Friday seems a good day for something a little silly. Every so often I hear a song (or more) on the radio that reminds me of something from ancient mythology. I’ve already posted a whole playlist for Dido. When I heard Justin Bieber’s “Ghost,” it really invoked Admetus** for me.
Admetus was a king of Thessaly cursed to die young. Due to some intervention by Apollo, he could avoid this fate if someone died in his place. His wife Alcestis chose to do so. Admetus says to her (Euripides’ Alcestis 343-359):
παύσω δὲ κώμους συμποτῶν θ᾽ ὁμιλίας
στεφάνους τε μοῦσάν θ᾽ ἣ κατεῖχ᾽ ἐμοὺς δόμους.
οὐ γάρ ποτ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἂν βαρβίτου θίγοιμ᾽ ἔτι
οὔτ᾽ ἂν φρέν᾽ ἐξάραιμι πρὸς Λίβυν λακεῖν
αὐλόν: σὺ γάρ μου τέρψιν ἐξείλου βίου.
σοφῇ δὲ χειρὶ τεκτόνων δέμας τὸ σὸν
εἰκασθὲν ἐν λέκτροισιν ἐκταθήσεται,
ᾧ προσπεσοῦμαι καὶ περιπτύσσων χέρας
ὄνομα καλῶν σὸν τὴν φίλην ἐν ἀγκάλαις
δόξω γυναῖκα καίπερ οὐκ ἔχων ἔχειν:
ψυχρὰν μέν, οἶμαι, τέρψιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως βάρος
ψυχῆς ἀπαντλοίην ἄν. ἐν δ᾽ ὀνείρασιν
φοιτῶσά μ᾽ εὐφραίνοις ἄν: ἡδὺ γὰρ φίλους
κἀν νυκτὶ λεύσσειν, ὅντιν᾽ ἂν παρῇ χρόνον.
I’ll stop all revelry. I’ll not keep company with those partying. I’ll put away decorations of happiness and music such as once filled my house. Never again strum a song on a lyre nor turn my mind to a piping tune. You’ve taken away all joy from my life. A replica of you, shaped by the clever hand of artisans, will be laid upon our marriage bed. I’ll fall upon it, embrace it, call it by your name, and imagine that I hold my own dear wife in my arms, although not holding you at all, trying to alleviate the weight upon my soul. Perhaps you’ll bring me some joy by visiting me in my dreams. For even if in sleep, it is sweet to look on loved ones for however long possible.
The good news is that Heracles shows up for dinner, hears what has happened, wrestles Death at Alcestis’ graveside, and no one has to die in the end! So Admetus doesn’t have to miss her more than life and to settle for the ghost of her.
**I’ll confess, I first thought of Menelaus. I have a vague memory of Menelaus wandering the halls of Sparta, haunted by memory of Helen after she heads for Troy and hugging a statue of her, but I couldn’t find the source. I think I mashed up the story of a phantom Helen going to Troy (while the real one waited faithfully for Menelaus for 10 years in Egypt) with the story of Admetus and his creation of a replica of Alcestis.
Ramblings 