d, thou mightst have lived till age
Crept slowly on, nor wouldst thou heave the sigh
Thus of thy wife deprived, nor train alone
Thy orphan children:--but some God appointed {300}
It should be thus: thus be it.

All this is the basis for a requital she demands of her husband: that
he shall let her children be lords in their own house, and not set over
them the cruel guardianship of a step-mother.

My son that holds endearing converse with thee {315}
Hath in his father a secure protection;
But who, my daughter, shall with honour guide
Thy virgin years? What woman shalt thou find
New-wedded to thy father, whose vile arts
Will not with slanderous falsehoods taint thy name,
And blast thy nuptials in youth's freshest bloom?
For never shall thy mother see thee led
A bride, nor at thy throes speak comfort to thee,
Then present when a mother's tenderness
Is most alive: for I must die! {325}

The _Chorus_ pledge their faith that the king will honour such a
request as long as reason lasts. _Admetus_ addresses a solemn vow to
his dying wife, that her will shall be done:

Living thou wast mine, {334}
And dead thou only shalt be called my wife.

It will be only too easy to keep such a pledge as that, for life
henceforth will be one long mourning to him.

Hence I renounce
The feast, the cheerful guest, the flow'ry wreath, {350}
And song that used to echo through my house:
For never will I touch the lyre again,
Nor to the Libyan flute's sweet measures raise
My voice: with thee all my delights are dead.
Thy beauteous figure, by the artist's hand
Skillfully wrought, shall in my bed be laid;
By that reclining, I will clasp it to me,
And call it by thy name, and think I hold
My dear wife in my arms, and have her yet,
Though now no more I have her: cold delight {360}
I ween, yet thus th' affliction of my soul
I shall relieve, and visiting my dreams
Shalt thou delight me.

O for the power of Orpheus's lyre, that might rescue thee even from the
realms of the dead!

But there await me till I die; prepare {374}
A mansion for me, as again with me
To dwell; f