A proof, old traitor, of thy
cowardliness!
Euripides - Alcestis
To have died for thee were far more wrong.
ADMETUS.
How can an old life weigh against a young?
PHERES.
Man hath but one, not two lives, to his use.
ADMETUS.
Oh, live on; live, and grow more old than Zeus!
PHERES.
Because none wrongs thee, thou must curse thy sire?
ADMETUS.
I blest him. Is not life his one desire?
PHERES.
This dead, methinks, is lying in _thy_ place.
ADMETUS.
A proof, old traitor, of thy cowardliness!
PHERES.
Died she through me? . . . That thou wilt hardly say.
ADMETUS (_almost breaking down_).
O God!
Mayst thou but feel the need of me some day!
PHERES.
Go forward; woo more wives that more may die.
ADMETUS.
As thou wouldst not! Thine is the infamy.
PHERES.
ADMETUS.
How can an old life weigh against a young?
PHERES.
Man hath but one, not two lives, to his use.
ADMETUS.
Oh, live on; live, and grow more old than Zeus!
PHERES.
Because none wrongs thee, thou must curse thy sire?
ADMETUS.
I blest him. Is not life his one desire?
PHERES.
This dead, methinks, is lying in _thy_ place.
ADMETUS.
A proof, old traitor, of thy cowardliness!
PHERES.
Died she through me? . . . That thou wilt hardly say.
ADMETUS (_almost breaking down_).
O God!
Mayst thou but feel the need of me some day!
PHERES.
Go forward; woo more wives that more may die.
ADMETUS.
As thou wouldst not! Thine is the infamy.
PHERES.
