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.
- Thy verdict this, O Heracles, mine another.
- Why weepest then? which of thy dear ones is the dead?
- ’Tis a woman; I spoke of a woman just now.
- A stranger, or one of thine own kin?
- A stranger, yet in another sense related to my house.
- How then came she by her death in house of thine?
- Her father dead, she lived here as an orphan.
- Ah! would I had found thee free from grief, Admetus!
- With what intent dost thou devise this speech?
- I will seek some other friendly hearth.
- Never, O prince! Heaven forefend such dire disgrace!
- A guest is a burden to sorrowing friends, if come he should.
- The dead are dead. Come in.
- To feast in a friend’s house of sorrow is shameful.
- The guest chambers lie apart, whereto we will conduct thee.
- Let me go; ten thousandfold shall be my thanks to thee.
- Thou must not go to any other hearth. (To a Servant.) Go before, open the guest-rooms that face not these chambers, and bid my stewards see there is plenty of food; then shut the doors that lead into the courtyard; for ’tis not seemly that guests when at their meat
- should hear the voice of weeping or be made sad. [Exit HERACLES.
- What doest thou? With such calamity before thee, hast thou the heart, Admetus, to welcome visitors? What means this folly?
- Well, and if I had driven him from my house and city when he came to be my guest, wouldst thou have praised me more?