Hercules, Pluto, Alcestis, Admetos

HERCULES.
Weepest thou? Weep thou mayst; but not for long.
ALCESTIS.
Certainly not for long, O Heracles!
So let me weep: this day, if not this night,
Will join me to Admetos.

Hath told thee so?

HERCULES.
Say, what voice
ALCESTIS.
The voice within my breast.
HERCULES.
It shall be true as was thy heart to him . .
ALCESTIS.

Who now lies without hope for one hour more
Upon this earth.

HERCULES.
No power have I o'er fate.
ALCESTIS.
Thou canst not, I can, save him.
HERCULES.

Tell me how.
ALCESTIS.
I dare not utter my design to thee.

For vows are sacred, so conditions are,
And both are, or will soon be, ratified.
The God who rules below will cast him down
Before my steps can reach those horrid realms,
If those are horrid where the faithful meet
To love eternally.
HERCULES.

But wouldst thou not
Eather return with him to the early scenes
Of your betrothal, of your happier hours?

ALCESTIS.
Alas! alas! not Hades, not Elysion,
Not heaven itself, could ever soothe my soul
As those have done . . but when he goes I go . .
O could it but be first!
HERCULES.

The Gods may grant
This wish at thy entreaty.

ALCESTIS.

They have heard
Already every prayer my heart could frame.

HERCULES.

On me they have bestow'd some power to calm
Thy breast, Alcestis!
ALCESTIS.
Save with his, mine never.

HERCULES.

Be calmer, cheer thee. Every God above
Hath been propitious to me; he below
Shall hear me: not another day shall see
Such faithful hearts apart.

ALCESTIS.

No word of thine
Was ever false, but how can this be true?

HERCULES.
Question me not.

I have been told ere now
That heavy grief brings also heavy sleep.
Lighter be thine! but confidently close
Those eyes half-closed already by the weight
That overhangs them.

ALCESTIS.
Can I? Do I dream?
HERCULES.
No, but thou shalt when Love hath had his way.
PLUTO.
Who comes among the Shades and is no Shade?
HERCULES.

Thy elder brother's offspring, Heracles.
PLUTO.

And sent thee hither he?
HERCULES.
His will it was.
PLUTO.
And what thy errand?
HERCULES.
Rescue.
PLUTO.

Rescue hence?
There never was, nor shall be.

HERCULES.

Say not so,
Brother of him the mighty and the just.

PLUTO.
Just callest thou the brother who usurpt
His father's throne, and thrust these realms on me?
Peopled are mine, 'tis true, far more than his
Or than Poseidon s, with his singing Nymphs
And blowing Tritons in loud choruses
On conchs, and songless speechless multitudes;
Callest thou him the just? mighty he may be
On earth, or over earth, but never here.
And thou, who art but mortal, darest come

Invader, to my very throne!
HERCULES.
I came
Speedily as I could, but was outrun
By one who hurried to recall from hence
Him whom ere this she haply hath embraced,
Admetos; her own life she gives for his;
And this condition every God approves.

PLUTO.

Every? and am not I one? My consent
Neither those gods nor thou shall gain. Return
For what is she to thee, audacious man?

HERCULES.
Alcestis is the daughter of my friend.
PLUTO.

If truth has reacht me here (and oftener truth
Is found below than among those on earth)
Many have been the daughters thou hast there
Rescued from spousal and parental bonds.

HERCULES.

I bear no shaft of wit so keen as thine,
Nor would confront thee: only give me up
The virtuous bride, then will I reascend.

PLUTO.
What if thy calculation be amiss.
The bride I give not up: thou mayest go,

With my goodwill, but must leave her behind.
HERCULES.
I would not wrestle with thee.

PLUTO.

Art thou mad?
Wrestle with an Immortal!

HERCULES.

If compell'd,
And grow myself Immortal by that strife.

PLUTO.
Cerberos! seize him.
HERCULES.

'Twas not long ago
He lickt the instep of Eurydice
And only growl'd at her deliverer.
Brave dogs are fellow-creatures of brave men.
Not one of his three heads would bark at me.

PLUTO.

(Alcestis rushing forward.)
Woman! whence comest? whither rushest thou?

ALCESTIS.
(Not minding him.)

O Heracles! and art thou also doomed
To bless earth never more?

HERCULES.

To bless once more
Earth with thy presence come I, nor will go
Until I lead thee back.

PLUTO.
Styx! Phlegethon!

Surround him.

HERCULES.

I will cast thee into them,
God as thou art, if any hurt befalls
Alcestis.

ALCESTIS.

Leave me, leave me, Heracles!
Never from my Admetos will I part.

PERSEPHONE (entering)
Nor shalt thou.

PLUTO.

And thou, too, refractory?
Even thou, Persephone!

PERSEPHONE.
Thou once didst love me,
O Pluto! love me now; remit, remit

Thy rigid laws . . give me these two. Advance,
Admetos! (whispers)

He may change his mind . . go, go.
ADMETOS (ascending).

I feel afresh the air of heaven; thy kiss
Breath'd it, and do my steps touch earth again?
HERCULES.
Yea, firm as mine do.

But thou stil art faint,
Alcestis! If my shoulder is too high
For thee to lean on, let this arm help his.

I had no time or thought to look beyond.
And I saw nothing of Elysian fields;
If there be any thou shalt find them all
Among those pastures where Apollo fed
Thy herds, Admetos! where another God
(Thou knowest who) Alcestis! drew thee forth
And placed thee on that fond and faithful breast
Whereon thou, undivided, shalt repose.

ALCESTIS.
Shall we be never, never, parted more?
ADMETOS.
Let us, my own Alcestis, leave behind
(Since one day both must die) a proof that love
May be as happy, if as true, as thine.
Age is before us, be it long before.
And Death not wait for either!
HERCULES.

Haste ye home,
And there hold fitter than such grave discourse.
Eemember, Hymen is come back again
And follows close, for Hymen hates delay.
Admetos! I was fancying that thy brood
Of gallant coursers, boast of Thessaly,
Will not awaken you tomorrow-morn,

Q
With all their neighings at the palace-gate,
To greet ye coming safe and sound again.
Let me forbid the maidens to entwine,
Whatever they may gather in the dew,
Flowers till past noontide: they are ever apt
To speed on such occasions, and to break
The spell descending from the silent moon,
A spell which binds together strong and weak.
They shall sing merrily for honied cates,
A guerdon and a symbol not unmeet:
I too would sing among them, but no song
Could Orpheus teach me, nor would let me touch
His harp; my fingers, said he, were unfit;
Nor was my voice melodious, tho less harsh
Than when ye heard it in yon place below.

CHORUS OF MATRONS AT MORNING.

Come, little girls who catch the laughter
And know not what the laughter means,

But who shall know it well hereafter
Amid less grand and gaudy scenes.

Come, maidens, ye almost as young,
Ye too whose cheeks are full in bloom.

Lay by your wreathes, and sing a song
To her whose love hath burst the tomb.

Then to the praises of the bold.
Then of the tender and the true,

A pair whom Hades could not hold . .
And may such heroes wed with you!

girls' reply.

We are too young to think of men,
Few of us yet are seventeen;

Better to trim the wreathe, and then
To look and see how looks the queen.