r; thou canst but have one life. Wilt thou not take another
in her stead?"

"Her and no other will I have, for my honour is the greater when I take
the young."

"I know thy temper, hated both of Gods and of men. But there cometh a
guest to this house, whom Eurystheus sendeth to the snowy plains of
Thrace, to fetch the horses of Lycurgus. Haply he shall persuade thee
against thy will."

"Say what thou wilt; it shall avail nothing. And now I go to cut off a
lock of her hair, for I take these firstfruits of them that die."

In the meantime, within the palace, Alcestis prepared herself for death.
And first she washed her body with pure water from the river, and then
she took from her coffer of cedar her fairest apparel, and adorned
herself therewith. Then, being so arranged, she stood before the hearth
and prayed, saying, "O Queen Here, behold! I depart this day. Do thou
therefore keep my children, giving to this one a noble husband and to
that a loving wife." And all the altars that were in the house she
visited in like manner, crowning them with myrtle leaves and praying at
them. Nor did she weep at all, or groan, or grow pale. But at the last,
when she came to her chamber, she cast herself upon the bed and kissed
it, crying, "I hate thee not, though I die for thee, giving myself for
my husband. And thee another wife shall possess, not more true than I
am, but, maybe, more fortunate!" And after she had left the chamber, she
turned to it again and again with many tears. And all the while her
children clung to her garments, and she took them up in her arms, the
one first and then the other, and kissed them. And all the servants that
were in the house bewailed their mistress, nor did she fail to reach her
hand to each of them, greeting him. There was not one of them so vile
but she spake to him and was spoken to again.

After this, when the hour was now come when she must die, she cried to
her husband (for he held her in his arms, as if he would have stayed her
that she should not depart), "I see the boat of the dead, and Charon
standing with his hand upon the pole, who calleth me, saying, 'Hasten;
thou delayest us;' and then again, 'A winged messenger of the dead
looketh at me from under his dark eyebrows, and would lead me away. Dost
thou not see him?'" Then after this she seemed now ready to die, yet
again she gathered strength, and said to the King, "Listen, and I will
tell thee before I die what I would have thee d