Must I go starved because some
stranger
dies?
Euripides - Alcestis
[_He offers the wine-bowl to the_ SERVANT, _who avoids it_. ]
SERVANT.
We know all this. But now our fortunes be
Not such as ask for mirth or revelry.
HERACLES.
A woman dead, of no one's kin; why grieve
So much? Thy master and thy mistress live.
SERVANT.
Live? Man, hast thou heard nothing of our woe?
HERACLES.
Yes, thy lord told me all I need to know.
SERVANT.
He is too kind to his guests, more kind than wise.
HERACLES.
Must I go starved because some stranger dies?
SERVANT.
Some stranger? --Yes, a stranger verily!
HERACLES (_his manner beginning to change_).
Is this some real grief he hath hid from me?
SERVANT.
Go, drink, man! Leave to us our master's woes.
HERACLES.
It sounds not like a stranger. Yet, God knows. . .
SERVANT.
How should thy revelling hurt, if that were all?
