Chorus
Too long that list both now and heretofore; cease, father, to revile thy son.
Admetus Say on, for I have said my say; but if it vexes thee to hear the truth, thou shouldst not have sinned against me.
Pheres My sin had been the deeper, had I died for thee.
Admetus What! is it all one for young or old to die?
Pheres To live one life, not twain, is all our due.
Admetus Outlive then Zeus himself!
Pheres Dost curse thy parents, though unharmed by them?
Admetus Yea, for I see thy heart is set on length of days.
Pheres Is it not to save thyself thou art carrying to the tomb this corpse?
Admetus A proof of thy cowardice, thou craven heart!
Pheres At any rate her death was not due to me; this thou canst not say.
Admetus Ah! mayst thou some day come to need my aid!
Pheres Woo many wives, that there may be the more to die.
Admetus That is thy reproach, for thou didst refuse to die.
Pheres Dear is the light of the sun-god, dear to all.
Admetus A coward soul is thine, not to be reckoned among men.
Pheres No laughing now for thee at bearing forth my aged corpse.
Admetus Thy death will surely be a death of shame, come when it will.
Pheres Once dead I little reck of foul report.
Admetus Alas! how void of shame the old can be!
Pheres Hers was no want of shame; ’twas want of sense in her that thou didst find.
Admetus Begone! and leave me to bury my dead.
Pheres I go; bury thy victim, thyself her murderer. Her kinsmen yet will call for an account. Else surely has Acastus ceased to be a man, if he avenge not on thee his sister’s blood.
Admetus Perdition seize thee and that wife of thine! grow old, as ye deserve, childless, though your son yet lives, for ye shall never enter the same abode with me; nay! were it needful I should disown thy paternal hearth by heralds’ voice, I had disowned it. Now, since we must bear our present woe, let us go and lay the dead upon the pyre.
Chorus
Woe, woe for thee! Alas, for thy hardihood! Noble spirit, good beyond compare, farewell! May Hermes in the nether world, and Hades, too, give thee a kindly welcome! and if even in that other life the good are rewarded, mayst thou have thy share therein and take thy seat by Hades’ bride!
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