aim'st at.

AP. Is it possible then for Alcestis to arrive at old age?

DEA. It is not: consider that I too am delighted with my due honors.

AP. Thou canst not, however, take more than one life.

DEA. When the young die I earn the greater glory.

AP. And if she die old, she will be sumptuously entombed.[6]

DEA. Thou layest down the law, Phoebus, in favor of the rich.

AP. How sayest thou? what? hast thou been clever without my perceiving it?

DEA. Those who have means would purchase to die old.

AP. Doth it not then seem good to thee to grant me this favor?

DEA. No in truth; and thou knowest my ways.

AP. Yes, hostile to mortals, and detested by the Gods.

DEA. Thou canst not have all things, which thou oughtest not.

AP. Nevertheless, thou wilt stop, though thou art over-fierce; such a man
will come to the house of Pheres, whom Eurystheus hath sent after the
chariot and its horses,[7] _to bring them_ from the wintry regions of
Thrace, who in sooth, being welcomed in the mansions of Admetus, shall take
away by force this woman from thee; and there will be no obligation to thee
at my hands, but still thou wilt do this, and wilt be hated by me.

DEA. Much though thou talkest, thou wilt gain nothing. This woman then
shall descend to the house of Pluto; and I am advancing upon her, that I
may begin the rites on her with my sword; for sacred is he to the Gods
beneath the earth, the hair of whose head this sword hath consecrated.[8]

CHORUS.

SEMICH. Wherefore in heaven's name is this stillness before the palace? why
is the house of Admetus hushed in silence?

SEMICH. But there is not even one of our friends near, who can tell us
whether we have to deplore the departed queen, or whether Alcestis,
daughter of Pelias, yet living views this light, who has appeared to me and
to all to have been the best wife toward her husband.

CHOR. Hears any one either a wailing, or the beating of hands within the
house, or a lamentation, as though the thing had taken place?[9] There is
not however any one of the servants standing before the gates. Oh would
that thou wouldst appear, O Apollo, amidst the waves of this calamity!

SEMICH. They would not however be silent, were she dead.

SEMICH. For the corse is certainly not gone from the house.

SEMICH. Whence this conjecture? I do not presume this. What is it gives you
confidence?

SEMICH. How could Admetus have made a private funeral of his so excellent
wife?

CH