章节正文
430 BC
ALCESTIS
by Euripides
translated by Richard Aldington
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
APOLLO
DEATH
CHORUS OF OLD MEN
A WOMAN SERVANT
ALCESTIS, the Queen, wife of ADMETUS
ADMETUS, King of Thessaly
EUMELUS, their child
HERACLES
PHERES, father of ADMETUS
A MAN SERVANT
(SCENE:-At Pherae, outside the Palace of ADMETUS, King of
Thessaly. The centre of the scene represents a portico with columns
and a large double-door. To the left are the women's quarters, to
the right the guest rooms. The centre doors of the Palace slowly
open inwards, and Apollo comes out. In his left hand he carries a
large unstrung golden bow. He moves slowly and majestically, turns,
and raises his right hand in salutation to the Palace.)
APOLLO
DWELLING of Admetus, wherein I, a God, deigned to accept the
food of serfs!
The cause was Zeus. He struck Asclepius, my son, full in the
breast with a bolt of thunder, and laid him dead. Then in wild rage
I slew the Cyclopes who forge the fire of Zeus. To atone for this my
Father forced me to labour as a hireling for a mortal man; and I
came to this country, and tended oxen for my host. To this hour I have
protected him and his. I, who am just, chanced on the son of Pheres, a
just man, whom I have saved from Death by tricking the Fates. The
Goddesses pledged me their faith Admetus should escape immediate death
if, in exchange, another corpse were given to the Under-Gods.
One by one he tested all his friends, and even his father and
the old mother who bad brought him forth-and found none that would die
for him and never more behold the light of day, save only his wife.
Now, her spirit waiting to break loose, she droops upon his arm within
the house; this is the day when she must die and render up her life.
But I must leave this Palace's dear roof, for fear pollution
soil me in the house.
See! Death, Lord of All the Dead, now comes to lead her to the
house of Hades! Most punctually he comes! How well he marked the day
she had to die!
(From the right comes DEATH, with a drawn sword in his hand. He
moves stealthily towards the Palace; then sees APOLLO and halts
abruptly. The two Deities confront each other.)
DEATH
Ha! Phoebus! You! Before this Palace! Lawlessly would you grasp,
abolish the rights of the Lower Gods! Did you not beguile the Fates
and snatch Admetus from the grave? Does not that suffice? Now, once
again, you have armed your hand with the bow, to guard the daughter of
Pelias who must die in her husband's stead!
APOLLO
Fear not! I hold for right, and proffer you just words.
DEATH
If you hold for right, why then your bow?
APOLLO
My custom is ever to carry it.
DEATH
Yes! And you use it unjustly to aid this house!
APOLLO
I grieve for a friend's woe.
DEATH
So you would rob me of a second body?
APOLLO
Not by force I won the other.
DEATH
Why, then, is he in the world and not below the ground?
APOLLO
In his stead he gives his wife-whom you have come to take.
DEATH
And shall take-to the Underworld below the earth!
APOLLO
Take her, and go! I know not if I can persuade you...
DEATH
Not to kill her I must kill? I am appointed to that task.
APOLLO
No, no! But to delay death for those about to die.
DEATH
I hear your words and guess your wish!
APOLLO
May not Alcestis live to old age?
DEATH
No! I also prize my rights!
APOLLO
Yet at most you win one life.
DEATH
They who die young yield me a greater prize.
APOLLO
If she dies old, the burial will be richer.
DEATH
Phoebus, that argument favours the rich.
APOLLO
What! Are you witty unawares?
DEATH
The rich would gladly pay to die old.
APOLLO
So you will not grant me this favour?
DEATH
Not I! You know my nature.
APOLLO
Yes! Hateful to men and a horror to the gods!
DEATH
You cannot always have more than your due.
APOLLO
Yet you shall change, most cruel though you are! For a man comes
to the dwelling of Pheres, sent by Eurystheus to fetch a horse-drawn
chariot from the harsh-wintered lands of Thrace; and he shall be a
guest in the house of Admetus, and by force shall he tear this woman
from you. Thus shall you gain no thanks from us, and yet you shall
do this thing-and my hatred be upon you
(APOLLO goes out. DEATH gazes after him derisively.)
DEATH
Talk all you will, you get no more of me! The woman shall go
down to the dwelling of Hades. Now must I go to consecrate her for the
sacrifice with this sword; for when once this blade has shorn the
victim's hair, then he is sacred to the Lower Gods!
(DEATH enters the Palace by the open main door. The CHORUS enters
from the right. They are the Elders or Notables of the city, and,
therefore move slowly, leaning upon their staffs.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS (chanting)
Why is there no sound outside the Palace? Why is the dwelling of
Admetus silent? Not a friend here to tell me if I must weep for a dead
Queen or whether she lives and looks upon the light, Alcestis, the
daughter of Pelias, whom among all women I hold the best wife to her
spouse!
CHORUS (Singing)
Is a sob to be heard?
Or the beating of hands
In the house?
The lament for her end?
Not one,
Not one of her servants
Stands at the gate!
Ah! to roll back the wave of our woe,
O Healer,
Appear!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Were she dead
They had not been silent.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
She is but a dead body!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Yet she has not departed the house.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Ah! Let me not boast!
Why do you cling to hope?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Would Admetus bury her solitary,
Make a grave alone for a wife so dear?
CHORUS
At the gate I see not
The lustral water from the spring
Which stands at the gates of the dead!
No shorn tress in the portal
Laid in lament for the dead!
The young women beat not their hands!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Yet to-day is the day appointed....
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Ah! What have you said?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
When she must descend under earth
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
You have pierced my soul!
You have pierced my mind!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
He that for long
Has been held in esteem
Must weep when the good are destroyed.
CHORUS
No!
There is no place on earth
To send forth a suppliant ship-
Not to Lycia,
Not to Ammon's waterless shrine-
To save her from death!
The dreadful doom is at hand.
To what laden altar of what God
Shall I turn my steps?
He alone-
If the light yet shone for his eye-
Asclepius, Phoebus's son,
Could have led her back
From the land of shadows,
From the gates of Hades,
For he raised the dead
Ere the Zeus-driven shaft
Slew him with thunder fire....
But now
What hope can I hold for her life?
LEADER (chanting)
The King has fulfilled
Every rite;
The altars of all the Gods
Drip with the blood of slain beasts:
Nothing, nothing avails.
(From the women's quarters in the left wing of the
Palace comes a woman in tears. She is not a slave,
but one of the personal attendants on the Queen.)
ALCESTIS
by Euripides
translated by Richard Aldington
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
APOLLO
DEATH
CHORUS OF OLD MEN
A WOMAN SERVANT
ALCESTIS, the Queen, wife of ADMETUS
ADMETUS, King of Thessaly
EUMELUS, their child
HERACLES
PHERES, father of ADMETUS
A MAN SERVANT
(SCENE:-At Pherae, outside the Palace of ADMETUS, King of
Thessaly. The centre of the scene represents a portico with columns
and a large double-door. To the left are the women's quarters, to
the right the guest rooms. The centre doors of the Palace slowly
open inwards, and Apollo comes out. In his left hand he carries a
large unstrung golden bow. He moves slowly and majestically, turns,
and raises his right hand in salutation to the Palace.)
APOLLO
DWELLING of Admetus, wherein I, a God, deigned to accept the
food of serfs!
The cause was Zeus. He struck Asclepius, my son, full in the
breast with a bolt of thunder, and laid him dead. Then in wild rage
I slew the Cyclopes who forge the fire of Zeus. To atone for this my
Father forced me to labour as a hireling for a mortal man; and I
came to this country, and tended oxen for my host. To this hour I have
protected him and his. I, who am just, chanced on the son of Pheres, a
just man, whom I have saved from Death by tricking the Fates. The
Goddesses pledged me their faith Admetus should escape immediate death
if, in exchange, another corpse were given to the Under-Gods.
One by one he tested all his friends, and even his father and
the old mother who bad brought him forth-and found none that would die
for him and never more behold the light of day, save only his wife.
Now, her spirit waiting to break loose, she droops upon his arm within
the house; this is the day when she must die and render up her life.
But I must leave this Palace's dear roof, for fear pollution
soil me in the house.
See! Death, Lord of All the Dead, now comes to lead her to the
house of Hades! Most punctually he comes! How well he marked the day
she had to die!
(From the right comes DEATH, with a drawn sword in his hand. He
moves stealthily towards the Palace; then sees APOLLO and halts
abruptly. The two Deities confront each other.)
DEATH
Ha! Phoebus! You! Before this Palace! Lawlessly would you grasp,
abolish the rights of the Lower Gods! Did you not beguile the Fates
and snatch Admetus from the grave? Does not that suffice? Now, once
again, you have armed your hand with the bow, to guard the daughter of
Pelias who must die in her husband's stead!
APOLLO
Fear not! I hold for right, and proffer you just words.
DEATH
If you hold for right, why then your bow?
APOLLO
My custom is ever to carry it.
DEATH
Yes! And you use it unjustly to aid this house!
APOLLO
I grieve for a friend's woe.
DEATH
So you would rob me of a second body?
APOLLO
Not by force I won the other.
DEATH
Why, then, is he in the world and not below the ground?
APOLLO
In his stead he gives his wife-whom you have come to take.
DEATH
And shall take-to the Underworld below the earth!
APOLLO
Take her, and go! I know not if I can persuade you...
DEATH
Not to kill her I must kill? I am appointed to that task.
APOLLO
No, no! But to delay death for those about to die.
DEATH
I hear your words and guess your wish!
APOLLO
May not Alcestis live to old age?
DEATH
No! I also prize my rights!
APOLLO
Yet at most you win one life.
DEATH
They who die young yield me a greater prize.
APOLLO
If she dies old, the burial will be richer.
DEATH
Phoebus, that argument favours the rich.
APOLLO
What! Are you witty unawares?
DEATH
The rich would gladly pay to die old.
APOLLO
So you will not grant me this favour?
DEATH
Not I! You know my nature.
APOLLO
Yes! Hateful to men and a horror to the gods!
DEATH
You cannot always have more than your due.
APOLLO
Yet you shall change, most cruel though you are! For a man comes
to the dwelling of Pheres, sent by Eurystheus to fetch a horse-drawn
chariot from the harsh-wintered lands of Thrace; and he shall be a
guest in the house of Admetus, and by force shall he tear this woman
from you. Thus shall you gain no thanks from us, and yet you shall
do this thing-and my hatred be upon you
(APOLLO goes out. DEATH gazes after him derisively.)
DEATH
Talk all you will, you get no more of me! The woman shall go
down to the dwelling of Hades. Now must I go to consecrate her for the
sacrifice with this sword; for when once this blade has shorn the
victim's hair, then he is sacred to the Lower Gods!
(DEATH enters the Palace by the open main door. The CHORUS enters
from the right. They are the Elders or Notables of the city, and,
therefore move slowly, leaning upon their staffs.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS (chanting)
Why is there no sound outside the Palace? Why is the dwelling of
Admetus silent? Not a friend here to tell me if I must weep for a dead
Queen or whether she lives and looks upon the light, Alcestis, the
daughter of Pelias, whom among all women I hold the best wife to her
spouse!
CHORUS (Singing)
Is a sob to be heard?
Or the beating of hands
In the house?
The lament for her end?
Not one,
Not one of her servants
Stands at the gate!
Ah! to roll back the wave of our woe,
O Healer,
Appear!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Were she dead
They had not been silent.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
She is but a dead body!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Yet she has not departed the house.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Ah! Let me not boast!
Why do you cling to hope?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Would Admetus bury her solitary,
Make a grave alone for a wife so dear?
CHORUS
At the gate I see not
The lustral water from the spring
Which stands at the gates of the dead!
No shorn tress in the portal
Laid in lament for the dead!
The young women beat not their hands!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Yet to-day is the day appointed....
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
Ah! What have you said?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
When she must descend under earth
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
You have pierced my soul!
You have pierced my mind!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
He that for long
Has been held in esteem
Must weep when the good are destroyed.
CHORUS
No!
There is no place on earth
To send forth a suppliant ship-
Not to Lycia,
Not to Ammon's waterless shrine-
To save her from death!
The dreadful doom is at hand.
To what laden altar of what God
Shall I turn my steps?
He alone-
If the light yet shone for his eye-
Asclepius, Phoebus's son,
Could have led her back
From the land of shadows,
From the gates of Hades,
For he raised the dead
Ere the Zeus-driven shaft
Slew him with thunder fire....
But now
What hope can I hold for her life?
LEADER (chanting)
The King has fulfilled
Every rite;
The altars of all the Gods
Drip with the blood of slain beasts:
Nothing, nothing avails.
(From the women's quarters in the left wing of the
Palace comes a woman in tears. She is not a slave,
but one of the personal attendants on the Queen.)
- apollo [ə´pɔləu]
n.阿波罗 (初中英语单词) - thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- snatch [snætʃ] v.&n.抢，夺取，抓住 (初中英语单词)
- grieve [gri:v] v.&n.(使)悲痛；哀悼 (初中英语单词)
- persuade [pə´sweid] v.(被)说服；使相信 (初中英语单词)
- argument [´ɑ:gjumənt] n.辩论；争论；论证 (初中英语单词)
- horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
- dwelling [´dweliŋ] n.住所；寓所 (初中英语单词)
- hatred [´heitrid] n.憎恨，敌意 (初中英语单词)
- sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
- chorus [´kɔ:rəs] n.合唱；齐声 v.合唱 (初中英语单词)
- descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- wherein [weər´in] ad.那里面 (高中英语单词)
- mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
- confront [kən´frʌnt] vt.(使)面对；正视 (高中英语单词)
- suffice [sə´fais] vt.使满足 vi.足够 (高中英语单词)
- gladly [´glædli] ad.愉快地，高兴地 (高中英语单词)
- lament [lə´ment] v.哀悼 n.哀悼；恸哭 (高中英语单词)
- corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
- beguile [bi´gail] vt.欺骗；消磨(时间) (英语四级单词)
- proffer [´prɔfə] vt.&n.提供；贡献 (英语四级单词)
- hateful [´heitfəl] a.可恨的，可憎的 (英语四级单词)
- consecrate [´kɔnsikreit] vt.献祭；奉献；尊崇 (英语四级单词)
- salutation [,sælju´teiʃ(ə)n] n.招呼，致意；行礼 (英语六级单词)
- stealthily [´stelθili] ad.偷偷地，隐秘地 (英语六级单词)
- underworld [´ʌndəwə:ld] n.阴间；下层社会 (英语六级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- departed [di´pɑ:tid] a.已往的；已故的 (英语六级单词)
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