behaviour of Admetus to Heracles was right or wrong, kind or unkind, in the same sense, and that is, against Admetus. The language of Heracles is frankly that of reproach, tempered but not substantially modified by compassion. He had a claim, he says—and surely this is the pith and sense of the whole affair—having come as a friend, to be treated and allowed as a friend, by receiving confidence and returning sympathy; instead of this, he was betrayed by deceit into behaviour which it is painful to remember. And Admetus frankly apologises, defending not his act, but his intentions; he did not mean a slight, he had no ill-will to Heracles. In explaining what then his motives were, he is lamer and weaker than ever; but one thing at least is clear, that he no longer pretends to have done right. And as this is the last word which we hear on the subject, we may and must conclude that it is the verdict not only of Heracles, and Admetus, and his friends, and his servants, but of the poet himself, and that whatever the object of his play may have been, it was certainly not to recommend, as an example of supreme and divinely rewarded kindness, an act for which he finds nothing more to be said than that it was not designed as an injury.
In saying that we hear no more on the subject, I should not and do not forget a passing allusion, which occurs a little later, almost at the end of the play, and upon which the reader, if he depended on the interpretation of Browning and some others, might certainly found some remarkable inferences. It is the farewell of Heracles to Admetus, and is rendered by Browning thus:
Lead her in meanwhile; good and true thou art,
Good, true remain thou! Practise piety
To stranger-guests the old way![1]
- ↑ v. 1147.ἀλλ᾽ εἴσαγ᾽ εἴσω τήνδε· καὶ δίκαιος ὢν,
τὸ λοιπὸν, Ἄδμητ᾽, εὐσέβει περὶ ξένους.
Mr Way writes:
But lead her in, and, just man as thou art,
Henceforth, Admetus, reverence still the guest.
This is not so loose as Browning's, but betrays the same misconception by inserting still, which is not in the Greek and makes all the difference. Nor does it, though this is of less importance, rightly represent δίκαιος ὢν, which, to be connected with the rest of the sentence, must have the meaning assigned by others δίκαιος ὢν (ποιεῖν τοῦτο), i.e. εὐσεβεῖν περὶ ξένους.
