章节正文
But now from the house comes one of her women servants, all in
tears. What now shall I learn? (To the weeping Servant) It is well
to weep when our lords are in sorrow-but tell us, we would know, is
she alive, is she dead?
SERVANT
You may say she is both alive and dead.
LEADER
How can the same man be dead and yet behold the light?
SERVANT
She gasps, she is on the verge of death.
LEADER
Ah, unhappy man! For such a husband what loss is such a wife!
SERVANT
The King will not know his loss until he suffers it.
LEADER
Then there is no hope that her life may be saved?
SERVANT
The fated day constrains her.
LEADER
Are all things befitting prepared for her?
SERVANT
The robes in which her lord will bury her are ready.
LEADER
Then let her know that she dies gloriously, the best of women
beneath the sun by far!
SERVANT
How should she not be the best! Who shall deny it? What should the
best among women be? How better might a woman hold faith to her lord
than gladly to die for him? This the whole city knows, but you will
marvel when you hear what she has done within the house. When she knew
that the last of her days was come she bathed her white body in
river water, she took garments and gems from her rooms of cedar
wood, and clad herself nobly; then, standing before the hearth-shrine,
she uttered this prayer:
'O Goddess, since now I must descend beneath the earth, for the
last time I make supplication to you: and entreat you to protect my
motherless children. Wed my son to a fair bride, and my daughter to
a noble husband. Let not my children die untimely, as I their mother
am destroyed, but grant that they live out happy lives with good
fortune in their own land!'
To every altar in Admetus's house she went, hung them with
garlands. offered prayer, cut myrtle boughs-unweeping, unlamenting;
nor did the coming doom change the bright colour of her face.
Then to her marriage-room she went, flung herself down upon her
bed, and wept, and said:
'O my marriage-bed, wherein I loosed my virgingirdle to him for
whom I die! Farewell! I have no hatred for you. Only me you lose.
Because I held my faith to you and to my lord-I must die. Another
woman shall possess you, not more chaste indeed than I, more fortunate
perhaps.'
She fell upon her knees and kissed it, and all the bed was damp
with the, tide of tears which flooded to her eyes. And when she was
fulfilled of many tears, drooping she rose from her bed and made as if
to go, and many times she turned to go and many times turned back, and
flung herself once more upon the bed.
Her children clung to their mother's dress, and wept; and she
clasped them in her arms and kissed them turn by turn, as a dying
woman.
All the servants in the house wept with compassion for their
Queen, But she held out her hand to each, and there was none so base
to whom she did not speak, and who did not reply again.
Such is the misery in Admetus's house. If he had died, he would be
nothing now; and, having escaped, he suffers an agony he will never
forget.
LEADER
And does Admetus lament this woe-since he must be robbed of so
noble a woman?
SERVANT
He weeps, and clasps in his arms his dear bedfellow, and cries
to her not to abandon him, asking impossible things. For she pines,
and is wasted by sickness. She falls away, a frail burden on his
arm; and yet, though faintly, she still breathes, still strives to
look upon the sunlight, which she shall never see hereafter-since
now for the last time she looks upon the orb and splendour of the
sun I
I go, and shall announce that you are here; for all men are not so
well-minded to their lords as loyally to stand near them in
misfortunes, but you for long have been a friend to both my lords.
(She goes back into the women's quarters
of the Palace. The CHORUS now begins to sing.)
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
O Zeus,
What end to these woes?
What escape from the Fate
Which oppresses our lords?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Will none come forth?
Must I shear my hair?
Must we wrap ourselves
In black mourning folds?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
It is certain, O friends, it is certain?
But still let us cry to the Gods;
Very great is the power of the Gods.
CHORUS
O King, O Healer,
Seek out appeasement
To Admetus's agony!
Grant this, Oh, grant it!
Once before did you find it;
Now once more
Be the Releaser from death.
The Restrainer of blood-drenched Hades!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Alas!
O son of Pheres.
What ills shall you suffer
Being robbed of your spouse!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
At sight of such woes
Shall we cut our throats?
Shall we slip
A dangling noose round our necks?
CHORUS
See! See!
She comes
From the house with her lord!
Cry out, Oh, lament.
O land of Pherae,
For the best of women
Fades away in her doom
Under the earth,
To dark Hades!
(From the central door of the Palace comes a splendid but
tragical procession. Preceded by the royal guards, ADMETUS enters,
supporting ALCESTIS. The two children, a boy and a girl, cling to
their mother's dress. There is a train of attendants and waiting
women, who bring a low throne for the fainting ALCESTIS.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS (chanting)
Never shall I say that we ought to rejoice in marriage, but rather
weep; this have I seen from of old and now I look upon the fate of the
King, who loses the best of wives, and henceforth until the end his
life shall be intolerable.
ALCESTIS (chanting)
Sun, and you, light of day,
Vast whirlings of swift cloud!
ADMETUS
The sun looks upon you and me, both of us miserable, who have
wrought nothing against the Gods to deserve death.
ALCESTIS (chanting)
O Earth, O roof-tree of my home,
Bridal-bed of my country, Iolcus!
ADMETUS
Rouse up, O unhappy one, and, do not leave me! Call upon the
mighty Gods to pity!
ALCESTIS (starting up and gazing wildly in terror, chanting)
I see the two-oared boat,
I see the boat on the lake!
And Charon,
Ferryman of the Dead,
Calls to me, his hand on the oar:
'Why linger? Hasten! You delay me!'
Angrily he urges me.
ADMETUS
Alas! How bitter to me is that ferrying of which you speak! O my
unhappy one, how we suffer!
ALCESTIS (chanting)
He drags me, he drags me away-
Do you not see?-
To the House of the Dead,
The Winged One
Glaring under dark brows,
Hades!-
What is it you do?
Set me free!-
What a path must I travel,
O most hapless of women!
ADMETUS
O piteous to those that love you, above all to me and to these
children who sorrow in this common grief!
ALCESTIS (chanting)
Loose me, Oh, loose me now;
Lay me down;
All strength is gone from my feet.
(She falls back in the throne.)
Hades draws near!
Dark night falls on my eyes,
My children, my children,
Never more, Oh, never more
Shall your mother be yours!
O children, farewell,
Live happy in the light of day!
ADMETUS (chanting)
Alas! I hear this unhappy speech, and for me it is worse than
all death. Ah! By the Gods, do not abandon me! Ah! By our children,
whom you leave motherless, take heart! If you die, I become as
nothing; in you we have our life and death; we revere your love.
ALCESTIS (recovering herself)
Admetus, you see the things I suffer; and now before I die I
mean to tell you what I wish.
To show you honour and-at the cost of my life-that you may still
behold the light, I die; and yet I might have lived and wedded any
in Thessaly I chose, and dwelt with happiness in a royal home. But,
torn from you, I would not live with fatherless children, nor have I
hoarded up those gifts of youth in which I found delight. Yet he who
begot you, she who brought you forth, abandoned you when it had been
beautiful in them to die, beautiful to die with dignity to save
their son! They had no child but you, no hope if you were dead that
other children might be born to them. Thus I should have lived my life
out, and you too, and you would not lament as now, made solitary
from your wife, that you must rear our children motherless!
tears. What now shall I learn? (To the weeping Servant) It is well
to weep when our lords are in sorrow-but tell us, we would know, is
she alive, is she dead?
SERVANT
You may say she is both alive and dead.
LEADER
How can the same man be dead and yet behold the light?
SERVANT
She gasps, she is on the verge of death.
LEADER
Ah, unhappy man! For such a husband what loss is such a wife!
SERVANT
The King will not know his loss until he suffers it.
LEADER
Then there is no hope that her life may be saved?
SERVANT
The fated day constrains her.
LEADER
Are all things befitting prepared for her?
SERVANT
The robes in which her lord will bury her are ready.
LEADER
Then let her know that she dies gloriously, the best of women
beneath the sun by far!
SERVANT
How should she not be the best! Who shall deny it? What should the
best among women be? How better might a woman hold faith to her lord
than gladly to die for him? This the whole city knows, but you will
marvel when you hear what she has done within the house. When she knew
that the last of her days was come she bathed her white body in
river water, she took garments and gems from her rooms of cedar
wood, and clad herself nobly; then, standing before the hearth-shrine,
she uttered this prayer:
'O Goddess, since now I must descend beneath the earth, for the
last time I make supplication to you: and entreat you to protect my
motherless children. Wed my son to a fair bride, and my daughter to
a noble husband. Let not my children die untimely, as I their mother
am destroyed, but grant that they live out happy lives with good
fortune in their own land!'
To every altar in Admetus's house she went, hung them with
garlands. offered prayer, cut myrtle boughs-unweeping, unlamenting;
nor did the coming doom change the bright colour of her face.
Then to her marriage-room she went, flung herself down upon her
bed, and wept, and said:
'O my marriage-bed, wherein I loosed my virgingirdle to him for
whom I die! Farewell! I have no hatred for you. Only me you lose.
Because I held my faith to you and to my lord-I must die. Another
woman shall possess you, not more chaste indeed than I, more fortunate
perhaps.'
She fell upon her knees and kissed it, and all the bed was damp
with the, tide of tears which flooded to her eyes. And when she was
fulfilled of many tears, drooping she rose from her bed and made as if
to go, and many times she turned to go and many times turned back, and
flung herself once more upon the bed.
Her children clung to their mother's dress, and wept; and she
clasped them in her arms and kissed them turn by turn, as a dying
woman.
All the servants in the house wept with compassion for their
Queen, But she held out her hand to each, and there was none so base
to whom she did not speak, and who did not reply again.
Such is the misery in Admetus's house. If he had died, he would be
nothing now; and, having escaped, he suffers an agony he will never
forget.
LEADER
And does Admetus lament this woe-since he must be robbed of so
noble a woman?
SERVANT
He weeps, and clasps in his arms his dear bedfellow, and cries
to her not to abandon him, asking impossible things. For she pines,
and is wasted by sickness. She falls away, a frail burden on his
arm; and yet, though faintly, she still breathes, still strives to
look upon the sunlight, which she shall never see hereafter-since
now for the last time she looks upon the orb and splendour of the
sun I
I go, and shall announce that you are here; for all men are not so
well-minded to their lords as loyally to stand near them in
misfortunes, but you for long have been a friend to both my lords.
(She goes back into the women's quarters
of the Palace. The CHORUS now begins to sing.)
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
O Zeus,
What end to these woes?
What escape from the Fate
Which oppresses our lords?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Will none come forth?
Must I shear my hair?
Must we wrap ourselves
In black mourning folds?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
It is certain, O friends, it is certain?
But still let us cry to the Gods;
Very great is the power of the Gods.
CHORUS
O King, O Healer,
Seek out appeasement
To Admetus's agony!
Grant this, Oh, grant it!
Once before did you find it;
Now once more
Be the Releaser from death.
The Restrainer of blood-drenched Hades!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS
Alas!
O son of Pheres.
What ills shall you suffer
Being robbed of your spouse!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS
At sight of such woes
Shall we cut our throats?
Shall we slip
A dangling noose round our necks?
CHORUS
See! See!
She comes
From the house with her lord!
Cry out, Oh, lament.
O land of Pherae,
For the best of women
Fades away in her doom
Under the earth,
To dark Hades!
(From the central door of the Palace comes a splendid but
tragical procession. Preceded by the royal guards, ADMETUS enters,
supporting ALCESTIS. The two children, a boy and a girl, cling to
their mother's dress. There is a train of attendants and waiting
women, who bring a low throne for the fainting ALCESTIS.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS (chanting)
Never shall I say that we ought to rejoice in marriage, but rather
weep; this have I seen from of old and now I look upon the fate of the
King, who loses the best of wives, and henceforth until the end his
life shall be intolerable.
ALCESTIS (chanting)
Sun, and you, light of day,
Vast whirlings of swift cloud!
ADMETUS
The sun looks upon you and me, both of us miserable, who have
wrought nothing against the Gods to deserve death.
ALCESTIS (chanting)
O Earth, O roof-tree of my home,
Bridal-bed of my country, Iolcus!
ADMETUS
Rouse up, O unhappy one, and, do not leave me! Call upon the
mighty Gods to pity!
ALCESTIS (starting up and gazing wildly in terror, chanting)
I see the two-oared boat,
I see the boat on the lake!
And Charon,
Ferryman of the Dead,
Calls to me, his hand on the oar:
'Why linger? Hasten! You delay me!'
Angrily he urges me.
ADMETUS
Alas! How bitter to me is that ferrying of which you speak! O my
unhappy one, how we suffer!
ALCESTIS (chanting)
He drags me, he drags me away-
Do you not see?-
To the House of the Dead,
The Winged One
Glaring under dark brows,
Hades!-
What is it you do?
Set me free!-
What a path must I travel,
O most hapless of women!
ADMETUS
O piteous to those that love you, above all to me and to these
children who sorrow in this common grief!
ALCESTIS (chanting)
Loose me, Oh, loose me now;
Lay me down;
All strength is gone from my feet.
(She falls back in the throne.)
Hades draws near!
Dark night falls on my eyes,
My children, my children,
Never more, Oh, never more
Shall your mother be yours!
O children, farewell,
Live happy in the light of day!
ADMETUS (chanting)
Alas! I hear this unhappy speech, and for me it is worse than
all death. Ah! By the Gods, do not abandon me! Ah! By our children,
whom you leave motherless, take heart! If you die, I become as
nothing; in you we have our life and death; we revere your love.
ALCESTIS (recovering herself)
Admetus, you see the things I suffer; and now before I die I
mean to tell you what I wish.
To show you honour and-at the cost of my life-that you may still
behold the light, I die; and yet I might have lived and wedded any
in Thessaly I chose, and dwelt with happiness in a royal home. But,
torn from you, I would not live with fatherless children, nor have I
hoarded up those gifts of youth in which I found delight. Yet he who
begot you, she who brought you forth, abandoned you when it had been
beautiful in them to die, beautiful to die with dignity to save
their son! They had no child but you, no hope if you were dead that
other children might be born to them. Thus I should have lived my life
out, and you too, and you would not lament as now, made solitary
from your wife, that you must rear our children motherless!
- unhappy [ʌn´hæpi]
a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词) - standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- goddess [´gɔdis] n.女神 (初中英语单词)
- descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
- hatred [´heitrid] n.憎恨，敌意 (初中英语单词)
- misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
- abandon [ə´bændən] vt.抛弃，放弃，离弃 (初中英语单词)
- sickness [´siknis] n.生病；呕吐，恶心 (初中英语单词)
- sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)
- chorus [´kɔ:rəs] n.合唱；齐声 v.合唱 (初中英语单词)
- mourning [´mɔ:niŋ] n.悲伤；治丧；戴孝 (初中英语单词)
- procession [prə´seʃən] n.队伍 v.列队行进 (初中英语单词)
- rejoice [ri´dʒɔis] v.(使)高兴；欢庆 (初中英语单词)
- henceforth [´hens´fɔ:θ] ad.今后；从今以后 (初中英语单词)
- miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
- deserve [di´zə:v] v.应受；值得 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- linger [´liŋgə] v.逗留；留恋；拖延 (初中英语单词)
- winged [´wiŋd] a.有翼的 (初中英语单词)
- dignity [´digniti] n.尊严，尊贵；高官显贵 (初中英语单词)
- gladly [´glædli] ad.愉快地，高兴地 (高中英语单词)
- wherein [weər´in] ad.那里面 (高中英语单词)
- virgin [´və:dʒin] a.处女(般)的 n.处女 (高中英语单词)
- girdle [´gə:dl] n.腰带 vt.用带束(缠) (高中英语单词)
- lament [lə´ment] v.哀悼 n.哀悼；恸哭 (高中英语单词)
- faintly [´feintli] ad.微弱地，软弱无力的 (高中英语单词)
- throne [θrəun] n.宝座；王位 (高中英语单词)
- entreat [in´tri:t] vt.恳求，恳请 (英语四级单词)
- chaste [tʃeist] a.贞洁的；高雅的 (英语四级单词)
- compassion [kəm´pæʃən] n.同情；怜悯 (英语四级单词)
- wedded [´wedid] a.(已)结婚的；献身的 (英语四级单词)
- weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
- gloriously [´glɔ:riəsli] ad.光荣地，辉煌地 (英语六级单词)
- untimely [ʌn´taimli] a.&ad.不合时宜的(地) (英语六级单词)
- myrtle [´mə:tl] n.桃金娘科 (英语六级单词)
- hapless [´hæpləs] a.不幸的；倒楣的 (英语六级单词)
- revere [ri´viə] vt.尊敬；敬畏 (英语六级单词)
- abandoned [ə´bændənd] a.被抛弃的；无约束的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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