ZEUS


Dwelling of Admetus, wherein I, a God, deigned to accept the food of serfs! The cause was Zeus.
He struck Asclepius, my son, full in the breast with a bolt of thunder, and laid him dead.
Then in wild rage I slew the Cyclopes who forge the fire of Zeus.
To atone for this my Father forced me to labour as a hireling for a mortal man;
and I came to this country, and tended oxen for my host.
To this hour I have protected him and his. I, who am just,
chanced on the son of Pheres, a just man, whom I have saved from Death by tricking the Fates. The Goddesses pledged me their faith Admetus should escape immediate death if, in exchange, another corpse were given to the Under-Gods.
One by one he tested all his friends, and even his father and the old mother who bad brought him forth-and found none that would die for him and never more behold the light of day
, save only his wife.
Now, her spirit waiting to break loose, she droops upon his arm within the house; this is the day when she must die and render up her life.
But I must leave this Palace's dear roof, for fear pollution soil me in the house.
See! Death, Lord of All the Dead, now comes to lead her to the house of Hades! Most punctually he comes! How well he marked the day she had to die!
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