Άλκηστις
The oldest surviving play by Euripides presents a devastating bargain: when Death comes for Admetus, his wife Alkestis offers herself in his place. But this is no simple tale of heroic sacrifice. Euripides, even in his earliest intact work, strips the act of its glory to expose something raw and troubling beneath. We watch a woman walk toward death while her husband允许 it, and we are left to sit with the silence that follows. The play's final act, in which Heracles retrieves Alkestis from the underworld, offers an ambiguous resurrection that has tormented commentators for centuries. Is it mercy or trickery? A happy ending or a cruel illusion? This is Greek tragedy at its most human: not about gods and heroes, but about what we sacrifice for love and whether we can live with the cost.
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“One who is about to die is really dead already and being so, exist no longer””
— Euripides
“There be many shapes of mystery; And many things God brings to be, Past hope or fear. And the end men looked for cometh not, And a path is there where no man thought. So hath it fallen here.””
— Euripides
“Verrai a visitarmi in sogno ed io sarò felice: è dolce vedere i propri cari anche di notte, per il tempo che ci è concesso. Magari avessi la voce e il canto di Orfeo, per ammaliare la figlia di Demetra o il suo sposo e così portarti via dall'Ade. Scenderei tra le ombre, e né il cane di Plutone né Caronte, il nocchiero delle anime potrebbero impedirmi di restituirti alla luce. Ma così come stanno le cose, aspettami, finchè non giunga il mio ultimo giorno: prepara la dimora, dove tu ed io abiteremo insieme. Ordinerò ai miei figli di depormi nella tua stessa bara di cedro, giaceremo fianco a fianco: neanche da morto voglio restar separato da te, l'unica persona a me fedele.””
— Euripides
“Let mortal man keep to his ownMortality, and not expect too much.””
— Euripides
“LEADER.My King, thou needs must gird thee to the worst.Thou shalt not be the last, nor yet the first,To lose a noble wife. Be brave, and knowTo die is but a debt that all men owe.””
— Euripides
“But Why Does She Not Speak?””
— Euripides
“Today's today. Tomorrow, we may beOurselves gone down the drain of eternity.””
— Euripides
“What profit was it to live on,Friend, with my grief kept and mine honour gone?””
— Euripides
“Look this way!Death is a debt all mortal men must pay;Aye, there is no man living who can sayIf life will last him yet a single day.On, to the dark, drives Fortune; and no forceCan wrest her secret nor put back her course….””
— Euripides
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Euripides. Άλκηστις. Lex, lex-books.com/book/-53a530b4-927f-4b01-9f17-ec000345f2d0.Euripides (n.d.). Άλκηστις. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/-53a530b4-927f-4b01-9f17-ec000345f2d0Euripides. Άλκηστις. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/-53a530b4-927f-4b01-9f17-ec000345f2d0.
