SEMICH. 'Tis plain, my friends, too plain; but still let us pray to the Gods, for the power of the Gods is mightiest.
SEMICH. O Apollo, king of healing, find out some remedy for the evils of Admetus, procure it, O! procure it. For before this also thou didst find remedy, and now become our deliverer from death, and stop the murderous Pluto.
SEMICH. Alas! alas! woe! woe! O son of Pheres, how didst thou fare when thou wert deprived of thy wife?
SEMICH. Alas! alas! these things would even justify self-slaughter, and there is more, than whereat one might thrust one's neck in the suspending noose.[[16]]
SEMICH. For not a dear, but a most dear wife, wilt thou see dead this day.
SEMICH. Behold, behold; lo! she doth come from the house, and her husband with her. Cry out, O groan, O land of Pheres, for the most excellent woman, wasting with sickness, departing beneath the earth to the infernal Pluto. Never will I aver that marriage brings more joy than grief, forming my conjectures both from former things, and beholding this fortune of the king; who, when he has lost this most excellent wife, will thenceforward pass a life not worthy to be called life.[[17]]
ALCESTIS, ADMETUS, EUMELUS, CHORUS.
ALC. Thou Sun, and thou light of day, and ye heavenly eddies of the fleeting clouds—
ADM. He beholds[[18]] thee and me, two unhappy creatures, having done nothing to the Gods, for which thou shouldst die.
ALC. O earth, and ye roofs of the palace, and thou bridal bed of my native Iolcos.