ADMETUS

My friends, in spite of how it may appear,
I think my wife is better off than I am:
no more toil, well thought of, no more trouble.
And here I am in misery everywhere;
I'm not even supposed to be alive!
I understand it now, I really do.
How can I just walk up and open that door?
Who am I going to talk to? Who will answer?
Who'll say, "Welcome home?" There's nowhere to turn!
I'll see her empty bed, her house untended;
children and servants crying everywhere.
I can't stay home, but I also can't go out!
Couples on the street, Alcestis's age;
meeting friends of hers, and worst of all,
having to hear the people who despise me:
"Look! the man who was so afraid to die
that he sent his wife to her grave before her time
to take his place. On top of that, he now hates his parents,
The coward! I wonder if we should really
call him a man at all... what do you think?"
What's the point of living if all I have
is a bad reputation based on an ugly record?