Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/258

228 228 EURIPIDES

To the last burial place and burning pile,^ —

^ Τ icere i^roijcr friends addressed, as custom prompts,

Alkestis bound on her last journeying. 956

" Unhappy in thy daring ! Noble dame, 1238

Best of the good, farewell ! With favoring face May Hermes the infernal,^ Hades too, 1240

Receive thee ! And if there, — ay, there, — some

touch Of further dignity await the good. Sharing with them, mayst thou sit throned by her The Bride of Hades,^ in companionship ! "

Wherewith, the sad procession wound away, 1245

Made slowly for the suburb sepulchre.

. . . We faced about, 1256

Fronted the palace where the mid-hall-gate Ojiened, ...

_Saw'] a certain ancient servitor: ... wee

This functionary was the trusted one We saw deputed by Admetos late 1275

To lead in Herakles. . ..

" Many the guests " — so he soliloquized m

In musings burdensome to breast before. When it seemed not too ptrudent tongue shoidd wag — " Many, and from all quarters of this world. The guests I now have known frequent our house, For whom I spread the banquet ; but than this. Never a worse one did I yet receive At the hearth here ! One who seeing, first of all, 1390 The master's sorrow, entered gate the same. And had the hardihood to house himself.

^ But if the body had been burned, Heracles could not have recov- ered Alcestis from Death.

- Hermes was the escort of the dead to the lower world. ■^ Persephone.