[HERACLES _signs to the
Attendants
to take_ ALCESTIS _away again.
Euripides - Alcestis
.
I needs must worship her
And keep her will.
[_During the last few lines_ ADMETUS _has been looking at the
veiled Woman and, though he does not consciously recognize her,
feels a strange emotion overmastering him. He draws back. _]
Aye. I must walk with care. . . .
O woman, whosoe'er thou art, thou hast
The shape of my Alcestis; thou art cast
In mould like hers. . . . Oh, take her from mine eyes!
In God's name!
[HERACLES _signs to the Attendants to take_ ALCESTIS _away again.
She stays veiled and unnoticing in the background. _]
I was fallen, and in this wise
Thou wilt make me deeper fall. . . . Meseems, meseems,
There in her face the loved one of my dreams
Looked forth. --My heart is made a turbid thing,
Craving I know not what, and my tears spring
Unbidden. --Grief I knew 'twould be; but how
Fiery a grief I never knew till now.
LEADER.
Thy fate I praise not. Yet, what gift soe'er
God giveth, man must steel himself and bear.
HERACLES (_drawing_ ADMETUS _on_).
Would God, I had the power, 'mid all this might
Of arm, to break the dungeons of the night,
And free thy wife, and make thee glad again!
ADMETUS.
Where is such power?
And keep her will.
[_During the last few lines_ ADMETUS _has been looking at the
veiled Woman and, though he does not consciously recognize her,
feels a strange emotion overmastering him. He draws back. _]
Aye. I must walk with care. . . .
O woman, whosoe'er thou art, thou hast
The shape of my Alcestis; thou art cast
In mould like hers. . . . Oh, take her from mine eyes!
In God's name!
[HERACLES _signs to the Attendants to take_ ALCESTIS _away again.
She stays veiled and unnoticing in the background. _]
I was fallen, and in this wise
Thou wilt make me deeper fall. . . . Meseems, meseems,
There in her face the loved one of my dreams
Looked forth. --My heart is made a turbid thing,
Craving I know not what, and my tears spring
Unbidden. --Grief I knew 'twould be; but how
Fiery a grief I never knew till now.
LEADER.
Thy fate I praise not. Yet, what gift soe'er
God giveth, man must steel himself and bear.
HERACLES (_drawing_ ADMETUS _on_).
Would God, I had the power, 'mid all this might
Of arm, to break the dungeons of the night,
And free thy wife, and make thee glad again!
ADMETUS.
Where is such power?