ADMETUS (holding out his hand without looking).
Like Perseus when he touched the Gorgon, there!
HERACLES.
Thou hast touched her?
ADMETUS (at last taking her hand).
Touched her?… Yes.
HERACLES (a hand on the shoulder of each).
Then cling to her;
And say if thou hast found a guest of grace
In God's son, Heracles! Look in her face;
Look; is she like…?
[ADMETUS looks and stands amazed.]
Go, and forget in bliss
Thy sorrow!
ADMETUS.
O ye Gods! What meaneth this?
A marvel beyond dreams! The face … 'tis she;
Mine, verily mine! Or doth God mock at me
And blast my vision with some mad surmise?
HERACLES.
Not so. This is thy wife before thine eyes.
ADMETUS (who has recoiled in his amazement).
Beware! The dead have phantoms that they send…
HERACLES.
Nay; no ghost-raiser hast thou made thy friend.
ADMETUS.
My wife … she whom I buried?