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.

  1. To thy hand, and thine alone I her entrust.
Admetus
  1. Prince, against my will thou dost constrain me to this deed.
Heracles
  1. Boldly stretch out thy hand and touch the stranger maid.
Admetus
  1. There, then, I stretch it out as toward the Gorgon’s severed head.[*](Lobeck, whom Nauck follows, to avoid the elision of the final ι of the dative singular, conjectured Γοργόν’ ὡς καρατομῶν as if beheading a Gorgon, i.e. with averted gaze, thus gaining very considerable point. Paley notices the clever suggestion, without however adopting it.)
Heracles
  1. Hast hold of her?
Admetus
  1. I have.
Heracles
  1. (removes the veil). So; keep her safely then, and
  2. in days to come thou wilt confess the son of Zeus proved himself a noble guest. Look well at her, if haply to thy gaze she have a semblance of thy wife; and now that thou art blest, cease from sorrowing.
Admetus
  1. Great gods, what shall I say? a marvel past all hope is here! My wife, my own true wife I see,
  2. or is some mocking rapture sent by heaven to drive me mad?
Heracles
  1. No, no; ’tis thy own wife thou seest here.