MAID
She's alive, you might say, but you also might say that she's dead.
CHORUS
How could the same person be dead and alive?
MAID
The queen can no longer stand, and can barely breathe.
CHORUS
Oh, what a wife you'll be missing, Admetus: I'm sorry.
MAID
The king doesn't know what he's missing, before it happens.
CHORUS
So there's no hope at all that her life can be spared?
MAID
If she can freeze the dawn on the day of her death.
CHORUS
But everything proper is being done for the queen?
MAID
The arrangements are made for the king to bury his wife.
CHORUS
Then let the lady know who's about to die
that she is the best and the bravest of women, by far.
MAID
The best and the bravest, indeed, all the world would agree;
but what should become of the bravest and best? Only this?
What better proof of her love and esteem could she give
than be willing to lay down her life so her husband could live?
That's common knowledge; but you'd find it hard to believe
the details! As soon as she got out of bed on the morning
of her last day on earth, she bathed herself
in sacred river water, and dressed in the finest
clothes from her cedar closet, and stood before
the hearth and the household goddess, and started to pray:
"This is the last time you shall hear my voice,
for I am taking that one-way journey today.
I ask you to care for my children: to find my son
a loving wife, and my daughter a fitting husband.
Let them not die like their mother, before their time,
but live a long and happy life in their homeland."
Then she went from altar to altar, praying
and offering ritual gifts to the gods and goddesses.
Not a tear, not a whimper; you couldn't have guessed
from the way she looked that she was preparing to die.
Then she runs to the bedroom and straight to the bed,
and there she begins to pour out her tears and her words:
"Farewell, dear marriage-bed, where I came as a virgin
and gave myself to the man for whom I am dying.
Although you brought me an early death, I bear you
no hard feelings: I could never betray
either my bed or my husband, and that's why I die.
Some other woman will own you; she might never be
any smarter than I am, but maybe she'll have better luck."
She throws herself down on the bed and starts kissing it, soaking
the covers from head to foot, 'till she runs out of tears.
Once, she tried to get up and leave the room,
but she ended up back on the bed, right where she started.
The children were glued to her skirts, and of course they were crying.
She held them, and kissed them, and held them: she knew she was dying.
One by one, she said goodbye to the servants,
leaving the king and the palace to heal their wounds.
The king would surely have had to suffer the anguish
if he had died, but mark my words: escaping
his fate will not set him free from this pain, I'm afraid.
The time will come: he'll remember it all too well.
CHORUS
The king must be in misery as we speak,
grieving over the loss of a wife like Alcestis.
MAID
He's weeping and wailing, his dear wife in his arms,
and begging her not to desert him; of course, it's no use:
the force of death is upon her, weighing her down,
and she knows that it's almost time. She wants to come out
and catch one final glimpse of the rising sun.
You've always been faithful friends to the king and the queen,
and they'll want to know you've come; I'll tell them you're here.