ALCESTIS.-- We have both journeyed; mine was the longer way. ADMETUS.-- Bitter for thee it was to part from breath! ALCESTIS.-- Life filled mine eyes; I had not looked on death. ADMETUS.-- What hast thou now of hidden things to tell? ALCESTIS.-- Love knows not life till it know death as well. ADMETUS.-- Where found’st thou--love? ALCESTIS.-- Not where the dead lie bound, Nor here on earth one lover have I found. ADMETUS.-- No lover, dost thou tell me? By this head, _I_ am thy lover. I swear it! ALCESTIS.-- Thou hast said. ADMETUS.-- Did not I choose thee first of all on earth? ALCESTIS.-- The doom of God lay on me from my birth. ADMETUS.-- Sweet was our bridal-chamber filled by thee! ALCESTIS.-- The night was dark; I had not eyes to see. ADMETUS.-- Reaching my arms I snatch thee back from fate. ALCESTIS.-- In one small life the little need seems great. ADMETUS.-- Hadst thou no longing, then, to live again? ALCESTIS.-- And not to die: therewith I strove in vain. ADMETUS.-- But having died, was there no looking back? ALCESTIS.-- I looked, and lo, the doors of life were black. ADMETUS.-- Didst thou not love the children of thy womb? ALCESTIS.-- They still were mine when I was in the tomb. ADMETUS.-- Home hungered for thee, and the marriage-bed Where thou wast fruitful. ALCESTIS.-- And where I lay dead, Having borne all! ADMETUS.-- What means that stricken cry? Found’st thou no bliss? ALCESTIS.-- Yea, bliss enough to die When thou didst ask it of me, O my lord! Ofttimes he might have slain me with his sword: Yet was I spared to die another death. ADMETUS.-- Breathe not upon the past such bitter breath! Great was the need, thou knowest, I had of thee! ALCESTIS.-- A greater need befell: I set thee free. ADMETUS.-- Was it not love which took thee to the tomb? ALCESTIS.-- Thrice thou hadst planted life within my womb. ADMETUS.-- Yea, thou hast given me sons which shall be men. ALCESTIS.-- And thrice I could have died; but did not then. ADMETUS.-- What darker word is this that thou dost say? ALCESTIS.-- Lo, at thy bidding, I have looked on day And darkness, life and death; thy hand holds all. ADMETUS.-- Therefore, I hold thee still: yea, and will call Joy back to thee again! ALCESTIS.-- My joy I gave Before I died; nor took it to the grave; Nor brought it thence. ADMETUS.-- Say, then, where dwells it now? ALCESTIS.-- In thee, if thou be joyful; but if thou Hast not found joy, then was all given in vain. ADMETUS.-- Soon from thy body joy shall spring again, Yielding fresh life. ALCESTIS.-- So Earth must give her yield Unto the hand of him who ploughs the field. ADMETUS.-- And binds the sheaves! (_He clasps her in his arms._)