See where Admetus, lord of this land, comes in person from the palace forth. Admetus Hail! son of Zeus, from Perseus sprung. Heracles Joy to thee also, Admetus, king of Thessaly. Admetus Would there were! yet thy kindly heart I know full well. Heracles Why dost thou appear with head shorn thus in mourning? Admetus To-day I am to bury one who is dead. Heracles Heaven avert calamity from thy children! Admetus The children I have begotten are alive within my house. Heracles Thy father maybe is gone; well, he was ripe to go. Admetus No, Heracles, he lives; my mother too. Heracles It cannot be thy wife is dead, thy Alcestis? Admetus I can a twofold tale tell about her. Heracles Dost mean that she is dead, or living still? Admetus She lives, yet lives no more; that is my grief. Heracles I am no wiser yet; thy words are riddles to me. Admetus Knowest thou not the doom she must undergo? Heracles I know she did submit to die in thy stead. Admetus How then is she still alive, if so she promised? Heracles Ah! weep not thy wife before the day, put that off till then. Admetus The doomed is dead; the dead no more exists. Heracles Men count to be and not to be something apart. Admetus Thy verdict this, O Heracles, mine another. Heracles Why weepest then? which of thy dear ones is the dead? Admetus ’Tis a woman; I spoke of a woman just now. Heracles A stranger, or one of thine own kin? Admetus A stranger, yet in another sense related to my house. Heracles How then came she by her death in house of thine? Admetus Her father dead, she lived here as an orphan. Heracles Ah! would I had found thee free from grief, Admetus! Admetus With what intent dost thou devise this speech?