When something pushed to stay his downward step,
Pluck back despair just reaching its repose.
He would have bidden the kind presence there
Observe that,—since the corpse was coming out,
Cared for in all things that befit the case,
Carried aloft, in decency and state,
To the last burial-place and burning pile,—
'T were proper friends addressed, as custom prompts,
Alkestis bound on her last journeying.
"Ay, for we see thy father," they subjoined,