Excerpt from The Alcestis of Euripides The plot of the play turns on the well-known myth of Apollo serving in the guise of a mortal man in the house of Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, and in return for the kindness received from that prince, obtaining from the Fates a release from death for Admetus, on condition of some substitute being found. Upon which (to use the words of Plato, p. R 79 C) Alcestis so far exceeded Admetus' parents in affection through her love, that she made them appear aliens to their son and related only in name. And in consenting to die for him she was thought both by gods and men to have done so noble a deed, that although many others had performed many honourable exploits, to her almost alone the gods gave this special prerogative, viz., the permission that her soul might return from Hades. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.