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. This is the goddess that hath gripped thee too in chains thou canst not ’scape;
  2. yet steel thy heart, for all thy weeping ne’er will bring to light again the dead from the realms
    below. Even sons of gods perish in darkness[*](σκότιοι or the sons of gods by mortal women.)
  3. in the hour of death. We loved her while she was with us, we love her still though dead; noblest of her sex was she, the wife thou tookest to thy bed.
Chorus
  1. Her tomb let none regard as the graves of those who die and are no more, but let her have honours equal with the gods, revered by every traveller;
  2. and many a one will cross the road and read this verse aloud, This is she that died in days gone by to save her lord; now is she a spirit blest. Hail, lady revered; be kind to us!