may retire
unhurt. But if ten pirate ships were pursuing them, they should not
bring those memories of Salamis to the Athenian captives whom the defeat
of Nicias has left in Syracusan hands." The case is desperate. The
Rhodians turn to go.

Suddenly a voice cries, "Wait. Do they know any verses from Euripides?"
"More than that, they answer, Balaustion can recite a whole play--that
strangest, saddest, sweetest song--the 'Alkestis.' It does honour to
Herakles, their god. Let them place her on the steps of their temple of
Herakles, and she will recite it there." The Rhodians are brought in,
amidst joyous loving laughter, among shouts of "Herakles" and
"Euripides." The recital takes place;[33] it is repeated a second day
and a third; and Balaustion and her kinsmen are dismissed with good
words and wishes, for, as she declares:

"... Greeks are Greeks, and hearts are hearts,
And poetry is power,...." (vol. xi. p. 14.)

The story of Alkestis scarcely needs repeating. Apollo had incurred the
anger of Jupiter by avenging the death of his son AEsculapius on the
Cyclops whose thunder-bolt had slain him; and been condemned to play the
part of a common mortal, and serve Admetus, King of Thessaly, as
herdsman. The kind treatment of Admetus had made him his friend: and
Apollo had deceived the Fate sisters into promising that whenever the
king's life should become their due, they would renounce it on condition
of some other person dying in his stead. When the play opens, the fatal
moment has come. Alkestis, wife of Admetus, has offered herself to save
him; and Admetus, though he does so with a heavy heart, has been weak
enough to accept the sacrifice. Death enters the palace, from which
even Apollo can no longer turn him away.

But just as Alkestis has breathed her last, Herakles appears; and his
great cheery voice is heard on the threshold of the house of mourning,
inquiring if the master be within. Admetus suppresses all signs of
emotion, that he may receive him as hospitality demands; and Herakles,
hearing what has happened from a servant of the house, is moved to
gratitude and pity. He wrestles with Death; conquers him; and brings
back Alkestis into her husband's presence, veiled, and in the guise of a
second companion. Admetus will at first neither touch nor look at her.
He has promised his dying wife to give her no successor; and her memory
is even dearer to him than she herself has been. The god h