(The body of ALCESTIS is carried solemnly into the Palace, followed by ADMETUS, With bowed head, holding one of his children by each hand. When all have entered, the great doors are quietly shut.)CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
O Daughter of Pelias, Hail to you in the house of Hades, In the sunless home where you shall dwell!
Let Hades, the dark-haired God, Let the old man, Leader of the Dead, Who sits at the oar and helm, Know you:
Far, far off is the best of women Borne beyond the flood of Acheron In the two-oared boat!
antistrophe 1
Often shall the Muses' servants Sing of you to the seven-toned Lyre-shell of the mountain-tortoise, And praise you with mourning songs at Sparta When the circling season Brings back the month Carneius Under the nightlong upraised moon, And in bright glad Athens.
Such a theme do you leave by your death For the music of singers!
strophe 2
Ah! That I had the power To bring you back to the light From the dark halls of Hades, And from the waves of Cocytus With the oar of the river of hell Oh, you only, O dearest of women, You only dared give your life For the life of your lord in Hades!
Light rest the earth above you, O woman.
If your lord choose another bridal-bed He shall be hateful to me As to your own children.
antistrophe 2
When his mother And the old father that begot him Would not give their bodies to the earth For their son's sake, They dared not deliver him-O cruel!
Though their heads were grey.
But you, In your lively youth, Died for him, and are gone from the light!
Ah! might I be joined With a wife so dear!
But in life such fortune is rare.
How happy were my days with her!
(From the left HERACLES enters. He is black-bearded and of great physical strength; he wears a lion-skin over his shoulders and carries a large club.)HERACLES (with a gesture of salutation)
Friends, dwellers in the lands of Pherae, do I find Admetus in his home?
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
The son of Pheres is in his home, O Heracles. But, tell us, what brings you to the land of Thessaly and to the city of Pherae?
HERACLES
I have a task I must achieve for Eurystheus of Tiryns.