The Greek Plays
Page 57
for dear ones below the earth.
Why did you stop me from hurling myself
into her empty grave, lying with her
in death, she who was best of all?
900
Hades would have gained not just one
but two faithful lives together;
together we would have crossed the lake below.
strophe
CHORUS: I had a kinsman
whose son died at home,
an only child
deserving lamentation. But steadfast
and with restraint he bore his pain,
his childlessness,
bent with age, his hair going white,
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his life far gone.
ADMETUS: Roof, walls, doors of my house,
how can I go inside, live here
with my life so changed, so different? oimoi!
Back then, to the flare of pine torches from Pelion
to the sounds of marriage hymns, I went inside
with my dear bride, my hand on her wrist.*62
Behind us came a noisy crowd;
they called us happy, the dead woman and me:
we were a husband and wife
920
of noble ancestry, both
descended from the rich and powerful.
But now, groans instead of marriage songs
and black raiment instead of white
surround me as I go inside
to my empty marriage bed.
antistrophe
CHORUS: In the midst of a happy life
this pain has come upon you,
who aren’t used to suffering.
But you spared your body; you saved your life.
930
Your wife died and left behind your love.
What’s new in this? Death
has separated many before now
from their wives.
ADMETUS: I believe, my friends, her lot is happier
than mine, although it doesn’t seem so.
No pain will ever reach her, and she gained
fame and put an end to many troubles.
But I, who shouldn’t be alive, escaped
940
my death but will live out my life in pain.
Now I understand—for how will I bear
to go into this house? Whom will I speak to,
who will speak to me, to make my entry sweet?
Where can I turn? The loneliness inside
will drive me away: the sight of the empty bed,
and the chair where she sat, and the floors unswept
in every room. The children will clasp my knees
and cry “Mother!” and the slaves will weep
for the peerless mistress they have lost. That’s how
950
it will be in the house. But outside, groups of women
and Thessalian weddings will drive me
back in. To see women my wife’s age
will be unbearable. And someone, an enemy,
will say: “Look at him! He lives in shame!
He couldn’t stomach dying, so, to escape it,
the coward gave Hades his wife instead.
After that he pretends to be a man? He hates
his parents, though he himself was unwilling
to die.” That’s the “fame” I’ll have, to add
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to my woes. So how can life profit me?
What they say and what I suffer is all bad.
strophe
CHORUS: I’ve soared to the realm of the Muses
and the highest reaches of thought;
I’ve listened to many stories.
But I’ve found nothing more powerful
than Necessity,*63
no cure in Thracian tablets*64
engraved with words
Orpheus spoke
970
or in the remedies that Phoebus
gathered for mortals’ troubles
and gave to the sons of Asclepius.
antistrophe
To Necessity, alone of gods, there are
no altars, no sacred statues to approach.
She pays no heed to sacrifice.
Lady, may you not bear down on me
with more force than before in my life.
For whatever Zeus nods his assent to
he completes with you at his side.
980
Your might is stronger
than Chalybian steel*65
and your relentless heart
knows no pity.
strophe
This goddess has seized you in her hands’ relentless hold.
But be brave! You will never raise the dead
by weeping for them.
Even children of the gods
990
fade away and die.
She was loved when she was with us,
she’ll be loved still in death.
The woman yoked to you in marriage
was the noblest of all wives.
antistrophe
Don’t think of your wife’s tomb
as a burial mound for a body dead and gone
but give it honor equal to a god’s.*66
1000
Let it be revered by travelers on the road.
One of them will climb the sloping path
and say: “This is the woman who died
in her husband’s place. She’s a blessed hero now.
Hail, Lady! May you be kind.”
These are the words they’ll speak to her.
(The Chorus point to Heracles entering from the left, leading a veiled woman.)
CHORUS: But look, Admetus! I think this is
the son of Alcmene approaching the house.
HERACLES: Admetus, one must speak freely to a friend
and not keep blame pent up inside
1010
in silence. I feel it’s right to prove myself
your friend and support you in your trouble.
But you didn’t tell me the body to be buried
was your wife’s. You entertained me in your house
as if you dealt with the suffering of a stranger.
And I put a garland on my head and poured
libations to the gods in a house of grief.
I blame you for this, I really do.
But I don’t want to hurt you in your pain.
Now I’ll tell you why I have come back.
1020
Take this woman and keep her safe for me
until I’ve killed the king of the Bistonians
and come back with the Thracian mares.
But if something should happen—I hope not!
I want to return—I give her to you, a servant
in your house. I went through much to get her.
I came upon some men holding an open
competition, worthy of an athlete’s sweat.
That’s where I won her as a prize.
The victors in the minor events won horses;
1030
those who won the wrestling and boxing,
harder contests, took away cattle and also
a woman. Since I was there, I would have
disgraced myself if I’d passed up the chance
for gain and glory. But, as I said, you should
care for her. I didn’t steal her; I won her
with effort. Perhaps even you will praise me, in time.
ADMETUS: It wasn’t from disrespect or thinking you
an enemy that I concealed my wife’s sad fate.
No, I would have added pain to my pain
1040
if you’d set out for another host’s hearth.
Her loss was enough for me to weep about.
But, if at all possible, Heracles, I beg you,
ask another Thessalian, who hasn’t suffered
as I have, one of your many friends in Pherae,
to keep this wo
man. Don’t remind me
of my loss. I wouldn’t be able to stop
my tears at the sight of her. I’m already sick;
don’t make me worse. I’m burdened enough.
Where would a young woman stay in this house?
1050
I can see she’s young by the way she’s dressed.
So then will she live in the men’s quarters?
How will she remain pure, moving around
among young men? It’s not easy, Heracles,
to restrain a youth. I have your interest at heart.
Or should I put her in the dead woman’s room?
And bring her into that woman’s bed?
I fear blame from two sources: townspeople,
who’ll say I’ve betrayed my wife, my savior,
by falling into bed with a young woman;
1060
and my dead wife, who’s owed my reverence.
I have to think of her and take great care.
Woman, whoever you are, know you have
Alcestis’ size and shape; you look just like her.
oimoi! Take her from my sight, I pray.
I’m already dead. Don’t kill me again.
When I look at her, I think I’m seeing
my wife. My heart churns, and tears
spring from my eyes. What misery I feel!
Only now I taste the bitterness of this grief.
1070
CHORUS: I couldn’t call this good luck, but one must
tolerate a god’s gift, whatever it is.
HERACLES: I wish that I were able to bring your wife
into the light from the house of the dead,
to do for you that act of gratitude.
ADMETUS: I know that’s what you’d want, but what’s the point?
It isn’t possible for the dead to rise to the light.
HERACLES: So then, don’t overdo it; moderate your grief.
ADMETUS: That’s easier to say than for the sufferer to do.
HERACLES: What would you achieve by mourning forever?
1080
ADMETUS: Nothing, I know, but passion carries me away.
HERACLES: Yes, loving a dead person leads to tears.
ADMETUS: My devastation is greater than I can say.
HERACLES: You’ve lost a noble wife; who would deny it?
ADMETUS: And so I can no longer enjoy life.
HERACLES: Time will ease the pain, which now is young.
ADMETUS: You’d be right about time, if time is death.
HERACLES: A new wife will cure your longing.
ADMETUS: Silence! Such words! Not what I’d expect from you!
HERACLES: Why? You won’t marry? You’ll stay a widow?
1090
ADMETUS: There isn’t a woman alive who’ll lie with me.
HERACLES: You can’t think you’re helping the dead woman?
ADMETUS: I must honor her, wherever she is.
HERACLES: Praiseworthy, yes, but you’ll earn the name of “fool.”*67
ADMETUS: May I die if I betray her, even though she’s gone.
HERACLES: Receive this woman with kindness into the house.
ADMETUS: Don’t ask this, I beg you by your father Zeus.
HERACLES: You’ll be making a mistake if you don’t do this.
1100
ADMETUS: And if I do, I’ll wound my heart with grief.
HERACLES: Trust me. Perhaps this favor is just what you need.
ADMETUS: pheu!
I wish you’d never taken her as your prize!
HERACLES: My victory, nonetheless, is also yours.
ADMETUS: All well and good, but let her go away!
HERACLES: If she must, she’ll go. But first be sure she must.
ADMETUS: She must, unless you intend to make me angry.*68
HERACLES: I know something. It makes me want this very much.
ADMETUS: Have your victory. But what you do doesn’t please me.
HERACLES: A day will come when it will, but for now trust me.
1110
ADMETUS: (to attendant) Take her in, since I must accept her into my house.
HERACLES: I’d rather not hand this woman over to attendants.
ADMETUS: Then take her in yourself, if that’s what you want.
HERACLES: It is into your hands I will entrust her.
ADMETUS: I couldn’t touch her. But she’s free to go in.
HERACLES: I trust your right hand alone.
ADMETUS: My lord, you force me to do this against my will.
HERACLES: Courage! Reach out your hand and touch the stranger.
ADMETUS: I reach out my hand as if beheading a Gorgon.*69
HERACLES: You have her?
ADMETUS: Yes.
HERACLES: Keep her safe,
1120
and you will say the son of Zeus is a kind guest.
(Heracles pulls the veil away from Alcestis’ face.)
Look at her. Does she look like your wife?
With this good fortune stop your grieving.
ADMETUS: O gods! What should I say? I’m amazed!
I never hoped—Do I really see my wife,
or does a god send joy to mock and madden me?
HERACLES: Certainly not. The woman you see is your wife.*70
ADMETUS: But look; this may be an apparition from the dead.
HERACLES: (pointing to himself) This friend of yours doesn’t conjure with ghosts.
ADMETUS: The woman whom I buried, my wife—I see her?
1130
HERACLES: I’m not surprised you don’t believe your luck.
ADMETUS: Can I touch and talk to her—my wife revived?
HERACLES: Speak to her. You have all you wished for.
ADMETUS: This face, this body of my dearest wife!
I have you, though I never hoped to see you again.
HERACLES: You have. May the gods not begrudge you this!
ADMETUS: Noble son of greatest Zeus!
May you prosper and may the father who gave
you life protect you. You alone have restored me.
How did you bring her from death to life?
1140
HERACLES: I fought with the god who was in charge of her.
ADMETUS: Where did you fight this battle with Death?
HERACLES: Beside her tomb. I ambushed him and grabbed him.
ADMETUS: But why does this woman stand here in silence?
HERACLES: You’re not allowed to hear her greet you yet,
not before the third day dawns, when she’s
released from her sacred bond to the gods below.
But take her inside. Be just from now on,
Admetus. Honor guests with reverence.
Farewell. I go to perform the task the king,
1150
the son of Sthenelos,*71 assigned to me.
ADMETUS: Stay here and be a guest at our hearth!
HERACLES: I will another time, but now I must move on.
ADMETUS: May you be fortunate and return with speed!
(Heracles exits to the left.)
To all citizens and the four cities I rule*72
I say: celebrate my good fortune with song
and burn sacrifices on the altars in prayer!
For the life I now adopt is better than
the life before. I won’t deny I’m lucky.
(Admetus exits into the house, leading Alcestis.)
CHORUS: Divinity takes many forms;
1160
the gods accomplish many startling things.
What we expect does not take place,
and the god makes way for the unexpected.
And so it came about in this affair.
* * *
*1 Apollo’s son Asclepius was a healer; Zeus killed him for violating divine law by restoring the dead to life.
*2 According to the story as told by Aeschylus in his play Eumenides, Apollo made the Fates drunk to extract from them the de
al he describes here.
*3 In the play, the length of time that has elapsed between the deal that Apollo struck with the Furies and this day, when Alcestis must die, is not specified, but it is clear we should imagine that it is at least a year.
*4 Gods do not permit themselves to come into contact with the dead or dying, who are considered unclean. Artemis, for example, also says she must leave before Hippolytus dies (Hippolytus, lines 1437–38).
*5 Anapests in tragedy can be chanted or sung. The rhythm (in its pure form, two short syllables followed by one long syllable) is associated with marching and is frequently used for the entrance of the Chorus.
*6 Phoebus is an epithet of Apollo; it is often used separately, as another name for the god.
*7 Alcestis. Pelias, her father, usurped the throne of Iolcus from Jason and sent him to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis on the Black Sea, expecting that he would not return. But Jason was saved by Medea, the daughter of the king of Colchis, who returned to Iolcus with him. There she persuaded Pelias’ daughters to kill their father (see Euripides’ Medea). Alcestis, at least according to some versions of the story, did not participate in the killing of her father.
*8 Apollo, the god of prophecy, foresees the arrival of Heracles. Heracles will arrive in the course of performing one of his labors for King Eurystheus: to bring back from Thrace the savage horses of Diomedes. His labors are payment for killing his family in a fit of madness sent by Hera, Zeus’ wife.
*9 The priest performing a sacrificial ritual always begins with cutting off a lock of the victim’s hair.
*10 Chanted lines are in an anapestic rhythm, often used for the entrance and exit of the Chorus. Division of the anapestic units into line lengths differs in different editions. Line numbers, however, follow standard numbering established in an early edition of the play and therefore don’t always correspond to the actual number of lines in any particular edition.
*11 After the Chorus’s initial chanted anapests, they alternate anapests with four stanzas sung in unison. The line numbers in the songs of the Chorus also do not always correspond to the actual number of lines in this translation. Editors vary in how they divide lines into metrical units; however, standard line numbers are retained.
*12 Paian is the name given to Apollo in his role as healer. A “paean” is a hymn sung to invoke the healing god.
*13 This line has been emended to make it fit the metrical pattern. There are several emendations in the chanted sections, lines 93–97 and 105–11.
*14 Traditionally a burial involves a procession to the tomb with mourners; a burial with only one person in attendance is unthinkable.