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.
- To thy hand, and thine alone I her entrust.
- Prince, against my will thou dost constrain me to this deed.
- Boldly stretch out thy hand and touch the stranger maid.
- 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.)
- Hast hold of her?
- I have.
- (removes the veil). So; keep her safely then, and
- 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.
- 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?
- No, no; ’tis thy own wife thou seest here.