O! woe is me!ChorusA wife; misfortune takes a different shape for every man she plagues.

AdmetusO 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? Then would Hades for that one have gotten these two faithful souls at once, crossing the nether lake together.

ChorusI had a kinsman once, within whose home died