[During the last few lines Admetus has been looking at the veiled Woman and, though he does not consciously recognize her, feels a strange emotion overmastering him. He draws back.]
Aye. I must walk with care....
O woman, whosoe'er thou art, thou hast
The shape of my Alcestis; thou art cast
In mould like hers.... Oh, take her from mine eyes!
In God's name!
[Heracles signs to the Attendants to take Alcestis away again. She stays veiled and unnoticing in the background.]
I was fallen, and in this wise
Thou wilt make me deeper fall.... Meseems, meseems,
There in her face the loved one of my dreams
Looked forth.--My heart is made a turbid thing,
Craving I know not what, and my tears spring
Unbidden.--Grief I knew 'twould be; but how
Fiery a grief I never knew till now.
Leader:
Thy fate I praise not. Yet, what gift soe'er
God giveth, man must steel himself and bear.
Heracles (drawing Admetus on):
Would God, I had the power, 'mid all this might
Of arm, to break the dungeons of the night,
And free thy wife, and make thee glad again!
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