{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/morris/ep1/ep115.htm","path":"neu/morris/ep1/ep115.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/morris/ep1/ep115.htm","text":"The Earthly Paradise, (March-August), by William Morris, [1868]\nADMETUS, king of Pher\u00e6 in Thessaly, received unwittingly Apollo as his servant, by the help of whom he won to wife Alcestis, daughter of Pelias: afterwards too, as in other things, so principally in this, Apollo gave him help, that when he came to die, he obtained of the Fates for him, that if another would die willingly in his stead, then he should live still; and when to every one else this seemed impossible, Alcestis gave her life for her husband's.\nMIDST sunny grass-clad meads that slope adown\n To lake B\u0153beis stands an ancient town,\n Where dwelt of old a lord of Thessaly,\n The son of Pheres and fair Clymene,\n Who had to name Admetus: long ago\n The dwellers by the lake have ceased to know\n His name, because the world grows old, but then\n He was accounted great among great men;\n Young, strong, and godlike, lacking nought at all\n Of gifts that unto royal men might fall\n In those old simple days, before men went\n To gather unseen harm and discontent, p. 457\n Along with all the alien merchandize\n That rich folk need, too restless to be wise.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now on the fairest of all autumn eves,\n When midst the dusty, crumpled, dying leaves\n The black grapes showed, and every press and vat\n Was newly scoured, this King Admetus sat\n Among his people, wearied in such wise\n By hopeful toil as makes a paradise\n Of the rich earth; for light and far away\n Seemed all the labour of the coming day,\n And no man wished for more than then he had,\n Nor with another's mourning was made glad.\n There in the pillared porch, their supper done,\n They watched the fair departing of the sun;\n The while the soft-eyed well-girt maidens poured\n The joy of life from out the jars long stored\n Deep in the earth, while little like a king,\n As we call kings, but glad with everything,\n The wise Thessalian sat and blessed his life,\n So free from sickening fear and foolish strife.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But midst the joy of this festivity,\n Turning aside he saw a man draw nigh,\n Along the dusty grey vine-bordered road\n That had its ending at his fair abode;\n He seemed e\u2019en from afar to set his face\n Unto the King's adorned reverend place,\n And like a traveller went he wearily,\n And yet as one who seems his rest to see. p. 458\n A staff he bore, but nowise was he bent\n With scrip or wallet; so withal he went\n Straight to the King's high seat, and standing near,\n Seemed a stout youth and noble, free from fear,\n But peaceful and unarmed; and though ill clad,\n And though the dust of that hot land he had\n Upon his limbs and face, as fair was he\n As any king's son you might lightly see,\n Grey-eyed and crisp-haired, beautiful of limb,\n And no ill eye the women cast on him.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But kneeling now, and stretching forth his hand,\n He said, \"O thou, the King of this fair land,\n Unto a banished man some shelter give,\n And help me with thy goods that I may live:\n Thou hast good store, Admetus, yet may I,\n Who kneel before thee now in misery,\n Give thee more gifts before the end shall come\n Than all thou hast laid safely in thine house.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Rise up, and be my guest,\" Admetus said,\n \"I need no gifts for this poor gift of bread,\n The land is wide, and bountiful enow.\n What thou canst do, to-morrow thou shalt show,\n And be my man, perchance; but this night rest\n Not questioned more than any passing guest.\n Yea, even if a great King thou hast spilt,\n Thou shall not answer aught but as thou wilt.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then the man rose and said, \"O King, indeed\n Of thine awarded silence have I need,\n Nameless I am, nameless what I have done p. 459\n Must be through many circles of the sun.\n But for to-morrow\u2014let me rather tell\n On this same eve what things I can do well,\n And let me put mine hand in thine and swear\n To serve thee faithfully a changing year;\n Nor think the woods of Ossa hold one beast\n That of thy tenderest yearling shall make feast,\n Whiles that I guard thy flocks, and thou shalt bear\n Thy troubles easier when thou com\u2019st to hear\n The music I can make. Let these thy men\n Witness against me if I fail thee, when\n War falls upon thy lovely land and thee.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then the King smiled, and said, \"So let it be,\n Well shalt thou serve me, doing far less than this,\n Nor for thy service due gifts shalt thou miss:\n Behold I take thy faith with thy right hand,\n Be thou true man unto this guarded land.\n Ho ye! take this my guest, find raiment meet\n To clad him with, and bathe his wearied feet,\n Then bring him back beside my throne to feast.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But to himself he said, \"I am the least\n Of all Thessalians if this man was born\n In any earthly dwelling more forlorn\n Than a king's palace.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then a damsel slim\n Let him inside, nought loth to go with him,\n And when the cloud of steam had curled to meet\n Within the brass his wearied dusty feet,\n She from a carved press brought him linen fair, p. 460\n And a new-woven coat a king might wear,\n And so being clad he came unto the feast,\n But as he came again, all people ceased\n What talk they held soever, for they thought\n A very god among them had been brought;\n And doubly glad the king Admetus was\n At what that dying eve had brought to pass,\n And bade him sit by him and feast his fill.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So there they sat till all the world was still,\n And \u2019twixt the pillars their red torches\u2019 shine\n Held forth unto the night a joyous sign.\nSO henceforth did this man at Pher\u00e6 dwell,\n And what he set his hand to wrought right well,\n And won much praise and love in everything,\n And came to rule all herdsmen of the King;\n But for two things in chief his fame did grow;\n And first that he was better with the bow\n Than any \u2019twixt Olympus and the sea,\n And then that sweet, heart-piercing melody\n He drew out from the rigid-seeming lyre,\n And made the circle round the winter fire\n More like to heaven than gardens of the May.\n So many a heavy thought he chased away\n From the King's heart, and softened many a hate,\n And choked the spring of many a harsh debate; p. 461\n And, taught by wounds, the snatchers of the wolds\n Lurked round the gates of less well-guarded folds.\n Therefore Admetus loved him, yet withal,\n \"Strange doubts and fears upon his heart did fall;\n For morns there were when he the man would meet,\n His hair wreathed round with bay and blossoms sweet,\n Gazing distraught into the brightening east,\n Nor taking heed of either man or beast,\n Or anything that was upon the earth.\n Or sometimes midst the hottest of the mirth,\n Within the King's hall, would he seem to wake\n As from a dream, and his stringed tortoise take\n And strike the chords unbidden, till the hall\n Filled with the glorious sound from wall to wall,\n Trembled and seemed as it would melt away,\n And sunken, down the faces weeping lay\n That erewhile laughed the loudest; only he\n Stood upright, looking forward steadily\n With sparkling eyes as one who cannot weep,\n Until the storm of music sank to sleep.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But this thing seemed the doubtfullest of all\n Unto the King, that should there chance to fall\n A festal day, and folk did sacrifice\n Unto the gods, ever by some device\n The man would be away: yet with all this\n His presence doubled all Admetus\u2019 bliss,\n And happy in all things he seemed to live,\n And great gifts to his herdsman did he give. p. 462\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But now the year came round again to spring,\n And southward to Iolchos went the King;\n For there did Pelias hold a sacrifice\n Unto the gods, and put forth things of price\n For men to strive for in the people's sight;\n So on a morn of April, fresh and bright,\n Admetus shook the golden-studded reins,\n And soon from windings of the sweet-banked lanes\n The south wind blew the sound of hoof and wheel,\n Clatter of brazen shields and clink of steel\n Unto the herdsman's ears, who stood awhile\n Hearkening the echoes with a godlike smile,\n Then slowly gat him foldwards, murmuring,\n \"Fair music for the wooing of a King.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But in six days again Admetus came,\n With no lost labour or dishonoured name;\n A scarlet cloak upon his back he bare\n A gold crown on his head, a falchion fair\n Girt to his side; behind him four white steeds,\n Whose dams had fed full in Nis\u00e6an meads;\n All prizes that his valiant hands had won\n Within the guarded lists of Tyro's son.\n Yet midst the sound of joyous minstrelsy\n No joyous man in truth he seemed to be;\n So that folk looking on him said, \"Behold,\n The wise King will not show himself too bold\n Amidst his greatness: the gods too are great,\n And who can tell the dreadful ways of fate.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Howe\u2019er it was, he gat him through the town, p. 463\n And midst their shouts at last he lighted down\n At his own house, and held high feast that night;\n And yet by seeming had but small delight\n In aught that any man could do or say:\n And on the morrow, just at dawn of day,\n Rose up and clad himself, and took his spear,\n And in the fresh and blossom-scented air\n Went wandering till he reach B\u0153beis\u2019 shore;\n Yet by his troubled face set little store\n By all the songs of birds and scent of flowers;\n Yea, rather unto him the fragrant hours\n Were grown but dull and empty of delight.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So going, at the last he came in sight\n Of his new herdsman, who that morning lay\n Close by the white sand of a little bay\n The teeming ripple of B\u0153beis lapped;\n There he in cloak of white-woolled sheepskin wrapped\n Against the cold dew, free from trouble sang,\n The while the heifers\u2019 bells about him rang\n And mingled with the sweet soft-throated birds\n And bright fresh ripple: listen, then, these words\n Will tell the tale of his felicity,\n Halting and void of music though they be.\nSONG.\nO DWELLERS on the lovely earth,\n Why will ye break your rest and mirth\n To weary us with fruitless prayer;\n Why will ye toil and take such care p. 464\n For children's children yet unborn,\n And garner store of strife and scorn\n To gain a scarce-remembered name,\n Cumbered with lies and soiled with shame?\n And if the gods care not for you,\n What is this folly ye must do\n To win some mortal's feeble heart?\n O fools! when each man plays his part,\n And heeds his fellow little more\n Than these blue waves that kiss the shore\n Take heed of how the daisies grow.\n O fools! and if ye could but know\n How fair a world to you is given.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0O brooder on the hills of heaven,\n When for my sin thou drav\u2019st me forth,\n Hadst thou forgot what this was worth,\n Thine own hand made? The tears of men,\n The death of threescore years and ten,\n The trembling of the timorous race\u2014\n Had these things so bedimmed the place\n Thine own hand made, thou couldst not know\n To what a heaven the earth might grow\n If fear beneath the earth were laid,\n If hope failed not, nor love decayed.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He stopped, for he beheld his wandering lord,\n Who, drawing near, heard little of his word,\n And noted less; for in that haggard mood p. 465\n Nought could he do but o\u2019er his sorrows brood,\n Whate\u2019er they were, but now being come anigh,\n He lifted up his drawn face suddenly,\n And as the singer gat him to his feet,\n His eyes Admetus\u2019 troubled eyes, did meet,\n As with some speech he now seemed labouring,\n Which from his heart his lips refused to bring.\n Then spoke the herdsman, \"Master, what is this,\n That thou, returned with honour to the bliss,\n The gods have given thee here, still makest show\n To be some wretch bent with the weight of woe?\n What wilt thou have? What help there is in me\n Is wholly thine, for in felicity\n Within thine house thou still hast let me live,\n Nor grudged most noble gifts to me to give.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Yea,\" said Admetus, \"thou canst help indeed,\n But as the spring shower helps the unsown mead.\n Yet listen: at Iolchos the first day\n Unto Diana's house I took my way,\n Where all men gathered ere the games began,\n There, at the right side of the royal man,\n Who rules Iolchos, did his daughter stand,\n Who with a suppliant bough in her right hand\n Headed the band of maidens; but to me\n More than a goddess did she seem to be,\n Nor fit to die; and therewithal I thought\n That we had all been thither called for nought\n But that her bridegroom Pelias might choose, p. 466\n And with that thought desire did I let loose,\n And striving not with Love, I gazed my fill,\n As one who will not fear the coming ill:\n Ah, foolish were mine eyes, foolish my heart,\n To strive in such a marvel to have part!\n What god shall wed her rather? no more fear\n Than vexes Pallas vexed her forehead clear,\n Faith shone from out her eyes, and on her lips\n Unknown love trembled; the Ph\u0153nician ships\n Within their dark holds nought so precious bring\n As her soft golden hair, no daintiest thing\n I ever saw was half so wisely wrought\n As was her rosy ear; beyond all thought,\n All words to tell of; her veiled body showed,\n As, by the image of the Three-formed bowed,\n She laid her offering down; then I drawn near\n The murmuring of her gentle voice could hear,\n As waking one hears music in the morn,\n Ere yet the fair June sun is fully born;\n And sweeter than the roses fresh with dew\n Sweet odours floated round me, as she drew\n Some golden thing from out her balmy breast\n With her right hand, the while her left hand pressed\n The hidden wonders of her girdlestead;\n And when abashed I sank adown my head,\n Dreading the god of Love, my eyes must meet\n The happy bands about her perfect feet.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"What more? thou knowst perchance what thing love is? p. 467\n Kindness, and hot desire, and rage, and bliss,\n None first a moment; but before that day\n No love I knew but what might pass away\n When hot desire was changed to certainty,\n Or not abide much longer; e\u2019en such stings\n Had smitten me, as the first warm day brings\n When March is dying; but now half a god\n The crowded way unto the lists I trod,\n Yet hopeless as a vanquished god at whiles,\n And hideous seemed the laughter and the smiles,\n And idle talk about me on the way.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"But none could stand before me on that day,\n I was as god-possessed, not knowing how\n The King had brought her forth but for a show,\n To make his glory greater through the land:\n Therefore at last victorious I did stand\n Among my peers, nor yet one well-known name\n Had gathered any honour from my shame.\n For there indeed both men of Thessaly,\n \u0152tolians, Thebans, dwellers by the sea,\n And folk of Attica and Argolis,\n Arcadian woodmen, islanders, whose bliss\n Is to be tossed about from wave to wave,\n All these at last to me the honour gave,\n Nor did they grudge it: yea, and one man said,\n A wise Thessalian with a snowy head,\n And voice grown thin with age, 'O Pelias,\n Surely to thee no evil thing it was\n That to thy house this rich Thessalian p. 468\n Should come, to prove himself a valiant man\n Amongst these heroes; for if I be wise\n By dint of many years, with wistful eyes\n Doth he behold thy daughter, this fair maid;\n And surely, if the matter were well weighed,\n Good were it both for thee and for the land\n That he should take the damsel by the hand\n And lead her thence, for ye near neighbours dwell;\n What sayest thou, King, have I said ill or well?'\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"With that must I, a fool, stand forth and ask\n If yet there lay before me some great task\n That I must do ere I the maid should wed,\n But Pelias, looking on us, smiled and said,\n 'O neighbour of Larissa, and thou too,\n O King Admetus, this may seem to you\n A little matter; yea, and for my part\n E\u2019en such a marriage would make glad my heart;\n But we the blood of Salmoneus who share\n With godlike gifts great burdens also bear,\n Nor is this maid without them, for the day\n On which her maiden zone she puts away\n Shall be her death-day, if she wed with one\n By whom this marvellous thing may not be done,\n For in the traces neither must steeds paw\n Before my threshold, or white oxen draw\n The wain that comes my maid to take from me,\n Far other beasts that day her slaves must be:\n The yellow lion \u2019neath the lash must roar,\n And by his side unscared, the forest boar p. 469\n Toil at the draught: what sayest thou then hereto,\n O lord of Pher\u00e6, wilt thou come to woo\n In such a chariot, and win endless fame,\n Or turn thine eyes elsewhere with little shame?'\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"What answered I? O herdsman, I was mad\n With sweet love and the triumph I had had.\n I took my father's ring from off my hand,\n And said, 'O heroes of the Grecian land\n Be witnesses that on my father's name\n For this man's promise, do I take the shame\n Of this deed undone, if I fail herein;\n Fear not, O Pelias, but that I shall win\n This ring from thee, when that I come again\n Through fair Iolchos, driving that strange wain.\n Else by this token, thou, O King, shalt have\n Pher\u00e6 my home, while on the tumbling wave\n A hollow ship my sad abode shall be.'\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"So driven by some hostile deity,\n Such words I said, and with my gifts hard won,\n But little valued now, set out upon\n My homeward way: but nearer as I drew\n To mine abode, and ever fainter grew\n In my weak heart the image of my love,\n In vain with fear my boastful folly strove;\n For I remembered that no god I was\n Though I had chanced my fellows to surpass;\n And I began to mind me in a while\n What murmur rose, with what a mocking smile\n Pelias stretched out his hand to take the ring, p. 470\n Made by my drunkard's gift now twice a king:\n And when unto my palace-door I came\n I had awakened fully to my shame;\n For certainly no help is left to me,\n But I must get me down unto the sea\n And build a keel, and whatso things I may\n Set in her hold, and cross the watery by\n Whither Jove bids, and the rough winds may blow\n Unto a land where none my folly know,\n And there begin a weary life anew.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Eager and bright the herdsman's visage grew\n The while this tale was told, and at the end\n He said, \"Admetus, I thy life may mend,\n And thou at lovely Pher\u00e6 still may dwell;\n Wait for ten days, and then may all be well,\n And thou to fetch thy maiden home may go,\n And to the King thy team unheard-of show.\n And if not, then make ready for the sea\n Nor will I fail indeed to go with thee,\n And \u2019twixt the halyards and the ashen oar\n Finish the service well begun ashore;\n But meanwhile do I bid thee hope the best;\n And take another herdsman for the rest,\n For unto Ossa must I go alone\n To do a deed not easy to be done.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then springing up he took his spear and bow\n And northward by the lake-shore \u2019gan to go; p. 471\n But the King gazed upon him as he went,\n Then, sighing, turned about, and homeward bent\n His lingering steps, and hope began to spring\n Within his heart, for some betokening\n He seemed about the herdsman now to see\n Of one from mortal cares and troubles free.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And so midst hopes and fears day followed day,\n Until at last upon his bed he lay\n When the grey, creeping dawn had now begun\n To make the wide world ready for the sun\n On the tenth day: sleepless had been the night\n And now in that first hour of gathering light\n For weariness he slept, and dreamed that he\n Stood by the border of a fair, calm sea\n At point to go a-shipboard, and to leave\n Whatever from his sire he did receive\n Of land or kingship; and withal he dreamed\n That through the cordage a bright light there gleamed\n Far off within the east; and nowise sad\n He felt at leaving all he might have had,\n But rather as a man who goes to see\n Some heritage expected patiently.\n But when he moved to leave the firm fixed shore,\n The windless sea rose high and \u2019gan to roar,\n And from the gangway thrust the ship aside,\n Until he hung over a chasm wide\n Vocal with furious waves, yet had no fear\n For all the varied tumult he might hear,\n But slowly woke up to the morning light p. 472\n That to his eyes seemed past all memory bright,\n And then strange sounds he heard, whereat his heart\n Woke up to joyous life with one glad start,\n And nigh his bed he saw the herdsman stand,\n Holding a long white staff in his right hand,\n Carved with strange figures; and withal he said,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Awake, Admetus! loiter not a-bed,\n But haste thee to bring home thy promised bride,\n For now an ivory chariot waits outside,\n Yoked to such beasts as Pelias bade thee bring;\n Whose guidance thou shalt find an easy thing,\n If in thine hands thou holdest still this rod,\n Whereon are carved the names of every god\n That rules the fertile earth; but having come\n Unto King Pelias\u2019 well adorned home,\n Abide not long, but take the royal maid,\n And let her dowry in thy wain be laid,\n Of silver and fine cloth and unmixed gold,\n For this indeed will Pelias not withhold\n When he shall see thee like a very god.\n Then let thy beasts, ruled by this carven rod,\n Turn round to Pher\u00e6; yet must thou abide\n Before thou comest to the streamlet's side\n That feed its dykes; there, by the little wood\n Wherein unto Diana men shed blood,\n Will I await thee, and thou shalt descend\n And hand-in-hand afoot through Pher\u00e6 wend;\n And yet I bid thee, this night let thy bride\n Apart among the womenfolk abide; p. 473\n That on the morrow thou with sacrifice\n For these strange deeds may pay a fitting price.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But as he spoke with something like to awe,\n His eyes and much changed face Admetus saw,\n And voiceless like a slave his words obeyed;\n For rising up no more delay he made,\n But took the staff and gained the palace-door\n Where stood the beasts, whose mingled whine and roar\n Had wrought his dream; there two and two they stood,\n Thinking, it might be, of the tangled wood,\n And all the joys of the food-hiding trees,\n But harmless as their painted images\n \u2019Neath some dread spell; then, leaping up, he took\n The reins in hand and the bossed leather shook,\n And no delay the conquered beasts durst make\n But drew, not silent; and folk just awake\n When he went by, as though a god they saw,\n Fell on their knees, and maidens come to draw\n Fresh water from the fount sank trembling down,\n And silence held the babbling wakened town.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So \u2019twixt the dewy hedges did he wend,\n And still their noise afar the beasts did send,\n His strange victorious advent to proclaim,\n Till to Iolchos at the last he came,\n And drew anigh the gates, whence in afright\n The guards fled, helpless at the wondrous sight;\n And through the town news of the coming spread\n Of some great god so that the scared priests led p. 474\n Pale suppliants forth; who, in unmeet attire\n And hastily-caught boughs and smouldering fire\n Within their censers, in the market-place\n Awaited him with many an upturned face,\n Trembling with fear of that unnamed new god;\n But through the midst of them his lions trod\n With noiseless feet, nor noted aught their prey,\n And the boars\u2019 hooves went pattering on the way,\n While from their churning tusks the white foam flew\n As raging, helpless, in the trace they drew.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But Pelias, knowing all the work of fate,\n Sat in his brazen-pillared porch to wait\n The coming of the King; the while the maid\n In her fair marriage garments was arrayed,\n And from strong places of his treasury\n Men brought fine scarlet from the Syrian sea,\n And works of brass, and ivory, and gold;\n But when the strange yoked beasts he did behold\n Come through the press of people terrified,\n Then he arose and o\u2019er the clamour cried,\n \"Hail, thou, who like a very god art come\n To bring great honour to my damsel's home;\"\n And when Admetus tightened rein before\n The gleaming, brazen-wrought, half-open door,\n He cried to Pelias, \"Hail, to thee, O King;\n Let me behold once more my father's ring,\n Let me behold the prize that I have won,\n Mine eyes are wearying now to look upon.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Fear not,\" he said, the fates are satisfied; p. 475\n Yet wilt thou not descend and here abide,\n Doing me honour till the next bright morn\n Has dried the dew upon the new-sprung corn,\n That we in turn may give the honour due\n To such a man that such a thing can do,\n And unto all the gods may sacrifice?\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Nay,\" said Admetus, \"if thou call\u2019st me wise,\n And like a very god thou dost me deem,\n Shall I abide the ending of the dream\n And so gain nothing? nay, let me be glad\n That I at least one godlike hour have had\n At whatsoever time I come to die,\n That I may mock the world that passes by,\n And yet forgets it.\" Saying this, indeed,\n Of Pelias did he seem to take small heed,\n But spoke as one unto himself may speak,\n And still the half-shut door his eyes did seek,\n Wherethrough from distant rooms sweet music came,\n Setting his over-strained heart a-flame,\n Because amidst the Lydian flutes he thought\n From place to place his love the maidens brought.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then Pelias said, \"What can I give to thee\n Who fail\u2019st so little of divinity?\n Yet let my slaves lay these poor gifts within\n Thy chariot, while my daughter strives to win\n The favour of the spirits of this place,\n Since from their altars she must turn her face\n For ever now; hearken, her flutes I hear,\n From the last chapel doth she draw anear.\" p. 476\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then by Admetus\u2019 feet the folk \u2019gan pile\n The precious things, but he no less the while\n Stared at the door ajar, and thought it long\n Ere with the flutes mingled the maidens' song,\n And both grew louder, and the scarce seen floor\n Was fluttering with white raiment, and the door\n By slender fingers was set open wide;\n And midst her damsels he beheld the bride\n Ungirt, with hair unbound and garlanded:\n Then Pelias took her slender hand and said,\n \"Daughter, this is the man that takes from thee\n Thy curse midst women, think no more to be\n Childless, unloved, and knowing little bliss;\n But now behold how like a god he is,\n And yet with what prayers for the love of thee\n He must have wearied some divinity,\n And therefore in thine inmost heart be glad\n That thou \u2019mongst women such a man hast had.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then she with wondering eyes that strange team saw\n A moment, then as one with gathering awe\n Might turn from Jove's bird unto very Jove,\n So did she raise her grey eyes to her love,\n But to her brow the blood rose therewithal,\n And she must tremble, such a look did fall\n Upon her faithful eyes, that none the less\n Would falter aught, for all her shamefastness,\n But rather to her lover's hungry eyes\n Gave back a tender look of glad surprise,\n Wherein love's flame began to flicker now. p. 477\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Withal, her father kissed her on the brow,\n And said, \"O daughter, take this royal ring,\n And set it on the finger of the King,\n And come not back; and thou Admetus, pour\n This wine to Jove before my open door,\n And glad at heart take back thine own with thee.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then with that word Alcestis silently,\n And with no look cast back, and ring in hand,\n Went forth, and soon beside her love did stand,\n Nor on his finger failed to set the ring;\n And then a golden cup the city's King\n Gave to him, and he poured and said, \"O thou,\n From whatsoever place thou lookest now,\n What prayers, what gifts unto thee shall I give\n That we a little time with love may live?\n A little time of love, then fall asleep\n Together, while the crown of love we keep.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So spake he, and his strange beasts turned about,\n And heeded not the people's wavering shout\n That from their old fear and new pleasure sprang,\n Nor noted aught of what the damsels sung,\n Or of the flowers that after them they cast,\n But like a dream the guarded city passed,\n And \u2019twixt the song of birds and blossoms' scent\n It seemed for many hundred years they went,\n Though short the way was unto Pher\u00e6's gates;\n Time they forgat, and gods, and men, and fates,\n However nigh unto their hearts they were;\n The woodland boars, the yellow lords of fear, p. 478\n No more seemed strange to them, but all the earth\n With all its changing sorrow and wild mirth\n In that fair hour seemed new-born to the twain,\n Grief seemed a play forgot, a pageant vain,\n A picture painted, who knows where or when,\n With soulless images of restless men;\n For every thought but love was past away,\n And they forgot that they should ever die.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But when they came anigh the sacred wood,\n There, biding them, Admetus\u2019 herdsman stood,\n At sight of whom those yoke fellows unchecked\n Stopped dead and little of Admetus recked\n Who now, as one from dreams not yet awoke,\n Drew back his love and that strange wain forsook,\n And gave the carven rod and guiding bands\n Into the waiting herdsman's outstretched hands,\n But when he fain had thanked him for the thing\n That he had done, his speechless tongue would cling\n Unto his mouth, and why he could not tell.\n But the man said, \"No words! thou hast done well\n To me, as I to thee; the day may come\n When thou shalt ask me for a fitting home,\n Nor shalt thou ask in vain; but hasten now,\n And to thine house this royal maiden show,\n Then give her to thy women for this night.\n But when thou wakest up to thy delight\n To-morrow, do all things that should be done,\n Nor of the gods, forget thou any one p. 479\n And on the next day will I come again\n To tend thy flocks upon the grassy plain.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"But now depart, and from thine home send here\n Chariot and horse, these gifts of thine to bear\n Unto thine house, and going, look not back\n Lest many a wished-for thing thou com\u2019st to lack.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then hand-in-hand together, up the road\n The lovers passed unto the King's abode,\n And as they went, the whining snort and roar\n From the yoked beasts they heard break out once more\n And then die off, as they were led away,\n But whether to some place lit up by day,\n Or, neath the earth, they knew not, for the twain\n Went hastening on, nor once looked back again.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But soon the minstrels met them, and a band\n Of white-robed damsels flowery boughs in hand,\n To bid them welcome to that pleasant place.\n Then they, rejoicing much, in no long space\n Came to the brazen-pillared porch, whereon\n From \u2019twixt the passes of the hills yet shone\n The dying sun; and there she stood awhile\n Without the threshold, a faint tender smile\n Trembling upon her lips \u2019twixt love and shame,\n Until each side of her a maiden came\n And raised her in their arms, that her fair feet\n The polished brazen threshold might not meet,\n And in Admetus\u2019 house she stood at last.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But to the women's chamber straight she passed\n Bepraised of all,\u2014and so the wakeful night p. 480\n Lonely the lovers passed e\u2019en as they might.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But the next day, with many a sacrifice,\n Admetus wrought, for such a well-won prize,\n A life so blest, the gods to satisfy,\n And many a matchless beast that day did die\n Upon the altars; nought unlucky seemed\n To be amid the joyous crowd that gleamed\n With gold and precious things, and only this\n Seemed wanting to the King of Pher\u00e6's bliss,\n That all these pageants should be soon past by,\n And hid by night the fair spring blossoms lie.\nYET on the morrow-morn Admetus came,\n A haggard man oppressed with grief and shame\n Unto the spot beside B\u0153beis\u2019 shore\n Whereby he met his herdsman once before,\n And there again he found him flushed and glad,\n And from the babbling water newly clad,\n Then he with downcast eyes these words began,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"O thou, whatso thy name is, god or man,\n Hearken to me; meseemeth of thy deed\n Some dread immortal taketh angry heed.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Last night the height of my desire seemed won,\n All day my weary eyes had watched the sun p. 481\n Rise up and sink, and now was come the night\n When I should be alone with my delight;\n Silent the house was now from floor to roof,\n And in the well-hung chambers, far aloof,\n The feasters lay; the moon was in the sky,\n The soft spring wind was wafting lovingly\n Across the gardens fresh scents to my sweet,\n As, troubled with the sound of my own feet,\n I passed betwixt the pillars, whose long shade\n Black on the white red-veined floor was laid:\n So happy was I that the briar-rose,\n Rustling outside within the flowery close,\n Seemed but Love's odorous wing\u2014too real all seemed\n For such a joy as I had never dreamed.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Why do I linger, as I lingered not\n In that fair hour, now ne\u2019er to be forgot,\n While my life lasts?\u2014Upon the gilded door\n I laid my hand; I stood upon the floor\n Of the bride-chamber, and I saw the bride,\n Lovelier than any dream, stand by the side\n Of the gold bed, with hands that hid her face:\n One cry of joy I gave, and then the place\n Seemed changed to hell as in a hideous dream.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Still did the painted silver pillars gleam\n Betwixt the scented torches and the moon;\n Still did the garden shed its odorous boon\n Upon the night; still did the nightingale\n Unto his brooding mate tell all his tale:\n But, risen \u2019twixt my waiting love and me, p. 482\n As soundless as the dread eternity,\n Sprung up from nothing, could mine eyes behold\n A huge dull-gleaming dreadful coil that rolled\n In changing circles on the pavement fair.\n Then for the sword that was no longer there\n My hand sank to my side; around I gazed,\n And \u2019twixt the coils I met her grey eyes, glazed\n With sudden horror most unspeakable;\n And when mine own upon no weapon fell,\n For what should weapons do in such a place,\n Unto the dragon's head I set my face,\n And raised bare hands against him, but a cry\n Burst on mine ears of utmost agony\n That nailed me there, and she cried out to me,\n 'O get thee hence; alas, I cannot flee!\n They coil about me now, my lips to kiss.\n O love, why hast thou brought me unto this?'\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Alas, my shame! trembling, away I slunk,\n Yet turning saw the fearful coil had sunk\n To whence it came, my love's limbs freed I saw,\n And a long breath at first I heard her draw\n As one redeemed, then heard the hard sobs come,\n And wailings for her new accursed home.\n But there outside across the door I lay,\n Like a scourged hound, until the dawn of day;\n And as her gentle breathing then I heard\n As though she slept, before the earliest bird\n Began his song, I wandered forth to seek\n Thee, O strange man, e\u2019en as thou seest me, weak p. 483\n With all the torment of the night, and shamed\n With such a shame as never shall be named\n To aught but thee\u2014Yea, yea, and why to thee\n Perchance this ends all thou wilt do for me?\u2014\n What then, and have I not a cure for that?\n Lo, yonder is a rock where I have sat\n Full many an hour while yet my life was life,\n With hopes of all the coming wonder rife.\n No sword hangs by my side, no god will turn\n This cloudless hazy blue to black, and burn\n My useless body with his lightning flash;\n But the white waves above my bones may wash,\n And when old chronicles our house shall name\n They may leave out the letters and the shame,\n That make Admetus, once a king of men\u2014\n And how could I be worse or better then?\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As one who notes a curious instrument\n Working against the maker's own intent,\n The herdsman eyed his wan face silently,\n And smiling for a while, and then said he,\u2014\n \"Admetus, thou, in spite of all I said,\n Hast drawn this evil thing upon thine head,\n Forgetting her who erewhile laid the curse\n Upon the maiden, so for fear of worse\n Go back again; for fair-limbed Artemis\n Now bars the sweet attainment of thy bliss;\n So taking heart, yet make no more delay\n But worship her upon this very day, p. 484\n Nor spare for aught, and of thy trouble make\n No semblance unto any for her sake;\n And thick upon the fair bride-chamber floor\n Strew dittany, and on each side the door\n Hang up such poppy-leaves as spring may yield;\n And for the rest, myself may be a shield\n Against her wrath\u2014nay, be thou not too bold\n To ask me that which may not now be told.\n Yea, even what thou deemest, hide it deep\n Within thine heart, and let thy wonder sleep,\n For surely thou shalt one day know my name,\n When the time comes again that autumn's flame\n Is dying off the vine boughs, overturned,\n Stripped of their wealth. But now let gifts be burned\n To her I told thee of, and in three days\n Shall I by many hard and rugged ways\n Have come to thee again to bring thee peace.\n Go, the sun rises and the shades decrease.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then, thoughtfully, Admetus gat him back,\n Nor did the altars of the Huntress lack\n The fattest of the flocks upon that day.\n But when night came, in arms Admetus lay\n Across the threshold of the bride-chamber,\n And nought amiss that night he noted there,\n But durst not enter, though about the door\n Young poppy leaves were twined, and on the floor,\n Not flowered as yet with downy leaves and grey,\n Fresh dittany beloved of wild goats lay.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But when the whole three days and nights were done, p. 485\n The herdsman came with rising of the sun,\n And said, \"Admetus, now rejoice again,\n Thy prayers and offerings have not been in vain,\n And thou at last mayst come unto thy bliss;\n And if thou askest for a sign of this,\n Take thou this token; make good haste to rise,\n And get unto the garden-close that lies\n Below these windows sweet with greenery,\n And in the midst a marvel shalt thou see,\n Three white, black-hearted poppies blossoming,\n Though this is but the middle of the spring.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nor was it otherwise than he had said,\n And on that day with joy the twain were wed,\n And gan to lead a life of great delight;\n But the strange woeful history of that night,\n The monstrous car, the promise to the King,\n All these through weary hours of chiselling\n Were wrought in stone, and in Diana's wall\n Set up, a joy and witness unto all.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But neither so would winged time abide,\n The changing year came round to autumn-tide,\n Until at last the day was fully come\n When the strange guest first reached Admetus\u2019 home,\n Then, when the sun was reddening to its end,\n He to Admetus\u2019 brazen porch did wend,\n Whom there he found feathering a poplar dart,\n Then said he, \"King, the time has come to part,\n Come forth, for I have that to give thine ear\n No man upon the earth but thou must hear.\" p. 486\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then rose the King, and with a troubled look\n His well-steeled spear within his hand he took,\n And by his herdsman silently he went\n As to a peaked hill his steps he bent,\n Nor did the parting servant speak one word,\n As up they climbed, unto his silent lord,\n Till from the top he turned about his head\n From all the glory of the gold light, shed\n Upon the hill-top by the setting sun,\n For now indeed the day was well-nigh done,\n And all the eastern vale was grey and cold;\n But when Admetus he did now behold,\n Panting beside him from the steep ascent,\n One godlike, changed look on him he bent,\n And said, \"O mortal, listen, for I see\n Thou deemest somewhat of what is in me;\n Fear not! I love thee, even as I can\n Who cannot feel the woes and ways of man\n In spite of this my seeming, for indeed\n Now thou beholdest Jove's immortal seed;\n And what my name is I would tell thee now,\n If men who dwell upon the earth as thou\n Could hear the name and live; but on the earth,\n With strange melodious stories of my birth,\n Ph\u0153bus men call me, and Latona's son.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"And now my servitude with thee is done,\n And I shall leave thee toiling on thine earth,\n This handful, that within its little girth\n Holds that which moves you so, O men that die; p. 487\n Behold, to-day thou hast felicity,\n But the times change, and I can see a day\n When all thine happiness shall fade away;\n And yet be merry, strive not with the end,\n Thou canst not change it; for the rest, a friend\n This year has won thee who shall never fail:\n But now indeed, for nought will it avail\n To say what I may have in store for thee,\n Of gifts that men desire; let these things be,\n And live thy life, till death itself shall come,\n And turn to nought the storehouse of thine home,\n Then think of me; these feathered shafts behold,\n That here have been the terror of the wold,\n Take these, and count them still the best of all\n Thy envied wealth, and when on thee shall fall\n By any way the worst extremity,\n Call upon me before thou com\u2019st to die,\n And lay these shafts with incense on a fire,\n That thou mayst gain thine uttermost desire.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He ceased, but ere the golden tongue was still\n An odorous mist had stolen up the hill,\n And to Admetus first the god grew dim,\n And then was but a lovely voice to him,\n And then at last the sun had sunk to rest,\n And a fresh wind blew lightly from the west\n Over the hill-top, and no soul was there;\n But the sad dying autumn field-flowers fair,\n Rustled dry leaves about the windy place, p. 488\n Where even now had been the godlike face,\n And in their midst the brass-bound quiver lay.\n Then, going further westward, far away,\n He saw the gleaming of Peneus wan\n \u2019Neath the white sky, but never any man,\n Except a grey-haired shepherd driving down\n From off the long slopes to his fold-yard brown\n His woolly sheep, with whom a maiden went,\n Singing for labour done and sweet content\n Of coming rest; with that he turned again,\n And took the shafts up, never sped in vain\n And came unto his house most deep in thought\n Of all the things the varied year had brought.\nTHENCEFORTH in bliss and honour day by day\n His measured span of sweet life wore away.\n A happy man he was; no vain desire\n Of foolish fame had set his heart a-fire;\n No care he had the ancient bounds to change,\n Nor yet for him must idle soldiers range\n From place to place about the burdened land,\n Or thick upon the ruined cornfields stand;\n For him no trumpets blessed the bitter war,\n Wherein the right and wrong so mingled are,\n That hardly can the man of single heart\n Amid the sickening turmoil choose his part; p. 489\n For him sufficed the changes of the year,\n The god-sent terror was enough of fear\n For him; enough the battle with the earth,\n The autumn triumph over drought and dearth.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Better to him than wolf-moved battered shields,\n O\u2019er poor dead corpses, seemed the stubble fields\n Danced down beneath the moon, until the night\n Grew dreamy with a shadowy sweet delight,\n And with the high-risen moon came pensive thought,\n And men in love's despite must grow distraught\n And loiter in the dance, and maidens drop\n Their gathered raiment, and the fifer stop\n His dancing notes the pensive drone that chid,\n And as they wander to their dwellings, hid\n By the black shadowed trees, faint melody,\n Mournful and sweet, their soft goodnight must be.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Far better spoil the gathering vat bore in\n Unto the pressing shed, than midst the din\n Of falling houses in war's waggon lies\n Besmeared with redder stains than Tyrian dyes;\n Or when the temple of the sea-born one\n With glittering crowns and gay attire shone,\n Fairer the maidens seemed by no chain bound,\n But such as amorous arms might cast around\n Their lovely bodies, than the wretched band\n Who midst the shipmen by the gangway stand;\n Each lonely in her speechless misery,\n And thinking of the worse time that shall be,\n When midst of folk who scarce can speak her name, p. 490\n She bears the uttermost of toil and shame.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Better to him seemed that victorious crown,\n That midst the reverent silence of the town\n He oft would set upon some singer's brow\n Than was the conqueror's diadem, blest now\n By lying priests, soon, bent and bloody, hung\n Within the thorn by linnets well besung,\n Who think but little of the corpse beneath,\n Though ancient lands have trembled at his breath.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But to this King\u2014fair Ceres\u2019 gifts, the days\n Whereon men sung in flushed Ly\u00e6us\u2019 praise\n Tales of old time, the bloodless sacrifice\n Unto the goddess of the downcast eyes\n And soft persuading lips, the ringing lyre\n Unto the bearer of the holy fire\n Who once had been amongst them\u2014things like these\n Seemed meet to him men's yearning to appease,\n These were the triumphs of the peaceful king.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And so, betwixt seed-time and harvesting,\n With little fear his life must pass away;\n And for the rest, he, from the self-same day\n That the god left him, seemed to have some share\n In that same godhead he had harboured there:\n In all things grew his wisdom and his wealth,\n And folk beholding the fair state and health\n Wherein his land was, said, that now at last\n A fragment of the Golden Age was cast\n Over the place, for there was no debate, p. 491\n And men forgot the very name of hate.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nor failed the love of her he erst had won\n To hold his heart as still the years wore on,\n And she, no whit less fair than on the day\n When from Iolchos first she passed away,\n Did all his will as though he were a god,\n And loving still, the downward way she trod.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Honour and love, plenty and peace, he had;\n Nor lacked for aught that makes a wise man glad,\n That makes him like a rich well-honoured guest\n Scarce sorry when the time comes, for the rest,\n That at the last perforce must bow his head.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And yet\u2014was death not much remembered,\n As still with happy men the manner is?\n Or, was he not so pleased with this world's bliss,\n As to be sorry when the time should come\n When but his name should hold his ancient home\n While he dwelt nowhere? either way indeed,\n Will be enough for most men's daily need,\n And with calm faces they may watch the world,\n And note men's lives hither and thither hurled,\n As folk may watch the unfolding of a play\u2014\n Nor this, nor that was King Admetus\u2019 way,\n For neither midst the sweetness of his life\n Did he forget the ending of the strife,\n Nor yet for heavy thoughts of passing pain\n Did all his life seem lost to him or vain,\n A wasteful jest of Jove, an empty dream;\n Rather before him did a vague hope gleam, p. 492\n That made him a great-hearted man and wise,\n Who saw the deeds of men with far-seeing eyes,\n And dealt them pitying justice still, as though\n The inmost heart of each man he did know;\n This hope it was, and not his kingly place\n That made men's hearts rejoice to see his face\n Rise in the council hall; through this, men felt\n That in their midst a son of man there dwelt\n Like and unlike them, and their friend through all;\n And still as time went on, the more would fall\n This glory on the King's beloved head,\n And round his life fresh hope and fear were shed.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet at the last his good days passed away,\n And sick upon his bed Admetus lay,\n \u2019Twixt him and death nought but a lessening veil\n Of hasty minutes, yet did hope not fail,\n Nor did bewildering fear torment him then,\n But still as ever, all the ways of men\n Seemed clear to him: but he, while yet his breath\n Still held the gateway \u2019gainst the arms of death,\n Turned to his wife, who, bowed beside the bed,\n Wept for his love, and dying goodlihead,\n And bade her put all folk from out the room,\n Then going to the treasury's rich gloom\n To bear the arrows forth, the Lycian's gift.\n So she, amidst her blinding tears, made shift\n To find laid in the inmost treasury\n Those shafts, and brought them unto him, but he, p. 493\n Beholding them, beheld therewith his life,\n Both that now past, with many marvels rife,\n And that which he had hoped he yet should see.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then spoke he faintly, \"Love, \u2019twixt thee and me\n A film has come, and I am fainting fast:\n And now our ancient happy life is past;\n For either this is death's dividing hand,\n And all is done, or if the shadowy land\n I yet escape, full surely if I live\n The god with life some other gift will give,\n And change me to thee: even at this tide\n Like a dead man among you all I bide,\n Until I once again behold my guest,\n And he has given me either life or rest:\n Alas, my love! that thy too loving heart\n Nor with my life or death can have a part.\n O cruel words! yet death is cruel too:\n Stoop down and kiss me, for I yearn for you\n E\u2019en as the autumn yearneth for the sun.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"O love, a little time we have been one,\n And if we now are twain weep not therefore;\n For many a man on earth desireth sore\n To have some mate upon the toilsome road,\n Some sharer of his still increasing load,\n And yet for all his longing and his pain\n His troubled heart must seek for love in vain,\n And till he dies still must he be alone\u2014\n But now, although our love indeed is gone,\n Yet to this land as thou art leal and true p. 494\n Set now thine hand to what I bid thee do,\n Because I may not die; rake up the brands\n Upon the hearth, and from these trembling hands\n Cast incense thereon, and upon them lay\n These shafts, the relics of a happier day,\n Then watch with me; perchance I may not die,\n Though the supremest hour now draws anigh\n Of life or death\u2014O thou who madest me,\n The only thing on earth alike to thee,\n Why must I be unlike to thee in this?\n Consider, if thou dost not do amiss\n To slay the only thing that feareth death\n Or knows its name, of all things drawing breath\n Upon the earth: see now for no short hour,\n For no half-halting death, to reach me slower\n Than other men, I pray thee\u2014what avail\n To add some trickling grains unto the tale\n Soon told, of minutes thou dost snatch away\n From out the midst of that unending day\n Wherein thou dwellest? rather grant me this\n To right me wherein thou hast done amiss,\n And give me life like thine for evermore.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So murmured he, contending very sore\n Against the coming death; but she meanwhile,\n Faint with consuming love, made haste to pile\n The brands upon the hearth, and thereon cast\n Sweet incense, and the feathered shafts at last;\n Then, trembling, back unto the bed she crept, p. 495\n And lay down by his side, and no more wept,\n Nay scarce could think of death for very love\n That in her faithful heart for ever strove\n \u2019Gainst fear and grief: but now the incense-cloud\n The old familiar chamber did enshroud,\n And on the very verge of death drawn close\n Wrapt both their weary souls in strange repose,\n That through sweet sleep sent kindly images\n Of simple things; and in the midst of these,\n Whether it was but parcel of their dream,\n Or that they woke to it as some might deem,\n I know not, but the door was opened wide,\n And the King's name a voice long silent cried,\n And Ph\u0153bus on the very threshold trod,\n And yet in nothing liker to a god\n Than when he ruled Admetus\u2019 herds, for he\n Still wore the homespun coat men used to see\n Among the heifers in the summer morn,\n And round about him hung the herdsman's horn,\n And in his hand he bore the herdsman's spear\n And cornel bow, the prowling dog-wolf's fear,\n Though empty of its shafts the quiver was.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He to the middle of the room did pass,\n And said, \"Admetus, neither all for nought\n My coming to thee is, nor have I brought\n Good tidings to thee; poor man, thou shalt live\n If any soul for thee sweet life will give\n Enforced by none: for such a sacrifice\n Alone the fates can deem a fitting price p. 496\n For thy redemption; in no battle-field,\n Maddened by hope of glory life to yield,\n To give it up to heal no city's shame\n In hope of gaining long-enduring fame;\n For whoso dieth for thee must believe\n That thou with shame that last gift wilt receive,\n And strive henceforward with forgetfulness\n The honied draught of thy new life to bless.\n Nay, and moreover such a glorious heart\n Who loves thee well enough with life to part\n But for thy love, with life must lose love too,\n Which e\u2019en when wrapped about in weeds of woe\n Is godlike life indeed to such an one.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"And now behold, three days ere life is done\n Do the fates give thee, and I, even I,\n Upon thy life have shed felicity\n And given thee love of men, that they in turn\n With fervent love of thy dear love might burn.\n The people love thee and thy silk-clad breast,\n Thine open doors have given thee better rest\n Than woods of spears or hills of walls might do,\n And even now in wakefulness and woe\n The city lies, calling to mind thy love\n Wearying with ceaseless prayers the gods above.\n But thou\u2014thine heart is wise enough to know\n That they no whit from their decrees will go.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So saying, swiftly from the room he passed;\n But on the world no look Admetus cast, p. 497\n But peacefully turned round unto the wall\n As one who knows that quick death must befall:\n For in his heart he thought, \"Indeed too well\n I know what men are, this strange tale to tell\n To those that live with me: yea, they will weep,\n And o\u2019er my tomb most solemn days will keep,\n And in great chronicles will write my name,\n Telling to many an age my deeds and fame.\n For living men such things as this desire,\n And by such ways will they appease the fire\n Of love and grief: but when death comes to stare\n Full in men's faces, and the truth lays bare,\n How can we then have wish for anything,\n But unto life that gives us all to cling?\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So said he, and with closed eyes did await,\n Sleeping or waking, the decrees of fate.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But now Alcestis rose, and by the bed\n She stood, with wild thoughts passing through her head.\n Dried were her tears, her troubled heart and sore\n Throbbed with the anguish of her love no more.\n A strange look on the dying man she cast,\n Then covered up her face and said, \"O past!\n Past the sweet times that I remember well!\n Alas, that such a tale my heart can tell!\n Ah, how I trusted him! what love was mine!\n How sweet to feel his arms about me twine,\n And my heart beat with his! what wealth of bliss\n To hear his praises! all to come to this, p. 498\n That now I durst not look upon his face,\n Lest in my heart that other thing have place,\n That which I knew not, that which men call hate.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"O me, the bitterness of God and fate!\n A little time ago we two were one;\n I had not lost him though his life was done,\n For still was he in me\u2014but now alone\n Through the thick darkness must my soul make moan,\n For I must die: how can I live to bear\n An empty heart about, the nurse of fear?\n How can I live to die some other tide,\n And, dying, bear my loveless name outcried\n About the portals of that weary land\n Whereby my shadowy feet should come to stand.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Alcestis! O Alcestis, hadst thou known\n That thou one day shouldst thus be left alone,\n How hadst thou borne a living soul to love!\n Hadst thou not rather lifted hands to Jove,\n To turn thine heart to stone, thy front to brass,\n That through this wondrous world thy soul might pass,\n Well-pleased and careless, as Diana goes\n Through the thick woods, all pitiless of those\n Her shafts smite down? Alas! how could it be?\n Can a god give a god's delights to thee?\n Nay rather, Jove, but give me once again,\n If for one moment only, that sweet pain\n Of love I had while still I thought to live!\n Ah! wilt thou not, since unto thee I give\n My life, my hope?\u2014But thou\u2014I come to thee. p. 499\n Thou sleepest: O wake not, nor speak to me!\n In silence let my last hour pass away,\n And men forget my bitter feeble day.\"\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With that she laid her down upon the bed,\n And nestling to him, kissed his weary head,\n And laid his wasted hand upon her breast,\n Yet woke him not; and silence and deep rest\n Fell on that chamber. The night wore away\n Mid gusts of wailing wind, the twilight grey\n Stole o\u2019er the sea, and wrought his wondrous change\n On things unseen by night, by day not strange,\n But now half-seen and strange; then came the sun,\n And therewithal the silent world and dun\n Waking, waxed many-coloured, full of sound,\n As men again their heap of troubles found,\n And woke up to their joy or misery.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But there, unmoved by aught, those twain did lie,\n Until Admetus\u2019 ancient nurse drew near\n Unto the open door, and full of fear\n Beheld them moving not, and as folk dead;\n Then, trembling with her eagerness and dread,\n She cried, \"Admetus! art thou dead indeed?\n Alcestis! livest thou my words to heed?\n Alas, alas, for this Thessalian folk!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But with her piercing cry the King awoke,\n And round about him wildly \u2019gan to stare,\n As a bewildered man who knows not where\n He has awakened: but not thin or wan p. 500\n His face was now, as of a dying man,\n But fresh and ruddy; and his eyes shone clear,\n As of a man who much of life may bear.\n And at the first, but joy and great surprise\n Shone out from those awakened, new-healed eyes;\n But as for something more at last he yearned,\n Unto his love with troubled brow he turned,\n For still she seemed to sleep: alas, alas!\n Her lonely shadow even now did pass\n Along the changeless fields, oft looking back,\n As though it yet had thought of some great lack.\n And here, the hand just fallen from off his breast\n Was cold; and cold the bosom his hand pressed.\n And even as the colour lit the day\n The colour from her lips had waned away;\n Yet still, as though that longed-for happiness\n Had come again her faithful heart to bless,\n Those white lips smiled, unwrinkled was her brow,\n But of her eyes no secrets might he know,\n For, hidden by the lids of ivory,\n Had they beheld that death a-drawing nigh.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then o\u2019er her dead corpse King Admetus hung,\n Such sorrow in his heart as his faint tongue\n Refused to utter; yet the just-past night\n But dimly he remembered, and the sight\n Of the Far-darter, and the dreadful word\n That seemed to cut all hope as with a sword:\n Yet stronger in his heart a knowledge grew, p. 501\n That nought it was but her fond heart and true\n That all the marvel for his love had wrought,\n Whereby from death to life he had been brought;\n That dead, his life she was, as she had been\n His life's delight while still she lived a queen.\n And he fell wondering if his life were gain,\n So wrapt as then in loneliness and pain;\n Yet therewithal no tears would fill his eyes,\n For as a god he was.\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then did he rise\n And gat him down unto the Council-place,\n And when the people saw his well-loved face\n They cried aloud for joy to see him there,\n And earth again to them seemed blest and fair.\n And though indeed they did lament in turn,\n When of Alcestis\u2019 end they came to learn,\n Scarce was it more than seeming, or, at least,\n The silence in the middle of a feast,\n When men have memory of their heroes slain.\n So passed the order of the world again,\n Victorious Summer crowning lusty Spring,\n Autumn with cleared fields from the harvesting,\n And Winter the earth's sleep; and then again\n Spring, Summer, Autumn, and the Winter's pain;\n And still and still the same the years went by.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But Time, who slays so many a memory,\n Brought hers to light, the short-lived loving Queen;\n And her fair soul, as scent of flowers unseen, p. 502\n Sweetened the turmoil of long centuries.\n For soon, indeed, Death laid his hand on these,\n The shouters round the throne upon that day.\n And for Admetus, he, too, went his way,\n Though if he died at all I cannot tell;\n But either on the earth he ceased to dwell,\n Or else, oft born again, had many a name.\n But through all lands of Greece Alcestis\u2019 fame\n Grew greater, and about her husband's twined\n Lived, in the hearts of far-off men enshrined.\n See I have told her tale, though I know not\n What men are dwelling now on that green spot\n Anigh B\u0153beis, or if Pher\u00e6 still,\n With name oft changed perchance, adown the hill\n Still shows its white walls to the rising sun.\n \u2014The gods at least remember what is done.\nSTRANGE felt the wanderers at his tale, for now\n Their old desires it seemed once more to show\n Unto their altered hearts, when now the rest,\n Most surely coming, of all things seemed best,\u2014\n \u2014Unless, by death perchance they yet might gain\n Some space to try such deeds as now in vain\n They heard of amidst stories of the past;\n Such deeds as they for that wild hope had cast\n From out their hands\u2014they sighed to think of it,\n And how as deedless men they there must sit.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet, with the measured falling of that rhyme\n Mingled the lovely sights and glorious time,\n Whereby, in spite of hope long past away,\n In spite of knowledge growing day by day\n Of lives so wasted, in despite of death,\n With sweet content that eve they drew their breath,\n And scarce their own lives seemed to touch them more\n Than that dead Queen's beside B\u0153beis\u2019 shore;\n Bitter and sweet so mingled in them both,\n Their lives and that old tale, they had been loth,\n Perchance, to have them told another way.\u2014\n So passed the sun from that fair summer day.\nJUNE drew unto its end, the hot bright days\n Now gat from men as much of blame as praise,\n As rainless still they passed, without a cloud,\n And growing grey at last, the barley bowed\n Before the south-east wind. On such a day\n These folk amid the trellised roses lay,\n And careless for a little while at least,\n Crowned with the mingled blossoms held their feast:\n Nor did the garden lack for younger folk,\n Who cared no more for burning summer's yoke\n Than the sweet breezes of the April-tide;\n But through the thick trees wandered far and wide\n From sun to shade, and shade to sun again,\n Until they deemed the elders would be fain\n To hear the tale, and shadows longer grew:\n Then round about the grave old men they drew,\n Both youths and maidens; and beneath their feet\n The grass seemed greener, and the flowers more sweet\n Unto the elders, as they stood around.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So through the calm air soon arose the sound\n Of one old voice as now a Wanderer spoke.\n \"O friends, and ye, fair loving gentle folk, p. 505\n Would I could better tell a tale to-day;\n But hark to this, which while our good ship lay\n Within the Weser such a while agone,\n A Fleming told me, as we sat alone\n One Sunday evening in the Rose-garland,\n And all the other folk were gone a-land\n After their pleasure, like sea-faring men.\n Surely I deem it no great wonder then\n That I remember everything he said,\n Since from that Sunday eve strange fortune led\n That keel and me on such a weary way\u2014\n Well, at the least it serveth you to-day.\"","title":"The Earthly Paradise (March-August): June: The Love of Alcestis","type":"page"}