HER. Having fought a battle with the prince of
those beneath.
ADM. Where dost thou say thou didst have this
conflict with Death!
HER. At the tomb itself, having seized him from
ambush with my hands.
ADM. But why, I pray, does this woman stand here
speechless?
HER. It is not yet allowed thee to hear her address
thee, before she is unbound from her consecrations[51]
to the Gods beneath, and the third day come.
But lead her in, and as thou oughtest, henceforward,
Admetus, continue in thy piety with respect to strangers.
And farewell! But I will go and perform the task
that is before me for the imperial son of Sthenelus.
ADM. Stay with us, and be a companion of our
hearth.
HER. This shall be some time hence, but now I
must haste.
ADM. But mayst thou be prosperous, and return
on thy journey back. But to the citizens, and
to all the tetrarchy I issue my commands, that they
institute dances in honor of these happy events, and
make the altars odorous with their sacrifices of oxen
that accompany their vows. For now are we placed
in a better state of life than the former one:
for I will not deny that I am happy.
CHOR. Many are the shapes of the things the deities
direct, and many things the Gods perform contrary
to our expectations. And those things which we
looked for are not accomplished; but the God hath brought
to pass things not looked for. Such hath been
the event of this affair.
* * * *
*
[1] Lactant. i. 10. “Quid Apollo?
Nonne ... turpissime gregem pavit alienum?”
B.
[2] Hygin. Fab. li. “Apollo ab eo
in servitutem liberaliter acceptus.” B.
[3] Cf. Hippol. 1437. B.
[4] No one will, I believe, object to this translation
of [Greek: THANATOS]; it seems rather a matter
of surprise that Potter has kept the Latin ORCUS,
a name clearly substituted as the nearest to [Greek:
THANATOS] of the masculine gender.
[5] Cf. AEsch. Eum. 723 sqq. B.
[6] It was customary to bury those, who died advanced
in years, with greater magnificence than young persons.
[7] The horses of Diomed, king of Thrace. The
construction is, [Greek: Eurystheos pempsantos
[auton] meta hippeion ochema [axonta] ek topon dyschei
meron Threikes]. MONK.
[8] On this custom, see Monk, and Lomeier de Lustrationibus
Sec. xxviii. B.
[9] Perhaps, “as though all were over,”
B.
[10] Casaubon on Theophr. Sec. 16, observes that
it was customary to place a large vessel filled with
lustral water before the doors of a house during the
time the corpse was lying out, with which every one
who came out sprinkled himself. See also Monk’s
note, Kirchmann de Funeribus, iii. 9. The same
custom was observed on returning from the funeral.
See Pollux, viii. 7. p. 391, ed. Seber.
B.
