Alcestis
Euripides
Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. I. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1906.
- Do not exceed the mark, but bear thy grief with moderation.
- ’Tis easier to advise than to suffer and endure.
- Yet what thy gain, if thou for aye wilt mourn?
- I too know that myself, but some strange yearning leads me on.
- Love for the dead compels a tear.
- Her death was mine, more than any words of mine can tell.
- Thou hast lost a noble wife; who shall gainsay it?
- Life henceforth hath lost all charm for me.
- Time will soothe the smart; as yet thy grief is young.
- Time! use that word, if death and time are one.
- A new wife and a longing for a fresh marriage will stay thy sorrow.
- Peace! What words are thine? I ne’er of thee had thought it.
- What! wilt never wed, but preserve thy widowed state?
- There is no woman living that shall share my couch.
- Dost think that this will help the dead at all?
- My reverence she deserves, where’er she is.
- I praise thee, yes; but still thou bringest on thyself the charge of folly.
- So that thou never call’st me bridegroom, praise me if thou wilt.
- I praise thee for thy loyalty to thy wife.
- Come death! if ever I betray her, dead though she be.