Abides the boast to have won the noblest wife,
For you, my babes, to have sprung from noblest mother.“[[29]]
Admetus promises all, and more, than she asks. He will never wed again, but will mourn her always. There shall be no more revelry in Pheræ; he will not touch his lyre again, nor sing. Her death has robbed his life of mirth; and all his longing will be to come to her.
“Yet there look thou for me whenso I die:
Prepare a home, as who shall dwell with me.
For in the selfsame cedar-chest, wherein
Thou liest, will I bid them lay my bones
Outstretched beside thee: ne’er may I be severed,
No, not in death, from thee, my one true friend.“[[29]]
The eager protestations bring some comfort to her passing spirit, and she tenderly commends the children to him. Then: