
I understand it. And this evil which has struck 420
was no surprise. I knew about it long ago,
and knowledge was hard. But now, since we must bury
our dead,
stay with me and stand by me, chant responsively
the hymn of the unsacrificed-to god below.
To all Thessalians over whom my rule extends 425
I ordain a public mourning for my wife, to be
observed with shaving of the head and with black robes.
The horses that you drive in chariots and those
you ride single shall have their manes cut short with steel,
and there shall be no sound of flutes within the city, 430
no sound of lyres, until twelve moons have filled and
gone;
32