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Context
Admetus, the king of Thessaly, is preparing the funeral and burial for his wife Alcestis, who sacrificed herself in his place. While they are making these preparations, the Greek hero Heracles arrives, looking for hospitality from his friend. Even though it is bad luck to welcome a guest into a house of mourning, Admetus respects his guest too much to turn him away. Heracles doesn’t know that Alcestis has died, and though he can tell that Admetus has been crying, the king deliberately misleads
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ADMETUS Hail Son of Zeus and of the blood of Perseus!
HERACLES And hail to you, Admetus, lord of the Thessalians
ADMETUS May it be so! I know your friendship well.
HERACLES What means this shorn hair, this mourning robe?
ADMETUS To-day I must bury a dead body.
HERACLES May a God avert harm from your children!
ADMETUS The children I have begotten
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Links
The full-text of Alcestis from MIT Classics: http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/alcestis.html
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