PHERES
I've come to offer condolences for your loss.
She was a prudent and noble wife to you, boy,
but necessity makes you endure it, nonetheless.
Take these gifts as a token of my respect,
and bury them with her. She meant a lot to me:
without her, I would have lived to bury my son.
She improved my life, and yours, and in the process
her generosity made all women more noble.
Farewell, Alcestis, you who saved this man
and all our race, when we were on our knees.
May your journey be fair and your stay in the House of Hades
be peaceful. As far as I'm concerned, we mortals
should marry women like you, or not get married.
ADMETUS
You've got a lot of nerve to show your face,
unwelcome, uninvited, and unloved.
We wouldn't touch your gifts in a thousand years.
Where were you and your presents when I was dying?
You didn't have what it takes to stand up and die!
No! You stepped aside and let somebody else
receive the blow, in spite of the fact that you're old!
And now you have the nerve to show up for the funeral.
Character shows up in action, not in words,
and you turned out to be a first-rate coward.
Well, you're not my father, that's for sure.
And she's not my mother. How else could you treat me
as if you two had picked me up off the street?
(points to the coffin) Here is my real mother, and father, too!
You let her do your dying for you
her, a total non-entity to you!
You had the chance for glory and a name worthy of legends.
For only a few short years of your life,
She and I could have been spared this agony.
You had everything you could want:
Strength, health, power, and then me.
You had a son to continue all you had done.
I was the perfect son, no trouble at all,
and this is the thanks I get. Well, you can find
yourself another son: from this day forward,
I'll have nothing to do with either one of you,
dead or alive. You'll have to get somebody else
to dig your grave and mourn your passing --not me!
You've already left me for dead! I declare I am the son
of my wife and savior. Some old folks pray to die,
but when the time comes, they suddenly value the old age they cursed.
CHORUS
Let's reflect a moment before we continue;
haven't you and your parents suffered enough?
PHERES
Who do you think you're talking to, you insolent
son of a bitch? I'm not some runaway slave!
I'm your father, whether you like it or not,
and I refuse to tolerate this abuse!
You young punk, I gave you life, I raised you,
I made you king; but I'll be damned if I'll die for you!
Where is it written in all the laws and customs
of Thessaly that a father must die for his son?
Where is it written in all the laws of Greece?
Neither the law of the land nor the Rights of Man
provide for anything like what you're demanding.
You are responsible for your life, not me:
whether it's happy or sad depends on you.
Look what I left you: you're healthy, you're king, you're rich;
what do you think entitles you to my life?
Don't you get it? Whatever time I have left
is sweet to me, in part because it's so short!
You ugly, worthless slime, to avoid your fate
you fought a campaign that included killing your wife.
And now you stand there, saved from death by your woman,
and dare to call me a coward! What's coming next?
Another wife --and another-- so you can go on
living forever at someone else's expense?
So you can shut up! But remember this:
Everyone loves their life as much as you do yours, and they'll hate
you as much, but because they're right to!
CHORUS
Oh, please-- curse your son no more;
too much has already been spoken in so little time.
ADMETUS
My accusations stand, no matter what insults
you throw at me because you can't stand the truth.
PHERES
The truth? It would be an insult to die for you!
ADMETUS
Shouldn't the old die before the young?
PHERES
I have one life to die for, not two.
ADMETUS
Well, I hope you live longer than the gods, then.
PHERES
The names you call your parents, who never harmed you!
ADMETUS
You love your life too much; you deserve the names.
PHERES
You are the one who caused this funeral.
ADMETUS
This funeral just proves you're a coward!
PHERES
You can't say that I killed her!
ADMETUS
(in a rage> I can't wait till you need my help!
PHERES
Go find your next wife, so that she can die for you, too!
ADMETUS
Dying is so important to you, except you won't do it!
PHERES
Every day, even today, is precious to me.
ADMETUS
Your soul is so sick you don't deserve to live.
PHERES
At least you won't be able to spit on me when I die.
ADMETUS
There'll be no kind words said over your coffin.
PHERES
I don't give a damn what they say when I'm dead.
ADMETUS
Old and shameless, that's what you've become.
PHERES
She wasn't shameless; she was just young and stupid!
ADMETUS
Out of my sight, and let me bury my dead!
PHERES
You're the one who killed her; you go bury her.
Pray that her brother never finds you, though:
he still believes in taking an eye for an eye.
ADMETUS
You go to hell, and take that old hag with you!
You've orphaned me and I curse you to childlessness.
I don't ever want to see you again!
(exeunt PHERES stage right and the funeral procession stage left, led by THANATOS and followed by ADMETUS and the CHORUS; as they leave, the CHORUS begin the ode that ADMETUS requested before his father appeared)