246 EURIPIDES
"Hast hold of her?"
" Fast hold."
" Why, then, hold fast And have her ! and, one day, asseverate isei
Thou wilt, I think, thy friend, the son of Zeus, He was the gentle guest to entertain ! Look at her ! See if she, in any way. Present thee with resemblance of thy wife ! " i965
Ah,, hut the tears come,, find the ivords at fault /
There is no telling how the hero tivitched
The veil off: and there stood,, with such fixed eyes
And such slow smile, Alhestis' silent self!
It was the crowning grace of that great heart,, i970
To keep haxikjoy : procrastinate the truth
Until the wife,, zcho had made iwoof and found
The husband loanting,, might essay once more,,
Hear,, see,, and feel him renovated now —
Ahle to do,, nov.1,, all herself had done,, 1975
Risen to the height of her : so, hand in hand.
The two might go together, live and die.
Beside, when he found speech, you guess the speech.
He could not think he saw his wife again :
It v}as some mocking God that used the bliss iseo
To make him mad ! Till Herakles must help :
Assure him that no spectre mocked at all ;
He was embracing vahom he buried once.
Still, — did he touch, might he address the true, —
True eye, true body of the true live wife f i985
And Herakles said, smiling, " All was truth. Spectre ? Admetos had not made his guest One who played ghost-in voker, or such cheat !
