Who now shall aid impart?
To ev'ry god, at ev'ry shrine,
The king hath paid the rites divine:
But vain his vows, his pious care;
And ours is dark despair!
EPISODE I
_At last they have been heard, and one of the Queen's Women comes
weeping from the Palace [by one of the Inferior Doors]: the Chorus fall
into their Episode position, in two ranks, between the Altar and the
Stage, taking part by their Foreman in the dialogue._
The Chorus eagerly enquire whether Alcestis yet lives. {138}
_Attend._ As living may I speak of her, and dead.
_Cho._ Living and dead at once, how may that be?
_Attend._ E'en now she sinks in death and breathes her last.
They join in extolling her heroic devotion, and the Attendant tells of
her bearing on this day of Death, which she celebrates as if a day of
religious festival.
When she knew {160}
The destin'd day was come, in fountain water
She bath'd her lily-tinctured limbs, then took
From her rich chests, of odorous cedar form'd,
A splendid robe, and her most radiant dress;
Thus gorgeously array'd she stood before
The hallow'd flames, and thus address'd her pray'r:
"O Queen, I go to the infernal shades!
Yet, e'er I go, with reverence let me breathe
My last request: Protect my orphan children,
Make my son happy with the wife he loves, {170}
And wed my daughter to a noble husband:
Nor let them, like their mother, to the tomb
Untimely sink, but in their native land
Be blest through length'ned life to honour'd age.
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