arrived so inopportunely, and is about to go elsewhere; but Admetus protests that there is no reason for this; 'the dead are. . .dead; his guest will be put in a part of the house quite separate from that in which the funeral preparations are proceeding'; and finally cuts short his objections by handing him over to a servant, who receives orders to take care that the provision is ample, and to keep the doors shut between the respective apartments, while Admetus himself retires to continue the obsequies of the supposed orphan.
And this is hospitality! This is the ideal of friendship! This is the act, which not only redeems a man from the imputation of selfishness, but by its high nobility explains and recommends a story designed to show us how heaven rewarded it with a benevolent miracle! I venture to say on the contrary that the behaviour of Admetus to Heracles is just of a piece with the rest of his proceedings, inconsiderate, indelicate, and unkind; that no one in his own case, and no one in any case, unless compelled by some supposed necessity, would esteem it otherwise; and that this view, if it were not provable by the common sense and sentiments of mankind, would still have to be accepted as the view of Euripides, inasmuch as the act is condemned by every one of his mouth-pieces, the personages of the drama, not excepting Admetus himself.
Be it observed in the first place that, if the entertainment thus bestowed upon Heracles is to be reckoned a proof of kindness, this must be on some other ground than the mere material benefit of shelter and food, for these he did not lack. We are told repeatedly[1], whenever in fact Admetus refers to the subject, that Heracles had other friends at hand, from whom, if allowed to depart, he could and would have obtained refreshment. And it is evident that, unless it were in the quality of the viands, almost any entertainment must have been more comfortable than that which is forced upon him by Admetus, a solitary meal consumed under the eyes of unwilling servants, while the so-called host is engaged in conducting a funeral. Indeed, to do Admetus justice, he never does pretend that his motive in the matter is solicitude for his friend. The ground on which he
- ↑ e.g. vv. 538, 1044.
