And when such a
wondrous
wife was gone!
Euripides - Alcestis
HERACLES (_suddenly, in a voice of thunder_).
Who is it that is dead?
SERVANT.
Alcestis, the King's wife.
HERACLES (_overcome_).
What hast thou said?
Alcestis? . . . And ye feasted me withal!
SERVANT.
He held it shame to turn thee from his hall.
HERACLES.
Shame!
And when such a wondrous wife was gone!
SERVANT (_breaking into tears_).
Oh, all is gone, all lost, not she alone!
HERACLES.
I knew, I felt it, when I saw his tears,
And face, and shorn hair. But he won mine ears
With talk of the strange woman and her rite
Of burial. So in mine own heart's despite
I crossed his threshold and sat drinking--he
And I old friends! --in his calamity.
Drank, and sang songs, and revelled, my head hot
With wine and flowers! . . . And thou to tell me not,
When all the house lay filled with sorrow, thou!
(_A pause; then suddenly_)
Where lies the tomb? --Where shall I find her now?
SERVANT (_frightened_).
