章节正文
As a bourne to his ploughing of fields,
To the soils of his plains;
He bears sway
As far as the harbourless
Coast of the Aegean Sea,
As far as Pelion.
antistrophe 2
Even to-day he opened his house
And received a guest,
Though his eyelids were wet
With tears wept by the corpse
Of a dear bedfellow dead in the house.
For the noble spirit is proclaimed by honour;
All wisdom lies with the good.
I admire him:
And in my soul I know
The devout man shall have joy.
(The funeralprocession of ALCESTIS enters from the door of the
women's quarters. The body, carried on a bier by men servants, is
followed by ADMETUS and his two children. Behind them comes a train of
attendants and servants carrying the funeral offerings. All are in
mourning. ADMETUS addresses the CHORUS.)
ADMETUS
O friendly presence of you men of Pherae! Now that the body is
prepared, and the servants bear it on high to the tomb and the fire,
do you, as is fitting, salute the dead as she goes forth on her last
journey.
(PHERES, the father of ADMETUS, enters, followed
by attendants bearingfuneral offerings.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
But I see your father, tottering with an old man's walk, and his
followers bearing in their hands for your wife garments as an offering
to the dead.
PHERES
My son, I have come to share your sorrow, for the wife you have
lost was indeed noble and virtuous-none can deny it. But these
things must be endured, however intolerable they may be.
Take these garments, and let her descend under the earth. Her body
must be honoured, for she died to save your life, my son; she has
not made me childless, nor left me to be destroyed without you in my
hapless old age; and she has given glorious fame to all women by
daring so noble a deed! (He lifts his hand in salutation to the body
of ALCESTIS.) O woman, who saved my son, who raised me up when I had
fallen, hail! Be happy in the halls of Hades! I declare it-such
marriages are profitable to mankind; otherwise, it is foolish to
marry.
ADMETUS (furiously)
It was not my wish that you should come to this burial, and I deny
that your presence is that of a friend! She shall never wear these
garments of yours; she needs not your gifts for her burial. You should
have grieved when I was, about to die; but you stood aside, and now do
you come to wail over a corpse when you, an old man, allowed a young
woman to die?
Were you in very truth father of this body of mine? Did she, who
claims to be and is called my mother, bring me forth? Or was I bred of
a slave's seed and secretly brought to your wife's breast? You have
proved what you are when it comes to the test, and therefore I am
not your begotten son; or you surpass all men in cowardice" target="_blank" title="n.懦弱，胆怯">cowardice, for, being
at the very verge and end of life, you had neither courage nor will to
die for your son. But this you left to a woman, a stranger, whom alone
I hold as my father and my mother!
Yet it had been a beautiful deed in you to die for your son, and
short indeed was the time left you to live. She and I would have lived
out our lives, and I should not now be here alone lamenting my misery.
You enjoyed all that a happy man can enjoy-you passed the flower
of your age as a king, and in me your son you had an heir to your
dominion; you would not have died childless, leaving an orphaned house
to be plundered by strangers. You will not say that you abandoned me
to death because I dishonoured your old age, for above all I was
respectful to you-and this is the gratitude I have from you and my
mother!
Beget more sons, and quickly, to cherish your old age and wrap you
in a shroud when dead and lay your body out in state! This hand of
mine shall not inter you. I am dead to you. I look upon the light of
day because another saved me-I say I am her son, and will cherish
her old age!
Vainly do old men pray for death, regretting their age and the
long span of life. If death draws near, none wants to die, and age
is no more a burden to him.
LEADER
Admetus! The present misfortune is enough. Do not provoke your
father's spirit.
(ADMETUS turns angrily to depart, but PHERES prevents him.)
PHERES
My son, do you think you are pursuing some hireling Lydian or
Phrygian with your taunts? Do you know I am a Thessalian, a free man
lawfully begotten by a Thessalian father? You are over-insolent, and
you shall not leave thus, after wounding me with your boyish
insults. I indeed begot you, and bred you up to be lord of this
land, but I am not bound to die for you. It is not a law of our
ancestors or of Hellas that the fathers should die for the children!
You were born to live your own life, whether miserable or fortunate;
and what is due to you from me you have. You rule over many men, and I
shall leave you many wide fields even as received them from my own
father. How, then, have I wronged you? Of what have I robbed you? Do
not die for me, any more than I die for you. You love to look upon the
light of day-do you think your father hates it? I tell myself that
we are a long time underground and that life is short, but sweet.
But you-you strove shamelessly not to die, and you are alive,
you shirked your fate by killing her! And you call me a coward, you,
the worst of cowards, surpassed by a woman who died for you, pretty
boy? And now you insult those who should be dear to you, when they
refuse to die for a coward like you!
Be silent! Learn that if you love your life, so do others. If
you utter insults, you shall hear many, and true ones too!
LEADER
These insults and those that went before suffice. Old man, cease
to revile your son.
ADMETUS (to PHERES)
Speak on! I shall refute you. If the truth wounds you when you
hear it you should not have wronged me.
PHERES
I should have wronged you far more if I had died for you.
ADMETUS
It is the same then to die an old man and in the flower of life?
PHERES
We should live one life, not two.
ADMETUS
May you live longer than God!
PHERES
Do you curse your parents when they have done you no wrong?
ADMETUS
I see you are in love with long life.
PHERES
But you are not carrying her dead body in place of your own?
ADMETUS
It is the proof of your cowardice" target="_blank" title="n.懦弱，胆怯">cowardice, O worst of men.
PHERES
You cannot say she died for me!
ADMETUS
Alas! May you one day need my help.
PHERES
Woo many women, so that more may die for you.
ADMETUS
To your shame be it-you who dared not die.
PHERES
Sweet is the daylight of the Gods, very sweet.
ADMETUS
Your spirit is mean, not a man's.
PHERES
Would you laugh to carry an old man's body to the grave?
ADMETUS
You will die infamous, whenever you die.
PHERES
It will matter little enough to me to hear ill of myself when I am
dead!
ADMETUS
Alas! Alas! full of impudence. is old age!
PHERES
She was not impudent, but foolish,
ADMETUS
Go! Leave me to bury her body.
PHERES (turning away)
I go. You, her murderer, will bury her-but soon you must render an
account to her relatives. Acastus is not a man if he fails to avenge
his sister's blood on you!
(PHERES goes out by the way he entered, followed by his
attendants. ADMETUS gazes angrily after him.)
ADMETUS
Go with a curse, you, and she who dwells with you! Grow old, as
you ought, childless though you have a child. You shall never return
to this house. And if I could renounce your hearth as my father's by
heralds, I would do it. But we-since this sorrow must be endured-let
us go, and set her body on the funeral pyre.
(The Procession moves slowly along the stage, and is joined by the
CHORUS. As they pass, the LEADER salutes the body of ALCESTIS.)
LEADER (chanting)
Alas! Alas! You who suffer for your courage, O noblest and best of
women, hail! May Hermes of the Dead, may Hades, greet you kindly. If
there are rewards for the dead, may you share them as you sit by the
bride of the Lord of the Dead!
(The Procession has filed out. A servant in mourning
hurries out from the guests' quarters.)
SERVANT
Many guests from every land, I know, have come to the Palace of
Admetus, and I have set food before them, but never one worse than
this guest have I welcomed to the hearth.
First, though he saw our Lord was in mourning, he entered, and
dared to pass through the gates. Then, knowing our misfortune, he
did not soberly accept what was offered him, but if anything was not
served to him he ordered us to bring it. In both hands he took a cup
of ivy-wood, and drank the unmixed wine of the dark grape-mother,
until he was encompassed and heated with the flame of wine. He crowned
his head with myrtle sprays, howling discordant songs. There was he
caring nothing for Admetus's misery, and we servants weeping for our
Queen; and yet we hid our tear-laden eyes from the guest, for so
Admetus had commanded.
And now in the Palace I must entertain this stranger, some
villainous thief and brigand, while she, the Queen I mourn, has gone
from the house unfollowed, unsaluted, she who was as a mother to me
and all us servants, for she sheltered us from a myriad troubles by
softening her husband's wrath.
Am I not right, then, to hate this stranger, who came to us in the
midst of sorrow?
(HERACLES comes from the Palace. He is drunkenly merry, with a
myrtlewreath on his head, and a large cup and wine-skin in his hands.
He staggers a little.)
HERACLES
Hey, you! Why so solemn and anxious? A servant should not be
sullen with guests, but greet them with a cheerful heart.
You see before you a man who is your lord's friend, and you
To the soils of his plains;
He bears sway
As far as the harbourless
Coast of the Aegean Sea,
As far as Pelion.
antistrophe 2
Even to-day he opened his house
And received a guest,
Though his eyelids were wet
With tears wept by the corpse
Of a dear bedfellow dead in the house.
For the noble spirit is proclaimed by honour;
All wisdom lies with the good.
I admire him:
And in my soul I know
The devout man shall have joy.
(The funeralprocession of ALCESTIS enters from the door of the
women's quarters. The body, carried on a bier by men servants, is
followed by ADMETUS and his two children. Behind them comes a train of
attendants and servants carrying the funeral offerings. All are in
mourning. ADMETUS addresses the CHORUS.)
ADMETUS
O friendly presence of you men of Pherae! Now that the body is
prepared, and the servants bear it on high to the tomb and the fire,
do you, as is fitting, salute the dead as she goes forth on her last
journey.
(PHERES, the father of ADMETUS, enters, followed
by attendants bearingfuneral offerings.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
But I see your father, tottering with an old man's walk, and his
followers bearing in their hands for your wife garments as an offering
to the dead.
PHERES
My son, I have come to share your sorrow, for the wife you have
lost was indeed noble and virtuous-none can deny it. But these
things must be endured, however intolerable they may be.
Take these garments, and let her descend under the earth. Her body
must be honoured, for she died to save your life, my son; she has
not made me childless, nor left me to be destroyed without you in my
hapless old age; and she has given glorious fame to all women by
daring so noble a deed! (He lifts his hand in salutation to the body
of ALCESTIS.) O woman, who saved my son, who raised me up when I had
fallen, hail! Be happy in the halls of Hades! I declare it-such
marriages are profitable to mankind; otherwise, it is foolish to
marry.
ADMETUS (furiously)
It was not my wish that you should come to this burial, and I deny
that your presence is that of a friend! She shall never wear these
garments of yours; she needs not your gifts for her burial. You should
have grieved when I was, about to die; but you stood aside, and now do
you come to wail over a corpse when you, an old man, allowed a young
woman to die?
Were you in very truth father of this body of mine? Did she, who
claims to be and is called my mother, bring me forth? Or was I bred of
a slave's seed and secretly brought to your wife's breast? You have
proved what you are when it comes to the test, and therefore I am
not your begotten son; or you surpass all men in cowardice" target="_blank" title="n.懦弱，胆怯">cowardice, for, being
at the very verge and end of life, you had neither courage nor will to
die for your son. But this you left to a woman, a stranger, whom alone
I hold as my father and my mother!
Yet it had been a beautiful deed in you to die for your son, and
short indeed was the time left you to live. She and I would have lived
out our lives, and I should not now be here alone lamenting my misery.
You enjoyed all that a happy man can enjoy-you passed the flower
of your age as a king, and in me your son you had an heir to your
dominion; you would not have died childless, leaving an orphaned house
to be plundered by strangers. You will not say that you abandoned me
to death because I dishonoured your old age, for above all I was
respectful to you-and this is the gratitude I have from you and my
mother!
Beget more sons, and quickly, to cherish your old age and wrap you
in a shroud when dead and lay your body out in state! This hand of
mine shall not inter you. I am dead to you. I look upon the light of
day because another saved me-I say I am her son, and will cherish
her old age!
Vainly do old men pray for death, regretting their age and the
long span of life. If death draws near, none wants to die, and age
is no more a burden to him.
LEADER
Admetus! The present misfortune is enough. Do not provoke your
father's spirit.
(ADMETUS turns angrily to depart, but PHERES prevents him.)
PHERES
My son, do you think you are pursuing some hireling Lydian or
Phrygian with your taunts? Do you know I am a Thessalian, a free man
lawfully begotten by a Thessalian father? You are over-insolent, and
you shall not leave thus, after wounding me with your boyish
insults. I indeed begot you, and bred you up to be lord of this
land, but I am not bound to die for you. It is not a law of our
ancestors or of Hellas that the fathers should die for the children!
You were born to live your own life, whether miserable or fortunate;
and what is due to you from me you have. You rule over many men, and I
shall leave you many wide fields even as received them from my own
father. How, then, have I wronged you? Of what have I robbed you? Do
not die for me, any more than I die for you. You love to look upon the
light of day-do you think your father hates it? I tell myself that
we are a long time underground and that life is short, but sweet.
But you-you strove shamelessly not to die, and you are alive,
you shirked your fate by killing her! And you call me a coward, you,
the worst of cowards, surpassed by a woman who died for you, pretty
boy? And now you insult those who should be dear to you, when they
refuse to die for a coward like you!
Be silent! Learn that if you love your life, so do others. If
you utter insults, you shall hear many, and true ones too!
LEADER
These insults and those that went before suffice. Old man, cease
to revile your son.
ADMETUS (to PHERES)
Speak on! I shall refute you. If the truth wounds you when you
hear it you should not have wronged me.
PHERES
I should have wronged you far more if I had died for you.
ADMETUS
It is the same then to die an old man and in the flower of life?
PHERES
We should live one life, not two.
ADMETUS
May you live longer than God!
PHERES
Do you curse your parents when they have done you no wrong?
ADMETUS
I see you are in love with long life.
PHERES
But you are not carrying her dead body in place of your own?
ADMETUS
It is the proof of your cowardice" target="_blank" title="n.懦弱，胆怯">cowardice, O worst of men.
PHERES
You cannot say she died for me!
ADMETUS
Alas! May you one day need my help.
PHERES
Woo many women, so that more may die for you.
ADMETUS
To your shame be it-you who dared not die.
PHERES
Sweet is the daylight of the Gods, very sweet.
ADMETUS
Your spirit is mean, not a man's.
PHERES
Would you laugh to carry an old man's body to the grave?
ADMETUS
You will die infamous, whenever you die.
PHERES
It will matter little enough to me to hear ill of myself when I am
dead!
ADMETUS
Alas! Alas! full of impudence. is old age!
PHERES
She was not impudent, but foolish,
ADMETUS
Go! Leave me to bury her body.
PHERES (turning away)
I go. You, her murderer, will bury her-but soon you must render an
account to her relatives. Acastus is not a man if he fails to avenge
his sister's blood on you!
(PHERES goes out by the way he entered, followed by his
attendants. ADMETUS gazes angrily after him.)
ADMETUS
Go with a curse, you, and she who dwells with you! Grow old, as
you ought, childless though you have a child. You shall never return
to this house. And if I could renounce your hearth as my father's by
heralds, I would do it. But we-since this sorrow must be endured-let
us go, and set her body on the funeral pyre.
(The Procession moves slowly along the stage, and is joined by the
CHORUS. As they pass, the LEADER salutes the body of ALCESTIS.)
LEADER (chanting)
Alas! Alas! You who suffer for your courage, O noblest and best of
women, hail! May Hermes of the Dead, may Hades, greet you kindly. If
there are rewards for the dead, may you share them as you sit by the
bride of the Lord of the Dead!
(The Procession has filed out. A servant in mourning
hurries out from the guests' quarters.)
SERVANT
Many guests from every land, I know, have come to the Palace of
Admetus, and I have set food before them, but never one worse than
this guest have I welcomed to the hearth.
First, though he saw our Lord was in mourning, he entered, and
dared to pass through the gates. Then, knowing our misfortune, he
did not soberly accept what was offered him, but if anything was not
served to him he ordered us to bring it. In both hands he took a cup
of ivy-wood, and drank the unmixed wine of the dark grape-mother,
until he was encompassed and heated with the flame of wine. He crowned
his head with myrtle sprays, howling discordant songs. There was he
caring nothing for Admetus's misery, and we servants weeping for our
Queen; and yet we hid our tear-laden eyes from the guest, for so
Admetus had commanded.
And now in the Palace I must entertain this stranger, some
villainous thief and brigand, while she, the Queen I mourn, has gone
from the house unfollowed, unsaluted, she who was as a mother to me
and all us servants, for she sheltered us from a myriad troubles by
softening her husband's wrath.
Am I not right, then, to hate this stranger, who came to us in the
midst of sorrow?
(HERACLES comes from the Palace. He is drunkenly merry, with a
myrtlewreath on his head, and a large cup and wine-skin in his hands.
He staggers a little.)
HERACLES
Hey, you! Why so solemn and anxious? A servant should not be
sullen with guests, but greet them with a cheerful heart.
You see before you a man who is your lord's friend, and you
- wisdom [´wizdəm]
n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词) - funeral [´fju:nərəl] n.葬礼，丧葬；困难 (初中英语单词)
- procession [prə´seʃən] n.队伍 v.列队行进 (初中英语单词)
- salute [sə´lu:t] n.&v.招呼；行礼；敬礼 (初中英语单词)
- descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
- glorious [´glɔ:riəs] a.光荣的；辉煌的 (初中英语单词)
- otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- gratitude [´grætitju:d] n.感激，感谢 (初中英语单词)
- miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
- coward [´kauəd] n.胆怯者 a.胆小的 (初中英语单词)
- insult [in´sʌlt, ´insʌlt] n.&vt.侮辱；损害 (初中英语单词)
- daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
- whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
- mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
- entertain [,entə´tein] vt.招待；娱乐；使高兴 (初中英语单词)
- wreath [ri:θ] n.花圈；花环；圈状物 (初中英语单词)
- solemn [´sɔləm] a.严肃的；隆重的 (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- cheerful [´tʃiəful] a.快乐的；高兴的 (初中英语单词)
- bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
- profitable [´prɔfitəbəl] a.有益的；有用的 (高中英语单词)
- secretly [´si:kritli] ad.秘密地；隐蔽地 (高中英语单词)
- surpass [sə´pɑ:s] vt.超过，胜过 (高中英语单词)
- cherish [´tʃeriʃ] vt.珍爱；怀有(感情) (高中英语单词)
- misfortune [mis´fɔ:tʃən] n.不幸；灾祸 (高中英语单词)
- provoke [prə´vəuk] vt.挑拨；煽动；引起 (高中英语单词)
- angrily [´æŋgrili] ad.生气地；愤怒地 (高中英语单词)
- underground [,ʌndə´graund] ad.&a.地下(的) (高中英语单词)
- strove [strəuv] strive的过去式 (高中英语单词)
- suffice [sə´fais] vt.使满足 vi.足够 (高中英语单词)
- murderer [´mə:dərə] n.杀人犯，凶手 (高中英语单词)
- hearth [hɑ:θ] n.炉边；家庭(生活) (高中英语单词)
- intolerable [in´tɔlərəb(ə)l] a.无法忍受的 (英语四级单词)
- corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
- shroud [ʃraud] n.尸衣；覆盖物；罩 (英语四级单词)
- renounce [ri´nauns] v.拒绝 n.放弃权力 (英语四级单词)
- soberly [´səubəli] ad.严肃地；清醒地 (英语四级单词)
- myriad [´miriəd] n.极大数量 a.无数的 (英语四级单词)
- devout [di´vaut] a.虔诚的；热心的 (英语六级单词)
- fitting [´fitiŋ] a.适当的 n.试衣 (英语六级单词)
- salutation [,sælju´teiʃ(ə)n] n.招呼，致意；行礼 (英语六级单词)
- cowardice [´kauədis] n.懦弱，胆怯 (英语六级单词)
- abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)
- infamous [´infəməs] a.声名狼藉的 (英语六级单词)
- myrtle [´mə:tl] n.桃金娘科 (英语六级单词)
- weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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