Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/241

211 ALCESTIS 211

For realms below and their infernal king ! soo

Never will we affirm there 's more of joy

Than grief in marriage ; making estimate

Both from old sorrows anciently observed,

And this misfortune of the king we see —

Admetos who, of bravest spouse bereaved, aos

Will live life's remnant out, no life at all ! "

So wailed they, while a sad procession wound

Slow from the innermost o' the palace, stopped

At the extreme verge of the platformfront :

There opened, and disclosed Alkestis' self 310

The consecrated lady, home to look

Her last — and let the living look their last —

She at the sun, ice at Alkestis. 313

" Sun, and thou light of day, and heavenly dance seo O' the fleet cloud-figure ! " (so her passion paused, "While the awe-stricken husband made his moan. Muttered now this now that iiieptitude ;) " Sun that sees thee and me, a suffering pair, Who did the Gods no wrong whence thou should'st die ! " 365

Then, as if caught up, carried in their course. Fleeting and free as cloud and sunheam are. She missed no happiness that lay beneath : " Ο thou wide earth, from these my palace roofs. To distant nuptial chambers once my own 370

In that lolkos of my ancestry ! " — There the flight failed her. " Raise thee, wretched one ! Give us not up ! Pray pity from the Gods ! "

Vainly Admetos : for " I see it — see

The two-oared boat ! The ferry er of the dead, 375