No, they would rather surmise that Alcestis is living still; and as one of the queen’s maids comes out, they beg eagerly for news. The girl tells them through tears that her mistress does indeed still live, but that the end is very near. Even now, in quiet courage, the queen is performing all the needful rites.
For when she knew that the appointed day
Was come, in river-water her white skin
She bathed, and from the cedar chests took forth
Vesture and jewels, and decked her gloriously,
And stood before the hearth and prayed....
To all the altars through Admetus’ halls
She went, with wreaths she hung them, and she prayed,
Plucking the while the tresses of the myrtle,
Tearless, unsighing, and the imminent fate