HERACLES.
Grant me, friend,
This one boon! It may help thee in the end.
ADMETUS.
Woe's me!
Would God thou hadst never won those victories!
HERACLES.
Thou sharest both the victory and the prize.
ADMETUS.
Thou art generous…. But now let her go.
HERACLES.
She shall,
If go she must. Look first, and judge withal.
[He takes the veil off ALCESTIS.]
ADMETUS (steadily refusing to look).
She must.—And thou, forgive me!
HERACLES.
Friend, there is
A secret reason why I pray for this.
ADMETUS (surprised, then reluctantly yielding).
I grant thy boon then—though it likes me ill.
HERACLES.
'Twill like thee later. Now … but do my will.