The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder, Volume II

by Thornton Wilder

  ADMETUS: What is your news?

  WATCHMAN: A great friend, sire, is coming to see you—a very good friend.

  ADMETUS: Hercules!

  WATCHMAN: Yes, Hercules, son of Zeus!

  ADMETUS: Today! Today of all days!

  WATCHMAN: The whole town knows it. Oh, he comes slowly enough. At every village, every farm, they bring him wine; they put garlands on his head. He is very drunk . . . Oh, King Admetus, we must prevent his embracing you. You remember his embraces. He would surely kill you today.

  ADMETUS: Does the queen know?

  WATCHMAN: Oh, the maids will have told her all about it.

  ADMETUS: I wish he could have come at another time.

  WATCHMAN: Every time is a good time for Hercules. Your sons, sire, are beside themselves. Epimenes will ask him all over again how he killed the Nemean lion and how he cleaned the stables of King Augeas.

  ADMETUS: Call Aglaia.

  (Enter Aglaia from the palace door.)

  WATCHMAN: Here she is now.

  AGLAIA: Yes, King Admetus?

  (Behind the king’s back, with her hand she directs the Watchman to leave. He exits left.)

  ADMETUS: Aglaia—come near to me. You have heard the news?

  (The Watchman as he leaves gives Aglaia an anxious look and is relieved by her answer.)

  AGLAIA: Yes, I have: the son of Zeus is coming to visit us.

  ADMETUS (Without pathos): Aglaia, this is my last day. I know it. I feel it.

  AGLAIA: Sire, how would any of us know that? You must not talk now. You must save your strength.

  ADMETUS: I shall die before sundown. Now, if it is possible—and you must make it possible—my death must be hidden from Hercules, for at least a day or two. You must say that one of the servants had died. And you must go about your life as though nothing had happened. The queen will show you the way of it. You know what Hercules’s life is like—those great labors, one after another. When he comes to us as a happy visitor, we would not wish to show him a house of mourning. Especially Hercules, who is so often on the point of losing his life, and who has such an aversion to all that has to do with burial and mourning.

  AGLAIA (Again arranging his cushions): King Admetus, I am not a fool. All these things I understand very well. Now lie back and shut your eyes. This sunlight is going to give you strength.

  ADMETUS: If it could only give me strength for one more day—to welcome Hercules! Go and see where the queen is.

  AGLAIA: Here she is.

  (Exit Aglaia left. Enter Alcestis from the palace door. She stands on the top step. She is wearing the dress of Act I. Admetus turns and gazes at her in silence.)

  ADMETUS: Our wedding dress!

  ALCESTIS (Smiling, puts her finger on her lips to silence him; she goes to him and says lightly): Most wives save it for their burial. I wear it for life.

  ADMETUS: Sit here, dearest. I was just saying to Aglaia—

  (Alcestis sits on the stool beside Admetus and rests her hand beside his.)

  ALCESTIS: Yes, yes, I know—when Hercules comes . . .

  ADMETUS: He will soon be here.

  ALCESTIS: Oh, he is being detained on the road. Hercules goes quickly only to danger. Perhaps he will be here tonight . . . perhaps not till tomorrow. We have time.

  (She rises and goes to the center of the stage and stands there listening) I hear shouts of joy in the valley.

  (She walks slowly back to her stool and repeats) We have time.

  (In the center of the stage, gazing at the sun as if for help) This is the healing sun—the sun of the summer solstice. Do you feel it?

  ADMETUS: It is the healing sun, but for others. I have put all that behind me: I do not need hope. My life was short, but a single hour can hold the whole fullness of time. The fullness of time was given to me. A man who has been happy is no longer the subject of time . . . Come, we’ll say to each other what is still to be said on this last day.

  ALCESTIS (Returning to her place beside him; with a gentle smile): This last day? You must rest and save your strength and breath. I shall talk. I shall talk for two—for you and for me. I do not know who gave me that second name: Alcestis the Silent. I think it was you, but also it was Hercules who carried it over Greece.

  ADMETUS: Were you always silent?

  ALCESTIS: I? No. As a girl—oh, I was a contentious and argumentative girl, as you know well. But there are times when I am impatient with my silence—this tire-some, silent Alcestis! There are times when I wish to be like other women, who can freely say what is in their hearts. What do other wives say? I think they must say something like this: Admetus . . . have I ever told you—let me look into your eyes again—have I ever told you that I have loved you more than life itself?

  (Leaning over him, she is suddenly stricken with great pain. She rises, whirls about, one hand to her head, the other to her left side, where his wound is. Admetus has not noticed it. He has closed his eyes again, and starts to laugh in a low, long murmur.)

  ADMETUS: That does not sound . . . no, that does not sound like my silent Alcestis. And if you were to speak for me, what would you say?

  ALCESTIS (The pain has slackened and she replies almost serenely): I would say that I—I, Admetus—have chosen neither the day of my birth not the day of my death. That having been born is a gift that fell to our lot—a wonderful gift—and that Alcestis’s death—or my own—comes from the same hand.

  ADMETUS (Almost amused): Your death, Alcestis?

  ALCESTIS: Were it to come from the same hand that gives life . . . Are you in pain, Admetus?

  ADMETUS (Puts his hand to his side wonderingly): No. I do not know why it is, but the pain seems to have . . .

  ALCESTIS: Lift your hand!

  (As he slowly raises his paralyzed left hand, the pain passes into her body; she clutches her side, bending in agony.)

  ADMETUS: This lightness! (He stares before him with hope) No, I must not think of such things. I have put that behind me. We who have known what we have known . . . are not the subjects of time.

  ALCESTIS (The great pain has passed, but she moves guardedly; she has sat down again and speaks with her cheek pressed close to his): Yes, we, who were happy . . .

  ADMETUS (Suddenly grasping her hand, ardently): And you hated me once!

  ALCESTIS (Withdrawing her hand): No, never.

  ADMETUS: That young man who kept coming back to that trial of the lion and the boar . . . There he is again—that young idiot from Thessaly.

  (They are both laughing.)

  ALCESTIS: Oh, what a road I have come!

  ADMETUS: You didn’t hate me, as I came around the corner straining over those damned beasts?

  ALCESTIS: No. I suffered the more for it. I had begun to love that stern-faced young man from Thessaly. You were the only suitor who attempted that trial twice . . . Even Hercules gave up . . . To think that I could not see where life was carrying me!

  ADMETUS (Proudly, ardently): I, I saw.

  ALCESTIS: Beloved Admetus . . . you saw. You married this self-willed, obstinate girl.

  ADMETUS (More ardently): Our love! Our love! . . . Our whisperings in the night! . . . The birth of Epimenes, when I almost lost you . . . (She makes gestures of trying to silence him) Alcestis! What we have known, what we have lived . . . Oh, to live forever—with you—beside you.

  ALCESTIS: Ssh! There are things that we human beings are not permitted to say aloud.

  ADMETUS (Tentatively putting his foot on the ground): I do not understand . . . My knee does not tremble. (With joyous hope) Alcestis! It may be . . . it may be I shall live.

  ALCESTIS (Equally ecstatic, to the sky): Living or dead, we are watched; we are guided; we are understood. Oh, Admetus, lie quiet, lie still!

  ADMETUS: I dare not . . . believe . . . hope . . .

  ALCESTIS (The pain returns; she is starting toward the palace door): Admetus, I would find it a natural thing, if a message came from Delphi to me, saying that I should give my life for my child
ren or for Thessaly or . . . for my husband—

  ADMETUS: —No. No. No man would wish another to die for him. Every man is ready to die his own death.

  ALCESTIS (Mastering her suffering): What are you saying, Admetus? Think of all the soldiers—thousands and thousands of them—who have died for others. And we women, poor cowardly soldiers, have died—a great many of us—for our husbands and children. (She starts stumbling toward the palace door)

  ADMETUS: I would think less of the gods who could lay such a decision between husband and wife . . .

  (Rising; in loud amazement) Look! This lightness!

  ALCESTIS: Aglaia! Aglaia!

  ADMETUS (Springs up and rushes to her): Alcestis, you are in trouble! Aglaia! Aglaia!

  (Aglaia hurries to her from the palace door.)

  ALCESTIS: Take me to my bed.

  ADMETUS: You are ill. Are you ill, Alcestis?

  ALCESTIS (Turning): Take my life. Be happy. Be happy.

  (She collapses in their arms and is carried into the palace. From beyond the gate come sounds of an excited crowd, fragments of singing, etc., and the roar of Hercules’s voice.)

  HERCULES: Where is my old friend Ad-meeee-tus?

  TOWNSPEOPLE: Hercules is here! Hercules is here!

  HERCULES: Al-cess-s-stis! Where is the divine Al-cess-stis? Alcestis the Silent! Admetus the Hoss-s-spitable!

  (The Watchman enters.)

  TOWNSPEOPLE: Hercules is here! Hercules!

  WATCHMAN: The gods preserve us! What can be done?

  (More Townspeople pour in the gate, shouting, “Long live Hercules, son of Zeus!” Enter Hercules—drunk, happy, garlanded—a jug in his hand. Two Villagers laughingly carry Hercules’s club as a great burden.)

  HERCULES: Alcestis, fairest of the daughters of Iolcos! Admetus, crown of friends! Where are they?

  TOWNSPEOPLE: Hercules, the destroyer of beasts! Hercules, the friend of man! Long live Hercules!

  WATCHMAN: Welcome a thousand times to Pherai, great Hercules!

  HERCULES: Where is my friend Epimenes—the mighty hunter, the mighty fisherman? Epimenes, I shall wrestle with you. By the God’s thunder, you shall not throw me again!

  WATCHMAN: All of them will be here in a minute, Hercules. They are beside themselves with joy.

  (A wailing, a keening, is heard in the palace.)

  HERCULES: That’s weeping I hear. What is that wailing, old man?

  WATCHMAN: Wailing, Hercules! The women and girls are rejoicing that Hercules has come.

  (Enter Aglaia in haste from the palace.)

  AGLAIA: A thousand times welcome, divine Hercules. The king and queen will be here in a moment. Happy, happy they are—you can be sure of that. Oh, son of Zeus, what a joy to see you!

  HERCULES (Loudly): I’m not the son of Zeus!

  AGLAIA (Covering her ears): Hercules, what are you saying?

  HERCULES: I’m the son of Amphytrion and Alcmene. I’m a common man, Aglaia; and the work I do is as hard for me as for any other.

  AGLAIA: Oh, may the gods prevent misfortune from coming to this house! You’re very drunk, Hercules, to say such a wicked thing as that.

  HERCULES: I’m a man, just an ordinary man, I tell you.

  AGLAIA: God or man, Hercules, what do I see? Hercules, you are filthy! Is this the handsomest man in all Greece? By the immortal gods, I would never have known you! Now listen: you remember the baths that Aglaia prepares? They’d take the skin off an ordinary man. And the oil I have ready for you—you remember the oil, don’t you?

  HERCULES (Confidentially): First, Aglaia—first! (He makes a gesture of drinking)

  AGLAIA: You haven’t forgotten our wine, is that it? You shall have some immediately!

  HERCULES (Suddenly roaring): On the road they told me that Admetus had been stabbed and wounded. Who struck him, Aglaia?

  AGLAIA: Oh, that’s all forgotten, Hercules. He’s as well now as you or I!

  (Rhodope and another girl come from the palace bearing a wine jar and some cups.)

  Come, sit here and refresh yourself.

  (Hercules tries to catch one of the girls, who eludes him. He then starts in pursuit of the other. He catches her.)

  HERCULES: What’s your name, little pigeon?

  AGLAIA (Angrily): Hercules!

  (The girl escapes. Hercules runs after her, stumbles, and falls flat on the ground.)

  HERCULES: Oh! I’ve hurt myself! Hell and confusion! My knee! My knee!

  AGLAIA: Hercules! I haven’t one bit of pity for you. Can you have forgotten where you are? Immortal heavens, what would Queen Alcestis think—you behaving like that!

  HERCULES (Who has slowly got up and sat down): Twenty days I’ve walked. Where are they? Where are my friends, Admetus and Alcestis?

  AGLAIA (Confidentially): Now, Hercules, you’re an old friend of the house, aren’t you?

  HERCULES: I am!

  AGLAIA: We can talk quite plainly to you, can’t we? You’re not one of those guests we have to conceal things from, thank the gods!

  HERCULES: I’m their brother! Their brother!

  AGLAIA: Now listen: one of the women in the house, an orphan . . . one of the women in the house . . .

  HERCULES: What? Dead?

  AGLAIA (Finger on lips): And you know how loyal and kind King Admetus and Queen Alcestis are to all of us who serve here . . .

  HERCULES: Dead? An orphan?

  AGLAIA: Yes, she’d lost both her father and mother. Now, they’ll be here in just a minute—after you’ve had your bath. But now, just now—you know: they are by that poor girl, in friendship and piety. You understand everything, Hercules?

  HERCULES: No. No, Aglaia, there are too many things I do not understand. But do you know who understands them all?

  (Pause) Alcestis. Am I not right, Aglaia?

  AGLAIA: Yes. Yes, Hercules.

  HERCULES: Now I am going to talk frankly to you, Aglaia: I have come here—I have walked twenty days—to ask Alcestis one question.

  AGLAIA: A question, Hercules?

  (For answer, Hercules twice points quickly and emphatically toward the zenith.)

  About the gods?

  (He nods. Aglaia recovers herself and says briskly) Well, first you must have that bath. You will come out of it looking like a boy of seventeen. And I have such a garland for you. And such perfumes!

  (He rises and starts to follow her to the palace steps.)

  HERCULES: And while I’m taking the bath you will sit beside me and tell me again how Apollo came to Thessaly?

  AGLAIA: Yes, I will. I’ll tell you once more.

  HERCULES (Stopping her; with urgency): And no one knew which was Apollo? (She shakes her head) A whole year, and no one knew which was Apollo—not even Alcestis?

  (Again she shakes her head. Hercules clutches his forehead) Aglaia, who can understand them? We shall never understand them. When I try to think of them, I start trembling; I get dizzy.

  AGLAIA: Hercules! You are tired. Come . . .

  (Enter Admetus. He stands at the top of the stairs as Hercules and Aglaia reach the bottom step.)

  ADMETUS (Loudly): Welcome, Hercules, friend of all men; Hercules, benefactor of all men!

  HERCULES: Admetus! Old friend!

  (Admetus puts his hands on Hercules’s shoulders. They gaze into one another’s eyes.)

  ADMETUS: From where have you come, Hercules?

  HERCULES: From labors, Admetus . . . from labors.

  AGLAIA: King Admetus, Hercules’s bath is ready. You can begin talking when he comes out. (Looking up) It will be evening soon.

  ADMETUS: No, first we will drink a bowl of wine together! Come, sit down, Hercules. For a short time I was ill, and this foolish womanish couch is where I used to sit in the sun. Now tell me—what has been your latest great labor?

  (Aglaia and the girls have gone into the palace.)

  HERCULES (Hushed, wide-eyed): Admetus, Admetus—I killed the Hydra.

  ADMETUS (Rising, in awed astonishment): Great-hea
rted Hercules! You slew the Hydra! By the immortal gods, Hercules, you are the friend of man. Slew the Hydra! The Hydra!

  HERCULES (Beckoning to Admetus to draw his face nearer for a confidence): Admetus—(Again beckoning) It wasn’t easy!

  ADMETUS: I can well believe it!

  HERCULES (Almost bitterly; gazing into his face): It was not easy.

  (Abrupt change to urgent earnestness) Admetus, am I the son of Zeus?

  ADMETUS: Hercules! Everyone knows that you are the son of Zeus and Alcmene.

  HERCULES: One person can tell me. That is what I have come to ask Alcestis. Where is Alcestis, queen of women?

  ADMETUS: But Aglaia told you!

  HERCULES: Oh, yes. Who is this orphan girl that has died? Was she one of the first in the house?

  ADMETUS: She called herself the servant of the servants.

  HERCULES: But you were all fond of her?

  ADMETUS: Yes. We all loved her.

  HERCULES: You see, Admetus, everyone says I am the son of Zeus and therefore my labors must be easier for me than for another man. If I have the blood and the heart and the lungs of him (Pointing upward) in me, shouldn’t they be easy? But, Admetus, they are not easy. The Hydra! (He wraps his arms around Admetus in imitation of a snake and sets his face in extreme horror) I was about to burst. The blood sprang out of my ears like fountains. If I am only a man—the son of Amphytrion and Alcmene—then, Admetus, (Peering into Admetus’s face with strained urgency) then I’m a very good man!

  ADMETUS: God or man, Hercules—god or man, all men honor and are grateful to you.

  HERCULES: But I want to know. Some days I feel that I am the son of Zeus. Other days I am . . . I am a beast, Admetus, a beast and a brute. Every month messengers arrive from all over Greece, asking me to come and do this and do that. I’ll do no more; I won’t do a single thing until I’ve settled this matter. One of these days—yes, I foresee it—someone will come to me and ask me to . . . descend into the underworld . . . into Hell, Admetus, and bring back someone who has died. (Rising, in terrified repudiation) No! No! That I will not do. God or man, no one may ask that of me!

  ADMETUS (Sincerely shocked): No, Hercules—that has never been done, nor even thought of.

  HERCULES: Every time I come here I look at that—that entrance to Hell—with great fear, Admetus.