Great gods, what shall I say? a marvel past all hope is here! My wife, my own true wife I see, or is some mocking rapture sent by heaven to drive me mad?HeraclesNo, no; ’tis thy own wife thou seest here.AdmetusBeware it be not a phantom from that nether world.HeraclesNo necromancer was this guest whom thou didst welcome.AdmetusDo I behold my wife, her whom I buried?HeraclesBe well assured thereof; still I marvel not thou dost distrust thy luck.AdmetusMay I touch her, may I speak to her as my living wife?HeraclesSpeak to her. For thou hast all thy heart’s desire.AdmetusO form and features of my well-loved wife! past all hope I hold thee, never expecting to see thee again.HeraclesSo thou dost; may no jealous god rise against thee!AdmetusO noble son of almighty Zeus, good luck to thee! may the father that begat thee hold thee in his keeping; for thou and none else hast raised my fallen fortunes. How didst thou bring her from the world below to this light of day?HeraclesBy encountering the godReading δαιμόνων τῷ κυρίῳ. Nauck has κοιράνῳ—apparently regarding the Death-god as supreme over all deities, but surely this is incorrect. Jacobs, seeing the difficulty, conjectured νερτέρων. But the translation in the text seems a possible one, and makes the emendation unnecessary. who had her in his power.AdmetusWhere didst thou engage with Death? tell me this.HeraclesJust by the tomb I from my ambush sprang and caught him in my grip.AdmetusBut why thus speechless stands my wife?Heracles’Tis not lawful yet for thee to hear her speak, ere she be purified from the gods below and the third day be come. So lead her in; and hereafter, e’en as now, be just and kind to guests, Admetus. Now farewell! for I must go to perform my appointed task for the lordly son of Sthenelus.AdmetusAbide with us and be our welcome guest.